Huajing City in April is really a grand scene of spring.

Because of the different regions, there is a scenery in March in the south of the Yangtze River.

Huajing in 1981 is far from the stormy sky as in 2020, and it is still the taste of clear water and blue sky.

Coupled with the atmosphere of the ancient capital here for thousands of years, walking in the majestic and solemn old palace, there will be a very wonderful feeling.

This feeling makes Li Hanxiang very comfortable.

Standing in front of the Taihe Palace, he looked at the tall plaque and said with a smile: "You say, what kind of result will we get from this shooting?"

Li Hanxiang didn't come here alone, there were seven or eight people around him.

There are several literary scholars from the mainland, as well as Xiangjiang's assistants, and two cultural officials.

From the end of November last year, after getting a cash check of 10 million US dollars from Yin Jun, Li Hanxiang did not return to the mainland first, but accepted the recuperation arrangement of Liao Zhuxing, a traditional Chinese medicine master next to Yin Jun, and recuperated his body for two or three months before returning to the mainland.

As soon as he returned to the mainland, another Chinese medicine doctor hired by Yin Jun came to him, responsible for the filming time in the past few years, paying attention to her body.

Li Hanxiang was very emotional about Yin Jun's concern, and he had never seen a boss who cared so much about his subordinates.

What's more, he and Yin Jun are not yet in a relationship between superiors and subordinates, and they can only be regarded as cooperation at best.

Thinking of what Yin Jun told him, asking him to take care of himself so as to make better and better movies, Li Hanxiang made up his mind and began to pay attention to maintenance and conditioning.

When Li Hanxiang was recuperating in Xiangjiang, he didn't do nothing.

He actively communicated with film companies such as Great Wall and Phoenix, as well as cultural units in the mainland and China Film Company.

He also and several of his screenwriter friends seriously discussed the plot of "The Legend of Cixi" that he wanted to film.

For this reason, he specially implored the leaders above to let these screenwriters go to museums and places where materials are stored in the palace to conduct further research and find materials, and strive to get closer to historical facts when making movies.

There was no way, what Yin Jun told him before really shocked him.

Thinking that there were so many deviations between what Yin Jun knew, and what a few of them knew, Li Hanxiang was a little unbearable, and he was unwilling not to figure out who was right and who was wrong.

In this era, these cultural workers in the mainland are actually very responsible, very conscientious and responsible.

After listening to Li Hanxiang's opinion, they all went into the historical museum without being urged by others, to carefully read this history of the late Qing Dynasty, and then discussed and studied with each other.

The originally written manuscript has undergone a lot of changes, and many paragraphs have even been deleted and restarted.

After more than two months of tossing and turning, it was only when Li Hanxiang came to the mainland that the drafts of the five parts were completed, and the first part of "The Burning of the Old Summer Palace" was revised.

Li Hanxiang took more than a dozen members of the film crew who followed him on weekdays, and at the beginning of April, he set foot on the mainland again.

Of course, he didn't come over to shoot "The Burning of the Old Summer Palace", but did the preliminary preparations first.

At this time in 1981, the mainland was very supportive of an international director like Li Hanxiang returning to the mainland to shoot historical dramas.

In fact, the degree of openness of Chinese films in this period is even higher than that of 40 years later, and there are not too many restrictions on the subject matter, and the restoration of history to the greatest extent shall prevail.

Two years ago, Li Hanxiang had found a good partner, which was Jichun Film Studio.

It's just that Li Hanxiang's production cost of up to 10 million yuan directly scared Changying Studio away, which delayed a lot of time, and finally found Yin Jun to get more surprises.

Now Li Hanxiang is completely on his own, only nominally cooperating with China Film.

Of course, this time the five-part series of "The Biography of Cixi" not only has all the drafts been approved by the cultural management unit, but also has to be supervised by them throughout the whole process, plus the use of mainland actors and production personnel as much as possible.

The assistants he brought are only responsible for the most important coordination, shooting, editing, etc., and more will be handed over to the people of China Film to deal with - well, China Film also has to receive Li Hanxiang's salary.

Li Hanxiang is not stupid.

Before he came to the mainland, he had already revealed the rumor that he brought 2 million US dollars to shoot "The Burning of the Old Summer Palace" this time, but the exchange rate in the mainland was too tricky, and he was ready to exchange it for Hong Kong dollars first, and then talk about changing it to RMB.

This can make the people of China Film itch unbearably, and quickly and secretly contacted Li Hanxiang, saying that you don't want to exchange Hong Kong dollars, just give it to us, although we can't give you preferential exchange rates, but all your expenses in the mainland, we will give you half price!

