The Birth of the Best Director

Chapter 336 The Academy Awards! A historic moment!

……

In this timeline, Yang Mi did not make it into Lu Zhiyuan's big movie.

However, she signed with Dilraba's studio and, with Lu Zhiyuan's help, filmed "Love O2O", "How Long Will I Love U", and "Your Wedding".

Because she avoided the "Tiny Times" franchise, she didn't pursue a controversial or controversial path.

Moreover, she snatched the role that made Zheng Shuang a huge star in "Love O2O," which propelled her to the peak of popularity among top female celebrities in China!

However, traffic is traffic precisely because it is traffic.

Because of this attention, it's like flowing water; once it's gone, it's gone forever.

If she can't continue to break through, and once her popularity is absorbed by others, Yang Mi can probably guess that her fate will be like a shooting star, fleeting and ephemeral.

In a few years, no one will remember me.

She has to stay popular forever!

Make a fortune and become a rich woman!
If she wants to make further breakthroughs, her next step is to emulate Zhang Ziyi and achieve a certain level of international recognition.

As for whether they can reach the level of Reba and Hanikezi?

Yang Mi didn't even dare to think about it.

That's a world-class female celebrity!

Yang Mi felt that she couldn't even reach Nazha's level.

Because even someone as useless as Gulnazar could become the female lead in "Mojin: The Lost Legend".

However, there's nothing we can do about it.

Dilraba, Gulnazar, and Hanikezi—these women all possess a type of beauty that is acceptable to both Eastern and Western cultures.

As for her face... Yang Mi thinks that it might be very popular in East Asia, but it probably wouldn't be a good match in Europe and America.

After all, Liu Yifei's movies filmed in the United States didn't make a splash at all.

She can't very well say that she's prettier and more famous than Liu Yifei, can she?

Lu Zhiyuan's choice of the female lead was quite deliberate.

Although everyone in the industry knows that Lu Zhiyuan has always taken good care of Liu Shishi.

However, when it came to actually making the movie and casting the female lead, Lu Zhiyuan would often put Liu Shishi at the end of the list.

This is enough to show that it is absolutely impossible to become Lu Zhiyuan's leading lady through back channels!
He'd do anything for a movie, even betray his own family!
However, although Liu Shishi didn't get the lead role, she still managed to get the lead role in the spin-off series thanks to her role as Miss Raven in the "Real Steel" series!
In recent years, Liu Shishi has been frequently traveling to Europe and America, and she is often invited to participate in various fashion events.

Milan Fashion Week? Luxury brand product launches?
How could these resources possibly end up in the hands of a company like Tangren?
Where would Mr. Cai from Tangren have such connections?

If nothing unexpected happens, these connections were definitely built for Liu Shishi by Lu Zhiyuan!
Even Liu Shishi, who's blind, can do it; all I have to do is have a slightly stiff lower half of my face. If I could just act aloof like Lu Zhiyuan in a movie, wouldn't I be able to?

As long as Lu Zhiyuan gives you a chance!

Just once!
Let me prove myself!
"If the movie 'Your Wedding' can reach 7 million RMB at the box office, it means that Sister Honey's ability to drive sales far exceeds my estimate."

"If that's the case, I'll give Sister Mi a small role in the movie 'The Great Wall' to test her ability to handle the big screen."

Many actors have very delicate features when filming TV dramas. But once they appear on the big screen, their faces look strange.

The most typical example is Zhang Ruonan.

Actually, under normal circumstances, Xiao Zhang's face is very delicate and her face is very small.

But once she's on the big screen, her eyes appear wider apart, making her look less refined.

The actress who best fits Lu Zhiyuan's image for the female lead in the movie is actually Zhou Ye.

Her face was very small and delicate.

Moreover, her eyes are very bright, naturally possessing a stubbornness, and her smile exudes a youthful vibe.

Such complex and conflicting emotions appearing on the same face create the atmosphere of a story that a film needs.

He's a natural-born movie actor.

Unfortunately, Zhou Ye's acting skills are indeed not very good.

Fortunately, she was born in 1998, and this year is 2015, so she has turned 17.

