This director loves making friends.

After starring in Qin Keqing's "Sweet Life", Lin Guobin's situation did not change. He was invited to play supporting roles in movies.

As Anita Mui's boyfriend, Lam Kwok-pan actually had more opportunities, thanks to Anita Mui's connections, to play more significant roles in more films.

As for playing the male lead, unless it's a special opportunity like "A Bittersweet Life," it's still very difficult.

Lin Guobin is a martial arts practitioner. He used to be a member of the Jackie Chan Stunt Team, hanging out with a bunch of rough, tough guys who practiced martial arts. While not exactly a chauvinist, he was extremely concerned about his image.

Because of the huge gap in fame and status between him and Anita Mui, what bothered him most was being called a "gold digger".

However, the Hong Kong media and paparazzi still like to talk about this.

Even his old buddies from the Jackie Chan Stunt Team liked to tease him about it in private.

"How does it taste to be a superstar?"

"You're secretly thrilled to be beating up the diva, aren't you?"

"Between you and the diva, who's on top? Hehe..."

"..."

It's not easy to fall out with those old buddies over this. What kind of vulgar things haven't those martial arts masters said to each other in private?

What vulgar things haven't you done?

What can Lin Guobin do?

Gradually, this became a thorn in Lin Guobin's heart, and it festered deeper and deeper.

So much so that when he went to other film crews to film, he always felt that other people were looking at him in a strange way, and whenever someone whispered to him, he felt that they were talking about him.

To make matters worse, Hong Kong tabloids broke a shocking story: the reason Lin Guobin was able to become the male lead in Win's Entertainment's "Sweet Life" was because his excellent martial arts skills had won over a diva in some way, and the diva then found him the resources...

As is well known, Hong Kong is famous for its paparazzi and gossip news.

What that tabloid said was actually more direct and explicit, even going so far as to claim with certainty that reporters staking out the villa in Tin Hau at night could hear desperate screams coming from inside...

Lin Guobin couldn't take it anymore.

In early April, before the Cannes Film Festival announced the list of films selected for the main competition, he had a talk with Anita Mui and Fang Che and ultimately chose to break up amicably.

To avoid reporters and to "heal his wounds," Lam Kwok-ping found a film co-produced by Hong Kong and the mainland called "Chasing the Wild Wolf Gang" and plunged into the film crew, going to Shenzhen, the mainland, to shoot the movie.

"Bin, Bin, haha, I have some good news, do you want to hear it?"

Lin Wei walked quickly to Lin Guobin's side, put his arm around his shoulder, and said excitedly.

In "A Sweet Life", Lin Wei plays an important supporting role as a triad boss, and has many scenes with Lin Guobin, the male lead.

The two coincidentally joined the cast of "Chasing the Wild Wolf Gang" together again.

It's not really a coincidence. Generally, in co-productions between mainland China and Hong Kong, if the mainland production company has a slightly stronger voice, it tends to invite Hong Kong actors who speak better Mandarin.

The mainland production studio behind "Chasing the Wolf Pack" is Changchun Film Studio, which invested in the film. In addition, one of the two directors is also from mainland China, so Changchun Film Studio has a relatively strong voice.

Putting aside other grand principles, Hong Kong actors who can speak Mandarin even slightly well can definitely understand Mandarin, which makes communication easier during filming.

"What good news do you have?"

Lin Guobin asked absentmindedly.

"Haha, this is definitely good news for you. You're going to be rich! I just got confirmation that 'La Dolce Vita' has made it into the main competition at Cannes. You have a chance to compete for the Best Actor award at Cannes."

Lin Wei tightened his grip on Lin Guobin's arm slightly, "You have to treat us, you absolutely have to treat us."

Lin Guobin was taken aback.

He knew that Qin Keqing had taken a copy of the film to Cannes, and everyone in the crew knew that "A Bittersweet Life" would be participating in the Cannes Film Festival.

but!

Everyone in the crew, including him, had the greatest hope for the film to be selected for the screening section.

