A few days later, Zhang Yuan arrived at Huayi's office building.

"Uncle Li!"

From a distance, Zhang Yuan saw an old acquaintance.

"Hey, you're here, kid."

Like his previous film A World Without Thieves, Zhang Li is also the director of photography for The Banquet.

This guy is very busy, there's nothing you can do about it. He is a leader in the industry. In terms of photography, he is second only to top-tier stars like Zhang Yimou and Gu Changwei.

In terms of comprehensive ability, he is stronger than Gu Changwei.

The last time the two met was at the funeral of Teacher Fu Biao.

He came with his wife Liu Bei that day, and ended up meeting Liu Bei's ex-husband.

"Uncle Li, you look so radiant. Did something good happen to you recently?" Zhang Yuan saw that he was in high spirits and praised him.

At the same time, he took out a cigarette and lighter from his pocket and lit them for the other person.

"Hehehe, I'm quite lucky in love." Zhang Li replied with a smile.

"No one is as good as you. You've been doing well lately. I heard you're quite popular on the Internet."

“It’s all thanks to the audience.”

"Don't be modest. I've seen a lot of people in our industry. Many of them are capable, but not many of them can control themselves and have clear minds." Zhang Li took a puff of his cigarette and continued, "You are considered to be smart."

Zhang Li likes him very much. Besides speaking nicely, he can also drink.

Mainly for photographer Zhang Li, Zhang Yuan is very easy to photograph.

It is easy to achieve results without having to spend a lot of effort finding the angle.

"If you act, it will save me a lot of effort, worry and time."

Zhang Li finished one cigarette quickly and Zhang Yuan refilled it for him.

These guys who are always on the crew are under tremendous work pressure and most of them are heavy smokers.

"Just don't delay the filming of this drama. I still have work to do next."

"You are very capable, so you have a lot of life." Zhang Yuan asked, "What play?"

"It's a costume drama about the Ming Dynasty. It's called The Ming Dynasty 1566."

Zhang Yuan smiled and nodded. Sure enough... it was this big pit!

4000 million investment, two years of preparation, and ultimately a 0.5% viewership rate.

Screenwriter Liu Heping spent a whole year writing the script. He also specially enshrined the tablets of Jiajing and Hai Rui. Every day before opening the office, he would kowtow three times and nine times, burn incense and take a bath. His manner was extremely serious and particular.

Moreover, the original intention of this film was actually for the Hong Kong City Government to promote the local celebrity Hai Rui by filming a TV series with him as the protagonist.

But under Liu Heping's design and adaptation, the story centered on Hai Rui was expanded and dispersed to include a number of ancient celebrities such as Jiajing, Yan Song, Hu Zongxian, and Zhang Juzheng.

And the best thing about this script, besides its rigorous logic, is that it does not stereotype these characters.

Yan Song was a treacherous minister, but why was he so treacherous and yet he was able to remain in the court for decades?

This play tells everyone the reason, but does not label or characterize any character, allowing the audience to experience it for themselves.

From an artistic point of view, Zhang Yuan has always believed that this play can be compared with "The Yongzheng Dynasty".

But the outcome of the broadcast was too bleak.

But later, in 17, "The Ming Dynasty 1556" was broadcast on Youku and received more than 4000 million views in less than a month.

The Douban score also reached an astonishing 9.8, with over 20 people giving it full marks.

Poet Chen said that it would take 10 years for people to understand Wuji.

No one understood.

"The Ming Dynasty 1566" was a huge failure when it was first broadcast in early 07, but it became a hit when it was broadcast online in 17, spawning countless famous memes and subcultures.

Exactly 10 years have passed.

So this sentence by poet Chen should be given to this drama.

"Don't worry, maybe I can still have a chance to make money from it." Zhang Yuan was thinking about his own way to make money.

The two chatted for a while. In fact, Zhang Yuan came here today to attend the script reading session of "The Banquet".

Just like "A World Without Thieves", Huayi built a set for the crew in Xiaotangshan and made a complete set of interior and exterior decoration of the palace. Now it has begun to be finalized and filming can start within a few days.

So today Director Feng gathered all the main actors together to study the lines and script in advance to avoid any bumps in the road during filming.

"By the way, Xiaogang has been in a bad mood these days, so you should be careful." Zhang Li kindly reminded him after chatting with him for a while.

"what happened?"

"Tsk, we still have to talk about the trouble caused by Kaige." Zhang Li also looked helpless when he mentioned poet Chen.

Although they are all in the imperial circle, there are also many people who dislike him.

"Have you seen his movie 'The Promise'?" Zhang Li asked.

Zhang Yuan nodded.

“What kind of film is this?” Zhang Li complained.

After that, both of them burst into laughter.

"He shouldn't have gotten involved in the script. He doesn't have the ability to do so."

