The King of Soft Rice in Chinese Entertainment

Chapter 425 The other party is doomed

"Understandable." Xu Jiuyang nodded secretly. However, when he thought of Yang Caini's disheveled appearance in "Seven Swordsmen of Mount Tian," he couldn't help but shake his head.

Even the Green Pearl, played by Kim So-yeon, who could win Chu Zhaonan's heart, was just so-so.

Tsui Hark seems to have lost his aesthetic sense. You know, in "New Dragon Gate Inn," which is also set in the west with desert scenery as its backdrop, even though Brigitte Lin and Maggie Cheung's costumes are simple, they still exude heroic spirit and charming allure.

These things were completely absent from the previous "Seven Swords" series. The later "Flying Swords of Dragon Gate" was slightly better, but only slightly better.

"Do you remember what I told you about my assessment of Hong Kong filmmakers?" Xu Jiuyang asked.

“I wasn’t actually that professional; I just had a lot of experience, but I’ve squandered most of it over the past ten years. After moving north and being sought after in the mainland, I might have become complacent, which led to a decline in the quality of my films,” Fan Bingbing recalled.

"Hmm...more or less." Xu Jiuyang originally intended to correct her, but after thinking about it carefully, although the decline in the quality of Hong Kong directors was due to many factors, what she said wasn't wrong.

“Xu Ke has always been obsessed with technology, often getting caught up in trying new technologies while neglecting other aspects, such as the script and the cost. In the 80s, he produced ‘The New Legend of Shushan’, which caused Golden Harvest to lose a lot of money, and more than two years ago, he also produced ‘The Legend of Shushan’, which caused China Star to lose a lot of money,” he said. “Although he set up a project and hoped to bring you on board, it may be to pay off the debts of ‘The Legend of Shushan’, but I don’t think he will learn from his mistakes.”

The previous film, "Seven Swords," was a relatively unsuccessful work by Tsui Hark. He tried to tell too many things, resulting in a lack of focus. The beginning was too slow, while the end was too fast. Although the action scenes were good, the story's pacing was clearly messed up. As a result, an investment of over 1 million yuan only yielded 8 million yuan at the box office, which was not enough to break even if the overseas rights were included.

"And another thing is, they have a sense of superiority over mainland actors, right?" Fan Bingbing raised an eyebrow and asked again.

“That’s right. Let’s wait another two or three years, until they understand their own position, before we talk about cooperation,” Xu Jiuyang nodded.

“But I only have 6 years left.” Fan Bingbing spread her hands.

"Oh, I see..." Xu Jiuyang scratched his head. "Alright, let me see..."

He suddenly stopped there, then slammed his hand on the table, pointed at her, and said, "This is what you've been waiting for, isn't it?"

"There's nothing I can do, my future husband is like a toad, he only jumps when you poke him," Fan Bingbing said, feigning pitifulness.

Xu Jiuyang wasn't angry. He just squinted at her and said after a moment, "I've decided. I'm going to find you a script that looks great, but will flop when it's actually filmed."

“It’s okay. The quality of a movie isn’t entirely determined by the script.” Fan Bingbing said smugly. “If the script looks good, it can still be popular as long as the production is excellent.”

"Then let's wait and see." Xu Jiuyang raised an eyebrow.

The man and woman just stared at each other like idiots, making humming and laughing noises, like a pair of lunatics.

Fortunately, Zhang Yan ran over at that moment.

"Boss, something big has happened." Her face was full of the look of someone who had just heard a bombshell.

"What's up?" Fan Bingbing asked with a smile.

"Hmm..." Zhang Yan hesitated for a moment.

"What, do I look like such a stingy person?" Xu Jiuyang retorted.

Zhang Yan chuckled awkwardly and spoke in a low voice, but the two people in front of her only twitched their eyelids after hearing it.

