Chapter 594: People and People

The day after *Love Letter* was released was the screening day of Liu Bige's *Fake Death Won't Do*.

When *Love Letter* premiered, the entire *Fake Death Won't Do* crew came to support *Love Letter*.

Lu Yan He and the others were naturally going to support *Fake Death Won't Do* tomorrow.

Two Chinese-language films, supporting each other.

Because *Fake Death Won't Do* is a work by director Liu Bige, it also received a lot of attention.

The movie *Late Spring* has a great reputation at international film festivals, and it was one of the top ten of the year for many media outlets that year.

Because the feedback on *Love Letter* was quite good, everyone was looking forward to *Fake Death Won't Do* even more—

Even though it has a name that looks very unserious.

However, it's not that a movie with an unserious name is definitely not a good movie.

In film history, many movies with names like bad films are actually classics among classics.

"You guy, *Love Letter* was filmed so well, now all the pressure is on me."

Lu Yan He and Liu Bige were eating dinner in a hotel room at ten o'clock in the evening—before this, they were both busy with work and had no time to solve dinner.

In such an occasion, the itinerary is really too busy.

Probably because it was going to premiere tomorrow, Liu Bige looked more anxious than the previous two days.

"This is blaming me? You are the director of photography for *Love Letter*. *Love Letter* has good feedback now, and you also put in a lot of effort. Blame yourself," Lu Yan He said bluntly.

Liu Bige: "..."

He fell into deep thought and said: "I am suddenly a bit hesitant now. Is it a correct choice for *Fake Death Won't Do* to participate in the main competition unit of the Hezhou Film Festival? This movie has too much commercial color, it may not be liked by the audience of the film festival, and I guess the media will not give too high an evaluation."

"That's not necessarily true, why do you think so." Lu Yan He said, "Don't think so much now, it will be screened tomorrow, there will be a lot to be busy with."

Liu Bige: "Sigh, I should have insisted a bit at the beginning and used Wang Jing to act."

At the beginning, for the role of the female lead, it was a choice between Wang Jing and Ji Miao.

In the end, Long Yan Pictures chose Ji Miao, who had won awards and had greater fame, instead of Wang Jing, who had been recommended by Lu Yan He.

Lu Yan He didn't expect Liu Bige to say this at this time.

"Is Ji Miao's performance not good?"

"I can't say it's not good, but it's a bit lacking," Liu Bige said. "I watched *Squid Game*, Wang Jing's sense of madness in it... If she came to act, the effect should be better."

"What's done is done, next time you choose actors, insist on your intuition more," Lu Yan He said. "The actor's performance has too much influence on the quality of a movie, especially this kind of romantic comedy. The sparks between the two actors basically determine the texture of the film itself."

Liu Bige nodded.

"However, Li Zhibai's acting is really good, too relaxed," Liu Bige suddenly mentioned Li Zhibai and said to Lu Yan He, "He does better than you in this regard. That kind of relaxed energy of his is invincible."

Lu Yan He smiled.

"At that time, Director Luo Yuzhong also praised him like this."

"He is really suitable for acting in this kind of modern, urban-background play," Liu Bige said. "Especially with a sense of life, without a trace of the actor's traces."

Lu Yan He: "He is actually very good at acting. Several people have praised him like this, but before, Zhou Ping'an took plays for him to gain greater traffic and heat. Li Zhibai never had the opportunity to seriously act in a serious play."

"He is also not suitable for acting in serious plays. His talent is in this kind of daily, life-like role. He should take more light comedies," Liu Bige said. "Actually, there are almost no male actors in China who can act in this kind of life light comedy, and they are also young male actors with such good images. Anyway, except for him, I haven't seen a second one."

Lu Yan He suddenly realized.

A director is still a director.

It is estimated that in their hearts, there is an actor list, which actors can act in what kind of plays, basically all classified.

Lu Yan He thought for a moment and said again: "However, the plays that Li Zhibai was more popular with before, one is a fairy-tale costume drama, and one is a modern idol drama. He really hasn't filmed a play in the style of *Fake Death Won't Do*."

Liu Bige: "I have watched it, I can understand why it is popular, but I don't like it."

Lu Yan He nodded.

It is also normal for Liu Bige not to like it.

