Chinese Entertainment: Academic Director

Chapter 438 Differences in Thinking and Values

The three post-production studios at Warner Bros. Studios really did burn down.

After the controversy "burned," Cao Yang returned to China immediately. He wanted to avoid contact with the media as much as possible, otherwise he might prematurely reveal that he had a "backup" when asked about related matters.

Warner is really willing to invest heavily this time.

The newly built post-production studio, costing millions, was burned down without warning, and millions more were poured into the internet. This was just the initial investment; there were even bigger plans to come.

In traditional media, if you spend millions of dollars, you might not even make a ripple.

But it's different on the internet.

As expected, this "fire" also ignited on the internet.

The American approach to happy education is indeed very successful.

In other words, the emotions of the lower classes are quite easily stirred up, which is commonly known as "setting the tone."

This is probably the "charm" of "democratic" voting in Europe and America.

When Cao Yang returned to Beijing, the American internet was already in an uproar, and the fire spread from the internet to traditional media.

This is actually something the authorities are happy to see. According to Jeff Robinoff's phone call to Cao Yang, it seems that those people even gave it a push.

The Americans have long been adept at using one trending event to overshadow another that's about to explode.

Moreover, a prophetic film, a cursed film, a hot "supernatural" event where two "clowns" almost died and the film reels were burned, is indeed likely to grab the public's attention.

It's especially suitable for reducing attention to the impending Lehman Brothers collapse.

"Director Cao, I've heard about what happened. I never expected to encounter such a rare event. Try to take it easy. At worst, we can reshoot the scene. As long as everyone is alright, that's all that matters."

Cao Yang listened to Hou Keming's caring words on the phone and was momentarily at a loss for words.

He smacked his lips and asked with a hint of doubt, "Honorary Censor, you've heard?"

"Hey, this is such a big deal, the Americans are reporting it like crazy, how could the people in China not know?"

Hou Keming sighed softly. This morning, the topic had already started being discussed on the Chinese internet, and it was getting increasingly heated.

After all, the unfortunate party was Cao Yang, and it was a "supernatural" matter. These kinds of inexplicable supernatural events, especially those involving celebrities, are the ones that attract the most discussion and attention.

Hou Keming considered it for a moment and then said, "Cao Yang, well, I've roughly browsed the foreign reports, things like prophetic movies and offending the gods. Just listen to them and don't be scared."

This must be a coincidence.

I even made a special inquiry and found out that Heath Ledger died from drug overdose, not from playing the Joker.

Don't take Jim Carrey's situation to heart. He's had depression for a long time, and you know Americans abuse drugs. He must have overdosed on drugs, which caused him to lose his mind and jump off the building.

As for the Joker film being burned... well, it was most likely an accident, or it could have been done by people who oppose Warner Bros. You don't know, in the early years in Hong Kong and Taiwan, many movies were filmed and just put into storage when the storage caught fire.

These kinds of things happen all the time; it's all just a coincidence. Don't let this get you down. Life isn't always going to be perfect.
Anyway, the soundstage and everything you built during the film's pre-production are still there. Reshoots are a piece of cake, right? Everything's done smoothly, and it won't take much time."

Hou Keming rambled on and on, his words filled with concern and worry.

He is afraid.

Cao Yang is still young and has had a smooth career since his debut, basically without experiencing any setbacks. Lao Hou is really afraid that the reputation of Beijing Film Academy will be affected by this small matter.

What's more, there are some mystical things involved. What kind of place is America?
据统计，每10个美国人当中有8个是基督徒，86%的人相信人除了肉体之外还有灵魂、83%的人相信上帝或其他神灵、79%的人相信自然世界之外还有灵命、70%的人相信天堂、地狱或两者兼而有之……

In a country where faith is so prevalent, one of the actors playing the Joker died, another nearly died, and then the film reels of "Joker" were inexplicably burned...

For Americans, it would be hard to believe there wasn't something going on.

At the very least, if given a choice between coincidence and “divine intervention,” most Americans would believe that this is a message from God to the world.

Too many coincidences are no longer coincidences.

Old Hou was worried that Cao Yang, in an environment like that of Americans, might be influenced by those around him and actually believe in this, thinking it was a divine revelation, which would be troublesome.

Old Hou's words left Cao Yang both amused and exasperated.

He quickly said, "Honorary Principal, I understand what you mean. It's not what you think... It's hard to explain in a short time. Don't worry, I... Well, I'm back now. I'm in the capital. I'll go to the school tomorrow and tell you in person."

Hearing that Cao Yang had returned, Old Hou breathed a sigh of relief and decided to give Cao Yang a good talking-to tomorrow.

