Chapter 162: The Struggle for the Spotlight and the Conclusion

【General Producer】: Liu Zhou
【Executive Producer】: Han Shanping, Zhang Weiping, Jiang Zhiqiang
【Director】: Zhang Yimou

【Special Advisor】: Xie Jin, Wang Fulin
【Executive Director】: Huang Jianxin

【Action Director】: Chen Xiaodong, Sang Lin

【Photography】：Lü Le
……

Part of the behind-the-scenes cast of "Three Kingdoms: Red Cliff" was announced, and the outside world was shocked.

Which of the names here is not well-known in the industry?
Maybe only Sanglin is less famous.

He is a rising star among Hong Kong's martial arts directors, but now he has a movie called "The Blade of the Dragon" which has a box office of over 200 million, and his fame has begun to grow.

Liu Zhou worked with him on two films, "The Blade of the Sword" and "Source Code", and felt that his abilities were indeed good, so he extended an olive branch to him.

Sang Lin readily accepted Liu Zhou's offer and became a member of Zhou Shan's studio.

There are so many excellent martial arts directors in Hong Kong. If Sang Lin wants to stand out, he has to accumulate experience slowly.

Now that he can rely on Liu Zhou, he certainly couldn't ask for more, and Liu Zhou is also taking him to Hollywood.

Ever since Yuen Woo-ping became famous in Hollywood, which martial arts director in Hong Kong doesn’t want to try his luck in Hollywood?

After hearing the news that Liu Zhou had acquired Jiahe, Sang Lin was even more grateful to have accepted Liu Zhou's olive branch.

Joining at that time and joining now have completely different meanings.

Before, it was a timely help, but now joining is just icing on the cake.

Sure enough, after Liu Zhou acquired Golden Harvest, he valued himself even more and allowed him to start forming his own martial arts team. It was obvious that he would be the main martial arts director of Golden Harvest in the future.

The Sang family!

He was so happy that he couldn't sleep when he thought of this name.

To have a team named after one's own surname is the ultimate dream of every Hong Kong martial arts practitioner.

Apart from the few old martial arts teams in Hong Kong, there seem to be no new teams emerging so far.

As long as Sang Lin becomes famous in the future, he might become the new one.

Liu Zhou knew nothing about Sang Lin's inner thoughts. He just recognized Sang Lin's abilities and he would need a familiar martial arts team in the future, so he recruited him.

For this big project of "Red Cliff", Liu Zhou also included Sang Lin in it, allowing him and Chen Xiaodong to learn from him.

Chen Xiaodong is a big name in the industry, and was even once as famous as the top martial arts director Yuen Woo-ping.

He was the action director personally chosen by Zhang Yimou, and after their collaboration on "Hero", Zhang Yimou was highly recognized for his abilities.

Later, the two collaborated on "Curse of the Golden Flower", and he was also the action director of the previous life's "The Warlords".

Chen Xiaodong has unique insights into large-scale war scenes.

As for the director of photography Lui Lok, he is also a big name in the industry and has collaborated with Zhang Yimou on many films.

In his previous life, he also collaborated with Feng Kuzi on "Assembly", "1942" and "Aftershock", so large-scale scenes were not a problem for him.

Liu Zhou met Jia Zhangke once when he and Jia Zhangke took "Xiao Wu" to the Berlin Film Festival.

At that time, the two of them just politely said that there was a chance for cooperation, but they didn't expect that they would really work together now.

Apart from these few people, there is no need to mention the others.

The producers are all bigwigs of the film and television companies in the circle, and they control at least half of the current film and television resources.

As for the two special advisers, Xie Jin is one of the representatives of the fourth generation of directors.

He has a very high status in the industry. In fact, he wanted to shoot "The Battle of Red Cliff" in his early years, but for various reasons, he never fulfilled his wish.

When he learned that Red Cliff was being filmed, the old man came over to read the script. He thought it was pretty good and helped a lot.

As for Wang Fulin, he was the chief director of the 94 version of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", and he also filmed the most classic CCTV version of "Dream of Red Mansions".

When filming "Three Kingdoms: Red Cliff", Han Shanping personally invited the two to serve as consultants.

As for Zhang Yimou and Liu Zhou, there had been a lot of rumors about them before.

But no one expected that the two great directors would actually work together!

However, unlike what everyone had imagined before where the two of them would co-direct the film, Liu Zhou actually served as the chief producer this time.

The executive director Huang Jianxin is also not a simple person.

There is absolutely no problem with his professional level. The most important thing is that he is Han Shanping's confidant and is very capable.

