This director is so innocent.

Chapter 155 Playing the victim

"What's the name of this movie?"

"You Are the Apple of My Eye"

"What are you talking about?"

"It's about the male lead, Ko Ching-teng—" Su Jin gave a brief overview of the plot.

The plot of "You Are the Apple of My Eye" is very simple and can be summarized in a few sentences.

The male protagonist and his four best friends all fall in love with the pretty and well-behaved girl in their class.

Driven by different motives, they used every means they thought would be effective to express their love.

Naïve and ignorant, full of longing for love, hoping to be with the person she likes.

Time passed and years went by; in the end, none of them managed to win her heart.

Many years later, this group of old friends gathered together and watched as their former leading lady married a man much older than themselves, thus ending their youth.

Su Jin published her novel "Those Years" first, so there were no copyright disputes.

If Giddens Ko releases this, sue him.

To be honest, the script and storyboard of "You Are the Apple of My Eye" were very ordinary and not difficult at all.

The plot is mediocre, the narrative is simple, and the professional shooting angles are actually quite poor. The only commendable aspects are the realistic portrayal of campus life and the regrets of youth.

Therefore, Su Jin does not intend to direct it himself, nor does he have the time to prepare to find Yang Qing or train a new director.

Liu Shishi looked at Su Jin, frowned, and asked, "Brother Jin, is this novel based on your own experiences?"

"No, I made it up." Su Jin lied without batting an eye.

Besides, with his looks, there's no girl he can't win over if he puts his heart into it.

Liu Shishi looked at Su Jin with suspicion. Why didn't she believe her?

"You Are the Apple of My Eye" is so realistic, it feels like it happened right next to me.

Su Jin glanced at Xia Jie, took out her phone, and called Huang Jiaqiang to tell him about the "Those Years" incident.

Then, he made another phone call to Yang Qing.

After hearing the plot summary, Yang Qing wasn't very interested and wanted to decline, but when he heard that Su Jin was the lead actress, he immediately accepted.

For no other reason than that he also wanted to become a director with a net worth of 100 million yuan.

On that day, the news of "You Are the Apple of My Eye" being adapted into a film or television series became a trending topic.

"In my lifetime!"

"I remember reading 'You Are the Apple of My Eye' when I was in high school. In the blink of an eye, I've already graduated."

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"I've always liked Shen Jiayi. Su Jin promised me that you must play Ke Jingteng. I don't approve of anyone else but you."

""

"Me too, I think Ko Ching-teng is projecting Su Jin's face onto the image."

"Shen Jiayi, my Shen Jiayi."

"Su Jin, when will 'Cry Me a Sad River' be adapted into a TV series?! I've been waiting for so long."

The discussion was very heated, and it quickly rose to the top of the trending searches.

Seeing the buzz surrounding Shen Jiayi, Huang Jiaqiang called Su Jin to ask if they should organize a voting campaign for her.

Su Jin agreed without even thinking.

A few minutes later, the poll "Choose your favorite Shen Jiayi" appeared on the trending searches.

Of course, this voting activity is not official.

Otherwise, if a winner is chosen, should they be used or not?

If I use it, what will happen to Sister Xia?

Huang Jiaqiang is good at stirring things up; he's managed to include all the popular young actresses of recent years in his list.

Liu Yifei, Yang Mi, Tangtang, Jiang Yiyan, Huang Shengyi, Prince Pingxi, Ge Meimei —

There are ten popular young actresses of all ages, including Sister Xia.

As expected, Liu Yifei swept aside all others and won first place with overwhelming force.

More than 110,000 people voted, and more than 80,000 of them voted for her, and her vote count is still growing.

As for Sister Xia, she received 0.8% of the votes.

Seeing her pitifully low vote count, Sister Xia has been feeling uneasy for the past two days, fearing that she might lose her leading role.

Su Jin only felt at ease after repeatedly assuring her that she would not be replaced.

With the voting campaign making such a big fuss, Ya Hua Zi naturally found out and made a special phone call to test Su Jin.

Su Jin dismissed the matter by saying that this was not an officially initiated voting activity.

Tangtang, Yang Mi, and Jiang Yiyan also called to inquire, but she refused them all.

A couple of days later, another poll popped up on the trending topics list: "Choose your favorite Ko Ching-teng."

The selection process naturally involves choosing from all the currently popular young actors.

Su Jin, Brother Hu, Master Huang, Nie Yuan, Zhong Hanliang, Lin Zhiying —

First, that goes without saying; out of more than 200,000 votes, Su Jin accounted for over 80%.

After three months of development, Weibo has surpassed 4000 million registered users and is moving toward 5000 million.

