Chapter 45: Filming Complete

In the following days of filming, both Liu Ye and Yu Feihong interpreted their roles brilliantly; the two seemed to be competing in a display of acting prowess, and whenever they had a scene together, it was a thrill to watch.

Old Tian was deeply moved by what he saw.

More than once, he grumbled to Cao Yang that directors nowadays were too impetuous and lacked patience.

As long as one could calm down and seriously direct the actors, even someone as "dull" as Yu Feihong could go toe-to-toe with Liu Ye, so what actor couldn't be directed well?

Cao Yang smiled and said nothing.

Old Tian, I’m afraid you haven’t met the "little fresh meats" and "little flowers" of later generations yet; when you do, you will lament once again that there really are actors in this world who are impossible to teach.

The filming progress of the crew accelerated at a visible rate.

Because of this, Cao Yang adjusted the schedule a few more times.

Liu Ye had a new nickname; besides being called "Greenhorn" behind his back, many people jokingly called him "Auntie Liu."

"Auntie Liu" was a play on "God Liu."

First, he was sometimes so eccentric that those who didn't know him would think he was ill. He couldn't stand seeing women being bullied, whether he knew them or not, and would always step in; this was the origin of his "Greenhorn" label.

Second, he was truly a god when acting; those agile eyes, that devilish smile, and that body language that shifted between restrained and wild brought a male lead who seemed to have a serious illness to life.

Just like that, the end of the month arrived, and when the coordinator calculated, it turned out that only the scenes in the prison remained to be shot; everything else had been finished ahead of schedule, half a month earlier than planned.

At the same time, two pieces of news arrived.

First, after nearly a month of screenings, *On the Beach at Night Alone* was only making about a hundred thousand a day, and the market was already flooded with pirated discs; it was estimated that in a few days, it wouldn't even be able to maintain that hundred thousand.

Hou Ke called to ask if Cao Yang wanted to apply for an extension.

As of now, the film’s box office had already exceeded 24 million, but without an extension, it would be hard to surpass 25 million.

This was definitely a box office hit.

Cao Yang hesitated for a moment; the box office potential was gone, but if they extended the run and manipulated things slightly, it would cross 30 million.

Under normal circumstances, one would certainly apply for an extension to let the box office hit 30 million; how many "30-million-dollar directors" were there in the country right now?

Hou Ke continued, saying that the China Film Group had hinted that they could publicly claim the box office was 31 million; this was a kind of unwritten rule, and most early films would inflate their numbers.

He told Cao Yang directly that he had rejected the China Film Group's proposal on the spot.

He explained that while 31 million sounded like a great gimmick, you aren't a commercial director and don't need the empty title of a "30-million-dollar director."

Furthermore, the film had already been submitted to this year's Golden Rooster Awards, and the Golden Rooster had an unwritten rule: films with too high a box office would be screened out in the first round and not allowed to compete for the major awards.

With the current box office, given the nature of the Golden Rooster, it probably wouldn't even make it past the first round.

However, as long as the box office didn't exceed 30 million, the school could still think of ways to help.

Most importantly, the school wanted to build your personal image and wouldn't let your resume have the stain of inflated box office numbers; that was a hidden risk.

What else could Cao Yang say? He could only say that Teacher Hou did the right thing, and they wouldn't extend the run.

The second piece of news was told by Li Xiaoran when she came to visit the set.

The results of the 73rd Academy Awards were out: *Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon* won four awards: Best Foreign Language Film, Best Original Score, Best Art Direction, and Best Cinematography.

Especially the Best Foreign Language Film award; this was the first time a Chinese-language film had won this category.

Even though it didn't win the most important Best Picture and Best Director, winning four out of ten nominations was still a remarkable achievement.

This film was the most important turning point in Li An's directing career, significantly boosting his status in the international film scene.

The same was true for the three leads.

