Huayu: The Big Players Behind the Scenes

After official intervention, public opinion gradually calmed down.

This incident made Zhuang Huai'an realize that he should avoid dealing with people in the Hong Kong entertainment circle in the future.

Although Mr. Yang and his wife, Mr. and Mrs. Lung Wu, are both good at interpersonal relationships and were among the first in the Hong Kong entertainment circle to extend goodwill to him, the story behind them is too complicated.

With "Detachment" and "Veteran," he has repaid a small favor. From now on, they can go their separate ways and remain friends. That's the end of it.

December 19th,

The 2004 Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Film Festival opened in Yinchuan.

This award is quite interesting. It is divided into the Golden Rooster Award, which is judged by experts, and the Hundred Flowers Award, which is voted on by the audience. This year is the last year that they are held together. Next year, they will be held separately, one Golden Rooster Award and one Hundred Flowers Award.

Previously, Zhuang Huai'an had been preventing the Beijing Film Academy from registering for the competition, but this year, a certain senior elder personally invited them, with the aim of having him help make an impression.

After all, a famous international director has never won any domestic awards. If this gets out, wouldn't it be saying that the Beijing Film Academy has no one to support him?

He had to go to the sect's supreme elder's invitation.

"Detachment" didn't really meet the Golden Rooster Award nomination requirements because it was a co-production. But the elders are elders, and they have plenty of ways to work. They cleverly changed the concept, making it appear as if the film was shot in Hong Kong, and successfully got it nominated for several awards.

Best Feature Film, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress, Best Music.

The nominations are basically aiming to match the Hong Kong Film Awards, but it remains to be seen how many they will take home.

So here, some people might ask,

Director Zhuang, aren't you afraid the Golden Rooster Awards will make you carry their sedan chair?

Don't make your Zhuang brother laugh. Not to mention that the sect's supreme elder personally invited him, just look at the list of judges for this year's competition. Half of them are from the Beijing Film Academy, and there's even the current head of the photography department, Mu Deyuan.

With this situation, tell me how we can lose?

Do you think Zhuang Ge is from a shady background like Feng Xiaogang?

Do you even understand the prestige of being a graduate of the Beijing Film Academy? (Teacher Liu leans back)

In the evening, the film crew arrived at the waiting area from the hotel.

As soon as she got off the bus, Liu Yifei was captivated by the magnificent sunset.

"Wow, brother, look! The sunset in Yinchuan is so beautiful!"

Zhuang Huai'an looked up, but his gaze abruptly stopped halfway through.

When Liu Yifei looked up, her long, swan-like neck was revealed, and her profile, now free of baby fat, was breathtakingly beautiful.

Zhuang Huai'an was somewhat lost in thought, unable to tell for a moment whether the sunset was more beautiful or the person was more beautiful.

Liu Yifei felt the intense gaze beside her and subconsciously turned her head. As their eyes met, a hazy look appeared between them.

Li Ming, Liang Jiahui, and Liu Jialing stood by, smiling without saying a word.

"Cough cough..."

Zhang Yimou suddenly appeared from some corner, a mischievous smile creeping across his honest and simple face. "I know I shouldn't be here at this time, but I can't help it. Your crew is ahead of me; it's time for you to walk the red carpet."

The two were interrupted and brought back to their senses. Liu Yifei blushed slightly, greeted Zhang Yimou, and then shielded Wan Qian in front of her.

Zhuang Huai'an was thick-skinned and didn't care, but inwardly he was also lamenting that his willpower towards this girl was getting weaker and weaker.

When did it start?

Could it be that "brother" she called out when the Condor Heroes visited the set?

"Alright, it's your turn." Zhang Yimou patted his shoulder, his smile somewhat mischievous.

Zhuang Huai'an glanced at him sideways, "Laugh all you want, you won't be laughing once I steal your Best Director award."

"What's wrong? I've won so many awards already, you haven't won any mainland awards yet, have you?"

"That's because I didn't participate. This time, you'll go home bald."

"Hey, you brat, you're becoming more and more disrespectful to your senior brother."

After exchanging a few words, the old man and the young man carefully stepped forward to guide the "Detachment" crew onto the red carpet.

Li Ming and Liu Jialing teamed up, Liang Jiahui took care of his junior Wan Qian, and Zhuang Huai'an openly held Liu Yifei's hand. Anyway, there had been speculation about their relationship for a long time, but Du Hua's online information team had been trying to cover it up.

I will delete truly bad comments.

After taking a few photos on the red carpet, the group entered the venue.

Having had experience at numerous award ceremonies, Zhuang Huai'an knew he was in a good position the moment he saw the seating arrangement provided by the organizers.

The crew of "Transcendence" made their grand entrance last, leaving only Zhang Yimou and his entourage afterwards.

