Chapter 201 "Good Guys, Bad Guys, Weird Guys"

In the Light and Shadow Era, in Wu Yuan's office.

Sitting opposite Zhang Guorong, Wu Yuan was washing the tea set fluently.

"Leslie, are you done with your acting career in Hong Kong Island?"

Wu Yuan used to call Zhang Guorong "Mr. Zhang", but as the relationship between the two became better and better, Zhang Guorong asked him not to be so distant and just call him Leslie directly.

His good friends and directors he had worked with, such as Sunglass King, all called him that.

After all, Wu Yuan couldn't call him "brother" all the time, because he was not from Hong Kong Island.

"I'm done." Zhang Guorong smiled with wrinkles on his face, "I released an album in Hong Kong Island and held more than ten concerts. The fans were very happy, and I was very happy too."

He is 50 years old this year, and he can still sing and dance on the stage. He is really a hardworking and dedicated person.

Wu Yuan also listened to Zhang Guorong's new album released last year. This is an album that he had never seen in his dreams.

The album was created by Hong Kong's top music producers, composers and lyricists. There are some songs that Wu Yuan has heard in his dreams, but they were not sung by Zhang Guorong.

For example, "Best Loss Friend" and "Falling Flowers and Flowing Water" which were originally supposed to be sung by Eason were included in Zhang Guorong's new album "Goodbye Guorong". It is estimated that he included these two songs first.

From the style of the songs in this album, it can be seen that Zhang Guorong, who is now fifty years old, can no longer continue to sing and dance vigorously.

The man who opened the era of Hong Kong's energetic songs and dances has to completely transform into a lyrical singer.

"It seems that you are in a good mood recently." Looking at Zhang Guorong's smiling face and the crow's feet at the corners of his eyes, Wu Yuan sighed.

"Of course." Zhang Guorong said cheerfully: "I am in a very good mood now. My acting career has reached the top and I have won the Berlin Film Festival Best Actor Award."

"My singing career has reached the top a long time ago."

"Now I occasionally make a cameo appearance in a movie and release an album every two years to give back to my fans and friends. I don't know how easy it is!"

Zhang Guorong played Pang Yong in "Painted Skin", which can be regarded as a relief for the fans who are eagerly waiting for him to act.

It is also thanks to Zhang Guorong's reputation that "Painted Skin" finally won nearly 40 million Hong Kong dollars in the box office in Hong Kong Island!

"Now I am thinking about being a good director and making some movies that can stay in the hearts of the audience." Zhang Guorong said quite seriously.

Wu Yuan curled his lips. Compared with the man in front of him, why does it feel that Zhang Guorong is the one who is cheating?

"Leslie, is there a new script?" Wu Yuan didn't want to talk to him anymore, so he asked straightforwardly.

"Yes, I have an idea." Zhang Guorong nodded and said seriously, "Director Wu, I have an immature idea and would like to ask for your opinion."

"You say."

"I want to make a western for us Chinese, but it should be more rock, more intense, and more entertaining!"

"Western?" Wu Yuan frowned.

Westerns, also known as cowboys, were born in the United States.

According to the standards of westerns, this type of movie must have cowboys wearing wide-brimmed hats, revolvers on their waists, rough but handsome, representing justice, and rampant gangsters and villains representing evil.

And the background must be the great desert in the western United States. The wilderness with yellow sand and desolate towns constitute the background characteristics of westerns.

But now, this type of film that reflects the development of the West by Americans and dramatizes and epicizes it has long been weakened.

Hollywood itself does not make westerns anymore, so why does Zhang Guorong have this idea?

"Yes, a western."

"That's what I think." Zhang Guorong talked about his thoughts. "In the 1930s, Japan invaded China and occupied China's northeast region and the adjacent Chahar grassland."

"A large group of fully armed Japanese officers obtained a treasure map. This treasure map is related to a treasure hidden in Manchuria by the Qing Dynasty."

"But it's not just the Japanese who are interested in this treasure map."

"Three bandits with different personalities, some good and some bad, also set their sights on this treasure map and planned to attack the group of Japanese officers and steal the treasure map."

"In the process, the three bandits got to know each other and reached a consensus in the conflict between primitive violence and kindness."

"They are going to have a train robbery on the Northeast Plain!"

Wu Yuan frowned. This plot sounded very familiar.

Western, cowboys, snatching treasure maps, train robbery.

"Isn't this "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly"?

"The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" is an Italian western, but it is a classic in the history of American westerns.

This movie tells the story of three people who took advantage of the chaotic political situation during the American Civil War, exploiting each other and scheming against each other, resulting in many interesting jokes and tense dramatic confrontations.

These three people represent good people, bad people and ugly people respectively.

"Yes, my inspiration comes from the classic "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly", Zhang Guorong admitted frankly. He just watched this classic old movie recently and then he came up with the idea of ​​making a Chinese version.

No one in China has ever made this kind of western, so Zhang Guorong wanted to give it a try.

Wu Yuan looked at him silently, neither agreeing nor disagreeing, but thinking.

