Chapter 459: Sell It, Celebration Banquet, Stealing a Lesson

A new day, and the eyes of the film circle and the media were all drawn to Huayi.

As a fifth-generation master director, Gu Gu Changwei had long been renowned at international film festivals for his art films and realistic-themed movies.

Today, half a year after joining Huayi, he had finally kicked off his first commercial film — "Love, Eventually."

Wang Wang Zhonglei personally presided over the film's launch press conference, and a great many industry heavyweights and A-list actors were all present.

In the guest seats sat Chen Chen Kaige, Feng Feng Xiaogang, Zhang Zhang Guoli... truly a gathering of stars, what a lively scene.

As the first commercial film from Director Gu, the casting of the male and female leads naturally drew everyone's attention and curiosity.

When Chen He and Yang Ying walked up onto the stage, quite a few industry insiders and reporters in the audience were momentarily stunned, then immediately understood.

Huayi was still that same Huayi — it would never use the male and female leads of a master director's film to prop up young actors or unknowns with no backing.

Of course, the male and female leads both had backgrounds — their uncle and boyfriend were right there in the front row.

Looking at the online news of the "Love" launch press conference, Lin Nan was reminded again of Zhang Zhang Yimou's "box-office blackmail" remarks from a while back.

His good buddy Gu Gu Changwei had just used real action to rebut his view.

Even master directors are still human — they still have to look toward commercial films, toward box office and money.

The only question was how much fee or profit share Gu Gu Changwei could get from this film, that he'd dare to use Yang Ying as the female lead?

After all, this was the very "person" Xu Ke had publicly named before the media, declaring he would absolutely never work with a second time!

"Lin Dao, Director Lu Yang and the whole crew are meeting on the third floor. Would you like to go over?"

At that moment, the assistant knocked and came in to ask Lin Nan.

He was just about to nod, but the phone on his desk suddenly buzzed.

"Go tell Director Lu, let them have their meeting. If I have time later, I'll head over."

"Got it, Lin Dao."

After the assistant left, Lin Nan answered the call.

"Tang Mu, I've only been back two days and you're calling me again. What's up?"

"Dear boss, I don't want to disturb you either, but have you forgotten something?"

"What thing?"

"That 'The Price of Salt' — have you made up your mind? Didn't you say before you wanted to give Crystal a try?

But 'Manchester by the Sea' has already wrapped, and you still haven't given me an answer. Their offer has gone up again, they're pressing me."

Speaking of this matter, Lin Nan really did have a bit of a headache.

Once "The Price of Salt" was made, it would be an awards-chasing film on a special subject, but one suited only to Europe and America.

But the operating costs of awards-chasing films were never low, and for Crystal Pictures' current size, supporting two awards-chasing films at once would be no small pressure.

And if either operation failed, the loss would be enormous.

That was only one side of it — the most crucial point was that this was an awards-chasing film with a lesbian subject.

For an awards-chasing film on this kind of subject, the cast definitely had to be truly top-tier, Best Actress-caliber actresses in the lead.

But Liu Liu Yifei was clearly still too green, and Lin Nan was afraid that if...

"If a movie cost me my wife, or caused her some psychological issue... even if the odds were one in ten thousand, how would that be any different from just killing me outright?"

"Lin, what are you saying? Who's dead?"

Lin Nan came back to himself, his brow furrowing then relaxing, and finally he gritted his teeth and made his decision.

"What's their new offer?"

"3.2 million USD, and we have to thank Matthew's 'Dallas Buyers Club' for winning."

Lin Nan remembered that when Tang Mu had first bought the rights, it had only cost 450,000 USD.

"Sell it."

Tang Mu was clearly startled by Lin Nan's sudden decisiveness. "Really sell?"

"Sell it."

"Alright, I'll get back to them tomorrow."

After hanging up with Tang Mu, Lin Nan stood up and left the office.

In the third-floor conference room, nearly all the key creatives of the "Brotherhood of Blades 2" crew were gathered.

On the other side was the audition venue for "The Journey of Flower," with a smattering of industry agents and third- and fourth-tier actors waiting outside.

Seeing Lin Nan's figure, these people immediately greeted him, and he nodded and passed by.

