Chapter 529 'The Unparalleled' Fage, Liu Tianwang and Wu Jing and Zhang Ze of 'Operation Red Sea'
The movie "Wushuang" is a crime suspense movie, but the suspense lies not in the case, but in the plot.
In the first half, this movie is a barely good crime movie, but the big twist at the end suddenly elevates the movie to a new level.
After waiting for the reversal, you will watch this movie again, and you will find that every detail is terrifying.
Zuo Le himself has watched this movie on Goldfinger Player no less than four or five times, but every time he watches it again, he always discovers something new.
These things may be his own excessive associations, but they are also full of certain logic.
Continuously digging out the detailed metaphors of a movie is actually a refreshing feeling when watching a movie, and any movie that can support the audience to keep digging is a good movie.
In Zuo Le's mind, "Wushuang" is a work that can compete for awards, especially the male lead Li Wen. If he plays well, he will be nominated for the Golden Dragon Award.
The "painter" who appeared in the early stage may not have a chance to become the best actor.
To be honest, when I first saw this movie, Zuo Le wanted to shoot it myself, but later I felt that I couldn't grasp the "Hong Kong flavor" in it.
In order to overcome this difficulty, Zuo Le even changed the background of "Wushuang" from Hong Kong to the mainland.
But then I carefully studied the movie and found that all aspects of the plot design of the original version were developed around the special area of Xiangjiang.
If it were to be set in the Mainland, many plots would have to be overturned and re-organized, and it might not pass the review.
Apart from other things, the movie has a big twist at the end. Li Wen deceives the police and breaks out of the police station. This kind of plot is impossible to happen in mainland China.
It is impossible for criminals to escape the iron fist of the people's police.
It’s okay to struggle to death outside, but you also want to stab someone in the police station, grandma!
The biggest attraction of the movie "Wu Shuang" is the great twist in the police station. He openly tricked the police in the police lair and escaped smoothly, which gave people goosebumps.
If this climax plot is deleted, then "Wushuang" might as well not be filmed.
Zuo Le pondered for a long time, and finally decided to give up the adaptation and maintain the original version. At the same time, because he could not grasp the "Hong Kong flavor" in the movie, Zuo Le will cooperate with Shaojia Film and Television this time.
Shaojia Film and Television was born in the 1960s and became the leader of Hong Kong films in the 1970s. Although it encountered setbacks later, it has always stood in the Hong Kong film industry.
Nowadays, Xiangjiang movies are in decline, and Xiangjiang movies are collectively heading north, and Shaojia Film and Television is no exception.
Unfortunately, due to various reasons, Shaojia Film and Television's films after moving to the north have always received mediocre response. The one with the best performance only had a box office of around 800 million.
After working hard for several years, although he made some money, he never made a name for himself, so that Shaojia's status in the film industry declined year by year.
Nowadays, Shaojia still has a large number of connections and resources in Hong Kong and Taiwan, and he can still speak in the circle.
But in a few years, this group of Hong Kong's top artists will gradually fade away, and the younger generations of artists will not be able to take over. The Hong Kong and Taiwan film markets are still in trouble. Without the competitiveness that Shaojia can show, I am afraid that he will be squeezed out of the core circle of the film industry immediately.
Shanhe has achieved great success over the years. It is the dominant company in China's TV drama field and its territory in the film field is also constantly expanding. It looks like the strongest entertainment giant of the new generation.
The declining old film and television company met the rising new giant in the entertainment industry, and the two sides hit it off immediately.
Almost as soon as Shanhe handed over the ladder, Shaojia immediately climbed up the ladder. Without even reading the script of "Wushuang", he clamored for the two families to form a strategic alliance and jointly conquer the world.
When Shaojia and several senior executives read the script of "Wushuang", their first reaction was surprise.
How could Zuo Le, an out-and-out Dongshan native, write a script with such a strong "Hong Kong flavor"? Zuo Le's excuse was that he was a die-hard fan of Hong Kong movies and was influenced by it.
The people in Shaojia believe it, but there is nothing they can do if they don’t believe it.
Who put the script of "Wushuang" here? They all know the well-known screenwriters in Xiangjiang and have heard about any good scripts. Anyway, there is no such thing as "Wushuang".
Zuo Le does not rely on screenwriters to make a living. At his level, there is no need to fight for the authorship of a movie as a screenwriter. He said that he wrote it himself, so there will basically be no mistakes.
After the screenwriter's concerns were resolved, the second reaction from everyone in Shaojia was surprise.
More than half of the people who are still sitting in the senior management of Shaojia have experienced the golden film era of Xiangjiang. The reason for their mediocre performance in going north is due to various reasons, and it does not mean that they have poor ability.
Moreover, even if their abilities were poor, they still had good vision, and they quickly concluded the potential of the script "Wushuang".
