[Author: Chigua Ye Gongzi] first 206
look forward to every reader's attention and point of praise, thanksgiving.
The leaves are not yellow all day, the heart is not cold all day, and the relationship is not stiff all day.
Many contradictory outbreaks are slowly formed in the accumulation of time.
Zhang Yimou and Zhang Weiping were called "golden partners" by the film circle in their early years. The two have worked together for 16 years to create many blockbusters.
is not an exaggeration to say that behind Zhang Yimou's blockbuster, Zhang Weiping's support is absolutely indispensable. Behind Zhang Weiping's accumulation of wealth, Zhang Yimou is even more indispensable. Why did
two close comrades who had cooperated perfectly in the end, they turned into enemies?
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Zhang Weiping was a pharmacist in his early years and has been dealing with medicinal materials for many years.
Later, he left the system and opened his own company, specializing in the pharmaceutical business, and gradually accumulated some wealth.
Later, with his keen market insight, he joined the real estate industry and became a rich man.
In 1989, Zhang Weiping took his wife Zhang Jing to a gathering of colleagues in the film industry.
This is Zhang Weiping’s first contact with people in the film industry. During the dinner, he saw many big stars that he could only see on TV. The appearance of
, especially Gong Li, made Zhang Weiping’s wife Zhang Jing excited, because Zhang Jing is Gong Li’s iron fan.
In order to get close to the idols, Zhang Weiping and Zhang Jing have been observing Gong Li and Zhang Yimou.
saw "Gong Li has been feeding Zhang Yimou constantly, but Zhang Yimou didn't even look at her", Zhang Weiping instantly admired Zhang Yimou, and thought to himself: "Can such a big star be subdued. Zhang Yimou is too good."
Then, Zhang Jing ran to Gong Li to express his love for her, Zhang Weiping also sat down beside Zhang Yimou, and the two chatted with each other.
After the banquet, Zhang Weiping took the initiative to invite Ying, and drove Zhang Yimou home with his Xiali.
On the way home, the two chatted a lot about movie-related things and hit it off, then the two left their contact information.
In fact, at the beginning of the encounter, both of them had a mentality of "using each other".
Zhang Weiping has always wanted to invest in movies, but he has nowhere to go;
Zhang Yimou also needs to know many rich people in order to reserve investors for future movies.
is true, this meeting paved the way for the future cooperation between the two and also left an important fortune for China's film industry.
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In 1996, Zhang Yimou wanted to film "If You Have Something to Say". The movie featured migrant workers collecting waste and was not welcomed by investors.
later talked about an investor easily, but temporarily withdrew capital before the filming started. This was the one thing that all directors feared the most. Lao Mouzi's hair turned white.
A few days later, Zhang Yimou and Zhang Weiping met at a party. Zhang Weiping watched Zhang Yimou frown, so he took the initiative to express his concern. After asking
, I found out that Zhang Yimou’s film investor had divested and this film might be pornographic.
At this time, Zhang Weiping stood up without hesitation and invested 26 million in a heroic attitude and a friend's attitude. With the support of Jiang Wen, Qu Ying, Li Baotian and others, this humorous and Beijing-style movie,
, sold 46 million at the box office.
Unfortunately, Zhang Weiping didn't know much about the distribution of the film at that time. He only got 8 million in return from the transfer of distribution rights, and lost 18 million in full. Dong Ping, another film and television producer who obtained the distribution rights for
, made a total of 38 million in a single payment.
This is the first cooperation between Zhang Yimou and Zhang Weiping. Although he lost more than 18 million yuan, Zhang Weiping did not complain, and still expressed his support for Zhang Yimou with absolute trust.
Zhang Weiping is so generous, Zhang Yi reconciles and feels sorry for him, and has a lot of affection for Zhang Weiping inexplicably.
Since then, the relationship between the two has deepened a lot and laid the foundation of "trust" for the cooperation for the next 16 years. The failure of
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on the distribution rights of the first film made Zhang Weiping sigh, and immediately registered hisFilm company.
In 1997, Zhang Weiping registered a film production company called "Beijing New Picture Films" with the idea of "playing a long line to catch big fish", and was ready for long-term cooperation with Zhang Yimou. When the new company
was established, Zhang Weiping and Zhang Yimou said: "As long as you make the movie, I will invest all of it!"
