Chapter 158

This time in Cannes, Boss Lu didn't go to watch films with Feng Yuanzheng again.

Watch what?

With a beauty in his arms, in such a beautiful coastal city, why would he be so foolish as to go work?

That was a joke; the truth was that the films in this Cannes were too lackluster!

Without being modest, there wasn't one worth Boss Lu immersing himself in to study and observe.

The kind he wouldn't even want to copy if given to him.

This Cannes in history was widely criticized, and even the French media themselves used words like "mediocre," "dim starlight," and "nothing new" to describe it.

It just remained to be seen if *Shoplifters* could drop a giant rock into the dull lake and stir up layers of ripples.

The premiere of *Shoplifters* was the day after tomorrow, and the publicity staff of the Inquiry Realm and China Film were intensively creating momentum and promoting it.

This time, Boss Lu also high-profilely agreed to interviews from many media outlets that had rushed over from Europe and domestically.

Generally speaking, reporters at the three major European film festivals who wanted to interview famous directors had to make an appointment through the official organization of the festival.

Therefore, the arrogance and prejudice of the festival staff making things difficult for domestic reporters and not issuing interview passes appeared in Venice last year.

Interviews with some top actors and directors even required payment.

With Boss Lu's reputation as the youngest Golden Lion Award-winning director, he believed that if he released the news and opened the doors, many reporters would come upon hearing the news.

These would all become his full-server loudspeakers, becoming the megaphone for *Shoplifters* in Cannes.

The two drove along the Azure Coast, the moist sea breeze blowing on their faces, making people temporarily forget the hustle and bustle of the vanity fair.

This coastline was lined with coastal cities suitable for vacation, from north to south, including Monaco, Nice, Antibes, and Cannes.

But many beaches with beautiful scenery and excellent locations had been privatized, either marked as private beaches for villa areas by the rich, or owned by hotels and resorts.

Boss Lu criticized the decadent system of capitalist private ownership in the car, drawing giggles from Fan Bingbing.

"Director Lu, which outfit do you think I should wear for the red carpet?"

Boss Lu recalled the beauty changing clothes in front of him yesterday, but at the time his mind was full of breasts, and now that he recalled it, he had no impression at all!

"That, Bingbing, you also need to consider fashion resources and self-packaging, and plan your own development path."

"For example, the gowns for attending film festivals—those of yours aren't really presentable."

In this regard, it wasn't just her; actresses other than Sister Gong Li were more or less the same. In this day and age, stars didn't have the concept of seizing and utilizing fashion resources to package themselves.

Domestic *Harper's Bazaar* was only founded in 2002.

Liu Yifei's last red carpet gown in Venice was designed by Liu Peiji, the personal stylist of Hong Kong's Mei Yanfang.

In the early days of the domestic entertainment industry in the 1990s, due to the inequality of entertainment capital strength across the Taiwan Strait and the three regions, the fashion trends and concepts of the Hong Kong circle became the objects of imitation for mainland actresses.

At that time, when praising a mainland female star for being stylish and fashionable, they would say she was very "Westernized," or "very Hong Kong," with a Hong Kong style.

Coupled with social atmosphere reasons in the mainland, most female stars dressed relatively conservatively, presenting themselves with a gentle and pure image to gain public favor.

But with the arrival of the new century, the accession to the WTO, comprehensive opening up, and the development of the internet industry.

More and more mainland female stars began to realize the importance of fashion resources.

They opened their eyes and suddenly discovered that the Hong Kong circle was also learning from Europe and America, so they might as well just copy Europe and America directly!

Fashion and stars were mutually parasitic, inseparable propositions.

Among these female stars who "opened their eyes to see the world," Fan Bingbing and Liu Yifei were relatively the two teams that did better.

But there were also many who were slow to realize the importance of this point.

A negative example was Gao Yuanyuan.

Back then, she became popular with the image of a "Sprite girl," and the team positioned her as a pure girl style.

As a result, when she followed Wang Xiaoshuai's *Beijing Bicycle* to attend the Berlin Film Festival, she actually went wearing sportswear!

If the foreign organizers hadn't been unable to watch, she even wanted to carry a backpack on the red carpet.

It wasn't until after the Olympics that Gao Yuanyuan's team began to formulate various plans for her to watch shows and appear at fashion weeks, and she began to shed her eternal pure persona, gaining some titles like fashion goddess.

Fan Bingbing had also been under Wang Jinhua for a few years, and had never heard the words fashion resources and fashion routes.

"Director Lu, what do you mean by planning a route?"

"For an actress, the first priority is work; this is 1, and other things like advertisements and commercial activities are all 0. First, you must recognize this point."

"After having a few representative works and a certain degree of national popularity, you must start to consider your own route based on your appearance characteristics, acting skills, persona, etc. This relates to your future acting path and image."

Fan Bingbing laughed: "Then it's the international route, the high-end route, what else is there to consider? Isn't the highest mountain this one?"

Boss Lu stopped the car, and the two sat on a bench at the seaside bath.

"Let me analyze your appearance from the perspective of a film director, but don't get angry, okay?"

Fan Bingbing disdained: "Say whatever you want, I have this confidence."

Boss Lu laughed: "Let's talk about your shortcomings first."

"From the bone structure, your brow bone is slightly crooked, your head is slightly triangular, and your temples are relatively wide."