If it works well, they, Shaojia, can finally take their first shot after heading north...
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Unlike Cactus and The World, since "Wushuang" followed the route of Xiangjiang movies, Shanhe did not rush to take the initiative, but let Shao Jia take action.
Of course, in order to ensure the quality of the film, Sunward retained the right to supervise the film. As the movie was being prepared for filming, Sunward sent personnel to supervise the crew to prevent Shao Jiahu from coming.
Shaojia was deeply moved by the delegation of power to Shanhe.
At the same time, out of trust in the script of "Wushuang" and hope for a better future, Shaojia spent a lot of money this time.
They invited Mai Zhuang, one of the most famous crime directors in Hong Kong, to direct the film himself. At the same time, they also used various connections to invite Liu Tianwang to play Li Wen and Fa Ge to play the painter.
The other characters are also all old actors from Xiangjiang, and there are also several top-notch guest appearances, including not only two of the Four Heavenly Kings, but also the ordinary Principal Gu, Liang Kun, the ever-changing actor Liang Hui, etc.
Even Zuo Le was overwhelmed by this lineup.
He didn't expect that Shaojia would be so awesome and invite so many big names to help, especially Fa Ge and Liu Tianwang.
In Zuo Le's impression, except for the last time they collaborated in the gift blockbuster "A Red Boat in the South Lake", the two of them had not acted together for many years, let alone the two-protagonist Double Dragon Club.
It is no exaggeration to say that Zuo Le regretted it a bit. If he had known in advance that Shaojia had invited these two leading actors, he would probably have directed it himself.
Zuo Le, who was a little depressed, inserted Shui Miaomiao into the cast of "Wushuang" to play the heroine Ruan Wen.
After Qishui became a TV drama queen, he became much stricter about the selection of TV series than before. He would not accept any non-high-quality TV series, and his overall career focus was more towards movies.
The character Ruan Wen in "Wushuang" has a good character design and a certain amount of room for performance. If he plays the role well, he will be outstanding. He can also gain a lot of qualifications next to the two big guys, and even hope to increase his influence in Hong Kong and Taiwan.
It's a blessing to achieve multiple things with one stone...
Zuo Le personally still values the "Wushuang" project very much.
He has a lot of Xiangjiang scripts in his hands. If "Wushuang" can get off to a good start, Shanhe can fully cooperate with Shaojia in the future. Not only will he make money, but he can also further access and absorb the Xiangjiang resources in Shaojia's hands.
Although Hong Kong movies are lonely, the Hong Kong film industry still has a strong foundation. Not to mention, Zuo Le is very coveted by those ace Hong Kong movie stars.
I would like to ask which Chinese director has not directed the biweekly program, The Dreams of the Four Heavenly Kings...
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"Wushuang" is progressing very smoothly, while the other "Operation Red Sea" is a bit more troublesome in comparison.
The Red Star Group was a propaganda unit of the military in its early years and was responsible for shooting some military-related films and documentaries.
Later, as the times changed, major state-owned units were reorganized one after another, and Red Star Group was no exception. It abandoned its own film and television production route and transformed the company into film and television investment and distribution.
Due to the limitations of the company's background, Red Star Group's distribution is relatively easy to say, and I dare not say that it will accept all comers, but most regular film and television companies will accept cooperation.
However, in terms of investment, most of the projects that Red Star participates in are military-themed or military-related projects, and other themes are rarely involved.
However, these restrictions do not affect Red Star Group's position in the film and television industry.
On the contrary, Red Star's status is very high. For any films with main themes or military themes, if they can register with the Red Star Group, they can save a lot of trouble.
There are many special licenses that CCTV and local military regions cannot obtain, but the Red Star Group can easily handle them.
Many times, some military crews who want to attract "hard guys" will try their best to ask Red Star Group to invest in order to take advantage of Red Star Group's momentum.
However, the Red Star Group has a very high vision and looks down upon ordinary projects. It can invest money, but don’t even think about helping.
Zuo Le came to Red Star Group to cooperate, naturally not for money, he also took a fancy to the capabilities of Red Star Group.
However, Zuo Le is famous here, and there is also the brand of "The Story of the Cooking Class", a classic military sitcom. Even if the Red Star Group understands what Zuo Le means, it is still very interested in Zuo Le's project.
When Zuo Le led the team to contact the Red Star Group, the second-in-command sent by the other party wore a bright four-star military uniform, which did not conceal the special nature of the Red Star Group.
The movie "Operation Red Sea" is a military action movie. It can also add a main theme in front. The storyline is very simple. It is probably about Chinese soldiers rescuing and protecting overseas Chinese.
The highlight of this movie is the bloody gun battle scenes and the reflection of the military literacy and patriotic sentiments of Chinese soldiers.
