It's reasonable for me to be a three-time Golden Horse Award-winning director and an all-around

Chapter 160: I've renounced my US citizenship! Shut up, trolls! (Seeking monthly votes)

Thankfully, it's 05, and the word "Versailles" hasn't appeared yet, otherwise Liu Yifei's words would likely have drawn a lot of criticism.

With your looks, you actually call yourself a loser? And the ugliest in your family?
You know, the "loser" in everyone's mind is usually a rough guy who sits in an internet cafe all night playing games, picking his toes and nose, and is too lazy to even shave.

That's what you call a loser!
But what about Liu Yifei?
With a face as beautiful as an angel, how dare he call himself a loser?

What kind of international joke are you kidding?
"Director Lü, do you agree with her assessment of yourself?" The reporter from Sina.com, skeptical, turned to Lü Rui, hoping he would say something fair.

By Liu Yifei's standards, 99% of the people present would be considered losers.

"Let's all look forward to her performance in the movie." Lü Rui didn't answer directly; he was still a bit confused by the word 'loser'.

"Hmph." Liu Yifei snorted softly and muttered to herself.

She thought she was quite down-to-earth, but for some reason, no one outside believed her.

"And what about you, Ms. Liu? Do you think your daughter's appearance is the most ordinary in the family?"

The reporters then turned their microphones toward Liu Xiaoli.

“It’s alright,” she thought for a moment and gave an answer that surprised everyone, “Her face probably doesn’t look good on camera.”

Everyone: "???"

With her looks and demeanor, it's clear that God has been feeding her!

You still say you're not photogenic?
This family probably has their own unique definition of what constitutes good looks.

Confused, the reporters temporarily abandoned their interview with Liu Yifei and turned their attention to other people.

Today on set, we have A-list actresses like Fan Bingbing, as well as rising stars like Huo Siyan and Shu Chang, who are currently popular and preparing to break into the A-list. They are undoubtedly good interview subjects.

Especially Shu Chang, whose popularity soared after the premiere of "The Lotus Lantern" and her role as "Xiao Yu" in the film!
As we enter the fourth quarter, not only is the film market booming, but the TV drama market is also in full swing.

Sun Li and Deng Chao co-starred in "Happiness Like Flowers," while "The Lotus Lantern" featured Shu Chang, Jiao Enjun, and Yan Danchen. Following closely behind was "Moment in Peking," starring Zhao Yanzi.

The three dramas are vying for viewership ratings, each wanting to be the top performer.

Judging from the current data, "Lotus Lantern" is still the most impressive, having climbed to second place in the overall viewership ratings.

As for the number one spot, it is none other than the "divine drama" imported from South Korea, "Dae Jang Geum"!
Meanwhile, Fan Bingbing also gained attention for playing the role of "Daji" in "The Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Phoenix Cries in Qishan", and many people are looking forward to her portrayal of the fox spirit.

"Zhang Ziyi has recently faced a lot of criticism for playing a Japanese geisha in 'Memoirs of a Geisha.' What are your thoughts on this?"

Suddenly, one of the reporters in the crowd blurted out such a sentence.

Fan Bingbing's smile froze, her mind racing.

She knew that recently, due to certain national circumstances, a lot of patriotic sentiments had suddenly emerged online.

Zhang Ziyi was subjected to a barrage of criticism for playing a Japanese geisha!
If this were anywhere else, she would have expressed her "patriotism" without hesitation, while also taking a jab at Zhang Ziyi.

The four actresses and two actresses are rivals, and they never hesitate to kick someone when they're down whenever they get the chance.

However, the current situation is that Liu Yifei, who is standing next to her, has also been criticized recently because of her nationality.

Therefore, if she were to step on Zhang Ziyi, she might accidentally hurt Liu Yifei...

Thinking of this, she immediately said, "I believe that as a public figure, as long as she abides by the law, has a kind heart, and is loyal to her country, then her character is not a problem..."

She had tried her best to express her opinion in a very tactful way, but she didn't expect that the reporters' target wasn't her at all.

The next second, the microphone and camera both turned towards Liu Yifei.

There's a lot of controversy online about your nationality. Do you have anything to say about it?

Fame brings trouble; this is the norm in the entertainment industry.

Lu Rui clearly remembered that in her previous life, the most criticized aspects of Liu Yifei were her nationality and teeth.

She never offered any explanation for this, but simply paid her taxes in accordance with the law and consistently donated money to help others.

Compared to those who immigrate abroad but use patriotism as a pretext to make money, she has already done the best.