Walking into the conference room, Lu Yang was in the middle of laying out the shooting plan.

The logistics and shooting team had already set off for Hengdian that morning, and the crew would start filming the day after tomorrow.

"The celebration banquet for 'The Taking of Mount Mount Weihu' — we won't be able to make it."

After a long stretch of talking, Lu Yang grumbled, and Watching Shu Chang, Zhang Yi, and Lei Lei Jiayin all nodded, looking regretful.

The other actors just smiled — it had nothing to do with them, and they couldn't have wangled an invite anyway.

"Let's keep the opening ceremony simple, I won't be going over, and Liu Yifei as producer won't either. If anything comes up, just call." Lin Nan said with a smile.

"Then I'll have to prepare in advance — if we go over budget, I'll at least have a good excuse ready when I call Liu Yifei. Ha ha..."

Lu Yang said self-deprecatingly.

He knew his own limitations — when it came to controlling a film's budget, he was pretty bad at it.

Half an hour later, Lin Nan told Watching Shu Chang to have a meal with Liu Liu Xiaoli and Liu Liu Yifei before heading to Hengdian, and then he left the conference room.

Outside, both Yang Zai and Huang Huang Shengyi were working hard online, putting in good words for Wen Zhang.

Because Juli Pictures was the lead investor on a Sino-Korean co-production called "I Love You the Most on the Road," starring Wen Zhang and Huang Huang Shengyi.

But as luck would have it, on the day the film was released, March 28, the "See You on Monday" scandal also officially broke.

As a result, this film was disliked and boycotted by ninety-nine percent of audiences and fans.

A co-production with an investment of nearly 100 million yuan, after exactly seven days in release, grossed only 19 million RMB total, with daily box office dropping to 80,000 yuan—Juli Pictures suffered massive losses again.

Sometimes you have to admit, Yang Zai really has shit in his head.

Huang Huang Shengyi merely appealed online for forgiveness for Wen Zhang.

She said Wen Zhang was pitiful and tragic, and hoped audiences and netizens wouldn't boycott a film created by a team of hundreds because of one actor.

But Yang Zai was different—was his shoe-last face really squeezed out by a door?

He directly quoted Jackie Chan's old "famous saying":

"As Brother Jackie said, Wen Zhang merely made a mistake every man in the world has made.

Moreover, his mistake wasn't even as serious as Brother's! Everyone should forgive Wen Zhang just like they forgave Brother—he's an exceptionally talented actor…"

This line of reasoning finally opened the eyes of the film industry.

Previously, he offended Jet Li over *The Legend of the White Snake*; now he was defending Wen Zhang and disgusting Jackie Chan.

Although half an hour later, possibly due to someone reminding him, Yang Zai deleted his Weibo, screenshots and forwards had already spread widely within the industry and online.

To the film industry, this guy could only have done something so disgusting if his head was stuffed with shit—he'd be better off quitting the business now and stop struggling to humiliate himself.

…………

In the blink of an eye, two days passed.

The after-party for *Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy* and the official commencement of *The Assassin 2: Arena of Rebirth* both topped the front pages of film and entertainment news.

Because *Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy* was a main-theme film that broke 2 billion yuan, Beside La La Peikang took the initiative to organize the after-party.

Hosted by China Film Group, almost no one in the industry dared to refuse the invitation—those who didn't show up simply weren't worthy to be there.

Inside the ice block, the words "2.053 billion" were glaringly obvious.

As director, Lin Nan, and producer Liu Liu Yifei, both voluntarily gave up the main seats.

There, Beside La La Peikang, Han Han Sanping, and Tong Gang sat in the center, courteously deferring to the "Little Hammer."

This scene made many people's mouths twitch, yet they still had to smile and clap.

Finally, the three of them gripped the hammer together and smashed the ice block—perfect!

"I'm going over to their side."

Liu Liu Yifei shook her head at Lin Nan, and he saw Xie Nan, Liu Yan, and a few others waving from afar.

"Mm, do as you like."

Lin Nan knew Miss Liu didn't want to stay here—these men were talking only about movies or business, boring.

It really was boring—like Jiang Wen right now, surrounded by many, being grilled about *One Step Away*.

