Chapter 402: Eagle Catches the Chick

Before Peng Haoxiang received the summons from Cannes, he had actually been thinking about terminating his contract with the Huanxin Company.

From 2009 to 2011, in those two years, he wrote five scripts and directed two films.

However, his company was unwilling to invest any money, and in the end, he had to rely entirely on himself, running around everywhere to sell his face and scrape together investments.

*Dream Home* was something he ran around to find funding for from the He family in Macau. As for *The High Cost of Living*, that was investment he pulled in from Taiwan capital.

In the process, the role Huanxin Company played was merely lending him a name, and the agent they sent could help him negotiate prices and drive the car. That was all.

Although they didn't help him much, there were plenty of rules.

For his *Love in a Puff*, he painstakingly wrote the script and had already reached an agreement with Du Weize, but the company not only refused to invest, they used the excuse that "the cast does not conform to the company's strategy" to prevent him from signing a contract with anyone, which ultimately led to the film never being made. Du Weize also eventually almost severed ties with him.

"The cast does not conform to the company's strategy"!?

What kind of damn excuse is that!

Honestly, in that instant, Peng Haoxiang was so angry he almost wanted to call the boss directly to ask for a clear explanation!

However...

He wasn't valued. It was normal. As a Hong Kong director, many of the films he shot were Category III films with Hong Kong characteristics; talking about making big money was impossible. In a company like Huanxin, being a fringe player was understandable.

Besides, having someone behind you really made things much more convenient.

He couldn't lie to his conscience and say that the He family and the Taiwan side investing in his films had nothing to do with his boss's face, and that they just handed him 10 or 20 million Hong Kong dollars to squander based on his name, Fatty Peng, alone.

Likewise, the box office results of those two films were right there.

*Dream Home* grossed 380,000 USD, and *The High Cost of Living* was slightly better at 460,000.

*Cough*, with this box office performance, he really couldn't blame the company for not investing. The He family and the Taiwan side invested, and it seemed they all lost money, right?

If there wasn't a director named Ning Hao in the same company, Peng Haoxiang would also feel that, as a wage earner, he could still endure it.

But the reality was right there.

What were Ning Hao and him like? Like Bu Jingyun and Nie Feng?

No, they were clearly damn Xiong Ba and Wen Chou Chou!

"Xiangzai, I've said it before, the boss still values you very much. Don't be stubborn, don't be angry, okay? What Wen Chou Chou, I won't allow you to talk about yourself like that!"

A noisy voice chattered incessantly in his ear, but Peng Haoxiang turned a deaf ear.

It wasn't his first time in Cannes, France, but he had never been there during the film festival.

When he walked into the Nice Côte d'Azur International Airport, he was surrounded by the overwhelming atmosphere of the film festival.

Promotional posters for the 64th Cannes Film Festival were everywhere in the airport. "Welcome to Cannes Film Festival 2011" banners hung in almost every corner.

In the center of the airport lobby after immigration, a giant sculpture of the Palme d'Or trophy shone under the lights, attracting everyone's gaze.

Around it, many film posters hung from the ceiling, surrounding it.

Peng Haoxiang dragged his luggage, his pace slowing unconsciously, his gaze lingering among these posters.

He knew these posters were all films selected for the main competition section of this year's Cannes Film Festival.

Woody Allen's *Midnight in Paris* occupied the most prominent position as the opening film, the romantic Parisian night view and Owen Wilson's smile evoking infinite reverie.

Terrence Malick's *The Tree of Life* was on the other side, with a stunning cosmic nebula as the background, Brad Pitt's deep gaze striking straight to the heart.

Further over, Zoe Saldana turned elegantly on the promotional poster for *The Tree of Life*.

Even higher up, Kirsten Dunst gazed melancholically from the *Melancholia* poster.

Peng Haoxiang took a deep breath; it must be an illusion. He seemed to smell the scent of film.

Yes, any filmmaker, in this thick film atmosphere, would feel that every breath had the magic of cinema, thus feeling relaxed and happy.