……

"I will remember what happened to Sister Honey."

"Xiao Su, you should focus on finishing the post-production of the movie 'Your Wedding'. I don't need your help for now; I've almost finished it."

Su Lun actually has quite a lot of work.

While filming the youth movie "Your Wedding", she also helped Dilraba with the post-production of the movie "Goodbye Mr. Loser".

The two directors from Happy Twist actually did a very good job.

But it was their first time making a movie, and they were really unsure of themselves.

If they didn't have any outside help to pull, they would probably have to bite the bullet and do it on their own. But in the current situation, they have Dilraba, the super boss lady, as their backer, and Lu Zhiyuan's team to consult.

They're not stupid; how could they ignore so many senior masters and go off to figure things out on their own?
On the Happy Twist side, after a few words of crying to Dilraba, she immediately called Kun Ge, who, without hesitation, assigned Su Lun to help.

Su Lun couldn't refuse Kun Ge's request.

The main reason she was able to work with Lu Zhiyuan back then was because she was from the same hometown as Kun Ge, and Lu Zhiyuan helped her get to where she is today because of that.

From a certain perspective, Kun Ge is Su Lun's older brother.

Lu Zhiyuan is Su Lun's older brother!

"Brother Yuan, since that's the case, I'll be going now. Don't worry about the movie 'Your Wedding,' I'll definitely finish post-production within two months and release it around Qixi Festival."

Su Lun first brought up the schedule and discussed it with Lu Zhiyuan to see if it would clash with Lu Zhiyuan's movie release date.
If there's a chance of a scheduling conflict, she'll immediately go back and change to another date.

"I remember that this year's Qixi Festival is August 20th. Considering that the peak box office period for drama films is generally only about 10 days, if 'Your Wedding' can gross more than 100 million yuan on its opening day, its opening weekend box office will be around 300 million yuan. It's not impossible for it to reach 700 million yuan."

Lu Zhiyuan casually calculated for Su Lun that releasing the film on Qixi Festival would be a good idea.

An ordinary youth film, its box office performance is not as impressive as that of a 3D blockbuster.

Moreover, youth films don't need to be particularly picky about release dates.

Because young people bursting with hormones will come to the movie theater to date anytime, anywhere.

If young men and women are going on a date at the cinema, choosing a youth movie is definitely a safe bet... After watching the movie, carrying that feeling of youthful heartbreak, they can find a hotel nearby and let loose!
"The timing for Qixi Festival is pretty good."

Lu Zhiyuan gave an affirmative answer.

He plans to release "Mojin: The Lost Legend" at the end of June or the beginning of July.

This is almost the best time of year.

……

After talking with Lu Zhiyuan about some work-related matters, Su Lun felt more and more confident.

She suddenly realized that her boast about the box office exceeding 7 million was not impossible.

Thinking of this, Su Lun was filled with energy and hurriedly returned to Yuankun Media to work on the film's post-production.

The post-production of the film "Your Wedding" was relatively simple.

Because Lu Zhiyuan already wrote the theme song "Guest" for Jing Tian, ​​and Jing Tian has made the song a hit on her own.

For Jing Tian's little fans, the movie "Your Wedding" is like a theatrical version of the music video for the song "Guest".

This situation can save Su Lun a lot of advertising costs.

……

"Brother Yuan, try my cooking."

Yang Mi and Su Lun left together.

But two hours later, Yang Mi returned. She had packed a delicious meal from somewhere and brought it over to Lu Zhiyuan.

"Your cooking skills? Don't you live in Wangjing? It's more than an hour's drive from here, isn't it?"

Lu Zhiyuan didn't believe that Yang Mi had made this for him.

Yang Mi has absolutely no cooking skills.

She's been working on film sets since she was little and earns a lot of money, so why would she learn to cook? It's completely pointless.

Faced with Lu Zhiyuan's mocking gaze, Yang Mi smiled awkwardly: "Well, this was made by my dad. I'm just passing it on to you, Brother Yuan, so you can try our family's chef Yang's cooking."