In such a long time, Tencent, Sohu, NetEase, and Sina Weibo have almost launched their own microblogs.

Penguin is the fastest, starting internal testing in the first half of next month.

In order to counter the impact of the four companies, Su Jin plans to bring forward the second batch of "Four Little Fresh Meat" and "Four Little Flower".

For such a large-scale event to gain the approval of most people, one company certainly cannot handle it.

Therefore, Weibo is investing millions to launch a voting campaign in conjunction with 100 mainstream media outlets and 100 entertainment reporters.

The selection criteria are also very simple, which is a comprehensive consideration of multiple indicators such as popularity, influence, quality of works, and activity level.

The selection process began in May and lasted for two weeks.

It's estimated that by then, all four companies will have launched their Weibo accounts.

After this event, there will be a national "Most Beautiful Campus Belle" competition for college students.

On March 31, Su Jin took a week off and flew to Beijing that night to attend the second day premiere of "Nightclub" and subsequent promotions.

The premiere was small, held at China Film Stellar Cinema, and sponsored by Sina Entertainment.

There weren't many people who came; they were mostly familiar friends.

Su Jin's friend, Xu Zheng's friend, and the Prince of Pingxi's friend.

As for the bigwigs of major film and television companies, they weren't even invited.

The cost of "Nightclub" is what it is; even if you invite other people, they won't come, so it's better not to invite them at all.

Su Jin asked Ning Hao, "Where's the post-production for 'Racing' progressed?"

"We've only finished one-third of it."

-

When are you planning to release it?

"It depends on what Third Master decides, but I want it to be released during the Lunar New Year season, though I doubt Third Master will agree."

Why?

"You know Chen Kaige's film 'Mei Lanfang,' right?"

"Know."

"Mei Lanfang was invested in and distributed by China Film Group. A blockbuster like that is definitely going to be released during the Lunar New Year holiday, you get it!"

Su Jin nodded, indicating that she understood.

To put it bluntly, it's because Zuo Shandiao (a famous bandit leader) was afraid that "Crazy Racer" couldn't beat "Mei Lanfang." Of course, there might also be another meaning: they are both domestic films, so there's no need to put them together to fight.

Ning Hao looked around and asked, "Where's Yang Qing? I don't see him."

"He was just here a moment ago." Su Jin looked around and saw Yang Qing walk in from outside.

"Where did you go?"

"Restroom," Yang Qing replied.

"Is this kidney deficiency, or are you just nervous?" Su Jin teased, as this was Yang Qing's third trip to the restroom.

"Who's got kidney deficiency? I completely tamed my girlfriend last night," Yang Qing exclaimed.

"What's so deadly?" Xu Zheng came over with a big bald head, and Xiao Taohong was with him.

"Nothing—nothing at all." Yang Qing blushed when he saw Xiao Tao Hong was there, after all, it wasn't very appropriate to show off this in front of a woman.

Xu Zheng wasn't particularly curious, so he said, "I heard that 'Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon' is also having its premiere today!"

"Yes, they're at the Oriental New Century Cinema," Yang Qing replied.

Not only "Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon," but also Chow Yun-fat's "The Children of Huang Shi" held its premiere today.

The three films will be released simultaneously on April 3.

"Su Jin, do you think our 'Nightclub' can beat 'Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon'?" Xu Zheng asked.

"Yes," Su Jin said confidently.

Despite his words, he actually had no confidence at all.

While "Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon" received poor reviews, "Nightclub" wasn't much better.

The cast is far superior to that of "Nightclub," featuring Andy Lau, Sammo Hung, Maggie Q, Ti Lung, Yu Rongguang, and Pu Cunxin.

Su Jin led Zhu Bajie to fight them all.

His only advantage is that he is currently very popular, and "Nightclub" is a comedy.

After chatting for a while, the premiere began.

The only investor in "Nightclub" is Jianmu Media. After the Jianmu Media Iogo segment is played, the main feature begins.

The opening scene shows Su Jin and King Xi taking inventory of the items, and then Xu Zheng appears. The audience laughs when they see Xu Zheng's receding hairline.

Hearing the laughter, Yang Qing felt much less nervous.

"Nightclub" is a comedy film with no real depth; if the audience laughs, it means the film is good.

Then, Xu Zheng and Ping Xiwang got into an argument over the lottery, and then Lei Datou appeared, providing a lot of laughs.

Then the two kidnapped Su Jin and the King of Pingxi.

Then it was a series of guest appearances by various actors.

Wang Xun, who scalded his mouth with hot soy milk, and Huang Xiaoming and Yang Mi, his old classmates who were bragging, were accompanied by a taxi driver who brought Zhang Guoli.

