Chinese Entertainment: Academic Director

Chapter 404 The defense is broken

Ever since Jing Tian was chosen by Lao Tian to play a minor supporting role in "Love in the Seaside City", Cao Yang has been quite curious about the person who was called "a flower of wealth and honor" in his previous life and "Jing Tian who could not be made famous".

After all, if it's true, as some reports suggest, that her sugar daddy is some old man surnamed Lu with a powerful background, it's really hard to believe.

Don't say that the old man surnamed Lu is just rumored to have some connections with Wanda Group. Even if he is the boss of Wanda Group, it's impossible for him to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to provide various resources, including Hollywood, for a female star.

In other words, spending hundreds of millions of dollars to promote a female star is not something a normal person would do. Nobody's money comes from thin air, and even if it did, no one has ever seen such extravagance.

When wealthy tycoons support female celebrities, they don't throw resources at them relentlessly. They will provide resources, but they mainly buy various properties and luxury goods, because these have many uses for wealthy tycoons and they won't lose money.

Jing Tian's situation is clearly different.

However, given Cao Yang's current status, I still have some information to share.

Jing Tian's personality is somewhat naive and innocent, and she genuinely doesn't have much ambition; this isn't the kind of persona some female celebrities create.

People with this personality type are mostly those who have had a carefree life since childhood.

Coincidentally, Cao Yang knew someone with a similar personality very well, namely Yu Feihong.

Of course, regardless of Jing Tian's background—whether he's a spendthrift who squanders money like paper or has some other "powerful" background—it doesn't matter to Cao Yang now.

Because truly influential people would not allow their children and grandchildren to mingle in the entertainment industry and appear in public, much less be so high-profile. Even if they are initially active on screen, they will gradually disappear from the public eye.

Of course, not caring about the other person's background doesn't mean you'll provoke them for no reason.

So even though Cao Yang couldn't hold on and opened his mouth and stuck out his tongue, he still managed to back away with considerable willpower and said:

"Wait a minute, listen to me first. I'm not planning on finding a girlfriend right now, and you need to think this through. I don't have any suitable options for you at the moment..."

Cao Yang's meaning is very clear, and he's utterly despicable.

In short, they are irresponsible.

To everyone's surprise, Da Tiantian acted as if she hadn't heard Cao Yang's words, and once again demonstrated with her actions that she wasn't after the resources and status at all.

Okay, if another actress who came to Berlin said she wasn't there for resources and status, Cao Yang definitely wouldn't believe her.

But Jing Tian herself still has a high degree of credibility.

Sometimes, the less ambitious and seemingly quiet a girl is, the less she thinks about things when she does them. On the contrary, girls with certain goals tend to consider many issues.

Cao Yang isn't a saint. The atmosphere has already been built up to this point, so what else is there to say?

……

After a long silence, Cao Yang couldn't help but ask:
"How could you be like this..."

"I study dance, maybe I accidentally tore it while practicing."

Seeing the other person's furrowed brows and the fact that it seemed difficult for them to move even slightly, Cao Yang was momentarily stunned.

Depend on!
Cao Yang wanted to slap himself. What was he talking about? He just regretted his loose tongue.

On the surface, don't you have a sugar daddy?
Depend on!
Cao Yang was speechless for a moment.

He couldn't help but glance at the other person. "What the hell... are you trying to trick me?"
Perhaps sensing Cao Yang's hesitation, Da Tiantian frowned, turned around, hugged Cao Yang, and said with a smile:

"Director Cao, I admire you so much. In addition, you helped me win the Silver Bear for Best Newcomer, which is why this happened today. I did it voluntarily, so you don't need to feel guilty."

At this point, she smiled again and continued, "I said those things just to let you know that I am not a casual girl. I am only nineteen years old and I will not do anything I don't want to do for resources."

Of course, you might not believe me when I say this.

To put it simply, when I was 10 years old, then-US President Clinton visited Xi'an, and I was fortunate enough to be one of the little girls welcoming him. I even performed a dance and took a group photo.