So what if more than half a year of hard work went down the drain? It's not a big deal... Sigh, more than half a year of hard work has gone to waste, it is indeed very upsetting.

Tomorrow, let's call Lao Xie and Lao Tian, ​​Cao Yang's two senior brothers, and have a good talk with him so he doesn't become discouraged.

Cao Yang had just hung up on Hou Keming when his phone rang again.

He glanced at the phone number and couldn't help but smile helplessly again; this time it was Lao Tian calling.

Cao Yangguang did nothing all afternoon but received countless phone calls.

Lao Tian, ​​General Manager Han, Xie Xiaojing, Li Xiaoran, Yu Feihong, Gao Yuanyuan, Dong Xuan, Pang Bing, Da Tiantian, as well as Xiao Gangpao, Lao Chen, Lao Mouzi, Jia Zhangke, Wang Xiaoshuai, and Sister Hong also called.

Actors who are close to Cao Yang, such as Duan Yihong, Huang Xiaoming, Liu Ye, Chen Kun, and Deng Chao, also made phone calls.

There are quite a few people from Hollywood as well, including Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Jude Law, Charlize Theron, Eva Green, Anne Hathaway, and others, as well as Nolan, Martin Scorsese, Eastwood...

In addition, several leaders from the Federation of Literary and Art Circles, leaders from the Optoelectronics Company, and even Lao Situ called in the evening. He doesn't go online much, so he probably just heard about this.

Anyway, the commotion was huge, which greatly increased the pressure on Cao Yang.

What gave Cao Yang the biggest headache was that Li Xiaoran, Gao Yuanyuan, Dong Xuan, Pang Bing, and Da Tiantian all asked him if he wanted to go to America to keep him company.

Even Yu Feihong, who has semi-retired and almost become a homebody, said she would buy the nearest plane ticket to go and accompany him.

Cao Yang no longer dared to say that he was already in the capital.

But they'll definitely find out in a few days when I'm preparing for the new movie, so I can't hide it from them. I can only reassure them not to worry and say that I might go back to China in a while and we'll talk about it then.

This matter cannot be explained one by one for the time being. There are too many people and too many eyes, and it would be troublesome if the news got out.

He could only reassure everyone that he was fine and that they shouldn't worry.

People like Lao Tian, ​​President Han, and Xie Xiaojing are able to explain the situation, so let them go to the school tomorrow and explain it to Lao Hou.

As for Old Master Situ, Cao Yang went there personally that evening to explain the matter.

Cao Yang hadn't expected that this seemingly insignificant "little thing" would garner so much attention in China. According to the plan, this matter would need to ferment for another four or five days, attracting sufficient global attention, before Warner would announce that there was a backup in Beijing, which Cao Yang had brought back when he returned to China for the Olympics.

The next day, after Lao Tian, ​​General Manager Han, and Lao Xie all arrived at Lao Hou's office, Cao Yang explained this "extraordinary" matter to them.

The group of people looked at each other, speechless.

They had so much to criticize, but considering this was Hollywood, they couldn't bring themselves to say it.

In short, their impression of Warner Bros. instantly became: bizarre in its publicity, incredibly low in its standards, utterly shameless, and ingeniously imaginative...

In conclusion, Warner Bros. executives truly deserve to be recognized by Hollywood as a group of people with serious health issues.

"Won't doing this have any backlash?"

When everyone was silent, Lao Hou spoke up and asked, "It's fine if Warner suffers a backlash, but please don't let Cao Yang get involved."

Cao Yang is the leader and head of the Beijing Film Academy system, and he cannot be implicated by those seriously ill executives in Hollywood, especially Warner Bros.

Mr. Han thought for a moment, shook his head, and said, "No, if this kind of thing happened here, it would be a crazy act of courting death. It would involve the deceased and the promotion of feudal superstition."

He smacked his lips, stroked his chin, and continued, "But if this happens in America, in Hollywood, then there's no problem."

You all know about the various kinds of 'freedom' over there, and it's a place where everyone has their own religion, so this matter is really nothing."

As he spoke, he took a sip of tea, put it down, picked it up again, and took another sip.

This shows that President Han is still not at peace.

"This matter has become the focus of public attention. When everyone finds out that there is a backup, they will definitely want to go to the cinema to see what this so-called 'prophecy' movie actually predicted, and what it 'angered' the gods."

After saying this, President Han turned to Cao Yang and asked with some doubt, "Isn't 'Joker' a movie adapted from Batman comics? How did it become a prophecy?"

"I don't want people to find out later that it has little to do with the prophecy at all; I'm afraid that would damage your reputation."

Old Tian picked up the conversation, looking at Cao Yang with some uncertainty, and said, "As long as the movie is of good quality, even if you don't think it's a prophetic movie or anything like that, it shouldn't have much of an impact on you, right?"

