Chinese Entertainment: Academic Director

Chapter 225 Inception
Oscar night, a sleepless night.

After attending the Oscars dinner, I gave some interviews and it was already past one in the morning when I returned to the villa provided by Columbia.

Cao Yang thought Dong Xuan would be very tired, but he turned out to be more excited than him, probably because it was his first time attending an Oscars.

After helping Dong Xuan to take off her evening gown with great effort, before Cao Yang could say anything, Dong Xuan pulled him into a separate and spacious bathroom for pre-match warm-up.

Fishes carry peaches in their mouths and swim in the spring water, breaking through a cloud of smoke from the pine forest.

After the war song was sung, the two were still in the bathroom, just in time to wash up and head to the next battlefield.

I said it was just a pre-match warm-up, the main match hasn't started yet.

During the half-time break, which was also the cooldown time for skills, Dong Xuan told Cao Yang about what happened today, especially Leo's clearance.

They originally came for Cao Yang's face. If they didn't know that Dong Xuan was Cao Yang's female companion, they would have nothing better to do than to rescue a little-known Chinese actor.

Dong Xuan would not be so self-indulgent as to think that Leo came to the rescue because he was interested in her.

As we all know, Leo only likes young supermodels. His current girlfriend is Gisele Bundchen, the most famous supermodel in the world.

At this year's Oscars ceremony, Leo took her to walk the red carpet.

"Little Leo came to your rescue, even at the cost of offending Zhang Ziyi... Tell me, does Little Leo have a crush on you?"

Cao Yang picked up a flower and smiled, jokingly.

Well, although Zhang Ziyi is still somewhat famous, Leo may not know her. Even if he has heard of her, he would not care.

Little Leo is thoughtful.

"Go to hell, everyone in Hollywood knows that he only likes supermodels. He already has a girlfriend as beautiful as Gisele Bundchen, and he is constantly having affairs with other supermodels. I have heard news in China that he is constantly having secret meetings with different supermodels."

Dong Xuan gently hit Cao Yang and said with a smile:

"Besides, having you is enough for me. I don't like foreigners. Most of those foreigners have body odor, and the body odor is very strong. I don't understand how those who look for foreigners can tolerate this."

Cao Yang thought about it but still couldn't figure out the problem. Maybe those people just like men with body odor?

Haha, of course he could understand that for those people, a little bit of experience was nothing if they had a purpose.

"Let me ask you a question and see if you can answer it."

Cao Yang was flirting with the flowers and plants while he said, "What is it that makes the people above excited and the people below excited?"

Dong Xuan was stunned, then burst into laughter and asked in a delicate voice, "Do you want to be excited or thrilled?"

Cao Yang knocked on Dong Xuan's head and said in a serious tone, "What are you thinking about? You think about these messy things every day. I'm talking about the concert."

"concert?"

Dong Xuan was stunned for a moment, then leaned close to Cao Yang's ear and asked softly: "Do we have to sing with our mouths at the concert? I also want to hold the microphone and sing a song..."

Since you want to sing with a microphone, then come on. There are microphones available.

So, the second half begins.

Cao Yang clearly felt that Dong Xuan "knew" a lot tonight, even though every move was not standard and looked very immature.

In the past, Dong Xuan either tied her hair into two ponytails, or wore a goddess dragon costume and bit her hair, or was a female knight. Everything else was done passively.

Tonight is different.

But it is precisely because of its youthfulness that it can arouse a man's "wildness" and a sense of accomplishment.

Dong Xuan originally thought that by reading some daily "teaching materials", he could help Cao Yang walk with the help of the wall tomorrow.

Execution and actual combat are two different things.

Just like the "gangster excitement punch", it only arouses the fighting power of men.

After two rounds, Dong Xuan had no choice but to surrender and said weakly: "Brother, let's stop here tonight."

To here?

Where is this?
To be honest, Cao Yang was still a little excited about winning the Oscar for Best Director.

Even though he repeatedly told himself that this was just an award given by Hollywood to entertain itself, it was not worth making a fuss about.

But this is the Oscars after all, the most globally influential award of this era.

It's impossible not to be excited.

It is fine if this kind of excitement is not aroused, but once it is aroused, it is easiest to transform into fighting power.

The two bodies are secretly wet with sweat, and the spring breeze penetrates the jade pot. The joy is unblocked and the sword is facing the edge, and the pleasure flows around the beads.

The next day, Dong Xuan was full of energy and his face was rosy.

Cao Yang was a little depressed. He had planned to go to Fox Searchlight today to see the post-production of "Juno".

But before he set off, Columbia's executive director Tom Rothman arrived. He was really impatient, fearing that Cao Yang would be "seduced" away by other major Hollywood studios.

"My dear director, congratulations on winning the Best Director award that countless directors dream of. This is Columbia's sincerity. Are you satisfied?"

