The King of Directors 2000

The Oscar is undoubtedly one of the most prestigious film awards in the world today.

Due to the country's strong cultural export capabilities, coupled with the dazzling Hollywood stars, and the country's status as a world beacon, it seems to be very high-quality.

Many people think that Oscar ranks first in the world among film awards.

Such a view is naturally wrong.

The Oscars are only domestic awards for beautiful countries, and the benchmarks are the Golden Rooster Award and the Blue Dragon Award.

In terms of style, it is not more advanced than the three major European film festivals.

The Cannes, Venice, and Berlin Film Festivals are all film awards open to the world, and all participating films must premiere at these three film festivals.

In terms of entry difficulty, the three major European film festivals are much higher than the Oscars.

It is nothing more than that the beautiful country has the global right to speak and instills more Oscar and more awesome theories into the audience.

But industry insiders undoubtedly recognize the three major European companies more.

This can be seen from the top ten films selected by Cahiers du Cinema and Sight and Sound each year.

Basically, films that win awards at the three major European film festivals have a high probability of being selected into the top ten of the year selected by Cahiers du Cinema and Sight and Sound.

And for movies that win Oscars, they may not be included in the top ten of the year.

Especially since the beautiful country has become more and more politically correct. Movies like "Black Panther" can win several awards, and the Oscar has even less weight in the hearts of professionals.

Lee Sing-yew has no intention of attacking Michelle Yeoh, but the film for which Michelle Yeoh won the Oscar for Best Actress - "The World", in the annual ranking of "Sight and Sound", is not even in the top 2022 in . Enter.

To be honest, this movie is just an ordinary commercial movie. Such a movie can show off its power at the Oscars.

This shows how quickly Oscar declined after a few years.

Lee Sheng-yew knows what happened in his previous life, and he does not have the sacred mentality of ordinary filmmakers towards the Oscars.

In his eyes, Oscar is far inferior to the top three in Europe.

After hearing what Bill said, he paused for a moment and then said: "If I have the chance, I will participate in the Oscars."

He didn't mean what he said.

If he could win a grand prize, he would naturally be willing to participate.

But, with his current status, how can a group of filmmakers from the beautiful country be willing to praise him.

There are only two possibilities for him to win an Oscar.

First, like Ang Lee, he goes to a beautiful country to develop, and then cooperates well with the six major film companies.

Second, he made a movie that shocked the United States and left those judges speechless.

The first one is obviously impossible. No matter who Li Shengyao is, he will not work for the six major film companies.

That leaves only the second item, about which he has no idea yet.

Bill couldn't help but be surprised when he heard Li Shengyao's words.

He could see that Li Shengyao was not very willing, "Li, all of your previous films could represent China in applying for Oscars, but you didn't even participate. Why is that?"

Each country has a spot for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.

Both Lao Mouzi and Brother Kaizi had thoughts about Oscar before.

For example, "Heroes" was screened in advance just to bid for the Olympics.

The same was true for the later "The Promise". It was screened on a large scale in China to create conditions for the Olympic bid.

Generally speaking, among the three most award-winning European films, it is relatively easy to win the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.

Lee Sing-yew's "1937" and "Parasite" both have great promise.

However, Lee Sheng Yew did not apply at all. The Oscars were determined to use these two movies to attract traffic, but there was nothing they could do to improve their performance.

Li Shengyao smiled when he heard this, "I forgot."

In fact, he just didn't bother to apply. He got the Palme d'Or film, so why should he be inferior to others and compete for the best foreign language film? It would also be the Oscar for best picture, but the judges in the beautiful country would not give him this heavyweight award.

Bill heard this and said seriously: "Li, come to the Oscars, we all know your talent, and all of us welcome you.

Maybe you have misunderstood the Oscars before, but please believe that we are all pure filmmakers and we embrace excellent movies from all over the world. "

"Mr. Bill, I understand. If I have the opportunity in the future, I will consider participating."

Seeing that Li Shengyao was still saying the same thing, Bill felt a little unhappy. He nodded, "Okay, I'm waiting for your good news."

As soon as he finished speaking, Bill put down his wine glass, turned and left.

Lao Mouzi and Brother Kaizi are all paying attention to what's going on here.

Knowing that Li Shengyao rejected Bill, they were all puzzled.

Lao Mouzi walked over and said, "Director Li, why don't you compete for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film?"

"None of your many good films were successful, and I can't participate in them either."

