Director’s Legend

On November 20, 2010, Shao Shuaijun came to Taoyuan, Taiwan, where the 47th Golden Horse Awards Ceremony was held. He arrived in Mengjiao at about noon, and Li An came to the airport to pick him up in person, and then went to Li An's home for dinner together. Drinking wine and chatting about trivial matters.

We chatted and talked about the directing plan. Before Shao Shuaijun asked, Li Yu said to himself: "I have read "The Fantasy Drifting of Boy Pi" many times in this period of time. This is a large-scale project. The fable about faith is rich in content and far-reaching in meaning, combining the esoteric and the grotesque, the epic adventure and the deep introspection, I think if I direct it, it should be a good choice in 3D."

"So you agreed to direct?" Shao Shuaijun said with a smile.

Li An nodded, taking it for granted: "Such a good book, you can't take it well, and whoever will take it if I don't."

"Stop bragging, who says I can't shoot well, do you think my new king of the world is called by his nickname casually?" Li An became morose, and Shao Shuaijun also bragged.

"That's all the exaggeration of the reporters. The box office of the king of the world will not stop at 1 billion US dollars. When you have a movie that breaks 1 billion US dollars, then you will pull this big banner."

"Is it hard to make $1 billion? My directing plan for next year, "The Avengers," is to aim for the top three box office records in movie history." Shao Shuaijun said coquettishly, the era of superhero box office explosion is coming, The Weiss Cinematic Universe trio is no joke.

"Yeah, I'll just wait and see how much box office you can make."

After a little digression. The two began to discuss "The Fantasy Drifting of Boy Pi". Speaking of which, they didn't even care about the food. It was Li An's wife who stopped the two of them from using the dining table as a desk.

"How to adapt the script, I will discuss with the screenwriting department. After the project is approved, I will hand it over to you. When you have time, we will discuss it in depth again. I will inform Wang Wei and let her act as executive producer instead of me. My job next year is also a little full. Maybe I can learn some techniques of literary films from you."

"After a long time, you want to come here to steal the teacher?" Li An was nervous for a while.

Shao Shuaijun was speechless: "We can learn from each other. I also have a lot of experience in directing commercial films. "Hulk" failed. You should also improve in business."

Li An chuckled: "That's true. Then I'll wait for you to be the producer?"

"We'll see when the time comes. You're not making movies fast, I'm afraid I can't afford it."

"Slow work can produce fine work." Li An dragged another sentence, and suddenly remembered something. "Tonight's Golden Horse Awards, you have to be mentally prepared."

"What's wrong?"

"Didn't your "Old Boy" get seven nominations, and only one award for best director. I won it for you." Li An said mockingly, "I came to participate in the Golden Horse Awards judging this year, and I don't know Whether it is wrong or right, you just have to wait and see, once the awards are over, there will definitely be a lot of criticism from outside, because I think this time it is a nonsense, but some people just can't let go of the prejudice in their hearts."

"How did you fix it?"

"At the end of our voting, after the final calculation, it was basically Taiwan films that won the awards, and they were all literary films, which were too niche. Take the best director as an example. When the vote was made, it was Zhong Menghong, I asked the nine Treasure Island judges, did no one vote for Shao Shuaijun? Then they were speechless." Li Yu smiled wryly.

For the awards, Shao Shuaijun didn't care that much anymore. He thought Li An's words were interesting, so he asked, "You voted again, and then it was me?"

"I asked a question at the time. To be honest, I was very disappointed at that time. Later, Huang Jianye might feel that the atmosphere was not right, so he said, let's vote again. The second time the results came out, and you were selected."

"No, you really voted for the second time? Why does it sound like I kidnapped the Golden Horse Award, and if I don't give it to me, it seems that there will be a problem?"

"Is there no problem? It's like when I participate in the Golden Horse Awards, who is the best director? I have won the Oscar for Best Director, the Palme d'Or, the Silver Bear and the Golden Lion. Who will the audience be convinced by? This time Come on, "Old Boy" has broken countless records of Chinese-language films with 321 million worldwide. It has a good reputation and a good box office. In addition, you are now the sixth greatest director in the world. If someone else is selected for the Golden Horse Awards, what do you think of the outside world? ? In recent years, the Golden Horse Awards have almost become a treasure island for self-entertainment, and if the trouble continues, it will lose any influence."

Shao Shuaijun said open-mindedly: "Actually, it doesn't matter if you give it to me or not. I've been a commercial director for these years, and I'm really a little bit behind in the pursuit of art."

Li An shook his head and smiled: "In terms of art alone, you have accumulated a lot of enthusiasm over the years, especially "500 Days with Summer" and "Pounding Heart", which dilute your previous commercial atmosphere A lot. After "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" was released, I felt a lot more restrained. Your directing level has reached the stage where you should win an award. After we finished the selection, Huang Jianye himself knew that there was a problem with the selection, so he re-selected The best director has nothing to do with kidnapping. This year's Golden Horse Awards are becoming more and more niche, and bombardment is inevitable."

