Huayu: From charlatan to great entertainer

Chapter 325 The Concubine is Drunk Again

Silicon Valley has many core cities.

Apple is in Cupertino, Yahoo is in Sunnyvale, HP and Tesla are in Palo Alto.

Weibo and the merged Twitter are headquartered in Mountain View, close to Google.

The internet product after the merger of the two companies is still called Twitter, because when the merger was decided on New Year's Eve, Twitter's 40 users were higher than Weibo's.

Besides, the transformation of domestic blog sites has only happened in the past two or three years, so the name Weibo can be retained for future use.

At 7 o'clock in the evening, after a light meal, the core management team gathered at the Twitter Center in Mountain View. This was the first internal meeting after completing various merger processes.

Lu Kuan and Xiao Liu walked in, chatting and laughing. An old friend had been waiting in front of the office door for a long time.

"Mr. Lu, Ms. Liu!" Sun Wenwen looked at the figures, feeling emotional and almost tearful.

Since she started planning for Zhou Jun in August, it has been nearly half a year since she lived in North America under an assumed name and completed the investment citizenship process.

He was extremely worried at the beginning, but now he has gradually gotten used to life in a foreign country and has entered the core of Twitter, serving as Boss Lu to check and balance the local Chinese management.

Looking at the young man and woman in front of her, Sun Wenwen was filled with emotion at this moment.

Boss Lu smiled and said, "How is your life?"

"Thank you, Mr. Lu. Everything is fine." Sun Wenwen, who still had short hair, clasped her hands in front of her and bowed slightly to answer.

His attitude remained respectful, without any of the casualness that characterizes workplace interactions in Western society.

Since joining the company in 2002, which consisted of only Lu Kuan, the finance manager and herself, Sun Wenwen has witnessed the rise of Wenjie Holdings, the entertainment giant.

One wrong step ruined all her efforts of the past four years.

After surviving the disaster, this top student who grew up step by step from a small town test-taker to the right-hand man of an industry giant, was extremely respectful and afraid of the person in front of him.

Looking at the sweet-smiling Liu Yifei beside him, Sun Wenwen tossed and turned when she first arrived in North America, and could only secretly be glad that she had tried to bet on this girl.

As the former housekeeper, Sun Wenwen can see that she has special meaning to the boss, and she will definitely protect herself.

And the current situation is not too bad after all...

Liu Yifei was also very happy to see her: "Sister Wenwen, I have been waiting for you to come to Chicago."

"No need for that now. With your previous experience in the Q&A industry, Twitter is your best platform."

Sun Wenwen nodded: "Thank you, Miss Liu. I wanted to join you and be your assistant."

"But Mr. Lu has given me another chance, I will work hard."

Boss Lu also offered encouragement: "You've witnessed firsthand how blogs have thrived by leveraging the strategies of entertainment stars, grassroots stars, and cultural stars."

"You also coordinate and participate in this, and Twitter is no different."

"Here, you represent me and show your attitude and confidence at Wenjie Holdings!"

Sun Wenwen felt a little sore in her nose, her eyes red, and she nodded heavily.

The previous big stick almost crushed her into pieces, but this candied date made her instantly become an executive of an emerging Internet company in North America.

Liu Yifei secretly observed his expression and words from the side, and for a moment she couldn't tell whether this was a true expression of his feelings towards his old subordinate, or a different way from Harvey's flattery and bullying to win people's hearts.

Boss Lu walked into the meeting room first. Chen Shijun, Huang Anna and three others immediately stood up and looked at him and Liu Yifei respectfully.

"Mr. Lu!"

"Boss!"

"Everyone, please take a seat. Why are you being so polite? I thought we were in the country."

Huang Anna, Chen Shijun and others just laughed.

When we think of Wendi Deng’s embarrassment and the endless scandals of News Corporation, we all know that this person is far from being the elegant lady she appears to be.

But following a boss like this makes you feel safe.

"Okay, today is our first meeting after the merger of the two companies. You're no strangers to each other, Miss Liu, right?"

Chen Shijun smiled and said, "Boss, the merger is a good idea. Maybe I can eat at Crystal's Chinese restaurant more often in the future!"

