Literary Master 1978

Julio Byrne did not leave the cafe, but waited there. The appearance of Clement Metayer made him feel nervous about the competition.

Lin Chaoyang and his "The Truman Show" were not well-known in France, which was the most fundamental reason for him to reject Lin Chaoyang's request for royalties.

But Julio Byrne also understood that if the movie "The Truman Show" could win at the Cannes Film Festival, there would be almost no problem for the movie to be released in France, which would be a good publicity point for the introduction of the novel to France.

Moreover, based on his understanding of French readers, a story like "The Truman Show" should be very popular.

If the publicity is done properly, it may sell well.

Time passed slowly as Julio Byrne was thinking. After Clement Metayer finished talking to Lin Chaoyang, he got up and left the cafe. He quickly called Lin Chaoyang.

Seeing Julio Byrne, Lin Chaoyang was a little surprised, "Mr. Byrne hasn't left yet?"

Julio Byrne smiled, "I just thought about it and felt that it was necessary to talk to you again."

"Really? I'd be happy to."

Lin Chaoyang sat down easily. Julio Byrne was not afraid that Lin Chaoyang would speak too much at this time, and asked, "How did Mr. Lin know Mr. Mettier?"

Lin Chaoyang said, "It was at an official dinner of the film festival two days ago. Mr. Giles Jacob introduced him to me. There were also several people from your publishing industry at the dinner that day, such as Southern Literature Publishing House and Midnight Publishing House."

Julio Byrne felt a little headache. He certainly knew that Lin Chaoyang meant to create competitive pressure for him.

But he also knew that the official Cannes Film Festival has always cooperated with these publishing houses, especially Southern Literature Publishing House. A considerable part of the materials, albums and works related to the Cannes Film Festival are published by them.

Thinking this in his heart, Julio Byrne made a decision. The publishing house has given him authorization, and he thinks it's better not to drag it on.

"Mr. Lin, I think I can agree to the royalties for The Truman Show."

"Thank you, Mr. Byrne. But..."

Lin Chaoyang's turn made Julio Byrne's face freeze, and he had a bad feeling in his heart.

"I have already negotiated with Gallimard Publishing House, and the novel The Truman Show will be introduced to France by them."

Julio Byrne was surprised and helpless. He never thought that Lin Chaoyang would reach a cooperation with Gallimard Publishing House so quickly.

15% of the royalties, Clement Metayer agreed so easily?

He was a little confused, but Lin Chaoyang did not intend to give him time to figure it out. He said a few more polite words to him and left the Palm Cafe.

"Mr. Lin, how did the discussion go?"

When the crew gathered for dinner, Zou Wenhuai asked Lin Chaoyang with interest. The crew had attended the official banquet that day, and they all knew that a French publisher wanted to introduce The Truman Show.

"It's already been negotiated." Lin Chaoyang replied with a smile, and then asked about Zou Wenhuai's copyright transaction.

Since its premiere a week ago, "The Truman Show" has become the darling of Cannes' major film distributors. Zou Wenhuai meets with several film distributors every day to discuss copyright matters.

But to this day, he has not signed any contract.

The copyright transaction of the film festival is actually like a gamble. Except for those films that have a bad reputation and have been scheduled to be eliminated early, many films with the potential to win awards will not easily sign contracts.

The producers bet that their films can win awards and get a more generous contract.

The idea of ​​the film distributor is simpler. Whoever wins the award, I will buy it. Only with awards can there be attention, publicity points, and box office potential.

Although the contract has not been signed yet, it does not affect Zou Wenhuai's good mood. Through the exchanges with reporters, film critics, jury members and major film distributors in the past few days, he has more and more confidence in "The Truman Show".

At present, the films with the highest evaluation and the highest voice for awards at the film festival are "Life in War", "Sacrifice" and "The Truman Show".

Compared with the first two, "The Truman Show" is a dark horse. Even if it doesn't win the Palme d'Or, winning the Jury Prize is enough to make them a lot of money.

May 19, the day of the closing ceremony.

The small town of Cannes, which has been bustling for more than a week, has gradually become deserted, and many crews have already left.

Most of the tourists from all over the world have also left, and the business of the hotels, restaurants, and cafes that were originally bustling with people and horses has visibly decreased.

The red carpet for the closing ceremony is at 6 pm. Compared with the opening ceremony, there are not so many enthusiastic fans, but the reporters are still holding on.

The winner of the award will be decided tonight. They have been waiting for more than ten days for today.

