Chapter 887: Selected; Riding the Heat of

A little past two in the afternoon, just as Ali Pictures was holding a high-profile premiere ceremony for "Eternal Love," news from the Venice International Film Festival came crashing in with a vengeance...

The result was that the film festival's brief bulletin, leading a pack of other freshly minted entertainment news items, gang-tackled and stole the spotlight from the red carpet of the "Eternal Love" premiere!

"At exactly 7 a. m. Italian time, the 74th Venice International Film Festival released its first batch of selected films:

Among them, the realistic-themed romantic art-house drama "Marriage Story," written, directed, and starring Lin Nan, Liu Liu Yifei, Zhou Xun, and others, has been selected for the Main Competition section..."

The Sino-French co-production "Angels Wear White" followed closely... mainland film "The Taste of Rice Flower" entered the Venice Days section..."

"Since winning the Golden Lion with 'The Hunt' in 2009, Lin Dao Nan returns to the Venice International Film Festival after an eight-year hiatus — his second time and his first since marriage, teaming up with Liu Liu Yifei on an international A-list film festival stage;

Cast your mind back eight years — it was at the Golden Lion Best Film award moment that Lin Dao Nan first publicly and boldly declared his love for the 'Best Actress' of his film and his life today — Liu Liu Yifei!"

"The cast for the hot IP-adapted, eponymous period fantasy drama 'Ever Night' has officially been announced. The drama brings together a host of top veteran actors, powerhouse stars, and young professionally-trained performers from across the strait and beyond, including but not limited to:

Chen Chen Feiyu, Zheng Zheng Shaoqiu, Li Ming, Jin Jin Shijie, Ni Ni Dahong, Hu Jun, Tong Yao, Andy On, He Zhonghua, Liu Liu Peiqi, Li Zixiong, Shi Shi... Song Song Yiren, Mencius Yi, Yuan Yuan Bingyan..."

……

"Finally, Lin Dao has gone down the same old road as Director Jia Jia Zhangke — he's started bringing his wife along to compete for international A-list film festival awards again, ha..."

"On the road of bringing his wife to compete for awards, Lin Dao can learn Director Jia Jia Zhangke's perseverance, but please don't learn his luck, because Liu Liu Qianqian certainly wouldn't want to keep hearing 'the waves are still the same' forever."

"Publicly confirming their love in Venice, winning gold on their Venice debut... this time the Venice Film Festival committee really ought to be a bit more thoughtful, no? It's a kind of completeness, after all."

……

"Holy crap, worthy of being Director Chen's son — this cast lineup is outrageously stacked... no doubt about it, it's all just to set up a stage for the Crown Prince!"

"Hey, that's the right approach. To boost someone, you start with TV dramas. As for movies? Those are way too out of touch with the masses."

"To the poster above, you're calling out Da Tian Tian, right? The kind of national recognition that could've been solved with one or two TV dramas at debut, she stubbornly wasted so many film resources to achieve..."

"I'm actually looking forward to this drama now. Look at this — Zheng Zheng Shaoqiu, Li Ming, it's been so many years since they've done a TV series, and Director Chen dragged them back to carry his son! The quality of this drama is very likely not watered down, it'll definitely be top-notch..."

"Wolf Warrior 2" continued its triumphant march on the last day of July, undeniably the ace in the hole of the entire film industry and everyone online.

But even so, it couldn't affect Lin Nan and Liu Liu Yifei's soaring momentum in the afternoon, as they naturally became the focus of the entire domestic entertainment industry.

After all, everyone has their own hit, no interference, right?

Lin Nan was fine — he was already a regular at international A-list film festivals, so naturally he was calm about it, and this selection result was something he'd long anticipated;

After all, he was the Venice Golden Lion director, and "Marriage Story" was personally picked up by the Venice Asian film selector who came to get the print.

But Liu Liu Yifei was different — all afternoon, she was absolutely buoyant, the smile never leaving her face, giving Lin Nan a sweet feeling, with plenty of unconsciously cute and playful little expressions slipping out.

Then there were Watching Shu Chang and Han Jianü — the moment Venice news about them appeared online, they drove right over.

The moment the two walked in, they were fussing and chattering as if their good sister had already confirmed she was going to collect an award...

"The opening ceremony was just announced for the 30th of next month, but I remember your 'Hanson and the Beast' is on the 28th, right? That's Qixi Festival day." Zhou Xun's reaction upon arriving was undoubtedly much more normal.

She was worried that Lin Nan and Liu Liu Yifei, constrained by the timing, would have to miss the premiere of "Hanson and the Beast," because the crew would definitely need to set off early.

"Mm, I was just about to tell you. We've booked a flight on the morning of the 26th, and afterwards someone from Red Studios will contact you to help book tickets for you guys. As for 'Hanson and the Beast,' we never planned to hold a premiere anyway, so the release itself is even less of a concern." Liu Liu Yifei waved at Zhou Xun and explained warmly.

"Heh, what a nice schedule! Set off the day after the birthday banquet and housewarming banquet — you'll definitely collect the gifts from the day before, right?" Sitting down next to Liu Liu Yifei's group, Zhou Xun teased with a grin.

"Yep, that's right, that's exactly what Liu Qianqian was thinking, hehe..." Before Liu Liu Yifei could even nod, Watching Shu Chang had already answered affirmatively on her behalf.

"Have you been going to the Film Academy lately?" Lin Nan walked over carrying several tubs of ice cream, distributing them as he asked.

The subtext of Lin Nan's words was clear to all three women present, so they all looked at Zhou Xun.

