Chapter 595 People and People

The day after the release of "Love Letter" is the screening day of Liu Bige's "Even Fake Death".

When "Love Letter" premiered, the entire crew came to support "Love Letter".

Of course, Lu Yanhe and the others are going to support "Even Fake Death" tomorrow.

Two Chinese-language films supporting each other.

"Fake Death" has also attracted the attention of many people because it is the work of director Liu Bige.

The movie "Late Spring" is still very famous at international film festivals. It was one of the top ten films of the year by many media.

Because of the good word-of-mouth response of "Love Letter", everyone is now even more looking forward to "Fake Death"——

Even though it has a name that looks pretty risqué.

However, just because the name is inappropriate doesn’t necessarily mean it’s not a good movie.

Many movies in film history that have names that sound like bad movies are actually classics among classics.

"You guys, the filming of "Love Letter" was so good, now all the pressure is on me."

Lu Yanhe and Liu Bige had dinner together in the hotel room at ten o'clock in the evening - before that, they were both busy with work and had no time to prepare dinner.

In this case, the schedule is really busy.

Probably because the premiere is tomorrow, Liu Bige looks a little more anxious than he did two days ago.

"Do you blame me for this? You are the director of photography of "Love Letter". "Love Letter" has received good feedback and you have put in a lot of effort. You should blame yourself." Lu Yanhe said bluntly.

Liu Bige: "..."

He was deep in thought and said: "I am suddenly a little hesitant now. Is it a right choice for "Fake Death" to participate in the main competition unit of the Jose Film Festival? This movie has too much commercial color and may not be popular with other movies. The audience likes it, and the media probably won’t rate it too highly.”

"That's not necessarily true, why do you think so?" Lu Yanhe said, "Don't think so much now, it will be screened tomorrow, so you are busy."

Liu Bige: "Oh, I should have insisted on using Wang Jing to play the role."

Initially, for the role of the heroine, Wang Jing and Ji Miao were chosen.

In the end, Longyan Pictures chose Ji Miao, who had won awards and was more famous, instead of Wang Jing, who was recommended by Lu Yanhe.

Lu Yanhe didn't expect Liu Bige to say this at this time.

"Isn't Ji Miao's performance good?"

"I can't say it can't be done, but it's almost interesting." Liu Bige said, "I watched "Squid Game", and Wang Jing's crazy feeling in it... If she were to act, the effect would be better."

"It's a done deal. Next time you choose an actor, stick to your intuition." Lu Yanhe said, "The actor's performance has a great impact on the quality of a movie, especially this kind of romantic comedy. The spark between the two actors basically determines The quality of the film itself.”

Liu Bige nodded.

"But Li Zhibai is really good at acting. He is so relaxed." Liu Bige suddenly mentioned Li Zhibai and said to Lu Yanhe, "He is better than you in this aspect. His relaxed energy is invincible. ”

Lu Yanhe smiled.

"Director Luo Yuzhong also praised him in the same way at that time."

"He is really suitable for playing this kind of modern, urban background drama." Liu Bige said, "He has a special sense of life, without any trace of an actor."

Lu Yanhe: "He is actually very good at acting. Several people have praised him so much, but the roles Zhou Ping'an gave him before were all to gain more traffic and popularity. Li Zhibai has never had the opportunity to act seriously. A serious drama."

"He is not suitable for acting in serious dramas. His talent lies in this kind of daily, daily life roles. He should take on more light comedies." Liu Bige said, "In fact, in China, it is possible to play such light-hearted roles. There are almost no comedy actors, and young actors with such a good image. Anyway, apart from him, I haven’t seen anyone else.”

Lu Yanhe suddenly realized.

A director is still a director.

It is estimated that they all have a list of actors in their minds. Which actors can play what kind of dramas are basically divided into categories.

Lu Yanhe thought for a while and then said: "However, Li Zhibai's previous popular dramas were one of them a fairy tale costume drama and the other a modern idol drama. He has never filmed a drama with the style of "Fake Death". play."

Liu Bige: "I've seen it and I can understand why it's popular, but I don't like it."

Lu Yanhe nodded.

It is perfectly normal for Liu Bige not to like it.

