Zhang Yimou sued Zhang Weiping again!
Prosecuted three times in five years, this pair of good brothers in the past is now not even the last layer.
These two former golden partners are good brothers, and thirty years of affection have been completely turned over to the point where not even a layer of paper is left!
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="3" >01The old man is in the mountains and rivers</h1>
At a Spring Festival party in 1990, Zhang Yimou and Zhang Weiping saw each other as they were.
At that time, Zhang Yimou was not the current "national teacher", Zhang Weiping, and he was not the current Zhang Weiping.
At this time, Zhang Yimou was more famous for his photography level, a simple and magnificent "Yellow Land", which won him the Golden Rooster Award for Best Cinematography, as well as several foreign photography awards.
In addition to being a photographer, in 1986, he starred in "Lao Jing" and became the film emperor of China's first A-class international film festival.
At this time, Zhang Yimou also had a friendship with Chen Kaige to shoot together.
Shoot and act, act and act.
What is great is that Zhang Yimou won the Golden Bear Award at the Berlin Film Festival for his first film", "Red Sorghum", which is also the first time that Chinese won the highest award at the world's three major international film festivals.
When Chen Kaige in the United States heard the news, he immediately prepared to rush back to China and wanted to make a movie.
It was under such circumstances that Zhang Yimou got to know Zhang Weiping, saying that he was sorry for each other or admiring him, and this kind of friendship when he got to know each other was always the purest.
This purity lasted until 1996.
That year, Zhang Weiping found that his good brother Zhang Yimou frowned, and when he asked, he knew that because Zhang Yimou and his girlfriend and partner Gong Li broke up, the two parted ways after filming the final breakup movie.
Zhang Yimou did not have this golden partner, the position of the heroine was vacant, and "There is something to say" was also withdrawn by the investor.
After learning of the difficulties of the good brothers, Zhang Weiping slapped his hands and proudly said that he wanted to help Zhang Yimou.
Zhang Weiping was originally engaged in aviation food, medicine and real estate business, he stopped two real estate projects for Zhang Yimou, pooled 26 million yuan, and funded Zhang Yimou to make this movie.
"Have Something to Say" is not a commercial movie, and it is conceivable that Zhang Weiping has lost money.
Although this expedition failed, it did not make Zhang Weiping retreat, but made him ignite confidence.
In 1997, Zhang Weiping established Beijing New Picture Pictures, which opened an era of focusing on investing in Zhang Yimou's films.
In the next two years, Zhang Yimou made two small-budget films in succession, "No One Can Be Less" and "My Father and Mother", which are the local themes that Zhang Yimou is best at grasping.
The former won him the Golden Lion Award at the Venice International Film Festival, the latter allowed him to win the Silver Bear Award at the Berlin International Film Festival, and Zhang Yimou's business card became louder and louder.
Although these two films are average at the domestic box office, they have received good response abroad, plus various copyrights, the two films invested 30 million yuan, and finally even the loss of "Have Something to Say" has been made up.
Since then, Zhang Weiping and Zhang Yimou have also become good brothers who hold hands and shoulder to shoulder.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="20" >02 Slowly invest in the road, a cash cow</h1>
In 2000, Zhang Yimou made "Happy Time", which was a repetition of the mistakes of "Have Something to Say", and the word-of-mouth box office both fell.
It is worth mentioning that although this movie failed, Zhang Yimou met his later wife Chen Ting.
At that time, Zhang Yimou selected two people in the national audition, one named Dong Jie and the other named Chen Ting.
These two people changed their lives because of Zhang Yimou, but it is a pity that Dong Jie will not cherish it, and he is stunned that his reputation is gone, chen Ting actually washes his hands for Zhang Yimou to make soup, and his husband teaches his son to become a little wife.
At this time, Zhang Weiping and Zhang Yimou realized that it was not possible to make a film with muffled voices, and publicity was also the key to making movies.
Therefore, in 2002, Zhang Yimou filmed "Hero", and invited Maggie Cheung, Jet Li, Liang Chaowei, Chen Daoming, Zhang Ziyi and a number of other popular actors.
The result is also gratifying, "Hero", a commercial film, has won 250 million yuan at the box office in the mainland and 177 million US dollars in the world, making a lot of money.
The two continued to work hard and cooperated in "Ten Faces Ambush", Zhang Weiping tasted the sweetness in "Hero", invested 20 million yuan to make the premiere of "Ten Faces Ambush", and a total of more than 200 TV stations broadcast and broadcast the premiere ceremony.
"Ten Faces Ambush" earned 150 million yuan at the box office in 18 days on the mainland and $93 million worldwide.
