Chapter 239 An Invitation From Mark Muller to Bring Talent To

23rd Mueller's invitation, bring your talent to Venice?

Make a movie to end the Lunar New Year's Day movie season in the era of light and shadow?

Wu Yuan was speechless about Li Xiaoping's whimsical idea.

But it's understandable if you think about it.

Wu Yuan's most recent movie released in China was "Painted Skin" which was released on December 28, 2005. It's been more than a year in a blink of an eye.

If there is no movie released this year, Wu Yuan will be separated from the mainland audience for 2 years.

Since his debut, he has basically maintained a Chinese-language film released every year. Although sometimes it is an art film and sometimes it is a commercial film, at least the frequency is quite high.

It's just that he has been too busy in Hollywood in the past two years. "Pirates of the Caribbean 2", "Rush Hour 3" and "Pirates of the Caribbean 3" have occupied too much of his time.

In addition, "Gravity" in China is also a long-term project, so he has not been able to bring Chinese-language movies to the audience for two consecutive years.

Or, as Li Xiaoping said, rush to make a movie to add to the excitement of this year's Lunar New Year's Day movie season?

Wu Yuan counted on his fingers and figured that Pirates of the Caribbean 3 would be finished in June.

If he worked faster, he could finish another feature film without special effects in half a year.

But this was too tiring.

After careful consideration, Wu Yuan rejected Li Xiaoping's extravagant hope and didn't plan to push himself so hard.

What he didn't expect was that Wu Yuan received another call right after he rejected Li Xiaoping's "invitation to film".

It was from his senior Jia Zhangke, and Jia Zhangke didn't call Wu Yuan because he had something to discuss with him, but to convey a message on behalf of the Venice Film Festival.

Marco Mueller, president of the Venice Film Festival, hopes to invite Wu Yuan to bring his work to the Venice International Film Festival next year.

Among the three major international film festivals, Wu Yuan has participated in Cannes and Berlin, except for Venice.

And it just so happens that Venice has been the most friendly film festival for Chinese directors among the three major European film festivals in the past five years.

Who says Mark Mueller is an expert on China? He not only studied in China, but also married his wife in China. He also loves watching Chinese movies and is very fond of Chinese filmmakers.

How much do he like them?

The three Golden Lion Awards in 2005, 2006 and 2007 were awarded to Li An's Brokeback Mountain, Jia Zhangke's Still Human and Li An's Lust, Caution.

Of course, the winner of this year's Lust, Caution will not be announced until September.

It is also because of the "heavyweight" Lust, Caution this year that Mark Mueller invited Wu Yuan to participate in the Venice Film Festival next year.

Because there will be no Chinese directors who have prepared art films to be released next year, there will be a window period.

Mark Mueller, who loves Chinese movies, does not want the Chinese faces in Venice to disappear, so he has set his sights on Wu Yuan, a great Chinese director.

In the past two or three years, Wu Yuan has plunged into the field of commercial films. He has not made art films since Love, which makes Mark Mueller very sorry and regretful.

He personally likes Wu Yuan's "Departures" and "Love" because both films explore death, and he likes this theme.

Jia Zhangke first called Wu Yuan to talk, and after obtaining his consent, he gave his phone number to Mark Muller.

Then Mark Muller called Wu Yuan in person.

"Director Wu Yuan, as one of the best international film festivals in Europe, our Venice International Film Festival sincerely hopes that more outstanding international directors can participate."

"And you, as one of the best directors in China, are also the object of our Venice Film Festival's great welcome."

"If possible, on behalf of the Venice Film Festival, I sincerely invite you to bring your work to the Venice International Film Festival in September next year."

"I will welcome you in Venice."

Not to mention, Mark Muller speaks Chinese really well!

As expected of an international student, as expected of marrying a Chinese wife, he is the only foreigner who pronounces "Wu Yuan" correctly.

This is not a good impression.

Don't hit a smiling person. People are going to welcome him. What else can Wu Yuan say?

Anyway, it's still early to September next year, so Wu Yuan readily agreed: "Thank you very much for Chairman Mueller's invitation, but my next film shooting plan has not been decided yet."

"I can only promise you here that if I have a plan to shoot an art film before the Venice Film Festival next year, I will definitely bring it to Venice for exhibition."

"If there is no film plan, it can only be said that it is a pity."

Mark Mueller on the phone laughed happily, "Of course, I am very happy to have Director Wu's words. The Venice Film Festival is sincerely waiting for Director Wu's arrival."

Well, after talking a few words and hanging up the phone, Wu Yuan had to consider Mark Mueller's invitation.

To be honest, with Mark Mueller, a pro-China chairman, Venice will indeed become half of the home court of Chinese filmmakers in the next few years.

If it weren't for Mark Mueller, Jia Zhangke's "Still Life" would really be unlikely to win the Golden Lion Award last year.

