Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 397 The calm before the storm

Gong Li is the chair of the main competition jury at this year's Shanghai International Film Festival. The festival had previously approached Li Qiutang, hoping he could join the main competition jury, but the schedules of the festival and Li Qiutang's two films clashed, so he was unable to attend.

But the Shanghai International Film Festival is such an important promotional platform that neither "Mojin: The Lost Legend" nor "The Invisible Guest" would miss it, so Li Qiutang naturally came as well.

Li Qiutang will have to walk the red carpet twice more.

Liu Yifei's dress on the opening red carpet was from Georges Hobeika's Spring 2014 Haute Couture collection—a pink and white long gown with a rather voluminous skirt, which is why she wasn't holding Li Qiutang's arm today. (The dress was quite beautiful.)

The cast and crew of "Mojin: The Lost Legend" will hold a press conference at the Shanghai International Film Festival, so on the opening ceremony red carpet, only actress Liu Yifei, who has already been revealed, will accompany the director and producers.

Liu Yifei's appearance immediately drew screams from fans on the red carpet.

"Yifei!"

"Sissi!"

"Yifei is so beautiful!!!"

Liu Yifei even jogged a few steps to sign autographs for her fans.

"This isn't my photo," Liu Yifei said with a smile. The fan had brought her a photo of Li Qiutang that she had downloaded from somewhere and wanted her to sign it.

But Liu Yifei still signed it, and the three characters "Li Qiutang" were written in a flash!
Back on the red carpet, Liu Yifei stood with Li Qiutang, Chen Guofu, and Ye Ning, waving to the camera.

Liu Yifei's dress has pockets. She tried to put her hands in them, but couldn't. She tried again, but still couldn't. She tried again, but still couldn't!

However, Liu Yifei controlled her expression well, smiling continuously at the camera, showing no signs of distress.

The red carpet host at the Shanghai International Film Festival seemed uninterested in Liu Yifei's love life, only asking her, "What are your special feelings about working with director Li Qiutang again after 3 years?"

Liu Yifei hadn't answered such a formal question in a long time, so she thought about it carefully before saying, "First of all, I want to thank the director for his trust in me after all these years." Liu Yifei can be quite formal when it comes to interviews; she's quite adept at deceiving people. "It's an honor to work with the director and such an excellent team again. I'm very excited and nervous. I hope I can do well, um."

Li Qiutang, as always, is full of confidence in his film: "I believe it will bring a different visual experience to the audience."

Ye Ning then previewed the press conference on the red carpet: "We will be releasing a lot of important information at the Shanghai International Film Festival."

"Will the cast, which we, the audience, most want to know, also be announced at the film festival?"

Producer Chan Kwok-fu said, "It will be announced later."

Ten minutes later, when Li Qiutang walked onto the red carpet with Huang Xiaoming, Xi Meijuan, Zeng Jiang, and Jing Tian, ​​Li Qiutang stepped back and gave the interview opportunities to the actors.

After saying some more platitudes, the film crew was finally allowed into the venue.

The very next morning, "Mojin: The Lost Legend" couldn't wait to hold a lineup announcement conference!
More than 100 media outlets gathered at the venue!
At the scene, Li Qiutang briefed the media on some of the preparations for "Mojin: The Lost Legend" and also took the opportunity to boast a bit.

The visual effects supervisor was from Hollywood, and the main visual effects work was undertaken by four visual effects companies, both domestic and international.

Ye Ning was still reluctant to part with it, but she also boasted on set: "We spent more than eight months just on the 3D dynamic preview. We may be the first Chinese film crew to do a full-length 3D dynamic preview."

"This project cost over 1000 million yuan, but we all agreed that it was worth the money!"

But reporters aren't here to hear you boast about the preparations; what they really want to know is the cast.

However, the production team wouldn't let the reporters have their way so easily. They talked about the preparations for over forty minutes, and the reporters were almost losing patience when the host finally moved on to this segment.

