Chapter 365

"A Water City Gala for Chinese Filmmakers!"

A photo from Sina Entertainment, plus the caption, instantly ignited the internet.

This photo captured a scene of a dinner party; around a round dining table sat full of Chinese filmmakers.

Of course, if those sitting there were just some not-so-famous filmmakers, it wouldn't matter, but the key is that those sitting there were almost all directors familiar to people's ears.

Looking at the photo, sitting directly opposite the shooting position is the most famous and influential director in China, Cao Yang.

To Cao Yang's left sits the 64th Venice Film Festival Jury President Old Old Mouzi, and to Cao Yang's right sits Tian Zhuangzhuang.

Next to Old Old Mouzi is Jiang Wen, next to Jiang Wen is Hong Kong film director Du Du Qifeng, next to Du Du Qifeng is Taiwan director Li Li Kangsheng, and next to Li Li Kangsheng is Taiwan director Chen Ma Yili.

Next to Tian Zhuangzhuang is the '78 photography department's Lv Le, next to Lv Le is the previous Venice Golden Lion winner Jia Jia Zhangke, next to Jia Jia Zhangke is Zhuang Zhuang Yuxin, next to Zhuang Zhuang Yuxin is Du Du Haibin.

Sina Entertainment's caption can be considered an explanation for these Chinese directors dining together.

Cao Yang is the producer and screenwriter of the film "Sanctuary," which was shortlisted for the main competition unit, and is also a special guest of the Venice Film Festival; according to news from inside Venice, he might present the award for Best Actor or Best Actress of this year.

Old Old Mouzi is the Jury President.

"Sanctuary," directed by Tian Zhuangzhuang, was shortlisted for the main competition unit.

"The Sun Also Rises," directed by Jiang Wen, was shortlisted for the main competition unit.

"Fiction," directed by Lv Le, entered the Horizons unit.

"Useless," directed by Jia Jia Zhangke, also entered the Horizons unit.

Hong Kong director Du Du Qifeng's "Mad Detective," after "Lust, Caution" was kicked out of the main competition unit, was added to the main competition unit at the last moment.

Taiwan director Li Li Kangsheng's "Help Me Eros" was shortlisted for the main competition unit.

"The Teeth of Love," directed by Zhuang Zhuang Yuxin, was shortlisted for the main competition unit.

Taiwan director Chen Ma Yili's "The Blood Brothers" entered the Midnight Screening unit and was also selected as the closing film.

"Umbrella," directed by Du Du Haibin, entered the Horizons unit.

(Those who think it's exaggerated, go search for the 64th Venice Film Festival; there were indeed 8 Chinese-language films participating. Besides Old Tian's "Sanctuary" and "The Teeth of Love," the remaining 7 plus "Lust, Caution" have no exaggeration, including Old Old Mouzi as Jury President.)

Since Marco Müller took office as Venice Film Festival Chairman, he has only done two things:

One is for the sake of the film festival's influence and attention, he completely compromised with Hollywood; every year, American films must win big awards, no longer just shouting slogans.

Two is to help Chinese-language films and Chinese filmmakers, especially with a great tilt in awards; as for the reason, it's probably because he studied in China, likes China, and has many friends in China.

In the original timeline, awarding Venice's highest award, the Golden Lion, to Chinese people for three consecutive years was something he did.

"Did Old Ma really let you be the award presenter for Best Actor or Best Actress?"

After the party ended, Old Tian asked Cao Yang.

Yesterday, when Cao Yang just arrived, Old Ma jokingly said he would let Cao Yang be an award presenter for him, and Old Tian thought he was joking.

The ten-day film festival was already more than halfway over; at this time, the award presenters must have been decided long ago, so how could he temporarily let Cao Yang replace someone else.

Cao Yang shook his head and said with a smile: "Not the award presenter for Best Actor."

"Oh, I said so."

Old Tian nodded, indicating he knew; he was purely curious about this matter.

"Old Ma let me be the award presenter for Best Actress."

Cao Yang waited for Old Tian's voice to fall before saying.

Old Tian's eyes widened, "You brat, are you playing me?"

"Haha..."

Cao Yang laughed, and then explained to Old Tian:

"Old Ma is also not easy; to improve the attention and influence of the Venice Film Festival, he really used all his means. As a result, at the opening ceremony, those Hollywood superstars still didn't come in large numbers, which hurt Old Ma a lot."

Then, he whispered to Old Tian: "Especially those two Hollywood stars who had the best chance of winning Best Actor and Best Actress, they didn't even think about coming at all, and there were quite a few films shortlisted for the main competition unit whose leads didn't come either."

Old Tian was stunned; Cao Yang's words had too much information, and for a moment, he didn't know what to ask.

How do you know who has the best chance of winning Best Actor and Best Actress?

How do you know those Hollywood stars don't plan to come to Venice?

How do you know so much news?

Do you already know who the awards belong to now?

