Global Film Emperor

Chapter 232 Premiere Ceremony
This event, ostensibly a seminar, was actually a welcome ceremony for the film crew, or perhaps a social gathering, and it ended five days later.

Just as Lu Ze had imagined, they simply practiced their lines word by word in their seats, asking Director Xiao and Deng Bo for their opinions when they were unsure about something, and then making notes in the script.

This resulted in everyone's scripts being covered in messy, colorful handwriting, like a high school student's notebook with notes.

They insisted on moving what they could write in a notebook to a book, writing dense text near the printed words. This habit was something everyone learned from Lu Ze.

Including the two veteran actors, no one can compare to Lu Ze in terms of skill. So during this time, they have been imitating Lu Ze's practice habits all the time, hoping to learn something useful from him.

Midway through, Ding Zhiyi mustered up the courage to ask Lu Ze a question, and Lu Ze generously provided the answers. This changed everyone's impression of Lu Ze as serious and rigid over the past few days. Whenever there was a problem with the script, even Xiao Fengying and Deng Bo would discuss it with Lu Ze and begin to build personal friendships with him.

Through these past few days of getting to know him, everyone has gained a basic understanding of what kind of person Lu Ze is. In his spare time, he is quite cheerful and kind, but when it comes to work, he reveals a temperament that is completely opposite to his personal life.

Whether you call him strict with himself and demanding, or rigid, serious, and like an old scholar, that's just his attitude. He's extremely meticulous about the study of performances and scripts.

He wouldn't stop researching the script until it met his requirements, and he was even more exploratory than Deng Bo, the writer of the story, giving this science fiction-themed love story a new life and a deeper meaning.

These people finally understand why the Hong Kong Film Awards gave the Professional Spirit Award to Luk Chak. With his work ethic, it would be suspicious if they didn't give him the award.
Although everyone understood the significance of the seminar, Lu Ze did not want to waste the five days and wanted to accomplish something tangible. Under Lu Ze's leadership, everyone perked up, and the seminar ultimately turned out to be much better than Xiao Fengying had anticipated.

Five days later, Lu Ze returned to Shanghai and spent twelve days resting and familiarizing himself with the script. The night before, he went to the Shanghai Financial Convention and Exhibition Center to rehearse "To Live". Today, the premiere of "To Live" officially begins.

On the 20th, Lu Ze went to a private hair salon to get his hair done. The stylist applied a lot of hairspray to Lu Ze's head, and after the slicked-back haircut, Lu Ze felt his head was much heavier.

She did some simple concealing, changed into a black and navy blue patterned suit specially designed for Lu Ze by a fashion designer, buttoned up her black shirt, and tied the blue tie that Jiang Wenshu had given Lu Ze on her twenty-third birthday.

The simple silver men's ring was worn on the pinky finger of his left hand, and the Rolex Cosmograph Ice Blue dial was on his wrist. Lu Ze stood in front of the full-length mirror, gently adjusted the position of his tie, and touched the light stubble on his chin, which he hadn't trimmed.

Words like mature, steady, and magnanimous can now be used to describe Lu Ze. Compared to Lu Ze in Hengdian, he has changed completely and is no longer the boy who sat on the street crying while eating steamed buns.

Perhaps, the one who teaches you the most life lessons is not your parents, nor your teachers, but time itself.
His large, veiny hand touched the mirror, leaving his palm print. Then he put both hands in his trouser pockets, turned and left the room, the sound of his leather shoes clicking on the floor echoing down the hallway.

A stretched Lincoln was parked outside, driven by Wang Zhen's driver. Liu Bin was off work today, and Lu Ze was going to walk the red carpet with Wang Zhen.

She opened the car door and got in. A faint, pleasant scent of women's perfume wafted from her. Wang Zhen turned to look at Lu Ze and handed him a cup of coffee.

"Nice look, dressed like a human being."

"You too, your wig looks so real, and the hairstyle suits you quite well."

"Ouch! You want a beating, don't you?"

Lu Ze didn't use a straw, but opened the lid and took a sip. It was freshly ground, but the caramel flavor was a bit strong and a little too sweet for him. Lu Ze looked out the window and teased Wang Zhen.

Both actors shaved their heads during filming, but Lu Ze's hair grew back quickly, and men don't need to grow their hair long. Lu Ze had already cut his hair several times after filming, while Wang Zhen could only wear a wig to the premiere.

Wang Zhen felt a little better after punching Lu Ze. She glared at Lu Ze, blew on her fake bangs, crossed her arms, leaned against the car door, and stopped talking to him. Ever since the last Golden Rooster Awards, she knew that this guy had a sharp tongue.

The convention center was not far from the styling studio. At 4:40, there were still about ten minutes before the evening rush hour. There was no traffic jam along the way, and we didn't even have to wait at many traffic lights. Fifteen minutes later, the car stopped in the reserved spot.

Because of the premiere, this section of road has been temporarily closed. There are not many cars around. While chatting with Wang Zhen, Lu Ze looked down at his phone, checking Weibo for topics related to the premiere and the ticket booking status of several cinemas for the first few screenings.

