Chapter 623: Some are righteous, some are rampant

On July 6th, *Can't Even Fake Death* held a special early screening, which both Lu Yan He and Yan Liang attended.

To avoid overshadowing the event, Lu Yan He waited until the screening started before quietly slipping into the theater in the dark.

The audience reaction at the scene was quite good.

There was laughter throughout.

Lu Yan He had already seen it once, and watching it a second time, he discovered some details he hadn't noticed before.

Liu Bige is still Liu Bige; he buried quite a few details and Easter eggs in it. After Long Yan Pictures insisted on making this film a commercial one, Liu Bige still consistently made many small designs in the film.

Including what Lu Yan He saw this time, the colors of the clothes worn by Li Zhibai and Ji Miao in every scene were actually very consistent with the tone of the scene, not to mention some of the props that appeared in the film, which were full of various metaphors.

Lu Yan He hadn't even thought in these directions when he watched it last time.

He suddenly felt that although this film might not necessarily become a darling of awards, it might become a classic in the hearts of many fans.

There is a segment of film audiences who love nothing more than digging for details in films and finding Easter eggs over and over again.

After the screening, there was thunderous applause.

It was only then that the people sitting next to Lu Yan He and Yan Liang realized that Lu Yan He had arrived at some point.

Liu Bige brought Li Zhibai, Ji Miao, and several other actors onto the stage.

Huang Tai also went on stage.

She can be said to be the one who appears in public the most among domestic film company bosses.

Of course, she herself has high popularity; having started as an actress, she is very good at dealing with everyone in front of the stage.

The people who attended the screening today were basically invited by Long Yan or the main creators.

In such an occasion, unlike the media screening where the situation is unpredictable, the reaction is basically enthusiastic and supportive.

A 60-point film can elicit 80-point applause, and an 80-point film can make people have the illusion that a classic in film history has been born.

However, whether everyone really likes this film and thinks it is good can still be glimpsed.

At least Lu Yan He felt that he didn't lose interest in watching this film a second time just because he already knew how the plot would develop.

The things inside the film are rich and detailed enough; there is plenty to see.

However, the speeches from everyone at the scene were nothing interesting; they were basically just praise, praise, and more praise.

Lu Yan He and Yan Liang were also called out by name to stand up and talk about their viewing experience.

The real highlight was the cocktail party after the screening.

Only in this place could one hear a little bit of real feedback.

Lu Yan He heard two people standing together communicating, and one of them said: "If this film wasn't directed by Liu Bige, it might have had a good reputation."

"Yes, actually, you can tell from *Late Spring* that Liu Bige is a master of storytelling, but the stylized things in *Late Spring* were too obvious, overshadowing the fact that the story itself was good. This time, in *Can't Even Fake Death*, he didn't play with those stylized things. It's still good, but there is some disappointment; we didn't see what we wanted to see."

This feeling is probably like going to a singer's concert—a singer you have liked since you were a child, and you can sing many of their hit songs—only to be surprised to find that the singer is singing songs you are unfamiliar with all night. Although they still sing very well, you always feel like something is missing.

As a director, as a creator, you only have the power to be unrestrained the first time you meet everyone, because starting from the second time, you have to face a cruel fact—everyone will look at you through colored glasses, and you are the one who put those glasses on them.

Lu Yan He felt that what they said was quite pertinent.

At this time, Chen Miao, the lead writer of *Dream Back*, came to Lu Yan He's side.

She is a media person who has been paying attention to him since he started acting and has published several articles supporting his works.

Because of *Jump Up*, Chen Miao later accepted several invitations to write review articles on the attribution of some influential awards.

Lu Yan He is quite familiar with her.

"Yan He, do you think this film will be more popular in Hexi or domestically?" Chen Miao asked.

Lu Yan He asked: "Will my answer be adopted into your article?"

Chen Miao smiled and said: "If I adopt it, I will obtain your consent in advance. I just want to hear more opinions from everyone now. I am a bit conflicted in my heart and haven't thought about how to write my article yet."

"Then I'll tell the truth. I think it will be more popular domestically," Lu Yan He said bluntly. "Maybe some people who expected Liu Dao to make a second work like *Late Spring* will be a bit disappointed, but for the audience, this film is undoubtedly good and interesting."

Chen Miao nodded and asked: "What about you? How do you view this film?"

"To tell the truth, I like it very much," Lu Yan He said. "But indeed, I have emotional factors involved, and I cannot judge objectively. I know too well why every shot in it was filmed that way and why it was acted that way. On this film, I cannot distinguish my rationality from my sensibility."

Chen Miao: "Alright, indeed, I shouldn't have asked you this question. My conflict lies in the fact that I worry if I give this film positive feedback, or if the feedback this film receives in the critical circle is all positive, Long Yan Pictures will treat Liu Bige as a commercial film director in the future and will no longer support him in making films like *Late Spring*."

