Who says Beijing Film Academy has no great directors? (2002)

"..."

After Anne Hathaway left, Liu Yifei felt the warmth of her hand and belatedly realized that the two had held hands in front of Anne.

She quickly and shyly let go of his hand, two blushes spreading across her face.

Chen Yan's emotions were instantly calmed down. Who cares who's shy in front of Liu Yifei? As long as Liu Yifei is only shy with him, that's enough.

Despite her assertive and domineering demeanor, she's not exactly a shy little girl in front of me.

Liu Yifei casually started a conversation and asked, "You just told Annie that we have something to do? What is it?"

"Having dinner with me, isn't that a big deal?" Chen Yan joked.

Liu Yifei was stunned for a moment: "Is this a big deal?"

"Yes!" Chen Yan stepped forward, put his arm around Liu Yifei's shoulder, and led her out.

"Food is the most important thing for the people."

......

In the afternoon, James's deputy, Gabe, came to pick up Chen Yan. People from Lionsgate wanted to discuss a collaboration with him.

"Have they arrived?" Chen Yan asked.

Gabe was a dark-skinned, burly American man who spoke with an unusually soft voice.

"Yes, boss. They've been wanting the rights to 'Saw' for a while now, wanting to buy it out to film a low-scare series. As you instructed, we refused. Recently, they've started to soften their stance and say they can collaborate on the development."

Chen Yan nodded: "Okay, then let's meet."

At first, Lionsgate arrogantly wanted Chen Yan to come to their territory to talk, but Chen Yan refused outright. How dare they ask Chen Yan to come and visit them?

Later, after they learned from James that YF's boss was actually a famous director from China, their attitude completely changed.

Of course, this was also something Chen Yan had James reveal to them.

"Are you going out to discuss something this afternoon?" Their conversation didn't deliberately avoid Liu Yifei. She picked up a fork of vegetables, stuffed it into her mouth, and asked while chewing.

"Um, are you going?" Chen Yan asked casually.

Liu Yifei thought about it for a moment and declined. It seemed like a serious matter, so she wouldn't cause any trouble.

"Okay, then you can rest well at the hotel this afternoon. When you go out, have someone follow you." After the incident of Rafero Falieri harassing Annie, Chen Yan hired two private security guards for Liu Yifei and Liu Xiaoli.

I'm not a fortune teller, and I won't be by their side 24/7. Let the professionals handle the professional matters.

Chen Yan took a sip of the hot water, wiped his mouth, stood up, and said, "I'm leaving."

Liu Yifei waved goodbye to Chen Yan, and Chen Yan smiled in response.

On the road, Gabu was driving.

Chen Yan closed his eyes and recalled James's call in 03 saying he had found a very good notebook.

When Chen Yan asked about the book's title and heard it was "Saw," he immediately decided that James absolutely had to buy it.

This script was written by Wen Ziren and Leigh Whannell in Australia. After finishing it, the two went around looking for investors, but no one was interested.

It wasn't until they met James that they finally managed to buy it from Wen Ziren after two months of persistent negotiation.

However, while filming "Alice in Wonderland", Wen Ziren suddenly approached James again and asked if they could buy back the script for "Saw" at a high price.

He said Lionsgate was willing to fund the film and invite him back to direct it.

After James asked Chen Yan, Chen Yan told him directly to refuse, that selling was impossible, but cooperating on development was possible.

Then Lionsgate came to James to keep negotiating until these last two days when they heard that Chen Yan was behind YF Company. They finally relented and said they could cooperate on development, but they needed to sit down and discuss it in detail.

Chen Yan got out of the car. This was the place Gabu had chosen; the restaurant offered a lot of privacy.

"Boss, this way," Gabu directed Chen Yan.

Chen Yan glanced at his watch, then stepped inside.

After entering and giving Chen Yan's name, a tall, beautiful white woman immediately led them to the 7th floor in the elevator. As soon as they entered the private room, they saw three people.

One of them is Wen Ziren, a renowned director in the horror genre. He has an Asian-looking face, and his small but sharp eyes widened the moment he saw Chen Yan.

So young! This exclamation appeared in the minds of all three people at the same time.

Tom and Pete immediately stood up. Both were senior executives at Lionsgate. Tom was in charge of film business, while Pete was in charge of film acquisition. It was after Pete saw the script for "Saw" that he told Tom that Lionsgate had to make the movie.

Wen Ziren was a beat slow, but he still got up.

Tom introduced the three of them in a few words: "Hello, Director Chen, I am Tom, the head of film business at Lionsgate. This is Pete. He was the one who selected 'Saw,' so we brought in director Wen Ziren, hoping to buy back his hard work and have Lionsgate bring it to the big screen."

"Hello." Chen Yan shook hands with each of the Lionsgate executives politely.

Wen Ziren quickly stepped forward and shook hands with Chen Yan. "Hello, Director Chen Yan, I've seen your film 'Love,' it's truly a magnificent masterpiece!"

Chen Yan smiled politely and said, "Thank you. When I saw 'Saw,' I really wanted to talk to you about it. Director Wen really has a lot of terrifying ideas in his head."

Wen Ziren is an Australian of Chinese descent. He is a little over 1.6 meters tall, thin and small. It is hard to imagine that such a short body contains such powerful energy.

"No, no, this idea came up with with my partner; it wasn't my doing alone," James Wan replied modestly.

Chen Yan knew who his partner was: Leigh Whannell, a genius in the horror film genre and James Wan's lifelong partner.

After exchanging pleasantries, the dishes were served, and everyone took their seats.

Tom, a senior executive at Lionsgate, looked at Chen Yan as if he were a goose that lays golden eggs, and even fantasized about how wonderful it would be if such a director were one of their Lionsgate directors.

He kept praising Chen Yan, while the collaboration on "Saw" became a secondary matter.

"Oh? So Director Chen is currently filming 'Alice in Wonderland'? That's a fantastic IP!"

Tom is an expert, so he knows that making a special effects blockbuster like this requires an investment of more than just a few million dollars.

Investments often amount to hundreds of millions.

Chen Yan smiled and hinted, "We can talk about collaborating on 'Alice in Wonderland' later."

Tom and Pete both shuddered, and they exchanged a glance, both seeing the immense potential profit in each other's eyes.

Tom chimed in, "That would be perfect, Lionsgate is very interested."

A Cannes triple crown director plus a Berlin Best Director award, a project with an investment of hundreds of millions, plus a huge IP with a massive audience base—that's a sure-fire box office hit.

Anyone who refuses is a fool.

When Chen Yan left, he had already reached an agreement with Tom and the others to co-develop "Saw". Based on the fact that they would also be co-developing "Alice in Wonderland" later, Lionsgate relinquished some rights.

They were just short of asking Chen Yan if he wanted to personally direct the film. Of course, if Chen Yan was willing, they would definitely replace Wen Ziren without hesitation.

As they left, both Lionsgate executives were all smiles.

As Wen Ziren was about to leave, Chen Yan called out to him, who had been largely invisible throughout: "Director Wen, would you like to have afternoon tea together sometime?"