Text/Knife II
In October 1990, Zhang Yimou and Gong Li began a veritable life as a couple.
During the Spring Festival of the same year, Gong Li met Zhang Weiping and his wife with Zhang Yimou, who did not want to socialize.
At that time, Zhang Weiping transformed from a small worker in a state-owned enterprise into a rich man who made a fortune in real estate, and Zhang Weiping's wife was a fan of Gong Li.
The four of them talked happily at the dinner table, and on the night of their first acquaintance, Zhang Yimou returned home in Zhang Weiping's car.
No one knows what two men with very different personalities talked about along the way.
Since then, Zhang Yimou has become a regular visitor to Zhang Weiping's home.
Since meeting Zhang Weiping, Zhang Yimou's conditions have changed from simple lamb steamed buns to famous delicacies in Beijing.
Zhang Weiping went south and north with a hospitable personality and made many friends, but Zhang Yimou did not like to eat, drink and have fun in groups.
So in the years when the two had just met, the two didn't spend much time sitting together and eating, but they also kept in touch.
Looking back at this relationship, Zhang Yimou's first acquaintance with Zhang Weiping is very pure and beautiful.
In 1995, at the end of the last shot of "Shake, Shake, Shake to Grandma's Bridge", Zhang Yimou and Gong Li's 8-year love affair ended without a problem.
At this time, Zhang Yimou's "Have Something to Say" was withdrawn by the investor, the reason: there is no Gong Li as the living sign as the heroine.
Without an investor, the film could only be temporarily stranded, and a worried Zhang Yimou came to Zhang Weiping's home.
Looking at Zhang Yimou, whose face was full of unhappiness, Zhang Weiping asked, "What have you been doing lately?" ”
Zhang Yimou could only inform Zhang Weiping of the withdrawal of the investor' investment, and there was still a person to meet today.
Zhang Weiping asked again, "How' it goes, is it reliable?" ”
Zhang Yimou on the other side shook his head, and zhang Weiping proposed: "Or I will vote for you." ”
Zhang Yimou, who saw that the investment money had fallen, reminded Zhang Weiping that film investment risk is high.
But Zhang Weiping did not take this matter seriously, and quan should help his friends.
So in 1996, Zhang Weiping became Zhang Yimou's partner.
For the movie "Have Something to Say", Zhang Weiping suspended two projects and invested 26 million yuan.
After the final release of the film, the phrase "An Hong, I miss you" became popular all over the country.
But Zhang Weiping did a stupid thing, selling the overseas rights of the film to a company for 8 million.
And that company sold for 46 million.
In the end, Zhang Weiping lost 18 million yuan, and in the face of this result, Zhang Yimou felt guilty.
But Zhang Weiping had a new idea in his heart: to enter the film market.
In 1997, the big boss who had been mixed with the pharmaceutical industry and real estate played a movie.
In order to continue to partner with Zhang Yimou, Zhang Weiping registered a company called "New Picture Film Company" for 10 million yuan.
In the company, Zhang Yimou is responsible for artistic creation, while Zhang Weiping is responsible for distribution and marketing.
Their time began.
Zhang Yimou and Zhang Weiping were once "stronger than Jin".
But things are uncertain, and the 16-year golden partner finally lost to "gold".
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In 1997, when Zhang Weiping was gaining momentum to add bricks to Zhang Yimou's career.
The death of Zhang Yimou's father forced the two to postpone their film plans.
Before the old man died, he said the following words to Zhang Yimou:
"Working with Zhang Weiping worries me a lot.
If you don't cooperate well, once you are separated, you will be retaliated against, and you are not Zhang Weiping's opponent. ”
But Zhang Yimou, who was "fighting fiercely" with Zhang Weiping at the time, did not take his father's words to heart.
But unexpectedly, the disintegration that occurred many years later made the old man's words become a slur.
Beginning in 1997, New Picture first released two films, "No One Can Be Less" and "My Father and Mother.".
"No One Can Be Less" made Zhang Yimou stand on the stage of receiving the Venice Golden Lion Award.
And "My Father and Mother" gave birth to the "second girl" and appeared at the Scene of the Silver Bear Award at the Berlin Film Festival.
