1990: Starting from Baojia Street

Zhang Manyu had nothing to do with Zhou Yan, so she was naturally generous and held Wang Zuxian's arm.

"There has been no public response because the news is too boring."

"We are all very good friends in private, and I hope everyone will stop writing nonsense."

"Everyone should pay more attention to movies."

Fortunately, there are many well-known actors here today. The reporters here just asked a few questions, and Leslie Cheung arrived on the other side. The reporters ran over to interview Leslie Cheung again.

The current Hong Kong Film Awards does not have a fixed red carpet photo session like later generations. There are people maintaining order, but the order is not particularly good, and the scene is still quite chaotic.

These reporters are like guerrillas, interviewing every actor they catch.

Zhou Yan and the others saw that the reporters were looking for Leslie Cheung and other big-name celebrities, so they entered the venue together.

After finding my seat, I entered a long wait.

I don’t know if the organizer deliberately arranged the three of them to sit together, and Zhou Yan was still in the middle, giving them a feeling of being hugged from one side to the other.

The key is that the seats in the museum are very small, basically shoulder to shoulder, it is really crowded, the chairs have no armrests, and there is no place to put your hands.

Moreover, Zhang Manyu's outfit today was particularly bold. She wore a dress with the skirt reaching to the middle of her thigh. This was nothing. The main reason was that her dress was translucent, and the black underwear inside could be clearly seen.

Even compared to other female celebrities present, this dress is bold enough.

Fortunately, she is a pair of A's, so it's not too obvious at first sight.

Times are different, and everyone still dresses differently. In later award ceremonies, actresses wore less than the last, and all wore evening gowns.

Unlike now, you can wear whatever you want.

For example, Wang Zuxian wore a very casual gray suit.

Just now Zhou Yan also saw Anita Yuen, the favorite for Best Actress this time, arriving wearing a white T-shirt.

Wang Zuxian tilted his head and asked Zhang Manyu, "Maggie, when will you come on stage?"

"I don't know the specific time. It should be relatively late."

Zhang Manyu was going to present an award, and it was for the best actor.

Best Actor is the most watched award at the Academy Awards every year, besides Best Film and Best Director. Even for most ordinary viewers, Best Actor is more important than Best Film and Best Director. .

In fact, most viewers don't care which movie wins the best movie. They are more concerned about whether their favorite actor can win the best actor or best actress.

After dinner, if you talk about which movie has won the Best Picture, many people may not know you, but if you want to talk about which actor has won the Best Movie Award or Best Actress, many people can tell it.

"This year's Best Actor, who do you most favor?" Wang Zuxian gossiped.

Zhang Manyu leaned her head towards Wang Zuxian and whispered, "Of course I am optimistic about Liu Qingyun, he has two nominations."

Wang Zuxian nodded in approval, "Yes, "New Love" is a big hit this year."

The most popular actor this year is indeed Liu Qingyun. There are a total of five roles shortlisted for Best Actor. Liu Qingyun has occupied two pits with his two movies "New Love" and "July 14". Simply based on probability, he The odds of winning Best Actor are two out of five.

In addition to Liu Qingyun, there are Huang Qiusheng, Wu Xingguo and Jackie Chan.

Wu Xingguo is the least likely, and Jackie Chan and Huang Qiusheng are not as advantageous as Liu Qingyun.

But this thing about awards, it doesn’t mean whoever is popular will get it.

Zhou Yan didn't know much about this year's Academy Awards, but he knew that Huang Qiusheng did win the Best Actor for "Barbecued Pork Bun". He got it, which means Liu Qingyun didn't get it.

After Wang Zuxian and Zhang Manyu started talking, the discussion couldn't stop. However, they couldn't gossip too loudly, so they put their heads close together and discussed in a low voice.

Zhou Yan sat among them and could only sit up straight and give up his chest position to them.

The two chatted for a while, and Leslie Cheung came in.

Leslie Cheung's seat was right in front of Zhou Yan and the others. When he was looking for a seat, he raised his hand to greet Zhou Yan while still some distance away.

"Zhou Yan, you are here too."