Yang Mi showed no embarrassment whatsoever.

If your dad can cook, it's the same as if you can cook yourself.

Thank you for your kindness, but thank you.

Lu Zhiyuan smiled and politely declined Yang Mi's invitation to dinner.

At this moment, Yang Mi's face darkened, and she couldn't help but mutter to herself.

Even when she wanted to please him, he wouldn't give her a chance?

It seems he still looks down on himself.

However, Yang Mi soon realized that she might have been overthinking things this time.

Because shortly afterward, Hanikezi came upstairs in the elevator, carrying a lunchbox in his hand.

"Teacher, come and try my cooking. I got up early this morning to buy the freshest ingredients at the market, and spent more than three hours at home making it, and it took several attempts to finally succeed."

"If you don't try it, you'll be doing a disservice to my brand new pot."

Around 11:30 a.m., Hanikezi delivered lunch to Lu Zhiyuan on time.

It's a very simple lamb pilaf.

However, Hanikezi worked very hard.

She even told Lu Zhiyuan that she had broken all the pots and pans in his house and then went to the supermarket next door to buy new ones.

The other people in the company found these words both funny and absurd.

However, 18-year-old Hanikezi is at the prime of her life.

Cute and clever.

She is also the female protagonist of the "Real Steel" series, Artemis, who is loved by everyone.

She cooked for Lu Zhiyuan and broke the pot, so what?

As long as the house isn't blown up, it's fine.

"Honey, you didn't go to school and stayed at my house all morning? Wait a minute, your teacher is going to call my cell phone again."

Lu Zhiyuan took the mutton pilaf from Hanikezi's hand, gently tapped her head with his finger, and warned her to go to school in the afternoon.

Hanikezi muttered, "Teacher, have you forgotten? I took a long leave from school to accommodate your filming schedule. In case you suddenly decide you want to reshoot a scene this afternoon, wouldn't it be more convenient for me, the second female lead, to be by your side?"

Why should I waste my precious 18-year-old youth in school?

Those people in school attend classes to earn money and find jobs.

I've already earned money, I've already found a job, why would I need to go back to school?
What I need to do now is fight for my own happiness! According to a certain book from my hometown, a man can marry four wives. You already have three, so there's only one empty spot left!
If I don't take it, am I supposed to leave it for Liu Shishi?
Should we leave it to Nazha?

Or perhaps Zhang Ruonan?
The last spot has to be mine!
Because I was here first!

"Honey, when you leave, take Yang Mi with you. I can guess what she's thinking all the time by my side."

"Tell her for me that I don't need these little tricks of flattery, and that she should just get back to work for me."

Lu Zhiyuan was quite adept at dealing with Hanikezi.

As soon as he feels disgusted by the other women present, Hanikezi will immediately step in and deal with them like a loyal dog protecting its master!

really!

As soon as Lu Zhiyuan said this, Hanikezi immediately turned his head, narrowed his eyes, and slowly scanned Yang Mi with a cold, knife-like gaze.

Yang Mi felt very uncomfortable under her gaze.

"Sister Honey, the teacher is about to start work, so don't bother him. Otherwise, I'll call Sister Reba and have your boss come and manage you."

Hanikezi's words left Yang Mi speechless.

If Reba knew that she was constantly bringing food to Lu Zhiyuan and showering him with attention, what would Reba think?
She'll probably come all the way from Los Angeles, heavily pregnant, and pluck out all the little hair she has left.

"Brother Yuan, I suddenly remembered that I have an advertisement to shoot this afternoon, so I have to go now."

Yang Mi is also a person who cares a lot about saving face. After being scolded by Hanikezi, her face turned slightly red and she secretly slipped away.

"Teacher, Yang Mi is gone."

Hanikezi turned around and asked Lu Zhiyuan for credit.

Without turning his head, Lu Zhiyuan said, "The mutton pilaf today tasted good. Keep up the good work. But tomorrow, could you please give me a bowl of tomato soup? Eating only mutton pilaf is a bit too greasy."

Upon hearing that Lu Zhiyuan liked his mutton pilaf, Hanikezi chuckled and said, "I'm glad you like it, teacher. I'll go home now and practice making tomato soup."

