Acting school started in 1998

Chapter 462 Imagine

The audiences who come to the Cannes Film Festival are not ordinary audiences. Most of these audiences from all over the world have a pilgrim mentality and have a certain appreciation for movies.

In fact, the laughter that broke out from time to time in the audience during the screening and the fact that almost no one left the show early can illustrate the success of the premiere of "Incense".

The applause at this time was full of surprises, and it was also a tribute to the movie itself. Speaking of which, since the opening of the film festival, there has not yet been a good film that makes people shine.

Even the American film "Brown Barney", which was shortlisted for the main competition yesterday, was booed and walked out of the theater at its premiere. In the end, director Vincent Carlo had to publicly apologize under pressure from RB investors: "If you don't like this film, you're right, because "Brown Barney" is a disaster. Go ahead and apologize." Watching movies is just a waste of time!”

Despite this, there are still many media outlets that are reluctant to give up on this film. The screening magazine "Screen" published a special feature for this film, saying: "All future generations who have participated in this film festival will talk about it with great enthusiasm. Reminiscing, 'Were you there the night "Brown Barney" was screened?' We should suggest that the organizing committee issue commemorative coins for this film and hold a 'Brown Barney' party every year. We have reason to believe: This is The 'classic moment' at the 56th Cannes Film Festival will forever be remembered in the history of the film festival."

"Screen", this authoritative British film review magazine is known for its vitriol and sarcastic ridicule, especially keen on targeting Americans.

For example, on the day of the opening ceremony, they wrote this when commenting on Monica Bellucci: "Look at the wave that Monica Bellucci, an Italian beauty who serves as the film festival's emcee, has set off on the south coast of France. Maybe The gray eyes will infect some vitality of life. We haven’t seen such a gorgeous beauty for a long time. In comparison, America’s sweetheart Meg Ryan looks like a country girl..."

Since the opening of the film, the quality of the shortlisted films has generally been low and the atmosphere has been dull. Today, we actually saw such a sincere and interesting film. How could the audience not feel happy and excited?

The elements that Western audiences, especially European audiences, are most interested in in movies are issues such as youth, growth and disillusionment, exotic locales, and generally concerned politics and religion.

It can be said that the movie "Incense", except probably youth, includes almost all the elements that European audiences are interested in, although Buddhism may be relatively unfamiliar to them.

"Don't be stunned, hurry up. This is your moment."

Li Tang pushed Ning Hao, who was sitting next to him in a daze, and pursed his lips toward the stage.

The host has already taken the microphone and started to introduce.

"Ah...oh!"

Only then did this guy react, nodded in panic, walked onto the stage with stiff hands and feet, and waved to the audience.

"Wow!"

"Hua Hua Hua..."

Seeing the director on stage, the audience below became even more enthusiastic, with applause accompanied by cheers.

Listening to Ning Hao on the stage, who was stuttering about his creative thoughts, Zhang Ziyi turned her head and whispered to Li Tang: "Congratulations, you have discovered another young director! You are almost a bole now."

I think it was Li Tang who discovered Cheng Er. Seeing Ning Hao receiving such enthusiasm from the audience in Cannes, even Xiao Zhang was envious. There is no doubt that when the news of today's scene spread back to China, Ning Hao was once again a rising star in the director world.

"I don't dare to take it. I don't know much about directing. I can only say it's luck." Li Tang said humbly.

But I was secretly murmuring: Since it’s congratulations, should I treat myself to a drink tonight?

While Li Tang and Zhang Ziyi were whispering, the inner emotions of the others sitting in the first row were more or less subtle.

Diao Yinan seemed calm on the surface, but he still couldn't hide his inner turmoil. Regarding Ning Hao and his shortlisting in Cannes, he always thought it was the result of the operation of MK2, so he was mentally prepared for the poor response to his film's premiere yesterday. But seeing Ning Hao being so popular at this time made him have to reflect on what he originally didn't care about.

To put it bluntly, "Incense" is undoubtedly more story-telling than "Uniform" and has a more sincere attitude towards the audience.

As for Wang Xiaoshuai and Lou Ye, the two leaders of the so-called sixth generation of directors, the looks they looked at Ning Hao were surprising but more complex.

