Chapter 1111: Buying it all; your wife is a fool!

"After eating this lunch today, I feel like our relationship with Wanda has suddenly become distant."

"That's normal. Back then, it was because of Tudou that we became allies. Now that they want to exit, everyone will naturally return to the simple cooperative relationship we had at the beginning."

"Do you believe what you're saying? This isn't as simple as just returning to the initial cooperative relationship; it's become even more estranged than when we first started working together.

After all, with something like clearing out shares and exiting happening, there will subconsciously be a rift between everyone; and we also know clearly that Wanda will likely distance itself even further from the film and television industry later on. At the very least, Wanda Pictures will come to a complete standstill and won't invest in any new projects externally."

Hearing these words from Wang Changtian, Lin Nan couldn't help but laugh out loud. But he didn't refute it, because Old Wang was indeed speaking the truth.

"I suddenly thought of a rather vivid metaphor: the change in our relationship with Wanda is like the rise and fall of the stock market;

Whether it rises first and then falls, or falls first and then rises, as long as the percentage of the rise and fall is exactly the same, you ultimately end up far from the starting position—the value of the held assets has shrunk!"

"One step in and one step out, or one step out and one step in—compared to before any movement, it's actually all a retreat. Your metaphor is truly vivid and lively, hahaha, very appropriate."

The car slowly stopped downstairs at the hotel where Lin Nan was staying. He didn't pick up Old Wang's thread of conversation again, but instead got straight out of the car.

"It's only three o'clock in the afternoon, aren't you planning to go to the Golden Goblet Forum or the international film exhibition area to take a look?" Wang Changtian asked, sitting in the car.

"No, I'll rest for a while, think about some things, and I'll take a look in the evening." Lin Nan waved his hand without looking back, politely declining.

Not long after, the car carrying Wang Changtian set off again, driving toward the convention center.

Inside the car, Wang Changtian had already put on a rather solemn expression, muttering as he asked:

"Lin Nan's Shanhai Cinema chain is planned to be a boutique cinema chain; and over half of the cinemas under the Wanda Cinema chain are in the prosperous areas of first and second-tier cities, perfectly fitting his needs.

So if one day Wanda really wants to sell, Lin Nan will definitely take them, but he won't want all of them. How about we buy up the rest?

In other words, if Wanda really opens its mouth one day, we can carve it up together with Lin Nan Pictures... What do you think?"

"Chairman Wang, why not wait until we return to the capital in two days, and you hold an executive meeting to discuss it?"

The secretary driving the car replied in a low voice. He knew very well that his boss wasn't asking for his opinion, but just needed someone to play along and keep the conversation going.

"Hmm, good, it can be discussed. Then set a time for the meeting, and you go and notify Director Li and the others one by one over the next two days."

"Understood."

……

"During this year's Shanghai International Film Festival, Senior Brother Lin is too low-key. He hasn't attended any public events so far; looking at it this way, he's just waiting for the closing ceremony red carpet and the awards ceremony."

"That's right, he'll fly home immediately after the awards end, and he likely won't attend this year's newly added Golden Goblet Award closing party either."

Taking up the thread, Watching Shu Chang was also joking. Right now, in the eyes of Lin Dao, there was only his wife with her big belly. Any film festival, any forum—he had no interest in any of it.

"Flying home in the middle of the night? There's a pregnant woman at home; isn't it unlucky to go back in the dead of night?" Little Han caught the detail.

"Ah? I don't know about that. But since even you can think of such a folk custom, then I guess my brother probably won't be on the flight the night after tomorrow, it should be the next morning."

"What do you mean by that? Are you being sarcastic and cynical toward me?"

"Hehehe..."

"You two, settle down a bit; Chairman Han is speaking up there." Xing Aina couldn't watch anymore and reminded Han Jia and Watching Shu Chang, who were whispering and playing around on the side.

"Alright, alright, focus on listening to my dad's high-minded talk." Han Jia waved her hand, and her gaze turned back to Han Sanping on the stage.

At the forum this afternoon, Han Sanping was talking about mainstream commercial films, warning the film industry not to overly rely on or overdraw this track;

He also warned a small number of people in the industry not to use the correctness of mainstream films to insanely smuggle in private goods, especially some negative perceptions and thoughts that are not in line with personal values...

"Hmm, there's nothing wrong with what he said. There are always some people with crooked stances who will smuggle private goods into mainstream films, smearing and weakening positive characters and deeds, sideways whitewashing villains, or highlighting the nobility and beauty of foreigners, and using this to contrast and belittle our own people..."

