Huayu: Starting with Hijacking from "The Story of a Noble Family"

Chapter 95: Feng Xiaogang, Unable to Swallow His Breath, and Zhou Xun's Withdrawal from the Performance

It's important to know that although Xu Heng's "Our Times" is just an ordinary campus youth film, it has a very significant meaning!

First of all, the film's box office performance speaks for itself, even surpassing the Hollywood blockbuster "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets," making it the highest-grossing domestic film of the year.

Even without "Our Times," Feng Xiaogang's "Cell Phone" would have been the box office champion last year, but Xu Heng and "Our Times" still deserve credit for their contributions!

Secondly, "Our Times" performed exceptionally well at the box office in Taiwan and Hong Kong, and also received positive reviews.

While "Cell Phone," which had a similar box office performance in mainland China to "Our Times," only grossed NT$1500 million in Taiwan, less than a third of "Our Times."

The copyright for Hong Kong City was sold, but the distributor preferred to lose the copyright fee rather than officially release it, because they were worried that they wouldn't even be able to recoup the cost of copies and the film's release!

Last but not least, this film was made entirely by students of the Beijing Film Academy, which is a university directly under the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, established specifically to cultivate film talent!

In other words, this film, "Our Times," can also be considered a political achievement for the Beijing Film Academy and even the State Administration of Radio and Television. It would be strange if it didn't win the Outstanding Feature Film Award!

Even if Xu doesn't care, the leaders of Beijing Film Academy and the State Administration of Radio and Television will not agree!

However, Feng Xiaogang, who was sitting in the audience, looked rather grim.

His film "Cellphone" received three nominations this time, but only won the least prestigious Market Expansion Award. He didn't win the Outstanding Feature Film Award, which he wanted the most, and instead shared the Market Expansion Award with Xu.

Even though he already knew the outcome beforehand, he still couldn't swallow his anger!

Not to mention that Xu had snatched last year's annual box office champion title, which he found even more unacceptable!

The awards ceremony lasted for three hours. Afterwards, Xu treated his three roommates and Liu Yifei's three roommates to a late-night snack, and then they went back to the vicinity of the school together.

When school starts, Xu Heng will be a senior, and Liu Yifei will be a junior.

To make it easier to take on acting roles, he and Liu Yifei's roommate had already rented a house outside the school.

The following day, major domestic media outlets reported on the Huabiao Awards and the winners.

The winners of the 10th Huabiao Film Awards have been announced!

The Huabiao Awards once again awarded two prizes last night, with all the presenters being A-list celebrities!

[Many of the Huabiao Awards' major categories were shared, with many big names falling short!]

[The Huabiao Awards boast a star-studded lineup, resulting in ten tie winners!]

[Both Best Actor and Best Actress winners were nominated, but Jiang Wen and Zhang Ziyi lost out at the Huabiao Awards!]

[“Laughed” won the Outstanding Film Song Award, and Tao Hong gave a heartfelt performance on stage!]

Jaycee Chan performs his new album's theme song, "Singing While Walking," live!

Xu Heng won four awards and performed the theme song "Those Years" from his new movie live!

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These reports have reignited the excitement in the film and entertainment sections of various forums and communities.

Among them, Xu Heng and Feng Xiaogang are the most watched!

"The Huabiao Awards are still the same old thing. They're giving out awards like they're free. They've even given out ten equal prizes. Don't be so blatant and excessive in dividing the spoils!"

"16 nominations, 10 wins—they might as well have won them all!"

"Jiang Wen didn't win Best Actor, Zhang Ziyi didn't win Best Actress, and the crucial point is that both Best Actor and Best Actress awards were shared. Was this intentionally done to appear professional?"

"Xu Heng is amazing! He won all four awards he was nominated for!"

"Xu Heng is a shoo-in for the Best New Director award, and he's the only nominee for Best New Actor. With 'Our Times' box office success in Hong Kong and Taiwan, he'd easily win the Market Expansion Award. I just didn't expect him to win Best Feature Film as well!"

"It was quite unexpected that 'Our Times' won the Outstanding Feature Film award, since most of the other award winners were patriotic films, and even Feng Xiaogang's 'Cell Phone' failed to win this award."

"It would be strange if 'Cell Phone' could be considered an excellent feature film. Although the box office was not low, it was also very controversial, especially because of Cui Yongyuan's situation."

"Feng Xiaogang's film was indeed a bit unfair. It's understandable that it wasn't awarded the Best Feature Film award, but I didn't expect that Fan Binbin wouldn't even win the Best New Actress award."

"And this Market Expansion Award should naturally be based on box office performance in other markets, but 'Cell Phone' fared much worse in Taiwan than 'Our Times,' and it didn't even get a theatrical release in Hong Kong. Why should it win this award? But I guess Feng Xiaogang himself probably doesn't really want this award either."

"He accepted this award together with Xu Heng; I bet Feng Xiaogang was grinding his teeth in frustration!"

"It would be hilarious if Fan Binbin won the Best Actress award at the Hundred Flowers Awards next month!"

