Director’s Legend

In the summer of 2007, the most noisy moment dealt the biggest blow to Shao Shuaijun. There were voices criticizing him all over the world. Shao Shuaijun never thought that he was a coward, but at this moment, he really hid in a small town not far from Jiuzhaigou Valley.

No one knows why he came here, including Li Xiuxiu.

"Ajun, who are you waiting for here? It's been half a month, and everyone is worried about you." Li Xiuxiu asked casually while making Shao Shuaijun's bed. He has asked Shao Shuaijun this question no less than dozens of times, and every time Shao Shuaijun was confused.

Shao Shuaijun sat in front of the computer with an unshaven beard. He was not playing games or surfing the Internet, but simply watching "The Night Watcher". Since arriving in this town, he has watched "The Night Watcher" over and over again, all copies, deleted, unabridged, and discarded.

After freezing the movie, Shao Shuaijun turned his head, his eyes full of sadness: "Sister Xiuxiu, do you think I failed? The box office of "The Night Watcher" was a mess. It cost 100 million US dollars, so I failed like this."

"How could it be? You just encountered a little setback. One movie can't explain anything. You have made so many successful movies, haven't you? Don't deny yourself in a hurry. In my heart, you have always been the best." Li Xiuxiu smiled gently.

Shao Shuaijun was silent for a long time before speaking: "How is the box office of "The Night Watcher" going?"

"Good news or bad news?"

"bad news."

"Now it is basically showing in all the places where it should be released, and the box office is not very good. In ordinary theaters, North America is 29 million US dollars, Asia including the mainland is 36 million US dollars, Europe is only 18 million US dollars, plus some scattered countries and regions, The global box office is approximately $67 million."

With a wry smile, Shao Shuaijun asked: "Where's the good news?"

"The good news is that in global IMAX theaters, "The Nighthawks" received US$29.6 million, which is almost half of ordinary theaters. There are only more than 200 IMAX theaters. Facts have proved that you are right to shoot in IMAX, as the first movie By shooting commercial films with imax, you will definitely influence more filmmakers to go to imax. You are a pioneer. You have not failed." Li Xiuxiu said with a smile.

"I'm not. I didn't bring about the success of imax. It should have succeeded. As a director, I failed completely." Shao Shuaijun couldn't help but rub his hair when he thought of the shabby box office.

"Ajun. Don't be like this. This is just a temporary failure. Cheer up and you will succeed."

"You don't understand." Shao Shuaijun has a thousand words to say, but he doesn't know how to say them. "Sister Xiuxiu, do you know that I was able to succeed before because... because of "Crazy Stone", "Source Code", "Painted Skin" 》They should have been successful, they were like a piece of inspiration put there, and I just took it over... "Nighthawk" is different, it was something I thought about, not a taken inspiration, it was me Really created...how should I say, maybe, I am not suitable to be a director at all."

Rebirth is Shao Shuaijun's biggest secret, and he cannot tell anyone.

But as a director, Shao Shuaijun is extremely eager to prove himself. What he can use to prove it is of course his own movies. He will not be satisfied with plagiarizing other people's work. This is indeed simple and casual, but it will prove nothing in the end. Prove that you can plagiarize?

Or is it proof once again that these movies can be successful?

They should have been successful, with or without Shao Shuaijun, they were successful movies.

For money and life, Shao Shuaijun chose plagiarism. But he can't plagiarize for the rest of his life. He only has a few years to plagiarize. Once the time points to 2013, what will he do to continue?

He once stood under the billboard of "Source Code" and told Li Xiuxiu that he would be the next king of the world and let everyone wander in his movie world. But what can a director who only knows how to plagiarize do to let others wander in his world? Therefore, the success of "Painted Skin" suddenly inflated his self-confidence and began to weave his own dream story.

But this time the blow was so great that Shao Shuaijun could not bear it.

Ask yourself.

Indeed, he was impetuous and arrogant.

He performed a comedy that made people laugh like a clown.

No applause, no praise.

He has a thousand and ten thousand reasons to convince himself. This does not mean that he has no ability, but that he has not found the right path. He is still young and he still has a chance. But the huge haze blocked his heart, making it impossible for him to breathe. He plagiarized other people's works. He could be prosperous and go his own way, but he was stuck in the mud.

"One day, I will be abandoned by the world!" Shao Shuaijun said with his eyes closed.

"Won't."

Li Xiuxiu hugged Shao Shuaijun from behind and rested her head on his back. She lost her usual strong woman demeanor and said quietly but firmly: "Ajun, even if the world abandons you, I will not."

Shao Shuaijun didn't know what to say and choked up: "I think if I continue to make movies, one day I will lose my dream, and then I will have no money. I won't be able to afford a house, a car, I’ve given you diamonds and jewelry, but I can’t afford a yacht… No, I can’t afford it now, the company is losing so much.”

"Do you know what the old butler said to Batman in Batman Begins?" Li Xiuxiu said something confusing.

"What?"

