Huayu: From charlatan to great entertainer

Chapter 178 The counterattack begins

September 2003, 9, 5:1 PM Pacific Time.

"Hello? Washing machine, why can't I get through to you on the phone?!"

Boss Lu was furious: "Who are you calling a washing machine? You have no respect for your parents."

He looked at the time and asked A Fei to drive first.

"It should be 1 a.m. in Peking, right? Why aren't you asleep yet?"

"I..."

Liu Yifei looked at the broken keyboard, which was a mess after a brutal confrontation.

"I'm reading the script. I'm going to Shanghai in a few days to audition for 'Kung Fu'. Do you think I can do it?" (Note 1)

"Zhou Xingchi is a very strange person. Not only do you have to be a good actor, you also have to..."

Concubine Liu Yi was puzzled: "What?"

"You have to sign with his company, otherwise why would he support you?"

"You're being sarcastic. Are you hinting at something, Lu Kuan?"

Boss Lu smiled and said, "How about this? I'll give you another chance. Come to Wenjie."

"Thank you for the invitation, but no."

"Then why are you calling me? Hurry up and tell me, I'm going to find Leonardo right away."

Liu Yifei was excited: "What? Leonardo is so handsome! Can you get me an autographed photo?"

"You're a little worse than me, right? Why are your legs so thick and your eyes so bad?"

"roll!"

"I want to tell you that Xu Xiyuan has reported you in a video online. Please deal with it immediately! Hang up!"

Concubine Liu Yi felt annoyed when she mentioned this matter and didn't want to say another word to him.

The image of Xu Xiyuan crying on the computer screen was paused. This time, even people close to him such as Liu Yifei and Zhou Xun felt a little "unconfident".

If it is not true, how could such a self-destructive idol drama star be willing to report it with his real name?

Even they think so, not to mention the mobs and heroes online.

However, Boss Lu received a call from Zhuang Xu immediately and had already arranged for the matter to be handled.

Lu Kuan and Emil walked into Taylor's casting office, where Leonardo was chatting and laughing with her.

"Lu, now that you're here, let me introduce you!"

"A talented director from the East, the youngest Golden Lion winner and the best director at Cannes, Lu."

"Everyone loves Leonardo, so there's no need to say more, haha."

Leonardo DiCaprio was wearing a casual jacket, holding a cup of coffee in his hand, and extended his right hand to shake hands with Lu Kuan.

"Lu, I saw your movie Whiplash. It's a masterpiece. That Chinese teacher terrified me!"

"Thank you. I will convey your approval to him."

"But Leonardo, you often scare us Chinese directors."

Little Leo was stunned when he heard this.

Lu Kuan smiled and said, "Your 'Titanic' grossed nearly 3.59 million yuan in China. Every Chinese director is trying their best to break your record, but we're still working on it!"

Leonardo laughed heartily, he enjoyed hearing it very much.

"You should go find Cameron, it's all his fault!"

"Lu, I read your script, it's really great, but I'm sorry, I'd rather play roles with more depth right now."

Lu Kuan was not discouraged: "Then why did you come here today?"

"I chatted with Scorsese, the director of The Aviator. He had seen your films The Drummer and The Thief and was full of praise for your narrative skills and camera language!"

"I'm very curious. My impression of Chinese films is that they all focus on rural life and small towns, so I came to meet you."

Boss Lu understood. Scorsese and Harvey had a close relationship, and it must be because Harvey represented the two films that Scorsese had acted in that he saw it.

"Lu, it's nice to meet you, but I'm very sorry that I can't work with you this time."

Leonardo is less than 30 years old now, and is at the peak of his appearance. Even the way he spreads his hands is so handsome.

Thinking of Xiao Liu's excited tone when he asked for an autograph on the phone, Lu Kuan had the urge to knock this handsome guy down with one punch!

"Wait, Leo, I have a script here that I think you'll be interested in. It could revolutionize your acting career!"

Boss Lu took "The Revenant" from Ah Fei and handed it to him.

It was The Revenant, for which he later won an Oscar.

Indeed, Lu Kuan wanted to attract Leonardo with this script that later won him the Best Actor award.

There are many opinions in later generations about how he ended his 22-year runner-up period with this movie, and some of them even believe that "it's the hard work that counts, not the merits."

But this movie won the Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor awards at the Oscars that year, so its quality is beyond doubt.

