director of the millennium

"Wow! So cool!"

"Hugo, this is a good move. He has practiced it very well."

"Zhu Yilong is a good guy, his moves look quite impressive."

"Director Wu, the actors you found are really good and dedicated."

Standing next to the monitor, Cheng Long looked at the leading actors who were fighting fiercely on the set and couldn't help but praise them.

Not that he was making a fuss.

It is really rare to find young actors in this era who can take action scenes so seriously.

At least in the six or seven movies that Cheng Long has shot recently, the "fresh meat" in them are all delicate and fragile. Not to mention the trivial matter that they have to bring four or five assistants to the set, just during the filming, if there is a slightly large movement, they will cry and scream. I think I am already too dedicated.

If he really wants to shoot some intense fighting scenes, he can't do it himself. He has to let the crew's stunt double do it, and he only contributes a few frontal shots showing his face. He says that it's worth it as long as the audience can see his face, and he doesn't care who is doing the fighting.

Cheng Long has denounced these young and handsome actors more than once in public and in interviews with reporters, but to be honest, he has no way to change the atmosphere in the circle, and often he even has to accept the actors sent by the investors.

Even if he is an international dragon, in front of capital he is just an actor who must obey orders.

Unlike Wu Yuan, he is the capital himself. The film company that has been operating for more than ten years has become a giant in the industry. He can choose good actors at will.

"After 'Knife of the Assassin', I haven't seen a mainland movie with such good fighting scenes for a long time." Cheng Long said sincerely.

In fact, the fighting scenes in "The Blade of the Assassin" are not very good either. Many of them are too lazy, using frequent camera switching to show the sense of fierceness instead of real punches and swords fighting.

But "Knife of the Assassin" has indeed become the swan song of domestic costume martial arts films, which is a pity for Cheng Long.

Although Jackie Chan's acting style is not in the area of ​​costume martial arts films, the era when Jackie Chan was at the peak of his career was the era when Shaw Brothers' martial arts films swept across Asia. He actually has a strong preference for martial arts and is saddened by the decline of martial arts.

To be precise, I feel sad about the decline of kung fu movies.

"Brother, our Mulan is different from Blade of the Assassin. It is not a costume martial arts film. The fighting scenes are just a highlight of the film, but not the focus throughout the whole film."

"This is a Disney princess movie after all, so don't get it wrong."

Wu Yuan looked calm while watching the monitor screen, and he did not forget to correct Cheng Long's thoughts. Although Cheng Long could not influence his shooting style as a director in the crew, and it was impossible for him to change the plot like he did in his own crew, Wu Yuan felt that it was still important for him to understand the shooting logic of this movie.

After all, Cheng Long's literary acting is indeed very average. If he misunderstands the movie, the result will definitely not be good.

So he had to keep reminding Cheng Long not to regard the movie as a kung fu movie or a martial arts movie just because of a few exciting fighting scenes. "Mulan" can only be said to be a movie with kung fu elements at best, but this movie focuses more on fantasy and magical styles.

The main plot of the movie also revolves around the confrontation between justice and evil between Hua Mulan, who masters "qi", and the prairie witch who masters witchcraft.

Yes, in the end, the main plot of the movie "Mulan" still adopted the setting of "Qi". After all, "Mulan" is a movie for the global market, and for foreigners, all the mysterious colors of China are mostly inseparable from the mysterious "Qi".

In the minds of foreigners, the mysterious "Qi" of China is probably similar to the magic in European and American culture. If you master the "Qi", you can master the extraordinary power similar to "magic".

This understanding is quite unified abroad, so Wu Yuan had to adopt this theory. After all, this is one of the few Chinese mysterious powers that has a "consensus" internationally.
As for the enemy prairie witch, naturally, witchcraft is simply and crudely applied. After all, witches are very familiar to Westerners, and even more familiar to Disney princess movies. Eight out of ten Western fairy tales have evil witches as the main villains. This is too familiar.
From the beginning to the end, Wu Yuan never said that "Mulan" was a costume martial arts film. He has always positioned this film as a Disney princess film, but it's just about a special princess, a princess who says women are inferior to men.

Moreover, he knew calmly that even if he asked for three Chinese screenwriters to write the script together, the final film would most likely not be very popular in China. Perhaps to most Chinese audiences, this movie would just be a movie with a Chinese background that looked a bit awkward and strange.

There is no way. The problem of cultural differences is really difficult to deal with. It is theoretically impossible to make a movie with an ancient Chinese background that can satisfy domestic audiences and be understandable to European and American audiences at the same time.
This can only be achieved if one day everyone in the world speaks Mandarin and reads Confucius.
Just like in Wu Yuan's version of "Mulan", Gong Li still played a witch similar to a shaman. Even though her costume was completely different from the original and tended towards the nomadic style of the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the "witchcraft" she used was still very European.

In the script, there is even a "magic battle" with Hua Mulan. Hua Mulan will hold up her family sword and use the "qi" that can only be unleashed by those with enough courage and justice to defeat the witch.

Based on this part of the plot, foreigners will only find it mysterious and interesting, but Chinese people will definitely complain about it. This is inevitable, and Wu Yuan cannot have the best of both worlds.

Coincidentally, this scene is being filmed today.

This is a grand scene. There are more than 500 extras playing the roles of soldiers on both sides, plus more than 100 horses. Using special filming techniques, the feeling of a mighty army can be created.

In the center of the battlefield, there is a watchtower built as the venue for the duel. The witch played by Gong Li and Mulan played by Liu Yifei will fight up and down, left and right in this watchtower, from long-range attacks to close combat, and finally being killed by Mulan's sword.

All in all, this is the most critical scene in the movie, and it is also the scene that will require the most special effects shots later.

That is why Cheng Long came to the scene specifically to watch the filming of this scene.

"Is Gong Li ready?" Wu Yuan picked up the intercom and asked. After waiting for three minutes, he said in a serious tone, "Get ready to shoot!" (End of this chapter)