Chapter 396

"Thanks to Luo Quan for the performance; it was truly a very, very wonderful singing voice."

After the song ended, the host went on stage to start controlling the scene, while also letting the creators backstage come up one after another.

Next, there was basically nothing for Luo Quan to do; although she was the lead actress, her screen time in the movie wasn't particularly much. As the creators talked about their creative insights, she could only listen with a smile, and occasionally pick up the microphone to say a few words when she was mentioned.

If her status were high enough, she could have gotten more camera time, but unfortunately, she really didn't have much standing in the film industry; most people's eyes were still on the director, after all, he and the movie were the protagonists of the night.

However, Luo Quan was happy with this; after all, she didn't really like dealing with such scenes, and it was better that someone else helped her attract the attention.

A premiere ceremony lasted for nearly two hours, and quite a few behind-the-scenes clips from the movie's filming were played during the ceremony.

Among them, the most talked-about one was the photo of Luo Quan's dress being lifted by a breeze, with her smiling while using her hands to press it down.

After this photo was released previously, it sparked a huge wave of imitation worldwide, and many people called it the look that best embodied a girl's youth and shyness.

However, although there were many imitators, not a single one could surpass the original.

This time, the photo was released again; although the audience at the scene had already seen it, after seeing it again, they still revealed stunned expressions.

Such a beautiful woman, such a good-looking look—you wouldn't get tired of seeing it no matter how many times you looked.

There wasn't just this one beautiful photo of Luo Quan from the crew; quite a few were released later, all of which were high-quality pieces that could be used directly as screensavers or wallpapers.

Although her screen time wasn't much, Luo Quan did perfectly fit the character design of the two female leads in the movie; paying just for her stunning look in the movie was absolutely worth it.

Of course, professionals would certainly not evaluate the quality of a movie so simply.

The premiere ceremony ended, and the time had arrived at the transition between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, which was the early morning of December 25th.

The stars who had time all went to the theater next door to watch *The Lord of the Rings*, while Luo Quan and the others remained backstage to discuss matters.

The first part, *The Fellowship of the Ring*, was now officially released, and most of the crew members were still stationed in New Zealand, ready to start filming *The Two Towers* at any time.

Of course, no matter how urgent Director Ford was, he still had to give the group of leads some rest time.

This was a trilogy; wanting to finish filming it in one go, even if he had a strong creative desire, others might not be able to handle it.

Moreover, you can't eat hot tofu in a hurry; it was time to let the actors relax their nerves, which had been tense for a long time.

However, Luo Quan wasn't in this category; her screen time in the trilogy wasn't as much as the male leads, especially in the second part—even with two characters, she could probably finish filming within a week.

So Director Ford told her to study the script at home and wait for news when the time came.

"I heard you're also filming a movie recently?" After Director Ford arranged all the matters, he suddenly asked Luo Quan about this with curiosity, "And it's a B-grade thriller?"

Luo Quan nodded embarrassedly: "Yeah, on a whim, I just wanted to film one like that; the investment is low, and it's not exactly high-brow."

In front of such a big director, she didn't dare to put on airs at all.

Director Ford waved his hand: "There's no such thing as high-brow or low-brow in movies; as long as you film with heart and promote correct values, it's a good movie.

Investments have sizes, but the effort put in has no distinction of high or low."

"Come to think of it, my movie actually didn't really promote any values; it's just a pure commercial film..." Luo Quan smiled awkwardly; if she really had to force a grand and righteous theme onto *Resident Evil*, she could pull it towards environmental protection.

The original movie was like that, but Luo Quan felt that was complete nonsense, so she didn't intend to add these elements at all in the version she was filming.

Director Ford smiled: "If it's a commercial film, then it's even simpler; if it can make money, then it's a good commercial film.

But I think you could try art-house films; there are currently many scripts with depth, and your image is so outstanding, and your acting is also very intuitive; if you are willing to try, not to mention winning awards, you definitely won't lack nominations."

It could be seen that Director Ford thought quite highly of Luo Quan.

As a director, he knew very well how to judge whether an actor had a future.

In his view, Luo Quan belonged to the kind with a limitless future.