Lao Mouzi shook his head, "It's different. I don't have much appeal in a beautiful country. You have a blockbuster movie in a beautiful country. Maybe you can do it."

"Director Zhang, don't be so lucky. You couldn't do it back then, and it's even harder now."

In Lee Sheng-yao's previous life, after Lao Mouzi failed to bid for the Olympics several times, mainland filmmakers finally figured it out. After that, they used "Wolf Warrior" to apply for the Olympics, and they were completely calm.

You won’t give me an award anyway, so just declare it casually.

The awakening of Hong Kong filmmakers was after "The Departed". "The Departed" is a remake of "The Departed". To be honest, it is not as good as "The Departed". "The Departed" has a sense of fate. Didn't show it at all.

"The Departed" is an excellent police film.

Thirty years later, "Infernal Affairs" is still worthy of mentioning and is definitely a classic movie.

As a result, "Infernal Affairs" did not win the best foreign language film, but "The Departed" did win the best movie.

When the news came back to Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong residents, who had always been fond of foreigners, couldn't help complaining that Oscar would only take care of his own people and guard against outsiders.

Li Shengyao naturally knows Oscar's urine.

China is not a lackey of a beautiful country.

In his previous life, "Parasite" could win the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Picture.

But now, when he comes to film "Parasite", he won't get any honors.

After hearing this, Lao Mouzi still advised: "You can try it, maybe it will work."

"Come later, I have no idea now."

Others were surprised when they heard Li Shengyao's words.

If an ordinary director said this, everyone would think that he is showing off, and yet he talks so cleanly and refined when he clearly has no ability to win awards.

But Lee Sheng-yew is different. Everyone thinks that Director Lee can win the award. If he doesn't participate in the Oscars, it will really be a loss for the Oscars.

At this celebration banquet, the most eye-catching person was Zhao Yanzi, who won the best director. Many media came to interview her.

However, after Oscar Academy Chairman Bill McNicholg led people over to interview Lee Sheng Yew, there was no doubt that Lee Sheng Yew was the centerpiece of the meeting.

He had no intention of stealing Zhao Yanzi's limelight. The two of them were not from the same plane. After staying for a while, he said goodbye and left.

"Director Zhang, let's go, have a rest early, and return to China tomorrow."    ……

Lee Sheng-yao walked around Los Angeles and then hurried back to China.

He began to discuss the filming of "La La Land" with the assistant directors, and at the same time went to watch the dance practice results of Li Bingbing and Yue Ming.

Because he had many things to do and was busy, he didn't care about the situation in the beautiful country.

Until three days later, it was a sunny and cool autumn morning.

He received a call from Toby Emmerich.

"Li, you rejected the Oscar. Now many media from beautiful countries are criticizing you. Have you seen the news?"

Li Shengyao was stunned when he heard this, "Is that so? I didn't refuse."

"Haha, I understand what you mean, but you know, in the beautiful country, if you don't agree immediately, that's rejection."

The most beautiful country in the world, and the most beautiful Hollywood movies in the world.

In Bill McNichol's mind, Oscar is the best in the world.

He took the initiative to invite Li Shengyao, but Li Shengyao resisted and refused to give a positive answer, which made him angry.

Li Shengyao smiled and then said: "What did you say about me?"

"They are all bad words. You probably don't want to hear them."

Toby paused and then said: "I want to tell you, no matter what others say, we at Warner are your partners. There is no need to question our friendship."

"Okay, bro, I get it."

"Warner has two movies to be released in the mainland next month. Please help me keep an eye on them."

"no problem."

After hanging up the phone, Li Shengyao didn't bother to pay attention to the matter. Anyway, he couldn't stop or counterattack the news about the beautiful country, so he might as well not read it.

Just when he was about to get back to work, Dapeng hurried over and said angrily: "Master, many self-media and several media from the south are slandering you and saying that you don't dare to participate in the Oscars because you are afraid It’s embarrassing, I’m afraid of competing with big Hollywood directors, not being able to win awards, and not being able to continue the legend of the top three in Europe.”

Beautiful Country spends a lot of money on activities every year. It not only buys expert Vs on Weibo, but also attracts many self-media and southern media.

It's not surprising that these people follow their master's bad tone and speak ill of Li Shengyao.

At this time, the self-media and southern media that collected foreign exchange were still relatively aggressive, and it was only a few years later that the country severely cracked down on them.

Li Shengyao clarified the meaning of Dapeng's words and asked, "How do you plan to deal with it?"

