Chapter 253: Film Festival Kicks Off

In the evening, Marco Müller drove Cao Yang to a Japanese-style restaurant with a Japanese sign.

Cao Yang looked at Old Ma with some strangeness. Logically speaking, it is understandable for Old Ma to take him to eat authentic Italian food or Chinese food, but why is it a Japanese-style restaurant?

Old Ma saw Cao Yang's confusion, laughed, and said: "Take you to eat an 'authentic' cuisine."

He also specifically emphasized the pronunciation of the word "authentic."

Okay, Cao Yang wanted to see how authentic it was.

In fact, eating cuisine abroad is also a good choice. Those restaurants that claim to be authentic Chinese food are a bit uncomfortable to eat. The sushi, rice balls, ramen, and eel rice of the cuisine can at least make people full.

However, after tasting it, Cao Yang was even more confused.

There are Japanese-style restaurants opened by Japanese people in Beijing. He has eaten them. The chef is said to be a descendant of some Japanese, and they are all said to be relatively authentic.

Why is the taste of this place that claims to be authentic Japanese-style cuisine different?

"How is the taste?"

Old Ma asked with a smile.

"A bit strange." Cao Yang didn't know how to describe the taste of these cuisines; anyway, it was different from the taste he had eaten before.

"Haha, I thought you would love to eat it. I actually think the taste is quite good."

Old Ma ate some sashimi and said with a smile: "Locals think the taste is good. Many people think this is Chinese food that is very much in line with the European taste."

"Uh, Old Ma, did you get one thing wrong? Japanese-style cuisine is Japanese."

Cao Yang looked at Old Ma with some confusion. Old Ma has been in China for so many years, how could he not know that Japanese-style cuisine is Japanese?

"No, no, you don't know something. Venice, well, including the whole of Italy, almost most of these cuisine restaurants, the bosses are Chinese, and the chefs are also Chinese. Haha, you can't think of it, right?"

Old Ma explained with a smile: "So, many people think that cuisine is food in Chinese food that is more in line with Western tastes."

Okay, as long as you like it.

"Old Ma, you seem to be in a good mood."

Cao Yang skipped the topic of food. Old Ma has the mood to tease this, is it because the matter is settled?

"It's okay."

Old Ma hesitated and said: "The matter you specifically requested has a clue."

"Has a clue? That is to say, it needs conditions?"

Cao Yang heard the subtext of Old Ma.

Old Ma nodded and explained: "If *Black Swan* wants to win Best Actress, there are two biggest competitors. One is called *Don't Tell*, and the female lead is the Italian actress Giovanna Mezzogiorno.

The other is called *Gabrielle*, and the female lead is the French actress Isabelle Huppert. In addition, both films have Italian backgrounds, and the production parties all have Italian film companies."

Cao Yang nodded; he understood. Old Ma emphasized Italian funds and background. After all, the Venice Film Festival is Italian. As long as good films appear in the country, the awards will certainly be tilted.

Old Ma continued: "You should have heard of Isabelle Huppert, the European art queen, who has won countless awards. Not to mention anything else, she has won the Cannes Best Actress award twice and the Venice Best Actress award twice.

This time, many people inside the film festival support her and want her to win the Venice Best Actress award for the third time, suppressing her achievement of winning the Cannes Best Actress award twice. I think you understand what they mean."

Cao Yang nodded again; isn't it just to compare with Cannes and make a gimmick?

"Another competitor, Giovanna Mezzogiorno, her advantage is that she is Italian, and her performance in *Don't Tell* is also very good."

"If you put aside *Black Swan*, how did you originally plan to handle this matter?" Cao Yang asked curiously.

Old Ma smiled mysteriously.

"Since you want to make a gimmick, then make a big one. Isabelle Huppert has won the Silver Lion for Venice Best Actress twice. Since it is the third time, give her a Golden Lion. I have already thought of the name; it is called the Special Golden Lion Award."

The Silver Lion has been changed to the Golden Lion. For Isabelle Huppert, it should be a great honor.

At the same time, it also made a big gimmick for the Venice Film Festival.

"That is to say, now the biggest competitor is that Italian, Giovanna Mezzogiorno?"

Cao Yang thought for a moment and asked Old Ma, "You haven't mentioned the so-called clue and conditions yet."

"You know, there are a few people in the jury who are official people to ensure the attribution of the Golden Lion, and these people are not all my people. As the jury president, Dante Ferretti also knows the existence of these people.

So, if you want *Black Swan* to win Best Actress, it is best that these people don't bring it up first. It needs an outsider, preferably an American, to bring it up, and then my people can follow up."