"I guess I'm not destined for that kind of movie." Luo Quan smiled helplessly, "You know, I'm not willing to film kissing scenes.

And the most basic way for that kind of movie to express emotion is kissing, and more intense ways won't be lacking either; these are things I can't film."

Director Ford was stunned, and after reacting, he sighed.

If Luo Quan hadn't said it, he would have almost forgotten how conservative the girl in front of him was.

"What a pity." Thousands of words surged to his lips, but in the end, only this sentence remained.

Luo Quan, who couldn't completely liberate herself, was truly a huge loss for the film industry.

If she had been born in the United States, who knows how many classic images she could have contributed; it's a pity she was born in conservative China.

After chatting for a while, Luo Quan greeted everyone, left first, and went back to the hotel to rest.

Waking up the next day, the headlines of all news media were dominated by *The Lord of the Rings*.

"North American half-day box office exceeds 100 million USD!"

"A great director, a great epic!"

"An incomparable fantasy world!"

From the audience to film critics to the media, words of praise could be said to be endless; everyone was praising this movie.

Although Luo Quan had long anticipated it, she was still shocked by such a spectacle.

This overwhelming coverage was even more sensational than when she wrote *Canon* and *Für Elise* back then.

One can only say that classical music indeed doesn't have that much influence in modern times, and can't compare to movies, the "first art of the modern era," not to mention that the level of *The Lord of the Rings* could be called Mount Rushmore-level among movies.

But no matter what, *The Lord of the Rings* was also a work she participated in.

The more popular the movie, the greater the benefits she would receive.

Right now, her main task was still to handle her own movie well.

*Resident Evil* was an important work for her to make a name for herself in Hollywood; before its release, there was still quite a lot of promotional work to be done.

Currently, there were still no theater chains contacting her; the hot traffic on Twitter didn't seem to be as useful as she had imagined.

However, she wasn't in a hurry; she had sufficient confidence in this movie; even if no one was looking for her now, after the movie production was completed, she would take the finished film and "submit" it one by one—she didn't believe she wouldn't get appreciated!

After posting a few more stills of the movie on Twitter, Luo Quan was about to start working when her phone suddenly rang.

It was Leon calling.

"Hey, what's up?" Luo Quan asked while operating the computer on speakerphone.

"Sis, are you free these next few days?"

Luo Quan laughed: "You're asking at just the right time; I've basically finished filming my movie, and now it's entered the post-production stage."

"So that means you're free?"

"Post-production work is all my responsibility alone; I can stop at any time." Luo Quan stopped what she was doing and asked: "So what exactly is it?"

"Actually, it's not a big deal; in a few days, it's our great-aunt's birthday, and she's invited a lot of people, including our family."

"Great-aunt, which great-aunt?" Luo Quan really didn't know this; back when it was Grandpa's birthday, she hadn't seen him introduce any relatives a generation older than him.

"It's the Queen, of course; in a few days, it's her 90th birthday. Although our two families aren't as closely connected as in the past, when it was Grandpa's birthday, Crown Prince Charles also came to congratulate him, so Father wants the two of us to go together."

Reciprocity is the same in every country; Luo Quan understood this point.

Moreover, it was only for a few days; she could just treat it as going out to relax, and by the way, visit Buckingham Palace, check in, and take some photos.

In this way, she would have more vlog material for Bilibili.

"Fine, I'll buy a plane ticket to London right now." Luo Quan hung up the phone and began to prepare for the trip to London.

The Queen's birthday banquet was scheduled for the evening of the 28th; she would set off tomorrow and would probably arrive in the early morning of the 27th.

Overall, she would be out for four or five days this time, and this amount of time wouldn't have too much of an impact on the movie's production.

Come to think of it, Bilibili had also contacted her to film the New Year's Gala; the original plan was to finish recording the performance a week ago and then broadcast it on the evening of the 31st.

However, because the Huang family collapsed, many stars were forced to withdraw from the industry, and quite a few of them had participated in Bilibili's New Year's Gala.

With so many stars absent all of a sudden, the New Year's Gala had to be re-planned, and the recording time was pushed back to after the New Year.