"Originally I wanted Li Zhibai to audition for the role of the young eunuch Lu Xiaochuan in "Dragon Inn"." Liu Bige said, "However, Yan Liang's agent also came to me and wanted to audition for Yan Liang. After trying it out and putting it together with other actors, I found that Yan Liang is more suitable. Li Zhibai's image is still too handsome. He is so handsome that others can't hold it down. "

Lu Yanhe thought to himself that Lu Xiaochuan in the original "New Dragon Inn" was played by Wu Qihua, and his image was almost the most handsome in the entire movie. However, he understood what Liu Bige meant.

Liu Bige asked: "Do you want to play a role?"

"Me?" Lu Yanhe thought for a moment and shook his head, "Forget it, the cast of this movie is already strong enough, and I don't need to be a part of it. Leave the opportunity to others. Maybe for some actors, being able to perform in By showing his face in this movie, everyone can get to know him.”

Liu Bige: "Okay."

"Who are you looking for to play the role of Duke Cao?" Lu Yanhe was a little curious.

Liu Bige said: "I still want to find an actor with some martial arts background, but I have met several actors with background, but their literary drama is not good enough, or they are unwilling to act when they hear that they are playing a eunuch."

"Are there still actors who have such serious prejudices now?"

"Yes." Liu Bige nodded, "It can't be said to be prejudice. If you, as an actor, can't get rid of your inner concerns, you can't play such a role well."

"I thought you would say that actors should be able to play any role."

"Actors are not gods, and directors can't direct any play. Why should I ask actors to play any role?" Liu Bige said, "If an actor can play a type of role to god, it is God's gift."

Lu Yanhe nodded, agreeing with Liu Bige's words.

The two of them chatted until the early morning, and Lu Yanhe left Liu Bige's room and returned to his own room.

Chen Siqi and the others were still in a meeting to discuss the main topics and materials to be promoted tomorrow.

"Our editor-in-chief Lu is back." Linyu said with a smile, "Let's leave too, it's getting late."

Chen Siqi: "Let's go, take a break, everyone has been working hard recently, after the work of the Jose-La Film Festival is done, everyone can find time to take a break and rest for a while."

"Very nice, I really need a vacation." Linyu said, "When I return to China, I want to sleep for 24 hours in a row."

Chen Siqi: "If you can sleep for 24 hours in a row, I will treat you to breakfast for a week."

Linyu: "If you have the ability, treat me to breakfast for a month."

Chen Siqi nodded: "Sure, one month is one month."

Everyone chatted and laughed, packed up their things and left.

Chen Siqi stretched, "I'm so tired."

Lu Yanhe came behind Chen Siqi and pressed her neck.

Chen Siqi breathed a sigh of relief.

"Your technique is pretty good. Where did you learn it from?"

"I learned it by myself." Lu Yanhe asked, "Why did you have a meeting so late today?"

"This year's Holland Film Festival has received much more attention in China than expected. We have to keep up with the demand and continue to launch new content to meet everyone's needs, otherwise the popularity will soon drop." Chen Siqi said, "In just the past two days, we have added 13 new media channels to advertise. You can see how much attention we have received."

This kind of media channel placement is different from that of film and television dramas, and the price is not that high, but one placement starts at at least seven figures.

Lu Yanhe instantly understood why everyone worked so hard overtime.

The amount of advertising business can be used to infer the attention paid to the content itself.

"Awesome." Lu Yanhe nodded.

Chen Siqi: "It's mainly because the quality of our users and the conversion rate of ads on Jump Up are much higher than those on other platforms, which is well-known among advertisers. Thank you all for trusting us."

Lu Yanhe: "Time is so tight, have all the new ads been screened?"

"Of course, all thirteen brands are well-known brands that have been in business for many years and have worked with us before. No new brand can be listed on our channels so quickly." Chen Siqi said, "We always reject more ads than we accept. We are still doing a good job in quality control."

"It feels like advertising revenue has become the main source of income for Jump Up."

"It is true, but the biggest part is still content revenue." Chen Siqi said, "Our magazine sales, e-commerce and advertising revenue are all very high." In fact, the copyright income and membership subscription income from major channels are not small, including copyright operation income. Since the announcement of Jump Up Theater, the copyright income of our agency operation has ushered in a great growth. "

Lu Yanhe asked: "Tomorrow is the premiere of "Girl's Adventure", right?"

