A widower's entertainment

Chapter 345 [Top Screenwriter with Multiple Awards] (Please Subscribe)
"The Grand Jury Prize goes to the Chinese film 'Atonement'!"

Clearly, this result means that "Atonement" has not won the Palme d'Or.

No matter how much director Chen Aige wanted to win the Palme d'Or, and no matter how Lin Youcheng's time-traveling butterfly flapped its wings, the different times and spaces did not change the fact that the capricious jury president Polanski awarded the Palme d'Or to the Coen brothers' "Barton Fink".

However, perhaps due to the excellence of "Atonement", the jury also awarded the Jury Grand Prize to Chen Aige's "Atonement".

The capricious Polanski was clearly that direct, awarding the Palme d'Or, Best Director, and Best Actor at Cannes to "Barton Fink," while giving the Best Screenplay and Jury Prize to "Atonement."

This, to some extent, demonstrates the excellence of the film "Atonement".

After all, the Jury Prize is second only to the Palme d'Or.

Of course, second only to nature is not winning the top prize.

Congratulations, Director Chen!

"It's amazing!"

"That's right, we actually won two big prizes! That's truly amazing!"

"This is amazing!"

……

Gong Li, Chen Daoming, and others naturally went crazy for Chen Aige. After Chen Aige finished her acceptance speech, they all congratulated her again.

The success of the film "Atonement" is not only due to the excellent script, but also inseparable from director Chen Aige's dedication to the film.

With Zhang Yimou already winning the top prize at the Berlin Film Festival, Chen Aige naturally put all his effort into making this film, "Atonement".

Obviously, the result isn't too bad.

However, the announcement of the Cannes Film Festival's winners caused a huge uproar. Undoubtedly, many people had objections or even controversy regarding the jury's wholesale awarding of prizes.

There was a great deal of criticism directed at Polanski, with many arguing that the jury chairman was too authoritarian and made decisions based entirely on his own preferences.

Of course, such controversy cannot affect the award results anymore; the awards have already been given out and cannot be changed.

In any case, at least Atonement isn't a loser.

The fact that the film "Atonement" won two awards at the same time is quite remarkable.

The most attention-grabbing figure among them is not director Chen Aige, but screenwriter Lin Youcheng.

There's nothing we can do about it; Lin Youcheng, a domestic author, has had a series of works released globally, and each one has had a significant impact.

Clearly, people in China already knew that Lin Youcheng's novel "Atonement" was quite amazing and caused a huge reaction in the literary world. Now, the screenplay of "Atonement" written by Lin Youcheng has won the Best Screenplay Award at the Cannes Film Festival, which is undoubtedly an affirmation of the story of "Atonement" written by Lin Youcheng.

"Congratulations on your success!"

After Chen Aige returned from the Cannes Film Festival, she naturally brought the Best Screenplay Award trophy to Lin Youcheng, and made a special trip to Xinghua Hutong.

Upon hearing this, Lin Youcheng smiled and, without elaborating on his Best Screenplay award, asked instead, "You must still feel some regret about not winning the Palme d'Or, right?"

Chen Aige looked at Lin Youcheng and nodded. Even he had to admit that not winning the Palme d'Or was undoubtedly a regret.

"I never expected that the Coen brothers would win three major awards."

Lin Youcheng couldn't help but laugh when he heard Chen Aige's words. It was clear that the story of "Atonement" that his butterfly brought at this time had not changed the Coen brothers' record, but he was also very clear that it had changed.

It's worth noting that in another timeline, the Best Screenplay award wasn't given out that year. This is something that sometimes happens at the Cannes Film Festival; it's not awarded every year.

Of course, the Best Screenplay Award is often given out.

The fact that "Atonement" won the Best Screenplay award is enough to prove that the story is indeed quite excellent.

"It's quite good that Atonement won two awards."

Lin Youcheng felt that it was quite an achievement for "Atonement" to win two awards.

Chen Aige nodded, looked at Lin Youcheng, and said with a smile, "That's true. The Cannes Film Festival has been discussing the awards for this year. Our film 'Atonement' has received very good reviews. In addition, many foreign film companies are negotiating the distribution rights for this film."

This is probably the most important reason why Chen Aige was able to find comfort.

Because the film "Atonement" has attracted a lot of attention from film distributors abroad, after all, "Atonement" caused a sensation at film festivals, and many film distributors have come to it, wanting the distribution rights. Although Yanjing Film Studio is responsible for the distribution, there is no doubt that this film will earn a lot of foreign exchange abroad.

