Chapter 467 Two Methods
When it comes to ideals and film dreams, Zhang Yimou has a lot to say.

As a regular visitor to one of Europe's top three, the national teacher is naturally not short of honors.

"Raise the Red Lantern" won the Venice Jury Prize;
“To Live” won the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes;
"My Father and Mother" won the Berlin Jury Prize again;
A grand slam winner at the three major European film festivals.

But there is a saying that goes, men will always be restless when they can’t get what they want.

Oscar!
It is the "disturbance" in Zhang Yimou's heart.

Star Film and Television Company.

"What happened today? What's the big deal?"

Clerk Gao Xinxin saw the company's executives coming in and out one after another, a busy scene, and asked her colleague Xiaomei next to her with some curiosity.

Xiaomei next to her is a young girl, not tall, with a delicate appearance. She just graduated from college last year and successfully entered the Xingchen Film and Television Company after an interview.

The reason why Gao Xinxin asked her was that she had heard from others privately that this person seemed to be the distant cousin of the company's senior executive Wang Chen, and was considered to be well-informed in Xingchen Film and Television Company.

Sure enough, hearing Gao Xinxin's question, Xiaomei whispered, "I heard that Director Zhang has a new movie project to be launched, so the boss called everyone together for a meeting today."

"Ah, wow, big directors are really treated differently." Hearing this, Gao Xinxin sighed.

As the two of them watched the people coming in and out, whispering.

On the second floor of the company, in the conference room.

Regarding the submission of the script for "Parasite" for review, Gu Wei held a special meeting within the company.

Zhang Yimou, Lu Yang, Ning Hao, Chen Guofu, Wang Chen, Jiang Xueruo, and Wang Jinghua were brought together to discuss how to get the script successfully passed by the General Administration.

After all, Gu Wei didn't want the script he worked so hard on to be rejected directly after submitting it and then have to be revised.

After some changes, the taste changes.

At 10 a.m., everyone arrived one after another. After everyone took their seats in the conference room, the meeting host Wang Chen made a few simple polite remarks and then got down to business.

The reason why Wang Chen hosted the event was because Song Ge was still in South Korea, responsible for preparing for the launch of the TV series there.

Wang Chen looked around and found that except for Song Ge and Wuershan, almost all other executives were present.

"Well, as you all know, we at Xingchen Films are planning to have Director Zhang Yimou as the executive director to shoot a blockbuster film for the Oscars.

The initial estimated production cost is about 100 million, the publicity cost is tentatively determined, plus the post-production public relations and other expenses, the total production cost is initially estimated to be no less than 300 million. "

As soon as these words came out, the faces of all the executives present changed. A pure art film with a cost of 300 million. So the shooting cost of 100 million mentioned before does not include the publicity expenses?

The investment amount of 300 million made people look at Zhang Yimou.

It’s not that there are no blockbuster Chinese-language films. The 08 film “Red Cliff” was said to have an investment of million yuan, which is almost equivalent to the investment level of Hollywood A-level productions.

The cast is also very strong. Although the film’s reputation in mainland China has collapsed, its box office in Japan, South Korea and Southeast Asia is still good.

As for the big productions after "Red Cliff", there are many, such as "Curse of the Golden Flower", "The Warlords", "The Banquet", "Warring States", "Legend of White Snake", "Guan Yunchang", etc.

The investment in these films ranges from over 300 million to 100 or 200 million. They are basically commercial films that use big-name stars and grand scenes as selling points.

However, this is the first time that Xingchen Film and Television Company has produced an art film with such a high investment.

In other words, this figure is more than the combined cost of several films by Wuershan, Ning Hao, Lu Yang and others.

Jiang Xueruo and Wang Jinghua were fine, after all, they didn't get involved much in investment issues like this.

Chen Guofu was somewhat emotional. After all, it was Xingchen Film and Television Company. How dare they do this?

For example, Huayi Company, I heard that Feng Xiaogang's "1942" had added funds several times, and the current cost is only about 200 million yuan.

Just this alone has made the two Wangs extremely distressed. Clearly, this movie can be considered an art film, but it has been promoted to be a commercial blockbuster.

There is no other way. If we don’t make it a commercial film and don’t give it much coverage, the pressure to make a profit at the box office will be too great.

Ning Hao and Lu Yang looked at each other, and the corners of their mouths twitched slightly.

It’s not that these two people are jealous or reject Zhang Yimou, but they hate themselves for not living up to their expectations.

After all, directors are different from each other. National director Zhang Yimou is good at large scenes and can spend hundreds of millions to shoot blockbusters, while Gu Wei likes 3D technology. With more than one billion yuan of funds in his hands, he can use it as if it were his own arm.

However, the two of them are still somewhat incapable of doing so now. In other words, if we give them 300 to 500 million yuan and ask them to make a movie, it is possible that the movie will be finished but the money has not been spent.

Don’t ever think that the more money a director spends on making a movie, the better. Everyone has his own critical point. Sometimes, when the cost is high, the director is under greater pressure.