If you want to win an award, it is more appropriate to go to the Venice Film Festival in the past two years.

Mark Mueller's invitation came very early. Now there is still a full year and a half before next year's Venice, which is enough time for Wu Yuan to prepare.

If there is a suitable script, it is always a good thing to make art films for awards.

It is not expensive to make art films. Only a few million is enough to make an excellent art film. It is just that excellent scripts are hard to find.

After Mark Mueller invited him, Wu Yuan was thinking about whether he should make an art film to participate in the Venice Film Festival during the filming of "Pirates of the Caribbean 3" and the rest time after work.

Which movie should I choose?

First of all, he must continue his art film directing style, that is, to explore the eternal topic of death.

The previous "Departures" and "Love", both movies explored death through different stories and angles.

This has become Wu Yuan's personal style.

European film newspapers will inevitably talk about this matter as long as they mention Wu Yuan, the director.

European film critics unanimously believe that Wu Yuan likes to explore the grand topic of death in movies through the "ordinary stories" of small people.

It seems that the stories are simple and ordinary, but the exploration of "life" behind them always touches the depths of the audience's soul and makes people tremble.

Just like Zhang Yimou's art films always have rural areas, farmers, and yellow earth.

Chen Kaige's art films always have beautiful compositions and complex characters.

Jiang Wen's art films are full of metaphors, allusions, and political reflections.

As an excellent art film director, Wu Yuan certainly has his own style and characteristics in his art films.

Although this style and characteristics are indeed presented by Wu Yuan unintentionally, when he chose the two films "Departures" and "Love", he really didn't think so much.

It's just that now the style has been formed, and he can only accept the evaluation and definition of himself by European journalists.

If he wants to be stable, his next art film should also be related to the proposition of "death", continue to deepen his own film style, and form a unique "Wu Yuan style movie".

For a director, this is definitely something he wants and is proud of.

So the question is, which movie should he make?

The first thing that came to Wu Yuan's mind was the French film "The Intouchables" released in 2011.

The film tells the story of Philippe, a nobleman who cannot take care of himself, and his servant, a black youth, who help each other.

On the surface, Philippe and Deris have nothing in common. Whether it is their life background or their status, they are basically two completely opposite extremes.

But even so, the two have established an unstable but growing friendship.

And it is all based on sincerity, frankness and humor.

In this process, they will all experience an unprecedented emotional baptism, and at the same time force them to re-examine the meaning of life and love.

This film also leads the audience to appreciate the meaning of life and love from another perspective. From the perspective of conception and style, it is actually very similar to "Love".

And this film also has an anti-racism BUFF, which would be more interesting if it were shot by a Chinese director.

But unfortunately, the film is adapted from Philippe Pozzo di Borgo's autobiography "The Second Breath".

This true story was made into a documentary in 2004.

This is not an original script story.

When Olivier Nakashda, the director of "The Intouchables", saw this documentary in 2004, he had the idea of ​​adapting it into a feature film, and he put it into action in 2008.

It may be too late for Wu Yuan to grab this movie now, and it is easy to get caught up in a quarrel, which is not necessary.

"Brother, what are you thinking about?" A cup of steaming hot tea was brought to the table, interrupting Wu Yuan's meditation.

Picking up the teacup and taking a few sips, Wu Yuan sighed with satisfaction, pulled Liu Yifei into his arms, and said with a smile: "I'm thinking about how to bring my talent to Venice."

"Brother, you are going to participate in the Venice Film Festival?!" Liu Yifei's eyes lit up immediately.

Liu Yifei has a heart for art films, and has always wanted to try to make art films and challenge her acting skills!

It's just that Wu Yuan hasn't made art films in the past two years, and she herself can't get such film contracts, so she temporarily extinguished this heart.

"Xixi, don't think about it." However, Wu Yuan immediately dispelled her idea, "Your current acting skills need to be improved, so don't rush to make art films for the time being."

"For you, the most important thing now is to experience more life. A little princess like you who has grown up without worries and cares since childhood lacks a lot of insights into life at the bottom."

"It's just that most art films start from the bottom. Farmers, poor people, people in need, and disabled people have always been common protagonists in art films."

Liu Yifei pouted, feeling a little wronged, but she knew that what Wu Yuan said was indeed right. She lacked life experience, and she had never experienced many things described in art films. How could she act them out?

"I know." She said listlessly, "I can't really wait until I'm as old as Grandma Wu before I can win awards for acting in art films."

"You know what, the older the actors are, the easier it is to win awards in art films nowadays." Wu Yuan joked cheerfully.

Suddenly, he had an idea.

Old man, easy to win awards, death? !

Several key words flashed in his mind, and a movie that was not very famous but very suitable for his directing style gradually became clear in his mind.

"Yes, I can make this movie!"