"Now it's good. The overseas box office is a mess. I'm cursing at Warner Bros."

"Now, because of The Promise, those overseas distributors have become cautious about Chinese costume blockbusters."

"Even several film companies that were originally planning to buy The Banquet said they would reconsider it."

"In fact, it's not just The Banquet. Huayi's other big drama The Warring States also encountered difficulties in overseas licensing."

Zhang Li said while shaking his head.

I thought that poet Chen had diarrhea himself and ended up ruffling the dirt on others.

"I heard that the two brothers of the Wang family have been cursing all day recently. Their tempers are really bad. They are desperately trying to contact overseas distributors."

“With the cost of ‘Night Banquet’ being only 1.2 million US dollars, relying solely on the domestic box office… hehe.” Zhang Li is an expert and knows that with a cost of million, it would take at least million box office to make a profit.

Even Zhang Yimou couldn't get so much box office in China, so he didn't believe that Feng Xiaogang, who was shooting a costume drama for the first time, could get it.

A few days ago, the two brothers of the Wang family laughed at poet Chen for showing his eyes everywhere, and they were even broken down by a spoof video on the Internet.

I didn't expect the boomerang to come so quickly...

Went to the large conference room upstairs with Zhang Li.

After entering the room, I found that Mr. Ge You, who had a big bald head and was wearing a black baseball cap, had already arrived.

After greeting him, Zhang Yuan walked towards another old man nearby.

"Hello, Teacher Ma."

This person is a real teacher, and a famous teacher at Beijing Film Academy.

This person's name is Ma Jingwu, and he plays Yin Taichang in the film, who is the father of Huang Xiaoming's character Yin Xuan.

He is not only a teacher, but also a professor at Beijing Film Academy. He also served as the head of the teaching and research group of the Performance Department and just retired in the past two years.

Qian Yanqiu, the director of "Detective Di Renjie", and Zhang Zijian, who played Yuan Fang, were both his students.

Moreover, not only himself, but his wife Li Ranran is also a teacher at the Beijing Film Academy. She became the head of the teaching and research group of the Performance Department just like him.

Teacher Li's students are more famous. Liu Yunlong, Shao Bing, Yu Feihong, Zhang Guangbei, Zhao Baogang and Li Chengru are all students she taught personally.

Therefore, the couple has extensive connections in the circle, and it is no exaggeration to say that they have students all over the world.

"Oh, hello." Ma Jingwu took a closer look.

He was actually a little surprised when he saw the list of actors.

Huang Xiaoming is a student of Beijing Film Academy. Although he was not taught by him, he is still one of his friends.

But he wanted to play a supporting role for a young man who had no professional qualifications, which made Teacher Ma quite puzzled.

Now that I have seen him in person, I feel that this young man has a good temperament and is very kind and polite. Although I don't know him, he is very polite to me.

and……

Teacher Ma looked around the conference room.

Those who came half an hour in advance to prepare for the meeting included him, Ge You, and Zhang Li, the old gang, and Zhang Yuan, the only young man.

There is still no sign of my own Huang Xiaoming.

For these veteran actors, it is normal to arrive at the set half an hour or even an hour early.

But nowadays young people like to have fun, and few people insist on this.

When Teacher Ma saw that Zhang Yuan came as early as them, he became a little curious.

I don’t know if he is like this usually or if he just arrived early today.

Huang Xiaoming, Zhou Xun, Zhang Ziyi arrived one by one, and finally director Feng Xiaogang.

Zhang Yuan greeted all of them.

He heard that Zhou Xun and Zhang Ziyi were both very wild.

But she was dressed casually today and without any makeup, so she didn't look much prettier than an ordinary person.

Fan Bingbing is much more beautiful without makeup than these two... Zhang Yuan thought.

Zhang Ziyi is very thin, with yellow skin and dry hair.

Both are "Mou Girls", but Gong Li, whom I met a few days ago, has a much stronger temperament than her.

Not to mention Zhou Xun, his eyes are quite big, but his face is also not small.

He still has a smoke-like voice, and when he speaks it sounds like the quacking of a duck.

Moreover, this guy smokes a lot, one cigarette after another.

How fierce is it?

Sai Yuqian.

It seems that smoking is not so addictive. There is a group of old ladies in the entertainment industry who often get together to smoke cigars. She is one of them.

"Although I don't have many lines, they are a bit too many..." Zhou Xun said.

"It's too theatrical." Uncle Ge continued.

"My lines are the same. Many times they don't sound like lines from a movie, but more like lines from a drama... No, that's not right. They sound like lines from an opera!" Ge You said after pondering for a while.

"This is the feeling I want!" Feng Xiaogang slammed the table and said, "This is the right taste!"

Zhang Yuan sneered in his heart.

Some of the lines in this movie are very Westernized, and are clearly meant to please the Western market.

