2001 Media Godfather

Chapter 79 An Imperfect Script
European audiences will not care about Su Manqing's outrageous remarks.

What they care about is giving up Hollywood.

Suman was both amused and exasperated by Chuan's analysis. "Well, you've won over the European audience and cleverly taken advantage of the current situation. That's a bit cunning!"

It's quite something that Chu An was able to be used even after rejecting Hollywood flops.

Chu An, however, was very serious. “Miss Su, I need to correct you. This isn’t about pandering to European audiences. You haven’t even gotten close to Cannes yet. What’s the point of pandering to them? At most, it’s just a side benefit.”

Although Chu An's words were somewhat rude and not as respectful as before, Su Manqing showed no resistance. Instead, she obediently asked, "What is the purpose?"

Chu An shrugged. "You need to understand that European media, the internet, and the US are interconnected!"

"The goal, of course, is to infuriate the arrogant and conceited American people!"

"A little-known Chinese actress who rushed to our place, who has only acted in one terrible Hollywood movie, dares to shamelessly say that she has given up Hollywood and is going to embrace some damn Cannes Best Actress award?"

He looked at Su Manqing with a grin and said, "You'll be cursed to death by the American people."

"Huh?" Su Manqing was completely stunned. Had she been scolded to death?

"Wait a minute!" He leaned forward, sitting knee-to-knee with Chu An in a heated argument. "Am I crazy?! Or are you crazy?! Why are you looking for trouble?! How are we going to get into Hollywood?"

Now Chu An's image is obviously not as lofty as it once was.

Chu An, adopting a shameless attitude, argued forcefully, "Being scolded is a good thing! Isn't being scolded better than being ignored?"

"If I don't scold you, where will you get any memorable moments?"

Su Manqing: "Then why didn't you get scolded?"

Chu An: "Am I not scolded enough?"

"."

Chu An said, "What's there to be afraid of getting scolded? Just make up for it."

How do we fix it?

Chu An, "Is the matter at Sundance settled?"

Su Manqing couldn't keep up with Chu An's pace at all. She paused for a moment before subconsciously answering:

"You're right!"

“Sundance was very happy to have me attend; they even added me as an opening guest at the last minute.”

Chu An slapped his thigh. "Great! That makes up for it!"

The man slapped Su Manqing's thigh, causing her to gasp in surprise. He was too excited and had slapped the goddess's thigh instead.

She slapped him back, gritting her teeth, and said, "Am I supposed to brag to American audiences about rejecting big Hollywood productions and reaffirm my determination to attend Cannes?"

"If that's the case, then the doors of Hollywood will never be open for me!"

"Wrong!" Chu An matched her expression and magically pulled out two scripts from behind his back, waving them in front of Su Manqing.

"The American people are criticizing you because you don't know what's good for you! But you showed up at the Sundance Film Festival with your script, looking for American directors to collaborate with and try to make it to Cannes."

"Then you're only abandoning Hollywood, not America!"

"Gah!?" Su Manqing choked.

His eyes widened in shock as he stared at Chu An, momentarily speechless. Chu An continued his exaggerated performance, "The 200 million is for planning fees; the script royalties will be paid separately!"

After saying that, he stuffed the script into Su Manqing's arms.

Goddess Su maintained her surprised expression, her gaze shifting downwards to the script cover, where it read—

Heartfire

It is in another time and space that Sophie Marceau's transformative work comes into being.

"You...you wrote this?"

Chu An admitted, "It was copied."

Chu An's next words made Su Manqing realize that no one involved in spreading rumors is a good person.

"Take the script to Sundance, and hopefully you'll meet a promising independent film director. If not, that's fine too, as long as the American people know that you're having an American director make the film."

Su Manqing finally understood the true meaning behind netizens' teasing of Chu An.

Rumors circulate online that Chu An is a third-rate actor, a second-rate screenwriter, a lyricist and composer, and whose main job is—scamming people.

There's some uncertainty. "What if we end up pleasing neither side and offending both?"

It seems that the key to the problem is that "Europeans will think you are not sincere, and Americans will not buy it either."

"What should I do?"

Chu An said, "Who cares if he offends anyone? As long as he gets attention, that's all that matters! I actually hope he offends both sides, then we'll have a topic to discuss and we can keep it going for a while."

"As long as the work speaks for itself in the end, isn't that enough?"

Seeing that Su Manqing was still unconvinced, Chu An counted on his fingers, "To put it bluntly, you have no connections, no resources, no funding, no audience appeal, and no memorable qualities. You still dream of becoming a Hollywood superstar."

Su Manqing was speechless, and slapped Chu An's thigh. "That's what you think, it has nothing to do with me!"

Chu An: "Yes, yes, yes! Is my wishful thinking okay?"

"But no matter how wishful thinking you have, reality is reality! If I don't create buzz myself, do you expect me to write job applications for every production company I go to?"

Su Manqing, “.”

Chu An became more and more aggrieved as he spoke, "This is the only way, extreme positioning, it has to be flashy!"

"First, focus on Cannes and give up Hollywood to gain goodwill in Europe."

"He went to the US to find the director and flattered the Americans."

"Besides, you went to Sundance, which is a hub for new American directors and independent film productions. To put it bluntly, it's a marketplace for a bunch of unsuccessful losers."

"With your star power, having gathered two of Europe's top actresses, if you were to approach them with a script and seek collaborations, those people would be fighting tooth and nail for you!" "Isn't that the opportunity?"

