Chapter 660: Fighting for time

Darren Wilson had originally prepared a speech for Lu Yan He to use in the later telephone interview with reporters, but Lu Yan He refused directly.

"Darren, it is a completely different nature for me to say some of my own real feelings and to hold the draft you gave me and say these words on the draft," Lu Yan He said. "I will definitely not do this kind of work."

Darren Wilson had to nod and said with a smile: "You have the final say."

For this kind of telephone interview, especially the telephone interview where both sides know what to say, Lu Yan He is actually a bit resistant because he doesn't want to show off.

However, because he had already promised others, no matter what he thought in his heart, Lu Yan He still focused on praising this film and Edward Hodgson's performance according to his feelings about the film.

At that time, how they will promote this passage and spread it to the ears of the target population is their business.

Darren Wilson picked up Lu Yan He and went to dinner together.

The dinner was arranged by him. Besides Edward Hodgson, he also invited Hua Ruzhen and another client under him, an Asian actor born and raised in the United States, Wang Jiaqi.

Wang Jiaqi's makeup is completely European and American style.

Lu Yan He doesn't appreciate this kind of dressing up much. However, this is everyone's aesthetic.

Lu Yan He won't say much either.

Wang Jiaqi has a drama series starring her, broadcast on the amn TV station, which has been filmed to the third season.

A drama can reach the third season, indicating that there is at least a certain audience.

Darren Wilson's arrangement for this dinner is clear at a glance—

Wang Jiaqi curiously asked Chen Ziyan a few questions about the current situation in China.

Chen Ziyan asked: "Have you been to China?"

Wang Jiaqi shook her head and said: "No, only heard my grandparents talk about it. They are from Jinkou."

Chen Ziyan: "Oh? That's very close to Yuming."

Darren Wilson said: "Among the Asians who grew up in the United States, her Chinese belongs to the kind that speaks very well."

Wang Jiaqi smiled, lazily fiddling with her hair, "Just can speak, can't write, don't recognize a few Chinese characters, mainly because grandparents only speak Chinese."

A few people chatted and laughed.

Each chatted away.

Edward Hodgson whispered to Lu Yan He: "Lu, do you have any film and television projects in Hollywood next?"

"Talking about it," Lu Yan He said. "Next year I will come to film the sequel to *The Mist*, but it might not be filmed in the United States."

Edward Hodgson: "Is the sequel to *The Mist* filming next year? Many friends around me are looking forward to this film. If they know this news, they will definitely be very excited."

Lu Yan He: "It should be correct, the news I received is like this."

In many actors, there is actually a common problem, which is a kind of "tone" rarely seen in ordinary people.

This tone wasn't to say they considered themselves superior, with a kind of aristocratic affectation. Rather, it was a "stage tone"—whether speaking or moving, it was as if there were a camera filming them at all times. You could clearly sense a "theatricality" polished by the stage.

For example, Edward Hodgson, he has a habit when speaking, often accompanied by a light nodding action at the end of a sentence.

In performance, this is an auxiliary action to emphasize emotional expression or tone expression. Edward Hodgson, however, seems to use it to express his importance to the person he is talking to, so that the other party has a feeling of "being focused on and being affirmed."

Lu Yan He was a bit surprised in his heart.

He was surprised at his current sensitivity to these things.

It's just that such sensitivity has more or less affected his communication with people now.

After all, people more or less have performance components. Only when a person is alone, there will be no performance components at all.

Edward Hodgson said: "I heard from Darren that you are also a screenwriter. *Love Letter*, which won an award at the Hexi Film Festival this year, is a work you wrote."

"Yes," Lu Yan He asked, "Have you watched *Love Letter*?"

Edward Hodgson shook his head and said: "I have been busy with the release and promotion of *Office Storm*, and haven't gone to the cinema."

Lu Yan He nodded.

"I will watch it later," Edward Hodgson said. "Darren told me that this is a love film with very Eastern philosophical thoughts."

Lu Yan He: "Actually, it doesn't matter if you don't watch it."

He waved his hand with a smile.

Edward Hodgson said: "However, doesn't *Love Letter* plan to do something in the awards season this year? It got more than 8 million US dollars in box office in the United States, which is the best result among foreign films, especially Asian films, and it also has two trophies from the Hexi Film Festival. Darren said that if operated and publicized well, *Love Letter* is not without a chance."

"That requires me to invest a lot of time and energy to do this thing," Lu Yan He said. "And, it's not necessarily that there will be gains. Every year, how many films claim to impact the awards season, but not every good film is suitable for your American awards season. *Office Storm* is a very good film, and it is also very suitable for the Oscar's taste, but if you put it into a film festival like the Xitu'er Film Festival, the evaluation will definitely not be as good as the evaluation obtained in the American awards season."

