Huayu: Starting with mentoring female stars

Time flies, and September 8th arrived in no time.

That afternoon, Chen Zhou received a notification that "No Man's Land," which he had previously submitted to the relevant departments for review, had successfully passed the review.

To be honest, this surprised Chen Zhou a bit, because some of the scenes were actually quite explicit.

I originally thought the review would likely reject it first and then ask him to make some changes, but I really didn't expect it to pass on the first try.

It seems that the review standards are relatively lenient at this time.

Having successfully obtained the screening permit, Chen Zhou's next task was naturally to facilitate the early handover of "No Man's Land" with the cinemas and to conduct some advance promotion for the film.

When we were filming "The Unknown", we didn't have enough money for publicity, so we did a lot of things rather hastily.

However, the budget for "No Man's Land" was quite sufficient, so he had to make things like the press conference relatively grand.

So in the following days, Chen Zhou promoted "No Man's Land" on several online platforms.

Because Chen Zhou is now a promising new director, there is indeed a lot of attention being paid to "No Man's Land".

On September 25th, Chen Zhou held a press conference for the film "No Man's Land" at a hotel.

At the hotel entrance, the main cast and crew had already gathered together.

Lead actors like Sun Honglei and Duan Yihong were definitely present, and since they hadn't seen each other for a long time, they started chatting.

When the time was almost up, the film's press conference officially began, surrounded by numerous media outlets and cameras.

First, Chen Zhou showed the trailer for "No Man's Land" on site.

The media all pointed their cameras at the big screen, carefully watching the trailer.

About a minute and a half later, as the trailer ended, the media started discussing it amongst themselves.

One reporter remarked, "This is really well-made; it's definitely going to be a huge hit."

Another reporter chimed in: "Indeed, you can tell just by looking at the quality that this is definitely a masterpiece, and it also continues Director Chen's previous shooting style, which is very distinctive."

One reporter remarked, "Films like this are very rare in China. If the film quality is up to par, audiences will definitely be willing to support it."

"Director Chen is certainly bold to make a film on this subject for his second movie. Judging from the trailer, he definitely has the ability to handle this type of film," the reporter praised.

Sun Honglei and others who also watched the trailer were clearly extremely satisfied with the filming of "No Man's Land," which far exceeded their expectations.

Sun Honglei was very excited: "Director Chen, you edited this trailer so well! I'm looking forward to the final film more than anyone else now."

Duan Yihong said, "The quality of the shots of the actors in the trailer really gave me goosebumps. Director Chen knows so much how to film actors. Now I just want to see the finished film as soon as possible."

Zhu Yilong was equally overjoyed. Just one glance at him told him that Chen Zhou had brought everyone another excellent film.

Jing Tian was clearly a little confused at this moment, because she appeared in the trailer for more than ten seconds.

In that shot, her performance was truly outstanding.

And just as Duan Yihong said, Chen Zhou captured the quality of her photos perfectly.

In her daze, she even began to doubt whether the female lead in the trailer was herself.

She couldn't help but wonder, how could the characters look so vivid?

As the film press conference continued, it was soon time for reporters to ask questions.

A reporter asked: "Director Chen, your film 'No Man's Land' is a road movie. What prompted you to want to make this kind of film? It's well known that this kind of film is very easy to lose money. No matter how you look at it, it doesn't seem like a good choice for you."

Chen Zhou said, "The reason I want to make road movies is simply because I personally like this genre, and I also feel that China needs movies with different themes. Otherwise, if we only make movies with patriotic themes, then it's not very interesting."

Another reporter stood up and asked, "Director Chen, hello, I'm a reporter from Wenyu Daily. My question is, whether you're directing 'The Unknown' or 'No Man's Land,' the leading ladies you choose are all very unexpected to the public."

"For example, Liu Yifei, the female lead in 'The Unknown,' is seen by everyone as just a pretty face, but you cast her in such a challenging role as Ma Jiaqi."

"And in this film, 'No Man's Land,' you once again cast Jing Tian as your leading lady."

"At the time, she was also heavily criticized for the film 'The Warring States,' which was a critical and commercial failure, making her the actress with the worst movie of the year."

"Yet you still persisted in using her despite the pressure. What's the deeper meaning behind that?"

The reporter's overly tricky question made all the main creators look displeased.

However, Chen Zhou responded calmly: "As a director, one of the most important abilities is to discover the unique characteristics of actors."

"Before, I just thought Liu Yifei could play Ma Jiaqi."

"For the same reason, I also think Jing Tian is capable of playing the female lead in 'No Man's Land'."

"I simply trust my own judgment and know the actors' abilities."

"As many people know, I used to run an acting class in Hengdian. My other identity is that of an acting teacher."

Another reporter asked, "Hello Director Chen, this is a question from Real-Time Daily. You haven't announced the official release date for 'No Man's Land' yet. Could you take this opportunity to tell everyone when 'No Man's Land' will be released?"

Without hesitation, Chen Zhou gave the answer directly: "No Man's Land will be released on October 1st, during the National Day holiday this year. Everyone is welcome to go to the cinema to watch No Man's Land. I believe this movie will definitely bring you a different experience."

As soon as Chen Zhou announced the news, a group of reporters took notes and immediately passed the news on to their colleagues, urging them to report it out and grab the headlines.

Afterwards, the reporter asked the main creators questions.

The movie press conference lasted for two and a half hours before it ended.

After finishing their work, Chen Zhou and the main creators went to other places for a private get-together.

It's worth mentioning that the news that "No Man's Land" was scheduled for release on October 1st spread widely online.

Another film also announced its release date directly.

That's Lu Chuan's "Nanjing Nanjing"!

Also scheduled for release on October 1st, it will clash with Chen Zhou's "No Man's Land".

Lu Chuan's actions quickly sparked a lot of discussion online, as many people knew that Chen Zhou and Lu Chuan had a conflict.

He even publicly stated before that it would be best if their two films were to be released directly together, allowing the audience to judge whose film was better.

The moment has finally arrived!