Lu Yan He looked at Chen Miao in surprise upon hearing this.

Chen Miao said: "The internal conflict between him and Long Yan is actually something many people have known for a long time; this is not a secret."

After confirming that Chen Miao was not trying to trap him, Lu Yan He nodded noncommittally. "Are you trying to put together a big piece?"

Chen Miao: "Writing a fluff piece is meaningless. Long Yan's media relations have always been very good. By then, there might be many people blowing hot air about Liu Bige's successful transformation, and I don't want to join in blowing that kind of air. Especially, I still hope Liu Bige can film more films like *Late Spring*. The country doesn't lack films like *Can't Even Fake Death*, but it is very lacking in films like *Late Spring*. If Liu Dao himself wants to film such works, then forget it, but that's not the case."

Lu Yan He nodded.

He really didn't expect that there would be media people considering these issues to write their own review articles.

However, the fact that Chen Miao, Guan Su Chen, and the others have been able to write for so long and have always had such influence is indeed because they are different from those other media people; they are always thinking about issues and publishing articles with a clear target.

Commerce is always looking for the laws of making money, attempting to derive a formula that can be replicated.

But content creators, if they want to stand out, must go against the rules and have their own uniqueness.

Chen Miao asked with a smile again: "The following question is one I want to quote in my article."

Lu Yan He nodded.

"You ask."

"What is the real reason you decided to participate in *Hurricane 2*? I know you can't tell me the details, but I want to understand from which dimensions you made the considerations," Chen Miao said. "Your choice has guiding significance for the entire industry, especially for actors."

Lu Yan He waved his hand. "Don't put a high hat on me; I'm most afraid of high hats now."

Chen Miao laughed, nodded, and said: "Alright."

"Moreover, it's not convenient for me to answer this question. What I tell you must be what I can say," Lu Yan He smiled. "You know very well that as actors, when we choose a play, sometimes it's just a thought, and sometimes it's a consideration of many factors. Everything is a matter of timing, location, and people."

o￠o

Chen Miao: "That's enough. Your attitude itself is a kind of guidance."

"Ah?"

"You never avoid your utilitarianism," Chen Miao sighed. "Do you know? Sometimes, I watch many actors make choices, and they are too short-sighted and stupid in their utilitarianism, only looking at the one-third of an acre in front of them, which makes me feel a pity. And, as a fan of Chen Bige, I have to thank you."

"Thank me?"

"Thank you for making her prolific again," Chen Miao said. "These last few films of hers were all collaborations with you. When she first took on *Seventeen Layers*, I really thought she wouldn't be able to find suitable projects in the film circle. You know, especially for a top actress like her, she generally wouldn't go to be a 'border' lead for a male-led film. But there really aren't many female-led film projects, and good scripts are even rarer, and they are basically all aimed at the 20-to-30 age bracket. Fortunately, you used *Rouge* to revive her film career, and the later *Love Letter* and *Raise the Red Lantern* were all scripts you gave her."

Before Chen Miao said this, Lu Yan He hadn't realized it. It really was!

Chen Bige had already acted in so many of his scripts!

There was even a *Dragon Inn* that hadn't been officially announced yet!

Lu Yan He: "Who wouldn't want to collaborate with an actress like Sister Bige? Everyone just doesn't have good roles. It just so happens that I can write good roles and good scripts, but if she didn't act in them, my scripts might not have been recognized by others so quickly."

Chen Miao: "Mutual achievement. The film industry has always been an industry of mutual achievement."

Lu Yan He nodded.

The two chatted for a while, and Chen Miao suddenly said: "However, Li Zhibai's performance in *Can't Even Fake Death* is too refreshing. In the past, watching his dramas, I felt he could act; it wasn't that kind of routine acting, nor was it just self-indulgence. But those dramas didn't give me as strong a feeling as he did in this film. His sense of relaxation—if someone else acted it, it would be very easy to act exaggeratedly. He really has a natural ability to make flamboyance on him just right, giving people an artistic expression without being greasy."

"Li Zhibai will be very happy if he hears your praise for him," Lu Yan He said with a smile.

"In this regard, I feel he is invincible now. Domestic male actors, especially young male actors, including you—I'll tell the truth—there are still a few who can act in those complex, crazy, and difficult roles. You are the master of them; the more difficult and complex the role, the more outstanding you complete it. However, for simple, relaxed, comedic, and even slightly cartoonish flamboyant roles like in *Can't Even Fake Death*, almost no second person can be found. You have never acted in them either."

Lu Yan He gave her a thumbs up.

