Who are you calling "little fresh meat"? I'm the king.

Chapter 142 Interview (4/4)

Shen Yan is particularly averse to talking about movies...

Especially 'own' movies!
It feels a lot like bragging.

As for "Back to 20" surpassing "The Orphan of Zhao" at the box office...

This is actually quite normal. Director Chen has already overdrawn his audience credibility...

Every time I praise it, it is the best work after "Farewell My Concubine".

After hearing the story of the boy who cried wolf so many times, people no longer believe it!

After a brief chat, the reporter from Southern Weekend asked, "Many experts say '20 Again' is meaningless. What do you think of this view?"

"I think movies are just movies. Although from an artistic perspective, movies are not completely entertainment activities, but 20 Again is a commercial entertainment film. What value can you let a commercial entertainment film carry?"

"So, you think movies should be more entertaining?"

"I didn't say that. I was talking about commercial films that are entertainment-oriented... Specifically for '20 Again', our target audience is people who go to the cinema to watch a movie to relax after a day of work... They don't want to be educated, nor do they want to experience the artistry of movies!"

"So do you think movies should pursue artistic quality?"

"Let's analyze the specific situation..."

……

Shen Yan's Weibo followers have increased to 600 million...

This number currently ranks among the top three on Weibo’s fan list!
At this stage, Weibo's daily active users are not much more than 30 million, which means that one in five people are following Shen Yan...

The latest issue of Southern Weekend was released on December 12th. The cover features a photo of Shen Yan and the headline is "I don't belong to the mainstream film industry!"

In a bookstore in BJ, a few young men who were browsing newspapers and magazines directly found the latest issue of "Southern Weekend", which was indeed an exclusive interview with Shen Yan.

It is even more obvious that these people are all fans of Shen Yan, because they paid for the magazine instead of just staying in the bookstore and reading it!
One of the men wearing glasses spoke first: "I feel that 'Back to 20' won't reach 2.5 million. 'Let the Bullets Fly' is too strong!"

"Well, I read the report, it said 3060 million on the first day!"

"...and they said the box office on the 18th was as high as 6000 million!"

"Let the Bullets Fly" truly took the market by storm. On its first day, on the 16th, it grossed 3018 million yuan nationwide, surpassing "Avatar"'s 2700 million yuan and ranking second overall. On the 18th, it raked in over 6000 million yuan, surpassing the previous single-day record of 1 million yuan set by "Avatar" on January 9th...

So fierce!
The screening schedule of "Back to 20" has dropped to less than 10%, and the single-day box office has dropped to less than 200 million...

Of course, the film that had the greatest impact was actually "The Laughing Man", and many cinemas simply stopped scheduling screenings for it!
I guess Southern Weekend didn’t expect this either, otherwise, the exclusive interview would have been given to Jiang Wen.

"Okay, I heard that 'Back to 20' cost less than 3000 million and it's already made a killing."

“…Hey, let’s see what the interview said!”

"How can you say he's not from the mainstream film industry?"

“…Just take a look and you’ll know!”

Opening the magazine, it's basically a series of questions and answers. Southern Weekend: "Many experts and professors think your two films are too naive and childish, with little to offer us in the way of reflection. What are your thoughts on this?"

Shen Yan: "In fact, mainstream commercial films around the world are quite childish. What's the plot of 'Avatar'? It's just a story about a soccer rape. The plot of 'Titanic' is even simpler: a story about a rich girl, Rose, and a poor boy, Jack, who meet and fall in love on the Titanic..."

Southern Weekend: "So, you think commercial films should be mainstream?"

Shen Yan: "I don't know. I only know that I'm definitely not in the mainstream Chinese film industry, and I haven't worked with mainstream filmmakers!"

Southern Weekend: “Why do you say that?”

Shen Yan: "I'm not a professional, and I definitely don't belong to the professional circle. I haven't worked with any major studios... nor have I invited any experienced directors to be producers..."

Southern Weekend: "What do you think of the Chinese film market?"

Shen Yan: "I don't have any opinions... I'm just a new screenwriter... I can't give you high-level advice, and I haven't studied the market..."

Southern Weekend: "Don't you consider censorship when writing your script?"

Shen Yan: "I've considered it. I originally wanted to write a script about school bullying, but considering the review process, I gave up in the end!"

Southern Weekend: "Don't you feel uncomfortable?"

Shen Yan: "What's so hard about this? Since you're doing this, you have to follow the rules. For me, the most important thing for my film is that it's released and aimed at Chinese audiences, so passing the censorship is the most basic requirement... I'm quite disgusted by those Hong Kong filmmakers who use mainland censorship as an excuse. If you have the guts, why don't you just give up the mainland market? The censorship in the Taiwanese market was also very strict back then..."

When Hong Kong cinema was at its peak, Taiwan's censorship was at its strictest. For example, when director Wang Jing and Stephen Chow filmed "God of Gamblers in Shanghai," they had to reshoot the film with a different female lead before it could be released in Taiwan. This was a unique situation in film history...

The same goes for the film markets in Singapore and Malaysia. Young and Dangerous was released there, and Chen Haonan was turned into an undercover agent who personally sent his brothers to jail...

At that time, they weren't pretentious, and didn't complain about censorship... Instead, facing the huge mainland film market, they began to be picky... I don't know how they suddenly developed a sense of integrity!

Southern Weekend: "So, you don't plan to develop in Hong Kong?"

Shen Yan: "Going to Hong Kong to develop? Anyone with a discerning eye can see that the mainland film market is developing rapidly, and the Hong Kong film market has long been conquered by Hollywood... Hong Kong people don't watch Hong Kong movies anymore... 'Architecture 1400' took 20 million Hong Kong dollars at the box office, and '1000 Again' took million Hong Kong dollars... I don't think I can learn anything in Hong Kong!"

Southern Weekend: "What are your plans for next year?"

Shen Yan: "I'm about to join the crew of "Love Through the Millennium", and later I will be working on a youth campus film called "My Girlhood..."

Southern Weekend: "It seems like you've never given up on TV dramas? Most actors, after entering the big screen, will actively focus their energy on movies!"

Shen Yan: "To me, there's no difference between movies and TV series. They're both works for the audience... I think many TV series are much more interesting than so-called movies!"

Southern Weekend: "Your Weibo followers have exceeded 500 million. How do you define the relationship between idols and fans?"

Shen Yan: "First of all, we have an equal relationship. Idols don't need to be overly flattering, and fans don't need to lower themselves. And don't boss others around just because you've invested time and energy in this...

Secondly, I don’t want them to have too many thoughts about me. Life is like flowing water, and it is just a dream. If you compare it to a dream, don’t go too deep into it, otherwise it will become a nightmare. Reality is always the foundation of chasing dreams. I hope my fans can live their own lives well and live in the present.

Finally, I hope my fans understand that when you are at the peak of your career in a certain field, love and hate are always equally opposed, praise and slander always go hand in hand, and the highs and lows are always a hair's breadth apart... No one is the darling of the whole world..."

The last sentence is also a response to the fierce battle between Shen Yan’s fans and Han Geng’s fans!
(End of this chapter)