Chapter 254: with translation of chapter title

Jiang Heng got a headache from listening nearby; this girl, sometimes she's really sharp, sometimes she's too blunt.

What do you mean she can't act? That just makes people hate her!

The entertainment industry is full of handsome men and beautiful women with striking looks; even those with decent acting often get no chance!

You're fine—you say you can't act, yet you land big-film roles; this basically tells everyone, 'Sis, you've got resources!'

Jiang Heng spoke up: 'Jing Tian is a very perceptive actress; many times she gets it instantly, and everyone has seen her performance on the big screen—her portrayal of Bi Yao was great, right?'

'Good!'

The audience in the venue shouted in unison, and the delighted Da Tian Tian's little face turned red.

Tang Yan beside him looked a bit embarrassed; she remembered that in the original novel, Xueqi Lu was the female lead, and she had plenty of screen time during filming, yet everyone only stared at Bi Yao, completely overlooking her!

A few years ago she played the Third Holy Mother Yang Chan in 'Saving Mother by Splitting the Mountain'; because it was a sibling relationship, her role wasn't big, and her presence was low.

Now she plays the female lead Lu Xueqi in the popular novel 'Zhu Zion', yet the audience prefers the second female lead Bi Yao—where's the justice in that?

As for the cast and crew of 'Zhu Zion', one could say everyone was in high spirits except for Tang Yan, who was a bit gloomy.

Because judging from the audience's feedback on site, this film is clearly a success—not just successful but also very moving.

With a moving love story and flashy special-effects fight scenes, even if it doesn't recreate the box-office miracle of 'Titanic', it should at least achieve a good portion of it, right?

They happily imagined it might become another global box-office hit earning over a billion dollars.

At the later banquet, guests came forward one after another to toast Director Jiang and Jing Tian.

Toasting Director Jiang needs no explanation—it's only proper.

When toasting with Jing Tian, however, they felt this girl had an eighty or ninety percent chance of becoming big; even if they might not collaborate, forming a good affinity is never wrong.

Da Tian Tian was over the moon, having drunk several more cups; her pretty face was flushed, and she was pleasantly tipsy.

After the guests had left, she still sat there, unmoving.

'Send her back!'

Jiang Heng told Jing Tian's assistant, 'Don't think that just because Da Tian Tian hasn't entered the film academy's system to study acting, she lacks support—she has an agent, assistant, driver, etc., and her food, clothing, housing, and travel are all well taken care of.'

The assistant nodded and went to pull Jing Tian, who gave a sweet smile, tinged with a bit of silliness.

She reached out toward Director Jiang and said, 'Xiao Fan, hug!'

Jiang Heng laughed and cried at once, 'This girl, you haven't even started acting yet?'

'Xiao Fan, let's go together; even if we die, I'll be with you!'

Jiang Heng stared for a moment, then stepped forward, lifted her from the chair, patted her back, and said, 'Good girl, we're going home.'

Tang Yan beside them stared, mouth agape, resenting that her portrayal of Lu Xueqi lacked such an emotional scene, and besides, she hadn't had a few drinks.

After being coaxed for a while, Da Tian Tian seemed to sober up considerably, and the assistant sent her home—no need to mention it further.

Tang Yan also waved goodbye and turned to leave.

Yuan De appeared silently behind him, tapped Jiang Heng's shoulder, and said, 'Director Jiang, do you know what your biggest flaw is?'

'What?'

'You can't pretend to be clueless!'

Jiang Heng gave him a sideways glance; Yuan De exclaimed in anguish, 'Just go along with the scheme!'

'Tch!'

Returning to his own mansion, he lay on the sofa; Jiang Heng felt a bit restless, his mind wandering, and he didn't even notice when he fell asleep.

The next day, he still went to the China Film Digital Base to continue filming 'The Havoc in Heaven'.

As soon as he entered the film set, congratulatory voices rang out everywhere.

