Chinese Entertainment: Academic Director

Chapter 87: spit it out

Gu Changwei found a quiet place, took a long puff of the cigarette in his hand, then threw it on the ground and crushed it several times with his feet.

He had been holding this matter in his heart for a long time and wanted to talk to someone about it, but he couldn't be like Ning Hao and his assistants and get jumpy. It would be so embarrassing.

So he picked up the phone and called his wife Jiang Wenli.

"Old Gu, what's wrong? Is your cooperation with Director Cao going well? Qitong."

Jiang Wenli answered the phone while dialing seven.

Gu Changwei replied: "It's quite pleasant to work with Director Cao. You may not believe it when I tell you that the crew is moving forward so fast that they have to re-plan every three days, otherwise it will cause chaos, but everyone is used to it..."

Then she realized that she had said too much. Jiang Wenli knew nothing about filming, so why was she telling her all this?

"Ah? Is that so? Bang, nine barrels.

Is it like Jiang Wen, who agreed to a two-month schedule, but might end up taking half a year or even longer? These big directors are all like this, none of them are worry-free.”

After Jiang Wenli finished speaking, she probably felt that what she said was a bit inappropriate, so she continued, "But it's okay, slow work makes fine work, you just follow along and grind slowly... Wait a minute, let me take a look, forget it, don't want it."

Gu Changwei opened his mouth, wanting to say a lot, but in the end he simply said, "No, Director Cao's two-month schedule will be finished in a month and a half at most, maybe even less than a month and a half."

"Hey, Director Cao, is that so fast?"

Old Gu was too lazy to talk about all this. He didn't call to talk about this matter, so he couldn't wait to share it with his wife.

"Wife, you may not believe me when I tell you this, but I think this movie is really, fucking incredible. It's all about Gao Yuanyuan. Now that I think about it, I don't know how Director Cao did it. If I could have half of Director Cao's skills, I'd be so fucking..."

"What are you talking about? It's so incoherent that I can't understand you. I'm not going to talk to you anymore. I'm playing mahjong... Oh, why is it this again? It's so stinky, seven bamboos..."

"Dudu..."

Old Gu stared blankly at the phone, listening to the busy tone coming from it. He really wanted to throw his phone away like Cao Yang did to the walkie-talkie, but he still didn't do it.

He lit a cigarette, took a puff, blew out smoke rings, and finally sighed, looking up at the sky at a 45-degree angle, and said leisurely: "Director Cao is really awesome."

Ugh!
Gu Changwei was not the only one who had this feeling. The newly joined assistant intern at Beijing Film Academy and the newcomer Wang Luodan were all amazed at Cao Yang's ability to train actors.

The old people in the crew are all used to it. You guys, the unsophisticated ones, now know how powerful Director Cao is, right? Have you learned something new?

Ning Hao saw everything and added in what he heard from others and by asking around. When he had nothing to do he would just sit there and ponder, and gradually he came up with a clear picture.

That is, before filming the movie, gather all the male and female protagonists together, explain the play to them every day, tell them the theme of the movie, what the movie wants to express, and tell them how they should perform.

Then, every day I have to ask the actors to express their opinions and whether they understand, and I have to take time out every day to answer their questions.

Finally, depending on the person, different methods were used to guide them into the role when filming began.

For example, Director Cao’s method for Gao Yuanyuan was to use the same lens over and over again on the first day, and to guide her in various ways to feel the character, so that she could get into the state as soon as possible...

Become!

Ning Hao felt that he had initially mastered the essentials. This internship with Director Cao's crew was really worthwhile and it was well worth his several boxes of Huazi.

Director Cao is really awesome, no wonder he became a Golden Lion Award-winning director at such a young age.

Of course, Ning Hao knew that in addition to this superficial process, Director Cao must have hidden means that have not been shown in public, and that should be the most critical part.

However, Ning Hao did not expect to reach Cao Yang's level. As long as he could reach 60%... no, 40%, as long as he could reach 40% of Director Cao's ability in training actors, Ning Hao would be satisfied.

On December 12, the 8th Golden Horse Awards ceremony was held. Cao Yang did not attend, citing the critical moment of filming.