"Oh wow, this makes me unable to help but think of a certain mainstream film recently being repeatedly blocked by censorship. Logically speaking, how could a mainstream film be rejected one after another? Tsk tsk tsk..."

"Take it easy, the director and his wife are sitting not far away." Xing Aina also suppressed a laugh and "tapped" them again.

"Where?" Hearing this, Han Jia immediately looked around. After she spotted the people, she couldn't help but tease: "Before the end of the month, they will receive a surprise."

While Watching Shu Chang was still a bit confused, Xing Aina had already vaguely guessed the subtext of Little Han's words, "No way? It's already happened once or twice, and there's a third time?"

"I just heard a sentence when my dad and the others were chatting, but I shouldn't have heard it wrong."

……

After a night passed, the chaos over there had clearly risen another level.

However, for the insiders at the Shanghai International Film Festival, everyone was more concerned with information related to Wang Baoqiang.

It must be admitted that the latter had indeed been miserable for the past two years, and it could be described as a life full of twists and turns.

Returning after wrapping up filming, he was hit with scandals; civil and criminal lawsuits were constant, and the elderly at home couldn't take the blow and were diagnosed with terminal illness... Finally, early this morning, he held on until he was exhausted and passed away.

As the only male actor in the entire Chinese film and television industry to walk step by step from the grassroots to the top tier, and as a top-tier actor with super high national popularity whose character was completely trustworthy... even if he deliberately kept his family affairs low-key, the media wouldn't give him any chance.

And so, in just the time it took to eat breakfast, more than half the circle knew about it. And a hot search lasting half an hour appeared on the internet, until it was artificially managed and lowered.

"To say something unpleasant, his mental and physical suppression over the past three years can be considered a relief."

"Later on, I think he will be even more successful; it completely fits that old saying, how does it go? Right, this is called transformation and qualitative change after being tempered by suffering and blows!"

"I dare to bet that when he directs a film next time, it definitely won't be a comedy genre like 'Buddies in India'."

Facing the certainty of Chairman Ren, Lin Nan was completely speechless for a moment. Because the former's words were truly too convincing.

For a person with a firm character like Wang Baoqiang, blows, pain, and tempering would indeed be transformed into nourishment for moving forward, gritting his teeth and moving ahead.

"Chairman Ren, shall we talk about business?"

Looking at the expressions of Wu Jing, Li Shaohong, Zhao Tao, and others who were hesitant to speak, Lin Nan finally spoke up to interrupt Ren Zhonglun's sentimentality.

Everyone sitting here this morning was to make arrangements for the awards process the night after tomorrow, not to gossip.

"Apologies, I was too sentimental. Alright, let's talk business."

Following Ren Zhonglun's nod, the staff on the side immediately distributed the awards ceremony process sheet to all the award presenters in the conference room.

"The performance segment is all theme songs from old movies?"

"'Red Sorghum', 'Farewell My Concubine', 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon', 'Battle on Shangganling Mountain', 'The Shaolin Temple', 'Little...' These performance tracks are really nostalgic!"

"Lin Dao, when the list of award presenters was announced before, I guessed that you would be presenting the Golden Goblet Award for Best Film. Seeing it today, it's really so, haha..."

"Then I must congratulate you; this time you are presenting the Golden Goblet Award for Best Director. So, you should strive to win a Best Director award at an A-list film festival yourself in the future."

Lin Nan jokingly teased Wu Jing, and the latter immediately leaned back and waved his hands.

The others on the side were also laughing non-stop; this kind of thing wasn't something that could be achieved just by thinking about it; and it was very obvious that Wu Jing likely didn't have this hope.

……

On the night of the 21st, the Movie Channel Media Awards ceremony was held.

Without a doubt, this unit basically had no big-name actors, especially no big-name directors to show support.

Because this module was something the Movie Channel had smuggled in, and the winners were all "human-favor films" in Chinese cinema, mostly based on human favors, traffic, and popularity.

On the night of the 22nd, the Asian New Talent Awards unit announced the winners. The industry guests who came to support this awards ceremony were much more formal.

After all, Ning Hao was the chairman of the jury, and the films participating in the competition came from more than half of Southeast Asia. Most importantly, the Asian New Talent Awards unit was an official unit of the Shanghai International Film Festival.

However, Lin Nan still chose to stay at the hotel and didn't go to support Ning Hao. Because Liu Yifei was going for a prenatal check-up in the evening, and Lin Nan and she were on a video call the whole time...

In the blink of an eye, the time arrived at the closing ceremony of this year's Shanghai International Film Festival, the 23rd.

The focus of the entire circle was on the red carpet in the afternoon, and as usual, a large number of actors and stars had started preparing from early in the morning.