Zhang Ziyi, wearing a red belly pocket, stood next to Zhang Yimou, completely ignoring Zhang Yimou in blackface.
The success of the two films has made Zhang Yimou's reputation more and more prosperous, but it is still not financially profitable.
But Zhang Weiping became more and more courageous in the war, and he undertook all the affairs himself, so that Zhang Yimou could rest assured that he could shoot the scene.
In those years, the media almost deified the union of "two zhangs".
Zhang Weiping is portrayed as a bold, decisive investor, and the "man" behind the genius director Zhang Yimou.
Even Matt boss Chen Lizhi said: Never have a producer done so much for a director.
In 2001, Ang Lee's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" came out, taking the top spot of the Oscar in one fell swoop and pushing Chinese martial arts films to the world.
With a keen sense of business smell, Zhang Weiping boldly predicted that martial arts films would become the new mainstream fashion.
In order to speed up the transformation, Zhang Weiping asked Jiang Zhiqiang, the producer of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", to explore with Zhang Yimou how to plan for the next step.
In 2002, filming of "Heroes" began.
On that day, Jet Li, Liang Chaowei, Zhen Zidan, Chen Daoming, Maggie Cheung, Zhang Ziyi and other martial arts superstars from the mainland and Hong Kong stood at the scene.
China's blockbuster era also took shape from that moment.
In order to broadcast smoothly and put an end to the phenomenon of piracy, Zhang Weiping reproduced the film.
It wasn't until the night before the film's release that the documents were delivered to the premiere.
In the face of media interviews, Zhang Weiping confidently said: "Hero" can break through 100 million.
But this bold inference frightened Zhang Yimou.
Because Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is only ten million, and "Hero" seems unlikely to exceed this watershed.
In the end, Zhang Weiping predicted success, "Hero" earned 250 million box office, sold the copyright for a high price of 17.8 million, and no one has surpassed it so far.
The unprecedented success allowed Zhang Yimou to move from the camp of literary and art films to the boundaries of martial arts films.
Zhang Weiping, on the other hand, quietly had a "different heart".
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Zhang Yimou once commented on Zhang Weiping: "When people are alienated, it is difficult to detect themselves. ”
The success of "Hero" not only marks a leap in the quality of Chinese films, but also marks a precursor to the broken relationship between the "two Zhangs".
In the years of cooperation between the two, the relationship between Zhang Weiping and Zhang Yimou was not only linked in business, but also called brothers by the two.
However, with the deepening of the relationship, the personality of this 1-meter-tall Northeast Han was exposed in front of Zhang Yimou.
Whether it's working abroad or sightseeing.
Zhang Weiping, who is "not good to serve", will always blacken his face and throw the problem to Zhang Yimou when he faces unsatisfactory meals and uncomfortable rooms.
And this unkind northwestern man could only calm Zhang Weiping's negative energy in a low voice.
Perhaps in Zhang Yimou's world, the ugliness of interpersonal relations can still be endured, but the bottom line of the film cannot be violated.
After the success of the film, Zhang Weiping began to put his hand into Zhang Yimou's creation, even interfering in the casting.
In 2006, the casting of "Full of Golden Armor" was completed, and even the script entered the end.
The male protagonist planned to select for half a year, and finally fought until the end of Huang Xuan.
At that time, Huang Xuan, who was in his freshman year, was very excited to share the stage with Zhou Runfa and Gong Li.
But until the eve of the film's shooting, Huang Xuan received a call from the assistant director.
A cold and ruthless voice sounded at that end, telling Huang Xuan that the movie no longer needed him.
And all this is Zhang Weiping's meaning, eliminating Huang Xuan, the new protagonist is the popular singer Jay Chou.
Zhang Yimou and the screenwriter revised the script that had already ended.
In order to cooperate with Jay Chou, the age of the little prince changed from 19 to 14 years old.
Not only that, according to Zhang Weiping's meaning, the script has added Liu Ye and Gong Li's out-of-character drama.
Until the release of the film, the box office reached nearly 300 million, and Zhang Weiping became the most profitable producer and boss in China.