"The ones with the best chance of winning Best Actor and Best Actress are Hollywood stars?"

Old Tian tried his best to suppress his curiosity and asked along Cao Yang's words.

Cao Yang nodded and said: "Isn't this nonsense? You know what Old Ma is thinking; now that he wants global attention and wants to maintain influence, he can only compromise with Hollywood as much as possible, only by attracting big stars as much as possible.

Helplessly, in the past few years, the Venice Film Festival had been playing with Hollywood stars, saying they would give big awards, but after luring people here, they said they wanted to oppose Hollywood and didn't give a single award... so now the evil consequences have appeared.

The 'boy who cried wolf' was shouted too many times, credibility is seriously lacking, and now that they really intend to give awards, others won't come."

Old Tian thought about it; indeed, he didn't see many Hollywood stars on the red carpet at the opening ceremony; most of those walking the red carpet were still Europeans and Asians.

Come to think of it, there were quite a few American films shortlisted for the main competition unit this time, a full 8, which was unimaginable in previous years—there were only 21 films in total that entered the main competition unit.

Italy itself only had 4 films shortlisted, two of which were co-productions with other countries.

Hmm, among them were 5 Chinese-language films.

Calculating this way, the US plus China plus Italy, a total of 17 films were shortlisted for the main competition unit, leaving only 4 films for other countries in the world.

Of course, it seems there were more than 4 films left for the world and Europe, because among Italy's 4 films, 2 were co-productions with other European countries, and among the US's 8 films, 2 were also co-productions with Europe.

Otherwise, Old Ma's extreme approach would definitely have been sprayed to death by the European media.

Old Tian understood a bit why Old Ma insisted on letting Cao Yang be the award presenter.

"Old Ma released news to the outside world saying that the award presenter for Best Actor or Best Actress is you, just to attract those Hollywood stars who might win Best Actor or Best Actress?"

Old Tian asked Cao Yang in a low voice.

At the same time, he sighed in his heart that Cao Yang, this brat's influence is really huge now; Old Ma actually used him as "bait" to attract Hollywood male and female stars to Venice.

Will those who had previously decided not to come, after hearing that Cao Yang is the award presenter for Best Actor or Best Actress, come?

In all likelihood, they will.

This is an opportunity to know Cao Yang and get involved with Cao Yang; as long as one can know him and get involved, it's always better than not knowing him and having no opportunity to collaborate.

One must know that even in Hollywood, Cao Yang also rarely attends any activities and almost never attends parties; besides filming, he rarely stays in the US, and many Hollywood stars have no opportunity to know him.

Old Tian glanced at Cao Yang and couldn't help but sigh again that this brat is becoming more and more remarkable; even Hollywood superstars have to look at his face.

He suddenly thought of a very interesting promotional interview video that can still be seen online. A while ago, when Cheng Long returned to Hong Kong to promote "Rush Hour 3," it was estimated that "Rush Hour 3"'s box office in North America was suppressed by "The Fault in Our Stars," which made the Hong Kong media unhappy.

Some media wanted to find compensation from other aspects.

Consequently, a reporter asked:

"Jackie, according to reliable news, you can get a 15% share in 'Rush Hour 3,' but Cao Yang can only get a 13% share in 'Inception,' and both are A-level productions; doesn't this mean your status in Hollywood is much higher than Cao Yang's?"

Old Tian wanted to laugh when he thought of Cheng Long's expression at the time.

Cheng Long was obviously stunned at the time, his eyes wide round, looking at the reporter who asked the question, and it took a full twenty-plus seconds to react.

What's interesting is that his first reaction at the time wasn't to scold the reporter, nor was it to answer this question.

His face was visibly red, and he hurriedly said to the camera: "Cao Dao Yang is the director I admire the most, and also the director I respect the most; he is also one of the most influential and respected directors in Hollywood."

Then he glared at that reporter, glared at that reporter for a full tens of seconds, and then said:

"What I get is also called gross, but the full name is first dollar gross, also called first-run total box office.

You can understand it as the part the film side gets after subtracting the theater share from the film box office revenue, and I get a share from this.

Actors in Hollywood who can get a share are either first-run total box office share or profit share.

And what Cao Dao Yang gets is gross, the full name is gross, which is total box office share; it's not the same concept as what I get at all, okay? How can my 15% be mentioned in the same breath as Cao Dao Yang's 13%?

I can responsibly tell you that directors in Hollywood who can get gross shouldn't exceed 5 people; do you understand Cao Dao Yang's status now?"

After explaining such a big pile, Cheng Long might still feel it wasn't enough, and asked loudly and angrily again, "Do you understand now?"

Old Tian poked Cao Yang's arm with his hand and asked very curiously: "Is there no one in Hollywood who dares to offend you now?"

Cao Yang was stunned; where did this come from?

Could it be that Old Ma's crazy stunt made Old Tian think of this question?