Juli's *I Love You Most on the Road* had been pulled from theaters yesterday, heavily affected by Wen Zhang's scandal.

And *One Step Away*, scheduled for the New Year slot, couldn't be sure it wouldn't be affected either.

After all, online outrage was boiling over, with countless people shouting for Wen Zhang to be kicked out of the film industry.

"You know what? Ma Li's line 'Cherish while you can' actually had some class—clever move!"

Lin Nan walked over to Jiang Wen with a glass of champagne, making many around them burst out laughing.

Though the woman had some connections in Beijing's circles thanks to that whole male-female thing,

before Lin Nan and his group, it meant nothing—they could tease her freely.

"Don't you join in—I'm already headachy. Ma Ke even advised me to cut all of Wen Zhang's scenes…"

Lin Nan smiled. "Tsk tsk, that doesn't sound like Director Jiang's style—got scared?"

"Bullshit! 300 million yuan investment came from my company—do you think there's no pressure?"

Jiang Wen rolled his eyes at Lin Nan, speaking irritably.

But the next second, his tone changed:

"I'll show you his clips later—professionally speaking, his performance is excellent.

When acting with me or Ge You, he matched them perfectly—didn't fall behind at all!"

Lin Nan could tell Jiang Wen truly admired Wen Zhang.

Suddenly, he remembered something, his eyes flicked toward Jiang Wen, who sensed something odd.

"You kid, your eyes are acting weird."

Lin Nan shook his head—he wouldn't admit he'd just thought of Jiang Wen and Liu Zuo Xiaoqing. In this circle, everyone was just like this.

"So, cut or not cut?"

Lin Nan changed the subject—he admitted Wen Zhang's acting was truly outstanding, but he'd been too lucky, and now he'd fallen hard.

"Cut? Not a single frame! My movie's this good—why cut anything?"

Jiang Wen thought for a moment, then nodded firmly, making his decision.

Lin Nan's expression froze—damn, only Jiang Wen could say something so shameless!

Many around him wanted to laugh but held it in, hurrying away quickly, afraid they'd burst.

……

Once a film actor is finished, market and industry reactions come fastest.

Similarly, Hong Kong's film industry has declined, so now it's beginning to grovel toward the mainland.

Remember *Sha Po Lang*, released in November 2005?

Back then, Donnie Yen was the absolute lead, treating Wu Jing—who was just a minor supporting character—as nothing but a punching bag.

But now, with *Sha Po Lang 2* officially starting production, Donnie Yen had nothing to do with it.

Wu Jing, once a minor mainland supporting actor, had become the absolute lead.

Hong Kong directors, Hong Kong screenwriters, Hong Kong crews and actors—all remained, yet the lead actor quietly switched to a mainland actor.

On the surface, it was just a cast change—but it truly represented the massive shift over the past decade: the mainland had taken the offensive, Hong Kong the defense.

On Weibo, Lin Nan congratulated Wu Jing — this guy was something else; with barely a month to go before his wedding, he'd actually taken on a new film!

Figured the newlyweds wouldn't be having any honeymoon.

"Wang Dong, still at the company?"

Lin Nan got in the car, and the moment the call connected, Liu Liu Yifei tossed an apple in through the window. "Just washed it, organic, no need to peel."

He smiled and nodded at Miss Liu, mouthing silently: "I'll eat it in a bit."

"I'm at the company. You can come over now."

Wang Wang Changtian's voice was loud and clear — he'd clearly been waiting for this call these past few days.

"Okay."

"I'm off." Lin Nan waved.

"Mm, go on."

……

The Enlight Building — Lin Nan really did know it like the back of his hand.

Originally, this whole matter could have been left to the people below to handle.

But since it required borrowing Enlight's crew, Lin Nan felt it was more sincere to talk with Wang Wang Changtian in person.

Besides, his own company's people would need to "steal some tricks of the trade" later.

"Hello, Lin Dao. Wang Dong is in his office — you can go straight up."

Waiting for the elevator downstairs, he ran into Bao Bei'er. Looking at that smile of his, Lin Nan still felt he fell quite a bit short of Wang Wang Baoqiang.

"Mm, okay." Lin Nan nodded, giving a perfunctory reply.

…………

(End of Chapter)