I am a literary giant in Europe

Chapter 501 Balthus's Shock (Seeking monthly votes!!!)

"Amos, don't be too proud!"

Sofia Coppola called.

"Uncle Steven asked me to tell you that although 'Life Is Beautiful' has been nominated for Cannes, the situation is not very optimistic."

"Forehead?"

"Paramount's negotiations have broken down!"

"what happened?"

Brad Gray terminated the negotiations.

He could have stalled us, but because of Uncle Steven, he ended the negotiations prematurely.

He privately told Uncle Steven that Sony was putting a lot of pressure on them, and that the lobbying group in America was also putting pressure on the Paramount board, so the board did not agree to participate in the distribution.

"If it weren't for Uncle Steven's connections, they would have kept us from seeing the premiere on August 15th."

After saying that, Sofia suddenly cursed, "Damn it! President Truman was right."

What did President Truman say?

He said, "Kill the Japanese devils!"

"Oh……"

Liu Jin couldn't help but burst into laughter.

"dare you laugh?"

Sofia retorted angrily, "If they can cause trouble for America, they will definitely cause trouble for Cannes too."

"I know!"

"So, do you have any ideas?"

"Of course we need to do public relations..."

Sophia said softly, "We need at least five votes to win the prize."

"I have four votes."

"what?"

“Javier Bardem, Salma Hayes, Maggie Cheung, and Benoît.”

"Tony Morrison!"

Sofia immediately gave the answer.

"She is a Black author who won the Nobel Prize."

"Sophia, I just finished speaking with the Nobel Prize committee."

"That's nothing... just the Nobel Prize in Literature. However, I'm not very familiar with America's literary circles, so I'll need someone to introduce me."

“I know Philip Roth.”

"The author of 'Goodbye, Columbus'?"

"Yes!"

"How do you know him? He seems difficult to deal with."

"Hmm, don't worry about that."

Philip Ross was Jewish.

His representative works include "Goodbye, Columbus" and "The Complaint of Portnoy," and he was a friend of Blumenthal.

Is he qualified?

"enough!"

“I’ll contact him. As for how to handle Ms. Morrison, that’s up to you.”

"That publishing company..."

"If Paramount isn't an option, then we'll go with Harvey Weinstein... That guy's got a knack for publishing and winning awards."

"But his reputation..."

"I don't care about his reputation, as long as he can bring me benefits."

"Alright, I will now shift the focus of our negotiations to Weinstein Company."

"It must be confirmed by the end of this month."

Only after we've secured a publishing company can we free up our energy to deal with the daily grind.

"I know!"

In the future, Sofia will likely remain focused on a simple, everyday life.

Lost in Tokyo left her with wonderful memories.

Now, with the emergence of Lost in Shanghai, Xiao Rizi has lost the opportunity to curry favor.

At this year's Oscars, Lost in Shanghai received four nominations and won one of them, taking home the Best Original Screenplay award.

In fact, Lost in Shanghai reaped considerable rewards throughout 2004.

It received numerous nominations for major European awards and won several awards.

This film, which cost five million US dollars to produce, brought Liu Jin a global box office revenue of 149 million US dollars.

Therefore, Sophia and Liu Jin are now bound together.

Life Is Beautiful has received high praise.

Global sales have exceeded 13 million copies.

If it fails, Liu Jin will only lose 30 million US dollars.

But for Sofia, it represents a lack of ability, which will make her position in Hollywood very awkward.

Even if her father is Coppola, it won't work!
This is precisely why Sofia attaches great importance to "Life Is Beautiful".

After discussing the matter with Liu Jin for a while, Sophia hung up the phone.

Next, Liu Jin will spend another five million US dollars on public relations, not only for Cannes, but also for next year's Oscars.

However, with Harvey's involvement on the Oscars side, it's believed they will reap significant rewards.

……

In the days that followed, Liu Jin communicated with Javier Baden and Salma Hayes respectively.

Javier lives in Barcelona and went straight to Liu Jin's place.

The two sides exchanged views, and before leaving, the other party took away the 200,000-word manuscript of "The Shadow of the Wind".

Liu Jin knew that this film, *The Shadow of the Wind*, would definitely satisfy Havel.

Since Javier had taken the manuscript, Liu Jin thought for a moment and decided to print it out. He then contacted Mrs. Barces by phone, drove to the town of Messi, and delivered the manuscript to her.

Carmen Balces was very surprised.

In her opinion, even if Liu Jin were to begin writing, it would take some time.

After all, he's only been in Barcelona for a short time...

So at first, she didn't have any hope.

After seeing Liu Jin off, she took a walk on the beach and then drank a cup of cinnamon coffee.

As I was getting ready for bed that night, I saw the manuscript on the table. So, lying in bed, I started flipping through it to pass the time.

