Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 457 Liu Yifei is a bit pretentious

On the 5th, the nominees for the Hong Kong Film Awards were announced.

As is well known, non-Hong Kong films can only be nominated for Best Cross-Strait - Chinese Language Film. This year, the five films nominated for this award are: Black Coal, Thin Ice, Paradise in Service, No Man's Land, Coffee Shop for One, and Coming Home.

But people have noticed that this year seems to be an exception. Li Qiutang's new film "The Invisible Guest" has been nominated for six awards, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Editing, and Best Costume Design!

Has the Hong Kong Film Awards changed its nature? Is it starting to accept mainland Chinese directors?

But why are films with higher artistic merit, such as "Black Coal, Thin Ice" and "Coming Home," still among the best cross-strait Chinese-language films?

This year marks the last time Chan Ka-sheung will be in charge of the Hong Kong Film Awards. Chan Ka-sheung had previously emphasized that the Hong Kong Film Awards should adhere to local principles, but unexpectedly, he suddenly stopped "adhering" to that principle in his last year.

In response to external doubts, Chan Ka-sheung, chairman of the Hong Kong Film Awards, quickly stated that "The Invisible Guest" used Hong Kong crew and actors, making it a true co-production and meeting the Hong Kong Film Awards nomination criteria.

Anyway, that's the gist of it. The list has already been published, and no one can change it.

Li Qiutang received a call from Wenjun in the United States. He didn't pay attention to the Hong Kong Film Awards in China, let alone in the United States. He was quite surprised when Wenjun told him about the nominations.

Li Qiutang really didn't expect that a film like "The Invisible Guest," which skirts the gray area of ​​cross-strait co-productions, could be nominated for the Hong Kong Film Awards.

Despite her surprise, Li Qiutang wasn't particularly excited.

He didn't really crave the Hong Kong Film Award. Li Qiutang also wanted to win an award, but he preferred the Golden Rooster and Golden Horse Awards, not the Hong Kong Film Award. Even Jackie Chan dared to mess with that award, so Li Qiutang didn't think he was anything special.

Wenjun informed him that the Hong Kong Film Awards would be held on April 19th this year, and hoped that he could bring the cast and crew of "The Invisible Guest" to attend.

Li Qiutang didn't even agree, only saying that he would see if he was free at the time. Wenjun sensed his perfunctory attitude and added, "Many people in the Hong Kong film industry are willing to work with you. We can take this opportunity of attending the Hong Kong Film Awards to have a good talk."

But Li Qiutang didn't take the bait. Gong Li's lesson was right before his eyes. She thought she could trick him into going to Hong Kong with just a few words.
Although I am young and lack experience, my status is no less than that of Gong Li.

Li Qiutang said, "Whether I go or not is another matter, but my actors will definitely be happy to go." This is true; Xi Meijuan and Huang Xiaoming would be happy to go even if they didn't win an award.

Li Qiutang did it on purpose!

He knew that Wenjun wanted him to go there in person, and preferably bring three or five senior executives from Autumn Pictures with him so that they could discuss cooperation together.

But Li Qiutang just wouldn't budge. Autumn Films has money, manpower, and projects. It's really hard to know what cooperation with Hong Kong could bring to Autumn.

Wenjun was almost ready to say he would present the award to Li Qiutang, but he didn't dare to make that promise.

The Hong Kong film industry is not a monolithic entity, especially within the Hong Kong Film Awards committee.

Wenjun and others have spent a lot of time and effort just to get "The Invisible Guest" nominated, so they really can't guarantee that it will win an award.

Li Qiutang finally said she would go when she had time.

Yesterday, Li Qiutang finally finished reviewing the materials for "Arrival" and went to the director's studio to check on the preparation progress. Today, she also made an appointment with Paramount to discuss the project.

Paramount's demand for $5000 million is nothing short of robbery. Li Qiutang stated today that she is only willing to pay Paramount for the funds they have already invested in "Arrival".