Coupled with the recent poor sales of his films overseas, Director Feng seems to be a little obsessed.

Seeing Feng Xiaogang's firm attitude, everyone stopped talking.

Everyone read the lines of several major plays in order.

Ma Jingwu, who was standing by, looked at Zhang Yuan while reading.

"The pronunciation is clear, the breath is smooth, and the pauses are appropriate. This young man has a good line delivery skill."

He listened carefully to Huang Xiaoming's lines again.

Tsk, are the people we teach at Beijing Film Academy even worse than a "mud leg"?
Zhou Xun has a special voice, which is rather hoarse and scratchy to the ears.

Zhang Ziyi is okay.

After listening to Mr. Tajima, he felt that apart from Ge You's almost perfect lines, among the young people, the one named Zhang Yuan was the most appropriate.

“Maybe it makes sense that he could be the second male lead…” After a few scenes were read, everyone started raising their hands to ask questions.

Uncle Ge studied several unclear parts of the script.

Zhou Xun hardly spoke, and he wasn't very fluent when he read the script just now.

Zhang Yuan felt that this lady might have just read the script once and then threw it aside.

So Zhou Xun is an actor who depends a lot on the director. He has talent, but how to mobilize this talent depends on whether the director has the ability.

If the director is not big enough and strong enough, and is allowed to do whatever she wants, the film will easily fall apart.

The one with a similar style to her is Chen Kun. They are close friends, so it is normal for them to have similar personalities.

Later, when filming "Painted Skin", Chen Kun and Zhou Xun worked together and did not follow the routine all day long, which tortured the director to death.

Either they want to add more scenes or they want to change the lyrics.

And the reason for changing the lyrics is often because the lyrics are too long and I can't remember them...

Fortunately, Zhao Wei was there to help suppress these two troublemakers.

Don’t worry about Yan Zi’s later life as a leek or something like that. Her acting skills and status in the circle are still pretty awesome.

"The Banquet" is okay. Zhou Xun is not that big a star now, but Feng Xiaogang is big enough to control the whole show.

"I think there's something wrong with the ending of my character?" Zhang Ziyi asked with a frown.

"I worked hard to plan the whole show, but I failed in the end."

"Can the ending be changed to the Queen ascending the throne?"

Of course, Zhang Ziyi wants to have a good reputation for her role.

"We designed it this way for a reason!" Feng Xiaogang retorted loudly.

"Director Feng, I also think this ending has some problems." Zhang Yuan waved his hand.

"You said."

Zhang Ziyi: ...

No, I said there was a problem and you yelled at me.

That guy said there was a problem, why are you suddenly so polite...

Director Feng had worked with Zhang Yuan several times and knew that he often had a good understanding of the script, so he was willing to listen to him.

"I think what Sister Ziyi said makes sense." Zhang Yuan spoke first to support the leading female role.

He immediately turned around and smiled at Zhang Yuan, feeling much better.

But there was a hint of unknown cunning in her smile, and after looking at Zhang Yuan, she even seemed to be trying to hold back her laughter.

In fact, she had heard of Zhang Yuan before today.

And all I heard were "good things".

Zhang Yuan didn't know all this and continued talking.

"These past few days, I bought a copy of Hamlet to read."

Ma Jingwu raised his eyebrows when he heard this.

Good boy, you not only read the script, but also read the original novel. That's very thoughtful.

"Our play is adapted from Hamlet, right?"

"Yes!" Director Feng answered with certainty.

"In the book, my character is patient and intelligent. When faced with misfortunes, he goes from being passive and questioning to rising up to resist. He is a tragic hero."

"But in the script, he was changed to a cowardly man with no sense of the overall situation, who only wanted revenge but had no wisdom."

"And the wisdom and forbearance that originally belonged to him were actually transferred to Sister Ziyi's role as the queen."

"Very good, you understood the script!" Feng Xiaogang praised.

Because Hua Yi wanted to win over Zhang Ziyi, the script deliberately strengthened the role of Queen Wan'er.

The queen in the original work is just the prince's mother.

However, in the script of "The Banquet", this character becomes the eye of the storm of all contradictions.

"In the novel, Hamlet saw his father's ghost and learned the truth about his father's death, so he decided to take revenge."

"But in the script, it was the queen who told the prince how the emperor died."

"At the end of the play, the usurper emperor drank poison and died out of despair."

"Qingnv drank poisoned wine by mistake and died."

"The prince blocked the sword for Queen Wan'er and was killed by Yin Xuan's sword poison."

"And Yin Xuan was also killed by the Queen."

"Which means that among all the protagonists, except for Yin Taichang who was exiled three thousand miles after his children died, only Empress Wan'er survived."

“It’s a tragedy, just like the book.”

"But in the end, before the queen ascended the throne, she was stabbed to death by the ghost of the previous emperor."

