Huayu: A Commercial Director

Chapter 157 The promotion begins, the first stop is an old acquaintance.

"The usual place."

Upon entering the movie channel's studio, Chen Shouzhe saw a familiar face.

"Director Chen, Director Jiang, Uncle Ge, welcome to us." Guo Wei greeted them with a smile.

In the promotional materials, Princess Six was given a very high priority.

The "Let the Bullets Fly" crew definitely had to come here for promotion, so Chen Shou was dragged over early this morning.

All the main cast members except Zhou Juanjuan were present: Jiang Wen, Ge You, Liu Jialin, and Chen Shouzhe.

"Director Chen, we meet again. It feels like we see each other every few months," Guo Wei said with a smile as she shook hands with Chen Shou.

"Thank you to the movie channel for the invitation, which allows me to promote each of my movies here."

"You're too kind. It's an honor for the movie channel to have you here."

"I wouldn't dare say that," Chen Shouzhe quickly waved his hand.

The sixth princess's boss is the propaganda department, which is half a rank higher than the head of CCTV.

Therefore, the sixth princess is very willful and does not hesitate at all.

Chen Shouzhe had gotten used to coming to the Sixth Princess's place to promote his work, and the Sixth Princess often invited him.

"It's okay, I'll treat you to dinner after get off work," Guo Wei said with a smile.

Seeing how familiar Chen Shouzhe was with the host, Uncle Ge couldn't help but tease, "What exactly is your relationship?"

The two are close in age, handsome and beautiful, a perfect match, and they even have dinner together after get off work. It's obvious that their relationship is more than just casual.

“We’re friends. Director Chen helped me out not long ago, and I still owe him a meal,” Guo Wei said.

"Then my lunch is sorted out." Ge You said with a smile.

“No problem, please join us too, Director Jiang, and everyone else,” Guo Wei said generously.

"The Central University's cafeteria is pretty good. I ate there last time. Let's go eat there together after this is over." Chen Shou smiled, thinking, "What's the point of eating with a bunch of grown men?" He indirectly helped Guo Wei out of the awkward situation.

Next is the interview process, which needs to be checked in advance. However, the movie channel will never follow the usual procedure and will definitely prepare other questions, especially those for external audiences.

The movie channel is not afraid of offending people, and has always been very assertive in its external publicity.

The interview mainly focused on film, and it went smoothly at first.

When it came to the last few questions, Guo Wei took out the teleprompter she hadn't practiced with.

"Here he comes, here he comes. Director Jiang is in your hands now," Chen Shou said with a smile.

"What?" Jiang Wen hadn't been to the movie channel for a long time and had no idea about the current routine.

"It's alright, you can't escape anyway, you have your own problems." Guo Wei winked playfully, leaving Ge You and the others completely bewildered.

"Next, I have a few questions. We all know that the movie 'Let the Bullets Fly' was remade, and it's said that the two of you had a conflict over it. Is that true?" Guo Wei asked.

Chen Shou shrugged and looked at Jiang Wen.

Come here.

Jiang Wen understood that this was a problem outside of the movie.

“It’s true,” Jiang Wen nodded.

Ge You and Liu Jialin both looked at Jiang Wen and Chen Shouzhe, surprised that the rumors were true and that the two had had a conflict.

"Is it serious?" Guo Wei asked nervously.

“It’s all in the past, but you could say he was very angry,” Jiang Wen shrugged and said with a pout.

"In the end, the movie had to be recast and reshot. How was that resolved?" Guo Wei continued to ask.

“He did something wrong, so he has to pay for it. Therefore, he has to bear all the expenses for the reshoot,” Chen Shouzhe said.

"What are your views on celebrities with bad records?" Guo Wei asked.

"Ban it," Chen Shou said.

Jiang Wen nodded. He thought it was all in the past and that the current rules shouldn't be used to treat people who committed crimes before. But he didn't expect that the person would be arrested again after the movie was finished. He could only accept his bad luck.

I originally wanted to keep it under wraps, like the great poet, and then hide it during the publicity period and release it secretly.

Unexpectedly, Chen Shouzhe found out. For the sake of the film's reputation and his own, Chen Shouzhe would not hand over his film to someone else to mess around with.

Even if it's someone you know, you have to go down there; there are no reasons or excuses.

"One last question: you chose to reshoot, while Director Chen Kaige chose to release it, and it even passed censorship. Director Chen, you have publicly addressed the issue of censorship more than once. I'd like to ask what your thoughts are on this matter." Guo Wei's words became sharp.

Even Ge You's smile faded this time; the question was too sharp.

Chen Da Shi Ren is a top-ranked director in China. Although Chen Shou Zhe is not bad either, he is far inferior to him in terms of awards, experience, and background.

Businessmen are no match for those within the system; it has always been this way.

No matter how successful Chen Shouzhe's commercial films are, he is still not recognized by many self-important directors within the directing circle.

Just like writers, who often belittle each other, directors are no different.

My films are the best in the world. No matter how well they sell, they can't compare to the artistic merit of my films. I've won all sorts of awards. No matter how high your box office is, you're still just money-grubbing and inferior.

Especially since Chen Shouzhe was originally a crosstalk performer, he was often attacked as a low-class person.

In this day and age, to still use "low-class" to describe an actor only shows that this person is a remnant of feudalism. If given the chance, those people would definitely choose to restore the old order.

The country has been established for decades, yet some people still live in the old society. Such people are typical hypocrites who stand on a moral high ground to critically watch pornography.