"Yes." Chen Siqi nodded, "Starting from the first Sunday of May, one episode will be broadcast every week."

Lu Yanhe asked: "Why didn't anyone ask me to forward and promote it?"

"It has been promoted many times in the early stage. Now it's time to see the real thing, so I won't bother you." Chen Siqi smiled, "The most important thing is that "Girl's Adventure" actually has little to do with you. You didn't direct, write, or participate in the show. What everyone is most afraid of now is that the audience's expectations are too high, and then they will be disappointed with this play."

Lu Yanhe understood what Chen Siqi meant and nodded.

Things happened and they all came together.

Of course, it's also a good thing. If they can brush each other's popularity and attention, the results will be better.

-

The next day, the score of the program book of "Love Letter" came out: 3.3 points.

It is the second highest score in the main competition unit so far.

The score of the program book of the Holland Film Festival is a score obtained by averaging the scores of the film media invited by the official film festival. It largely reflects the degree of preference of the media from all over the world for the film.

The media score is often the same as the audience score. For the Holland Film Festival, which relies on audience voting to select the award results, this score is very meaningful.

It can almost be said that "Love Letter" will definitely win an award, and it depends on what award it wins in the end.

The screenings of "Love Letter" in the next few days are almost hard to get a ticket.

It can be said that as soon as the performance score of "Love Letter" came out, the willingness of various companies to purchase it was unprecedentedly high.

At this time, Schmidt Lawley of Green Valley Film Company suddenly came over and expressed his willingness to win the North American distribution rights of "Love Letter" for US$6 million.

For a movie whose production cost is less than $6 million, this number is very sincere.

But at the same time, several American film companies came to bid.

Including D19, who Lu Yanhe has collaborated with before, also expressed their willingness to offer US$5 million to distribute "Love Letter" in North America.

According to the information received by Wan Qingqing and Song Jiang, although everyone does not think that "Love Letter" will achieve very good box office results in North America and cannot earn back the distribution fee from the theater box office, "Love Letter" will In terms of home entertainment income and streaming media copyright income, there will be very good performance.

D19 also said that if Lu Yanhe is willing to give them the North American distribution rights of "Love Letter", then they will also spend another seven figures in public relations funds to conduct public relations for "Love Letter" during the awards season.

The normal box office performance of "Love Letter" in North American theaters is estimated to be around two million to three million - this is the average box office performance of a non-English hit film from the four major international film festivals.

Lu Yanhe and others also know that the possibility of expecting "Love Letter" to create a box office miracle in the United States is slim. However, if "Love Letter" performs well during the North American awards season, it will be rewarded at the box office.

"The media really likes "Love Letters," but the response from film critics this time is not as good as the media." Xu Tianming said, "Without the support of film critics, if "Love Letters" really hits the awards season, it may not be able to win. It has a good performance. Yan He's performance in "Path of Glory" was able to receive some nominations during the North American awards season, and it was because of the strong film critics that Yan He gained some people's attention. "

Chen Ziyan also nodded, "Moreover, the theme and cultural background of "Love Letter" may still resonate with the emotions of the group in Asia, but in the United States... I am not optimistic about it either."

Wan Qingqing said: "In North America, movies like "Love Letter" have always been niche movies. If the reaction of film critics is not particularly enthusiastic, it is indeed difficult to attract special attention. In the United States, the favorable rating of the media brings a lot of attention to the movie. The conversion rate is actually not as high as that of film critics.”

The reason why "Love Letter" did not receive such a high response from film critics is that it is just like Lu Yanhe's own understanding of the film: it is not deep enough. It achieves the ultimate in emotion, but it may not be the style that film critics like. In the words of some film critics, although it is good-looking, it is too pleasing to the audience.

Lu Yanhe was also thinking about Juliana's reaction yesterday - she actually thought "Love Letter" was a movie about pure love.

There is indeed a gap in understanding.

Their choice of the North American distributor for the movie "Love Letter" was certainly not a simple and crude "highest bidder gets it." After all, this isn't a buyout. How much revenue the movie "Love Letter" can ultimately bring to Linghe in North America depends on the distribution company's distribution capabilities and its distribution strategy for "Love Letter".

If they finally think that "Love Letter" cannot achieve better results during the North American awards season, then the "North American Awards Season" strategy proposed by D19 will not be enough to impress them.