With Lu Rui's prior assistance, she was well-prepared to answer reporters' questions about her nationality again: "I have already renounced my American citizenship and have now obtained Hong Kong citizenship. The next step is to apply for mainland citizenship."

As soon as he finished speaking, the scene fell silent!
The reporter, harboring malicious intent and wanting to stir up trouble, blurted out instinctively, "How is that possible?"

Liu Yifei stared straight at him, her eyes unblinking, showing no sign of backing down: "Do you need me to show you my Hong Kong ID card?"

The reporter was speechless for a moment.

Seeing this, Liu Xiaoli, who was standing nearby, secretly rejoiced that she had listened to Lü Rui's advice and changed her nationality back.

Otherwise, if my daughter wants to develop her career in mainland China, her nationality issue will inevitably be brought up repeatedly.

The main reason for choosing to obtain Hong Kong citizenship first is that it is too difficult to obtain mainland citizenship!

If she was born abroad, she can renounce her US citizenship and apply for mainland Chinese citizenship after turning 18.

However, she has now renounced her citizenship and become a U.S. citizen.

In this situation, it's not easy to come back and reapply for mainland residency; the various review standards are extremely strict.

Therefore, the only option at present is to apply for Hong Kong residency.

Yinghuang was a great help in this process; otherwise, it wouldn't have been so easy to apply for Hong Kong residency.

This is precisely why Lü Rui was willing to entrust Yinghuang with the distribution of "Remote Control".

Yang Shoucheng is indeed a good person.

Over the past two years, Lu Rui has clearly felt the goodwill he has been extending to the mainland.

Unlike others, who are single-mindedly focused on profits and money.

...

After the interview, filming officially began for "Sunny Sisters".

The reporters received their red envelopes and left the film crew to rush to write their articles.

That afternoon, press releases about interviews with the film crew were released one after another, instantly sparking a wave of heated discussions and attention.

"The youth-themed film 'Sunny Sisters,' written and produced by Lü Rui, directed by Zhao Peng, and with an investment of up to 6000 million RMB, successfully held its opening ceremony press conference at the Beijing Film Academy."

Fan Bingbing called on Zhang Ziyi to abide by the law, be kind-hearted, and be loyal to the motherland...

Liu Yifei responded candidly, saying that she actually has a "loser" personality in private, that she has the lowest appearance at home, and that she is not very photogenic...

"The issue of Liu Yifei's nationality, which previously sparked public controversy, has now been officially clarified... She has renounced her US citizenship, acquired Hong Kong citizenship, and is currently applying for mainland citizenship. The 'Fairy Sister' is demonstrating her patriotism through her actions..."

Hong Kong is an inseparable part of China!

With the release of press releases, Liu Yifei's popularity has surged once again!
In an era where some people admire America and others are obsessed with patriotism, her courage to renounce her American citizenship is something not everyone possesses. More importantly, even after obtaining her Hong Kong ID card, she hasn't made any deliberate efforts to publicize or market it.

If it weren't for the reporter mentioning it today, this matter probably wouldn't have been exposed for a long time.

This point has garnered widespread praise from netizens, with compliments appearing across various forums.

"She changed her nationality back as soon as she came of age, which shows she was prepared in advance. Let's see who can pretend to be blind and bring up her nationality now!"

"I'm really curious, how much tax does she have to pay to renounce her US citizenship? She's earned a lot over the years, she's really going all out! The price is too high..."

"Who can't shout patriotic slogans? But few actually put them into action. What about those foreign celebrities? Are they willing to give up their American citizenship?"

"Haha, several media outlets that criticized Liu Yifei's nationality have already deleted their articles."

“I think she wasn’t wrong before. Although she eats Chinese food, she didn’t criticize Chinese food. Some people are just too extreme and jealous of others…”

Discussions about this topic are constantly gaining momentum on various blogs, online forums, and Tianya forums.

Meanwhile, on the set of "The Banquet," Zhou Xun listened to his assistant's report, his face turning pale and then red, feeling extremely annoyed.

She never imagined that her carefully orchestrated public opinion attack would ultimately benefit Liu Yifei.

Many people don't know that even the wave of criticism Zhang Ziyi received for "Memoirs of a Geisha" was fueled by her behind the scenes.

The competition among the four leading actresses was already fierce, and now that two of them are in the same production team for "The Banquet," their open and covert struggles for top billing and screen time have never stopped.

Taking advantage of the current surge in patriotic sentiment to suppress Zhang Ziyi was a move she made in the first place.

As for bringing Liu Yifei along, it was just a convenient thing to do.

