China Entertainment started in 2004

Chapter 269 Crowds of people

Of course, the reason "The Sun Also Rises" was rejected from Cannes was not because it was eliminated, but because the film was destroyed.

In preparation for Cannes, Jiang Wen has actually already left for France.

Then he said that he was working overtime at a local post-production company in France, hoping to complete the post-production of "The Sun Also Rises" in time for the Cannes Film Festival.

Unexpectedly, just before the opening of the Cannes Film Festival, "The Sun Also Rises" suffered a once-in-a-century disaster. Due to serious problems within the post-production company, the most important and beautiful shots in the film were irreparably damaged due to film damage, and had to be postponed.

Also missed Cannes.

And this is just a lie thrown out by the producers to save face.

Because Jiang Wen personally admitted in an interview after the Cannes Film Festival that Cannes looked down on him.

When interviewed by the media asking about this matter, Jiang Wen said personally: "It didn't choose us because it had to choose 1600 out of more than 20 films in order to catch up with its 60th birthday. There are times when it's difficult to choose."

Of course, Jiang Wen regretted not being selected at Cannes. He continued to make amends: "I think my films are more powerful than the films they selected. In fact, the films they selected this year are not powerful, so what's the point? This is the game, the game is It’s his choice.”

"Also, because the Venice Film Festival is held in September and the Cannes Film Festival is held in May. Most film producers are willing to pile them all at the door of Cannes, and Cannes starts to pick and choose. It is dazzling, and 9 of the 5 films are excluded. Except for the Ministry of Education, all those who were not selected were not selected. Of course, Venice was also selecting at the same time. This happened to Li Yu, George Clooney, and Zhang Yimou."

In contrast, Jiang Wen and others were keen to get closer.

If the Golden Lion Award is awarded to a less famous director, it will give people the impression that the Venice Film Festival can only choose among the films eliminated by the Cannes Film Festival.

It’s just Li Yu.

He was the winner of the Golden Bear Award at the 43rd and 46th Berlin International Film Festival, the Golden Lion Award at the 2005nd Venice International Film Festival in 62, and the Academy Award for Best Director.

Apart from this, there is no other domestic director who has won the Palme d'Or at Cannes.

Chinese films are more difficult.

Wang Shu understood this truth in his heart and had no corresponding thoughts.

In this case, no matter how you choose, it will always feel inferior.

The same goes for Cannes and Venice.

Although there are not many Chinese-language films that have won awards at the Berlin Film Festival and Venice Film Festival, there are still quite a lot of them if you count them carefully.

"Lust, Caution", which won the Golden Lion Award, was not very impressive either.

Especially in this kind of year, off-field factors have become more important.

Also, the three major international film festivals do have their own judging criteria. A film that can win the grand prize at the Berlin Film Festival may not necessarily win the same big prize at Cannes and Venice.

It's not that Wang Shu looks down on this movie, it's that this movie is indeed good, but it's still a little short of the highest honor of the three major European movies.

Of course, due to the influence of the Cannes Film Festival, this year's Venice Film Festival did not have many relatively strong films participating, and the competitive pressure was relatively reduced.

"This kind of thing will happen, and we should understand it and not describe it when we don't understand it. But you should admit one thing, they didn't choose us."

Wang Shu pondered.

In comparison, at the Cannes International Film Festival, only "Farewell My Concubine" directed by Chen Kaige won the Palme d'Or.

Therefore, although the competition difficulty of this Venice Film Festival has dropped a lot, the difficulty of the Golden Lion Award is, on the contrary, even greater than in previous years.

Because most film producers go to Cannes, not only are there fewer film producers coming to the Venice Film Festival, but many of them are films that were eliminated by Cannes.

And this is one of the reasons why Chen Kaige was pushed to the limit.

But no matter what, the fact that most film producers went to Cannes has already shown that this year's Venice Film Festival does not have too many powerful films, otherwise it would not be "Lust, Caution"'s turn to dominate.

It can be said that although Wang Shu has always wanted to make art films and win awards, he has never thought about competing for this year's Cannes International Film Festival.

"One year, Zhang Yimou also had two films that were not selected by Cannes, so he went to Venice and Berlin. One won the Golden Lion in Venice, and the other won the Golden Bear in Berlin. These are "No One Less" and "My Father and Mother" .”

It is now 07, only two years have passed since he won the Venice Golden Lion in 05.

No need to waste time and energy on it.