Hearing Leslie Cheung's voice, Wang Zuxian and Zhang Manyu raised their heads and sat back.

At this time, Leslie Cheung also saw Wang Zuxian and Maggie Cheung chatting with their heads down, and greeted them both, "Maggie, Xiaoxian, you are here too."

Zhang Manyu said, "We were walking in front of you just now."

"Oh, I didn't see it." Leslie Cheung sat in his seat, then turned around and scratched the back of his chair, "Zhou Yan, how long are you staying in Xiangjiang this time? We have time to have a meal together. We haven't seen each other for a long time. "

Although "Farewell My Concubine" has been filmed for a long time, Leslie Cheung can still speak Mandarin very well, but there is a problem. Maybe he saw Zhou Yan, so he deliberately spoke Mandarin with a Beijing accent.

He probably thought it was nothing, but it sounded strange to Zhou Yan. But when he heard that Leslie Cheung was willing to speak Mandarin, Zhou Yan thought it was good.

In fact, Leslie Cheung was quite concerned about not using his original voice in "Farewell My Concubine", and he had said this several times before.

But there is no way, Xiangjiang actors, if they can speak Mandarin to the level of Leslie Cheung, it is already very good, or they are like Qin Pei, who has lived in the mainland since childhood, and has a natural language foundation.

In addition, Leslie Cheung has just recently taken on Chen Kaige's new movie "Feng Yue", so he is also consciously practicing his Mandarin during this time.

Facing Leslie Cheung's invitation, Zhou Yan smiled and shook his head, "I'm afraid it won't work this time. I have an event tomorrow and will return to Yanjing the day after tomorrow."

"That's a pity." Leslie Cheung then said with a smile, "But it doesn't matter. I will go to the mainland in a while. We will meet in the mainland then."

Zhang Manyu asked curiously, "Why are you going to the mainland?"

"Going to film the new movie directed by Kai Ge." Zhan Guorong explained, then looked at Zhou Yan and said, "What a pity. I heard Director Kai Ge said that he originally asked you to score his new movie, but you There is no time, otherwise we would be able to work together again.”

Zhou Yan did not expect that Chen Kaige would tell Leslie Cheung about this. In Zhou Yan's eyes, according to Chen Kaige's character, he should not tell anyone about not inviting Zhou Yan. After all, it was quite embarrassing.

And not only was he embarrassed, he should also consider Zhao Jiping's face. After all, Zhou Yan went to Zhao Jiping only after he didn't answer. It would be a bit unpleasant to say it out loud.

Although Zhao Jiping will most likely not care about this, Chen Kaige should consider it.

"It's really unlucky. I wish you a smooth filming of this drama."

"It will definitely go smoothly. Director Chen Kaige and my brother are joining forces this time." Wang Zuxian said.

"Farewell My Concubine" has been so strong this year, so when everyone heard that Chen Kai was cooperating with Leslie Cheung, they felt safe.

Leslie Cheung himself is also very confident about new movies. After working with Chen Kaige once, he is now very persistent in this type of literary and artistic movies.

Nowadays, many movies come to him, but he doesn't like them. He even said in public that some of the movies he made before are not movies.

He was also upset that he didn't win the Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival.

A few people chatted for a while, and there were more and more people in the museum.

Coincidentally, most of the people sitting around Zhou Yan were known to him, and the seat to the left of Zhang Manyu belonged to Liang Jiahui.

There was also Anita Mui, sitting diagonally across from Zhou Yan. This seating arrangement was probably specially arranged by the organizer.

There are also some unfamiliar ones, Ng Jiali on the right of Wang Zuxian, and Liu Qingyun behind Zhou Yan.

About ten minutes before the ceremony started, Leslie Cheung went to the edge of the stage. Today he was in charge of opening the ceremony, which was quite a heavy task.

After Leslie Cheung left, Zhou Yan and the others didn't talk any more. Now they were whispering to each other and could easily be captured by the camera.

Soon, the ceremony officially began. Leslie Cheung came on stage alone and gave a speech, and then led a group of children to perform a performance.

The first four or five minutes are basically Leslie Cheung's solo performance.

