Huayu Entertainment 1995 started with hijacking.

Chapter 233 Reaction
The Oscars ceremony has ended, but the Vanity Fair party is in full swing.

At this moment, several glasses clinked together, and Wu Yuchen said to everyone, "The remarkable success of 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' is inseparable from everyone's hard work! Thank you all!"

At that moment, he was an investor and wanted to express his gratitude to everyone for "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" winning four Oscars.

"Director Wu, you're too kind. It's truly an honor for us to be involved in 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'!" Liang Jiahui said with a smile.

"Yes, Director Wu, this is what we should do! During filming, I injured my leg and had surgery. I even hesitated about whether to quit. Now I'm so glad I persevered!" Yang Ziqiong said sincerely.

Zhang Ziyi quickly said to Wu Yuchen, "Director Wu, thank you for giving me this opportunity!"

Wu Yuchen smiled and shook his head: "You should thank Director Li; he's the one who chose you. But Ziyi, your performance this time was also fantastic; the movie's brilliance is partly due to your contribution!"

Wu Yuchen's words were not unfounded. Zhang Ziyi's performance in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" was truly brilliant, especially the bamboo forest bed scene and action sequence, which impressed many foreign judges.

After the pleasantries were over, Zhang Ziyi wanted to take another drink and deepen her relationship with Wu Yuchen, but Wu Yuchen dismissed her.

He didn't think too much about it, but he noticed that Li An had been rather silent since the awards ceremony, so he wanted to talk to him alone and naturally didn't want to pay attention to Zhang Ziyi.

"Director Li, what's wrong? Are you still bothered by the Best Director award?" Wu Yuchen asked with a smile.

Li An shook his head and sighed, "Director Wu, it would be a lie to say I don't mind. After all, I was so close to Best Director this time, so there must be some regrets. But if we're talking about regrets, then I think I definitely can't compare to you, Director Wu. So why should I stay stuck here?"

Wu Yuchen said with a smile, "Last year Spielberg came to comfort me, so I'll comfort you too. Congratulations on joining the ranks of Coppola, Spielberg, and me. This is the path that every great director must take!"

Li An was taken aback for a moment, then smiled at Wu Yuchen and said, "Director Wu, I'm not as confident as you!"

Wu Yuchen laughed and said, "Best Director? We'll definitely win that in the future."

Li An nodded, then said, "But it might not be Chinese-language films anymore..."

Upon hearing this, Wu Yuchen fell silent for a moment. Winning the award for a foreign language film is naturally different from winning it for a Chinese language film. He and Li An both lost the Best Director award to Chinese language films, so they naturally felt a sense of shared misfortune.

Wu Yuchen patted Li An on the shoulder: "Let's encourage each other!"

Then Wu Yuchen asked Li An, "Director Li, what are the plans for the future?"

Li An shook his head with a wry smile: "Director Wu, I plan to take a break for a while. I felt a huge emptiness right after the awards ceremony, but after talking with you, I feel much better."

To be honest, I really admire you for that, being able to keep filming. This film, *Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon*, truly drained my energy; I simply can't recover without a break.

Wu Yuchen laughed and said, "I'm young after all! Director Li, you should also keep a youthful mindset!"

Li An was taken aback when he heard this, and then he realized Wu Yuchen's age. He sighed inwardly, thinking how wonderful it is to be young!

Then he couldn't help but smile again, and clinked glasses with Wu Yuchen: "To stay young!"

Wu Yuchen smiled and said, "Wishing you youth!"

……

"Steven, congratulations!"

Wu Yuchen congratulated Spielberg, whose DreamWorks film "Gladiator" won five awards at tonight's Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Actor.

Spielberg smiled and toasted with Wu Yuchen:

"Thank you, Wu. But I should be congratulating you. Miracle Pictures' two films, 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' and 'The Internet,' have won a total of eight awards. You are actually the real winner!"

Wu Yuchen smiled and shook his head: "It's all just good luck. Li An and Soderbergh encountered some difficulties, and I happened to be able to help them, so everything happened so wonderfully~"

"Yes, just as you said, everything is wonderful!"

Spielberg gave Wu Yuchen a deep look. Although the man was modest, Spielberg would be a fool to believe him. Hollywood has countless projects facing difficulties every day; why did Wu Yuchen happen to help these two? Why doesn't he invest in other directors in need? And yet, the two films he invested in both shone brightly at the Oscars!
It wasn't just Spielberg who realized this; others weren't blind either. Anyone with a little thought could tell that even though both films were excellent, their current success was undoubtedly due in no small part to Wu Yuchen's help.

