Abstract Art Award Winner

Zhang Yimou does indeed think highly of Zhou Le, including the subject matter that Zhou Le mentioned, which he also finds excellent.

However, if it were him, he definitely wouldn't film this kind of subject matter, since it involves some sensitive topics, and it's not easy to do too much artistic expression with this kind of realistic crime subject matter.

If one were to make artistic modifications according to his own ideas, it would be easy to produce ideological errors.

So the best approach is to avoid it altogether, but if others want to do it, it's still possible if you know how to handle the situation.

He can also offer some experience, as long as he doesn't give advice on how to do artistic processing. As for how to shoot and how to color grade, that's what he's best at.

For a period of time afterward, Zhou Le contacted actors while filming "Cliff Walkers," and Zhang Yi initially wanted Zhou Le to turn down fashion events and film festivals to focus on filming.

During this period, the only awards Zhou Le could attend were the Golden Eagle Award, the Golden Rooster Award, and the Huabiao Award.

They wanted to invite Zhou Le to be a speaker, but Zhou Le ultimately declined.

The Macau International Film Festival also wanted to invite Zhou Le to be a presenter, but he declined.

Regarding the Golden Rooster Awards, Zhou Le originally planned to decline as well, but Zhang Yimou was also nearby when he made the call and overheard what he was saying. Before Zhou Le could even speak, Zhang Yimou immediately stopped him from saying anything.

"You should still go. I'll give you two days off then."

"But Director Zhang..."

"It's alright, go ahead, you have to go."

"Ok."

In the end, Zhou Le agreed to the Golden Rooster Awards, and there was also the Golden Eagle Awards.

Zhou Le also plans to decline the Golden Eagle Award.

But no sooner had he made the push than He Jiong called less than a minute later.

"Le'er, why didn't you come to the Golden Eagle Awards? I was thinking we could get together if you came."

“Teacher He, it’s not that I don’t want to go, it’s just that Director Zhang Yimou is busy filming and can’t get away, and he doesn’t want to give me leave either, so I thought I might as well not go, since I won’t win any awards anyway.”

Upon hearing this, He Jiong immediately retorted, "Who said you don't have it? If you didn't have it, would I have made this call to you?"

Zhou Le was stunned: "I can win a prize? Can you give me a hint, Teacher He?"

"Sigh, I shouldn't have told you this, but if I didn't, you wouldn't come. If you don't show up for the awards ceremony, the award will definitely go to someone else. But we have rules here, so I can only tell you 1."

"1?"

Zhou Le suddenly thought of some rumors about Teacher He. It wasn't that he was just imagining things, but the fact that this number came out of Teacher He's mouth made it somewhat sensitive.

But that's definitely not what they meant.

Then the meaning of "1" is quite obvious.

"Okay, thank you, Teacher He. I'll go ask Director Zhang for leave now, and I'll definitely be there."

"Okay, I'll be waiting for you then. I'll invite a few friends so we can get together and chat privately later."

"no problem."

After hanging up the phone, Zhou Le immediately found Zhang Yimou.

"Director Zhang, the Golden Eagle Awards just called me and want me to come."

Zhang Yi looked up and asked, "What do you mean?"

“At first I felt I shouldn’t go, so I declined, because I wanted to focus on filming. Director Zhang, look, this is the first phone call. Then they called me again and said I could go on stage to receive an award.”

"Receive an award? What kind of award?"

Zhang Yimou had previously sent Zhou Le to the Golden Rooster Awards because he knew from inside sources that Zhou Le could win the Best Supporting Actor award at the Golden Rooster Awards, so he simply gave him two days off.

However, the Golden Eagle Award is also quite prestigious.

“1,” Zhou Le said.

"What?"

"1."

"What kind of award is '1'?" Zhang Yi asked, then suddenly stared at Zhou Le. "Are you sure you can win this?"

“I’m not sure either, but that’s what they told me. All I can say is that this person has quite a bit of influence and status over there.”

"Then go ahead, there's no other way. You only get a chance for great honors in life. If it's something like this, I really won't let you go. If you miss it, you'll curse me for the rest of your life."

"It's not that bad, Director Zhang. I just wanted to ask your opinion. If you say don't go, then I won't go."

Zhang Yi laughed: "Then why don't you not go?"

