Chapter 96: Completely Different Treatment

For this trip to Cannes, Cao Yang and his group consisted of six people in total.

The lead actors, Wu Qihua and Gao Yuanyuan, were definitely going, along with the production manager Cheng Jianye, plus a translator and an assistant arranged by the school.

Dong Xuan had originally planned to go too, but she had to join the cast for the filming of *Snow Goddess Dragon*, so she had to regretfully give up.

For this TV series, the original choice for the role of Shangguan Yan was Xiao Qiang from Taiwan, and it had already been confirmed at the time; later, when Xiao Qiang and her agency heard that they would be filming on location in the desert and that she would need to set aside more than half a year of her schedule, they were unhappy.

Of course, another reason was that they felt the offered pay was too low, thinking it was just a poor, cheap production with little money and too much work, so they quit.

The producer and director were both very angry, but there was nothing they could do; the production budget was indeed limited, so they finally had to go to the Beijing Film Academy to select someone from among the students.

At that time, Dong Xuan hadn't yet joined the cast to film *Secret Sunshine*, so she went to try out for it.

When the director and producer saw her, they were pleasantly surprised—she had actually acted in the Golden Lion-winning film *3-Iron*, and her image was a perfect fit for the female lead, so they made the decision on the spot.

Then they told her to clear her schedule, as they would likely be going to the Western Regions in May or June for location shooting.

Before leaving for Cannes, Cao Yang specifically took Dong Xuan to treat the Taiwanese producer of *Snow Goddess Dragon* to a meal.

Otherwise, as a newcomer actress who was quite good-looking and had to stay with the crew for such a long time, not to mention anything else, it was extremely common for crews to bully newcomers and fawn over the powerful.

The producer, Li Yueda, was quite famous in Taiwanese martial arts dramas; back in the day, that song "To Win, You Must Fight," which swept through the Chinese-speaking world, was only made famous everywhere after he put it into a TV series.

When Li Yueda received the call from Dong Xuan asking to treat him to a meal, he didn't pay much attention to it.

He had seen too many such things in Taiwan; it was nothing more than two possibilities: either someone behind the actress was stepping forward to ask him to look after her on set, or the actress had other ideas and wanted to trade her youth for something.

Then he was shocked to find out that it was actually the youngest Golden Lion-winning director inviting him to dinner.

This was already giving him more than enough face; in his own words, it was a great honor.

He truly hadn't expected that the person behind Dong Xuan was this man, so he would definitely have to take special care of her on set and not let anyone blind enough to bully her, or else it wouldn't just be an unpleasant matter.

Before Cao Yang went to Cannes, mk2 specifically called to ask about Cao Yang's flight, because Cannes has no airport, so one usually flies to Nice and then goes to Cannes.

After learning of Cao Yang's flight, mk2 said they would arrange for reporters to interview him at Nice airport to build up some momentum first.

As a director who had won a Golden Lion, his treatment when attending the Cannes Film Festival was definitely among the best.

The Cannes Film Festival organizing committee had informed Cao Yang in advance that once his itinerary was confirmed, he must notify them ahead of time, and they would arrange a private car to pick him up at the airport.

So, as soon as Cao Yang stepped out of the airport in Nice, he was surrounded by the reporters who had been arranged in advance, taking photos and conducting interviews.

Then, when the official organizing committee car picked up Cao Yang, official reporters followed along to take photos and conduct routine interviews.

After all the hustle and bustle, he finally breathed a sigh of relief once he sat in the car.

The assistant remarked to Cheng Jianye, "No wonder Cannes has the highest status among the three major film festivals; look at their hospitality—it's much more enthusiastic than Berlin and Venice."

Cheng Jianye chuckled and pointed to the crowd queuing for the airport bus outside, saying, "See those people? At least half of them are filmmakers here to attend the Cannes Film Festival."

The little assistant clicked his tongue, suddenly realizing the truth.

It wasn't that Cannes was so enthusiastic, but that Cao Yang's status had changed; they only enjoyed the convenience because they were following Director Cao. If they had followed other directors, they would certainly be like that group of people, queuing for the bus to Cannes.

Cao Yang didn't need to worry about the hotel he was staying at this time; it wasn't booked by the school, but arranged by the Cannes Film Festival officials, who had booked rooms directly at the Carlton Hotel.

This hotel was the one with the most stars staying during the film festival and was one of the base camps for celebrities. Every year during the festival, rooms in the hotel were exceptionally hard to book.

Of course, Cao Yang didn't need to worry about any of this; his room was arranged by the officials, so there was no issue of whether it was hard to book or not.

After resting for a day, Bellman from Sony Pictures Classics called.

He said he was also in Cannes and told Cao Yang that he had already set a time with David Lynch, the president of this year's Cannes Film Festival jury, and would arrange for Cao Yang to meet David Lynch and get to know him before the festival opened.

Although David Lynch was American, he could be considered a "local" of Cannes; excluding honorary lifetime achievement awards, his major awards were all won at Cannes.

He won the Cannes Palme d'Or in 1990 for *Wild at Heart* and won Best Director at Cannes last year for *Mulholland Drive*.

With the Cannes Film Festival inviting him to be the jury president, the highest award, the Palme d'Or, would certainly be able to carry out the will of the Cannes officials.

Cao Yang naturally wouldn't decline; the day before the film festival opened, he met with David Lynch privately and had dinner together. The topic was just chatting about world cinema, and they didn't mention the awards at all.

This was something everyone understood tacitly; since they could meet before the festival opened and even have a meal together, it proved that *Secret Sunshine* winning an award was a certainty.

Actually, there was also a Chinese-descended juror in this year's Cannes jury, which was Yang Ziqiong.

!

But Cao Yang wasn't sure of her stance and was afraid that she might have her own choices, and contacting her would only make things difficult for her, so he didn't contact her in advance.

He planned to wait a few days before reaching out to get together.

With the help of mk2 and Sony Pictures Classics, plus the school's connections and Bellman's running around, if something still couldn't be done, even adding Yang Ziqiong wouldn't help.

On May 15, the Cannes Film Festival officially opened.

Before walking the red carpet, Cao Yang discovered an interesting fact: on the Cannes red carpet, there were from time to time beautiful actresses, mostly Europeans, and he didn't know if they were even actresses; anyway, Cao Yang didn't recognize them.

They just stood on the red carpet without moving, and the hosts didn't introduce them, nor did the reporters take pictures of them—the reporters in the photography area didn't even pick up their cameras, as if they couldn't see these people at all.

It wasn't that no one was taking pictures; you only had to follow their gaze to discover that there were people mixed in the crowd holding cameras and shooting.

It wasn't until security came to drive them away that these actresses left reluctantly.

Could this be the earliest form of "red carpet starlets"?

Well, many bad habits in the domestic circle were passed down from Europe.

It is estimated that it won't be long before someone starts to imitate this, and then press releases will be sent back home, all about being invited by such-and-such film festival, attending the film festival, walking the red carpet...

Looking every bit like an international star.

Cao Yang walked the red carpet with Gao Yuanyuan.

As soon as he appeared, the host introduced him, "Let us welcome the world's youngest Golden Lion-winning director, Cao Yang..."

The reporter area immediately set up their long lenses and short guns, snapping away incessantly.

This was completely different from the previous two times he walked the red carpet; Cao Yang was no longer a nobody. In this place in Europe, even if Hollywood stars came over, they couldn't overshadow Cao Yang's limelight.

Let me update another free chapter for you brothers, and I'll upload the VIP one during the day. Thank you brothers for your support for such a long time, thanks again everyone.

(End of chapter)