But upon closer inspection...

Before dawn the next day, Carmen Balces called Liu Jin's cell phone.

"Amos, what happens next? What about the rest of the manuscript?"

"I haven't finished writing it yet. I only wrote about 10,000 words when I came back yesterday..."

“Send it to me, Amos… I want to apologize to you.”

"apologize?"

"To be honest, I didn't pay much attention to it when you brought the manuscript to me yesterday."

In my opinion, to create a work like this, you would at least have lived in Barcelona for a period of time, just like you did with *The Hunchback of Notre Dame*. But… I must apologize, Amos, I felt your love for Barcelona between the lines… Amos, this will be your best work about the city of Barcelona.

You know what? In this book, I felt as if I saw the whole city.

Four Cats Cafe, nestled in an alley near La Rambla, is a place frequented by Picasso and Dalí.

Where can you find the 'artist's elixir'? Absinthe.

I saw the cathedral, the beach, the Columbus statue, Plaça Catalunya...

And at the beginning of the story, that captivating Tomb of the Forgotten Book... I feel like I can see it!

Hidden in Barcelona's old town... Amos, you've turned Barcelona into a book that can never be finished..."

The old lady became more and more agitated as she spoke!
She exclaimed, "I never imagined that Barcelona would be interpreted in this way by a Chinese writer living in France."

Spanish writers, no, Barcelona writers, all deserve to die!
Finish it, Amos, I beg you to finish it, I guarantee it will be a magical work.

I swear, I will push this work forward with the same force I used to push forward Gabriel García Márquez's *One Hundred Years of Solitude*.

In the end, the old lady even swore.

Liu Jin could imagine how excited she was at that moment!
Moreover, he believed that the old lady must have said the same thing when she read Zafón's novel.

Liu Jin said, “Ms. Carmen, this book, ‘The Shadow of the Wind,’ is about 400,000 words long. I expect to finish it by the end of the month… but according to my plan, it will be a four-part series. This is only the first part.”

"Amos, you just focus on creating, leave everything else to me."

As she spoke, she seemed to remember something.

"By the way, is your film 'Life Is Beautiful' finished yet?"

"finished!"

"Send it to the Sebastian Film Festival this September, and I will do everything I can to make this film a success."

Carmen Balces is not involved in the film industry.

But in the entire Spanish film and television industry, no one can, or rather, no one dares to, ignore her existence.

Liu Jin smiled and said, "Carmen, don't worry, I will continue to create."

However, after finishing the first part, I need time to conceive the story for the next part... You may have to wait a while.

"Child, time is not important, what's important is that you write it down!"

"You don't need to go to your university anymore."

I'll talk to Arnaul about the course... Don't worry about the grades.

I now regret not letting you spend more time in Spain; perhaps you would have created a great work comparable to Don Quixote.

Damn, you're a great genius.

Liu Jin had no choice but to offer repeated polite greetings.

After ending the call with Balces, he lay down on the bed and yawned.

A new day is about to begin!

……

Barthes kept his word.

In the morning, Liu Jin received a call from Arnaud, telling him to focus on his creative work.

Just kidding, Arnau is the leader of the Catalan nationalism, a work about Barcelona would definitely impress him.

score?

Grades don't matter!

If Liu Jin's work is even half as good as Balces said, he would dare to give Liu Jin a degree from the University of Barcelona.

Attend class?

Great writers don't need those messy shackles and constraints.

Just as Michel Ranke said on the day Liu Jin reported: "You just need to create, to keep creating."

That's enough!

teach?

Whether it's the University of Toulouse II or the University of Barcelona.

You have to create a work like "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" before you can talk about instructing others.

Liu Jin felt a slight sense of pride.

But he felt he should still attend the classes.

After all, the school's resources are also very important.

His understanding of Barcelona was far less than that of his teachers.

Dean Arnaud was even more pleased to see Liu Jin come to class as usual.

So, after talking with Liu Jin, he communicated with teachers from other departments and gave Liu Jin a favor.

Liu Jin was free to audit classes in the Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Philosophy, and Faculty of History at the University of Barcelona.

Liu Jin was overjoyed!

With these advantages, he can obtain more materials...

In this way, time passed quietly.

The creation of "Shadow of the Wind" came to an end at the end of March.

The book contains a total of 420,000 words.

After receiving the manuscript, Barces sent the contract to Mela on the same day.

Twenty-five percent royalties, first print run of two million copies!

Mela was startled when she received the fax.

Two million copies?

In Spain, the highest sales volume in the past few years was only one million copies... This has doubled in one go.

"Liu, what kind of drug did you give the old lady?"

"Drugs?"

"Two million copies, do you understand? If this contract were leaked, the whole of Spain would be in an uproar!"

……

(End of this chapter)