The red carpet show for "House of Flying Daggers" was rather lackluster. Zhang Ziyi, the lead actress, was ineligible due to a soft ban, and Andy Lau was not nominated and did not attend. Only Zhang Yimou brought a few behind-the-scenes staff, and among the main actors, only Song Changying came as an award presenter and did not walk the red carpet.

Upon seeing Zhuang Huai'an's arrival, the stars, whether they knew him or not, all stepped forward to greet him, regardless of his current status.

He casually banned three once-popular artists, and everyone thought that they should neither befriend them nor offend them.

Zhuang Huai'an: I don't remember who came to greet me, but I remember very clearly who didn't come.

"Distinguished leaders and guests, welcome to the awards ceremony of the 13th Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Film Festival. Please take your seats. The awards ceremony will begin shortly."

On stage, Zhuang Huai'an's old friend, Pu Cunxi, a veteran of the Beijing People's Art Theatre, was acting as the host and controlling the proceedings.

The Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Film Festivals are co-organized, with the Hundred Flowers Festival taking place first, followed by the Golden Rooster.

Zhuang Huai'an swore that this was the most boring and embarrassing awards ceremony he had ever attended since his debut. An entertainment event had been turned into a large-scale patriotic song and dance gala.

(Those who are interested can do some research; I found it quite boring.)

The Hundred Flowers Awards section

After overcoming numerous hardships, Grandma Qing returned to the public eye to present Ge You with the Best Actor award at the Hundred Flowers Awards. Interestingly, Ge You's father, Ge Cunzhuang, was also on stage with his son, who was accepting the award.

Commander Li won the Best Actor award for his role in the film "Heart-Stopping" and the Best Actress award for his role as Fan Bingbing in "Cellphone".

The Hundred Flowers Awards are decided by audience votes, so they are not considered very prestigious, somewhat similar to the "My Favorite Actor" awards in later generations.

In the following Golden Rooster Awards segment, Pu Cunxi, who had been stumbling over his words, was finally replaced by CCTV's top female host, Ni Ping.

With the awards ceremony halfway through, the film "Detachment" failed to win any awards due to poor performances in supporting roles, screenwriting, and music.

This made Zhuang Huai'an somewhat suspicious. Could the Supreme Elder really be doing this?

Then I'm going to flip the table!

"The winners of the Best Actress award at the 24th Golden Rooster Awards are Zheng Zhenyao for 'Beautiful Shanghai' and Wan Qian for 'Detachment'!"

Double egg yolks?

Zhuang Huai'an breathed a sigh of relief. This year's competition was indeed a tie, with Wan Qian having squeezed out Zhang Ziyi.

Wan Qian looked incredulous, and her eyes immediately welled up with tears. Liu Yifei and Liu Jialing, who were standing next to her, stood up and hugged her, gesturing for her to go on stage to receive the award.

A smile flashed in Liu Jialing's eyes. As a seasoned veteran, she had long understood that this year's Golden Rooster Awards were just a formality, but since the nominee had been nominated, she had to give them face and come.

Wan Qian went on stage to accept the trophy and gave another rambling thank-you speech. She cried her eyes out on stage and repeatedly mispronounced "director" as "actor," which made everyone in the audience burst into laughter and cast teasing glances at Zhuang Huai'an.

In contrast, Li Ming, who later won the Best Actor award, appeared much more composed. His acceptance speech was impeccable, leaving no stone unturned. The audience in the audience unanimously recalled a news story...

Li Ming may indeed be able to win the Grand Slam of Best Actor awards across Mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong by relying on his transcendence.

Many people looked at Zhuang Huai'an with strange eyes, especially Feng Yuanzhen, who had worked with him once before. Feng Yuanzhen looked at Zhuang Huai'an with a resentful gaze. Zhuang Huai'an had produced so many Best Actor winners, but "Gone Girl" only won a Silver Bear for Best Director at the Berlin Film Festival.

Feng Yuanzhen even began to doubt himself, wondering if his acting skills were still lacking.

As expected, Zhuang Huai'an also won Best Director. He was very satisfied. After accepting the award, he continued to use the same template to express his gratitude. However, today was different. He thanked the Beijing Film Academy twice.

After all, getting multiple nominations and winning three major awards for a co-production must have been incredibly rewarding for Zhang Huijun.

I was originally thinking of giving "Love Like a Bouquet" a bad review, but after thinking about it for a while, I gave up the idea. I should give the Supreme Elder some face.

At last,

The Best Feature Film award went to "Beautiful Shanghai".

Unfortunately, Huo Tingxiao, the master of art direction for "House of Flying Daggers," won Best Art Direction, but failed to fulfill Zhang Yimou's wish to bring his bald head home.

This led Zhuang Huai'an to force-feed Zhang Yimou three glasses of wine at the banquet.

You've disturbed my ambiguous relationship!