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Chapter 439 Gong Li’s husband was never Zhang Yimou

Gong Li initially admired Wang Shu's talent, and since they both came from the domestic entertainment industry, she wanted to promote him.

Like Zhang Yimou and other older generation filmmakers, she had deep in her heart the desire to bring Chinese-language films to the world. In addition, she had reached the top level of the domestic entertainment industry. Seeing that Wang Shu was so talented at a young age, she felt sympathy for him and wanted to give him a push.

I just didn’t expect that Wang Shu would become a global $5 million director as soon as he stepped into Hollywood, and now he is even nominated for a Golden Globe Award.

Although nominations for the Academy Awards have not yet been announced, it is not impossible.

Although "The Piano Tuner" is a remake, this movie was written and directed by Wang Shu himself, and there are many Hollywood remakes.

Therefore, this is not a criticism.

Rather, it is very amazing!
Gong Li was truly happy for Wang Shu.

Because Wang Shu is a director, if he develops well enough in Hollywood, he can also promote her, a Chinese actress who came to Hollywood from the domestic entertainment industry.

"It's good that you have confidence." Gong Li responded with a smile, "There is no director from the mainland who has made a name for himself in Hollywood. If you can win an award, it will be a tribute to the mainland."

Not only directors but also actors in mainland China cannot make a name for themselves in Hollywood. Gong Li is an actor, so she is naturally embarrassed to say this.

It is undeniable that Li An has won the Academy Award for Best Director for "Brokeback Mountain", and Li Xiaolong and Chen Long have long been internationally renowned stars.

But Li An is from Taiwan, Li Xiaolong and Chen Long are from Hong Kong Island, and there is really no one in the mainland who can come up with something good.

Whenever we talk about these things, we can only rely on Taiwan and Hong Kong to gild ourselves.

Although we are indeed a family, there is still a layer of separation after all. Mainland artists often feel embarrassed when talking about this.

If it weren't for the three great European directors like Zhang Yimou acting as the front, it would be even more embarrassing.

Now, Wang Shuruo can make a name for himself in Hollywood.

Then, the film circles of Hong Kong and Taiwan no longer have a place to show off in the domestic entertainment industry.

Because there are also big Hollywood directors in mainland China.

Of course, when it comes to actors, no one can compare to Li Xiaolong and Chen Long.

But, as long as there is a big Hollywood director like Wang Shu in the mainland, everything is possible.

"I hope so." Wang Shu responded with a smile.

Not only are people multifaceted, but no one is perfect.

Gong Li certainly had the intention of promoting Wang Shu before, but now that she has come to Hollywood, she has to "follow the local customs."

In the original timeline, the news that Gong Li and her husband Jean-Michel Jarre accompanied French President Macron on a visit to China in 2019 dominated the screen.

Someone asked in confusion: "Isn't Gong Li's husband Zhang Yimou? When did he become a Frenchman? And he's an old man in his seventies?"

In fact, Gong Li’s husband was never Zhang Yimou, the two of them were just...

As one of the most famous Chinese actresses, Gong Li has a complicated love history.
In 1979, 14-year-old Gong Li was working as an extra in a film crew. The 25-year-old photographer Sun Zhou was attracted by her cool appearance and gave her a shot and a line.

Gong Li was delighted and took note of this handsome uncle. She waited for 20 years.

In the same year, 29-year-old photographer Zhang Yimou was a freshman at the Beijing Film Academy.

Before he went north to study, he and Xiao Hua had a simple wedding and their relationship came to fruition.

Gong Li likes singing and dancing. She has been a backbone of the school art troupe since elementary school. She is often active on the stage of art performances and dreams of becoming a singer when she grows up.

Perhaps inspired by Sun Zhou, after performing as an extra, Gong Li changed her dream from "singer" to "actor".

However, as soon as the new dream set sail, it was thrown into the abyss by reality.

In 1983, 18-year-old Gong Li prepared for the college entrance examination in Jinan, but failed. The next year, she took the college entrance examination again, but failed again. She did not meet the standards in cultural subjects and did not even pass the preliminary examination of the art examination.

After failing the college entrance examination for two consecutive years, Gong Li was still unwilling to give up. She worked as a temporary worker in a publishing house while preparing for her third college entrance examination.

When her parents were not optimistic about her, a man suddenly appeared and gave Gong Li's artistic dream a turning point.

This man's name is Yin Dawei. He comes from a family of performing arts. When he met Gong Li, he was 24 years old and had just graduated from jfj Art Academy. After Gong Li asked someone to visit Yin's house three times, he finally agreed to accept the 19-year-old Gong Li as his apprentice.

Unexpectedly, the master and the apprentice had an unpleasant argument in the first class.

Gong Li stood in front of Yin Dawei with her long legs crossed, and one of her legs was shaking constantly.

Yin Dawei couldn't bear to see this, so he picked up the horse whip he used to learn opera and whipped her beautiful long legs hard.

Not only was she whipped, Yin Dawei also admonished her: "You should stand and sit properly. If you only have good looks but no character, you can't be an actor." Gong Li screamed in pain. She touched her whipped leg, glared at Yin Dawei, then slammed the door and left.

Unexpectedly, the next day, Gong Li appeared in front of Yin Dawei on time again.

This is because after failing the college entrance examination twice, Gong Li placed all her chips on the third time. There was no other way, she had to keep a low profile.

So, under Yin Dawei's hands-on training, Gong Li's hormones were stimulated and her acting talent was discovered.

