Chapter 694: Buying Awards? A Meeting of Minds

The *Marriage Story* crew officially began filming the daily life scenes.

The public image of the female lead, played by Liu Yifei, is always optimistic, strong, capable, and competitive...

She is physically strong; the male lead always hands her the bottle caps he cannot unscrew, and she solves it easily, as if dealing with a trivial matter. When the couple arm-wrestles, she is always the one who wins.

Cooking, cutting hair, cleaning, taking care of the child... She is a good mother and a qualified wife.

This is the image of the wife in the eyes of the male lead, Lin Nan;

But in reality, these are all things the female lead strives to do, trying her best to appear near-perfect. She couldn't do them well originally... In other words, these are not things she enjoys; she is forcing herself to be the best...

Before, she was also a girl with her own lifestyle, but in the years after marriage, she forced herself to make changes for the family, to change herself.

Correspondingly, in the eyes of the female lead, her husband also has quite a few "labels":

No life skills, competitive, only cares about work, never takes the initiative to care if she needs help or comfort, never talks heart-to-heart with her, never asks about her feelings...

Both sides are working very hard, trying their best to maintain this family, for the sake of the child, for the sake of their past love.

Time comes to the 19th.

For three consecutive days, the last three imported blockbusters of the month, *The Divergent Series: Allegiant*, *The Angry Birds Movie 2*, and *Alice Through the Looking Glass*, held their premiere ceremonies in the capital one after another.

At the same time, in the film market, the total box office of *Captain America: Civil War* had already aggressively reached 1.2 billion, closing at 1.21 billion;

Although its daily box office fell to over six million, it did not affect its status as the box office hegemon of the May slot at all; it could even continue to dominate June.

The only one that could barely be mentioned in the same breath as *Captain America: Civil War* was undoubtedly *Finding Mr. Right 2*, which ranked just behind it. The latter lived up to expectations!

"Exclusively produced by Lin Nan Film, written and directed by Xue Xiaolu, and starring Yang Mi, Yu Hewei, and others, the romantic comedy film series *Finding Mr. Right 2* has officially broken the 1 billion mark in total box office after 20 days, with a cumulative total of 1.006 billion;

As of now, the film's daily box office is only a little over two million, and it is expected to reach about 1.02 billion before being pulled from theaters..."

"Director Xue Xiaolu has officially entered the 1 billion box office director club thanks to *Finding Mr. Right 2*, and is also the first female director in the country to reach 1 billion at the box office; at the same time, actress Yang Mi has also been promoted to a 1 billion box office female lead thanks to this film..."

Jaywalk Studio.

After waiting for 20 days, today finally arrived. At this moment, Yang Mi could be said to be incomparably excited.

Just by relying on *Finding Mr. Right 2*, in just three weeks, her already numerous announcements and invitations had doubled twice over. And she accepted them all, taking them all!

"News came from Director Xue's side; the 1 billion box office celebration banquet is set for the 25th." After hanging up the phone, Ceng Jia immediately ran to Yang Mi's office.

She saw several artists from the company gathered there, joining in the fun and buttering her up. When these people saw Ceng Jia's expression, they immediately slipped out with smiles.

"The 25th? Celebrating breaking 1 billion? It seems that Teacher Xue also values the 1 billion box office matter the most! Did Lin Dao say whether he would attend?" Yang Mi was in a very good mood, her face beaming with a smile as she asked.

"*Marriage Story* is filming over there; Lin Dao is very busy and won't come to the celebration banquet."

Ceng Jia shook her head. She also felt it was a pity regarding this matter; it was a missed opportunity to meet.

Sure enough, upon hearing this, Yang Mi's smile faded slightly.

She had truly tasted the sweetness brought by high-box-office quality films this time, which made her increasingly eager to maintain good relationships with several big directors, hoping for opportunities to get resources later.

"The 25th it is, then. Cancel the other appointments for that day." Yang Mi stopped thinking about other things and said decisively to Ceng Jia.

After Ceng Jia nodded in response, just as she was about to turn and leave the office, she remembered another thing the next second, and a joyful expression appeared on her face again:

"Mi Mi, *Reset*, which we co-produced with New Line Cinema and the Beijing branch of Well Go USA, has finished post-production.

Those two companies asked me if we should go abroad to 'buy' some awards, so that there will be more hype when it is released later. After all, it's a sci-fi film, and it really needs eye-catching promotional hype."

"Buying awards?"

Hearing these two words, Yang Mi was suddenly energized, but immediately reacted. She looked at Ceng Jia curiously, her tone carrying some doubt and distrust:

"What kind of awards can you buy for this kind of film? The Saturn Awards in Hollywood? It seems the most famous award for sci-fi films is the Saturn Awards, right? Do they have the strength to manipulate this?"

Yang Mi's four consecutive questions directly "choked" Ceng Jia, leaving her speechless for a time. After a long while, she spoke, but her tone lacked confidence:

"They said to go to Europe and America and find some simple awards to manipulate... As long as the name sounds grand, it will be fine to cooperate with the promotion when we come back..."

The office went quiet, a dead silence.

Ceng Jia was waiting for Yang Mi's answer. If they were to go abroad to manipulate awards, then Yang Mi, as the female lead, would inevitably have to cooperate.

Swallowing subconsciously, Yang Mi struggled in her heart.

