In 1992, director Zhang Yimou bought the film copyright of "Alive" from writer Yu Hua at a price of 25,000 yuan. At that time, he planned to invite the famous actor Ge You to play the male protagonist Fugui

In 1992, director Zhang Yimou bought the film copyright of "Alive" from writer Yu Hua at a price of 25,000 yuan. At that time, he planned to invite the famous actor Ge You to play the male protagonist Fugui, but was shocked by Ge You's request for a salary of 700,000 yuan. Zhang Yimou agreed to this request, but actually gave Ge You 3 million yuan. This made Ge You feel that he had been fooled.