Last year, I was appointed as the Northwest Cherry Ambassador by the Northwest Cherry Association and was received by the Governor of Washington.

I'm not saying this to show off, and it's nothing to brag about. I just want to tell you that I don't need to do things I don't like just for resources or anything like that.

Cao Yang gave a wry smile. "What you've said has only made me more conflicted."

If you were like most actresses, with real financial backers, I wouldn't be so conflicted.

Forget it, it's a matter of mutual consent, so there's no need to worry too much about whether it's broken or not. At worst, we can just give her some more resources as compensation.

"Ding dong..."

As Cao Yang was thinking, the doorbell rang again.

Before Cao Yang could react, Da Tiantian suddenly asked nervously, "Director Cao, is she your girlfriend?"

As she spoke, she stood up, then made a "humph" sound and a "hiss" sound, and started to put on her clothes.

"Don't move, just lie still. I'll go see what's wrong."

Cao Yang held her down, stopping her from getting dressed.

Then, it seemed as if they realized something.

Da Tiantian's face visibly turned red. She sat up on the bed, pulled the blanket over herself to cover her private parts, and then lay down with a "hiss" and covered her head.

"I...I'm going to sleep now."

A muffled sound came from under the covers.

Seeing her disheveled state, Cao Yang couldn't help but want to laugh.

Isn't he quite brave?

Why are you shy now?

While thinking about Da Tiantian's funny behavior, Cao Yang walked out of the bedroom and into the living room. Learning from his earlier experience, he asked through the hotel room door, "Who is it?"

There was no sound from outside for a long time. Cao Yang was wondering if someone had accidentally pressed the wrong button when he heard a faint voice coming from outside.

"I...I am Yang Mi. I have something I'd like to talk to you about."

Cao Yang was speechless for a moment.

He'd seen this kind of thing many times before; not long ago, there was Da Tian Tian.

Therefore, any director who is even slightly famous has no shortage of women and there is absolutely no need for them to engage in any so-called "sleeping with so-and-so".

"Yang Mi, right? It's too late today. Can we talk about it tomorrow? You should go back and get some rest."

There was another moment of silence outside the door.

Just when Cao Yang thought she had gone back, her weak voice came again.

"Director Cao, could you please let me in first? I really have something to do."

You have some stupid business to report.

"Go back and get some sleep. Don't overthink things. You're still young, don't make any hasty decisions. Go back now, I'm going to sleep too. See you tomorrow."

After Cao Yang finished speaking, he heard a faint voice coming from outside again.

"Okay, Director Cao, I'll talk to you about it tomorrow. You should get some rest. Good night."

Yang Mi was a little disappointed. She had finally made up her mind and figured out how to say things after it was over to gain more sympathy, but Director Cao simply wouldn't open the door!
Yes, Cao Yang must have thought of this, but he was probably too upright and didn't even dare to open the door.

What a great opportunity, and it's been missed.

What a missed opportunity!
Cao Yang returned to the bedroom and glanced at Da Tiantian, who was still covered up.

Actually, he has a way of roughly understanding what Da Tian Tian is saying.

For example, if he were to get started now, one could tell from his unintentional expressions and movements if one paid attention.

But it's not necessary.

He crawled into bed, and Da Tiantian didn't say anything. He smiled and asked, "Asleep?"

"Ah."

Cao Yang almost laughed, then reached out and tried to pull her into his arms.

Unexpectedly, Da Tian Tian stiffened for a moment when he touched her delicate skin.

Well, I guess this was an unintentional reaction.

But weren't you quite brave before? Why are you so restrained now that those emotions have passed?
Women are strange.

However, it must be said that this coy and hesitant attitude is more likely to arouse certain special emotions in men.

The next day, if you observed carefully, you would notice that Da Tiantian was walking a little strangely; she didn't dare to walk too fast. This wasn't Cao Yang's fault.

