I am a historical film director in the entertainment industry.

Chapter 164 No Title

In the eyes of many Chinese, Li Zhi was a weak, incompetent, and henpecked man. How could he possibly have the title of Emperor?
If this person were Emperor Taizong or Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, it wouldn't be so surprising.

However, if you look at real history books, you will find that Li Zhi was really vilified.

The Old Book of Tang defended Empress Wang, Changsun Wuji, and others, saying that Li Zhi listened to the words of treacherous officials and was far inferior to his father, making him "a foolish and incompetent ruler who was a product of the past."

The New Book of Tang compares Wu Zetian to Bao Si and Li Zhi to King You of Zhou, lamenting that Emperor Taizong "could not make a decision when it came to deposing and establishing emperors, and ultimately used a foolish and incompetent young man," which "poisoned the world and brought disaster to the country." It insists that Li Zhi was a foolish and incompetent ruler.

In fact, this "foolish child" ruled for thirty-four years, during which the Tang Dynasty's territory once reached more than 1200 million square kilometers, exceeding not only the current land area of ​​China, but also marking the peak of the entire Li Tang Dynasty.

The Tang Code, compiled during his tenure, had a profound influence on later generations and is a representative legal code of the Chinese legal system.

The nation's strength was growing steadily, its economy continued to develop, and its prestige spread far and wide, playing a pivotal role in the transition from the Zhenguan era to the Kaiyuan era.

That's why Cheng Sheng's "The Great Tang Dynasty - Origins" was hailed as a masterpiece in China.

The actors in the film instantly became the most popular foreign stars in the country.

"The Great Tang Dynasty" was not only a hit in China, but also a huge success in the United States, breaking all Chinese film box office records.

Moreover, the main creators of the film even appeared on American television programs as a result.

It also has a certain reputation in the United States.

Even recently, Hollywood director Steven Spielberg invited Su Chang to star in his new film, which he was producing.

When this news spread in the country, it caused a huge sensation and became headline news.

Who is Spielberg?
That's one of the most outstanding directors in Hollywood. Compared to him, Wu Baige isn't even worthy of being mentored.

Now he's actually taking the initiative to invite Su Chang to star in his movie, something that every actor in China dreams of.

Unexpectedly, it was given to Su Chang.

The CCTV even reported this news.

Just when everyone thought Su Chang would agree to star in a Hollywood movie, news came from Hollywood that the people Su Chang sent to negotiate with had rejected Spielberg's invitation.

This news completely stunned everyone.

Refused?
Su Chang refused?

Everyone thought Su Chang had gone mad.

He turned down such a great opportunity to break into Hollywood.

Su Chang stunned everyone and also embarrassed some celebrities.

Zhang Ziyi, in particular, has always worked incredibly hard in the industry, dreaming of breaking into Hollywood and becoming an international star.

She paid a heavy price for this; in an attempt to attract attention, she even wore a red bellyband when walking the red carpet with Zhang Guoshi.

This look became an instant global sensation, and photos of her wearing a red bellyband and arm in arm with Zhang Guoshi circulated internationally.

This offended her "patron," Zhang Guoshi, who was furious and even cursed at her, feeling that she had gone too far and did not know how to restrain herself.

In 99, he met Li An and joined the cast of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon".

Because "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" is a martial arts action film with a lot of fight scenes, it was very difficult to film.

To gain Li An's approval, she insisted on performing her own action scenes without a stunt double. Even during the filming of one fight scene, an accident caused her entire fingernail to be knocked off.

However, she didn't fuss about plunging her injured hand into the snow to stop the bleeding and insisted on finishing the scene.

Zhang Ziyi, who played Yu Jiaolong in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", received great attention as soon as the film was released.

She portrayed the character perfectly, and her beautiful and skillful action scenes impressed even foreigners.

She won several international awards for this drama, which opened the door for her to go international.

As her international path opened up, so did her ambition, which led her to officially enter Hollywood in order to collaborate with Jackie Chan.

On one occasion, she appeared as a surprise guest at Jackie Chan's birthday party to wish him a happy birthday.

In an attempt to please Jackie Chan, she publicly kissed him and had him feed her drinks.

That's not all. She even openly sat on Cheng Long's lap, feeding him grapes by hand, showing concern for him, and even catching the grape skins with her hands.

After being pampered and pleased, Jackie Chan picked up Zhang Ziyi in his arms.

After the dinner, the two walked back to the hotel hand in hand, and the photos were uploaded online the next day.

Although she made a great sacrifice, she successfully joined the cast of "Rush Hour 2" and officially entered Hollywood with this film.

This shows just how much sacrifice Zhang Ziyi made to get into Hollywood.

Now, Su Chang has been invited by a Hollywood director without making any sacrifices at all, which is a slap in the face to Zhang Ziyi, and a slap at that.

This also made Zhang Ziyi realize that it's better to rely on yourself than on others.

Cheng Sheng's personal studio has launched two TV series in a row. Who wouldn't want to act in them?

Zhang Ziyi actually wanted to audition, not for any other reason than to take the opportunity to get to know Cheng Sheng.

As for whether she can be selected, Zhang Ziyi doesn't care. After all, she's not going for the TV series, but for Cheng Sheng himself.

However, after seeing that Cheng Sheng was not the director, Zhang Ziyi lost interest and instead set her sights on Spielberg's new film.

Su Chang doesn't want it, but she does! This is an opportunity.

……

As dramas poised to become wildly popular across Asia, "My Love from the Star" and "Descendants of the Sun" directly earned their production companies tens of billions of Korean won, and the four lead actors firmly secured their top-tier status through these dramas.

Therefore, Cheng Sheng still values ​​these two dramas quite a bit.

Although both dramas were entrusted to Sun Fei and Yang Ting, he would still keep an eye on them when he had time.

In Cheng Sheng's view, the earning power of the TV drama market is not necessarily worse than that of the film market; in fact, some hit TV dramas have even earned more money than movies.

When a TV series is popular, it is usually only broadcast on one or two fixed channels or online TV platforms. Other platforms will start broadcasting it shortly after the initial broadcast on the platform. In fact, the broadcasting rights of the initial broadcasting platform are one of the ways for many TV series to make money. Most online TV platforms and TV channels will bid for the broadcasting rights of TV series.

Especially for phenomenal works, many directors can make a fortune just by selling broadcasting rights. The broadcasting rights for the hit TV series "Story of Yanxi Palace" were sold to nearly 100 countries.

The revenue from the broadcasting rights for each episode is approximately 500 million.

Prior to this, classic works such as "Journey to the West" and "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" generated even more outrageous revenue from their broadcasts.

(End of this chapter)