Huayu: Hard fight against Zhang Weiping at the beginning

Chapter 391 Coward

There will be a dinner after all award ceremonies.

The Hong Kong Film Awards is no exception.

In order to stay in the best condition, celebrities usually attend the award ceremony on an empty stomach. At most, they will have a piece of candy to fill their stomach before the ceremony. After a few hours, their stomachs are already empty, so the organizers must provide a meal after the award ceremony.

But it’s not delicious either, and is usually in the form of a buffet.

The main purpose is still to socialize.

It is a rare opportunity to bring together so many performing artists from all over Hong Kong. Everyone tries to get to know more big names or leave a good impression on them at such gatherings.

In a society where relationships are important, as long as you have met and talked, there are many things to discuss.

Zhang Chen followed the crowd to the party but was stopped by Boss Yang halfway.

"No need to go so early. Those female stars still need to change their clothes, so they can't go that fast. There won't be many people there now, so it's better to go later..."

Boss Yang handed over a cigarette as he spoke. Zhang Chen took a look and found that it was actually the Zhongnanhai in the mainland.

Many people in the entertainment industry smoke this cigarette. It is said that Yehenara Ying loves to smoke this, while Shu Qi loves Marlboro.

The two of them hid in a corner smoking, occasionally greeting passers-by.

After a while, Zhou Xun, who had changed her clothes, came over. Boss Yang knew Miss Zhou very well and immediately handed her a cigarette.

Young Master Zhou took a look, lowered his head and lit it, and the smoking duo became a trio.

These sisters originally hung out in nightclubs and bars, so smoking was a common occurrence for them. They were said to love cigars the most, but cigars were clearly inappropriate in this situation.

"You won the Best Actress award. Are you happy?"

"Happy, of course I am happy, but now I am more looking forward to the Golden Horse Awards in November?"

"Huh? What's going on?" Boss Yang asked curiously.

"Haha, Director Zhang told me personally that I can win at least one Best Actress award at this year's Hong Kong Film Awards. If I'm lucky, maybe two~"

Boss Yang's eyes widened. "You really can tell the fortune? Then tell me when you have time. How's my fortune this year?"

Zhang Chen waved his hands: "Nonsense, nonsense, it's just a joke, it's just a rumor, the mainland doesn't believe in feudal superstition~"

If he dares to say now that he is the White Dragon King of the mainland, he will definitely be talked to by relevant departments when he returns.

Mr. Zhou's eyes smiled into crescents: "Whether you admit it or not, I want to thank you for your good words."

Zhang Chenzhi said proudly: "Thank you, there's no need. We are all children of the underworld. We should learn to be loyal to each other~"

puff~
Boss Yang laughed out loud, looking at Zhang Chen with his eyes, as if to say: Good brother, it turns out that we are all kindred spirits~
Mr. Zhou showed a surprised expression: "What did you say?"

She thought she had heard it wrong. When they were filming Painted Skin in Yinchuan, she didn't see him make any moves for such a long time.

Logically speaking, if Zhang Chen had any feelings for her, he should have expressed them long ago.

But no.

She always thought that the other party was not interested in her.

Why are you saying this again now?

Zhang Chen was really talking nonsense. Young Master Zhou was not his type at all. He hurriedly made amends: "I said we are all children of the underworld, so don't mind these things~"

Now Boss Yang was even happier. He said, "Brother, your remedy is quite rhyming."

Facing Mr. Zhou's embarrassed gaze, Zhang Chen had no choice but to put out his cigarette, "Okay, most people should be here, let's go in~"

After saying that, he walked towards the party entrance without waiting for the two of them.

Behind him, two teasing gazes followed closely.

There are quite a few performing artists from the mainland who have come this time. Many of them are recognizable to me. Those who can come to participate in the Academy Awards must at least be household names in the mainland.

Many people came to greet Zhang Chen, and Zhang Chen responded one by one.

He saw Dong Jianqiang moving among the crowd, getting to know one person after another.

Zhang Chen did not go to look for him, but a voice rang out beside him: "Senior Brother, so you are here~"

It’s Lu Yang.

Next to him is naturally Guo Fan, who is inseparable from Jiao and Meng.

The two of them are like a perfect match and have been sticking together since the filming of "Kowloon Walled City".

"Go around and get to know more people. It will be good for both of you~"

Zhang Chen drove the two away and said that parties are for socializing.

