Chapter 496 Kun's Greatness
【New Year's Eve payment, 4Q3】
12 month 1 number.
There are three days left until the premiere of the movie "Mei Lanfang", four days left until the premiere of "Painted Skin", eleven days left until the premiere of "Ip Man", and seventeen days left until the release of "If You Are the One".
In just half a month, four domestic blockbusters premiered at the same time. This made the media, which had just witnessed the rapid development of "Operation Kunpeng", agitated again, and they all used the gimmick of "Lunar New Year Box Office War".
This morning.
Chen Hong was dressing up in the bedroom when she suddenly heard the noise of Chen Kaige banging on the table in the study.
She sighed helplessly, put down the cosmetics in her hand, and turned to the study room next door, where she saw Chen Kaige standing with his hands behind his back, walking around in front of the desk in a huff.
Chen Hong slowed down her pace and complained in a pretentious tone, "My dear, your blood pressure has been a little high recently. Why don't you take care of yourself?"
Then he asked, "What's the reason this time?"
Most people pretend to be cool for others to see, but Director Chen is at a higher level. He pretends to be cool to the point that he even believes it. In order to please him, Chen Hong can only speak in a pretentious manner, especially when Director Chen is in a particularly good or bad mood.
Chen Kaige waved his hand, posing like a great man, and said: "The writing is full of wind without any real evidence, and the camera is full of absurdity!"
I see. The cause was newspapers and magazines with pictures.
Chen Hong walked over and flipped through the newspaper on the table, and soon found the source of Chen Kaige's rage - a soft article that praised "Painted Skin".
After Xu Kun won the Best Actor Award at the Venice Film Festival and the Hundred Flowers Film Festival in September, Painted Skin, which was originally scheduled to be released on the same day as Operation Kunpeng, decided to avoid the limelight and was instead released the day after Mei Lanfang.
This decision was ridiculed at the time, and many people felt that "Painted Skin" was timid before the battle, and was bound to have no great future, and the quality of the film was expected to be poor.
But times have changed. Faced with the unimaginable performance of "Operation Kunpeng", the temporary adjustment of the release date of "Painted Skin" was suddenly touted as a foresighted move.
That would be fine, but the main reason is that this article repeatedly mentions that "Mei Lanfang" is a soft persimmon in the Lunar New Year period, and believes that the subject matter of "Mei Lanfang" itself is not advantageous, and the "Wuji Mantou" incident has ruined director Chen's popularity.
Therefore, this report boldly judges that "Mei Lanfang" is likely to be defeated in a head-on confrontation with "Painted Skin".
As we all know, "The Promise" and "Mantou" were the Achilles' heel of Director Chen, and the fact that his ambitious comeback work was described as a weak film in the Lunar New Year period was even more unacceptable to Director Chen.
only……
Chen Hong sighed secretly in her heart. She didn't think there was anything wrong with choosing this topic. After all, Chen Kaige was known for his feature films and art films.
For Chen Kaige, The Promise is actually a rebellious attempt.
What's so strange about choosing to return to your original intention now?
The real problem lies in the casting.
The new actor Yu Shaoqun, who played the young Mei Lanfang, performed very well, even to the point of being stunning.
But the better Yu Shaoqun's performance, the more he becomes disconnected from the adult version of Mei Lanfang played by Leon Lai - in other words, the first half of the film is somewhat disconnected from the second half.
Chen Hong noticed this, Zhang Ziyi should have noticed it as well, and Chen Kaige must have noticed it as well.
But because Leon Lai was criticized for being the original choice, Chen Kaige rushed out to defend Leon Lai, raising the tone too high and speaking too confidently, which resulted in him being in a difficult situation and unable to change the role.
In fact, it’s not impossible to change it, but Chen Kaige just can’t save his face.
Because of this problem, Chen Hong was not optimistic about the box office performance of "Mei Lanfang", but she did not dare to break this window paper in front of Chen Kaige.
So he could only lie with his eyes open: "How can a reporter understand what a movie is or what the art of directing is? It's just that they flatter whoever pays more."
“This is a malpractice!”
Chen Kaige poked his fingers on the desk a few times and said proudly, "I took the initiative to send an invitation letter to Xu Kun this time, just to use him as an example to kill this evil trend! Movies are first and foremost art. If you just use vulgar and kitsch content to please the audience, what's the difference between that and the lowest class of the old society?!"
Chen Hong basically agrees with this view, but some things still need to be analyzed in detail - what is Xu Kun's current reputation? If he wants to promote his own art by stepping on him, what will he do if he accidentally fails?
"He is still young after all."
Chen Hong advised in a roundabout way: "Young people should be allowed to make mistakes. You can criticize them in private, but it's best to be patient in front of outsiders and don't let others say that we are bullying the weak."