These two successful films in succession have made Zhang Weiping a sought after "professional" in the industry, while Zhang Yimou is different, but has been criticized for abandoning his artistic pursuit and becoming unable to tell stories, after all, commercial films and art films are completely different.
Gong Li said:
"'Ten Faces Ambush' and 'Hero' are too similar, and the two stories can be put together and cut into a movie called 'Heroes with Ten Faces.'"
However, this can not be blamed on Zhang Yimou, commercial films and art films are different, the audience is different, naturally there will be trade-offs, but in the commercial market, Zhang Yimou is also successful, opening the era of Chinese film commercial films.
Perhaps in order to prove himself, in 2004, Zhang Yimou filmed "A Thousand Miles to Ride Alone", most of the art films are not popular, so Zhang Yimou's operation this time, and Zhang Weiping lost tens of millions, but Zhang Weiping was not displeased, from the decision to invest in Zhang Yimou to make this movie, he knew that this film could not make money.
In 2006, Zhang Yimou filmed "The Golden Armor in the City", which also gathered a group of celebrities such as Gong Li, Liu Ye, and Jay Chou.
Later, for the Olympic Games, Zhang Yimou's pace of filmmaking slowed down, and Zhang Weiping also waited for Zhang Yimou for three years.
After the Olympic Games, Zhang Yimou became a "national teacher", and as a result, he was separated for three years, but he made the "Three Guns Shooting Surprise" that was rated as the worst in history.
Many people are worried that Zhang Yimou will never return.
As a result, Zhang Yimou made "The Love of hawthorn trees", but compared to the works of the peak period, this movie is average, but it is also a newcomer who has won Zhou Dongyu.
Later, Zhou Dongyu swept the major Chinese film awards, and excitedly thanked Zhang Yimou on the stage for changing her fate, and indeed, in the matter of choosing roles, there are few directors in China who pay attention to zhang Yimou without compromise.
Then, there is the "Jinling Thirteen Chao" whose relationship between the two began to change.
Zhang Weiping has great expectations for this film, he expects that the box office will be at least 1 billion, the result is only 650 million yuan in the mainland box office, the revenue in North America is only more than 300,000 US dollars, the new picture is 270 million, Zhang Weiping claims that the film invested 600 million, so this result makes him unacceptable.
Zhang Yimou and Zhang Weiping are essentially different, one is a businessman, the other is an artist, the new picture company only has One director, Zhang Yimou, Zhang Weiping cannot always do loss-making transactions.
At this time, Zhang Yimou was already 62 years old, and Zhang Weiping did not dare to press baodu on Zhang Yimou.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="42" >03 Life is only like the first sight</h1>
When Zhang Weiping and Zhang Yimou were in "hot love", the two were really good enough to wear a pair of pants.
Zhang Yimou, who never wears high-end clothes, bought Zhang Weiping a leather jacket worth 70,000 yuan, and he said: "There is not much I can do for you." ”
When Zhang Yimou was Zhang Weiping's cash cow, Zhang Weiping assured him: "Zhang Yimou and I are 'brothers', and I trust him unconditionally. ”
He also said:
"When we get old and don't make movies, we'll go on a tour together, find a place to rest, or watch other people's movies."
But this beautiful fantasy, it turns out to be only a fantasy.
How can people who make movies not know that fairy tales are all lies?
"Three Guns", which was criticized as "four different" after the Olympic Games, is the foreshadowing of the transformation of the relationship between the two.
The later "Jinling Thirteen Chao" can be said to have directly become the fuse.
In fact, when filming this movie, the differences between the two have reached an unprecedented state, and Zhang Yimou has also endured from a time to the end.
The first is the casting of "Yumo", Zhang Yimou likes Ni Ni, and Zhang Weiping likes Han Xiting.
At Zhang Yimou's insistence, the protagonist used Ni Ni, and Han Xiting only played a supporting role.
Although it was filmed, the small book in Zhang Weiping's heart has already drawn a heavy stroke.
Secondly, in the focus of the film, Zhang Yimou wants to highlight the theme of the work, Zhang Weiping, as a businessman, wants to highlight the prostitute, and also asks Zhang Yimou to add drama to Yumo and the male protagonist.
In the end, Zhang Yimou compromised, but the two also buried irreparable differences.
Then on the red carpet of the Golden Globes in the United States, Zhang Weiping came to "avenge", and he took Han Xiting to the red carpet.
This makes people wonder: why not Ni Ni?
In response to everyone's questions, Ni Ni responded:
"A lot of people ask me why I didn't attend, and I'm not very clear because I didn't get any notice from the company."
This also confirms that in this period, the relationship between the two zhang has been very dangerous.
Since the release of "Jinling Thirteen Chao", Zhang Weiping and Zhang Yimou have become strangers.