Xie Xiaojing chimed in, "The Warner Bros. executives are really sick. You can hype up the fact that Heath Ledger's Joker died, Jim Carrey's Joker almost died, that the movie was cursed, and even that the film reels were burned, but why say the movie is a 'prophecy'? Isn't that redundant?"

"It's really not."

Cao Yang originally wanted to explain the impending global financial crisis, but after thinking about it, he felt that the explanation would be a bit dry. Before the financial crisis occurred, it seemed that nothing he said would be very convincing.

So he simply said, "Warner Bros. decided to hype it up like this after reading the movie's content; they must know something."

After glancing at President Han, Cao Yang said meaningfully, "It's highly likely that Warner's top management already knows that the US government is planning to abandon the bailout of Lehman Brothers, right? Joker is about what happened during the Great Depression."

Lao Tian, ​​Xie Xiaojing, and even Lao Hou didn't pay much attention to Cao Yang's last sentence; only President Han nodded thoughtfully.

"Joker will be released in the US on Thanksgiving, which is more than two months away. I will stay in China during this time."

He glanced at the group of people before smiling and saying, "I plan to use these two months to prepare for and shoot another art film."

Old Hou's eyes lit up, and he turned to look at Cao Yang, asking, "Have you decided?"

Cao Yang nodded.

Old Hou then burst into laughter.

What kind of riddles are you two playing?

Old Tian couldn't hold back any longer and asked with wide eyes.

Cao Yang said with a smile, "What riddles? I want to use this Chinese art film to participate in next year's Berlin Film Festival."

Old Tian nodded first, then widened his eyes again and tentatively asked, "Golden Bear? Are you confident?"

"How can I be sure of winning? The whole world knows that it will be extremely difficult for me to win the Golden Bear. I'm just trying to see if Berlin will disregard the opinions of Europe."

Cao Yang said.

"If you're missing the Palme d'Or from the Cannes Film Festival among the three major awards, it will probably be very difficult to win it. France considers itself the leader of Europe, and Cannes has a similar mindset. They won't easily let directors from outside Europe and America win this award."

Without the Golden Lion, it's hard to say what will happen to Venice. It's unlikely that Maradona can withstand such pressure.

But Berlin is different. In earlier years, Cannes and Venice had been working together behind the scenes to suppress Berlin, which was common knowledge within the industry.

Furthermore, Germany has been vying with France for leadership in Europe. As a defeated nation in World War II, they lack sufficient resources and need external support.

Old Hou looked at Cao Yang and said meaningfully.

Then, Lao Hou changed the subject and asked, "Do you have any thoughts on this?"

Cao Yang thought for a moment and said, "I want to make a movie with a typical Eastern mindset. Such a movie may be very different from Western thinking, but isn't the clash of different values ​​also very interesting?"

"This……"

Old Tian quickly advised, "Cao Yang, I know you have a lot of ideas, and the difference in values ​​you mentioned sounds quite interesting."

However, I think you'd better change your subject matter. Those Westerners have deeply ingrained ideas; they'll only award prizes if the content aligns with their values.

Both President Han and Xie Xiaojing supported Lao Tian's idea this time. In fact, these people in China all understand that if you make an art film and win an award, it can be about exploring human nature, reflecting marginalized society, or it can be about the New Wave or something like that.

However, when it comes to thinking and values, they must be consistent with Western values; otherwise, the chances of receiving an award are slim.

Old Hou, however, remained silent. After pondering for a long time, he finally spoke:
“You’re absolutely right. If you win the triple crown, you’ll be the first person outside of Europe and America to do so. As a Chinese person, winning the last Golden Bear with a film that reflects typical Eastern thinking is indeed the most suitable thing for you.”

Old Tian opened his mouth wide and stared at Old Hou.

Pah! Do you want to hear what you're saying? If you weren't the dean, I'd be giving you a piece of my mind today!
Cao Yang glanced at Lao Tian's indifferent expression, clearly still not understanding. He suddenly felt that, given Lao Tian's personality, he could only ever be a vice dean at most.

It's not that Lao Tian can't become the leader of Beijing Film Academy in the future, but rather that his personality and emotional intelligence are not suitable for being a leader.

Cao Yang's desire to win the Golden Bear is not due to issues with the film's quality, political correctness, or even abstract concepts like values... In short, it's not about the film itself.

As long as the quality of the film is acceptable, the root of all problems lies outside the film itself.

Therefore, whether a film reflects Eastern or Western thinking is not the issue.

"I want to make a film with a typical Eastern mindset, which revolves around family ethics and kinship, and explores the subtlety and complexity of the father-son relationship in Eastern families."

(End of this chapter)