Chapter 333: Jiang the Bold pays a visit

In the shot, after You Bencang took Zhao Wenxuan and said goodbye to the family, they ran into the deceased's father outside the door.

The man's eyes were red, and he said with his head slightly lowered: "After Tie Nan became like this, he often fought with people outside and hadn't been home for a long time. I also hadn't seen him for a very, very long time."

Then he looked up at You Bencang and Zhao Wenxuan: "But just now, when I saw his smiling face again... Ah, this is my son! Even if he looks like a girl, he is still my son!"

As he spoke, the middle-aged man couldn't help but burst into tears. His tall frame hunched over, and while crying, he bowed to the two of them: "Thank you! Thank you both so much!"

You Bencang and Zhao Wenxuan both reached out to support the middle-aged man, then couldn't help but look at each other.

This experience was unusual for both of them, but it also made them both feel it was very meaningful. Allowing the deceased to leave according to their own wishes and allowing the living to find a certain amount of comfort in their hearts—wasn't this the meaning of their work?

"Cut!"

Filming was now more than halfway through. Wu Yuchen estimated that in about another month, the film should be wrapped up.

Actually, it could only be called a pseudo-"wrap," because the film had only finished the majority of the filming; there would still be a portion of scenes to shoot, mainly the scenes of the protagonist, Lin Wu, playing the cello in the wild.

The reason it couldn't be filmed now was that the season hadn't arrived yet. The scenery behind him needed to show seasonal changes, from autumn to winter, then to spring. The protagonist would play different styles of music in different seasons, representing his different states of mind.

At the same time, this seasonal change also matched the protagonist's circumstances. At the beginning, in autumn, all things began to wither, the protagonist lost his job and stepped into the encoffining industry by chance. In winter, his wife left him, and he encountered difficulties in his career, wanting to resign and retreat. But when spring arrived, both family and career were developing in a good direction. Putting spring at the end was also meant to imply that the future was full of hope.

Wu Yuchen didn't plan to film these scenes in Magic City, but rather to find a location near Longwang Mountain in Huzhou, which was further north. With mountains and snow, the effect would only come out right.

Although it basically didn't snow in Magic City, it was a film, after all—a fictional story. Stitching together scenery from multiple locations was very normal in film; one couldn't be too rigid.

"Wu Dao, I've come uninvited. You wouldn't be unwelcoming to me, would you?"

Wu Yuchen looked at Jiang Wen, who didn't seem worried at all, and couldn't help but point at him and laugh: "You're already here; what else can I say but welcome?"

"Hahaha, everyone says Wu Dao is generous and righteous. That reputation is well-deserved!"

Hearing Jiang Wen butter him up the moment they met, Wu Yuchen glanced at him. Without hiding anything, he poured him a cup of tea and said directly: "Old Jiang, we aren't strangers. Let's be blunt—you're praising me the moment we meet; what's the matter?"

Hearing this, Jiang Wen's expression turned serious, and he reached out his hand: "Wu Dao, that's not right. I praise you because you have talent, your films are good, and you are righteous. You have a great reputation in the industry, and you are now the leader of Chinese-language cinema. What's wrong with me praising you? It's all sincere!"

Wu Yuchen swallowed the tea in his mouth and quickly waved his hand: "Alright, alright, get to the point!"

The more he heard Jiang Wen talk like this, the more Wu Yuchen was certain this guy had something to ask of him.

"One thing at a time. What I said before was from the bottom of my heart!"

Jiang Wen emphasized again, then took a script from his chest and said to Wu Yuchen: "Wu Dao, you are an expert. Could you take a look for me?"

As soon as he saw the script Jiang Wen handed over, Wu Yuchen roughly guessed what he meant.

It was already the end of 2004. Jiang Wen had been banned in 2000, and he should be "released from prison" next year.

Although there was still more than half a year to go, Jiang Wen was already impatient, starting to prepare his comeback masterpiece so he could start filming the moment he was unbanned!

Wu Yuchen took Jiang Wen's script and looked at it. Sure enough, it was *The Sun Also Rises*. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say this film was a massive financial loss: an investment of 50 million, but the final box office was only 17 million. As for how much could be recouped from selling international copyrights, it was likely not much.

However, Wu Yuchen still opened the script and began to read. In his past life, many people complained that Jiang Wen's film was confusing and too obscure, making it hard for people to understand. This was also the reason for its box office flop.