This time, he will not only play an important role in Zhang Yimou's directing team, but will also play an important role in the production team.

The above bosses will not be in charge of specific matters, and the main work is still done by Huang Jianxin.

He will probably be the busiest person on the crew.

In addition, many aspects such as costumes and props are mostly from the teams of classic historical dramas in mainland China.

Several other people wanted to use the big shots behind the scenes from Hong Kong and Taiwan, but this time Liu Zhou overruled the majority and acted arbitrarily.

Not to mention other topics, he really doesn't particularly trust the professionalism of the Hong Kong and Taiwan teams in terms of history.

The mainland teams are far superior to the Hong Kong and Taiwan teams in terms of both professionalism and the beauty of ancient costumes, they are just relatively unknown.

To this end, Liu Zhou even invited relevant history professors to provide guidance and help him identify and fill in the gaps.

It is no exaggeration to say that the budget for the construction and investment of the behind-the-scenes team of "Three Kingdoms: Red Cliff" alone was no less than tens of millions of RMB, which is enough to pay the salary of a superstar.

And there is also good news. After the film project was launched, it received strong support from above.

The relevant leaders directly helped solve the problem of mobilizing troops to assist in the filming. Within two regiments, the crew could negotiate and contact directly.

The dazzlingly luxurious team behind the scenes has accumulated a record-breaking investment of nearly 5 million yuan.

In addition, the film was jointly produced by five major industry giants, and two great directors, Zhang Yimou and Liu Zhou, worked together.

Not only did it attract a large amount of attention from the audience and media, but actors in the industry were also crazy about grabbing a role.

Originally everyone thought that the main roles this time would definitely be occupied by Hong Kong actors, so they were not targeting the main roles.

For them, participating in such a large-scale production is considered a success.

But unexpectedly, a rumor suddenly came out that several bigwigs seemed to have disagreements on casting, and some people hoped to use all mainland actors to play the roles in this big production.

When this news came out, these mainland actors were ecstatic.

Everyone's enthusiasm was fully mobilized, and they all used their connections to get a role, or even the leading role!
However, because the casting issue was temporarily shelved, the project team rejected all those requests.

But even though they were rejected, it did not stop their enthusiasm and they were ready to do their best to promote this project. As time went by, it gradually became known that Liu Zhou insisted on using only mainland actors.

This caused Liu Zhou to be criticized by some public intellectuals in the mainland, who accused him of destroying unity and so on.

Not only that, some Hong Kong media criticized Liu Zhou, saying that he did not understand movies at all, and even predicted that if this big project did not choose Hong Kong stars, the movie would definitely fail.

Su Qi and others, who had disliked Liu Zhou before, frequently made statements in the media, saying that Liu Zhou was biased against Hong Kong actors and that his acquisition of Golden Harvest would completely ruin Hong Kong films.

On the contrary, the fantasy martial arts blockbuster "The Promise", which is said to have an investment of 300 million yuan and is directed by Chen Shishi, has officially announced its cast.

The starring actors include Jang Dong-gun, Hiroyuki Sanada, Xie Tingfeng and Zhang Baizhi, including well-known actors from Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong. Liu Ye from mainland China only played a supporting role in it.

As soon as this list came out, it received positive reviews from many media outlets.

Poet Chen even publicly stated in front of the media that the movie "The Promise" is targeting the entire Asian market, so it is necessary to invite superstars with influence throughout Asia to join.

The meaning is self-evident.

The reason why poet Chen announced the cast at this time and made public statements in front of the media was mainly because he felt jealous.

Before the project of "Red Cliff" was launched and the list of behind-the-scenes actors was announced, "The Promise" was the most anticipated movie in the industry.

He, poet Chen, was the most handsome guy at that time!
But as soon as "Red Cliff" was released, both his and "The Promise" were overshadowed.

How could Chen Shishi, who claims to be the number one director in mainland China, tolerate this?

Poet Chen was never inferior to anyone in his life. Even when facing Zhang Yimou and Liu Zhou, he didn't care at all.

If Han Shanping hadn't pulled him back, poet Chen might have said something more explicit in front of the media.

Liu Zhou, Zhang Yimou and the entire project team remained silent and did not respond to anyone.

Liu Zhou didn't care about the negative public opinion at all and devoted himself to the preparation of "Red Cliff".

He is the executive producer of this film, and it is impossible for him to just be a hands-off boss like he did before.

After working hard with Zhang Yimou for nearly two months, the preparatory work finally came to an end.

Only after close contact with Zhang Yimou did Liu Zhou truly feel his vigorous energy. He only slept three or four hours a day, but he would still be full of energy when he woke up the next day.

