Chapter 264: Warming Up

"Today, the host country that has treated me kindly for 30 years has encountered serious difficulties. The rich have fled, and the poor have to stay behind. They don't know where to go; they have no money to flee. Aren't they facing the danger of collective slaughter? Shouldn't we try to help them? At least save some people?"

"This is an endless era of terror, no matter how people imagine it, it won't be an exaggeration. In the rain, my refugees huddled together in the courtyard, silently watching the beautifully terrible raging flames. If the flames spread to us, these most pitiful people will have no way out. I am their last hope."

On the plane, Wu Yuchen closed 'The Rabe Diary' in his hand again. Although he had read it many times, every time he read it, he still felt many emotions, and at the same time, he felt some regret in his heart.

Schindler and Rabe, two Germans, one in Poland and one in China, respectively under the bayonets of the German and Japanese armies, tried their best to save the Jews and Chinese who had nowhere to escape under the iron hoof, the former by needing skilled workers in his factory, the latter by establishing an international safety zone.

If we talk purely about the number of people saved, Schindler saved 1,200, while Rabe saved as many as 200,000. From this perspective, Schindler was at most a little Rabe. Of course, you can't compare like that; the actions of Schindler and Rabe are all worthy of praise, worthy of admiration, and worthy of being remembered.

Because of the movie 'Schindler's List', the whole world knows Schindler, and the impression of the Jewish suffering has been further promoted to everyone's mind. But many people don't know who Rabe is. Even in China, if you pull ten passersby on the streets of big cities like Beijing and Shanghai, it would be good if one knows, let alone in the vast rural areas.

You can imagine how big the gap in influence between the two movies is.

"You said you aren't a dog, so why are you biting people?" Wu Yuchen joked with a smile.

The discourse struggle in between, the discourse power of the Jews, and the position of Western discourse in the Chinese context are all huge problems. But these are the current objective situations; this is the universal perception abroad.

Han Sanping gave a thumbs up and said: "Brother Wu is righteous! But Brother Wu, you are too humble. With you here, I don't believe 'Brotherhood of Blades' won't succeed!"

"Brother Wu, if your 'Brotherhood of Blades' model can be successful this time, the contribution to our entire Chinese film industry will not be small. Future movies and film companies will be able to learn from it!"

Biting lightly on the junction of Wu Yuchen's neck and shoulder, leaving a circle of red marks, Jiang Qinqin hummed with some resentment: "Making you go out for so long without coming back!"

Jiang Qinqin slapped Wu Yuchen: "You think only you are busy! My schedule is also full every day!"

A large amount of peripheral development for 'Brotherhood of Blades' was also carried out. A comic book written and drawn by Hong Kong cartoonist Ma Wing-shing for 'Brotherhood of Blades' was launched simultaneously with the film; the novel of the same name adapted from 'Brotherhood of Blades' was also launched in early April 2002.

Although it is said that there are many reasons for 'Schindler's List' winning awards due to the great discourse power of the Jews, the high quality of the film is also indisputable. With 'Schindler's List' as a pearl in front, it is very difficult for you to get the Oscars to give a big award to a movie with a similar story and structure. And Wu Yuchen also didn't have the confidence to find a brand-new angle to film 'The Rabe Diary' more superbly than 'Schindler's List'.

Wu Yuchen laughed and said: "Aren't I busy? Besides, I asked you to come to America to see me, why didn't you come?"

This novel didn't look for anyone else; it was Wu Yuchen's father, Wu Jianping, who personally stepped in to help him polish and perfect it. More plots not filmed in the 'Brotherhood of Blades' movie were added to the novel, such as filling in the story lines of the eldest brother Lu Jianxing and the third brother Jin Yichuan. In the movie, due to time and market considerations, it focused on the male lead Shen Lian, but there was a lot of room for play in the novel, and some of Jiang Wen's ideas were also realized in the novel.

"The influence is a little bit, but that's not the main reason. Like most Chinese people, I actually had a martial arts dream when I was a child. When I was a freshman, I participated in the production of a documentary called 'Dance of Martial Arts', but actually, I had already had ideas about 'Brotherhood of Blades'."

Now, after filming Hollywood movies and coming into contact with the most cutting-edge special effects technology, I feel that the time is ripe for filming martial arts movies, so I moved this story to the big screen!"