To be honest, they didn't think highly of Ning Hao from the beginning, but at this time, they had to admit that the junior brother in front of them was far more accomplished in movies than they were back then.

After the premiere, Ning Hao has undoubtedly become the focus of media pursuit, not only by Chinese media including Wanwan and Hong Kong, but also by many reporters from foreign media.

Seeing that the translators arranged by the organizer were overwhelmed, Zeng Jia had to step forward to help translate. However, her English level could only reach CET-6 at best, not CET-8 at best, so she would inevitably have difficulties in translating.

In the end, it was Li Tang who appeared. His authentic British accent made him communicate very smoothly with the reporter from "Screen". If the half-bald guy didn't know Li Tang, he would have thought he was meeting a fellow countryman. After interviewing Ning Hao with two questions, the conversation changed to asking Li Tang.

After Zhang Ziyi answered questions from domestic reporters, she left first with Lou Ye, Wang Xiaoshuai and others. But before leaving, he made a point of looking at Li Tang who was surrounded by foreign reporters, and his eyes couldn't help but reveal a glint of light.

A talented man can definitely attract the attention of the opposite sex, especially a tall, handsome and talented man who is the target of the opposite sex. Especially Xiao Zhang, who is currently working hard to learn English, his eyes are full of envy and appreciation.

The success of the premiere of "Incense" made MK2 breathe a long sigh of relief. Yesterday's premiere of "Uniform" really gave them a slap in the face. At the premiere, % of the audience was seated, but only % remained at the end. The prospects of this movie are obviously worrying to the naked eye. Buying out the rights to two movies for euros seems like a bargain, but if this happens to both movies, it is estimated that the euros will be wasted.

Fortunately, their worries only lasted for one day. The premiere of "Incense" received an enthusiastic response. Now, even if "Uniform" falls into their hands, they can make a profit with "Incense".

After Juliet Schramek learned the news, she immediately called to congratulate her and even treated her to dinner in the evening.

……

"The collision between reality and thought, a magical realism movie. Sad and funny, it makes people have mixed feelings. This is undoubtedly a wonderful movie, with profound connotations and profound meanings."

"I really like the narrative rhythm in" Fragrant ". Although the plot structure of the fragmentation looks very deliberate, for a newcomer director, he undoubtedly handed over an excellent work." "We are very happy to see it. To the changes of the new generation of directors in China. Faith meets survival, religion meets reality, bold and spicy, it is hard to imagine that this is actually a student work."

Perhaps because the appearance of "Incense" was so stunning, the two major show magazines "Varlety" and "Screen" devoted surprising space to reporting on this Un Certain Regard work.

So in the next two days, Ning Hao finally experienced the feeling of becoming famous. Whenever he appeared in public, he would always be surrounded by the domestic media, who desperately tried to dig out some juicy information from him.

No way, there are thousands of reporters from all over the world coming to cover the Cannes Film Festival this year. For security reasons, the organizer specially registered all reporters who applied for interviews this year, and divided them according to the strength of the media. five levels.

For example, the first level, in addition to several major publications, can only be obtained by reporters from USA Today, Entertainment Weekly, Premiere, and major news agencies around the world. The second-level certificate is issued to senior journalists who have interviewed at several film festivals.

When covering film festivals, a small press card is even more important than a passport.

Because it was the first time for domestic media reporters to interview this time, many only received fourth- or even fifth-class interview credentials, and the opportunity to interview big-name celebrities was only reserved for "first-class reporters" and "second-class reporters." So they can only stare at their own country's filmmakers and try their best to plunder the wool.

Even Wanwan's film godmother, Sister Jiao Xiongping, asked Li Tang to come and chat with Ning Hao to add some material to her "Jiao Xiongping Cannes Diary" column in Nandu Daily.

On the 19th, the premiere of "Second Brother", which was shortlisted for the main competition unit, finally came.

As a candidate for Cannes for the second time, the new film by Chinese director Wang Xiaoshuai, winner of the Berlin Film Festival Jury Prize, is also a film starring Venice's young actor Li Tang. During the media special screening in the morning, it attracted many domestic and foreign media reporters.

But when the screening ended and the media conference was held, Wang Xiaoshuai and Li Tang suddenly felt a chill when they saw that almost all of the people sitting below were Chinese reporters, with only a handful of Western reporters.

