Huayu: I'm reborn, but you still force me to be a scumbag?

Chapter 461 Advertisement
"boom!"

A crystal goblet shattered on the dark, hard wooden floor.

Here in a French country villa, a blonde woman in her forties stares silently at the shards of glass on the floor and the spilled wine stains.

"What exactly does he want from me? That damn bastard, does he want me dead? Does he want me dead? It's him who made me unable to make movies for two whole years, that green worm, that bastard, that bitch, that stinking maggot, that pile of dog shit! And now he's bringing me up again! I really want to..."

A torrent of profanities poured out of the mouth of an old man with white hair. He paced back and forth in the room like an enraged bull. Amidst the laughter filling the television screen in the spacious living room, Chen Nuo leisurely took a sip of champagne from his crystal glass, moistened his throat, and continued, "I'm sorry, my words may have awakened some sad memories for you."

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha……"

Chen Nuo smiled.

His smiling expression, with every muscle in his face relaxed, made many people who looked at him unable to help but curl their lips into a smile immediately.

This time, he was undoubtedly more at ease than before, and he also had a deeper understanding of the job of a host.

Hosting events like the Oscars or Golden Globes is less about reciting memorized lines like a host on the Spring Festival Gala and more about performing a skit. Besides the lines, his facial expressions and gestures, as he practices, become tools for conveying emotion. He manipulates the atmosphere, guiding the emotions of the entire event in a predictable direction with every smile, frown, and word.

He became serious, waved his hand, and said, "I'm sorry, it was just a joke... I shouldn't have said that it was your sad memory. Maybe some people are disgusted by it, right?"

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha."

Amidst the laughter, Chen Nuo also laughed.

"Alright, alright, let's stop here. I know it's cruel to associate you with Roman Polanski. I won't bring it up again. After all, you are all beautiful and wealthy, world-renowned international superstars, and you are enjoying this once-a-year event. I don't want anyone to disturb your enjoyment."

"Most of you are like that."

"But, to be honest, there's another group of people here who just married the right person. No, don't look at the man next to Meryl Streep..."

In the background,
The bearded assistant director from the Golden Globe Awards stood next to Allison again and whispered, "He's very charismatic. Even if his jokes aren't as smooth as Ricky's, they still sound much better to people. The director said the ratings are back above 2000 million. Hmm, there shouldn't be many people criticizing him on Twitter now, right?"

Alison was extremely busy at the moment. She glanced at the stage, then at her phone, and said briefly, "Yes."

But the assistant director didn't feel neglected, and continued, "Before he hosted the Oscars, I always thought he would be like Sean Penn or Day Lewis."

Allison said calmly, "He's unlike anyone else; he's unique."

The assistant director chuckled twice. "Yes, yes, thinking about the awards he's won, I can't help but have that feeling. Plus, he's Chinese, you know, the impression we have of Chinese people is that they might be good at acting, but they seem to lack a sense of humor."

Allison looked up from her phone and glanced at him. "What exactly are you trying to say?"

The assistant director, who looked to be around 40 years old and had a full beard, awkwardly touched his nose, extended his hand, and said, "Can we get to know each other? My name is David Nord."

Allison lowered her head again, ignoring his hand. "Not interested."

On stage, Chen Nuo continued his performance, saying with a smile, "...I met Tang once before, and I know he is a generous person who won't get angry. But I can't say for sure about the next guest; as far as I know, his temper isn't very good."

“There’s a scene in the movie that I remember vividly. He punched someone so hard they were unrecognizable. Just like that…” Chen Nuo’s expression changed. He stretched out one hand in the air, as if grabbing someone’s collar, and swung the other hand several times, “Bang bang bang. He almost flattened that person.”

Chen Nuo paused, "But later I heard that this scene wasn't originally in the script."

"Hahahahaha—" Along with the laughter, many people were also applauding.

The bearded assistant director backstage wasn't too embarrassed. Seeing this, he said, "Chen's improvisation was fantastic. By the way, I heard he's only one Venice Film Festival trophy away from completing his Best Actor grand slam, just like Sean Penn. Considering his age, that's insane, don't you think?"

Allison stared at her phone with a stern face, remaining silent.

Not far away, Chen Nuo stood behind the stage, speaking in a serious tone: "However, it is precisely because of his realistic performance that he is now known to everyone in the world, and his 'Mission: Impossible' series has been released in more than 100 countries around the world."

At this moment, everyone knew who he was talking about, and applause erupted throughout the hall.