This can be regarded as compensation for Leslie Cheung from the Academy Awards. Because "Farewell My Concubine" is not recognized as a Hong Kong film, this film is not eligible for the Academy Awards.

If "Farewell My Concubine" can participate in the selection, it should be a massacre at this year's Academy Awards, and Leslie Cheung should also be able to win this year's Best Actor.

As Leslie Cheung walked off the stage, hosts Fat Sister Shum Dianxia and Curly Sam Jianxun walked onto the stage along the steps of the arch bridge.

The two hosts chatted for about two or three minutes, and then Simon Yam and Liu Tianlan came on stage to present the first award of this award ceremony - the Best Costume Design Award.

"Green Snake" was shortlisted for this award, so Zhou Yan and the others were quite concerned about it.

However, the winner was "The Legend of the White-Haired Witch" in the end, and costume design director Emi Wada took the stage to give an acceptance speech.

The second award was for Best Editing. Wang Jing and Zhang Jianting went on stage to award it to Zhang Yaozong of "Crime Unit".

Before the presenter of the third award came on stage, Zhou Yan saw a camera pointed in his direction.

The third award is the one that their crew is most concerned about - Best Film Score.

Knowing that the camera was pointed at him, Zhou Yan looked calm, but the rest of the crew was quite nervous.

Wang Zuxian pinched the corner of his clothes, and Zhang Manyu bit her lip.

Tsui Hark, who was sitting on the other side, also squinted his eyes slightly.

It already missed out on Best Costume Design, and it would be too bad if it couldn't win Best Score as well.

Awards guest Zeng Zhiwei said on the stage, "The award we are going to present next can be said to be very important. It is not an exaggeration to say that the soundtrack is the soul of the movie. And the several films shortlisted this time have excellent performance in the soundtrack. All very good.”

Another award presenter, Ke Shouliang, nodded and said, "Yes, it can be said that it is a gathering of masters. As you have also been a director, you should know that soundtrack is very important."

"You should know better, you released a record last year."

Ke Shouliang waved his hand, "I did it just for fun."

At this time, a song by Ke Shouliang was played on the screen on the side. The people present were very considerate and applauded one after another.

However, Ke Shouliang is not modest at all. His song was really played casually, and his level is very average.

After watching the video, Zeng Zhiwei joked, "You develop well and strive for the best soundtrack award next year. You also come up to receive the award."

Ke Shouliang pouted, "Let's see which movies are shortlisted."

Then the side screen began to play several shortlisted movies.

After the playback ended, Zeng Zhiwei opened the card with the name of the winning movie on it and looked at it. "My eyesight is not very good and I can't see clearly, but I can see that the name of the winning movie is two words."

There was a burst of laughter at the scene, and Tsui Hark quickly ran through it in his mind. Among the six films shortlisted for the best soundtrack this time, only two of them had two-character names. Except for "Green Snake", they were "The Seduction of the Monk". 》.

In this way, their probability of winning is greatly increased.

But soon, his heart sank.

Ke Shouliang stretched out his head to look at the card and directly reported his name, "The winner of the best film score is "The Seduction of the Monk" by Liu Yida and Wei Qiliang."

The applause rang out again, and award-winners Liu Yida and Wei Qiliang came to the stage to receive their awards.

At this point, "Green Snake" has lost the two most important of the four awards it has been shortlisted for, leaving only Best Art Director and Best New Actor.

Zhou Yan would be lying if he said he wasn't disappointed at all. The Academy Award for Best Soundtrack is just an award. If he didn't care at all, he wouldn't come.

However, he showed no emotion and applauded the winners with a smile.

Tsui Hark's performance was much more realistic, with an unhappy look on his face.

He always had a bad face, but now he wrote the word "unhappy" directly on his face, regardless of whether the camera was pointed at him or not.

In fact, many people at the scene found it quite surprising, because the soundtrack of "Green Snake" is indeed very good. In addition to a few songs written by Huang Zhan, the soundtrack composed by Zhou Yan is also very eye-catching.

Especially the song "Nightingale" is not only of high quality, but also widely disseminated.