"In *Dragon Inn*, the role of the young eunuch Lu Xiaochuan, I originally wanted to let Li Zhibai try it," Liu Bige said. "However, Yan Liang's agent also came to find me, wanting to give Yan Liang a try. After putting it together with other actors, I found that Yan Liang was more suitable. Li Zhibai's image is still too handsome, handsome out of the crowd, others can't suppress it."

Lu Yan He thought to himself, the role of Lu Xiaochuan in the original *New Dragon Inn* was played by Ngai-kwong Ng, and the image is almost the most handsome in the whole movie. However, he understood what Liu Bige meant.

Liu Bige asked: "Do you want to play a role?"

"Me?" Lu Yan He thought for a moment and shook his head, "Forget it, the cast of this movie is already strong enough, and it doesn't need me to play. Leave the opportunity to others. Maybe for some actors, being able to show their face in this movie can let everyone know them."

Liu Bige: "Okay."

"Who are you planning to find to play the role of Cao Du Gong?" Lu Yan He was a bit curious.

Liu Bige said: "I still want to find an actor with some martial arts foundation, but I have seen several actors with foundations, their literary plays are not good enough, or I heard that it is playing a eunuch, so they are unwilling to come to act."

"Are there still actors with such serious prejudices now?"

"Yes," Liu Bige nodded. "It can't be said to be prejudice. If the actor really can't get rid of the inner concerns, he can't act well in such a role."

"I thought you would say that an actor should be able to act in any role."

"An actor is not a god, and a director is not able to direct any play. Why should I require an actor to be able to act in any role," Liu Bige said. "An actor who can act a type of role into a god is all God rewarding food."

Lu Yan He nodded, very much in agreement with Liu Bige's words.

The two of them chatted until the early morning, and Lu Yan He left Liu Bige's room and returned to his room.

Chen Siqi and the others were still having a meeting to discuss the topics and materials to be pushed tomorrow.

"Our Editor-in-Chief Lu is back," Linyu said with a smile. "Let's withdraw too, it's getting late."

Chen Siqi: "Let's disperse, rest quickly, everyone has worked hard recently. After the work of the Hezhou Film Festival is finished, everyone finds time to take a vacation and rest for a while."

"Very nice, I really need a vacation," Linyu said. "After I return to the country, I will sleep enough for twenty-four hours in one breath."

Chen Siqi: "If you can sleep for twenty-four hours in one breath, I will treat you to breakfast for a week."

Linyu: "If you have the ability, you treat me to breakfast for a month."

Chen Siqi nodded: "Okay, a month is a month."

Everyone laughed and packed their things and left.

Chen Siqi stretched, "So tired."

Lu Yan He came behind Chen Siqi and pressed her neck.

Chen Siqi sighed comfortably.

"Your technique is okay, where did you learn it?"

"Self-taught," Lu Yan He asked, "Why did you have a meeting so late today?"

"The attention received by this Hezhou Film Festival in China far exceeds expectations. We also have to keep up with this demand and constantly launch new content to satisfy everyone's needs, otherwise such heat will soon drop," Chen Siqi said. "Just these two days, our *Jump Up* various media channels have added thirteen advertising placements, so you can know how big the attention is."

This kind of media channel placement is not the same as that of film and television dramas, and the price is not that high, but one placement is at least seven figures.

Lu Yan He instantly understood why everyone worked so hard to work overtime.

From the advertising business volume, one can infer the attention of the content itself.

"Amazing," Lu Yan He nodded.

Chen Siqi: "Mainly because the user quality and advertising conversion rate of our *Jump Up* are far higher than those of other platform users. This point is famous among the group of advertisers. Thank everyone, willing to believe in us."

Lu Yan He: "Time is so tight, are the advertising placements added these days all screened?"

"Of course, all thirteen brands are well-known brands that have been doing it for many years, and they have also cooperated with us before. No new brand can be put on our channels so quickly," Chen Siqi said. "The advertising placements we rejected are always more than those we accepted. In terms of quality control, we still do it very well."

"I feel that advertising revenue has become the most important source of income for *Jump Up*."

"It can be counted, but the biggest head is content income," Chen Siqi said. "Our magazine sales, electronic copyright income, and membership subscription income from major channels are actually not small, including copyright operation income—since the announcement of *Jump Up* Theater, our agency operation copyright income has ushered in a large increase."

Lu Yan He asked: "Tomorrow is the premiere of *Girl's Adventure*, right?"

"Yes," Chen Siqi nodded. "Starting from the first Sunday in May, one episode is broadcast every week."

