Chapter 828

Wen Zichong said irritably, "Just because of one Weibo post—and I hadn't even named names—Jingtai kicked me out directly. This is 'killing the donkey the moment it leaves the mill'!"

"That's just Jingtai's style; don't be surprised. When I recommended you go there, I told you not to treat it as a good employer; it was just a place for you to pad your resume. Now that you've independently directed *Seventeen Layers: Reboot*, it's not a bad thing to pull out. Getting entangled with Jingtai for too long isn't a good thing either," Lian Bei said with a smile.

Lian Bei smiled.

"The *True Hero* project is a series of short stories I read in *Jump Up* magazine. There are five in total. It's an urban fantasy novel about a high school student who is actually the successor of a martial arts family. He possesses extraordinary skills and, relying on these skills, quietly fights bad guys and saves the world in a passionate story," he said. "I originally planned to do it after finishing *Office Woman*. Why don't you try your hand at this first? I've already negotiated with Bingyuan Video to make it into a 20-episode web series. It should have a stronger comic-book feel and be a bit more imaginative; it's considered an experimental project."

Wen Zichong said, "That doesn't sound like a mainstream project."

"Hmm, but I think it can be made into a niche-genre series," Lian Bei said. "Most importantly, I think this story has the potential to be serialized. In China, whether it's TV dramas or movies, modern stories with agents as protagonists are rare, mainly because it's hard to find a suitable character and story template, but this one is not bad."

Upon hearing this, Wen Zichong said, "Then I'll go read the novel first. Has the script been written?"

"The first five episodes have already been created," Lian Bei said. "It just so happens that this project is still in the incubation stage. If you are willing to take it over, I can be much more relaxed."

Wen Zichong and Lian Bei are friends.

Moreover, they are friends who have known each other for many years.

If it weren't for this relationship, Lian Bei wouldn't have recommended him to direct *Seventeen Layers: Reboot*.

Wen Zichong said, "Alright, I'll take a look."

The day Li Zhibai came to visit the set of *The Boat*, filming had already been underway for nearly half a month.

He had wanted to come for a long time.

The promotion for *Flying Over the Grass* was too intensive.

Li Zhibai knew they were filming in a village under Wangxian, so he brought a lot of food and drinks, eventually needing to rent a truck to bring it all over.

The crew was stunned by the scale of Li Zhibai's visit.

Lu Yan He was also very shocked and said, "What is going on with you?"

Li Zhibai said, "I was just worried that it wouldn't be convenient for you to buy food and drinks, so I brought some for you."

Lu Yan He: "That's too exaggerated."

Li Zhibai: "It's alright, it's alright. It's not too exaggerated, just average."

Lu Yan He: "*Flying Over the Grass* is so popular right now, and you still have time to visit the set."

Li Zhibai: "The promotion is indeed difficult to handle, it's tiring, but it's almost over."

Lu Yan He: "No more promotion afterward?"

"Yeah, the show is almost finished airing," Li Zhibai said. "This time I really used all my strength for the promotion. I've never had any other show with such an exaggerated promotion as *Flying Over the Grass*."

"It's mainly because there are many co-branded collaborations, and they all require your attendance, right?" Lu Yan He laughed. "Those co-branded collaborations only exist because of you. If you don't attend, they can't be formed."

"Too popular." Li Zhibai shook his head, sighing, "Really, my biggest trouble right now is being too popular."

Lu Yan He: "..."

???

Why does this sentence sound so familiar?

Li Zhibai asked, "You're filming this movie, but you don't look thin or tanned."

"I'm just here in the countryside to film, it doesn't mean I have to be tanned and thin," Lu Yan He said speechlessly.

Li Zhibai asked, "Then aren't you bored filming here?"

"It's not boring. I'm just filming in this village; I usually live in the county seat of Wangxian, so it's fine," Lu Yan He said. "Wangxian still has some places to visit; there are bookstores, teahouses—oh, right, that teahouse, there are still people telling stories there. If you're not in a hurry, you can go listen later."

Li Zhibai nodded.

"When will you finish filming this movie?"

"Late November at the latest," Lu Yan He said. "I haven't asked either; I just take the call sheet every day and film according to it. I have to go film *Friends* at the end of November."

Li Zhibai: "You're filming these two shows back-to-back, what about *Storm Calmer No. 1*? I heard that this movie of yours is going to participate in the North American awards season. There's so much PR to handle."

Lu Yan He said, "I'll participate after filming *Friends*. That's all I can do. Let's see if we can hang on until then. In the few precursor awards already announced, *Storm Calmer No. 1* is on the list for Best Foreign Language Film, but neither my performance nor Teacher Wen's has made it onto the nomination list. The situation is not as clear as we initially expected."

"It's okay, Chen Pinhe's *The Pianist* hasn't won anything yet either," Li Zhibai said. "Besides, *Storm Calmer No. 1* hasn't really started to exert its strength yet, has it?"

