"Okay, no problem!"
The ex-girlfriend didn't expect Li Tang to be so cheerful. She was surprised and couldn't help but said anxiously: "Real or false, you're not kidding me, are you?"
Li Tang smiled slightly, looked at his ex-girlfriend's wonderful expression, and said, "You didn't joke with me first."
"Well……"
The ex-girlfriend was speechless for a while, and while she secretly breathed a sigh of relief, she felt a sense of loss.
If everything went according to her own wishes, she would not have taken the initiative to break up back then. Maybe the two of them would have been married and even have children by now.
But not everything goes smoothly, especially for a child like her who comes from an ordinary family from a small county in Northeast China. She has no background and no backers. She has come to where she is today step by step through her own efforts. She felt that her original choice was the right one.
They say you can't have your cake and eat it too. Although I am famous and rich now, some things are long gone, so why should I be demanding? What's more, if Li Tang is really willing to get back together, how should he choose? To be honest, she was really unwilling.
It was precisely because of this ambivalence that his ex-girlfriend rolled her eyes at Li Tang and said, "You know how to bully me!"
Li Tang smiled and stopped arguing with her.
In fact, from Li Tang's perspective, he quite understands his ex-girlfriend. If you want to be successful in this industry and get ahead, you can't just do everything as you please.
At this time, the waiter brought the siphon coffee machine, fruit plate and a small cube of cream. After the coffee was boiled, Li Tang's ex-girlfriend quickly helped him take a cup and added milk and sugar cubes without Li Tang having to do anything.
Then she took a small spoon and dug out the small piece of fresh milk. She liked to eat the white cream on top, but she couldn't bear to eat it all at once. She carefully dug out the soft cake under the cream, always wanting to eat it. Save the good stuff for last.
Li Tang took a sip of coffee and couldn't bear to see this scene, or he couldn't bear it, so he couldn't help but said: "Would you like another whipped cream?"
Whipped cream is pure fresh cream.
"No, a small cube of cream is enough."
The ex-girlfriend raised her head and looked at Li Tang and said: "Actually, I'm not afraid of your jokes. I ate this kind of cream cake for the first time after I came here to go to school. That taste... really, I will never forget it in my life."
He said with a smile and said: "I still remember the first time I ate this kind of fresh milk cake, you bought it for me!"
"Really? I don't even remember."
"Of course, I remember clearly that it was a ruby milk cube with a red cherry on top. At that time, I remember that when I took a bite, I didn't know how to describe the feeling. It was that I finally knew The cream cakes I ate at home during the Chinese New Year were all fake."
"So what you are eating now is not cream cake, but feelings!"
The ex-girlfriend’s eyes lit up, she nodded sharply and said, “Yes, yes, it’s just feelings!”
In fact, Li Tang also felt deeply about the fake cream cake that his ex-girlfriend talked about eating during the Chinese New Year. When I was a kid, whenever I visited relatives and friends during festivals, the most stylish (and elegant) souvenir would be a large cake decorated with cream.
The earliest large cake decorated with cream was called butter cream cake. Butter is the transliteration of butter. In fact, it is not real butter, but fake butter whipped with egg white and sugar. It has a hard texture and is also called hard cream. .
Later, it gradually evolved into the yellow margarine cream cake, which is a bit more advanced than butter cream, but it is also fake butter.
It wasn't until the early 1990s that real milk cake became popular in Shanghai. Li Tang still clearly remembers the first time he celebrated his ex-girlfriend's birthday. He went to the boss's room and ordered a 12-inch fresh milk cake, which cost more than 80 yuan in 1994. The ruby milk cubes that my ex-girlfriend mentioned were very small, and at most two or three mouthfuls cost 2.50 cents each, which is equivalent to a large dinner.
After the ex-girlfriend expressed her feelings about that year, she asked again: "By the way, how does it feel to work with director Zhang Yimou this time?"
"It was pretty good, but the requirements were too high and there were too many ideas. One fight scene took almost a month to film."
The ex-girlfriend said with envy: "I am a great director, so of course I have to strive for excellence!"
As she said that, she looked at Li Tang and asked tentatively: "Director Lou Ye is going to make a new movie, do you know?"
As an ex-girlfriend, she was very aware of the relationship between Li Tang and Lou Ye.
Perhaps it was because the two were so familiar with each other, Li Tang immediately sensed what his ex-girlfriend was planning, and said naturally: "I know, it's been almost half a year of preparation."
The ex-girlfriend quickly asked: "What new movie is it? Have you seen the script?"
"Yeah, I've seen it. It's about anti-Japanese war."