In order to predict the final award results in advance, many reporters will call all the film teams shortlisted for the main competition today, and after clever calculations, they will come to a very convincing conclusion.

Some newspapers will also deploy personnel in the hotel lobby or airport. The purpose of doing this is to see which film teams or stars will never return, and which ones will return.

"Michael! Michael!" Shen Xicheng desperately waved and shouted at Xu Guanwen, finally attracting his attention.

Xu Guanwen came to the edge of the red carpet, and Shen Xicheng asked loudly: "Are you confident that you can win the Best Actor award tonight?"

Today, Xu Guanwen was in high spirits. When he heard Shen Xicheng's question, he waved his hand with a smile on his face.

"How can we be sure of such things? It is a victory to be able to persevere to the end!"

Xu Guanwen's tone was very humble, but the smile on his face betrayed his inner thoughts.

At 4 pm, the jury's discussion ended and the list of winners was announced.

The chairman of the jury, Sidney Pollack, has notified all the winning film crews. This is a tacit understanding between the film festival and the winning crews.

However, this notification is limited to "winning", but what award it won will not be announced until tonight.

Shen Xicheng watched Xu Guanwen return to the center of the red carpet. The foreign reporters around him kept shouting his name, hoping that Xu Guanwen would give them a better angle for their shots.

"I can't imagine that Michael has become a big star in Cannes in just a few days!"

The reporter Wu Song from the Ta Kung Pao standing next to him nodded in agreement.

The two of them were able to come to Cannes because "The Truman Show" was selected for the main competition unit, and the newspaper had invested heavily.

They watched "The Truman Show" go from obscurity to popularity in Cannes, and even as a bystander, it felt a bit dreamy.

These days, the two have also sent various interview information to Hong Kong.

There was no Internet in those days. When the newspaper learned that "The Truman Show" was popular in Cannes, it immediately instructed them to transmit it back to Hong Kong by fax and international long-distance at all costs.

For a week, their own reports and reprinted foreign media reports have caused a great response among the citizens of Hong Kong.

Today is the closing ceremony of the Cannes Film Festival and the day to decide the awards.

For some reason, the two felt more excited than winning the award themselves.

The grand red carpet ceremony ended, and the stars gathered in the Lumière Theater of the Festival Palace.

The closing ceremony of the 39th Cannes International Film Festival officially began. Sidney Pollack, chairman of the jury, took the stage to give a brief speech, and then it was time to present the awards.

The Short Film Palme d'Or, the Caméra d'Or, the International Film Critics Award... The order of awards at all award ceremonies is from light to heavy, from small to large, and the Cannes Film Festival is no exception.

Every award was presented with thunderous applause, and the winners were all excited.

After the awards in the non-competitive units were presented, the atmosphere on the scene gradually became tense.

The first main competition unit award was presented, and the Best Actress Award was a double yolk egg, which was awarded to Fernanda Torres of "Love Me Forever or Never" and Barbara Sukowa of "Rosa Luxemburg".

The two actresses hugged their colleagues around them with great surprise and went on stage to receive the awards, but their colleagues were not happy.

Because according to the regulations of the Cannes Film Festival, a film cannot win two or more of the Palme d'Or, the Grand Prix of the Jury, the Jury Prize, the Best Director and the Best Screenplay Award at the same time.

Winning the Best Actress Award certainly does not mean that these two films have no chance of winning the Palme d'Or, but the probability is obviously much lower.

Then came the awarding of the Best Actor Award. Xu Guanwen looked calm, but his fingers, which had turned white from being pinched by him, pierced his inner nervousness.

After the award presenter came on stage, he glanced at Lin Chaoyang beside him. Lin Chaoyang seemed to have sensed something and looked at him.

"Do you think you can win the award?" Lin Chaoyang's tone was teasing.

Xu Guanwen kept silent and did not give him the opportunity to tease him.

"Michael Hui!"

As the name resounded through the Lumière Cinema, Xu Guanwen's butt was like a spring, and he suddenly jumped up from his seat, punching vigorously to celebrate, and the other crew members did the same.

"Congratulations, the new best actor at the Cannes Film Festival!"

Lin Chaoyang stood up and hugged Xu Guanwen, but he was hugged tightly by him.

"Thank you! Chaoyang, thank you!"

Amid the applause, Xu Guanwen's voice was sincere and hot, and it was clearly transmitted to Lin Chaoyang's ears, full of gratitude.