What's more, at this moment, in the airport broadcasts, French and English intertwined, continuously playing the film festival's welcome message, reminding guests to head to the dedicated bus and helicopter services to Cannes.

Every ground staff member wore a uniform printed with the Palme d'Or logo, busily guiding newly arrived passengers.

These bits and pieces were constantly reminding the guests who came here.

This is Cannes,

It is the Rome for countless filmmakers around the world.

"Xiangzai, did you hear what I said or not."

"Heard it, heard it, will you shut up!"

"Shut up, shut up, all day long you only know how to tell me to shut up. If I don't brief you properly, and you put on a sour face in front of the boss, I'm afraid the boss will fire me."

"If you don't shut up, do you believe I'll fire you?"

"Alright, I'll shut up. I just want to tell you, when you see the boss later, don't say those random things. Since the boss called you over, it means he still keeps you in his heart, don't be sad anymore."

The person who had been talking beside Peng Haoxiang was named Zhang Xin, the agent assigned to him by the Huanxin Company.

He was tall and thin, a returnee from Europe, a Cantonese, and fluent in English, French, Chinese, and Portuguese. His home was in Shenzhen, making it very convenient to stay in touch with him, and he was also very capable. You could say everything about him was great, except that he was such a chatterbox that sometimes you'd want to give him a couple of slaps.

"Damn it, I'm sad your mother!" Peng Haoxiang said irritably, "Hurry and find where the person picking us up is, didn't you say there was a car coming to pick us up?"

"It's right there, holding such a big sign, you're short so you can't see, I saw it a long time ago!"

"Screw your mother!"

Sitting in the Citroën DS5 sedan the French driver used to pick them up, feeling the black leather seats and the faint woody fragrance inside the car, Peng Haoxiang felt a sense of being valued, and his mood improved a bit.

"Look, although the boss invested 70 million in *No Man's Land*, hired Tony Leung to play the male lead, and even made a cameo in his film himself."

"At the Cannes premiere two days ago, he even sold favors to pull Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Ryan Gosling, and Woody Allen to support the scene, and Cannes President Gilles Jacob and Artistic Director Thierry Frémaux also attended, making *No Man's Land* look so grand, and Ning Hao so glorious..."

"But, Xiangzai, you still have a Citroën to sit in now, right? The boss still cares about you very much."

Damn!

Peng Haoxiang's mood, which had just improved a little, instantly returned to zero, "Shut your mouth! If you don't talk, no one will treat you as a mute! Go to hell!"

He had no mood to deal with his own crazy agent anymore, turning his head to look at the scenery outside the car window.

At this time, the Citroën had just driven out of the airport parking lot and arrived at the departure boulevard of the Nice Côte d'Azur International Airport. Here, there were also giant billboards about the film festival.

They were some image advertisements.

The first one facing them was Cannes Film Festival President Gilles Jacob, the second was Woody Allen, the third was Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt,

The fourth...

Was a half-body portrait of a Chinese man.

He was wearing a white shirt, a bow tie, and a black suit, on a 5-meter-high giant screen, facing the vehicles coming and going on the road, revealing a gentle and polite smile.

It looked... Peng Haoxiang was lecherous, but he didn't like men, yet he also had a feeling of being dazzled.

The text on this advertisement was slightly different from the previous ones; the previous ones were all in French and English, but on this image advertisement, it was French and Chinese.

There was a bit of a traffic jam, so Peng Haoxiang was able to see every word on it clearly.

The largest line read: "Bienvenue au festival de Cannes 2011. Welcome to the 2011 Cannes Film Festival."

A slightly smaller line read: "Chen Nuo, meilleur acteur de l'annee 2009. Salue ici l'art du cinema. Chen Nuo, 2009 Best Actor. Paying tribute to the art of cinema here."

The background was the golden facade of the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès, dotted with the Palme d'Or logo.

"Wow, the boss looks so handsome in this ad! So imposing, really has a lot of face! Xiangzai, don't you think?" The noisy voice started up again.

This time Peng Haoxiang didn't curse or pay attention to Zhang Xin, but instead began to ponder in his heart.

