Become famous another day.

The day after the release of "Love Letter" was the screening day of Liu Bige's "Even Faking Death Is Not OK".

When "Love Letter" premiered, the entire crew of "Can't Even Fake My Death" came to support "Love Letter".

Of course, Lu Yanhe and the others will go to support "Even Faking Death" tomorrow.

Two Chinese-language films, supporting each other.

"Even Faking Death" has also attracted a lot of attention because it is directed by Liu Bige.

The movie "Late Spring" is very famous at international film festivals and was one of the top ten films of the year by many media.

Because of the good word-of-mouth response of "Love Letter", everyone is now looking forward to "Not Even Faking Death" even more——

Even though it has a name that seems quite unconventional.

However, just because the name is not appropriate doesn’t mean that the movie is not good.

Many movies in film history that have names that sound like bad movies are actually classics among classics.

"You guys, 'Love Letter' was so well made, now all the pressure is on me."

Lu Yanhe and Liu Bige had dinner together in the hotel room at ten o'clock in the evening - before that, they were busy with work and had no time to have dinner.

Under such circumstances, the schedule is really too busy.

Probably because the premiere is tomorrow, Liu Bige looks a little more anxious than the previous two days.

"Are you blaming me for this? You are the director of photography for Love Letter. Love Letter is getting good feedback now and you have put in a lot of effort. You should blame yourself." Lu Yanhe said bluntly.

Liu Bige: "..."

He fell into deep thought and said, "I am now a little hesitant. Is it the right choice for "Fake Death" to participate in the main competition unit of the Jose-Lato Film Festival? This movie is too commercial and may not be liked by the audience of the film festival. I guess the media will not give it too high a rating."

"That's not necessarily true. Why do you think so?" Lu Yanhe said, "Don't think too much about it now. The movie will be screened tomorrow and we have a lot to do."

Liu Bige: "Alas, I should have insisted on using Wang Jing to play the role."

At the beginning, the role of the heroine was a choice between Wang Jing and Ji Miao.

In the end, Longyan Films chose Ji Miao, who had won awards and was more famous, rather than Wang Jing who was recommended by Lu Yanhe.

Lu Yanhe didn't expect Liu Bige to say this at this time.

"Is Ji Miao's performance not good enough?"

"It's not bad, but it's not good enough." Liu Bige said, "I watched Squidward, and Wang Jing's crazy feeling in it... If she played it, the effect would be better."

"It's a done deal. Next time you choose actors, stick to your instincts." Lu Yanhe said, "The performance of the actors has a huge impact on the quality of a movie, especially a romantic comedy like this. The spark between the two actors basically determines the quality of the film itself."

Liu Bige nodded.

"But Li Zhibai is really good at acting, so relaxed." Liu Bige suddenly mentioned Li Zhibai and said to Lu Yanhe, "He is better than you in this aspect. His relaxed energy is unmatched."

Lu Yanhe smiled.

"That's how Director Luo Yuzhong praised him at the time."

"He is really suitable for this kind of modern, urban-themed drama." Liu Bige said, "He has a strong sense of life, without any trace of an actor."

Lu Yanhe: "He is actually a very good actor. Several people have praised him in this way. However, the roles that Zhou Ping'an had given him before were all for the purpose of gaining more traffic and popularity. Li Zhibai has never had any chance to act in a serious drama."

"He is not suitable for serious dramas. His talent lies in this kind of daily, everyday roles. He should take more light comedies." Liu Bige said, "In fact, there are almost no male actors in China who can play this kind of light comedy, and they are young male actors with such a good image. Anyway, apart from him, I haven't seen another one."

Lu Yanhe suddenly realized.

The director is still the director.

I guess they all have a list of actors in their minds, and they have basically classified which actors can play what kind of roles.

Lu Yanhe thought for a moment and said, "However, Li Zhibai's previous popular dramas were a fairy tale costume drama and a modern idol drama. He has never filmed a drama of the style of "I Can't Even Fake My Death"."

Liu Bige: "I've seen it, and I understand why it's so popular, but I don't like it."

Lu Yanhe nodded.

It's normal that Liu Bigo doesn't like it.