Sometimes, things can easily go wrong when sleeping in each other's arms, especially in the morning.

Today, the crew of "Love in the Seaside City" will return to China, while Cao Yang will stay in Berlin for another day to attend a party before departing for Los Angeles early tomorrow morning.

He won't be returning to China for the time being because the Oscars are about to start, and he still needs to participate in the Oscars.

To Cao Yang's surprise, Da Tiantian did not show any obvious unusual emotions. She did not pester him, nor did she show any deep affection. She didn't even call Cao Yang on the way back.

It's as if nothing happened.

On the contrary, Yang Mi seemed somewhat absent-minded, even avoiding Cao Yang's gaze.

The cast and crew of "Left Right" are also returning to China today, but Wang Xiaoshuai will not be going back. He will stay in Berlin to discuss selling the film's copyright.

"In Love We Trust" won Best Screenplay, so the copyright can be sold for a lot more money.

As for Cao Yang's "Love in the Seaside City," he didn't need to stay behind to personally negotiate the copyright like Wang Xiaoshuai did. There were many people who wanted to buy his copyright, and the price was incomparable to that of Wang Xiaoshuai's "Left and Right."

If you want the copyright, go to Huaxia Film Studio and talk to Qingying Film Studio and China Film Group.

There's not much to discuss here. The copyright fees for Cao Yang's award-winning Chinese films are all roughly fixed and don't fluctuate much.

However, the copyright fee for "Love in the Seaside City" will definitely be higher than that of the film that won the Golden Lion, after all, this film is full of gimmicks and has Jackie Chan's participation.

Today, almost all the news in China is about Cao Yang.

The news that Cao Yang won the Best Director award at the Berlin International Film Festival, becoming the first person in history to achieve a grand slam of the three major European Best Director awards, was everywhere on the three major portal websites, Tencent's homepage, and various forums.

This news was also in all kinds of newspapers that were still in circulation.

Even the People's Daily published a special commentary article.

Commentary articles from this period were highly authoritative, representing the attention and approval of the highest levels of government.

Other authoritative newspapers, such as Guangming Daily, Reference News, Beijing News, and Youth Daily, also published the news.

Every article inevitably contains words such as "our country", "the whole world", "in history", "the first person", "outstanding", and "Cao Yang".

It's still winter break for students, but at the entrance of the Beijing Film Academy, not only are there huge banners, but also colorful flags that stretch for almost a hundred meters along both sides of the road.

It looked extremely grand.

"Warmest congratulations to our school's director Cao Yang for winning the Best Director award at all three major European film festivals, becoming the first director in global history to achieve this honor!!!"

That's right, the school used three exclamation marks after the banner it hung up to express the school's attitude towards the matter.

Similar banners were hung not only at the school gate, but also inside the school, in offices, dormitories, playgrounds, canteens, main roads, and so on.

That evening, the news devoted five minutes to reporting on this, along with an interview with Cao Yang in Berlin, and even excerpted a part of his acceptance speech, including his remarks about the Olympics.

The fact that the news outlets dedicated five minutes to reporting on this matter itself signifies something special.

In fact, it wasn't just in China; there were also reports in East Asia, South Korea, and Hong Kong media, as well as about Jackie Chan winning the Berlin Film Festival's Best Actor award.

The reports now are full of praise; they seem to have forgotten how unanimously they were pessimistic about Jackie Chan in the first place.

Newspapers and media in almost every European country reported on Cao Yang's achievement of winning the Best Director Grand Slam.

After all, given Cao Yang's fame, coupled with the word "first," it's quite eye-catching.

Before going to Los Angeles, Cao Yang attended a small gathering of directors who were invited only by a select few. The minimum requirement for these directors was that they had won the Best Director award from one of the three major European film and television organizations.

However, simply winning Best Director is not enough. For example, Wang Xiaoshuai attended the Berlin Film Festival with Cao Yang the year Cao Yang debuted.

Cao Yang won the Jury Prize, and he won Best Director.