Li Yu's honor is that he is such a well-known director.

Of course, Li Yu's reputation is not bad, and it also has some bonuses.

At the Cannes International Film Festival in other years, Chinese-language films directed by him may have a chance.

This time, the chances are extremely slim.

This time, face needs to be saved, and off-field factors need to be considered.

To be honest, Wang Shu felt that awarding the Golden Lion Award to Li Yu at this Venice Film Festival was somewhat intended to preserve the reputation of the Venice Film Festival.

"This year's Cannes Film Festival is relatively difficult, and Cannes doesn't like Chinese-language films very much. Even if we rush to get an art film to join in, I guess there won't be a good chance."

"Li Gu."

It is natural for Wang Shu to go to the exhibition to participate in the non-competition section, but it would be difficult to compete in the main competition section.

After all, this is the 60th year of Cannes, and the skills of a decade are much more brilliant than the Cannes Film Festival in other years.

There will be a sense that the Venice Film Festival is weaker than the Cannes Film Festival.

In order to avoid this situation, it is necessary to award the Golden Lion Award to a well-known director to offset the gossip.

Correspondingly, with the honors Li Yu has received, awarding the Golden Lion to the other party is just right to save face.

It’s just that compared to Berlin and Venice, Chinese-language films are more difficult to be favored by Cannes.

However, although this year's Cannes Film Festival is unprecedentedly grand, competition is also fierce.

If you are trying to make up for it, you are obviously not convinced.

"Even if you don't win the Golden Lion, it would still be good to win a Jury Prize or a Silver Lion for Best Director."

Wang Shu did not aim too high.

At this Venice Film Festival, it is likely that only the Golden Lion Award is more difficult to obtain, while the difficulty of obtaining other awards has been reduced a lot.

As for next year's Berlin Film Festival, even if he makes an art film, there is no guarantee that he will win an award.

Because different jury members have different evaluation standards, and the films selected for the top three in Europe are not vegetarian.

So, even if he took out the award-winning art film in the original timeline.

It’s not necessarily possible that you can win the same grand prize by going to the three major European companies at different points in time.

On the premise of ensuring the quality of the film, there are also off-site factors and a bit of luck.

Luck lies with the jury members. No matter how good a film is, it will be in vain if it does not suit the taste of the jury members.

Returning to the company, Wang Shu began to look for actors.

He thought for a while, took out his cell phone and called Mei Ting.

"What are you busy with?" Wang Shu asked first when the call was connected.

Since entering March, Mei Ting has been harassed by the divorce storm, and then admitted to divorcing Yan Po.

Rumors about the two's divorce began to spread at the end of last year.

It's just a rumor, no one can tell for sure.

Immediately after the Lunar New Year, Mei Ting and Yan Po did not go out as a couple. This phenomenon further confirmed the rumors that the two were divorced. Mei Ting suffered from the media's insidious questioning and the heated discussion inside and outside the circle, so she admitted the divorce.

"I'm at home, not busy with anything." Mei Ting replied in a low voice.

"Do you have time to have dinner together tonight?" Wang Shu invited.

"Okay, come and pick me up." Mei Ting clearly became energetic after hearing this, and responded with a sweet voice.

Wang Shu smiled and said, "I will pick you up after I finish my work in the company."

"Are you busy at work?" Mei Ting asked with concern.

"A bit." Wang Shu responded, and then explained, "Mainly because I suddenly have an additional trip to Cannes, so time is tight, and there are many things that need to be dealt with quickly."

"I saw the news, it said that the organizer of Cannes invited you." Mei Ting said in a low voice.

Even though Wang Shu was not by Mei Ting's side and Mei Ting was extremely restrained, Wang Shu still heard a hint of amusement in the other party's tone.

The top three in Europe are the halls of honor for film art that every actor longs for.

As an actor who graduated from the Acting Department of the Beijing Academy of Drama, Mei Ting also has aspirations for the top three actors in Europe.

It's just that she can't reach it.

"Haha." Wang Shu laughed twice and said, "So with this extra schedule, I will be busy."

"I will be busy for a while." Mei Ting responded softly, and then explained, "A TV series crew will contact me, and then I will most likely join the crew."

Thinking that Wang Shu was a film director actively invited by the organizers of Cannes, she specifically explained that he was from the crew of a TV series to avoid embarrassment.

"That's it." Wang Shu groaned, and then said, "I won't talk to you anymore. We'll talk about it when we have dinner together in the evening."