Li Hanxiang immediately agreed.

For example, those extras here were originally 2 yuan a day, so he only had to give it to China Film at the exchange rate of 1 yuan.

But remembering what Yin Jun told him, Li Hanxiang also formulated a rule, this money, he wants to watch Zhongying give to those actors and crew - don't want me to turn around, you will take out the shelf, and directly deduct half of it, which is equivalent to you losing nothing, and directly passing on the loss to these people.

The people in the film can't cry or laugh.

They really have a bit of a discount, but it's not half price, it's seven or eighty percent.

In fact, this is already higher than the salary of these group performers, actors and crew!

Since Li Hanxiang insisted, they could only comply, after all, one part is $2 million, and if there are five, it will be $10 million! Such a large amount of foreign exchange must definitely be won! There must be no mistake!

can be equivalent to double the production budget, Li Hanxiang is also very satisfied.

When talking to Yin Jun last year, Yin Jun asked him to recuperate for a year before making a movie, Li Hanxiang felt that this time was too long, and he couldn't do nothing.

If you use this time to do a good job in the preliminary work, and after seven or eight months of recuperation, the mental and physical state is adapted, and the crew is running-in, and then you start filming "The Burning of the Old Summer Palace", it is very good.

Today he came to the old palace, and he came to step on it.

The people who accompanied him included several of his old friends, Su Chengshou, Shen Ji, and Yang Chunbin.

In the face of Li Hanxiang's self-talking inquiry, Su Chengshou first replied: "I don't know how good it can be, but if we do it seriously, we can always leave something worthy of watching for future generations, and in this way, it is the contribution of our generation of filmmakers." ”

"Hehe, I think that this time so many elites come to work together, and they will definitely be able to shoot very good results. Shen Ji squinted his eyes and smiled, "Don't say anything else, do we have 6 million yuan to make a movie in the mainland now? How much money is the salary? Let's use all the money on the blade and strive to restore the original appearance of that era, and this can do a good job." ”

Nowadays, filmmakers in China really perform with salaries, no matter how many performances you perform or how much box office you get, it is all from the film studio, not yours.

At most, at the end of the year, the unit will show you that there are dozens of dollars and hundreds of dollars, or you will be considered a little more in various rations, that is, excellent treatment.

As for extras, they are generally found in various schools, not only Beijing Film, Chinese Opera, Zhongchuan, etc., but also other unrelated universities.

As for the base of the most extras, it is natural to go to those X teams to find it, as long as it is this kind of movie that promotes the history of the country and has great influence, it is the same as having fun with a thousand children and 800 people, but you, the boss of Xiangjiang, also have to pay for food - you really don't need to pay for food, when people bring their own dry food, it will have to be when the economy is rich in the future and their budget is sufficient.

"Let's not mention these for now, Lao Tu, the actors I want, you have sent the standards down, right?" Li Hanxiang turned his head and asked another man in his forties.

This man's name is Tu Pingsen, he is the deputy director of China Film Studio, and he is the most direct person in charge of the cooperation between China Film and Li Hanxiang this time.

He had known Li Hanxiang five years ago, and after several contacts, Li Hanxiang came to the mainland two years ago, and he also helped to contact and plan.

Although he didn't succeed in the end, Li Hanxiang felt that Tu Pingsen was down-to-earth and serious, not slippery, so this time he asked him to come over to help him.

To be named by an internationally renowned director like Li Hanxiang, Tu Pingsen is naturally very happy.

At the same time, he also knew that this was a rare opportunity for him.

If he can do a good job of these 5 masterpieces, whether it is in the director or in the position, he can get enough qualifications.

Therefore, Tu Pingsen began to be busy before the Chinese New Year, on the one hand, he was actively in contact with Li Hanxiang, and on the other hand, he was also running around the country to find the talents that Li Hanxiang needed.

"Well, I told them that they will live in our factory during this time, and they can have an interview when you come over. Tupinsen said unequivocally, "If it doesn't work, I'll look for it right away." ”

"Are they all here?" Li Hanxiang said in surprise, "Come so early, my crew can't open it for a while!"

"If they can't open it, let them learn while waiting. Tu Pingsen said, "Now they are actually reading a lot of information on Cixi's history, performing such a series of movies, and they don't know the ins and outs of it, so what is it like?"

Li Hanxiang sweated when he heard this.

Doesn't that embarrass me?

The actors of Xiangjiang and Baodao only read scripts, where do they have time to read any history books and materials?

However, these spare actors, working so hard, made Li Hanxiang very happy.

What director doesn't want their actors to be professional?