Li Xiaoran did go, and her chances of winning the Best Actress award are very high.

Cao Yang remembers that Qin Hailu was the big winner at this year's Golden Horse Awards, winning the Best Actress and Best Newcomer awards for her performance in "Durian Piaopiao" directed by Chen Guo.

It can be regarded as one of the representatives who reached the peak as soon as debuted.

But this time it's a bit risky, after all, Li Xiaoran's Berlin Film Queen award has such a huge influence.

It is not like it was later, at least in terms of individual awards, including Taiwan's Golden Horse Awards, Hong Kong's Golden Image Awards, and China's Golden Rooster Awards. I have not started to be unique. At least in the past few years, it is still a little better.

Unlike later, when it was all about entertaining oneself.

As expected, the Golden Horse Awards gave the Best Actress award to Li Xiaoran, and Qin Hailu won the Best New Actor award.

But Qin Hailu didn't know that she would have won the Best Actress award without Li Xiaoran, so she was still very happy to win the Best Newcomer award. Who wouldn't be excited to win an award as soon as she debuted?
Liu Ye won the Best Actor award for his role in "Lan Yu".

When this guy is happy, he starts talking nonsense.

When he accepted the award, he not only thanked the director of "Lan Yu", Guan Jinpeng, but also thanked Cao Yang, saying that he felt that making movies was also a pleasure in Cao's crew...

The camera turned to Guan Jinpeng, and it was obvious that he was smiling a little awkwardly.

Liu Ye is also a representative of those who reached the peak as soon as they debuted. Now he not only has the Golden Horse Award for Best Actor, but also the Silver Lion Award for Best Newcomer in Venice. His net worth is rising rapidly. In the film and television industry, he is definitely more popular than many young actors.

Even in the Mesozoic Era, there were few who could compare with him.

Interestingly, Wang Xiaoshuai’s “Seventeen Years Old Bicycle” lost to Chen Guo’s “Durian Piaopiao” in both Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay.

In the Best Director and Best Editing categories, he lost to Lan Yu's director Guan Jinpeng and editor Zhang Shuping.

In the Best Cinematography category, it lost to Li Pingbin's "Millennium Mambo".

Wang Xiaoshuai won none of the five nominations.

According to the official statement of the Golden Horse Awards, some films did not win awards not because the films were bad, but because this year's Golden Horse Awards focused more on marginal themes and marginal characters.

So a reporter asked, if prostitutes and gay men are marginal figures, then aren’t migrant workers who come to the city to work marginal figures?
The Golden Horse Awards did not respond.

Then, Taiwanese media broke the news that a director on the jury had violated regulations when applying for "tutoring funds" for Taiwanese films.

The production company of "The Bicycle Thief" is Wanwan Jiguang Film Company. Their boss Xu Xiaoming publicly accused and criticized the behavior of the director who violated the rules, and then in retaliation, the Golden Horse Awards did not give any awards.

Then, Jiao Xiongping, the producer and screenwriter of "The Bicycle Thief", the godmother of Taiwan's films, angrily blasted the Golden Horse Awards in front of the media.

"We have given respect to the Golden Horse Awards, but they don't want it. The Golden Horse Awards played a respected role in Taiwanese films, but now it is dead, and it has also brought Taiwanese films to a dead end. The territory of Taiwanese films is small to begin with, and everyone's minds are more focused on forming cliques..."

Actually, this is nonsense. Since the Taiwanese film market was completely opened up in the 90s, it has lost its vitality. Their directors have either quit the film industry or can only make art films.

It is in this situation that the smaller the film market is and the lower its vitality is, the more intense the internal competition becomes, and it is accompanied by chaos and disorder, with cliques and factions forming one after another, and the internal fighting is extremely exciting.

To put it simply, the purpose of the Golden Horse Awards is to attract films from Hong Kong and the mainland and to prevent the Golden Horse Awards from "dying". Sometimes it can be considered a little fair.

But internally, it means striking hard and resolutely to eradicate dissidents without mercy.

"The Bicycle Thief" can be considered a victim of internal strife.

(End of this chapter)