In 1987, the 36-year-old Zhang Yimou bought the rights to Mo Yan's "Red Sorghum" for 800 yuan and prepared to switch from cinematographer to director. In order to pursue the authenticity of the script, he spent 40,000 yuan to ask 200 farmers to help him plant 100 acres of red sorghum. As a result, before the shooting began, Zhang Yimou saw the red sorghum and directly sat down on the ground.
He cried and looked up at the sky with a mournful face and sighed: It's over, how can this be?
"Red Sorghum" is the first debut of director Zhang Yimou, because of this drama, Zhang Yimou became famous overnight, which can be described as fame and fortune, and also won Gong Li and others, and also gained a love of mixed praise.
Don't look at Zhang Yimou who looks like an old peasant who is grounded in the ground, in fact, he is an authentic official of the third generation.
Zhang Yimou's ancestors were big families in Lintong, and the family house was larger than the Qiao family's yard.
In the early years of the Republic of China, after graduating from Yanjing University, his grandfather served as the county magistrate of Zaoshui County in Shaanxi Province, and the eldest uncle was a graduate of huangpu 9th term, and he was once the chief of staff of the National Revolutionary Army.
The second uncle graduated from the first branch of the Whampoa Military Academy and joined the military command.
The third son, Zhang Yimou's father, Zhang Bingjun, also had a Kuomintang military rank, served as a Kuomintang quartermaster, and worked in the Shaanxi Provincial Agriculture and Forestry Bureau after liberation.
The mother is a doctor and has given birth to three sons, Zhang Yimou is the eldest, and the second and third sons are disabled.
Therefore, the parents put all their hopes on Zhang Yimou. At the age of 28, Zhang Yimou was admitted to Beiying and became an elderly student in the Department of Photography.
After graduation, Zhang Yimou was assigned to the Guangxi Film Studio, became a photographer, and his household registration was transferred to Nanning, Guangxi.
In 1986, Xi'an Film Studio planned to shoot the film "Old Well", with Wu Tianming as the director.
Originally, Zhang Yimou was a cinematographer in this film.
But before filming began, Wu Tianming's large-scale casting did not find a suitable one for a long time.
When he was in a state of anxiety, Wu Tianming thought of Zhang Yimou, his thin and simple appearance, and the knife-like wrinkles on his forehead were not exactly the Sun Wangquan he was looking for?
Knowing that he let himself play the male lead of the movie, Zhang Yimou was so happy that he did not sleep well for several nights, in order to play this role well, Zhang Yimou went deep into life and ate and lived with his fellow countrymen for several months.
Although he has not studied acting, Sun Wangquan, portrayed by Zhang Yimou, is very real, vivid and has a unique charm.
With this film, Zhang Yimou won the best actor at that year's Tokyo Film Festival.
At the same time, in China, it also won the 11th "Popular Film" "Hundred Flowers Award" and the 8th "Golden Rooster Award" two best actor laurels.
In 1987, Zhang Yimou, who tasted the sweetness, decided to transform into a director, and Wu Tianming was very supportive of him.
Zhang Yimou saw the pearl, he took a look at Mo Yan's novel "Red Sorghum", and immediately spent 800 yuan to buy the copyright.
In the novel, there are romantic pictures of the wind blowing red sorghum ups and downs, and in order to pursue the authenticity of the script, Zhang Yimou, a photographer, ran all over the country with a yellow cloth bag on his back, just to find the red sorghum full of mountains.
As a result, it was a great disappointment, and even Mo Yan's hometown Gaomi did not have the kind of one-man tall red sorghum.
But Zhang Yimou is not discouraged, and if he does not have it, he will plant it himself!
He borrowed 40,000 pieces from Wu Tianming, and the servants rushed to the Gaomi countryside and found 200 farmers to help plant 100 acres of red sorghum.
He said to the peasant uncle: We must plant the kind of old sorghum that is tall and can flutter in the wind. If they plant it, the 40,000 yuan will belong to them, and the harvest will also belong to them.
When the peasant uncle heard it, he could make money and harvest sorghum, and he was very happy and agreed with his mouth.
It is estimated that the old sorghum looks almost the same, Zhang Yimou came to Gaomi, Shandong Province, with joy, and as a result, he sat on the ground paralyzed and almost cried.
It turned out that after the farmer's uncle planted the sorghum, he let them fend for themselves and catch up with the drought, plus some people chose the wrong seeds, in short, this red sorghum field made Zhang Yimou sad.
He quickly looked for Mo Yan to find a way, Mo Yan directly found the person in charge of Gaomi County, approved 5 tons of fertilizer, the crew stopped working for half a month, and hired a car to water the sorghum every day.
However, some farmers are very cunning, after taking the fertilizer, they poured a circle around the ground, and then pulled the fertilizer home and stuffed it under the bed, so angry that Zhang Yimou almost vomited blood.
There was no way, Zhang Yimou had to supervise the work on the ground every day, and the red sorghum was finally saved.
So the good drama began to be staged: Mo Yan served as the screenwriter, Gu Changwei specially photographed, Jiang Wennan No. 1, Gong Linu No. 1, and a classic "Red Sorghum" was born.
This first drama, which cost Zhang Yimou a lot of painstaking efforts, won him China's first Berlin Golden Bear Award, a movie ticket with a ticket price of 60 cents, and sold 40 million at the box office.
That year, 38-year-old Zhang Yimou and 23-year-old Gong Li fell in love, and this love was 8 years.
Zhang Yimou's original wife, Xiao Hua, saw that she could not pull back Zhang Yimou's heart, so she had to leave Zhang Yimou with her daughter.
Originally thought that Gong Li would be corrected, as a result, Zhang Yimou refused to marry her, in the face of Gong Li's forced marriage, Zhang Yimou said: Marriage is just a piece of paper, I love you can.
8 years later, Gong Li waited for no results, turned around and married Huang Hexiang, a wealthy Hong Kong businessman, but unfortunately 12 years later, the two regrettably broke up.
Later, Gong Li remarried and married a foreign husband, and the two were very affectionate, and they could be regarded as finding a good home.
Zhang Yimou also married Chen Ting, a female college student 31 years younger than himself, and Chen Ting gave birth to two men and a woman for him in five years.
Today, Zhang Yimou has a double harvest of career marriage, and he is over 70 years old, still busy in the front line and respected by thousands of people.
Some people say that Gong Li is a glass of spirits, difficult to conquer but unforgettable, although Zhang Yimou loves her very much, he knows what kind of life he needs, so he can only let go.
I have to say that Zhang Yimou not only has a high IQ, but also has a high emotional intelligence! Who is happy if such a person is unhappy?