There are many movies and TV shows about the Chinese military, but there are not many movies like "Operation Red Sea" that are very graphic and reflect the fighting style of soldiers. It can even be said that they are very few.
Because the plot of the script is relatively thin, Zuo Le specially made a ppt, which contains some special effects shots and storyboards made with computer special effects.
The ppt with nearly a hundred pictures made the second-in-command of the Red Star Group look at it with gusto and was very optimistic about the "Operation Red Sea" project.
After this meeting, the second-in-command specifically asked Zuo Le for a copy of the ppt, took it back to discuss with other senior officials, and responded shortly after.
Red Star Group followed this project.
Zuo Le was overjoyed and hurriedly made terms with the Red Star Group. Shanhe was not short of money, and if the actor could do it, he could handle it himself.
However, various military props and equipment, as well as some special scenes in the movie, as well as future movie review, require help from the Red Star Group.
Regarding these requests, the Red Star Group was obviously well prepared and agreed to them all.
After Zuo Le received the reply, he immediately started preparing for the crew of "Operation Red Sea".
In the previous "Wushuang", Shanhe was the boss, with Shaojia doing all the work. This time in "Operation Red Sea", the Red Star Group provided the money and background, and Shanhe did the work himself.
Of course, Zuo Le was not stupid, and he quickly found a "coolie".
Director Bao Liqiang, a native of Beijing, is famous for his proficiency in filming gun battles, car chases, explosions and other thrilling stunt scenes. He is nicknamed "the number one stunt director in China".
Director Bao had a professional background as a Beijing film director in his early years. At that time, mainland films were mostly feature films. Bao Liqiang didn't catch a cold, so he went to Xiangjiang and became a stunt director.
At its peak, almost all car chase and explosion scenes in Hong Kong movies were directed by Bao Liqiang or his apprentices and assistants.
In the later period, Hong Kong movies were no longer popular, and Bao Liqiang did not return to the mainland. Instead, he went to Hollywood, America, to learn Hollywood stunts and make some famous names.
However, the racial discrimination in Hollywood was so severe that Bao Liqiang couldn't bear the anger, so he ran back to China from the United States.
Lao Bao was capable, and he had a career in Hollywood. 20% of his Hollywood experience was gilded, and soon a film and television company asked him to come out and make a movie.
This movie is a police film, and Lao Bao shot the car chases, gun battles and other scenes between the police and criminals in a very exciting way, allowing many mainland audiences to experience Hollywood-level domestic stunt scenes.
However, Xiao He succeeds and Xiao He fails, and Bao Liqiang is too obsessed with chasing stunt scenes and does not pay much attention to the plot. Not only is the filming somewhat scattered, but there is not much space.
Frankly speaking, it is exciting to have a variety of special effects scenes in a movie, but there must also be a plot to connect them. Otherwise, the excitement is exciting, but the beating is confusing. After a long time, the audience will be very tired.
Later, Bao Liqiang learned his lesson and knew that he was not good at literary opera, so he found several literary opera assistants for himself to make up for his shortcomings.
Not to mention, Bao Liqiang performed well in several subsequent works, and later became obsessed with special effects. The special effects teamed up to make the scenes even more spectacular.
Although popcorn is ridiculed by many people, when it comes to action and gunfight blockbusters, the director that domestic audiences recognize most is Lao Bao.
In Zuo Le's mind, there is no one in China who is more suitable to be the director of "Operation Red Sea" than Bao Liqiang. Of course, the premise is that he must be paired with several excellent literary and drama directors.
For this reason, Zuo Le specially invited Kong Sheng to co-direct with Bao Liqiang. The two men complemented each other in both literary and military skills.
Old Bao was still a little dissatisfied at first, but when Zuo Le showed him the list of equipment and props taken from the Red Star Group and the promised unlimited budget, the explosion maniac and special effects maniac immediately gave in.
His surrender made Zuo Le feel a little unsure. He consulted with Kong Sheng for a long time, and he must be optimistic about him. Although the budget was not capped, he could not waste money desperately.
The director has been found. As for the actors in "Operation Red Sea", Wu Jing is the male lead, playing the role of the leader of the special team, and Yin Li, the female lead, plays the reporter.
The other teammates are played by Zhang Ze, Chu Yuan (Agarwood), Zhang Shui (Captain of the Cavalry Company) and others.
In order to reflect the military style, Zuo Le negotiated with the Red Star Group to arrange these leading actors into a certain unit for training and polish the "military atmosphere".
Zuo Le knew that Wu Jing had always wanted to act in military-themed roles, and had previously filmed related TV series. This time, he happened to have a project, so he decided to fulfill his dream of being a soldier.
Not to mention Zhang Ze, who came from a military background and also served as an art soldier for several years. It would be a good story to revisit his old dream this time.
