Chapter 387: None Are Simple

Cao Yang had long seen through these people in Hollywood.

As long as there are common interests, everyone is a good friend, a good brother, you are good, I am good, everyone is good.

But for their own interests, they can sell good friends and good brothers at any time.

On this point, these Americans cannot compare with Venice Film Festival Chairman Marco Müller.

Old Ma is probably because he studied in China in the early days and felt the simplicity of the people in that special time period, so he is still very particular and also very concerned about Chinese movies and filmmakers.

Although Cao Yang's "Manchester by the Sea" has been completed, he didn't go to the US to promote "New Pirates of the Caribbean," which is to be released in less than twenty days.

Staying behind is not for the review of "Manchester by the Sea."

To tell the truth, with his current status, even if the movie really has some violations, it will definitely not be like other movies, which are returned without explaining what needs to be modified and how to modify it specifically.

The biggest possibility is that Director Tong of the Film Bureau personally called to let Cao Yang go over to discuss whether continuing to retain these plots will have an adverse impact on society...

By the way, Director Tong is also at the deputy ministerial level.

Before serving as the Director of the Film Bureau, he served as a party official, chairman, and general manager of China Film.

During his tenure as chairman and general manager of China Film, Old Han was the vice chairman and deputy general manager.

The reason Cao Yang is not in a hurry to go to the US is, first, he is afraid of being used by the Film and Television Producers Alliance, so he will wait and see for a few days before going.

Second, he is the producer and guest screenwriter of "Assembly," which will be released nationwide on December 1st. Since he is in the country, he definitely has to participate in the premiere of "Assembly."

There are several film and television companies that have invested in "Assembly," but because of Cao Yang's participation, there are four main investment companies: China Film, Qingying Factory, Huayi Brothers, and Xiangjiang's Media Asia.

Nowadays, Old Han of China Film and Cao Yang can be considered iron-clad allies. As long as it is a movie Cao Yang participates in, most of them will pull Qingying Factory and China Film into it.

Old Han is grateful for this, and his perception of Cao Yang is similar to Hou Keming of the Beijing Film Academy; the two can be considered completely bound to Cao Yang.

Of course, their benefits are definitely very large.

Old Hou can sit and sit firmly in the position of the big leader of the Beijing Film Academy because of his relationship with Cao Yang—his eye-catching political achievements are almost all because of Cao Yang.

Old Han can sit in the position of chairman and general manager ahead of schedule, also because of his relationship with Cao Yang—the awards of the European Big Three, the awards of the Oscars, and the money earned from investing in Hollywood movies, these political achievements are also useful to Old Han.

Huayi and Media Asia originally planned to release "Assembly" on December 20th, because on December 13th, "The Warlords," starring international action superstar Li Li Lianjie, was to be released.

This movie gathered big names like Li Li Lianjie, Liu Liu Dehua, and Takeshi Kaneshiro. Huayi and Xiangjiang's Media Asia felt that after "The Warlords" was released for a week, the limelight "passed," and it would be better to release "Assembly" again.

In fact, to put it bluntly, it was because this was Xiao Xiao Gangpao's first war movie, and there were no big names from Xiangjiang and Wanwan, so they had no confidence in Xiao Xiao Gangpao.

After all, "The Warlords" claimed an investment of 40 million US dollars. When this movie was approved last year, the exchange rate of the US dollar to the RMB was 8.0226, which converted to an investment of 320 million RMB.

Why is the production cost of this movie so high?

Even if Li Li Lianjie took 100 million in salary, Liu Liu Dehua 16 million, Takeshi Kaneshiro 12 million, and Xu Xu Jinglei's 2 million... the total salary of all actors added up to 130 million, accounting for about 40% of the total cost.

But excluding actor salaries, does this movie need to spend nearly 200 million on filming and post-production?

Hehe.

However, to tell the truth, "The Warlords" is indeed a rare good movie, and it is the best combination of Chen Kexin's transition from art film to commercial film.

Probably because he was an art film director, he is good at digging into human nature, so the development of human nature in "The Warlords" is very wonderful.