He hesitated for a moment and asked back:

"Why would the companies or actors who have collaborated with me offend me? Isn't it happy to make money collaborating with me? Isn't it happy to win awards collaborating with me? Do they hate dollars?

As for those who haven't collaborated with me, why would they offend me? Don't they want to collaborate with me in the future? Do they have a grudge against dollars?"

One point where Americans are different from China is that as long as you can make them earn dollars, political and a series of other factors are not within the scope of consideration, at least for now.

Perhaps in another ten-plus years, Americans will be played bad, and will be willing to earn less money or not earn money for the sake of some "correctness."

On September 4th, Jiang Wen's "The Sun Also Rises" held its premiere, and he specially sent an invitation to Cao Yang, and Cao Yang definitely had to go.

This film was the film Jiang Wen shot again as a director after being banned from directing for six years, at least in name.

Jiang Wen's fame in Europe is still very great, and the premiere was also very lively.

And, among the film's three actresses, besides Jiang Wen's wife Zhou Yun wearing a tube-top big green long dress, Chen Chong and Kong Wei wore what was quite bold.

One wore a corset light green long dress, only the back was completely exposed.

One wore a white halter long dress, not only was the back completely exposed, extending to the butt crack, but the two pieces of cloth covering the chest in front were also not big, and the two figure-eight shaped spherical objects were quite eye-catching.

Cao Yang knew this actress wearing the white figure-eight... long dress.

When Cao Yang just got into Beijing Film Academy, he was still very curious about the 96 acting class, which was two grades higher than him and famous in later generations, and even went to see it specially.

Besides Little Swallow, chubby Yan Danchen, He Lin, and others, the 96 acting class also had a girl with a big mouth, making people look at her mouth first the moment they saw her.

That was Kong Wei, one of today's female leads.

Have to say, some actresses are really daring to wear.

"Cao Dao, haven't seen you for many years, still remember me, right? I remember you came to our class several times before your sophomore year."

Not to say that female actresses have an advantage in socializing; Kong Wei directly held Cao Yang's arm, and her figure-eight spherical objects inadvertently made contact with Cao Yang's arm several times.

"Eh, Weiwei, you know Cao Dao? That's good, take good care of Cao Dao for me, must take good care of him; Cao Dao is our distinguished guest."

Jiang Wen said with a loud voice.

"Hee hee, rest assured, Director Jiang, I guarantee to complete the task."

Kong Wei said with a smile.

"Hello Cao Dao, I am Chen Chong, very happy to see you."

Chen Chong on the other side walked over, reached out and said.

Cao Yang took the opportunity to break free from Kong Wei's hand, shook hands with Chen Chong, and said with a smile: "Hello."

He could see that Chen Chong and Kong Wei had a bit of a rivalry; it seems the gold content of the saying "three women make a play" is still increasing.

"Director Jia, you came long ago?"

Cao Yang saw Jia Jia Zhangke not far away, hurriedly greeted him, then gave Kong Wei and Chen Chong an apologetic smile, and walked toward Jia Jia Zhangke.

Sigh, sometimes I'm afraid of encountering such actresses who know you and are especially enthusiastic; if she uses a woman's advantage to deliberately reminisce with you and deliberately ignore your identity, that's really a headache.

"Why, encountered trouble?"

Jia Jia Zhangke asked with a low smile: "Is there still someone who can make you eat a loss? That's really too rare."

Cao Yang sighed and said: "It's from our school's 96 acting class, saw each other a few times when in school..."

Then he shook his head with a bitter smile.

Jia Jia Zhangke laughed, revealing an expression that all men understand, and joked: "Understand, understand, didn't develop a relationship with you in school before, now want to get on your... play."

Cao Yang looked at Jia Jia Zhangke with some surprise; didn't expect Old Jia, who usually looks serious, to have this side.

After attending the premiere of "The Sun Also Rises," Cao Yang exchanged with Jia Jia Zhangke, and sure enough, Old Jia also understood this film that reflects various extreme realms of human desire.

It's just that Old Jia held a reserved attitude toward Jiang Wen's performance technique, thinking that this anti-conventional shooting was a bit too casual, which might make people look confused.

Fine, even Old Jia said Jiang Wen's narrative was too casual; it seems Jiang Wen really has excessive desire for expression and is too casual.

Because Cao Yang came to Venice too late, he only caught the premiere of Jiang Wen's "The Sun Also Rises," and didn't even catch the premiere of "Sanctuary."

On September 8th, the Venice Film Festival reached its final day.

Old Ma specially came to find Cao Yang, excitedly telling him that for today's closing ceremony red carpet, many Hollywood stars who hadn't come before had specially rushed over.

He even specially mentioned a few names.

For example, Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Christian Bale, Casey Affleck, Brody, James McAvoy, Keira Knightley, George Clooney, Tommy Lee Jones, Charlize Theron, etc.

These were all the main actors of the few American films shortlisted for the main competition unit.

It seems Old Ma's "crooked trick" really worked.

(End of chapter)