Although from the perspective of later generations, Hollywood was just a game for a group of Jewish capitalists and a tool for cultural export, at the beginning of the new century, Hollywood was still the place film people yearned for—the center of world cinema.

That night, Li Xiaoran lay in Cao Yang's arms, calming her breathing for a while before saying leisurely: "International Zhang is so smug now. Her press releases are all about her contacts with some international big-name brands, saying certain Hollywood crews are very interested in her; she doesn't even mention me anymore."

"Why mention you? To keep bickering with you, mocking and ridiculing each other?" "I'm biting you."

"Ouch, ouch."

Cao Yang winced and gasped, hurriedly comforting her.

"Don't take it too seriously. It's not that easy for a Chinese person to break into Hollywood, unless you're like Cheng Long, entering as a kung fu superstar first and then organizing your own projects. Otherwise, how could they possibly give you a lead role?"

He patted her bottom and continued: "In short, it's a bit complicated to explain; you just need to know that it's a world ruled by white people."

"But others don't think so. That idiot producer Zhang Weiping said directly in front of the media that they were preparing to invite an international female star to play an important role, and he thinks International Zhang is pretty good."

"Then let her play it; it's not the lead role. I told you long ago not to get your hopes up too high. But it's good to compete; the media is putting you two together for comparison right now, and you two are the most talked-about in the country."

Li Xiaoran laughed, her words filled with a little pride.

"That's true. My agent, Sister Zhang, has been busy to the point of exhaustion lately. Before going to Berlin, she was begging everyone, and many big names wouldn't even pay her any mind; now, many big names are contacting her, wanting to sign me."

"That's for sure. Your popularity in Europe right now is even bigger than International Zhang's; you've been hyped up as an art-house goddess."

!

"What do you mean 'hyped up as an art-house goddess'? Can you even talk properly?"

"Is 'hyped up' not good?"

"It's not."

Then Li Xiaoran bared her teeth, "Is this better?"

"It's better when you don't bare your teeth."

"Pah!"

Li Xiaoran was quite busy; as the film was screened on a large scale in Europe, her popularity was indeed constantly increasing. MK2 took advantage of the buzz to buy press releases and hype her up as an art-house goddess so they could harvest more box office.

Some European brands reached out, wanting her to be their spokesperson.

Unfortunately, Sony Pictures Classics, in order to avoid the Oscar awards month and because their main energy was focused on campaigning for *Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon*, did not arrange for *On the Beach at Night Alone* to be released in North America.

Otherwise, Li Xiaoran might have been even more popular.

If the North American box office had been good, she might have really been able to compete with International Zhang.

The next day, Li Xiaoran left, and Cao Yang continued filming the final scenes.

A prison, also called a correctional institution in Xiangjiang; the titles vary depending on the rank of the guards, and Zhou Yiwei played a correctional assistant.

In the original version, this character was played like a Japanese invader entering a village; Zhou Yiwei had a different interpretation.

The male lead couldn't be seen in the cell; Zhou Yiwei opened the door, but didn't rush in, instead standing at the entrance to look inside before walking in directly to turn and observe.

Not bad, this looked like a normal person.

The final shot was Liu Ye drawing an eye on his hand; as his hand moved, his field of vision began to change, and then he had mastered the divine art—as long as he didn't want people to see him, they couldn't.

There was actually a bit of religious meaning here, using the way of drawing an eye on the hand to express the male lead's transformation.

In Buddhism, there is a figure called White Tara, one of the incarnations of Avalokiteshvara; she has an eye on each of her two hands and two feet, and three eyes on her face, hence she is also called the Seven-Eyed Buddha Mother.

People love to seek her help, so she is also called the Savior Mother, symbolizing the power and dignity of all Buddhas.

This could also echo the transformation of the female lead after being brought back by the abusive man; after meeting the male lead, she was redeemed and given dignity, which is the theme of the film: women's resistance and dignity!

With this, all shots for *3-Iron* were completed.

(End of chapter)