Chapter 373: Visiting the Set

On September 20th, the 26th Golden Rooster Awards announced the nomination list.

The announcement of this list could be said to have caused quite a sensation in the film and television industry.

Many media outlets paying attention to this matter were also somewhat surprised by this list.

Instead, the general public who saw the nomination list felt that the films nominated for the Golden Rooster Awards this time were no longer so "unfamiliar"; at least most of the films, even if they hadn't seen them, had heard the names.

Actually, to put it bluntly, it was that the nomination list this time had "sunk" down; the nominated films were almost all films that could "truly" be released in cinemas.

Those films shot by state-owned film studios for tasks, which were only released in their local state-owned cinemas for a while and basically had no attendance, were basically not on the nomination list this time.

Cao Yang's vision was to make the Golden Rooster Awards the most authoritative professional film award in the country, focusing on artistry, technicality, and professionalism.

That is to say, art films with artistry, or commercial films that were also particularly good art films, could win major awards.

And completely commercial blockbusters could win technical awards.

This point was a bit similar to the Oscars.

Those films with task-oriented (films shot by state-owned film studios to complete annual tasks), guidance-oriented, traditional mainstream melody, etc., had a more suitable film festival waiting for them, and that was the Huabiao Film Awards.

The Huabiao Awards were hosted by the National Film Bureau and were the government awards in the domestic film circle, commending works and individuals who had made outstanding contributions to the domestic film industry.

Those films shot for tasks, which basically couldn't be released nationwide and could only be released in local state-owned cinemas, or even "perfunctory" films that were shelved after shooting and not intended to be released, should go compete for the Huabiao Awards.

For state-owned film studios, whether it was the Golden Rooster or Huabiao, as long as they could win an award, they didn't care.

But preventing them from winning an award—that mattered; these were political achievements.

Therefore, Cao Yang's measures actually offended state-owned film studios very much; not every state-owned film studio had the ability of the Youth Film Studio or China Film Group to produce mainstream award-winning films.

However, the person specifically operating this matter in front of Cao Yang was Hou Keming.

Old Hou had done administrative work for so many years; don't look at his appearance of being heart-to-heart in front of Cao Yang, but his methods were also not simple.

Since 2005, the original China Film Huabiao Awards, the Xia Yan Film Literature Awards, and the China Film Tongniu Awards were merged and placed under the "China Radio, Film and Television Awards," uniformly named the "China Film Huabiao Awards."

Moreover, the award cycle was changed from once a year to once every two years.

Coincidentally, the Huabiao Awards "overlapped" with the Golden Rooster Awards; both were held in odd-numbered years, and the current holding dates of these two awards were not far apart—one at the end of August, one at the end of October.

Thus, Old Hou didn't "hardly confront" to do this, but united some fourth and fifth-generation directors, as well as old artists from the Beijing Film Academy, to make suggestions to the Film Bureau, the Federation of Literary and Art Circles, and the Publicity Department.

The superficial purpose was for the more standardized, orderly, and healthy development of Chinese films.

This era still paid attention to learning the advanced experience of the West in all aspects, and Chinese films, at least superficially in these years, were learning from Europe.

Therefore, if our film festival wanted to be a film festival with international influence like the three major European ones, of course, we had to learn the more professional side.

Films participating in the main competition unit of the three major European festivals must have their premiere there.

That is to say, if you wanted to enter the main competition unit of the three major European festivals, the film must not have been released, and must not have participated in other film festivals before.

The Golden Rooster also had to learn the professionalism of the three major European festivals.

Of course, it also had to combine the characteristics of the Oscars; we had to take the strengths and make up for the weaknesses, take the essence and discard the dross.

What was the difference between the Oscars and the three major European festivals?

To participate in the Oscars, there was one condition: it must be released for enough screenings within the specified time—this point was distinguished from the "exclusivity" of the three major European festivals.

Old Hou and their suggestion was that our domestic awards, in order to reflect professionalism, especially the Golden Rooster Awards, should learn the "enough screening sessions" of the Oscars.

And also learn the "exclusivity" of the three major European festivals—films participating in the Golden Rooster Awards must not have participated in other domestic awards; note, it was domestic.

As for participating in the Golden Horse or Hong Kong Film Awards after participating in the Golden Rooster Awards, that was up to them; it didn't affect it.

