Chapter 351: LeTV, Laughing Last

It seems that in recent years, many young actresses have been leaning toward the "cone face," and Fan Bingbing is their template.

Zheng Shuang suddenly changed her appearance, making more than half of the actresses in the film and television industry "prove themselves."

No actor would admit that they had gone under the knife, but in the eyes of the audience, one by one, they had indeed changed their appearance greatly.

A few months ago, they were round faces or oval faces; a few months later, they all became cone faces, very uniform.

In the past two days, because of the plastic surgery issue, the film and television industry and the internet had been discussing it very fiercely, and many female stars were named.

Actors in the industry like Liu Tao and Jiang Xin were complaining, saying that most directors and producers loved cone faces because they were easier to photograph, thus leading to this bad trend.

As they argued, even the three major art academies came out to speak:

"Actors need to keep their unique, characteristic faces. Top directors, producers, and film and television projects will never use a fake face to play the lead..."

Domestic top directors were taken out one by one as examples to prove that these directors never looked at face shapes when casting, and never used fake faces.

Actresses such as Gong Li, Chen Hong, and Gao Yuanyuan all became examples refuting the cone face.

Under Lin Nan's Weibo, there were also many people joining in the fun:

"Lin Dao, what kind of face shape do you like for actresses? Is it a cone face or a melon-seed face? Or a round face, an oval face? A long face..."

Before Lin Nan could reply, other netizens were already leaving comments to tease.

"This isn't asking Lin Dao a question; this is asking for his life. If you answer poorly, you'll be tortured!"

"I guess Lin Dao likes oval faces; don't ask me why."

"Suddenly discovered a thing; it seems that the wives of big directors are basically all oval-faced!?"

Looking at how lively his Weibo was, Lin Nan couldn't help but reply.

"When casting, all top directors won't care about small things like an actress's face shape. In addition, faces that have gone under the knife are basically not in the consideration for female leads on the big screen."

"Hmm, and the question of what kind of face shape I like... does this need to be asked? I like oval faces; those who know, know!"

As soon as Lin Nan's Weibo was posted, it was surrounded by a group of industry insiders.

"Standard answer, Yifei is oval-faced!"

"Lin Dao, is it still too late to get plastic surgery into an oval face?"

Watching the comments from Huang Xiaoming, Fan Bingbing, and others being swarmed by a large number of netizens, Lin Nan was amused.

But thinking about it, Lin Nan also felt it was a pity; among his classmates, there were those who had gone under the knife.

Last time, he inadvertently saw Zhou Yang's press release; that face had already been ruined by her. The path of an actor could be considered to have come to an end.

Enlight Media's *Cook, Actor, Scoundrel* marched forward all the way to 270 million, only then exhausting its potential and being pulled from theaters early.

Contrary to Wang Changtian's spring breeze of pride, Huayi was mourning.

The 170 million investment *Saving General Yang*, with a box office of just over 50 million, was forcibly pulled from theaters by the cinema chains.

The 80 million "earned back" from Stephen Chow, after adding nearly double the amount, Huayi returned it to the market.

This film lost even more than *Back to 1942* back then, a bloody loss of about 150 million.

Anyway, many people in the film circle were very happy, happy to see the Wang brothers lose money.

"That China-South Korea co-production *A Wedding Invitation* is performing quite well; the first-day box office is approaching 20 million."

Lin Nan nodded; that was a romance film starring Bai Baihe and Eddie Peng; the South Korean team was very good at this.

"How is the premiere arranged?"

"4 days early, set for the 23rd. One day later than Zhao Wei's *So Young*."

The premiere and release time were both one day later; the two films were biting each other very hard.

Originally, Lin Nan was prepared to release them on the same day, but Han Sanping felt that bunching them on the same day wasn't good, so he insisted on him staggering them.

So in the end, *Kung Fu Jungle* was moved back one day, just in time for a Saturday release.

"Then the 23rd, send out the invitations. After attending the premiere, Yifei and I have to go abroad for a while," Lin Nan instructed.

"Mm, got it."

Currently, the two domestic films that received the most attention in the industry were *So Young* and *Kung Fu Jungle*.

The former group of male and female actors was indeed eye-catching: Mark Chao, Han Geng, Yang Zishan, Jiang Shuying, Tong Liya.

But Wang Baoqiang, Zhao Wenzhuo, Bai Bing, and others were not weak at all.

*American Dreams in China* starring Huang Xiaoming, Deng Chao, Tong Dawei, and others also officially started its promotion.

The "Not at all" of the leader was still a point of ridicule that fans and netizens kept in mind.

However, the release time of this film was separated from *So Young* and *Kung Fu Jungle* by twenty-one or twenty-two days, so there wouldn't be any competition at the box office.

Including Lin Nan, the film circle was attracted by the announcements issued by China Film Group and several other companies.

"Jointly produced by China Film Group, Pony Media, Huayi, LeTV, and other companies, directed by John Woo, the epic blockbuster *The Crossing* has completed casting, and the film will officially start filming in mid-year!"

This news was unfamiliar to most actors in the film and television circle.

Because the film everyone was longing to audition for didn't have public auditions at all, but was conducted privately.

"Zhang Ziyi, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Huang Xiaoming, Song Hye-kyo, Tong Dawei..."

Seeing the released cast list, the actors in the circle understood; it was all connections and nepotism, decided in advance.

