Chapter 360: Request

The closer the time for the Beijing Olympics drew, the greater the pressure on Zhang Yimou became.

It seemed there was still a full year until August 8th of next year for preparations and rehearsals, but for such a massive project, and one concerning the nation's image, how could it be easy?

Yet, under such pressure, he still accepted the position of jury president for this year's Venice Film Festival.

There was no helping it; the more social status a person has, the more they value personal favors.

Zhang Yimou had twice won the Golden Lion at Venice, with "The Story of Qiu Ju" in 1992 and "Not One Less" in 1999.

Especially with the second film, "Not One Less," it was first sent to Cannes, and after withdrawing due to the national flag issue, it was then submitted to Venice.

Regardless of Venice's motives, they did give the Golden Lion to him.

That was a massive favor.

Within the film circle, no matter who you asked, Zhang Yimou was considered a core member of the Venice family.

Furthermore, Venice Film Festival director Marco Müller was good friends with Tian Zhuangzhuang, Zhang Yimou, and others when he studied in China years ago.

Therefore, when Marco Müller sent an invitation to Zhang Yimou, Zhang Yimou truly could not refuse.

However, Zhang Yimou did explain the situation to Marco, saying he could serve as the Venice Film Festival jury president, but because he was busy with the Olympics, he could only spare ten-plus days.

Much like when Cao Yang served as the Berlin Film Festival jury president this year, Zhang Yimou would only be able to go to Venice a few days before the festival opened.

This was, of course, no problem.

What Marco wanted was Zhang Yimou's influence; as long as it could increase the attention on the Venice Film Festival, anything was fine.

Marco got his wish, but when the list of nominations for the Venice main competition section came out, Zhang Yimou felt he had been a bit "tricked."

Look at these Chinese-language films that received nominations.

Tian Zhuangzhuang's "The Go Master."

Zhang Yimou and Tian Zhuangzhuang were both from the 1978 class of the Beijing Film Academy; Tian was in the directing department, and Zhang was in the cinematography department. Their relationship had always been quite good.

For Tian Zhuangzhuang's graduation project "Our Corner," the cinematographers were Zhang Yimou, Hou Yong, and Lv Le.

Li An's "Lust, Caution."

Zhang Yimou had always kept in touch with Li An; the two were good friends. Back then, it was Zhang Yimou who recommended Zhang Ziyi to star in Li An's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."

Jiang Wen's "The Sun Also Rises."

The film that won Zhang Yimou the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival, "Red Sorghum," starred Jiang Wen, who also acted in Zhang Yimou's "Keep Cool."

And there was Zhuang Yu's "Love Tooth."

As fellow Beijing Film Academy alumni, shouldn't he show a little care? The current Beijing Film Academy was a bit unique; those graduates who had interned on films following Cao Yang were extremely united, and on top of that, Cao Yang had become the academy's signature.

This led to the Beijing Film Academy, from bottom to top, beginning to unite, enough to influence "veterans" like their 1978 class.

And there was Lee Kang-sheng's "Help Me Eros" from Taiwan.

As fellow Chinese, should he help out?

Zhang Yimou was worried.

The Venice Film Festival main competition section only had those few awards; it was impossible to give them all to Chinese-language films, right?

Moreover, although Zhang Yimou was the jury president, he really didn't have that much power. Not to mention the Golden Lion, he couldn't necessarily decide on other major awards either.

If there was no support within the jury, everyone would bicker for a long time over any single award.

And there was something even more headache-inducing.

Zhang Yimou received a call from Li An.

After hanging up, Zhang Yimou almost couldn't help but throw his phone. If the occasion hadn't been inappropriate—he was discussing details of some Olympic programs with people—he definitely would have cursed out loud.

Rubbing his temples, Zhang Yimou still couldn't help but curse Li An fiercely in his heart.

Damn it, you dared to film without having all the copyrights in hand; you really are something.

What can I do? I don't even know that company holding part of the copyright.

Besides, you damn fool, aren't you afraid of it blowing up? Daring to enter the Venice Film Festival without full copyright—this is what's most headache-inducing.