"ah?"
Because Lou Ye's previous works were all about urban love, this time it was about anti-Japanese resistance. His ex-girlfriend was quite surprised, and then asked: "So you can still play the male lead this time?"
"Not necessarily. I heard from him that he wants an open audition this time."
"Is that so...Hey, are there many female roles? Uh...are there any roles suitable for me?" The ex-girlfriend finally got to the point.
This time Lou Ye cooperated with Shanghai Film Studio, and it was a big investment. It must have spread throughout the circle. The reason why his ex-girlfriend came to him today was because of this matter.
When his ex-girlfriend just mentioned this topic, Li Tang quickly went through the characters in "Purple Butterfly". Lou Ye's consistent style is that there are very few characters in the movie, and all the plots revolve around three or four people, and all of them are heroines. In other words, the plots always revolve around female characters. "Suzhou River" is like this, and "Purple Butterfly" is no exception.
The most important characters in "Purple Butterfly" are naturally Ding Hui, the lover of Japanese Hidehiko Itami, and Xin Xia, a member of the resistance organization. These two names are actually the same person, somewhat similar to Meimei and Mudan played by Zhou Xun in "Suzhou River" .
For such an important role, his ex-girlfriend would naturally not have much hope. Lou Ye must choose an actress who is both well-known and capable of acting, and she must not be too old.
In addition to the famous female stars from Hong Kong and Taiwan, Li Tang from the Mainland thinks that the only ones who can meet the conditions are Zhang Ziyi and Zhou Xun. As for the other two four little actresses, their acting skills are too poor, let alone Lou Ye, even Li Tang watched them. Not on. Of course, this is a conventional guess, and it also depends on the actual situation. After all, Lou Ye is sometimes a master who does not follow common sense.
However, there is also a role of Situ's girlfriend in it. Li Tang thinks it is quite suitable for his ex-girlfriend. This role does not have many roles and is accidentally killed by Xin Xia, which involves the entanglement between Situ and Xin Xia.
Originally, Li Tang wanted to let Xiaopang try this role, but now that his ex-girlfriend brought it up first, uh... it's first come, first served. Furthermore, Xiaopang has already acted in "The Third Man" before, so a bowl of water must be balanced.
"There is a role that may be suitable for you. It is the second female lead, but the script does not have too many roles. You..."
Before Li Tang finished speaking, his ex-girlfriend looked excited and said, "It doesn't matter, I'm willing to play even a small supporting role."
The ex-girlfriend is very self-aware, and she never had the luxury of being a female lead from the beginning. In the past few years, except for winning the Best Actress Award at the Singapore International Film Festival last year, I have never had a big screen opportunity.
Even though she has been very popular in TV dramas in the past two years, and she has also been a female lead, most of her roles are flower vase. Although Sister Hua has reached a cooperation with Huayi Brothers, which is currently developing rapidly in the film field, Huayi Brothers also dare not bet on her due to limited celebrity status, and she can't even get a supporting role.
This time when she heard that Lou Ye was cooperating with Shanghai Film Studio to make a big-budget movie, she immediately thought of her ex-boyfriend, so she took advantage of this opportunity to come to Shanghai to test him out.
Li Tang didn't care, he just pondered for a moment and said: "I can help you recommend it, but whether it succeeds or not depends on your own ability and luck. I don't dare to guarantee it, after all, my own role is still Not settled yet.”
The ex-girlfriend nodded repeatedly and said, "I understand this, as long as I have a chance."
In addition to being excited, she stood up and reached across half of the table, kissed Li Tang hard on the face, and said with a flushed face: "Thank you!"
Along the way, she knew that opportunities were so important. Shangxi Opera, China Theater, Nortel, and those who were halfway to become monks appeared one after another every year. There were too many actors who didn't even have a chance to audition. No.
On the one hand, there are endless threats from newcomers, and on the other hand, there are bottlenecks facing breakthroughs in one's own upward development. What's more important is that she is about to have her third birthday. Strictly speaking, in one month's time for the Chinese New Year, she will be thirty according to her actual age. It is said that women are useless in their thirties, and as time goes by, their opportunities may become less and less.
After drinking coffee, eating, and talking about business, of course the next step was to relive old dreams.
My ex-girlfriend is still very thin, and she is still a sure thing, and her experience is definitely not as good as that of sister Nianci, who has a small frame and a lot of meat.
…
During the intermission, Li Tang, holding a cigarette in his mouth, picked up the script of the new drama that his ex-girlfriend was about to star in and flipped through it. But when he flipped through the first page, he couldn't help but sneer after just a few lines: "What? This book is a complete fabrication!"