This can be considered a success for "Atonement".

The key reason is that the popularity of the film among foreign distribution companies will naturally make the domestic film bureau pay more attention to it, and will also submit it for the Academy Awards and Golden Globe Awards.

"Youcheng, next time we collaborate, we must win the top prize."

Upon hearing this, Lin Youcheng couldn't help but ask, "What are the plans for filming later?"

Chen Aige said, "A film company has approached me."

"Xu Fan wanted me to film Chen Bihua's novel 'Farewell My Concubine' and contacted me several times."

Lin Youcheng was not surprised to hear Chen Aige's words.

Chen Aige's ability to direct "Farewell My Concubine" was inseparable from Xu Fan's insistence. Xu Fan, the owner of Hong Kong's Tang Cheng Film Company, purchased the rights to the novel "Farewell My Concubine" in 1988 and believed Chen Aige was the only director capable of handling the subject matter. She communicated with Chen Aige multiple times, even persuading him, who initially resisted popular stories, by arguing that highbrow and popular appeal were not mutually exclusive.

Another crucial point is that Xu Fan gave Chen Aige full creative freedom, supported his subversive adaptation of the script, combined the love story with historical narrative, and took responsibility for the controversy surrounding the casting.

Of course, Lin Youcheng was even more aware that the success of "Farewell My Concubine" was also largely due to screenwriter Lu Wei's reconstruction of the original popular novel into a three-part genre mix of "drama + tragedy + legend," which enhanced dramatic conflict and historical weight, making the story more in line with the narrative logic of film.

Lin Youcheng didn't intend to participate in "Farewell My Concubine" at this time, because he really didn't need to, and he didn't lack scripts or stories.

In his view, if Chen Aige could really proceed as originally planned, "Farewell My Concubine" would naturally be a success. Lin Youcheng said with a smile, "Then I look forward to your next film."

Chen Aige nodded. He was actually thinking of collaborating with Lin Youcheng again to rewrite the movie script, but Xu Fan and Lu Wei were still unaware of this, so he couldn't say much.

Of course, Chen Aige still hoped to collaborate with Lin Youcheng again.

After all, Lin Youcheng won the Best Screenplay award at the Cannes Film Festival.

When news of the Cannes Film Festival reached China, it sparked a flurry of discussion in the domestic literary circles, with much of it praising Lin Youcheng.

There's no way around it, Lin Youcheng is just too amazing. His previous film script was bought by an American company, and now he's won the Best Screenplay award at the Cannes Film Festival. He's definitely one of the top screenwriters in China, and you could even say there's no one else like him.

There's nothing we can do about it; Lin Youcheng is the first person in China to win the Best Screenplay Award at the three major film festivals.

This strength is undeniable and internationally recognized.

When Jiang Wen learned that "Atonement" had won an award, he naturally had mixed feelings. He knew that winning an award was extraordinary, and of course, it was a pity that it didn't win the Palme d'Or. However, he was more concerned about Lin Youcheng's Best Screenplay Award. He knew very well that the most important part of the film "Atonement" was its screenplay.

Chen Aige's film was shot according to Lin Youcheng's script.

Looking at Liu Xiaoqing, Jiang Wen couldn't help but say, "If I have the chance, I really must collaborate with Lin Youcheng and have him write a good script."

Liu Xiaoqing nodded and said, "I mentioned the story of 'The Reader' to him, it depends on when you finish filming 'In the Heat of the Sun'."

Jiang Wen nodded and said, "His stories are really awesome."

Clearly, Jiang Wen wasn't the only one who shared this idea. The people at the Yanjing Television Art Center were also quite shocked to learn that Lin Youcheng had won the Best Screenplay Award at the Cannes Film Festival.

However, all of this made Zheng Xiaolong a little worried. He wondered if he would write more TV drama scripts and if he could find Lin Youcheng to collaborate with again.

"Youcheng, he's really amazing! He's won Best Screenplay at all three major film festivals. He's probably the number one screenwriter in China."

Upon hearing this, Feng Kuzi, who was standing nearby, quickly chimed in, "This guy has been one for a long time. After all, which screenwriter in China could write a script that would be bought by the United States?"

Feng Kuzi actually wanted to get to know Lin Youcheng, this big shot, and become familiar with him, since he knew very well how capable Lin Youcheng was.

