Huayu: A Commercial Director

Chapter 181 Venice International Film Festival
The former master and apprentice were fiercely arguing on Weibo, while Chen Shou was still watching the drama unfold on set.

"Don't get involved in their affairs, it has nothing to do with us," Yu Qian said, shaking his head in the video.

"Understood." Chen Shou nodded.

There's not much to say about this, but it did generate a lot of buzz, making this 20th anniversary even more lively.

The reporter couldn't get any useful information from him, so he just published the movie content, giving his film a boost in publicity.

That's just how the entertainment industry is; as long as there are trending topics, that's all that matters.

The specific reasons are hard to say, but let's leave it at that.

Only the two parties know the truth about their problems; outsiders should not get involved. It was discovered that none of the apprentices were involved. Of course, one of them had an accident, and Chen Shou hurriedly left the film crew to deal with it.

Hengdian is not far from Yingtian. Chen Shouzhe couldn't sleep well last night after receiving the call, so he asked someone to drive him to Yingtian.

"Don't cry, tell me what happened first. I don't know what's wrong with you crying."

Chen Shou was wide awake. It was past 1 a.m. when he received the call and immediately set off.

"I...I don't know either. I just heard she fell off the stage, dozens of meters high. Brother, she might be gone, she might be gone." The hoarse voice on the other end of the phone kept crying, and Chen Shou's heart was in turmoil as he listened, becoming more and more anxious.

Falling from a height of tens of meters, some people might die after falling only one or two meters, but tens of meters is the height at which suicide occurs.

How could Chen Shou not be anxious? He suppressed his irritation and said, "Stop crying. We'll talk when I get there."

After hanging up the phone, I drove all the way until dawn, and arrived in Yingtian after a five-hour drive.

Chen Shou took a nap in the car and woke up at the hospital entrance.

There were quite a few people at the hospital entrance. Chen Shouzhe saw many members of the Deyun Society, who were clearly not well-rested. They were all slumped over in the corridor, and when they saw Chen Shouzhe coming over, they hurriedly woke up the people next to them.

"How is the situation?" Chen Shou asked.

"Chen, my senior brother is still in surgery."

How did you fall down?

"I drank too much last night and was taking someone to the train station. I don't know what I was thinking, but I flipped over the stage and fell from the building. The doctors are still trying to save me."

"They're still in critical condition, right?" Chen watched them go buy food, and around eight or nine o'clock, his godparents arrived as well.

After all, it was Zhang Yunlei who had the accident. He fell from Yingtian Railway Station and was rescued last night. It's unknown whether he will survive.

The surgery lasted a long time before the doctor came out, but fortunately, it was a success.

The good news is that there was no blood inside. If there had been blood, it would have been a death sentence. So there is still a chance of survival. We can only wait for him to wake up. However, his bones will require a long surgery, and the doctor said that there is a high probability that he will never be able to stand up and will have to sit in a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

The godmother had been crying all day, and Chen was comforting her as others arrived one after another.

After staying for two days, Chen Shouzhe returned to Hengdian to continue filming, and Zhang Yunlei's condition gradually stabilized.

We've been friends since childhood, so it's good that you're okay.

We originally planned to promote him next year, but it seems we have to put that on hold now.

While Guo Degang and Cao Yunxin are getting along famously, Guo Degang's apprentice is drowning in alcohol and has fallen from a building – a whole host of other issues.

Chen Shouzhe no longer gets involved in the affairs between his disciples; he has already flown to Venice.

To participate in the Venice International Film Festival, Gravity premiered in Venice. It was unprecedented for a science fiction film to attend the opening ceremony in Venice.

Many people in China were shocked by this event. Chen Shouzhe took his science fiction film to Venice and even held a premiere.

Many domestic participants were stunned, as they never expected Chen Shouzhe's first time participating in an award ceremony would be in Venice, which displeased some people in China.

Because Chen Shouzhe never came to accept the award in person when he was at the Huabiao, but now he actually went to Venice.

This isn't a slap in their face; they were working abroad before and didn't have time to come back to receive the award, but now that they're in China, they have to fly there to participate.

Some people started making sarcastic remarks online, saying that Chen Shou was a Westernizer who didn't participate in awards from his own country but instead went to participate in foreign ones.

Chen Shouzhe didn't care about any of that. Anyway, their words were like farts. He had already arrived in Venice, where the film's premiere was being held.

Choosing a science fiction film as the opening film is a first for Venice.

Many acquaintances in China came to see Chen Shouzhe. There was one person from China on the judging panel, Zhao Yanzi. Chen Shouzhe didn't like this girl. She was so close to Alibaba and was reaping profits from retail investors in the stock market.

The film was released globally at the same time, and Chen Shouzhe received a warm welcome when he arrived at the scene.

Many people know him, and they also know that he never attends award ceremonies. This was the first time he had attended an award ceremony, and even the Venice organizers felt honored and made a point of reporting on it.

After all, a troublemaker chose them, which brought them considerable influence.