Looking at Cao Yang, Old Ma said: "I contacted Claire Danes' agent, and her agent can let her strongly support *Black Swan* to win Best Actress, but there is a condition: she wants to cooperate with you once."

"Claire Danes?"

Cao Yang thought for a long time, but still couldn't remember who this person was.

Old Ma also thought about it, mainly recalling the information about this actress he read before coming, and finally remembered the easiest point to remember.

"Claire Danes collaborated with Leonardo DiCaprio on the film *Romeo + Zhu Liye*. She played Zhu Liye and was selected as one of the 50 most beautiful women in the world by *People* magazine in '97."

Since she can be selected as one of the 50 most beautiful women by *People*, her appearance should be quite good, at least when she was young, it must have been quite good.

"How old is she?" Cao Yang asked.

"Twenty-something? Definitely not over thirty."

Cao Yang synthesized the information. Being able to play opposite Leonardo DiCaprio proves that she still has a certain fame. Now that she is not over thirty, it is exactly the time when European and American women are most "brilliant."

However, not necessarily. Some European and American women's appearance begins to decline linearly before they are thirty. Let's look at her appearance before deciding.

Cao Yang and Old Ma came out after eating, but didn't expect to meet an acquaintance.

"Cao Dao?"

Cao Yang turned his head and looked. A few people came out of another private room. The leader was the director of *Seven Swords*, Xu Ke. It was Sun Honglei next to him who shouted just now.

"It's really you, Cao Dao. I didn't expect to see you here."

Sun Honglei came out from the crowd, hurriedly reached out to shake hands with Cao Yang, and said with a smile.

He played a role in Cao Yang's debut film *On the Beach at Night Alone* and was quite familiar with Cao Yang.

"Hello, Cao Dao, are you here to eat too?"

Xu Ke shook hands with Cao Yang, then looked at the foreigner beside Cao Yang, feeling a bit familiar.

"Yeah, Müller said the sushi here is good, so we came to taste it."

Hearing the words "Müller," Xu Ke suddenly remembered who this foreigner was, and hurriedly reached out again, saying in English: "Hello, Mr. Müller, very happy to see you."

Xu Ke chatted briefly with Müller. It could be seen that he kept talking, and Müller nodded with a smile. "Hello, Cao Dao, very happy to see you," Donnie Yen said.

"Hello, Cao Dao, I am Charlie Young."

"Hello, Cao Dao, very happy to see you."

Zhang Jingchu said with a smile. Last time at the College Student Film Festival, the director of *Huayao Bride*, Zhang Jiarui, introduced Cao Yang to her, but they didn't chat much.

"Very honored to see you, I am Korean actor Kim So-yeon."

The Korean actress bent down and reached out to shake hands with Cao Yang, putting her posture very low.

In Korea, directors, especially great directors, are the top existence in the entertainment circle, with the highest status, and then film actors > TV actors > singers > idols/variety people.

That is to say, those so-called idol Oppas are the lowest status there, and they are the existence that is looked down upon and bullied by seniors.

Like Cao Yang, an international great director with such great influence, Korea does not have one yet.

Charlie Young looked at Kim So-yeon strangely, not quite understanding why she was suddenly so "humble." When this Korean female star first saw Director Xu Ke, she didn't do this.

This is actually a cognitive bias brought about by information.

!

Just like in China, in the eyes of many ordinary people, Cao Yang is a great director on the same level as Old Mouzi, Chen Kaige, and Feng Dao, at most a little stronger than the latter three.

And at this time in Hong Kong and Taiwan, they generally still "look down on" the mainland, and the media is not very willing to report on Cao Yang, whose influence has long exceeded that of Hong Kong directors.

So many Hong Kong actors who don't pay much attention to the mainland generally think that Cao Yang is just a director on the same level as Xu Ke.

This is still the cognition after *District 9* sold well in Hong Kong and broke the box office record in the mainland.

Before, they had always regarded Cao Yang as an art film director.

Instead, people from Korea, Japan, and other places know how big Cao Yang's status is and how wide his influence is.

Of course, those Hong Kong directors and actors who have developed outside or moved north also know how big Cao Yang's influence is, just like Donnie Yen, who didn't feel any surprise at Kim So-yeon's behavior.

When Cao Yang and Old Ma were about to leave, Xu Ke hurriedly issued an invitation, wanting to invite Cao Yang to support them tomorrow.

Cao Yang didn't think much and agreed. Although *Seven Swords* and *Crazy Stone* were in a competitive relationship in China, once they went abroad, everyone was their own people.