Su Manqing, “.”

He sighed deeply, having already figured it out. It wasn't that he was unreasonable, but he couldn't admit defeat verbally. "Teacher Chu is truly two-faced, using any means necessary!"

Chu An: "Making money isn't shameful."

"Besides, although I came up with the bad idea, you were the one who carried it out! So, you're the one who's being a bitch."

"You!" Su Manqing was speechless, and wanted to throw the script in Chu An's face.

He rolled his eyes at him, then looked at the script in his hand and said, trying to salvage the situation, "So this is the flawless script that can impress Cannes?"

Just then, there was a commotion in the living room; an actress had already come over for an audition. Chu An stood up and walked out.

"You take a look first."

He then added modestly, "Actually, I'm not that great; I have quite a few flaws."

After saying that, he left Su Manqing in the inner room to read the script, while he went to choose his co-stars for the next play with Lao Lu.

Su Manqing wanted to retort a couple more times, but then her phone rang; it was Tong Meng calling.

"How's it going, little vixen? Are you satisfied with Brother Chu's plan?"

Tong Meng couldn't come today because of something, so I took the opportunity to call and check on her.

Su Manqing watched Chu An's retreating figure as he closed the door. "That's all there is to it, pretty cunning."

After hanging up the phone, I settled into a comfortable position on the sofa and, basking in the morning sunlight, opened the script titled "Heart Fire."

As mentioned before, a prerequisite for Su Manqing to win the Cannes Best Actress award is a flawless performance.

All of this depends on a good script.

It's unrealistic to expect Su Manqing to find a good script on her own in a short period of time.

Perfect, Chu An can copy it.

There are specific techniques for copying.

First, the script must meet Cannes' preferences, have the characteristics of an art film, and carry a relatively novel topic and central idea.

Of course, it also has to meet Su Manqing's needs, so it must be a female-centric drama.

Secondly, winning the Cannes Best Actress award was only one of her goals.

The client's target is Hollywood superstars!
Therefore, in addition to artistic qualities, it is also necessary to have a certain ability to produce commercial films.

Only in this way can we make up for the lack of business capabilities in our clients.

Third, the story must be purely Western in subject matter, and the core message it conveys must be acceptable to both European and North American audiences.

In other words, Su Manqing will completely shed her identity as an Eastern woman and play a Western role this time.

From an appearance standpoint, there is absolutely no problem. Firstly, Su Manqing's facial features are quite three-dimensional, combining the gentleness of Eastern women with the three-dimensionality of Western aesthetics.

She and Sophie Marceau actually look quite alike; the only difference is their black hair and black eyes.

These can all be changed with makeup techniques.

As for skin color, that's not a problem either. The whiteness of people of East Asian descent is a rosy white, a warm and jade-like white.

The whiteness of white people is truly nothing but whiteness, a deathly white. That's why white people tend to admire tanned skin, because most people don't look good with fair skin and can only get darker skin tones.

In conclusion, based on the above...

Chu An ultimately chose this melodramatic romance film made by the French, which tells the love story between a Swiss woman and an old British nobleman.

The film tells the story of Charles Godwin, an English farmer in the 1830s and 1840s, who, in order to continue his family line, hired Swiss schoolteacher Elizabeth Charlton as a surrogate mother for £500 after his wife became infertile and was rendered unable to have children.

The two slept together for three days, going from strangers to developing feelings for each other, only to be separated by societal constraints.

Elizabeth gave birth to a daughter as agreed, who was raised by Godwin, and there was no further contact or news of her after that.

Although Elizabeth knew it was a transaction, her maternal instincts overcame her reason, and she couldn't let go of her longing for her daughter. After searching for seven years, she and her daughter were finally reunited at Godwin's manor, and she began to interact with her daughter as a governess.

Of course, he still harbored feelings for Godwin, and after some struggle, they finally slept together again.

Then, Godwin killed his wife, who had been bedridden for ten years in a vegetative state, ostensibly to relieve her of her suffering.

He turned around and lived happily ever after with Elizabeth and their daughter.

Isn't that melodramatic?

The film is about the restraint and control of desires, but the overemphasis on the theme makes the narrative loose and messy, with many plot points being abrupt and distorted.

The narrative pace is even faster than online novels, with a few shots and dialogues advancing a large part of the plot. Even the plot and emotional expression of a supporting character only last a few minutes from beginning to end.

For example, the male supporting character's journey with the female lead goes from admiration to confessing his feelings, to being rejected, and finally leaving.

From the moment he started liking her to the moment he left, the entire scene lasted no more than five minutes. The main plot was interspersed throughout, making it so fast you barely had time to react.

Although the pacing is fast, the camera work is incredibly slow and drawn-out.

Just like a character walking through a corridor, a normal shot would only take one second. If more expressiveness is needed, a couple of close-ups could be added at most.

In this film, when a character walks down a corridor, the camera first sets the stage with footsteps, then follows the character into the frame, moving from the front to the side to the back, and finally culminating in a close-up shot of them leaving the frame.

He couldn't bear to cut it for at least ten or eight seconds.

It's as if the narration for just one shot would require 30,000 words.

(The old tune of European films)
Back then, Chu An watched this movie because of the indescribable scenes of Sophie Marceau sacrificing for her career.

At that time, I felt that European cinema was really doomed.
Yet this crudely shot, poorly crafted art film grossed $3200 million and was hailed as a classic of its time.

.

(End of this chapter)