Chen Shouzhe is no longer the unknown Chinese director he once was. In the directing circle, he is very famous. There's no way around it; his movies have such high box office returns that most people present at the event have made more money.

"Director Chen, I thought you wouldn't make it." Huang Xiaoming also arrived. Not only him, but a large group of people from all over the country came here to make their presence felt.

They have no works to their name, but they all came, and all sorts of press releases were sent to China. People who didn't know better would think they were some kind of international superstars.

Getting a regional endorsement and then acting all high and mighty, with all sorts of exaggerated marketing—it just goes to show how easy it is to make money off idiots.

"Luckily I made it in time. The opening ceremony was a bit late this year, otherwise I really wouldn't have made it."

Many familiar faces came. The premiere was also the opening film of the film festival. As the first 3D sci-fi film to open the festival, I guess many of the older men in the audience couldn't handle it.

They are like those old-fashioned conservatives who see film as art, not technology.

However, in keeping with the times, they also have to admit that they must make changes, otherwise they will be left behind by the times.

Chen Shou dealt with the people who came. The film opening ceremony was held, and there were many people at the scene. The film was shown in the largest screening hall in Venice and was simultaneously released worldwide, except in China.

The first scene takes place in space, with planets in the background. You can hear the actors talking to each other, and three astronauts are flying around in the sky, repairing the Hubble Telescope.

Then the thrilling journey home from space begins, with the camera following the actors almost the entire time.

It's unimaginable how this kind of movie could be made before; the pacing is tight and tense, and the background is so realistic that it keeps the audience on the edge of their seats.

The actors' performances were also perfect, keeping the audience on the edge of their seats.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief the moment the actor landed.

The movie ended. It was over an hour long, and there wasn't a single dull moment. It opened the eyes of the film directors present. The elements of science fiction movies and the 3D cinematography made them feel as if they were in space.

After the premiere, many people came to congratulate Chen Shouzhe, because they knew that Chen Shouzhe had also invested in this film.

He's the only director in China who gets to work on Hollywood projects, so how could he not try to befriend him?

Even Zhao Yanzi came over and said a few kind words, but Chen Shou simply responded with a few words and didn't respond at all.

Next up is the awards ceremony, but it will be at the closing ceremony. The opening ceremony has just begun, and there will be copyright transactions and other events afterward.

The films produced by Zhong Lifan can generally be released globally. There are copyright transactions at the annual film festival, and Zhong Lifan is in charge of all of them. The film copyrights are sold quite well.

The box office figures for the opening day have also been released, showing a global box office of $7021 million, with some figures not yet tallied.

The movie was undoubtedly a success, and its box office revenue was at least $6 million.

The film's investment was $1.5 million, and the return of $6 million is enough to make the film's investors a fortune.

More and more people are congratulating Chen Shouzhe at the film festival. As the film continues to be released, the box office will definitely fluctuate, but those who have seen the film know that it is an excellent film and will definitely make money.

Chen Shouzhe had never been to Europe before, and he rarely attended banquets. He also avoided banquets held by domestic film and television companies, instead choosing to travel to other places.

They didn't even do any promotion for the movie, leaving it to others, focusing instead on being capricious.

Despite this, it was still widely reported by Western media, especially one of Chen Shouzhe's remarks, which made many Western media outlets think that Chen Shouzhe was a carefree person.

"Director Chen, your film is being shown all over the world. Why did you choose to come here for sightseeing instead of staying at the film festival to promote it?"

"Your constant reporting on me is not helping me promote myself, thank you."

"My God, you're right. I'll definitely report on your trip. But aren't you going to do it for your movie promotion?"

"There will definitely be promotion, but I'm behind the scenes. I should leave more spotlight to the actors, and the quality of the film should be left to the audience. I've read the reviews, and they're very good. I believe more people will go to the cinema to enjoy a space journey based on recommendations from friends and netizens."

Chen Shouzhe wasn't traveling alone; he brought Reba along, and the two of them openly and freely enjoyed themselves in Venice.

Reba was an employee under his company. Chen Shouzhe took her to buy a lot of things, and she posted them on Weibo.

"Thank you for the gift, boss."

Sometimes being open and honest doesn't cause any problems. And even if there are, what difference does it make if you're both single?

Some people are really disgusting; Huayi Brothers is hyping up the movie "Pan Jinlian" like crazy.

Especially in China, it's been hyped up to the skies. If Chen Shou had their shamelessness, the movie's box office would definitely be good.

They said that making it into the main competition would guarantee an award.

You can't even get into the main competition, yet you want to win the Venice Gold Medal?
How can you expect to win a medal if you don't even qualify for the Olympics?

Do you really think you're part of the national army? The real difficulties are within China.

At best, it's the Chinese national football team; they can't even make it out of Asia, yet they're hoping to win the World Cup.

People would laugh themselves to death if they told anyone.

However, quite a few people actually bought into this marketing campaign, genuinely believing that the film deserves a Golden Award.

(End of this chapter)