The King of Soft Rice in Chinese Entertainment

Chapter 347 Just Thought Of
“To say I’m not interested would be a lie,” Xu Jiuyang said after a moment of thought, “but not now. It’s too early now, and I haven’t achieved anything yet.”

"I already said, we'll at least wait until Bingbing's movie is finished, or even until she wins the Cannes Best Actress award, before we put this on the agenda." Angela spread her hands helplessly.

“Since you know this, you should also understand that if I go to Hollywood, I will need this too,” Xu Jiuyang spread his hands, “either a box office hit or a critically acclaimed award-winning film.”

"Is this a sufficient condition or a necessary condition?" Angela feigned confusion.

“It is a necessary and sufficient condition,” Xu Jiuyang said seriously. “If I don’t have any works, if I don’t have any works that at least look good, even with your support, I will be questioned in various ways, and then the questioning will fall on you.”

“Do we need to care about these things?” Angela raised an eyebrow. “Success is everything. If you’re worried about problems during production, just look at the filming of Fall and the final product.”

“Of course we need it,” Xu Jiuyang said bluntly. “We don’t live in a vacuum. It’s one thing to do our job well and then be criticized; it’s another to do things carelessly and then be attacked.”

As he spoke, he looked at Fan Bingbing and said, "Fan, you don't want a national idol and a Cannes Best Actress to be a supporting actress for a TV drama actress who rose to fame by relying on women, do you?"

Fan Bingbing was stunned for a moment, then lowered her head and looked embarrassed: "Don't put honors on me before I've received them."

Xu Jiuyang immediately spread his hands again, making a "you saw it" gesture to Angela.

Angela looked at him, then at Fan Bingbing, and finally sighed: "Fine, I still have to get you a movie that's either a box office hit or wins awards."

"Thank you." Xu Jiuyang nodded politely.

After he left, Fan Bingbing grabbed his arm, her eyes sparkling, and asked, "Did you say those things to her just now because of me? Was it for me?!"

"Hmm... if that's what you think, it's not impossible." Xu Jiuyang gave a "whatever" look.

Fan Bingbing giggled, not caring that they were still on set, and immediately leaned over to kiss him on the cheek, followed by a soft "Ah!" before running away, feigning shyness.

Xu Jiuyang shook his head. The reason he made that request to Angela was mainly for his own benefit.

After all, I've seen far too many people in my past life who are utterly immoral, incompetent, and powerless, yet they manage to get roles in big productions just because they have money and connections, thus boosting their resumes.

As mentioned before, even though he hasn't changed his mind about leaving the entertainment industry, it seems he'll have to stay here for a while longer. Since that's the case, he definitely needs to do his job well, given how terrible the future of this industry is.

Therefore, he absolutely would not allow himself to become that kind of slacker.

Of course, Xu Jiuyang also knew that he was able to do this because Angela and the others were willing to listen to him, but since there were conditions, why couldn't he take advantage of them?

However... he also admitted that he made this statement with Fan Bingbing's feelings in mind to some extent.

Despite her flaws and the fact that she always seems to be trying to take advantage of others, she is ultimately very obedient to me, not to mention...

As I said before, for some people, their judgment is very simple: give something a perfect score, or give something a zero score.

After all, she was the most famous actress and star in her past life, and now she's pitifully chasing after him. It feels like... even if you take in a stray cat or dog, you'll develop feelings for it after spending a lot of time together. Besides, his feelings for her aren't actually that bad.

So, from her perspective, even if he were completely obedient to her, she would still prefer to act in a Hollywood movie with a well-known and talented actor—even if they had a past relationship—rather than with the man she was keeping.

Furthermore, this rumor might evolve into the claim that she went to Hollywood to secure investment and build connections in order to promote the young man she was keeping, and then many versions could be derived from this story of securing investment and building connections.

Once the primacy effect is established, it's very difficult to change the relative perception, because there will always be people who love to stir up trouble. "Hmm, thinking carefully, which high-grossing movie would be suitable for me?" Xu Jiuyang recalled.

Compared to honors, he felt that high-grossing films were more appropriate, because male stars who receive honors may not be able to carry the box office, but male stars who can carry the box office are sure to receive honors.

However, on the other hand, the larger the production cost of a movie, the less the actors' influence on box office performance becomes. What attracts audiences to big-budget productions is always the spectacular special effects.

In addition, the mainland film market was not very good 10 years ago, so the choice needs to be carefully considered before a decision can be made.

However, he needs to consider that others don't.

"You came here just now because you're simulating how big Inception is, right?" Fan Bingbing asked curiously after she found Angela.

“Yes, a British director named Christopher Nolan bought the script and invited Leonardo DiCaprio to star in it. The movie did very well at the box office.” Angela didn’t hide anything.

"Is this British director very talented?" Fan Bingbing asked after thinking for a moment.

“It’s amazing,” Angela nodded. “I’ve simulated his work many times based on his information. He’s not a purely commercial director like Michael Bay. He has his own characteristics and his own personality.”

"In other words, they're not easy to tame?" Little Fan asked again.

Angela raised an eyebrow: "It's not difficult to tame him, but it's unnecessary. The time spent on him could be used to discipline two or even three ordinary commercial directors. Based on the current filming situation of 'Falling,' we need ordinary, obedient commercial directors who can execute meticulously, rather than those directors with personality and characteristics."

Indeed, the reason Zhang Jing was able to direct "Falling" was because she obediently followed their arrangements and then expressed her own ideas within that framework.

"In that case, we'll have a lot of trouble," Little Fan said deliberately.

"You don't even want to put in this little bit of effort, do you?" Angela retorted.

"Hey!" Little Fan called out somewhat displeased, his narrowed eyes seeming to say: Don't you know what a joke is?
"Alright, just state your purpose." Angela smiled.

"Regarding the honors or box office revenue that Joyoung wants, I do have an alternative," said Fan Bingbing with a snort.

"So fast?" Angela raised her eyebrows meaningfully.

"I just happened to think of it," Fan Bingbing shrugged, "You remember what we were going to do next year in our deal, right?"

"What, you want to release it ahead of time and compete with others?" Angela laughed. "I remember you're busy with at least three movies this year, right?"

“I didn’t plan to do it earlier, but…” Little Fan remained unmoved and whispered a few words in her ear.

Angela, who had been smiling, turned surprised after she finished speaking: "I hadn't noticed that. If you're telling the truth, we could give it a try."

After saying that, she looked at her again with a look of interest: "Speaking of which, you didn't mean to stop me at all. Aren't you worried that he'll be too happy in Hollywood to want to leave?"

“Of course I’m not worried,” Fan Bingbing said proudly, crossing her arms. “He knows where he was born.”

(End of this chapter)