Lu Yan He asked: "Why didn't anyone ask me to forward and promote it?"

"It has been promoted for many rounds in the early stage. Now it is the time to see the truth, so don't bother you," Chen Siqi laughed. "The most critical point is that because *Girl's Adventure* actually has little to do with you, you didn't direct, didn't write, and didn't act. Everyone is most afraid that the audience's expectations will be too high, and then feel disappointed with this play."

Lu Yan He understood what Chen Siqi meant and nodded.

Things are happening one after another, all gathered together.

Of course, it is also a good thing. Brushing heat with each other, attention comes over, and the results will be better.

The next day, the field score of *Love Letter* came out: 3.3 points.

It is the second highest score among the films shortlisted for the main competition so far.

The field score of the Hezhou Film Festival—is the score obtained after the film media invited by the film festival official scores the film and is comprehensively averaged. It largely reflects the degree of preference of media from all over the world for this film.

And the media score is often the one that converges with the audience. For the Hezhou Film Festival, which chooses award results based on audience voting, this score has great reference significance.

It can almost be said that *Love Letter* is definitely going to win an award, it just depends on what award it wins in the end.

The screenings of *Love Letter* in the next few days were almost hard to find a ticket.

It can be said that as soon as the field score of *Love Letter* came out, the purchase willingness of various companies was unprecedentedly high.

At this time, Schmidt Lawley of Green Valley Film Company suddenly came over and expressed his willingness to take down the North American distribution rights of *Love Letter* at a price of 6 million US dollars.

For a movie with a production cost of no more than 6 million US dollars, this figure is truly sincere.

But at the same time, several American film companies came to bid.

Including D19, which Lu Yan He had cooperated with before, also expressed willingness to pay 5 million US dollars to do the distribution of *Love Letter* in North America.

According to the news obtained by Wan Qingqing and Song Jiang, although everyone doesn't think *Love Letter* can get very good box office results in North America and can't earn back this distribution fee from the theatrical box office, *Love Letter* will have very good performance in home entertainment income and streaming media playback income.

D19 also stated that if Lu Yan He is willing to give the North American distribution rights of *Love Letter* to them, they will also take out seven-figure public relations funds to conduct awards season public relations for *Love Letter*.

The box office of *Love Letter* in North American theaters, the normal performance is estimated to be about two million to three million—this is the average performance of a non-English big hit work from the four major international film festivals.

Lu Yan He and the others also know that the possibility of *Love Letter* creating a box office miracle in the United States is very small. However, if *Love Letter* has good performance in the North American awards season, the box office can be fed back.

"The media is indeed very fond of *Love Letter*, but the reaction of film critics this time is not as good as the media," Xu said. "Without the support of film critics, if *Love Letter* really goes to impact the awards season, it may not have good performance. Lu Yan He's performance in *Road to Glory* was able to have some nomination gains in the North American awards season because film critics were powerful, allowing Lu Yan He to gain the attention of a part of people."

Chen Ziyan also nodded, "And the theme and cultural background of *Love Letter* itself, placed in the Asian region, might be able to arouse emotional resonance among groups, in the United States... I am also not optimistic."

Wan Qingqing said: "In North America, this kind of film like *Love Letter* has always been a niche film. If the reaction of film critics is not particularly enthusiastic, it is indeed difficult to trigger special attention. In the United States, the conversion brought by media praise to the film is actually not as high as that of the film critic group."

The reason why the reaction of *Love Letter* in the film critic group is not so high is just like Lu Yan He's own understanding of this film: it is not deep enough. It reached the extreme in emotion, but it is not necessarily the style that film critics like. In the words of some film critics, although it is good-looking, it is too pleasing to the audience.

Lu Yan He also thought about Juliana's reaction yesterday—she actually thought *Love Letter* was a movie about pure love.

Indeed, there is still a gap in understanding.

The North American distributor they chose for *Love Letter* is, of course, not a simple and crude "highest bidder." After all, this is not a buyout. How much income *Love Letter* can bring to Linghe in North America in the end depends on the distribution capability of this distribution company and the distribution strategy for *Love Letter*.

If they finally think that *Love Letter* cannot achieve relatively good results in the North American awards season, then the "North American awards season" strategy proposed by D19 is not enough to become a bargaining chip to move them.