The first few screenings were almost full, with all the seats in red being reserved. Even the last screening today sold out more than half of the tickets. Lu Ze really admired the creativity of the Tiancheng publicity team. It was understandable that the first few screenings of this kind of movie would be packed, after all, Lu Ze himself was a box office draw, and hardcore movie fans were eager to see it. The high attendance rate in the first few screenings was not surprising.

But surprisingly, tickets for the later episodes sold quite well, all thanks to Tiancheng Media's aggressive promotion. Recently, a trend has emerged online: "Take your loved one to witness a love story that transcends life and death," followed by posts showing off their purchased e-tickets for "To Live." This topic has actually become quite popular, with many young women wanting to take their boyfriends to the cinema to experience it.

Lu Ze found this kind of thing rather boring. If you want to see love that transcends life and death, you might as well go to the crematorium with your partner and see how people are "refined." Forget about love, what else is there besides family, friendship, and so on? You can see whatever you want.

However, Tiancheng (the online community) managed to make this topic a hot topic by spending money on it. A large number of online trolls started showing off two movie tickets that hadn't been picked up yet, and then these young people quickly followed suit, making people feel that if you didn't take your lover to see "To Live," you were being unfaithful to your love.

After playing on my phone for about ten minutes, I heard a staff member's voice coming through the driver's walkie-talkie. The car slowly drove towards the entrance of the convention center and stopped precisely in front of the red carpet.

Lu Ze opened the car door and got out first. Then he helped carry Wang Zhen's small dress. After she finished taking care of the dress, she put her left hand on Lu Ze's right arm, and the two walked on the red carpet to greet the cheers of the fans.

"Slow down! I can't keep up!"

She secretly pinched the soft flesh on Lu Ze's waist. Lu Ze smiled normally at the reporter, then turned his back to the camera and gave Wang Zhen a fierce smile.

Walking into the crowd, he signed autographs for fans as usual. However, Lu Ze now had to be selective about who he signed. Because of his habit, many scalpers started scrambling to get Lu Ze's autographs and then selling them at high prices.

It was very hot, so he told the fans waiting at the entrance to leave after they had left, and not to get heatstroke, otherwise he couldn't take responsibility.

A female fan suddenly stepped on the railing and kissed Lu Ze on the cheek, then covered her face and screamed like a victor. After being photographed by reporters, she still posed beautifully for the camera, looking excited as if she had just attacked her idol.

Lu Ze just smiled and moved a little further away from the crowd to avoid being attacked again. Actually, they were just female fans; if it had been a man, Lu Ze wouldn't have been able to smile.

Wang Zhen had also taken the photos, and the two of them signed their names on the poster for the movie "To Live". The security guard opened the door of the convention center, and a cool breeze blew on them, which was simply too refreshing.

Under the flashing lights, the two sat down. Lu Ze didn't care about his image. He unscrewed the bottle of mineral water on the table and gulped down half of it, letting out a burp. Wang Zhen didn't even have any water in his car, and the more he drank coffee, the thirstier he became. He was really thirsty.

This is what makes a truly talented actor stand out. Otherwise, if a popular celebrity wore this sewer-like outfit, it would definitely trend on Weibo.

Everyone had arrived, and the main creative team was all seated. Zhuang Yu waved to the host and announced the official start of the premiere.

Lu Ze was already used to attending premieres. He crossed his hands on the table, rotated his two thumbs in parallel, and smiled at the reporters and film critics below the stage.

The process was already set and there wasn't much to say, but when the reporter asked Zhuang Yu why he wrote the script, everyone, including Lu Ze, perked up their ears.

Zhuang Yu had never told Lu Ze about the creative intention behind this film, which made Lu Ze quite curious as to why Zhuang Yu would create such a pessimistic script.

Zhuang Yu picked up the microphone, hesitated for a few seconds, walked to the center of the stage, and bowed to the people in the audience.

"The inspiration for this film comes from a true story, though the adaptation is quite extensive. I added some supporting elements to alleviate the oppressive atmosphere. The real event was actually more despairing than the film itself. There was a man who had a terminal illness. He desperately wanted to live, but many people prevented him from going through with it. This man was my friend. Later, I watched him stop breathing, but he didn't close his eyes until he died. My intention is simple: to offer some inspiration amidst the despair of this story. I hope everyone can pay attention to these patients and offer them help when they can. Thank you."

Before the movie started, these words didn't really impress the reporters, so they just jotted them down briefly and then asked Zhuang Yu his next question: what did Zhuang Yu have to say about the reunion of Zhuang Yu, Lu Ze, Wang Zhen, and the Black Horse Trident?

The subsequent questions all revolved around Lu Ze. Before each reporter asked a question, they would congratulate Lu Ze on winning the Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actor. They were very polite and their questions were not sharp. It is estimated that he received a generous red envelope this time.

In a harmonious atmosphere, the Q&A session with reporters came to an end. All the main creators stepped down from the stage. Lu Ze sat in the center of the first row, next to Guo Mingde. Then the main lights in the venue were turned off, the dragon logo appeared on the screen, and the wall lights were also turned off, leaving the venue in complete darkness except for the screen.

The film begins.

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(End of this chapter)