Xu Guanwen's gratitude came from the heart. He had been seeking transformation in the past two years, but the results were not satisfactory.

Without Lin Chaoyang's script, all this would not have been possible.

Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival!

Before Xu Guanwen, no Hong Kong person had ever won this award. Even if the scope was expanded to China and the whole of Asia, no one had ever won such an honor.

He had imagined and hoped for it many times, but when he was really crowned the Best Actor, the joy and excitement in his heart seemed to stretch him out.

So happy that he wanted to explode!

When he finally stood on the stage and looked at the blond and blue-eyed foreigners sitting in the audience, he couldn't help but feel a strong sense of pride in his heart when he thought that this Best Actor was won in such a film festival dominated by European and American countries.

He delivered his acceptance speech in a mixture of English and Cantonese, and the audience burst into warm applause again.

"The Truman Show" has set off a wave of enthusiasm in Cannes since its premiere. In addition to the quality of the film itself, Xu Guanwen's performance as "Truman" has also received a lot of praise, bringing him great prestige.

The film festival is different from ordinary film awards. Being shortlisted for the main competition unit itself means that the film has the possibility of winning any award.

In other words, Xu Guanwen won the honor of the best actor after a fierce battle with more than 20 peers.

There are many of them, including Robert De Niro, Erland Josephson, Gérard Depardieu and other movie king-level figures, who are full of gold. The heartfelt applause of the guests present is the greatest recognition of Xu Guanwen's acting skills.

After Xu Guanwen returned to his seat, everyone around him congratulated him again.

Although after winning the Best Actor Award, the probability of winning another grand prize has obviously become much lower, but at least I have won a significant award, which can be regarded as a kind of peace of mind.

The awards ceremony continued, and the Best Screenplay Award was awarded next.

After Xu Guanwen sat down, with excitement still on his face, he said to Lin Chaoyang: "There is actually the best screenwriter this year, Chaoyang, you have a chance!"

There are only four awards for crew members at the Cannes Film Festival: Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Screenplay.

The first three will be awarded every session, but the latter is not.

At film festivals in previous years, there were often vacancies in awards, and it was even more common to award them every other year. The Best Screenplay Award at the Cannes Film Festival was last awarded in 1984.

Lin Chaoyang did not show any nervousness or anxiety because of Xu Guanwen's words. At this time, he was thinking about the ownership of the award, and whispered a few words to Xu Guanwen and Zou Wenhuai from time to time.

There are still Palme d'Or, Grand Jury Prize, Jury Prize, Best Director Award and Best Screenplay Award yet to be awarded.

With Hui Anhua's performance, the Best Director Award will definitely not be competitive with Martin Scorsese of "After Hours" and Roland Joffe of "In the Air".

And if "The Truman Show" can win the Palme d'Or, according to the film festival's usual method of grading pork based on its urine properties, Xu Guanwen's best actor should not be able to win it.

After excluding these two awards, "The Truman Show" is now most likely to win one or two of the three awards: Grand Jury Prize, Jury Prize and Best Screenplay Award.

Listening to his analysis, Zou Wenhuai nodded frequently, agreeing with this judgment in his heart.

"When Michael won the Best Actor, I knew there might be no hope for the Palme d'Or..."

As Zou Wenhuai said with some regret, "Chaoyang Lin" suddenly sounded in the Lumiere Cinema. Boss Zou stood up without even thinking about what to say.

It doesn’t matter whether it’s the Palme d’Or or not, as long as it can win awards, the more awards it can win, the better. Every award they win now is a huge improvement for Hong Kong Film.

"Chaoyang, congratulations!"

"Congratulations!"

The crew members stood up and hugged Lin Chaoyang to congratulate him, and the applause in the theater rang out again.

At the same time, many filmmakers also stood up to express their congratulations, and the live footage of France TV 4 also cut to Lin Chaoyang.

It is true that "The Truman Show" is a big hit at this year's Cannes Film Festival, but most senior filmmakers understand that the film's strength lies in the screenwriter's unconstrained imagination.

It gives the film excellent imagination and extraordinary artistry. While telling a good story, it also achieves a strong social critical significance.

This can be said to be the ultimate goal pursued by most art film directors and screenwriters.

Therefore, Lin Chaoyang's award made these filmmakers so excited.

Lin Chaoyang came to the stage to receive the award, and after a routine thank you, he left the stage. Xu Guanwen ridiculed: "Your acceptance speech was too perfunctory."

