Thank you for your support by clicking "Follow", which is not only convenient for you to discuss and share, but also can bring you a different sense of participation, thank you for your support!
On that quiet and expectant night in the 70s of the last century, an ordinary and tenacious drug researcher, named Zhang Weiping, was pouring out his inner helplessness and grief to his lover Zhang Jing, "Isn't this endless hard life the greatest blasphemy against life?" Zhang Jing lamented, his deep eyes flashing with a little sadness, "You're right, my dear.
Look at the people around us, they are all making huge profits in the real estate market, and we are only struggling to survive on the poverty line" Zhang Weiping was deeply moved by his wife's words, and that night, he made a life-changing decision - "I want to quit this job and devote myself to the torrent of the business world!" Zhang Jing did not hesitate to support her husband's decision and promised to take care of everything at home, and Zhang Weiping began his passionate and challenging business career.
At the same time, Zhang Yimou, who has already made a name for himself in the world of photography, is also eager to achieve greater breakthroughs by challenging himself. In his carefully planned debut work, "Red Sorghum", the choice of the role of "Jiu'er" is crucial.
The investor tends to choose Shi Ke, who was born in a professional class, but Zhang Yimou always thinks that she lacks enough charm until he meets Gong Li, Zhang Yimou realizes Shi Ke's shortcomings, Gong Li is stunning as soon as he appears, and he is radiant, in order to devote himself to this film, Zhang Yimou asked his wife Xiao Hua to live a simple life in the crew, although the traditional Xiao Hua was puzzled by this, but she still agreed.
Unexpectedly, in the crew of "Red Sorghum", the relationship between Zhang Yimou and Gong Li heated up rapidly, and they almost became "a model couple in the crew". Xiao Hua couldn't stand her husband's betrayal, and the two finally decided to divorce.
Although there was no Internet at the time, the incident still attracted widespread attention, and Xiao Hua wrote a book about this experience, "The Past", as a way to accuse Zhang Yimou of treachery, Zhang Yimou is said to have tried to prevent the publication of the book, but failed.
After the divorce, Xiao Hua's life fell into a trough, and even faced the dilemma of unemployment and poverty. However, when Zhang Yimou's financial situation improved, he still gave Xiao Hua some assistance, and the relationship between the two was as harmonious as family.
In contrast, Gong Li's fate is more tortuous Zhang Yimou's daughter witnessed her father's betrayal of her mother, harbored a deep hatred for Gong Li, and resolutely opposed her becoming her stepmother.
However, in this competition between human nature and love, Gong Li fell into a deep obsession, and frantically longed to marry the man she admired - Zhang Yimou.
For the sake of his career and daughter, Zhang Yimou has never made any substantive marriage commitment to Gong Li, just comforting her over and over again, "We will get married when the time is right" In this ambiguous relationship, Gong Li has always maintained loyalty and selflessly assisted Zhang Yimou in the production of many classic films.
At this critical moment, a businessman named Zhang Weiping was deeply attracted by the story of Zhang Yimou and Gong Li, the "crew couple", and a strong desire emerged in his heart, eager to work hand in hand with Zhang Yimou.
However, at that time, Zhang Yimou and Gong Li had become the golden signs of the industry, and countless investors came one after another, wanting to get a piece of the pie, how easy is it to say?
However, Zhang Weiping was not discouraged by this, and he skillfully orchestrated a series of strategies. At a grand event, Zhang Weiping was fortunate to get to know Gong Li, who was present at the event. When he saw Gong Li's shining face, he secretly planned how to persuade her to cooperate deeply with investors.
However, for Gong Li, this is just an ordinary social act, and she never expected that Zhang Weiping had already carefully arranged for personnel to film this scene and pass it on to Zhang Yimou anonymously.
As a typical machismo, Zhang Yimou can't stand his lover's too close contact with others. He became deeply suspicious of Gong Li's actions, and a heated argument broke out between the two.
Striking while the iron was hot, Gong Li once again asked Zhang Yimou when he was willing to enter the marriage hall, but in exchange for the other party's indifference and silence. Disheartened, Gong Li finally chose to leave gloomily.