*The Sun Also Rises* was ostensibly composed of four seemingly independent stories, with a structure imitating the circular narrative of *Pulp Fiction*. The chronological order of the film was 1, 2, 3, 4, but in reality, the true story timeline was 4, 2, 1, 3. Therefore, the arrangement of this structure alone caused difficulties for the audience to some extent.

Then, the metaphors in this film were also very numerous. On the surface, it talked about the pursuit of love and desire, but in fact, it was a story about the shattering of an idealist.

These four independent stories were "Madness," "Love," "Gun," and "Dream." The first three segments took place in the spring, summer, and autumn of 1976, while "Dream" was in the winter of 1958. The end of "Dream" featured flowers and fragrant herbs, moving from winter to spring, which could also be seen as expressing that the future was still full of hope—the same meaning as his seasonal setting in *Departures*.

Anyone slightly sensitive to the history of that period roughly knew what had happened, from the Great Leap Forward in 1958 to the passing of the great figure in 1976, not to mention the events of the intervening dozen years, which I won't elaborate on.

Wu Yuchen read the script while sighing in admiration without hiding it. This damn Jiang Wen was still the same Jiang the Bold.

Just from Wu Yuchen's casual glance, metaphors and connotations were visible everywhere. The 18 years from 1958 to 1976 were exactly the time from the birth to the death of the character named Li Dongfang in the film, speaking of that generation of youth. And his mad mother was the Motherland; Alyosha alluded to the Soviets; these were almost explicit metaphors.

And the "most beloved people," the train—the train referred to Marxism-Leninism; velvet alluded obscurely to Mr. Democracy. Uncle Li, the departing Soviets, the old brother who turned against them...

Looking at the story this way, it was that in '58, Alyosha's affair with the mad mother was still very hot, but the former still forced her. Later, she discovered his impure motives and broke with him, de-Sovietizing, which had very serious consequences, leading to many "little Liangs" being wrongly killed.

And the protagonist Jiang Wen, who held the gun, was still "letting a hundred flowers bloom," but the female lead Kong Wei, representing Western temptation, seduced Li Dongfang. Although the latter had destroyed the White House once built by the mad mother, he still had expectations for the Velvet Revolution symbolizing democracy. But Jiang Wen pointed out that it was just a fig leaf, so he killed the other party with one shot.

But before this, friends in Beijing had already told Jiang Wen to recognize his mistakes, otherwise history would wash him away just like it washed away the mad mother's shoes and clothes. And the sun, symbolizing ideals, dreams, and the future, would still rise as usual.

Wu Yuchen read while sighing with emotion. There were many deep things in it he didn't dare to think about too closely. After he finished the last page, he pointed at Jiang Wen and scolded:

"You damn guy, you still don't learn your lesson! You have to test the edge of sensitive subject matter! You haven't even been released yet, and you're thinking of doing something big?!"

Jiang Wen said with a look of grievance: "Wu Dao, what am I testing? This is just a very simple film about love and affection. Is your imagination too rich, and are you associating too much?"

But Wu Yuchen's expression remained unchanged:

"You're still pretending in front of me? It's one thing to fool the censors, but you're trying to fool me too? Do you still want investment or not?"

Jiang Wen immediately laughed and said: "Hey, hey, Wu Dao, I was just joking with you! How could this thing possibly escape your eyes? Are you willing to invest in me?"

Wu Yuchen gave a light hum and didn't answer him, instead saying: "Don't think the censors are easy to fool either. There are plenty of people there who understand; no one is a fool."

Jiang Wen spread his hands: "Hi! I've already made the script to this point; they can't possibly ban me, right!"

Wu Yuchen glanced at him: "Whether you can film this or not depends entirely on their whim. But even if you can film it, making it so obscure, how many people do you think will be able to watch it?"

"Wu Dao, let me tell you the truth. I've been stifled for these past few years. Even if I have to smash the pots and sell the iron, I must film this movie!" Jiang Wen said firmly.

Wu Yuchen said irritably: "Smash the pots and sell the iron? You're smashing other people's pots and selling other people's iron! You've come to me now—do you think we're easy to bully?"

"Oh! My Wu Dao, who in all of China dares to bully you now? If anything, you're the one bullying me!" Jiang Wen began to show weakness.

Wu Yuchen sneered: "I bully you? I can't bully you, Jiang the Bold."

