After intense preparation, Guo Fan's first project finally got off the ground, forming a crew and beginning shooting.
He and Liu Ji were working themselves to the bone, not daring to relax for even a moment, so as not to waste the money Boss Wang had invested.
Guo Fan was a perfectionist when it came to details. He demanded every link of the process meet his standards, while Liu Ji served as Guo Fan's producer.
As classmates from film school, Liu Ji was smooth and resourceful, able to help Guo Fan handle many things.
But as a somewhat inexperienced director, Guo Fan was still too young and might not be able to control the seasoned veterans in the crew.
However, although Guo Fan had not truly studied under Gilbert, he had learned one of Gilbert's working methods: business is business.
Chinese film crews were somewhat different from Hollywood's. Established Hollywood directors usually had their own fixed teams.
For example, Gilbert's regular cinematographer, Dure Randolph, later went to work with Sofia Coppola. Afterwards came John Schwartzman, his regular art director Selina Haifei.
There was also assistant director Annie Burton, stunt coordinators Tony Radley and Luca Farias, editor Mehdi Thomson, and so on.
These were all people who had followed Gilbert for more than a decade. Their cooperation was smooth, their efficiency very high. This was what allowed Gilbert, the Hollywood "fast gun," to release nearly one film per year.
But did Gilbert always have such a coordinated team? Obviously not.
At the start, Gilbert was young. He got his first chance to lead a crew through his connection with Spielberg, and there were certainly people who were unconvinced—especially veteran assistant directors.
They had worked diligently in Hollywood for more than ten years without a chance to direct, and here was a 21-year-old kid, who had only worked on Hook for a few months, suddenly getting the chance to direct.
How could these veterans balance their feelings? Making trouble was inevitable—they would take advantage of his inexperience with crew operations.
But Guo Fan knew that later Gilbert handled such problems very well, using contracts and accountability: whichever link failed, the responsible person would be held accountable.
Losing temper and quarreling were meaningless, only making others think less of you.
These were things Gilbert had once heard Hollywood veterans describe. There might have been exaggerations, but they generally aligned with the truth.
Later, as Gilbert succeeded step by step, naturally the best talents in Hollywood gathered around him, ensuring his team's smooth operation.
But what about directors who did not have Gilbert's status? Without his authority, they had no fixed team.
Did this mean every film required a long period of adjustment?
Guo Fan discovered that the biggest difference between Hollywood and Chinese cinema was that Hollywood was producer-centered.
The director was a very important link in filmmaking, but not irreplaceable. Like a part on an assembly line, a missing one could easily be replaced.
And Hollywood had plenty of industry professionals, like screws ready for use—after a little adjustment, they could jump into work.
Someone like Gilbert, with producers listening to him, was actually the minority.
In Chinese cinema, many famous directors also had fixed teams. But most directors, like ordinary Hollywood ones, had no permanent team members.
What Chinese films lacked most, however, were professional producers, forcing directors to take on multiple roles—managing the crew while also filming.
He and Liu Ji once calculated: a director could only devote ten percent of his focus to shooting, with the other ninety spent on crew management.
So, on the very first day of shooting, Guo Fan hoped Liu Ji could learn from Hollywood producers, manage the crew well, and let him focus on directing.
Liu Ji admitted he could not, but promised to try.
The project they persuaded Boss Wang to invest in was a darkly humorous satirical comedy, based on Guo Fan's own experience with the fake student incident.
When Liu Ji first read the script, he thought it was good, but worried it might sting certain people's faces when filmed.
"Those people really, really hate Gilbert now—and they hate you too," Liu Ji said.
Guo Fan was puzzled: "Why hate me? I wasn't the one who did it. Besides, Director Gilbert was right to stick to his principles!
The students were selected through his assessment. You swapped them out, which was a slap in the face to a Hollywood director."
"That may be true, but if everyone admitted their own mistakes, the world wouldn't have so many disputes." Liu Ji pointed at the script:
"If you film this, you'll probably offend a lot of people. It won't be easy for you then."
"Since we're offending people anyway, you still dare to join me?" Guo Fan asked with a smile.
Liu Ji shrugged indifferently: "I'm just playing around. If I offend people, I can always go home. But you're different—you have dreams.
Brother, I can't let you fight alone. We, the younger generation, need to push back and crush the older generation on the beach."
"Better crush them on Shark Beach—let sharks bite them to death," Guo Fan replied.
Liu Ji froze, wondering how sharks could be on a beach. After a while, he remembered—Gilbert's first film was Shallows.
"You're right—let the sharks bite them to death." Liu Ji realized he had made the right move. Guo Fan had the potential to change Chinese cinema.
When that time came, as Guo Fan's ally, he would never be treated badly.
From February and March, when they discussed the project with Boss Wang, the two had been writing the script, preparing the crew, and selecting actors.
Because they looked like amateurs, many somewhat famous actors refused to join Guo Fan's project.
