Chapter 1311: Cheating You Without Discussion

For investors, especially film investors, there are a few names across the three regions that must be remembered.

Edward Yang and Hou Hsiao-hsien from Taiwan, Wong Kar-wai from Hong Kong, and Jiang Wen from the mainland.

Of course, besides these, there are a few others, such as Ann Hui and John Woo, Tian Zhuangzhuang and Chen Kaige, and well, Lu Chuan also counts.

As for Jia Zhangke, Lou Ye, and the like, they are not included, since they started making underground films from the beginning and have no record of losing money.

The two from Taiwan don't count, as they are old-timers; the remaining—Wong Kar-wai, John Woo, and Ann Hui—can be called the three big pits of Hong Kong cinema.

And Tian Zhuangzhuang, Chen Kaige, plus Jiang Wen and Lu Chuan, can definitely be called the four pit kings of the mainland.

How pitiful are these people?

For all film investors, the worst fear is encountering an unreliable director who loses all the soft renminbi you invested.

And these people perfectly illustrate that point.

Ann Hui is said to be the director with the most Hong Kong Film Awards—impressive, right?

But it's useless; Ann Hui's films often lose money. And whenever she makes a commercial film, it almost never fails to lose money. In her previous life, the TV version of "Jade Goddess of Mercy" was a hit on the mainland, but her film version became one of the top ten lowest-grossing mainland films in Hong Kong. After entering the mainland, Ann Hui still couldn't escape the fate of losing money; the box office of "The Postmodern Life of My Aunt" wasn't enough to cover Chow Yun-fat's salary. Later, she took over from Teacher Lu and used "The Golden Era" to once again screw Star Media, costing them tens of millions.

John Woo goes without saying. "A Better Tomorrow" made him the master of so-called violent aesthetics, and then he got cocky. Starting with "Windtalkers," Woo returned to his original form. The box office failure of "Windtalkers" directly led to the bankruptcy of MGM, one of the six major Hollywood studios. By destroying one of the six major Hollywood studios with a single film, John Woo created a height that other Chinese-language film directors find hard to surpass. After slinking back to China, the losses from "Red Cliff" and "The Crossing" were also in the hundreds of millions, and Woo was questioned as no longer fitting the times.

Lu Chuan goes without saying. From "Kekexili: Mountain Patrol" to "The Missing Gun," losing money is his trademark. With "City of Life and Death" and "The Last Supper," Lu Chuan severely weakened Star Media. More terrifyingly, when "The Last Supper" was released, Lu Chuan declared that if the box office exceeded 300 million, he would marry his girlfriend Qin Lan.

Facts proved they were not true love.

Among the fifth-generation directors, Tian Zhuangzhuang is quite low-key, perhaps related to his insistence on art films. Unlike other directors, Tian truly achieves the level of losing money on every film he makes, screwing all investors.

Although Tian later came around and made "The Warrior and the Wolf" and helped with commercial films like "Yang Guifei: The Woman of the Dynasty," he still couldn't escape the fate of losing money.

Also, speaking of Tian, one must mention "The Imperial Eunuch Li Lianying." According to Tian, Jiang Wen fired the original director and asked him to take over. The result was a powerful combination of Jiang and Tian, leading "The Imperial Eunuch Li Lianying" to lose money to a new level, directly causing several state-owned companies to go bankrupt.

As for Chen Kaige, well, besides "Farewell My Concubine" and "Yellow Earth," is there anything else? Although he has made dozens of films, to this day, people only remember "Farewell My Concubine." And except for "Farewell My Concubine" and "Caught in the Web," his films have never made money. In 1998, "The Emperor and the Assassin" lost nearly 60 million—tsk, that was the last century.

Speaking of this, a name comes to mind: Xu Feng.

Ms. Xu once starred in "A Touch of Zen" and was quite famous. After "Farewell My Concubine" made money, she ignored her husband's objections and used her private savings to invest in Chen Kaige's "Temptress Moon," which lost over 30 million. After that lesson, she still became one of the investors in "The Promise," which lost nearly 200 million.

Ms. Xu, please be more careful!

As for Wong Kar-wai and Jiang Wen, they need no introduction. In Zhao Fusheng's view, Wong Kar-wai is the least cost-effective director in Hong Kong cinema, bar none. However, because he works slowly and makes few films, the number of investors he has screwed is relatively small.

Of course, Deng Guangrong doesn't count. He spent over 30 million on "Days of Being Wild," which won a Best Film award at the Hong Kong Film Awards, but it gave him a heart attack.