If this goes wrong, it will be a scandal for the Venice Film Festival, and by then, his own reputation as jury president will certainly be damaged as well.

Sigh, what to do?

Should he expose it to the festival officials now?

Forget it, forget it, let it be. I'll just pretend I don't know about this. Anyway, even if it gets exposed, it depends on when it gets exposed.

If it's before the festival, it has nothing to do with me.

If it's after the awards... damn it, as long as I don't give "Lust, Caution" an award, it still has nothing to do with me!

Let's wait and see.

Zhang Yimou suppressed his headache and walked toward the office; he still had to continue discussing the details of the Olympic programs with others.

Cao Yang had been paying special attention to two things these past few days: one was whether any big "news" would break from the Venice Film Festival; the other was the wish-granting activity for "The Fault in Our Stars."

There was no news from Venice yet. Cao Yang estimated that if Marco wanted to take action, the best time would be mid-to-late August, just a few days before the festival opened, so as to attract more attention.

As for the second thing, Tom Rothman didn't let the critically ill children or teenagers say they were dissatisfied with the realized wishes, but instead deliberately changed to a very cumbersome wish.

This wish wasn't hard to fulfill, but it required time—traveling. As everyone knows, this is the most time-consuming thing and also the most reasonable wish for extending time.

Therefore, this wish took five days.

In this way, by the time the last person's wish was fulfilled, the release date for "The Fault in Our Stars" would be exactly Friday, August 10th.

Among the films released in North America that day, there weren't many threats; the biggest threat was Cheng Long's "Rush Hour 3."

It was quite a coincidence that "Rush Hour," Cheng Long's most representative work in Hollywood, and a third sequel at that, was being released on August 10th.

"Rush Hour" was considered a very successful film series; the investment for the first two wasn't high, and combined, the global box office was nearly 600 million USD.

Precisely because of the success of the first two, "Rush Hour 3" had been difficult to produce.

The reason was actually quite simple: in Hollywood, as long as it's a successful sequel, the lead actors' salaries aren't just a matter of doubling; they often demand a share of the profits from the producers, wanting to "snatch" a piece of the cake from the producers' mouths.

So, after "Rush Hour 2" grossed 350 million USD globally in 2001, the producers wanted to rush a sequel, and both lead actors also wanted to rush a sequel.

Under the circumstances where all three parties wanted to strike while the iron was hot and get the sequel going... the sequel ended up being difficult to produce.

The main reason was still the old problem: they couldn't agree on compensation.

From 2001, it dragged on until 2006. Cheng Long basically had no films to shoot in Hollywood, and the other lead, Chris Tucker, had also basically become a washed-up actor, with no films to shoot for years.

It was under these circumstances that "Rush Hour 3" was finally settled.

But even so, Cheng Long was still dissatisfied with the 20 million USD offer from the producers, and finally negotiated a 15 million USD salary plus 15% of the box office share.

And the other Black lead, Chris Tucker, was even more exaggerated; even as a washed-up actor, he wasn't satisfied with the 30 million USD salary offered by the producers, and finally stubbornly negotiated for 20 million USD plus a 20% share.

This way, the production cost of "Rush Hour 3" increased to 140 million USD.

If they had filmed the third installment right after "Rush Hour 2" was released in 2001, the possibility of a huge hit would have been very high.

But times have changed; after all, six years had passed. Even if "Rush Hour" had a group of loyal fans globally, no one could be sure how this film would perform.

However, it was a film that had been a hit, and since it was a sequel, it naturally had a fan base, so many institutions still gave a global box office forecast of around 400 million USD.

The premiere of "Rush Hour 3" was held relatively early, on July 30th at the Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.

Because Cao Yang was in Los Angeles, Cheng Long sent an invitation to Cao Yang.

Although "Rush Hour 3" would be released on the same day as "The Fault in Our Stars," forming a substantial competitive relationship.

However, neither Cheng Long nor anyone else probably thought the two films were in competition.

After all, one was an A-list production with an investment of 140 million USD, and the other was just an art-house film with an investment of 10 million USD; no matter how you looked at it, they weren't in the same league.