When Liu Bige, Li Zhibai, and Ji Miao were preparing to set off for the premiere, Huang Zhongjing and Mrs. Huang Wen Zhimao from Long Yan Pictures were also beside them.

Wen Zhimao joked with Liu Bige with a smile: "If this time our *Fake Death Won't Do* wins another big award, we will hold a grand celebration for you."

Liu Bige smiled and nodded.

Upon hearing this, Li Zhibai said: "Mrs. Huang, don't just focus on holding a celebration for Liu Dao, you also hold one for me. Next time you ask me to film, I will give you a 5% discount!"

He is deliberately playing rogue.

He knows very well that Liu Bige is actually a bit resistant to Long Yan Pictures' interference in his creation.

Just kidding, if Liu Bige can win another big award, can they still handle him like this?

Wen Zhimao glared at Li Zhibai angrily, "When have I ever treated you badly."

"Then you always ask me to act in that youth romance film. I haven't seen a plot more melodramatic than that in the past year," Li Zhibai complained directly.

Wen Zhimao said helplessly: "That is the script adapted from the highest-selling novel the year before last."

"Either that novel was written melodramatically, or the script was adapted badly. Anyway, I won't act," Li Zhibai said bluntly, "If I act, I will be scolded to death."

Huang Zhongjing smiled.

"Your temper, it's exactly the same as your father's when he was young."

Li Zhibai raised his chin, "It's a pity, with a temper like mine, but without a face like mine, I guess chasing my mom would be very hard."

Huang Zhongjing: "..."

Wen Zhimao: "You wait, see what reaction your dad has when he knows you are arranging him behind his back?"

"If he finds trouble with me, I will tell everyone that you are provoking the father-son relationship between me and my dad," Li Zhibai is not afraid of Huang Zhongjing and Wen Zhimao.

Even if they are big shots in the film and television industry, let alone he himself is a popular star now, his dad can still support him behind his back.

At the beginning, he and Zhou Ping'an were like that, and Zhou Ping'an didn't dare to use any shady tricks, wasn't it because he was afraid of his background.

Li Zhibai said to Liu Bige: "Liu Dao, why don't you stay in Long Yan, I will ask my dad to open a production company for you, specifically serving you alone, and you will specifically film for me alone."

He deliberately said it so arrogantly, of course, it was also to use the most joking words to support Liu Bige with the least substantial damage.

Liu Bige really rolled his eyes at him and said: "You go play by yourself."

Well, Liu Bige didn't take his words, didn't look up to his proposal.

However, Li Zhibai's words clearly stated a fact in front of Huang Zhongjing and Wen Zhimao: with Liu Bige's current status, and his ability as a director, there are many people who want to fight for Liu Bige.

From Li Zhibai's perspective, he really didn't understand what Long Yan was thinking, interfering so severely with an auteur director like Liu Bige, who might not appear in one out of a hundred directors.

At the time of filming *Fake Death Won't Do*, there was a producer sent by Long Yan specifically on the scene to stare at all the filming links.

Not only that, even during post-editing, just what Li Zhibai knew, there were several conflicts in editing opinions.

Liu Bige's appearance that he wanted to present in the movie was different from what Long Yan wanted, and the two sides broke out several quarrels.

And their quarrels were basically based on commercial considerations.

Long Yan hoped that *Fake Death Won't Do* could be more commercial, more comedic, and have more distinct comedy effects.

Li Zhibai could understand a film company's commercial considerations for a movie. But he couldn't understand why they had to pursue commercial returns in Liu Bige's movie—so many directors could film that kind of orthodox commercial comedy, but they just had to struggle with Liu Bige.

The premiere scene of *Fake Death Won't Do*, although the starlight was not as dazzling as yesterday's *Love Letter*, it was also very dazzling.

Lu Yan He appeared on the red carpet of *Fake Death Won't Do* holding Chen Siqi's hand, which made all the media at the scene puzzled—

Yesterday on the red carpet of *Love Letter*, he didn't hold Chen Siqi's hand, but today for someone else's movie, he held it instead.

After entering the screening hall all the way, Lu Yan He's seat was exactly next to Japanese director Koichi Matsuyama.

Director Koichi Matsuyama is the director of *As Promised*, the only Japanese film shortlisted for the main competition unit this year, and is also a national treasure director of Japan.

He also has many fans in China—after all, among several national treasure directors in Japan, he is the only director who is clearly anti-war and has publicly condemned Japan's invasion behavior in the past.