Sun Honglei also made a cameo appearance, uttering the classic line: "Is this melon guaranteed to be ripe?"

Ninety minutes later, the lights came on, the movie ended, and the entire audience stood up and applauded, paying the highest tribute to the creators.

Su Jin and the others came on stage, introduced themselves, and then began the reporter interviews.

"Nightclub" is my first starring role in a comedy film. Please forgive me if there are any parts that aren't funny.

.

"Why not direct it yourself?"

"There is an ancient saying that goes, 'A gentleman does not take what others love.' Yang Qing put a lot of effort into 'Nightclub,' and he prepared the script for three whole years."

Why act in comedy movies?

"I want to challenge my weaknesses and broaden my acting range."

After answering three or four questions, Su Jin turned her attention to Yang Qing.

"I would like to express my special thanks to Director Su, who gave me the opportunity to direct."

You should know very well that it is very difficult, extremely difficult, for a newcomer to direct a film; it's like climbing to the heavens.

Director Ning Hao spent a year getting this opportunity.

As for me, it took me six years.

As Yang Qing spoke, her voice began to tremble and her tone became choked with emotion.

He took a deep breath to calm himself down, and then continued, "Ever since I graduated, I've dreamed of becoming a director, but reality is cruel. The investors dismissed my scripts and threw them straight into the trash."

Even worse, they publicly humiliated me, saying my work was too stiff even to be used as toilet paper.

As Yang Qing spoke, tears welled up in her eyes and streamed down her face like a burst dam.

Su Jin was stunned. He couldn't tell whether it was a genuine expression of emotion or a pretense.

Because I had already agreed with Yang Qing before going on stage that we should play the victim and gain sympathy.

The media reporters below were particularly excited; the director's tears in public meant there was news to write about.

They raised their cameras and started snapping pictures of Yang Qing.

Yang Qing noticed the reaction from the audience. He quickly wiped away his tears, gave a wry smile, and said apologetically, "Sorry, I got a little emotional."

"Splash—"

The audience erupted in enthusiastic applause, offering encouragement to Yang Qing.

"Thank you, thank you!!" Yang Qing bowed in gratitude, then continued, "Nightclub is an excellent film. I hope everyone will enjoy it, and I also hope everyone will promote it. Thank you."

Xu Zheng said, "Thank you, Director Yang, and thank you, Director Su, for giving me this opportunity. I've known Director Yang for a while now, and we're good friends."

I had heard him tell this story before, and I thought it was a very interesting story and that it would do well at the box office.

I was thinking about investing, but then my daughter was born, and I wasn't as driven as before, so I backed down. Thinking about it now, I feel ashamed.

""

The Prince of Pingxi said, "When I first received this script, I fell in love with it. The story is very exciting and full of laughs. I almost laughed myself to death while filming."

At the end of the interview, the reporter asked about box office expectations.

"5000 million," Su Jin said.

The media reporters below were shocked. They could roughly guess how much "Nightclub" cost: less than five million.

This is an attempt to recreate the dark horse success of "Stone" from two years ago!

Ning Hao happened to be sitting in the audience.

"Director Ning Hao, what are your thoughts on 'Nightclub'?"

Ning Hao immediately flattered him: "The movie is great, with lots of laughs. I laughed non-stop the whole time. It's no worse than my movie 'Stone'."

Su Jin was satisfied with Ning Hao's first few sentences, but she was very dissatisfied with the last sentence, which was a forced compliment.

Everyone knows that "Nightclub" and "Stone" are indistinguishable; the difference between the two is too great.

Huang Bo also came, and he showered the movie with praise, saying things like how excellent it was and how many laughs it had.

Su Jin and the others hadn't gotten together in a long time, so after the premiere, they went out for barbecue together.

During the dinner, the topic of "The Forbidden Kingdom" inevitably came up.

The Forbidden Kingdom has been scheduled for release on April 23, with a North American release date of April 18.

Speaking of the truly wealthy, Huayi Brothers is the place to be; they're genuinely rich.

Rumors circulate that the promotional budget for "The Forbidden Kingdom" was 4000 million yuan, covering land, sea, and air.

Kong chartered a Hainan Airlines plane.

The sea is a large cruise ship.

Lu Ziran goes without saying; online platforms include major portals, forums, Weibo, Douban, and other websites, while offline platforms include subways, magazines, print media, building information, bus stop signs, buses, radio stations, and so on.

It's fair to say that news about "The Forbidden Kingdom" is everywhere.

Xiao Wang even made a bold statement, predicting that the box office would exceed 3 million yuan, breaking the box office record of "Curse of the Golden Flower".

If it weren't for the things he's done recently, the publicity for "Nightclub" wouldn't have made a ripple at all.

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