In 1985, 20-year-old Gong Li took the college entrance examination for the third time. She tried her best but still failed miserably. Her scores in cultural subjects were 11 points short of the admission standard.

However, she performed outstandingly in the art examination and was specially admitted by the Beijing Theatre Academy.

Among them, Yin Dawei, who came from a performing arts family, ran around and made a lot of efforts.

Among the candidates that year, Gong Li's appearance was not very pretty, but she was very charming. Not only was she liked by the teachers, she was also very popular among her classmates. As soon as she entered the school, she was named one of the "Five Golden Flowers of the Chinese Academy of Drama" along with Shi Ke and others.

After entering the Central Academy of Drama, Gong Li felt like she was in a paradise of handsome guys. She resolutely threw herself into the arms of a male classmate named Yang Jianxun. The two of them were always a couple and were very sweet.

In addition to her love life, Gong Li also did not neglect her studies. She often visited various film crews to look for minor roles to play.

This performance tells the story again.
Zhang Yimou of the same period was assigned to Guangdong Film Studio after graduating from Beijing Film Academy. He became a first-line photographer with Yellow Earth and won the Best Actor award at the Hundred Flowers Awards and Golden Rooster Awards for starring in the movie Old Well.

During the filming of "Old Well", Zhang Yimou read Mo Yan's novel "Red Sorghum" and decided to adapt it into a movie.

Mo Yan symbolically charged a few hundred yuan and gave the copyright to Zhang Yimou.

Zhang Yimou was moved and became sworn brothers with Mo Yan, who was five years younger than him. The two of them mobilized villagers to grow sorghum and selected the heroine for the film together.

The heroine "Jiuer" in the book is a girl with big breasts and a round butt. The two men, along with the director team, searched all over Beijing Film Academy and the Central Academy of Drama, and finally set their sights on Shi Ke, one of the "Five Golden Flowers of the Central Academy of Drama".

The group looked at Shi Ke, who had big breasts and a wide butt, and were very satisfied. When they were about to finalize the deal, a teacher from the Central Academy of Drama recommended that they meet Gong Li, who was still filming in another city.

When Gong Li rushed back to school, she was wearing a loose dress and looked neither "voluptuous" nor "fat butt". Mo Yan waved his hands repeatedly, but Zhang Yimou was attracted by the simple and fiery charm of Gong Li.

So Gong Li and Shi Ke were arranged to audition together. Zhang Yimou had to choose one of the two. In the end, the "voluptuous breasts and fat buttocks" in the original novel were reduced in fat and the 22-year-old Gong Li was cast.

The leading actor is the 24-year-old Hundred Flowers Award winner Jiang Wen.

In 1987, the filming of "Red Sorghum" began. The red sorghum fields brought out the primitive wildness of a group of people, and Gong Li was surrounded by a group of male hormones.

This scene aroused the dissatisfaction of her boyfriend Yang Jianxun. He asked Gong Li to give up on the grounds that "the crew was too chaotic", but Gong Li refused and the two had a big fight.

Yang Jianxun actually chased Gong Li from school to the crew and beat her up without any explanation.

When Zhang Yimou saw this, he thought it was outrageous. Someone was picking on his territory and the heroine he had chosen was also being trampled on. So he shouted and drove Yang Jianxun away, and then came to relieve Gong Li's annoyance.

After work every day, the two of them would squat in a corner and communicate, ranging from art to life, and the more they talked, the more excited they became.

As their communication deepened, they fell in love. When "Red Sorghum" was filmed in Ningxia, they were so attracted to each other that they had crossed the moral red line.

At that time, Gong Li was in her prime, only 22 years old, but Zhang Yimou was 37 years old. Not only did he have a wife, but he also had a 4-year-old daughter.

How can we fix this?
Zhang Yimou was also very depressed at that time. It was his first time as a director, and he was often criticized by Jiang Wen because of issues such as character creation. He could only find a little comfort in Gong Li.

In 1988, "Red Sorghum" was released. The strong colors and bold style that can be found everywhere in the movie made people feel refreshed. It won the Berlin Golden Bear Award, as well as the "Best Picture Award" of many domestic and international awards such as the Golden Rooster Award and the Hundred Flowers Award.

As a result, the audience remembered Gong Li, who had a pretty face and resembled Yamaguchi Momoe.

After making a name for herself in the film industry, Gong Li returned to the Beijing Theatre Academy and was entangled by Yang Jianxun again. Gong Li had no choice but to write a letter to Zhang Yimou. In addition to asking for help, she also recalled their happy sexual times.

She wrote in the letter: "When we were together, you looked so adorable in my arms. We had endless things to say and do together..."

Later, Xiao Hua, Zhang Yimou's original wife, saw the letter when she was sorting out Zhang Yimou's clothes and was deeply hurt.

Faced with questioning, Zhang Yimou was very frank and admitted that he and Gong Li had been in Ningxia several times.

Then Zhang Yimou asked for a divorce. Xiao Hua was very angry: "You wish. I won't let you go. Let's see what you can do."

When Zhang Yimou saw this situation, he had to solve Gong Li's problem first. After mediation, he helped Gong Li successfully get rid of the entanglement of her ex-love Yang Jianxun.

But what happened next made him wish he could burrow underground.

In 1989, the relationship between 24-year-old Gong Li and 39-year-old Zhang Yimou was exposed, causing an uproar in public opinion and making Zhang Yimou suddenly feel uneasy. He didn't even know how to face the world's gaze and wished he could burrow into the ground.

This is because his affair was made public!

(End of this chapter)