She could guess what Ceng Jia meant by "simple awards." Where would there be "simple" ones among legitimate awards? But, she really...

"Fine, listen to them. We will cooperate, but there can be no mistakes." In the end, Yang Mi nodded heavily.

"Mi Mi, don't worry about that; they have absolute certainty."

Seeing Yang Mi nod, Ceng Jia became excited instantly. In the current mainland film and television circle, hype is the kingly way.

At 7:00 PM, the first night scene shot five days after *Marriage Story* started filming.

After a communication session where the male and female leads were completely out of sync, Liu Yifei, as the female lead, pretended to be calm, acting exactly as she had in the past, turned, left the living room, and returned to her room;

While Lin Nan sat in the living room, still looking "foolish," thinking it was just a work-related exchange that was out of sync and ended unhappily.

But the moment Liu Yifei turned away after leaving the living room, she couldn't help but cry, only tears, suppressing her voice.

After years of marriage, the female lead was ultimately completely disappointed in the male lead. The other party lived entirely in his own world and never cared about his wife's inner heart... The life and interaction between the two seemed to only have the work between director and actor and these two "characters" left.

The camera followed Liu Yifei back to the room. She lay on the bed, and only then did she let out her voice and cry.

"Cut!"

Ning Hao yawned and shouted. Liu Yifei couldn't get out of the scene for a while, still crying, sniffling, very sad, very upset.

"Lin Nan, come and see your wife; she's too deep into the scene." Ning Hao shouted towards the outside, a teasing smile on his face.

Lin Nan stood at the door of the room, looking at Liu Yifei, who was lying there looking up at him with red eyes, and laughed softly:

"Sometimes reading the script repeatedly and bringing yourself into the plot has this disadvantage. Is it that in a trance, you foolishly can't distinguish between reality and filming?

This is the advantage of us filming this movie together, just like *The Fault in Our Stars* back then. It's very easy to get into the character, and very easy to get stuck in it, unable to distinguish between inside and outside the scene... Alright, don't be sad. I'm not that kind of blockhead in the scene, with so many shortcomings, a mess of a life, always hurting you."

Facing Liu Yifei's unreasonable gaze and red eye sockets, Lin Nan wiped the corner of her eye for her: "Hey, eye boogers?!"

"You, I, wuwuwu... I'll beat you to death, I..."

Liu Yifei became anxious instantly, sobbing, got up, and pounced on him.

"Go, go, go, avoid for a bit. We're going to have a late-night snack. The director is going to give the female lead some acting advice."

Ning Hao, that social idler and rascal, teased with ill intent, calling over a group of the filming team; these people had long since sensibly prepared to "run away," because those two were their own bosses!

"Let's go, we're going out too. Being deep in the scene is actually quite good. This kind of natural acting is easier to win awards with."

"Hmph!"

The next morning, the news "Huayi is really rich" was hanging on the Weibo headlines.

Huayi Chairman Wang Zhongjun spent another 200 million yesterday afternoon to buy an ancient painting, it seems to be Zeng Gong's *Ju Shi Tie*!

For a time, not only was the circle full of congratulations, but people on the internet were also scolding them as "rich dogs."

Lin Nan didn't pay much attention to these things before, but later he gradually understood that Wang Zhongjun buying these ancient calligraphy and paintings at high prices again and again had very deep waters.

You know, that big boss Wang from Wanda also likes ancient calligraphy and paintings, but he would never spend so much money to buy them. At most, he would accept a few million, and that's only if he really likes them;

Because in the eyes of big boss Wang, these things are really not worth hundreds of millions, and they aren't the authentic works of Qin Shi Huang!

The release of two Hollywood films also added a trace of vitality to the film market.

But the big market at the end of May could not be warmed up again; the next time could only be the summer slot.

And speaking of the summer slot, China Film Group was discussing the summer slot issue. More accurately, they were discussing a film in the summer slot.

"There's only about a month left until the summer slot. Actually, the market will get lively at the end of June."

"What exactly do you want to say?"

La Peikang looked at Ren Zhonglun opposite him and urged him impatiently. It stood to reason that Ren Zhonglun was here to attend the afternoon Film Bureau meeting, but he really didn't expect the other party to run to China Film Group in the morning and start playing riddles.

"I'm a person who holds grudges, and so are you. I'm planning to cut the screenings of *League of Gods* in the summer slot, just asking if China Film Group wants to join in." Ren Zhonglun seemed to be talking about an insignificant matter.

Hearing this, La Peikang narrowed his eyes instantly, "The cinema chain under Shanghai Film Group, or the cinema chain of the Shanghai Film Group system?"

"Is there a difference?" Ren Zhonglun smiled, and La Peikang heard the answer.

"Bona is also a producer over there."

"What does that have to do with us? I only know that *The Mermaid*, co-produced by Shanghai Film Group and China Film Group, was not spared from trouble by that family from project initiation, casting, to release!

As for Bona? Yu Dong couldn't find a better partner, but had to find Zhongxing? It's good to learn a lesson." Ren Zhonglun looked directly at La Peikang, his tone cold.

After a few seconds of silence, La Peikang said slowly: "At that time, I guess the market won't be very optimistic about that film..."

"Hehe..." Ren Zhonglun laughed.

Sometimes it's just like this; although the two companies often fight, when necessary, they will hit it off instantly.

... ===== CHAPTER 695 =====