Don't even think about making money. I'll give you your money back, and you give me the project.

However, to show his sincerity, Li Qiutang agreed that the funds would be paid in cash in one lump sum, which would save a lot of time and allow Paramount to quickly recover a sum of cash, so it wouldn't be a loss.

Paramount, however, wants Lantern Entertainment to pay them an additional 5.5% for the costs of using their funds and time.

You're investing in a large deposit here with me!

Li Qiutang refused to pay such a high cost, saying that "Arrival" is still in preparation and casting, and Lantern Entertainment will definitely have to pay more for the actual filming and release. He will not accept the extra 5.5%.

After two or three days of back and forth, Li Qiutang finally accepted an additional 2.1% cost. Lantern Entertainment purchased the rights to "Arrival" from Paramount for $3719.6 million, of which $2000 million was for the adaptation rights to "Story of Your Life" acquired by Paramount, and the remainder was Paramount's current investment in the project. Li Qiutang originally wanted to round it down to $3700 million, but the Paramount representative seemed very reluctant, so Li Qiutang didn't insist.

On paper, "Arrival" is now owned by Lantern Entertainment, but the actual handover will take some time, and part of the 2.1% extra fee is used to cover the handover work.

It's quite normal for projects to change hands in the film and television industry, and Lantern Entertainment's takeover of "Arrival" did not cause any trouble for Denis Villeneuve's preparation work.

There are even some advantages, because Lantern Entertainment pays out more readily than Paramount.

…………

Liu Yifei lied to her mother, saying she was going to the United States to take care of some business, and bought a plane ticket to Los Angeles.

Liu Xiaoli let her go, of course. What she said about running errands was that she was going to see Li Qiutang.

Young people are passionate, but shy about expressing it. Liu Xiaoli guessed.

Liu Yifei never expected that she would run into Huang Xiaoming and Yang Ying at the airport, or more precisely, inside the plane cabin.

"Hey? Yifei?!" Liu Yifei was fully disguised with a hat, glasses, and mask, but Huang Xiaoming still recognized her first.

"Oh, Xiaoming, you guys are going to Los Angeles too?"

"I'm taking Baby over there to audition for a movie. I don't have anything else to do, so I'll just go there to relax," Huang Xiaoming said with a smile. "What about you?"

"I also have some things to take care of over there."

But Huang Xiaoming laughed and said, "Is Director Li over there?"

Liu Yifei smiled and said, "I really have something to do. There's a film offer for me over there, so I'll go meet it."

Huang Xiaoming didn't inquire which group Liu Yifei was meeting.

Buying plane tickets together doesn't guarantee they'll sit together. Coincidentally, Yang Ying and Huang Xiaoming were seated separately, and Yang Ying ended up sitting next to Liu Yifei.

Liu Yifei offered to switch seats with Huang Xiaoming, but Yang Ying said no, "I want to talk to you."

Huang Xiaoming was happy to oblige; it would be a good thing if Yang Ying could build a good relationship with Liu Yifei.

But what could the two of them possibly say?

Liu Yifei has a somewhat aloof nature, and she instinctively resists when others take the initiative to approach her.

You'll find that she's very polite to strangers, but you can still sense her aloofness.

That's how Yang Ying feels right now.

Liu Yifei was very polite to her, but Yang Ying could clearly sense that Liu Yifei had little interest in common topics for women like makeup and weight loss.

But Yang Ying doesn't know how to do the other things either!
The two chatted for about ten minutes. After the plane took off, they each leaned back in their seats and remained silent.

Perhaps feeling guilty, Yang Ying was secretly observing Liu Yifei—this was the first time she had been so close to her opponent.

Her looks and temperament are truly stunning; she would definitely become a huge star just based on her face alone.

He even brought such a thick book to read on the plane, something called "The Story of Chess." Reading chess on a plane is a bit pretentious.

She couldn't see anything else.

(End of this chapter)