text | Blue Orange North Diversion
1, the ultimate kill
One day in mid-March 2012, Zhang Yimou with a calm expression on his own literary planning Zhou Xiaofeng : I can't hide it anymore, the news will come out tomorrow, tell the truth to others.
The next day, the photos of Zhang Yimou and three more children and Chen Ting and were crazily forwarded by major media, and the whistleblower was called He Jun.
Is He Jun and Zhang Yimou a big grudge? No, when He Jun applied for Beijing Film Academy , Zhang Yimou also helped, but later when casting "Jinling Thirteen Panties", He Jun was removed from the crew due to leaks.
At that time, this was the biggest grudge between He Jun and Zhang Yimou. But Zhang Yimou, who had already known that he was going to be exposed, thought of the reason with his heel.
A He Jun would not have been able to make Zhang Yimou disgrace. The
problem lies with partner Zhang Weiping . He Jun is Zhang Weiping's niece, and the photos exposed by He Jun have not given to anyone except Zhang Weiping.
But as soon as the news came out, Zhang Yimou still underestimated the public opinion . This blow is devastating.
Secret marriage, unmarried children, and extra birth, a series of black materials emerged one after another, because Zhang Yimou did not stand up to respond immediately, so some people said that he gave birth to a bunch of gourd babies, which meant that there were as many as 7 children.
Condemnation and condemnation, just like a flood followed. Zhang Yimou became infamous for a while, and the reputation of the "national teacher" accumulated through the Olympics collapsed in an instant.
A few months later, Zhang Yimou formally responded, first apologizing, and said that he would cooperate with the review and accept the punishment.
In the end, this incident ended with Zhang Yimou being fined more than 7 million yuan.
seems to be over, but the battlefield where he and Zhang Weiping's open showdown has actually just begun!
2. Hate
Who is Zhang Weiping?
Zhang Yimou and Zhang Weiping met at a party in 1989. At that time, Zhang Weiping was just a pharmaceutical company and had nothing to do with the entertainment industry.
It is such a coincidence that Zhang Yimou took Gong Li to a party that day, and Zhang Weiping's wife happened to be Gong Li's fan. Faced with Zhang Weiping's wife's deliberate pleasing and attentiveness, the two couples gradually met.
Since then, Zhang Weiping and his wife have become frequent visitors to Zhang Yimou's family. In fact, this kind of interaction has a purpose when I recall it later.
According to Zhou Xiaofeng, Zhang Yimou and Gong Li broke up, and Zhang Weiping and his wife made a lot of efforts. The purpose is to tie Zhang Yimou up. Because Gong Li is very smart, she saw through the impure purpose of the two. Zhang Weiping was worried that Gong Li would destroy their relationship with Zhang Yimou, so he often went to Zhang Yimou.
There is a widely circulated story, that is, Gong Li and Zhang Yimou want wedding letter . Zhang Yimou's answer is "Isn't it just a piece of paper?" In fact, at that time, Zhang Yimou's heart had already shaken Gong Li.
Not long after, Gong Li was discouraged and turned around and left.
Many years later, Gong Li learned the truth about the breakup. It was the couple who were striking behind the scenes. So in anger, he directly wrote "Never see Zhang Weiping and his wife" into the contract.
So what about Zhang Yimou's side? If this past is considered the initial grudge, then the deep bonding that will last for 20 years will further pull more grudges.
In 1996, after Zhang Yimou and Gong Li broke up, they were preparing to film " Have Something to Say Well ". But just as we approached, the investor suddenly withdrew its investment.
Zhang Weiping was by Zhang Yimou's side, waiting for this opportunity.
At that time, Zhang Weiping, as a businessman, had a lot of funds in his pocket, so he waved his hand: It's not a big deal, I'll invest in you, which moved Zhang Yimou very much.
In this way, a good opportunity has been reached, and Zhang Weiping naturally established a new picture film and television company.After
, they successively filmed " No one can be missing ", " My Father and Mother ", etc. Zhang Yimou won many awards with these films, and he has gradually established a reputation in the industry.
But at that time, feelings were still the first priority, and Zhang Yimou only wanted to shoot the movies he wanted to shoot. But reality is cruel. The movies are well received, but they don’t make money.