Leonardo won the award for this role. Even if there were other non-artistic factors, his self-destruction, misery and ugliness always had a certain effect.

Lu Kuan's use of this script to attract him couldn't be considered pure deception...

Leonardo was very curious about why this Chinese director was so confident to say such things.

He sat in the conference room and opened the script.

Emil and Taylor looked at each other, neither knowing what magic Lu Kuan was trying to cast on him to change his mind.

Fur hunter Leonardo was seriously injured when his team was attacked by Indians and was attacked by a wild grizzly bear.

The leader left two team members to take care of him, but unexpectedly the two abandoned him and took away all the weapons.

What follows is Leonardo's journey of survival with a desire for revenge.

Lu Kuan used extremely exaggerated methods to describe the protagonist Leonardo's fat and rough appearance, which is a world of difference compared to his current handsome face.

Look at the plot he designed for himself: fighting a giant bear, eating liver raw, warming himself with a horse carcass, falling off a cliff...

To be fair, it is a good story, but Leonardo didn't think it was anything special. It was just that the plot tortured the protagonist inhumanely.

"Lu, can you explain your intention to me?"

Boss Lu looked mysterious: "Leo, do you want to win the Oscar for Best Actor?"

"What do you mean?"

"You were nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor for 'Under the Sky' at the age of 20. Another decade has passed. Leo, how many more decades do you have left?"

Leonardo was stunned, and he admitted that he had been pursuing this title tirelessly.

But what does it have to do with you, a Chinese director, and this bloody script?
As a Chinese director, are you still dreaming about the Oscars?
Lu Kuan began to seduce him.

"Although I'm a Chinese director, I'm currently working on a $7000 million Hollywood project. My understanding of Hollywood is much deeper than you can imagine!"

"please continue."

"Your biggest obstacle is your appearance. Your appearance makes you miss out on 90% of the good roles, like the ones with depth you just mentioned."

Leonardo fell into deep thought, the main and supporting roles he played were all handsome, wealthy and elegant.

When it comes to subverting the character's image, this movie really does it.

He imagined in his mind the scene of himself transforming into a fat savage...

"This is precisely your biggest obstacle in your Oscar bid! It's just like us directors who don't like to use women with large breasts when making art films."

"Big-breasted women will draw the attention of the audience and judges to a certain part of their body. Big-breasted women objectify and vulgarize themselves, which is a huge disadvantage in character creation."

Leonardo was a little moved and picked up the script and glanced at it over and over again.

"Lu, if I were to act in this movie, how would you shoot it?"

The fish took the bait, and Boss Lu came forward and pointed at the script and explained it to him in detail.

"The biggest feature of this script is that it completely locks the perspective on you in terms of narrative and camera language."

“Let the audience get infinitely close to the characters, events revolve around the characters, and reversals originate from the characters.”

"You've acted in both genre films and art films. You should know that a character's inward expansion is limited."

Leonardo nodded in agreement.

An actor has only one eye and two mouths, and the use of limbs and expressions, so the inner emotions and explosiveness he can express are limited.

If it is used too strongly, the expressions will be messy, and if it is used too shallowly, the audience and judges will not understand it, which will be a disadvantage in the award judging.

"So the role I designed for you, in addition to expanding internally, will also constantly require you to expand externally!"

"Look, the beginning is a memory dream of yours. Your inner world is complex and contradictory. Your Indian wife, your mixed-race son, your burned-down village—all surround you in your dream. There will be a long close-up here."

"Then your son comforted you. You looked up on the stretcher. A bright moon was visible among the towering trees. The pain of losing your wife filled you with sorrow."

"These are the parts that expand your inner self. Then there are the six fantasies that follow. Each progression is an interweaving of dreams and reality."

"The long shot of eating live fish, surviving in turbulent waters, dying on the battlefield, and killing enemies with one's own hands are both physically and emotionally torturous."

"Until the very end, with this open ending, you look at the camera with a confused and empty look, and the picture freezes..."

Leonardo was completely immersed in the scenes described by the scriptwriter. His familiarity with film shooting made every shot arrangement imprinted in his mind.

Compared with his previous roles that were extremely luxurious, exaggerated, wealthy and intelligent, this savage-like character was indeed too subversive.

"Lu, your last shot reminds me of the child at the end of Truffaut's 'The 400 Blows.'" Boss Lu smiled and said, "Yes, the same design concept."