Actually, to put it bluntly, this regulation of the Golden Rooster Awards was aimed at those films with task-oriented, guidance-oriented, traditional mainstream melody, etc.

These films couldn't not participate in the Huabiao Awards, which were two months earlier than the Golden Rooster Awards, because such films were easier to win awards at the Huabiao Awards.

But Old Hou and their proposal was under the banner of the more standardized, orderly, and healthy development of Chinese films; it was "pulling a big flag," the slogan was high-end, and almost everyone didn't see that this was aimed at those state-owned film studios.

Even state-owned film studios didn't see this point.

They just regretted that some films shot for tasks couldn't participate in the Golden Rooster Awards after participating in the Huabiao Awards.

But they wouldn't think that this kind of "tortuous, bizarre, and high-end" regulation was just aimed at them; after all, it looked like this regulation was for the Golden Rooster Awards to be more professional and was aimed at all films.

Therefore, some slogans or regulations that looked "high-end" might just be for a special "small matter."

In this way, as the promoter of this matter, Cao Yang naturally didn't offend anyone, and even Old Hou and the others didn't offend anyone.

At this year's Golden Rooster Awards, those traditional mainstream melody films and films shot for tasks were almost nowhere to be seen; they all went to participate in the Huabiao Awards in August.

Of course, some films shot by directors within the system that were not so mainstream melody, or films they considered to have artistry, gave up the Huabiao Awards and turned to sign up for the Golden Rooster Awards.

For such films, Cao Yang told Old Hou that as long as they met the registration conditions of the Golden Rooster, they could compete fairly, and no special treatment was needed.

Today was not only the day the Golden Rooster Awards announced the nomination list, but also the day for the audition of those people circled by Cao Yang from the Beijing Film Academy.

As everyone knew, when Cao Yang auditioned actors, he valued most whether the actor fit the image of his film, while acting skills were secondary.

However, because these Beijing Film Academy students who were to audition didn't know the content of the film, they couldn't deliberately put on makeup and perform to fit the character image.

It wasn't that no one tried to inquire about the content of the film and the requirements for the characters.

The four male students and six female students, at the moment they received the audition notice, almost all felt dazed for a moment, including Yang Mi, who already had quite a bit of fame, and Jing Tian, who didn't worry about resources.

The second reaction, of course, was that those with connections hurriedly found connections, and those without connections hurriedly found head teachers or familiar teachers to inquire about Cao Dao's new film.

Being able to participate in Cao Dao's film was already one of the highest starting points for entering the domestic film and television circle.

Although Yang Mi was admitted to the Beijing Film Academy in 2005, before entering the Beijing Film Academy, in 2002, when she was still in high school, she had signed with Rongxinda.

Relying on Rongxinda's resources, she appeared in hit TV series such as "The Story of a Noble Family" and "The Return of the Condor Heroes."

After entering the Beijing Film Academy, she successively appeared in films or TV series such as "Beijing Fairy Tale," "Wang Zhaojun," "Strange Tales of Liaozhai: Xiao Qian," and "Where Are You From."

Rongxinda thought highly of her and gave her plenty of resources.

After Yang Mi received the call from the department, she didn't delay for a moment, and with an excited heart, she called Li Xiaowan and Li Shaohong, the founders of Rongxinda, respectively.

After Li Xiaowan and Li Shaohong received the call, they also attached great importance to it.

The matter of inquiring about the news was handed over to Li Shaohong.

Li Shaohong could be considered Cao Yang's senior sister; she was also from the 78-grade directing department, one of Old Situ's students, and a classmate of Old Tian and Old Chen.

As Old Tian's confidante, Li Shaohong definitely called him first.

The first sentence was: "My Golden Lion Director, can you do me a favor?"

Old Tian... patted his chest without hesitation and said: "Say it!"

Then Li Shaohong asked about Cao Yang's new film, wanting to know some information, and explained that a student signed to her company was a student at the Beijing Film Academy and had received an audition invitation.

She was mainly afraid that Old Tian would misunderstand, and also afraid that if it spread out, Cao Yang would misunderstand.

After all, inquiring about film information for an artist signed to the company was a normal thing, but inquiring about the information of another director's new film for no reason was offending people.