"If Fan Binbin really wins the Best Actress award at the Hundred Flowers Awards, then it's absolutely rigged, and the rules were changed specifically for her!"

"Isn't Fatty Hong behind Fan Binbin? Does Fatty Hong have that much influence?"

"Fat Hong certainly doesn't have that much influence, at least not enough to affect awards in mainland China, but who says Fan Binbin only has Fat Hong behind her?"

"Xu Heng performed a song live; you definitely have to watch the awards ceremony tomorrow!"

"Xu Heng has composed another song for a new movie? Why doesn't he just become a singer?!"

"Why didn't 'A Little Happiness' win the Best Original Film Song award, or even receive a nomination? After all, the lyricist and composer is Hsu Heng, and they were fully qualified to be nominated!"

"Xu Heng has already won four awards, and since he's a director, there's no need for him to compete for this kind of song award!"

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Rumors about Fan Binbin and Hung Kam-po (Hung Jin-bao) have been circulating since 01.

At the time, the two were filming a TV series called "Special Police Flying Dragon," where they played the male and female leads respectively. Reports indicated that the two were very close on set.

Later, when Fan Binbin was filming "The Lion Roars", Hong Kong media reported that Sammo Hung visited Fan Binbin on set multiple times.

In April of this year, the two attended a promotional event for the movie "Special Police Dragon" together. When asked about the rumors, they remained silent, neither confirming nor denying them.

As for Fan Binbin's brother, it goes without saying that it has been discussed to this day.

At 7:45 p.m., the "10th China Film Huabiao Awards Ceremony" was broadcast on CCTV-6 Movie Channel.

Soon after, the film and entertainment sections of various forums and communities became lively again, especially when Xu Heng went on stage to accept the award for the first time!

"I have to admit, Xu Heng is really handsome!"

"This guy says he's a born star, and he's absolutely right!"

"The key is that this guy has such a great presence, and he's so young, yet he's not at all stage-frightened on such a large stage. He's incredibly composed!"

"Finally, Xu Heng is going to sing!"

"Wow, this song is amazing!"

"Xu Heng's singing skills are also amazing!"

"I was actually moved to tears by this guy's singing!"

"I have a feeling Xu Heng's movie is going to be a hit!"

"No wonder he doesn't want to be a singer. Compared to the promotional effect and box office gains from his songs, the money he earns from releasing albums is nothing!"

"Earning 20 to 30 million from a movie, there's really no need for endorsements or dating, and certainly no need for singers to do gigs and make money like other artists!"

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At this point, Xu had already begun post-production on the film.

Three days later, on September 1st, the Beijing Film Academy officially started its semester.

In the morning, Xu Heng attended a short class in the classroom, and then went to the editing building to continue the rough cut of the film.

At noon, he, his three roommates, Liu Yifei and her three roommates, and Shu Chang had a small gathering outside the school.

After lunch, Liu Yifei and Xu Heng went to the editing building together.

The song Xu Heng wrote for her to sing was indeed very difficult. Even though she hired a professional teacher to teach her, she still couldn't sing it well.

For some details in the song, it would be best to consult Xu Heng, the original composer.

And it would be best to ask her in person; she definitely doesn't have any other ulterior motives.

Today also marks the opening of the 61st Venice International Film Festival, with Jia Zhangke's "The World" and Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-hsien's "Café Lumière" both nominated for the main competition.

A few days later, on September 6th, news broke that Sun Feifei would replace Zhou Xun as Little Dragon Girl.

However, Sun Feifei herself immediately denied the news, and revealed that after she auditioned for the role of Xiaolongnu, there was no further news, and it was obviously just a smokescreen.

Just two days later, on September 8th, Zhou Xun suddenly released a formal written statement through Sina Entertainment and other media outlets, announcing her withdrawal from the role of Xiaolongnu.

He also stated that many situations have now completely deviated from the work and the character, becoming very boring, and he is unwilling to wade into this "muddy water" anymore!

The original statement was published in full by the media, causing another uproar on major forums and communities!

"I've felt this casting was outrageous for a long time. There's new news every day; it's purely for hype!"

"Zhou Xun did the right thing. This kind of hype is too much. It completely treats actors like tools. No one can stand it!"

"Support Zhou Xun, focus on making good movies, and ignore all this nonsense!"

"Actors are human beings too, and they need respect. Zhang Dahuzi has messed up the casting process; he doesn't take actors seriously at all!"

"Zhou Xun's acting skills are definitely not a problem, but she is indeed not suitable for the role of Xiaolongnu. Her withdrawal is good for both parties. I hope the production team can find a truly suitable candidate and stop creating hype."

"The whole casting process is like a farce. Jun Ji-hyun, Zhang Bozhi, Jiang Qinqin, Liu Yifei, Zhou Xun, Sun Shuangfei—one by one they were dragged out for a spin, but the key is that they still haven't really been chosen."

"The same goes for casting Yang Guo. However, Huang Xiaoming is currently the only strong contender left. It seems that the role should go to Huang Xiaoming, unless something unexpected happens."

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