Started as an independent producer in 1988

Chapter 138 Alone

The sun was shining brightly, and there were a few white clouds floating in the blue sky.

Chen Shiping opened the balcony window and let the sunlight shine on him, not wanting to move.

"Why don't you clean it up?"

Tao Huimin stood in the living room and shouted to Chen Shiping. Seeing him sitting there wearing only a tank top and shorts, she couldn't help but walk over and throw the clothes on him.

"Pay attention to your image, don't be embarrassed if others see you."

Chen Shiping grabbed his clothes and covered himself, but still didn't want to move. He had been very busy during this period, and now he just wanted to bask in the sun and relax.

Seeing him like this, Tao Huimin didn't bother to talk to him. He just cleaned up and put on lipstick in the mirror and said, "Please pay attention to your time. I have to leave first. Don't be late later."

Chen Shiping hummed and heard the sound of the door closing behind him.

After sitting on the balcony and lazing around for a while, Chen Shiping got up, put on his clothes and went out.

I'm going to the theater today to see how the actors are training. It's already the end of May, and Chen Shiping plans to start shooting early and film Cheng Dieyi's childhood and teenage scenes first.

By the time the filming of the boy's scenes is finished, it will be around July, and Zhang Guorong and the others should have learned almost the same thing.

It will be seamless by then and we will try to finish filming all the scenes by the end of the year.

After slowly arriving at the troupe, Chen Shiping heard the babbling Peking Opera lyrics coming from inside.

Zhang Guorong and Zhang Fengyi are also training with the troupe, but they still can't listen to the lyrics well.

Chen Shiping's appearance attracted everyone's attention, and several young actors came over and called Uncle Chen with a smile.

"I didn't bring anything to eat today." Chen Shiping said to them with a smile.

When Chen Shiping came here before, he would bring some snacks to reward these young actors, but he was too lazy to go out to buy anything today.

After chatting with the young actors for a while, Chen Shiping asked the teacher who trained them: "How are they doing? Are they all okay?"

"It's very good. They are all good students and they learn very quickly." The teacher said with a smile.

Chen Shiping nodded and said, "That's it. I'll start the production in a few days. I'll do a quick review of the lines in the next two days."

After asking about the young actor, Chen Shiping came to Leslie Cheung and said with a smile: "Let me listen to your words."

"You are here to listen to a play. Have you bought your tickets?"

Zhang Guorong, wearing a white training uniform, sat sideways on a chair with his legs crossed, a charming look from the inside out naturally exuded.

Chen Shiping laughed and said, "I don't need to buy a ticket to come here!"

"This feels right!" Ge You also came over and joked: "You look more like Mr. Yuan than me. How about you act?"

Everyone around laughed. Chen Shiping turned to look at him and said, "That won't work. My smile is not as cunning as yours."

"Okay, I finally know why you came to me." Ge You said, touching his forehead.

These actors who have to sing in the play are all practicing here, and the atmosphere is not bad.

After chatting for a while, Chen Shiping looked at Leslie Cheung and asked: "How are you doing with your dialect practice? If not, I will find a dubbing for you."

"That won't work. I'm practicing very well now." Zhang Guorong looked at Chen Shiping with some displeasure.

Chen Shiping raised his eyebrows slightly and said, "The first sentence is somewhat interesting, but the latter sentence is not."

As he spoke, Chen Shiping paused and looked at him and said, "Let your assistant go back to Xiangjiang. Don't stay in the hotel. I'll find you a large hotel to change the language environment."

Zhang Guorong is very easy-going and serious. He comes to the factory to study for several hours every day and is never late.

There are no special requirements for one's basic necessities, food, housing, and transportation in the capital, but language skills cannot be learned through hard work.

Beijing dialect is relatively contagious. Although it is not as good as Northeastern dialect, it is still very fast to learn under normal circumstances. However, Zhang Guorong can't find that feeling now, and it sounds weird to speak.

Hearing Chen Shiping's words, Zhang Fengyi immediately slapped his thigh and said, "Arrange one for me too. It's too inconvenient for me to live in that guest house!"

Zhang Guorong did not hesitate, nodded and said: "Okay, then move out of the hotel."

The hotels he stayed in were all the best in Beijing. The guests inside were either foreigners or overseas Chinese. The waiters all spoke English or standard Mandarin, and the language environment was not very good.

In addition, Zhang Guorong's assistant all spoke Cantonese, and it was really difficult for Zhang Guorong to practice the dialect well.

After discussing with Zhang Guorong, Chen Shiping asked the producer to call over and ask him to find a large courtyard with decent taste but not bad conditions.