Zhang Weiping’s investment is not to support Zhang Yimou’s dream. So around 2000, Zhang Weiping decided that it was time to make a choice.
So he told Zhang Yimou: "I didn't say anything if I didn't make money in the first part, and I didn't say anything else in the second part. But now, movies cannot just pursue art, and it is not OK to leave the market and the masses."
What Zhang Weiping said is correct, but he is just an investor and does not understand movies.
So, after Zhang Yimou chose to make concessions, they went directly from art to another extreme - business, and did not look for a balance point that was both in line with the art taste and the masses. Because this is too difficult, for Zhang Weiping, it is more important to make money quickly.
In 2002, the first commercial film they collaborated on, " Hero ", was released. This film is indeed very powerful, almost all the well-known actors at that time were recruited and won 250 million yuan in one fell swoop.
The first time I saw so much money, Zhang Yimou was a little arrogant. The two of them struck while the iron was hot and created the second movie " Ambush ". Although this film lost to the box office of the hero, it made a lot of money compared to before.
Zhang Weiping was very happy. He didn't care about the polarized evaluations of the outside world. Although many people scolded Zhang Yimou for having enough talent and filming too badly. But Zhang Weiping still directly asked the reporter at the press conference: "Can it work without hype?" The success of these two experiments made Zhang Weiping realize that pure artistic creation cannot be done at all. He understood market operations, and Zhang Yimou's fame is the foundation for making money.
However, with Zhang Weiping's declaration of "victory", Zhang Yimou's voice became less and less. In the second half, only "golden partners" are left.
2006's " All the City, the Golden Ball, ", the starring actors only found Zhou Runfa and Gong Li. But Zhang Weiping thinks this is not good. The actors are too old to keep up with the times and insist on letting Jay Chou come to .
Zhang Yimou had no choice but to temporarily modify the script based on Jay Chou's characteristics.
In 2009, they filmed " Three Shots of Surprise ", and this drama completely collapsed Zhang Yimou's reputation and became the most bad movie. In fact, in Zhang Yimou's creation, this is a serious suspense film, but that year, , Xiao Shenyang, , became popular. Zhang Weiping believed that Xiao Shenyang represented traffic and insisted on letting him join the group. In order to prevent Xiao Shenyang from being abrupt, he finally brought the Zhao family to the team.
A person who acted in a sketch and starred in a suspense drama was completely different, but the result was even more conceivable. "Three Guns Surprise" was made into a four-dimensional and rotten like a rock, and Zhang Yimou also suddenly fell into a "bad film director".
Later, Zhang Yimou said depressedly in an interview: " feels like he has fallen into the ditch. It is a product of business constrained. "
Zhang Weiping's business journey for more than ten years, Zhang Yimou's ten years of involuntary action completely ruined his reputation.
But the contradiction has not reached its peak yet, and the fuse is "Jinling Thirteen Panties".
In fact, before this, Zhang Yimou had long been unhappy. Not only did Zhang Weiping ruin his reputation, but the money he earned over the years was not given to him as much as possible, and all of them went into Zhang Weiping's own pocket.
The failure of "Three Guns" made Zhang Yimou learn from his mistakes. He wanted to use "Jinling Thirteen Slits" to make a comeback. However, at that time, Zhang Weiping had already done something behind Zhang Yimou's back.
First, he sold the copyright of the TV series at a high price without permission, which led to Zhang Yimou's breach of trust in the original author Yan Geling. When the movie promotion period was reached, he did not discuss it with Zhang Yimou, so he used vulgar titles to promote it.
Zhang Yimou was furious: "There are so many things to say about the movie, why do you have to seize such a vulgar point to hype? The grade is too low! Good children are sold to brothels."
Because of this vulgar publicity, the audience lowered the film from the beginning. Originally, Zhang Yimou wanted to make this film into a profound and historical film. Once the promotion was released, no matter how good the concept was destroyed.
This finally touched Zhang Yimou's bottom line, and the two officially broke up. Zhang Yimou and his team quickly moved out of Zhang Weiping's office building, intending to set up their own business.
Zhang Weiping felt that Zhang Yimou could not live without him, and even said that if he insisted on doing this, he would give him some color. He really ignored the 20-year acquaintance and cooperation.