Seeing Wu Yuchen wouldn't budge at all, Jiang Wen asked directly:

"Wu Dao, just tell me, what will it take for you to be willing to invest money in me? How about I act in your movie now? I'll act for you for free!"

In these past few years, Jiang Wen couldn't be a director, but he had acted in several films. Besides having a blast in the well-known *The Missing Gun*, there were *Warriors of Heaven and Earth*, *Green Tea*, and *Letter from an Unknown Woman*. Among them, *Letter from an Unknown Woman* was also Xu Jinglei's directorial debut, but Jiang Wen likely wasn't too interested in this subject matter, so he didn't intervene much or leave his mark.

Wu Yuchen waved his hand directly: "Forget it. You'd just be making trouble in my movie. If I had you play a corpse, I'd worry the coffin was too small!"

Afterward, Wu Yuchen said: "This film of yours is 100% a money-loser. I don't want to be that sucker!"

Hearing this, Jiang Wen became a bit anxious: "Hey, Wu Dao, you can't treat people differently like this!! You can invest when others film art films; why is it that when it comes to me, you immediately label me a money-loser?"

"Heh! You still have the nerve to say that? When I give people money, who doesn't spend every cent carefully? What kind of character are you, Jiang Wen? Are you planning to set a new record for the highest budget-to-box-office ratio in China?"

Jiang Wen reached out his hand directly: "Hey, Wu Dao, don't talk about me like that. Even if you talk about Wong Kar-wai, he's still ahead of me!"

Wu Yuchen couldn't help but curse: "Damn, you're proud of being number two!"

Jiang Wen and Wong Kar-wai were both the directors in the Chinese film circle most capable of burning through film stock.

Jiang Wen was not annoyed; he chuckled, then cupped his hands toward Wu Yuchen and said, "Wu Dao, just point me in the right direction—what will it take for you to be willing to invest this money for me?"

After the two talked for a long time, he saw Wu Yuchen's attitude clearly. If he really hadn't intended to invest a single cent from the start, he wouldn't have said so much to him and would have just sent him away politely.

Wu Yuchen looked Jiang Wen over a few times. He did indeed have the intention to invest in this film. But what he was aiming for wasn't just this film, but the one that would follow.

In his past life, *The Sun Also Rises* was invested in by Emperor Group's boss, Albert Yeung, and it resulted in a huge loss. Later, Jiang Wen specifically made *Let the Bullets Fly*, which earned it all back for Albert Yeung.

Wu Yuchen said: "It's fine for me to invest, but there's a condition."

Jiang Wen said immediately: "You name it!"

"This film of yours is just for your own pleasure. I dare say 95% of people won't understand it. For this film, I'll only give you 40 million; not a cent more. You'll have to solve the rest yourself.

If this film loses money, you have to promise me that you'll honestly make me one that everyone can understand, one that makes people happy, one that makes people willing to scramble for tickets, climb over walls, and stand on bricks to watch!" Wu Yuchen looked at Jiang Wen and said.

In his past life, when Jiang Wen was chatting about films on *Round Table*, he was asked about his views on entertainment films:

"You talk about how to make money with film, you talk about how to pick up girls with film—that's nothing!

What is entertainment? If you can make me scramble for tickets for it, make me climb over a wall to get in, make me cling to a wall and stand on bricks to watch it—that's called awesome. Entertainment isn't streetwalking; it's not saying 'the little tune is hard to sing, the mouth is hard to open,' and accompanying a big brother to dinner—that's not entertainment; that's cheap."

It wasn't that Jiang Wen looked down on commoners or looked down on entertainment films. It was basically that films like *Titanic* and *Avatar* that attract everyone to climb walls to watch are awesome, but filming trash and relying on publicity and flirting to beg for tips is streetwalking—it's cheap.

Although Jiang Wen hadn't said these words yet, he could understand what Wu Yuchen meant. If this were anyone else saying this, he would have agreed immediately, and he would have gained investment for his next film—it would be like a pie falling from the sky.

But Wu Yuchen wasn't easy to fool. If this one really lost money, then when he brought a script for the next one, Wu Yuchen would know what he was up to the moment he saw it, whether he was aiming to make money. At that time, he would definitely have to obediently accept his constraints.

However, thinking of his current situation, many people didn't dare to invest in him at all, fearing he would have another *Devils on the Doorstep* incident...

"Fine, Wu Dao, it's a deal!" ===== CHAPTER 334 =====