Good films and bad films are of course easy to distinguish.

But between good films and good films, more is actually the choice of aesthetics and preferences.

Taking the national teacher as an example, *Raise the Red Lantern* and *A Simple Noodle Story* are clear at a glance, but *Raise the Red Lantern* and *Ju Dou*?

These two styles are relatively similar.

Change another one, *Raise the Red Lantern* and *Coming Home*? The same director, the same female lead, setting aside the honors they won in their respective era backgrounds, purely from the perspective of an audience, can you clearly measure which film is better?

Not to mention, good films of different directors, different styles, and different subject matters.

Lu Yan He's words made Edward Hodgson thoughtful.

Edward Hodgson's eyes looking at Lu Yan He immediately changed.

After dinner, when they left, Edward Hodgson walked behind with Darren Wilson and whispered: "Lu Yan He doesn't seem to agree with the Oscars."

Darren Wilson looked at him and whispered: "He doesn't develop in Hollywood, he doesn't take the Oscars as the highest honor like us, isn't it very normal? Not to mention him, those who mainly mix in film festivals, they also don't like the Oscars, feeling that the Oscars are a hamburger with a very high degree of commercialization. These things, who doesn't know."

Edward Hodgson: "However, didn't he also impact the awards season before? The first time I knew him was because of the film *Road to Glory*."

"Is that his impact?" Darren Wilson said. "That was Green Valley doing public relations for him for the American release of *Road to Glory*. He only came here once or twice during that time, and didn't do public relations like a real competitor here."

Edward Hodgson: "I thought he valued this side very much."

"Can't say not value, if he didn't value it, he wouldn't develop here, wouldn't sign the overseas agency to Williams, and wouldn't come to film *The Mist* and *Hurricane 2*," Darren Wilson said. "However, that is different. If he really values the Hollywood market and really values this side more, after *The Mist*, he should have put his focus here." Edward Hodgson asked: "Then why did you still recommend him to a film like *Hurricane 2*?"

"Edward, he is not here to snatch resources from you, but the resources he holds can give you huge support, just like this time," Darren Wilson said. "You can calculate, in Hollywood, how many people like him whose focus is not on Hollywood development but are respected and sought after by Hollywood? I am worried, I don't know when he might be snatched away."

Edward Hodgson heard this and was quite surprised.

Actually, Darren Wilson can be considered a relatively responsible agent for his clients.

The clients he brought basically don't have competitive relationships, and their types and routes are very different.

Precisely because of this, Darren Wilson often integrates different resources, allowing them to come into contact with better projects that they might not necessarily come into contact with at their stage.

From Darren Wilson's actions in Edward Hodgson's awards season run this year, you can see his support for his clients.

In China, this is not rare, but it is not like this in Hollywood.

Because the relationship between agents and artists is often employment and collaboration, and generally speaking, agents are also divided very finely. Like Edward Hodgson's awards run, agents will not do it as meticulously as Darren Wilson, even using their private relationships to invite Lu Yan He to stand on the stage.

Edward Hodgson might not understand, but for Darren Wilson's various actions, Lu Yan He and Chen Ziyan know his intentions very well.

In Edward's view, Darren used his great personal connections to invite another client of his to help.

【No errors, first release, content seen at a glance!】

However, for Lu Yan He, this move by Darren is also a signal:

Darren can do this for his clients.

Today Edward needs it, Darren can find Lu Yan He for him.

One day in the future, if Lu Yan He needs it?

Will Darren also help him like this?

"The most critical thing is, if Edward really gets an Oscar nomination in the end, you know very well how much role Darren played in this process," Chen Ziyan smiled. "Isn't this a chance to show his strength? Your momentum is so fierce, Darren must also be worried that you will be dug away by others, and must show his energy and strength in front of you to keep you."

"I also felt it. Coming here this time, Darren's attitude toward me seems a bit different."

"He saw the value in you," Chen Ziyan said. "Besides your value as an actor and screenwriter, there are other values, such as the value of standing on the stage for Edward this time. If your support for Edward really helps Edward further open up the situation in the awards season, then you should worry that such things will come to you one after another in the future."

"However, if one word of mine is so useful, won't others question that I affected fairness?"

"This is because you are not in the Hollywood system and don't understand their environment. Why does Hollywood put public relations on the table? Because as long as you are indeed recommending a good film, you are not telling lies, and everything you do is to let good films be seen by more people, the recommendation itself is no problem."