Charlie Young saw that Xu Ke was still staring at the place where the two left, and couldn't help but ask: "Old Master, do you know that ghost guy?"

"Old Master" is Xu Ke's nickname, and many Hong Kong people call him that.

It is said that Xu Ke set up his studio in a small villa in Kowloon Tong that year. The villa had a garden and a pond. He would habitually put on casual clothes and slippers every day when he arrived at the studio, and then take time to go to the pond, sit there and feed the fish while thinking about the script.

At that time, his wife looked at Xu Ke's state every day and felt that this guy was simply an old master, so she jokingly called him "Old Master," and thus, the nickname "Old Master" spread like this.

Xu Ke glared at Charlie Young, really wanting to cover her mouth.

He ignored Charlie Young and said directly to everyone: "Let's go."

Then, he walked outside.

Donnie Yen looked at the innocent-looking Charlie Young and said in a low voice: "I know the person who is with Cao Dao; he is Venice Film Festival Chairman Marco Müller."

Charlie Young widened her eyes directly, with a shocked expression.

Is that ghost guy that big?

"Cao Dao Yang is so lucky to know such a big person."

Charlie Young sighed.

In fact, it's no wonder she is making a fuss. She and Zhang Min are both returning after retiring from the film industry. She retired from business in '97, and then the company lost money and couldn't continue, and she started returning to film the year before last.

It's just that she is a little better than Zhang Min, and her return path seems to be exceptionally smooth.

The first film of her return was Cheng Long's *New Police Story*, and the second was Xu Ke's *Seven Swords*.

This resource is also no one else.

Donnie Yen also wanted to cover her mouth a little.

"Cao Dao's new film is called *Inception*. Have you heard of this super blockbuster with an investment of 180 million US dollars?

Cheng Long, Li Li Lianjie, Chow Yun-fat, including me, all want to join, but unfortunately, Cao Dao doesn't look down on us. I heard that Cheng Long and Li Li Lianjie found a lot of relationships, but in the end, they still didn't move Cao Dao.

By the way, you should know Wu Qihua. Wu Qihua just because he got on Cao Dao's relationship, took on several of Cao Dao's films, and then his status rose, and his pay rose from the initial offer of 300,000 Hong Kong dollars to the current offer of 3 million US dollars."

Charlie Young was at a loss. She could understand what Donnie Yen said, but her brain suddenly crashed, and for a time, she couldn't understand the meaning contained in these simple sentences.

At 7 pm local time in Venice on August 31st, 1 am on September 1st in Beijing time, *Seven Swords* officially appeared as the opening film of the Venice Film Festival.

Tsui Hark, Nansun Shi, Donnie Yen, Sun Honglei, Kim So-yeon, Zhang Jingchu, Charlie Young, etc., all appeared.

Because it failed to be selected for the main competition unit and did not enter other units, it is certainly impossible to win an award. The biggest purpose of the *Seven Swords* crew coming with so many people is to sell films.

Influenced by *Crazy Stone*, the final box office of *Seven Swords* in China was only 40 million, far lower than expected. With an investment of 140 million Hong Kong dollars, it is certainly impossible to recover the cost by relying on the box office alone, and it can only rely on selling rights.

When Cao Yang brought Dong Xuan, Lv Yi, and Huang Xiaoming, the people of the *Seven Swords* crew finally saw what influence is.

Foreign media were all chasing Cao Yang for interviews, and the audience who came also followed suit and shouted "Cao, Cao, Cao."

For a time, the media seemed to have forgotten that this was *Seven Swords*' home court, and left everyone in the crew out in the cold.

Charlie Young now felt what Donnie Yen said, and it wasn't exaggerated at all.

"Old Master," a director who is so famous in Hong Kong and the mainland, is no different from an ordinary director when he arrives in Europe, but all the European and American media that came know Cao Yang and all want to get news from him.

This is influence.

Zhang Jingchu looked at Cao Yang, who was being chased by the media, her eyes flashing, and the thoughts in her heart were growing wildly.

On September 1st, Cao Yang originally wanted to go support Li Yu's *Dam Street* alone.

Helplessly, Dong Xuan insisted on following.

Cao Yang persuaded her: "Not all films are like *Seven Swords*. Li Yu's *Dam Street* is an art film. Are you sure you want to watch it?"

Dong Xuan giggled and said: "Are you trying to say that her film has exposure scenes? What's the matter with that?"

She thought in her heart, for you, I have studied so many Japanese action films, can this film be more perverted than the Japanese 'Tokyo is very hot'?

Cao Yang smiled, okay, just don't regret it.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 254 =====