Chapter 341 The "Two Zhangs" Breakup

The impact of Jiang Heng's new film "White Snake: Origin" scheduled for the Spring Festival is far beyond people's imagination.

Because shortly after the news came out, another film was announced to be released during the Lunar New Year holiday, that is Zhang Yimou's "Three Shots Surprise".

In the mainland entertainment industry in 09, no one was more popular than Xiao Shenyang. Various investors rushed to cooperate with him, and Zhang Weiping was no exception.

"Three Shots Surprise" was adapted from "Blood Labyrinth" and was originally intended to be a suspense film.

But Zhang Weiping wanted to make quick money, so he used Xiao Shenyang to hype himself up and insisted on working with Zhao's disciples to make a "weird" comedy.

Zhang Yimou was naturally dissatisfied, but the breakup occurred after "The Flowers of War".

But Lao Zhang was still furious. As a famous director, Jiang Heng could make any film he wanted and the investment was an astonishing 500 million yuan.

He just wanted to make a suspenseful commercial film, but was interfered with in various ways. It really made him angry.

Zhang Yimou didn't know what he was thinking, but he suddenly wanted to talk to Jiang Heng, so he called and said he wanted to visit the set, and Jiang Heng naturally agreed.

At the China Film Digital Base, Zhang Yimou looked at the staff coming in and out and casually asked, how many people are there in the crew?

Assistant director and martial arts instructor Yuan De said: "There are more than 3,000 actors and actresses, and there are more than 200 foreign actors and actresses."

Zhang Yimou nodded slightly, "It's really a big production!"

When we arrived at the shooting site, we saw Jiang Heng sitting behind the monitor. In the center of the venue was Zhang Ruoyun, who played Tang Long, performing in front of a green screen.

Although Zhang Yimou has never shot a film that relies purely on special effects, he is a professional after all and can still see many tricks.

After a while, after a scene was finished, Jiang Heng asked everyone to rest for half an hour.

He walked over and said with a smile: "Director Zhang, you are so honored to be here. Welcome, welcome!"

Zhang Yimou waved his hand and said with a wry smile, "Director Jiang, please stop making fun of me. I'm in this state now, so what's the point of talking about great things? I'm about to be scolded to death!"

Yuan De who was standing by was puzzled and thought that Zhang Yimou was one of the best directors in the country after all, so he shouldn't be scolded so badly!
Jiang Heng knew why, and said with a smile: "Unhappy? Why don't you come to my place? I promise not to interfere with your creative freedom!"

Zhang Yimou was stunned when he heard this. He was becoming increasingly unhappy with his cooperation with Zhang Weiping, but he had never thought about parting ways. He quickly waved his hands and said, "Don't mention this, don't mention this!"

Jiang Heng did not continue the topic, and invited Zhang Yimou to sit in the rest area, and then asked about some details of the filming of "Three Shots Surprise".

Old Zhang had a lot to say. Although he was not good at speaking, he started talking incessantly.

Jiang Heng just listened quietly and asked a few questions from time to time.

Half an hour passed in a flash, and the crew was busy filming again.

Jiang Heng said, "I'm sorry, Director Zhang, I have to be busy again. If you have time in the evening, why don't you wait until I finish work and have a drink and chat with me?"

Zhang Yimou waved his hand, "Forget it, I just wanted to come over and see how this movie with a 500 million US dollar investment was made. Now that I've seen it, I'll go back first!"

Jiang Heng smiled and said, "Okay, then if you have any problem, just call me. Believe me, anything that can be solved with money is not a problem!"

Zhang Yimou was slightly stunned, and probably understood what Jiang Heng meant. He nodded and said, "Okay, I'll think about it carefully!"

After leaving the China Film Digital Base, Zhang Yimou couldn't help looking back. Thinking about what he had just seen on the crew, he was very envious.

He has always been very careful with his budget when making movies and has never been open about his plans.

If it were just a financial limitation, it would be fine, but what was even more unbearable for him was Zhang Weiping's various forced interferences in his creative process.

For example, for the movie "Curse of the Golden Flower", he initially chose Huang Xuan.

But on the eve of filming, Zhang Weiping replaced him with Zhou Jielun.

Not only that, but the film also added some outrageous scenes between Gong Li and Liu Ye. After the film was released, Zhang Weiping made a lot of money, and he took all the blame.

Zhang Yimou was very dissatisfied, but he couldn't make up his mind to leave for the time being.

It was not until December 12 that "Three Shots Surprise" was released.

Because of Xiao Shenyang's super high popularity, the movie box office was still good and there were a lot of viewers.

But when it comes to word of mouth, it's really a mess.

The Douban website scored 4.9 and immediately received a flood of negative reviews, most of which were criticizing Zhang Yimou.

After all, Xiao Shenyang is a crosstalk actor, and his performance in the movie can be described as true to himself.

Zhang Weiping is the producer. In 09 when media information was not yet well developed, many viewers might not even know what the word "producer" meant.

In addition, Zhang Yimou is a famous person and the movie is so bad, who else should we blame but him?
One film critic even published a long review titled "Zhang Yimou should be shot for three minutes", which shows how much resentment the audience has.

Lao Zhang occasionally goes online, but when he saw all the insults online, he got so angry that he hid at home and refused to go out.

But Zhang Weiping would call him from time to time to share the good news about the box office.

"According to the current trend, the box office will exceed 400 million. This time we will really make a fortune. I said that we should find Xiao Shenyang. If I hadn't acted quickly, this opportunity for cooperation would have been snatched away by someone else..."

Zhang Weiping kept chattering, and Zhang Yimou became extremely annoyed.

"I made a lot of money from this movie. I want to make my own movie based on my own ideas..."

Zhang Weiping was stunned, then laughed and said, "Of course, you are the director, the movie must be made according to your ideas. Just for the sake of box office, just add some selling points."

Zhang Yimou became furious when he heard this. “Selling point”, “selling point”, this person is always thinking about how to hype it up and it’s always about the box office.

He is not against commercial films, but one cannot just consider the box office!
"I see!"

Zhang Weiping was stunned when he heard this, knowing that there was something wrong with Zhang Yimou's tone, but he didn't think too much about it. It's not like he wouldn't get a share, and who would go against money!
After hanging up the phone, Zhang Yimou smoked one cigarette after another.

In another time and space, Zhang Yimou broke up with Zhang Weiping in 2012, but it was not until 2013 that he joined LeTV Pictures and became a contracted director, art director and one of the shareholders of the company.

So, running away is not that easy!

After all, the entertainment industry is divided into circles, and the platform and strength must also be considered. He must have a role to play after he goes there.

But in this life, with the super powerful iQiyi, Youku and Tencent Video, and Jiang Heng being a man willing to spend money, Zhang Yimou was really tempted.

After thinking it over for several days, Lao Zhang finally called Jiang Heng and wanted to ask him to find time to have a good chat.

Jiang Heng was naturally happy to hear that, and they made an appointment to have a drink and talk in detail that evening.

Lao Zhang's requirements are quite simple, that is, no interference in his artistic creation, a share of the box office, and guarantee of investment in the film.

As for the shares of iQiyi, Youku and Tencent Pictures, Zhang Yimou didn’t dare to think about it.

After the discussion was complete, Zhang Yimou asked if the news could be released later.

Jiang Heng smiled, "Are you afraid that Zhang Weiping won't give you a share of the box office revenue?"

Old Zhang hummed, Jiang Heng nodded slightly, and didn't say much.

But he clearly remembered that Zhang Yimou and Zhang Weiping did go to court over the box office share of "Movies and TV Series".

This money is really hard to ask for!
(End of this chapter)