In North America, Zhang Weiping did not appear.
At the Beijing premiere, Zhang Weiping did not appear.
On the golden globe red carpet, Zhang Yimou did not appear.
At the Berlin Film Festival, Zhang Weiping did not appear.
At this point, the two have broken up.
Zhang Yimou has an introverted personality, Zhang Weiping has a flamboyant personality, and such a complementary personality is the key to the cooperation between the two for so many years.
During the release of "Three Guns Shooting Surprise", Zhang Weiping shelled Han Sanping:
"The biggest power of China Film is to squeeze domestic blockbusters with the schedule of imported blockbusters, and if you don't cooperate with him, he will put two imported films in this slot to fight with you."
During the release of "Full of Golden Armor", many movies have automatically avoided it, and "Three Gorges Good Man", which won the Golden Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival, was released on the same day as "Full of Golden Armor", and Jia Zhangke also demeaned the aesthetics of commercial films.
Zhang Weiping came out again to shell, pointing out that the reason why Jia Zhangke's film won the Golden Lion Award was because the film was invested by Marco Muller, the chairman of the Film Bureau.
He said:
"I want him (Jia Zhangke) to keep his mouth shut, talk less nonsense, have the ability, and let the audience come to see his movies."
Although simple and rude, people like Zhang Weiping will sometimes burst out some things that the audience has never heard of with his mouth, and because he dares to be hard and hard, he and Zhang Yimou are a perfect match.
But as Zhang Weiping continues to interfere in Zhang Yimou's films, pursue commercial value, and want to create explosive points without a bottom line, the contradictions between the two are also accumulating more and more.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="66" >04 turned against each other</h1>
Even after the two broke up, Zhang Yimou's attitude was still introverted.
His assistant said: We will not respond to this matter for the time being, and not responding is Zhang Dao's personality.
However, the introverted and low-key Zhang Yimou was generalized, and in the preparation of "Jinling Thirteen Chao", Zhang Weiping recommended a girl named "He Jun", but because he privately exposed the details of the movie, he was expelled by Zhang Yimou.
This girl also has an identity, that is, Zhang Weiping's "little girlfriend" and the nephew of Zhang Weiping's personal assistant Wang Mou.
In 2012, not knowing whether he was retaliating against Zhang Yimou's expulsion, He Jun suddenly broke the news on the Internet, saying that Zhang Yimou was married and had three children.
Suddenly, public opinion was in an uproar.
Later, Zhang Yimou paid a huge fine, in fact, among many celebrities who went abroad to give birth to children to escape punishment, Xiaobian felt that Zhang Yimou did not have to be ridiculed at this point.
Returning to the main topic, on September 13, 2012, Zhang Weiping announced in a high-profile manner that he had parted ways with Zhang Yimou, who had known him for more than 20 years and cooperated for 16 years.
After breaking up with Zhang Weiping, Zhang Yimou successively reconciled with his ex-wife Xiao Hua and ex-girlfriend Gong Li, and his relationship with his daughter Zhang Mo, who did not want to see him, also eased up and made a movie together.
And with Zhang Weiping, it began a long road of prosecution.
In 2016, because of the problem of "The Surprise of the Three Guns Shooting Case", Zhang Yimou sued Zhang Weiping to the court, and Zhang Weiping lost the case, but did not pay Zhang Yimou 2.4636 million yuan in the formulation time, and was taken to restrict consumption measures.
In 2019, Zhang Yimou sued New Picture Company for a "labor contract dispute".
Coupled with the exposure on May 31, 2021, Zhang Yimou has sued Zhang Weiping three times in five years.
And without Zhang Weiping, Zhang Yimou is still Zhang Yimou, this year there will be "On the Cliff" such a word-of-mouth box office double harvest of works came out, and there will be several movies worth looking forward to.
It is said that "Lao Ji Fu Qi is determined to be in a thousand miles", as an iconic fifth-generation director, perhaps because of the reason for coming out of the land, Zhang Yimou is very popular with the audience in all aspects, and there is really a big reason.
When other directors complained that the audience did not understand aesthetics, Zhang Yimou modestly took the responsibility to himself, did not blame the audience, did not blame the small fresh meat that could not act.
Zhang Yimou also said that if you look down on commercial films and only want to shoot according to your own ideas, then why not make a film and put it at home to watch.
Zhang Yimou's ideological level, in fact, has hung a large number of directors, both want to earn the audience's money, look back and blame the audience for not aesthetics, it is no wonder that some people can become national teachers, and some people shoot more and more bad.
In any case, Zhang Yimou's strength and ability are obvious to all, and it is no wonder that there are still so many audiences who like him, so let us continue to look forward to his films.