"It doesn't matter if you bombard me or not. Anyway, I'm here for fun. Tsk tsk, I can still win the best director. Not bad."

Shao Shuaijun gloated and said: "To be honest, I have always despised the literary style of the Golden Horse Awards. I only saw art, but not the box office. Learn from the Oscars. No matter how much they like literary style, they are also pursuing the popular style. Movies with a good reputation among audiences, not self-admired movies. So they can add one or two hundred million to a movie at the box office, because these movies can achieve good results with a little publicity, which shows that Oscar's influence has always been huge."

"How can it be compared? There are 20 judges for the Golden Horse Awards, and only five judges when the films are shortlisted. These people don't know what the relationship is with being selected. This year, a host will be selected as a judge, and next year will be elected again. An actress is a judge, and a writer may be invited in the next year. I can’t say that they have no appreciation. But the Golden Horse Award claims to be professional and artistic, but at the same time, it invites non-professional people to be judges, so what is the authority?"

"It seems that you have a lot of grievances."

"Because of caring, the grievances are great. When you were giving a speech at Xindian Technology, your grievances were bigger than mine." Li An took a sip of his wine angrily.

Shao Shuaijun took a bite of the cold dish: "Look a little more, just like me, I also want to make Chinese movies better, but I know that there is deep water in it. So I don't touch it, that is, I have nothing to do and yell. Then use my own way to influence and change. Youth Daomeng, Qingfengdao and Xindianji. There will be more director support programs in the future. And I also plan to start a film and television university by myself, and do as much as I can. How much. Chinese-language movies went up, and I also have a share of credit. I can’t go up. I tried my best. That’s enough..."

Li Yu hurriedly interrupted Shao Shuaijun's words: "I heard you say this, why do you feel that you are going to cut off from the Chinese film industry? Next year, there will be an exchange meeting of directors' associations from across the strait and three places, and I hope you can give your full support. We will gather It's firing."

"I'm soft-spoken. Don't take me with you. It's okay for me to cheer you up behind. Use me as a shield. I don't want to. I heard that the circle of directors in the mainland gave me a nickname called 'Bad Bomb' '. It means that I don’t know when I will explode and make them uncomfortable. My son will be born soon, and I have to learn to be calm.”

"You are so calm, Chinese movies will be silent for many years." Li Yu said bitterly.

"There is a saying in Spiderman, 'With great power comes great responsibility', so Spiderman is chased and beaten by the police every day. It is also said in Batman, 'With great power comes great responsibility', so Batman I have become the object of everyone's shouting and beating. I am not that noble, I would rather be a local tyrant, you take the lead, and I spend money like dirt behind! This feeling is suitable for me, haha."

"You really want to be silent?" Li An asked unwillingly.

Shao Shuaijun comforted and said: "I will do what I should do, and I will also take the lead in the field of mainland directors to promote everyone's exchanges. But sometimes, when words come out of my rich man's mouth, it is oppression. If it comes from your mouth Saying it out means the declaration is the representative. So don’t worry, you will stand in the front, and I will be your backing, and the help that should be given will not be less!”

"I still have to do the dirty work."

"With great power comes great responsibility."

...

The two of them were happy for a while, and they drank until after three o'clock in the afternoon. They were both dizzy, and they walked the red carpet of the Golden Horse Awards with the smell of alcohol. Coming to the Golden Horse Awards again after three years, Shao Shuaijun and Li An appeared together this time, more dazzling than all the stars on the red carpet.

"Director Shao..."

"Director Li..."

The reporters held their cameras and wanted the two of them to pose together. Li Yu and Shao Shuaijun were still drunk on their heads, and they had no intention of stopping at all, and quickly walked across the red carpet. Then they went to their seats to rest their minds and sober up by the way.

This time Shao Shuaijun brought the entire crew of "Old Boy" together. Huang Bo, Liu Shishi and others had already entered the stage.

"Director, you smell of alcohol." Liu Shishi wrinkled his nose and sniffed.

"Correct answer, but no extra points!"

While bragging with friends from the film crew, while waiting for the awards ceremony, the awards ceremony began soon, and the awards were presented one after another. As Li An said, "Old Boy" is soy sauced at this year's Golden Horse Awards. Best Supporting Actor (Xu Zhen), Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography (Lu Le), and Best Editing all failed, and almost all of these awards were awarded to some lesser-known literary films.

Shao Shuaijun was in a calm state of mind, smiled and comforted the crew, and then happily applauded.

Finally, it was time for the best director awards. After the highlights of several shortlisted films were played, the award presenters read out the winners: "Shao Shuaijun won the best director."

"Congratulations to Director Shao Shuaijun, please invite Director Shao to come on stage." The host Cai Yongkang and Xu S clapped their hands and shouted.

Amid the applause, Shao Shuaijun walked onto the stage unhurriedly and took over a batch of little golden horses: "I am very happy to receive this award, thank you." Then he held up the Golden Horse Award, smiled, and was about to step down.

Cai Yongkang and Xu S hurried over... (to be continued...)