Chapter 65: Shi Ningwei

Shi Ningwei is a film critic and blogger.

In 2005, the internet era was just beginning to flourish. There was no Weibo, no Maoyan, and Douban was merely a personal website. However, the seedlings of the internet age had already sprouted, and the blogs launched by major portals represented a massive breakthrough for the traditional media industry.

Since their launch at the end of 2004, the number of blog users had surged. By July 2005, statistics showed that one-third of internet users had become users of various blogs.

Shi Ningwei had been invited to join Sina Blogs over a month ago. Before that, he was already a moderately well-known film critic, having published articles in major domestic film magazines.

Especially in July 2004, a film review he wrote titled "House of Flying Daggers, Who Was Ambushed?" was published in *Huaxia Film*, which greatly increased Shi Ningwei's fame. When Sina launched its blog platform this year, the film section, like the travel section, was one of Sina's key operational focuses. Shi Ningwei thus entered their field of vision. After receiving a signing fee, Shi Ningwei began publishing his film reviews on his personal Sina blog.

When news of *The Zhang Zhang Yaba's House* winning an award arrived from Germany, Shi Ningwei paid close attention to it. Hearing that *The Zhang Zhang Yaba* had hopes of a domestic release, he was initially skeptical, but unexpectedly, the situation took a turn, and the film actually made it onto domestic theater screens. Later, when *The Zhang Zhang Yaba's House* held its premiere at the Chengtian Cinema in Rongcheng, Shi Ningwei specifically had a friend get him a ticket and flew from Guangdong to Sichuan the day before the screening.

The purpose of this trip was primarily for Chen Nuo. Because he was very interested in Chen Nuo—or rather, in the entire entertainment industry, there was no one who wasn't interested in him.

Shi Ningwei still remembers that on the night of the Berlin Film Festival, messages were popping up in the dozen or so QQ groups he was in as if they were exploding fish. From film critics to agents, and then to executives at various entertainment, music, and film companies, everyone was asking one question—

Who is Chen Nuo?

Although Director Zhang Yi was also an unfamiliar name, after the news of the award arrived, someone immediately said they had heard of this person; he was a graduate student at the Beijing Film Academy who had found some money a few years ago to shoot a low-budget film, which ultimately flopped. No one expected this comeback.

However, as for Chen Nuo? At the beginning, it could be said that not a single person knew who he was.

The only information available consisted of rumors or hearsay that had leaked from somewhere.

Speaking of these rumors, they were exaggerated. The first rumor was that this Chen Nuo was a retired old teacher from the Beijing Film Academy, coaxed out of retirement by Zhang Yi to shoot the only film of his life, and he hit the mark on the first try.

Many people initially believed this, but after the poster for *The Zhang Zhang Yaba* began to circulate, this rumor immediately vanished without a trace.

After all, anyone with eyes could see that this Chen Nuo was very young; he was likely 40, or perhaps 45 years away from retirement.

Thus, a new rumor was born: this Chen Nuo was a sophomore at the Film Academy, usually quite famous at school, and had even been rumored to be in a relationship with Liu Yifei. Soon, people from the Film Academy came out to debunk this, saying there was absolutely no such person at the Film Academy. However, this person had come to take the Film Academy entrance exam this year, had even been interviewed by Beijing TV, and was the top scorer in the Film Academy's professional exam this year.

Consequently, some resourceful netizens managed to get hold of the clip of Chen Nuo's interview with Beijing TV from some channel. Shi Ningwei watched it, then spat a mouthful of water onto his keyboard, nearly ruining his 9,999-yuan ASUS laptop. The first impression Chen Nuo left on him was exactly as he appeared in the interview—young, handsome, and full of personality.

Next, Shi Ningwei also stayed in front of the TV to watch the character interview broadcast on Channel 6, watching it without missing a second. Thus, another sentence was added to the Chen Nuo database in Shi Ningwei's mind: "Newborn calves are not afraid of tigers."

At this moment, he became quite interested in this young man.

However, a new piece of news arrived that left Shi Ningwei extremely disappointed.

Because this young man actually went to act in a TV series!? Looking at the announcements and character stills released by the *Return of the Condor Heroes* crew, Shi Ningwei was truly furious.

Even if *Return of the Condor Heroes* had a huge investment and was popular in society, it was still just a TV series. A dignified Berlin Film Festival Best Actor going to act in this kind of martial arts serial—if this isn't self-degradation, what is? Is China so big that he really couldn't find another film to shoot? Or is he really that poor, that he has to scrape up this bit of trash money?

Besides, wasn't the college entrance exam coming up? Could he still squeeze in time to shoot a series?

This Chen Nuo is either stupid himself, or he has bad people around him. Therefore, Shi Ningwei pulled many strings to get a media ticket for this premiere, just to prepare to ask this young man in person what exactly he was thinking.

When Shi Ningwei arrived at the scene, he realized there must be quite a few people with the same idea. Among the hundreds of seats, only a small half were genuine audience members; the others were there with different motives, each carrying a pen and a small notebook, and a small portion, like him, also carried a DSLR camera.

The seat Shi Ningwei's friend got him was excellent, right in the middle of the third row. Except for him, this area was filled with official media invited by the production team; there wasn't a single other freelance writer like him.

When Chen Nuo took the stage, he also picked up his camera and started shooting, just like the reporters from newspapers and TV stations. This was a feature of Shi Ningwei's film reviews, and it could be considered making full use of the advantages of the internet platform; his film reviews were always illustrated, unlike newspapers and magazines, which were mostly text.

For the protagonists of other films, one could usually find many photos online, but for someone like Chen Nuo, he had to do it himself.

After he had taken enough photos, and the host and the creative team had finished their promotional speeches about fighting and such, it was time for media questions.

Shi Ningwei raised his hand from the first round. He knew the first few rounds were reserved for pre-arranged media questions, but he persisted in raising his hand, just wanting to leave an impression on the host from the start.

Sure enough, when the pre-arranged media questions were finished, the host called on him.

"The friend in the blue shirt, yes, the one in the middle of the third row. May I ask which media you are from, and what is your question?"

Shi Ningwei stood up with the microphone and said: "I am a film critic from Sina. com, my screen name is 'Shi Shi Qiu Shi' (Seeking Truth from Facts). My question is for Chen Nuo. Why, after winning the Berlin Best Actor award, did you go to shoot *Return of the Condor Heroes*? Don't you think this is a waste of your acting talent? May I ask if you did it to make money or to become famous? Was it something you wanted to do yourself, or did someone else tell you to do it? You once said in an interview that your goal is Hollywood and to win an Oscar Best Actor. Do you think shooting a Jin Yong serial can win an Oscar? My question is finished, thank you."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 66 =====