Huang Anna also exclaimed: "I never thought that our biggest competitor would be Crystal. It's really surprising."

"Okay, you can flatter me later. Let's just chat about some simple things." Boss Lu interrupted them with a smile.

Everyone sat up straight. It was Xiao Liu's first time attending an internal meeting at Lukuan Company. He looked at everyone curiously as they took out their notebooks with serious expressions.

Whether it is the current regular working hours of 7:30 or the top-down workplace class order, they are all full of Chinese characteristics.

"Everyone knows that Twitter's operations are much more sophisticated and complex than Mytube's. This is not a product that can be monetized quickly for us."

"On Twitter, Ms. Liu's mother, Ms. Liu Xiaoli, serves as the chairman, but the actual operation of the company still relies on Shijun and Wenwen. Anna will coordinate some of the specific matters of the North American industry and provide you with financing and legal support."

"Wenwen, please first report the current operating data of the website."

Sun Wenwen responded and turned on the screen projection.

"Based on some data characteristics from the early days of domestic blogging, I've categorized Twitter's data indicators into three types, as reported below."

“The first is user growth data.”

"Currently, our monthly active user growth rate is relatively low, only 5%. This month, the number of newly registered users exceeded 10 for the first time, and the total number of registered users after the merger is close to 70."

“The second is user activity data.”

"Twitter's ratio of daily active users to monthly active users is currently stable at around 22%..."

Boss Lu interrupted: "Wait a moment."

"Shijun, in the first three months of Mytube's development, I remember the activity rate was around 40%, right?"

"Yes, Boss, Mytube's start was very smooth, starting with the Oscars live broadcast, and many top bloggers emerged in the first three months."

Chen Shijun's morale was a little low: "Boss, we are still working hard and will come up with measures."

"The gap is indeed quite large, mainly because current topic marketing is relatively limited, with only the interaction with Twilight," Huang Anna added.

The young director remained silent and suddenly turned to Liu Yifei who was listening attentively.

"Xiao Liu, you are the founder of Twitter. Tell us what you think and how you evaluate this data."

"Um..."

The girl was suddenly cue-ed and quickly gathered her thoughts: "Although it seems to be a big gap compared to Mytube's 40%, I don't think this data is fair to Twitter."

"I think this data is not a failure, but a temporary distortion."

Failure, distortion.

Except for Boss Lu who had a blank expression, the others looked at her with strange expressions.

Including Sun Wenwen.

She had known Liu Yifei for a long time, but this was the first time she saw her style in business work.

Liu Yifei said confidently: "It's like evaluating a movie. Art films have their own evaluation standards, and commercial films have their own evaluation standards."

"Similarly, for such an emerging internet product, comparing it with Mytube will distort the data."

“Like some tool-type websites, user activity data is bound to be poor because users only remember it when they need it.”

"But whether it's a shopping site like Amazon, an entertainment video site like Mytube, or a social networking site like Mspace, including Twitter."

"Different website types have different evaluation criteria. It is unreasonable to evaluate and understand data without considering the criteria."

Xiao Liu used an example to illustrate his point: "Last year, I saw a set of data from Amazon in a Booth School of Business class. Their daily active users are only about one-third of their monthly active users, and they tend to be abnormally higher on certain discount days."

"From this perspective, Twitter's activity isn't as good as we'd like, perhaps because it lacks good content at this stage. After all, it's not like YouTube, where a single video can be worth hundreds of tweets."

Huang Anna and others nodded frequently after listening to it. This analysis of failure or distortion was reasonable.

Company decision makers must have the ability to assess the situation and make reasonable judgments about the market trends behind the data so as to avoid distorting operational actions.

"Xiao Liu put it very well." Boss Lu nodded. "The reason I interrupted Wenwen here is to remind everyone not to let empiricism limit your thinking."

"From the day Mytube was founded, our strategy has been to expand our user base and sell a seemingly perfect pie to interested giants."

"So, in terms of operations, we are relatively eager for quick success and instant benefits, and we are eager to achieve results, forcing things to grow. But Twitter is different."