Outsiders may not know how deeply Wu Yuchen was involved in these two projects. Perhaps he was directly involved in the production of both films and provided a lot of ideas for them?
Considering that Wu Yuchen himself received two Oscar nominations and won awards last year, and then today two films produced by his company have won so many awards, putting aside public relations, it shows that Wu Yuchen understands the Oscars very well. He understands the tastes of the judges, or rather, he knows how to help a film become an excellent film that the Oscars like!

Under these circumstances, although Wu Yuchen himself didn't win any awards, he became the hot commodity at tonight's party, with producers, directors, and even actors all trying to get close to him. Producers and directors hoped that their projects would be favored by Wu Yuchen in the future, while actors were even more straightforward, hoping to be noticed by him. They reasoned that participating in projects by Wu Yuchen or Miracle Pictures would greatly increase their chances of winning an Oscar!

Wu Yuchen was all smiles tonight, speaking kindly to everyone.

Although Gladiator is the biggest winner in terms of awards alone, the film was actually released on a large scale last May. This means that this year's Oscars will not boost Gladiator's box office. At most, it will make DVD sales a little better, but theaters will not give Gladiator a large number of screenings.

So, who will take the screen time slot vacated by "Gladiator," which is usually reserved for Oscar-winning films? Of course, it's "The Untold Story" and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" that will grab the biggest share!
In Wu Yuchen's memory, both films grossed over $2 million worldwide. With such high returns, how could he not be happy?

Some were happy, some were sad. Harvey Weinstein was unhappy watching Wu Yuchen being fawned over. He wasn't entirely absent from this year's Oscars; "Chocolat" was one of his main films promoted this year. Unfortunately, he received five nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actress, and Best Supporting Actress, but failed to win any of them.

For an ordinary team, getting five nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actress, for a romance film like this would already be a victory. But this is Harvey Weinstein; not winning any awards this year would be a failure!

That wouldn't have been so bad, but the real problem was seeing that two films produced by Wu Yuchen, whom he disliked, had won so many awards and received the same praise he used to receive. This made him very unhappy. No one in Hollywood had ever treated Harvey with the same disregard as Wu Yuchen.

Harvey glanced at Wu Yuchen, then at Russell Crowe, as well as Ed Harris, who was nominated for Best Actor, and Jennifer Connelly, who was nominated for Best Supporting Actress. It was no secret that they were currently filming "A Beautiful Mind." This lineup was truly formidable!

Then Harvey sneered. He had already acquired the adaptation rights to the project he wanted to work on from Broadway. This time, he was going to assemble a star-studded cast that was in no way inferior to his opponent's, and then personally snipe his opponent at next year's Oscars. Let's see if they can still be laughing then!
……

After the Vanity Fair party, Wu Yuchen naturally had a wild night and didn't wake up until the next day. Last night, Jennifer Connelly served him very well, and she even agreed to a small request of his.

Thinking of this, Wu Yuchen couldn't help but smile. Next time, he could invite Anne Hathaway over and have a good comparison to see who was whiter and who had a better figure!

Of course, in return, Wu Yuchen promised Jennifer Connelly that he would definitely help her win an Oscar, it didn't have to be Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress would be fine.

Jennifer Connelly is 30 years old this year and desperately wants to win an Oscar to prove her career success. Wu Yuchen, who has helped her achieve great success in the past two years, is naturally someone she relies on. Just spending time with him is nothing outrageous; if it brings her an Oscar, it's worth it!

Wu Yuchen, however, didn't think it would be difficult. Jennifer Connelly had been nominated for Best Supporting Actress for two consecutive years, which meant she had accumulated a lot of points. If they invested some public relations resources in her for "A Beautiful Mind" next year, winning Best Supporting Actress shouldn't be too difficult.

Knowing that everyone must have had a crazy night, the "Beautiful Mind" crew did not start filming today, giving everyone a day to rest. Wu Yuchen took the opportunity to visit the "Spider-Man" crew again to check on the filming progress.

He discovered something in the subsequent filming plans: filming at the World Trade Center Twin Towers. Spider-Man would create a giant spider web between the Twin Towers and capture a group of robbers who were escaping by helicopter.

He immediately called over director Sam Raimi: "Hey Sam, I don't think I wrote this scene in my script?"

"Oh, yes, this is something we came up with to add. We all think this effect will be really cool and appealing to the audience! What do you think, Wu?"

Seeing the other person's excited eyes, Wu Yuchen thought for a moment and said, "It's cool, but can we go somewhere else?"

"Why change the location? The Twin Towers are iconic New York landmarks, and this effect is only achieved here. Changing it to another location would halve the visual impact and the audience's emotional experience."

Can Wu Yuchen say that six months later, when 9/11 comes, the iconic Twin Towers will be hit by terrorist planes?