But it didn't matter. Guo Fan had a special charisma and still persuaded some familiar faces from the industry to join.
He even found an actor named Huang Bo, of uncertain ranking, and Wang Baoqiang, who had appeared in several films and TV shows. The two would co-star.
The crew was successfully assembled, and they officially held the opening ceremony.
As investors, Boss Wang and Sister Ling personally attended, opened Maotai, prayed to the gods, and announced the start of shooting.
Thus, while The False was being released in the Chinese market, Guo Fan and Liu Ji were leading their team on the hard road of filming.
"Old Guo, yesterday our workflow had some problems. Look, Bo and Baoqiang are our leads. At the beginning, we should use supporting actors and extras to practice.
Using leads for practice—though they won't complain aloud—they probably mind."
After the day's work ended, Guo Fan and Liu Ji returned to the hotel to review the day's shooting.
Hearing this, Guo Fan slapped his head: "This mistake came from lack of experience. Luckily, Bo and Baoqiang are good-tempered, or it would have been trouble."
They decided to talk to the leads tomorrow and adjust the shooting method.
After finishing work discussions, it was time to rest. To save money, Guo Fan and Liu Ji shared a room, putting more funds into production.
"By the way, The False is doing well at the domestic box office," Liu Ji mentioned.
Guo Fan hadn't paid much attention: "How much?"
"Twenty-seven and a half million in its first three days—not bad. It might end up around one hundred million," Liu Ji answered.
"Not bad. I haven't seen it yet, but I heard it's a crime action film starring Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks."
Guo Fan felt a little envious. When would he be able to make a film starring Andy Lau and Tony Leung together?
In this era, although Hong Kong cinema had begun to decline, when it came to movie stars—especially male stars—the first names that came to mind were Hong Kong actors.
There was no helping it. Because of objective limitations, mainland cinema had developed more slowly, and the stars it produced simply didn't have the fame of Hong Kong's.
So whenever Guo Fan thought of movie stars, he thought first of Hong Kong stars.
Liu Ji also mentioned something that had happened in Shanghai: "Miss Theron came to China for promotion, and I heard that during the Shanghai roadshow someone deliberately asked a question.
They said The False was imitating Hong Kong films' style. That person got torn apart by the media and the domestic film industry."
"Really?" Guo Fan was surprised: "Does that person have a grudge with Director Gilbert?"
"Of course there's a grudge. Did you forget the fake student incident?"
Guo Fan suddenly understood: "So that's it. A few words don't matter. Director Gilbert is a big figure. He won't care about such meaningless accusations."
"Exactly. Miss Theron didn't lose her temper either. Instead, she said it was precisely because Hollywood borrowed from others that it became the center of the film industry." Liu Ji sighed a little.
Yes, so what if you accused someone of borrowing? In filmmaking, can that really be called copying?
If you're going to talk about borrowing, then every one of the later directors—without exception—borrowed from Hitchcock and Stanley Kubrick.
"By the way, do you want to respond? After all, I've already been promoting you as Director Gilbert's student," Liu Ji asked.
"This—" Guo Fan decided it was better not to respond proactively: "I think I'll only answer if someone directly asks me about it."
"Fair enough," Liu Ji agreed.
Although Guo Fan decided to focus on work and not respond, that didn't mean others couldn't.
Ning Hao, who had worked in Gilbert's crew and now had a bit of a name, stood up to speak, blasting and denouncing the remnants of certain circles in the industry.
At a time like this, how could they still be jumping around instead of keeping their heads down?
Last year's incident was no simple matter of fake students—it was going to Hollywood to study, getting caught, and being deported back.
What was that? That was a naked slap in the face—and the key was, you had to stand at attention, because you were in the wrong.
The chain reaction from that incident caused China to lose face abroad and damaged the international image.
And now, at this moment, did these people really think that since time had passed, everything was fine, and they could come back to keep throwing their weight around?
After Ning Hao, directors like Master Zhang and Dove Chen gave interviews, loudly praising The False.
Neither of them mentioned what had happened in Shanghai, but their support for the film was enough to show their stance.
Of course, the angriest was Old Tian.
He had been in charge of the cultural sector, and last year's fiasco left him utterly passive. Now, with this new mess, Old Tian was furious.
He once again summoned Han Sanping and several domestic film company bosses, scolding them harshly, ordering them to go back and discipline those unruly bastards.
If anyone caused him more trouble, before he stepped down, he swore he would destroy that person.
Those bosses, who normally wielded immense power in the film industry, fell silent in terror. Not one dared talk back. They promised again and again that they would discipline the disobedient.
What happened in Shanghai was, in truth, a small matter. Charlize Theron herself hardly cared.
She hadn't even mentioned it to Gilbert when she went back, but the consequences of last year's incident had been too severe, leaving Old Tian so paranoid he lashed out with heavy blows.
Still, this episode didn't affect The False's massive success in the Chinese market. Gilbert remained extremely, extremely popular here.
...
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