Zhou Le nodded and took out his phone: "Then I'll call Teacher He right now and tell him I can't go. I'll just say I'm too busy here."

"No, no, no, I was just kidding. Go ahead. It's such a big deal, you really have to go. I definitely can't stop you. But if you're just going to be a guest or a mascot, then I definitely won't give you time off."

But remember to treat us when you get back from winning the award!

"no problem."

Because the Golden Eagle Awards were the closest, Zhou Le prepared to leave after finishing his speech.

We arrived in Taiyuan first, and then took a plane directly to Changsha.

Not long after I checked into the hotel, there was a knock on the door. When I opened it, it was Tian Xiwei.

As a near-top-tier actress in the film and television industry, Tian Xiwei only needs one or two more hit dramas to significantly increase her fan base and the level of discussion surrounding her.

"Brother Le, you've really lost a lot of weight. When they were talking about it before, I wondered how much weight you could have lost. Even when you posted photos of yourself wearing clothes, I thought you looked okay. But now that I see you in person, I really feel that you've lost too much weight."

"Sigh, you child, what do you mean by 'feeling fine while dressed'?"

"That's how it is. When you're wearing clothes, you can only see your face. You weren't fat to begin with, you just look more energetic after losing weight."

"Okay, but I was definitely thinner back then, and I'll probably have to lose even more weight for a while after director Zhang Yimou finishes filming his movie."

Thankfully, I don't have to go on the Spring Festival Gala this year, otherwise I doubt I'd be able to recover.

"Oh, why? Why do I need to lose even more weight?"

"Sigh, it's just reshooting scenes, there's nothing we can do about it. I guess I'll just have to lose weight. But it should be after 'Love and Redemption' is released. I can do some promotion in the meantime."

"Hehe, this is our first film together, and I really want it to be released as soon as possible so that everyone can see it!"

As Xiao Tian spoke, she reached out and hugged Zhou Le's neck.

Just as I was about to tiptoe over to get closer, someone suddenly knocked on the door.

Startled, Tian Xiwei immediately withdrew her hand. "Who is it?"

Zhou Le opened the door out of curiosity and was surprised to find it was Yi Yangqianxi.

"Millennium, what brings you here?"

"I heard from them that you were here too, so I planned to come and have a chat with you." Yi Yangqianxi said as he looked inside, and was startled when he saw Tian Xiwei.

"Brother Le, I'm sorry, did I come at the wrong time? Maybe I should leave first, and we can talk later."

Zhou Le's smile remained unchanged: "It's nothing, we were just talking about roles. We were just discussing the upcoming TV series. Come in, let's chat."

"Ok."

Yi Yangqianxi was indeed a little uneasy.

So they started talking about the plot of the script for the northern Myanmar park in the room.

But as they were talking, there was another knock on the door.

Upon opening it again, I saw it was Zhu Yilong.

"Hmm, there are already people here, so maybe I've arrived just in time?"

Zhou Le thought to himself, now that Yi Yangqianxi has arrived, it doesn't matter how many more people come after him, since the good thing has already been ruined anyway.

"Yes, you've come at the right time. Millennium and I were just discussing the script."

Zhou Le also confirmed that Zhu Yilong will play the role of a rich second-generation in this script.

"I know you're all in the film industry and might be in some competition with each other, but you should all know the subject matter of this film, so the lead role definitely can't be me or Zhu Yilong."

He can be a victim, but not a fraudster like me or a gambler like Ichiryu, so Millennium definitely has to be ranked higher.

Zhou Le had to make this clear.

Both parties need to know who is the lead and who is the follower. Don't wait until the contract is signed or filming has already started to discuss the order of billing, as that will affect the filming schedule.

“I’m fine with this role. I actually quite like it. I don’t find it very interesting to play a good guy. I think villains are more exciting and stand out more.”

As for Yi Yangqianxi being the lead actor, he naturally had no reason to object.

And everyone's pay wasn't high, just a token amount of three to five million.

But when it came to this, Zhou Le suddenly thought of something interesting.

"Brother Long, your character is a rich second-generation heir who's also a gambler, right? I suddenly thought of a plot: what if I made you the male lead, but a villain? Your goal would be to steal money from a rich heiress, then kill her for some reason, and then hire a detective or police officer to solve the case so you can hide your crimes. What do you think of this story?"