Han Sanping came to show off to Lin Nan again.

"Look, top producers, top directors, top production team, the cast is still top-tier; what is there to worry about? It's definitely a 3D epic film benchmarking *Titanic*."

Han Sanping shouted confidently, full of confidence.

Hearing so many "top-tier" words in his ears, Lin Nan was almost fooled, but glancing at the three words "The Crossing," he instantly sobered up.

"What is the investment now?"

Lin Nan asked tentatively, mainly out of concern for Han Sanping.

"John Woo's meaning is that such a blockbuster can't tell the story well in two hours, so like *Red Cliff*, it will be filmed in two parts. Our latest investment budget is 400 million; if it's not enough later, we'll add more."

Damn! Hearing this number, Lin Nan didn't know what to say; so much money, just wasted on John Woo?

What epic blockbuster; *Red Cliff* had the same slogan back then, but the audience only remembered Lin Chi-ling's line: "Mengmeng, stand up."

But reaching this point, Lin Nan really couldn't say anything. This film should be the last big investment before Han Sanping stepped down.

"Then I wish Han Dong and China Film Group that this investment can film a film-history-level blockbuster."

"Haha, that's for sure," Han Sanping wasn't humble either.

"Han Dong, is the time really set?" Lin Nan asked abruptly.

On the other side of the phone, there was silence for a moment, and after a long time, he sighed:

"At the end of September, the age will be reached; if you don't retire, how can the people below come up? At most, I'll hold on until early next year, just staying for another half a year."

Hearing this, Lin Nan understood the meaning; it seemed that the higher-ups had already arranged the handover process, giving a half-year buffer time.

"Then, what about you afterward?" This was something Lin Nan was very concerned about.

Since his second film, he had started dealing with Han Sanping; at that time, the latter was still the vice chairman and general manager.

To tell the truth, Han Sanping had done a lot of drastic things over the years.

Especially his unremitting support for domestic commercial films and commercial blockbusters, which had made a very great contribution to the development of the industry.

Of course, he had also been a big thigh for Lin Nan many times; Lin Nan was very grateful for this and wouldn't forget it.

"Saying retirement, how can I really retire? Most likely, I'll hold a consultant position and continue to shine in this industry, hehe..."

He was sighing just now, and now he was spirited again; he was worthy of being "Third Master Han."

In this circle, no one would neglect Han Sanping because he was about to retire; even if he retired, he was still "Zuoshandiao"; those years of connections and relationships were placed there.

After chatting for a while, when it was time to hang up, Han Sanping joked, saying that at the end of September or early October, he would set up a few tables to celebrate his "retirement" and asked Lin Nan to prepare his time in advance.

After hanging up, Lin Nan couldn't help but mutter: "Celebrating retirement, isn't that just a big birthday? Hmm, have awareness!"

Liu Yifei had already started preparing her luggage.

The dubbing for an animated film couldn't be done in a day or two; it would take at least a week or two or even longer.

This was the same as filming a movie; it would also be NG again and again until it passed.

So Liu Yifei had to be prepared to stay there for a while; fortunately, Lin Nan had bought a villa there.

"In two days, shall we go see *The Croods*?"

Seeing Lin Nan's figure, Liu Yifei said immediately.

"Guessed it, no problem."

Lin Nan smiled and agreed; he had long expected that Miss Liu would have this idea; it just happened that the release time was three days before the premiere, so it wouldn't delay the itinerary.

Hollywood animated films had almost no opponents in the country.

At the current stage, domestic animated films were quite ridiculous to talk about; if it wasn't wolves and sheep, it was bears; they were all for children to watch, and the plot was too childish.

Lin Nan accompanied Liu Yifei to pick out the books to bring; at this time, Yue Jun's call came through.

"Lin Dao, look at the news, LeTV has done a big thing..."

It was truly a big thing, a big thing that made the entire film circle look sideways!

Since the two Zhangs fell out, Zhang Weiping's New Pictures had been chased by Zhang Yimou for debts and demanded the remuneration and box office share of several past films.

New Pictures was already half-dead, and Zhang Weiping was being chased for debts by all parties.

Over the past dozen years, the film and television circle watched New Pictures build high buildings and host guests, until *The Flowers of War* early last year.

In one year, this high building of New Pictures collapsed just like that, as if it were a blink of an eye.

Everything was because of Zhang Yimou's departure, which revealed the true colors of Zhang Weiping, who had thought he was a tiger.

It turned out he had always been the fox borrowing the tiger's power, and a brainless, sickly fox at that.

"LeTV?"

Seeing the news on the internet, Lin Nan couldn't help but sigh.

Wanda failed, Pony Media failed, Bona's poaching also failed, Enlight, Orange Sky, StarMe...

Groups and companies that could be named in the industry and lacked top big directors had all tried to poach Zhang Yimou.

Really, at this moment, the film circle probably couldn't accept this fact; no one dared to believe that it was actually LeTV that laughed last!

"What's wrong?"

Liu Yifei stopped what she was doing and walked curiously to Lin Nan's side. At a glance, she saw the top headline news on the computer screen.

"Director Zhang Yimou joined LeTV?" Miss Liu exclaimed.

"Obviously, maybe he met someone who could 'talk'."

Lin Nan smiled and shook his head, saying something with implication.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 352 =====