Chapter 232

The previous youngest Best Director was the 1991 Oscar winner, John Singleton, director of *Boyz n the Hood*, at 24 44.

On Oscar night, Xu Can was 20 years and 141 days old!

"Absolutely unprecedented and never to be repeated—a new record! Xu Can will probably hold onto it forever… if he can win the award."

Besides the Oscars, the focus of North American entertainment media was also on Taylor Swift.

"Recently, Xu Can's self-written, self-directed 05 and self-starring new film *Source Code* wrapped filming, with Emma Stone and Taylor Swift appearing."

"Taylor Swift's first foray into acting was once criticized by media and online public opinion; Taylor Swift responded by saying she would release a new single to hit back at those doubters."

"This single will be included in her third personal album *Speak Now*, to be released in the first quarter of this year. Fans, please look forward to it."

As soon as this news broke, TayTay's fans were the first to celebrate.

Originally, she had already won over a considerable fan base with her first two albums; the beautiful girl with the sweet voice quickly became a little diva of the European and American pop music scene.

The speed at which she gained tens of millions of followers was even faster than Xu Can's.

Fanatical fans left messages of support in her comment section one after another.

"Beautiful! Those guys don't know anything, they should be hit back hard!"

"Wow! A new song is coming out! I'll be the first to buy the album!"

"Can't wait, I've looped *Love Story* ten thousand times, want to hear the new song"

"What's wrong with acting in a movie? My TayTay's acting is definitely great"

"With Xu Can around, this movie can't possibly be bad"

"Let those haters see what a real genius looks like!"

Watching the warm and encouraging messages from fans in the comment section, TayTay hid behind her laptop screen and secretly laughed.

"See, there are still plenty of people who support me."

"That's for sure. Once this album of yours is released, more and more people will like you."

"Hehe, it's so nice having you by my side."

TayTay, who had previously been down because of the media's brainless attacks, now had her smile back, clinging to Xu Can quite affectionately.

Xu Can himself hadn't expected that he had only meant to comfort her a little,

but TayTay turned around and wrote out the future *Shake It Off* on the spot,

The creative environment was different from the previous life, so naturally the lyrics were quite different.

For example, "They say I have too many ex-boyfriends, can't keep a single one";

"My ex-boyfriend brought his new fling, she looked disgusted but I don't care,"

TayTay currently only had Xu Can as a boyfriend, completely the opposite of her previous life of constant dating and constant breakups.

These lyrics were all replaced by her, but the melody and concept of the whole song were exactly the same.

TayTay changed her past country style and began trying to use urban music styles like hip-hop and pop dance to produce her music.

Just as the songs on her third album *Speak Now* were already attempting to shake off the country music label and beginning to explore elements of rock, pop, etc.

*Shake It Off* joining in made the whole album richer in content and more diverse in style.

Xu Can was even looking forward to it—if she wrote future songs ahead of time, would new songs that didn't exist in the previous life appear in the future?

Then Xu Can would become the first person in both worlds to witness Taylor Swift's new songs!

"Well done! Keep creating, try to create more!" Xu Can couldn't help but kiss her on the cheek.

"Hmm?"

TayTay didn't catch what Xu Can was excited about and quickly pushed him away.

"Why'd you suddenly turn into a shameless capitalist? So eager to exploit my value?"

"Why not? Don't you normally exploit me too?"

Xu Can looked at TayTay with amusement.

"Come on, you can even drive on this broken road? Where does all that dirty talk come from… really."

Despite her verbal disdain, TayTay's pretty face couldn't help but flush.

Xu Can occasionally made suggestive jokes, and she actually quite enjoyed it.

It happened to be late at night, and both of them were in TayTay's apartment,

Soon they forgot about work, kissed deeply, and then went off to play video games.

……

After *Source Code* wrapped, Xu Can returned to his old life.

Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at Emma Stone's place; Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays to find TayTay; Sundays left for himself to rest.

TayTay and Stone Sister also tacitly forgot each other's threats.

There was no choice—after this film collaboration and getting to know each other better, both had come to appreciate each other's shining points.