What exactly was the company doing by suddenly notifying him to come to Cannes urgently?

Could it really be as the crazy agent said, that they wanted to reuse him?

No way, right?

If they wanted him to shoot a film, the Cannes Film Festival would close in three days, why did they have to call him to France?

Unless, they urgently needed one of his skills.

But he, Fatty Peng, who had roamed the world and was known as a genius of Hong Kong cinema, actually only relied on one skill.

Not directing, but writing scripts.

And the scripts he was best at were the heavy-taste ones unique to the Hong Kong region and banned in the Mainland.

From the female lead going on a killing spree to buy a house in *Dream Home*, to the absurd struggle of small bottom-level characters in the gangster world in *The High Cost of Living*, from the strange combination of a hitman and an advertising director in *You Shoot, I Shoot*, to the ambiguity and entanglement of men and women in the smoke in *Love in a Puff*,

He was good at using seemingly bizarre settings to observe human nature under a magnifying glass, and letting the audience face the cruel truth of social classes in the tense rhythm and constantly reversing plots.

Did this have anything to do with why he came to Cannes?

"... *Squid Game*, this is the name I prepared at the beginning, because the inspiration came from this game in Korea. However, the game content inside definitely needs to be changed to Chinese games. As for how to change it, how to write it. And how the 456 contestants inside will unfold their slaughter! That will depend on the three of you working together."

This was the lobby of a villa, located on a quiet hillside in downtown Cannes. Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows was the azure shimmering light of the Mediterranean Sea, and the sunset spilled onto the wooden floor, reflecting a warm gold. Chen Nuo sat on a beige leather sofa, leaning forward, facing Peng Haoxiang and two other men.

These three looked at each other. A middle-aged man with a crew cut and a bit of handsomeness hesitated and said: "Chen Sheng, the concept you mentioned feels similar to the Japanese *Battle Royale*. A show like this... it seems it won't be easy to pass censorship in the Mainland, right?"

Chen Nuo smiled: "You Laoshi, the TV series we are going to shoot this time is not intended to be shown in the Mainland."

Peng Haoxiang said: "Boss, you mean... this TV series is intended to be shown in Hong Kong?" "Not that either. You will be shooting it in Hong Kong at that time, but in the end, I want to cooperate with Netflix."

"Ah?"

Peng Haoxiang straightened his back all at once. Not just him, the other two also widened their eyes a bit.

"Netflix?" The last man, a middle-aged man with a short beard and a slightly chubby figure, repeated, "Chen Sheng, are you talking about that American company Netflix that rents videotapes?"

Chen Nuo smiled: "Yes, that's it, but it's no longer planning to just rent videotapes. I don't know if you understand their recent moves and their streaming media strategy..."

Next, Chen Nuo explained patiently.

No choice, because among the three people opposite him, except for little Peng, the other two were not oxen or horses he could order around at will; he had to explain the ins and outs clearly.

Because to invite these two people to Cannes, he even had Peter Chan and Wong Kar-wai help out.

The crew-cut man was named Yau Nai-hoi, a screenwriter who had long-term cooperation with Johnnie To's Milkyway Image, known as Hong Kong's most "eerie" screenwriter, having won the Hong Kong Film Award for Best Screenplay multiple times for works such as *Expect the Unexpected*, *Eye in the Sky*, and *PTU*.

Wai Ka-fai, a legendary figure in Hong Kong film and TV screenwriting, another pillar of Milkyway Image. Not only was he the screenwriter for classic films such as *Peace Hotel* and *Too Many Ways to Be No. 1*, but he also laid the cornerstone for the golden age of Hong Kong dramas with TVB series such as *The Greed of Man* and *Looking Back in Anger*. His friendship with Wong Kar-wai was extraordinary.

In addition, add a Fatty Peng.

How to put it?

This "dream lineup" among Hong Kong screenwriters, under his guidance, writing a "Squid Game" with Hong Kong-style violent aesthetics, should be no problem at all.