At this critical moment, Zhang Weiping seized a rare opportunity. He resolutely decided to come forward and founded the company "New Picture" to fully support Zhang Yimou's artistic creation.
Starting from the work "Something to Say", they have worked closely together for more than ten years and have jointly created many popular films.
Among them, "Hero" can be called the pinnacle of Zhang Weiping and Zhang Yimou's cooperation. This visually stunning martial arts masterpiece has earned the audience's attention, not only won Zhang Yimou rave reviews, but also brought huge profits to the company.
The joy of success made Zhang Weiping a little carried away, and he began to greedily pursue more, trying to persuade Zhang Yimou to shoot more "fast money movies".
However, as an outstanding director who adheres to the concept of art, Zhang Yimou firmly adheres to the principle of the supremacy of film quality and resolutely resists excessive catering to the low-level interests of the market! The significant difference in the creative concepts of the two artists is like lighting a fuse, causing the contradictions between them to accumulate silently and gradually.
It is worth mentioning that in this challenging cooperation process, Zhang Weiping twice recommended his lover to Zhang Yimou to participate in the film. On one occasion, he tried to convince Zhang Yimou to give the role of the protagonist to this lover, but in the end he only got a chance to play a supporting role; On another occasion, he was even fired for violating crew rules, which undoubtedly further deepened the tension in the relationship between the two.
On the surface, everything seems to be as calm as water, but in fact, the rift between Zhang Weiping and Zhang Yimou has already begun to gradually widen. The differences and estrangements that arise in the process of cooperation are destined to lead to violent conflicts at a critical moment, leading to the breakdown of the relationship.
Although Zhang Yimou and Zhang Weiping did achieve certain achievements during their cooperation, the contradictions between them continued to accumulate in the shadows. In the end, during the filming of "Three Guns Shooting Surprise", all the problems broke out in a concentrated manner.
This movie was originally a "quick money" work shot by Zhang Weiping in order to make a profit, and tried his best to persuade Zhang Yimou. He expects to make a lot of money at the box office through a low-cost, market-appealing strategy.
However, this is far from the artistic ideals that Zhang Yimou has always pursued.
As expected, "Three-Gun Shooting Surprise" was subjected to overwhelming ridicule and criticism as soon as it was released. The whole movie is filled with a vulgar sketch atmosphere, and the crew was revealed to be completely created by Zhao Benshan's team, which is really laughable.
For Zhang Weiping, this is undoubtedly a huge commercial victory, the production cost of the film is only 30 or 40 million yuan, but in the end it created an astonishing box office result of 244 million yuan.
For Zhang Yimou, however, it was an artistic fiasco that he was deeply ashamed of.
As a director, Zhang Yimou has given high recognition to the script and the choice of actors, how could he not have foreseen such a strong sketch flavor? However, in the end, the responsibility fell entirely on him alone, and became the focus of public criticism.
The inner dissatisfaction surged like a volcanic eruption, and Zhang Yimou had completely lost patience with his cooperation with Zhang Weiping.
What's even more jaw-dropping is that during the production of the subsequent movie "The Thirteen Hairpins of Jinling", these two partners, who have gone through countless journeys together, are once again tense over copyright issues.
Zhang Weiping, who originally just wanted to give Zhang Yimou a warning, never expected that the other party would choose to leave with such a resolute attitude.
Faced with this situation, Zhang Weiping decided to put Zhang Yimou in a desperate situation, and he did not hesitate to resort to the last vicious means. A report letter about Zhang Yimou's superlife was made public, and in an instant, the well-known director, who is worth hundreds of millions, fell into the whirlpool of public opinion and became the focus of everyone's attention.
For an artist, the loss of reputation is undoubtedly a fatal blow. Zhang Yimou could not withstand such a heavy blow, and he had to run around and do everything in his power to raise a hefty fine of up to 78,000 yuan.
At the same time, he is still trying his best to track down the people behind the incident.
All the clues point to Zhang Weiping. It's no wonder that many years ago, Zhang Yimou's father had insight into the opportunity and warned his son that Zhang Weiping was not a trustworthy partner.
In the contest between art and commerce, the cunning and opportunistic nature of businessmen always prevailed.
Obeying the rules and being honest with others should be the basic principles of our life. However, a thunderous bang finally completely destroyed the once brilliant cooperative relationship between the two.