This song was included in the special album "Mysterious Kingdom". "Mysterious Kingdom" sold more than three million copies worldwide. Doesn't that explain the problem?

But even so, the jury finally awarded the best soundtrack to "The Seducing Monk".

However, many people are used to it. It is very normal for some awards to be unpopular. Besides, the best soundtrack is not a particularly important award in the first place.

The Best Score part passed quickly, and the next award happened to be Best Newcomer Actor.

There was a strong lineup of guests on stage to present the awards this time, and all the Seven Little Blessings were on stage.

When they got to the stage, Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and the others chatted and laughed for a while, and then started to watch the shortlisted movies.

After watching the shortlisted films, Sammo Hung directly opened the card and announced, "The winner of the Best New Actor Award is - Sammo Hung." When Sammo Hung called out his name, many people at the scene started to applaud, but they stopped. It was discovered twice that Sammo Hung was joking, and everyone burst into laughter again.

The Seven Little Fortunes on the stage laughed some more. Jackie Chan took the card from Sammo Hung and then raised his eyebrows and said, "The winner of the Best New Actor Award is - Zhou Yan."

This time, the applause really started.

The people next to Zhou Yan all looked at him.

Tsui Hark was also applauding Zhou Yan, but he was not too happy because this award had little to do with him. It could be regarded as a fig leaf, but the area of ​​this fig leaf was too small and could not cover much shame.

He even felt that giving this award to Zhou Yan was to make up for the Best Score award just now.

Zhou Yan raised his eyebrows, but he didn't expect that the Best New Actor Award, which was originally uncompetitive, would be given back to him.

His performance level is still not comparable to that of professional actors, and since he is from the Mainland, it is quite surprising that he was shortlisted for the individual award.

Although the Hong Kong Film Awards only stipulates that the film must be a Hong Kong film and does not stipulate that non-Hong Kong people cannot win individual awards, the Hong Kong Film Awards are very exclusive and it is difficult for non-Hong Kong locals to win this kind of award that is given directly to actors.

To break it down, Jet Li is the only mainlander to win the Academy Award for Best Actor.

Zhou Yan stood up and hugged first Manyu Zhang and Joey Wang, and then hugged Liang Jiahui and Leslie Cheung.

In the middle, while Zhou Yan finished hugging Liang Jiahui, Anita Mui also pulled him over and gave him a hug.

As he walked onto the stage, Zhou Xingchi shook hands with Zhou Yan and expressed congratulations to him.

After taking the stage, Zhou Yan took the trophy from Jackie Chan, and then the Seven Little Fortunes stood on both sides, leaving the middle position to Zhou Yan.

Zhou Yan nodded to them, then stood in front of the microphone.

He didn't prepare an acceptance speech, so he just improvised it.

Looking at the trophy in his hand, Zhou Yan said with a smile, "I have won several awards before, but I didn't expect that the first one to go on stage to receive it would be the Best New Actor Award. As a newcomer in the film industry, I stand among several I feel a lot of pressure next to my seniors.”

"I rarely act, but this award has given me some encouragement. Maybe if I have the opportunity in the future, I will play some other roles, so that everyone can see more of me on the big screen."

"To receive this award, I must thank Director Tsui Hark, as well as all the other staff in front and behind the scenes of the crew, thank the Academy Awards jury, and thank all seniors."

After speaking, Zhou Yan took a step back, and his acceptance speech ended.

Then Zhou Yan walked down the stage with Jackie Chan and the others.

Jackie Chan smiled and congratulated, "Congratulations, you won this award for your first time acting in a movie."

"Had it not been his first time acting in a movie, he wouldn't have won this award." Sammo Hung said.

"Oh, that's true."

"We still need to learn more from our seniors."

Jackie Chan patted Zhou Yan on the shoulder, "You're too polite. We all know that you are a musician and your ambition is not to perform."

"You are still a director. If you have the opportunity in the future, please help us more."

This is purely polite. The Seven Little Fortunes don't need anyone else to support them in Hong Kong, especially Jackie Chan, who is now starting to move towards Hollywood.

"Mr. Hong was joking."