It is precisely because of this reason that, besides *Fake Death Won't Do*, *As Promised* is one of the other two main competition films whose premiere Lu Yan He will attend.

"Director, hello," Lu Yan He greeted Koichi Matsuyama.

Koichi Matsuyama himself is a person with a relatively elegant temperament, looking like the kind of aura of a Japanese person.

He shook hands with Lu Yan He and congratulated him on filming a good movie.

The reputation of *Love Letter* in the media circle exploded, which has made it one of the hot favorites for awards at the Hezhou Film Festival. Although Koichi Matsuyama did not attend the premiere of this movie, he also heard about it from many people.

Lu Yan He: "Thank you, I am also looking forward to *As Promised*."

His communication with Koichi Matsuyama was just a shallow taste.

After all, it is a first acquaintance.

In the next two hours, Lu Yan He finished watching *Fake Death Won't Do* seriously.

A very good-looking romantic sketch movie.

It reminded Lu Yan He of Woody Allen's *To Rome with Love*, and also reminded Lu Yan He of *500 Days of Summer* and *Love is Not Blind*. They are all films that play with lines and character settings to create a style.

It is very light, not heavy, and doesn't come with a pretentious reversal at the end, like a short story published in a magazine.

There is a segment in it, Lu Yan He's impression is quite deep.

The male lead played by Li Zhibai has been pestered, and the whole person is in a state of going crazy and impatient, frequently swearing, scolding "I sun."

The "neurotic" female lead played by Ji Miao is also very fierce, directly hanging her eyes and asking: "You are sunning me in front of me all day long, who do you want to sun?"

Li Zhibai couldn't handle it at all, was retorted by Ji Miao until he was speechless, and finally only uttered a "I sun."

There are many such segments in the movie.

However—

In the handling of many comedy effects, it is still a bit too deliberate.

It is indeed very funny, but "funny for the sake of being funny," not so natural.

After the movie screening ended, when Lu Yan He stood up with everyone to applaud, Koichi Matsuyama suddenly asked Lu Yan He: "What do you think of this movie?"

Before Lu Yan He answered, Koichi Matsuyama said again: "It's a pity, it should have been possible to film a better movie."

Lu Yan He was stunned.

"I still prefer *Late Spring* that you cooperated on, that is the real movie."

Lu Yan He was silent and hesitated for a moment, and said: "It is indeed not perfect, but I like it very much."

Koichi Matsuyama looked at him with some surprise.

"Okay."

Lu Yan He also looked at Koichi Matsuyama with some surprise.

Chen Siqi turned to look over and asked: "Yan He, do you want to go with me to greet Director Min Hee-jin later?"

Lu Yan He smiled slightly at Koichi Matsuyama logically, ended the topic, and turned to smile at Chen Siqi.

"Okay."

"This male actor is really charming!"

Min Hee-jin's eyes shone, not hiding her mood at all—a look of being attracted to Li Zhibai.

"He makes me have the urge to push him onto the bed and force him," Min Hee-jin finished a sentence, which made Lu Yan He numb.

This Korean-American female director speaks very fiercely.

*Lovers*, which she filmed last year, was a dark horse in the North American awards season. Although it didn't win a few awards, it received a lot of nominations, making her highly watched in the European and American film circles.

Chen Siqi said with a smile: "Go and tell Li Zhibai face to face later, Li Zhibai is a very good friend of Yan He."

"That won't work, saying it face to face would be sexual harassment," Min Hee-jin immediately shook her hand, "I just want to say, he is really too charming."

She looked at Lu Yan He.

"Although you are also handsome in *Love Letter*, I still prefer Li Zhibai's style."

Lu Yan He said with a smile: "It doesn't matter, I accept it."

"Hope to have the opportunity to cooperate with you later," Min Hee-jin said, "Whether it is you or Li Zhibai, they are actors I very much want to cooperate with."

Lu Yan He said okay.

He actually didn't expect that Min Hee-jin would be of such a style.

After all, the movie *Lovers*, to some extent, is actually more similar to the style of *Love Letter*, telling the story of a pair of lovers who break up and reunite, and finally move toward breaking up. The whole film is shrouded in a "monologue" style narration, like an essay, quiet and depressed.

At this time, Schmidt Lawley of Green Valley Film Company walked toward him again.

Recommend the old book *I Became a Scandal Heroine Overnight* ===== CHAPTER 595 =====