1990: Starting from Baojia Street

Tsui Hark was not surprised at all when he heard that Zhou Yan was interested in Fahai, because Fahai was indeed outstanding in this script.

However, Zhou Yan did not fit the image of Fahai in Tsui Hark's mind. Fahai in Tsui Hark's mind should be a tough one. He had approached Liang Jiahui and Zhou Runfa before.

In terms of height, Zhou Yan has no problem at all. He is taller than Tony Leung Ka Fai. In terms of appearance, there is no problem at all. He is also good-looking among film and television stars.

But his body shape was a little worse. Although Zhou Yan was stronger than when he acted in Raise the Red Lantern, he still couldn't meet Tsui Hark's requirements.

Zhou Yan, the character Fahai has a scene where he takes off his clothes.

Tsui Hark didn't say it directly, but the meaning was already obvious.

Of course Zhou Yan could understand what Tsui Hark meant. He smiled and said, If there is a need in the play, I can also gain weight.

Of course Tsui Hark couldn't be persuaded by saying I can gain weight, but Tsui Hark didn't refuse directly because he felt that apart from being a bit thin, Zhou Yan could still try the role of Fahai.

The main thing is that Tsui Hark has other ideas.

Tsui Hark pondered for a while and suddenly asked, Zhou Yan, do you have any ideas about the soundtrack of Green Snake?

Zhou Yan was a little surprised to hear what Tsui Hark said. The main reason he came to meet Tsui Hark was not to play a certain role, but the focus was on the soundtrack for the movie.

Originally, Zhou Yan was going to bring up the matter of the soundtrack himself, but he didn't expect Tsui Hark to take the initiative.

Since Tsui Hark came to the door on his own initiative, Zhou Yan followed Tsui Hark's words and said, When I was reading the script just now, I did have some ideas.

Then do you have any idea of ​​​​composing the soundtrack for this movie with Uncle Zhan? Tsui Hark did not take any detours and sent a straight ball towards Zhou Yan.

Zhou Yan raised his eyebrows. The uncle Zhan mentioned by Tsui Hark should be Huang Zhan. The place in Xiangjiang is different from the mainland. Many directors look for more than one soundtrack when looking for it, especially Tsui Hark.

Most of Tsui Hark's films have two or more soundtrack composers. For example, the A Better Tomorrow series is composed by Lu Guanting and Wu Dawei, and The Swordsman and Once Upon a Time are composed by Dai Leming and Huang Zhan.

why is it like this?

Because in many of Tsui Hark's films, the soundtrack and the film songs are separate. In fact, many awards also separate these two. For example, the Golden Horse Awards and the Academy Awards both have awards for Best Film Song and Best Film Score.

Take the combination of Huang Zhan and Dai Leming as an example. Huang Zhan is responsible for writing movie songs, while Dai Leming is mainly responsible for writing movie soundtracks.

Now Tsui Hark asks Zhou Yan to cooperate with Huang Zhan, which is equivalent to letting Zhou Yan take Dai Leming's position.

Zhou Yan thought this combination was quite reasonable. He thought about it and said, I am indeed somewhat interested in the soundtrack.

Hearing Zhou Yan express his interest, Tsui Hark also laughed, If you want, you and Uncle Zhan can talk together later.

Tsui Hark didn't ask any more questions. Zhou Yan's Heaven's Reply has already proved that he has this ability, and the flute music in Raise the Red Lantern was also composed by Zhou Yan himself.

This is the advantage of having a work. If Zhou Yan had not independently served as the soundtrack director for the film, Tsui Hark would not have invited him to participate in the soundtrack of Green Snake so simply and decisively.

Zhou Yan himself was quite surprised. He didn't expect the soundtrack work to go so smoothly.

As for the role of Fa Hai, the two did not continue to talk.

Tsui Hark's idea is very simple. He is also planning to find someone else. If he finds someone who is more suitable than Zhou Yan, and if he can't find one, and Zhou Yan can really gain weight, then using Zhou Yan is also a good choice.

At least Zhou Yan is more suitable than Liu Dehua.

Tsui Hark had also approached Andy Lau to play the role of Xu Xian before, but like Zhou Yan, Andy Lau was not interested in Xu Xian and instead wanted to play Fa Hai.

Andy Lau's performance as Fa Hai was even less in line with Tsui Hark's expectations. Andy Lau was much younger than Zhou Yan. Moreover, Liu Dehua is not very tall, so even if he gains weight, he will not be able to meet the standard.

Of course, in the end, if Zhou Yan can't play Fahai, Tsui Hark still wants to work hard and let Zhou Yan play Xu Xian.

And there is not much time left for Zhou Yan. Green Snake is scheduled to start shooting in early August, which is only six months away from now. And Tsui Hark cannot finalize the actors until August, so Zhou Yan There needs to be significant weight gain within three to four months.

The two chatted in the conference room for more than half an hour. When it was about to end, several men in their thirties and forties walked inside, chatting and laughing.

After coming in, they were a little surprised to see Zhou Yan and Xu Hark. The leader smiled and said, Sorry, Director Xu, I didn't know you were here.

It's okay. Tsui Hark smiled and waved his hand, Do you want to use the conference room?

The man nodded and said, Well, let's have a small meeting, or we can go somewhere else.

No, just wait for a while. We'll be done now. Tsui Hark smiled and asked, Is Director Yu in the factory now?

