What Run Run Shaw invited was both a dinner and a family dinner.
The location is not at the Peninsula Hotel where I usually go, but directly at Fong Yat-hua’s offshore villa in A Kung Bay, Sai Kung.
Even Wang Zuxian, who is known as "Fang Taiqi's daughter", has never taken a step forward before, and this is the first time.
After the five flavors of food and three rounds of wine, Run Run Shao wiped his mouth and said slowly:
"Yanzi, we have been considering the requirements you mentioned these days, but we are still I have a small concern.”
"What kind of movie are you planning for Shaw Brothers to make?"
Fang Yihua cast an inquiring look, "Or do you have a preliminary story outline?"
"I don't have one at the moment. I don’t dare to brag about the complete clues, but you two must already know from Xiaoxian the two scripts I prepared for Jiahe and Cheng Long, right?" Fang Yan turned to Wang Zuxian.
Shao Yifu admitted openly, "It is said that the waves behind the Yangtze River push the waves ahead, and Yanzi is a great talent. I have learned the lesson."
Fang Yan said: "You have commended me."
Run Run Shaw waved his hand and said, "It's not an exaggeration at all. If we really follow what Yan Zai said, Cheng Long will definitely be able to break into Hollywood, and Golden Harvest will definitely be able to enter the European and American markets again. This is what Zou Wenhuai and He Guanchang have been wishing for many years." , it finally came true."
Fang Yihua added tacitly that they also liked the script of "Die Hard" and hoped to hand it over to Shaw Brothers Pictures for filming.
Fang Yan is well aware of the two people's plans. Although "Police Story" is not inferior to "Die Hard" and is often regarded as a textbook for action movies by Hollywood in later generations, due to the story background and environment They are all located in Xiangjiang, but their appeal to the European and American markets is actually quite limited.
And "Die Hard" was the key that truly opened Cheng Long's door to Hollywood.
Shaw Brothers Pictures cut this movie short, which is equivalent to taking away the salary from the bottom of the cauldron and taking away the springboard for Cheng Long and Jiahe to jump to Hollywood.
But obviously, he would not offend Jiahe for the sake of Shaw Brothers, and "eating from both ends" could not turn into "blocking both ends."
So, he politely refused and said, "I've thought about it too, but the crux of the problem is that Shaw Brothers doesn't have a stand-alone action star."
"There are none that can be cultivated. ”
Fang Yihua shook her head and laughed, "The most important thing we lack is actors. Even if we don't have them in Shaw Brothers, we can still find them in TVB."
"Six uncles and six aunts, action stars are different from ordinary actors. They must not only be able to act and fight, but also Can create your own style.”
Dialect tells the truth, Xiangjiang's martial arts films shot over the years are like Ao Gan's medicine residue.
The martial arts moves in the outer shell are a hard bridge and a hard horse in every fight. It is not straightforward and unpleasant. It is purely a formulaic fighting style.
The core storyline, the ancient one is martial arts, and the modern one is fashion martial arts.
There is nothing new inside or outside, and the audience's aesthetics are constantly improving. If you want to stand out, you must either surpass your predecessors or find a new way, because martial arts films are different from other types of films and have a strong personal hero color, so that they have personal characteristics. It should be distinctive and have a strong style.
For example, Cheng Long is a kung fu drama, desperate stunts, and thrilling parkour.
For example, Jet Li is a martial arts warrior in ancient costume and has the style of a master.
Like Wu Jing, it’s not like she didn’t expect to be the second Jet Li.
However, "Monkey Fist", "Tai Chi Master" and other ancient costume martial arts films were never able to shake Jet Li, who was in the same ecological niche, and then transformed into modern martial arts films. As a result, the first self-written and directed "Langya" 》Pounced, proving that he is not suitable for modern martial arts.
Finally, by chance, I aimed at the blue ocean of the Chinese market - war action films. I followed Stallone's "First Blood" and "The Expendables" and turned to military, special forces and heavy industry action films, while Zhen Bullet turned to In the action movies of the Republic of China, "Ip Man" became his style label.
As for the negative teaching material, Zhang Jin's style is not outstanding enough. Even though he is a Wuying-level athlete, he only has the image of a thug in a suit.
Listening to his succinct analysis, Run Run Shao and Fang Yihua looked at each other and sighed faintly:
“What Yan Zai said is not unreasonable.”
“Hong Jinbao, Cheng Long, Reputable action actors like Yuan Biao are now in Golden Harvest. Even if we insist on making this kind of police and gangster movie, for a while, it seems that we can’t choose. If there is a person who can take the leading role, it seems that the police film is destined to have no chance with Shaw Brothers."
