Chapter 26: As Long As You Have Confidence

The Hero has sent an audition invitation to Li Xiaoran; which role could she possibly be playing?

Cao Yang quickly sorted through his thoughts. As a freshly minted Berlin Best Actress winner, it was impossible for her to just make a cameo. There were only a few female roles in the entire film, and Zhang Manyu had already been cast long ago; there was no room for competition.

Only the role held by "International Zhang" was worth fighting for.

At last year’s Berlin International Film Festival, the National Master’s The Road Home won the Jury Grand Prix. When accepting the award, International Zhang followed the National Master onto the stage wearing a red bellyband. The National Master was stunned at the time; it was incredibly awkward.

This was the Jury Grand Prix—what was a lead actress doing coming up there?

What was she doing? Chasing headlines. Didn't you see that the next day's news was all about the red bellyband?

The National Master definitely had his reservations about International Zhang.

But it could not be denied that recently, among all the domestic actresses, no one had the momentum of International Zhang—not even Gong Li.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon received ten Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Editing, Best Original Song, Best Costume Design, and Best Foreign Language Film. As one of the lead actresses, "International Zhang" had truly become an international star.

The Hero is a commercial film. Well, the National Master might feel a bit ashamed about switching to commercial films, so he insists on calling it an industrial film.

Fine, whether it’s a commercial film or an industrial film, the goal is to make money at the box office.

It was likely the producers who wanted to leverage International Zhang’s popularity, creating a dilemma for the National Master, who simultaneously sent an audition invitation to Li Xiaoran.

"Do you know which role you're auditioning for?"

Li Xiaoran squinted, suddenly perking up, and boasted, "I don't know; they've kept it under wraps. But my agent pulled a lot of strings to find out that I'm competing against International Zhang. Hehe..."

Looking at her smug little expression, she must be thinking: I never expected that I, too, could compete for a role against International Zhang.

Cao Yang didn't want to discourage her, so he could only say tactfully, "Your movie hasn't even been released yet, and International Zhang is at the peak of her popularity this year."

In this day and age, for a film with a thirty-million-dollar investment shot domestically, how could one possibly keep their sights only on the domestic market given the current state of the industry?

Even for the National Master, even if he had some minor grievances, the most he could do was what he was doing now: sending an audition invitation to Li Xiaoran to make things difficult for International Zhang.

Although Li Xiaoran’s status had risen, her fame was still streets behind International Zhang’s.

As long as International Zhang knew how to play the game and said a few soft words to the National Master, Li Xiaoran would definitely have no chance.

Capital would not let the National Master be willful, and the National Master himself would certainly compromise.

Cao Yang comforted her, "This is the National Master’s first foray into commercial film. He’s shooting a commercial piece; if it were an art-house film, you would definitely be his first choice."

Li Xiaoran let out a "hmph," turned her back to him, and didn't forget to nudge Cao Yang with her hip. "I knew it. It must be that person of yours causing trouble behind the scenes, not wanting to see me in the spotlight."

Good grief, here we go again.

You’ve really fallen in love with this dynamic, haven't you?

The next day, Cao Yang returned to school and went to Old Situ’s office first.

He told Old Situ the ideas he had discussed with Old Tian yesterday. After listening, Old Situ nodded and said, "You can set the background in Xiangjiang, but when you film, it’s best to find a few Xiangjiang actors so that when the film goes through censorship, those people won't go looking for trouble and claim you're trying to fool them."

Cao Yang agreed deeply and reminded himself that even if he didn't film in Xiangjiang, he had to make every detail as perfect as possible.

When the time came, the Xiangjiang police stations, clothing, correctional facilities, and so on would all need to be restored as accurately as possible to avoid criticism. After leaving Old Situ’s office, attend class? That wasn't happening; Cao Yang went straight to find Hou Ke.

He didn't expect to be met with a closed door at Hou Ke’s office; Old Hou wasn't there.

He made a call, and before long, Old Hou arrived, explaining as he opened the door, "I was at a routine meeting at the Beiyingchang."

Cao Yang handed the revised script to Hou Ke and said, "There are a few plot points in the script that would be hard to pass domestic censorship, so I moved the location to Xiangjiang."

Hou Ke was surprised. He glanced at the script, 3-Iron; the name alone didn't reveal much. So, he asked while reading, "You’re going to film in Xiangjiang?"

In the end, Cao Yang hadn't changed the film's title to "3-Iron." The Chinese name felt too stupid, and the general domestic public wouldn't understand the "3-iron" reference, so he kept it as 3-Iron. It could be called 3-Iron abroad, anyway.

"No, just the background is in Xiangjiang; I'm still filming domestically."

"Then you’d better find two Xiangjiang actors to make it easier to pass censorship."

Hou Ke read quickly. By setting it in Xiangjiang, there were fewer taboos. As long as the general principles were correct and he oversaw it personally, passing censorship shouldn't be difficult.

"Yes, I plan to give the Xiangjiang actors one major supporting role and one minor supporting role, and we'll see about the rest. Either way, finding at least two is a certainty."

He had originally wanted Old Tian to play the abusive husband, but Old Tian protested yesterday. He would see; if it really didn't work out, he’d give it to a Xiangjiang actor.

!

Cao Yang still leaned toward having Old Tian play the role.

After about half an hour, Hou Ke finished reading the script. He was somewhat surprised; the male and female leads had almost no dialogue?

That was truly absurd.

After a moment of contemplation, he said, "It would indeed be hard to pass censorship if set domestically. Your approach is correct; instead of making two versions, you used Xiangjiang as the background."

In truth, Hou Ke didn't understand the second half of the script. How could the male lead just become invisible? Was this a myth or a ghost story?

If it were anyone else in front of him, he would have started ranting, but this was Cao Yang, a college student who had just won two Berlin Silver Bears.

Thinking about it, it made sense that these art-house film types were hard to understand; they were playing with avant-garde art. Once he thought of it that way, it was easier to grasp. Whatever, as long as it could help him... help the school win an award, that was enough.

"Do you have any Xiangjiang people in mind? What kind are you looking for?"

Hou Ke needed to be clear on this to prepare the budget. You couldn't find anyone too outrageous for the supporting roles; the Four Heavenly Kings, Zhou Xingxing, or Liang Chaowei were definitely out of the question.

Cao Yang thought for a moment and said, "No matter how many Xiangjiang actors we find, their total salary should be controlled at around 300,000. Any more wouldn't be worth it. We aren't counting on them to pull in box office numbers, and they aren't the main draw, so it’s unnecessary."

"That works," Hou Ke decided.

"I want to take this film to this year’s Venice Film Festival."

Hou Ke stood up abruptly, immediately energized. He stared at Cao Yang with burning eyes and asked only one thing, "Are you confident?"

"A female perspective, domestic violence, loneliness, dignity, and a touch of religious meaning... this type of film has an advantage. As long as the school cooperates, the main competition section is definitely no problem. As for winning an award, there’s a lot of randomness, but the chances aren't small."

Hou Ke slapped the table and declared, "As long as you have confidence, I represent the school in supporting you fully. Don't worry about the script; I will keep an eye on it personally to ensure you get the permit before you start filming."

(End of chapter)