"We need to look at this 22% figure dialectically."

"Currently, the website's operations are merely a continuation of Twilight's marketing efforts. Honestly, this data isn't pessimistic. We should be grateful for the potential it holds."

When Concubine Liu Yi heard him affirm her point of view, she felt a little proud.

The end of the paper is so shallow that I know that this matter must be carried out.

She is a top blogger on Mytube and is still using this account to exert her influence among Chinese people in North America. She is also an entrepreneur who started her business with Twitter from scratch.

Although she does not have the experience of running a business like Huang Anna, Sun Wenwen, Chen Shijun and others present, her perspective has a natural advantage.

This stems from my observations of Lukuan's operations over the past few years and from the top business thinking I learned at one of the world's top three business schools.

Such a start is advantageous for business operators.

Now that we have unified our thoughts, the next step is to propose countermeasures and go all out to accelerate the development of Twitter.

Boss Lu arranged several tasks.

The first is to further develop the big IP "Twilight".

The film adaptation of the best-selling book, which has already started shooting and is scheduled to be released in the summer, is becoming increasingly popular. Boss Lu requires every actor in the crew to register with their real names and interact with users.

Use the predetermined copy to promote and attract traffic on Twitter, and pocket all the millions of book fans in the North American market, lure them in and kill them!

Holding on to the golden marketing tool of "Twilight" was an absolutely correct strategic choice, but the original Twitter was not used in depth.

The first "Twilight Saga: Twilight" was published at the end of 2005 and sold nearly 2008 million copies by the beginning of 3000.

Even if this number only converted a few million users in 2006, it would be an incredible achievement for a new website.

Fan economy will always be an aphrodisiac for Internet products.

"Secondly, after the meeting, Anna Huang will connect with Evans from Disney's media office. Some of Disney's classic animations, voice actors, and Hollywood stars who are close to them will cooperate in joining the team, and they will continue to win over opinion leaders through multiple channels."

"Yes, Mr. Lu."

"Also, I suggest the website launch two features: one called topic tags, and the other called private message groups."

"It can be said that hashtags are specifically designed for Twilight fans. They make it easy for fans to quickly find interesting content collections, and they also facilitate the spread and discussion of hot topics, increasing interaction between users and the aggregation of content."

"Private message grouping is designed to group and manage private messages for different types of contacts, improve the efficiency and convenience of private message communication, and meet users' diverse communication needs."

Liu Yifei laughed and said, "This is stealing the business from Facebook and Myspace!"

Huang Anna agrees: "Our specialty is stranger social networking, but we cannot ignore the need for social networking with acquaintances and privacy. Private messaging will be a good supplement."

The meeting lasted two hours.

Unify thoughts, come up with countermeasures, and set sail.

The only possible obstacle is funding. Given the current situation of the young director burning through money in his several businesses in North America, Twitter's Series A round is expected to come relatively early.

Boss Lu concluded: "This is roughly the situation. Finally, a decision will be announced."

"As everyone knows, in addition to the option pools for you core management and your core employees, Twitter Chairman Ms. Liu Xiaoli holds a combined 85% of the shares on behalf of Liu Yifei and me."

"My voting rights are now being exercised by Ms. Liu Yifei."

"The four of you today, plus her, will be Twitter's core decision-making team going forward. If you have any major issues, come to me."

Concubine Liu Yi turned to look at him in surprise: "Me?"

Boss Lu asked back, “You can’t?”

The girl raised an eyebrow: "Of course!"

"That's good."

The boss has made the decision, so naturally no one else has a say.

For Lukuan, all the lines controlled by Wenjie in China are basically stable and safe.

The company is expanding and iterating step by step, and with various subsidiaries and multi-talented people such as Dong Shuangqiang, Chen Zhixi, and Zhong Lifang in charge, he doesn't need to worry too much.

The core business abroad is Twitter. In a sense, the importance of this public opinion tool is self-evident.

Unlike the creepy development of Mytube, even if he retreated behind the scenes on the surface, it would not be so easy to hide from his potential enemies News Corporation and Wendy Deng.