"What's wrong? There's no way it's made up. I think this script is very well written. Otherwise, director Wu Tiange wouldn't be able to direct it himself."
The ex-girlfriend came out of the bathroom wrapped in a bath towel and wiping her hair. After being moisturized internally and steamed from the outside, her face was flushed and her complexion was very good. She couldn't tell that she was about to leave for the third time at all, and she just talked to the two of them. I looked almost the same when I met him in my early twenties.
"Besides, this is Huo Xin's book, please stop talking nonsense."
"Is it?"
Li Tang turned to the cover, and sure enough, Huo Xin's name was written in the screenwriter column. He hadn't noticed it just now. Huo Xin is also an acquaintance, the girlfriend of old classmate Liao Fan, and the screenwriter of the hit drama "Love to the End".
As for the director Wu Tiange just mentioned, he graduated from Shanghai Theater Academy's directing department and was once a famous young director at Shanghai Film Studio. When he first debuted in the mid-1990s, he independently directed and produced many films produced by Shanghai Film Studio that received good responses. It’s just that now that the major film studios have undergone structural reforms, films are no longer publicly funded, purchased and sold collectively, but have embarked on the road of marketization. Wu Tiange, a famous young film director who was once famous for a while, now has to be reduced to making TV series.
In addition, Lu Yi, Ren Zhenquan, Geng Le and other popular young actors have joined the cast, and this 30-episode TV series has a strong lineup.
"But I'm not talking nonsense."
Li Tang opened the script and argued with his ex-girlfriend: "You see, the background of this drama is Shanghai in the 1930s. The four people in it actually formed a jazz band. Isn't that natural?"
The ex-girlfriend asked in confusion: "What's wrong with starting a jazz band?"
"Of course there is a problem. Jazz is African-American music. It really became popular in American society in the 1930s and 1940s. How could it be possible that four young people from Shanghai formed a jazz band in the 1930s?"
"Hey, you know this too?"
"Of course I know. If you don't believe me, you can check it online."
We are already in the Internet age, and it is easy to check anything.
The ex-girlfriend valued this drama very much, and still said with force: "As you just said, jazz became popular in the United States in the 1930s and 1940s. Shanghai was already very Western-style at that time, and there were so many rentals. It would be good if it could be passed on. It’s not surprising to see an elephant.”
"Yes, you can think so."
Li Tang didn't bother to talk to her. Throughout the 1930s, the so-called leases in Shanghai were dominated by the British and the French. The presence of Americans was very low, not even as good as the days when they were entrenched in Hongkou. No matter how fashionable the young people in Shanghai were at that time, they admired British and French culture. Lao America was still synonymous with country bumpkin among foreigners.
It's just that the Americans are extremely powerful now. Out of the desire to be strong, many TV and screenplays often highlight the Americans when describing foreigners and foreign cultures. For example, when many TV dramas are filming dramas about the Republic of China in the 1920s and 1930s, they always use Americans or US dollars. You must know that the British pound was the world currency at that time.
Li Tang is a bit obsessed with details, especially when it comes to scripts. He feels uncomfortable when he sees scripts like this that are taken for granted and have obvious loopholes.
The name is also called "In the Mood for Love", it is obviously riding on the popularity of Wang Sunglasses' "In the Mood for Love".
In fact, whether on Broadway or in Hollywood, the control of such details is very strict. The props and costumes must conform to the characteristics of the era. Occasional negligence will directly affect the quality of the entire play.
Having lived in two lifetimes, he is deeply aware of the weakness of the Chinese film industry.
This is why in my previous life, as a Chinese-American, I knew almost nothing about Chinese movies of this era. To put it bluntly, it was because the presence of Chinese movies overseas was too low, not even as good as the Bollywood movies from Asan’s House next door.
From the 1970s and 1980s to the beginning of the 21st century, Japanese films have always been the representative of Asian films. That's why there are so many directors in Hollywood who admire Kurosawa.
Although there was the short-lived appearance of Bruce Lee in the past, and now Cheng Long and Li Lianlian are successful in Hollywood, these have created the stereotype that Chinese movies are all kung fu movies, just like the musicals of Asan's House next door.
After entering the 2010s, with the rise of Bangzi movies, Japanese movies gradually replaced Japanese movies and became the representative of Asian movies. During that entire period, the only so-called Chinese movies that Li Tang could recall were "The Great Wall" directed by Zhang Yimou and "The Wandering Earth" with Lieutenant Colonel Liu Peiqiang.
(End of chapter)