Since then, the hatred between them has been endless.
In this way, a protracted legal battle began. Zhang Yimou, who was exhausted, repeatedly filed lawsuits against his former partner Zhang Weiping, demanding that the other party bear the remuneration due to the cooperative films that year.
However, Zhang Weiping turned a deaf ear to this and stubbornly put on a rogue face, he would rather be included in the list of dishonest judgment debtors than pay even a penny to Zhang Yimou.
This dispute has long gone beyond money and is more like a protracted war of hatred. The friendship, trust, and understanding that once existed were all evaporated under the temptation of money and profit.
The feud between the two seems to have been backlogged for too long to resolve.
Although Zhang Yimou is over the age of old, he is still desperate and tirelessly pursuing his own justice. But is there any chance that he will be able to defeat this old rival who is only interested in his immediate interests? What was trust and friendship has finally turned into a desperate lawsuit.
Rewind to that era of change. At that time, Zhang Weiping took self-interest as the highest criterion and did not hesitate to use all kinds of unspeakable and despicable means. He once openly or secretly interfered with Zhang Yimou's film works, but he just wanted to concoct a "disaster film" that caters to the low-level tastes of the market; He was full of hatred and made Zhang Yimou's private life public without scruples to vent his dissatisfaction.
However, Zhang Yimou is a director who has always adhered to his artistic beliefs, and he has always been committed to the pursuit of excellence in the spiritual and intellectual fields. Despite the constant constraints of business, he remained steadfast in his pursuit of his deepest artistic dreams.
Merchants and artists, two very different forms of existence, seem destined to become incompatible enemies. However, fate bound them together, and no one could have predicted that they would end up on such a hostile path.
Interest is like a bottomless black hole that can turn brothers who are like brothers and sisters against each other, let alone strangers who come together simply because of a common interest? One side has long been ready to solve the problem by force, while the other side is still naïve in its pursuit of so-called "art", and in the end they inevitably fall into the dilemma of being isolated.
Now, Zhang Yimou, who is over seventy years old, is lonely, and his only reliance is on this never-ending litigation war. But who will emerge victorious? Can winning a lawsuit change anything? When the trust between them is long gone, the dispute can only turn into endless pain.
At the root of it, the key to the reason why Zhang Weiping and Zhang Yimou drifted apart and turned against each other is that there are fundamental differences in their values.
Zhang Weiping is a shrewd and cunning businessman who seeks only maximum profits. To this end, he did everything he could. He has openly or covertly interfered with Zhang Yimou's film works, but he just wanted to concoct a "disaster film" that caters to the low-end tastes of the market in order to obtain rich box office revenues; He was full of hatred, and he made Zhang Yimou's private life public without scruples, making the famous director, who is worth hundreds of millions, fall into the whirlpool of public opinion.
In Mr. Zhang Weiping's perspective, financial interests seem to transcend everything and become the only true meaning of life. For him, friendship, art and other beautiful emotions have become illusory, and things that cannot touch the actual material rewards are just empty words in his heart.
Only those things that can bring substantial economic benefits can be called the real goals that he constantly pursues.
However, director Zhang Yimou represents a sublime image of the artist. He has always adhered to the purity of film art and pursued the highest level of spirit and thought. Although he is often constrained and influenced by commercial forces, he still firmly pursues his artistic dreams and guards the deep persistence in his heart.
Merchants and artists are two completely different forms of existence. However, fate has bound them together. One is to make money at all costs, and the other is to stick to ideals and not care about personal gains and losses.
In the early stage of cooperation, it may be possible to maintain harmonious coexistence for a period of time, but as the interests gradually increase, the contradictions will become more and more prominent.
Interests are like a bottomless black hole, enough to turn brothers who are like brothers and sisters against each other, not to mention strangers who are united by a common interest alone.
One is ready to be as ruthless as a samurai, while the other is still naïve in his pursuit of so-called "art", and will inevitably end up in isolation.
Man dies for money, and birds die for food. In this sinister social environment, how can an artist endure it alone? Lonely and defeated, in the end, you can only end up with nothing.
This may be a true portrayal of human nature, and it is also a profound warning to every audience.