Chapter 798: Oscars and Golden Globes

Time moved forward by one month, and the filming progress of *Infernal Affairs* had reached sixty or seventy percent.

Filming movies here in Hong Kong is indeed highly efficient, and in many cases, one really has no choice but to rush the schedule.

Fortunately, *Infernal Affairs* does not have any grand scenes; its strength lies in the script and the actors.

This also means that the post-production of this film will save quite a bit of time.

During the overall filming process, some behind-the-scenes photos also spread online.

Netizens have immense expectations for *Infernal Affairs*.

According to past patterns, audiences now all think: "A film with such a star-studded cast is either money laundering or a huge piece of trash."

The more luxurious the lineup, the more outrageously bad it will be.

But the director is Luo Mo, and the screenwriter is Luo Mo, so everyone just feels that this film will definitely be incredibly good!

What everyone trusts more is Luo Mo's script and his directing ability.

And during this month, the industry was actually not calm.

The reason is simple: the once-colossal Pineapple has finally been unable to hold on and has collapsed with a crash.

A bunch of companies are all thinking about how to "dismember" it.

With such a delicious Pineapple placed in front of you, how could you not take a few bites?

As for the many stars under Pineapple, their mindsets are even more varied.

They were previously in a stage of panic, worrying about the company's future.

Now there is no need to worry—the company is gone.

On the contrary, Chun Xiao, the Heavenly Queen Gatekeeper who was abandoned by Wang Shisong earlier, has been in a great mood recently.

Although she did not succeed in clinging to Luo Mo's thigh, she at least cut her losses in time and jumped off the pirate ship that was Pineapple midway.

Many stars under Pineapple now do not know where to go.

Some who have more confidence are struggling with which new employer would be better.

Those who are less popular do not really care; going anywhere is just a gamble.

The group that is neither here nor there is the most awkward.

Like the traffic star Zhong Feifan, it is hard to say whether he closed the door on Huaxia Science Fiction with the film *Shanghai Fortress*.

But at least he closed the door on Pineapple.

People like this have poor professional skills to begin with, and now their commercial value has been cut in half.

Many capital bigwigs are also somewhat superstitious, feeling that such people are unlucky.

Traffic stars themselves are only meant to cash in for a few years.

He is already on the verge of being abandoned by capital.

Shencheng, inside a certain Siheyuan.

The renowned Music Critic Master and Ordinary Heavenly King, Zhao Xueqin, is drinking tea at the home of his teacher, Huang Xishan.

He came to ask his teacher to point him in the right direction.

After retiring, Huang Xishan has taken a more indifferent view of many things.

He enjoys his retirement time, especially seeing his old rival Yuan Hewen still frequently caught in the storm, being dealt with by Luo Mo time and time again, until he had to bow his head to Luo Mo.

"Indeed, taking a step back opens up a vast sky," he often thinks to himself.

Facing Zhao Xueqin's visit, Huang Xishan was not surprised.

As a former bigwig in the lyricist circle who had also served as Music Director at two companies, he also has his own energy and Connections.

The two sat in the courtyard, drinking tea while chatting.

The two mentioned many companies, which all seemed to be good choices.

But in reality, the master and apprentice knew it clearly in their hearts.

For a Singer, there is no better choice than Luo Mo Studio or Xinyu.

To put it simply, in today's music scene, following behind Luo Mo means you can thrive.

At the same time, they are also very clear that although they have old grudges with Luo Mo, they do not count as deep-seated hatred.

Especially Huang Xishan, who has repeatedly forged bonds of Kindness after retirement and stood on Luo Mo's side every time.

Zhao Xueqin had only one thought in his mind: "Wang Shisong has ruined me!"

As the conversation went on, Zhao Xueqin finally decided to speak his mind.

"Teacher, do you think there is... any possibility of cooperation between me and Luo Mo?" he asked.

Huang Xishan set down his teacup, thought for a moment, and said, "My personal suggestion is that you could contact Xinyu."

"Xinyu is developing very well now, and in the music scene, it has already surpassed Cilong."

"A large portion of the currently popular Singers are at Xinyu."

"Moreover, Xinyu's boss, Shen Shaoqiu, is a good employer and has a good reputation in the industry."

"He has courage, a lot of courage."

"However, Luo Mo is a shareholder and Music Director of Xinyu; even if you successfully sign with Xinyu, whether he is willing to write songs for you is ultimately his personal choice," said Huang Xishan.

"With his current status and his say within Xinyu, even Shen Shaoqiu presumably cannot demand he do anything, and it might even be the other way around, with him being at Luo Mo's beck and call."

"But regardless, Xinyu is a good choice to begin with."

"Whether you can have cooperation with Luo Mo depends on the future," said Huang Xishan.

In fact, joining Xinyu is a test of one's attitude toward Luo Mo.

Zhao Xueqin and Luo Mo have some old grudges; although the root cause lies with Wang Shisong and the fact that everyone had different stances, no one knows what Luo Mo is thinking.

After learning that Zhao Xueqin wants to join Xinyu, Shen Shaoqiu certainly would not make the decision on his own.