"Oh, I really didn't expect that, but it feels quite normal, right?" Xu Jiuyang asked Fan Bingbing, his probing tone all too obvious. "Who knows? Anyway, there are tons of men in this industry who can't control themselves," Fan Bingbing replied sarcastically.

Zhang Yan, standing next to her, pouted and sighed silently, as if to say: I knew it would turn out like this.

Fortunately, Xu Jiuyang didn't bring it up again. He stood up and looked down at the crew, saying, "It seems there's no need for further communication with the 'Intense Sunshine' production team. You guys handle it. Remember to let me know if there's any new information."

After saying that, he patted Zhang Yan's head and walked out of the coffee shop. Zhang Yan glanced at Fan Bingbing, who shook her head almost imperceptibly. Zhang Yan then quickly followed after him.

There weren't many Chinese films participating in the Cannes Film Festival this year. After "2046" was eliminated due to the burning of its film stock, the only other Chinese films representing Cannes, besides Xu Jiuyang's "Falling," were "Journey" and "Intense Sunshine."

The director of "The Journey" is Yang Chao, a graduate of the Directing Department of Beijing Film Academy. He won an award at Cannes in the 90s for his short films.

Of course, we all know that these awards are actually meaningless, so he has been doing all sorts of odd jobs, and this film is his first feature film.

There's not much to say about the story. It's set in the early 90s. The male protagonist fails the college entrance exam several times. He drags the female protagonist, who is also having trouble with the exam, along with him to try to get rich, but they get scammed. Afterward, they plan to go south to work, but they hesitate.

The film has a road movie feel to it, but the story focuses on the entanglement between the man and woman. It's fairly standard and, as mentioned before, it showcases the landscape of rural towns in mainland China.

As for "In the Heat of the Sun," the director is Zhang Yang, one of the sixth generation of directors. The film also deals with the tug-of-war between men and women, but with a touch of suspense.

The male protagonist sells camera equipment, and the female protagonist sells flowers. The male protagonist likes the female protagonist but doesn't dare to confess his feelings. He just secretly takes pictures of her. One day, a major robbery occurs at the street corner. In the photos the male protagonist took, he noticed that the robber made an OK sign as he passed by the female protagonist, and the female protagonist returned the same sign.

When Xu Jiuyang saw this introduction, he was very puzzled because the sense of déjà vu was too strong, but he really couldn't remember when he had seen it in his previous life.

Now that's alright, there's no need to worry about that anymore, because the male protagonist, Xia Yu, has been taken to a French police station on suspicion of soliciting prostitution.

Upon hearing this news, Xu Jiuyang immediately thought of a certain little dog. He had suspected before that they were helping Sister Yuanyuan get revenge, and now it seemed that he could be sure.
But after he came to his senses, he began to doubt again. Being taken to the police station simply for soliciting prostitutes was nothing. It wasn't ten years later, when hit-and-run accidents and dragging traffic police officers went unpunished.

At worst, they'll just lose face internationally. After keeping a low profile for three or four years, they can spend money to rewrite their posts online and make a comeback.

Unless that guy is a transvestite.

However, Xu Jiuyang understood the next day because the French police quickly announced that certain chemical reactions had been detected in the person's body.

Alright, the other party is doomed. Prostitution might be something that can be overlooked, but when it involves certain chemicals, there's no room for negotiation.

But that wasn't the end of it. French police announced in the morning that they had detected certain chemicals, and in the afternoon they announced that the person who had been solicited was a transgender woman.

Xu Jiuyang was shocked. Good heavens, had he traveled to several years in the future? Or was the person with the surname Xia actually surnamed Huang?

But no matter what, the Xia family is completely finished. They've gone this far, so they'll definitely launch a massive media campaign in China to make sure they're nailed to the pillar of shame.

The other party didn't actually have any powerful backing; they just had some connections within the industry, like Jiang Wen, but those connections were useless against their money offensive, which was determined to achieve their goal.

Therefore, Xu Jiuyang began to consider whether he should ask Angela for help.

(End of this chapter)