"I originally wanted Li Zhibai to play the role of the young eunuch Lu Xiaochuan in Dragon Inn," Liu Bige said. "However, Yan Liang's agent also came to me and wanted to give Yan Liang a try. When paired with other actors, I found that Yan Liang was more suitable. Li Zhibai's image was too handsome, so handsome that no one else could surpass him."

Lu Yanhe thought, Lu Xiaochuan in the original version of "New Dragon Inn" was played by Wu Qihua, and his image was almost the most handsome in the whole movie. However, he understood what Liu Bige meant.

Liu Bige asked: "Do you want to play a role?"

"Me?" Lu Yanhe thought for a moment and shook his head. "Forget it. The cast of this movie is already strong enough and they don't need me to be a supporting actor. Let others have the chance. For some actors, being able to show up in this movie may allow everyone to know them."

Liu Bige: "Okay."

"Who are you going to ask to play the role of Cao Dugong?" Lu Yanhe was a little curious.

Liu Bige said: "I still want to find an actor with some martial arts background, but I met a few actors with background, but their literary acting skills are not good enough, or they heard that they were going to play a eunuch and they were unwilling to play it."

“Are there still actors who have such serious prejudices now?”

"Yes." Liu Bige nodded, "You can't say it's prejudice. If you, as an actor, really can't get rid of your inner concerns, you can't play such a role well."

"I thought you were going to say that an actor should be able to play any role."

"Actors are not gods, and directors can't direct any play. Why should I ask actors to play any role?" Liu Bige said, "If an actor can play a certain type of role to perfection, it's God's gift."

Lu Yanhe nodded, agreeing with Liu Bige's words.

The two of them chatted until the early morning before Lu Yanhe left Liu Bigo's room and returned to his own room.

Chen Siqi and others are still in a meeting to discuss the main topics and materials to be promoted tomorrow.

"Our editor-in-chief Lu is back." Lin Yu said with a smile, "Let's leave too. It's getting late."

Chen Siqi: "Let's go, take a break. Everyone has been working hard recently. After the work for the Jose-La-Cebu International Film Festival is done, everyone can find time to take a break and rest for a while."

"Very nice, I really need a vacation." Lin Yu said, "When I return home, I want to sleep for 24 hours straight."

Chen Siqi: "If you can sleep for 24 hours straight, I'll treat you to breakfast for a week."

Lin Yu: "If you can, treat me to breakfast for a month."

Chen Siqi nodded: "Sure, one month is enough."

Everyone chatted and laughed as they packed up their things and left.

Chen Siqi stretched lazily and said, "I'm so tired."

Lu Yanhe came behind Chen Siqi and pressed her neck.

Chen Siqi breathed a sigh of relief.

"Your technique is pretty good, where did you learn it from?"

"I learned it by myself." Lu Yanhe asked, "Why did you hold a meeting so late today?"

"This year's Hollande Film Festival has received much more attention in China than expected. We have to keep up with the demand and continuously launch new content to meet everyone's needs, otherwise the popularity will soon decline." Chen Siqi said, "In just the past two days, we have added 13 new media channels to advertise. You can see how much attention it has received."

This type of media channel placement is different from that of film and television dramas, and the price is not that high, but the starting price for one placement is at least seven figures.

Lu Yanhe instantly understood why everyone was working so hard overtime.

The popularity of the content itself can be inferred from the advertising business volume.

"That's great." Lu Yanhe nodded.

Chen Siqi: "It's mainly because the quality of our users and the conversion rate of our ads are much higher than those of other platform users. This is well-known among advertisers. Thank you all for trusting us."

Lu Yanhe: "Time is so tight, have the newly added ads these days been screened?"

"Of course, all the 13 brands are well-known brands that have been in business for many years and have cooperated with us before. No new brand can be listed on our channels so quickly." Chen Siqi said, "We always reject more advertisements than we accept. In terms of quality control, we still do a good job."

“It feels like advertising revenue has now become the main source of income for Jump.”

"It does count, but the biggest part comes from content revenue," said Chen Siqi. "Our magazine sales, electronic copyright revenue, and membership subscription revenue from various channels are actually not small, including copyright operation revenue. Since the announcement of Jump Up Theater, our copyright revenue from agency operation has seen a significant increase."

Lu Yanhe asked: "Tomorrow is the first broadcast of "Girl's Adventure", right?"

"Yes." Chen Siqi nodded, "Starting from the first Sunday of May, one episode will be broadcast every week."

