Chapter 268: International Madness

It was already late at night when we left Julian's house.

Cheng Cheng and Chu Qing had dinner together at Julian's house. Although Cheng Cheng made them both nervous at the beginning, the process was still very pleasant.

Julian has been working in the film industry all his life. He is not only a director and actor, but also a promoter of the film and television industry. He has served as a judge and chairman of many international film festivals and has unique insights into the current state and future of global film art.

Cheng Cheng is the director and Chu Qing is the actor. The three of them have three different perspectives, which collide, merge and resonate, making the communication extremely pleasant.

Before leaving, Julian still felt a little reluctant.

After leaving the house, Chu Qing said to Cheng Cheng:

"From what Julian said, we should at least win a small prize this time."

He breathed a sigh of relief. Although he didn't care much about winning any awards, he didn't want to return to Cannes after many years and go home empty-handed.

In his previous life, Zhang Yimou's "To Live" received four nominations at Cannes:

Palme d'Or, Grand Jury Prize, Best Actor, Catholic Humanitarian Award.

And won three other awards except the Palme d'Or.

Cheng Cheng asked: "I don't know much about foreign filmmakers. Do we have any strong opponents this time?"

Chu Qing said seriously, "Yes, first of all, Mathieu Dufy is from Serbia. He is one of the few independent filmmakers in Serbia. In 2000, his first solo film, "Three Words", was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. During his career, he has won the Serbian Independent Spirit Award, the Golden Satellite Award, and the London Film Critics Circle Award. This is his third time to hit Cannes, and he is coming with great momentum."

"There is also Cagalli Wall, a very famous female filmmaker who has also received numerous nominations. This is mainly because the film she brought this time has extraordinary leading actors. From the very beginning of the project, she was aiming for an award."

"And Jordan Pike"

"Of course Director Jia Zhensi is also our rival..."

Chu Qing said several in a row.

But Cheng Cheng was not nervous at all, instead he was very excited.

The best filmmakers from all over the world are gathered here. The more strong rivals there are, the more valuable the award is. This is the time for him to become famous!

Success is in sight!

Success is in sight!
"Oh right," Chu Qing said, "We came to Cannes for another purpose, which is to sell films. The films in the main competition unit have always been the hottest ones that big film producers keep a close eye on and compete for. After the opening ceremony, I will introduce you to a few familiar film producers."

"it is good."

Otherwise, it is better to find an old Cannes native like Chu Qing! He knows everything.

Cheng Cheng also plans to buy the rights to adapt several films, and plans to release them in China after the adaptation.

In addition, he has a one-time identification eye, which allows him to see the approximate potential of a script under an ideal model (Douban score, popularity, ratings, box office), which can ensure that he will not make a mistake.

At that time, whether it is filming for the company's actors or releasing it, it will be a good choice.

The next day, the opening day began.

On this day, Cannes was full of stars.

Everywhere you look, you see high-end suits and luxurious haute couture.

French roses, British goddesses, Serbian sweethearts, Apennine treasures, Flamenco pearls, as well as oriental beauties from Neon, Tianxia and the Peninsula are all in full bloom here.

Dazzling and colorful.

But even so, the crew of "To Live" is still quite eye-catching.

Chu Qing was wearing a navy blue suit. He had an upright figure and an imposing manner. He exuded a clear and elegant temperament, which was refreshing.

Wen Lian wore a brown dress with divided upper and lower parts. Her skin was whiter than that of many white actresses. She accessorized with golden bracelets, necklace, and huge earrings. Her whole aura was full, as if a goddess of beauty had descended.

Cheng Cheng also had a simple look. He was 1.86 meters tall, dressed in black, with black hair, black eyebrows, and black pupils. He had sharp features and a handsome face. Standing there, it was as if there was a bug on the earth.

Li Yang also put on clothes.

In the waiting area, Cheng Cheng saw his domestic colleagues, the crew of "Homeland, Homeland".

Jia Zhensi, the director of "Homeland, Homeland", came over to say hello:

"I didn't expect to meet you this time."

Jia Zhensi smiled bitterly.

Obviously, he regarded Cheng Cheng and Chu Qing as strong competitors at this year's Cannes International Film Festival.

Chu Qing had acted in Jia Zhensi's film. It was Jia Zhensi who helped him win his first international award, so he was very familiar with Jia Zhensi. He smiled and said:

"Brother Jia, you should be happy to meet an old friend in a foreign land."

Jia Zhensi looked at him:
"Can I be happy when I meet you? Do you think I look happy?"

Chu Qing smiled but said nothing. He had seen the finished film of "To Live" and he was very confident about it.

Jia Zhensi greeted Cheng Cheng again:

"Director Xiaocheng, nice to meet you for the first time. Hello."

Cheng Cheng was very interested in Jia Zhensi. He had seen Jia Zhensi's movies. He said:
"Hello, Director Jia, I have seen your movies, A Good Man and Akka, both of which are good."

Jia Zhensi said in surprise: "I didn't expect Director Xiao Cheng also likes my movie."

Cheng Cheng: “There are things worth learning.”

Jiazhen Temple: "."

