All this information was obtained from authoritative sources through the partners of Japan. As a party involved, Zhang Yimou was not as clear as Sun Dahai due to lack of information.
Moreover, after Zhang Yimou completed the filming of "Old Well", he has been busy filming his directorial debut "Red Sorghum".
After the film was completed, he rushed directly to Hong Kong. While developing the film, he stopped by to attend the premiere of "The Last Emperor" held by the League of Friendship.
Therefore, he simply did not have the time or energy to pay attention to the crew of "Old Well" participating in the Tokyo Film Festival.
The Tokyo Film Festival kicked off in Tokyo last weekend and will last for half a month. The awards for all main competition units will not be officially announced until the closing ceremony in early November.
Due to time conflicts and lack of skills, Zhang Yimou told the crew of "Old Well" early to ask for leave. He could not go to Tokyo with the crew.
If Sun Dahai didn't tell him this news now, it is estimated that Zhang Yimou would only receive some sporadic news from domestic channels after returning to China this weekend.
Due to the different channels for obtaining information, what he inquired may not be clearer and more accurate than what Sun Dahai knew.
After listening to Sun Dahai's words, Li Bihua and Cheng Xiaodong paid more attention to Zhang Yimou.
Even though Zhang Yimou has a background in film photography and has also been the leading actor in films, he recognizes his identity as a director. Sun Dahai knows him very well, so when introducing him, he only introduced his identity as a director.
At the beginning, Li Bihua and Cheng Xiaodong both thought that Zhang Yimou was arranged by Sun Dahai to join the crew, and that he would be mainly responsible for handling the relationship between the mainland and Xiangjiang actors and actresses in the crew.
Such characters are indeed indispensable in the crew of a film co-produced by two places. Without their coordination and lubrication, the internal conflicts of the crew cannot be effectively resolved, and sooner or later they will fall apart.
But neither of them expected that Sun Dahai actually asked him to be the leading actor. Cheng Xiaodong had just learned about this project. He had not read the novel "Qin Terracotta Warriors" in its entirety, so it was inconvenient to express his opinion. At this time, the original author
Li Bihua's opinion is very important.
Li Bihua looked at Zhang Yimou carefully for a while, suddenly clapped his hands, and said in surprise: "Yes, the feeling he gave me is very consistent with the character I created in the novel.
I have thought about adapting this novel into a movie before, and I have also seriously considered privately which actor can play this role well.
Unfortunately, I am only a writer. I can create characters through imagination and words, but I do not have the ability to select actors, so I have never found a suitable candidate.
There are many actors with excellent acting skills in Xiangjiang, but most of them are handsome and good-looking men. There are also a few with strong looks, but none of them completely match my setting.
My setting for the male protagonist is more based on a feeling that I cannot describe directly.
So I stopped thinking about this issue later. Anyway, if this novel is to be made into a movie, a director will naturally be responsible for selecting the actors. They are professionals and their vision must be better than mine.
When you talk about it now, I understand what exactly I want to feel. Director Zhang is like this, deep, calm, restrained, and with a sense of vicissitudes of life.
Only in this way can this character run through the three time periods of the entire movie without appearing abrupt."
After hearing that Li Bihua recognized Zhang Yimou, Sun Dahai was very satisfied. He turned to look at Cheng Xiaodong.
"Director Zhang is a film director himself and has starred in movies, so there is definitely no problem with his expressiveness and camera sense. Now that the original author, Ms. Li, has also recognized him, of course I have no problem here, and I believe we will cooperate.
Very good." Cheng Xiaodong quickly expressed his attitude to Sun Dahai.
Cheng Xiaodong just signed a contract with Youlian yesterday, and he was naturally very happy to receive such a big project today. Since the boss Sun Dahai opened his mouth for the first time and made such a small request, he would definitely satisfy it.
Sun Dahai nodded and said, "Let's settle it like this for now. In the next two days, the company will send people to contact Ms. Li and sign all the contracts and agreements.
Ms. Li seizes the time to write the script. The company's editorial team will cooperate with your work and strive to complete the final draft within half a year.
I will also arrange for people to contact relevant institutions in mainland China to help with the film co-production procedures. Director Zhang also wants to help, as you are familiar with things in the domestic film industry.
This film is scheduled to start shooting in the second half of next year. Director Cheng can focus on the work at hand first. After the script is completed with a rough outline next year, the company will set up a preparatory team to start preparing for the film.
By the way, Director Zhang, please contact Mr. Ying for me and see if Mr. Ying is free these days. I am going to report my work to Mr. Ying and give him a briefing in advance."
Zhang Yimou said: "Director Bertolucci and Ren Kuanwei have a few days to go back to Europe the day after tomorrow to continue promoting the film. So tomorrow night, the company (Youlian) will come out to banquet all the members of the "The Last Emperor" crew,
Ying Lao will definitely participate, and you can come over when the time comes and you can meet Ying Lao."
Sun Dahai thought for a moment and said, "Okay, I'll go have a meal with you tomorrow night."
…
On Thursday night, at the Yi Lung Heen Restaurant in Central, the crew of "The Last Emperor" and the accompanying staff from Youlian Agency gathered together for dinner.
Yilongxuan Restaurant has an inconspicuous appearance. It is a three-story independent building. It serves high-end Cantonese cuisine, but the style is very Western. It can be regarded as an alternative bar among Cantonese restaurants.
The people in the crew are from different countries. Gabriel set up the banquet here, which is considered a good intention and took into account the eating habits of most people.
The small banquet hall on the third floor of Yilongxuan was fully booked by Youlian tonight. There were more than forty hosts and guests attending this banquet and practicing banquet. Everyone sat at five tables for ten people.
Very spacious.
Sun Dahai took Gao Yi, and the two of them mingled quietly among them, as if they were just here to get some food. Hu Cheng was pulled away by He Lin and continued to discuss his plan to build a factory, so tonight Sun
Only Gao Yi followed Dahai.
At this time, the dinner has entered the second half, and it is time for everyone to eat, drink and chat freely.
Sun Dahai took Zhang Yimou with him and explained to Mr. Ying on the sofa in the rest area next to him that he was planning to co-produce a movie with mainland China.
"This is a good thing! As long as your script can pass the review, we are willing to actively carry out various cooperation with film companies in Hong Kong. Let the people below discuss the specific methods and terms of cooperation first. If you have any questions, you can directly go to Dahai
Come to me."
With just one word from Mr. Ying, the film cooperation was settled.
On the coffee table in front of him, the novel "Qin Terracotta Warriors" was placed there. Sun Dahai gave it to Mr. Ying for review.