"Okay." Mei Ting responded obediently after hearing Wang Shu's words.

By the time Wang Shu finished his work, it was already past six o'clock in the evening.

Wang Shu left the company and drove to the intersection near Mei Ting's house, where he met Mei Ting, who was carefully dressed and put on makeup.

"It's cold outside, why don't you wait at home? I'll call you when I get there. Just come out." Wang Shu looked at Mei Ting who got into the passenger seat and said accusingly.

Mei Ting's face was filled with a smile. She smiled sweetly and said, "I just got here and I didn't have to wait long."

When Wang Shu heard this, he glared at her and said nothing more.

Although Mei Ting said she hadn't waited long, her face clearly showed that she had been outside for a long time.

As soon as Wang Shu left the company, he called Mei Ting and told her that he had left and was heading to her home.

Yishu Company is quite far from Mei Tiao's home, about an hour's drive.

Presumably from that time, Mei Tiao had already gone out and came here to wait.

At least, I waited for more than half an hour.

Mei Ting saw Wang Shu staring at her and smiled stupidly at him.

Wang Shu reached out and touched her face, and then said, "It's cold, let's go eat hot pot."

By March, the weather in Beijing has begun to get warmer.

But... this is March in the Gregorian calendar, and it's still cold.

"Okay." Wang Shu said whatever he said, and Mei Ting nodded in agreement without any objection.

Eating hot pot. Naturally, I didn't eat at the hot pot restaurant near Mei Tiao's house, but went to other places.

It takes more than forty minutes to drive from Mei Tiao's house.

Taking advantage of this time, Wang Shu casually took out a script from the side and handed it over, saying: "The place to eat hot pot is a bit far, so take a look at this first."

Mei Ting was startled by Wang Shu's actions, but she was an actor. As soon as she subconsciously took it from Wang Shu before reading it, she realized that it was a script. She was at a loss and asked in surprise: "This is for mine?"

Wang Shu heard this and asked with a smile: "What do you mean?"

When Mei Ting heard this, she was sure that the thing in her hand was the script Wang Shu had given her, and she couldn't help but curl her lips and glare at him with resentment.

However, the smile that appeared involuntarily on Mei Ting's face showed that she was very happy in her heart.

Wang Shu reached out and touched her head at the right time, and said with a smile: "Let's take a look first. If you think there is no problem, find a time to ask your agent to come to my Yishu to sign the contract."

"If you don't want to act, forget it."

When he said this, he saw that Mei Ting seemed to be about to open her mouth, so he quickly continued, "Read the script first, and then talk about it."

After hearing this, Mei Ting swallowed back what she wanted to say and responded obediently: "Yes."

Wang Shu smiled when he saw this, and then said, "You can watch for yourself for a while, and I'll drive."

"Okay, you go ahead and drive." Mei Tiao said sweetly with a smile on her face.

Wang Shu started the car and headed towards the hot pot restaurant.

Mei Ting looked at Wang Shu's profile, then looked back at the script in her hand.

""A sea of ​​people"."

After turning the first page, Mei Ting saw the name of the script.

Then, I sat in the car and slowly started watching.

As long as an invitation is given to Wang Shu's script, few actors will refuse to act.

Even with Wang Shu's name alone and no need for a script, as long as he gives an invitation, no one will refuse it.

Mei Ting knew in her heart that when Wang Shu gave her the script and asked her to read it first, the weight was different.

Even if she refuses to act, Wang Shu will not be angry and will not give her any more roles in the future.

It's respecting her.

In the original timeline, since 2007, the only Chinese-language films that have won awards at the Venice International Film Festival are "Lust, Caution," "No Country for Home," "Sister Tao," "Human Mountain," and "Taoyuan Terrace No. ."

Among them, "Lust, Caution" by Li Yu has been filmed and will compete for the Golden Lion Award at this Venice Film Festival.

Although "Nowhere" is also a Venice Golden Lion Award-winning film, it is not only an English film, but also has a regional flavor. In addition, the film is adapted from the novel of the same name by American writer Jessica Bruder. , it is simply not suitable to be made into a Chinese film.

If Wang Shu went to Hollywood, he might be able to make this film.

Now in the country, it is impossible.

As for "Sister Tao" and "Taoyuan Terrace No. 7", one is the best actress-winning film and the other is the best screenplay-winning film.

Wang Shu also has no need to mess with these two parts.

The only choice is "A Crowd of People".

(End of this chapter)