Chapter 942

Lily Williams arrived wearing denim shorts and a T-shirt.

Sunlight filtered down through the dense, lush foliage, leaving behind a patch of deep shade.

She was a very beautiful girl.

Fresh and sunny, she looked a bit like an actress named Keira Knightley when she smiled—the one from *Pirates of the Caribbean*.

She belonged to the very small minority of Western actresses of the same age who were relatively close to Lu Yan He.

Lu Yan He usually remained quite cautious to avoid any rumors.

But the real change in Lu Yan He's attitude toward Lily Williams began from the time she stood up to defend him when he was attacked on the red carpet.

She had no romantic feelings for him. Lu Yan He was clear about this in his heart. That was why he dared to associate with her so openly—

Otherwise, he would only have thanked her silently and would absolutely not have been so proactive in lending her his own bodyguards and arranging a local guide after she arrived in China.

Lily Williams was simply a person of decent character. In this regard, she was the same as Arne Bogut, who had also starred in *The Mist*. Lu Yan He felt he was quite lucky to have met two decent Western actors right from the start—

If they had all been like Simon Schmid, even if *The Mist* had still achieved success, Lu Yan He estimated he would have developed a hostility toward Western actors and would never have been able to interact with everyone with the goodwill-based mindset he had now.

A person's perception of a place is often related to their first impression and the first few people they come into contact with.

Lu Yan He received her at his house in the Lingyang District.

Chen Siqi was there too.

However, she only came out to exchange greetings with Lily Williams before immediately heading to the second floor to continue working.

Lu Yan He and Lily Williams sat in the courtyard.

The weather was very nice today.

The sun was bright, but because Yuming was a northern city, sitting in the shade of the trees didn't feel hot at all.

Lu Yan He asked, "Have you been around to all the different places in Yuming lately?"

"Yeah." Lily Williams nodded with a smile. "Your city is amazing. The core area is actually in the old town, while all the more modern and developed areas are on the outskirts."

"Indeed." Lu Yan He nodded. "After all, it is an old city with a history of over a thousand years."

Lily said, "I saw many of your advertisements on the road. You must be a superstar in China, right?"

"Well, if I said no, it would be a bit of a lie." Lu Yan He said with a smile, "So, I guess so. Actually, you also have many fans who like you in China. You should know that, right?"

Lily nodded: "Yes, I know. When I came to promote *The Notebook*, I met many fans."

"Do you have any plans to join a production next?" Lu Yan He asked.

Lily Williams shook her head.

"Still looking at scripts," she said. "Do you have a script for me to act in?"

Lu Yan He: "Me? I'm going to collaborate with D19 on a few thriller and horror films, but I expect they'll all be small-to-medium budget movies. Do you still take on those kinds of films now?"

Lily Williams thought for a moment, shook her head, and said, "I want to, but my agent wouldn't agree. My agent is currently single-mindedly focused on getting me an Oscar."

"Oh?" Lu Yan He heard this, thought about it, and didn't find it surprising. He said, "Your current stage is indeed the best stage to aim for an Oscar."

For an actress to aim for an Oscar, in terms of age, the range between twenty and thirty is very advantageous—conversely, for male actors, this age group is not very advantageous at all.

The main reason is that in the film industry, good female roles are often concentrated between the ages of twenty and thirty, while good male roles are often found after the age of thirty-five, or even forty.

People's definition of a good male role is often based on life experience as the foundation of the character's charm.

Lily Williams's second advantage lies in the fact that she has already become a popular star in Hollywood over the past few years. She has box office appeal and representative works. In a sense, *The Notebook*, which she starred in, even has a high possibility of trying for the awards season this year. If it hits a slow year, under the right circumstances where the acting carries the film, it might not be impossible to have a good showing.

Furthermore, Lily Williams also has *Speed of Life and Death*, starring alongside Yan Liang. Given Lu Yan He's absolute confidence in the performance of this film, the box office results surely won't be bad. Under these circumstances, it is very understandable that her agent wants her to take on award-seeking roles. After all, Lily Williams has successfully transformed from an idol-type actor and can now portray more complex characters and themes. Now is the time when her momentum is at its best.

Lily Williams nodded.

"So scripts are hard to choose."

"Are you looking for the kind of award-seeking films that are of the film festival type?" Lu Yan He asked.

In the United States, it's not just the style of the four major film festival award-winning films that are called award-seeking films.

Lily Williams said, "I'm looking at all of them."