In addition, given the foreseeable war of words and opinions with Western pro-Japanese media before and after the release of the Holocaust film, the loyalty of Twitter's core management must be guaranteed.

Even though the equity is firmly in his hands, he still wants to put the person he trusts most in the core position.

Judging from today's performance, it should be a suitable choice for Liu Yifei to represent his will and Sun Wenwen to assist him.

In the mind of Lu Kuan, the boss of a public relations company, the public opinion tools of the fourth power are strategic weapons that can bring him a sense of security.

He handed over Blog.com to Zhuang Xu, and Twitter to Liu Yifei who was still studying in North America.

It is not easy to gain the trust of such a suspicious person.

I believe Bingbing has a deep understanding of this kind of thing.

It was almost nine o'clock when I left Twitter's headquarters in Mountain View. It seemed there was no need to rush back to Los Angeles today.

Liu Xiaoli was in New York, and Huang Anna sent someone to accompany her to go through a series of procedures regarding naturalization and offshore company registration, becoming the official owner of Twitter.

Ah Fei drove the two of them to the door of the Rosewood Hotel in Menlo Park, took out the two room cards he had already obtained, and went to park the car himself.

Boss Lu took it and found that it was two adjacent luxury suites on the seventh floor of the hotel.

Tsk tsk, what a waste.

The girl, carrying a light bag, followed the man into the hotel lobby, where there were several pairs of blonde beauties with big boobs hugging men in plaid shirts and glasses.

"See? These are all female hunters like Wendy Deng. These Silicon Valley elite men are perfect prey."

"why?"

Boss Lu quipped, "Silicon Valley is the holy land of the internet elite. Every few months, a group of programmers become millionaires because their startups go public."

"These gold diggers are investing."

"Think about it, programmers are mostly science and engineering guys who deal with code all year round and are good at logical analysis. Most of them know nothing about relationships between men and women, or interpersonal relationships."

"How can you resist the deception of these blondes? If you find a good target, you can make a fortune by marrying and then divorcing."

The little girl covered her mouth with her hands and giggled, then patted him lightly: "You are so mean-spirited. Don't you think people can have true love? Not all women are Wendy Deng."

"Love?"

The two of them entered the elevator. Boss Lu turned his head and was about to tease her, but then he realized that he could say this to anyone except this little girl.

This is the real 24K Pure Love Party Don Quixote Fei. The -year-old girl's sense of belief is terrifyingly strong and cannot be underestimated.

Otherwise, you may be severely beaten.

The young man and woman walked to their respective rooms. If one of them hadn't taken out a card, it would have looked like a young couple checking into a hotel to outsiders.

Look at houses during the day and book a room at night, but we book our own rooms.

Boss Lu suddenly invited, "Are you going to bed now? There's some red wine in the room, would you like to have a couple of drinks with me?"

Xiao Liu raised her eyebrows and blushed slightly: "You washing machine, what do you want to do?"

"Oh! I can't beat you, what are you afraid of?"

The little girl looked around the room and said, "Well, I bet you don't have the guts."

I'm actually quite tired after running all day, not to mention working overtime until nine o'clock in Mountain View. Drinking two glasses of red wine to help me sleep is a good choice.

Federal law prohibits the purchase and consumption of alcoholic beverages by people under the age of 21. However, regulations vary from state to state, and in such a luxurious hotel, no American police were bothered to investigate.

Xiao Liu took off her high heels and leaned on the armrest of the chair, watching him pour wine with interest.

The high-end hotel suite was fully equipped with various facilities and equipment. Boss Lu took out a bottle of Screaming Eagle Cabernet Sauvignon with a market value of around US$600, glanced at the label and opened the wine.

He held the neck of the bottle with his right hand, placed his index finger lightly on the bottle body, and pinched it with his thumb and middle finger, trying not to directly touch the wine.

Liu Yifei asked curiously, "Are you worried that the temperature change will affect the taste?"

"Correct!"

"In Los Angeles in March, there's still a slight temperature difference between indoors and outdoors. A wine of this quality would be too hot to hold in your hands, and prolonged handling would affect the taste."