Lu Yanhe asked: "Why didn't anyone ask me to spread the word?"

"We've already promoted it many times in the early stages, and now it's time to show the real deal, so I won't bother you any more." Chen Siqi smiled, "The most important thing is that because "The Adventures of a Young Girl" actually has little to do with you, you didn't direct it, didn't write it, and didn't act in it, what everyone is most afraid of now is that the audience's expectations are too high, and then they'll be disappointed with the show."

Lu Yanhe understood what Chen Siqi meant and nodded.

Things were happening one after another, and everything came together.

Of course, it is also a good thing. If we can increase the popularity of each other and attract more attention, the results will be better.
-
The next day, the program score of "Love Letter" came out: 3.3 points.

It is the second highest score in the main competition unit so far.

The score in the program brochure of the Jose Antonio Film Festival is a score obtained by taking the average of the scores given to the film by the film media officially invited by the festival. It largely reflects the degree of preference of the media from all over the world for the film.

The media score is often the same as that of the audience. For the Jose Antonio Film Festival, which relies on audience voting to select the winners, this score is very meaningful for reference.

It can almost be said that "Love Letter" will definitely win an award, it just depends on what award it wins in the end.

Tickets for the following few days of screenings of "Love Letter" were almost impossible to get.

It can be said that as soon as the score of the program of "Love Letter" came out, the purchasing intention of various companies reached an unprecedented high.

At this time, Schmidt Lawley of Green Valley Films suddenly came to him and expressed his willingness to acquire the North American distribution rights of "Love Letter" for US$600 million.

For a movie that cost no more than $600 million to produce, this number is truly sincere.

But at the same time, several American film companies came to bid.

Including D19, with whom Lu Yanhe had previously collaborated, they also expressed their willingness to offer $500 million to distribute "Love Letter" in North America.

According to Wan Qingqing and Song Jiang, although people don't think that "Love Letter" will achieve good box office results in North America and cannot earn back the distribution fee from the theater box office, "Love Letter" will have very good performance in home entertainment revenue and streaming media copyright revenue. D19 also said that if Lu Yanhe is willing to give them the North American distribution rights of "Love Letter", they will also take out a seven-digit public relations fund to do public relations for "Love Letter" during the awards season.

The normal box office performance of "Love Letter" in North American theaters is estimated to be around two to three million - this is the average box office performance of a non-English hit that came from the four major international film festivals.

Lu Yanhe and his team knew that it was unlikely that Love Letter would create a box office miracle in the U.S. However, if Love Letter performed well during the North American awards season, the box office would benefit.

"The media really likes Love Letter, but the reaction from the critics this time is not as good as the media's." Xu Tianming said, "Without the support of the critics, Love Letter may not perform well if it really hits the awards season. Yan He's performance in Glory Road was able to receive some nominations during the North American awards season because of the support from the critics, which made Yan He gain the attention of some people."

Chen Ziyan also nodded. "Moreover, the theme and cultural background of Love Letter itself may resonate with the emotions of the group in Asia, but in the United States... I am not optimistic about it either."

Wan Qingqing said: "In North America, movies like Love Letter have always been niche movies. If the critics' reactions are not particularly enthusiastic, it is indeed difficult to attract much attention. In the United States, the conversion rate of the film brought by the media's praise is actually not as high as that brought by the critics."

The reason why the response of film critics to Love Letter is not so high is that, just like Lu Yanhe's own understanding of the film, it is not deep enough. It is emotionally extreme, but it may not be the style that film critics like. In the words of some film critics, although it is good-looking, it is too pleasing to the audience.

Lu Yanhe was also thinking about Julianna’s reaction yesterday—she actually thought that "Love Letter" was a movie about pure love.

Indeed, there is still a gap in understanding.

The reason they chose the North American distributor of the film "Love Letter" was certainly not a simple and crude "whoever bids the highest wins". After all, this is not a buyout. How much profit "Love Letter" can bring to Linghe in North America depends on the distribution capabilities of the distribution company and its distribution strategy for "Love Letter".

If they finally think that "Love Letter" cannot achieve relatively good results in the North American awards season, then the "North American awards season" strategy proposed by D19 will not be enough to impress them.
-
When Liu Bige, Li Zhibai and Ji Miao were preparing to leave for the premiere, Huang Zhongjing and Huang Taiwen Zhimao from Longyan Film were also with them.