Although most of these crew members hadn't attended the premiere of 'Zhu Zion', they were all well-informed; the details of the premiere event, the film's plot, and its visual effects had already spread.

Moreover, with print media reports and online publicity, by the time these people arrived in the morning, they were all discussing the 'Zhu Zion' premiere.

'You really missed out if you didn't go—you didn't see the Divine Sword Thunder-Raising True Technique, so cool it's explosive; Yu Rongguang playing whoever, he makes hand signs, chants incantations, dark clouds blanket the sky, fierce winds rise, thunder and lightning flash, countless bolts converge and strike his sword, and with a flick of his blade, those lightning bolts go straight for Master Puzhi!'

'The Zhu Zion Sword is so cool, and there's also the Zhu Zion Sword Formation—its power surpasses the Divine Sword Thunder-Raising True Technique; with just a wave of the hand, it feels like it could blow up the entire Qingyun Mountain!'

'That's too exaggerated, isn't it? If the opponent dodges, wouldn't that be self-destruction of the sect?'

'Ah, anyway, it's really cool; compared to it, wuxia films are weak as hell, and even 'Great Feng Night Watchman' falls far short!'

'Brother, one's a film, the other's a TV drama—budgets aren't the same, okay? If we adapted 'Great Feng Night Watchman' into a film, it would be just as super flashy!'

'That's true too!'

……

Jiang Heng walked along, and everywhere he heard talk of the 'Zhu Zion' premiere; the men mainly discussed the various cool, explosive iconic scenes, while the women basically only talked about one thing: Bi Yao blocking the Zhu Zion Sword Formation to save Zhang Xiaofan.

Some who had seen it the day before, when mentioning Bi Yao's self-sacrifice, couldn't help but tear up.

'Director Jiang, does Bi Yao come back to life in the end?' a female makeup artist came over to ask.

'She won't die, right?'

Jiang Heng waved his hand, 'That's for the second part—don't go rummaging around!'

'Oh, I get it!'

Jiang Heng wondered, 'What did I say that you already understand?'

A few girls had already walked away happily, and Director Jiang said there would be a second part, so Bi Yao definitely won't die!

In Jingcheng, inside a luxurious hotel, Wu Yusen wore a worried expression, and beside him Zhang Jiazhen also looked listless.

They had come to attend promotional activities; the whole party stayed at the hotel, and although they hadn't personally gone to watch the 'Zhu Zion' premiere, they had sent staff to buy scalper tickets to get in.

Yet the news they received left them very depressed: the fight effects in 'Zhu Zion' were too spectacular, differing from the 'Journey to the West' series' style, appearing more splendid and ethereal, brimming with xianxia feel—not to mention, the details were overly special and realistic.

What's worse is the love story between Bi Yao and Zhang Xiaofan; reportedly, all the female audience members in the theater cried, and many men wiped tears—this was just too frightening.

When 'Titanic' first premiered in North America, its opening-weekend box office wasn't particularly high, but thanks to its moving love story, word-of-mouth spread among viewers, eventually yielding astonishing box-office results.

'Zhu Zion' has the original novel, special effects, and a deeply moving love story; if it replicates 'Titanic's box-office myth, won't we end up as cannon fodder?'

Thinking of this, Wu Yusen couldn't help but keep smoking.

Zhang Jiazhen sighed and said softly, "No need to worry too much; things have come to this point, we've done all we can, now it's up to fate. Besides, the film hasn't been released yet—who knows what will happen!"

Wu Yusen nodded, "Yeah, we've come this far, there's no turning back. Besides, our Red Cliff is certainly no worse than his Slay Immortal, right?"

"Mm, yes!"

When Zhang Jiazhen said that, he was no longer so confident!

As the premiere events were rolled out across various places during this period, we would always get some feedback.

Although the major media still gave positive, praising reports, many on-site audiences gave negative reviews, which is an undeniable fact.

If it's like this even after release, that would be deadly!

(End of chapter)