-

When Liu Bige, Li Zhibai, and Ji Miao were preparing to leave for the premiere, Huang Zhongjing and Huang Taiwen Zhimao from Longyan Pictures were also with them.

Wen Zhimao laughed and teased Liu Bige: "If our "Fake Death" team returns home with a grand prize this time, we will hold a grand celebration party for you."

Liu Bige smiled and nodded.

Li Zhibai heard this and said, "Mrs. Huang, don't just hold a celebration party for Director Liu. You can hold one for me too. Next time you ask me to make a movie, I will give you a 50% discount!"

He was deliberately trying to fool around.

He knew very well that Liu Bige was already somewhat resistant to Longyan Pictures' intervention in his creation.

Just kidding, if Liu Bige can win another grand prize, how can he let them be so confident?

Wen Zhimao glared at Li Zhibai angrily, "When have I ever treated you badly?"

"Then you always ask me to act in that youth romance movie. I haven't seen a more bloody plot in the past year." Li Zhibai complained directly.

Wen Zhimao said helplessly: "That was the script adapted from the best-selling novel the year before last."

"Either the novel is badly written, or the script is poorly revised, and I won't act anyway." Li Zhibai said bluntly, "If I act, I will be scolded to death."

Huang Zhongjing smiled.

"You have the same temper as your father when he was young."

Li Zhibai raised his chin and said, "It's a pity. You have a temper like mine, but you don't have a face like mine. I guess it will take a lot of effort to chase my mother."

Huang Zhongjing: "..."

Wen Zhimao: "Wait and see how your dad reacts when he knows you are orchestrating this behind his back?"

"If he causes trouble for me, I will tell everyone that you are trying to instigate a father-son relationship between me and my father." Li Zhibaicai is not afraid of Huang Zhongjing and Wen Zhimao.

Even if the two of them are big bosses in the film and television industry, let alone he himself is a popular star now, his father can still support him behind the scenes.

When he and Zhou Ping'an did what they did, Zhou Ping'an didn't dare to do any dirty tricks. It wasn't because he was afraid of his background.

Li Zhibai said to Liu Bige: "Director Liu, why don't you stay in Longyan? I'll ask my dad to open a production company for you, and serve you alone. You can only shoot for me."

He deliberately said so arrogantly, of course, to use the most joking words to support Liu Bige without any real harm.

Liu Bige really rolled his eyes at him and said, "Go and have fun by yourself."

Well, Liu Bige didn't respond to his words and looked down on his proposal.

However, Li Zhibai's words clearly stated a fact in front of Huang Zhongjing and Wen Zhimao: With Liu Bige's current status and his ability as a director, there are many people who want to compete for Liu Bige.

From Li Zhibai's perspective, he really didn't understand what Longyan was thinking, interfering so much with Liu Bige, an author-type director who might not appear in one out of a hundred directors.

When filming "Even Faking Death Is Not OK", there was a producer sent by Longyan on the scene to monitor all the filming links.

Not only that, even during the post-editing, Li Zhibai knew that there were several conflicts in editing opinions.

Liu Bige's idea of ​​how the movie should be presented was different from what Long Yan and his team wanted, and the two sides had several arguments.

And their arguments were basically based on commercial considerations.

Long Yan hoped that "Even if I Fake My Death" could be more commercial, more comedic, and more vivid in comedy effect.

Li Zhibai could understand a film company's commercial considerations for a film. But he couldn't understand why they had to pursue commercial returns in Liu Bige's film - so many directors could shoot that kind of orthodox commercial comedy, but they had to compete with Liu Bige.

-

At the premiere of "Even if I Fake My Death", the stars were not as dazzling as yesterday's "Love Letter", but they were also very dazzling.

Lu Yanhe held Chen Siqi's hand and appeared on the red carpet of "Fake Death" to confuse all the media at the scene-

Yesterday, he did not hold Chen Siqi's hand on the red carpet of "Love Letter", but today, he held her hand for someone else's movie.

After entering the screening room, Lu Yanhe's position was right next to Japanese director Matsuyama Koichi.

Director Matsuyama Koichi is the director of the only Japanese film "As Promised" shortlisted in the main competition unit this year, and is also a national treasure director in Japan.

He also has many fans in China-after all, among several national treasure directors in Japan, he is the only director who is clearly anti-war and has publicly condemned Japan's aggression in the past.

