Chapter 466: Original Intention and Following the Heart
Lido Island, a narrow sandbar located southeast of the water city of Venice, is also the venue for the awards ceremony of the Venice International Film Festival.
It is now the afternoon of September 9th, and there is less than a day left until the award ceremony. According to past practice, all awards should have been voted for by now and submitted to the organizing committee for temporary storage.
But this time something unexpected happened.
The organizing committee had been arguing for a whole day about the selection of the best actor.
Feeling the tense atmosphere in the conference room, Wim Wenders, chairman of the jury, raised his hand and pulled his iconic drooping nose, saying helplessly: "Everyone, everyone, our time is limited. If we still can't reach a consensus before six o'clock, then I can only activate the compulsory voting procedure."
After listening to the famous German director's accented English speech, American comedy director John Landis shrugged nonchalantly: "Wim, you should have done this a long time ago, instead of sitting back and watching the jury engage in this long and meaningless debate."
"Oh~ no no no!"
Italian actress Valeria Golino, who was sitting at the very end, next to Hong Kong gangster film director Johnnie To, immediately jumped out to refute: "I think it is the most meaningless thing to give important awards to inappropriate people for inexplicable reasons!"
As she spoke, she habitually made Italian gestures to enhance her momentum.
In fact, in terms of fame, qualifications, and influence, Valeria Golino does not have an advantage on the jury, but as the only local person on the jury, she has the strongest attitude on the jury.
Of course, her ability to perform so strongly is also inseparable from the intentional or unintentional connivance of the jury chairman Wim Wenders.
"Haha~"
John Landis sneered, "What do you mean by inappropriate? Is it because of Xu's nationality? Or is it because of his skin color? It can't be because of his acclaimed performance, right?"
Valeria gritted her teeth and said, "No, what I said was inappropriate. I think as judges of the three major European film festivals, we should behave more professionally and not be affected by some off-site factors."
"Come on."
John Landis shrugged off such claims: "China Xu's performance deserved this honor, otherwise he would not have been nominated by the organizing committee."
Valeria argued: "But do you dare to say that you chose China Xu without being influenced by his prediction of the climax of the CD crisis?!"
John Landis's voice also got louder, and he rapped his fingers on the table and retorted, "I admit that this factor is a factor, but the superb acting skills he showed are the biggest reason why I chose him.
As an actor, can't you see how wonderful his performance is?! I even saw mountains of corpses and seas of blood in his eyes!
If I hadn't specifically checked his resume, I would have thought he was really a soldier who had experienced war, or a special elite who had killed terrorists.
But he has no experience in this area, which means he relied purely on his acting skills to play such a tough guy image on the screen who has experienced war - ladies and gentlemen, I think Xu deserves a trophy!"
"Tough guy?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Russian screenwriter Yuri Arabov sneered: "If the image of a tough guy can win a trophy, then we Russians should win all three major European awards."
Yuri neither likes nor hates China, but because Americans are the main force supporting China, he chooses to stand on the side of the Italians.
Valeria also followed up with: "Compared to the Chinese Xu, I think Silvio Orlando's [Italian actor] performance is more profound. I am not saying that Xu is not good, but Mr. Silvio Orlando has many years of acting experience..."
"Years of experience?"
John Landis quickly caught on to her comments: "Giving out the Best Actor award as a consolation prize, is that what you call professionalism? If you really wanted to comfort him, why not nominate him for the Lifetime Achievement Award? Oh, I see, he's not qualified yet, is he?"
Facing John Landis' exaggerated expression, Valeria couldn't help but stand up angrily, holding the table and shouting, "Damn it, don't your American awards have local protection?! Compared to the Oscars and Golden Globes, we in Europe do much better. You Americans have no right to speak nonsense here!"
"Hey!"
Before John Landis could speak, another female Argentine director and screenwriter Lucrecia Martel on the jury was unhappy: "Madam, according to what you said, am I in the wrong place? Don't forget that it is precisely because of the inclusiveness and openness of the Venice International Film Festival that it has become world-renowned."
John Landis asked jokingly, "Ms. Valeria, please tell me honestly, does the European homeland protection policy you mentioned include Russia?"
"Uh~"
Valeria was stumped by the question. If it was before August, she could firmly say yes, but since the Georgia incident, public opinion throughout Europe has been condemning the new Russia, so she naturally couldn't jump out and sing a different tune at this time. Seeing her hesitating and stuck, Yuri Arabov immediately looked unprepared.
Upon seeing this, the chairman of the jury, Wim Wenders, could not help but pinch his nose. Although there was no explicit decision on this award, the organizing committee had already assumed that it belonged to Silvio Orlando.
After all, among the nominated actors, he is the most famous, has the most experience, the highest popularity, and superb acting skills. He also has the sympathy of being nominated many times but not winning.
This is simply like a dragon riding on your face.
But out of nowhere, a Chinese man named Xu suddenly appeared and became famous for the collapse of Lehman Brothers, becoming the biggest news figure at this year's Venice Film Festival.
What is even more embarrassing is that his performance in "Assembly" is no less than Silvio Orlando's, especially his eyes that are sometimes murderous and sometimes weathered, which transcend race and culture and bring the most direct impact to all audiences.
Under the current situation, even if the Russians do not default on their votes, there will only be three votes supporting Silvio Orlando: Chairman Wenders, Valeria, and Yuri.
The remaining four votes are...
and many more!
Wenders's eyes swept over John Landis, Lucrecia Martel, and Scottish artist Douglas Gordon one by one - although Gordon rarely spoke, he also made it clear that he supported China's Xu.
Finally, Wenders's gaze fell on Du Qifeng.
"Du, what do you think?"
Now, everyone focused their attention on Du Qifeng, but no one thought that Du Qifeng could say anything fancy. After all, they were all Chinese. Could he really be so ungrateful?
Being stared at by several pairs of eyes at the same time, Du Qifeng's forehead was slightly covered with sweat. He looked worried and hesitated several times to speak.
Now everyone can see the problem.
John Landis quipped, “Du, you’re not trying to support Italian nativism, are you?”
"Mr. John!"
Valeria glared at Landis, then encouraged Du Qifeng, "Du, follow your inner choice and don't be influenced by those off-field factors..."
"Hey, you're trying to influence him now!"
"Mr. John, I'm just encouraging Du to fight against Ji Q..."
The two people started arguing again, and Du Qifeng's face became more and more ugly.
Deep down, he was quite repulsive to Xu Kun and was not willing to let this guy who hated the Hong Kong circle win the Venice Film Festival Best Actor Award. Moreover, if he voted in favor, he would definitely be ridiculed or even treated with hostility by his peers when he returned.
but……
This is the 'Town of Hong Kong'!
Yinghuang didn't dare to fight back after being treated like that by him, and even took the initiative to invite him to open a studio in Hong Kong Island. How many of us have the courage to go against him?
"I……"
After thinking it over, Du Qifeng finally raised his hand slowly and said through gritted teeth: "I choose Xu Kun!"
Rather than sticking to his original intention, he finally chose to follow his heart.
Valeria's face was full of disappointment, but she still wanted to struggle: "Du, the voting hasn't started yet..."
"No, I think it's time to vote."
Knowing that the situation was hopeless, Wenders sighed and said, "Please raise your hands if you support China Xu."
John Landis, Lucrecia Martel, Douglas Gordon, plus Du Qifeng who raised his hand in advance, the votes were four to three, and there was no need to continue voting.
(End of this chapter)