After all, he is a big star in Xiangjiang, so it is hard for Leslie Cheung to live in such a small shabby courtyard.

He also had to find a local assistant to take care of his life. No matter whether he was needed or not, he had to have such a person by his side.

You also have to be a talkative person! Talk to him every day.

Zhang Fengyi is a bit talkative, but we can arrange for them to live together so that they can become more familiar and develop a relationship.

After the arrangements were made, Chen Shiping did not delay them from continuing to practice, and went to Xu Feng to discuss the matter of starting the machine in a few days.

Xu Feng is now leading people to settle the cost of the scenery. So many scenery constructions have to be calculated.

Fortunately, her husband was in real estate, so it was easy to find a professional from his own company to do the accounting.

When Chen Shiping met her, the settlement had been settled and they were about to make a payment.

Xu Feng was very excited when he saw Chen Shiping coming over, but he also had a headache.

The preparations for the movie were very meticulous. Xu Feng was satisfied with the preparations of both the service and the actors, but he was also troubled by the amount of money spent on everything.

"Don't worry, it will be turned on in two days." Chen Shiping smiled and comforted him.

Xu Feng heard this and said with a smile on his face: "I thought you had to wait for a while."

"Zhang Guorong's progress is a bit slow, but other actors don't have to worry."

Chen Shiping was also a little anxious. It took so long for Farewell My Concubine to start filming, which was really a waste of time.

He also has to manage the co-production department and distribution department. If he continues to be delayed like this, he will not be able to continue his own work.

After finishing the filming of Farewell My Concubine earlier, Chen Shiping also planned to take a break. It would be better to be the main producer in the future. The director is really hard-working.

After the two chatted for a while, Xu Feng said: "I plan to go to Cannes and try to come back before the filming starts."

"Going to choose a film?" Chen Shiping asked curiously.

Xu Feng nodded and said, "Yes, let's see if there are any good movies to buy."

She is very keen on literary and artistic films and would not miss Cannes almost every year. This year's preparations for Farewell My Concubine have not yet passed.

Chen Shiping suddenly thought that Cheng Kaige was in Cannes now. He wondered if Cheng Kaige would regret it after Xu Feng went to Cannes this time.

According to the original development, after Cheng Kaige failed again in Walking and Singing, he met Xu Feng again in Cannes. This time he did not refuse Xu Feng and agreed to the request of filming Farewell My Concubine. I think at that time, Cheng Kaige knew that his future was worrying, so he no longer held back and agreed to accept Xu Feng's invitation.

Even though he thought Farewell My Concubine was a third-rate novel, at that time, both his reputation and his value in the eyes of investors had dropped to the lowest level. If he didn't seize the opportunity, he might not get the chance.

This was also the time when filming Farewell My Concubine, why was Cheng Kaige so honest and even invited a group of great people to help.

The script was written by Lu Wei in one year. In terms of art, from setting to costumes, they are the top talents in the film studio.

The photography was also done by Gu Changwei and several famous photographers, and the art director even invited his old man, who was in poor health, to provide guidance.

Even the assistant directors were hired, and the producers were talents poached from CCTV.

Not to mention the actors, they were all the best actors at the time. It would be damn strange that such a luxurious cast couldn't make a good movie.

I just don’t know if Cheng Kaige still has a chance to win the favor of other investors and support him to continue making movies.

After chatting with Xu Feng for a few words, Chen Shiping went to do other things. He had to deal with other work before turning on the phone.

The factory is currently stuck with several movies that have not been released, just waiting for the market economy to change after May.

Of course, there are also a few movies that are rushing to sell their copies to China Film Group Corporation before May.

Because the factory has evaluated the movies and feels that those movies will not do well at the box office. If they rely on box office, it is probably not cost-effective to sell them to China Film.

These movies include Cheng Kaige singing while walking. This is not because Chen Shiping deliberately took revenge, but because no one thought there was a market for singing while walking.

Even China Film didn't want a copy of Sing While Walking, so they bought a symbolic copy and gave the factory 10,000 yuan.

A movie costs 10,000 yuan, which feels like a loss just thinking about it. I hope Cheng Kaige can sell well in Cannes.

However, it is highly unlikely to be realistic. It is just that the Palme d'Or nomination is not valuable, not to mention that film critics in Cannes are generally not optimistic about Walking Singing, so it is impossible to sell it at a high price.

This is the disadvantage of not having public relations. If someone does public relations, the reputation will not collapse. Even if you don't win the award, you can still make a fortune in the trading market.

The proud Director Cheng probably regrets it to death now. He might as well let Chen Shiping do public relations for him!