"Batman asked him, haven't you given up on me yet. The old butler told him, never. Ajun, I also want to tell you, I like bungalows, cars, diamonds and jewelry, and even more, yachts, but that's not important. The important thing is that we can be together. If I don’t have the person I love, even if I have gold and silver, what’s the point.”

"Sister Xiuxiu..."

"Wang Xiaojian told Huang Xiaoxian that there must be me within one meter of you. Ajun, can you tell me that you must be within one meter of me?"

"Of course." What else could Shao Shuaijun say, holding his hand. What do you want from me?

"No matter how time passes, we must trust and help each other, cherish each other and know each other, okay?"

"certainly."

Only then did Li Xiuxiu raise her head with satisfaction. Her previous gentleness faded away. She looked at the moved Shao Shuaijun and asked with a gossipy face: "Now it's time to tell me, who are you waiting for when you are hiding here?"

"Uh..." Shao Shuaijun blinked, feeling that he had been fooled. but. After Li Xiuxiu’s playfulness. He felt much less depressed. Putting Li Xiuxiu into his arms again, Shao Shuaijun pursed his lips and said, "I'm here to find a person, a director. I want to ask him why he wants to be a director. And why he doesn't want to be a director."

"who is he?"

"A... director who I have been friends with for a long time. Everyone calls him Lao Bai. He is a bit salty and vulgar. The movies he makes have never been released on a large scale. He loses money every time. But he is good at deceiving people, and many upstarts are willing to pay He makes movies with money. Well, by the way, this guy has no lower limit. His favorite thing is to be a starlet under the guise of a director."

Li Xiuxiu frowned: "Why do you have contact with such a director?"

"Nothing, I just wanted to ask what other people think of the career of being a director."

Shao Shuaijun smiled softly, but his memory turned to another distant time and space, which was also at this time, the summer of 2007. He met a very important person in his life. A director who told him how to distinguish a woman's tears, how to perform sex scenes, and how to shoot kissing scenes.

At that time, he was still working as a prop master in Hengdian. Lao Bai's crew was recruiting people and gave him a lot of money, so Shao Shuaijun went. It was Lao Bai's second movie. It seemed to be called "The Lonely Bird in the Tree" or "The Silent Bird in the Tree". It told a love story between a man and three prostitutes.

Shao Shuaijun had almost forgotten the specific content, because Lao Bai never played according to routines, and would film wherever he thought. Sometimes, for the sake of unspoken rules and to vent his desires, he would add or delete scenes with certain women.

At that time, Shao Shuaijun started working as a prop, and was appreciated by Lao Bai and promoted to assistant director. As a result, after the filming of the movie, Shao Shuaijun forgot the entire plot. He only remembered shooting the sex scene today and the kissing scene tomorrow, and then... there was no more. The movie did not pass the review and could only be released secretly, just like a Category III movie. .

Shao Shuaijun was deeply moved by working on the crew of such a movie. Lao Bai was so excited that he didn't care about the crew's life and death, he only cared about his own happiness. Once, he even asked Shao Shuaijun to shoot for a day instead of him. From then on, Shao Shuaijun gradually came into contact with the director's monitor, and gradually got involved and became an errand assistant director.

On the day the crew finished filming, Shao Shuaijun still remembered that Lao Bai gave him an extra five thousand yuan in red envelopes.

Later, Shao Shuaijun continued to work hard among various crews, recruiting workers wherever they could. Lao Bai, on the other hand, made another movie and the box office was almost zero. From then on, he took the only woman who was willing to follow him and went back to his hometown to sell leather shoes. After that, Shao Shuaijun had no news about Lao Bai.

Shao Shuaijun never doubted that Lao Bai was a failed director.

But he is also a director that Shao Shuaijun will remember for his whole life, not for those sex scenes and kissing scenes, not for the extra five thousand yuan. He was the first director to tell him, "Young man, it's just a play, it's simple!" Even though he had never seen the movie, he didn't know if the footage of him directing the play was still there.

"The Night Watcher" had an unprecedented impact on Shao Shuaijun. Even if Dengtian Entertainment replaced him in his previous life, he had never been so confused and hesitant. Being replaced does not mean that he is incompetent, it is just that he was sidelined by the unspoken rules. However, "Night Watcher" truly denied him.

Whenever I hear people say how bad "The Night Watcher" is, Shao Shuaijun is like a helpless passerby walking on the streets of ghosts, surrounded by cannibals.

He didn't know why he asked Lao Bai. Maybe it was just to hear another encouragement from "Young man, just direct a play, it's simple!" Or maybe it was just a subconscious impulse.

When the weather was at its hottest, Shao Shuaijun and Lao Bai's crew finally arrived... (To be continued...)

ps: Today I finished the 12,000+ words, and the most depressing and worst chapter was finally over.

My original plan was to slowly write about a person's changes, but I never stopped getting scolded in the book review section.

Everyone doesn’t like to read articles like this, so I’ll try my best to write as cheerfully as possible in the future!

Thanks to Wild Queer for the reward!

By the way, really, please give me monthly votes and recommendation votes, huge ** is coming!