"Haha, I'm not kidding. The waves behind the Yangtze River push the waves ahead. From now on, the world will be dominated by you young people."

……

Returning to his seat, Joey Wong took the trophy and looked at it, "If you scratch out the word "newcomer", you will be the best actor at the Academy Awards."

Zhang Manyu stretched her head over and took a look, "No, the Best Actor trophy is written on it."

"Haha, then add the words "heroine".

"Then just make it again yourself. It's not difficult to make."

……

The ceremony continued, and the awards were announced one by one, and soon it was the best art director. Unfortunately, "Green Snake" still did not win the award. The best art director went to "The Legend of the White-Haired Witch".

At this point, "Green Snake"'s journey to the Academy Awards is over. It was nominated for four and only won one Best New Actor Award.

The biggest winner tonight was "New Love", which won six awards: Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Supporting Actress.

However, the Best Actor award unexpectedly fell by the wayside. Lau Ching Wan ultimately lost to Wong Chou-sang and missed out on being crowned Best Actor at this year's Academy Awards.

In fact, this seems to be a kind of balance. If the best actor award is given to Liu Qingyun, then there will be no one else to play in this Academy Awards except "New Love".

After the award ceremony, Zhou Yan was talking to Anita Mui and others when Zhou Xingchi came over.

"Director Zhou, do you have time for a while? Can we chat?"

Anita Mui said, "Xingzai, don't compete with us for Zhou Yan. We agreed to have dinner together."

Zhou Xingchi was stunned for a moment, "Isn't there a dinner party?"

After the party, the organizer organized four dinner parties, which were held in four different places. Zhou Yan and the others were all in the same place.

Zhou Yan asked, "Director Zhou, are you talking to me about the new movie?"

Stephen Chow did not avoid Anita Mui and the others, he nodded and said, "We will go to the mainland in June to start preparations for filming. I would like to find a time to chat with you."

"When will you go in June?" Zhou Yan asked.

"I'll go at the end of May."

"Oh, that's okay. I will go to Chang'an in early June. It won't be too late for us to meet and chat then."

Hearing what Zhou Yan said, Zhou Xingchi nodded, "No problem, then we'll meet in Chang'an."

After saying that, Zhou Xingchi said hello to Anita Mui and the others and left.

After Stephen Chow left, Anita Mui asked curiously, "Are you also involved in Xingzi's new movie?"

"Well, I'm the soundtrack director." Zhou Yan said.

Anita Mui tilted her head and said, "Why do I feel a little weird when you score his movie?"

Others also found it strange, especially Leslie Cheung.

In Leslie Cheung's view, Zhou Yan should be cast in a movie like "Farewell My Concubine", and again "Green Snake". Why did he go to be cast in a comedy movie?

Leslie Cheung now looks down on these movies.

It's not that others dislike comedy movies, they themselves act in comedy movies, but there is a big gap between comedy movies and Zhou Yan's style.

What Leslie Cheung couldn't understand was that Zhou Yan actually rejected Chen Kaige and chose Zhou Xingchi.

Although he knew that Zhou Yan might have agreed to Zhou Xingchi first, he still felt strange.

Isn't it a waste of Zhou Yan's music to put it in a comedy?

"Hey, there's nothing strange about it. The movie "San Mao Joins the Army" that I acted in before was also a comedy movie." Zhou Yan waved his hand and said.

Anita Mui and Maggie Cheung have never seen "The Legend of Three Mao's Soldiers", but Leslie Cheung went to the cinema to watch it in the Mainland during that time. Although "The Story of Three Mao's Soldiers" is also a comedy movie, it is completely different from ordinary comedy movies.

"San Mao Joins the Army" is more of a black humor, and the whole movie is full of irony from beginning to end. When Leslie Cheung watched this movie, he thought it was very interesting.

Although it was strange, Leslie Cheung and the others didn't say much.

If you say too much, wouldn’t that offend people?

However, Zhou Yan saw their attitude and understood better why Zhao Jiping was unwilling to accept "Westward Journey" at that time. Even people from Hong Kong are very prejudiced against comedies.