"I know, Director Feng, that you want to create a tragedy in which no one survives."

"But there were no fantasy elements in the whole play, but in the end, ghosts killed people."

“It felt like the script suddenly became ridiculous.”

"The momentum of Wan'er, a well-developed ambitious character, was instantly lost."

"Yes, yes, that's exactly what I feel and mean."

After Zhang Yuan finished speaking, Zhang Ziyi excitedly continued.

Her mind suddenly became clear, and she felt that Zhang Yuan had said everything she wanted to say but didn't know how to say.

"But the character of Queen Wan must die."

"Because several characters died because of her, and in the end she took all the power, I was afraid that the audience would feel uncomfortable after watching it," Feng Xiaogang retorted.

"Um...actually, I also think what Xiao Zhang said makes sense." Teacher Ma Jingwu spoke steadily.

"There was no foreshadowing before, and suddenly a ghost appeared and killed people."

"Foreign audiences understand Hamlet and know that this is a parody of the original work."

"But few Chinese audiences know Hamlet, so it's not easy to understand."

Director Feng also has to give face to Teacher Ma.

Huang Xiaoming glanced at Ma Jingwu and thought: Isn't Teacher Ma from our Beijing Film Academy? Why is he speaking for that kid?

"What should we do then?" Director Feng looked at Teacher Ma.

"Well..." Teacher Ma couldn't think it through for a moment.

"I have an idea." Zhang Yuan waved his hand.

"It would be better to keep the ending of Queen Wan's death, but remove the plot of the ghost killing people."

"If it wasn't a ghost who killed him, who else could it be?" Director Feng was puzzled: "All the powerful people are dead."

"Who else could kill her?"

"I don't know." Zhang Yuan spread his hands.

Director Feng bared his big yellow teeth and revealed a dissatisfied expression.

I don’t know what you are talking about!

This is not a mess!

Huang Xiaoming took a look and thought, I asked you to be proactive, and now you are frustrated.

It’s better to be honest like me and say nothing.

In fact, he is not honest.

It was his first time making a big-budget movie, and he was a little timid.

Moreover, he only managed to read through the script and was really incapable of offering suggestions.

Huang Xiaoming is a hard-working actor, not a talented one.

"Director Feng, there was a movie last year called "Letter from a Stranger". You should know it." Zhang Yuan suddenly spoke.

Everyone nodded. Xu Jinglei directed and acted in the film herself, and also asked Jiang Wen to shoot with her.

This movie is actually average, but that’s not the point Zhang Yuan wants to make.

"This film is adapted from Zweig's original work of the same name."

"The most classic part of the book "Letter from an Unknown Woman" is its ending."

"The woman wrote countless letters, but the hero still couldn't remember who the woman who sent the letters was, with whom he had had many passionate nights. He couldn't even remember what she looked like."

Zweig is an extremely famous and great writer.

His biographical work "When the Stars Shine" is known as one of the best biographies in the world.

So when Zweig's name was mentioned, Feng Xiaogang, Ge You and Ma Jingwu all stood in awe.

The others didn't react much.

After all, celebrities have limited culture.

"What do you mean?" Director Feng asked carefully.

"In "Letter from an Unknown Woman", readers have no idea who the heroine is after reading the whole book, but it is regarded as a classic."

"We can also have a similar ending and simply not film who the specific killer is."

“Let the audience guess.”

"Open ending!" Director Feng immediately responded.

"The audience's wisdom is infinite. It would be better to give them room for imagination." Zhang Yuan nodded in response.

"Great, this way, we can save a lot of effort." Director Feng touched his chin and said with a smile.

The open ending is actually not new, but it works well.

For example, the famous "Blade Runner" has an open ending, which is very imaginative.

"That's a good idea. I'll think about it... Don't leave after the meeting. We can discuss it further."

Ma Jingwu glanced sideways.

"This young man is quite capable, citing scriptures and classics."

"You know a lot!"

He saw the confused looks on Zhang Ziyi, Zhou Xun and Huang Xiaoming's faces after hearing about Zweig, and thought that the cultural level of these young actors nowadays was too low and they had not read many famous works.

"But he just spoke out and actually convinced the director."

"It's great to dare to say it and do it, not to mention that it's good to say it."

Mr. Ma thought, it would be great if young people like this could come to our Beijing Film Academy.

Zhou Xun and Zhang Ziyi, who met him for the first time, also looked at him.

"It turns out that he was not hired just because he is good-looking..." Zhou Xun thought.

Zhang Ziyi was also very curious. She had heard of him, but she didn't expect that he would surprise me a little when we met for the first time.

After a long time, the sun set, the silver moon was covered with frost, and the study session ended.

In order to let the crew members get familiar with each other in advance, Director Feng took everyone to have a meal... (End of this chapter)