"Humph~"
Chen Kaige snorted coldly and didn't comment, then changed the subject and asked, "Are you going out today?"
"Jiang Wenli and I have an appointment to go to the Huairou Film and Television Base together. The premiere ceremony will be held tomorrow night. I will always feel uneasy if I don't go."
Chen Kaige nodded slightly, but then he was a little puzzled and asked: "When you encountered these things in the past, didn't you always like to call Jin Qiaoqiao? Why did you change to Jiang Wenli recently?"
Jin Qiaoqiao is Chen Hong’s good friend in the circle, or her best follower.
Chen Hong felt inexplicably guilty when asked this question. In fact, she didn't know why she had been so close to Jiang Wenli recently. Or maybe she knew it in her heart but just didn't want to admit it.
Fortunately, she is a good actress, and she immediately smiled and said, "Qiao Qiao just met a big boss recently. It just so happened that Jiang Wenli wanted to find someone to ban Zhang Jingchu together a while ago, so she took the initiative to come to me to build a relationship. As a result, the two of us became much closer."
Hearing the name 'Zhang Jingchu', Chen Kaige hesitated to speak, and finally shook his head and said: "She is making trouble, if you can stay out of it, then don't get involved."
"understood."
Although she managed to fool him, Chen Hong was still a little short of breath, so she hurriedly said, "I won't talk to you anymore. I have to pack up quickly and drive to pick her up."
Having said that, he turned and left the study.
Back in the bedroom, she stared blankly in front of the dressing mirror for a while before she started to dress up again - Chen Hong herself might not have realized that, ever since Operation Kunpeng grossed over 500 million yuan, the frequency and duration of her staring blankly have been increasing day by day along with the box office of Operation Kunpeng.
To put it bluntly, Chen Hong is a woman who admires strong men at heart, otherwise she would not have insisted on Kaige back then.
But Xu's strengths are not just in directing ability...
after an hour.
Chen Hong followed the address given by Jiang Wenli and found a high-end gym.
Jiang Wenli was sweating in her private room. When she saw Chen Hong coming in, she asked in confusion while doing aerobics: "Why are you here so early?"
Chen Hong was too embarrassed to say that she was too guilty and short of breath to stay at home any longer, so she asked instead, "You've lost weight, haven't you? Why are you working so hard?"
It was really inconvenient to talk like this, so Jiang Wenli simply stopped moving, took a breath, and then said, "I don't want to go through that kind of experience again in my life. If I get fat again one day, I'll probably just give up on myself and have no purpose in life."
As he said this, he wiped his sweat off his forehead and said, "Wait for me, I'll take a shower and then we'll set off."
Seeing Jiang Wenli enter the bathroom, Chen Hong walked around the room casually and felt a little bored, so she went to the bathroom door and tried to push it, but the bathroom door was not locked.
So she pushed open a crack and said to the inside: "Hey~ He is so popular now, have you ever thought about cooperating with him?"
After learning that Jiang Wenli and Xu Kun were hooking up, Chen Hong was cautious at first, but later she found that Jiang Wenli was open and had no intention of hiding anything, so she gradually relaxed and even took the initiative to inquire about the two's new situation from time to time.
"Forget it." Jiang Wenli rejected the proposal without hesitation: "It's as if I'm relying on his help. Do you think we're still the little girls we were back then? If he didn't have the ability, I'd have to pay for his resources."
"Yes, yes, yes. Others raise gigolos and wolf dogs, but you raise big directors and movie stars."
Jiang Wenli rolled her eyes at her without saying anything. She simply washed off the sweat on her body, wrapped her plump body with a bath towel, raised her chin towards Chen Hong and said, "Get me the hair dryer from under the wash basin."
As a result, when Chen Hong took out the hair dryer, she also took out two small black silk hollowed-out pieces of cloth. She couldn't help but say in surprise: "You are quite fancy."
Jiang Wenli snatched the hair dryer and said casually, "My goddaughter helped me choose this."
"Goddaughter?"
Chen Hong wondered, "When did you acknowledge her as your goddaughter?"
"I recognized him on the bed."
Although this sentence is short, it contains a huge amount of information, which made Chen Hong's brain unable to work for a while.
It wasn't until Jiang Wenli turned on the hair dryer and started blowing her hair in front of the mirror cabinet that Chen Hong came to her senses. She muttered with a complicated expression, "You really... Why are you so serious about what happened with Lao Gu?"
"Can this be the same?"
Jiang Wenli fiddled with her hair and said with a disdainful curl of her lips: "Some people have the will but not the ability, some people..."
After a pause, she bit her lower lip and spat, "That's just an indestructible beast. It's impossible for one person to control it."
The person who spoke was fine, but Chen Hong blushed as she listened. At this moment, she couldn't help but think of a comment she had seen online about Xu Kun's promiscuity:
Kun is so big that it cannot be contained by one person.