When Old Tian heard it was this matter, he still said without hesitation: "I don't know."

No matter what Li Shaohong said, or what tone she used, Old Tian just smiled and said three words, "I don't know."

It made Li Shaohong very depressed.

Did Old Tian know the content of Cao Yang's new film?

Of course he knew.

Old Tian was even going to play the role of the male lead's brother in it, and Cao Yang had even discussed the content of the film with him; how could he not know.

Therefore, when Li Shaohong hung up the phone unhappily, Old Tian still reminded her to tell the female student she signed not to be coy, but to express herself generously.

What Li Shaohong didn't know was that Cao Yang didn't take the female student's matter to heart at all; he was mainly selecting the candidate for the male lead's nephew, and he left the choice of the "nephew's" two girlfriends to Old Tian.

After all, the scenes for these two roles were too few, and it didn't matter who was chosen.

Finally, Cao Yang hesitated between Chen Xiao and Zhu Yilong; both belonged to the very young-looking type, and playing a high school student wasn't out of place at all. This was also related to their age—Chen Xiao was only twenty, and Zhu Yilong was only nineteen.

However, just looking at their appearance, Chen Xiao belonged to the "young student" category, while Zhu Yilong's appearance could play a "young student," an "evil" type that was both righteous and evil, and could also play serious dramas.

That is to say, just in terms of appearance, Zhu Yilong's acting path was wider than Chen Xiao's.

An actor with a wider acting path was still worth looking forward to.

Therefore, Cao Yang chose Zhu Yilong to play the role of the male lead's nephew.

Old Tian's choice was somewhat beyond Cao Yang's expectation; he decided on Yang Mi and Jing Tian.

He didn't practice favoritism; among the two girlfriends the "nephew" dated, one was quieter, and the other was a band lead singer, a bit more dashing.

Jing Tian stood there, looking quiet.

And Yang Mi was a typical Jingcheng girl; with a high ponytail, she had that dashing spirit.

Fine, anyway, the scenes weren't many; choosing these two shouldn't be a big problem, right?

Before finally determining the male lead, Cao Yang went to the Huairou Film and Television Base.

Old Chen's "Forever Enthralled" was being shot here, and this was also the main shooting location.

"Forever Enthralled" was originally scheduled to start shooting in May, but Old Chen wasn't very satisfied with the Beiying Street shooting location inside the Beijing Film Studio, so he spent money to rebuild the shooting location in Huairou.

This delayed the start of shooting until the end of July.

Cao Yang went to Huairou this time with several purposes; the superficial purpose was to visit the set—Old Chen was his senior brother, and visiting the set was a very normal thing.

Moreover, in the choice of the role of Meng Xiaodong, Old Chen finally chose Li Xiaoran, whom he thought had better acting skills, instead of Fan Bingbing, who had greater fame in Hollywood.

Cao Yang told Li Xiaoran that he was going to visit her set this time.

There was one last purpose, which was to talk to Old Chen about whether Li Ming's schedule was possible; this could be considered the last attempt.

If Li Ming, the most suitable candidate, couldn't free up his schedule, Cao Yang would most likely choose Cheng Long.

The Berlin International Film Festival would definitely prefer Cao Yang's new film's male lead to be Cheng Long; Cheng Long had great fame, and turning from a kung fu superstar to an art film actor also had more topics.

Lunch time.

Old Chen was in a special shed with Li Ming, Li Xiaoran, and the heads of several major departments, and what they ate was definitely different from ordinary staff.

Li Xiaoran ate very happily today, and everyone was a bit confused.

Just as they were eating, Old Chen's phone rang.

He picked up the phone and looked at it, and everyone noticed that a smile actually appeared on Old Chen's stern face.

"You're coming to visit the set this afternoon?"

"Welcome, of course welcome."

"Okay, let's brothers find time to have a meal in the evening."

After hanging up the phone, Old Chen looked at everyone present, picked up a piece of food, chewed it a few times with his head down, and after swallowing, said casually: "Everyone put in some effort this afternoon and see if we can finish today's shots earlier."

After saying this, he smiled and said: "Cao Yang is coming to visit the set; I haven't gathered with my junior brother for a long time, and I want to finish shooting earlier to gather with him in the evening."