It can only be said that the class hierarchy has always existed, but some people are unwilling to admit it. Those who have risen to the top have blocked the path for others to rise, and then passed it on to their own descendants.

This question is directed at Chen Shouzhe; it's a matter of review.

"I have nothing to say. The flexible review system is always unpredictable. I have nothing to say," Chen Shou said, spreading his hands and glossing over the past. He couldn't very well let him get into another fight with Director Chen.

After the interview, Guo Weizhen invited them to have lunch in the cafeteria.

I have work to do this afternoon, so I won't go anywhere else to eat.

The canteen at the Central People's Hospital is quite good; it's much better than other places in this respect—clean, hygienic, inexpensive, and with a wide variety of food.

Seeing Chen Shou carrying plates of food for them, the people working at CCTV weren't particularly excited. They'd seen too many celebrities and artists; it wasn't worth getting so excited. They just glanced at them a few more times.

Several people gathered around to eat. After they finished eating, some wanted to go back to their cars to rest, while others found a quiet place to sit and chat.

Chen Shou was not present for the afternoon's promotional work. After finishing his meal, he left directly, and Jiang Wen led the team to continue the promotion.

They will then go to various universities to promote their work, with the first stop being Jiang Wen's alma mater, the Central Academy of Drama.

However, Chen Shouzhe noticed that he seemed to be even more popular than Jiang Wen, and the school leaders would hold his hand whenever they saw him.

"Has Director Chen considered giving him a position at the Central Academy of Drama?" a school leader asked with a smile.

The teachers at the college are tenured, which means that as long as he agrees, he can immediately become a regular member of the staff, and he also has the Central Academy of Drama as his backer.

Don't be fooled by the fact that the Beijing Film Academy is more popular than the Central Academy of Drama; you can see people from the Beijing Film Academy everywhere.

In some ways, it's like the difference between the movie channel and CCTV; the two are only half a level apart in terms of their respective hierarchical structure.

The Central Academy of Drama is superior to the Beijing Film Academy. One is a university in the capital city, while the other is a university with "China" in its name. That's the difference.

The joy of jumping from Beijing Film Academy is not just a challenge to the status of Central Academy of Drama. If Chen Shouzhe could join Central Academy of Drama, it would definitely be better than staying at Beijing Film Academy. Besides, he is too lazy to go to Beijing Film Academy now and basically has no contact with it, even his alma mater.

"I don't have any ideas right now. I'll think about it when I get older," Chen Shou said.

“Why don’t you do what I do and come to the Central Academy of Drama for classes whenever you have free time?” Jiang Wen said.

He declined the invitation last year, but not entirely; he said he would come back to give lectures when he had time.

He just came back to show off.

Returning to his alma mater was indeed different. Jiang Wen is one of the few great directors at the Central Academy of Drama. In the face of the dominance of the Beijing Film Academy, he is one of the few precious talents of the Central Academy of Drama.

The Central Academy of Drama has no shortage of good actors, but it lacks good directors.

Comparing the best acting department at the Central Academy of Drama to the worst acting department at the Beijing Film Academy is an insult to the Central Academy of Drama.

Therefore, the Central Academy of Drama has been trying to improve the directing department's capabilities over the years, and the best way to do this is to find directors.

Even the directors and managers of Chen Shou's current company are mostly from the Beijing Film Academy.

Guo Fan, Wu Ershan, and even Huang Bo are all from the Beijing Film Academy, which is quite awkward.

The recent speech by a teacher from Beijing Film Academy gave the Central Academy of Drama hope. If they can really bring Chen Shou over, it would undoubtedly be a slap in the face to Beijing Film Academy.

"Never mind, I don't have time right now," Chen Shou said, shaking his head.

"You don't have time? You spend all day at the horse farm playing with the animals and riding around on tall horses, and you still don't have time?" Jiang Wen retorted.

"Otherwise what? I work every day. I make several movies a year, while you can't even come up with one movie in several years. How can you compare to me?" Chen Shou said irritably.

Jiang Wen was speechless for a moment. What was the point of Chen Shou's numerous films? If they were truly useful, his movies would have incredibly high box office returns. What could she possibly say to refute that?
Didn't win an award?
Is it rare?

The Huabiao (ornamental column) has already been reserved for the "Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy" competition. As for the other awards, Chen Shouzhe has not been interested in them and has never registered for them. This has led many people in the association to say that Chen Shouzhe does not know the rules, and some have even used their connections to pass messages to Chen Shouzhe, urging him to participate.

Unfortunately, Chen Shouzhe ignored all reason. Even when he was involved in the Battle of Tiger Mountain, he only attended the Huabiao Awards and didn't attend the other awards. He said, "I don't need your approval."

Chen Shouzhe received invitations from international awards, but he declined them all, citing inappropriateness.

Even though Kung Fu was nominated for several awards, Chen Shouzhe didn't attend any of them, not even glancing at them.

Jiang Wen definitely wants to go for a spin during the "Let the Bullets Fly" competition, and she still hopes to win an award.

Chen Shou did not stop them from pursuing him, since he had no interest in it anyway.

The leaders of the Central Academy of Drama knew how arrogant Jiang Wen was, but they never expected that she would be humiliated by Chen Shouzhe. It was the first time they had ever seen her do this.

Please invite them into the largest classroom on campus. There are many students here today, including some graduates from the Central Academy of Drama.

Chen Shouzhe saw someone who surprised him, who was also sitting in the audience watching.

"Why is she here too?" Chen Shou asked.

"I guess they came for you." Jiang Wen shrugged.

(End of this chapter)