So, without signing any contract, Zhang Yimou served as the company's artistic director.
In fact, neither of the two people at this time realized that there was a world of difference in their ideas.
Zhang Weiping invests in movies, he definitely wants to make money, not for fun.
and Zhang Yimou's filming is more for art than for the purpose of making money.
Zhang Weiping's investment in Zhang Yimou's film is similar to "gambling". If you win, you want to win, and if you lose, you want to win back.
In 1998, Zhang Yimou took Chinese rural education as the subject and filmed "Nothing Less".
This movie won the Best Director Award of the Huabiao Award, the Golden Rooster Award, the Best Feature Film Award of the Popular Hundred Flowers Award and the University Student Film Festival Award, and many international awards. The reputation is very good.
But, does good reputation mean making money?
does not. The filming of
was seriously overrun, wasted a lot of resources, and increased the cost by nearly 10 million. In the end, investment and income were barely equal, and Zhang Weiping did not make any money.
However, Zhang Yimou once again pushed himself to a high position with this film.
Later, "My Father and Mother" starring Zhang Ziyi, "Happy Time" starring Zhao Benshan and Dong Jie were basically the same as "No One Less", only achieving a balance of income and expenditure.
Zhang Yimou clearly stated in an interview: "For me, making movies is not for making money, I just want to express my views on life. As for investors, as long as they can guarantee that they will not lose money."
This idea of Zhang Yimou is completely contrary to investors.
From another level, Zhang Yimou is selfish. He wants to use art films to bless himself, but he did not consider the feelings of investors.
And the investor is a businessman after all, thinking about how to make money, it doesn't matter if one film is not profitable, and the other is not profitable, but after shooting four or five films, it still doesn't make money. Who else is willing to invest in him?
So, in 2002, Zhang Yimou couldn't hold on to it himself, and had to "bow his head" to the market, and then "Hero" was created by Zhang Weiping.
"Hero" is the first domestic film with the concept of a blockbuster, and it has invited many big names such as Tony Leung, Maggie Cheung, Jet Li, and Ziyi Zhang.
Zhang Weiping invested 20 million in the film's pre-publication. This kind of bombardment of
is undoubtedly a success, "Hero" set a good record of 250 million yuan at the box office. The success of
"Hero" also indicates that Zhang Yimou's artistic level is declining.
Later, there was "Ambush on Ten Sides" starring Zhang Ziyi and Takeshi Kaneshiro. The model is undoubtedly the same as "Hero", which did not enhance Zhang Yimou's artistic value, but made him closer and closer on the road to commercialization.
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Since then, "Ambush on Ten Sides", "Full of Golden Armor in the City", "Three Shots Surprise", etc., although the box office income is very high, but the outside world has been criticized.
Behind the scolding of these movies, the disagreement between Zhang Yimou and Zhang Weiping is getting bigger and bigger.
In 2006, Zhang Yimou invited Gong Li and Zhou Yunfa to film "Full of Golden Armour", but Zhang Weiping believed that these two old actors were outdated and unattractive to young people.
later, under his mandatory intervention, joined the plot of Jay Chou and "incest".
In 2009, Zhang Yimou wanted to present a serious and suspenseful atmosphere when shooting "Three Shots Surprise". Unexpectedly, Zhang Weiping had to start Xiao Shenyang, which directly led to this film becoming a "nondescript" movie. After the
movie was released, there was a lot of scolding, and Zhang Yimou also put on the coat of "bad film director".
However, Zhang Yimou said helplessly: "This is a product under commercial pressure, and I am also helpless. It really lacks strong cultural value." After the filming of "A Thousand Miles Riding Alone", Takakura Ken once wrote to Zhang Yimou himself. :
"As an international director, you have to insist on your inner choice of art, and don't be constrained and controlled by the producer."
Zhang Weiping immediately asked Zhang Yimou not to interact with Takakura again after learning about this.
In 2011, when filming "Jinling Thirteen Hairpins", Zhang Weiping insisted on adding a kiss scene to the movie, and carrying Zhang Yimou on his back, sold the TV series copyright of "Jinling Thirteen Hairpins" at a sky-high price. After
, Zhang Yimou made up his mind to "leave" Zhang Weiping.
