China Entertainment started in 2004

Chapter 649 Interstellar
"Wang Shu won the Best Director Award at the Academy Awards for the second consecutive year?"

Director Chen turned his head to look at Chen Hong and asked in surprise.

The filming of "The Orphan of Zhao" will start in a week. Director Chen was in a good mood, but when he heard the news that Wang Shu won the Oscar for the second time, he suddenly felt bad.

"Yes." Chen Hong responded, "The movie Life of Pi won Wang Shu the Best Director Award at the Academy Awards again."

After a short pause, he continued, "I've said before that Wang Shu might get another golden statue. You didn't believe it yet. Do you believe it this time?"

She had asked Wang Shu about related matters before, and Wang Shu answered quite confidently, obviously looking like he had a good chance of winning the award.

Although it is not known why Wang Shu was so confident, the fact is that Wang Shu did win the Oscar for Best Director for two consecutive years.

Director Chen fell silent after hearing this. He had been to Hollywood before, but returned home in disgrace after his film failed.

In comparison, Wang Shu not only did not fail after going to Hollywood, but he got better and better.

In addition, he now holds two Academy Awards for Best Director, and he has won them consecutively.

In comparison, he, the Palme d'Or director, seems even less important.

"How do you know that Wang Shu can win another Oscar?" Director Chen asked gloomily.

Chen Hong answered without hesitation: "I have seen the play Life of Pi."

"It was filmed very well, with high artistic quality. Under normal circumstances, it would have won a major award nine out of ten times."

"Now that The Hurt Locker has won the Best Picture Award and Wang Shu has won the Best Director Award, it is exactly as expected."

"Of course, if the Oscars are biased in this session, then Wang Shu will definitely not win the grand prize."

"The result is that there is no bias in this year's Oscars. The two films with the highest chances of winning awards each won the grand prize."

"As for Cameron's Avatar, I think you know that the Oscars don't like commercial films, so it's expected that it won't win a big award."

After hearing this, Director Chen fell silent again.

Although I don't want to admit it, what Chen Hong said does make sense.

"Life of Pi" was called a work impossible to be adapted into a film or TV series in Europe and the United States. Not only did Wang Shu make it, he also did it very successfully with a very high artistic level.

Just based on this point, it seems that he can win a big prize.

It’s just that everyone knows that the Oscars are not completely fair and impartial, and there are biases involved.

Under such circumstances, it is impossible for Wang Shu to win the championship again.

Who would have thought that Wang Shu would actually win the championship!

Director Chen felt very upset.

He is the Palme d'Or director. Looking across the country, even Zhang Yimou is inferior to him in terms of awards and honors.

And now, Wang Shulianzhuang won the Best Director Award at the Academy Awards, the world's most influential award!

Director Chen continued in a muffled voice: "Under normal circumstances, Wang Shu would not have won the first prize for two consecutive years. I don't know what went wrong in this year's Oscars that Wang Shu won the first prize for two consecutive years."

"How can it be impossible to win consecutive awards?" Chen Hong was not happy with this statement. "The artistic value of Life of Pi is there. It is obvious that it has the strength to win an Oscar."

"Under normal circumstances, Life of Pi should have won a major award, not failed to win one."

This was indeed true, and Director Chen was unable to refute it for a moment.

He sighed and said, "Just take it, what's the big deal?"

"Our next major work is the play The Orphan of Zhao."

"Making this movie well is more important than anything else."

When Chen Hong heard him say this, she did not continue the topic of Wang Shu winning the award, but instead discussed the play "The Orphan of Zhao" with him.

The play "The Orphan of Zhao" is starred by Ge You, Wang Xueqin, Huang Xiaoming, Fan Binbin, Hai Qing, Zhang Fengyi, Zhao Wenzhuo and others.

Through this play, the relationship between Fan Binbin and Wang Xueqin continued to deepen.

2010年3月，65岁的王学芹用200万打发了结婚40年的发妻。

Afterwards, rumors of his affair with Fan Binbin began to spread.

Wang Xueqin responded angrily: "You can't treat me like this!"

Fan Binbin responded: "Old Wang! Xiao Fan is sorry for you and has caused you trouble! It's dangerous to be my colleague. It's like 'living together'!"

This all started when a big V with over a million fans broke the news that "a famous director revealed that Fan Binbin was a mistress and forced Wang Xueqin to divorce, and they have been living together for 2 years."