"Having said that, I can promise the two elders here."
Fang Yan is determined. : "The script I prepared for Shaw Brothers will definitely not be worse than "Die Hard" and "Police Story"."
Fang Yihua smiled and said: "Yan Zai's words are enough."
"Cheers!"
Shao Run Run raised his glass with a kind look.
Wang Zuxian, who had been staying away from the topic, became excited and hurriedly drank the wine in one gulp like a dialect.
Then there was no more business talk at the dinner table, and the entire dinner gradually came to an end.
Run Run Shaw personally delivered it to the door, with concern in his tone:
"Will Yanzi go back tomorrow?"
"Yes."
Fang Yan nodded and said, When I return to Beijing, I will report all the cooperation with Jiahe and Shaw Brothers to the cultural department as soon as possible.
…………
It was already late at night when we returned to the hotel from the villa.
Wang Zuxian opened the door and saw Lin Qingxia wearing her pajamas, lying on the bed, her legs raised and swinging from side to side.
"You had a great time, but you exhausted me."
"Isn't this still too tiring? Do you know how many people want to have a meal with Mr. Liu and Mrs. Fang? , there is no such way."
Lin Qingxia rolled her eyes playfully, "You still picked it up. If others hear this, you must be ignorant."
"Actually, it's not that I'm tired, I'm just a little bored."
Wang Zuxian curled her lips and said in dialect that when she was with Run Run Shaw and Fang Yihua, they talked about current affairs, economics, literature, politics and other issues. I couldn't understand these questions at all, so I naturally couldn't get a word in. Over time, I felt isolated and left out.
"You just know."
Lin Qingxia said: "You and I live in two worlds. It's okay to be friends, but you have to be like What you said is that if you have to choose between Xiang Lin, Qin Han and him, he will be the first to be eliminated, because it is impossible to get together."
"You are right or wrong. ”
Wang Zuxian explained that although she could not speak, she was surprised to discover the talent and value of dialects in being left out.
Lin Qingxia insisted on her opinion, "The surprise is only temporary, but getting along is a lifetime. Even if you, or I, are lucky enough to be together with Fang Sheng, we will not have much in common. It will be too difficult for such a relationship to develop. It’s dangerous, something will happen sooner or later.”
"According to what you said, Fang Sheng's wife is an actress. Don't they have a common language?"
"This...this..."
"Besides, Fang Sheng is an Oscar winner. The best screenwriter, with a deep understanding of movies.”
Wang Zuxian told everything at the dinner.
Lin Qingxia's eyes widened, "Is this what he said?"
"Of course, he also said that although Shaw Brothers can't make police and gangster movies, it can let Shaw Brothers actors participate in them. Acting." Wang Zuxian patted her chest, "He is going to recommend me. Go play "Police Story"."
Lin Qingxia was surprised at first, and then she was overjoyed, "That's great!"
Wang Zuxian hooked her shoulder, "Hey, now. We can finally star in a movie together!”
Lin Qingxia looked stunned, "Wait a minute, us?"
"Yes, "Police Story" has two heroines." Wang Zuxian smiled and said, "Aside from me, Fang Sheng also plans to recommend you."
Lin Qingxia was puzzled, "Why did he choose the two of us?"
"Maybe he is attracted to you, or me, or both of us." Wang Zuxian joked .
“Stop talking nonsense and be serious.”
"He said that when he chooses actors, he doesn't look for the most beautiful ones, only the most suitable ones, and the two of us are both suitable and beautiful."
"Did he really say that?"
Lin Qingxia's eyes were complicated, "He is really weird, even better than Li Ao, Yinmeng and those literati are still weird."
"I think so too, Qingxia, what kind of person do you think Fang Sheng is?"
Wang Zuxian pulled Lin Qingxia over. We sat down by the bed and started chatting around the dialect.
We chatted all night, and the next day, he took the initiative to send Fang Yan to the dock with Xu Ke, Shi Nansheng and others.
As soon as I returned to eastern Guangdong, I flew back to Beijing without stopping.
I saw that the airport was full of people, including the film bureau, and leaders from the culture, publicity, radio and television departments, etc., specially came to pick me up.
Under the banners fluttering in the wind, reporters from "Popular Cinema", "Guangming Daily", "Literary News" and other newspapers were all present, and their cameras were focused on the dialect who got off the plane, "Kaka" The shutter sound kept ringing, and my mind was already thinking about the title and content of the article.
“Pa bang bang.”
Accompanied by bursts of applause, Fang Yan took the flowers from Zhu Muzhi's hand.
Immediately afterwards, they shook hands with seniors and leaders in the film industry such as Shi Fangyu, Teng Jinxian, Zhong Lianfei and so on.