For example, with product placement, before the movie was filmed, cooperation had already been reached with many advertisers. Product placement from dozens of large enterprises such as P&G, Toyota, and China Mobile brought in more than 40 million yuan for 'Brotherhood of Blades'.

Maybe converted to dollars, it's only $5 million, which can't compare to many big Hollywood productions, but for China at this time, it is already very amazing! You must know that there aren't many movies in China every year whose cost can reach 40 million yuan.

"Of course it hurts!" Wu Yuchen immediately shouted.

In short, after 'The Legend of the Condor Heroes', Jiang Qinqin, as the actress playing Huang Rong, first went everywhere to promote it, and then there were various media and magazine interviews, plus filming various advertisements, so she was also busy.

And what he regretted was that 'The Rabe Diary' was not a good choice for him now!

The biggest reason is that before 'The Rabe Diary', there was already 'Schindler's List'. One thing you can't deny is that if you film 'The Rabe Diary', everyone's first impression will be that this movie is imitating 'Schindler's List'. This is a very, very unfavorable point for Oscar contention.

"What's the use of blowing?"

After Jiang Qinqin finished speaking, seeing Wu Yuchen rubbing his neck, she reached out and gently rubbed Wu Yuchen's neck: "Does it hurt?"

"Then I'll blow it for you~" Saying that, Jiang Qinqin gently blew on the red mark left behind.

Hearing this, Wu Yuchen was furious and immediately lowered his head and bit down!

Actually, Wu Yuchen wanted to prepare for the movie as soon as he returned, but he couldn't refuse some interviews, such as the one from CCTV. And in half a month, 'Brotherhood of Blades' will be released, and he just happened to talk about 'Brotherhood of Blades' in this interview, which can be considered as cooperating with the promotion.

Since he had already given up on 'The Rabe Diary', he made up his mind to choose another one. Although it didn't have original work for reference like 'The Rabe Diary', it left him more room to play and wouldn't be trapped in the shadow of 'Schindler's List'.

With Wu Yuchen's name, the cast of the movie also included Zhang Guorong, Jiang Wen, and Jiang Qinqin. It hadn't been released in China yet, but overseas film merchants were already shouting high prices to acquire it. For example, it sold for $5 million in South Korea, and Japan was even willing to give a high price of $10 million.

Wu Yuchen smiled and said: "Haha, I've been to Hollywood to learn for a few years, so I have to transmit some advanced experience! This 'Brotherhood of Blades' can be considered as crossing the river by feeling the stones in Hollywood's way. Whether it succeeds or not, it is a meaningful attempt for our Chinese cinema. From this aspect, I think it's worth it!"

Jiang Qinqin, who hadn't seen him for a long time, threw herself into Wu Yuchen's arms, but the next moment:

"Hiss? What are you doing?" Wu Yuchen said, gently patting Jiang Qinqin's butt.

This set of dazzling operations led by Miracle Pictures also stunned everyone in the circle. Now they are all looking forward to what kind of results this posture of 'Brotherhood of Blades' can create?

Not to mention others, Han Sanping was looking forward to it, praising Wu Yuchen:

At this time, Wu Yuchen was accepting an interview for a CCTV program. This was Wu Yuchen's first return to China after his big harvest at this year's Oscars, so naturally, he would receive many media interview invitations.

Speaking of which, this 'Brotherhood of Blades' has international director Wu Yuchen, and it also follows the big production process that is in line with international standards. It also tried various operations and ways of Hollywood blockbusters, which is equivalent to setting a template for Chinese commercial films.

Wu Yuchen smiled when he heard this. If calculated purely from an economic perspective, 'Brotherhood of Blades' has already succeeded.

At the same time, to cooperate with the promotion of the film 'Brotherhood of Blades', 3,000 sets of 'Brotherhood of Blades' stamps will also be issued in limited quantities one week before the movie is released. And they will be issued in batches to keep the heat of 'Brotherhood of Blades' until after the screening.

As for Europe and America, this time Wu Yuchen chose Sony as the distribution agent. With the example of 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon's big harvest and Wu Yuchen's name, Sony directly paid $40 million to pack and take all copyrights outside of North America and Asia. The North American box office chose a normal profit-sharing form with Miracle Pictures, and there would be income from selling discs and video tape copyrights later.