Although he is now very close to Wang Shuo, this does not stop him from wanting to get in touch with Lin Youcheng.

"Now that he has won the Best Screenplay award at the Cannes Film Festival, his status is naturally even more extraordinary."

Zheng Xiaolong nodded, agreeing with what Feng Kuzi said, and said, "I hope we can cooperate with him again in the future."

"Director Zheng, given your relationship with him, there shouldn't be any problem."

Feng Kuzi also praised Zheng Xiaolong, saying, "There are probably many people who want to cooperate with Lin Youcheng, after all, the story script is there, and it's really strong."

Zheng Xiaolong didn't respond, but wondered if Lin Youcheng, having won the Best Screenplay Award at the film festival, would still write TV scripts. Of course, even if he didn't, he didn't know if Lin Youcheng would be willing to adapt his later novels into TV series.

These are all things Zheng Xiaolong wants to know.

Actually, Zheng Xiaolong isn't the only one looking for answers to certain questions; many people have questions they want to ask Lin Youcheng.

Lin Youcheng, who was already attracting much attention, has become even more popular now thanks to winning the Best Screenplay Award at the Cannes Film Festival, which naturally led to reporters wanting to interview him.

It's worth noting that even without the Palme d'Or, the Grand Jury Prize and the Best Screenplay Award are undoubtedly quite successful at the Cannes Film Festival.

The reporter from China Film Weekly naturally contacted Lin Youcheng, the well-known screenwriter, wanting to conduct an exclusive interview with him. This also included Lin Youcheng's previous cooperation with a US film company, which is also very worthy of in-depth reporting.

In fact, "China Film Weekly" is a national film industry newspaper supervised by the Film Bureau and sponsored by the China Film Art Research Center. It was founded in January 1990 and later renamed "China Film News" in 1997. It can be said that this newspaper is the only film industry newspaper in China, with the core functions of conveying film policies and publishing industry news, covering production, market, international information and other fields.

The team of reporters who came to cover the event was led by Jiang Hui, deputy director of Film Weekly, and also included a photography team.

"Congratulations, Mr. Lin Youcheng, your film 'Atonement' has won the Jury Prize and the Best Screenplay Award at the Cannes Film Festival."

Jiang Hui congratulated Lin Youcheng with a smile. Even though Lin Youcheng was not the director of the film, as the screenwriter who won the Best Screenplay Award, it undoubtedly proved the importance of Lin Youcheng as the screenwriter of the film "Atonement".

Lin Youcheng naturally expressed his gratitude.

Such an interview would naturally involve asking Lin Youcheng about his thoughts on the story of "Atonement," and Lin Youcheng would naturally talk about the concept and ideas behind the story of "Atonement."

Some of the questions were about film, and Lin Youcheng frankly offered his insights, hoping that domestic screenwriting would not be too limited to domestic productions and that people could look to foreign film stories.

Jiang Hui looked at Lin Youcheng and asked, "Teacher Lin, now that you've won the Best Screenplay Award at the Cannes Film Festival, have you thought about winning the Best Screenplay Award at the other three major film festivals?"

Best Screenplay Award at one of the other three major European film festivals?

Lin Youcheng felt that it wasn't impossible for him to win the screenwriting awards at the three major film festivals, since he knew very well which film scripts were worth making and winning awards for.

However, in front of reporters, Lin Youcheng naturally wouldn't say that he might also win the Best Screenplay Award at all three major film festivals. That would be too much to say, and winning an award still depends on the jury's preferences.

However, compared to the Academy Awards and Golden Globes, winning the Best Screenplay award at the three major European film festivals seems to be easier.

After all, Hollywood awards require more public relations efforts.

Lin Youcheng smiled and said, "Of course I hope to win an award, but the most important thing is to write a good story for the film itself."

Jiang Hui nodded in agreement with Lin Youcheng's answer, and while taking notes of some of the answers, he asked, "Writer Lin, we all know that one of your novels was bought by a film company in the United States and adapted into a movie. Now, the movie 'The Time Traveler's Wife' is very popular after it was released overseas."

Lin Youcheng smiled and said, "Being popular is one thing, but whether you can win an award is another."

However, Lin Youcheng also secretly hoped to collect the Best Screenplay awards from all three major film festivals.

Of course, it may not just be the three major film festivals.

(End of this chapter)