Huayu: Are you even sitting up straight? You're going to be the director?

Chapter 125 Suppression of the Candidate

"This is what Cao Zhong told me personally, but how far it will go, how would I know?"

Although Han Sanpin was willing to act as a go-between, he didn't want to take the blame.

"If we could really get three hundred million..." Chen Kai hesitated for a moment, trying to figure out how to take back what he had just said, but then realized it wouldn't be a good idea.
Finally, I decided to be honest and said, "It's not that I can't take a look at this script, but I have to agree to the fact that he wants to choose a partner for me."

Upon hearing that there was a way to speak, Han Sanpin smiled and replied.

"Alright, it's settled then. You focus on filming 'Mei Lanfang' and try to wrap it up as soon as possible. If all goes well in the follow-up communications, you'll be in charge of directing Cao Zhong's film."

Han Sanpin didn't want to continue to upset Chen Kaige, after all, it was rather awkward to ramble on and then immediately back out of the matter.

He has to give Chen Kai some face.

"What's going on? Why did Cao Zhong's name come up when Chairman Han called you?"

Chen Hong asked curiously.

"Cao Zhong has a new script, and Chairman Han is planning to have me direct it."

"Isn't this a good thing? Why are you angry?" Chen Hong asked curiously, somewhat cautiously. She had just heard some of the details, but she didn't quite understand them.

“Cao Zhong said he would find me a partner,” Chen Kaige clenched his fist. “He said partner, but that just means he’d keep an eye on me. He even told Chairman Han not to make me change the script.”

Chen Hong immediately understood.

But for some reason, she thought of the scene yesterday where *** and the others held Chen Kai down tightly, preventing him from changing the script.

Get this image out of the public eye quickly.

Chen Hong offered words of comfort.

"Chairman Han has gone too far. He knows your temper, yet he still comes to ask for your opinion."

As a wife, Chen Hong would definitely side with her husband.

She could understand her husband's feelings very well. For a director who had won the Palme d'Or to be spoken to like that by a young man in front of Chairman Han was simply an insult, and it was a really unpleasant feeling.

In the past two years, because of "The Promise", Chen Kaige felt that he had been really wronged.

Those viewers didn't understand the movie, yet they insisted on putting questions on his head.

In terms of box office, although Zhang Yimou was his cinematographer back then, he has long surpassed him in both domestic and global box office performance of commercial blockbusters.

They even took away the position he wanted to be the director of the Olympics.

He was merely expressing his lofty sentiments through poetry; what did he do wrong?

The fact that no one can see his talent is a loss to the world.

The aftermath of Cao Zhong's previous triple structure did affect "Farewell My Concubine," but it didn't have a significant impact on the film itself, as it was a banned movie.

So when Han Sanpin pressed down on Chen Kaige, Chen Kaige just went along with it.

He needs to stabilize his career in the next two years. Only after "The Promise" and having new works will he be able to speak more confidently.

"Mei Lanfang" is his gift to the Chinese film industry and the world film industry. Even before filming began, everyone knew that he wanted to use this film to compete for the Oscars again.

“But…” Chen Kaige’s face stiffened as he looked at Chen Hong and said, “Chairman Han said that Cao Zhong believes this film is worth at least 300 million yuan.”

Chen Hong was stunned, completely dumbfounded. Three hundred million?
"So what's your opinion?"

“Zhang Yimou has been busy with the Olympics these past two years,” Chen Kaige said. “If it really makes 300 million, I’ll definitely outperform Zhang Yimou at the box office.”

His tone clearly still contained a lot of dissatisfaction, but it was also mixed with some indescribable feelings.

Chen Kaige is eager to prove himself.

Cao Zhong's box office surpassed Chen Kaige's, making him the highest-grossing director. Chen Kaige was unhappy about this, but given that Cao Zhong had also surpassed Zhang Yimou.

He generously forgave Cao Zhong.

But what Han Sanpin said today is something Chen Kaige finds very hard to ignore.

Chen Hong knew Chen Kai's thoughts and also knew that Chen Kai was concerned about his image.