Chen Ziyan paused and continued, "You know, we often talk about fairness, which is to exclude all factors that will affect the process and results, so we talk about melon fields and plum trees, talk about avoiding suspicion. But in the Oscar awards season, they care more about whether the final award result is worthy of this award. All parties show their magical powers. As long as there is no open bribery or buying votes, this ability to publicize and operate is also regarded as a matter of course."

Lu Yan He nodded.

"There is one more thing. Wang Jiaqi just revealed

Upon hearing this, Lu Yan He immediately straightened his expression.

"You said before that you intend to snipe all of Chen Pinhe's future projects. So, do you have any thoughts on this drama?" Chen Ziyan asked.

"Of course." Lu Yan He nodded. "If it should be sniped, then snipe it. Maxine's drama... why did they go directly to Chen Pinhe instead of Jiang Jun?"

Jiang Jun and Chen Pinhe are of a similar age; generally speaking, the roles that Chen Pinhe is cast in are roles that Jiang Jun could also play.

And Jiang Jun, thanks to "Squid Game," has leaped to become one of the hottest actors of the moment.

Chen Ziyan said, "I don't know about that, but it's normal to prioritize Chen Pinhe. He gained a lot of attention internationally in his early years. Even though Jiang Jun is hot, in terms of an actor's achievements and status, he still cannot compare to Chen Pinhe."

"I thought that at least for a Maxine drama, they would definitely prioritize Jiang Jun between the two of them."

Chen Ziyan: "That's not necessarily true. I need to go and find out what the situation is with this Maxine drama. Perhaps Maxine is only responsible for the funding, and they found another company domestically to produce it, and that company has worked with Chen Pinhe before. Of course, even if they hadn't worked together, it would be perfectly normal for them to prioritize Chen Pinhe. If someone had to choose between you and Chen Pinhe right now, people might still hesitate, but between him and Jiang Jun... you are overestimating Jiang Jun."

Lu Yan He calmed down.

He realized that he had been a bit unrealistic just now.

His disgust for Chen Pinhe was deeper than he had thought, even affecting his basic judgment.

"Of course, this is not to say that Jiang Jun cannot achieve strength comparable to Chen Pinhe in the next few years," Chen Ziyan said. "At the very least, in the domestic drama sector, Jiang Jun's achievements in these past few years have hit the ceiling."

Jiang Jun has long been known in the industry as the uncrowned king.

His acting is top-tier, but he just wasn't popular before; during his younger years, he didn't secure any major achievements.

Now, Jiang Jun's fame has soared, he lacks no heat, and he was nominated for Best Actor in a drama series at the Golden Globe Awards for "Squid Game," causing his status to skyrocket. He only needs a few more awards to solidify his position.

Lu Yan He immediately began to calculate. Indeed, if he relied on himself, he and Chen Pinhe were not on the same track. It would be very difficult to snipe his resources; he still needed an actor like Jiang Jun who could go head-to-head with Chen Pinhe in every aspect.

Lu Yan He cannot act in them himself, but he can be the director, he can invest, and he can write the scripts.

Many scripts flashed through his mind in an instant.

Ones that had box office explosions, ones that won awards, ones with exceptional audience word-of-mouth...

Lu Yan He didn't even realize it himself, but a raging fire had ignited in his eyes.

Chen Ziyan asked, "Is there any news from Luni Reis?"

"Not yet." Lu Yan He regained his composure and shook his head. "It will probably take him time to read the script; he can't give me an answer that quickly."

"I heard that Parameter is already reviewing Chen Pinhe's acting contract," Chen Ziyan said. "Chen Pinhe suddenly started urging the progress of the contract on Parameter's side. I suspect he must have heard the news that we were coming."

"Then we have to speed up our progress. If the contract is signed, it will be much harder to make Parameter change their mind than it is now," Lu Yan He frowned. "But it's not appropriate for us to urge Luni."

"Then let's find a reason to make Parameter not in a rush to sign the contract with Chen Pinhe," Chen Ziyan said. "There is a way: we take the initiative to contact Parameter directly and tell them that we have heard about this project. If they haven't finalized the actor yet, we want to talk to them about the possibility of a collaboration."

Lu Yan He was stunned.

"Will that be able to delay their progress in signing the contract with Chen Pinhe?"

"Yes," Chen Ziyan said. "I'm even quite confident about it. Compared to Chen Pinhe, you, an actor who is currently trending and just had a global box office hit of over 200 million USD, are absolutely attractive to Parameter. Regardless of who they think is better in the end, they will definitely seriously consider the possibility of you replacing Chen Pinhe. This can buy us some time."

Lu Yan He nodded.

"Alright, let's do that."

(End of chapter)