Hanikezi was very happy and skipped home.

She plans to take out the quilts from home and air them out again while the weather is nice.

With Dilraba not home, she's the only lady of the house. She definitely needs to take good care of the men in the house.

"Boss, your life is truly fascinating."

After Yang Mi and Hanikezi left, Swasi walked over with a smile and teased Lu Zhiyuan a few times.

However, Schwarzschild was not envious of Lu Zhiyuan at all.

He knew that women's jealousy and rivalry could cause a lot of trouble.

For a career-oriented man like Lu Zhiyuan, having too many women can sometimes be very troublesome.

However, there's nothing we can do about it.

It's all because Lu Zhiyuan is such an outstanding man that women always inexplicably flock to him.

Even if Lu Zhiyuan kicks them a few times, they will feel that hitting is a sign of affection and scolding is a sign of love. Using fists is an even stronger expression of their deep love.

"Schwarzschild, stop talking nonsense. In the scenes where the bronze colossus in the Kunlun Divine Palace comes back to life and chases after the protagonist and others, try to make them as dragging as possible. Make sure the bronze colossus is heavy and moves slowly to give the audience a sense of oppression."

The special effects for this movie are almost finished.

Before the Oscars ceremony, Lu Zhiyuan estimated that he should be able to complete the special effects production.

However, this only represents 30% of the later stages.

Because next, Lu Zhiyuan still needs to arrange the lighting in the film scene and define the atmosphere and tone of each shot.

After completing all this, he still needs to perfectly integrate the special effects production with the live-action shooting.

Finally, there's the editing, color grading, and music selection.

However, once the special effects were completed, the subsequent work was just routine for Lu Zhiyuan.

He no longer needs to trouble others; he can complete the task perfectly within a month by leading his team.

"Boss, don't worry, I ran the rendering again according to your requirements. I also added a bit of the epic feel of Turner's special lighting and shadows."

"After I finish rendering, I'll ask you to evaluate it."

Schwarzschild knew that Lu Zhiyuan was just making up an excuse to nitpick at him and try to skip over the awkward topic from earlier.

Having worked with Lu Zhiyuan for so many years, he had gotten used to Lu Zhiyuan's methods.

As long as the movie can be finished, Lu Zhiyuan doesn't care about making some harmless jokes.

As long as they do their jobs well, Lu Zhiyuan's care for them can be described as pampering.

After Schwarzschild finished the post-production special effects for Lu Zhiyuan's movie, Lu Zhiyuan wouldn't bother with him at all until the next movie started.

Even if he disappeared for two months and was almost out of contact, Lu Zhiyuan would only tell him to pay attention to his health and personal safety and not to go to dangerous countries.

As an employee, it's incredibly lucky to have a boss like Lu Zhiyuan.

Schwarzschild loved this job!

While achieving success and fame, they made money, enjoyed life, and could travel the world with Brother Kun from time to time!

This is what work should be like!
This is life!
……

February 22, 2015, US time.

The 87th Academy Awards ceremony was held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles.

At this awards ceremony, Lu Zhiyuan did not walk the red carpet with Zhang Ruonan.

Because he gradually realized that the way Xiao Zhang looked at him had surpassed the respect and admiration that ordinary employees have for their boss.

He was very familiar with that look.

This time, he chose to position himself as a supporting actor, and then walked the red carpet with Keiko Kitagawa, the supporting actress.

Not far away, Zhang Ruonan walked with Tom Hiddleston, but her eyes remained fixed on Lu Zhiyuan.

Along the way, Zhang Ruonan kept muttering to herself, wondering if Lu Zhiyuan had forgotten that she was the new generation of Lu Girl.
Who is Keiko Kitagawa?

That woman is married!

Moreover, he was a Japanese soldier!

How could Lu Zhiyuan abandon the little angel and run off to be with the Japanese devils?

This is really annoying!
Tom Hiddleston and Zhang Ruonan became quite familiar with each other while filming the movie, and he couldn't help but jokingly say, "Little angel, cheer up. You're only 18, the future belongs to you."

