Chapter 188: Passengers

Time rolled into June.

Press releases for "Beginning of the Great Revival" came out one after another—only two weeks left before its release.

A starring lineup of over a hundred actors and stars gave the film a natural built-in audience.

Lin Nan definitely had to show up at this tribute film's premiere; the attitude had to be right.

…………

Lin Nan was a little surprised to actually receive a wedding invitation—someone from Huayi had sent it over.

He was a shareholder of Huayi, and the one getting married was none other than Huayi's A-list celebrity: Deng Chao.

To be honest, Lin Nan and Deng Chao could only be considered ordinary acquaintances—a notch better than a nod-and-greet kind of relationship.

The latter had auditioned for Lin Nan's films several times; admittedly, when it came to acting, he was indeed more consistently stable than Huang Xiaoming!

At some premieres, cocktail parties, and such events, Deng Chao would also often take the initiative to come over, greet Lin Nan, chat a couple of lines, and try to build the relationship…

Anyone who could climb to an A-list young leading man's position in this circle was almost without exception a shrewd operator!

He heard that Wang Wang Changtian had given special approval, and the "Four Famous Constables" crew had even adjusted their shooting schedule for it.

Chen Chen Jiashang had specifically set aside a few days for Deng Chao so he could go back and hold his wedding.

Lin Nan figured Wang Wang Changtian must be trying to poach him, or at least recruit a batch of A-list actors and artists who were close to Enlight Media.

Otherwise, why would Enlight give the male lead to Deng Chao for two films in a row?

He tapped open the news, skimmed a few lines, and suddenly saw the light.

Turns out Sun Li's belly was about impossible to hide anymore! That's why Deng Chao had rushed out of the crew to go back and belatedly hold the wedding!

Lin Nan couldn't possibly go to the wedding scene; he'd just have someone deliver a gift on his behalf…

…………

Earlier, the Shanghai International Film Festival had sent Lin Nan an invitation, wanting him to serve as one of the jurors for the main competition section.

But because it clashed with the Cannes Film Festival schedule, he declined.

In the end, that juror slot fell to Zhang Zhang Jingchu.

In another week, the Shanghai Film Festival would open.

Today, the festival publicly announced the final batch of films shortlisted for the Golden Goblet Award.

Among them, one film caught Lin Nan's attention.

Wang Wang Baoqiang's "Hello! Mr. Tree."

Perhaps because of his grassroots background, even though Wang Wang Baoqiang worked very hard, many industry actors still looked down on him somewhat.

Just like now.

Several shortlisted Chinese-language films—clearly, their male leads all had a shot at competing for Best Actor.

Yet the industry's well-wishes from artists almost all went to "Butterfly on the Shoulder"'s Chen Kun; nobody paid Wang Wang Baoqiang any attention.

"Mr. Tree, huh?"

Wang Wang Baoqiang's promotional poster—wearing glasses, a cigarette dangling from his lips—was quite distinctive.

Lin Nan tapped open the official website's promotional short for "Hello! Mr. Tree."

"Not bad!"

The extreme close-up of Wang Wang Baoqiang smoking—that look and expression—had real feeling to it! Very vivid.

Suddenly, Lin Nan felt a bit of regret. He should have accepted the Shanghai Film Festival's invitation back then…

"Ah, forget it. After it's released, I can go catch it at the cinema."

…………

Spending the last morning, Lin Nan's script was completely finished.

He gave Guo Fan a call, but the other side never picked up, which left him puzzled.

"I remember he should be at school these couple of days, right?"

Since he had nothing to do anyway, Lin Nan drove over to Beijing Film Academy.

Earlier, Tian Tian Zhuangzhuang had also asked him to find time to come back, saying he wanted to introduce a student to him.

By the time he arrived at school, the realization hit Lin Nan belatedly.

It's graduation season again!

At a single glance, everywhere he looked were people in bachelor's gowns taking graduation photos.

A scene like this really makes one nostalgic.

In Lin Nan's mind, he couldn't help but think back to when he and Liu Liu Yifei graduated from their undergraduate program.

Liu Liu Yifei in her bachelor's gown, wearing red-framed glasses, pouting her lips—cute and pure, with a hint of mischief—as if it were all just yesterday.

"Hehehe…"

Lin Nan laughed and shook his head—five years had already passed.

Many undergraduates noticed Lin Nan.

Memorizing the faces of the industry's major directors was a required course for these reserve newcomers.

"Is that Lin Dao?"

"It's really him!"

"What is Lin Dao back at school for?"

"Didn't hear anything about a special guest at the graduation ceremony?"

……

The murmuring from afar wasn't quiet, but it stopped at that—no one dared come up to greet him or offer themselves proactively.

Lin Nan paid no heed to that side and headed straight for the directing department.

Before even seeing Tian Tian Zhuangzhuang, he caught sight of Han Han Sanping's daughter first.

That was strange — the start of the semester hadn't even arrived yet?

"Lin Dao?!"

The other party, upon seeing Lin Nan, was first startled, then called out with a smile.

"Instructor Jiang is pretty strict, isn't he? When he lectures, it's one set after another — the others haven't even signed up yet."

Just now, Old Jiang had been talking with Han Jianü about something, wearing a worried look.

"Badmouthing me the moment we meet! I was just giving a reminder.