"Coupled with a pointed chin, if the whole person isn't modified with makeup and hairstyle, it's a bit of an inverted triangle."

"This is relatively disadvantageous in film shooting. If a beam of light hits your face and Zhang Ziyi's face, the effect presented on the big screen is different."

"Also, the distance between your eyebrows and eyes is slightly wide, and your eyes aren't long and narrow enough, so you look a bit lacking in spirit."

Fan Bingbing looked at him in disbelief!

You pick out so many flaws from my face, and yet you're still humping me all day long—are you a beast?

Saying the food isn't good while not leaving a single grain of rice, right?

"I'm ugly, okay? Then don't call me over tonight!"

Fan Bingbing's facial flaws weren't too fatal; they could be solved with slight modification from makeup.

From *My Fair Princess* to *Xiao Li Fei Dao*, one could see a very obvious change:

Eyebrows drawn thicker, eye makeup drawn heavier, thus improving the eyebrow-eye distance problem, and then using hairstyle to modify the triangular head.

Perfect. (Comparison below)

Boss Lu laughed and put his arm around her shoulder: "Look at you, getting anxious again!"

"Then let me talk about your strengths."

"You have a thick-featured appearance, the whole person looks very heroic, your eyes are particularly charming, your nose bridge is high and straight, and you have recognizability; you will be very three-dimensional on camera."

High-class feeling and full of charm.

"Such characteristics will make it very easy to play some roles with aggressiveness that allow you to let go and show beauty and charm."

For example, the daughter in *Shoplifters* is a girl working in a brothel, possessing both pure and charming characteristics.

Fan Bingbing then turned anger into joy: "Then how should I plan the route?"

Boss Lu rubbed the young lady's slender waist with his right hand while painting a picture.

"To find the route you take, you also have to see who is in front on this road."

"For your big star route, Zhang Ziyi, Zhou Xun, Xu Jinglei, and Zhao Yanzi are all competitors."

Sister Gong Li doesn't need to be mentioned; that's a figure of the queen level.

Fan Bingbing curled her lips; she couldn't reach any of them now.

"If you develop step-by-step, even with the resources of the Inquiry Realm, I dare not say you can steadily overtake on a curve."

"Not to mention others, let's just talk about Zhang Ziyi."

"If Zhang Yimou wants to shoot a costume court film, his heroine is either Sister Gong Li or Zhang Ziyi."

"If Chen Kaige wants to shoot an art film about Mei Lanfang and picks an actress for Meng Xiaodong, regardless of acting skills or image fit, he definitely chooses Zhang Ziyi."

As mentioned earlier, Zhang Ziyi's face seems born for film; the biggest reason she can enter Hollywood is that both Chinese and foreigners can see the beauty of that face.

In later generations, there are often some high-class faces that foreigners think are beautiful, but Chinese people can't appreciate, and vice versa.

This is the aesthetic gap between China and the West, but Zhang Ziyi's appearance smoothed out this aesthetic difference.

Fan Bingbing was made almost unconfident by him. This is a genius director and a little immortal from Maoshan—is her path really so difficult to walk?

Not to mention Zhang Ziyi, she could only just see the taillights of Zhao Yanzi, Zhou Xun, and others now.

It was still because of the film role Boss Lu left for her that was shortlisted for Cannes.

"Then what should I do?"

The entertainment industry is a pyramid, and limited resources cannot satisfy so many stars fighting for power, especially actors with similar acting paths, appearances, characteristics, and personas.

A very prominent example is Bai Baihe and Wang Luodan.

The latter took off relying on *My Youthfulness*, but Bai Baihe relied on her husband Chen Yufan's resources in the Beijing circle to break out from *Love is Not Blind*, becoming a representative of chick flicks.

Since then, Wang Luodan's acting path was blocked; as long as there were such roles, the director would look for Bai Baihe first.

For another example, after the "Yanzhao Gate" incident broke out in later generations, popular Hong Kong male and female artists like Chen Guanxi, Xie Tingfeng, and Zhang Baizhi were affected, and resources were greatly reduced.

With the rise and fall, Huang Xiaoming, Deng Chao, and others in the mainland rose strongly.

This is the same reason as the explosion of mainland young actors after the collapse of Ke Zhendong from Taiwan and the Canadian electric eel.

There are countless competitors on every road in the entertainment industry; if you don't squeeze out the people in front, you will never reach the peak yourself.

"Your temperament and image can completely take a pure fashion route, avoiding head-on confrontation with these big stars, and saving the country by a curve."

Most stars in the domestic entertainment industry now haven't realized the importance of fashion resources; this is a good opportunity for Fan Bingbing to overtake on a curve.

Watching shows, magazine covers, high-end luxury, high-end customization, street photography and hype revolving around fashion themes.

Of course, the premise of all this is to have a few presentable works; otherwise, it will be as fragile as a castle in the air.

Fan Bingbing listened with different colors in her charming eyes. When she originally offered herself to Boss Lu, the latter promised her film roles and tailor-made personas.

It seems her efforts still had rewards; she wasn't kicked for nothing.

She pecked the man on the face: "Do you want a reward? Today I can promise you that..."

Boss Lu's interest was piqued: "How about it, back to the hotel now?"

Looking at the empty beach, the young lady spoke and reached into Boss Lu's pocket.

"No, I can't wait."

She rubbed her legs together.

"Let's go, get in the car with me!"

(End of chapter)