“But we don’t know anyone~”

"Didn't I get to know a lot of great supporting actors when I was filming Kowloon Walled City? I went to talk to them and naturally got to know the others."

Lu Yang's development trajectory is likely to be to become a great action film director, similar to Xu Ke in the mainland.

But action film resources are still the most abundant in Hong Kong. It won’t hurt to get to know more colleagues here~
The two of them said "oh" and ran off to socialize obediently.

At the gate, Master Zhou appeared. He glanced at Zhang Chen as he passed by him, and said in a faint voice, "Coward~"

Ok?
He was about to argue when the person walked away.

What does this girl want to do? She wants to have sex with me?
Even the method of provoking the opponent was used.

Zhang Chen thought to himself that he was well-versed in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, so how could he have fallen for such a simple trick?

Just at this time Liang Jiahui came over: "Tony, congratulations again~"

"Thank you, thank you~"

After a pause: "You haven't eaten yet, there is a dining table over there, do you want to eat something together~"

“That’s great~”

He was really hungry.

It was probably because he had not attended many award ceremonies. Others knew to pay a small amount beforehand, but he had no idea about it. It was only when Chen Kexin gave him a piece of candy halfway through that he felt a little better.

There was nothing delicious on the table, so Zhang Chen and Liang Jiahui each took a plate and put a few pieces of cake on it to fill their stomachs.

After eating the cake, I finally felt much better.

After eating, Liang Jiahui said: "Let's go over there, I'll introduce some friends to you~"

Guessing that Zhang Chen didn't have many connections in Hong Kong, Liang Jiahui took the initiative to introduce him.

Zhang Chen followed him and met Zou Chongheng.

Zou Chongheng is the daughter of Zou Wenhuai. Zou Wenhuai is already over 80 years old and has long stopped attending similar occasions. It is his daughter who attends similar activities on his behalf.

"Ms. Zou, I know you. You were the one who led the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the movie that Golden Harvest brought to Hollywood in the 1990s, right?"

Zou Chongheng's eyes lit up. She holds a master's degree in film from Stanford University, and her greatest achievement in life is "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles".

But the world only knows Jiahe and his father, no one knows her.

Now that she knew that the top director in the mainland actually knew her so well, she was very happy.

A few of them were chatting and laughing, not paying attention to their surroundings, but they didn't know that they had already become the focus of the neighborhood.

Zhang Chen’s divine prophecy tonight really attracted a lot of people, especially those actors who are still on the rise.

In Hong Kong, metaphysics such as Feng Shui and fate are very popular, especially in the entertainment industry, where everyone believes in them.

However, there are many people who want to meet Zhang Chen, but they have no channels to get to know him.

Besides, he is chatting with the big boss of Jiahe now, and they have no right to join in.

In the corner, several eyes saw all this.

"See? Those snobs are now eager to pounce on others and act like dogs..." Zeng Zhiwei's tone was full of malice.

The more he saw Zhang Chen being popular, the more unhappy he became.

Chapman To next to him also echoed the sentiment, saying that they had already been offended.

Wu Yusen, who had not been seen for a long time, was standing next to them. "Ma Chucheng is such a bummer. We had a quarrel with Zhang Chen just to support him. Now he has become a coward and we have become the target~"

"And there's this foreign guy named Chen Kexin. He was there when we agreed to stand together, but now we're enemies and he's chatting and laughing with that mainland guy. I always say Thais are unreliable~"

Zeng Zhiwei gets angry when he thinks of this.

Wu Yusen stared at the backs of the people chatting: "Liang Jiahui is also a traitor. He openly stands on the side of the mainlanders. Does he know that he is a Hong Konger~"

The people who were chatting were unaware of what was happening around them. After chatting with Zou Chongheng for a while and exchanging contact information, Liang Jiahui introduced him to other people.

After getting to know a few more bosses of film companies, the two finally walked aside, and at this time Dong Jianqiang just came back.

"I heard that Orange Sky is acquiring Golden Harvest~" Dong Jianqiang gossiped about the news he heard.

"Where did you hear that?" "I just heard from Peter Lam. He said that Wu Kebo had a good plan. He didn't have the money to invest in Red Cliff, so he wanted to acquire Golden Harvest and use Golden Harvest's money to shoot Red Cliff~"

In his early years, Peter Lam wanted to acquire Golden Harvest, but failed for various reasons, so he acquired Media Asia.