She hasn't officially signed up yet, but she goes around using the Director Department's student name to sit in on professional courses at the Chinese Department and the Management School — I've been called in several times already…"

Once Old Jiang said this, Lin Nan understood.

This wasn't really about sitting in on classes — it was actually about Han Jianü putting the cart before the horse.

Han Han Sanping had arranged a directing path for her, but his own daughter preferred producing and screenwriting — she'd even come to campus early to sit in on classes…

When the time comes to direct her graduation showcase, she'd better not slip up and just barely pass?

Still, given Han Jianü's background, passing was absolutely no problem.

…………

Tian Tian Zhuangzhuang hadn't lied to Lin Nan — he really was about to introduce someone for the latter to meet.

"Senior Lin, hello. I'm Wen Wen Muye."

The other party smiled and greeted Lin Nan, extending his hand.

This was an ordinary-looking graduate student from the Director Department.

"Hello." Lin Nan politely extended his hand as well, and they shook.

There were plenty of famous directors in the industry, but Lin Nan was the most unusual of them all.

Because looks-wise alone, he didn't look like a director — let alone a great one.

He still remembered back in his undergrad days, plenty of netizens had teased Lin Nan about it.

They said he had a celebrity face but had waded into the directors' ranks — practically coming to embarrass the other directors!

They even specifically named Feng Feng Xiaogang, Gu Gu Changwei, and others…

After chatting for a bit, Lin Nan roughly understood.

He had graduated with his master's in '09; the Wen Wen Muye before him had entered in '10, also studying under Tian Tian Zhuangzhuang — so he could indeed be considered Lin Nan's junior fellow student.

"If there's a chance in the future, look out for each other.

This circle is getting more and more closed off now — pretty soon ordinary people won't be able to get in at all…"

Tian Tian Zhuangzhuang said with deep feeling, and Lin Nan nodded.

…………

No wonder calling Guo Fan got no answer.

The Management School side was pretty lively too — meetings had been going on nonstop.

"Lin Dao, I should start preparing my graduation project."

When Lin Nan found Guo Fan, the guy had just come out of the conference room, along with his same-year graduate students.

These people, upon seeing Lin Nan, greeted him one by one with smiles on their faces.

"Got a film plan? Then bring it over and let me have a look — the company can invest."

Lin Nan nodded casually and promised.

Hearing this, Guo Fan laughed instead. "Lin Dao, I'm a director, but I'm not from the Director Department, haha."

For a moment, Lin Nan didn't catch on.

"I'm in Film & TV Management. My graduation project has to land on the word 'management' — I have to join a crew to write my thesis…"

At this, Lin Nan caught on — he'd forgotten Guo Fan's major.

What the latter was talking about was the role of the crew's head steward, similar to a producer or a position under the producer — mainly responsible for the overall coordination of the crew during filming!

"Alright, you're in luck. I'm just about to start a new film. Come join the crew, and you can knock out your graduation stuff along the way!"

"What film?" Guo Fan's eyes lit up at once.

Joining Lin Nan's crew — if he turned in that thesis, wouldn't it earn him top marks?

"A sci-fi film, *Passengers*."

……

When filming *The Martian*, it involved a huge amount of exterior shots.

At the time, CASIC helped with the design and even built a "Mars base" in the Hongya region for shooting the exteriors.

Just the exterior shots alone took up time, effort, and money back then.

This time, Lin Nan's choice of *Passengers* was different.

He had actually finished writing and registered this script back in '06.

Only this time he had torn it all down and rewritten it into a version suited for the domestic market, adding quite a few settings that fit Chinese logic!

He had done a major rewrite of the script — the logic was a bit more airtight now.

This film barely needed any exterior shots at all — 90% of the shooting could be handled inside the sound stages at the China Film Digital Production Base.

It's just that there were plenty of VFX shots — every penny that needed to be spent couldn't be saved!

"*Passengers*? That's the new film?"

Guo Fan muttered the name, his heart racing with excitement.

One listen to the title and you could tell it was a space theme, just like *The Martian*.

"Lin Dao, when are you planning to start?"

Guo Fan was a bit impatient and pressed Lin Nan as he asked.

"Isn't this why I came to find you—to be my assistant? The duties of assistant director and coordinator are yours now.

When we filmed 'The Martian' before, all that stuff really wore me out…"

……

The reason Lin Nan chose 'Passengers' was partly out of a desire to slack off.

The China Film Digital Production Base was right next to the capital.

He could work on set during the day and head home to rest at night—how easy and comfortable!

………

Tiangong Color began calculating the special-effects costs for 'Passengers', so they could later quote a price in the spirit of "brothers keeping clean accounts"!

The departments under Lin Nan Pictures also began budgeting the production costs…

Liu Liu Yifei flipped through the script, pausing every now and then.

"It doesn't seem to have as big a subject matter as 'The Martian'?"

"Right, 'The Martian' had a huge subject. But this film is both big and small—a grand space backdrop, a small story between two people…"

"Two people, sailing through the lonely universe for decades, keeping each other company!"

……

It was obvious Liu Liu Yifei wasn't all that interested in this script.

She was still immersed in 'Star Luck' after all. Just recently at Cannes, she'd really missed by just that little bit!

For this 'Passengers', they'd still need to get help from the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation.

At the very least, the large spaceship capable of supporting thousands of people would have to be designed reasonably.