Chapter 864: You never knew, did you?

In the field of media communication, many people hold a bias, feeling that public relations is just bribery.

At the North American Academy Awards, PR is nominally about using various reasonable and legitimate means to make those with voting qualifications increase their attention toward a certain film or filmmaker; the actual judgment is still based on the voters' own aesthetics and the quality of the film.

Of course, at this level, direct interest exchanges and bribery are indeed rare, but that does not mean there is true fairness.

To some extent, the fact that *Storm Calmer No. 1* could gain favor because its global box office was high enough is a form of unfairness for film awards—if that were truly reasonable, why bother with awards at all? Just judge by box office. But beyond this, most importantly, as PR continues, a group of PR managers who understand "implicit rules" and "game loopholes" has slowly emerged.

If you can afford to hire a PR manager and invest more in PR funds, you can let more people see this film and notice what is good about it. *Storm Calmer No. 1* did exactly this; the lobbying of media, newspapers, and PR managers, the recommendations of Hollywood power players, and even Lu Yan He's influence among Asian voters were all indirectly squeezing out other films. This is certainly not a direct form of unfairness, but it cannot be called objective fairness either.

At this very moment, Lu Yan He was not falling into any pangs of conscience—

Are you kidding?

He only felt a sense of relief, as if he had been holding his breath underwater for a long time, finally surfacing to take a breath, feeling refreshed—

Everything suddenly became clear.

An unprecedented sense of composure welled up from within.

Huang Tianlin's side was already contacting Lu Yan He's team, asking about his arrival date for the production.

His new film crew was already set up, just waiting for Lu Yan He to join.

Of course, Huang Tianlin was always slow in making films; besides Lu Yan He's role, there were several other roles in his film.

He was not the type of director who insisted on shooting in chronological order.

Regardless of whether Lu Yan He joined within a week, his film would start shooting.

After *Tropical Rainy Season* won the Oscar for Best International Feature Film, his next film work lacked no investment, nor did he worry about the scheduling issues of other actors. Unless they were top-tier actors, if a director of Huang Tianlin's level was told, "I can only give you thirty days of shooting time," he would say, "Sorry, don't bother coming."

If Lu Yan He really couldn't make it in time, Huang Tianlin would just shoot other people's parts first.

Lu Yan He's work here had already come to an end.

Judging from the current situation, it was already very stable that *Storm Calmer No. 1* would receive nominations in the Best International Feature Film and Best Supporting Actor categories.

Lu Yan He could indeed go off to film now.

He thought for a moment and replied to Huang Tianlin's side that he could join the production within a week.

The originally planned time to join was around this period anyway.

It was just that this way, Lu Yan He would have to fly directly from the United States to Malaysia, with no time to return to China in between.

However, this was something that couldn't be helped.

He still had to ask for leave later to attend the Galaxy Awards, so he would have to return to China then anyway.

Liu Bige and Wen Shengming would remain in the United States to continue participating in some commercial activities, PR promotional events, and parties.

Lu Yan He greeted them, packed up, and prepared to fly.

To the people of Malaysia, Lu Yan He was absolutely a top-tier actor.

Moreover, he was a top-tier actor they liked very much and felt a sense of closeness to.

The film *Tropical Rainy Season* had broken records by helping Malaysia win its first Oscar for Best International Feature Film, and the role Lu Yan He played in it had long been hyped up by all major media outlets.

And with Lu Yan He collaborating with Huang Tianlin on a new film again, everyone was full of anticipation.

It was as if, after *Tropical Rainy Season*, the film of their second collaboration was being pinned with high hopes, with people wishing it could once again represent Malaysian cinema to win world-class honors.

The news that Lu Yan He had landed at the Malaysian airport and was about to join Huang Tianlin's new film crew, once released, immediately became the headline news on Malaysian social media platforms.

The hotel where he was staying even gathered hundreds of people wanting to see him in person.

The warm welcome Lu Yan He received in Malaysia was just like the welcome Wen Shengming received in Wangxian when filming *The Boat*.

This left Lu Yan He astonished and somewhat flattered.

The hotel manager bit the bullet and came up to find Lu Yan He, asking him to go down and greet everyone; otherwise, given the current situation, it was possible that everyone would never leave.

Hearing this, Lu Yan He nodded and went.

As soon as he appeared at the hotel entrance, intense, roaring shouts and screams erupted from the scene, sounding like a tidal wave.

The hotel security guarded the perimeter, while Lu Yan He's security team protected him by his side.

They were being squeezed very hard.