The reviews were overwhelmingly negative, and it has not been released in China yet. There is only one copy, and China Film Group has no plans to release it.

It was impossible to restore the reputation, so Cheng Kaige had no choice but to brag to the media.

At this time, in a hotel in Cannes, Gu Changwei received a long-distance call from Jiang Wenli. After learning that Chen Shiping was planning to turn on the phone in advance, he felt a little anxious.

Walking and singing has already failed, and I have gained nothing. If I don't go back quickly now, I will become very embarrassed on the set of Farewell My Concubine.

After all, there is also Zhao Fei in the crew whose photography skills are not inferior to his, and he is also Chen Shiping's old partner.

Jiang Wenli also urged him to come back as soon as possible on the phone. Why was he still staying in Cannes since he had no chance to go on stage to receive the award?

After Gu Changwei hung up the phone, he didn't know how to talk to Cheng Kaige. Would it be too unkind to leave him in Cannes at this time?

Cheng Kaige is worried now, and his German producer Karl is even more worried.

He felt extremely regretful for not conducting public relations in advance. Karl never expected that Cannes filmmakers would be so biased against Cheng Kaige.

That year's Kid King was judged to be the most boring movie, and this year's Walking Sing got the same rating.

All the film producers involved were hesitant to buy the rights to Sing While Walking. It had such a bad reputation that it would cost money to buy it.

Gu Changwei was still struggling with how to tell Cheng Kaige about returning to China early, so Cheng Kaige called him over for a meeting.

In Cheng Kaige's room, Gu Changwei was listening to the chat between him and Karl. He didn't know what they were talking about, so he sat there by himself and thought about how to return to China.

Gong Li glanced at him and sat silently in the corner. She didn't know whether she should continue to wait.

The film's chances of winning awards were slim, and she didn't think she could win the Best Actress award.

Cheng Kaige and Karl are now almost quarreling, and each feels that the poor reputation of the movie is the other's fault.

"Karl, there are too many negative comments now. You are the producer and you should be responsible for this!"

"If it wasn't for your poor shooting, how could there be negative comments? Why didn't Chen Shiping and Zhang Yimou encounter such comments in Cannes?!"

"That's because Chen Shiping knows public relations! You are also a producer, why didn't you do public relations in advance!"

"What about Zhang Yimou? Did his public relations win the award?! You should reflect on your own problem! I will not be involved in the future!"

After Karl finished speaking, he stormed off. He had the nerve to blame him as the producer if the movie didn't turn out well!

With the producer leading such a movie, he doesn’t know if there will be investors looking for him in the future. He has no place to get angry!

An angry Cheng Kaige turned around and saw Gu Changwei sitting in the corner without saying a word. He held back his temper and said, "Chang Wei, what are you thinking? Is there anything you can do?"

"Huh?" Gu Changwei came to his senses and subconsciously said the lines he had just prepared in his mind.

"Kaige, I want to go back to China tomorrow. Wenli and I had a fight. She wants to break up with me!"

Cheng Kaige: "???" You have to run away too, right?

Seeing that he had already said it, Gu Changwei had no choice but to finish his words, and then left angrily with Cheng Kaige's gloomy face.

Gong Li also stood up at this time and said: "Director Kaige, I..."

"You want to leave too?!" Cheng Kaige looked at Gong Li and said, "You are the heroine, you can't leave!"

Gong Li: "." If I had known earlier, I would have waited until the closing time to come back.

After Gong Li also left, Cheng Kaige couldn't control his temper and sulked alone in the room.

Chen Shiping and Zhang Yimo both succeeded in Cannes!

Instead, he became the worst one!

Chen Shiping used to be just a small editor! Zhang Yimou used to just do his own photography!

Why can they all succeed!

So angry!

At this time, Gu Changwei was completely screwed up. He finally figured out that Cheng Kaige was a bit of a demon now, and he didn't know what would happen if he followed him.

I simply packed my things and prepared to rush back to China early the next morning.

In the capital, Chen Shiping also notified the film's creative team one by one that everyone from photography to art would come to the meeting.

The start of the movie was a top priority. After receiving the notice, everyone put down what they were doing and came to the meeting.

When Jiang Wenli knew that Gu Changwei was back, she immediately ran over and explained to Chen Shiping that he could only arrive in the capital at night.

Chen Shiping thought for a while and decided to wait for Gu Changwei to come back.

After all, she flew back before Cannes was over. He was so sincere that he didn't take it seriously.

Director Xiao Cheng was so miserable. He even came back early to take photos. Fortunately, Gong Li and Huang Lei were there, otherwise he would have been all alone.

(End of this chapter)