The Prime Minister said one word and Jia Zhensi couldn't do it anymore.

It is said that people in the circle are terrified of Cheng Cheng. Jia Zhensi recognized him the first time they met.

At this time, the crew in front had finished their turn and it was the turn of the "To Live" crew.

Chu Qing said: "Brother Jia, we have to walk the red carpet. We will talk later."

Jia Zhensi: "Okay, okay, I wish you good luck."

Chu Qing: "I wish you good luck too, Brother Jia."

Walking onto the red carpet, there were media from all over the world on both sides, including some from Tianxia. When they saw the "To Live" crew appear, they all became excited and shouted the names of Cheng Cheng, Chu Qing, Wen Lian and others, asking them to look over.

The media from Japan, Peninsula, Tyrande, and Eros also excitedly called out to Cheng Cheng in their own languages.

An Italian journalist was puzzled by this and asked:

"Who is coming up now? Why is he so loud? Is he more famous than Trina?"

Others said:

"I also saw people from several countries shouting his name. Is he Tianxia's new star?"

"Why do some media from Eros know him? It seems like all the attention in the audience is attracted by him."

"How much influence does he have in East Asia?"

At this time, the brother from Serbia came on the scene.

He was very disdainful of his European counterparts, who had been complacent for too long and had long lost their sense of the global market.

He explained:

"That person is from Tianxia, ​​a rising Asian superstar who is active in film, television and music. He has fans all over Europe. The box office of the movies he starred in and directed exceeded 20 billion. In terms of fame and commercial achievements, there are few people in the entire Cannes Film Festival who can compare to him."

Looking at the elegant figure of the Oriental man, media people from all over the world felt incredible.

Having not known about the Tianxia film industry for a few years, they thought that the most popular star in Tianxia was Chu Qing (in fact, Chu Qing has never been the most popular). Didn’t they expect such a big change?
Someone asked, “What’s his name?”

The elder brother from Serbia said:
"Cheng Cheng."

Cheng Cheng?

For the first time, media personnel from various countries wrote down this name, then pointed their cameras at him and called out Cheng Cheng's name with a clumsy pronunciation:
"Cheng Cheng, here~"

"Can you do some poses? Pose!"

"Of course." Cheng Cheng heard their shouts and pulled his hand out of Wen Lian's arms. Then, like a Taobao model, he changed his poses eighty times a second and let them take pictures.

The domestic media felt ashamed: Well, this guy is sick again.

And it brought shame upon the country abroad.

Chu Qing's face changed drastically. He held Nannan in his arms and kept walking forward.

Qi Hao and Li Yang remained calm and pretended not to see anything:

Who is Director Cheng? We don’t know him.

Wen Lian was used to it, and waited there with a normal expression.

"Enough is enough."

Foreign media people feel that they can’t take enough pictures. Not only that, but if they continue to take pictures like this, they will run out of memory.

"Is this all?" Cheng Cheng felt a little unsatisfied.

Foreign media have already reached the point where they suspect that this oriental star is abnormal.

"Okay then." Cheng Cheng came with a few more jojo stands.

Such:
Such:
There is also this:
Then he stopped with some regret.

In just the past minute, his score has increased by more than 100 points, which shows how many people are secretly plotting against him.

Moreover, this is a stage facing the whole world. Once these media people report it, there will definitely be more people who will pay attention to him.

I love points, points love me, points come from all directions, all the time, overwhelming, I work hard, I keep going~
Wen Lian said, "Director Cheng, let's go."

"Okay." Cheng Cheng stretched out his arm and Wen Lian naturally took it.

A handsome man and beautiful woman walked on the red carpet again.

The European and American stars in the waiting area kept looking at him sideways.

This pair of oriental stars is so eye-catching that it is impossible not to pay attention to them.

When they were about to walk down the red carpet and enter the venue, a Tianxia reporter shouted:
"Director Cheng, Wen Lian, you must win an award this time~"

Cheng Cheng turned around and smiled at him:
"I'll lend you some good words!"

-

Soon, the opening ceremony ended.

To be honest, there is not much to the opening ceremony of the film festival. It is just walking on the red carpet, watching the opening film, and the appearance of the jury. That's all. The most important thing is that the film festival provides a platform for filmmakers from all over the country to communicate.

On that day, after the opening ceremony, Cheng Cheng received numerous invitations to cocktail parties.

During the film festival, many film crews will hold cocktail parties as a way to make connections. Such cocktail parties can last from the opening ceremony to the closing ceremony and are extremely extravagant. At the same time, this is also an opportunity for romantic stories to happen.

It's a cocktail party!
Alcohol, male and female stars, and the group that claims to be the most literary and open-minded, so how could there not be some stories happening?

There are a total of 24 films selected for the main competition unit of this Cannes Film Festival, and Cheng Cheng and others are naturally the focus of attention.

In addition, Cheng Cheng also saw Luo Wei and Bai Bei at the opening ceremony. He thought that since "Giving Birth to a Daughter" was not included in the main competition unit, these two people would not come. Unexpectedly, they came to walk the red carpet with great excitement and were very high-profile.

