At noon on June 9, the Taipei Film Festival issued a statement that it originally invited director Wang Xiaoshuai to serve as the chairman of the jury of the "International New Director Competition". "However, after considering the opinions of all parties and reflecting on it, the Taipei Film Festival decided to cancel the invitation to the jury of director Wang Xiaoshuai." Find a new jury chairman to maintain the normal operation of the film festival. "
The Taipei Film Festival is a large-scale film festival hosted by the Taipei City Government and was originally planned by the Taiwan Film Culture Association led by director Hou Hsiao-hsien. Since its inception in 1998, it has been held every year except for its suspension in 2001.
The "International New Directors Competition" section, which originally invited Director Wang Xiaoshuai to serve as the chairman of the jury, is the only competition in Taiwan for new directors of international feature films. It was added in 2005 and was originally named "International Young Directors Competition". 10 to 12 films are selected, and an international jury selects the best film and the Special Jury Award.
Now on the official website of the Taipei Film Festival, there are four final judges for this competition unit, namely Chen Jieyao, Taiwan’s first indigenous female director of feature films, international film selector Lin Qingxin, and Japanese producer Yuji Sakai. As well as a certain Taiwanese actor and new director named Ke who was previously banned from the mainland due to drug abuse incidents.
In addition to being disqualified as "Chairman", Wang Xiaoshuai's new film " Fertile Ground " was originally planned to be screened at the Taipei Film Festival and hold a "Master Lecture", but now it has been cancelled.
The "absorbing opinions from all sides" mentioned in the official statement of the Taipei Film Festival should be a blog post from the Taiwanese film star "Without a Trace" - it is mentioned again that Wang Xiaoshuai was accused of "forcing to death" the Golden Horse Award for Best Film " The issue of Hu Bo, the director of "The Elephant Sitting on the Floor" (it caused quite a stir six or seven years ago).
"Without a Trace" directly criticized in the article "finding a person who is considered to be the person who is suspected of driving a new director into a dead end to serve as the chairman of an award that honors a new director", thus strongly questioning "What are the criteria for finding a chairman for the Taipei Film Festival?" ". The night after the
Film Festival issued its statement, director Wang Xiaoshuai responded on his personal Weibo. In the article, he expressed "surprise but respect" for the Taipei Film Festival's actions, and denied that the organizing committee canceled the event because of the Hu Bo incident. His invitation also clarified for the first time the "grievances" between him and Hu Bo, claiming that "a series of rumors and attacks against me triggered by Hu Bo's death are all untrue."
Neither Wang Xiaoshuai’s response nor the Taipei Film Festival’s statement mentioned the specific reason for canceling the invitation. But in fact, everyone tacitly understood that there was no other reason for "returning".
And Wang Xiaoshuai’s statement about Hu Bo’s death that “they are all untrue” is far from convincing the public.
｜Wang Xiaoshuai forced the new director to death?
The feud between Hu Bo, whose pen name is Hu Qian, and Wang Xiaoshuai, the leader of the sixth generation of directors, began when he was shortlisted for the 2016 First Film Festival Venture Capital Conference. What was supposed to be a relationship between Chollima and Bole eventually turned into a life-and-death feud.
At the first film festival venture capital meeting that year, Hu Bo's script, originally titled "The Golden Fleece", did not win the award, but was picked up by Dongchun Pictures founded by Wang Xiaoshuai and his wife. During the filing, it was renamed "Love When the Cherry Blossoms Are Blooming" ", which was changed to "An Elephant Sitting on the Ground" after filming was completed. It is said that there was a commercial company that also took a fancy to Hu Bo's script at the earliest, but Mrs. Wang Xiaoshuai, the producer of Dongchun Pictures Liu Xuan told Hu Bo that if that company was allowed to do it, his subsequent creations would Freedom will certainly be interfered with.
Based on his trust in director Wang Xiaoshuai, Hu Bo finally chose to sign a contract with Dongchun Pictures, but what happened next was obviously not in line with the "promise" at the time. The first cut version of " Elephant " was It lasted four hours, and producer Wang Xiaoshuai thought it was necessary to cut half of it, but Hu Bo couldn't cut it, so he only cut it for ten minutes at most.
The conflict between the two got out of hand and even went to court. Hu Bo might even lose his right to authorize.In screenshots of the WeChat chat revealed by Hu Bo's friends afterwards, you can see Wang Xiaoshuai scolding Hu Bo without any scruples - "Do you think others are stupid and can't see the superficial things you want to express? You scold the world in the air. How much is this ridiculous expression?" and suggested that Hu Bo see a psychiatrist "it should be pathological."