The attitude of mainland film practitioners towards comedies is much worse than that of Hong Kong people.

……

The next day, under the arrangement of Zhang Youan, Zhou Yan led Wang Zuxian and Liang Jiahui to hold a press conference for "The Sixth Sense".

Because the Academy Awards ceremony had just ended, reporters naturally couldn’t help but ask questions related to the Academy Awards in addition to questions about movies.

Reporters don't care whether Zhou Yan is happy or not after winning the Best New Actor award. They are more concerned about whether Zhou Yan is disappointed when he doesn't win the Best Soundtrack award.

It would be best to hear a few complaints from Zhou Yan, then the news would be easier to write.

However, Zhou Yan didn't give them a chance at all and praised the award-winning "The Seducing Monk" mercilessly.

The day after the press conference ended, Zhou Yan returned to Yanjing.

After returning to Yanjing, the news that he won the Academy Award for Best New Actor first spread to the mainland, and the media rushed to report it.

This news has attracted a lot of attention in the mainland, because many mainland viewers are very concerned about the Hong Kong Film Awards.

The fact that Zhou Yan won the Best New Actor Award is quite new to many mainlanders, because most people do not regard Zhou Yan as an actor at all.

Usually, when talking about Zhou Yan, most people first think that he is a musician, because they see Zhou Yan on TV and basically at Zhou Yan’s concerts. He is wearing formal clothes, or playing flute, or It's playing the piano.

The "Yanjing Silence" concert has been broadcast on CCTV many times before, and the ratings have always been pretty good.

In addition to being a musician, some people will think that he is a director, and very few people will first think of him as an actor.

Two days later, the results of the first three days of "Flying Piano Boy" in France were also released.

In its first weekend, "The Flying Piano Boy" attracted a total of 240,000 people to watch the movie.

This result is not particularly good, but it is definitely not bad. The key is that in the first three days, it is getting better day by day.

The number of moviegoers on the first day was 65,000, on the second day it was 80,000, and on the third day it jumped to 95,000, which means that the movie's reputation is also very good.

If the average ticket price is four dollars, the box office is close to one million dollars.

The French film market is relatively stable. The number of moviegoers in the first three days reached 240,000. There is no problem in the final number of moviegoers exceeding one million.

According to the current trend, there will be no problem if the number of movie viewers eventually exceeds 2 million.

Such a good start made Xu Feng extremely happy.

She was so happy when she called Zhou Yan to share the good news.

The investment cost of this film is 8 million US dollars. If the box office in France can exceed 10 million US dollars, plus the sale of broadcast rights, the cost will be almost recovered.

If subsequent movies do not perform particularly poorly at the box office in other countries, there will be no problem making profits.

"In two days, the movie will be released in the United States. If the box office on the first weekend can reach two to three million US dollars, then we can open the champagne in advance."

Xu Feng is right. If the movie's box office in the United States can reach two to three million US dollars in the first weekend, then there is basically no problem in the final box office exceeding six million US dollars.

Typically, the final box office is two to five times the opening weekend box office.

For some movies that have good early publicity but poor reputation, this multiple will be lower, because the potential of the movie is consumed in the early stage.

For some movies with poor early publicity and good reputation, the multiples are much higher. It is common for the final box office to exceed the first weekend box office by five times.

"Two to three million US dollars shouldn't be easy." Zhou Yan said.

He was also worried that Xu Feng had too much early hopes and would be disappointed if his final results did not meet expectations.

Xu Feng is quite open-minded, "It doesn't matter if it doesn't reach the target. Now the film's fundamentals are almost stable. No matter how bad the North American box office is, it won't be a big deal."

The opening box office in France can already be explained to investors.

The key is that Tomson not only makes money from movies, but also from music.

This time "Flying Piano Boy" performed well in France, and with it, the sales of the "Piano Boy" album will definitely increase accordingly.

Xu Feng has been worried that Zhou Yan's music cannot open up the market in Europe and the United States. With such a breakthrough, the follow-up matters will be much simpler.

No matter how much the movie does at the box office in North America, it will still have a positive effect on the promotion of music. (End of chapter)