Ning Hao, for example, is good at small and medium costs. If he is asked to ask for a huge amount of money, he will feel unsure.

Lu Yang has the potential to rise, but he still needs a few more movies to polish his skills, and his current abilities are still somewhat lacking.

Seeing the scene quiet down for a while, Gu Wei coughed and then smiled and said, "This 300 million is the total investment. Because it involves Hollywood, some expenses are not easy to disclose directly. Our internal and external caliber is still 100 million.

I called you all here today to discuss the script review issue, and I will need your help to build momentum when the time comes." Hearing this, Zhang Yimou was a little moved, but after all, he was a big director and had experienced many scenes, so the expression on his face did not change at all.

After Gu Wei finished speaking, Wang Chen laughed and said, "Okay, then I'll briefly talk about it!" Then he turned on the projector, took out a PPT, and explained it to everyone.

“Everyone knows the name of the film, Parasite.

The reason for choosing this is that Director Zhang selected this script after repeated consideration.

But the problem we are facing now is the review. The subject matter of the script is somewhat explicit, and it contains conflicts between human nature and social classes. According to the boss and Director Zhang, it may not be easy to pass the review.

So today we asked everyone to come here to discuss how to ensure that the script passes the review and the project is successfully launched. "

After Wang Chen finished speaking, everyone fell into discussion.

After discussing for a long time, we finally came up with two solutions.

One is to let Zhang Yimou and Gu Wei go directly to Director Tong and ask him to exert more effort during the review.

The second is to reveal some information in advance to let netizens know that this is a work that will compete for an Oscar.

It's not participating in the Best Foreign Language Film category, but going straight for an Oscar.

To compete for Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Picture.

To be honest, there have been many domestic works that have been nominated for Oscars in the past.

But before being confirmed to have obtained an Oscar spot, several directors took the initiative to promote their works just for the Oscars. The most basic practice is to wait until it is confirmed and then use the Oscars to hype up their works.

But looking at Hollywood works, many movies are shot for the Oscars before they start shooting, and they say it directly.

This is not to say that mainland directors are bad, but sometimes excessive modesty is a cowardly act.

What we lack compared to others is the market and technological innovation, not the story and connotation of the film.

For the movie "Parasite", Gu Wei decided to promote it openly and aggressively. Regardless of whether it wins an award or not, at least he cannot be timid.

After hearing everyone's thoughts, Zhang Yimou was still a little hesitant. The national teacher still holds the traditional Chinese ideas in his bones.

I always feel that it is inappropriate to state it in advance before achieving results. In case of failure, it is easy to be embarrassed and affect my reputation.

But Gu Wei did not give him time to hesitate, and made the decision with a wave of his hand.

After the meeting, everyone went their separate ways.

.........

Several well-known entertainment magazines in Hong Kong reprinted foreign news, reporting that top actress Ms. Zhang earned 7 million yuan by sleeping with men, and is currently under investigation and banned from leaving the country.

If things in the entertainment industry are related to politics, it can be fatal.

Ms. Zhang then went straight to Hong Kong and the United States, and sued several Hong Kong media outlets in succession, as well as the Hollywood media that was said to be the source, and posted on Weibo implying that someone was deliberately spreading rumors.

Soon after, a screenwriter from the mainland and some websites jumped out and published articles directly, insinuating that International Fan was the mastermind behind the scenes.

This kind of thing, with a little effort, could potentially finish off one of the actresses. They are all first-tier or even super first-tier stars, and getting rid of any one of them would be enough to feed a large group of people, an all-you-can-eat feast.

While international celebrities Zhang Ziyi and Fan Bingbing are at odds with each other, another big star Li Binbin has also joined in the fun. She doesn't care who is the mastermind or who is behind this, even though she doesn't have a good relationship with either of them.

She directly supported Zhang Ziyi in reporting the matter to the police, and seemed to be taking advantage of Fan Binbin's misfortune.

This time, Fan Binbin's studio had to take it seriously and responded immediately, suing several parties for infringing on its reputation rights and demanding that each party pay 50 yuan in mental damages.

The chaotic battle between the big stars had begun, and the circle was in chaos again.

"It's a bit crazy. They dare to spread any rumor. Everyone has a dirty background and they are not afraid of being implicated."

When Gu Wei saw the news, he just treated it as entertainment gossip.

On the other hand, even when the big stars are occupying the front pages of the news.

Many netizens and people in the industry have discovered that the media is leaking more and more information about Zhang Yimou's new film.

"The latest news is that Zhang Yimou's new film is suspected to be preparing for an Oscar."

"Warner Bros. invited director Zhang Yimou to Hollywood to shoot his latest film, and said there would be no restrictions on the subject matter."

"South Korea's NEW company invited Director Zhang to go to South Korea for filming."

"Emperor Entertainment Group said it welcomes director Zhang Yimou to Hong Kong Island to shoot his latest film."

The gossip and entertainment reports were well-organized, and netizens were also excited.

.........

(End of this chapter)