During the filming of "The Orphan of Zhao", a certain director said: "Fan Binbin and Wang Xueqin's romance has spread in the industry and is no longer a secret!"

In 2009, Wang Xueqin and Fan Binbin filmed "The Wheat Field" together, and later collaborated again in "The Siege of the City in October". At the press conference of "The Orphan of Zhao", the two also released a photo of them holding hands.

Wang Xueqin was very angry about this: "We are from the same studio and we do have a lot of contact and cooperation, but she can't be abused like this! She is a very honest person and works very hard. I am so old, and she is still young and has a bright future. This is unfair to her."

Fan Binbin said directly: "If you have anything to say, come to me, don't bring up the seniors anymore."

Later, Fan Binbin's anti-black website also posted a statement saying that this photo was taken at the press conference of the movie "The Orphan of Zhao". At that time, Fan Binbin and Wang Xueqin both wanted to take the microphone to speak at the same time, so the photographer took this photo by mistake.

Despite widespread rumors, Fan Binbin and Wang Xueqin insisted that they were just friends in life and work partners and that there was absolutely no improper relationship between them.

The anti-black station also said: "People in the entertainment industry should take on the responsibility of entertaining the public, but when everyone pursues their own interests, should they also consider right and wrong and the bottom line of entertainment?"

Regarding this situation, many people have accused the company of spreading rumors.

However, these rebuttals were not resolved until Xiao Wang posted a Weibo post...

However, no matter what, Fan Binbin is not hanging out with Wang Xueqin.

Instead, it was the studio founded by Fan Binbin that signed Wang Xueqin. It was also because of signing with Fan Binbin's studio that Wang Xueqin's star journey began to smooth.

Of course, Wang Xueqin has been in the circle for so many years and has some connections.

……

Los Angeles.

Wang Shu saw Tabu off and was busy socializing again.

As a consecutive Oscar-winning director, it is inevitable that he will receive invitations to cocktail parties.

He would go to some invitations, but would simply ignore others.

"Shu, congratulations on winning the Oscar for Best Director again."

Taylor Swift and Stone came to Wang Shu's house to celebrate his award.

"Thank you." Wang Shu smiled and said, "Congratulations on your single being ranked number one on the Billboard charts."

"Haha." Taylor Swift said with a smile, "Shu, I have to thank you for this. Without the song you wrote, this single would not have reached number one."

Wang Shu heard this but said politely: "If you hadn't sung well enough, this song wouldn't be so brilliant." Stone Sister couldn't stand it anymore and said speechlessly: "Alright, can you stop flattering each other like this? I'm getting goose bumps all over the floor."

Wang Shu and Mei Mei smiled at each other after hearing this.

Then I went to the kitchen, washed some fruits, and brought out some desserts.

Taylor Swift asked while eating dessert: "Shu, are you going to start filming the movie with Paramount next?"

Wang Shu saw that Sister Shitou was also looking over and nodded in response, "Yes."

"How long will it take?" Taylor Swift asked immediately.

Wang Shu smiled and replied: "The scheduled period is three months, but the main purpose is to shoot live, so it is difficult to finish shooting within three months."

"At the earliest, it should take at least half a year."

"Okay." Taylor Swift responded with some disappointment.

Sister Shitou asked curiously, "Shu, after you finish filming this movie, will you return to China or stay here?"

Mei Mei was also very curious, and looked at Wang Shu after hearing what he said.

Wang Shuying said: "Not sure, we'll see when the time comes."

Sister Stone nodded and didn't ask any more questions.

Then the three of them went out for dinner together and returned to Wang Shu's apartment.

3 month 15 day.

"Interstellar" officially started filming in Los Angeles.

Starring Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain and others.

With Wang Shu's recommendation and participation in the casting, the original cast of Nolan's version was basically maintained.

Wang Shu teamed up with cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema for the first time to combine Imax, VistaVision and 35mm anamorphic formats to create Interstellar.

Wang Shu referred to Nolan's version of "Interstellar" and estimated that the entire film would be around 170 minutes long.

Some of the footage was shot in 15-perf 65mm Imax format, while the rest was a combination of 35mm anamorphic and 8-perf VistaVision.

Knowing that the capabilities of the MSM 9802 Imax camera were similar to most film cameras, Van Hoytema focused his research on the composition and operability of large-format photography.