It is for this reason that, in addition to "Fake Death", "As Promised" is one of the other two main competition films whose premieres Lu Yanhe will attend.

"Hello, director." Lu Yanhe greeted Matsuyama Koichi.

Matsuyama Koichi himself is a person with a relatively elegant temperament, and he has the aura of a Japanese at first glance.

He shook hands with Lu Yanhe and congratulated him on making a good movie.

The popularity of "Love Letter" in the media circle has made it one of the hottest candidates for the award at the Jose-La Mancha Film Festival. Although Matsuyama Koichi did not attend the premiere of the film, he has heard about it from many people.

Lu Yanhe: "Thank you, I am also looking forward to "As Promised."

His communication with Matsuyama Koichi was just a brief one.

After all, it was their first meeting.

In the next two hours, Lu Yanhe watched "Fake Death" carefully.

A very good love short film.

It reminded Lu Yanhe of Woody Allen's "To Rome with Love", and also reminded Lu Yanhe of "500 Days of Summer" and "Love Is Not Blind". They are all films that play with lines and characters to create a style.

It is very light and not heavy, and there is no pretentious reversal at the end, like a short story published in a magazine.

There is a clip in it that left a deep impression on Lu Yanhe.

The male protagonist played by Li Zhibai was always entangled, and the whole person was in a crazy and impatient state, frequently swearing and cursing "fuck".

The "neurotic" female protagonist played by Ji Miao was also very fierce. She asked directly with her eyes hanging down: "You are saying f**k to me all day long in front of me, who do you want to f**k?"

Li Zhibai couldn't resist at all, and was speechless by Ji Miao. In the end, he only uttered "f**k".

There are many such clips in the movie.

However -

In the treatment of many comedy effects, it is still a bit too deliberate.

It is really funny, but "laughing for the sake of laughing" is not so natural.

After the movie was over, when Lu Yanhe stood up and applauded with everyone, Songshan Haoyi suddenly asked Lu Yanhe: "What do you think of this movie?"

Before Lu Yanhe answered, Songshan Haoyi said again: "What a pity, it should have been made into a better movie."

Lu Yanhe was stunned.

"I still prefer the film you collaborated on, "Late Spring", which is a real movie."

Lu Yanhe hesitated for a moment and said, "It's indeed not perfect, but I like it very much."

Matsuyama Koichi looked at him with some surprise.

"Okay."

Lu Yanhe also looked at Matsuyama Koichi with some surprise.

Chen Siqi turned around and asked, "Yanhe, do you want to go with me to say hello to Director Min Xizhen later?"

Lu Yanhe smiled at Matsuyama Haoyi and ended the topic. He turned around and smiled at Chen Siqi.

"Okay."

-

"This actor is really charming!"

Min Xizhen's eyes were shining, and she did not hide her feelings-she looked attracted by Li Zhibai.

"He made me want to push him down on the bed and force him." Min Xizhen said this, and Lu Yanhe was shocked.

This Korean-American female director spoke very fiercely.

"Lovers" she shot last year was a dark horse in the North American awards season. Although she did not win many awards, she was nominated for a lot of nominations, which made her attract much attention in the European and American film industry.

Chen Siqi smiled and said, "Wait a minute, you will go and tell Li Zhibai in person that Li Zhibai and Yanhe are very good friends."

"That won't work. If you say it in person, it will be sexual harassment." Min Xizhen immediately shook her hand, "I just want to say that he is really too charming."

She looked at Lu Yanhe.

"Although you are also handsome in "Love Letter", I still prefer Li Zhibai."

Lu Yanhe smiled and said, "It's okay, I accept it."

"I hope to have the opportunity to work with you in the future." Min Xizhen said, "Both you and Li Zhibai are actors I really want to work with."

Lu Yanhe said yes.

He actually didn't expect that Min Xizhen would have such a style.

After all, the movie "Lovers" is actually more similar to the style of "Love Letter" to a certain extent. It tells the story of a couple who break up and get back together, and finally break up. The whole film is shrouded in a "monologue" narration, like an essay, quiet and sad.

At this time, Schmidt Laurie of Green Valley Film Company walked towards him again.

-

Recommended old book "I Became the Scandal Heroine Overnight" (End of this chapter)