"The exciting moment has arrived. We are about to reveal the cast of the movie 'Mojin: The Lost Legend' – please welcome Ms. Grace Chan, Miss Hong Kong 2013!"
"Please welcome Teacher Liu Xiaoqing!"

"Please welcome Jing Tian!" The flashlights went off one after another. Although we had guessed it beforehand, the official announcement was still different.

"Please welcome Teacher Xia Yu!" "Next up is the tomb raiding trio that everyone's been waiting for, please welcome Teacher Chen Minghao." Who is he? Many people don't recognize Chen Minghao.

"Next up is Liu Yifei, who plays Shirley Yang!" No surprises here.

"Last one, welcome Liu Ye!" This was something many media outlets didn't expect. The cast of "In Time" reunited?

The seven main actors standing in a row looked quite nice. After the seven appeared, Li Qiutang and other behind-the-scenes creators refused to go on stage, leaving the host to make things difficult for them.

Why is it that Chen Kailin, who is also Ying Caihong's follower, can appear on stage, while the American Cao Cao cannot?
It's all because Grace Chan has a big background and a lot of screen time.

Guided by the host, the seven people introduced their respective roles and the preparations they had made for those roles.

The three main characters go without saying, and among the supporting roles, Liu Xiaoqing, the oldest, is implicitly the leader. She said she never expected Li Qiutang to ask her to act, let alone play a villain: "Very few people ask me to play a villain. I said if you're not worried about me causing trouble for you, then I accepted."

Liu Xiaoqing even took the initiative to reveal something on stage: "Hey, let me spill some tidbits." She's already reached this level, what is there that she wouldn't dare to say? "I wanted to act in the director's 'The Invisible Guest,' but he rejected me, and then gave me 'Mojin: The Lost Legend' instead."

Sitting in the audience, Li Qiutang clasped his hands in a gesture of apology, and then laughed.

He really didn't expect Liu Xiaoqing to bring this up, but it doesn't matter now that it's out, he can just treat it as a little gossip and a bit of fun.

As expected, after the press conference, most of the controversy focused on Jing Tian!

In the group interviews and exclusive interviews following the press conference, at least half of the ten questions were related to Jing Tian, ​​and none of the three main characters could outshine her.

"Director, why did you choose Jing Tian to play the educated youth Ding Sitian?"

Li Qiutang didn't shy away from the question: "Because Jing Tian has that kind of spirit."

Are you worried that she won't act well?

Li Qiutang reiterated, "Don't worry, I can film her well."

"Jing Tian, ​​can you tell us how you got this role?" The question went straight to the heart of the matter.

Jing Tian was quite honest, saying directly, "The company notified me of this role, so I went to audition, and if I passed the audition, I would act in it. It's that simple."

Yes, it's that simple. Lu Zheng didn't need to tell her about the complicated relationships behind it; he just wanted her to go to the set of "Mojin: The Lost Legend" to meet with Li Qiutang and discuss the role, which is what she did.

So that's all she knew; she didn't lie or deliberately hide anything.

But the reporter certainly wouldn't believe Jing Tian's words, assuming she was just covering something up.

You got the role through an audition? Who would believe that! If it's not a big deal, how did you even get into Li Qiutang's group?
Reporters will report Jing Tian's words truthfully, but the self-media and netizens on Weibo who saw the interview video had nothing good to say.

"The scariest thing isn't that she acted in Li Qiutang's play, the scariest thing is that she actually believed she was selected through an audition!"

"Li Qiutang has also fallen from grace, actually using Jing Tian in two different dramas!"

"Just what kind of background does Jing Tian have that she was able to win over Li Qiutang?!"

Of course, some media outlets are also fueling the fire for "Chronicles of the Ghostly Tribe," isn't it? They've already announced their cast, why haven't you made any moves?

But Lu Chuan remained silent this time, and didn't even attend the Shanghai International Film Festival.

However, Li Qiutang always felt that this was the calm before the storm.

(End of this chapter)