She suddenly remembered something: "Does *The Notebook* have any hope of winning an award? Soren said they want to help this film with awards season PR."

"This film might be able to get a nomination at the Oscars. After all, it achieved excellent box office results globally," Lu Yan He said. However, compared to the influence this film formed later, it really didn't have much of a harvest at the Oscars that year. "It depends on this year's situation. How should I put it? The overall style of this film is still too romanticized and idealized. In terms of artistry, it might not be enough, which is determined by the theme of the film itself. But the situation at the Oscars is different every year. If Soren really wants to throw money and PR at it, maybe they can still drum up some momentum."

Lu Yan He suddenly thought of the famous "water queen" Gwyneth Paltrow. He changed the subject and said, "However, if you rely solely on PR to get a nomination or an award, it's not a good thing. To be honest, this will damage your own reputation in the industry."

Lily Williams nodded.

"With your current momentum and status in Hollywood, as long as you continue to take on good works and hone your acting skills, winning an award will be a natural outcome when you encounter a good role in the future," Lu Yan He said. "Don't be in a hurry. We have an old saying in China: 'Haste makes waste.'"

"Will you have any works participating in the awards season this year?"

"Well, the film *The Boat* is about to start small-scale screenings in North America," Lu Yan He said. "However, this film might not be able to make much of a splash in the acting awards. It's mainly to see if it can aim for Best Foreign Language Film."

Lily Williams said, "Last year, *Storm Calmer No. 1* missing the nomination for Best Foreign Language Film really surprised us all."

"There are always unexpected things that happen. Learn to accept it," Lu Yan He smiled helplessly. "I hope *The Boat* has better luck this year."

Lily Williams said, "I watched the film *Love Letter* the day before yesterday."

"Oh?" Lu Yan He showed a look of surprise.

"I was chatting with some people in China about what their favorite movies were, and many people mentioned *Love Letter*," Lily Williams said. "This film wasn't particularly famous in the United States before."

"Indeed. Do you like it? I feel that perhaps for a film like *Love Letter*, this kind of sentiment is something Asians can feel a bit more," Lu Yan He said. "For audiences in Europe and America, it might be very difficult to completely empathize with the state of having a secret crush and liking someone without ever speaking up."

Lily Williams nodded.

"But the ending of this film still made me shed tears," she said with a smile. "You must have seen the news, right?" "Yeah, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, just couldn't help feeling a little sad, that's all. It's okay," Lily Williams said. "Watching this film of yours reminded me of many of the feelings I had when I liked him back then. Actually, I had also written him a love letter. Before I was with him, I had a secret crush on him for a long time."

Lu Yan He showed a look of surprise.

In his heart, a girl like Lily Williams should have been chased by boys since she was a child.

It wasn't that she was very beautiful and a goddess who couldn't let go of her status to pursue others. It was just that in Lu Yan He's view, Lily Williams was not only beautiful but also the type of style that boys around her would definitely like. She was sunny, youthful, and full of energy. Lu Yan He found it hard to imagine what she looked like having a secret crush on someone.

Of course, he reacted quickly; his reaction was too stereotypical.

Why couldn't she?

"Why did you break up back then?" Lu Yan He asked.

"He slept with another girl, and I caught him once. He swore he wouldn't betray me again. A week later, I caught him again, with the same girl," Lily Williams shrugged. "So, I swore I had to leave him."

"At that time, was he... already starting to use drugs?"

"I don't know. In front of me, he almost never did that kind of thing. He knew I didn't like it, including marijuana, which I also don't like," Lily Williams said. "My father passed away because of drug use. I always remember the huge trouble and shadow he caused our family when I was a child. Rudi knew that too, so maybe he had already started by then, but he didn't let me know."

Lu Yan He said, "After you broke up, you never contacted each other again?"

"Yeah." Lily Williams nodded. "Later, my work also got busier and busier."

A bad ending is always easy to make people feel a sense of sigh.

Lu Yan He said, "Then you now—"

"I'm single now," Lily Williams said. "It's because of this reason that Arne's girlfriend would mind Arne acting as a couple with me."

Lu Yan He: "Alright."

Lily Williams said, "I really envy you and your girlfriend. You were able to hold hands from your student days until now."

"You never know when love will happen, just like we didn't expect Li Zhibai to actually date Jiang Yuqian," Lu Yan He said. "Honestly, you probably can't imagine how shocked we were when we found out about this at the time."