Xiao Liu sneered: "You are the only one who is poor and particular. You never treat yourself badly."

Boss Lu poured the wine into the decanter and sat back on the sofa. "In life, if you have the conditions, enjoy it. If you don't, feel frustrated. It's all the same."

"Have you ever felt aggrieved?"

"Of course, I feel frustrated a lot."

"I don't believe it!" The little girl pouted and then thought of a question.

"When you were working on Mytube abroad, you were working on Ask the World videos in China to prevent people from copying you, right?"

"Now that North America has started using Twitter, why hasn't China followed suit?"

Boss Lu explained: "The objective conditions are different."

"Nielsen in the US released data earlier this year showing that broadband penetration has reached nearly 80%. The internet backbone network is constantly being upgraded, significantly increasing data transmission speeds and supporting larger amounts of data transmission and more complex network applications."

“That’s why internet products like Mytube, Mspace, and Facebook have room to grow.”

"However, domestic broadband penetration and popularity are still relatively low. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology only established the China Broadband Fund earlier this year, raising nearly $2 million in its first round of financing."

"Objective conditions mean that the soil for domestic internet products is not yet fertile enough, but our infrastructure capabilities are unquestionable, and we will catch up quickly."

"Wenjie Video was launched early to compete with competitors for copyrights at bargain prices. Now is not the time for it to be effective."

"Microblogs like Twitter can wait."

Concubine Liu Yi folded her delicate hands on the chair handles, resting her chin on the smooth back of her hands as she looked at him.

Lu Kuan sank into the sofa, resting his head on his arms, and the two of them chatted across the air.

"Why did you suddenly think of this?"

Liu Yifei frowned. "Siwei called me yesterday and said that Huayi, Yahoo China, and Hunan TV are going to co-host a variety show and invited me to be a guest."

Boss Lu pretended not to know: "What program?"

"Yahoo Star Search, Yahoo China invested 3000 million to sponsor the talent show. They will invite 3-4 famous directors to take charge and divide the talent show into groups to compete."

The girl further explained, "I'm not really following this particular variety show. I heard from Siwei that Ali sponsored the show, Yahoo China is also an Ali shareholder, and Ali's Ma Yun seems to be interested in investing in Huayi."

"Wenjie's advantage is that the internet and entertainment industries rely on each other. Now it's Ali, and later there might be Penguin, Xinlang and others. They should all be your competitors, right?"

"So I was thinking, Penguin's traffic is even higher than Blog.com, and Ali seems to be bigger than Wenjie Mall."

"If these internet competitors all flock to the entertainment industry, how can Wenjie Holdings remain competitive?"

Boss Lu nodded: "It's great that you can think of these things."

"Today in the office, you were able to critically analyze user activity data and dig out information from this entertainment news. You've made progress."

Concubine Liu Yi rolled her eyes at him arrogantly: "Stop flattering me. You haven't told me the answer yet. You should have thought about this a long time ago, right?"

Boss Lu stood up leisurely and went to pour out the red wine. "What's the point of telling you the answer?"

“You can think of it like a game, just as a main quest.”

Liu Yifei took the goblet and said, "Homework again? I haven't even finished the last one yet!"

Boss Lu laughed and said, "A great man once said, 'Struggle with the sky, the joy is endless! Struggle with the earth, the joy is endless! Struggle with people, the joy is endless!'"

"Your future insights into becoming a top actor will come from these social experiences, interactions, and insights."

“All successes and setbacks will enrich your soul and make your mind more mature. These are all wealth.”

The temperature in the room rose. Concubine Liu Yi's complexion was fair and smooth, her cheeks were flushed, and she glanced at him with watery eyes, saying in a sweet and innocent tone, "Master Lu, stop reading!"

The young director raised his glass: "Have a couple of drinks with Tang Monk. Once I'm drunk, I won't recite anymore."

"Hehe, cheers~~~"

The next day, Liu Yifei woke up slowly in her luxurious suite at the Menlo Park Hotel, which cost $8000 a night.

The dim sunlight shines through the thin curtains and stops on her pretty face.

The imperial concubine was not drunk last night, but was just a little tipsy.