She has no intention of letting the matter of losing the role of Little Dragon Girl back then pass so easily.

Originally intending to embarrass the other party by using the nationality controversy, Liu Yifei unexpectedly dropped solid evidence of renouncing her US citizenship and acquiring Hong Kong citizenship, instantly reversing public opinion and earning her a lot of goodwill.

The scheme I painstakingly planned turned out to benefit someone else in the end...

This move was a classic case of trying to steal a chicken but losing the rice instead!

Zhou Xun grew increasingly frustrated, crumpling the script in her hand and not even responding immediately to the executive director calling her to the set.

Seeing that her expression was off, her assistant cautiously advised, "Sister Xun, don't be angry. Maybe there will be other opportunities later..."

Zhou Xun's expression was gloomy, and he snorted coldly: "Just wait, this is definitely not over!"

Just as they were muttering to themselves, the assistant director walked into the dressing room again and urged, "Zhou Xun? What are you doing? Didn't you hear Director Feng calling you? We're about to start filming!"

"Okay, coming right away."

As Zhou Xun stood up and walked out, he couldn't help but ask, "Director Zhou? This script really can't be changed? I think my character's scenes could be expanded."

The executive director, surnamed Zhou, was speechless after hearing her words: "I can't decide whether to revise the script. You have to go to Director Feng. Besides, aren't you an actor? Do you even know anything about screenwriting?"

"I know a little bit," Zhou Xun said with an awkward smile, and didn't say anything more.

She certainly didn't understand screenwriting, but she knew that the more screen time a character had, the higher their billing and status.

She certainly didn't have the courage or the qualifications to bring it up with Feng Xiaogang.

However, we can offer some suggestions to Wang Zhonglei.

……

After filming began for "Sunny Sisters", Lü Rui did not stay on set for long, only staying for one morning before leaving.

Although he is the producer and is responsible for controlling the quality of the film, he is actually the kind of producer who is "hands-off" and does not interfere too much with the director's creative process.

After confirming that the scenes Zhao Peng filmed overlapped with more than 90% of the footage he remembered, he felt reassured and handed over the work.

Just visit the film set regularly; there's no need to keep an eye on things all the time, which only puts more pressure on everyone.

In China, the director-centric system prevails, and it's best not to have two voices in a film crew, otherwise problems are likely to arise.

Meanwhile, on the other side, after the box office of "Click" broke 80 million, the growth trend suddenly slowed down, and the daily box office also fell below 10 million.

Lü Rui was not surprised by this.

The National Day holiday rush has passed, and most people who were willing to spend money to see a movie have already seen it.

The release of pirated DVDs has had a significant impact on the release of the full movie.

In the later stages, if the total box office revenue is to continue to rise, it can only be achieved by gradually increasing it bit by bit.

There are still more than half a month left in the screening period, so it should be no problem to gross over 100 million yuan at the box office.

This movie was undoubtedly a hit!
In contrast, "The Myth" fared much worse.

Pirated DVDs were rampant everywhere, and many music stores were selling them openly, causing its daily box office to drop to below 300 million.

Jackie Chan's box office appeal, on the contrary, has made pirated DVD sellers a fortune.

However, the producers certainly won't lose money either.

Although the investment was as high as HK$1.6 million, the company was able to recoup most of the costs by selling the copyrights overseas, thanks to Jackie Chan's name. It was just that the profit was less than expected.

Speaking of Hollywood, on the 14th, under Warner Bros.' management, "Taken" officially opened in North America with a scale of 3501 theaters.

On the morning of the 15th, news from North America dominated major forums and portal websites:
"Reprinted from The Hollywood Reporter: The Sino-foreign co-production 'Taken,' directed by Lü Rui and starring Jiang Wen, Liu Yifei, and Zhou Yun, grossed $734.6 million on its opening day in North America!"

This news has once again caused a stir in the entire Chinese entertainment industry!

It's worth noting that when "The Prestige" was released in North America last year, its opening day box office was only a little over $300 million.

"Taken" grossed $734 million on its first day, which is about 5872 million RMB!
That's an amazing achievement!

On Tianya, a post was pushed to the top:

"Will Taken break Heroes' North American box office record?"

Lü Rui also saw the relevant news and posts.

Warner Bros. even called, hoping he could come over as soon as possible to participate in a few promotional events and boost the film's box office.

Of course he wouldn't refuse.

The higher the box office, the more he earns and the greater his fame.

If there's profit to be made, of course we have to cooperate.

But before that, he had to attend the launch press conference for "Soldiers Sortie" to help out...

(End of this chapter)