Just as I was in a trance, I heard Jiang Wenli complaining: "Short hair is more convenient. It's troublesome to wash and blow dry long hair. It takes too much time."
"Then cut it."
Chen Hong gathered her thoughts, raised her hand and pulled the curly hair at the back of her head, and said, "I am also planning to cut it shorter. The big waves I had when I was filming Mei Lanfang are now almost unrecognizable."
Jiang Wenli glanced at her sideways and said with a half-smile: "He likes girls with long hair."
Chen Hong's hand that was touching her hair froze, and before she could react, Jiang Wenli pushed her out: "Alright, alright, I'm going to get dressed, you wait outside for a while."
"Tsk, you can watch her bathing, but you can't watch her putting on clothes?"
Chen Hong muttered to herself, and her hand, which had just been put down, unconsciously touched the ends of her hair again.
Those who can make it to this point are not fools. Chen Hong guessed that Jiang Wenli had seen through her little thoughts, so she had just spoken to test her.
But I am different from her and I absolutely cannot afford the price of betraying Chen Kaige.
Logically speaking, the best way to deal with it is to cut your hair short as soon as possible to dispel Jiang Wenli's suspicion and temptation.
only……
Chen Hong twisted the ends of her hair around her fingertips, feeling as if there were fifteen buckets of water pounding in her heart, making it impossible for her to make up her mind.
…………
at the same time.
Xu Kun was also invited by Director Wang to come to the Film Bureau.
Director Wang felt a little sad when they met again after more than two months. Although he knew the film would be a hit after watching the premiere, he never expected that "Operation Kunpeng" would rake in 1 billion box office both at home and abroad.
This is probably what the legendary "When the time comes, heaven and earth will work together."
However, after expressing his feelings, Director Wang felt a little overwhelmed when thinking about the next topic to discuss.
"cough~"
He cleared his throat and said to Xu Kun, "Director Xu, the rules and regulations you drafted for the Youth Directors Association have been reviewed by the relevant responsible persons of the Film Bureau and the China Film Association. They are generally good, but...isn't the age limit too strict?"
"what do you mean?"
Xu Kun secretly became alert. If a leader started talking about age right from the start, then it was definitely not just a matter of age.
"According to national regulations, people under 70 are considered young people. Of course, we don't have to be so rigid in the limit. We can start from ."
"Year 70?"
As soon as he mentioned this year, Xu Kun had an idea: "Do you want to put Jia Zhangke into the Youth Directors Association?"
"Uh~"
Director Wang was somewhat embarrassed when he saw Xu Kun had exposed the truth so easily, but he was an official after all, so he quickly said righteously: "Jia Zhangke's influence has been growing in recent years, and the higher-ups feel that they can no longer let him stay outside the system.
Originally, I wanted you to take the lead in setting up a semi-official association to restrain the Sixth Generation directors, and let Jia Zhangke help you and be responsible for mediating.
Although it has now become the Youth Directors Association, the higher-ups still hope to make Jia Zhangke the vice president, so that he can be more influenced by you."
I don't know who came up with this bad idea.
Jia Zhangke is ten years older than Xu Kun. In terms of artistic achievements alone, he is unique among those born in the 70s. His world views have long been fixed. How could he be "led astray" by Xu Kun?
However, since it was already arranged by the higher-ups, Xu Kun couldn't refuse. After all, regardless of his age, Jia Zhangke was indeed more qualified than anyone else to be the vice president.
And since the age limit has been relaxed to 70, it is easy to find representative female directors - Li Yu [born 73], the director of "Apple", is a good candidate, and her artistic achievements are much better than Xu Jinglei.
"That's fine."
Xu Kun said nonchalantly: "I will contact Director Jia later and try to finalize the general framework before the New Year."
Director Wang didn't expect Xu Kun to be so easy to talk to. You know, people in the system would avoid the sixth-generation directors, especially Jia Zhangke, who is a notorious troublemaker.
He said happily, "Boss Han was right about you. If everyone in the literary and art circles had the same broad mind as Director Xu, there would be no need to worry about Dongda Film not being able to break out of Asia and go global!"
In fact, there is no need to go out into the world.
Xu Kun felt that this idea would be wishful thinking for at least the next thirty years.
Even if the University of Tokyo can defeat all Western countries in one battle in the future, hatred will force them to spontaneously boycott the University of Tokyo's films. It will be impossible to influence them subtly without decades of effort.
However, there is no need to say these unpleasant words in front of the leader.
Coming out of the Film Bureau.
Xu Kun thought about it and decided that several reserve vice presidents would probably attend Director Chen's premiere tomorrow, so he might as well contact them in advance and make an appointment to get together after the premiere to talk about the establishment of the Youth Directors Association.
(End of this chapter)