"... When I heard it was prepared to take out 100 million USD to make content, I thought, perhaps this is an opportunity. Not to mention 100 million, if we find a way to get 50 million USD in production costs, I think it should be enough for us to shoot a pretty good TV series. What do you think?"

Peng Haoxiang and the three looked at each other. Three Hong Kong people, all could see what was in each other's eyes.

It was excitement!

An hour ago, how disappointed Peng Haoxiang was, now he was that excited!

When he heard he was asked to write and direct a TV series, he thought it was *The Return of the Condor Heroes* or something like TVB; he was a dignified film director, asking him to direct a TV series, even if it didn't count as an insult, it definitely wouldn't be very comfortable.

As a result, he didn't expect it to be a damn 50 million USD TV series! It sounded strange and bizarre, and quite interesting.

Damn it!

50 million USD, what kind of concept is this for the Hong Kong market?

It was like dropping an atomic bomb on this palm-sized land of over 1,000 square kilometers!

Before this, the largest production in Hong Kong came from *The Storm Warriors II* invested by Media Asia Films in 2009, claiming to cost 120 million HKD, about 15 million USD, gathering an all-star cast including Aaron Kwok, Ekin Cheng, and Nicholas Tse.

But now, they had almost tripled this highest investment record in Hong Kong, which was almost equivalent to dumping five years of investment in the Hong Kong film market into one show!

Damn, the key was he was the director!?

Peng Haoxiang was afraid he was dreaming, took a deep breath, and asked: "Boss, 50 million USD? Really 50 million? Does Netflix have that much money to take out?"

Chen Nuo said: "You don't need to worry about this, if they don't have it, I do."

Peng Haoxiang felt as if he had hit a wall, his brain buzzing.

Before he could recover, Chen Nuo added: "I know, perhaps Mr. Yau, Mr. Wai, now have some doubts about the theme and content I just mentioned..."

"No, no, Chen Sheng."

"Me too, Chen Sheng, whatever you say, we'll just do it."

Yau Nai-hoi and Wai Ka-fai felt as if they had hit a wall with Peng Haoxiang, at this moment they were still dizzy, their speech a bit impatient, not waiting for Chen Nuo to finish, they said hurriedly.

Since everyone was so polite, Chen wouldn't be polite either, nodding: "Since that's the case, then I'll trouble the three of you these few days. I hope to write the scripts for the first two episodes before Cannes closes."

Chen Nuo was in such a hurry, actually not because Rory Eisner was urging him, but because he was afraid he wouldn't have time to ask about this matter later.

Might as well take advantage of the fact that he was free these few days to call the screenwriters together to brainstorm with him, so that he could determine the basic script style and direction based on his memory of the original *Squid Game*.

This was not just helping Rory.

Chen Nuo had also discussed with Qi Yuntian, Li Jing, and even Allison, and everyone's unanimous opinion was that, in fact, if this matter was done, it would be of great benefit to the Huanxin Company.

But the problem was, could it really succeed?

Although Qi Yuntian, Li Jing, and Allison all expressed belief in Chen Nuo, and Peng Haoxiang, Yau Nai-hoi, and Wai Ka-fai also expressed trust in Chen Sheng.

But Chen Nuo actually had no confidence!

After all, changing Korean games to Chinese games, changing Korean production to Hong Kong production, and advancing from 2021 to 2011, in this way, whether it could still create that unimaginable viewing miracle was really hard to say clearly.

After all, Netflix's streaming media strategy at this time had just started, and the user base was not as large as it would be 10 years later.

But there were also benefits, that is, at this time, there was no iron curtain between the East and the West, and there were no other problems.

Likewise, the era of traffic had just arrived. Under these circumstances, if it really succeeded, the effect brought about would be even more huge than 10 years later.

Because the streaming media market in 2011 was still a blue ocean, the brand effect of being the first to create a phenomenal hit would make Huanxin a leader in the global streaming media content industry!

With such a title with huge imagination worn on his head, and holding a successful drama IP, plus successful experience spanning commercial films, award-winning films, and TV series production,

Then what would be the P/E ratio of Huanxin's future IPO path?

The huge benefits inside were the reason why he would gamble even if he had to pay out of his own pocket.