It's not that I don't trust Qin Keqing, nor do I have any prejudice against Qin Keqing or "Sweet Life".

However, "A Bittersweet Life" is a commercial film. No matter how well Qin Keqing explains it, or how much "humanity" is added to the film, it cannot change the fact that it is a commercial film.

Can commercial films be selected for the main competition at the Cannes Film Festival, one of the top three European film festivals?

"real?"

"Why would I lie to you? It's all in the newspapers. This time, three films from Mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong have entered the main competition at Cannes. The media on the Mainland are ecstatic, saying it's a great victory for Chinese-language films."

Lin Wei was very happy. Although he was not the lead actor, he was one of the most important supporting actors.

In addition, Hong Kong hasn't had a film selected for the main competition at the Cannes Film Festival for almost twenty years, so the media will definitely report on it like crazy. Even if "A Bittersweet Life" doesn't win an award, everyone will still benefit a lot.

Lam Wai was fairly confident that the Hong Kong media would give this story extensive coverage.

Because Yong Sheng wouldn't let such a good publicity opportunity pass by; they would definitely fan the flames and make the media report on this matter like crazy.

Upon receiving an affirmative answer, Lin Guobin wanted to burst into laughter.

However, he only forced a smile without actually laughing. A thought suddenly popped into his head: "Did I break up with him too early?"

……

"Qin, my friend, have you thought it through? The Cannes judging panel is already in place. If you don't make a decision on choosing a partner soon, it will be too late. By then, everything will be settled, and the partner won't be able to contribute anything."

Pierre-Lissent found Qin Keqing and urged him once again.

"Pierre, do you have any suggestions?" Qin Keqing asked.

Pierre Lissent came to Qin Keqing because he had contacted some film companies a few days earlier. After watching the film privately, these film companies became interested in "La Dolce Vita" after Pierre Lissent's explanation and interpretation, and even offered a considerable price to buy the distribution rights.

Qin Keqing has been thinking about this matter for the past few days.

Pierre Lissent told Qin Keqing that even after a series of interpretations, it would still be difficult for "La Dolce Vita" to win awards, especially the major awards, which were almost impossible.

The only goals should be set on the Golden Camera and the special prize.

The Camera d'Or was established in 1978 by Gilles Jacob, the current artistic director of the Cannes Film Festival. The award aims to recognize the best directorial debut feature film selected by the official Cannes Film Festival committee.

The selection scope includes not only the main competition, but also various other sections such as the Directors' Fortnight and the International Critics' Week.

This award is not selected by the main competition jury, but by a jury established by the film festival itself, which makes the award feasible.

The Special Award is an award in the main competition, but it is not a fixed award. Instead, it is a non-standard award that the jury can decide to establish on a temporary basis based on the special performance of the films submitted that year.

This award is not really a consolation prize. It was originally established to recognize works that are groundbreaking in terms of creative concept, aesthetic style or thematic expression and are difficult to categorize using existing awards.

Most of the time, the award is for pioneering and experimental works.

Coincidentally, in Pierre Lissent's promotional materials, "La Dolce Vita" was described as an experimental work that explored the brilliance of humanity while being shot at the pace of a commercial film, an experimental movie that sought to balance commercial appeal and artistic merit.

In order to win the award, Pierre-Lissent suggested that Qin Keqing sell the copyright in advance.

The film company that purchases the copyright will certainly invest a considerable amount of money in promotion and marketing to maximize profits and strive for awards for "A Bittersweet Life".

In other words, maximizing profits.

In fact, Pierre Lissent initially did not have the idea of ​​letting Qin Keqing sell the copyright ahead of time. It was only when he learned that Qin Keqing only had a mere one million Hong Kong dollars available that he had the idea of ​​selling the copyright ahead of time.

There's nothing you can do; even a skilled cook can't make a meal without rice.

One million Hong Kong dollars is simply not enough to achieve Pierre Lissent's prize-winning strategy; at least several hundred thousand US dollars would be needed to reach the goal.