Chu Qing said:
"How could they not participate? They need the Cannes platform and the business operations behind it. To put it bluntly, they need more distributors to see their films, distribute them, and continue to increase their reputation as "international actresses." The former is real money from distribution. The latter is export-to-domestic sales, so that domestic fans feel that international actresses are international actresses."

Cheng Cheng looked at him:

"I thought there was a story between you and Bai Bei?"

Chu Qing asked: "Why do you think so?"

Cheng Cheng: "You two are the best actor and actress, and you have worked together before."

Chu Qing sighed: "That cooperation was fifteen years ago, and now we have gone further and further."

Cheng Cheng: "Lao Deng is Lao Deng, he has been speaking for fifteen years."

Chu Qing's fist hardened.

-

The premiere date of "To Live" has been set, the 24th, a week later.

The release dates of "Glory", "Homeland", and "Birthing Daughters" are all before "To Live".

In the next few days, Cheng Cheng made connections everywhere, attended many cocktail parties, and got to know many French roses and Serbian sweethearts.

It must be said that Western women are just beautiful, especially when they are in their prime. They have great figures and are very beautiful. Some are over 1.8 meters tall, just a little shorter than Cheng Cheng, but have legs so long that they are longer than Cheng Cheng's life in his previous life.

In addition, he watched movies intensively in various screening rooms during the day.

He actually discovered a few good movies, one of which was called "Triangle", which tells the story of a model and internet celebrity couple who are invited to board a luxury cruise ship. Unexpectedly, the cruise ship sank during the voyage, and they were stranded on a deserted island with a group of billionaires and a cleaning lady, who was the only one who could fish. In the process of fighting for survival, the hierarchy was completely reversed.

This movie is a bit like Huang Bo's previous work "A Good Show", but not exactly the same.

Cheng Cheng saw through his one-time identification eyes that if this movie was translated into Chinese, it would have the potential to guarantee a box office of 5 million yuan and a Douban score of 7.2.

There are three other films, and the guaranteed box office is no less than 3 million.

Cheng Cheng negotiated with the film producers for many times and finally bought the adaptation rights of four films for 3400 million. After deducting the production costs and publicity and promotion costs, Cheng Cheng can make a net profit of about 10 billion from these four films alone.

However, Cheng Cheng does not plan to be the screenwriter in name only, and plans to let his screenwriters do the adaptation, and let the actors be played by young actors under his command, such as Lin Yin, Qi Hao, Jiang Jun, and Ni Lu Kezi.
Cheng Cheng also met the international film producer that Chu Qing introduced to him, but they only got to know each other briefly in the early stages. Cheng Cheng planned to discuss the price after the awards ceremony, and the price could be negotiated to be higher.

Of course, the crazy business was not forgotten.

Cheng Cheng will not miss the opportunity to go crazy on this global stage.

first day:
After the movie screening, reporters were waiting for the main creative staff to come on stage for an interview. Cheng Cheng walked up and talked at length about the creative concept of the film.

Halfway through the conversation, the lead actor of the play finally couldn't help but asked:

"who are you?"

Cheng Cheng: "I'm the director!"

Starring: “Are you the director?”

Cheng Cheng: "Yes, I am the director of "To Live"."

Lead actor: ".Fuck! Our movie is "Daily Wage Hard to Earn"! Where is our director?!"

Cheng Cheng: "He's in the bathroom."

When the movie was almost over, the director had to go to the toilet urgently. Cheng Cheng followed him, snatched the toilet paper, then came back in the dark and took the director's seat. When the movie was over, he went on stage pretending to be the director.

Because he spoke French, and no one on the film crew knew French, they still made him speak for more than ten minutes.

The real director was rescued from the toilet with his feet numb from squatting.

Fortunately, it wasn’t Director Ah San, otherwise he would have wiped it off with his hands long ago.

the next day:
He bought a microphone and pretended to be a reporter.

Ask all kinds of questions after the movie.

Other reporters asked questions like "How was the performance?", "What was the creative concept behind the film?", "Did you develop feelings for the cast?", "What filming opportunities will there be next?"

Cheng Cheng asked math, geography, and history questions, such as: "Test you, who bombed Pearl Harbor?", "Test you, how do you spell the English word teacher?", "How old were you when you stopped wetting the bed?", "What is the square of (3+4)?", "Do you know how to solve quadratic equations?", "Which country does the peninsula belong to?", and he copied all the illiterate celebrities like crazy.

Day three.

Cheng Cheng took his camera and frantically took pictures of those unknown little actors, claiming to be their fan and taking pictures of them.

These young actors were easy to fool. They didn't have many fans to begin with, and they were also very free with plenty of time. So when Cheng Cheng approached them, they agreed without hesitation. They were quite enthusiastic and naive.

After the other party posed for more than ten minutes while Cheng Cheng praised them as "very handsome" and "very good-looking", Cheng Cheng showed them the photos.

Then he ruthlessly revealed the truth and left with a big laugh:

“Hahahahahahahaha, I didn’t take pictures of you, I took pictures of myself~~~”

So everyone knew that a complete lunatic had come to the Cannes Film Festival and was torturing people everywhere.

(End of this chapter)