It has to be said that foreigners are sometimes not humble and speak very directly. As soon as he saw Cao Yang, Tom Rossman hugged him exaggeratedly and said with a smile on his face.

Tom Rossman pointed out Columbia's contribution. He was afraid that just mentioning this would cause Cao Yang to be disgusted, so he continued:

"Of course, it's because of your good directing skills. District 9 was shot brilliantly. Otherwise, even if Columbia worked hard, it would not have been a success. Success is based on the quality of the film."

Cao Yang knew Columbia's purpose. In order to win him over, the other party did not discuss any conditions in advance. He showed his sincerity directly and then talked about the matter.

For foreigners, this is indeed a sign of sincerity.

"Tom, I have been thinking about this for a while. It's not that I don't want to cooperate with Columbia, but I feel that now is not the right time to shoot "2012". The closer this movie is to 12, the better the effect will be."

Cao Yang has indeed thought about this. If the movie was shot in 10 and released in 11, wouldn’t it be more eye-catching?

Of course, this is just one of the reasons.

The main reason is that Cao Yang doesn't want to make this movie. For him, this kind of disaster movie, even if it has good box office, will not bring much benefit to him.

To put it bluntly, this movie doesn't have much artistic content, and if he makes it, it will definitely be criticized.

Cao Yang was certain that he would be criticized by others, and he could even imagine what those people would say.

"Since it's the end of the world, why do you, a world-renowned literary and artistic director, just dabble in it and not delve deeper into human nature? Isn't this kind of subject matter suitable for an in-depth exploration of human nature..."

If the human nature was really portrayed a little more deeply, the movie would become boring, which would definitely affect the box office and might really become his "Waterloo".

With an investment of over 100 million US dollars, if the film does not make over 400 to 500 million US dollars at the global box office, it will definitely be considered a failure considering Cao Yang's current influence and reputation.

Columbia wouldn't consider so many things. They don't care whether it's artistic or not. What they want is the box office and big sales.

Last year, "The Day After Tomorrow" was released and sold well. Disaster movies seemed to have a promising future and a greater chance of success, so Columbia chose "2012".

As I said, movies with big investments must be stable.

If the film really explores human nature, Cao Yang is sure that even if it was agreed in advance that he would have complete autonomy, even if Columbia turned against him and risked completely offending Cao Yang, they would still edit a version of "2012" on their own.

An investment of hundreds of millions of dollars is not just talk. If a movie with this kind of investment flopped, it would be a huge blow to the film company.

It may even cause a series of chain reactions, eventually leading to the company's bankruptcy and liquidation.

The failure of "Windtalkers" caused a chain reaction at MGM and became the fuse for MGM's bankruptcy.

The initial investment in "Titanic" was 100 million US dollars. Due to Cameron's "procrastination" and a series of troubles, 20th Century Fox had to bite the bullet and make additional investments.

If Paramount hadn't stepped in to help and provided more than 6000 million dollars in aid, th Century Fox would have almost gone bankrupt.

Tom Rossman thought about it.

He admitted that what Cao Yang said made sense, and the closer it is to 12, the more hype it will be.

However, there is a lot of uncertainty in movies.

What he and Columbia's top executives can be sure of is that the huge success of "The Day After Tomorrow" last year will make "world-destroying" disaster movies more easily accepted by the audience and more likely to succeed again.

As for what will happen in a few years, who knows? The uncertainty is too great.

"Mr. Director, what you said makes sense. This movie does become more and more eye-catching as it progresses. However, you have to know that the success of a movie cannot rely solely on eye-catching gimmicks. Many other factors must be considered."

Tom Rossman said seriously, he tried to persuade Cao Yang.

“You have won the Oscar for Best Director and are now attracting a lot of attention. If you announce that you are going to make 2012, I dare say that the whole world will be talking about this news tomorrow.

Plus, since it’s a disaster movie, people are even more curious, and that’s two-thirds of the success…”

"Tom, let me be frank. I have a Chinese-language art film to shoot right now, so I'm not very interested in 2012 for now."

Looking at Tom Rossman's changed expression, Cao Yang knew that the old guy had misunderstood and thought that he had tricked him and Columbia.

Then he continued:

"I am interested in adapting another short story of mine. Depp was interested in this novel long before filming District 9. I think as long as this movie is made, Depp will join even if he has to take a pay cut."

Tom Rothman's expression changed. Will Depp, who has already firmly entered the "20 million club", take a pay cut to join?
He was moved.

Depp's influence is at its greatest now. If news comes out that he will work with Cao Yang again, it will be a huge hype and will definitely generate popularity and discussion.

"Which one?"

Tom Rossman couldn't help but ask.

"Inception. I want to make Inception."

(End of this chapter)