But it would probably be around the 3rd or 4th of January; she would probably receive the notification soon.

Bilibili's request definitely couldn't be declined; that was her largest gathering place for fans in China, almost all of whom were die-hard fans; for both emotional and logical reasons, she couldn't miss this New Year's Gala.

Looking at it this way, she wouldn't have time to produce the movie for the rest of this year.

Fortunately, Avril's explosion helped her a lot, allowing her to redeem the remaining production steps for *Resident Evil*, otherwise, the time might not have been enough.

The system's task time limit was three months; now nearly a month and a half had passed, and the time left for her didn't seem particularly abundant.

After much consideration, Luo Quan still took her laptop with her.

Time is like water in a sponge; as long as you are willing to squeeze, you can always squeeze some out.

That same evening, the news of the British Queen's 90th birthday banquet was finally announced to the world.

It was an announcement to the world in the true sense; from online media to television to newspapers, everyone reported on this matter.

Although Britain had long since declined and the British Empire had become a thing of the past, the Queen's influence was still quite large.

To this day, she is still the legal head of state of more than a dozen sovereign countries; besides her, the leaders of these countries can only be prime ministers or governors-general, among which there is no lack of major geopolitical powers.

Of course, this influence is limited to the Queen herself, and actually has nothing to do with the British royal family anymore.

In recent years, the British royal family has made quite a few jokes, and their image among the people has been gradually declining; the British government has also often criticized the princes, and the two sides can be said to be quite at odds.

But this time, for the Queen's birthday, and her 90th birthday at that, both the royal family and the British government reached a brief consensus: to make it a grand event!

Except for the London Olympics that just ended last year, this was probably one of the events in recent years that could attract the most world attention to Britain.

Last year's Olympics were a grand event, but the British government lost everything and made quite a few jokes.

This time for the Queen's birthday banquet, it wasn't clear yet whether they would lose money, but any mistakes were absolutely not allowed to happen again.

To put it seriously, the Queen can be said to be the face of Britain; no matter who makes a mistake, her birthday banquet cannot have any mistakes.

Therefore, the British government attached great importance to the Queen's birthday banquet this time; not only did it have to be big and good, but the people invited also had to be many, and their status had to be high.

Doing this was to use the Queen's face to highlight Britain's status in the world and tell the world that the British Isles were still that empire on which the sun never sets.

Facts proved that the Queen's face was still quite useful.

This time, with the help of the government, the British royal family sent invitations to all royal families and nobles around the world, asking them to be sure to attend this birthday banquet.

In addition, they also sent invitations to wealthy people, celebrities, and social elites who could be ranked on the Forbes list, and most of them happily expressed their willingness to attend.

If the Queen didn't lack real power now, the British royal family and government could really have created a grand scene of "ten thousand nations coming to pay homage" for her.

Of course, the current scale wasn't bad either.

Basically all the prominent figures in the Western world received invitations, and most were willing to give the old lady this face; major mainstream media also scrambled to report on it, and the gossip-loving public also developed a huge enthusiasm for this grand event.

Even in China, where the feudal system had been abolished for a hundred years, the old lady's birthday banquet also sparked quite a lot of discussion.

This birthday banquet had two themes: one was to wish the Queen a long life, and the other was the waltz.

It is said that this was proposed by the Queen herself.

When the Queen was young, she loved dancing the waltz very much, and back then, she and Prince Philip were often the most dazzling pair at noble balls.

However, both of them were now advanced in age and had long been unable to dance the waltz.

So this time, the Queen wanted the young people who came to her banquet to replace her and have a grand waltz ball.

Letting her relive the beautiful times she had on the dance floor back then.

Back then, she was the protagonist.

And this time, she became the witness.

Such a romantic decision sparked quite a bit of discussion in China; many girls on Weibo were moved to tears, saying that their biggest dream was to dance a dance of love with a prince or a star in a palace.

As for the boys, they were more concerned about which girls would be coming to the ball, whether they were pretty, and whether they had good figures.

Besides this, everyone also wanted to ask:

"By the way, can Luo Quan dance the waltz?"