"It has already exerted a lot of strength, especially on Teacher Wen's side," Lu Yan He said helplessly. "But for those precursor awards, I don't know the reason, they didn't give it to Teacher Wen. It might be because the competition for Best Actor this year is too fierce."

Li Zhibai: "Then why not let Teacher Wen change to report for Best Supporting Actor? Change the route earlier?"

Lu Yan He said, "Schmidt will communicate with the PR manager to judge based on the situation."

Li Zhibai nodded.

"However, come to think of it, I can't be so greedy," Lu Yan He shrugged his shoulders. "Getting a nomination wasn't easy in the first place."

Especially after he had already received an Oscar Best Actor nomination for *The Mist 2*, the difficulty of getting another Oscar nomination in a short time increased sharply. And if everyone "sentenced him to death," the attention on Wen Shengming would also decrease accordingly.

Wen Shengming's popularity in North America is still too small.

The movie *Storm Calmer No. 1* only has some volume in the critical circles.

As for Green Valley, the operator, they have several works aiming for the Oscars this year. *Storm Calmer No. 1* is the only foreign language film, so they can go all out to secure the Best Foreign Language Film award, but for acting awards, Green Valley's internal resources have to fight each other.

"It's okay, even if *Storm Calmer No. 1* doesn't win anything in the acting awards in the end, this movie has pushed Teacher Wen to the international film scene," Li Zhibai said. "If it doesn't work this time, then come back next time. There's nothing to be anxious about."

Lu Yan He said, "That's easy to say, but no one knows when the next opportunity like this will come."

Li Zhibai: "That's not a reason for you to put so much pressure on yourself now. You didn't have such great pressure when you won the award yourself, and Teacher Wen cares even less. Opportunities and chances are things you can't force. If this year is really a big year for the Oscars and there are too many people competing for Best Actor, then that's not something we can reverse with manpower."

"Of course, I won't force myself; I'm just thinking about what else can be done," Lu Yan He said. "If we really talk about the performance in the movie, Teacher Wen's performance in *Storm Calmer No. 1* is definitely worth being seen."

Li Zhibai: "Actually, don't the critics and media also think Teacher Wen's performance is good enough?"

"Yes," Lu Yan He nodded. "If Teacher Wen were American or British, he would definitely be a hot contender for the awards season this year."

Li Zhibai: "Then it's just that too many people don't know him. Even if they see his acting is good, they think he's not the kind of actor who would come to Hollywood, so it's not worth recognizing with an award. Many powerful actors are 'ignored' for this reason."

Lu Yan He: "In the past two months, Teacher Wen and I have already released many signals in the United States and Europe."

"The problem is that most of the people you and Teacher Wen met are members of the Oscar Academy, right?" Li Zhibai said. "The precursor awards already announced are all media, magazine, or association awards. The composition of voters or judges is not consistent with the scope of your previous PR."

Lu Yan He: "But the results of these precursor awards will affect the decisions of those with voting qualifications. If Teacher Wen doesn't have much of a presence in the precursor awards, they won't vote for Teacher Wen either."

Of course, there have been nominees in history who were "hard-voted" in.

No presence in the early stages, then suddenly "airdropped" at the end, even more exaggerated than the "water queen" Gwyneth back then, just like that female lead in *To Leslie*.

But let alone that Lu Yan He doesn't have the ability to ensure Wen Shengming is "airdropped" now, even if he could, he wouldn't want to.

Everyone who was "hard-voted" in, or the famous water queen Gwyneth, whether it's a nomination or a trophy, held in their hands, is a notorious dark history.

This will suffer a huge backlash.

Compared to this, Lu Yan He would rather Wen Shengming not get a nomination in the end, and just uprightly rely on the movie *Storm Calmer No. 1* to let people in the European and American circles know that such an amazing actor exists.

But just as they were talking, Chen Ziyan brought some news.

She received a script for Wen Shengming.

It's the new movie by the great British director Wei Si Wright, who has won many major awards.

There is a supporting role in it that is suitable for Wen Shengming.

"It's just that I don't know if Teacher Wen would be willing to play a supporting role," Chen Ziyan sighed.

"For a movie by director Wei Si Wright, Oscar Best Actors and Best Actresses have all played supporting roles. Teacher Wen is not the kind of person who puts on airs; he won't disagree," Lu Yan He said. "However, Teacher Wen might also want to see the script."

"Yes, Wei Si Wright's side also wants to meet with Teacher Wen," Chen Ziyan said. "But they are only in Yuming this weekend and can meet once, then fly back to the UK on Sunday night. Of course, we can also wait until the movie *The Boat* is finished filming and then let Teacher Wen go to the UK to see him, but I'm afraid that 'the night is long and full of dreams' and it will be snatched away by others. For such an important role, I estimate that it's not just actors from China, Korea, and Japan who will snatch it once they know about it."