Zhu Yilong frowned: "This story sounds kind of interesting."

Upon hearing this, Yi Yangqianxi immediately raised his hand: "What do you mean by 'somewhat interesting'? I feel this story is really good. I can act in it, really. Brother Le, are you planning to film it? If you are, you can contact me. We can discuss the price."

Zhou Le immediately waved his hand: "You can't do it. Your image is too young and righteous for this role. But Brother Long is different. He's older, and you can tell he's cunning."

"You're only suited to this kind of role right now. Wait until you're older before considering roles with a contrast, like someone who seems honest on the surface but is cunning underneath."

"Ok."

But despite what Zhou Le said, he was actually quite grateful to Yi Yangqianxi, because with Yi Yangqianxi's words, he would definitely not ask for too much pay later.

After all, when it comes to status and popularity, Yi Yangqianxi is definitely higher than Zhu Yilong.

Everyone else is willing to lower their fees to perform, so why can't you lower yours?

"Okay, I'll take the role. Is it probably next year? When is next year? I'll go back and ask the company to see how the schedule is arranged."

"It should be next year, I think the environment should be a little better next year."

"Okay, I'll go back and ask first."

"Sure, there's no rush."

So, Zhou Le immediately contacted the screenwriter after having this idea, asking him to prepare a story and write an outline first.

Every director needs his own screenwriter, and Zhou Le felt he should have one too. In any case, the contracts at Wanhe Tianyi were quite lenient, and people could leave whenever they wanted.

Everyone cherishes the memories of that past relationship, so those who could stay have kept it.

They were chatting for a while when Wang Yibo arrived.

Wang Yibo came to talk to Zhou Le about doing extreme sports together sometime.

As a result, Zhu Yilong and Yi Yangqianxi heard this.

"What extreme sports?"

Wang Yibo had no choice but to recount the story again.

Both of them became interested after hearing this.

"How about we go together? It'll be more lively with more people, and it's always better to play together than just one or two people. We can look out for each other," Wang Yibo suggested.

"Yeah, but wouldn't that create competition among us for endorsements?"

"Of course there are, but I can assure you that if any endorsement offers come to you first, I definitely won't try to snatch them away. As for the rest, we'll each rely on our own abilities. Just don't laugh at me if I get Camel and you get Archaeopteryx or Mammoth."

“No way. You can’t make friends like that. You look down on people who are less capable than you, and you want to climb up to people who are more capable. But if people think like that, how many friends will you have?” Zhu Yilong said.

"I definitely wouldn't. Whether they're poor or rich, they're all good friends in my eyes. There's no difference in their status," Zhou Le added.

"Then let's go together then. We'll see when we're all free and go have some fun together."

Not long after the four of them made their agreement, Zhao Liying knocked on the door again.

She suggested finding a place to sit and chat; Song Qian, Sun Li, and others were also with her.

So the group left the house together to chat with other people.

After they had finished chatting, they went to lunch. However, since Zhou Le and Zhao Liying had arrived relatively early, and Zhao Liying had offered to treat them to lunch, she whispered to Zhou Le when they were alone:
"I've also received some news that you have a good chance of winning the Golden Eagle Award, but your competitors are all very strong. Maybe only Yi Yangqianxi is slightly weaker, and the others are all veteran actors."

The reason we're giving this to you this time is partly because most of the judges are old friends of yours, and partly because you've been quite popular in recent years, and the company has been making a big fuss about it, so they're planning to give you a boost.

But here's the problem: if you outshine veteran actors like Chen Baoguo, Simon Yam, and Wang Jinsong, there might be some criticism from the outside world. So, you should probably prepare some public relations work in advance.

Don't let Hunan TV consume your negative publicity, and then let others consume your online traffic.

“Prepare for public relations in advance?” Zhou Le thought for a moment. “I’d better not. I’ll just tell them later. I can’t just refuse an award from them. Besides, if I do public relations for this, my seniors will definitely think I’m too flamboyant.”

After all, public relations work inevitably involves people, and once people are involved, secrets can't be kept.

"Alright, I just wanted to let you know that you should pay more attention to these things. I've suffered too much from this, so I'm quite sensitive to these situations." (End of Chapter)