director of the millennium

As for winning awards, Wu Yuan was very interested in it when he first returned to this era.

After all, the Chinese mainland film market was too small at that time, and there was no room for commercial films to flourish. Everyone was making art films and striving for the three major European awards.

In that era, it didn't matter if your movie had high box office sales. Instead, you would be despised and looked down upon as a vulgar, money-conscious director with no artistic pursuits. For example, Feng Xiaogang has always been looked down upon by the so-called seniors in the circle, and they don't even want to play with him.

In that era, only directors who could win awards and make good art films had a status in the circle and influence in the hearts of the "people".

Therefore, Wu Yuan was mainly focusing on making art films in the Chinese-language film industry at that time, and he won many awards at the three major European film festivals.

It was not until 2008's "Gravity" that Wu Yuan's Chinese-language films officially and completely transformed into commercial films. At that time, the Chinese mainland film market had begun to take off, art films were gradually no longer of interest to the general public, and the Big Three European films had also fallen from their pedestal.

Since then, Wu Yuan has not made any art films again, and has not won many awards either in mainland China or overseas. Even though his commercial films are often nominated for the Golden Horse Awards and Golden Rooster Awards, he does not care much about it. Except for participating in the first few years, he simply did not participate later, and the crew accepted the awards on his behalf.

To be honest, even Chinese audiences and movie fans don't care much about these awards anymore. Whether it's the Golden Horse Awards across the strait or the mainland's own Golden Rooster Awards, the ratings of the live broadcasts are getting lower and lower every year, and the discussion they arouse on the Internet is also declining year by year.

Mainland movies have been very popular in recent years. Everyone is paying attention to the box office and stars. Industry insiders are concerned about how much money the movie makes, while ordinary audiences and movie fans are concerned about whether the movie is good and whether it is enjoyable.

As for whether it has artistic value or whether it can win awards, these things are almost not noticed by people inside and outside the circle.

Especially for actors who debuted after 2010, none of them care about awards or the like. Whether they win the Best Actor or Best Actress title doesn't hinder their pay from getting higher and higher and their market conditions from getting better and better.

In other words, only filmmakers who have experienced the twenty years from the 1990s to the early 2000s will still have a deep obsession with awards and honors.

Coincidentally, Liu Yifei is someone who has experienced this era. Her industry idol has always been Gong Li. The reason why Gong Li is her idol is because Gong Li met in Europe, won many heavyweight awards in Europe, and was even invited to be a judge by the three major European organizations.

Although Liu Yifei has been in the industry for more than ten years, she still has no major awards. The only prestigious award she has won is the Golden Rooster Award for Best Actress, and she was a double-yolk actress at that.

Such an achievement is undoubtedly far from Gong Huang. Liu Yifei, who aspires to become an actor like Gong Huang, is of course very dissatisfied with her career achievements.

What made her even more depressed was that ever since she met Wu Yuan at school, she had always had a dream, which was to become the heroine of Wu Yuan's art films and to stand on the podium of the three major European awards with him.

However, after so many years, her senior brother has become her lover, but she has never been able to become the heroine of Wu Yuan's art films.

In the early years, because my acting skills were not up to par and I was too young, I was unable to qualify for Wu Yuan's art films, and could only play small supporting roles such as the granddaughter and the heroine's student days.

Later, after more than a decade of Wu Yuan's training and Hollywood's influence, her acting skills were almost honed, and she could win a Best Actress award in China, but Wu Yuan stopped making art films.
It would be a lie to say I have no regrets.

That's why Liu Yifei started to test Wu Yuan.

Faced with her big, watery eyes full of expectation, Wu Yuan was indeed shaken for a moment.

"An art film." He groaned and fell silent.

Wu Yuan does have plans for an art film in his mind, which is the Bruce Lee biography that he has always wanted to make, a film that is vying for an Oscar.

However, this plan has only remained in the planning stage, and the implementation time is far away. He originally planned to shoot it in 2016, but he forgot about "Doctor Strange" and was busy shooting "Doctor Strange". After shooting this movie, Wu Yuan really felt like he was sick of shooting movies, and he had to take a break for a while, so "Bruce Lee" was shelved again.

More importantly, this movie is not a female-led movie, and there is no role for Liu Yifei to show her talents.

Apart from this "Bruce Lee" film, Wu Yuan really has no plans for any art film.

It has to be admitted that in the world film industry, art films have lost their original glory and the era of art films has passed.

It's like classical music being replaced by modern pop music.

The film industry is also facing such changes.

When these "arts" are lowered to the level where the general public can appreciate and watch them, they will inevitably become popular and no longer be high and mighty.

Although art films will not disappear completely, they will indeed withdraw from the mainstream market and become a niche hobby.

This is caused by the inevitability of the development of the times, and it is not something that can be influenced by one or two directors.

The "biographical film" chosen by Wu Yuan is one of the few themes that will remain strong in the field of literary and artistic films in the future. After all, mankind has always had a fine tradition of remembering outstanding great men. Making these people's lives into movies to pass on their memories is a very good choice.

The Oscars also clearly have this trend. In recent years, the proportion of biopics that have won the Oscar for Best Picture has become increasingly higher.

If Wu Yuan were allowed to choose, he would definitely go for a biographical film if he wanted to win an award, and it would be best if he made a biographical film about a Chinese figure, as this would both promote Chinese greats and remember their ancestors.

But if Liu Yifei plays the role.
Wu Yuan turned his head and looked at the beautiful face just a few feet away. Is there anyone in Chinese history who is like her, who is not only extremely beautiful but also has a very special life experience, worthy of being made into a biographical movie?

The four talented ladies of the underworld?

Or those talented and beautiful women in ancient history?

Li Qingzhao, the most talented woman of all time?
Or is it Cai Wenji who had a rough life?

Or maybe you would like to find a loyal person like Zhuo Wenjun who will stay with you till old age?

Or is she not as good as Xie Daoyun whose willow catkins are blown by the wind?
Is there any woman who can be as virtuous as you, with all the qualities of a good writer and a good conduct, and who helped Ban Zhao in writing the Book of Han?

Or is it the female prime minister, Shangguan Wan'er, who is as capable as any man?

When you think about it this way, there are indeed countless outstanding women in Chinese history who have left behind magnificent achievements!

Isn't it possible to give Liu Yifei a try? (End of this chapter)