"You are indeed professional enough; great minds think alike," Lu Yan He said. "My view is the same as yours. Complex is easy to act, but simple is difficult. Li Zhibai is far ahead on this track; no one can compare to his sense of relaxation."

Chen Miao shook her head: "That's not just a problem of relaxation. His way of handling it—I don't know if it's talent or what—I have to study it carefully."

"Then do you think he has hope of winning an award?" Lu Yan He asked.

Chen Miao shook her head.

"This type of role is not a role favored by awards, unless the film *Can't Even Fake Death* is too good, where the play protects the person. Otherwise, he will receive high recognition within the industry but will not be able to win an award," Chen Miao said. "The aesthetics of award judges are still those complex roles with huge performance space, just like *Road to Glory*; this is a typical subject favored by mainstream awards."

Lu Yan He nodded.

"I heard that *Friends* has hope of impacting the three major awards this year?" Chen Miao asked. "We heard rumors that there is encouragement for excellent sitcoms to enter the scope of mainstream awards."

Lu Yan He: "I don't know about that. I hope so. However, I also know that wanting to change some stubborn prejudices is not an easy thing; it is difficult to change completely overnight."

Chen Miao: "The Golden Tripod Awards will announce the nomination list in about two or three weeks. Several of us media friends have discussed this issue before. In the next few days, we will use our channels to speak out and call for this matter."

"Thank you."

"Although we are just in the media business, we all hope that the performing arts industry will get better and better," Chen Miao said. "Only when you really go international do you know how weak our Chinese entertainment industry is. Although I am a media person, others won't care what articles you have written or what achievements you have made. When others hear you are from China, the reaction is that they don't look down on it much. It has only been slightly better in the last few years because some Chinese film and television dramas have emerged and been seen by them. You know, as a Chinese media person, when I interview foreign directors and actors, I often ask a question, asking them if they have any Chinese film and television works they like. Often, when I ask, they are works from ten or twenty years ago; I almost never hear of the last ten years, until the last few years, when the situation has changed."

Lu Yan He said: "However, there are still too few Chinese-language films on the international stage. There are one or two, but actually, with so many of us in China, if only those few people are active internationally, it is just an embellishment of world cinema. I hope it can be better and have more important weight."

Chen Miao nodded. "Let's work hard together. Although my strength is very meager, I will also do what I can."

"Your strength has never been meager," Lu Yan He shook his head. "My agent often says that if I can have today's achievements, at least half of it is due to the support of you media and film critics. Otherwise, a newcomer, a young person, why should he surpass those big names who have already achieved success and be pushed to this position so quickly? Thank you."

Chen Miao: "Keep it up."

According to the agreement signed between Chen Miao and Long Yan Pictures, Chen Miao's article cannot be published publicly before the official release.

The agreement Long Yan has with her is not a standard format agreement for media; it is signed separately, just because Chen Miao does not agree to give "100% positive reviews."

But this is also a good thing. For Chen Miao, she has plenty of time to write this article.

And before that, as Chen Miao said to Lu Yan He before, she and several media friends, including Guan Su Chen and Sanyang, had agreed to speak out together and call for *Friends* to enter the vision of mainstream awards and not be ignored anymore.

Their social media followers are actually not many; the most, Guan Su Chen, only has seven digits. On the Chinese internet, they are just a big V, not the kind of opinion leader who can stir up huge discussion and attention with a word.

However, the articles they published one after another, talking about the significance of *Friends* to Chinese-language television dramas and the achievements it has made, pointed directly to the neglect of the *Friends* series by the three major domestic television awards in the past.

After several seasons of accumulation, especially the reputation turnaround of *Friends*, it can already be said to be one of the hottest television dramas in the last ten years. This "one of" is one of the peaks of the pyramid.

Therefore, as soon as these articles were published, they immediately stirred up great attention.

Chen Miao wrote directly in her article: The Golden Tripod Awards nomination list is about to be announced. I hope this year's preliminary judges can seriously think about what kind of television drama is truly worthy of recognition.

Huang Lian was almost fainted with anger.

He didn't think that Chen Miao and the others suddenly published such articles at this time was spontaneous.

There must be someone behind it instructing them.

"You all look, if this isn't Lu Yan He behind the scenes inciting these people to charge for him, who believes it?"

At the Golden Tripod Awards Executive Committee meeting, Huang Lian was very angry, and he had an expression of "don't you all share a common hatred with me on this kind of thing."

At the executive committee meeting, Huang Lian's people immediately followed up, echoing: "This behavior is too much, it's simply bottomless. This is using public opinion to coerce us, insisting that *Friends* must win an award. How can they do this!"

Huang Lian said: "This kind of person is simply ignoring the rules. We must firmly oppose this behavior!"

"Right!"

"Chairman Huang, you say these articles were instructed by Lu Yan He behind the scenes. Does anyone have evidence?" A voice suddenly sounded.

