Chapter 45

On the same day, Liu Zhou signed a contract with them.

The two agreed that the total investment for the film "Suzhou River" was 900,000 yuan, with Nai'an Meng Art Company investing 400,000 yuan and the creative team accounting for 50% of the share, and Liu Zhou investing 500,000 yuan accounting for the remaining 50%.

After all, Lou Ye is not a newcomer like Jia Zhangke was at the beginning, and the value of their team cannot be ignored.

However, Naian also knew that the rich are the boss now, so he didn't dare to go too far and valued their team at 100,000, to which Liu Zhou also agreed.

Jia Zhangke, who was standing by, felt a little jealous and said sourly:
"Junior brother, why weren't you so generous when you invested in my movie? If you had invested 500,000 yuan in me, maybe Xiao Wu could have been shortlisted for the main competition unit in Berlin."

"Didn't we have so much money back then? If you bring me the script now, I wouldn't even blink if I gave you a million dollars."

"Then remember what I said today. I will contact you first when I shoot the next movie."

"Okay, no problem."

Liu Zhou also knew that he was joking. Jia Zhangke is no longer the same person now. Overseas capital has approached him and he has no worries about having money to make movies.

After signing the investment contract, the atmosphere became much more relaxed.

While Nai An was chatting with Liu Zhou about some topics about the Central Academy of Drama, he also vaguely talked about Lou Ye's talent.

She really spared no effort in supporting Lou Ye.

"By the way, have the actors been selected?" Liu Zhou suddenly asked.

Liu Zhou's question made Nai An and Lou Ye look at each other, but Jia Zhangke didn't even blink, sitting firmly on the city wall watching the show.

"I have already made an appointment for the female lead, Ms. Zhou from Rong Xinda. The male lead has not been decided yet, but I want to find Jia Hongsheng, which should not be a problem."

This time it was Lou Ye who spoke. He was very calm. He was very disgusted with other people interfering in the creation and filming of a film. If Liu Zhou wanted to insert actors, he would rather not invest and would refuse.

Nai An knew Lou Ye's temper, and looked at Liu Zhou with a little uneasiness in his heart.

"Mr. Zhou is very good, and is indeed a good candidate. How is Senior Brother Jia doing now?"

Liu Zhou certainly knew the bad tempers of these sixth-generation directors, and he would not do anything that would embarrass both parties, and Mr. Zhou did act quite well.

But he had some doubts about Jia Hongsheng, mainly because he had an accident a few years ago, and Liu Zhou was more worried about Jia Hongsheng's condition.

Jia Hongsheng graduated from the Central Academy of Drama in 85. He is recognized as a handsome man in the industry. He has a very artistic temperament and extremely profound acting talent. He can handle a variety of roles and is known as the screen poet.

But sometimes, the more artistic a person is, the more likely he is to go to extremes when he encounters worldly setbacks.

He became addicted to laundry detergent in 1993. His wife, Wu Yujuan, also Gong Li's classmate, left him in 1994 after trying to persuade him to quit to no avail.

This made him become even worse. In 1995, during the filming of the movie "Eclipse", he was sent to a mental hospital for treatment due to an overdose.

The artist Qi Lei in the movie "Extreme Cold" is also the most authentic portrayal of his fate.

"It has recovered over the years." Lou Ye said with a sigh.

In life, he and Jia Hongsheng have been good friends for many years, and what happened to Jia Hongsheng made him feel regretful and heartbroken.

In artistic creation, as a director, he loves Jia Hongsheng so much when he shines in his performance.

He admired Jia Hongsheng's obstinacy, persistence and attitude towards art very much. If possible, Lou Ye would rather only photograph him.

"Since Director Lou has a favorite candidate in mind, then let's choose Senior Brother Jia. I also hope that he can get out of his previous difficulties. His talent should not be buried." Liu Zhou's words made Nai An look at him with admiration, and Lou Ye also felt a liking for him.

"I heard from Lao Jia that you, my junior brother, also want to be a director in the future. If you have time, you can also observe with the crew and see the differences between Lao Jia and Lou Ye's styles." Nai An said with a smile.

"I will come when I have time."

"Suzhou River" is undoubtedly a good movie, but Liu Zhou felt that Lou Ye's style was not suitable for him, and he was not familiar with Lou Ye.

So forget about following the crew, it’s okay to visit the crew occasionally.

In the evening, they had dinner and then left.

This time, Liu Zhou still invested through the Maga Studio that was previously registered in Hong Kong. Anyway, there was money in the studio's account, and this "Suzhou River" would most likely be an underground movie.

After transferring the money, Nai An and Lou Ye began to formally prepare the crew.

Although Liu Zhou did not arrange for a producer to go there, Naian was very capable and would let him review some of the expenses.

By the end of April, Zeng Li's play had finally come to an end, but she didn't have a few days to rest because she would have to rehearse again soon.

On the weekend, Liu Zhou had the rare opportunity to go on a date with Zeng Li, and the two went to the cinema to watch "Titanic", a movie that touched countless Chinese people.

The hottest topic in 1998 was none other than Titanic.

The film hit the country in early April and continued to be shown until the end of the year.

The truth is that the box office of this movie is so good that even if there are pirated copies, it can't stop audiences from going to the cinema.

Even pirated VCDs could be sold for 40 yuan a copy, so you can imagine how popular this movie was. It can be said that everyone was watching and discussing it.

Its box office revenue of 360 million RMB made mainland filmmakers speechless.

In his previous life, Liu Zhou did not feel it deeply, but in this life, after watching it from the director's perspective, his views have changed a lot.

Coming out of the cinema with Zeng Li, Liu Zhou also couldn't help but lose his voice.

The gap is too big!
While the mainland is still obsessed with making art films, Hollywood has already begun the era of large-scale industrial films.

This is not only a fatal attraction for mainland audiences, but also a huge blow to mainland practitioners.

Mainland films learned from European films, and the idea that art is supreme is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Although there is the example of "Titanic", they will not compromise with commercial films so quickly.

Of course, the environment at this time is not suitable for shooting commercial blockbusters.

You can imagine if the movie "Hero" was not divided into revenues but the money was calculated by selling copies, do you think Zhang Weiping would be furious?

Liu Zhou and Zeng Li stayed together for two more days, and then she went to rehearse a drama with her classmates.

Everyone in their class has already agreed not to take a break during the May Day holiday, which gives them plenty of time to rehearse and try to give a satisfactory answer in the final exam.

After the final exam, there will be no restrictions on filming.

They can't wait to go out and film.

Liu Zhou was also very busy during the May Day holiday as his book signing event was about to begin, and editor Qu He and his team were already in place.

(End of this chapter)