Chapter 45: Filming Completed

In the filming of the next few days, whether it was Liu Ye or Yu Feihong, their interpretation of the characters was extremely brilliant. The two were like competing in acting; as long as it was their rival scene, it made people feel satisfied.

Old Tian felt it deeply.

More than once, he nagged in front of Cao Yang that current directors are too impetuous and lack patience.

As long as you can calm down and explain the scenes to the actors seriously, even a stupid person like Yu Feihong can compete with Liu Ye in acting. What other actor can't act well?

Cao Yang smiled and didn't speak.

Old Tian, I'm afraid you haven't met the little flowers and little fresh meats of later generations. By then, you will sigh again that there are really actors in this world who can't be taught.

The filming progress of the crew accelerated at a speed visible to the naked eye.

For this reason, Cao Yang adjusted the plan several times.

Liu Ye had a new nickname. Besides being called "Hothead" behind his back, many people jokingly called him "Six Aunt."

"Six Aunt" is "Liu God."

One is that he is sometimes god-like and rambling, and those who don't know might think he is sick. He can't stand women being bullied, whether he knows them or not, he will stand up for them, which is also the origin of his "Hothead."

Second, his acting is truly god-like. Those lively eyes, that charming smile, that body language that is sometimes restrained and sometimes wild—he acted out the male lead, who seemed to have a big illness, vividly.

Just like this, by the end of the month, the coordinator calculated that only the plot in prison hadn't been shot, and everything else had been shot in advance, half a month ahead of the original plan.

At the same time, two pieces of news came.

One is that *On the Beach at Night Alone*, after nearly a month of screening, only had a box office of about 100,000 a day. The market had long been flooded with a large number of pirated discs, and it was estimated that in a few days, it wouldn't even be able to maintain 100,000.

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

So far, the film's box office had exceeded 24 million, but without an extension, it would be hard to exceed 25 million.

This was definitely a big hit.

Cao Yang hesitated. The box office potential was gone, but as long as the screening was extended and slightly operated, it would pass 30 million.

Under normal circumstances, one would definitely apply for an extension to let the box office pass 30 million. How many 30-million-level great directors are there in the country now?

Hou Keming then said that China Film Group had hinted that they could claim to the outside world that the box office was 31 million. This was also a kind of unspoken rule; early films would mostly report some false figures.

He told Cao Yang directly, and he refused China Film Group's proposal at the time.

He explained that although 31 million sounded like a big gimmick, you aren't a commercial film director, so you don't need the false name of a 30-million-level great director.

In addition, the film had already signed up for this year's Golden Rooster. The Golden Rooster had an unwritten rule: films with too high a box office would be directly screened out in the first round and not allowed to participate in the awards.

With the current box office, according to the Golden Rooster's urinary nature, I'm afraid it wouldn't even make it into the first round.

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

Most importantly, the school wanted to establish your personal image and wouldn't let your resume have the stain of reporting false box office figures. This was considered a hidden danger.

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

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

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

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

Even if it didn't win the most important Best Picture and Best Director, ten nominations and four wins was also a remarkable achievement.

This film was the most important turning point in Director Ang Lee's career, making his status in the international film scene soar.

It was the same for the three leads.

Although looking back from later generations, Hollywood was just a game of Jewish capital, a tool for cultural output, but at the beginning of the new century, Hollywood was still the place film people yearned for, the world's film center.

At night, Li Xiaoran lay in Cao Yang's arms, calmed her breath for a while, and then said leisurely: "International Zhang is very proud now. Her press releases are all about her contact with some international big brands, saying that some Hollywood crews are very interested in her, and they don't mention me anymore."

"Why mention you? Keep scolding each other, mocking each other?" "I'll bite you."

"Ouch, ouch."

Cao Yang bared his teeth and gasped, comforting her hurriedly.

"Don't take it too seriously. It's not that easy for Chinese to break into Hollywood, unless you're like Jackie Chan, entering as a kung fu superstar first, and then organizing the game yourself. Otherwise, how could they give you the lead?"

He patted her butt and continued: "In short, it's a bit complicated to explain. You just need to know that it's the world of white people."

"But others don't think so. Producer Zhang Weiping, that idiot, directly said in front of the media that they were planning to invite an international female star to play an important role, and he thought International Zhang was not bad."

"Then let her act. It's not the lead. I've said long ago, don't hold too much hope. However, competing is also good. Now the media puts you two together for comparison, and the two of you have the most popularity in the country."

Li Xiaoran laughed, her words full of little pride.

"That's true. My agent, Sister Zhang, has been busy lately. Before going to Berlin, she begged her grandfather and grandmother, and many big brands didn't bother with her. Now many big brands are in contact with her, wanting to sign me."

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

!

"What do you mean touted as an art-house goddess? Can you speak?"

"Is it bad to be touted?"

"Bad."

Then Li Xiaoran bared her teeth. "Is this good?"

"It's fine if you don't bare your teeth."

"Pfft!"

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 heat to buy press releases and tout her as an art-house goddess so that they could harvest more box office.

Some European brands extended olive branches one after another, wanting her endorsement.

Unfortunately, Sony Pictures Classics, in order to avoid the Oscar awards month, and mainly focusing their energy on conquering the Oscars for *Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon*, didn't arrange a screening for *On the Beach at Night Alone* in North America.

Otherwise, maybe Li Xiaoran would be even more popular. 【

If the North American box office is decent, it really is possible to compete with International Zhang.

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

A prison, also called a correctional institution in Xiangjiang, has different names depending on the rank of the guards; Zhou Yiwei plays a correctional assistant.

In the original version, this character was played as if a Japanese soldier were entering a village, but Zhou Yiwei provides a different interpretation.

The male lead cannot be seen in the cell; Zhou Yiwei opens the door, but does not rush in, instead standing at the entrance to peer inside, only then walking directly in and turning his head to observe.

Not bad, this looks like a normal person.

The final shot is Liu Ye drawing an eye on his hand; as his hand moves, the field of vision also begins to shift, and then he achieves mastery of his divine art—as long as he does not want people to see him, they cannot.

There is actually a bit of religious significance here, using the method of drawing an eye on the hand to represent the male lead's transformation.

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

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

This can also echo the transformation of the female lead after being brought back by her abusive husband; meeting the male lead leads to her redemption and the bestowal of dignity, which is the film's main theme: women's resistance and dignity!

With this, all shots for "3-Iron" have been filmed.

(End of Chapter)