Without Xu Can, the two of them could absolutely have become quite close good friends.

Even now they could chat together, occasionally going shopping and eating together outside of filming.

After parting, they could no longer hate each other, finding it hard to steel themselves to keep opposing, and even more unable to make up their minds to break up with Xu Can.

Faced with complicated emotional issues, the two coincidentally chose to slack off emotionally, handing the initiative entirely over to Xu Can's own sense of propriety.

Relying on long-formed inertia, they continued deceiving themselves and maintaining their relationship with Xu Can.

Believing he could make the most correct judgment—choose themselves, give up the other.

What if Xu Can didn't choose?

As long as no signs were seen, it was as if they didn't exist, just like two ostriches burying their heads in the sand.

For Xu Can himself, wasn't this just… a tacit acceptance?

The progress of the hidden ending seemed to have taken another big step forward.

Unfortunately, it was still missing some key element that would let the two of them completely lower their guard...

That final condition was likely to be extraordinarily demanding—comparable to the one-in-fourteen-million chance the Avengers faced when hunting for the sole possibility among those fourteen million futures against Thanos.

Even so, Xu Can would still do his best, leaving no regrets.

During this period, besides keeping the two women company, he was also in contact with the team back in China, preparing matters for the premiere of *Dying to Survive*.

*Dying to Survive* had officially locked in its release date, hitting theaters before the Oscars ceremony.

The main promotional battlegrounds were placed on two fronts: China and Hollywood.

China, as the home base for Chinese-language films, was naturally the primary box office warehouse.

Xu Can himself was afraid he'd find it hard to go there for promotion.

Fortunately, Ning Hao, Xu Zheng, Song Qian, Wang Chuanjun, and others could all attend the premiere and various roadshows, lending their voices to build buzz for the film.

Because the Chinese film market lacked habitual moviegoing, the promotional budget invested in China would be somewhat higher.

People who frequently watched movies might actively keep an eye on recent film developments,

but the majority of the public never even thought about going to the cinema—basically, only when the news or the buzz around them talked up a certain film would everyone remember to go see it.

On top of that, during the 2009 Spring Festival period, the concept of a "Spring Festival release slot" had not yet taken shape.

There was simply no habit of going to the movies on the first day of the New Year.

At most there was the "New Year release slot" around New Year's Day; on the first day of the Lunar New Year everyone was visiting relatives—who in their right mind would go to a cinema?

It was only later, as the flavor of the New Year grew fainter and fainter, that people needed more forms of entertainment, and combined with the verification of box office receipts, that the Spring Festival slot was gradually forged from an off-peak release slot into a hot slot no less booming than the summer slot.

In his previous life, *Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons* could be considered the first to eat the crab; now Xu Can would also become that Spring Festival slot trailblazer!

The magazine *Popular Cinema* expressed in an article its concern over Xu Can's choice of the Spring Festival slot.

"*Dying to Survive*'s serious subject matter in the Spring Festival slot may suffer from being out of its element, leading to poor box office."

"During a festive season of family togetherness and joy, a feel-good comedy story is more fitting."

Even some film industry figures expressed puzzlement at Xu Can's scheduling.

Director Feng Pants in an interview revealed:

"I'm afraid that as a Hollywood director, Xu Can still doesn't quite understand the patterns of the mainland film market."

"I don't know why he was in such a rush to lock in the date—actually, he could have waited until the summer slot, or at the very least the May Day slot would have worked..."

"A Spring Festival release probably won't get a great result... Of course, that's just my view; maybe Xu Can can give everyone a surprise."

Facing the "hot takes" on film scheduling at the time, *Dying to Survive* in the 2009 Spring Festival was practically drawing its sword and looking about in blank despair,

493 *Red Cliff 2* had nearly finished its run,

Ning Hao's new film *Crazy Racer* had also been out for two weeks,

*All's Well, Ends Well 2009* had been out for a week to a tepid response, 【】

The rest were super-obscure Hollywood and Hong Kong films like *Camp Rock*, *Look for a Star*, and *Bridge to Terabithia*.