She thought for a moment and advised, "Actually, it wouldn't be a bad thing to arrange a partner. Anyway, you'll be the director, so you can have a bit more free time."
Moreover, those words might not necessarily mean what Chairman Han meant, since it was a message relayed by an intermediary.
Perhaps Cao Zhong wrote the script himself, and he was afraid that if you changed it, the movie would be even better, and if you told others that you changed the script, you would be taking credit for his work.

"You're right, that's about it." After hearing Chen Hong's explanation, Chen Kaige quickly convinced himself.

Both of them had very complicated emotions at that moment, and remained rooted to the spot for a long time.

……

the other side.

Li Ming, Zhang Ziyi, Sun Honglei, Wang Xueqi, Yu Shaoqun, and others also gathered together for a private discussion.

The scheduled filming time failed to start as planned, which naturally surprised everyone.

"What just happened? Why did Director Chen get so angry?"

"Ziyi, weren't you eavesdropping just now?" Wang Xueqi asked.

"I only heard the gist of it." Since she was the only female lead in the crew, she didn't intend to keep any information to herself. "It seems that Han Dong of China Film Group wants Director Chen to direct Cao Zhong's new script, and Cao Zhong expects it to gross 300 million yuan at the box office."

After these words were spoken, the expressions of the several people changed.

Then the entire crew fell silent.

Li Ming stared in disbelief, Wang Xueqi's mouth gaped slightly, and Sun Honglei's eyes widened.

The group exchanged glances, speechless.

"After 'Mei Lanfang,' does Ziyi have any new projects to join the cast?" Leon Lai asked.

"Yes, there are," Zhang Ziyi said with a subtle expression, "but if an opportunity worth 300 million were presented to us, who would give it up?"

"If Sister Zhang wants to compete for a leading role, Director Chen probably won't refuse," Sun Honglei said with a smile.

“I’ll ask Director Chen for his opinion later,” Zhang Ziyi said with a smile, and she was very confident. “If we really had to compete, I doubt anyone could beat me.”

At Beijing Film Academy, Yang Mi was secretly memorizing English during class when she suddenly sneezed several times.

She truly didn't expect that her two-minute scene would be noticed by the well-known actress Zhang Ziyi...

……

On the other side, Cao Zhong, who had just hung up the phone, was wondering who could suppress Chen Kaige.

His first thought was of Tsui Hark after the collapse of "Seven Swords".

Although there were some minor flaws in "The Battle at Lake Changjin," co-directed by Chen Kaige, Tsui Hark, Dante Lam, and others, the film industry and the overall story were still fine.

But when Chen Kaige himself filmed the "Volunteer Army" series, it turned out to be terrible in an attempt to promote Arthur.

The dialogue scenes are hollow and forced sentimentality. The pre-battle singing, flowers, candy, female soldiers running around and disobeying orders are all extremely empty and fake.

The overall situation and the course of the campaign were presented using PowerPoint slides and text, with almost no top-down decision-making chain, and no mention of the Party's leadership and command!

This isn't just a problem with Chen Kaige; it's a problem with many war films.

Cao Zhong didn't actually mind if they didn't film this content, but he still had to mention it at least once or twice.

Cao Zhong wants to do more things. Actually, it wouldn't be a bad thing if a great director like Chen Kaige could be subtly corrected by him.

After all, he's a renowned director, and he influences trends in the film industry.

Such large-scale scenes can only be handled by a great director.

There are very few candidates from the mainland, so Cao Zhong didn't really have many options either.

Thinking of this, Cao Zhong asked Zhao Haicheng to check on Tsui Hark's latest news.

It's just to give Han Sanpin face, but Cao Zhong at most treats Chen Kaige as a tool. If all else fails, he'll try his best and choose a backup option.

Upon hearing Cao Zhong's instructions, Zhao Haicheng immediately stood at attention.

"Okay, Director Cao."

He was well aware of his position; he was now Cao Zhong's secretary.

He is loyal to both Chengying Film Studio and China Film Group!

(End of this chapter)