"Yes, it's a remarkable achievement, worthy of applause." Chen Nuo also clapped a few times, pretending to applaud. "The total box office of the four films combined is only a few hundred million dollars less than that of Inception. It's fantastic, very good."

"Hahahahahaha!"

Amid the laughter, the camera pans to the table from Inception, where Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas are both laughing, and Jonathan Nolan, sitting on the other side, is also laughing.

Inception was nominated for four awards today, including Best Original Screenplay. The nominees for Best Original Screenplay are Jonathan and Christopher Nolan, so Jonathan was also present at the event.

"Alright, now everyone should know who I'm talking about. Let's welcome one of the most popular male stars of this century, Tom Cruise!" Chen Nuo gestured behind him, and a man with curly black hair walked out from behind the curtain with a smile.

He smiled and nodded at the other person, then turned and stepped off the stage.
At this point, the related topics on Twitter erupted in celebration once again.

Variety magazine's account posted a new tweet: "The mystery is solved! Tom Cruise was Chan's ninth target of ridicule tonight. Surprisingly, Chan showed a side no less 'Rickie Gervais' than himself at tonight's Golden Globes, turning everything in front of him into his laughingstock. He made Hollywood stars tremble under his gaze and made us laugh out loud. So far, what do you think of his performance tonight? Compared to Rickie Gervais, whose performance did you prefer? Leave your thoughts in the comments!"

"Don't compare Chen to Ricky, that vulgar and obscene Englishman. He's obscene, but Chen is different!"

“Ricki Gervais? Even if Chen is implying that he would shove the Ballon d'Or into his ass, the gentlemanly demeanor he displays is still at the upper limit of Ricki Gervais.”

"Ricki is vulgar and rude, Chen is humorous, don't compare the two."

"Putting aside the blind worship of these Twilight girls, I think Chen and Ricky each have their own strengths and weaknesses. Ricky is more sharp, while Chen is more pleasing to the eye."

"After watching the Golden Globes, I'm even more eager to see Chen host the Oscars. The Golden Globes stage is too small, or maybe SNL! Let's do it again!"

"Nothing is more enjoyable than seeing a handsome man display his humor. It's a wonderful weekend, and I don't regret turning down the bar tonight, turning on the TV, and tuning into NBC. The only problem is, I'm a fan of Boardwalk Empire, but I haven't seen a single episode of them yet."

This last comment quickly garnered a large number of likes and replies.

Allison clicked in and took a look.

A smile appeared on her lips, then she thought for a moment, and then said to Chen Nuo, who was sitting in a chair drinking water, "Chen, next time we go on stage, will we be presenting the award for Best TV Series?"

"Yes, what's wrong?"

"Then I think you can talk more about those TV drama actors."

"why?"

"The online reaction has exceeded our expectations. Many fans are complaining that their favorite actors don't get enough screen time... I think you could perhaps fulfill their wishes. They represent a large proportion of the lower and middle class in America, and winning their favor would be good for your image."

"So, I don't need to worry about the differences between movies and television?"

"I see... Hmm, I suddenly realized that we can take this opportunity to do some advertising."

Chen Nuo asked with slight surprise, "What advertisement? You mean..." "Yes, your show 'Eagle Catches Chickens.' Considering the current ratings, I think the Golden Globe Foreign Press Association shouldn't object as long as we give them a heads-up beforehand," Allison smiled. "This is a live advertisement directly reaching over 2000 million people. If I were on Netflix, I might be eager to get you on the board. But the prerequisite is that you need to come up with a good joke in these ten or so minutes and tell the production team that you need to make last-minute changes."

"Uh..." Without a doubt, Chen Nuo was really tempted after hearing Allison's words.

Whether Inception wins awards is irrelevant to him, but Eagle Catches Chickens is a different story. The Netflix board of directors is just a joke for Allison, but this series represents much more than just money to him. Its success could be a crucial step in achieving his ideals.

"Wait a minute, let me think about it first."

……

It was still in that French country villa.

The shards of glass on the floor were still not cleaned up, but the people in the room had gradually calmed down.

"Roman, you can't go on like this," the woman said.

"What do you want me to do? Admit defeat to him?" the white-haired man asked in a low voice.

“It’s not about admitting defeat. It’s about talking. There’s nothing shameful about it.” The woman sighed. “His last words have shattered your hopes for your new film. Unless you’re willing to spend the rest of your life holed up in Provence waiting to die, you have to face reality.”

"Shut up!"