Zhang Yimou, on the other hand, is facing the reputation of "unscrupulous director".
This time the commercial success allowed Zhang Weiping to start going further and further down the road of "interference".
2009's "Three Guns Shooting Surprise" is one of the films that Zhang Yimou attaches great importance to.
The film that originally took the suspense route was forced by Zhang Weiping to join Zhao Benshan's disciple group and became a comedy of "four different".
In the face of Zhang Weiping's decision, Zhang Yimou said bluntly:
"Zhang Weiping wanted to make money, used Xiao Shenyang to hype, and cobbled together this script."
And the result of random fabrication can be imagined, "The Surprise of the Three Guns Shooting" has become a bad film under Zhang Yimou's name.
If the first two films made Zhang Yimou feel suspicious of Zhang Weiping, then the arrival of "Jinling Thirteen Chao" accelerated the rupture of the relationship between the two.
During the filming of "The Thirteen Pieces of Jinling", Zhang Weiping asked Zhang Yimou to join the elements of the war and expand the film content.
Later, in order to increase the selling point, he vigorously promoted the exciting love scene between Ni Ni and Bell.
Zhang Yimou was urged three times and had to agree.
This made Zhang Yimou angry, saying that Zhang Weiping wasted everyone's labor and made people's faces dull.
After the final release of the film, some people said that Zhang Yimou was flattering the Oscars, and "Jinling Thirteen Chao" was a pleasure to foreigners.
Zhang Yimou was instantly overwhelmed by the criticism of the outside world.
And this is not the first thing Zhang Weiping is "immoral".
In early 2010, Yan Geling, the author of "Jinling Thirteen Chao", hoped to buy back the copyright from Zhang Yimou and sell it to other film and television companies.
Zhang Yimou promised Yan Geling that as long as the film began post-production, he would return the copyright to Yan Geling free of charge.
The trust between the two sides could have become a good story, but they did not expect to be stirred into "porridge" by Zhang Weiping.
In the later stages of film production, the copyright of "Jinling Thirteen Chao" was sold by Zhang Weiping at a high price.
And Yan Geling granules do not accept or say, but they are untrustworthy in another company.
In this way, Zhang Weiping took the "gold" into his pocket through Zhang Yimou's hand.
Zhang Yimou did not know about this, but became an "unrighteous person".
In January 2012, "Jinling Thirteen Chao" was shortlisted for the Golden Globe Award.
Zhang Weiping appeared at the Scene of the Golden Globe Awards with supporting roles, but he did not see Zhang Yimou and Ni Ni.
In February 2012, when he went to the Berlin Film Festival, Zhang Yimou appeared with bell, Ni Ni and other protagonists, but this time Zhang Weiping did not appear.
At that time, neither of them expected that the Beijing premiere would be the last time the two would meet.
The 16-year collaboration came to an end in 2012, representing the end of the era of "two golden partners".
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In 2012, Zhang Yimou ran away from "New Picture".
Zhang Weiping said that he would take back the management rights of more than a dozen artists such as Zhou Dongyu and Ni Ni.
At the same time, he also put words in the circle and did not allow these people to take over the play without their own permission.
At this time, in order to be grateful, Ni Ni directly sided with Zhang Yimou, and finally fell into bleakness for many years before turning red.
In addition, there is another piece of news that pushed Zhang Yimou to the cusp of public opinion.
In 2013, the news about "Zhang Yimou Chaosheng" was on the hot search, and the whistleblower was actor He Jun.
It was revealed that He Jun was the niece of Zhang Weiping's assistant Wang Xiaohua.
In He Jun's exposé, the ID card photo of Zhang Yimou's wife, Chen Ting, appeared impressively, with Zhang Yimou's home address and children's household registration and photos.
As Zhang Yimou's "brother", Zhang Weiping is naturally familiar with all this.
Even the child's photos are a memorial given by Chen Ting to Zhang Weiping, and Zhou Xiaofeng later published a book exposing this situation.
As soon as this matter came out, Zhang Yimou was pushed to the cusp of the storm again, and after coming forward to admit it, Zhang Yimou was fined 7.48 million.
