Chapter 844: Hani Village
Chapter 844: Hani Village
Translator: Lan_ Editor: Efydatia
One year later, "The Knot" was brought to light again by the audience of four different regions. This was great timing, as the film "Charlie And The Chocolate Factory" had just left theaters and another big film was on its way.
Thanks to a firm push from Qin Guan, Director Yin Li asked for one more month on the calendar and double screenings for the film. When "The Da Vinci Code" was released, everyone was impressed by Yin's forethought, when the credit really belonged to Qin Guan.
The final box office of "The Knot" was 53 million yuan. This was the first time a mainstream film made such a big profit. Now the China Film Group recognized the value of Qin Guan's information.
The storm of "The Da Vinci Code" swept the globe, attracting the attention of the entire world.
The film, which discussed religion, logic and humanity, became the most striking hit of the time. It also dared to challenge several religious concepts, which shocked both professional filmmakers and common people.
Qin Guan's outstanding performance was another selling point. His control of the suspenseful movie, as well as his subtle expressions, were remarkable.
In a week, the film's gross had reached 4.9 billion dollars, topping both the North American and international box office. A large sum of that capital found a purpose immediately. Qin Guan was now considered "a bankable star".
Scripts, collaboration proposals, and investment deals were pouring into his office. All his staff could do was file them away.
Meanwhile, Qin Guan had joined the crew of "The Sun Also Rises". He just wanted to avoid any trouble caused by the film. He and Cong Nianwei were terribly annoyed by the people following them around, but he had promised Jiang Wen that he would participate in the controversial film.
The film told the story of the crazy people of that unspeakable era.
After taking an airplane, a train and a jeep, Qin Guan finally reached the Hani village in the Yunnan Province. The small village, which had a population of no more than 1,000, was located in a beautiful valley. The sound of birds echoed in the thick forest under the blue sky.
In Jiang's opinion, this place showed the beauty of Chinese humanity.
There were four independent stories told in the film, but the predestined relationships between the characters were the connecting point.
The first story was about Qin Guan and Zhou Yun, which was a simple, yet important link.
Qin Guan reached the village in a truck that carried pebbles and red soil. He felt uncertain about the crew's ideas.
"You want to reconstruct the village? But I've heard that it's an anthropological reserve."
"Of course not!" an assistant explained to him. "To avoid any damage to the village, we transported all the props here from other places. Plus, we'll build all the sets out of wood, soil and stone transported from nearby towns. When we finish shooting, we'll return everything to its original place."
"This is a real film with a budget of more than one billion dollars. We are not like those people that lied about their budget and destroyed the natural environment of Shangri-La."
This reminded Qin Guan of a film he had turned down.
"Are you talking about 'The Promise'?"
The assistant cheered up immediately.
"Exactly! Do you know what the director's wife told Director Jiang?"
"No, tell me."
"Some of our scenes will be set in Shangri-La's valley, while they have chosen locations such as the Heaven Pool and the Flower Ocean. Nevertheless, she said that they might visit some other places and asked us to wait until they finished the entire film, which was totally unreasonable!"
"Did Director Jiang agree?"
"Of course not! He just laughed!'"
The elegant man was very proud. His pride was actually the driving force of his career.
Qin Guan, who worshipped Director Jiang, finally reached his destination. He and Zhou Yun started preparing in the dressing room for their first scene.
Zhou Yun would be playing Qin Guan's mother in the film, even though the girl was actually one year younger than him.
Qin Guan couldn't help but stare at Zhou Yun. The stylist was putting makeup on her tentatively. She was supposed to be a widowed mother who had raised her son alone during that era, yet she did not have a single wrinkle on her face. Those hard times hadn't left a mark on her.
This doesn't make any sense!
Qin Guan went out in his costume, which was a front-close jacket and a loose, short pair of pants, and walked over to Jiang Wen to talk about character image design.