To avoid triggering painful memories for the audience, scenes featuring the Twin Towers will definitely be cut; otherwise, filming them would be pointless.

He thought for a moment, then decided not to get involved any further. He patted the other person on the shoulder and said, "Okay, that's a good idea. You guys go ahead and film!"

This kind of thing can't be revealed at all, otherwise it would seem strange if he tried to stop it now, and it would be ridiculous if he were suspected of being involved. Let them film it; at worst, we can cut it out later, since it definitely won't be broadcast anyway.

After that, Wu Yuchen went straight back to the set of "A Beautiful Mind" to continue filming. He didn't need to worry too much about "The Internet" and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," as the distribution arrangements had already been finalized before the Oscars were even announced, and the producers had a comprehensive plan for them.

When "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" won an Oscar, it naturally caused quite a stir across mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. The consecutive Oscar wins by Chinese-language films in the past two years have created a misconception that Chinese-language cinema is on the rise!

Many people, including many directors, have revisited "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." They want to see what aspects of the film impressed the Oscars and whether there are any lessons they can learn from it.

However, after learning more about the details, the group became discouraged because the production cost of a martial arts film like "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" was too high. 2000 million US dollars is almost 1.7 million. How many directors can afford that?
Alright, we still have to learn from Director Wu's "Love". This kind of low-budget realistic film is what they can do!

Meanwhile, some of Li An's comments at the Oscars for "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" have also been circulated back in China, and more and more details about the film have been unearthed. "Li An thanks Wu Yuchen; without him, there would be no 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'!"

Li An thanked Wu Yuchen for his valuable suggestions on the film!

"The person the entire Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon crew is most grateful to is actually him!"

"Liang Jiahui – the man who twice snagged Li Lianjie's work and created the pinnacle of Chinese martial arts films!"

Winning an Oscar brings attention, and things that no one paid attention to before are suddenly made into the newspapers, and people realize that so many things happened during the filming of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon".

"I never expected that the male lead was originally supposed to be Jet Li. I wonder if he regrets turning down the role?"

"Of course he regrets it, it's an Oscar! Just kidding, Jet Li really brought Leung Ka-fai good luck, he turned down two roles, one for 'New Dragon Gate Inn' and the other for 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'. Do you think Leung Ka-fai should publicly thank Jet Li? Hahaha."

"If that's the case, then Leung Ka-fai should thank Chow Yun-fat. Chow Yun-fat also turned down this role, and as a result, the movie he starred in was a huge flop. It's really ironic!"

"Hey, he just has no taste! Look at Wu Yuchen, he saw the potential in 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' at first glance, and now that it's won an Oscar, it proves how accurate his judgment was!"

"Hey, hey, hey, you're not right about that. It should be that Li An's 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' won an Oscar because of Wu Yuchen's help, guidance, and advice!"

"Yes, yes, Li An has publicly admitted it. Without Director Wu, there would be no Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon! And what would the Oscars be about?"

"Can Director Wu compare to Chow Yun-fat?"

Although Wu Yuchen is not in China, the film "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" has brought his fame back to the forefront. People in the industry are reminded of Wu Yuchen's reputation for loyalty and integrity, and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" has truly cemented that reputation.

These days, everyone's jokingly saying, "Don't worry about not having money, just go to Miracle Films. What you should be afraid of is not having talent, and your work not catching Director Wu's eye!"

Indeed, quite a few people have had this idea, taking their scripts or ideas to Miracle Films to seek investment...

Wu Yuchen also received many calls from China, which were naturally related to "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon".

First, Han Sanping said: "Brother Wu, quite a few people are saying that you helped Li An win the Oscar..."

Wu Yuchen couldn't help but chuckle: "Brother Han, that's too kind of you. If I had that much influence in Hollywood and could do this much, I wouldn't have lost my Best Director award last year!"

Han Sanping smiled upon hearing this: "After all, you invested in this movie, and now that it's achieved success, it's natural to have some speculations. But with Brother Wu in Hollywood, it will surely be much easier for our Chinese-language films to go global in the future!"

"Don't worry, Brother Han. If it's a good movie, I'll definitely help you. They're all Chinese-language films, and I also want to expand the international influence of Chinese-language films," Wu Yuchen assured him.

"Hehe, as expected of our number one guide in China, his level is truly high!" Han Sanping couldn't help but praise.

"Brother Han, don't flatter me!"

"Alright, then I won't bother you anymore."

Then there were the women around him. Jiang Qinqin, Li Xiaoran, and Zeng Like had all auditioned for the role of Yu Jiaolong, but Wu Yuchen didn't interfere, and Li An ultimately chose Zhang Ziyi. Now that "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" has won an Oscar, the women naturally had some feelings about it.