Lu Yan He asked, "Did they take the initiative to bring this script over this time, or?"

"I met Wei Si Wright's producer at a friend's party. I also claim to be Teacher Wen's agent to the outside world, responsible for his overseas agency business. Since he took the initiative to bring this up, I immediately took the initiative to say, let's see if we can arrange for the two of them to meet."

Lu Yan He: "Then you should talk to Teacher Wen and see what Teacher Wen thinks himself."

"Do you think Teacher Wen would be willing to go?"

"I don't know," Lu Yan He shook his head. "I think there's a high probability he won't be willing."

"I think so too," Chen Ziyan said. "Teacher Wen will definitely prioritize the filming of *The Boat*. With his current status, it doesn't allow him to ask for leave from the crew just to meet a director."

Lu Yan He: "Hmm, you have the same thought as me, even though that is director Wei Si Wright."

Chen Ziyan asked: "If it were you, would you ask for leave to go?"

"If it were when I first started in Hollywood, I would. Now, no," Lu Yan He said. "Teacher Wen going to Hollywood is not a route of starting from scratch. He has always appeared in front of everyone as the best actor in China, so he still needs to maintain a bit of his stature."

Chen Ziyan: "Then why do I feel like this play is going to fall through?"

"Not necessarily," Lu Yan He said. "Although Teacher Wen is filming *The Boat* now, the PR activities in North America haven't stopped, and media reports on Teacher Wen are also being released continuously. For director Wei Si Wright, as long as he has seen *Storm Calmer No. 1*, this role may not be so easily snatched by others. As long as Teacher Wen is willing to express his hope to participate in this movie, and the reason he can't go to meet now is just because he is filming in the crew and the task is heavy and he can't ask for leave, if he puts his attitude out there, director Wei Si Wright might appreciate such a Teacher Wen even more."

"That makes sense," Chen Ziyan said. "Anyway, I'll go talk to Teacher Wen first. It's just that I don't even have the script; those big Hollywood directors are very secretive about scripts and won't give me a copy."

"That's how Hollywood handles script confidentiality," Lu Yan He said. "Many scripts that come over are delivered by special personnel. Before the casting is confirmed, they will definitely not leave a script in our hands."

Dinner time.

Chen Ziyan and Li Zhibai sat opposite each other, staring at each other.

This is a very simple house with several tables inside, each with a sumptuous dinner.

This is a farmhouse near the filming location rented by the crew to serve as the crew canteen.

Chen Ziyan and Li Zhibai originally planned to eat first, but when they arrived, they found that they were eating communal meals and there was no separate serving.

For this table of food, it wouldn't be good for the two of them to start eating before others arrived.

Fortunately, they didn't wait too long; after seven or eight minutes, everyone arrived.

"Hurry up, hurry up, yesterday it was you guys who were dawdling, and the food got cold," someone complained.

Then someone saw Chen Ziyan and Li Zhibai.

Everyone greeted them with surprise.

Chen Ziyan and Li Zhibai also greeted them.

After about two more minutes, Lu Yan He, Yu Mengling, Wen Shengming, and the others came over.

"Yo, why haven't you eaten yet?" Luo Yuzhong asked.

"Waiting for you all to come and eat together," Chen Ziyan said. "Our crew's food conditions are good enough; this sumptuous table makes me drool."

Li Zhibai nodded: "There's even braised soft-shelled turtle; I feel like this sauce could go with three bowls of rice."

Lu Yan He: "And then Lin Suyang will rush here overnight to induce vomiting for you."

Everyone sat down, chatting and laughing.

"But I think this chef's craft is really good," Lu Yan He said. "I've eaten a bowl and a half these past few days, and that's already me controlling myself very much, making me have to run early every morning, otherwise I'll definitely gain weight."

Chen Ziyan said: "Did you take that fat-burning pill I brought you last time?"

"I took it," Lu Yan He said. "But I feel like that's just psychological comfort; it has no effect."

Yu Mengling: "You run six kilometers every morning, and you don't eat much at night, so there's no room for growth at all."

Lu Yan He: "That's not it. It's fortunate that I started exercising now, otherwise I think I would have become fat long ago. I didn't like snacks so much before, but now I love them too."

Yu Mengling: "What did you eat? I've never seen you eat anything."

"Because I can't help but eat before going to sleep," Lu Yan He sighed. "I'm a glutton."

Luo Yuzhong laughed.

Wen Shengming said: "No wonder you have to get up to run the next morning; it turns out it's to destroy the evidence of the previous night."

"That's right," Lu Yan He said. "Speaking of this, I must say, as an actor, maintaining one's figure is too painful. I really didn't think maintaining one's figure was a painful thing before, but now it's not."

"You have a craving for food now."

"And your metabolism is also slowly decreasing," Yu Mengling laughed. "You will feel this point as your age slowly increases." (End of chapter)