And under these circumstances, Lin Nan appeared very special; this was the first time he had left Liu Yifei behind and came to participate in the Shanghai International Film Festival alone, and for a moment, he really wasn't used to it.

In the past, on the morning of every Shanghai International Film Festival closing ceremony, Miss Liu would be putting on makeup, trying on clothes, trying on jewelry, matching handbags and accessories, while Lin Nan would be chatting on the side...

But this morning, Lin Dao was truly a bit lonely. Everyone was busy, and only he was wandering around aimlessly. He wanted to make a phone call to Liu Yifei to chat, but forget it, she was still sleeping.

"For the red carpet this afternoon, you don't seem to have a partner yet, right? Do you want to come to our 'The Father' crew and join us?"

"You want to ride on my popularity? It wouldn't be your turn anyway." Hearing Ning Hao's invitation, Lin Nan couldn't help but laugh.

"Look at what you're saying, I have the Best Director and Best Actor lineup from last year's Venice Film Festival here, do I still need to ride on popularity?"

"Hehe, I presented both of those awards you mentioned."

"What you're saying now is meaningless. The award, it just passed through your hands, it was all going to come to me in the end."

Fine, facing such a shameless person, Lin Dao decisively chose to ignore him.

After all, if he really went, then it would definitely have nothing to do with the crew; because the host's focus would definitely fall on him, and they would definitely ask why Liu Yifei didn't come this year.

Not long after, he saw Yue Jun also rush over; after nodding to Ning Hao, he talked to Lin Nan about business: "The red carpet order has come down, the 'Sheep Without a Shepherd' crew successfully cut in line and is scheduled to walk the red carpet after the 'The Captain' crew."

"That's good, letting the mainstream film carry this realistic-themed film can also get more exposure." Lin Nan nodded.

"Oh right, Director Ning, 'The Father' only has eleven days left. For the premiere, you've definitely prepared everything on your end, right?"

"Don't worry, I was just telling Lin Nan here, the premiere on the 3rd will definitely be no problem. But your 'Ne Zha', are you really not holding a premiere ceremony?"

"No, I'm afraid that after holding the premiere, it will be too popular, to the point of continuously squeezing the schedule from the first day of release. If that really happens, you can just wait to cry." Lin Nan preempted Yue Jun and gave Ning Hao an answer.

"Pfft, you can really brag. In the end, it's just a big animated film, not 'Mulan' directed by you and starring Yifei..."

……

The morning passed in a flash, and a large number of media had already started setting up their positions at the Shanghai Grand Theatre.

Looking at the fan groups of those traffic stars this year, these people were clearly even more obsessed; they were actually braving the hot sun and started gathering from noon.

They even affected the traffic on the road outside the Grand Theatre, causing a large number of traffic police to be forced to work overtime starting from noon to maintain order at the scene.

At four o'clock in the afternoon, various crews successively received notifications, and countless filmmakers, actors, and stars set off one after another, heading to the red carpet.

And at the same time, news also came from the Hong Kong circle, saying that Marvel's casting team had officially finished the auditions for 'Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings' and had boarded the plane at noon, returning to Hollywood.

"Lin, congratulations. I just heard from Warner Bros., as of three hours ago, the overseas box office of your 'The Wandering Earth' has already reached 380 million dollars.

I think if there are no accidents, by the end of July, the total box office should be able to reach over 500 million USD. But any more than that, it should be impossible, anyway, it's very difficult.

Do you know, in the words of Disney's marketing department, if all the actors in 'The Wandering Earth' were replaced with white people, especially replacing the lead with Leonardo or Matt, then its total global box office could definitely rush to 2.5 billion USD, and it would even have very strong impact and competitiveness for the Oscars..."

Just as he sat in the car, Lin Nan received a call from Tang Mu. He started talking about 'The Wandering Earth', and it could be heard that he was also very happy for Lin Nan.

"It should already be one o'clock in the morning in Los Angeles, right?" After taking the thread, Lin Nan's first sentence was to ask about the time. Tang Mu's schedule was really wild.

"Lin, you must be bad-mouthing me in your heart right now. You don't need to deny it, I can guess it, haha..."

Having been old friends with Tang Mu for more than ten years, Lin Nan really couldn't fool this guy. He smiled, which counted as tacitly acknowledging it.

"I'm on a business trip in Venice, so the time difference with you is only 6 hours. Don't always think of me as so filthy and lewd every day."

Hearing this, Lin Nan decisively accepted the criticism, apologized, and then asked with a smile: "Tang Mu, you didn't call just to talk about 'The Wandering Earth', right?

