At the end of 2000, Feng Xiaogang brought the movie he had worked so hard to prepare - "A Sigh".
He has been preparing for this movie since 1997. Later, because the original author Wang Hao was banned in disguise, this project had to be shelved.
Now that Wang's ban has been lifted, he can't wait to start filming. Kirin Pictures also invested 18 million yuan in this project.
This movie, starring Zhang Guoli, Liu Bei, and Xu Fan, tells the story of a middle-aged writer who is torn between lovers and lovers, and is at a loss as to what to do.
This is written based on Wang Xie's own experience. As a well-known writer, he was once as popular in the mainland as Xiang Nan. Because of this, many literary young women fell in love with him.
However, Wang Jie did not distinguish as clearly as Xiang Nan. Xiang Nan's life, taken together, has lasted for almost two hundred years. He has a clear view of the world and a clear distinction between love and desire.
Wang Xi has only lived for a few decades and has only been prosperous for ten years. It is normal for him to not be able to tell the difference. And the harder it is to distinguish, the more painful it is.
After the release of "A Sigh", the box office was not good.
Young audiences are generally not interested in midlife crises. Moreover, the story of "A Sigh" is not very good, it seems a bit pretentious and trivial.
Therefore, the box office was not high, and in the end it only received less than 10 million box office. It was Feng Xiaogang's worst box office performance in recent years.
More importantly, the media's evaluation is also not high.
"Popular Cinema" published a film review, saying, "The actors in "A Sigh" performed well and the director handled it cleverly, but overall the audience was not moved."
"Contemporary Film" published a film review saying, ""A Sigh" is known as Director Feng's most sincere work. But when the audience walked out of the theater one by one sadly, sighing, some calm people pointed out that this film This seemingly touching movie is actually filled with the cliched atmosphere of 'pseudo-moralism'."
Feng Xiaogang was hit hard by the loss of box office and reputation.
Although he became famous through comedies and commercial films, he is actually an artistic young man at heart. "A Sigh" is really his sincere work. He spent a year making it and took great pains to make it.
But he didn't expect that such a painstaking work would not be as good as "Endless" at the box office and word-of-mouth that he and his friends had casually saved. He was really confused.
…
"Master Cheng, can you say that I was really wrong?" Feng Xiaogang came to Xiang Nan in confusion.
"There is no right or wrong in doing what you like." Xiang Nan waved his hand and said, "This "A Sigh" is what you really want to shoot, right?"
"Yes." Feng Xiaogang nodded.
"What do you think of your shooting? Did you pay attention?" Xiang Nan asked.
"You've been careful, you've definitely been careful." Feng Xiaogang nodded.
It took him three years to prepare the film and more than half a year to shoot, and he went to the Zhoushan Islands specifically to get the location.
"That's alright. Since this is something you really want to do and you really put your heart into it, then you don't have to blame yourself." Xiang Nan waved his hand and smiled, "Only those who don't know what they want to do don't Only those who work hard to do something in vain and achieve nothing should blame themselves and regret it.”
Feng Xiaogang felt much better after hearing what he said.
"Besides, there's no need to be sad. No matter how great a director is, he can't guarantee that every movie he makes will have a good reputation and a good box office." Xiang Nan advised again.
He is as strong as Spielberg, who also suffered box office and reputation flops when making "Giant" and "War of the Worlds"; he is as strong as James Cameron, who also made "Alita: Battle Angel" and "Terminator: Dark Fate" Such a work; "Star Wars: The Phantom Menace" directed by George Lucas also received bad reviews when it was released...
"Thank you, Mr. Cheng." Feng Xiaogang nodded, "Don't worry, I will film well and make up for the money you lost."
"You don't have to worry too much about money. Ten to twenty million is nothing to me." Xiang Nan waved his hand and smiled, "Compared with money, I still hope to see you get rid of your burden and lighten up on the road. ."
"Thank you." Feng Xiaogang was moved when he heard this.
…
In 2001, Feng Xiaogang made a comeback with his new script "Big Shot".
This script was written by the writer Shi Kang. A few years later, he would become popular in China with his "Struggle", but he would quickly fall into decline after that.
After Xiang Nan read the script of "Big Shot", he directly agreed to Feng Xiaogang's project.
Feng Xiaogang immediately began to recruit troops.
The male lead is still arranged to be Ge You, and the female lead Feng Xiaogang is planning to hire Guan Zhilin.
First, the heroine's character is ABC, a Chinese-American who is not only beautiful, generous, and calm, but also understands English and has a sense of style.
Secondly, the "Once Upon a Time" series starring Guan Zhilin has become very popular in the mainland in recent years. Feng Xiaogang took a fancy to her popularity and felt that asking her to be the protagonist would be a better way to earn box office returns.
However, Xiang Nan refused directly.
If Guan Zhilin were ten years younger, she would be suitable for this role. The key point is that she is already thirty-nine years old this year. Compared to when she filmed "Once Upon a Time" in 1991, her face has already fallen apart, her appearance has dropped significantly, and she is far from her peak years.
Furthermore, Guan Zhilin's acting skills have always been criticized. Her performance in "Big Shot" is hard to describe. She couldn't keep up with it at all. She was outside the movie and her performance was not as good as that of Ying Da, a director.
Therefore, Xiang Nan recommended Lin Xilei to Feng Xiaogang.
Lin Xilei was born in 1975 and debuted in 1996. Last year he just filmed "The Gambler vs. Las Vegas" and "The King of Kings 2000" with Wang Jing.
Although the quality of those two movies was average, Lin Xilei still became popular with these two movies. The momentum is much better than that of Guan Zhilin, who has expired.
Rather than being stubborn and insisting on his own choice, Feng Xiaogang naturally chose to respect Xiang Nan's opinion. He immediately contacted Xiangjiang.
At that time, Lin Xilei had signed a contract with China Star Pictures, the company owned by Xiang Huaqiang. After learning that Feng Xiaogang wanted her to be the protagonist in his new film, China Star readily agreed.
Because the Hong Kong film market has been shrinking and becoming more and more sluggish in recent years. In comparison, the mainland film and television drama market is recovering, which is where China Star will focus in the future.
It is not easy to enter the mainland market.
Competition in the entertainment industry on the Mainland is also fierce. Although Chinese stars are strong, talented and wealthy, in the end, the strong ones cannot overwhelm the local ones.
What's more, those local snakes are no worse than powerful dragons. Especially Xiang Nan, the richest Chinese man, is well-known in Hollywood, and it is not something they can mess with, so agreeing now and forming a good relationship is also a good thing for Chinese stars.