Jiang Qinqin was the first to call, but she didn't mention "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." Instead, she asked, "Honey, is our 'Brotherhood of Blades' going for the Oscars?"

Wu Yuchen immediately understood her thoughts: "Just focus on your performance first, and we'll see if there's an opportunity later!"

"Really? Then I'll definitely give it my all!"

After Jiang Qinqin hung up the phone, Wu Yuchen shook his head. He made "Brotherhood of Blades" with the goal of commercial box office success, not for the Oscars, but he might as well use it to motivate the actors.

After thinking about it, Wu Yuchen simply called Li Xiaoran:

"Hello? What's up?"

"You don't have any thoughts about Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon winning an award?" Wu Yuchen asked curiously.

"Pshaw, it's long gone! I went to see the movie after it was released, and I knew I definitely wouldn't be in it."

Wu Yuchen's heart skipped a beat, and he asked, "What do you mean?"

Li Xiaoran said irritably, "I don't believe you would let me act in Zhang Ziyi's intimate scenes!"

"Hahaha, Sister Ran, you, you really know my mind inside and out!"

"go away!"

Wu Yuchen hung up the phone with a smile. He had to admit that Li Xiaoran really understood him. There were quite a few intimate scenes between Yu Jiaolong and Luo Xiaohu in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon". If Li An had really chosen Li Xiaoran, he probably would have talked to Li An about cutting some of her scenes.

Zeng Li's response was even simpler: "Ziyi was selected based on her own abilities. She acted well, and she deserves what she has now."

After listening to this, Wu Yuchen felt that Zeng Li really did have a rather easygoing personality.

……

Wu Yuchen naturally ignored the domestic turmoil. He is now fully focused on filming "A Beautiful Mind".

"Hey, this won't do. I need to create a golden effect!" Wu Yuchen shouted to the cameraman after filming a short segment of a campus scene.

After listening to Wu Yuchen's description, the cinematographer said, "Director, to achieve the effect you want, we need to change the film. We'll use a low-contrast movie film, and before mounting it, we'll expose the film to yellow light. This should allow us to achieve the effect you need. However, this may take some time to adjust..."

"Hurry up, this scene absolutely needs this effect." After saying that, Wu Yuchen planned to go and discuss with Glazer the possibility of adjusting the shooting schedule.

Just then, he noticed that Glazer was approaching with an elderly man who looked to be over seventy. He immediately realized what was happening and led the protagonist, Russell, to greet him: "Oh, Mr. Nash, welcome!"

"Hehe, I just wanted to see how you guys made me look in those photos. I wasn't this handsome when I was young~"

Then he smiled at Jennifer Connelly and said, "My wife isn't as pretty as you."

“Mr. Nash, thank you for your compliment!” Jennifer Connelly quickly responded with a smile.

Upon seeing Nash arrive, Wu Yuchen simply changed the filming plan and decided to film the indoor scenes first, which involved Nash solving math problems on set. With Nash's guidance, the scenes should be more realistic.

However, Wu Yuchen oversimplified the situation. The actual scenes were sometimes anything but thrilling; in fact, they could be quite boring. After talking with Nash, Wu Yuchen sighed. He realized that the original film must have had many artistic embellishments to make it more engaging for the audience. Therefore, he simply decided to film it exactly as it was originally made.

For example, Nash asked him some questions about the script: "Wu, there was actually no writing ceremony at all, which seemed weird to me."

The pen ceremony is a famous scene in the movie, where many school members place their pens on the table where Nash is sitting at the end of the film. It's essentially a moment of showing off by the main character.

“Mr. Nash, please don’t mind. This is just a ceremony we’ve added to show our respect for you and to let the world recognize your achievements.”

"But it's made up, and some of my friends might laugh at me for that."

"Oh, no, they should be laughing at me. Movies always need some artistic embellishment. Don't worry, we're making a biographical film about you, and there won't be anything detrimental to you!"

After listening, Nash thought for a long time before nodding.

Wu Yuchen discovered that Nash suffers from decision-making difficulties. Although he is very intelligent and has a high IQ, he struggles with certain choices in daily life. When he first joined the film crew, Nash spent 15 minutes contemplating whether to drink tea or coffee. Wu Yuchen plans to incorporate this trait into the film.

However, Nash's arrival was not without its help. He told Russell Crowe many of his personal habits, or rather, many mathematicians' habits, which helped Russell Crowe to act more like a mathematician through these details.

To ensure the accuracy and credibility of the film's mathematical content, the production team invited Dave Bell, a mathematics professor at Barnard College, to the set every day during filming to oversee the mathematical details.

(End of this chapter)