"Xiao Fang, you did a great job winning the Oscar this time."
Xia Yan praised: "You have brought glory to our Chinese literary and art circles, overseas Chinese, and Asian movies. .”
“Yeah, great!”
"You deserve to stand out from the literary world. You didn't lose any points for us!"
"Yes, this is not only a personal honor for Teacher Fang, but also a collective honor for our Chinese-language films, which proves the technology of Chinese films. Maybe they are backward, but people The talents are no less than world-class, directors, screenwriters, actors, artists, etc., can all be world-class!”
“…………”
With so many people surrounding us! Next, Fang Yan was brought to the conference room of the Film Bureau.
The arrangement was quite grand. The table was filled with various fruit candies, peanuts, melon seeds, etc. It was obvious that a celebration and symposium in the form of a tea party was going to be held. In addition to the people who had just picked up the airport, There were also representatives from film studios such as Beijing Film Studio, Bayi Film Studio, and West Film Studio.
Looking around, there was both Gong Cie and Zhu Fu's face among the crowd.
A pair of eyes stared directly at the Oscar statuette that Fang Yan took out from his luggage.
“Is this the Oscar trophy?”
“Is this trophy pure gold or gold-plated?”
“Haven’t newspapers popularized the Oscar trophy before? , like our Golden Rooster Award, it is also gold-plated!”
The trophy was passed among the people, looking up and down, they just felt it was so novel.
"That's right. In fact, the Oscars in the United States are nothing more than China's Golden Rooster Awards."
Fang Yan said: "It's just that it lasts longer and covers a wider range. The number of participants is greater, and the scale of the awards is larger..."
Everyone present is convinced that these days, there is not too much admiration and respect for the Oscars.
"Xiao Fang, tell us what you think of Hollywood and American movies after your trip to the Oscars?"
Xia Yan put the topic aside, "Also, share your thoughts and experiences on "Saving Private Ryan"."
"I think the biggest feeling from this trip is..."
< br>Fang Yan thought about it for a while and said words such as "entertainment film", "commercialization" and "industrialization".
Zhong Tanfei, Xia Yan, Shi Fangyu and others looked at each other and asked him to explain some unheard words by name.
Especially the entertainment, commercialization and industrialization of movies have triggered heated discussions, with everyone talking to each other and talking about it.
Zhu Ru lowered his voice and said: "Gong Qian, why do I feel that something is wrong with the atmosphere?"
"You think so too?" Gong Qian looked confused.
Zhu Fu nodded, "You see their faces are so solemn, they are not as relaxed as they were just now."
Gong Qie also felt the same, so he secretly asked the people around him for advice. Xie Fei, after asking, I found out that there are two lines of debate in the film industry today.
One is the path of "literary aesthetics" brought about by films such as "The Mountain, That Man, That Dog" and "Yellow Earth".
After all, the "color and picture" techniques of the fifth generation directors have subverted the traditional narrative method of Chinese films, turning the feature film model with "plot" as the main body into the aesthetics of art films with "image" as the main body, causing a stir in the film industry. similar to the French "New Wave Movement".
The other one also has a role in dialects.
That is the "commercialization of movies" set off by entertainment films such as "The Ring", "Qin", and "Once Upon a Time in China".
At present, newspapers such as "Movie Pictorial", "Popular Film", and "Literary News" have all raised questions about the "commercialization of entertainment films."
Even in the "Discussion and Debate" column of "Contemporary Film", there are endless articles criticizing and denying the entertainment and commercialization of films, and resolutely opposing borrowing from Western film business models and industrial mechanisms, such as "By' Commercialization 'Thinks of the direction of development of Chinese films".
"Commercial film' is an unclear concept. If we use this concept without distinction, it will cause ideological confusion and is not conducive to the healthy development of the film industry. If we use the 'commercial logic and experience of Western films' to transform us studio, the consequences will be It’s unimaginable, so we’d better not adopt the concept of ‘commercial film’ for the time being and stay away from the path of ‘commercialization’...”
“Hiss!”
Gong Qie and Zhu Lu gasped. He was cold-mouthed, not expecting this situation at all.
"Teacher Fang is not only the initiator and participant of these two lines, but also the best screenwriter at the Golden Rooster Award and Oscar. He is a pivotal figure in the domestic and foreign film circles. His words and deeds will make the whole world The big debate has become more complicated and intense.”
Xie Fei’s face was solemn and his tone was serious.
Zhu Fu's heart skipped a beat. Like Gong Cie, he looked at Fang Yan worriedly and subconsciously clutched the corners of his clothes. (End of this chapter)