"Not only did I go, I even bumped into Fan Li Bingbing once."

Scooping a big spoonful of ice cream and stuffing it into her mouth, Zhou Xun said with a cold laugh, seemingly recalling the scene at the time. This made everyone even more curious.

"Come on, tell us — was there any needle-point-against-wheat-awn energy clash?" Han Jianü loved a good show and immediately teased.

"What are you thinking? Of course we were all smiles, she even said hello to me. Anyone who's made it to this level of fame — how many of them show their feelings on their face?" Saying this, Zhou Xun suddenly looked at Liu Liu Yifei.

"Why are you looking at me? I'm not planning to fight you for resources." Miss Liu held ice cream in her left hand and a small wooden spoon in her right, smiling innocently.

"Actually, in the rules of A-list film festivals, a supporting actress can also win Best Actress, although it's a bit difficult. Liu Yifei, why don't you withdraw on your own?"

"The door's over there, you can leave." Hearing this, Liu Liu Yifei immediately pointed with the spoon-holding right hand toward the villa entrance, barely holding back her laughter.

Not to mention Liu Liu Yifei — Lin Nan and the others were also thoroughly amused by Zhou Xun's "pipe dream." "You might as well just kill our Producer Liu, or get humanely destroyed by her, haha..."

……

Past six in the afternoon, Ali Pictures' film premiere finally reached the banquet segment.

And at this moment, the main creators only learned about the outside news from the guests on site — "Marriage Story" had officially been selected for the Venice Main Competition section, and Lin Nan and Liu Liu Yifei would team up for a second time to compete for awards at one of the three major film festivals.

"This is already the biggest news in the industry today. Everyone says the chances of Lin Dao getting a second Golden Lion are very slim, so if there's an award, it'll most likely go to the individual category. At the awards ceremony over a month from now, if by any chance... then her status would truly be completely cemented at the top."

Without any sour grapes, Ceng Jia was simply sighing in genuine feeling — because souring had long stopped working.

"Awards? The entertainment industry is getting more and more prosperous, but good resources are also getting harder to fight for. She's sitting on a treasure mountain — this was inevitable."

Muttering to herself, Yang Mi noticed Luo Jin and Tang Yan in the distance — it seemed Tang Yan was also mentioning "Marriage Story" to Luo Jin.

"'Wolf Warrior 2' has eaten up more than half the market, and the fan base over at 'The Founding of an Army' is still holding on. I'm a bit worried about our release on the 3rd now — what if we can't meet expectations..."

"What's there to worry about? Director Zhang and the others are full of confidence. No matter how you look at it, there's no reason for us to worry."

Ceng Jia soothed Yang Mi, thinking she was overthinking it. In the same release window, there was only "Wolf Warrior 2" steamrolling everything, but that film had only just been released, hadn't it? Could it really keep up this momentum for ten days or half a month? If it really could, wouldn't it have to drain the entire box office pool?!

……

On the first day of August, it should have been the day of peak buzz and box office for "The Founding of an Army"; of course, the actual buzz was indeed high — it was just all negative cursing.

By contrast, "Wolf Warrior 2" seemed more like a tribute film made for the 90th anniversary of the founding of the army; it must be said, this was truly too ironic!

In the morning, Lin Nan entrusted someone from ICBC to attend the ByteDance-system financing conference on his behalf and handle follow-up matters; he himself went to the airport to see off the "Detective Chinatown 2" crew.

Director Lu Yang led the way, including Wang Wang Baoqiang, Liu Liu Haoran, Xiao Yang, Dilraba, Zhao Zhao Jinmai, and other core creators — they would depart in two batches, three hours apart, flying to New York.

The remaining actors would arrive at the crew location over the next 10 days, and on the morning of August 10th New York time, they would officially start shooting.

"Lin Dao, I plan to wrap in two months and be back before late October. As for the release window, I really suggest considering the Spring Festival slot — put it on the same day as 'Operation Red Sea.'

One main-melody commercial blockbuster, one comedy commercial blockbuster — the two films are in different lanes, we can absolutely team up and steamroll through it... we'll split the Spring Festival window between ourselves..."

Director Lu Yang's joking suggestion before boarding made Wang Wang Baoqiang and the others brimming with excitement, each one looking eager to give it a go.

"Mm, we can consider it."

Lin Nan didn't object, but smiled and nodded.

Because Lin Nan Pictures already had brand recognition, two commercial blockbusters it had invested in and overseen the production of going head-to-head during the Spring Festival slot could absolutely reinforce each other and bully the other films out of contention.

Only, once this release date was really set, the industry would very likely be in an uproar!

Enlight Media.

Wu Jing's face was written all over with anger as he walked straight into Wang Wang Changtian's office.

"Director Wang, that *Sky Hunter* is really disgusting. Didn't even say hello, just leeching off our buzz like that? And that Li Chen — what kind of person is he, honestly so freaking…" Too filthy, Wu Jing didn't finish cursing.

Wang Wang Changtian was also quite helpless at this moment. The new promotional press release from that side was indeed a bit over the top, but…

"But there's nothing we can do, right? Just look at the lineup of producers behind *Sky Hunter* — what can we do? Go protest? Maybe in their eyes, being able to leech off our buzz is doing us a favor!"

As he spoke, Wang Wang Changtian couldn't help but let his anger show. His wording carried a faintly sarcastic edge.

"Where's Lin Dao? He can't still not know about this, can he?" Wu Jing thought of Lin Nan.

"Give him a call. I saw the news a little over half an hour ago — he seemed to be at the airport seeing off Director Lu Yang, Wang Wang Baoqiang and the others…"