Zhang Chen recalled that it seemed to be true in history.

Historically, Wu Kebo first returned to China with funds from Japan and founded Orange Sky Entertainment, and then spent a lot of money to invite Wang Jinghua to join.

Wang Jinghua brought a large number of stars to Orange Sky, which was equivalent to directly cutting off one of Huayi Brothers' legs.

This move also made Orange Sky famous.

In the entertainment industry, fame means money.

Although Orange Sky is a new company, it gave Huayi Brothers a big win right from the start and instantly became a top-notch company in the industry.

After acquiring the star resources, Orange Sky acquired Jinyingma Film and Television to complete the production process, and then acquired Golden Harvest and went public through a backdoor listing.

At this point, Orange Sky has officially opened up the entire industrial chain of the film industry.

There are funds, stars, production, distribution, and theaters...

Just when everyone thought that Orange Sky was going to make a big splash, Wu Kebo sold off all of Golden Harvest's overseas cinema chains.

Moreover, this guy is a capitalist and doesn't understand movies at all.

Not only did Wang Jinghua turn the artist business into a country within a country, but the several films that Wang Jinghua invested in also all suffered losses.

Later, he simply closed the production department, split up and sold the film library, and focused on running the cinema chain.

Money was definitely made. After the split and sale, almost all the money earned from the acquisition of Golden Harvest was earned back. But there is not much left of Golden Harvest. The former film and television empire is now left with only the cinema chain.

The fate of Golden Harvest is somewhat similar to that of MGM. After American gambling tycoon Kirk Kerkorian acquired MGM, he also split it up and sold it.

This seems to be the inevitable fate of all well-known film companies after falling into the hands of capital players.

It was just that Zhang Chen persuaded Wang Jinghua to set up his own business and founded Shijiu Culture.

Without the aura of a star, it would not be easy for Wu Kebo to get investment from Japan again. It would be even more impossible for him to acquire Jinyingma and Golden Harvest.

"What is Jiahe's current market value?"

"It seems to be 1.23 million Hong Kong dollars?"

"Only 1.23 million Hong Kong dollars?"

Zhang Chen couldn't believe it. He remembered that when Golden Harvest was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Zou Wenhuai's net worth alone was as high as 6 million Hong Kong dollars.

It's only been a few years, and it has fallen to this point?
"That's true~"

Speaking of Jiahe, everyone felt a little sad.

Although Golden Harvest still has a production department, it basically no longer produces new films and survives simply by relying on distribution and theaters.

All we can say is that things change over time and no company can thrive forever.

However, the young actors who had been watching nearby, seeing that Zhang Chen was no longer chatting with those big shots and that there were only Liang Jiahui and a stranger around him, all bravely came over.

"Brother Jiahui~"

Without exception, everyone who came over found an excuse to say hello to Liang Jiahui.

Liang Jiahui also knows how to behave. When someone comes over, he immediately helps introduce them: "This is so-and-so, a very good young actor~"

"This is Director Zhang Chen and Manager Dong Jianqiang from Xingchen Entertainment in mainland China. They are both very capable people. Let's get to know each other. Maybe there will be opportunities for cooperation in the future~"

"Hello Director Zhang, Hello Manager Dong~"

The visitor greeted him politely, and Zhang Chen would also give him some encouragement, most of which was, "You must practice your Mandarin well. The future of Hong Kong films lies in the mainland. If you want to keep up with the times, you must practice your Mandarin well, at least to the level of Liang Jiahui..."

Liang Jiahui was not opposed to introducing younger generations to Zhang Chen, and was even happy to see it happen.

When no one else came, he said, "The Hong Kong film industry has been in a bad state in the past two years. Famous actors have no movies to shoot, let alone newcomers.

If you have the chance, please take care of me more, it’s not easy~”

Hong Kong's veteran filmmakers have a love for the film industry in their hearts.

If we can, we are willing to contribute to the Hong Kong film and television industry.

It is said that there was an agreement among Hong Kong filmmakers that if a work is directed by a new Hong Kong director, Hong Kong's big-name stars will basically not refuse it and will even reduce their pay to star in it, in order to support the Hong Kong film and television industry in producing new blood.

That’s why we can see in later generations that several movie kings often join a Hong Kong film together, but if it is a mainland production, those movie kings and queens will pay exactly according to the market price, and their pay will not be reduced by a penny.

