Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 781 Li Qiutang VS Yi Lijing (Part 1)

Journalists, especially interview journalists, have two extreme representatives.

One is Lu Yu, and the other is Yi Lijing.

The former feigns ignorance, frequently asking seemingly "idiotic" questions. Yes, her "idiocy" is her method; she does it on purpose. Surely no audience member would genuinely believe Lu Yu is truly mentally challenged?

If she weren't "mentally challenged" and didn't repeatedly press Uncle Da, the audience would never hear Uncle Da say, "As long as I'm alive and he hasn't retired, we'll still work together."

If she weren't "mentally challenged," the children in the mountain area wouldn't directly say, "Meat is too expensive now." Lu Yu certainly knew they couldn't afford meat, but if she asked, "Is it because meat is too expensive?" the answer would probably just be a simple "yes." But she insisted that the children say the five words "Meat is too expensive" themselves.

This is a very skillful interviewing technique.

Yi Lijing is the other extreme. She does her homework before the interview, researches the interviewee as thoroughly as possible, and then constantly challenges the interviewee during the interview to get them to say more and different things.

Lu Yu's feigned ignorance was, to some extent, a form of "provocation" towards the interviewee, but Yi Lijing's "provocation" was more like a knife.

Today, viewers actually saw Yi Lijing interviewing Li Qiutang!

This is Li Qiutang's first time appearing on a TV show since the Spring Festival!

How did Yi Lijing manage to get a date with Li Qiutang?!

Li Qiutang's interview, as the last episode of Yili Jing's "Standpoint" this year, attracted a large audience.

Directors like Li Qiutang can easily ignite Yi Lijing's fighting spirit, just as journalists like Yi Lijing can easily ignite Li Qiutang's fighting spirit.

Accepting this interview was indeed Li Qiutang's personal choice; he wanted to see what this sharp-tongued reporter could do to him.

Yilijing started by posing a very difficult question to answer:

Do you consider yourself a genius director?

Li Qiutang said, "He has some talent, but he's not a genius."

"Doesn't that count? You debuted very early and at a very young age, and became an instant star. In the following ten years or so, the movies you made all achieved great success."

"A director's genius isn't determined by age. Some directors start out at a very old age, but their first work is textbook-worthy. I just became famous early."

Was filming difficult when you first started out?

“It’s difficult.” Li Qiutang nodded. “Think about it, I had just graduated back then, I was twenty-two years old. If you took your script to ask for money, no one would believe you. Let alone in the past, nowadays, it’s almost impossible for a 22-year-old graduate to find money if he takes a script and says he wants to make a feature film.”

Yi Lijing had done her homework and had some understanding of what Li Qiutang had done: "So your decision to turn your graduation project into a feature film was a huge gamble."

"High-stakes gambling." Li Qiutang never shies away from this fact; he was gambling back in 06.

"What are we betting on? Are we betting that 'The Night of the Comet' will definitely be a hit?"

Li Qiutang shook his head: "How could I dare to bet that it would definitely be a hit? At the time, I was betting that people had never seen or rarely seen this kind of story before, and that I could make a name for myself with this novelty. Even if I could directly raise money to make a movie, at least I could become a familiar face to the film company bosses, so they would think that this young man is quite clever and worth paying attention to."

"What if 'Coherence' hadn't become a hit?"

"If it doesn't become a hit, just keep shooting commercials and wait for the next opportunity. Actually, many young directors do this: they have a job, they work and save money at the same time, and once they have enough money, they make a film and travel all over the world to pitching and film festivals. It's not easy for anyone."

How did it feel to become famous back then?

“Fame and fortune will come then,” Li Qiutang said honestly.

How do you feel about fame and fortune?

"A dazzling array of flowers can be overwhelming." Li Qiutang's smile was bitter. "You have to imagine that for a recent graduate like me, such immense wealth has been dumped on my head."

"You mean immense wealth? How much wealth?" Yi Lijing insisted that Li Qiutang explain.

“Back then, someone invited me to his estate, a real estate, the kind where you had to take a car to get in and out. He slapped a check in front of me. At that time, I didn’t even dare to dream of seeing it, let alone actually doing it. I was 22 years old then.” Li Qiutang shook her head.

Yi Lijing then bluntly asked, "So you filmed three movies in two years, 2007 and 2008, was this kind of work intensity to maintain the fame and fortune you worked so hard to achieve?"