In fact, the best way to invest in Wong's films is like with "The Grandmaster": find a dozen investors to share the risk, since Wong's films are time-consuming and expensive.

As for Jiang Wen, ahem, Zhao Fusheng was a fan of his in his previous life and studied his past carefully. He had to admit that Jiang Wen is a genius in Chinese cinema, because any film he participates in—whether as director, lead, or supporting actor—almost always loses money.

Although "Keep Cool" and "Let the Bullets Fly" made money, within five years, Jiang used "Gone with the Bullets" to lose the profits that "Let the Bullets Fly" had earned for producer Ma Ke.

Cruel is just one word, Jiang only says it once.

Zhao Fusheng once read a report saying Jiang is particularly good at fooling investors.

How good is Jiang's fooling?

Back in the day, Jiang Wen successfully fooled a Hong Kong tycoon, Mr. Chen, into investing 40 million in "The Emperor's Shadow," which had negligible box office. According to Zhang Weiping, Zhang Yimou's golden partner, when "The Emperor's Shadow" started filming, Mr. Chen arrived in a Mercedes with an entourage. By the premiere of "Keep Cool," Mr. Chen was taking a taxi to meet Zhang Weiping.

That's not all. After Jiang finished "In the Heat of the Sun," one of the investors, Wen Jun, had to star in a porn film to pay off debts, and Sister Xiaoqing even used up her private savings.

Yes, that Wen Jun from Hong Kong later became the screenwriter for "Lost on Journey." This shows that Teacher Jiang's combat power and destructiveness are no joke.

By the way, at the time, Sister Xiaoqing was Jiang Wen's girlfriend. They had already broken up, but she still resolutely helped Jiang. And Jiang didn't let her down; when she was imprisoned for tax evasion and no one cared, he worked outside to help her.

For this, Zhao Fusheng has high praise for Jiang—at least he's a man.

And now, this real man, this tough guy, sat across from him, apologetically saying that his new film might be invested in by another company.

The moment Jiang finished speaking, Zhao Fusheng felt as if happiness had struck him.

"What did you say?"

Looking at Jiang Wen, Zhao Fusheng barely controlled his expression to keep from laughing, and asked curiously, "Why?"

"Well..." Jiang didn't answer immediately, rubbing his hands, clearly hesitant.

"Heh, it's about face again, isn't it?"

He didn't need to say it; Zhao Fusheng could guess. After a moment's thought, he figured it out: someone had probably asked Jiang for a favor, and Jiang, unable to refuse, was in this situation.

"Yeah, Wang Zhonglei approached me, saying he wanted to collaborate on a film. You know, I owe them a favor..." Jiang said apologetically to Zhao Fusheng.

He knew Zhao Fusheng had always treated him well, giving him shares and setting up a studio, but favors are the hardest to repay. When someone comes to you, it's hard to refuse.

Ye Jing was definitely unhappy, so Jiang came to Zhao Fusheng.

"How much investment?" Zhao Fusheng asked.

"The preliminary budget is 30 million, but we're saying 50 million externally." Jiang was a bit embarrassed but told Zhao the truth.

Zhao Fusheng nodded. That's how film production works; they always exaggerate. Distributors act like they have fake IDs, all boasting. For example, "The Banquet" actually cost $13 million but was touted as $20 million, and in Europe as $30 million. No truth at all; anyone who believes it is an idiot.

But Jiang's words confirmed to Zhao that everything was unchanged: Jiang was still the pit, and Huayi was still the unlucky one.

Hmm, I wonder if Yang Shoucheng will get involved as the sucker.

At the thought of having a chance to screw Yang Shoucheng, Zhao Fusheng felt elated, and even Jiang looked more pleasing.

"Well, okay, since you've said it, I have no choice but to agree." Zhao Fusheng's expression was reluctant; to Jiang, it seemed he was struggling to control his temper.

In reality, Zhao Fusheng was trying hard not to laugh.

"Thank you, Fusheng." Jiang said seriously.

Zhao Fusheng blinked and smiled: "You're welcome. Between us, no need for that."

That was sincere. No matter what, he had to give Jiang face.

Jiang also smiled and nodded: "Alright, I won't say more. It's all in my heart."

He wasn't the type to be overly sentimental. His relationship with Zhao Fusheng was clear. If not for Wang Zhongjun and Wang Zhonglei coming in person, and the favors he owed Huayi Brothers, Jiang would never have agreed.

He didn't see that as he left, Zhao Fusheng was smiling like a fox that had just stolen a chicken.