In 1999, Zhang Yimou became popular with a total of two "Mou girls".
One is Zhang Ziyi, she is a typical classical beauty with an elegant temperament, and she is also a double actress of the Academy Awards and the Golden Horse Awards.
The other is not so beautiful, and is even called "the ugliest girl".
Some people say that this is a special choice of harlequin to praise Zhang Ziyi, and some people say that you can't just look at your appearance, maybe you have other talents.
However, it turns out that before she was found by Zhang Yimou, she was just a pig-feeding girl in the countryside, but after meeting Zhang Yimou, her life changed completely...
01. The heroine of "No One Less".
She is Wei Minzhi, the heroine of the movie "No One Less".
When Zhang Yimou met her, he was at a low point in his career, and he urgently needed a work to turn over.
In this way, Zhang Yimou saw Xinjiang writer Shi Xiang's novel "There is a Sun in the Sky", this novel has no vigorous love, no uplifting struggle, just an ordinary girl living an ordinary life.
Zhang Yimou took a fancy to the girl in this novel, and also discovered her stubborn character, and in this way, the casting of the movie "No One is Missing" began.
In order to express the rustic feeling in the novel, Zhang Yimou did not choose popular actors, but personally came to the countryside, carefully observed, and looked for every character.
Assistant director Li Hong met a pair of cute twins at the entrance of a village in Hebei Province, that is, Wei Minzhi and Wei Congzhi.
Originally, Li Hong took a fancy to Wei Congzhi, so she asked her, little girl, can you sing and dance?
Because Wei Congzhi was more introverted and timid, he didn't dare to respond, and kept hiding behind Wei Minzhi.
Wei Minzhi took the initiative to stand up and said loudly, "I will!" ”
Then she sang a song "Our Motherland is a Garden" while gesturing.
So Li Hong was successfully attracted to her, and then asked her, "Do you dare to make a movie?" ”
Although Wei Minzhi didn't know what it meant to make a movie, she still had the courage to say, "Dare!" ”
In this way, Wei Minzhi became one of the many heroine candidates.
In the end, from tens of thousands of girls, they went through countless screenings and eliminations, leaving only Wei Minzhi and another girl.
That girl is better than Wei Minzhi in all aspects, and her acting skills are also very outstanding, but Wei Minzhi has a sense of simplicity that no one can compare, which is what Zhang Yimou has been looking for.
But relying on this alone, Wei Minzhi was not enough to win, Zhang Yimou thought about it and had an idea.
He placed the two girls in an empty room with a camera in each and asked them to shout at the camera.
The other girl was a little unable to let go, which made Zhang Yimou a little dissatisfied.
But Wei Minzhi is not, she shouted directly to the heartbreak, and seemed to shout out all her emotions about wanting to participate in the movie.
Zhang Yimou looked at it, pointed at Wei Minzhi and said, "Okay, it's her." ”
As a result, Wei Minzhi was successfully elected as the heroine.
After the filming of the movie, she returned to her small village, as if the movie had no effect on her, and she still lived the life of chopping wood and feeding pigs.
However, life has quietly changed.
02. Enter the entertainment industry or continue your studies?
In 1999, the movie "No One Less" was successfully released, and it also won 10 awards, including the highest Golden Lion Award at the 56th Venice International Film Festival, the Best Feature Film at the 23rd Chinese Film Golden Rooster Award and the Outstanding Feature Film at the 5th China Film Huabiao Awards.
The movie is on fire, and the heroine Wei Minzhi is naturally on fire too.
In order to be able to interview Wei Minzhi, reporters from all over the country, even abroad, flocked to the small village where Wei Minzhi lived.
The village was lively, and it seemed to be uproaring her heart.
All kinds of resources are pressed like a mountain, no matter what TV series, movies, and various advertisements, and there are brokerage companies that want to sign Wei Minzhi away.
Wei Minzhi was a little at a loss for a while, her parents had been farmers all their lives, and wherever they had seen this battle, they were all in chaos.
Some relatives said, sign a contract, just make a lot of money.
My friend said, you go make a movie, you can be a big star in the future.
Just when Wei Minzhi was entangled, Zhang Yimou came.
He told Wei Minzhi, don't be greedy for the small profits in front of you, you are still young now, you need to study hard. The entertainment industry is not for you, and it is not for you now.
If someone compliments you on being a big star, but you're just acting in a movie, it's just a bizarre experience and doesn't mean anything.
The most important thing for you is to read.
In this way, under the persuasion of Zhang Yimou, Wei Minzhi rejected all media, directors and brokerage companies.
However, the experience of starring in the movie "No One Less" still brought her an opportunity.
03. The dream of wanting to be a director has never disappeared
Zhai Haizhi, the chairman of a local elite middle school, had a deep feeling after watching the movie "No One is Missing", so he personally learned about Wei Minzhi's situation.
After learning that Wei Minzhi also had a twin sister Wei Congzhi and an older sister Wei Lingzhi, and the family conditions were relatively difficult, she decided on the spot to let Wei Minzhi and her twin sister Wei Congzhi go to school together, without tuition and miscellaneous fees, and not to live with 300 yuan a month for living expenses.
In addition, Zhai Haizhi also found a job for Wei Minzhi's eldest sister Wei Lingzhi and her father in middle school, which can give them a stable income.
Wei Minzhi also knew that this opportunity of his life was not easy to come by, so he studied hard, practiced Mandarin hard, and studied with a flashlight every day.
It can be said that the hard work paid off, Wei Minzhi's efforts were not in vain, and she successfully entered the high school of the elite high school.
After entering high school, Wei Minzhi did not relax her studies, but the seeds left by the movie back then have begun to take root and sprout unconsciously.
She told the teacher that since she was not suitable for entering the entertainment industry, she should be a director.
The teacher wanted to oppose her because it wasn't realistic.
When his parents knew about it, they were also opposed, and his father just wanted Wei Minzhi to go to a normal university and then be a teacher to teach.
But Wei Minzhi was unwilling, and under her insistence and pleading, her parents agreed to let her try.
But reality dealt her a fatal blow, she failed the exam in the art major class of the Beijing Film Academy and was not admitted.
Fortunately, Xi'an University of Foreign Chinese opened another window for her, promising that as long as she passed the art examination and reached the college entrance examination admission score, she would be admitted and exempted from the annual tuition fee of 11,000 yuan.
In this way, Wei Minzhi firmly seized the opportunity, passed the art examination first, and began to fight for the college entrance examination.
Finally, in the college entrance examination that year, he was admitted to Xi'an Foreign Chinese University with a score of 200 points above the score line.
After that, Wei Minzhi's days finally got better and better.
04. Make your dreams come true
In her sophomore year, Wei Minzhi was invited by a film and television company in Xi'an to independently direct the TV series "Mother's Wish" and the movie "Fairy Tale of the Night".
Later, Wei Minzhi received the help of Chen Ergang, a Chinese-American professor at Brigham Young University in the United States, and successfully got the opportunity to study in the United States.
Many years ago, she was a little girl who couldn't even speak Mandarin, but now, she speaks fluent English and received a full scholarship to enter the gate of Brigham Young University in the United States.
Later, Wei Minzhi not only often produced films to promote Chinese culture in the United States, but also translated foreign scripts, and became one of the representatives of Brigham Young University.
A few years ago, Zhang Yimou and Wei Minzhi met again at the opening press conference of the Hawaii International Film Festival in the United States.
When Zhang Yimou saw her, he said in surprise, "Wei Minzhi, we haven't seen each other for many years, and now we have all grown so big, it's like a story." ”
In fact, each of our lives is a long story, and each plot in it is written by us personally.