Coupled with the Duxiana pillows filled with white goose down from high-end hotels and the Italian Frette luxury mattress, the comfortable environment allowed her to sleep particularly sweetly that night.

The little girl rubbed her sleepy eyes, and the phone next to her ear kept vibrating.

"Hey?"

"woke up?"

Xiao Liu looked at the time and saw that it was already ten o'clock: "Why did I sleep for so long?"

Boss Lu teased her: "Last night I told you to have a couple of drinks and then go back to bed, but you refused and wanted to compete with me."

"You ended up drinking too much and started singing and dancing. I recorded it and will post it back to show you."

"What! Real or fake?"

The young director said seriously: "Of course it's true. You were too hot and tried to take off your clothes. Luckily I held you down and threw you on the bed and covered you with a blanket."

"Me! You!"

Xiao Liu suddenly lifted the quilt and found that he was still wearing his outer pants. No wonder he felt so awkward.

"Washing machine! Delete the video immediately!"

The evil woman's roar was quite loud. Boss Lu held the phone farther away in the car: "I'm flying directly to Beijing later. Mia will pick you up and take you back to Chicago."

"Let's get ready in the next few months. We expect the filming to start before the end of the year."

The voice on the other end of the line suddenly stopped.

Knowing that he was leaving, I guess we wouldn't be able to see each other for a few months.

Xiao Liu suddenly felt like his throat was blocked and he didn't know what to say.

"Got it. Have a safe trip."

"Okay, hang up."

As the cold ring tone came, the little girl leaned against the headboard, feeling an inexplicable emptiness in her heart.
-
On March 2006, 3, Boss Lu arrived in Nanjing with Wenjie's direct filming team and art director Huo Tingxiao, who was borrowed from Zhang Yimou.

Just like the construction of a street and the collection of various props of the times before the filming of "Tangshan", such historical films spend a lot of time on early preparations.

In particular, the newly revised script that has just been filed for review has inserted plot scenes that review historical facts such as "The Diary of John Rabe" and "The Diary of Vautrin", so the requirements for the authenticity of the historical scenes are even higher.

Jinling specially sent a team composed of the Municipal Education Commission, professors from the History Department of Jinling University, members of the Holocaust History Research Society, and logistics support departments such as public security and fire protection to serve the crew for a long time.

The main setting location is currently at the Shiqiu Film and Television Base, which is also the filming location of "The Flowers of War" in later generations.

There are also Nanjing Women's University, John Rabe's family home, and the residence of survivors that Zhang Chunru visited in Nanjing around 1995.

Ten years have passed, and most of the survivors Zhang Chunru interviewed have passed away. Many of their houses have been demolished and need to be rebuilt.

Although it is troublesome, this part of the effort cannot be avoided.

Because when Lu Kuan was collecting materials and writing the script, he could clearly learn about it from conversations with her herself and from Zhang Chunru's notes and diaries.

This interview in her hometown was an important turning point in her book writing process.

This Chinese female writer, who was born into a family of high-ranking Kuomintang officials and whose parents were both highly educated at Yale and Harvard, was deeply touched during her trip to Jinling!

Seeing so many survivors and descendants living in poverty and hardship;

In contrast, those beasts who committed war crimes are still receiving high compensation and pensions from the Japanese government.

How ironic!

It was also from this trip back to China that Zhang Chunru was transformed from a writer exploring the truth of history into an angel of justice and a human rights fighter.

They began to put aside all their concerns and spared no effort to seek justice for the 300,000 innocent souls of that year.

Over the course of several days, the group visited the historic Jinling Women's University, Rabe's home at No. 1 Xiaofenqiao, the International Committee headquarters at No. 5 Ninghai Road, the Japanese Embassy, ​​the Overseas Chinese Guest House, the Drum Tower Hospital, and other places.

The young director took the art director Huo Tingxiao and the person in charge of the construction party to measure almost the entire Jinling on foot.

Especially in the main scene - the setting of the Jinling Safety Zone in 1937, a professional team of more than people including historical consultants, art directors, set designers, and prop masters worked tirelessly and carefully recorded the director's requirements.

