Director of Photography Department of Huayu

Chapter 487 The Unpopular Mountain Eagle

The announcement of the Golden Globe nominations has added fuel to the already heated Lunar New Year film season.

Many actors felt a sense of frustration that was hard to explain.

Would this nomination be useful for Jiang Wen?

In their eyes, it was utterly useless, a complete waste of resources.
Zhang Ziyi felt somewhat upset upon seeing Jiang Wen's nomination, especially since she had just met with Gong Li, both of whom had been invited by Wong Kar-wai to star in "The Grandmaster".
Wong Kar-wai said that inviting Gong Li was a plan from a long time ago; the role of the female leader of that martial arts school was specifically for her.
She wants you to play the role of Ip Man's wife, and she promised to give you more screen time!

Zhang Zinan spoke slowly, and Zhang Ziyi became very indignant.

Is she interested in the role of Ip Man's wife? That role has no appeal whatsoever.

What is Gong Li's attitude now?

Zhang Ziyi took a deep breath and, to be honest, when competing with Gong Li, she was indeed far inferior to her, mainly in terms of awards.

That's why she felt that Jiang Wen's Golden Globe nomination was a complete waste, as he clearly didn't intend to go very far as an actor.
"I heard that Gong Li is very interested, but she previously worked with Wong Kar-wai on '2046,' and she had some reservations about his unscripted, script-based, on-the-spot filming style. Maybe..."

Although Zhang Zinan didn't finish speaking, Zhang Ziyi understood what he meant.

This isn't the first or second time she's snatched a role from Gong Li. She did the same with "Memoirs of a Geisha," and although she was slapped hard during filming due to a scene, what does it matter?
"What a pity, it would have been great if it were a Sino-US co-production starring Wu Chen."

Zhang Ziyi glanced down at the report again and sighed silently. In China, the only people who could help him take another step forward were Wu Chen and Li An.

At this time, on Weibo, the hashtags #JiangWenGoldenGlobeNomination# and #TheMarsRescueThreeNominations# alternately surged to the top of the trending searches.

Netizens are very enthusiastic and have made many predictions, but some veteran movie fans have also brought out historical data and compared it one by one.

"To be honest, I don't think the chances of winning any of these three nominations are very optimistic. In the past twenty years, you can count on one hand the number of science fiction films, especially hard science fiction films, that have made it onto the major Golden Globe Awards, let alone the acting categories."

The examples given are very practical.

Even Spielberg's "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial," a sci-fi film full of humanistic concerns, received numerous nominations at the Golden Globes and Oscars.

The results were mostly disappointing, with the only noteworthy achievement being the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama.
As for awards like Best Director, they were all just nominations; the Oscars simply awarded four technical awards to get rid of them.
This is why The Martian wasn't nominated for Best Director this time.

There was also a great deal of discussion among film critics in mainland China.

"The fact that 'The Martian' was categorized as a comedy was a strange classification operation in itself, but in the end, it was a smart choice of genre."

It avoided the fierce competition in the drama category, but historically, its chances of winning awards aren't particularly optimistic.

"While the Globe Awards are slightly more 'commercially friendly' than the Oscars, they are still dominated by dramas, musicals/comedies, and films with star-studded performances, while hard science fiction has long been relegated to the sidelines."

On the contrary, the media's predictions are relatively optimistic.

"The Golden Globes have always been a bellwether for the Oscars," one media outlet analyzed. "Although the combination of science fiction and comedy is still a weak point at the Oscars, the Golden Globe nominations at least helped 'The Martian' attract more interest from the judges."

"Even if it doesn't win an award in the end, these three nominations are still quite prestigious." Han Sanping was very concerned. As this year's box office champion, and the film he had participated in since taking the helm of China Film Group, winning an award would be a kind of fulfillment.

What does Global Times say?

"Global Times said they'll do their best, but they told us not to have too high expectations. This type of award is really one of the least popular, and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say it's the worst."

"So low."

Han Sanping was taken aback upon hearing this. Damn, he'd considered a low score, but he never imagined it would be last. After hanging up the phone, he immediately consoled himself, "Hey, being nominated is good enough, it's a victory in itself."

Just then, the secretary knocked on the door, strode forward, her face serious, and whispered a few words in Han Sanping's ear.

Upon hearing this, Han Sanping's face turned ashen. He quickly turned on his computer and casually added another question:
"Really?"

"Chairman Han, it's true. The media has reported it. Zhang Weiping said it in front of the media."

The light from the computer screen cast the media reports onto Han Sanping's trembling, fleshy face.

"The Huabiao Awards have become a monopoly and a personality cult. People who know it are aware that it is the highest government award, but those who don't might think it's some company's private performance."

The audience was filled with bigwigs from mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, and the crowd above was chanting "Thank you, Third Master Han!" What "Third Master"? At first, I thought it was the notorious bandit leader Zuo Shandiao (a notorious bandit leader in Chinese folklore)!

"He can share the profits and get benefits without spending a penny. China Film Group doesn't actually have many cinemas, but its greatest power is importing films. It's common knowledge that they use the scheduling of imported blockbusters to squeeze out domestic blockbusters."

If you don't cooperate with him, he'll release two imported films during the same period to compete with you, like unleashing dogs on you. "A Simple Noodle Story" chose to cooperate with China Film Group this time, so it was besieged by two major imported films during its release period.

Han Sanping's face grew increasingly ashen. Upon seeing the words "Zuo Shandiao," he finally couldn't hold back any longer and burst into a tirade:

"Bullshit. Did we surround him? If we had surrounded him, would I have released '2012' in the middle of last month, almost a whole month later?"

"."

This news was explosive and quickly went viral online, especially within the industry, where it was widely discussed.

"You really dare to say that."

"You know what, the adjective 'Zhang Weiping' does seem somewhat fitting. However, Zhang Weiping is somewhat unethical. Back then, films like 'Hero,' 'House of Flying Daggers,' and 'Curse of the Golden Flower' were released in a way that allowed China Film Group to monopolize the market."

"He has Zhang Yimou on his side, and he can talk his way out of it, so he's certain Han Sanping won't dare do anything to him."

Many people, including Ning Hao, don't understand why Zhang Weiping suddenly started criticizing.

"Where does Zhang Weiping get the audacity to speak like that? Isn't he afraid that one day without Director Zhang, he won't be able to survive in this industry?"

"Hard to say"

Wu Chen smiled and shook his head, glancing at the end of the report. Zhang Weiping's last sentence—"Him? Disdainful!"—was the essence, truly offending Han Sanping to the core, even more so than the nickname "Mountain Eagle."
(End of this chapter)