This movie can basically be considered the peak work of Li Li Lianjie, Liu Liu Dehua, and Takeshi Kaneshiro's acting careers.

The investment of "Assembly" is only 80 million RMB. Compared with "The Warlords," no one thinks that "Assembly" can compete with "The Warlords" at the box office, even if it is produced by Cao Yang.

However, when Huayi and Media Asia knew that "New Pirates of the Caribbean," directed by Cao Yang, would be released in the country on December 21st, they once wanted to postpone the release date of "Assembly" to next year.

Finally, Xiao Xiao Gangpao insisted, so the release date of "Assembly" was moved to December 1st.

Everyone knows that generally, the premiere of a movie related to Cao Yang will basically not do messy things, and will follow tradition, placed the day before the movie is released.

And the premiere of "Assembly," after Xiao Xiao Gangpao asked for Cao Yang's opinion, didn't play tricks, and was placed on November 30th.

In Xiao Xiao Gangpao's words, Cao Yang's movie release doesn't need to play tricks at the premiere. The movie I cooperated with Cao Yang is 1+1 greater than 3, and it doesn't need to play gimmicks and tricks.

Don't look at Xiao Xiao Gangpao being a bit shameless when flattering and flattering, but Cao Yang understands him. He just knows how to endure, but he is actually a very sensitive person.

Not wanting face and knowing how to endure are qualities that many successful people must have.

This is also one of the reasons why Xiao Xiao Gangpao can become a successful big director from a "small person."

Cao Yang knows very well that if he participates in the premiere as a main creator of "Assembly" in the capacity of producer and screenwriter, then Xiao Xiao Gangpao will have nothing to do, and he will definitely steal all his limelight.

But does Cao Yang need such limelight? Of course not.

Thus, Cao Yang told Xiao Xiao Gangpao that he would participate in the premiere as a "guest."

Xiao Xiao Gangpao said half a sentence, and finally just said lightly, "Director Cao, if you have anything in the future, just say a word."

The premiere of "Assembly" was held at the Workers' Stadium. Many stars came that day, Ge You, Zhang Zhang Guoli, Liu Ye, Huang Huang Xiaoming, Sun Sun Honglei, Li Li Xiaoran, Pang Bing, Shou Bing, Zhang Liangying, Shang Wenjie, Yi Nengjing, etc.

There were also Zhao Benshan, Fan Wei, etc., who came specifically.

In terms of directors, there were Tsui Hark, Wang Wang Xiaoshuai, Zhang Yang, etc.

Old Han also came, but he came with Cao Yang. The guests were almost all there, and Old Han and Cao Yang appeared last.

Although "Assembly" didn't play tricks at the premiere, it could be considered unique on the screen for screening.

Thousands of audiences at the scene witnessed the largest giant screen in the history of Chinese cinema. This special screen, 4 stories high and equivalent to a standard basketball court, looked absolutely shocking.

Especially the 11.1-channel sound effect restored by special technology at the scene, made the war scenes with bullets flying and artillery fire filling the sky hit everyone's heart with the floor trembling under the audience's feet.

"How about it, awesome, right?"

Xiao Xiao Gangpao grinned and showed off this big screen to Cao Yang.

"This is also the reason why I insisted on holding the premiere at the Workers' Stadium. I don't play the fancy premiere ceremonies like Zhang Zhang Yimou and Chen Chen Kaige, nor do I sing and dance at the premiere ceremony like them and just don't play the movie, playing mysterious farts.

I follow tradition and don't do anything special, but I get a super-large specification screen, move the battlefield to the Workers' Stadium, and it's necessary to make a little shock."

Shock is shock, but for the audience sitting close, because the screen is too big, it is a bit unfriendly.

"When are you going to the US?"

Xiao Xiao Gangpao asked again.

Then he leaned toward Cao Yang and whispered: "Do you need me to personally enter the field to hype it up, suppress the momentum of the Xiangjiang guy, so as not to let his movie rise and affect the box office of your 'New Pirates of the Caribbean'."

As an industry insider, Xiao Xiao Gangpao knows it clearly in his heart. ===== CHAPTER 388 =====