However, he did not receive an invitation from this small circle.

It was only after Cao Yang gave him a heads-up that he was allowed to attend the gathering.

Wang Xiaoshuai was visibly excited about this, seemingly even happier than when his film "In Love We Trust" won Best Screenplay at the Berlin Film Festival.

Cao Yang met Martin Scorsese, an American director who was an old friend, inside.

Martin Scorsese not only has an Oscar for Best Director, but he also won the Palme d'Or at the 29th Cannes Film Festival in 76 and the Best Director award at the 39th Cannes Film Festival in 86.

In addition, he won the Best Director award at the 47th Venice Film Festival in 90.

Old Martin is fully qualified to attend this small circle of friends.

"Cao, congratulations! You're the first person in history to achieve this title. Just that alone is enough to make you an important part of film history."

Old Martin raised his glass and clinked it against Cao Yang's, his tone full of envy.

He holds a certain position in European art circles and is one of the most famous directors in Hollywood, but these achievements are not enough to make him an important part of film history.

Unless he can achieve the three major European gold medals in his lifetime.

Although he is only one Berlin Best Director award away from becoming the second person to achieve the grand slam of the three major European Best Director awards, the prestige of the Best Director grand slam is certainly not comparable to that of the three major awards.

Unless someone like Cao Yang becomes the first to achieve this, it's impossible to compete with a three-time Grand Slam winner.

A second person wouldn't be enough.

He currently only has the Palme d'Or at Cannes. To win both the Golden Bear and the Golden Lion would be no less difficult than winning two more Academy Awards for Best Director.

Even more difficult than that.

Because when you're just one gold medal away from winning, you'll definitely face deliberate obstruction from the three major teams.

It can't be said that it was deliberately difficult. After all, the three major European countries need to maintain their prestige, so the fewer people who win all three gold medals, the higher their prestige.

If more people win the triple gold medal Grand Slam, the three major European gold medals will be finished.

"Thank you."

Cao Yang clinked glasses with him and asked, "When are you going back to the United States?"

"the day after tomorrow."

After Old Martin finished speaking, he immediately realized what he meant and asked in a somewhat complicated tone, "You're still going to the Oscars?"

"I produced and wrote a movie that received several nominations, as did Pirates of the Caribbean, which also had several technical award nominations, so I had to go."

Cao Yang shook his head and said helplessly, "Sigh, I'm destined to be a workaholic. It's like I'm rushing from one event to another, and I don't even have time to rest."

Old Martin suddenly remembered which movie Cao Yang was referring to as the producer and screenwriter.

The Fault in Our Stars!
Oh shit!

Old Martin looked at Cao Yang again with a complicated expression. "Bullshit!"

The movie generated so much buzz and caused such a sensation across the United States that he was almost certain it would win either Best Director or Best Picture.

Or you might get both.

Asshole!
I really want to slap this bastard to death.

What do you need so many big prizes for?
Can it be eaten as a meal?
I worked hard my whole life, and only at the "advanced age" of 65 did I finally manage to win the Oscar for Best Director.

But this guy not only has the Best Director award, but if I remember correctly, he also has two Oscars for Best Picture!
If we win another one in a few days, that will be three Best Picture awards!

You're not a professional producer, so what's the point of having so many Best Picture winners?

At that moment, Old Martin was overcome with envy and jealousy, and suddenly the wine in his glass tasted completely bland.

"Ugh, I shouldn't have come to this shitty party."

"No, I shouldn't have come to this shitty Berlin."

Not interesting.

Old Martin waved his hand and said weakly to Cao Yang, "Go find someone else to drink with. I'm a little tired and have to go."

After saying that, Old Martin really put down his glass and left this small circle of people that many directors would kill to attend.

Cao Yang stared at Old Martin's retreating figure, momentarily dumbfounded.

What's wrong with Old Martin?
Why do you seem to have aged so much in an instant?

This is utterly baffling.

(End of this chapter)