Turning to the last page, there was a line from the movie "Lover" starring Liang Jiahui written in English.

[I know you and I will always remember you.]

At that time, you were still very young and everyone said you were beautiful.

Now, I have come specially to tell you that, to me, you are even more beautiful than when you were young.

I love your ravaged appearance more now than when you were young.

Appearance... Subversion... Breaking stereotypes...

Leonardo was shocked and had to admit that he was convinced.

“This movie is so great, why didn’t you do this first?”

Lu Kuan spread his hands and said, "Because of you, I will destroy your 3.5 million box office."

Leonardo knew Lu Kuan was joking, so he laughed and hit him, his attitude much more familiar than when they first met.

Boss Lu revealed his true intentions: "Leo, promise me to star in "Alien Land". This movie will be your next masterpiece!"

Leonardo asked expectantly, "Will you direct it yourself?"

"No, no, no, I'm a Chinese director. Your Oscars are always exclusive. I don't want to affect you."

"I also have a film company in the United States. I can invest. You can choose a director you like, such as Scorsese, and we can work together."

"You can bring it to Hollywood. Scorsese and Harvey have a good relationship. You know his influence on the judges."

Leonardo's eyes lit up. This Chinese director thought so much about him!
He was about to nod in agreement when Lu Kuan suddenly loudly scolded Emile next to him.

"Pay? What pay are you talking about? Leo's status in Hollywood is such that we can't discuss pay!"

Emil opened his eyes in astonishment: "I..."

Leonardo stretched out his hand to interrupt him: "Lu, the budget for "Alien Land" is not enough?"

Boss Lu looked helpless and glared at Emil fiercely.

Then he turned to Leonardo: "I'm sorry, Leo, we are friends. I have my bottom line. There are some things I can't trouble my friends with."

Leonardo DiCaprio laughed and said, "Lu, you're too reserved. I like being friends with excellent directors like you. You and Hollywood directors have two different styles."

What's more, he is still young, which is his biggest asset. How many famous directors in Hollywood are under 40 years old?

No matter how good an actor is, he must develop under the training and guidance of a director, not to mention that this is a genius who has been proven by two of the three major European filmmakers.

"My salary is 2000 million US dollars. I can help you bargain with your agent, but it shouldn't be too much."

Boss Lu came up with vicious plans: "Leo, how about this."

"I'll have the company register the copyright for 'The Revenant' right now and give you a 20% stake. When the movie's box office and DVD revenues are released, you'll split the profits accordingly. Your salary and other income will be calculated separately. How do you do that?"

"I want to use it to offset your $500 million salary!"

Leonardo pondered for a while before nodding in agreement, and the deal was done.

Boss Lu sighed and shook Dashuaibi's hand: "Leo, you are a true friend. I am honored to work with you!"

Only then did Emil react and cursed silently in his heart.

Taylor was also shocked throughout the whole process. Is this the mysterious oriental wisdom and rhetoric?
Boss Lu expressed dissatisfaction with Emil's slowness just now, and asked A Fei to mail a copy of Uncle Benshan's recorded teaching from China.

After selling crutches this time, I will have to sell a car sooner or later.

Lu Kuan asked Emil to go directly with Leonardo to finalize the contract, and the only thing left for "Alien Land" was the final casting of the female lead.

While driving, Ah Fei saw his boss dozing off in the rearview mirror. He was exhausted from staying up late to write the script these past two days, but fortunately he had temporarily earned $500 million.

"Boss, your phone keeps ringing."

"Oh."

The road is wide and connected to Wudun in Wan Province.

"Boss Wu, is there any news?"

"Director Lu, the matter has been settled, but as for Wang Weizhong..."

Lu Kuan said solemnly, "Xu Xiyuan signed with Huayi without his knowledge. He received the termination fee, and Xu Xiyuan has nothing to do with him anymore."

"I'll talk to him on the phone. You don't need to worry about Wang Weizhong."

Wu Dun was stunned for a few seconds on the other end of the phone, and hung up without saying anything else.

"A Fei, pack your things and go to the airport."

"Yes, boss."

On September 2003, 9, the sexual misconduct scandal involving mainland director Lu Kuan, which had been brewing for over a week, escalated.

The 1000 million played a decisive role before Xu Xiyuan's suicide attack, basically eliminating the rumors and slander on major platforms.