The English title of "Second Brother" still continues the original title of "Drifters". In fact, this film still continues the style of his work "The Girl with a Pole" which was shortlisted for Cannes Un Certain Regard in 1999. The story is not strong, and it focuses more on emotional things.

However, this style of play, playing aloof and filling the screen with a large number of personal shots, is something left over from games played more than ten or twenty years ago in Europe. After watching too many movies of this kind, Western reporters will naturally lose interest. They may even think that Wang Xiaoshuai is a bit too flamboyant and deliberately showing off his own style, so they don't bother to support him.

However, domestic reporters were still very enthusiastic and asked Wang Xiaoshuai and Li Tang questions one after another. In addition to paying attention to the film itself, reporters are also very concerned about the domestic farce before the opening of the film festival.

In the past, due to various reasons, Wang Xiaoshuai's works were never able to be released normally in China, but now "Second Brother" is likely to be unable to escape this fate. What do Wang Xiaoshuai think?

Maybe he was completely relieved. Wang Xiaoshuai said very calmly: "I am working hard on this now, but I don't know the probability of success in the end. However, I always firmly believe that with the continuous reform of China's film system, the mechanism will become more and more I am becoming more and more flexible, and I believe that my film will finally be able to meet the domestic audience one day."

After the media conference, Wang Xiaoshuai said to Li Tang with an apologetic look: "I'm sorry, this movie is probably dead."

"Brother Wang, what's so embarrassing about this? Didn't you say it before? Being able to go to Cannes is a victory. Twenty films, uh... even nineteen, only three or four of them can win the award. , I never dared to expect to win an award or anything like that." Li Tang said with a smile.

He has a very clear mind. Although he is the male lead in the two Chinese films shortlisted for the Cannes main competition this time, there is absolutely no chance of winning the Best Actor.

The reason is simple. When filming "Second Brother", he felt that the film did not have high performance requirements for the actors. Again, the movie itself conveys an emotion.

As for "Purple Butterfly", it is even more impossible. He is nominally the male lead. To put it bluntly, he is supporting Zhang Ziyi. In this movie, Zhang Ziyi is the absolute heroine.

Although the domestic media have been touting Zhang Ziyi as a movie queen, in the final analysis, this is the media's own forced drama. As Xiao Zhang said in a previous interview, "Purple Butterfly" is a director's work, a very stylized film. The bottom line is that this film is about the director, not the actors.

“Walking to Cannes is victory!”

Having said that, Wang Xiaoshuai was still a little upset after all. It’s not easy to be shortlisted for the main competition unit. Who doesn’t want to win a prize?

Li Tang glanced at Wang Xiaoshuai, who looked a little ugly, and asked, "When do you plan to leave?"

There is an unwritten rule at the film festival. If the organizer tries to retain the crew before the awards ceremony, it means that the film will win the award, and vice versa.

Generally speaking, the crew will book flights to leave Cannes in advance with half-truths, just waiting for the organizer to persuade them to stay. If the crew has not heard from the organizer when they leave for the airport, then they can only get out as soon as possible.

"Those who booked for the 25th have come even though they are here. I want to support Lou Ye after all." Wang Xiaoshuai said.

He and Lou Ye were good friends when they were in school at Nortel. When they first started making movies, they both played guest roles in each other's debut films.

"What about you?"

Li Tang smiled and said: "We also booked on the 25th, maybe it's the same flight."

"Purple Butterfly" premieres on the 24th, and the awards for the Un Certain Regard category will also be announced on the evening of the 24th. The main thing is to see if "Purple Butterfly" is available. If not, then we will set off on the 25th as originally planned.

However, Li Tang is full of expectations for Ning Hao's "Incense" this time, because although the Un Certain Regard unit also has its own independent jury, its composition of judges is more diverse. In addition to professional filmmakers, there are also people from France and senior journalists in Europe.

And there are many awards. In addition to the Un Certain Regard Best Picture Award, there are also the Jury Prize, Best Director Award, Best Performance Award, etc. In addition, this year there is a special new "Premier Attention Award", which is an award second only to the Best Picture Award.

Li Tang feels that even if "Incense" misses the Best Picture Award in the Un Certain Regard category, it can still win the Premiere Attention Award.

(End of this chapter)