China Entertainment: Been working as a director since 03

Chapter 478: The Thirteen Soldiers Return to Yumen
"Detective Chinatown 1" is a combination of suspense, reasoning and comedy. If you look into it carefully, you will find some flaws and imperfections.

As a commercial film, it is definitely of passing or even excellent standard.

The two elements of suspense, mystery and comedy are well integrated, which will not make people feel distracted, and there are also some small surprises.

"Detective Chinatown 2" as a whole has downplayed the elements of suspense and reasoning, enhanced the comedy elements, has more laughs, and has become more commercial.

From the director's perspective, both Li Yu and Wang Jing think that the first part is better.

From the perspective of most viewers who are not so picky about movies and just watch whatever movie is popular, perhaps the second part will be better.

This can be seen from the box office gap between the first and second films.

There are only a few years between the two films, and the fact that the second film is several times more profound than the first despite having significantly less content speaks volumes.

"I've said too much, Director Wang. I just made the script more commercial. Whether it will be successful depends on you as the director and the audience."

Li Yu said modestly.

"Generally, this is how screenwriters are, but you are different. You are the best screenwriter in China."

Wang Jing said seriously.

Directors who have come all the way from Hong Kong Island during its golden age all pay more attention to famous screenwriters.

In order to maximize the box office and ratings of film and television works, Hong Kong's film and television companies in those days would mostly choose to purchase the copyrights of well-known novels for film and television adaptations and hire famous screenwriters to do the adaptations.

If originality is absolutely necessary, the best option is to ask a famous editor to write it.

This situation has created a relatively high status for Hong Kong screenwriters.

Not only film and television companies and directors attach importance to famous editors, but actors do too.

At that time, there was a rumor in Hong Kong circles that whoever could star in a work adapted from Gu Long's novel would become famous.

When he was young, Cheng Long met Gu Long through the introduction of director Luo Wei.

Cheng Long wanted Gu Long to help him write a script.

Gu Long was very straightforward and honest. He told Luo Wei that his scripts should be written for those very handsome men. He even listed several famous handsome men at that time. How could he write for Cheng Long?
The implication is that she dislikes Cheng Long's ugliness.

Cheng Long never expected that the famous martial arts master was actually a person who judged people by their appearance.

After getting drunk and vomiting in the toilet, he hugged his friend and cried bitterly.

This incident shows that screenwriters in Hong Kong have a very high status, at least much higher than screenwriters in the mainland.

If there is a young and handsome actor in the mainland who seeks a famous screenwriter to help him write a script.

This famous editor dared to reject the other party on the grounds that he was too effeminate or too ugly.

What would the other party's fans think? If they dare to slander my brother, they will beat him to pieces and scold him until he stops writing?
Do you think this situation is bad enough?

No, there are worse.

In recent years, many traffic stars have emerged.

The situation of Miss Number, bringing eight stand-ins, and bringing screenwriters with them to modify the script has appeared on a small scale, mainly in the television industry.

Some of the more outrageous traffic stars even have their own stylists and private clothes.

The screenwriter told them that they were playing the role of a poor boy, and wearing branded and beautiful clothes would not fit the character setting.

They don’t care whether it fits the character setting or not, they just want to look handsome.

He doesn’t have much acting skills, but he has a heavy idol image and occasionally shows off his superior jawline in front of the camera.

Seeing that a popular star has ruined his role like this, what can the screenwriter say? Not a word.

This is the humble status of mainland screenwriters.

There is no way, because we are now in an era where traffic is king.
It’s awesome that they are popular and have traffic, especially those traffic directors who bring money into the crew. We have to flatter them and dare not offend them easily, let alone the screenwriters at the bottom.

Only a famous screenwriter and director like Li Yu, in front of whom traffic stars dare not act presumptuously, can be so popular.

Of course, Li Yu will not use traffic stars. His works do not need to use traffic stars to gain popularity.

As soon as his works are announced to start filming, they will attract everyone's attention and become the hottest works at the time.

What happened in the circle later proved that the traffic of traffic stars cannot be monetized through movies at all.

Lu Han is one of the top traffic stars, and Teng Huatao let him star in "The Fortress of Devil City" because he has a huge fan base.

One-tenth of Lu Han’s fans went to the theater to support the movie “Magic Fortress” which easily made over a billion.

With the support of one-fifth or one-third of the fans, it is not a dream to hit 3 billion, 4 billion, or 5 billion.

Director Tencent and investors may think so.

What about the facts?
The total box office of "The Fortress of Devil City" is only 1.2 million. All the fans who promised to support my brother's movie are nowhere to be seen.

Movies starring other popular stars were also not that good, with generally bad reputations and not very good box office performance.

"Director Li, your Game of Thrones universe plan should be successful. I also saw a lot of media in Hong Kong talking about your "The Lost Affair".

I heard from my friends in Taiwan that this drama is also very popular there, and I was jealous when I watched it."

Wang Jing said with some envy.

If he can make TV series as well as Li Yu, why would he make movies?

TV series like "The Last Thing" really make more money than movies.

"Don't be jealous, your drama Joy of Life will be released soon. It will be as popular as The Lost Affair after it is aired."

Li Yu said calmly.

"I can't believe what you said."

Wang Jing shook his head and smiled, taking Li Yu's words as a compliment.

Li Yu saw what Wang Jing was thinking. He felt helpless and wondered how Wang Jing could judge others by his own standards.
There was a little exaggeration in his words, but he really wasn't just being polite, was he?
"Joy of Life" should not be underestimated.

In the original time and space, this drama set a precedent for advanced on-demand viewing, which is the criticized VIP p.

The video platform dares to use this drama as a pioneer because it is so popular. They believe that even if the audience is disgusted by it, there will still be many people willing to pay more.

In fact, their wishful thinking was successful.

Starting from this drama, all the subsequent popular dramas followed suit and adopted the advanced on-demand mode.

However, it is almost impossible for "Joy of Life" to reach the heights of "The Unforgettable".

……

After Wang Jing left the capital with satisfaction, Li Yu met Chen Kaige.

During this period, Li Yu not only helped Wang Jing write the script for "Detective Chinatown 2".

He also wrote the script of "The Thirteen Soldiers Return to Yumen".

The Thirteen Soldiers Return to Yumen is a story recorded in official history. During the writing process, Li Yu read a lot of historical materials, added some artistic processing of his own, and finally wrote the script.

Since it is a story about a lone soldier defending a city, the details of the offensive and defensive battle between the attackers and defenders must be highlighted.

This is not a difficult task for Li Yu.

"Guan Du" written and directed by Li Yu has some similarities with "The Thirteen Soldiers Return to Yumen", both of which are exciting battles between attackers and defenders.

It’s just that the battle scene in Guandu was much larger than that in Thirteen Soldiers Return to Yumen. One involved hundreds of thousands of soldiers, while the other had only tens of thousands.

Therefore, Li Yu needs to add more elements into it, that is, to deeply depict the tragic heroism of the soldiers defending the city who are ready to die.

The direction chosen by Li Yu made Chen Kaige, a famous director of the time, applaud.

(End of this chapter)