"Let us get trolls and friendly self-media to refute them."

"No, if you argue with them like this, it will only make the topic more popular."

"Then what do we do?"

"What else should I do? Just ignore them. The more you ignore them, the more energetic they will be. Don't ignore them. There is no buzz. After a week, netizens will forget about it."

Dapeng thought about it and felt that Li Shengyao's words made sense, but he also felt angry and aggrieved.

"Master, do you want to participate in next year's Oscars to combat their arrogance?"

"There is also news about me being criticized in the beautiful country. The reason is that I rejected the Oscar. If I participate now, wouldn't it be a shame?

I just don’t want to participate, so I will use the three major European competitions to improve my performance, and I still have Oscar begging me to participate. "

Hearing this, Dapeng gave a thumbs up in admiration.

Dapeng then left. Li Shengyao stayed in the company for a while, and then went to a dance studio where Li Bingbing and Yue Ming practiced dancing.

This dance studio was rented by Fenghua Film and Television Company specifically for dance rehearsals for the actors of "La La Land".

Not only Li Bingbing and Yue Ming, but also ordinary actors have to come to rehearse.

Mandy Moore is a top performer who has won a Grammy for Best Choreography, so she has no problem choreographing.

Lee Sung-yew had talked with Mandy Moore dozens of times, and he made it very clear about the film's dance requirements, and Mandy Moore gave the answers very efficiently.

There's definitely nothing wrong with her choreography.

The only question is whether Li Bingbing and Yue Ming can escape the feeling needed for the movie.

Although Li Bingbing is not a dance major, she has been an amateur dancer since she was a child.

After she entered the entertainment industry, she often studied dance and practiced yoga. Now she is following Mandy Moore and has made rapid progress. After dancing, her temperament is completely different.

Yue Ming's side is a little more troublesome.

Li Shengyao not only asked him to dance, but also asked him to learn piano, and even asked him to take time to whiten his skin.

He has many things to busy with, so it is naturally more difficult for him to learn well.

Li Shengyao had already anticipated such a situation. He didn't say much and mainly gave encouragement.

This time, both Li Bingbing and Yue Yueming were practicing dance, and both of them were very involved.

Li Shengyao didn't disturb him and just watched quietly.

It was not until half an hour later that Li Bingbing and Zhou Yueming were sweating from exhaustion and sat next to them to rest. Li Shengyao then passed by and then praised the two actors for their dedication and asked them to relax and enjoy the process of learning dance.

Li Bingbing still had some energy left. She nodded with a smile and talked about her situation.

Fu Yueming felt much more uncomfortable, sticking out his tongue and smiling bitterly.

After chatting with the two leading actors for a while and revealing the news that filming was about to start, Lee Sheung Yew wanted to leave.

Li Bingbing stopped him, "Director, I want to tell you something."

"You said."

"Have you read the news? The news from Beautiful Country."

Li Bingbing worked in Hollywood a few years ago. She had some contacts in Hollywood and knew that Li Shengyao was being blackmailed by the media in beautiful countries.

"I didn't read it, but someone talked to me about it."

"Director, I know some people, some of whom are related to the media over there. Would you like me to help you contact them so that you can speak out or accept an interview to express your views, so that they will not be ignored? Be afraid to lead the rhythm."

Li Bingbing knows that Lee Shengyao has a good relationship with Warner. If Lee Shengyao wants to speak out, it should be easy to do so.

But she came anyway, mainly to show her sincerity.

Although the media in the beautiful country is undermining, Li Bingbing still prefers that Lee Sheng-yao disdains participating in the Oscars, not because he has no ability.

Professionally, she believes in Li Shengyao.

She has worked in the Mainland, Hong Kong, and Hollywood. She feels that Lee Sheng-yew's concentration and high requirements for making movies are at the highest level in Hollywood.

She believes that Li Shengyao's strength will not decline rapidly because he was criticized by the beautiful Chinese media, so she wants to sell well.

Hearing this, Li Shengyao smiled and waved his hands, "Thank you for your kindness, I appreciate it.

Don't pay attention to the media in the beautiful country, they will not affect me. "

He thought for a while and then drew a cake for Li Bingbing, "In "La La Land", your role is even more outstanding. You play well. We will participate in the Cannes Film Festival next year. I hope you can be as successful as Maggie Cheung."

Hearing this, Li Bingbing nodded excitedly, "Director, I will work hard."

(End of this chapter)