And for a Heavenly King-level Singer like Zhao Xueqin, rejecting him directly would certainly feel like a pity.

Therefore, Shen Shaoqiu should personally go and ask about Luo Mo's attitude.

It is more appropriate for him to ask than for anyone else to probe.

Zhao Xueqin listened to his teacher's words, pondered for a moment, and then nodded slightly.

Judging by the current situation, if he does not go to Xinyu, his best choice is Cilong.

And the Music Director of Cilong is none other than Huang Xishan's old rival, Yuan Hewen...

Of course, if he no longer has any career ambition, he could also find a company to "retire" in.

But the problem is, this is not what Zhao Xueqin wants.

——The past me had no choice, but now I only want to be a Disciple under the MusicGodfather, Luo Mo!

Three days later, Luo Mo, who was filming with the *Infernal Affairs* crew, received a call from Xinyu's boss, Shen Shaoqiu.

Shen Shaoqiu had been conflicted for several days, but in the end, he still felt that it was a pity to directly reject a Heavenly King-level Singer like Zhao Xueqin who had taken the initiative to offer his allegiance.

Of course, if Luo Mo did not agree, he would choose to let it go.

For Xinyu, Zhao Xueqin was merely icing on the cake.

But Luo Mo was different; he was the backbone of Xinyu.

Upon learning of Boss Shen's intention, Luo Mo was slightly stunned.

This world is truly wondrous; a former rival now actually wants to come and work under him.

For some people, this could stimulate an infinite sense of satisfaction in their hearts, and they might even deliberately make things difficult for Zhao Xueqin later to gain a sense of psychological superiority.

Luo Mo was not that idle, nor did he have such a mindset.

It was just that, considering it from the perspective of Xinyu's Music Director, Zhao Xueqin was indeed a rare and good Singer; his strength was, after all, right there.

"If Wang Shisong knew that the top male and female singers in his company both wanted to defect to me, he would probably be driven mad," Luo Mo thought to himself.

He said to Shen Shaoqiu on the phone: "Boss Shen, I hold a neutral attitude toward this and respect the decision made by the company."

Based on Shen Shaoqiu's understanding of Luo Mo, he was expressing an indifferent attitude.

"Alright then," Shen Shaoqiu said.

A week later, Xinyu and Zhao Xueqin jointly announced to the public the news of Heavenly King Zhao signing with Xinyu.

As soon as this news broke, it immediately topped the Weibo Hot Search list.

"Holy crap, the Music Critic Master has gone to hang out with Luo Mo!"

"This is interesting!"

"Zhao Xueqin: If I can't beat them, I'll join them!"

"Hahaha, why am I looking forward to Luo Mo writing songs for him!"

"Damn, I'm looking forward to it too!"

"I still like your unruly appearance; I hope that after Luo Mo writes you a good song, you'll take one look at the sheet music and, just like before, reply: Your music is no good!"

"It's clear that Zhao Xueqin still has strong career ambitions and wants to go further in the music scene."

When Heavenly King Zhao himself saw these netizens' comments, although some were truly quite biting, his mindset remained good.

This scene was to be expected.

If he were unwilling to bear or unable to withstand even this little bit, he would not have made the decision to sign with Xinyu.

Once the news of Zhao Xueqin signing with Xinyu was announced, the music scene was also left in a state of confusion.

And the one whose emotions fluctuated the most was none other than the Heavenly Queen Gatekeeper, Chun Xiao.

"Why! Why can Zhao Xueqin lower his status and take the initiative to show favor and get signed, while I was rejected back then!"

"Why!!!" Chun Xiao said in her heart.

If Luo Mo knew her thoughts, he would definitely find it hilarious.

"It's fine if you covet my songs, but if you covet my body, that is absolutely not allowed!"

"In this day and age, men must protect themselves when they are out and about."

"People are bullied like eels, and horses are ridden by people."

Gentlemen, let us encourage one another.

Time flies like an arrow, the sun and moon move like a shuttle.

The filming of *Infernal Affairs* reached its final stages.

Many actors had already finished their parts, and Luo Mo had also finished filming his own scenes.

Now they were just doing some reshoots, and once finished, they could wrap up and then begin post-production work.

After *The Wandering Earth* was pulled from theaters, many overseas video platforms contacted Luo Mo Studio, wanting to purchase the streaming rights for the film.

In the end, the selling price was quite impressive, reaching the top tier for domestic film exports.

Not to mention, after being uploaded to video websites, the view counts and feedback were quite good.

But several directors far away in Hollywood did not think so.

Director Jeffrey of *Doomsday Apostle 2* no longer dared to mention Luo Mo.

His box office results had been left far behind by Luo Mo; the gap was truly too large.

From the initial battle of the same-named *Natural* to the subsequent film box office battle, he had suffered a crushing defeat.

Having lost so miserably, he naturally had no say in the matter.

On the contrary, the director of the slightly inferior *Star Warrior 6*, Anthony, was in a very awkward position.

