In 1985, after graduating from New York University's Film Graduate School, Li had a difficult time.
When he first graduated, he was still very energetic, and his graduation work won two awards for Best Film and Best Director at the New York University Film Festival, showing his extraordinary directorial talent.
He was favored by the agent of a large American brokerage company and became a contracted director of the brokerage company.
The agent was very optimistic about Lee's development in the United States, but things did not go in the expected direction.
At this time, Li Huan's wife was still in school, and Li Jian wrote a script to look for investment opportunities in Hollywood film companies.
He went to more than 30 film companies in two weeks, and some of them thought it was good, so they suggested that Li Yu revise a certain part, and after two months, the film company still suggested revision.
This is normal in Hollywood, and the film company will ask the author to make changes over and over again, so that it will take a year or two.
Either nothing or continue to develop, which is known as the purgatory of Hollywood studios.
It is said that on average, it takes about five years for a script to go from the first draft to the start of filming, which still refers to the script that is successfully filmed in 1 million, and the script of the vast majority of newcomers will not reach the end at all.
Hollywood has no shortage of scripts, what is missing is opportunities.
Without the recommendation of a well-known director and without a backstage, it is a fantasy to succeed in Hollywood with a script, and this is the real Hollywood.
In those years, Li Yan's main job was to write scripts.
There are more than a dozen scripts written by himself, scripts written in collaboration with other American screenwriters, and scripts written by American writers.
Just writing scripts, he can't find investment, he can't get money, he can only live on his wife's income and support his children.
In addition to writing scripts, he usually cooks at home, takes care of children, and does housework.
By 1990, all the roads were blocked, none of the scripts were successful, and his sharpness was exhausted, and he was a little desperate.
It's been almost six years since I graduated, and I still haven't achieved anything, and I can still talk about my ideals at the beginning, but now I'm about to be forty years old, and I'm embarrassed to talk about my ideals, so I can only be depressed all day long.
During this period, Li Yu will help others make films, not as a director, but as a handyman such as watching equipment and doing drama work.
But he is not very clever in drama affairs, does not know how to be flexible, and makes a lot of jokes.
"What did you think at the time, did you think you didn't fit into this industry?"
asked Mu Shanshan.
"It's not like that, I still think I'm only suitable for being a director, not for drama, and I'm not very smart in doing other things."
Li Yu responded, "In the 90s, we had our second child, and my father-in-law and mother-in-law came to the United States to see the children, and as soon as they got off the plane, my wife told them not to mention the filming, for fear that I would not be able to stand it." ” "To the point where you can't even mention it," Mu Shanshan said in surprise.
"It's not that I can't mention it, but I was very depressed during that time, and my wife was worried about me."
Li Yu recalled, "At that time, I cooked at home, and I cooked meals for them every day, and my mother-in-law asked me, you cook so deliciously, I will invest in opening a noodle restaurant for you."
"How did you answer at that time," Mu Shanshan said curiously.
"I said, I don't open a restaurant like cooking at home."
Li Yu smiled a little bitterly.
Although he was a little depressed, Li Yu did not really give up on film, he wrote film reviews and reports for newspapers in Baodao, and also wrote scripts.
A few months later, the turning point came, and the script he wrote won an award on Treasure Island.
At this time, Li Yu only had forty-three dollars left in his passbook, almost to the point of exhaustion.
After winning the award, he wanted to go back to Treasure Island to receive the award, but the ticket cost 1,000 US dollars, and Li Yu couldn't afford it at all, so he had to send him money from Treasure Island to return to Treasure Island.
On the day he received the award, Li Yu didn't even have a decent suit, so he had to borrow his brother's suit and tie.
"I watched your first feature film, and there was tai chi in it, how did you come up with it?"
asked Mu Shanshan.
"I've always been interested in traditional culture, and one day I thought that the pushers in Tai Chi were very interesting, just like interpersonal relationships, and they should be dealt with softly, not hard."
"I think martial arts have something to do with the philosophy of life, so I went to Boston to visit a tai chi master. ” "Practice Tai Chi," Mu Shanshan asked.
"The main thing is to ask questions, I was very poor at that time, and I came to do research by myself, so in addition to visiting, I also wanted to experience it myself."
Li Yu replied, "So I went to a nearby community college to sign up for Tai Chi, once a week, the tuition was very cheap, I studied for more than a month, and I wrote a script while learning." ” This script won Li Yu a prize of 400,000 Taiwan dollars and a chance to make a film.
The film company in Baodao provided Li Yu with 12 million Taiwan dollars in funds to let Li Yu shoot in the United States.
The so-called package filming means that the film company gives money, and Li Yu hands over the film, as for how Li Yu shoots, the film company doesn't care.
"At that time, some people encouraged me to run away with money and not come back to the United States, buy a house, and improve my family's life."
Li Yu said in a deep voice, "I still want to make the film, I talked with the film company for ten days, signed a contract, and my brother is the guarantor." ” NT$12 million is equivalent to US$450,000, which is a lot of money for the exhausted Li Yu.
But it's not easy to make a movie in New York with that money.
Ang Lee could only find acquaintances to help, and the salary was cheap, so he formed a mixed crew and planned to finish filming in a month.
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He has to do the most with the least amount of money, plan first, and then go to the film after the plan is made, so as to save money.
The whole film was filmed for 24 days, and Li Yu completed his first feature film.
"I didn't make a dime for this film, the money from the film company was used in the film, and even the props were moved from my house."
Li Yu recounted, "Xu Ligong came to New York to watch the film, and was a guest at my house, and it was strange that my poor family didn't even have a dining table, and I told him that the dining table was smashed during the filming. ” The final cost of the film is 13.5 million Taiwan dollars, equivalent to 480,000 US dollars.
She has been nominated for several Golden Horse Awards, and won Best Actor, Supporting Actress and Special Jury Awards, with a box office performance of more than NT$18 million in Treasure Island.
Li Yan's future film career will be smooth. succeeded one after another on Treasure Island, returned to Hollywood to make films, and entered the mainstream Hollywood film circle.
"What do you think of Oscar," Mu Shanshan finally asked.
"The Oscar is an award for American films, I think it's good to treat it with a normal heart, every year the Oscars will have a weather vane, there will be a lot of public relations activities, those members will be influenced by each other, and they will also be affected by the social atmosphere, as well as the box office and film reviews, etc."
Li Yu said, "Everyone is desperately squeezing forward, winning the award is a great honor, the whole world is watching, not winning the award does not mean that art is worse than others, that's the case." ” t1706231537: