Chapter 773: A new journey (7000-word update)

Lu Yan He always has a good impression of actors who have their own ideas and act seriously and hard, and has a filter.

Since he moved the program "The Birth of an Actor" to this world and it became a hit, it has actually derived a large number of acting variety shows.

Lu Yan He sometimes clicked in to watch.

Unlike "The Birth of an Actor", many later acting variety shows became serious "mentor-trainee" relationships.

But "The Birth of an Actor" is different. This program is a serious one where a large number of "acting pros" come to showcase themselves. They are truly engaged in an acting battle. As for other acting variety shows, most of them don't have much acting skill; let alone a battle, just being able to perform a scene properly is already quite an achievement.

Although the objective reality is like this, Lu Yan He will still feel sad and depressed for some moments—

For actors.

There are a few actors whose attitude and ability are there, but I don't know why, they received very harsh comments from the mentors.

This harshness, if you say it makes no sense, it makes sense. But the key is, so many who are clearly inferior to him, didn't reach the passing line, but can be "carefully and gently treated", even given opportunities, even just because "it is a blank sheet of paper", so no matter what it is, it can still arouse the so-called "guidance desire"—you even say this person is nothing, but has spiritual energy, feels like a good seedling, can film things.

Whenever this happens, Lu Yan He will feel sad for those who really want to be a good actor, and it is completely visible how high his requirements for himself are, just because of acting experience, he has not received good guidance, but his talent is not so strong.

Sometimes, Lu Yan He will even speak on his Weibo after watching a program, for example, the evaluation of a certain actor is described as "although there are many flaws, they are all flaws that can be corrected by a director on the set. Actors don't need to be perfect. If actors are perfect, what do you need a director for".

Of course, such content sent out will also encounter some questions.

For example, there are always many people who think that in this case, segments without directors and only actors are when an actor's comprehensive quality can truly be shown.

Many actors' final presentation is not just their own ability, but the director's coaching, which itself is also unfair.

When Lu Yan He saw this sentence, he was angry and laughed.

Fair?

Does performance even have a saying of fairness?

No way, really no way, Lu Yan He sometimes feels that he really has no way to communicate with people.

If it weren't for fear of entanglement and trouble, Lu Yan He really wanted to "discuss the Dao" with people properly.

Obviously, he can't do that either.

Can only order himself to exit Weibo quickly, don't say it.

The performance of Yu Mengling and Yang Shiyi in "Rouge Button" is like this.

Although Yang Shiyi is appearing in a film and television drama for the first time, he is a stage play actor, a very mature actor.

Therefore, many people are very shocked. In the clip released, the rival scenes between the two, the CP feeling between them is about to overflow the screen—the so-called CP feeling. Especially Yang Shiyi's performance, very pleasantly surprised. Most people can't catch Yu Mengling's drama—

It's not that her drama is very awesome, very difficult to catch, but her unique temperament, that image, makes many male actors stand in front of her, the picture is not very harmonious.

Doesn't match.

However, Yang Shiyi is really forming his own charm, with Yu Mengling's eyebrows and eyes looking at each other, the dust is gone.

The biggest difficulty of the drama version of "Rouge Button" is that everyone already knows the ending, and everyone has already watched the movie version and the Korean drama version.

There are many comparisons. At this time, launching another version, are the audiences interested? Want to watch?

The released clip collection swept away everyone's concerns.

Lu Yan He also understood why Ice Field Video, a platform mainly based on commercial value, would be willing to not arrange other film and television projects and variety shows for him to "squeeze" his value after signing Yang Shiyi and after "Rouge Button" finished filming.

Only by holding such a male actor in his hand can he hold a sense of mystery for the audience when "Rouge Button" is broadcast, and then be shocked by his performance.

Lu Yan He thinks, Ice Field Video must be satisfied with the drama version of "Rouge Button".

If not satisfied, they wouldn't do this.

Lu Yan He even feels that as soon as the drama version of "Rouge Button" is broadcast, Yang Shiyi will explode.

Yu Mengling will also explode—

If the drama version of "Rouge Button" is not acclaimed but not popular.

This Best Actress who has long been famous in the industry will truly see her talent on a large scale.

Lu Yan He feels it's really good.

After the press conference of the drama version of "Rouge Button" ended, Lu Yan He had dinner with Ice Field Video's senior management and the main creators of the drama version of "Rouge Button".

Chen Ziyan and Chen Siqi also rushed over.

The senior executive of Ice Field Video responsible for this project is called Yang Yongquan.

Before dinner started, Yang Yongquan smiled and asked Lu Yan He about his feelings about the "Rouge Button" clip.

Lu Yan He said: "Very surprised, and—"

He thought for a moment and said: "I originally thought I would subconsciously compare the drama version with the movie version, but I almost only watched it for a minute, and completely gave up this idea. Mengling sister and Shiyi acted completely differently, not affected by the movie version. What surprised me most is the art of this drama, Yang Zong, this drama shouldn't have spent little money, right?"

Yang Yongquan said: "The art set of this drama alone cost 70 million."

Lu Yan He showed shock.

"We all really hope to create a true masterpiece, not just ride the coattails of the film version's popularity," Yang Yongquan said. "Teacher Miao Yue's script went through several revisions, and you also provided many suggestions for it. When we finally approved the script, everyone had a common thought: we cannot let down such a good script and such good actors. Therefore, on top of the original budget, we specifically applied to Mr. Li and added an extra 80 million to the budget."

Lu Yan He nodded.

"Then is the cost of this drama very high?" Lu Yan He was a bit surprised. Anyway, with the volume of more than 20 episodes of this drama he saw, plus the final total, it should be at least 200 million or more.

However, the number Yang Yongquan finally said was not that high, it was 160 million.

Lu Yan He thought about it and knew.

Because the actor's pay is not high.

Although Yu Mengling is a Best Actress, she is not a big traffic star. She came to film this drama, the pay should only be a little over 10 million in total. Yang Shiyi is even less, it is estimated that even a fraction of Yu Mengling is not.

This drama, in terms of personnel remuneration, the bulk is estimated to be on Yu Mengling and the heads of various technical departments.

Seriously spending most of the funds on production.

A drama can make such a texture, which really made Lu Yan He not expect.

Yang Yongquan said again: "HP, Maxine, and several other international streaming media have also watched the clip. They are all very interested. Next, it depends on how they bid."

160 million production cost, plus promotional investment, at least 200 million must be invested.

Lu Yan He doesn't know if this drama can bring commercial returns to Ice Field Video.

Yang Yongquan was excited at this moment, it should be that today's feedback made him breathe a long sigh of relief, and he was in excitement.

Lu Yan He asked: "Then how is the investment promotion of the drama 'Rouge Button'?"

Yang Yongquan said: "Our investment promotion has just started, but judging from the feedback from today's press conference, it will definitely not be bad."

"That's good." Lu Yan He said with a smile, "Then look forward to the day when this drama is officially broadcast."

Yang Yongquan nodded.

He said again: "President Lu, actually, I also happen to want to chat with you about the drama adaptation of your other few movies. We all hope that like 'Rouge Button', we can invite you to serve as a producer."

Lu Yan He was stunned.

Yang Yongquan said: "This time the filming of 'Rouge Button', from script to actors, you provided us with a lot of guidance and help. This is also the reason why we were able to successfully finish filming this drama. We bought many drama adaptation rights of our movie version from Linghe. We hope that every one will be built according to the boutique, which very much needs you to make decisions and steer the helm at critical moments."

Actually, this time cooperating with Ice Field Video on the drama version of "Rouge Button", Lu Yan He is quite satisfied.

They basically respected Lu Yan He's opinions at every critical moment.

For example, the script, they not only found Miao Yue to write the script, but also gave enough time for Miao Yue to modify several drafts, instead of rushing to start filming and rushing to work.

For example, actors, whether it is Yu Mengling or Yang Shiyi, are his choices. If this is an ordinary project, that's fine, but this is not a small project. An S+ level big project with an investment of nearly 200 million for just over 20 episodes. Two leads, all using actors that Lu Yan He intends—

Such a thing, changing to anyone else, is an incredible thing.

Of course, finally, this newcomer Yang Shiyi was also signed to Ice Field Video. A drama produced a quasi-first-tier star, not a loss, or even can be said that even if "Rouge Button" lost money, as long as Yang Shiyi is produced, Ice Field Video's investment is actually earned.

But no matter what, using Yu Mengling, who is not a traffic star and even has not very high public popularity, and a pure newcomer as the lead, this is a very bold decision.

Even Lu Yan He himself has never been so "artistic and bold".

Although his dramas use newcomers and unknown actors as leads, there must also be a popular star who can carry the drama as the lead.

Precisely because of this, Lu Yan He was moved by Ice Field Video's sincerity.

They were truly using the utmost sincerity to make the drama version of "Rouge," rather than just trying to capitalize on the popularity of the film.

Lu Yan He said: "Yang Zong, if you need it, I am willing to join these projects."

Yang Yongquan laughed.

Halfway through the meal, Ice Field Video's boss Li Quansen also came.

He seemed to have come specifically.

"Sorry, sorry." Li Quansen had no airs at all, and as soon as he entered the door, he smiled and apologized to them, saying he was late, and congratulated them that today's press conference was a complete success and received high evaluations.

Lu Yan He's relationship with Li Quansen is not as close as with Arctic Light's Lin Desheng, but Li Quansen followed Arctic Light Video, made great efforts to contact Lu Yan He, and then tried every means to get a share of the pie from Lu Yan He and Arctic Light's cooperation. Over time, now many of Linghe's new projects are jointly broadcast by Ice Field Video and Arctic Light Video.

Of course, with the development of these few years, these two videos have basically left other video websites behind.

Lu Yan He's projects have played a very important power in it. However, it is not just Lu Yan He's projects. From their attitude towards Lu Yan He, it can be seen what kind of attitude they have towards creators. Naturally,

With a platform, funding, and respect, what else could a creator possibly need?

After clinking glasses with Li Quansen for a few rounds, Li Quansen asked Lu Yan He, "Yan He, do you plan to make a sequel to the story of 'Chinese Paladin'?" Lu Yan He shook his head and said, "I don't have that idea for now. It is already a complete story in itself. Perhaps in the future, I might make a sequel with the same theme, but the characters and everything else would definitely be different."

Li Quansen asked, "We want to make a spin-off of 'Chinese Paladin' using the original world-building and characters. What do you think?"

Lu Yan He said, "If you want to continue the popularity of 'Chinese Paladin,' I don't think a spin-off can achieve that."

Li Quansen nodded. "I know, and we don't expect the spin-off to reach the heights of the original. The cast of that one is basically impossible to replicate. However, didn't Li Xiaoyao and Zhao Linger have a child? We want to make a spin-off about this child after they grow up. It would actually be entirely new characters and a new story. But with the 'Chinese Paladin' brand, even if it's new characters and a new story, as long as the story and everything else are done well, we believe it will definitely gain significant attention. What do you think?"

Lu Yan He nodded. "That's true. However, Mr. Li, making a sequel always faces the difficulty that some of the audience will feel it's not as good as the first one, especially since the first one... almost everyone perished. Will the audience be able to accept it? Do people want to see the story of the next generation?"

Li Quansen: "We have conducted market research, and there are actually many people who are interested and want to watch it. Although we can foresee that the audience's reaction might be mixed, I also admit that this is indeed an attempt to ride the popularity of 'Chinese Paladin,' but we will definitely do it with the utmost sincerity."

Lu Yan He nodded and said, "I understand, Mr. Li. How about this: I understand your desire to develop a spin-off, but I also have to protect the value of the 'Chinese Paladin' IP. I'm not saying it's absolutely forbidden, nor am I saying that I must have a complete script before I agree to authorize you to do it. However, at the very least, let's have a relatively clear development concept first. If there is a good story that won't bury the 'Chinese Paladin' IP, then I will authorize it to Bingyuan. How does that sound?"

Upon hearing this, Li Quansen nodded and said, "Fine, as long as you don't object, that's fine. Don't worry, we will definitely find first-tier screenwriters and directors to make this show, and we will definitely use the top-tier resources to do it."

Lu Yan He said, "I've seen the trailer for 'Rouge,' and I trust you very much."

At the end of October, Lu Yan He went to the United Kingdom.

There were two things: one was the European premiere of "Raise the Red Lantern" in London, and the other was Zhou Ruo's solo art exhibition in London. Lu Yan He had said before that he would attend if he had time, and it just so happened to coincide.

No one expected that the premiere of "Raise the Red Lantern" in the UK would receive such an enthusiastic response.

Both British media and film critics praised the film, calling it the "Renaissance" of Chinese-language cinema.

Wang Zhong, Lu Yan He, and Chen Bige were all a bit surprised to hear such evaluations.

Such a film actually has quite a strong Eastern flavor.

Would the British actually like it?

Does this mean that this film could actually have higher expectations in Europe and America?

The British critical circle is the foreign critical circle that has the greatest influence on the American film industry, bar none.

The feelings Americans have toward the British are, more or less, a bit complicated.

No matter how developed the American economy is, the British are their ancestors, and in terms of cultural heritage, they are even more like the British's grandchildren.

On one hand, they repeatedly emphasize and promote pop culture, but on the other hand, they "awkwardly" align themselves with British seriousness and tradition.

This is especially evident at the Academy Awards.

Every year at the Oscars, there are bound to be 1-2 British films that become the big hits of the year.

Hollywood's favor and enthusiasm for British actors are even more famous.

The enthusiastic response from the British critical circle to "Raise the Red Lantern" seems to have made the film's "road to the Oscars" this year much clearer.

And Green Valley has already begun public relations for "Raise the Red Lantern."

In some of the earlier, less important awards, "Raise the Red Lantern" successfully received nominations for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Original Screenplay.

Chen Bige also received a nomination for Best Actress at one of the smaller awards.

The feedback from the British critical circle on "Raise the Red Lantern" has given Green Valley even more confidence in the film.

Just at this time, China also officially announced that it would submit "Raise the Red Lantern" for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film this year.

This is the first time Lu Yan He has led a Chinese-language film to charge into the awards season.

At the beginning, it was "Road to Glory," which was Lu Yan He's first charge into the awards season; it made some noise, but there were no results in the end.

Subsequently, it was "Love Letter," but that was a pleasant surprise. Neither Lu Yan He nor Green Valley did much maneuvering; it relied entirely on media buzz to gain some attention during the awards season, and it even got Chen Bige a nomination for Best Actress at the Golden Globe Awards.

Then, there was last year's "Tropical Rain," which was the first time Lu Yan He aggressively and truly played by the "PR" rules.

It's just that, although "Tropical Rain" was a Chinese-language film, it was a Malaysian film.

After all, it wasn't a Chinese film.

Although the Oscars don't have the global influence they had in the original timeline, as the most influential film award in the United States, coupled with Hollywood's status in the film production industry, the Oscars remain one of the top awards in the world.

And Chinese films have actually been winning awards at the four major international film festivals from time to time, yet they have almost never had any success at the Oscars.

It's not to say that the Oscars have any extraordinary significance for the Chinese film circle in this timeline, but when there is an influential award that Chinese films have hardly ever won, it becomes a matter of rarity and a challenge to overcome. After all, Chinese cinema has always been talking about "going out," and it can't just keep spinning around in its own backyard.

Now that a Lu Yan He has emerged, although no one has ever said anything directly to him, Lu Yan He is very clear that even the management departments of the film industry hope that he can lead Chinese cinema to achieve some success.

Just like Lu Yan He's achievements at the four major international film festivals in recent years. Lu Yan He's individual achievements are enough to support an entire industry—

The film industry really is just like this.

The Matthew effect is too exaggerated.

One "Home Alone" raked in over 500 million USD at the global box office, with overseas box office breaking 300 million USD, directly breaking the overseas box office record for Chinese-language films.

It has box office records, and it has awards.

A hexagonal warrior.

For Lu Yan He, what he hopes to achieve at this stage is that after accumulating the recognition and reputation of these industries, he can feed it back into some real Chinese films, allowing them to be taken seriously and obtain the achievements they deserve.

In November, "Raise the Red Lantern" held its premiere in North America, and subsequently, it opened in North America.

Green Valley arranged for Chen Bige to appear on two television programs, shoot magazine covers, and accept interviews.

Director Wang Zhong mainly focused on exclusive interviews with film magazines.

The promotional slogan Green Valley gave for "Raise the Red Lantern" to charge into this year's awards season was "A work that brings together the top directors, screenwriters, and actors of contemporary China."