Yes!

The future is mine!
Upon hearing this, Zhang Ruonan perked up and flashed her signature sweet smile at the surrounding media reporters.

They appear harmless.

……

"Director Lu, I originally planned to get married and have a baby this year because my acting career has temporarily reached a new level."

"However, when I learned that you were preparing to start the 'Real Steel 4' project, I decided to postpone my plans to get married and have children for two years."

After filming "Godzilla: Monarch", Keiko Kitagawa realized that even if she became Japan's number one female star, she probably would not be able to become Lu Zhiyuan's leading lady.

She felt extremely honored to be able to play a supporting role in Godzilla, a famous Japanese IP.

Because Lu Zhiyuan turned this version of Godzilla into an epic masterpiece.

Going forward, although there will be other remakes of Godzilla, Keiko Kitagawa believes that no one can surpass Lu Zhiyuan's version in terms of artistic conception and the creation of the character's aura.

Dr. Li is very cool.

Keiko Kitagawa's character in this film has a complicated and ambiguous relationship with Dr. Li.

She even had an engagement ring on her finger.

Whenever other characters in the movie mention Dr. Lee, Keiko Kitagawa always appears on screen turning the ring on her ring finger.

It seemed as if she and Dr. Li were already engaged.

As the woman who conquered Dr. Lee, Keiko Kitagawa's status in the Japanese film and television industry reached a whole new height after the release of "Godzilla: Monarch".

After all, Japan is a country where men are the breadwinners and women are the homemakers.

Many women are housewives.

These housewives have one important area of ​​competition in their lives: comparing their husbands.

Keiko Kitagawa's portrayal of Dr. Lee's love interest in the movie "Godzilla: Monarch" resonated strongly with Japanese housewives, contributing significantly to the box office success.

In a survey conducted at the beginning of the year, Keiko Kitagawa was once again chosen by Japanese people as the most beautiful face, the most popular female celebrity, and the best female entertainer.

"By the way, Director Lu, I've collected several more paintings by Sosuke Morimoto. I'll give them to you next time I travel to China, or when you come to Japan for work."

Keiko Kitagawa knew Lu Zhiyuan's temperament, so she said those flattering things, but Lu Zhiyuan completely ignored her.

Sending Lu Zhiyuan some paintings by Morimoto Sosuke would be the most cost-effective thing to do.

Sosuke Morimoto's paintings are not actually particularly valuable.

However, Lu Zhiyuan himself admires Morimoto Sosuke's soft, misty style.

Even when he was filming the music video for Jing Tian's song "Maybe", he used a lot of Morimoto Kusakabe's style.

This Japanese-style fresh and clean aesthetic perfectly complements Jing Tian's debut work and the subtle sense of parting, pain, and regret in the song "Maybe."

Although Keiko Kitagawa couldn't understand the Chinese lyrics of the song "Maybe", she felt from the melody alone that it must be a story about youth and regret.

It should be very beautiful.

Like cherry blossoms falling, though the process is swift, each petal falls into the heart, leaving a lingering impression.

Jing Tian's performance in the music video for the song "Maybe" was truly remarkable.

After seeing it, Keiko Kitagawa was utterly dumbfounded and couldn't believe her eyes.

This is not the high and mighty, god-like Miss T.

This is clearly a young girl in the throes of first love, looking at the male lead who has never appeared in the music video before, her eyes reflecting a shy reluctance to speak.

That gaze was like twinkling stars, like burning flames.

Like the shimmering light on a clear spring under the moon.

It's also like a sweet, turbulent current.

Even when there are moments of silence in a music video, a single glance is enough to convey unspoken words that resonate deeply in the viewer's heart.

……

Jing Tian's debut music video made Kitagawa Keiko feel inferior!

As expected of Ms. T, her acting skills are superb!

The music video for the song "Maybe" is also fantastic. As expected of a legendary director like Lu Zhiyuan, the music video he directed for a newcomer is simply breathtakingly beautiful.

It makes you want to fall in love after watching it!

(End of this chapter)