It is also in this context that suddenly appears in the super-birth revelation. Zhang Weiping originally thought that Zhang Yimou would be desperate to seek "reconciliation" in the future, but he did not expect that this time, Zhang Yimou was determined to "bounce out of the quagmire" and would no longer have a word of communication with Zhang Weiping.
3. Counterattack
After He Jun revealed the news, Zhang Yimou was caught in the target of public criticism and was subjected to various accusations and slander from time to time, which made him tired of dealing with it.
Without Zhang Weiping, the movie still needs to be filmed. Zhang Yimou signed LeTV and planned to start from scratch.
But the account with Zhang Weiping has not been settled yet.
In 2015, the planner and assistant Zhou Xiaofeng couldn't bear this tone at first and wrote the ins and outs of the two's grudges into a book "Faten-Lonely Zhang Yimou", which revealed a lot of details about the two when they got along.
It was the first time since this book was published that the outside world knew that there have been so many complex events between Zhang Yimou and investors over the years. Behind those bad movies and those shady revelations, it turns out that there are really behind the scenes, and the water is so deep.
In 2016, Zhang Yimou, who could not bear it, finally mustered up the courage. He, who had always been reluctant to break up, sued Zhang Weiping in court with a complaint, and asked him for the 15 million share he promised to give him when he asked him for the "Three Guns Surprise".
In the end, the court ruled that Zhang Weiping compensated Zhang Yimou 2.46 million yuan, but Zhang Weiping still did not cash out this amount of money. Until Zhang Weiping became a "deadbeat" in 2019, he was restricted from high consumption, and Zhang Yimou still failed to get the money.
In 2020, Zhang Yimou sued Xinpai Company on the grounds of labor disputes.
In 2021, 71-year-old Zhang Yimou sued Zhang Weiping for the third time.
started to break up in 2012, and now it has been ten years. Ten years of lawsuits have consumed a lot of Zhang Yimou's energy, but this is his counterattack . He will not engage in shady tricks, use legal weapons, and seek justice for himself again and again.
In addition to protecting one's own interests, Zhang Yimou, who has returned to art, has indeed no bad movies. His works have been very good in recent years.
Last year's " above the cliff " won 1.1 billion yuan in box office, becoming the second highest-grossing film in his directorial career and also received a lot of praise.
20 years of going around in circles, Zhang Yimou and his talents were finally able to display them again.
What is even more amazing is the Winter Olympics at the beginning of this year. After 14 years, Zhang Yimou is expected to be the leader.
This is not over yet. He has several films in preparation for the future. I believe that when the film market gradually recovers, Zhang Yimou's works will amazed us again.
After reading Zhang Yimou's 20 years, people can't help but sigh: artists must eventually stay away from capital.
4, Capital
How complicated is behind the entertainment industry incident? After all, it is a matter of capital and interests.
The rush of capital has made art go,
Because of capital, Zhang Weiping's film and television investment is not going well. He only knows who has traffic and who has topics to hype. However, ignores the core essence of the movie, which should be high-quality content. When everything looks at money, no matter how good things are, they will be distorted.
The deep binding of capital has engulfed many people
capital's power, and Zhang Yimou is not spared.After all, without money, no matter how good the ideal is, it cannot be put into reality. Without Zhang Weiping's investment, Zhang Yimou's dream might have been wiped out as early as the 1990s. It was Zhang Weiping's investment that helped Zhang Yimou's reputation rise.
But it is precisely because one lacks money and the other lacks people that Zhang Yimou has to listen to Zhang Weiping's arrangements, so he has been unable to withdraw for more than ten years and compromise again and again, which eventually leads to the rift between the two people getting deeper and deeper.
In fact, there are far more than Zhang Yimou who is enslaved by capital.
The most rare thing to be sober in the world is
But what is gratifying is that although Zhang Yimou's birth incident is not glorious, judging from the grudges with Zhang Weiping, his breakup with it just shows that in the capital era, Zhang Yimou rarely chose to give up capital and return to his ideals. After the breakup of
, Zhang Yimou made the film he wanted and held the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics. His return time and time again made people sigh: the national teacher Lao Mouzi is back.
This seems to be back to more than 20 years ago, when he was full of talent, which was the peak period of Zhang Yimou.
Source: Zhou Xiaofeng "Fateful Zhang Yimou"
China search "Break? Zhang Yimou sues Zhang Weiping again》
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