Wen Zhimao smiled and joked with Liu Bige: "If our film 'Even Fake Death' wins another award this time, we will hold a grand celebration party for you."

Liu Bigo smiled and nodded.

Upon hearing this, Li Zhibai said, "Mrs. Huang, don't just focus on holding a celebration party for Director Liu. Hold one for me, too. Next time you ask me to make a movie, I'll give you a 95% discount!"

He is deliberately messing around.

He knew very well that Liu Bigo was actually somewhat resistant to Longyan Pictures' interference in his creative work.

Are you kidding? If Liu Bigo can win another award, will they still be able to control him like this?
Wen Zhimao glared at Li Zhibai angrily, "When have I ever treated you unfairly?"

"Then why do you always ask me to act in that youth romance movie? I haven't seen a more ridiculous plot than that in the past year." Li Zhibai complained directly.

Wen Zhimao said helplessly: "That was the script adapted from the best-selling novel two years ago."

"Either the novel is ridiculous or the script is badly adapted. I won't act in this role," Li Zhibai said bluntly. "If I were to act in this role, I would be scolded to death."

Huang Zhongjing smiled.

"Your temper is exactly the same as your father's when he was young."

Li Zhibai raised his chin and said, "What a pity. He has a temper like mine but not a face like mine. It will probably be difficult for him to pursue my mother."

Huang Zhongjing: “…”

Wen Zhimao: "Just wait and see how your dad reacts when he finds out that you've been plotting against him behind his back."

"If he causes trouble for me, I will tell everyone that you are trying to sow discord between me and my father." Li Zhibaicai is not afraid of Huang Zhongjing and Wen Zhimao.

Even though the two of them are bigwigs in the film and television industry, not to mention that he is a popular star now, his father can still support him behind the scenes.

When he and Zhou Ping'an had a fight like that, Zhou Ping'an didn't dare to use any shady tricks, because he was afraid of his background.

Li Zhibai said to Liu Bige: "Director Liu, why don't you stay in Longyan? I'll ask my dad to open a production company for you, just to serve you, and you can just shoot movies for me."

He deliberately spoke so arrogantly, of course, also in order to use the most joking words to support Liu Bigo in the least substantial way.

Liu Bige rolled his eyes at him and said, "Go and have fun by yourself."

Well, Liu Bigo didn't agree with him and looked down on his proposal.

However, Li Zhibai's words clearly stated a fact in front of Huang Zhongjing and Wen Zhimao: with Liu Bigo's current status and his ability as a director, there are many people who want to compete for Liu Bigo.

From Li Zhibai's perspective, he really didn't understand what Long Yan was thinking. Why did he interfere so much with Liu Bige, an author-type director who could only be found once in a hundred directors?

When "Even Faking Death" was being filmed, there was a producer sent from Longyan on the set who was in charge of supervising all filming steps.

Not only that, even during the post-production editing, Li Zhibai alone knew about several conflicts in editing opinions.

Liu Bigo's idea of ​​how the film should be presented was different from what Long Yan and his team wanted, and the two sides had several arguments.

And their quarrels are basically based on business considerations.

Long Yan hopes that "Even Faking Death" can be more commercial, more comedic, and the comedy effect will be more distinct.

Li Zhibai could understand the commercial considerations of a film company. But he couldn't understand why they had to pursue commercial returns in Liu Bige's film - so many directors could shoot the kind of orthodox commercial comedies, but they chose to compete with Liu Bige.
-
At the premiere of "Can't Even Fake My Death", the stars were not as bright as yesterday's "Love Letter", but they were also very dazzling.

Lu Yanhe held Chen Siqi's hand and appeared on the red carpet of "Fake Death" which puzzled all the media at the scene——

Yesterday on the red carpet of "Love Letter", he didn't hold Chen Siqi's hand, but today at someone else's movie, he held her hand instead.

After entering the screening room, Lu Yanhe's seat was right next to the Japanese director Koichi Matsuyama.

Director Koichi Matsuyama is the director of "As Promised", the only Japanese film shortlisted in this year's main competition unit, and is also a national treasure director in Japan.

He also has many fans in China - after all, among Japan's national treasure-level directors, he is the only one who is clearly anti-war and has publicly condemned Japan's aggressive behavior back then.