The feud between Zhang Yimou and Zhang Weiping reached its peak, and the relationship between the two was completely broken.
Although Zhang Weiping has always spoken out about this matter and has nothing to do with himself, Zhang Yimou has never spoken out to the outside world.
However, Zhang Yimou's "people around him" could not bear it, and directly published a book to expose some truths about the feud between the two.
This person around him is Zhou Xiaofeng, a literary planner who has been working for Zhang Yimou for 8 years and vowed not to write about Zhang Yimou.
Watching Zhang Yimou being framed and smeared, Zhou Xiaofeng, who was familiar with Zhang Yimou and Zhang Weiping, began to create.
In order not to leak the wind, Zhou Xiaofeng did not inform Zhang Yimou of this decision until he completed the sample draft.
And she only wanted Zhang Yimou to verify the time and place.
After that, in the face of the interview, Zhou Xiaofeng also said that he was not afraid to confront Zhang Weiping in court.
After confirming that it was correct, Zhou Xiaofeng's book came out, revealing the unbelievable truth she witnessed.
In the book, Zhou Xiaofeng reveals the truth about Zhang Yimou's breakup with Gong Li, and the "black hand" behind it is Zhang Weiping and his wife.
At that time, Gong Li and Zhang Yimou were in love, and the balance in Gong Li's heart naturally fell to Zhang Yimou.
In order to trap Zhang Yimou, Zhang Weiping and his wife described the normal social interaction between Gong Li and Huang Hexiang to Zhang Yimou.
What appears to be comfort is in fact a fabrication of lies.
Although Zhang Yimou did not believe it, these things gradually became the knot in his heart.
After learning the truth, Gong Li vowed never to interact with Zhang Weiping and his wife again.
And in "The City Is Full of Golden Armor", Gong Li wrote "refused to meet Zhang Weiping and his wife during the entire shooting period" into the contract.
And Zhang Yimou, a "confused old good man", did not realize that he had already fallen into the trap until twenty years later.
Zhang Yimou, who did not have a "woman", also indirectly made a wedding dress for Zhang Weiping.
After filming "The Surprise of the Three Guns Shooting", Zhang Weiping's wife paid Chen Ting 4 times in a year, totaling more than 10 million yuan in remuneration.
And this ten million is the total of "Hero", "Ten Faces Ambush", "Thousand Miles To Ride Alone", "Full of Golden Armor", and "Three Guns".
After ten years of five films, Zhang Yimou finally got only 10 million.
Even the dividends of the "new picture" have nothing to do with him, and the rest of the money has gone into Zhang Weiping's pocket.
Not only that, in Zhang Yimou's films, Zhang Weiping's real investment in the only two films are "Have Something to Say" and "Jinling Thirteen Chao".
In the rest of the movies, Zhang Weiping is not a real investor.
Although Zhang Weiping did not pay for it, he firmly controlled Zhang Yimou.
In order to cooperate with Zhang Yimou, everyone can only write him in the co-producer according to Zhang Weiping's request.
Zhang Yimou said: "The more Zhang Weiping talks, the more he believes, the more he deceives himself."
And the moment the truth is revealed, how embarrassing and ugly it is.
In 2016, Zhang Yimou sued Zhang Weiping, demanding that "New Picture" compensate the film for dividends.
In the end, the court in the second instance, Zhang Weiping compensated Zhang Yimou with 2.4636 million yuan, but Zhang Weiping did not perform within the specified period and was restricted by the court from spending.
Now, Zhang Yimou has once again sued Zhang Weiping in court.
The brothers who were once praised by the media as "like brothers and sisters" have long since vanished with time.
Perhaps from the very beginning, the encounter between the two was doomed to the final outcome.
The term "golden partner" may never exist, and their cooperation is only a chase comparison between interests and human nature.
In Zhang Weiping's world, interests prevailed, and in Zhang Yimou's life, expressing art became his destiny.
The collaboration between businessmen and artists is not always good.
If you want a fairy tale, you have to accept the cruel ending of reality.
Without Zhang Weiping, Zhang Yimou began to set sail again, using movies to dialogue with the world.
And this seems to be the destination of Zhang Yimou.
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