After all, future private jet maintenance is so expensive, how can he not gamble.

Three days passed quickly.

In these three days, *No Man's Land* not only successfully completed the 20 million target he had set before, but under Guli Nazha's god-like sales ability, it over-fulfilled the task.

Finally, on May 21st, the day the awards ceremony was held, their *No Man's Land* signed agreements with more than 30 countries.

Their transaction amount reached over 28 million, which was 143% of the 20 million target!

Regarding this, Chen Nuo was both happy and worried.

Happy that, in this way, the money for the plane was there.

Worried that, when the time came, he would really become an air traveler. It was estimated that after running this circle, his passport visa pages wouldn't be able to hold them, and he might have to change two books directly.

However, this was his problem.

Others wouldn't think so much. The amount that set the sales record for the "Un Certain Regard" section made everyone in the *No Man's Land* crew feel relaxed when they went to attend the awards ceremony.

Guli Nazha also went that night, and she was dressed extremely beautifully, in a red dress, attracting the attention of many photographers while walking on the red carpet, and they took many beautiful photos of her.

This made the girl feel like she was in a dream.

When did the dream start?

Probably from the moment she learned how much commission she could get.

When she learned from Qi Yuntian that the company would give her a total commission of 56,000 USD, which was about 400,000 RMB, she really couldn't accept it for a while.

They were really going to pay it!

400,000!? What did she do?

Actually, she felt she didn't do anything.

She just imitated the way Chen Nuo looked that day, bargained with customers, and practiced her spoken language by the way.

If she really had to say what she did to deserve so much money.

Guli Nazha scratched her head, and could only say that her modeling experience helped her, making her skin thicker, so she wouldn't be too stage-frightened in front of many people.

At the same time, she talked to herself in her head since she was a child, which also made her eloquence good, and her reaction quite sensitive, after all, she bickered with herself like a schizophrenic every day.

If she had to add one more item.

That could only be, for someone as extremely emotional as her, she was relatively sensitive to other people's emotions.

So, just like that, she earned 400,000 in a week?

"Jing Jie, thank you so much, if it weren't for you, I wouldn't have been able to earn so much money... Thank you, really thank you." After learning this news, she found a suitable working time and called Li Jing, thanking her sincerely.

"Actually, it all depends on yourself. Keep working hard, I said, you are very capable, you can do it."

"Mm-hmm! Thank you, Li Zong! When I return to Beijing, I must invite you to a meal."

"Haha good, then I'll wait for you to come back."

However, perhaps because there is no perfection in the world, in the end, *No Man's Land* did not win the grand prize of the Un Certain Regard section, but only took a Jury Special Prize.

"Thank you to my company, thank you to everyone who made the film together, especially thank you to my boss, who is also my good friend Chen Nuo, he gave me great encouragement from beginning to end... Finally, I want to thank my wife, I love you. Thank you, thank you! I love Cannes!"

On the not-so-gorgeous stage of Un Certain Regard, the *No Man's Land* crew all went on stage, Ning Hao delivered an enthusiastic acceptance speech, and finally hugged Xing Aina and kissed her.

This could only happen in Cannes, on the "Un Certain Regard" side stage which had no TV broadcast and was a bit casual.

Chen Nuo clapped while smiling, having no intention of speaking to steal the limelight.

At this point, this year's Cannes Film Festival could be considered a complete success for him.

The only problem might be the script of Peng Haoxiang and the others.

In front of three top Hong Kong screenwriters, rushing out a script for two episodes in three days was indeed not too much of a problem, at least it was no problem to take it to Rory to go back to the Netflix headquarters to grab resources from the Elf Prince.

The only problem was that Chen Nuo kept looking at the TV series name thought up by the three major Hong Kong screenwriters, feeling a bit strange.

It couldn't be called *Squid Game* anymore.

After all, except for "Red Light, Green Light" which remained unchanged according to his suggestion, everything else had been changed to Chinese games.

However, calling it *Eagle Catches the Chick*, isn't that a bit too childish?

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 403 =====

(End of chapter)