It is for this reason that, in addition to "I Can't Even Fake My Death", "As Promised" is one of the other two main competition films whose premieres Lu Yanhe will attend.

"Hello, director." Lu Yanhe greeted Songshan Haoyi.

Koichi Matsuyama himself is a person with a relatively elegant temperament, and he has a very Japanese aura at first glance.

He shook hands with Lu Yanhe and congratulated him on making a good movie.

The popularity of "Love Letter" in the media has made it one of the favorites to win an award at the Jose Antonio Film Festival. Although Koichi Matsuyama did not attend the premiere of the film, he heard about it from many people.

Lu Yanhe: "Thank you. I am also looking forward to "As Promised"."

His communication with Koichi Matsuyama was just a brief one.

After all, it was our first meeting.

In the next two hours, Lu Yanhe carefully finished watching "It's Not Even OK to Fake Your Death".

A very good romantic comedy movie.

It reminded Lu Yanhe of Woody Allen's "To Rome with Love", "500 Days of Summer" and "Love Is Not Blind". They are all films that play with lines and characters to create a style.

It is very light and not heavy, and there is no pretentious reversal at the end. It is like a short story published in a magazine.

There is a clip in it that left a deep impression on Lu Yanhe.

The male protagonist played by Li Zhibai has been harassed all the time. He is in a crazy and impatient state, swearing frequently and saying "fuck you".

The "lunatic" heroine played by Ji Miao is also very fierce. She asked directly with her eyes drooping: "You fuck me in front of me all day long, who do you want to fuck?"

Li Zhibai couldn't stand it at all and was speechless after being confronted by Ji Miao. In the end, he could only utter "Fuck".

There are many such moments in the movie.

but--

Many of the comedy effects are a bit too deliberate.

It's really funny, but "laughing for the sake of laughing" doesn't come naturally.

After the movie was over, when Lu Yanhe stood up and applauded with everyone, Songshan Haoyi suddenly asked Lu Yanhe: "What do you think of this movie?"

Before Lu Yanhe could answer, Songshan Haoyi said, "What a pity. It could have been made into a better movie."

Lu Yanhe was stunned.

"I still prefer the movie Late Spring that you guys worked on together. That's a real movie."

Lu Yanhe hesitated for a moment and said, "It's definitely not perfect, but I like it very much."

Matsuyama Koichi looked at him with some surprise.

"Ok."

Lu Yanhe also looked at Songshan Haoyi with some surprise.

Chen Siqi turned around and asked, "Yan He, do you want to go with me to say hello to Director Min Xizhen later?"

Lu Yanhe smiled at Songshan Haoyi naturally, ended the topic, turned around and smiled at Chen Siqi.

"it is good."
-
“This actor is so charming!”

Min Xizhen's eyes lit up and she did not hide her feelings at all - she looked as if she was attracted to Li Zhibai.

"He makes me want to push him down on the bed and force myself on him." Min Xizhen said this, shocking Lu Yanhe.

This Korean-American female director speaks very aggressively.

The movie "Lovers" she shot last year was a dark horse in the North American awards season. Although it did not win many awards, it received a lot of nominations, making her the focus of attention in the European and American film industry.

Chen Siqi smiled and said, "Go and tell Li Zhibai in person later. Li Zhibai and Yan He are very good friends."

"That won't do. If you say it to his face, it will be considered sexual harassment." Min Xizhen immediately shook her head. "I just want to say that he is really charming."

She looked at Lu Yanhe.

"Although you are also very handsome in Love Letter, I still prefer Li Zhibai."

Lu Yanhe smiled and said, "It's okay, I accept it."

"I hope I'll have the opportunity to work with you in the future." Min Xizhen said, "Both you and Li Zhibai are actors I really want to work with."

Lu Yanhe said yes.

He actually didn't expect that Min Xizhen would have this style.

After all, the movie "Lovers", to some extent, is actually more similar to the style of "Love Letter". It tells the story of a pair of lovers who break up and get back together again and again, and finally break up. The whole film is shrouded in a "monologue"-style narration, like an essay, quiet and melancholy.

At this time, Schmidt Lawley from Green Valley Films walked towards him again.
-
Recommended old book "I Became the Scandal Heroine Overnight" (End of this chapter)