"I'm not perfunctory, I just want to leave enough time for the subsequent winners." Lin Chaoyang joked.

When it was the turn of the Best Director Award to be announced, it went to Martin Scorsese for "After Hours" as expected.

Xu Anhua's face was full of disappointment. After being a director for these years, the Best Director Award at the Cannes Film Festival was the biggest award she had ever been nominated for, but it was a pity that she just missed it.

"It doesn't matter, there are still three prizes to come." Lin Chaoyang comforted her.

There are three awards: the Palme d'Or, the Grand Prix of the Jury, and the Jury Prize. To make a simple analogy, they are the first, second, and third prizes.

The Jury Prize went to "Saint Thérèse," leaving only two awards remaining.

The atmosphere in the Lumière Cinema has reached an extreme level. There are 22 films shortlisted for the film festival, and most of them did not win awards tonight. Everyone is paying attention to the award presenters on the stage.

The judges who awarded the jury award were judges Charles Aznifer and Sonia Braga. The two came to the stage to communicate in French. Just like the previous awards, no one understood them well and no one cared. What everyone is concerned about is the ownership of the award.

"The winner of the Jury Prize is..."The Truman Show"!"

As soon as Sonia Braga finished speaking, several people from the "Truman Show" crew stood up, excited.

Although it missed the highest award of the Palme d'Or, it is still the second largest award after the Palme d'Or, not to mention that they had already won the Best Screenplay and Best Actor awards before.

One movie, three awards!

Even compared with the Palme d'Or, this achievement is not inferior in any way.

You must know that in the history of the Cannes Film Festival, it is rare to award multiple awards to a film. These three awards are undoubtedly the jury's high recognition of "The Truman Show."

Xu Anhua went on stage to receive the award as a director and was extremely emotional.

"Thank you Chaoyang for writing such a wonderful script, thank you Michael for giving us his best performance ever in this movie, and thank you to our investor Mr. Zou Wenhuai...

This award is the pride of all Hong Kong filmmakers and belongs to all Chinese-speaking filmmakers..."

The final Palme d'Or award at the Cannes Film Festival was awarded to Roland Joffe's "In War". At this point, the 39th Cannes Film Festival has officially come to an end.

Tonight is destined to be a sleepless night for several people on the "Truman Show" crew.

Not only is it the joy of winning the award, but there are also many media interviews to deal with. Zou Wenhuai is also busy making phone calls and meeting with film producers from various countries.

It's a bit of a pity not to win the Palme d'Or, but with three awards including the Jury Prize, Best Screenplay Award, and Best Actor Award, "The Truman Show" is still the biggest winner at this year's Cannes Film Festival.

Selling before the closing ceremony was risky, but he was right!

This time, "The Truman Show" will bring huge rewards to Jiahe.

The day after the closing ceremony, Chung Chu Hong and Maggie Cheung left Cannes. The two of them were just vases at this film festival, but they were on the red carpet and featured in major media, making it worth the price of admission.

Xu Anhua and Xu Guanwen still have to accept several interviews with European and American media and plan to return to Hong Kong tomorrow. Zou Wenhuai and Cai Lam are busy with copyright transactions.

And Lin Chaoyang was already on a plane flying to Paris.

"The Truman Show" won three awards at the Cannes Film Festival. In just a few days, the film is bound to become famous in France and Europe.

After watching the live broadcast on French TV 4 last night, Clement Meteille from Gallimard Publishing House couldn't wait to call Lin Chaoyang.

Every year at the turn of spring and summer when flowers bloom, Gallimard Publishing House holds an annual reception in the large garden on the Left Bank of Paris. Clermont Meteye extended an invitation to Lin Chaoyang in the name of signing a publishing contract.

Lin Chaoyang was not interested in the reception, signing the contract was his main purpose.

The contract given to him by Gallimard Publishing House is no more generous than that of Grasse Publishing House. It adopts a stepped royalty rate. The royalty rate is 10% for novels sold below 3,000 copies, 12% for novels sold from 3,000 to 6,000 copies, and 12% for novels sold above 6,000 copies. 15%.

What Lin Chaoyang really likes about Gallimard Publishing House is their influence and promotion ability in the European literary world.

This publishing house, founded in the early 20th century, has been focusing on the publication of literary works for many years. It has collaborated with writers such as Malraux, Camus, Sartre, Beauvoir, Yourcenar, and Sarraute.