From Wu Yuchen's current perspective, for the suffering China endured in the War of Resistance Against Japan, a high-box-office commercial film in an international context is perhaps more effective than ten academic works, provided that it can receive enough publicity and promotion. And what is more effective for promotion than the stage of the Oscars?

So regardless of whether it is from a personal or national perspective, Wu Yuchen wants to film an anti-Japanese war movie that is high quality, universal, and can move people even if they are from other countries.

This just happened to be when Wu Yuchen won the Oscar for Best Picture. Taking advantage of this momentum, 'Brotherhood of Blades' started comprehensive publicity. The first printing of the novel was 500,000 copies, priced at 20 yuan. Now the first printing has long been sold out, and 1 million copies have been reprinted, which are selling quite well at the moment.

Jiang Qinqin's face turned red, and she said in a lighter voice: "Who knows if that carrot is durable? Maybe it will be bitten to pieces at once!"

Since he won the Oscar for Best Picture, the domestic media has blown Wu Yuchen to the sky. After all, this is the biggest award in the most watched film award in the world. Although 'A Beautiful Mind' is not a Chinese-language film, the director Wu Yuchen is Chinese!

Now there is no longer any debate in China about whether Chen Kaizi or Zhang Yimou is the number one director in China. Undoubtedly, the leader of Chinese cinema has become Wu Yuchen; he has become a benchmark and a banner.

Since Wu Yuchen already knew the biggest trend for next year's Oscars based on his past life experience, he naturally wouldn't miss this opportunity. In the second half of the year, Wu Yuchen's focus was to return to China to film another Oscar-contending movie, and it was an anti-war movie with a local Chinese theme.

"Director Wu, why did you choose to film a martial arts movie this time? Was it influenced by last year's 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'?"

At the beginning of this year, Zhang Jizhong's version of 'The Legend of the Condor Heroes' was broadcast. Because of the comparison with the old version of '83, there were quite a few scoldings after Liu Ye and Jiang Qinqin's Guo Jing and Huang Rong came out. There is no way, people always prefer the beauty of their youth, not to mention it was the first time.

Wu Yuchen laughed and said: "When I was a child, I had cuts and bruises, and I had to lick them~"

However, compared to the versions of Li Yapeng and Zhou Xun in his past life, Liu Ye and Jiang Qinqin were much better. Not only because of their own performance, but they were already a classic couple combination in 'Classic of Love', with their own CP fan base, so there were also a large wave of people cheering for them.

"You're beautiful!" Jiang Qinqin said coquettishly, but the next moment she leaned to Wu Yuchen's neck and kissed a few more times, her little tongue sticking out and licking his neck, making him feel itchy in his heart.

"Then what do you say?" Jiang Qinqin asked with her chin raised.

Before returning to China this time, Wu Yuchen also found quite a few Hollywood people and Spielberg himself to discuss some problems. In the current cognition of Hollywood and even America, the Holocaust is a "disaster for humanity," while the massacres suffered by the Chinese in the War of Resistance Against Japan, such as the Nanjing Massacre, are just "a problem in the relationship between the two countries."

"Humph, even a rabbit bites when it's anxious!" Jiang Qinqin pouted her little mouth cutely. She was a rabbit.

Wu Yuchen then hugged Jiang Qinqin's waist with both hands, leaned into her ear, and said with a bad smile: "If you say so, rabbits love to eat big carrots!"

So don't look at the fact that Wu Yuchen wasn't in China, but the publicity started months in advance, which had already made the heat of 'Brotherhood of Blades' very high. In addition to the traditional actor publicity, this series of supporting combination punches had never been seen in China before, and the attention and desire to watch of people all over the country were hooked.

It's just that Wu Yuchen has reached the current level, and his requirements for his own movies are not just box office success. He still hopes that 'Brotherhood of Blades', which he has upgraded and improved in various aspects, can be recognized by the public.

Although the failure of a movie doesn't have much impact on him, in his past life, after 'Hero' was released, Zhang Yimou still remained the most influential big director despite the overwhelming scolding. But if you can welcome praise, who wants to accept being scolded! ===== CHAPTER 265 =====