Everyone looked over in surprise.

The person speaking was Gu Mo, who had just joined the executive committee two days ago.

Huang Lian looked over with unkind eyes.

"This is all a nailed-down thing. Do you think there is any other possibility?"

"Is it possible that these few people really think we shouldn't ignore *Friends*?" Gu Mo asked back.

For a moment, the conference room was so quiet that one could hear the breathing of everyone around.

Huang Lian: "Gu Mo, you used to be Luo Dao's student. I understand you helping Lu Yan He speak, but at this time, shouldn't you avoid suspicion?"

Gu Mo: "Chairman Huang, this has nothing to do with whether I am Luo Dao's student, right? We are just talking about the matter. A thing without evidence, yet you want to draw a conclusion. If this matter spreads out, isn't it a scandal?"

"Could it be that what is said in this room will be spread out?" Huang Lian asked.

"It's not like this kind of thing hasn't happened before. It seems to have happened before I came, right?" Gu Mo had an expression of sudden realization. "Oh, I remember, didn't the previous chairman, Ms. Liu Yun, have to step down because she said a few incorrect words at the meeting, which were then spread to the internet and stirred up a lot of public opinion?"

The people around held their breath, all pretending to be dead, not saying a word.

The anger in Huang Lian's eyes seemed to be about to condense into substance and burst out.

Gu Mo continued: "Whether the drama *Friends* should be shortlisted for the Golden Tripod Awards is itself a comprehensive orientation issue. Whether it is shortlisted or not, the attention is huge. At least we ourselves must be able to have a clear conscience internally. If we now determine that Lu Yan He is manipulating public opinion and wants to influence the selection just because of a few articles, who will think that such an approach is correct and objective?"

No one spoke.

Huang Lian: "Then according to your statement, we should ignore these articles?"

"You can ignore them. If we all think these articles interfered with the normal selection, then we should condemn such behavior in the name of the official," Gu Mo said. "And the key to this matter is, will such behavior really interfere with the selection of awards? These few articles did stir up a lot of public opinion and made many people discuss what the selection orientation of our Golden Tripod Awards should be, but did it really influence the choices of the preliminary judges in an improper way? This should need to be demonstrated, right?"

Huang Lian sneered.

But it was just a sneer.

Gu Mo's mouth was like a machine gun, shooting this already unreasonable statement into a sieve.

In the end, no one said they would take any action because of this matter.

After the meeting, Huang Lian threw a tantrum in his office in annoyance.

"What is he?!" Huang Lian roared at several committee members who belonged to his side. "At the next change of term, I don't want to see him appear among us again!"

"He is here alone without any relatives or friends, and he dares to say anything. But he alone cannot influence the overall situation. The list of preliminary judges this time was determined by us, rest assured," another person said to Huang Lian. "They will definitely choose a list that satisfies us."

Huang Lian immediately questioned: "Since he alone cannot influence the overall situation, why didn't any of you speak up when he was talking at the meeting just now?"

The others were silent.

Huang Lian also knew what they were thinking.

Behind Gu Mo is Luo Yuzhong. One Gu Mo certainly doesn't count for anything, but who wants to be the bird that sticks its head out and offends Luo Yuzhong?

Although Luo Yuzhong does not hold any position in any award or association, he is the top director in the TV drama director circle, with connections, relationships, resources, and background, all of which he has.

Huang Lian can ignore Luo Yuzhong, but they cannot.

Gu Mo dared to fire so fiercely, there must be Luo Yuzhong's instruction behind it.

"Huang Lian, this old thing, has no face left!"

Gu Mo was stunned, his heart sank.

He rarely saw his teacher get so angry.

As a big shot in the industry, Luo Yuzhong basically rarely gets so angry, except for some problems encountered during filming on set.

After all, most of the time, his industry status is here, and the people around him are respectful to him.

Gu Mo said: "Teacher, although I stopped him this time, the preliminary judges are basically people they chose. I am worried that this matter will still..."

"If it really is like this, then there is no way; we cannot interfere with the judges," Luo Yuzhong said. "However, if they really dare to turn a blind eye to *Friends* and continue to exclude it from the nomination list, it is not just social public opinion pressure; let's see how they explain it to the General Administration."

Gu Mo said: "Huang Lian doesn't look like he is worried about being troubled by the General Administration."

"He thinks he has someone who can support him and protect him," Luo Yuzhong sneered.

Gu Mo was a bit surprised upon hearing this. "Teacher, you mean..."

"Don't interfere with the judges' affairs, and don't take any action," Luo Yuzhong instructed.

Recommend the old book on the same entertainment theme, *I Became a Scandal Heroine Overnight*.

There will be a second update tonight; cast your monthly tickets! ===== CHAPTER 624 =====