Huayu: Hard fight against Zhang Weiping at the beginning

Chapter 110 Horror Movie Core
As November approached, the North American box office results of "The Dark Tribulation" were reported back to China, and Zhang Chen truly experienced what it meant to be famous.

If his previous reputation was a small achievement, then now he has become famous.

There was no way. In 04, the whole country was seeking recognition from the West.

Whatever the West considers good, is good.

Zhang Chen's movie grossed more than 5000 million in North America, which brings glory to the country.

In fact, Zhang Yimou should also enjoy this honor, but he is unlucky. BJ's eight minutes made him be scolded and became a hot topic some time ago, and the popularity has not subsided yet.

Therefore, the only one who enjoys this honor is Zhang Chen.

How could Dong Jianqiang miss such a good publicity opportunity? He bought a lot of press releases and just wanted to brag about it.

According to the media, Zhang Chen has become the flag bearer of the sixth generation of domestic directors.

When Zhang Chen watched Young and Dangerous when he was a kid, he always had a question in his mind: what is a "gang leader"?
Chen Haonan is the leader of Causeway Bay, Shisanmei is the leader of Portland Street, Prince is the leader of Tsim Sha Tsui, and Han Bin is the leader of Kwai Tsing...

What exactly is a leader?
Later when I grew up I understood that "bazi" is actually a flagpole, and "kangbazi" means carrying the flag, which means leader or chief.

Zhang Chen is now referred to by the media as the "leader" among the younger generation of directors.

Who doesn't agree? Let's fight?
"Don't forget, there are several media interviews today!"

"How many?"

"Five."

"Watching Movies is at 9 o'clock, Movie World at 11 o'clock, Global Screen at 1 o'clock, Popular Movies at 3 o'clock, and Taking You to the Movies at 5 o'clock..."

Hearing so much, Zhang Chen put his hand on his forehead and said, "Are you trying to tire me to death?"

"I can't help it. You're popular now, so I'll postpone two of them to tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?"

"I gradually got used to it. Thinking about The Shallows, don't you feel less tired?"

Dong Jianqiang accurately grasped Zhang Chen's weakness, and even his consolation sounded like he deserved a beating.

Zhang Chen thought about it and realized that the treatment was really different. When he was filming the last movie "Dark Invasion", it was Guangguang who used his connections to arrange the interview with "Movie World".

Now that the movie has become a huge hit at the North American box office, there is no need to make any arrangements anymore; the media will come to us on their own.

You can't avoid exposure.

But this is a good thing for The Shallows.

Zhang Chen would always talk about The Shallows in every interview. The more exposure it gets, the more likely it is that people will know about The Shallows.

After watching it many times, people will become curious about what kind of movie it is and will not be able to help but go to the cinema to watch it.

“When I was in school, I liked to study popular movies from all over the world, especially those from Asia.

Then I found that the horror film market is very prosperous. In recent years, classic horror films have been released frequently in Asia. Japan has "The Ring" and "The Grudge", South Korea has "Rose Flower Guren" and the "Girls' High School Ghost Story" series, and Thailand also has "Ghost" and "Ghost Wife".

Not to mention the Hong Kong film industry, the "Three Watches" series and "Seeing a Ghost" are all very good works, but we don't have such works in the mainland, and I am not convinced..."

“I didn’t think about anything else at the time, I just wanted to fill this gap, and then when I was writing the script, I found it was difficult to write because there were too many restrictions.

Then I wondered, what is the core of horror movies?
Ghost?

no.

It's that kind of unknown oppressive feeling. Everyone knows something will happen, but no one knows when it will happen or what will happen.

This is the core of horror movies.

Then I write around that.

Ghosts and the like are not necessary. Look at New Line's Final Destination, where the Grim Reaper never showed his face from beginning to end, but the film was still very successful. Horror films are actually very easy to write. Just create a good sense of tension and then sell the setting.”

"What is the setting?"

"It's about the setting of monsters, such as the Grim Reaper in Final Destination, the monsters in Darkness Strike Back are actually people in another evolutionary direction, and why do those murderers do this?"

"Oh, so that's how it is. But why is it that only The Darkness has such a high box office? There are so many horror movies in the United States, but it seems that they usually only have a box office of 20 to 30 million..."

Zhang Chen smiled and said, "Because I added something different. The Hollywood horror movies actually have a very simple formula. A bunch of idiots come to a place and are chased by villains. The villains can be monsters, murderers, ghosts, beasts, anything.

Make the scene a little bloody, and make each person die in a different way, and it’s best to be a little creative, and that’ll be it.

But I didn't want to do that when I was making The Dark Invasion, I thought it would be boring. So I added the emotional line between Shayla and Juno, trust and betrayal, and probably because of this, the box office was particularly good. "

These are what Zhang Chen said in an interview with "Watching Movies", but in fact, the questions asked by various magazines are similar, and Zhang Chen is just repeating the same things over and over again.

But that's propaganda.

Fortunately, the interview finally ended around six o'clock in the evening.

Dong Jianqiang was asked to stay and have dinner with the reporters, while Zhang Chen ran away first. He really didn't want to stay in this place anymore.

……

In November, good news came from the Golden Horse Awards. "The Dark One" was nominated for Best Supporting Actress and Best Feature Film.

The film was sent by Dong Jianqiang. Originally, Zhang Chen didn't care about awards.

He comes from the future and really doesn't think the award is anything grand.

In that era, no one paid attention to the three major European awards, let alone the Oscars.

But Dong Jianqiang insisted, so he let him do it.

I didn't expect to be shortlisted.

The media reported that Zhang Chen also received congratulatory calls from friends, but he had no time to care about this because "The Shallows" was about to be released and his mind was full of thoughts about the premiere.

"The venue is the Beijing Exhibition Center. I have also made a list of invited guests and media. Take a look..."

Zhang Chen took over the list. There were a lot of names listed by the media, as well as celebrities. Most of them were familiar names.

Wang Jinghua, Chang Jihong, Wang Brothers of Huayi, Wang Changtian of Guangxian, Chen Guofu of Columbia, Han Sanping of China Film, and the rest are a long list of stars, such as Fan Xiaopang, Chen Hao, Li Binbin and so on.

"I also invited Cheng Long, but whether he comes or not is up to him."

Dong Jianqiang explained it and asked, "Do you want to call New Line and ask them to send someone over..."

Zhang Chen shook his head: "Forget it. I don't have the face to ask them to travel halfway around the world just for a premiere."

"Ok."

Dong Jianqiang didn't force it, he knew this would be the result.

"Is there anything else you want to add?"

Zhang Chen shook his head. He didn't have many friends in the circle, but he immediately thought of one: "Send an invitation to our teacher Fu."

"I've been prepared for a long time." Dong Jianqiang was introduced to Zhang Chen by Fu Donglai. In terms of relationship, the two of them are closer.

"Premiere, what should I pay attention to?"

Zhang Chen really didn’t understand. The only time he attended a premiere in his two lifetimes was the "New Police Story" a while ago.

Dong Jianqiang was well prepared and handed over a piece of paper: "I have listed all the common questions that reporters usually ask here. Just take a look and have an idea in your mind. The rest can only be done on the spot. But as long as you think more in your mind before answering the questions, it should be fine."

Zhang Chen nodded, feeling both excited and nervous. The Shallows was finally going to have its premiere, just like an ugly bride finally meeting her parents-in-law.

(End of this chapter)