High Stakes Movie Making

By Long Zusheng

High Stakes Movie Making

By Long Zusheng

Monster Huntwas one of the most popular Chinese movies of 2015,breaking numerous box office records and winning a sterling reputation.Already a legendary figure in Chinese filmmaking,Jiang Zhiqiang is always ready to throw caution to the wind for the sake of a great film.Three times in his life he has staked his worth on a vision and three times he’s made Chinese film history.

Crou ch in g Tig er,Hid d en Dra g onIn 1998,Taiwanese director Ang Lee was planning to shootCrouching Tiger,Hidden Dragon.At the time,Chinese film was in the doldrums and the whole industry was gloomy.Especially with regard to period costume films,nobody outside of China was interested.The outlook wasn’t optimistic at all.But Ang Lee,who loved this particular wuxia novel,was determined to go ahead and shoot the film.

The estimated cost for the picture was 15 million US dollars,which was an astronomical sum for him. After a great deal of effort,he finally won the support of Xu Ligong,a famous film producer,who took the lead to contact Chen Taiming,a Taiwanese businessman and the Chief Executive Officer of Yageo Corporation(A Taiwan-based electronic component manufacturing company)for backing.

Finally,the cast was assembled in Xinjiang for shooting.Then,Yageo Corporation went broke during the Asian Financial Crisis and,to make matters worse,Xu Ligong suddenly had a stroke.The project was thrown into turmoil.

Badly battered,Ang Lee turned to his friend Jiang Zhiqiang for help.

Jiang decided to help out Ang Lee.He persuaded Hollywood to advance 7.5 million US dollars, which made the shooting of Crouching Tiger,Hidden Dragon possible.

Many people said to Jiang,“You’ll be doomed.Just don’t do it.”He answered,“There is no turning an arrow around once it’s been shot.I’m determined to take the risk.”

For the first time in his life he played all his cards,using his own money to make up the shortfall,and taking on the role of producer for the film.At the time,he wasn’t well-known,and raising money was hard.He said afterwards,“I thought about jumping off a building.It was so hair-raising.”

But,his hard work paid off.Ang Lee didn’t let him down.The movie became a surprise international success and went on to win four Oscars.

Hero

In 2001,Zhang Yimou went to Jiang with a screenplay called Hero and said he was looking to start a new era in Chinese film history.Everyone else thought it was a joke, but Jiang didn’t.Finding out that the existing budget was very low, Jiang decided to put his weight behind it.

Seeing that Zhang Yimou was fixated on saving money,Jiang told him not to worry and asked him to assemble an all-star cast,promising that they would break into the overseas market with Hero.

With Jiang’s encouragement, Zhang Yimou confidently went ahead.But,with less than one third of the movie completed,the funds ran out.

Jiang Zhiqiang wouldn’t give up, though.Once again,he assured Zhang Yimou,saying,“Don’t worry about the money.Just keep ongoing.”He mortgaged his company to continue the film.

When the cost ballooned to 200 million Chinese yuan,Jiang felt a bit uneasy.

Zhang Yimou went to see him and said,“How about we just cut all the expensive scenes from the rest of the movie?”

“No way!”Jiang said,“We can’t start with a bang and end with a whimper.”

Determined to complete the picture as Zhang Yimou envisioned it, Jiang mortgaged his house and flew to America to seek his friends’financial support.

Zhang Yimou continued to shoot the film and the costs kept rising. Upon completion,the budget had ballooned to 250 million yuan.If the movie failed,Jiang Zhiqiang would be finished.

As it turned out,Hero was a blockbuster hit and it brought an end to a gloomy decade in Chinese filmmaking.It was regarded as a milestone in the Big Cinema Era of Chinese productions.

Mon ster H u n t

Everyone who read the screenplay forMonster Huntagreed it was a great story,but many directors thought it would be impossible to shoot because,with so many special effects,live-action shots,and animations,it would demand a huge post production budget.

Original and innovative,Monster Huntwas a big risk.Many friends tried to persuade Jiang to give up on it,but he was determined.

Eager to introduce Chinese audiences to a new type of cinematic experience,Jiang decided to take another risk.For the third time in his life,he staked everything on a risky, challenging film.

In order to produce more life-like monsters,Jiang went to the American visual effects company,Industrial Light and Magic.The cost was enormous—no Asian movie had ever had such a large special effects budget.Six years later,however, with the movie finally in the can and the budget at 280 million yuan (well over the original budget of 100 million yuan),the release was delayed due to the lead actor Ke Zhendong’s arrest on drugs charges.

Fearing all the money he had spent would be wasted,Jiang decided to reshoot the film.

Such a massive undertaking was going to cost him another 70 million yuan,and the risk was even higher. However,trading on his reputation, Jiang raised enough money and once again was successful.

Every time he faces an important choice,Jiang says to himself,“Have more guts.”It’s all or nothing—that’s his philosophy on film investment.

(FromGrand Garden of Science, November 2015.Translation:Liu Lili)