Of course, everyone also knew that "The Fault in Our Stars" had high attention and high heat, but anyone with a discerning eye could see that this was aimed at the Oscars.

The premiere of "The Fault in Our Stars" was not on the same day as "Rush Hour 3," but on the very day the last wish was fulfilled.

After Cao Yang received Cheng Long's invitation, he considered it and went.

At the premiere of "Rush Hour 3," director Brett Ratner, the film's leads Chris Tucker and Cheng Long, as well as Zhang Jingchu, Japanese actor Hiroyuki Sanada, and Japanese actress Yuki Kudo all appeared in grand attire. Cheng Long appeared on the red carpet in a white silk martial arts outfit; his fans were mostly young people, and most were still attracted by his "kung fu."

When Cao Yang arrived, he saw Cheng Long on stage greeting and thanking the thousands of fans who had come, then walking along the street high-fiving the fans one by one, drawing crazy screams from the fans.

The fans who arrived, besides Asian viewers, were mostly young Americans.

After Cheng Long saw Cao Yang, he said directly to the fans on the scene: "Let us welcome the most influential director in Hollywood, the director most loved by the public, Director Cao Yang, who has made countless classic films!"

His fans clearly also saw Cao Yang; there were almost no young people these days who didn't know Cao Yang.

"Cao, I love all your movies, especially 'Inception,' it's just so cool!"

A young man shouted loudly.

Following his words, these young groups reacted, and then started shouting in a chaotic mess; because it was too noisy, one couldn't hear what they were shouting.

Cheng Long clearly couldn't control the scene anymore.

He smiled bitterly and pressed his hands down, signaling many times, but still couldn't do it.

Finally, he could only make an apologetic gesture and walk toward Cao Yang not far away.

"It can be seen that these young people in America still really like your kung fu movies."

Cao Yang said to Cheng Long as he walked.

Cheng Long smiled and shook his head, "I'm old, I can't fight anymore. The biggest limitation of a kung fu star is right here; when you are old and can't fight, these fans you once had will change to fan another one who can fight without hesitation."

As the two were talking, they arrived at the theater lobby.

Cheng Long had originally wanted to introduce everyone, but he didn't expect that New Line Cinema founder Bob Shaye, who had come to attend the premiere today, would have his eyes light up and take the lead in greeting Cao Yang.

"Hey, Cao, very happy to see you, thank you for being able to come to the premiere."

The copyright for "Rush Hour" was with New Line, and it had always been invested in by New Line.

As the founder of New Line Cinema, Bob Shaye had high expectations for "Rush Hour 3," so he also came to attend the premiere.

Bob Shaye had been under great pressure for the past two years.

In 1993, New Line was acquired by television giant Turner and was immediately merged into the Time Warner Group.

But New Line president Bob Shaye still enjoyed the company's autonomous management rights, so for a long time, the company's operations, film production, and marketing remained independent.

In the past few years, due to the massive success of the *Lord of the Rings* trilogy, Bob Shaye’s New Line had been doing quite comfortably; back then, he even dared to slam the table at Warner’s CEO, Barry Meyer.

That was just how tough he was.

But there is a saying: prosperity leads to decline.

In the years since *Lord of the Rings 3*, New Line hadn't released a single blockbuster, and just breaking even each year was considered a success.

Especially in the last two years, New Line had started losing money.

This caused dissatisfaction at Warner—they gave him the power of autonomous management, which was fine when he was making money, but if he was losing money, then what the hell was the point of autonomy!

Warner was already discussing fully integrating New Line into the Warner system.

Bob Shaye naturally didn't want New Line to be fully integrated into Warner; if that happened, he would certainly be kicked out, leaving the New Line he had founded 40 years ago.

Therefore, Bob Shaye’s biggest thought right now was for the company to quickly produce a hit to seal off Warner’s ideas.

After seeing Cao Yang today, he immediately had another thought: if he could cooperate with Cao Yang, whether it was producing a box-office hit or an award-winning film, he could temporarily stabilize Warner.

"Hey, Bob, long time no see."