He found Wang Shu and said bluntly: "Shu, the principle of framing this way will be simpler."

"The Imax image has an aspect ratio of 1.43:1, which is more square. This size makes the image more visible, and instead of focusing on what's important, the composition ends up being more in the center of the frame. You can shoot wider shots and get the same effect as close-ups."

“What if we used this really beautiful medium? Its depth of field, clarity and size are so extraordinary that we can create a more personal feel with macro focus and shallow depth of field. The Imax lens brings out the faces beautifully. They’re like large-format still portraits.”

After hearing this, Wang Shu adopted the other party's suggestion.

As filming progressed, the production team used several large-format Hasselblad lenses provided by Imax, and Dan Sasaki, chief optical engineer at Panavision, provided two custom lenses: a 2mm T50 lens with a 2-foot macro focus, and an 80mm T2 Mamiya lens.

Beyond that, most of the Imax film was shot with custom 50 and 80mm lenses.

Although Interstellar is a large-scale film, Wang Shu wanted to make it a very touching story, so the crew had to work hard to capture the characters with intensive handheld close-up shots.

Given the wider frame of the Imax, the 1 to +3 diopters would have helped Van Hoytema get as close to his subject as possible.

Van Hoytema also used a Panavision dovetail grip and shoulder pad, and Sasaki shortened the MSM9802's viewfinder, brightened its mirror path, and pushed its mount forward on the camera to make it easier for Van Hoytema to handle the 75-pound camera and 1000-foot magazine.

The crew’s custom anamorphic lens kit ranged from 28mm to 100mm, with a minimum focus of 2 feet across the board at a T2 aperture.

每个镜头都是基于现有的设计：一个USG 28mm，一个C系列35-50mm，一个D系列40mm，和E系列75-100mm。

The crew built a 65mm T2.0 lens from scratch with a 9-foot macro focus.

“It’s like a macro lens,” Van Hoytema said.

“But there’s a trade-off: If you adjust the lens to be more of an extreme close-up, the wide shot will be a little softer.”

Sasaki also tweaked van Hoytema’s anamorphic lenses to create a specific type of vignetting, “an effect that was warmer and softer than the cold, hard streaks typical of anamorphic lenses.”

Wang Shu is just a director, and he is not as professional as a professional photographer in many things.

During this process, he clearly expressed the lens effects he wanted, and the photographers then tried their best to complete them according to his requirements.

After a day's filming, Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway and others were a little tired.

The current filming is not taking place in Iceland or China's three northeastern provinces, but in a studio in Los Angeles.

Because the shots currently being shot are mainly indoor scenes, they will be completed in the constructed studio.

After this part of the filming is completed, we will go to Iceland to shoot.

Then I went to the three northeastern provinces to photograph corn fields.

In short, the very beginning of the movie will be shot last.

Perhaps they knew that Wang Shu was a famous director who had won two Academy Awards in a row. Although Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway and others were a little tired of being tossed around by Wang Shu, they had no complaints and each of them performed their roles very seriously.

They knew very well that it was a rare opportunity to work with Wang Shu on this blockbuster.

Even though they are all well-known actors, they all cherish each other.

Wang Shu was also very satisfied with this.

This is exactly the kind of self-aware actor he wants, which saves him a lot of time, effort and worry.

After all, Hollywood crews have a system of starting work and leaving get off work on time.

The same is true for Wang Shu as a director.

Although flexible employment can help rush filming, Wang Shu thinks this model is good.

Everyone has plenty of rest time.

Of course, for the producers, it is definitely better to work overtime to shoot.

Because this can save costs and save money.

Wang Shu’s Yikeshu Work is also one of the producers.

But having said that, as a person who has worked his way up from the bottom, he has not turned into a villain, so he thinks that the Hollywood model of going to work and leaving get off work on time is good.

"Shu, do you want to go for a drink tonight?" Anne Hathaway invited Wang Shu.

As a director, Wang Shu knew that building good relationships with the actors in the crew would be beneficial to the filming of the movie, so he smiled and said, "Okay."

When Anne Hathaway heard Wang Shu's agreement, a faint smile appeared on her pretty face, and she said, "Matthew and the others will go too."

Wang Shu nodded. He originally wanted to build relationships with the actors in the crew to facilitate the subsequent filming, so naturally he would not have any objections.

(End of this chapter)