On October 12, 2017, Hu Bo hanged himself at the age of 29.
What happened next, and what he experienced during his lifetime, could be described as a world of ice and fire. Dongchun Pictures donated all the rights to "The Elephant Sitting on the Floor" to Hu Bo's parents, and the film was subsequently screened in international films such as the Golden Horse and Berlin. There were wins at the festival, so the person who went on stage to receive the Best Picture award became Hu Bo's mother.
The Taiwanese film blogger mentioned earlier had more questions about Wang Xiaoshuai than about his "artistic" character. For example, after the suicide of Hu Bo, Director Wang never responded publicly; although he criticized Hu Bo's four-hour version for being too lengthy, the international version of Wang Xiaoshuai's own " Forever and Everlasting " was 185 minutes long, which is It is three hours long, and the cut version released domestically is also 175 minutes long, with only ten minutes cut out.
In terms of artistic judgment, director Wang Xiaoshuai seems to have too much double standards for others and himself.
｜"老 beast"
, who was also supervised as the founder of Dongchun Pictures, Wang Xiaoshuai is more of a screenwriter and director. He has not produced many films, and his achievements are not outstanding enough. For example, he has supervised the production of 2016's "Strike", 2017's "Batie Girl", and 2021's "Up the Mountain". Apart from being shortlisted for some film festivals, these films have not seen much movement. well known.
Only one of them is as famous as "The Elephant Sitting on the Floor", and that is "Old Beast" directed by Zhou Ziyang. It was originally called "Old Bastard" and was renamed "Sun, Moon and Stars" when it was launched. Like Hu Bo, Zhou Ziyang's film was also shortlisted for the First Venture Capital Fair in 2016. Wang Xiaoshuai was a judge at the time, and eventually won the Alibaba Pictures A Plan Script Fund Award. Later, it was also produced by Wang Xiaoshuai and won the Golden Horse Award. and other recognitions from international film awards.
Some media reported that Zhou Ziyang came up to toast the judges at the cocktail party on the night of the Venture Capital Awards. Director Wang Xiaoshuai, who was probably also tipsy at the time, agreed to be the producer of "Old Beast", and Dongchun Pictures was responsible for pulling the strings. invest. However, some information also shows that Zhou Ziyang joined Dongchun Culture in his early years and only started writing the script for "Old Beast" after resigning in 2013.
What’s more coincidental is that the two movies were launched at about the same time, one in Ordos, Inner Mongolia, and the other in Hebei. At that time, Wang Xiaoshuai, the producer of the two films, also said in an interview: "I have always thought about the opportunity to do a job like a producer and get to know some young directors. The opportunities have been good in recent years. China's big film environment is very good, and there are It is an inevitable trend for many young directors to become successful. I think at this time, we can look for some directors who have ideals and ambitions, who have views on movies, and some who are alternative and may be easily ignored by the big environment. "After
, Zhou Ziyang also directed "Wuhai" in 2019, starring Huang Xuan and Yang Zishan. Although it has more selling points, its reputation is not as good as its predecessor. "Wu Hai" is not produced by Dongchun Pictures, Wang Xiaoshuai is no longer a producer, and Zhou Ziyang has probably never mentioned Hu Bo in public.
Although these two new directors have shown disdain for commercial movies, outside of the movie, the two people still have completely different feelings. Compared with Zhou Ziyang's calm and eloquent talk, Hu Bo's He is closer to an angry artistic young man, coupled with long-term living difficulties, limited income, girlfriend leaving and other reasons, it is conceivable that the mental pressure is great.
Zhou Ziyang got married very young and spent most of his remaining money on traveling to Tibet. The most "earth-shattering" thing he did was accidentally bringing his mobile phone into the college entrance examination examination room, so he got... Zero points became a local joke.But this is not so much that he is shocking, but rather that he is the other side of the literary youth, that is, he is more carefree and does not take many things seriously.
Therefore, whether Wang Xiaoshuai is suitable to be a producer and mentor for young directors can only be said to be closely related to the new director's own temperament and talent in addition to his own character and quality.
"Old Beast" is a film produced by Wang Xiaoshuai at the same time as "Elephant".
｜The "love and death" relationship between the producer and director
The relationship between the producer, or producer, and the director has always been a "love and death" relationship. In the United States, there is a producer-centered system, and most directors do not have editing rights. However, in China, for a long time, the director has been the core, and the producer is more of a supporting role... which is of course more realistic. The situation is that no matter which position you hold on the crew, the more famous and senior you are, the more likely you are to have real say. In Hong Kong, which has an earlier degree of marketization, the situation has always been similar.
