Chapter 334: Filming 3

Wu Yuchen invested 40 million in *The Sun Also Rises*. This amount of money just hit Jiang Wen's psychological passing line.

If you say it's enough, Jiang Wen actually still felt it was a bit lacking. But if you say it's not enough, he calculated that if he removed his own director-and-actor salary and scraped together some more himself, it should be about right.

Wu Yuchen actually reported this amount on purpose. In his past life, the cost of this film was less than 60 million, which included Jiang Wen's own 10 million director-and-actor salary, 7 million put up by his younger brother Jiang Wu, and 4 million that Zhou Yun dug out for him.

So Wu Yuchen had already calculated that 40 million was enough for Jiang Wen. If he felt it wasn't enough, he could either save a bit while filming. Couldn't save? Go scrape it together yourself!

Come to think of it, this guy Jiang Wen was also quite the hand at picking up girls. You have to know he already had a wife and child and hadn't divorced at all, yet during the filming of *Warriors of Heaven and Earth*, he took down Zhou Yun and made her his mistress.

The key was that others usually spent money to keep a mistress, but Jiang Wen was different—he even made Zhou Yun spend her own money to help him film movies. Zhou Yun couldn't even earn 4 million from her own acting salary; she had to run back to her parents' home to ask for it. Her parents were Wenzhou merchants.

And Zhou Yun wasn't the first. Back then, Liu Xiaoqing was the same, paying out of her own pocket to support Jiang Wen in filming *In the Heat of the Sun*.

After securing this investment from Wu Yuchen, Jiang Wen didn't dawdle anymore, patted his butt, and left, rushing back to prepare for the film.

In the evening, Jiang Qinqin asked Wu Yuchen: "Husband, did Jiang Wen come to you for investment?"

Wu Yuchen smiled and nodded: "He's about to be unbanned, isn't he? He's busy raising money now."

Jiang Qinqin thought for a moment and said: "I heard he's made life miserable for quite a few people these past two years. Many people are avoiding him now."

Wu Yuchen laughed upon hearing this: "A 'film tyrant' and a 'troublemaker,' right?"

Wu Yuchen had also heard about Jiang Wen's affairs over the past few years. It was well known that Lu Chuan had been bullied by Jiang Wen, and in the end, *The Missing Gun* became Jiang Wen's work, leaving Lu Chuan feeling very aggrieved.

But actually, Lu Chuan wasn't an isolated case, and his outcome was already considered quite good; at least *The Missing Gun* helped him build a reputation.

In 2002, Jiang Wen and director Chen Yifei had a serious disagreement that led to the suspension of *The Barber*, and he directly withdrew from the crew with Zhou Yun. The other lead actor at the time, Ge You, saw the situation was bad and ran off too, causing the initial 10 million investment in the film to go down the drain.

The director of *The Barber*, Chen Yifei, was a famous painter who initially only wanted to film a small-budget art piece of four or five million, and he was paying for it himself. Later, because of a screenwriter's recommendation, Jiang Wen and Ge You joined, and investors followed, raising the cost to 30 million. As a result, Jiang Wen and Ge You both ran off, and the investors saw the situation was bad and withdrew their capital, tossing the project around so much that it was still shelved to this day, leaving Chen Yifei running around trying to resume filming. By next year, because of filming this movie, the director would be critically ill and still be on painkillers while on set, dying halfway through filming. His family probably hated Jiang Wen to death!

That wasn't all. In 2003, after filming *Warriors of Heaven and Earth*, Japanese actor Kiichi Nakai returned home and wrote a book fiercely criticizing Jiang Wen's various "film tyrant" behaviors. Although many people in China didn't know about this, many investors in the circle had heard about Jiang Wen causing trouble on set.

Also in 2003, due to "script issues," *General Chen Geng* was halted. This film was a tribute for the 100th anniversary of General Chen Geng's birth, but it was forced to stop after only four days of filming. The main reason was still that Jiang Wen was dissatisfied, and the subsequent script was revised repeatedly, tossing it around for more than a year. It restarted filming in September of this year, replacing Jiang Wen, the lead, with Hou Yong, and finally began filming peacefully.

As for *Letter from an Unknown Woman*, it was rumored that Jiang Wen also had an argument with Xu Jinglei, and Wang Shuo personally came to mediate and got Jiang Wen under control. After all, Jiang Wen and Wang Shuo were old friends, and he had received favors from Wang Shuo. Not only was the script for *In the Heat of the Sun* adapted from Wang Shuo's *Animal Fierce*, but Wang Shuo also helped him raise some investment, so he respected Wang Shuo.

