Chapter 538: "Hello Mr. Tree" And Watching a Movie in Venice

(Don't click it yet)

"Hello Mr. Tree" is a movie that is about to be praised as a masterpiece in the future.

The cool smoking scene of Wang Baoqiang in the movie was edited into a moving picture and became popular on the Internet, and once became the representative of "no Moutai" BGM.

But in fact, this movie did not make any splash in the circle from its birth to its release.

In 2009, Jia Zhangke announced on behalf of his company Xihe Xinghui at the Busan Film Festival that he had raised 100 million yuan in funds, which would be invested in young directors to shoot works.

Xihe Xinghui named this billion-yuan investment project the "Add Wing Plan", and will prepare to shoot 5 films in the first phase.

"Hello Mr. Tree" is the second work of the "Add Wing Plan".

This Add Wing Plan is like Liu Dehua's Asian New Star Director and the Light and Shadow Era's Young Director Support Plan, which are all dedicated to supporting new directors.

Among them, "Hello Mr. Tree" is Jia Zhangke's most optimistic movie in the Add Wing Plan.

He admired the screenwriter and director of this film, Han Jie, very much, and personally served as the producer of this film.

This is not the kind of producer who only gets an extra salary in name only, but he really acts as a nanny for Han Jie.

The photographer of "Hello! Mr. Tree", Li Yaohui, is the exclusive photographer of Sunglass King, and Jia Zhangke helped to find him.

The composer of the film, Lin Qiang, is a Taiwanese musician. He has starred in Hou Hsiao-hsien's "A Playful Life" and "Goodbye South, Goodbye South" and other films, and served as the soundtrack for many of Hou Hsiao-hsien's films. With the films "Goodbye South, Goodbye South", "Millennium Mambo" and "The Beginning of the Year", he won the Golden Horse Award for Best Original Film Music three times.

He was also found by Jia Zhangke.

The sound engineer Zhang Yang has served as the sound engineer for many of Jia Zhangke's films, such as "The World", "Still Life in Three Gorges" and "Twenty-four Cities".

No need to ask, he was also found by Jia Zhangke.

Jia Zhangke really loves to bring new people.

When the preparations for "Hello Mr. Tree" began, Jia Zhangke also helped to select actors, but they didn't find the right one after searching around, or they didn't find the actors that suited their tastes.

Then Jia Zhangke mobilized his own connections and began to contact major domestic directors to ask if they had any suitable actors to recommend.

The call was made to Wu Yuan. After hearing the outline of the movie described by Jia Zhangke, he immediately knew which movie it was, and of course recommended Wang Baoqiang to Jia Zhangke.

Brother Baoqiang really acted well in this movie.

At first, Jia Zhangke thought Wu Yuan's recommendation was a bit outrageous.

Wang Baoqiang's screen image is still very different from "Mr. Tree". Before this, Wang Baoqiang's image was mostly migrant workers or simple teenagers, rural boys.

Silly, naive, but full of sunshine, not a "village guard" at all.

As a result, Jia Zhangke half-believed and half-doubtedly called Wang Baoqiang for an audition.

Hey, it's amazing!

It's him!

"Baoqiang is really good." Jia Zhangke recalled: "Baoqiang never smokes or drinks, and his image is healthy."

"But this time, in order to interpret Mr. Shu more realistically and close to life, he had to learn to smoke, sometimes even up to three packs of cigarettes a day."

"A few months before the start of filming, he started learning to smoke, because he had to look like an "old smoker", which is sometimes unnatural to act."

"Wang Baoqiang, who has a poor alcohol tolerance, also started drinking every day, because the "Shu" in the play is a person who loves to drink. He hopes that he can find the dizzy state of alcoholics, so he drinks some white wine at almost every meal."

"Later, during filming, in order to fit the character better, he even drank at the start of filming and acted in a slightly drunk state. , the effect is really good. "

"Nowadays, there are very few actors who are so serious about their roles."

"Baoqiang is really good." Wu Yuan also nodded with emotion, "He is an actor who came from a wild background. He was one of the earliest batch of Beijing drifters. He came to Beijing with the dream of becoming an actor."

"He really loves acting, so he will try his best to complete every work."

"Of course, he is also very lucky. There are so many people in Beijing, and only he and Huang Bo can really make a name for themselves. "

"Both of them are the essence left after the great waves, and they are both rare good actors."

Wu Yuan really appreciates Wang Baoqiang, but unfortunately, he has never had any opportunity to work with Wang Baoqiang, and his movies have never been suitable for Wang Baoqiang's role.

It's a pity that the box office performance of "Hello Mr. Tree" this time will not be very good.

Because the theme is unpopular and the audience is small, the movie can only achieve a low box office of 2 million in the end.

However, despite the box office failure, the word of mouth was a success, and the more time went by, the better the word of mouth of this movie would be, and it would eventually be deified, becoming the masterpiece of Wang Baoqiang's acting skills.

"Brother, art films are really not good now." Wu Yuan sighed and said, "The script of "Hello Mr. Tree" is really good, but it is destined not to have a good box office. You have to calm down and watch this movie, and even watch it repeatedly several times to fully understand it."

"But the current market is impetuous and fast-paced, and there is no room for "Hello Mr. Tree" to survive."

Jia Zhangke shook his head and looked directly into Wu Yuan's eyes: "But someone has to make such a movie."

"Isn't it?"

After the opening red carpet, the film week of this Venice International Film Festival officially began.

In the next ten days, more than 200 films will be premiered, screened by the media, and promoted on Lido Island.

More than 2,000 media professionals and film critics from all over the world will also start their film feast, lingering in the cinemas on Lido Island every day, eagerly watching art blockbusters.

The jury of the main competition unit of this Venice International Film Festival, headed by Wu Yuan, naturally can't rest.

As many as 23 films shortlisted for this year's main competition unit will also premiere in Venice in the next 10 days. All judges must watch these films on site, give their own evaluations in their hearts, and then hold meetings with other judges to discuss and select the final winners of various awards.

This is undoubtedly a heart-wrenching and labor-intensive task.

Since September 1st, Wu Yuan has been very busy. He usually watches a movie that is shortlisted for the main competition unit in the morning, and then discusses the pros and cons of the movie with other judges at lunch time. After various arguments, they put aside the disputes and watch another movie in the afternoon. In the evening, they continue to discuss and argue.

In a lot of arguments, the final winners of each award were gradually determined after weighing and compromising.

It was also at this time that Wu Yuan really felt how important the chairman of the jury was. He could really decide who would win the final award.

Because almost every award has more than two popular candidates, the six judges other than him often support a movie each, and there are often 2V2V2 or 3V3 situations.

At this time, Wu Yuan has the final say. Whoever he chooses to support in the end will be determined to whom the award will be awarded.

Of course, all this is strictly confidential.

No matter how fiercely the judges, including Wu Yuan, argued in the conference room, or how excitedly they cheered for a certain movie, once they left the conference room, they all kept silent and did not mention anything about the movies shortlisted for the main competition unit.

Silence was the impression these judges left on all the film critics and the media on site.

It was also in this silence that the 10-day film week passed quickly. After countless arguments, the final list of winners was finally determined and was personally confirmed by Wu Yuan and delivered to the hands of the film festival organizing committee.

The closing ceremony, which was highly anticipated by everyone, was about to begin. (End of this chapter)