Li Xiaoran smiled and took a small bite of rice; for the sake of her figure, this bite of rice shouldn't have been eaten, but acting required physical strength, and doing other things also required physical strength.

She had seen the text message Cao Yang sent her in the morning, knowing that Cao Yang was coming to see her; nominally, of course, it was to visit Old Chen's crew.

Li Ming's expression moved, and he couldn't help but think of Cao Yang's new film; should he take the opportunity to chat with Cao Dao?

Sister Hong's eyes flickered, and she couldn't help but look at Ah Jiao; when choosing the role, if Ah Jiao was replaced by Zhang Baizhi...

Ah Jiao was completely full of curiosity and expectation; was the number one director in the country coming to visit the set this afternoon? She must take the opportunity to get to know him.

In short, everyone had their own calculations.

When Cao Yang came, it was Sister Hong who received him personally.

On the way to take Cao Yang to the crew, for some reason, Sister Hong suddenly asked impulsively: "Cao Yang, do you know a photographer named Christopher Doyle?"

Cao Yang was stunned; he knew Christopher Doyle, and also knew Christopher Doyle.

Christopher Doyle was an Australian, a typical old white man.

However, he mixed in the Xiangjiang and Wanwan film circles, could be considered Wong Kar-wai's exclusive photographer, and had cooperated with almost all famous directors in Xiangjiang and Wanwan.

He had won the Cannes Film Festival's Best Cinematography Award, and had also won many Golden Horse Best Cinematography and many Hong Kong Film Awards for Best Cinematography; he could be considered one of the top photographers.

Cao Yang looked at Sister Hong; it seemed that Sister Hong knew something.

In the film and television circle, especially the film circle, because they came into contact with too many handsome men and beautiful women, there might not be any stimulation or freshness between the opposite sex, so...

This wasn't a secret.

Whether it was Xiangjiang, Wanwan, or the mainland, many handsome young students, for the sake of resources, maintained deep and friendly relationships with big shots, which wasn't a strange thing.

And there were quite a few big shots who appreciated each other.

Uh, Old Chen was a big shot in the film and television circle, and Christopher Doyle was also a big shot in the film and television circle.

Cao Yang was still waiting for Sister Hong's words, but Sister Hong didn't talk about this topic anymore, but talked about... Zhang Baizhi.

She said that last month, which was August, Baizhi gave birth to a son, and after saying that, she looked at Cao Yang.

This made Cao Yang very depressed.

Why are you looking at me?

It's not mine.

Or are you implying something?

Otherwise, why was it Christopher Doyle, and then Baizhi.

Uh, wouldn't it be that Old Chen and Christopher Doyle were still appreciating each other?

In the evening, Cao Yang had a simple meal with Old Chen, who finished shooting early, and chatted.

From Old Chen, he learned that because the progress was unsatisfactory, "Forever Enthralled" would most likely be shot until February next year, which was nearly two months later than expected.

Hearing February next year, Cao Yang extinguished the plan to invite Li Ming.

Even if Old Chen gave face and prioritized Li Ming's scenes, with Old Chen's speed, without two months, he definitely couldn't finish Li Ming's scenes.

Old Chen still had a very high pursuit of the lens.

Cao Yang noticed that Old Chen had extremely strict requirements for lens sense, lighting, and costumes, makeup, and props.

Even if there was a slight flaw, for example, even if a button didn't fit the situation in the Republic of China, he would require changing clothes again.

Moreover, not only was the preparation time for each lens long, but the shooting was also rigorous and serious.

Almost every lens wouldn't be less than six groups; even if the first two groups felt very good and fully met the requirements, he would still shoot at least six groups before stopping.

It seemed a bit like obsessive-compulsive disorder.

With this shooting speed, it was almost impossible for Li Ming to finish shooting early.

Forget it.

Cao Yang gave up.

Cheng Long was also a good choice; let it be Cheng Long.

After eating with Old Chen, Cao Yang came to the place where Li Xiaoran was settled according to the address she sent.

This night, Cao Yang had infinite energy.

Of course, this was definitely not influenced by Sister Hong.

It was mainly because he hadn't seen Dabai for a long time and missed her very much.

Dabai was the same, obviously very invested; she ate an extra bite of rice at noon, and an extra bite of rice at night; she still had physical strength.

A woman with physical strength was still very passionate and energetic.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 374 =====