Liu Zhou felt that he was more than 20 years younger than Zhang Yimou, but he still couldn't be as hardworking as him.

There is a reason why Zhang Yimou has achieved such great success in his career as a director.

Now, the preliminary preparations for "Three Kingdoms: Red Cliff" are almost completed.

The film is expected to start shooting after the Spring Festival, probably in May this year.

The two parts were shot together. Taking into account the scene changes, rest and other reasons, there may be some pauses in the middle, but the total shooting time is no less than 8 months, and the fastest is half a year.

This movie also requires some special effects, and since it is a big production, the post-production time will be a little longer.

The expected release time is that the first film is scheduled to be released during next year’s summer vacation, and the second film will be released during next year’s Lunar New Year vacation.

It was almost the New Year and the preparatory work had come to an end, so Zhang Yimou and Liu Zhou prepared a farewell dinner.

"Director Zhang, I have benefited a lot from working with you this time. I'd like to toast you."

Liu Zhou stayed with Zhang Yimou for two months and indeed learned a lot from him.

When two directors are together, they will inevitably exchange their experiences.

At the beginning, the two of them were communicating with each other, but then Liu Zhou was asking questions and Lao Mouzi was teaching.

Whether it was directing techniques, the application of aesthetics, or the preparation, scheduling and shooting of large-scale scenes, he taught them everything he knew without reservation.

This made Liu Zhou admire Zhang Yimou's character very much.

Liu Zhou offered this glass of wine with great sincerity!
"Director Liu, you're welcome. I've also gained a lot from you."

After saying that, Zhang Yimou also drank the wine in one gulp.

The two chatted for a while and inevitably talked about the selection of actors.

There was a lot of discussion about this matter outside, and they had also discussed it many times internally, but no consensus was reached.

The time has come when this problem must be resolved.

There has never been a big-budget movie that had its cast confirmed until three months before shooting began.

"Director Liu, I think what Mr. Jiang and the others said makes sense. The stars from Hong Kong do have more box office appeal, and it's easier to get a return on investment if they are hired."

Liu Zhou did not answer directly, but asked a question with a smile:
"Director Zhang, the investment is so huge this time, are you feeling pressured now?"

"There is definitely pressure. Currently, it is almost impossible to make back the investment in the domestic market. We can only rely on overseas income."

"I know, do you think that our project is so popular now, do we still need the fame of those stars?
And don't underestimate the appeal of our popular mainland actors, they are actually just as good.

As for overseas, "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is a famous work that has been passed down for hundreds of years. It is not only famous in our mainland, but also has a good audience base in the entire Greater China cultural circle.

What's more, Asia is the largest market and is crazy about "Romance of the Three Kingdoms".

Hasn’t there been an investor from over there who wanted to participate in our project recently?
Therefore, there is no need to worry about overseas revenue.”

"Director Zhang, President Han and President Chen from Columbia have all agreed with my idea. In fact, it is really unnecessary to invite those expensive Hong Kong stars to this film.

Wouldn't it be better to use this money to make movies?
This will make it easier for you to shoot.”

Han Shanping and Chen Guofu had been persuaded by Liu Zhou, leaving only Jiang Zhiqiang and Zhang Weiping opposed.

Zhang Yimou is the only person who has the right to speak but has never expressed his opinion.

Now, as long as we convince him, then the other two will have to submit to the majority.

Zhang Yimou pondered for a while and said:
“Okay, I can express my support for you. Although I don’t understand why you insist on using actors from the mainland, I think what you said makes sense.

But you need to convince Jiang Zong and Wei Ping yourself, they are quite obsessed with superstars."

Hearing Zhang Yimou's words, Liu Zhou couldn't help but smile and said:
"No problem. With Director Zhang's support, things will be much easier."

What Liu Zhou said was true. After Director Zhang agreed with Liu Zhou's opinion, things did become much simpler.

Not only were they in the minority at this point, but the expected start time was not far away. In order not to delay the progress of the project, and after Liu Zhou's repeated persuasion, the two had no choice but to grit their teeth and agree to Liu Zhou's opinion.

In this way, the biggest disagreement in the crew was resolved, and the project team began to officially look for actors.

After the news spread, even though it was during the Chinese New Year and the Spring Festival Gala still occupied most of the media coverage.

But privately, undercurrents are already stirring, and both actors and agents have begun to show off their talents.

Liu Zhou hurriedly spent the New Year at home and returned to the capital on the second day of the New Year to begin preparing for the recruitment of actors.

(End of this chapter)