Lily Williams smiled. "I can imagine. I also read some reports at the time. It is said that their romance caused a lot of controversy in China."

"Controversy... well, I guess so. After all, both of them have a crazy number of fans," Lu Yan He said. "If your dating news were to be exposed now, it would probably be at a level that would attract global attention, and there would be a large number of paparazzi following you, wanting to take some photos."

Lily Williams: "Even if I wasn't dating, I'm basically watched by paparazzi as soon as I go out now. It's been a little better these few days in China."

Lu Yan He: "You should come to China more often in the future, especially when you want to hide from those paparazzi."

"Yeah." Lily Williams nodded. "I like this house of yours. It's decorated really beautifully."

"Siqi's masterpiece."

"You're really lucky to have a girl like her."

"I think so too," Lu Yan He said with a smile.

In the evening, Lu Yan He hosted Lily Williams at home.

Linyu and Xu Zijun also came.

With just these few people, Lu Yan He knew Lily Williams didn't want to see too many people right now, and her current state wasn't suitable for it either.

Therefore, this dinner was completely relaxed and pleasant.

Originally, Linyu had suggested whether they could take this opportunity to do an exclusive interview with Lily Williams.

But Chen Siqi also said it wasn't appropriate this time, so they didn't bring it up.

After dinner, the few of them took a group photo together as a souvenir, and that was all.

The next day, Lily Williams returned to the United States.

To Lu Yan He and Chen Siqi's surprise, she wrote him an email in all seriousness, expressing her gratitude for these past few days.

Chen Siqi said, "She must have really had a hard time these past few days."

"Yeah," Lu Yan He said. "I'm going to New York in a few days to participate in the screening and promotion activities for *The Boat*. Do you have time to accompany me?"

"Sure, I'm relatively free this month," Chen Siqi asked. "Is *The Boat* going to continue to aim for the Oscars this year?"

"Yes," Lu Yan He nodded. "Besides Best Foreign Language Film, we are also watching the trend to see if we can simultaneously aim for the Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor categories."

"Is it helping Teacher Wen aim for Best Supporting Actor again?"

"Yes," Lu Yan He said. "In this film, the only one with room for performance is Teacher Wen. Previously at Xitu'er, his performance received unanimous praise from international media."

"What about you?"

"I will do some promotion, but they evaluated it and found that my character, as well as the performance presented in my film, is unlikely to have a good showing," Lu Yan He said. "Sister Ziyan also said that there's no need for me to force votes this year. It's better to continue to build presence and exposure and see if *The Original Father* has any hope of aiming for the Best Actor award next year."

"*The Original Father* is coming out next year?"

"Yes. Huang Tianlin has already declined other film festival invitations this year and decided to put *The Original Father* in next year's Xitu'er to participate in the main competition unit," Lu Yan He said. "Sister Ziyan has already watched the finished film. She said my performance in it is very outstanding. Huang Tianlin almost edited this film into a work where I am the absolute lead."

"Huang Tianlin is quite good at bringing out the best in you."

"Yeah, he is a director who is very good at bringing out the best in actors. This has to do with his shooting style. His shooting style is based on capturing the details of actors and characters, which really highlights the actors," Lu Yan He said. "*The Boat* suffers in this regard. Of course, as a film, *The Boat* is actually more artistic. I never expected *The Boat* to be shot in such an academic style while not being old-fashioned at all. From my own aesthetic point of view, I would prefer a film like *The Boat*, but as an actor, *The Original Father* highlights me more significantly."

"It's okay, both films are acted by you. Good works are yours, good roles are yours, and good performances are still yours," Chen Siqi laughed. "However, come to think of it, I originally thought you would write another script for Lily Williams. I thought the incident she experienced would bring you inspiration."

"You really understand me. I did have this thought," Lu Yan He said. "However, I have too many projects on hand right now, and I'm worried I won't be able to handle it all. So, before I write it out, I don't intend to tell her."

"So that's how it is."

"She has collaborated with me on several works recently, and she doesn't need to keep filming my movies," Lu Yan He said. "I increasingly feel that people must collaborate with different people to have different sparks. If Sister Ziyan hadn't picked the script *Tropical Rainy Season* back then, there wouldn't have been my collaboration with Huang Tianlin. Although Huang Tianlin doesn't admit it, I feel that he enjoys filming me more and more now. He can capture a most primitive impulse in me, like a certain wild quality, and then this quality will be magnified in his lens. It was only after I discovered this that I understood why he can always accurately capture my most textured performance moments."