I really don't know. The leader shook his head. Then he looked at Zhou Yan and frowned slightly. He always felt that this young man looked familiar.

However, Tsui Hark did not introduce him, and Zhang Jianya did not ask any questions.

Tsui Hark smiled and said to Zhou Yan, Zhou Yan, then we are here today. You have worked hard along the way. Go to the hotel to rest. I am going to find Director Yu now and I have something to talk to him about. Let's go together tonight Have a meal.”

Zhou Yan nodded, Okay, we'll see you tonight.

When they were about to leave, the leader suddenly said, You are Zhou Yan, right?

Zhou Yan looked at the man with confusion, Who are you?

The man laughed, I am Zhang Jianya, a classmate of Kai Ge and Zhuang Zhuang. I met you once before when I went to Yanjing Studio.

The confusion on Zhou Yan's face persisted. The name Zhang Jianya seemed familiar to him, but he had no impression of this person's appearance.

In fact, Zhang Jianya had never really met Zhou Yan before. When he went to Yanjing Studio last year, he only saw Zhou Yan from a distance and didn't even see Zhou Yan's face clearly.

The reason why he felt Zhou Yan looked familiar was because he had watched the movie Raise the Red Lantern.

Although Zhou Yan had no influence on Zhang Jianya, he still greeted him with a smile, Hello, Director Zhang.

Zhang Jianya didn't know Zhou Yan's information. At that time, Chen Kaige pointed Zhou Yan to him at Yanjing Studio, also because of the soundtrack.

Chen Kaige loves to show off. When they met at Yanjing Studio, Chen Kaige showed off to Zhang Jianya that the cast of Farewell My Concubine he filmed was very strong. Not only did Zhao Jiping serve as the soundtrack director, but also the director of Heaven Replies The soundtrack director serves as the live music director.

Zhang Jianya is also a fifth-generation director, but compared to Chen Kaige, Tian Zhuangzhuang and Zhang Yimou who were in the same batch of Yanjing Film Academy, his development is much slower. He has also made several movies in recent years, but they are not well-known and have not received any awards. What award.

Zhou Yan was not familiar with Zhang Jianya, so naturally he had nothing to talk about. After exchanging a few words, he followed Tsui Hark out of the conference room.

After Zhou Yan and the others left, another person asked Zhang Jianya, Who is this young man?

Zhang Jianya smiled and said, Have you watched Heaven Replies recently?

certainly.

As film practitioners, they will watch movies that are slightly famous, especially movies produced by Yanjing Studio, which all other studios pay close attention to.

He was the soundtrack director of Heaven Replies.

Is it?

Several people were a little surprised. They were quite impressed by the soundtrack of Heaven Replies, but they didn't pay attention to the name of the soundtrack director. They didn't expect the soundtrack director to be so young.

Then when he meets Tsui Hark, is he going to score Green Snake?

Zhang Jianya nodded, That should be the case.

Our new movie will start shooting soon. Director Zhang, do you have any thoughts about him? Director Assistant Cui Jie asked.

Hey, the script hasn't been finalized yet. Zhang Jianya waved his hand.

In fact, Cui Jie's guess was right, Zhang Jianya did have this idea.

However, Chen Kaige told him that Zhou Yan was a freelancer and the pay was not cheap.

Although Chen Kaige didn't say how much the film's salary would be, Zhang Jianya thought that even Chen Kaige said it wasn't cheap, so it would naturally cost a lot of money.

The movie he is about to shoot now has a limited budget and does not have much money to spend on the soundtrack.

…

Zhou Yan had dinner with Xu Hark in the evening, and instead of leaving in a hurry the next day, he called Xu Feng.

Xu Feng was also surprised to hear Zhou Yan say that he was in Shanghai, and went to the hotel where Zhou Yan was staying to meet him in person.

After listening to Zhou Yan's explanation of the purpose of his trip to Shanghai, Xu Feng nodded calmly: Oh, Xu Hark came to Shanghai too.

Seeing Xu Feng's reaction, Zhou Yan was a little surprised. It sounded like Xu Feng and Tsui Hark were familiar with each other, but they were not close, which gave him a very contradictory feeling.

In fact, Zhou Yan did not understand the situation. Xu Feng had a good relationship with Tsui Hark before. At that time, Xu Feng wanted to invest in Hu Jinquan to make a martial arts film, and also introduced Tsui Hark as the producer and Cheng Xiaodong as the martial arts instructor.

But later Tsui Hark himself wanted to make The Swordsman, so he asked Hu Jinquan to tell Xu Feng that they should make The Swordsman first, and without Tomson's investment, it was equivalent to dumping Xu Feng.

Of course, this matter was nothing and Xu Feng didn't care. The main reason was that when they were filming The Swordsman, Tsui Hark and Hu Jinquan had different ideas. In the end, Hu Jinquan quit the crew of The Swordsman.

Because of this incident, Xu Feng and Tsui Hark have never contacted each other again.

Although Zhou Yan didn't know about this, he could feel that there must be some story between Xu Feng and Tsui Hark, so he didn't talk much about Green Snake. He smiled and asked Hou Xiaoxian, Has Director Hou returned to China?

Speaking of Hou Xiaoxian, Xu Feng said with a smile, You are in Shanghai just in time, so don't leave in a hurry. Wait here for two days, and he will come to Shanghai the day after tomorrow.