And this year, while filming *The Qing Dynasty*, Jiang Wen forced the producers to replace director Mabel Cheung due to "script and role issues."

Now, Jiang Wen's reputation for being difficult to serve had spread everywhere, always "under the banner of art" while causing trouble. Many investors were afraid when they saw him like this—he was too capable of making a scene, and if he really started tossing things around, the investors wouldn't benefit.

Now that Jiang Wen was running around looking for investment, many people weren't willing to invest in him; the risk was too high. Jiang Wen himself was also aware of this, so he ran to Wu Yuchen to pester him, after all, Wu Yuchen had invested in quite a few domestic art films before.

Wu Yuchen smiled at Jiang Qinqin: "Most people can't handle a 'film tyrant' and 'troublemaker' like him. Don't invite him to be the lead actor, or you won't have any peace while filming. But it's different when he's the director; he can control people and keep them in line."

Jiang Qinqin thought about it, and it made sense.

Then Wu Yuchen smiled and said: "Actually, no matter how much he can toss things around, as long as he makes money in the end, there will still be people lining up to invest. It's the same all over the world."

He had fought with Eisner in Hollywood, so logically he shouldn't be liked by investors, but in fact, as long as you can keep succeeding and keep making money, these things can be ignored.

Jiang Wen's visit was just a small interlude for Wu Yuchen. The next day, he continued filming *Departures* as usual.

"Cut! Qinqin, your expression—I need to see a change in your eyes!"

At this time, Wu Yuchen was filming an important scene in *Departures*: watching the death of the warm-hearted bathhouse owner who had watched the protagonist, Lin Wu, grow up.

Jiang Qinqin had originally returned home because she was pregnant, wanting to use the child to persuade her husband to give up his encoffining work, and thus had rushed over with Lin Wu. She had also witnessed the entire process of her husband encoffining the owner.

"Qinqin, the change can't be too abrupt. You need to show more delicate emotions!

This is the first time you've witnessed your husband's work with your own eyes, and it's for someone you know, encoffining them meticulously and attentively. Watching his movements be accurate, gentle, and full of emotion and care, you are drawn in. When you see the old lady restored to her appearance before she passed, and watch your husband hand over a handkerchief to let her family cleanse her face themselves, sending the old lady off on her final journey—this scene moves you and makes you understand the meaning of your husband's work.

This is a process from questioning to understanding, from disgust to being drawn in, and then to being moved. I want you to show that change!"

Jiang Qinqin nodded. She actually knew the inner emotional change of the character in this segment. But understanding is one thing; actually acting it out was still a bit lacking. This kind of delicate emotional change wasn't so easy to perform.

After Wu Yuchen finished speaking, he didn't say anything more, letting Jiang Qinqin adjust herself. He had high requirements for Jiang Qinqin in this scene because although the protagonist of this scene was Lin Wu, the real focus of the drama was on Jiang Qinqin and the old lady's son.

All the encoffining scenes filmed before were strangers, which could be categorized as work scope, but the owner filmed this time was already someone close to the protagonist, adding a touch of sadness and allowing the audience to have more emotional resonance.

At the same time, the greatest significance of arranging this scene was to eliminate the misunderstandings the protagonist carried and to have the protagonist gain recognition. And this recognition came, on one hand, from family—that is, Jiang Qinqin, the wife, which didn't need much explanation and was easy to understand.

On the other hand, it had to come from outsiders, and the representative of outsiders was the old lady's son.

The old lady's son's attitude toward the protagonist had undergone two changes. When he first saw the protagonist return to his hometown, he was polite and respectful because he was a cellist, a profession worthy of respect in his eyes. At that time, he was happy to see his daughter get close to the protagonist.

But later, when he accidentally learned that the protagonist had become an encoffiner, his attitude changed immediately. He wouldn't even let his daughter get close to the protagonist and even came over to solemnly advise the protagonist not to do such an improper job anymore.

But now, the old lady had suddenly passed away, and the one personally arranging her appearance was Lin Wu, whom he had once looked down upon. His state of mind was naturally complex. As he watched Lin Wu restore the old lady bit by bit to her most beautiful appearance before she passed, and then, under Lin Wu's guidance, cleanse her face and send his mother off in her most perfect state, his gratitude toward Lin Wu burst forth along with his tears.

It was a coincidence that the person playing the role of the old lady's son was none other than Jiang Wen's younger brother, Jiang Wu.