“It should be an opportunity.” Li Qiutang avoided talking about fame and fortune. “Opportunities are rare and must be seized with all our might. Fame and fortune are just a bonus to opportunities.”

But Yi Lijing clearly didn't want to let Li Qiutang off the hook: "Do you think fame and fortune are just byproducts? You just said that you risked making a feature film to become known and gain attention. Isn't that fame and fortune?" Li Qiutang thought for a moment and said, "Becoming famous is also to gain more opportunities. In this industry, you can't abandon all fame and fortune to talk about artistic ideals. It's unrealistic."

Yi Lijing's next question was even more pointed: "You've made many commercial genre films, what are your artistic ideals? Do you express yourself as an auteur?"

It is generally believed that artistic expression is incompatible with commercial genre films.

The two of them really hadn't gone over the script beforehand; Li Qiutang had never encountered a reporter with Yi Lijing's style before.

"You know, it's a very strange thing for a director to say what his film is about."

"Don't you want to answer?" Yi Lijing said directly.

"Have you watched 'In Time' and 'Marriage Story'?" Li Qiutang asked in return.

"Looked."

"After reading this, you should understand what I'm trying to say."

"Is 'In Time' your authorial expression?" Li Qiutang sensed from Yi Lijing's tone that she didn't like "In Time" very much. "When the movie was released, it encountered a lot of discussion, even condemnation. Do you still stand by the views expressed in your movie?"

“I still think so. What do you think is wrong with In Time?” Li Qiutang immediately retorted.

Yi Lijing's tone remained calm and cold. She did not answer Li Qiutang's question, but said, "I saw a report that you could have gone to Hollywood to make movies, but because of 'In Time,' Hollywood doesn't seem to welcome you. Have you ever regretted it? This is an opportunity that many directors around the world dream of."

But Li Qiutang said, "Why should Hollywood welcome me? I can't stand steak and bread. What's wrong with me as I am now?"

Yi Lijing clearly sensed that Li Qiutang had begun to fight back, which was exactly what she wanted.

"Going to Hollywood to make movies allows more audiences to see your work, isn't that a good thing?"

"I don't think so," Li Qiutang said. "There's a high chance I won't adapt well to Hollywood, and nobody will watch the movies I make. I'll probably slink back to China in a couple of years. That's a very likely possibility."

"Aren't you confident?"

"It's not that I lack confidence, it's that I clearly know my strengths and weaknesses. What's wrong with playing to my strengths and avoiding my weaknesses?"

Yi Lijing knew she couldn't win an argument with Li Qiutang professionally, and the audience wouldn't believe she could make Li Qiutang lose in a movie, so she quickly changed her tune and started talking to Li Qiutang about life.

"What has water sports brought you?" Anyone who knows a little about Li Qiutang knows that he is fond of water sports such as swimming, diving, and surfing. Li Qiutang has even participated in some amateur competitions.

“Another unknown world.” Li Qiutang had a lot to say about this: “Mysterious, adventurous, even fantastical.”

How has it affected your life?

"The ocean is too vast, and humans are too insignificant. Human strength is too weak. So weak that you can't even take care of the things around you."

Do you feel you haven't taken good care of the things around you?

"Of course. I can confidently say that I am a competent director, but I have not fulfilled my responsibilities to my family."

"Is it because you're too busy with work?"

“I don’t want to blame this irresponsibility on work, but people’s time and energy are really limited. If I give it to work, I don’t have time and energy for my family. When I look back and think about taking care of my family, I find that I seem to lack this ability. I want to do it well, but I can never do it well.”

What are Yifei's thoughts on this?

“She’s quite tolerant of me,” Li Qiutang said with a smile, “because she herself isn’t very good at managing a household, and we’ve been living a rather muddled life.”

Yi Lijing smiled, a rare occurrence for her: "Which direction do you hope your life will take?"

Li Qiutang said, "This is not something I can hope for. Isn't it good to live in a daze? Most of us take it one step at a time and only start looking at the road when we reach the mountain."

As the interview progressed, Yi Lijing clearly sensed that Li Qiutang wasn't being entirely honest with her. He was telling the truth, but he wasn't revealing himself completely, unlike her previous interview with Huang Xiaoming, where Huang Xiaoming genuinely told her everything.

So she decided to add fuel to the fire.

(End of this chapter)