In addition to these famous French writers, they also introduced many foreign writers to France, such as Spanish writer Garcia Lorca, American writer Fitzgerald, Japanese writer Junichiro Tanizaki, and so on.

During World War II, the "Seven Stars Library" series of books they published won even greater prestige for themselves, bringing the publisher's reputation in the French and European literary circles to its peak.

After the 1950s, Gallimard expanded rapidly and gradually developed itself into one of the largest publishing houses in France through mergers and acquisitions.

It never hurts to find a capable partner.

After a short stay in Paris for one day, Lin Chaoyang flew back to Hong Kong.

As soon as he landed, he was surprised to find that he was blocked by reporters.

"Lin Sheng! Lin Sheng! "The Truman Show" won three awards at the Cannes Film Festival. Is there anything you want to share with the Hong Kong audience?"

"Lin Sheng, you won the Best Screenplay Award at the Cannes Film Festival this time. It is said that the boss of a film company has already offered you a sky-high script fee of HK$500,000. Are you interested?"

"Lin Sheng..."

A group of reporters blocked Lin Chaoyang at the entrance of the passage. The flashes of their cameras kept flashing and they asked questions all over the place. The scene was chaotic.

Lin Chaoyang didn't have time to answer these reporters' questions. He just wanted to know now, how did these reporters know about his flight?

Listening to Lin Chaoyang's questions, these reporters looked proud.

"We have been guarding the airport these days. Cai Lan landed yesterday and told us that you would be back today and tomorrow."

Lin Chaoyang secretly cursed his friend, then discussed with these reporters to give up the position at the entrance of the passage, found a place and briefly accepted an interview before he was able to escape.

He took a taxi from the airport to go home. When he got in the car, the driver saw his face through the rearview mirror.

"Eh? Lin Sheng!"

Lin Chaoyang was surprised that even the taxi driver knew him. He really didn't know how many times the citizens of Xiangjiang had been baptized by the news of the Cannes Film Festival in recent days.

He smiled at the taxi driver and said, "Yes!"

"Lin Sheng Hou La! "The Truman Show" suddenly won three awards at the Cannes Film Festival, giving us Hong Kong people credit!" the driver said excitedly.

"Thank you. It seems that Xiangjiang has been reporting a lot about the film festival in the past two days!" Lin Chaoyang said politely and casually chatted with the driver.

"Of course! Your film is the first film in Hong Kong to win an award at the Cannes Film Festival. Ming Pao said it set a record for Hong Kong films.

Those newspapers still compare you with Li Hanxiang and Hu Jinquan. They were only shortlisted back then, and at most they won... What's that one called? Oh, yes, the technical award, let’s be honest, I can’t compare with you this time.

Whenever you open a newspaper these days, you will definitely see your movie..."

The driver kept talking to Lin Chaoyang about the reports on "The Truman Show" in the Hong Kong press in recent days.

More than a month ago, the Cannes Film Festival released the shortlist, and the Hong Kong media hyped up a wave of news, but that wave of heat soon died down.

This time, when the Cannes Film Festival opened, Ming Pao and Ta Kung Pao sent reporters to Cannes to interview and report.

Not to mention that these two newspapers were not invited media to the film festival, the reporters' accommodation and air tickets for overseas interviews alone are a considerable burden for the newspapers.

On the other hand, the real-time nature of the report content cannot be guaranteed. There was no Internet in those days, and information could only be transmitted through telephone and fax, which was too costly.

Therefore, Hong Kong media rarely sent reporters abroad to interview and report, and this reality also further highlighted the importance of these two media to "The Truman Show" participating in the Cannes Film Festival.

The attention of Ming Pao and Ta Kung Pao has also been richly rewarded.

When Shen Xicheng and Wu Song reported back to Hong Kong the popularity of "The Truman Show" at the Cannes Film Festival, they also translated and reprinted a lot of high praise from European and American media for "The Truman Show", which soon caused heated discussions among the citizens of Hong Kong.

And as they reported back more and more news, the citizens' attention to "The Truman Show" became higher and higher.

Until the closing of the Cannes Film Festival two days ago and the announcement of the winners, Shen Xicheng and Wu Song reported back to Hong Kong overnight.

The next morning, Ming Pao reported: "The Truman Show swept the Cannes Film Festival, and three awards beat European and American films."

Not to be outdone, Ta Kung Pao followed closely and reported: "Cannes Film Festival blew up the 'Hong Kong whirlwind', and "The Truman Show" won three awards."

Once the two reports were published, they caused a sensation in Hong Kong!