Usually, there are two types of supervisors. One kind respects the director's autonomy, while the other likes to interfere in creation. The most representative of the latter is undoubtedly Tsui Hark. Whether he is directing or producing, he particularly hopes to leave his own distinctive mark on the film.
For example, Tsui Hark and John Woo cherished each other in their early years and recommended the latter to direct " A Better Tomorrow" and he became the producer. After the success, the two had many conflicts in the sequel. When John Woo was interviewed by "Chi Wan Dinner", He confessed that when filming "A Better Tomorrow 2", producer Tsui Hark cut out a lot of scenes involving Chow Yun-fat and Leslie Cheung: "I wanted to film the growth and struggle process of Ponyboy, Brother Ho and Kitty. But Tsui Hark wanted to use his story as a The original idea was to film how a group of friends help the frustrated Shi Tian. "
The two parted ways soon after, and two years later Tsui Hark produced and directed "A Better Tomorrow: Song of the Sunset" by himself. 》.
However, it was John Woo's turn to be the producer. When filming " Sword Rain " directed by Su Zhaobin, he also interfered a lot with the director, constantly asking for new roles, and even "tacitly agreed" to only mention his name as producer during the early promotion of the film. No., the original poster didn’t even have director Su Zhaobin’s name on it.
Of course, unlike sports, there are no clear standards in art.
For example, the length of "The Elephant Sitting on the Floor", no matter how long the movie is, there are masterpieces, and conversely, no matter how short it is, so how long a movie should be, many times can only be a matter of public opinion, mother-in-law is right.
However, Wang Xiaoshuai and Hu Bo are not only different in their identities as producers and directors, but also in their relationship between investors and investees - there are even more situations where investors interfere with the freedom of creators.
Ang Lee hugged Hu Bo's mother when "The Elephant Sitting on the Floor" won the Golden Horse Award in 2018.
｜Trial without prison term
If Hu Bo had not committed suicide, the "love and death" behind the movie "The Elephant Sitting on the Floor" might just be the condiment for his and Wang Xiaoshuai's "meeting and laughter" ten years later. You know, there are too many bad things in the film and television industry. This kind of different ideas about content (if Wang Xiaoshuai really just has different ideas) is absolutely normal.
But, there is no if.
6 years ago, the inside story of Hu Bo's death was widely publicized. At the same time, it also made Wang Xiaoshuai "socially dead", or in other words, always in the role of being judged - although this trial did not have a prison term, it would not end, leaving him There is no escape.
When Hu Bo committed suicide and became a symbol of the vulnerable groups in the film and television industry, Wang Xiaoshuai represented the "capitalists" with the right to speak, rather than a member of the sixth generation of directors. Therefore, his various unbearable remarks and his pursuit of box office are extremely ferocious.
After all this derailed from the art world, it even spread to the non-film and television circles - transformed into the grievances between workers and bosses. Wang Xiaoshuai is like an evil boss, chasing an ant in his eyes.
To a certain extent, Wang Xiaoshuai is no different from Baidu Vice President Xu Jing, who became famous in the Internet circle in early May. They both start from the "capitalist standard" - just as many people agree with Xu Jing's remarks, there are also some people in the circle who People think there is nothing wrong with Wang Xiaoshuai ordering Hu Bo to cut the film short to suit the market. But they ignored one of the most critical issues - the phenomenon that has existed for a long time does not mean "correct".
Therefore, although Wang Xiaoshuai only used the usual words and deeds to face Hu Bo, after the other person's death, he still became a stain - investors themselves should not interfere with the creative freedom of the creator (although the reality is).
In fact, the feud between Wang Xiaoshuai and Hu Bo also reflects the abnormal relationship between top and bottom in the entertainment industry. For example, many people at the bottom of the crew often suffer extremely unfair treatment, but they dare not speak out.
In any case, you can’t get away with just a blithe “all are untrue”. At the very least, you should reflect on things such as “interfering in creation” or “having said bad words to a new director.” Even if Hu Bo's tragedy was caused by his own psychological fragility and was not directly related to Wang Xiaoshuai, it still requires a deep review rather than an excuse.
Otherwise, Wang Xiaoshuai will not be able to shake off the reputation of driving the new director to death. In the future, we will still be in a predicament similar to being "returned" by the Taipei Film Festival. Written by
| Planning by Li Yi
| Entertainment Chunqiu Editorial Department
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