He was essentially dragged into the water by Jeffrey.

Originally, not that many people would have compared his movie's box office to Luo Mo's "The Wandering Earth."

Good grief, because Jeffrey's "Doomsday Apostle" series was courting disaster, and on top of that, Luo Mo openly fired shots at his concert, everyone was staring at their box office results.

As a result, when they looked: "Huh, how come even 'Star Warrior' was surpassed by him!"

Anthony's loss of face this time can be called a disaster of no fault of his own.

But as a famous Hollywood director, he was holding back a breath of frustration in his heart.

He even specifically watched "The Wandering Earth" on a video website.

He felt that this movie was filmed very poorly, or rather, very unrealistically.

The reason is simple: looking at the whole film, it seems that our Meiguo did not play the most important role.

Fake! It was filmed too fake!

What kind of trash was filmed!

Upon learning that Luo Mo was no longer filming Science Fiction movies and had gone off to film Hong Kong movies, Anthony stated to the public: "Perhaps for Luo Mo, the success of 'The Wandering Earth' was also quite unexpected."

Otherwise, he would have had to strike while the iron was hot and film another Science Fiction movie.

When asked by the media whether "The Wandering Earth" was excellent, Anthony indicated that the special effects were done well, but the script was truly terrible.

This famous Hollywood director also serves as a screenwriter himself.

And what is very interesting is that he has never won the highest-level director award in Hollywood, but he has won the Best Screenplay Award.

Plus, the "Star Warrior" series is a globally famous major IP, and "Star Warrior 4," which he directed, is even ranked 19th on the global movie box office list; he feels he is very qualified to evaluate Luo Mo's "The Wandering Earth."

After learning this news, Luo Mo didn't have much of a ripple in his heart.

This matter was told to him by the well-informed Hua Jiaqun.

"Anthony? Is he very famous?" Luo Mo asked.

"The director and screenwriter of 'Star Warrior,' you don't know him?" Hua Jiaqun was slightly stunned.

"I do know this movie; after all, they were both released in the summer, but I didn't pay much attention to who the director and screenwriter were," Luo Mo said.

"Do you not watch Hollywood blockbusters in your daily life?" Hua Jiaqun was puzzled.

"I watch them rarely, but I do watch them," Luo Mo said very honestly.

"Alright, let me tell you, this guy has won the Silver Eagle Award for Best Screenwriter," Hua Jiaqun said.

Luo Mo was aware of the Silver Eagle Award.

Its status is about the same as the Oscar Academy Awards and the Golden Globe Awards for Motion Pictures and Television in Meiguo on Earth.

But, so what?

"Is the Best Screenwriter of the Silver Eagle Award very rare?" Luo Mo said.

"That, in my heart, you are definitely more Ox!" Hua Jiaqun timely flattered Luo Mo.

Luo Mo smiled and didn't respond, instead saying: "He actually shouldn't have said these things while I was filming 'Infernal Affairs'."

"Hm? What do you mean?" Hua Jiaqun immediately asked.

"Nothing," Luo Mo played coy and simply refused to answer directly.

Was Luo Mo's ambition for "Infernal Affairs" really just to drive the Hong Kong film market, really just to let the Hong Kong film market regain its vitality?

This was a part of it, but it was certainly not the entirety of his ambition.

Luo Mo had very high expectations for this movie.

He chose to film "Infernal Affairs" at this time for more special reasons as well.

Especially after going toe-to-toe with movies like "Doomsday Apostle," he became even more firm in his idea: the next movie to be filmed would be "Infernal Affairs"!

You must know, "Infernal Affairs" didn't just achieve dazzling results and explosive word-of-mouth in Huaxia on Earth.

It was taken by Hollywood to be remade.

The name of the remake is "The Departed."

The director is the famous gangster film director Martin Scorsese.

The male lead is the very familiar Leonardo DiCaprio, as well as the male lead of "The Martian," Matt Damon.

At that time, Leonardo DiCaprio was still handsome and hadn't started playing with water guns yet.

This movie was actually just localizing the plot of "Infernal Affairs."

Because the situations of the two countries are different, since it had to be localized, it was inevitable that many places would undergo reasonable modifications.

But the essence was almost entirely retained, the character settings of many roles were almost unified, and some classic scenes were filmed almost exactly the same.

This Meiguo movie that remade "Infernal Affairs" wasn't particularly amazing either.

It just won the Oscar for 【Best Adapted Screenplay】 and the Golden Globe for 【Best Film Screenplay】.

It just won the Oscar for 【Best Director Award】 and also won the Golden Globe for 【Best Director Award】.

It just won the nomination for 【Best Picture】 at the Golden Globes, and then directly captured the 【Best Picture】 at the Oscars that year, that's all.

By the way, it also won the Oscar for 【Best Film Editing】, and Leonardo DiCaprio also relied on this film to get a nomination for 【Best Actor】 at the Golden Globes.

It was just a bumper harvest of two major awards, not worth mentioning, not worth mentioning.

Congratulations to you, Anthony, you walked right into the line of fire.

(End of this chapter)