Chapter 1476 1478 [big names]
At the end of 2000, Feng Xiaogang brought his hard-earned movie - "A Sigh".
He has been preparing for this movie since 1997. Later, because the original author Wang Yi was blocked in disguise, this project had to be shelved.
Now, Wang Yi's ban has been lifted, so he can't wait to start filming. Kirin Pictures also invested 18 million RMB for this.
This movie, starring Zhang Guoli, Liu Bei, and Xu Fan, tells the story of a middle-aged writer who vacillates between lovers and is at a loss.
This is written based on Wang Yi's own experience. As a well-known writer, he was no less popular than Xiang Nan in the mainland. Because of this, there are also a lot of literary young women who throw themselves into his arms.
But Wang Yi is not as clear as Xiang Nan. Xiang Nan's life, combined, has lived to be almost two hundred years old. He has a clear view of the world, and the separation of love and desire is also very clear.
Wang Yi has only lived for a few decades, and he has only been developed for ten years, so it is normal to not be able to tell the difference. And the more indistinguishable it is, the more painful it will be.
After the release of "A Sigh", the box office was not good.
Young viewers are generally not interested in midlife crises. Moreover, the story of "A Sigh" is not good, it seems a bit hypocritical and trivial.
Therefore, the box office is not high, and in the end it only got less than 10 million box office. It is Feng Xiaogang's worst box office performance in recent years.
More importantly, the media's evaluation is also not high.
"Popular Cinema" published a film review, saying, "The actors in "Sigh of a Sigh" performed well, and the director's handling was also clever, but overall the audience was not moved."
"Contemporary Film" published a film review saying, ""A Sigh" is hailed as Director Feng's most sincere work, but when the audience walked out of the theater sadly and sighed, some calm people pointed out that this film The seemingly touching film is filled with the stale atmosphere of 'hypocrisy'."
The loss of both box office and word of mouth hit Feng Xiaogang hard.
Although he is famous for comedies and commercial films, he is actually a literary youth at heart. "A Sigh" is really his sincere work. It took him a year to make it with great pains.
But he didn't expect that the box office and word-of-mouth of such a painstaking work was not as good as "Endless" he and his friends casually saved, which really made him a little confused.
…
"Master Cheng, could it be that I was really wrong?" Feng Xiaogang came to Xiang Nandao puzzled.
"Doing what you like, there is no right or wrong." Xiang Nan waved his hand and said, "This "Sigh" is what you really want to shoot, right?"
"Yes." Feng Xiaogang nodded.
"How do you feel about your shooting? Did you put your heart into it?" Xiang Nan asked.
"I have put my heart into it, absolutely." Feng Xiaogang nodded.
It took him three years to prepare this film, and more than half a year to shoot it. He specially went to the Zhoushan Islands to get the scene.
"That's fine. Since this is what you really want to do, and you really put your heart into it, then you don't have to blame yourself." Xiang Nan waved his hand and smiled, "Only those who don't know what they want to do and don't Those who do one thing with all their heart, in vain, and accomplish nothing, should blame themselves and regret it.”
"Besides, you don't need to be sad. No matter how good a director is, he can't guarantee that every movie he has will have a good reputation and a good box office." Xiang Nan persuaded again.
Stronger than Spielberg, filming "Giant Dream" and "War of the Worlds" also suffered box office and word-of-mouth Waterloo; stronger than James Cameron, also "Alita Battle Angel" and "Terminator Dark Fate" Such a work; "Star Wars: The Phantom Menace" directed by George Lucas also received a lot of bad reviews at the beginning of its release...
"Thank you, Master Cheng." Feng Xiaogang nodded, "Don't worry, I will work **** filming and make up for the lost money."
"You don't have to pay too much attention to money. To me, ten or twenty million is nothing." Xiang Nan waved his hand and smiled, "Compared with money, I still hope to see you get rid of your burden and take the road lightly." .”
"Thank you." Feng Xiaogang was quite moved when he heard it.
…
In 2001, Feng Xiaogang made a comeback and brought his new script "Big Wrist".
This script was written by the writer Shi Kang. A few years later, he will become popular in China with his "Struggle", but he will fall quickly after that.
Xiang Nan directly agreed to Feng Xiaogang's project after reading the script of "Big Wrist".
Feng Xiaogang immediately began to recruit troops.
The male lead still arranges Ge You, and the female lead Feng Xiaogang plans to invite Guan Zhilin.
Firstly, the heroine is set as ABC, a Chinese-American, not only beautiful, generous, and calm, but also English-speaking and charming.
Secondly, the "Once Upon a Time" series starring Guan Zhilin has been very popular in the mainland in recent years. Feng Xiaogang took a fancy to her popularity and felt that asking her to be the leading role would be better in exchange for box office.
However, Xiang Nan directly rejected it.
If Guan Zhilin was ten years younger, she would be suitable for this role. The point is, she is thirty-nine years old this year. Compared to "Once Upon a Time" in 1991, her face has already collapsed, her appearance has dropped sharply, and she is far from her peak
Furthermore, Guan Zhilin's acting skills have always been criticized. Her performance in "Big Wrist" is beyond words, and she can't keep up with it at all. She is outside the movie, and her performance is not as good as Yingda, a director.
So Xiang Nan recommended Lin Xilei to Feng Xiaogang.
Lin Xilei was born in 1975 and made his debut in 1996. Last year, he filmed "The Gambler vs. Las Vegas" and "The King of Thousand Kings 2000" with Wang Jing.
Although the quality of those two movies was mediocre, Lin Xilei still became popular with these two movies. It is much better than Guan Zhilin who is already out of breath.
Compared with being stubborn and insisting on his own choice, Feng Xiaogang naturally chooses to respect Xiang Nan's opinion. He immediately contacted Xiangjiang.
At that time, Lin Xilei had already signed a contract with China Star Films, which was the company under Xiang Huaqiang. Knowing that Feng Xiaogang wanted her to be the lead in his new film, China Star readily agreed.
Because the Xiangjiang film market has been shrinking and depressed in recent years. In contrast, the mainland film and television drama market is recovering, and this is where Chinese stars will focus in the future.
It is not easy to enter the mainland market.
The competition in the entertainment industry in the mainland is also very fierce. Although the Chinese stars are strong, talented and rich, but after all, the strong dragon does not overwhelm the local snake.
What's more, those local snakes are no worse than Qianglong. In particular, Xiang Nan, the richest Chinese man, is well-known in Hollywood, let alone they can provoke him, so it is also a good thing for Chinese stars to agree to make a good relationship now.
(end of this chapter)