Cao Yang was a bit unaccustomed to Bob Shaye’s enthusiasm; you’re an old white guy, reeking of that scent peculiar to white people, and what’s the meaning of not shaking hands, but hugging me directly, for fuck’s sake?

Are we that close?

"Cao, what are your plans next? Why don't we set a time to chat about a collaboration? Don't worry, New Line will definitely offer you a price higher than the market rate."

Bob Shaye didn't care if it was abrupt; to be honest, if he hadn't happened to run into him today, he really wouldn't have had a chance to talk to Cao Yang about a collaboration.

Cao Yang looked at Bob Shaye with some surprise; was he being this direct?

"Sorry, Bob, I already have plans for what's next, and it's another film in cooperation with Warner."

Cao Yang had indirectly refused.

Bob Shaye frowned, looking somewhat disappointed.

However, as the founder of New Line, having led New Line for forty years without being submerged by the tides of the market, Bob Shaye still had his ways.

"Cao, there are many ways to cooperate. You can cooperate with Fox Searchlight on *Juno*, you can cooperate with Columbia on *The Fault in Our Stars*; I believe you can cooperate with New Line on other films as well."

Bob Shaye shifted his thinking; since Cao Yang couldn't direct, then cooperating as a producer and screenwriter would also work.

"Bob, I don't have any plans right now. How about we talk after *The Fault in Our Stars* is released?"

Cao Yang said with a smile.

Bob Shaye felt a bit helpless, but collaboration wasn't something that could be forced; it depended on sincerity.

As long as there was an opportunity, he believed his sincerity would surely move Cao Yang.

"Director Cao, long time no see."

After the others had greeted Cao Yang, Zhang Jingchu walked over, half-bowing to shake hands.

She was wearing a gold strapless evening gown today, and her hair was pinned up with gold hair accessories; it looked... truly hard to describe.

I don't know what she was thinking; wouldn't it have been better to go with a pure image?

"Long time no see."

Cao Yang shook hands with her with a smile and didn't say much else.

"Director Cao, there is something I would like to ask for your advice on."

When the premiere event ended, Cheng Long came to Cao Yang’s side and led him to a quiet place.

"Director Cao, to tell you the truth, I poured my heart and soul into *Rush Hour 3*, and I want more people to see this film."

Cheng Long said with a very serious expression: "However, the film is stuck in the review process back home and cannot pass; could you please help out?"

Today’s premiere was just an event and didn't screen the film, so Cao Yang didn't immediately remember the content of *Rush Hour 3*.

"What’s the reason given?"

"The word from inside the Film Bureau is that it’s insulting to China. Heaven and earth are my witness, if it were truly an insulting film, I wouldn't film it even if they paid me more money; this is a matter of principle."

Cheng Long said solemnly.

"I don't know the content of the film; let me watch it first and then we'll talk."

Cao Yang didn't say much more. The term "insulting to China" was very heavy; if Cheng Long had knowingly filmed something insulting to China, he wouldn't have been set up as a model or given so many titles later on.

However, he still had to see what was going on. Sometimes it wasn't necessarily the common ways that were called "insulting to China"; sometimes, if inadvertent content had a bad impact, it could also be counted as "insulting to China."

"Alright then, I'll get a tape from the company. When do you have time to take a look?"

Cheng Long struck while the iron was hot, fearing that Cao Yang was just brushing him off.

Whether he could make a comeback in Hollywood and expand his influence in China again depended on this one film, *Rush Hour 3*; but if it couldn't be released in China, then what was there to talk about regarding influence?

Just saying how much it sold at the box office abroad was actually quite hollow.

Only by truly selling well in China could one have enough influence.

"Fine, there's no time like the present; let's do it tonight."

Cao Yang thought for a moment, then asked: "Where should we watch it? New Line’s office or your place?"

He then added with a smile: "If you aren't afraid of the film source leaking, I don't mind watching it at my place. I have a full set of equipment there, and it’s a good chance for us fellow countrymen to get together."

"Haha, no problem, let's get together tonight."

Cheng Long said with a loud laugh; Cao Yang’s words were exactly what he wanted.

(End of chapter)