Lu Yan He had to say again and again, "Thank you all, please keep order, okay?"

After much difficulty, once the scene was under control, Lu Yan He continued, "Thank you all for such a warm welcome. Because there were no public activities scheduled, I can only thank you in this simple way. However, because I am not the only one staying here, and there are other guests, I appreciate your enthusiasm, but please do not gather here afterward, as this will cause a lot of trouble for others. For the next period of time, I will be filming here, and I will rely on your understanding and help." The crowd around them then nodded one after another.

However, quite a few people still couldn't help but express their love for him, including cautiously asking if they could get an autograph.

Lu Yan He said, "There are too many people, I really can't sign for everyone one by one, please forgive me."

In this situation, if he wasn't a bit cold, it would inevitably trigger a new round of commotion.

Lu Yan He could only harden his heart and refuse everyone's request.

Otherwise, if you satisfy one, you must satisfy the other.

Fortunately, after Lu Yan He met and communicated with them face-to-face like this, these people still obediently left.

The very few who remained in place wouldn't cause much of an impact on the hotel anymore.

The footage of Lu Yan He being surrounded by fans at the hotel also made it onto the entertainment news pages of major media outlets around the world.

It was truly the posture of a world superstar.

At Lu Yan He's level, he indeed needed some of this kind of operation again.

There are only so many ecological niches for world-class TOP film superstars. If there isn't news like this from time to time to prove one's appeal, over time, the impression of being "TOP" will fade.

Huang Tianlin's film was currently tentatively titled *The Original Father*.

And in this film, the actor playing Lu Yan He's father was a veteran Malaysian film emperor, also an ethnic Chinese, named Yuan Zhihua.

A very simple name, just like his image.

And the actress Qin Shulan, who played his mother in *Tropical Rainy Season* and later signed with Shi Huo, would play his mother for the second time.

This film was still about family relationships.

But this time, the perspective was that of a grown son who, after being away from home for many years, returned because of his mother's illness. During the time he was caring for his mother, he had to face his parents directly, constantly recalling the various traumas he suffered in childhood, intertwined with his experiences of struggling outside all these years, and finally, the story of him cruelly picking up a knife to stab his father in the stomach, attempting to kill him.

Sometimes Lu Yan He really wanted to ask if there was truly a destiny in the dark.

To receive the film scripts for *The Boat* and *The Original Father* back-to-back, both of which were related to "patricide," was truly—

When Lu Yan He was trying on costumes, he was already gradually entering the character.

Compared to *The Boat*, the film *The Original Father* gave him a particularly large space to perform. Although the film title said "Father," the entire story unfolded around him, the son. From the flashbacks of childhood events to the wandering, lonely years of struggling away from home, and then to the emotional fluctuations and verbal conflicts while sharing a room with his parents in the present... it was all interlinked, and could almost be said to be the first half of a person's life.

It was a character biography—

And it could also be said to be a story of how a person faces their own riddled father-son relationship and, under the pressure of unhealable conflicts, moves toward self-destructive ruin.

A character with such dramatic tension.

To some extent, from the perspective of the film's overall quality, just looking at the script, *The Original Father* was not as good as *The Boat*. *The Boat* had a three-dimensional quality of a triangular structure composed of three characters, allowing the film to flow with an artistic beauty of character structure. However, *The Original Father* brought Lu Yan He a direct, cathartic emotional depth that he could completely immerse himself in; he could stand entirely from the character's perspective and act out his own scenes "without considering others."

Because every scene in *The Original Father* was actually facing himself, smashing into himself, and tearing himself apart.

After Lu Yan He was fully dressed in character, he found that he was so excited that his palms were even sweating a little.

He even had an urge that he couldn't wait.

"I've had many times before, crawling out of bed in the middle of the night, taking a knife, walking to your bedside, wanting to slash at your neck. You don't know, you sleep like the dead, like a dead pig, your snoring is louder than the squealing of a slaughtered pig. My anger and hatred drove me like a storm to pick up the knife, wanting to slash down. You never knew, did you?"

Lu Yan He looked coldly at the mirror in the fitting room, looking at himself in the mirror, as that line of dialogue from the script came out of his mouth.

Outside the door, someone's voice came: "Is there a problem?"

They heard Lu Yan He's voice in the fitting room and thought Lu Yan He was talking to them.

Lu Yan He came back to his senses, dazed for a moment, and then realized.

He looked at himself in the mirror again, then opened the door and walked out.

The self in the mirror remained in the empty fitting room.

Not long after, he would walk out again.

Lu Yan He knew this clearly, so he didn't need to look back.