Green Valley's main push for awards this year was for Best Foreign Language Film, so they also highlighted "China" very prominently in their PR and publicity.

Lu Yan He, in his capacity as a screenwriter, participated in several public filmmaker dialogue events.

Green Valley invited two Oscar-winning directors to have a dialogue with him and Wang Zhong; this move clearly intended to do PR for "Raise the Red Lantern."

Under such momentum, "Raise the Red Lantern" first opened in the United States in 8 theaters, focusing on word-of-mouth.

Sure enough, for such a film, without a large-scale entry of ordinary audiences, the initial word-of-mouth was indeed high.

The film itself is highly artistic, and every aspect is top-notch. As long as someone understands film, they can see the quality of this film. Moreover, every year at the Oscars, there are bound to be a few films with a more "Renaissance" style, even in a year when various "exotic" tastes were prevalent, there were still big hits with very classic narratives like "Conclave," "I'm Still Here," and "Brutalist."

Green Valley's positioning for "Raise the Red Lantern" was exactly such a film.

Lu Yan He actually asked Green Valley if there was any hope this year of doing PR for Chen Bige and Wang Zhong for Best Actress and Best Director, even if it was just a nomination.

But Green Valley said that this year, the categories for Best Actress and Best Director are both big years, and the competition in Europe and America is fierce. Unless the North American box office of "Raise the Red Lantern" performs a miracle, it will be very difficult to compete for them.

Lu Yan He took a look at this year's battle and immediately understood why Green Valley said that.

This year's Best Actress category can be described as a big melee. Although Chen Bige has gained a certain amount of attention, the volume of buzz is completely incomparable to other competitors.

The Best Director category is the same. Seven people in Europe and America who have won an Oscar for Best Director or have been nominated for Best Director at least twice have brought new works this year, and they are coming on strong. Wang Zhong hasn't been mixing in Hollywood before, so it's very difficult for him to stand out in this category.

Green Valley believes that helping them with PR is also a waste of time and money.

Lu Yan He feels it's quite a pity.

He himself has no intention of competing for Best Original Screenplay, but because he already has the reputation of a "genius screenwriter" in Hollywood, and thanks to the double explosion of the two films "Home Alone" and "Buried," plus the fact that he has scripts to film with companies like Parameter and Green Valley later on, whether it's the industry believing his achievements must be "recognized," or several forces hoping to help him win this award to feed back into the new films they are collaborating on, it has all allowed him to remain firmly on various nomination lists.

As for being unable to get nominations for individual awards, Wang Zhong and Chen Bige don't feel it's much of a pity—

As long as "Raise the Red Lantern" can have a good result, that's enough.

Wang Zhong doesn't really take the Oscars to heart.

After winning Best Director at the Xitu'er International Film Festival, he already has honors to his name. Whether he wins an Oscar or not doesn't affect his status in the country at all, and he himself has no intention of going to the United States to film English-language movies.

Chen Bige would certainly like to win if she could, but it doesn't matter if she doesn't.

She is currently the only actress in the country who has won three Best Actress awards at international film festivals, so she is actually quite calm in this regard.

They all put down the things on their hands, came to the United States, cooperated with Green Valley's PR activities, and seriously participated in the PR activities for "Raise the Red Lantern."

Lu Yan He had to return to the "Godless" crew to start the second phase of filming.

And at this time, several media outlets suddenly reported a piece of news: the Hexi Film Festival might not be able to be held next year.

Once the news came out, it shocked the entire international film scene.

As one of the four major international film festivals, especially the only top-tier film festival that produces award results through audience voting, it actually holds a unique position for many types of films.

For example, for films like "Love Letter" and "Rouge," if you take such films to film festivals like Xitu'er, they are basically destined to be cannon fodder and won't be well-received.

Only at the Hexi Film Festival can they obtain the honors that such films deserve.

They are not commercial films, but their artistry is not that high either—

This is actually a bit like the Sundance Film Festival in the United States.

What the audience chooses is good films that conform to the public aesthetic.

If such a film festival is not held, the impact would be too great. Once the news came out, almost every filmmaker began to inquire about the authenticity of the news, especially those preparing to submit films to the Hexi Film Festival next year.

When Lu Yan He saw this news, he roughly guessed that it was probably the Hexi Film Festival itself that started to release the wind.