The King of Soft Rice in Chinese Entertainment

Chapter 374 Care
After a thorough and comprehensive conversation with Lee Yoon-hyung, Xu Jiuyang roughly understood why Lee Kun-hee's attitude towards him seemed...strange.

Despite the obvious aggressive tone, they only exchanged a few casual words and didn't even question him about flirting with so many women besides Li Yunxin.

It can only be said that he is very good at assessing the situation and very decisive, which is why he was able to lead Samsung for so many years and still control the direction of this big ship even after it was taken over by Americans after the Asian financial crisis.

He didn't look closely at Li Yunxin's smartphone design, and even if he did, he wouldn't understand it very well. However, he discussed the various settings and implementation methods with her repeatedly.

If Lee Kun-hee isn't blind or his brain isn't completely fried, he should be able to see the potential.

As for the possibility of failure... How can there be no risk in doing a project? As long as the investment is controlled, it's fine. Besides, if it fails, he'll have an excuse to bring Li Yunxin back, won't he?

All of this was orchestrated by someone, and his close relationships with Angela, Fan Bingbing, and Gao Yuanyuan meant that they didn't scheme against each other; instead, they cooperated because of him.

Even if only Angela could make Lee Kun-hee somewhat wary, he still wouldn't be able to launch a major attack, after all, this isn't South Korea.

In this way, his daughter didn't seem to have suffered much, so he could only give someone a slight reprimand and that was the end of it.

"Anyway, it's a pretty good ending," Xu Jiuyang muttered to himself, looking at the busy crowd on set. "That's how it is for now."

"What are you daydreaming about again?" Angela's voice came from behind.

"I'm watching the game," Xu Jiuyang replied casually. "It looks pretty good, but how it will perform on the big screen remains to be seen."

“They are directors who have filmed the three major battles,” Angela said as she came to his side. “The three-way march in the ‘Huaihai Campaign’ has been praised by many professional film fans.”

“But that was ten years ago,” Xu Jiuyang sighed.

“If you keep worrying like this, the movie won’t be able to be made,” Angela warned.

"I understand," Xu Jiuyang sighed again.

In fact, he was still willing to trust the directors, and the battlefield scenes they were currently filming were based on a plan proposed by director Shen Haofang when they were filming "Romance of the Three Kingdoms".

Director Shen was like a fire brigade back then, rushing to wherever he was needed. Moreover, during the preparation stage, he and his colleagues studied in detail how to shoot a period war drama and specified a detailed plan.

Unfortunately, only a portion of this plan was used, for a simple reason: lack of funds.

To be precise, CCTV underestimated the production cost of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms". They thought that several hundred thousand yuan per episode would be no problem, so after filming started, they decided to film the most expensive scenes first, namely the war scenes.

As filming progressed, by the time they reached the Battle of Red Cliffs, the budget for war scenes was almost exhausted. They had no choice but to start cutting back on various projects, so the war scenes in the old Three Kingdoms series were downgraded after the Battle of Red Cliffs.

Previously, war dramas were mostly performed by military personnel, but now they are mostly performed by extras.

Who knew that after all the twists and turns, CCTV still couldn't control the costs, ending up with 100 million yuan per episode. If they had known this would happen, they would have been better off just finishing filming the war drama.

Now, someone is investing in making a movie called "Red Cliff," still using the old big-budget film system, and even inviting several veteran directors. So someone dug up this war scene plan from old documents and invited Director Shen back to study it carefully.

Not only that, the directors in charge of directing also kept him on their toes, wanting him to help film the war scenes.

However, although the production team had funding from China Film Group and operated under a large-scale film studio system, it wasn't a state-owned enterprise like it used to be, where you could simply submit a report and bring in people. After receiving the application, Angela first communicated with several directors and then had extensive discussions with China Film Group before finally agreeing to it and offering Director Shen a good contract.

Xu Jiuyang was also consulted, and his opinion was the same as the above. The plan did look very good, and the military was also invited to cooperate with "Red Cliff". Angela not only provided a lot of budget, but also focused on logistical support.

However, as anyone who has made a film knows, what is written in the script is one thing, and what is actually filmed is another—unless it is so detailed that the storyboard even marks out the makeup, color, and shadows.

He wasn't questioning the directors; their artistic achievements were indeed outstanding. However, they were getting older, and their thinking was starting to fall behind the current production methods.

“I don’t know what you’re worried about. Do you not trust them, or do you not trust me?” Angela asked with a smile.

"How should I put it? It's like... you see your ideas coming true step by step, but you're also worried that the final result will be terrible." Xu Jiuyang spread his hands.

Whether it was diagnosing "Hero" or encouraging the production of "Red Cliff", it was all done with a "let's have some fun" mentality. After all, the domestic entertainment industry was already in such a bad state, how much worse could it get?
However, after "Hero" was released, his thoughts began to change, especially since the story of "Hero" was not only smoother, but also much better than the previous life. Just look at the praise online.

At this time of day, most people online are still quite civilized, and their comments are generally fair. Even if there are a few trolls, they will usually stay quiet for a long time and change their ID to remain silent for a few months before speaking up again, even when faced with criticism from the entire forum.

Then, everything went smoothly from preparation to filming of "Red Cliff," and everyone on set was very enthusiastic, including the directors.

Although I said before that I would make whatever I wanted as long as I didn't care whether the movie was profitable, the experience of actually doing it was indescribable.

Yes, even if Angela didn't say it, Xu Jiuyang could still conclude that she didn't care whether "Red Cliff" would make money after its release. As long as the costs were recovered, even a small loss would be acceptable.

In any case, she did this to invest in the future of this place.

So what if the movie you make isn't good enough, or if the audience doesn't like it?
Every time I come to the "Red Cliff" film set, this thought inevitably pops up and jumps around, even though reason tells me that I shouldn't hesitate when doing things. Before the movie is finished, no one knows what the quality will be like, and before the movie is released, no one is sure whether the audience will like it.

However, this movie never existed before. After Wu Baige ruined the subject matter, and with the period drama genre becoming obsolete, it's impossible for it to be made again.

I've been born entirely by my own actions, just like seeing a brand new child born—how could I not care?

“I think you could try thinking about something else to distract yourself,” Angela suggested.

"Really?" Xu Jiuyang sighed. "For example?"

“For example, where should we consider buying a villa?” Angela blinked.

"Oh?" Xu Jiuyang squinted at her.

“I wasn’t prying into your privacy. I just know that you’ve made quite a bit more money lately.” Angela shrugged.

"Your net worth is also a private matter," Xu Jiuyang scoffed.

"Oh, don't do that. At worst, I'll sell you one cheaply once my villa complex is built," Angela chuckled.

"Who cares about yours... Wait, what did you say?" Xu Jiuyang gave him an expression like an old man using a cell phone on the subway.

(End of this chapter)