Zhang Yimou said: "I can tolerate everything else, but the movie is my bottom line! You can't add as many plots as you want. You can play whoever you want to play—even the next film hasn’t even decided. As for the content, if you have decided on the heroine first, then I will have no autonomy and become a pure cash cow."
Of course, the problem between the two is not just one-sided.
Zhang Yimou left Zhang Weiping exactly when he directed the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics and his net worth soared.
According to the news from the staff around Zhang Yimou, Zhang Yimou gave Zhang Weiping a total of about 11 million for 5 films. Zhang Yimou felt that he had taken too little and was not happy.
In 2012, the two officially broke.
just didn’t expect the way to break is very strange. Zhang Yimou and Zhang Weiping disappeared after playing. Zhang Weiping shouted to the outside: "If you have any dissatisfaction, tell me, but don’t play missing. If you don’t answer the phone or the text message, I can’t find anyone. At this time, the public knew that the "golden partner" had broken up.
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Actually, between Zhang Yimou and Zhang Weiping, in addition to the contradiction in the movie, there are also many personal conflicts.
According to legend, it was Zhang Weiping who introduced the wealthy businessman Huang Hexiang to Gong Li, which led to Gong Li's departure.
Zhang Weiping extremely dislikes that Zhang Yimou's friends or other people have more status than him, and he is also very unhappy when a close investor approaches Zhang Yimou.
"Fate: Lonely Zhang Yimou" written by Zhou Xiaofeng said: "Zhang Weiping put Zhang Yimou under mental house arrest, allowing his friends and close relationships to leave one by one to achieve his spiritual goals. The mental house arrest is for Zhang Yimou's body. Get more material feedback." When several of Zhang Yimou's children were born, Zhang Weiping took the initiative to ran and gave birth certificates to the children. Unexpectedly, Zhang Yimou finally discovered that the three birth certificates were all false. After
and the two "turned against each other", Zhang Weiping broke the news about Zhang Yimou's super living, which caused him to be fined 7.48 million and became the object of ridicule by the people across the country.
Zhang Weiping has always touted the relationship between him and Zhang Yimou as "brotherhood."
and Zhang Yimou said: "He is too obsessed with the stories he made up, and even moved himself. He always appears as my benefactor, but the truth is not." After the
two broke, Zhang Yimou sued Zhang Weiping to pursue himself. The 15 million box office share of "Three Shots and Surprise", the two directly "turned into enemies". The contradiction between the two sheets of
once again proves to the world that "brothers have to settle accounts clearly," otherwise it would be the opposite.
can't make a slap, and the two people have worked together for 16 years, and there must be more than this conflict.
is like two men and women who are passionate about breaking up suddenly. Every time you feel chilled, every time you are disappointed, you can't get it together. The small details that
accumulate over the years are the most fundamental cause of these contradictions.
actually put it plainly, at the beginning of their friendship, the relationship was doomed to fall apart.
Zhang Weiping wants to make money from movies, while Zhang Yimou wants to get an investor to shoot his own art movies.
is only in the process of practice, the two did not form a good state of co-existence, which led to the contradiction.
Zhang Yimou thought that the art films he shot must be popular and sold, but the fact is that the film has a good reputation, but he did not sell a lot of money.
When he compromised like the market, his movies did make money by selling at the box office, but they lost their higher artistic value. After a long time, Lao Mouzi was upset and thought of leaving.
Zhang Weiping thought "As long as it is a film made by Zhang Yimou, it will definitely make money", but the fact is that Zhang Yimou's art videoThe film did not bring him the expected benefits, and then he commercialized Zhang Yimou's film, but unexpectedly, he was opposed by Zhang Yimou.
Actually, it’s not good to say that it is because interests cannot coexist. Zhang Weiping needs money and Zhang Yimou needs money. Of course, it must be linked to money. After all, money is a manifestation of value.
The conflict between Zhang Weiping and Zhang Yimou can also be understood as a huge conflict between art and commerce, which is destined to be difficult to integrate.
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original author: Ye Gongzi