Therefore, the performance of Jiang Qinqin and Jiang Wu in this segment was very important. Through their reactions, the audience would understand that the protagonist's work for so long had received its due reward and had been recognized and respected.

After a while, Wu Yuchen asked Jiang Wu: "Jiang Wu, are you ready? One more time?"

Jiang Wu nodded from the side. He wasn't any better off than Jiang Qinqin; they were treated the same, and he had been NG'd by Wu Yuchen many times before.

Jiang Qinqin also took a deep breath and stood in position to watch from the side. She also hoped Jiang Wu could act well this time and bring out her emotions.

"3, 2, 1, action!"

In the shot, Zhao Wenxuan saw a pile of clothing placed to the side, took out a light yellow silk scarf, and gently put it on the old lady.

Then he picked up the old lady's hand, trimmed her fingernails, and then his right hand supported a string of Buddhist prayer beads, slowly putting them on the old lady's right hand, and then gently lifted the old lady's left hand, letting her two hands hold each other.

In the second camera position, a close-up was specifically taken of the scene of putting on the prayer beads, and then the old lady's hands and the prayer beads were quickly blurred. Jiang Wu's face, which had originally been blurred as a background, slowly became clear.

At this very moment, Jiang Wu looked at his mother, who believed in Buddhism, her hands held together, her fingers holding those prayer beads she loved most. The whole person seemed to have come back to life, just like usual, revealing a kind smile. Jiang Wu's lips moved slightly; his head, which had been slightly lowered, began to lift slowly, and ripples appeared in his eyes.

Wu Yuchen, behind the monitor, watched this scene and nodded slightly. This take achieved the effect he wanted. However, he didn't call stop. Although the following scene wouldn't be used, letting Jiang Wu continue the ritual would help him get into the state better.

At the same time, another camera was also filming Jiang Qinqin separately, so Wu Yuchen could see later if he could find the few shots he wanted.

When it reached the face-cleansing segment, Wu Yuchen regained his energy.

Zhao Wenxuan and Jiang Wu were on either side of the old lady's remains. He put a clean, pure white handkerchief into a basin to gently dampen it, then handed it to Jiang Wu with both hands.

Jiang Wu looked at the handkerchief, then looked at his mother, slowly reaching out both hands to receive it. Then he leaned over, head lowered, gazing at his mother, and took the handkerchief to approach his mother's face bit by bit, then gently wiped her forehead. His powerful, muscular hands seemed bigger than his mother's face, but his movements were very slow.

The camera was already aimed at Jiang Wu's expression. At this moment, he looked at his mother's face, his throat began to roll, his lips parted slightly. To relieve his emotions, he turned his face slightly and took a light breath.

But the next moment, Jiang Wu saw his mother's hands holding the prayer beads, her fingers showing traces left by hard work. Unable to control himself, his other hand reached out tremblingly, holding his mother's hands, and then his whole body began to tremble, tears bursting forth, calling out in a low voice: "Mom, Mom..."

A moment later, he slowly pulled his hand back, then raised his head, meeting Zhao Wenxuan's sad gaze, and nodded slightly to express his understanding.

A trace of gratitude welled up in Jiang Wu's red eyes. He lowered his head, then sent the handkerchief in his hand with both hands, his thick back also bending down, expressing his gratitude to Zhao Wenxuan in this way.

Seeing this scene, Wu Yuchen cheered in his heart. This take was very natural, and the emotions all came out. Jiang Wu's acting in this take could pass.

However, he still didn't call stop. There was still Jiang Wu's wife and daughter coming up to cleanse her face and wail. Now Wu Yuchen's attention shifted to Jiang Qinqin, watching her expression.

This scene was almost at the end. At this moment, Jiang Qinqin looked at Zhao Wenxuan, her eyes also brimming with tears. This wasn't just sadness because of the old lady's death; it also flashed with a feeling of being moved. She tightened her lips and smiled lightly at Zhao Wenxuan with teary eyes.

After this segment was filmed, Wu Yuchen didn't express his stance immediately. He had watched Jiang Wu's performance the whole time, and there was no problem. Now he was looking at Jiang Qinqin's playback.

Wu Yuchen watched Jiang Qinqin's expression changes from beginning to end in this take and couldn't help but slowly reveal a smile. Not all of this segment of Jiang Qinqin would be used, and even most of it wouldn't be, but the key emotional points all came out, and that was enough!

"Good, cut!"

Hearing Wu Yuchen's "cut," both Jiang Qinqin and Jiang Wu let out a sigh of relief. After all, they had been filming for almost a day, and they had finally managed to get this scene done! ===== CHAPTER 335 =====