If it was just to talk about this, then it's finished now, shall we hang up? I'm rushing to participate in the film festival right now, I'll be there in a while, I don't have time to chat with you."

"No, there's still a piece of inside information I want to reveal to you. It's about the Chinese actors on your side." At this moment, Tang Mu's tone clearly had a trace of seriousness and complexity.

And Lin Nan also instantly became serious, because he vaguely guessed something, "Is it that Marvel film 'Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings'?"

"That's right, last night... which is early this morning on your side. I received accurate news from the group that the male lead's second-in-command, the biggest villain in 'Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings', the role of Fu Manchu, has been decided to be played by Hong Kong actor Tony Leung...

As far as I know, he is one of the top male actors on your side, and he would actually take the initiative to audition for such a role that is controversial, or even insulting, to you? This is a bit too..."

"Too ironic?" Lin Nan added.

"Hmm, that's right, isn't he afraid of the public opinion boycott on your side? Oh right, this 'Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings' is planned to be announced to the world in the latter half of next month..."

Ten minutes later, the scene outside the car window had already turned into a sea of people. And at this time, Lin Nan and Tang Mu both hung up the phone.

"Yeah, too ironic!"

Lin Nan muttered coldly, and then, amidst the active opening of the car door and invitation by the red carpet staff, he got out of the car with a smile on his face.

"Lin Dao, please walk this way, there are rest areas and refreshments in the waiting area..."

"Good."

……

"Lin Dao, why are you alone today?"

"Lin Dao, do you want to be a partner? I'm also alone."

"I think Lin Dao is missing a female partner!"

"I also think you're courting death on the tip of a knife, haha..."

Greetings in a joking tone were endless, and Lin Nan naturally responded to each one with a smile.

After walking straight to the side of a large group of his own people, Lin Nan rubbed his somewhat stiff facial muscles.

Facing the questioning eyes of Jing Tian, Watching Shu Chang, Han Jia, and Reba, he shook his head; today he insisted on walking the red carpet alone.

Six o'clock, seven o'clock...

Crew after crew, filmmaker after filmmaker, actor and star after actor and star, interview after interview on the red carpet... tonight's rhythm was exceptionally light and fast.

By seven-thirty in the evening, everyone had already taken their seats in the Shanghai Grand Theatre.

Lin Nan rarely sat in the front row, with Ren Zhonglun on his left and the second-in-command of the propaganda department on his right.

Fine, he was hand-picked; it seemed that Shanghai had received news that 'Dying to Survive' had already been internally decided for the ministry's 'Five One Project Award'. The achievement was in hand!

"Sister, You Boldly Move Forward", "Ashes of Time", "Moonlight Lover", "My Motherland", "Herding Song", "Velvet..."

Theme songs from classic blockbusters were sung on stage one after another. The closest one to everyone was already 19 years ago. That's right, it was this "Moonlight Lover" from "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"...

The awards started at eight o'clock...

Wang Jingchun partnered with British filmmaker Tang Mu Hiddleston to present the Best Actress Award; it was a foreigner.

Zhao Tao and Yong Mei presented the Best Actor Award. Hmm, worthy of being the Shanghai International Film Festival that likes to produce "double yolks" the most—a double yolk, and one of them was one of our own.

Wu Jing and Li Shaohong presented the Best Director Award together; it was a foreigner again.

……

At nine o'clock sharp, when Lin Nan walked onto the awards stage alone with a card from the backstage, he always felt that the eyes of many people in the audience looking at him were not right.

But he didn't think too much, instead, he completed his task on his own—presenting the Golden Goblet Award for Best Film for foreign language films!

While the acceptance speech was being given on stage, Lin Nan walked off the awards stage low-key, and he hunched over and walked quickly toward his seat.

However, many people's gazes were still tightly locked on him. Their eyes and expressions were all playful, vaguely carrying a "provocation"?

"Lin Dao, not bad!"

"Lin Dao, congratulations, remember to send me an invitation later."

"Lin Dao, you guys are too low-key, right?"

"Exactly, it's not like we wouldn't give a gift..."

……

A buzzing sound rang in his ears, and Lin Nan looked at Ren Zhonglun with a confused face; the latter was smiling and raising his eyebrows.

He turned back to look at Watching Shu Chang, who had a speechless face, and Han Jia, who had a gloating face, and asked directly with his mouth: "What's wrong?"

"Your wife is a fool!" Watching Shu Chang also used her mouth to reply.

Looking at the other familiar people in the circle in the first three rows, most of them were smiling and looking at Lin Nan, and their eyes all meant one thing: "Lin Dao, you've hidden it deep enough!"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 1112 =====