I say this not to complain, but to say that the veteran Hong Kong filmmakers do have persistence.

They have all experienced the glorious era of Hong Kong films and hope that Hong Kong films can regain their glory.

"What are you talking about?"

They are Chen Kexin and Zhou Gongzi.

It can be seen that Chen Kexin also took Mr. Zhou to meet a lot of people just now.

"Director Chen is here. Director Zhang, I'm sorry to bother you. My friend is calling me over there~"

"Tony, go do your work, don't worry about me."

Liang Jiahui had been accompanying him tonight and introducing people to him, so he didn't get to say hello to his own friends.

He won the Best Actor award, and I guess there are a lot of people waiting to congratulate him.

Chen Kexin happened to arrive and Zhang Chen had someone to accompany him, so Liang Jiahui took the opportunity to leave.

"Director Chen, I haven't congratulated you yet. If Love is the biggest winner tonight, winning six awards alone~"

Dong Jianqiang raised his glass to Chen Kexin with a smile. Although it was the first time they met, they had known each other for a long time.

Zhang Chen's attention was on Master Zhou.

This woman was half a body length behind Chen Kexin. While the two were chatting, she was silently lip-syncing. Judging from her lip-syncing, it was the three words "coward"...

Come again~
This matter is still not over for her~
Zhang Chen rolled his eyes, but in his heart he felt that his relationship with Master Zhou had improved a little.

Seeing Zhang Chen's appearance, Master Zhou smiled and returned to normal before the other two noticed.

Chen Kexin just happened to speak at this time. He looked around to see that no one was paying attention, and then he smiled bitterly: "To be honest with you, I only now understand what 'the Academy Awards is the Academy Awards for Hong Kong people' means."

Seeing the two of them showing curiosity, he continued, "Although "A Moment of Love" won many awards, they were all insignificant technical awards. The real winner was "Election". Look at Johnnie To. Even if he didn't participate, he was still not comparable to a foreigner like me. Except for the Best Actress award given to Zhou Xun, the rest of the major awards such as Best Director, Best Picture, and Best Actor all went to "Election". There is no comparison, no comparison at all..."

Chen Kexin said this and shook her head with a wry smile.

The two of them expressed sympathy and thought that what he said was not wrong.

At any film festival, the four awards for Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director and Best Picture are definitely the highlights of the entire ceremony.

Although "Underworld" only won five awards, one less than "If Love", but in terms of value, it is really not comparable to the technical awards like "If Love".

Chen Kexin is good, and he is a son-in-law from Hong Kong, but he is Thai, and can only be considered half of our family at most.

Compared with Johnnie To, Hong Kong filmmakers definitely prefer Johnnie To.

Chen Kexin sighed deeply. Tonight he finally realized what it meant that "son-in-law is not a member of the family."

Dong Jianqiang felt the same way and echoed the sentiment.

He has always been upset about having his head shaved in "Taken".

Forget about other things, he really felt it was unfair that the Best Action Choreography award was given to "Forking Crossing".

"Taken" swept Southeast Asia and created a new martial arts style. It would be strange if he could accept the fact that such an amazing achievement lost to "Forking Crossing".

Zhang Chen, on the other hand, was quite open-minded about all this. He knew from the beginning the bad character of the Academy Awards and had no hope that "Taken" could win an award.

Without hope, there would be no disappointment.

"If Director Chen wants to slap them in the face, the best way is to win the award~"

Chen Kexin became interested: "I'd like to hear more details~"

"When Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was first released in China, it received a lot of negative reviews. A lot of people thought that Ang Lee couldn't make a martial arts film at all, and that Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was a step backward for martial arts dramas.
Then, it won an Oscar.
The wind direction suddenly changed.

Various interpretations and licking~
I think if Director Chen's If Love wins an Oscar, these people will have the same reaction."

Zhang Chen gave some random suggestions, but Chen Kexin's eyes lit up after hearing them.

Although no one uses the word "lick" in this way now, he could guess it based on the context.

He lowered his head in deep thought, as if he was really considering the feasibility of this matter. He really wanted to slap these arrogant guys in the face in Hong Kong.

"Thank you Director Zhang for providing me with a new idea. I will seriously consider this matter~"

Chen Kexin clasped her hands together to express her gratitude, and Mr. Zhou next to her had a bright look in his eyes.

(End of this chapter)