Chapter 268 Jiang Wen's version of "Shi Qiang"

In the first part of "The Three-Body Problem", in addition to the heroine Ye Wenjie, other actors with important roles include Wang Miao, Shi Qiang, Ding Yi and others.

Wang Miao is the male protagonist of this drama, an applied physics scientist who mainly studies nanomaterials. He provided "nano flying blades" for Operation Guzheng and made an outstanding contribution to the elimination of the human rebel ETO advent organization.

Naturally, there are many people competing for this role.

Huang Xiaoming once visited Jiang Heng and volunteered to play this role.

Jiang Heng’s answer was that he would consider it, mainly because Huang Jiao had frequently taken on the role of a “boss” in the past two years, which did not quite match Wang Miao’s image as a scientist.

As for the male actors who came for audition, Jiang Heng has not yet decided which one to choose.

However, for the role of Shi Qiang, his first choice was Jiang Wen.

It is said that Jiang Wen was "banned from directing" for five years at the beginning of the century, so during those years he appeared in films such as "Looking for the Gun" and "Heroes of Heaven and Earth" as an actor.

When the "ban on directing" expired, he immediately started filming "The Sun Also Rises".

Wang Shuo helped to find the investment and introduced Jiang Wen to Wang Wei, the chairman of Taihe Film and Television. Taihe invested 3000 million yuan.

But later, Taihe Film and Television found that after spending 1800 million yuan, they had only filmed less than one-third of the film, so they decided to withdraw their investment.

Jiang Wen did not ask for any remuneration from the director or actors, and started investing money in the film. After he had spent all his own money, he borrowed another seven or eight million from Jiang Wu. Zhou Yun also contributed more than four million, but it was still not enough.

Finally, Yang Shoucheng from England was introduced to the company.

Jiang Wen informed him in advance, Brother, this movie is an art film and may not make money.

Yang Shoucheng said, it’s okay, I care about my face, not the money.

The film was able to continue shooting, and in the end it cost a total of 10 million US dollars, which was quite luxurious.

Jiang Wen really spends a lot of money when filming.

The crew of "The Sun Also Rises" mobilized hundreds of birds and animals. Jiang Wen felt that the fur color and texture of many of them were not right, so he changed them and re-colored them.

He also transported more than 300 cubic meters of Tibetan houses and dozens of tons of pebbles and red soil from thousands of miles away.

Even a prop called a fish shoe in the film was carefully made by skilled craftsmen from Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan, which took more than a hundred people time to complete.

But what left the most impressive impression on people about this film was actually its soundtrack, "The Sun Also Rises".

After Jiang Wen finished filming the movie, he asked Joe Hisaishi to compose the music.

The sample was sent to Japan, and Joe Hisaishi quickly finished a draft.

Jiang Wen was not satisfied, so she flew to Japan to have a face-to-face talk with Joe Hisaishi, but the two of them ended up parting on bad terms several times.

The reason is simple. Before sending the sample film, Jiang Wen found several passages of Mozart according to his own feelings, pasted them on the sample film and asked Hisaishi to follow this feeling. It was a little better than Mozart.

Hisaishi was very unhappy and quarreled with Jiang Wen three times, asking him harshly: "Can you tell me how many Mozarts there are in the history of music?"
But after the soundtrack was completed, this piece of music is really good.

It was then sent for review and passed smoothly.

In September 07, Jiang Wen confidently took "The Sun Also Rises" to the Venice International Film Festival.

Before leaving, a send-off party was held. Jiang Wen was in high spirits and quoted a line from Xin Qiji on the stage, "I see the green mountains are so charming, I guess the green mountains see me as the same."

Afterwards, he returned empty-handed.

In October, "The Sun Also Rises" was released nationwide, but the box office was only 10 million, and the investors suffered heavy losses.

Many people said they couldn’t understand it, and they accounted for the majority.

Jiang Wen, who encountered the collapse of both word-of-mouth and box office for the first time, angrily said, "It's shameful not to understand it" and "If you don't understand it, watch it again."

As for film reviews, he made a harsh statement many years ago: "Critics are like eunuchs, they can't do anything themselves, they just watch the emperor do things, then go back and pretend to understand." After Yinghuang helped "The Sun", Jiang Wen once said: "It's not easy to make money. After this movie is finished, I will help them make a few profitable movies."

After the box office failure of "The Sun", Yang Shoucheng not only did not say a word, but also took the initiative to comfort Jiang Wen and offered to sign a contract immediately to invest in five more films.

Jiang Wen was very touched and said that he appreciated the kindness and that Emperor Entertainment Group would have the priority right to invest in the next film.

He then founded the "Buyilehu Film Company" with TV producer Ma Ke, with each holding half of the shares.

The first project after the company was founded was the novel recommended by Shi Hang, called "The Story of Stealing an Official", which is the third of Ma Shi Tu's "Ten Night Tales". It is a story set in the Republic of China. The film was finally named "Let the Bullets Fly".

There is no doubt that the film is so good that Jiang Heng does not want to be involved in it, fearing that his presence will affect the final effect of the film.

So over the years, his relationship with Jiang Wen has been neither close nor distant.

The latter would occasionally attend the premiere of Jiang Heng's new films and have a drink together, but that was all.

But this time, Jiang Heng really felt that Jiang Wen was quite suitable for the role of Shi Qiang in "The Three-Body Problem".

The first impression of this character is "rude", but Jiang Wen teaches foreigners to speak Chinese, and can teach "The Force" to mean "really fucking good" and teach Quentin to say "awesome".

In "The Founding of a Republic", he was able to swear so much that even his opponent Chen Daoming was stunned.

Just for this point, who else but him?
Furthermore, Shi Qiang in the original work was born a soldier, had meticulous observation and strong abilities. Not only did he propose the "Gu Zheng Plan" in the first part, he also protected Luo Ji several times in the subsequent content.

Jiang Heng felt that this role was tailor-made for Jiang Wen.

So, he called Jiang Wen directly.

The latter felt confused the moment he received it.

"Director Jiang, you are such a busy man, why did you think of calling me?"

"I have something to ask you. There's a role in my new movie that's perfect for you. I want you to play it!"

"Director Jiang, you can also hear that I'm busy with post-production!"

"I'll help you with overseas distribution!"

"Fine!"

At the moment, the film has not yet been exhibited abroad. Jiang Wen is thinking about selling the copyrights abroad after the film wins an award.

However, it is an art film after all, and even if it wins an award it will not sell as well as a commercial film.

After all, Jiang Heng is an internationally renowned director. With his help in promotion, the film will definitely sell for more money!

With this idea in mind, Jiang Wen reluctantly agreed, then chose a barbecue restaurant and made an appointment to eat and chat in the evening.

After hanging up the phone, Zhou Yun beside him said in surprise: "He actually asked you to make a movie. It seems that this role should really suit you!"

Jiang Wen listened and nodded slightly.

After all, he is also a well-known director. Generally, big directors insist on inviting someone to participate in a role, mostly because the actor and the role are very suitable.

I couldn't help but say, "If you say so, I'm a little bit looking forward to it. I heard it's a science fiction novel called "The Three-Body Problem". You can find it and read it when you have time!"

He was busy with post-production before, and although he knew that Jiang Heng's new film was adapted from a science fiction novel called "The Three-Body Problem", he had no time to find it and watch it, and it was even more impossible to find it now.

At night, I drove to the agreed barbecue restaurant, went into the private room and waited for a while, then I saw Jiang Heng.

"Director Jiang, what role must I play?"

"Here, take a look at this!" Jiang Heng said, and handed over the script about the role of "Shi Qiang".

(End of this chapter)