However, Huayi's Xu Xiyuan and the complaints from senior colleagues completely pushed this young director, who had debuted for less than two years, into the abyss of public opinion.

Beijing Film Academy, President's Office.

Xie Xiaojin knocked on the door symbolically and walked in. The room was filled with smoke, which made it difficult for him, an old smoker, to breathe.

Looking at the ashtray in front of Zhang Huijun's desk, it was obvious that Tian Zhuangzhuang on the sofa contributed more.

"Principal, I'm here."

"Old Xie, please sit down."

"I just discussed this with Lao Tian. Regarding this matter, the school is based on the purpose of curing the disease and saving lives. We can't just kill it with one blow, but we have to give a face explanation."

Tian Zhuangzhuang's calm face was filled with indignation. "What are you explaining? It's all just hearsay. Why is Dong Jie silent now?"

"He relied on criticizing Lu Kuan to please the Eagle Emperor, was poached by the Eagle Emperor, and now he's silent after achieving his goal. What else can this be but shamelessness!"

Lao Tian, ​​you really misunderstood. She didn't stop talking, she was silenced by Li Shoucheng...

Maybe his mouth was blocked by some irregular cylinder.

Xie Xiaojin also chimed in: "I think Teacher Tian is right. I believe Lu Kuan is not that kind of person."

"Let's not talk about anything else, just talk about Xiao Liu from Class 02. There's all this talk online about her and Lu Kuan, but I don't believe a single word of it."

"Lu Kuan of "Chinese Paladin" asked me to help with the review process, and I discussed this with Jiang Wei."

"This film has been shooting for three or four months, and Lu Kuan only came to the crew once. He even scolded Concubine Liu Yi for not performing well. Does this sound like they have an affair?"

"What's more, Xiao Liu's mother follows her around every day. How heartless must these people be to fabricate a story about an underage female student?"

Zhang Huijun was speechless. I called you, the department head, here to put out Tian Zhuangzhuang's fire, but you ended up adding fuel to the fire!

"Hey, you two, do you think I don't know what's going on?"

"This student left a deep impression on me during the fourth exam. He won the Golden Lion Award before even getting admitted. Honestly, we at Beijing Film Academy are proud of him, not that he's just taking advantage of the school."

"But now that gang..."

Before he finished speaking, several old scholars came together, led by an old professor from Beijing Film Academy in the 70s, who is now eighty years old.

"Hui Jun, we old men are here again. This time you must give us an explanation. You can't go on like this!"

Xie Xiaojin and Tian Zhuangzhuang both stood up. No matter how much they felt annoyed with these people, their seniority and industry status were there.

"Xiaotian is here too, that's perfect. This is your and Xiao Xie's student, why don't you guys decide what to do?"

"Our Beijing Film Academy has been established for over 50 years, and we have never seen such a morally corrupt student!"

"No matter how great the Golden Lion or the Palme d'Or is, it can't compare to the public's reputation, or the reputation of our Beijing Film Academy!"

"Hui Jun, please don't think we old guys are an eyesore. This is for your own good, for the good of Beijing Film Academy."

"This road is too wide, it must be opened!"

A group of old men who were still alive and acting like thieves echoed in the back: "Yes! They must be fired!"

"Making commercial films that poison the public is simply putting the cart before the horse!"

Zhang Huijun was so angry that he was about to fly off the professor Gu's gray beard. His body was shaking with excitement. He hurried forward to support him.

During those ten years, he was a ruthless man who fought against heaven and earth. Most importantly, he escaped unscathed in the end and became a professor at the Beijing Film Academy.

Looking back a few decades, he was a complete literary thief!

"Gu Lao, don't worry. I will convene a school meeting as soon as possible and will definitely give you..."

"Principal! Something happened!"

The school secretary rushed into the office in a hurry, but the expression on her face did not seem like a disaster.

Zhang Huijun looked at the secretary's reckless behavior with dissatisfaction, but he could see from his face...

surprise?

"Speak slowly!"

"Principal, quickly open your computer! Blog.com and several portal websites are broadcasting the Wenjie press conference live!"

　Note 1: The actual filming started secretly on a certain day in July or August, without telling the media. The news was only released later, and many reporters flocked to Chedun, Shanghai for the interview.

　　The magic change here is postponed for one month.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)