Everyone can feel how much Lu Kuan values ​​and takes this film seriously, and how determined he is to do his best to make it the best it can be.

At ten o'clock in the morning on the 14th, the crew held a rather low-key project launch conference at the Jinling Hotel.

The reason why it is low-key is that neither the mainland's top young actress Liu Yifei, Oscar winner Tom Hanks, nor Julianne Moore were present.

Due to the large size of the crew, other prominent characters with lines in the play are still being cast privately.

The subject matter of this film is special. In order to avoid giving excuses to the Japanese right-wing associations, media, and bribed public opinion after its release, Boss Lu made full preparations from the beginning of the project.

The filming funds are solely funded by Wenjie Holdings, a purely private enterprise;

The construction of the sets in Jinling area was not supported by the local government as in Tangshan, and was included in the total investment.
There was also Dong Shuangqiang's suggestion to hold the project establishment and opening ceremony in the CPPCC auditorium or the Great Hall of the People, just like the later "The Flowers of War", but this was also rejected by Boss Lu.

There is only one purpose, which is to prevent the film from giving the right wing any excuse to criticize it from the outset, so as to avoid being attacked later as a government propaganda film, etc., which would give Western audiences a false impression.

Based on the nature of the film, the layout of Jinling Hotel is simple and the atmosphere is serious.

Amidst the applause of media reporters who had been notified in advance, the young director came on stage holding the microphone.

"Hello, friends from the press. Today is the launch ceremony for our film, which is based on the book 'The Nanjing Massacre' written by Ms. Chang Chun-ju and aims to restore the true historical scenes."

"Due to the subject matter of the film, this press conference will be kept simple. Today, I will give a brief introduction and answer questions from the media."

China Film Report: "Director Lu, what is the general idea and theme of the film script?"

"Using Ms. Zhang Chunru's book as the main clue, starting with her discovery of the John Rabe Diary and combining it with the contents of the Vautrin Diary, we will restore the true historical scene and expose the crimes committed by Japanese fascism in Nanjing in 1937."

"As for the theme, first and foremost, it is to defend historical truth and call on people to respect historical facts and be wary of historical nihilism."

"The second is to remember history and cherish peace."

"And, through the perspective of Ms. Iris Chang, promote justice and courage!"

Applause broke out from the audience. Many local people from Jinling who came to the press conference spontaneously stood outside the cordon of the press conference, looking very excited.

The reporter from China Film Report continued to ask, "Director Lu, why did you choose John Rabe and Vautrin to restore historical scenes?"

Lu Kuan said solemnly, "The audience for this film is global. From this perspective, choosing historical materials that are widely known in the West will be more credible."

"Rabe's Diary has been recognized by people like Harvard's Professor of Modern Chinese History, William Ko, and Martha Smalley of the Yale Library."

"The New York Times also reported on John Rabe's Diary, pointing out that it provides a rare third-party record of the atrocities of the Nanjing Massacre, allowing people to understand how John Rabe, a German businessman, protected civilians during the Nanjing Massacre."

"The same is true of the Vautrin Diary, which was first discovered and exhibited by the Yale University Theological Library and has extremely high historical value."

A reporter from the Film Newspaper asked a question that everyone was concerned about: "Director Lu, have the main actors in the film, including the roles of John Rabe and John Vautrin, which you just mentioned, been chosen?"

"Ms. Zhang Chunru will be played by Ms. Liu Yifei, Rabe will be played by Tom Hanks, and Vautrin will be played by Julianne Moore. We will gradually announce the remaining roles."

The audience was in an uproar.

Most of the people present today are professional film media.

Apart from the young actress Liu Yifei, the pay of the other two Hollywood stars is not low, and Tom Hanks has firmly established himself in the 2500 million US dollar club.

Is it necessary to make such a big fuss about this obviously art film?

A reporter from the Yangtze Evening News asked: "We all know that Ms. Liu Yifei's previous roles, apart from being beauties in ancient costumes, are also young and lively girls."

"From this point of view, is Director Lu worried that her character's image will not match Zhang Chunru herself?"