“Whatever. But I believe he must have heard something.” The woman stood up. “It’s been two years since Berlin. He’s still young, but you’re no longer young, and time is still on his side.”

"What can he do as long as I'm in France?"

"He can't do anything to you, but he can ruin your film career. Roman, I know you're not happy about it. Fifty years of film career... and now it's being ruined by a Chinese man in his twenties..."

"Shut up, shut up, shut up! Get out of here right now! I'm telling you, I will never, ever, ever let this 20-something-year-old Chinese man ride roughshod over me!"

“Fine, you just wait and see.” The woman walked to the door, then turned back and said, “I hope that one day in the future you can at least stop him in Venice. Otherwise, you’re finished, and I’ll be buried with you.”

……

20 minute later.

Chen Nuo made his third appearance, and as soon as he walked out from backstage, he was greeted with thunderous applause.

He nodded and smiled as he walked to the center of the stage.

"Thank you, thank you everyone." Chen Nuo smiled. "You all probably know about my relationship with Jonathan, so I'm really embarrassed to tell you... I also contributed a little to this script."

He shrugged. "If I hadn't been constantly yelling 'What's going on?' 'I fucking don't understand this!' 'What the hell is this?', this script would probably have been twice as difficult."

"Don't believe it."

The audience erupted in laughter.

Immediately, Chen Nuo continued, "Next, we will be presenting the awards for the TV series category. This year, we have seen many excellent new dramas, such as Homeland—it was truly thrilling from beginning to end."

As he spoke with measured intonation, the entire banquet hall suddenly erupted in enthusiastic applause.

Chen Nuo paused amidst the applause and nodded in acknowledgment. With this gesture, the applause grew even louder, and everyone at the Homeland Security table, while initially taken aback, suddenly radiated pride.

When the applause subsided a bit, Chen Nuo said, "There's also the thrilling 'Boardwalk Empire,' which I really like. The characters in it are exceptionally handsome."

The cast of "Boardwalk Empire" appeared on the big screen, and another round of applause followed.

After waiting a while, Chen Nuo continued, "I can briefly introduce the plot of this drama. It tells the story of a group of immigrants who came to America a hundred years ago and got involved in bribery, prohibition, and alcohol trafficking..."

As he spoke, he gestured, “They used all sorts of despicable and dirty means to climb into high society and give orders to the natives…”

Then he paused, smiled, and said, "Okay, let's not talk about the ugly things that Hollywood foreign journalists have learned."

"Hahahahahahahahahahahaha..." The entire audience burst into loud laughter.

On Twitter, many tweets were posted with the hashtag "#ChenNuo".

"LMAO, every word he said was a joke; my laughter almost woke my grandma. #ChenNuo"

"Absolutely top-notch host; every second I waited for was well worth it. #ChenNuo"

"The Foreign Press Club can now loudly mock the Oscars; at least their host definitely won this time. #ChenNuo"

"He's mocking everything; this is definitely a side you never see on TV, LMAO. #ChenNuo"

Chen Nuo stood there, waiting for the applause to subside a bit before continuing with a smile: "The Golden Globe Awards is definitely a hierarchical little society. Movie stars sit in the middle, and television stars sit around them. Many people have moved from the periphery to the middle, like George Clooney. But there are also many people who have moved from the middle to the periphery, like—me."

"I have some news for you: I will also be producing and starring in a TV series this year."

“My current thought is that next year I can sit here on the edge, even in any corner.” After Chen Nuo finished speaking, only a small number of people applauded, while everyone else looked up at him.

"Period. This is not a joke, don't look at me like a curious child. I'm telling you, there's no follow-up."

A burst of laughter and surprised looks immediately came from the audience.

Clearly, he's not a big star to the point where everyone is watching his every move, even though Netflix had already announced the news on its official website beforehand.

Moreover, the jokes he came up with didn't have any amazing effect, but as an advertising product, they were acceptable.

Chen Nuo continued, "This is a commercial break for my new drama. I negotiated with the Foreign Press Association for this, and they agreed to let me advertise during the Golden Globe Awards ceremony for free, but with the additional condition that I also give them an advertisement. That's why there was that joke before. I think the Foreign Press Association should be satisfied now."

"Hahahahahaha..."

Once the noise subsided a bit, Chen Nuo said, "Remember, this July, tune in to Netflix."

A satisfied laugh could be heard from a mansion in Silicon Valley at that moment.

Ps:

I've been out of town for the past few days and didn't want to take time off, so I'm squeezing in time to write.

Therefore, the update schedule is irregular, please forgive me.

(End of this chapter)