He remembered that South Korea also made a movie that paid tribute to "The Good, the Bad, the Bad, and the Bad," and the movie's title even used the literal English translation of "The Good, the Bad, and the Bad," called "The Good, the Bad, and the Weird."

This movie did very well at the box office, winning the 2008 Korean movie box office championship with a total of 7.02 million views.

Of course, in the three-acre area of ​​Korea, there is definitely no place where you can capture the majesty of the wilderness.

This movie was shot in places such as Dunhuang, Mongolia and Russia, and the main plot was shot in Jiayuguan and Dunhuang.

The Dunhuang wilderness early in the morning, the magnificent scenery such as the Gobi Canyon and the sunset over the long river were all captured in this movie.

Grass!

Korean guys can take pictures, but Zhang Guorong can’t?

Movies such as "The Cook, the Actor, the Scoundrel", "Three Brothers" and "The Golden Heist" all have the style and characteristics of American western movies, and they have also achieved good box office results in China.

This shows that Chinese audiences can actually enjoy this kind of Western movies. After all, Western movies are not mainly bloody and violent. Their core selling point is dramatic comedic conflicts.

"You can give it a try." Wu Yuan thought for a while and said calmly: "We can learn from "The Good and the Bad" in terms of character setting and story outline."

"The content of the story had to be completely reinvented."

"We will follow the typical commercial film model. We will design the highlight of the train robbery at the beginning to create a thrilling opening. We will capture the hearts of the fans first, and then move on to the character story."

"Add more action scenes. You guys know the best about Hong Kong movies. I really can't go to the family class and hire a few professionals."

"In terms of action scenes, we pay tribute to the style of traditional comedy, but we don't want to overwhelm the show and don't let the action take away the limelight of the plot."

"As for the starring role."

"The three protagonists of The Good, the Bad, and the Bad are a good guy, a bad guy, and an ugly guy who is responsible for humor."

"The good guy can be played by Liu Ye, and the bad guy can be played by Teacher Xu Jinjiang or Zhou Zhaolong."

"It's best to deal with the ugly ones. Didn't Andy Lau's Asian Rising Star Director project involve a mainland movie?"

"In Ning Hao's "Crazy Stone", there is an actor named Huang Bo. He has a very unique appearance and has a talent for comedy."

Wu Yuan completely adapted this movie to the casting template of "The Cook, the Actor, the Scoundrel".

In fact, the character setting of "The Cook, the Actor, the Scoundrel" was also based on "The Good, the Bad, and the Bad", but this movie was not made into a western.

When Liu Ye, Zhang Hanyu, and Huang Bo came together, the chemical reaction was quite good.

Just considering that Zhang Guorong is a Hong Kong director after all, he still has to give a Hong Kong male lead role in the casting, so that he can compete for the Hong Kong Film Awards!

As a bad guy, you can choose any one of Hong Kong's biggest villains, Xu Jinjiang and Zhou Zhaolong.

The two of them are both respectful and intimidating, and they are perfect at playing bad guys.

"As for the name of the movie, it's called "Good Guys, Bad Guys, and Weird Guys." Since we all pay homage to "The Good, the Bad, and the Bad Guys," we can directly reflect it in the movie's title. There is no need to hide it."

"Let me tell the fans clearly that the inspiration and characters of this movie come from "The Good, the Bad, and the Bad"."

"Sincerity is the ultimate skill."

Zhang Guorong opened his mouth slightly and looked at Wu Yuan blankly.

How come this movie was decided in just a few sentences?

He just had thoughts and ideas and wanted to chat with Wu Yuan.

Why is it that after these few words, Wu Yuan is already casting?

"Director Wu." Zhang Guorong opened his mouth, trying to persuade him not to think so far ahead and finish the script first.

However, Wu Yuan interrupted him directly, "Leslie, this movie will probably be shot in Dunhuang, Jiayuguan, and Inner Mongolia, and the production cost may not be low."

"Eighty million should be enough for filming, right?"

"Excluding special effects, the actual shooting of "Painted Skin" only cost 70 to 80 million."

"That's enough." Zhang Guorong swallowed and quickly swallowed back the words that came to his lips.

It's better to be more cheerful. He liked Director Wu's cheerful and cheerful look.

"By the way, we can get China Film to do it together." Wu Yuan happily added: "Director Han is particularly interested in this kind of subject matter that has never been filmed in China."

"If he knew we were going to make a Western, he would definitely be willing to get involved."

"By the way, when the time comes, you will also have a guest role in the movie, playing a Japanese officer?"

"This way we can get the movie to Korea and release it!"

Wu Yuan is very familiar with the matter of exporting to domestic sales.

"Good Guys, Bad Guys, and Weird Guys" has been watched by more than 7 million people in South Korea. This market cannot be ignored!

He looked directly into Zhang Guorong's eyes with great solemnity.

"Korean audiences still like your face. "A Better Tomorrow" and "A Chinese Ghost Story" were very popular in Korea back then, and now you are still an Asian superstar in the eyes of Korean movie fans."

"This "Good Guys, Bad Guys, Weird Guys" must be exported to the Korean market!"

The good news is there are two more chapters.

The bad news is that my schedule is broken again, and I can finish two chapters in the early morning.