Boss Lu explained: "The casting of biographical films, or historical films, usually focuses on both appearance and spirit."

"Both Tom Hanks and Julianne Moore are similar in age and appearance to the historical figures in 1937. Tom Hanks even has German ancestry."

"As for Consort Liu Yi, the reason we chose her is because she is similar in age and appearance to Iris Chang, who was 92 years old around 94-24."

"Secondly, Liu Yifei lived in the United States for several years, and her experience and language are similar to those of Chinese-American Iris Chang, which are important casting considerations for biographical films."

"Finally, I chose Liu Yifei because she is very dedicated. She has been preparing for this film for nearly six months, observing and imitating Ms. Zhang Chunru's habits, demeanor, body movements, accent, etc. This is the most crucial point."

The reporter from the Yangtze Evening News was from Jinling. He started clapping before the young director finished speaking and almost knocked his glasses off in excitement.

The reporters' whispers gradually grew louder, and the audience began to get excited.

Compared with the big and small stars in the domestic entertainment industry who are still tirelessly pursuing status, popularity, and pomp, this "concubine" who is unique in terms of economic value, traffic and popularity is once again so different.

Leaving aside the fact that he traveled to North America to recharge due to a broken heart, he also spent nearly half a year on a historical biographical film.

If you include the subsequent start-up time, it took almost a year to prepare intensively.

This kind of professional attitude was only seen more than a decade ago in Li Xuejian, who played "Jiao Yulu", and Zhao Dan, who played "Lin Zexu".

In the increasingly impetuous domestic entertainment industry and after this movie, perhaps it seems more pure to call this 19-year-old girl "actress" instead of "star" or "little flower".

Of course, this is not a bad thing for entertainment companies such as Chengtian, Huayi, and Yinghuang who are persistently pursuing a share of the pie in the young actress market.

Even if it is Lu Kuan's movie, they don't think such a subject matter can bring much economic value to Liu Yifei.

Isn’t this a good opportunity for everyone to catch up and overtake others?

Huayi Yang Mi played Xuejian in Chinese Paladin III, replacing Li Man in the later years to play Jiang Chan in Curse of the Golden Flower;

Chengtian Huang Shengyi played Li Ji in "Red Cliff", including Zi Xuan played by Eagle Emperor Tang Yan and the heroine in "Baby Project".

Because Liu Yifei's popularity and economic value are even stronger than in her previous life, it has indirectly prompted major entertainment companies to shift their resources to young artists.

Including Liu Shishi, whose name has disappeared, the changes in the careers of these female stars in this life can be regarded as the major influence brought about by Lu Kuan's butterfly wings.

The reporter from Beijing Youth Daily asked the last question, which is also a question that has been ignored by everyone.

"Director Lu, what's the name of this movie?"

“The Sky of History.”

He thought about the name of this movie for a long time.

"Iris Chang" is inappropriate because the film praises and depicts not only Ms. Chang but also international humanitarian friends like John Rabe and Vautrin.
He originally wanted to use the name of the memorial hall in Zhang Chunru's hometown - Angel of Justice, but he always felt that it was not grand enough and did not have the vicissitudes and accumulation of history.

After much deliberation, I decided to combine an important image in the film: the sky in different eras, and use this film title that is easy to understand for both Chinese and foreign audiences.

This press conference was even more low-key and simple than the one for Lu Kuan's first film, Whiplash, and it ended quickly.

It’s just that the scene is low-key and does not affect the explosion of topics.

In the domestic entertainment industry, his name and that of Consort Liu Yi are the biggest topics, not to mention this historical biographical blockbuster with a budget of 3.6 million yuan.

In addition to articles published by various media outlets, the film's leading actors Liu Yifei, Tom Hanks, and Julianne Moore have all opened accounts on domestic blogging websites, and are conducting interactive promotions simultaneously with Twitter abroad.

Xiao Liu posted a photo of himself and Iris Chang on his blog. His face without makeup is indeed quite similar to that of this Chinese female writer who is less than 40 years old.

The text only has four words:
Angel of justice.

　Happy New Year's Eve! Book lovers, sleep until you wake up naturally and count money until your hands cramp!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)