Chapter 903: Wishing for a Complete Success, Everything Goes as Planned; Human Nature

"Eight years ago, it was at the moment of the Best Film Golden Lion Award ceremony, when giving your acceptance speech, that you, Director Lin, confessed to your lover in public for the first time. Right?"

When Lin Nan and the four members of the Organizing Committee walked out of the conference room, Liu Yifei greeted them with a smile. And when the two of them sent the four members of the Organizing Committee out of the hotel together, the Organizing Committee Chairman spoke abruptly.

"Yes, that was the time." Lin Nan smiled and nodded, admitting it generously. Looking at Liu Yifei beside him, a faint pink glow had already appeared on her face, and her smile was like a flower.

"Eight years later, you have returned to the Venice Film Festival hand in hand. Life is so beautiful, isn't it?

Then please don't 'break your promise' for the closing ceremony and awards banquet four days from now, and I also wish you both a complete success and everything going as planned for your Venice trip after 8 years... No need to see us off, goodbye."

Liu Yifei's eyes were filled with smiles as she politely said thank you, waving to see them off. Lin Nan's eyes, however, were already flashing with a sharp light; he could associate much more than Miss Liu.

"Hurry up and tell us, hurry up and tell us, what on earth were you talking about inside, that you actually chatted for over an hour?" At this time, Zhou Xun and Shu Chang also ran out in a flurry.

"Lin Nan, the Organizing Committee...?"

Liu Yifei also cast an expectant look, but Lin Nan shook his head at her with an extremely subtle movement, very obscurely. In an instant, Miss Liu understood and decisively fell silent.

"We didn't talk about anything, just chatting about the Chinese film market. The Venice Film Festival wants to reform, and the Chinese film market is a very important part of the global film industry that cannot be ignored; they were asking me about some things regarding the Chinese market."

Lin Nan turned around, smiling as he fobbed off Zhou Xun and Shu Chang. Under the latter two's half-believing, half-doubting eyes, he changed the subject again, keeping them in suspense: "Besides, there is one more thing."

"What thing?" Sure enough, the attention of the three women was diverted by Lin Nan.

"Xixi, didn't you react to those few sentences the Organizing Committee Chairman just said? They were hinting to our faces, reminding us to remember to attend the awards ceremony."

"Ah, I didn't think that much just now!"

"Really?"

"Xixi, really? They can notify you to your face?" Shu Chang followed Zhou Xun, equally pleasantly surprised and amazed.

"Mm-hmm, they just mentioned the closing ceremony and awards banquet 4 days later; we will have at least one trophy in the bag, hehe." Liu Yifei smiled proudly.

There, three women make a play; they were already chattering away with full joy. Only Lin Nan walked silently behind, ruthlessly and coldly ignored by them.

However, his thoughts at this moment were also wandering: "Must keep it confidential! Then Ning Hao's side... and Zhou Xun's role, should I disclose it to Cao Baoping? Once officially announced, the number of Chinese films applying for the Venice Film Festival next year should skyrocket..."

Shaking his head, Lin Nan cast off those thoughts in his mind; at least during the film festival, he had to keep it confidential. Well, let Liu Yifei help him keep it confidential too.

As for other matters, let's talk about them after returning home... In a trance, the phrase "when one man gets the Dao, his chickens and dogs ascend to heaven" lingered in Lin Nan's heart again.

Human nature, after all, cannot avoid being vulgar. But next year, it's really going to be busy to death!

"Lin Nan, let's go celebrate at noon today. Hey, why didn't you keep up, you're so slow..."

"Liu Xixi, can you be reasonable? I didn't keep up? You walked so fast, I'm afraid you forgot you even had me!"

"Ouch, Director Lin, you've grown some guts? You dare talk to our Producer Liu like this?"

"Right, giving you a chance to reorganize your language; Xixi might consider letting you off."

Looking at Liu Yifei, who was acting haughty and pretending to be angry, and the two sidekicks singing in harmony beside her, the great Director Lin decisively chose to concede:

"I was saying I'll treat everyone to a big meal at noon today..."

"Hmph, that's more like it. Hurry up, go back and change into some outdoor casual clothes."

The wind of the Venice Film Festival's unwritten rules blew out in a targeted manner on the afternoon of the 5th. The film crews that got the news were all in a low-key and silent state.

And for all the big film merchants, the last and biggest gamble during this film festival could now be officially placed.

As for the target of the bet, it was naturally the twenty-some films in the main competition section!

China Film Group, hotel where they were staying.

"I wonder if Lin Nan's *Marriage Story* has received notification from the film festival?"

"There should be no problem with Director Lin Nan; his relationship with Venice is good to begin with, he's even a direct descendant, and most importantly, he is very young!

A young top-tier director—this is what the three major film festivals like the most. Because they are always looking forward to new vitality being injected, so that the film festival itself can keep pace with the times and remain at the pinnacle of art cinema..."

John Woo couldn't help but take over La Peikang's words, his tone complex for a moment.

Although he was unwilling to admit it, he had to admit that he had been abandoned by the era. These days, *Manhunt* was almost ignored; even for merchants who were interested, the quotes were very, very low!

