The literary era since 1979

There are three major book awards in the United States. In addition to the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize, there is the National Book Critics Circle Award, which was founded by the Book Critics Circle in 1975. It is an annual literary award launched by the book review community to "promote the best books published in English."

The scope of the selection is broader than that of the Pulitzer Prize. Any book translated into English and published in the United States can be nominated.

Originally, the three major book awards were independent of each other. On the surface, any work could be nominated repeatedly, but basically it was either one or the other. For example, "Guns, Viruses, & Steel" won the Pulitzer Prize for History and Literature, but lost out on the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction.

For example, "Saving Private Ryan" won the National Book Award, but was only shortlisted for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction.

Therefore, if Farewell My Concubine can eventually win the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction, Fangyan will in a sense be equivalent to winning all three major American book awards, achieving an amazing grand slam achievement in the American literary world, which is an extremely rare case.

What's more, Fangyan is not a native and authentic Xingqi "Bannerman", but a Chinese writer from the mysterious East.

After hearing the news, Jiang Zilong, Tie Ning and others felt not only envious but also a sense of pride.

"Congratulations, Yanzi, this is really great news!"

"I haven't even written my horoscope yet."

Fang Yan raised his hand, "Besides, this is just gossip. The official list of nominees has not yet been announced."

But Ginsberg told him not to worry, because Gary Snyder is now a judge for the American Book Critics Circle. Although he is only responsible for judging the poetry award, the credibility of this kind of gossip is extremely high and is basically 90% correct.

However, Fangyan was still not happy, after all, "Farewell My Concubine" was actually misinterpreted as a BG work by some ignorant people.

Then, I discussed the core of "Farewell My Concubine" with Ginsberg, Gary Snyder and others. Eastern thinking and Western values ​​are quite different. Just like "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", what Chinese audiences saw was the swordplay of martial arts.

What the West cares more about is the emotional entanglement between two men and two women. A famous Jianghu hero, who is middle-aged and alone, is suddenly attracted by a beautiful woman with a distinctive personality. He even wants to break his vows for her and take back the Qingming Sword, and make an exception to accept her as his apprentice...

Li An's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" draws on the taboo story of "Lolita" about the abnormal love between an old man and a young girl.

In "Farewell My Concubine", Gary Snyder really loves the taboo relationship between Cheng Dieyi and Duan Xiaolou.

Fangyan tried hard to convince Gary Snyder that he should not appreciate and analyze Farewell My Concubine from the perspective of Brokeback Mountain, let alone regard it as a work that transcends gender.

As expected, the movie of "Farewell My Concubine" is imperative, and this wrong perception must be corrected!
…………

Just as the Sino-US Writers' Conference was continuing on its fourth day, Ho Kwun-chang, Cheng Long, Lin Qingxia and others came to the United States from Hong Kong.

Ho Koon-chang, Cheng Long and others were there for official business of Golden Harvest, while Lin Qingxia was there for personal matter of finding her relatives.

The group arrived at the same hotel where Fangyan stayed. Lin Qingxia put her luggage in the bedroom and went downstairs to the lobby. She saw He Guanchang, Cheng Long, Luo Dian and Mike sitting face to face in the lounge area, sipping coffee and talking in low voices.

"2500 million US dollars, did I hear it correctly?"

"You heard it right. The estimated total cost of Die Hard is at least $2500 million."

Mike spoke fluent Chinese with a smile on his face.

Even though Ho Kwun-chang and Cheng Long had seen a lot of ups and downs, they still found it difficult to accept it for a while.

You have to know that in the 70s, the cost of Bruce Lee's filming "Way of the Dragon" was only a few hundred or even a few hundred thousand US dollars. Even the "Enter the Dragon" co-produced with Warner Bros., the total investment was only 85 US dollars, so the resources that Golden Harvest gave Cheng Long to enter Hollywood were basically no more than a million US dollars. With this thought in mind, Ho Kuan Chang subconsciously took out his pocket handkerchief and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

Cheng Long couldn't sit still anymore and said bluntly: "2500 million to make a movie, isn't it too much?"

"Not much at all."

Mike said this was the cost after careful calculation, otherwise, "Die Hard" would be estimated to cost between 2800 million and 3000 million US dollars.

When these words were spoken, not only Ho Kwun-chang and Cheng Long, but even Lin Qingxia who was listening in was struck by lightning. She was so shocked that her eyes widened and her heart was pounding.

"That's right. Mr. Fang has analyzed with us the reasons why Golden Harvest failed in its two previous attempts to enter Hollywood. The first was the problem of the script story and film production, and the second was the problem of investment costs. There is a saying in China, 'A skilled father cannot cook without rice.'"

Mike laughed and said, "The cost of making Trench was about 100 million US dollars, and maybe more for Back to the Past, but not much more. This kind of investment doesn't even meet the most basic B-grade film threshold in Hollywood, so how can it be a stepping stone to open the door to Hollywood?"

"But the amount is too large. Not only can Golden Harvest not afford it, I'm afraid Warner may not agree to it either."

Ho Koon-chang looked embarrassed. Due to the failure of his previous two films, Warner's confidence in Jackie Chan's ability to break into Hollywood was actually seriously lacking.

Lin Qingxia saw with her own eyes that Cheng Long, who was a powerful figure in Hong Kong and the king in Asia, was now lowering his head and slumping his shoulders, looking very unconfident.

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He Guanchang frowned and said, "Do you really think there is a Hollywood company willing to invest so much money in Die Hard?"

Mike and Rodian smiled at each other, their tone revealing a bit of ease: "Currently, four companies have expressed interest in this script, but Mr. Fang has kicked Universal off the candidate list considering that Universal has made an unreasonable request to change the male lead from Chinese to white."

"Sigh~"

He Guanchang and Cheng Long looked at each other and couldn't wait to ask the remaining three companies.

When she heard it was "Fox, Columbia and Warner", Lin Qingxia opened her mouth and noticed that Cheng Long swallowed excitedly.

Mike said: "Of course, this is all because of Mr. Fang's script and face."

"Mr. Fang has such power in Hollywood!"

Including Lin Qingxia, the three of them were stunned and couldn't believe it.

"It's not too big, but it's not too small either. If you want, you can go to Hollywood and ask around for Teacher Fang."

Mike held his chin high. Ever since the emergence of screenwriting guides such as Fangyan's "A Guide to Using the Hero with a Thousand Faces", they immediately conquered Hollywood. Producers, screenwriters, and even management regarded it as a treasure and regarded it as a screenwriting bible, strictly referring to the manual to create stories.

Lin Qingxia, Cheng Long and others were shocked. They had known for a long time that dialects were not that simple, but they never expected it to be so complicated!
I thought he was just an Oscar-winning screenwriter, and at best had close connections with famous Hollywood directors like Steven Spielberg, Lucas, and Kubrick. However, He Guanchang never expected that the influence of dialects in the American entertainment industry, including Hollywood, is greater than imagined!

"So now we have to negotiate with each company one by one."

Mike said, "According to Mr. Fang, since you and Warner have a long-term cooperative relationship, you should start with Warner. You should go and find out what Terry and Robert have to say. As for Mr. Fang, he will join us after he finishes attending the China-US Writers Conference." (End of this chapter)