Chinese Entertainment: Academic Director

Chapter 58: Down with Hollywood
In mid-August, the national director's "Hero" was announced to start filming, which immediately attracted countless attention.

This is the film with the largest investment in China so far, 3000 million US dollars, which is 2.48 million yuan. It was simply unimaginable in China at the beginning of the century.

This is also the first time that the national master shot what he calls an "industrial film".

Unfortunately, Li Xiaoran eventually lost to Zhang Ziyi, and the national teacher compromised and chose Zhang Ziyi, who is more famous in the United States.

There is no other way. The pressure to make a profit on the film is too great, so we can only rely on the American market.

Last month, when Li Xiaoran called Cao Yang and told him the news, she didn't sound very sad.

She said that the national master personally talked to her, told her about the difficulties, and promised that she would be the first choice for the next movie.

Next movie?

The next movie of the national teacher should be "House of Flying Daggers". What a coincidence. If Li Xiaoran wants to act in it at that time, her biggest competitor will probably be Zhang Ziyi.

This is still too far away, who knows what will happen in the meantime.

Until the film festival was about to open, Mark Muller only said that there was hope, but there was still no definite news.

On August 8, the Venice Film Festival opened. Liu Ye and Yu Feihong arrived in Venice a day in advance. Also arriving on the same day were Wu Qihua from Hong Kong and his agent.

As a major supporting character throughout the entire film, based on the plot, he could actually be nominated for Best Actor even though there is no Best Supporting Actor award in the three major European awards.

The day before the opening ceremony, we had a meal together.

Wu Qihua's agent was very enthusiastic and kept thanking Cao Yang for giving him the opportunity to be an artist. He also said that from now on, as long as Cao Yang says a word, they will be there at any time for any role.

Not long after returning to the hotel, Yu Feihong came to Cao Yang's room.

At the beginning, both of them were very serious. After all, they hadn't seen each other for such a long time, and they couldn't just go to bed when they met.

Then, after chatting for a few words, I don't know who took the initiative, but they quickly hugged each other, taking off more and more clothes - they were both adult men and women, what else could they do when they met? This way was the easiest way to break the barrier after not seeing each other for a while.

……

On August 8, the 29th Venice International Film Festival kicked off on the beautiful Lido Island in Italy.

The procedures of the three major European film festivals are similar. On the opening day of the film festival, stars and guests will walk on the red carpet. This is the traditional opening method and ceremony of the film festival, and it is also the focus of attention of the media and the audience.

How to judge the influence of a film festival?

All you have to do is count the "stars" on the opening day. The more stars who come and the more famous they are, the more attention the film festival will get and the greater its influence will be.

On this point, at the beginning of the century, the Cannes Film Festival and the Venice Film Festival tried different paths.

Although the Cannes Film Festival still focuses on art films, it does not exclude commercial films, or to put it more bluntly, it does not exclude the invasion of Hollywood. It selectively accepts some and occasionally gives awards to Hollywood films.

The Venice Film Festival is just the opposite. It is famous for its innovation and radicalism, and rejects commercial films and Hollywood films - almost all the presidents of the Venice Film Festival are very disgusted with Hollywood.

Then, they still give awards to Hollywood movies from time to time. The Italians are very familiar with this.

This year's event was even more outrageous, with an unexpected slogan being shouted out - "Down with Hollywood imperialism!"

This sentence has become the main theme of this film festival.

But ironically, this year's Venice attracted a large number of Hollywood stars, from Nicole Kidman to Helen Hunt.

Spielberg also came with his "Artificial Intelligence", Woody Allen brought his new work "Curse of the Jade Scorpion", John Carpenter brought "Ghosts of Mars" and so on.

With these big names, almost all the hotels on Lido Island were fully booked, forcing the organizers to rent a cruise ship to make up the number.

So why do Italians shout "Down with Hollywood" while allowing Hollywood movies to enter different competition units? This time, of the 20 movies entering the main competition unit, four are from Hollywood.

Alejandro Amanbar's "The Island".

"School Thugs" by Larry Clark.

"Waking Life" by Richard Linklater.

"Y Tu Mamá Tà" by Alfonso Cuarón.

It's really fucking outrageous, but when I think about it, this is Italy, I feel relieved. Maybe they are playing a big game.

Although Cao Yang just won two Silver Bears in Berlin and is somewhat well-known in Europe, he is less well-known than these global stars from Hollywood.

What made Cao Yang even more speechless was that someone was so smart as to arrange the appearance of the "Empty Room" crew after "The Island".

Who is the star of "The Island"? Nicole Kidman!
In February of this year, she and Tom Cruise announced their divorce, which caused a sensation and was reported in the news for several months.

Then, after the release of the musical love movie "Moulin Rouge" in which she starred in May, there was suddenly little news about her divorce from Tom Cruise.

It can be considered as consuming Tom Cruise again.

On the red carpet, the media were attracted by Nicole Kidman.

Cao Yang and his friends stepped onto the red carpet, but they were given very few shots and once again walked on a deserted red carpet.

The good news is that several domestic media outlets came this time.

At least after taking pictures of Nicole Kidman, I was able to take pictures of Cao Yang and the others, which is better than nothing.

The opening film of this Venice Film Festival is "Dust" directed by Mirko Manchevsky, which did not enter the main competition unit.

This movie should have the potential to enter the main competition unit, but the 20 films in the main competition unit were full, so as a compensation, it was selected as the opening film.

After walking the red carpet, Lao Tian came over.

"what happened?"

When Cao Yang saw Lao Tian’s expression, he knew something must have happened.

Old Tian pulled Cao Yang to an empty corner and whispered, "Didn't Venice open a new contemporary film section this time? The best film in that section can also be awarded the Golden Lion. Old Ma wants to ask if you want to take that."

Cao Yang was silent. The contemporary film unit was a new competition unit this year, and it was promoted by Alberto Barbara, president of the Venice Film Festival.

His original intention was to improve the competitiveness of the Venice Film Festival and at the same time leave his own unique mark before retiring.

Unfortunately, although the idea is good, it is not recognized by everyone, and this unit will be cancelled next year without even making a splash.

"Isn't there a separate nominated film in this unit? We didn't enter that unit. I heard that all those were eliminated from the main competition unit." Cao Yang said tactfully.

"If you want to win the best film in that category, they have plenty of ways to do it, you don't have to worry about it. As long as you are willing, you can win the best film in the contemporary film category, which is also a Golden Lion," said Lao Tian.

"So, Barbara has compromised?"

"probably."

"Then why the hell should I go to that shitty unit? Even if I win a Golden Lion, it's not a main competition unit. It has no influence at all. Who would recognize me outside?"

Cao Yang smiled and made up his mind, "Since he has compromised, let's take a gamble and see whether he will compromise to the end or stick to his own opinion."

(End of this chapter)