"How is *Sky Hunter*?" In the silent conference room, the question that a small number of people least wanted to hear sounded.

"There haven't been any interested merchants, and even the audience in the exhibition hall is very small. Chairman La, this is a mainstream film after all; it's hard to open up the market overseas." Li Chen didn't dare to speak, and in the end, it was the producer who replied.

"For the overseas copyright of *Manhunt*, sell it if you can. Having something is better than having nothing."

After remaining silent for a long while, the expressionless La Peikang looked at John Woo in a low tone, completely ignoring Li Chen and the others. If the copyright market performance was poor, then they could only count on the domestic box office, but fortunately *Manhunt* still had a little extra gain, although very little.

"Good, I will notify Media Asia later to complete the overseas copyright transaction for *Manhunt* tomorrow morning." John Woo had no objections.

"Chairman La, Venice is asking if we want to attend the awards ceremony; they need to plan the seating." The secretary interjected at the right time.

"Awards ceremony? Not attending. We're returning home early." La Peikang frowned slightly, then shook his head.

He knew very well that this trip to the Venice Film Festival, besides spending a lot of money to buy many films, had almost no gains for China Film Group;

Not only that, but it was also very embarrassing, extremely embarrassing, because the two films brought by the team were almost ignored!

The next morning, even Lin Nan, who was in the hotel and hadn't gone out, was forced to hear the big gossip outside.

In the morning, at the press conference for the thriller *mother! *, Jennifer Lawrence showed off her body again—a fully transparent outfit!

Except for the three points, she was almost as if she wasn't wearing anything. But the hazy feeling was indeed better than not wearing anything, extremely eye-catching. So much so that for the whole morning, the focus of news at the film festival was all on this film.

It had to be admitted that in terms of hype, this Best Actress who had fallen on the Oscar red carpet stage for two consecutive years really had a knack for it.

"More and more people are returning home early; we heard that China Film Group is also leaving. It seems the overseas copyright for *Manhunt* only sold for just over 1 million USD, and *Sky Hunter* was completely ignored..."

Near noon, Liu Yifei and the other two returned from watching a movie, bringing back the gossip about China Film Group.

"Came with high hopes, returned in disappointment?" That was the only phrase Lin Nan could think of; there were no other adjectives.

"Anyway, it has a bit of a 'tiger head, snake tail' meaning. However, I heard from Zhang Mo that she and Director Zhang will attend the awards ceremony and won't return home early."

"Director Zhang seems to be more... more human than before? Mm, that's the feeling." Zhou Xun took over Liu Yifei's words and added.

"He has changed." Lin Nan also smiled, but didn't say anything more.

After Shu Chang and Zhou Xun returned to their respective rooms, Liu Yifei then whispered suspiciously to Lin Nan: "Director Zhang seems to know about your business?

We met Director Zhang today while watching Takeshi Kitano's *Outrage Coda*. He inexplicably mentioned to me that you will likely be frequently harassed by domestic film crews in the first half of next year."

"Fine, no need to guess; he obviously knows. Alright, Director Zhang is also an experienced person; he will keep it confidential."

"But Director Zhang is also applying for Venice International Film Festival next year; doesn't this mean he knows *Shadow* will pass through your hands?" Suddenly, Liu Yifei thought of this question and instantly became high-spirited.

"Don't think about these things; it's still far off. You'd better think about *Mulan*; it's been a month and a half since your second interview, and there's still no news."

Lin Nan's teasing remark instantly made Liu Yifei lose her smile.

She had trained to get abs for this, doing over forty pull-ups in one go without any pressure, and not a single one of the interviewed actresses was her match.

"Let's wait a bit longer; if there's absolutely no news before the end of the year, I'll decisively give up."

On the 6th, *The Story of Minglan* started filming, and Zhu Yawen officially joined the crew.

On the 7th, *Spider-Man: Homecoming* was released in the Chinese market as scheduled, so much so that the screen share for *Generation Elf* plummeted. Of course, the daily box office would definitely be affected.

Sure enough, on the morning of the 8th, as soon as the box office data came out, it attracted the attention of the entire industry... Compared to the box office on the 6th, the daily revenue of *Generation Elf* on the 7th plummeted by 15 million, reaching 36.55 million.

With this, the total box office of this urban fantasy romantic comedy film successfully broke through 800 million, reaching 812 million; and its release duration had only been 10 days.

However, in the eyes of many professionals, the final total box office of *Generation Elf* was already clear—it would likely stop at around 1.1 billion.

On the 8th, Venice time, the atmosphere of the film festival had already entered its climax stage.

The filmmakers who chose to leave early had all left; the guests who chose to attend only the closing ceremony had also arrived one after another today, such as Gong Li, Zhang Ziyi, and others.

In the morning, the high-end luxury items such as gowns, shoes, jewelry, and accessories for Liu Yifei, Zhou Xun, and Shu Chang were sent over by the brands one day in advance.

As for the great Director Lin, he was considered a "pie falling from the sky" type of tag-along, enjoying the same brand services as Liu Yifei.

Actually, Lin Nan could clearly feel that the brands were even more attentive to him than to Liu Yifei... After all, in terms of status, he was higher than his own wife, and it was—free-loading!