China Entertainment: Been working as a director since 03

Chapter 791 The most watery best film

After staying in Los Angeles for a few days, Li Yu met Wen Muye and Lin Chaoxian who had arrived later.

Both of them were very friendly and respectful towards Li Yu.

Let’s not talk about “Operation Red Sea”.

"Dying to Survive" was able to start filming only after receiving investment from Li Yu.

"Director Li, I really envy you. Lao Wen and I are definitely more involved. Your film has a good chance of winning an award." Lin Chaoxian said in a slightly envious tone.

Lin Chaoxian feels that his "Operation Red Sea" was filmed very well and achieved great results, and it is the pinnacle of his career.

But this is a mainstream commercial film after all.

Classics such as "Farewell My Concubine", "Ju Dou" and "Raise the Red Lantern" were only nominated for Best Foreign Language Film or Best Cinematography at the Oscars.

Lin Chaoxian doesn't dare to say that his film is better than these classics in Chinese film history. He feels that being nominated for Best Foreign Language Film is a surprise.

Competing with non-English films from all over the world, getting a nomination is already a good result.

Anyway, Lin Chaoxian was satisfied.

Wen Muye thought almost the same.

Wen Muye is younger than Li Yu and graduated with a master's degree from the directing department of Beijing Film Academy in 14.

After graduation, he has been tinkering with short films and has won many awards.

His debut feature-length work is "Dying to Survive".

If nothing unexpected happens, "Dying to Survive" will win him a bunch of awards next year, and there is a high possibility that he will win the Golden Horse Award for Best New Director and the Golden Rooster Award for Best Directorial Debut.

This kind of newcomer award is very meaningful. No matter how great a director is, he only has one chance to win the award in his lifetime. If he fails to win it, he will never win it again.

You can refer to Zhou Jielun in the singer circle for this.

In the year of his debut, he met the famous unpopular singer Su Yanzi, and the Golden Melody Award for Best Newcomer was snatched away by this unpopular singer, which became a lifelong pain for Jay Chou.

Even after more than 20 years, Jay Chou still remembers this woman. Whenever Sun Yanzi watches his concerts and interacts with him, she always mentions her, which shows how deep his obsession is.

It's understandable. He was just one Best Newcomer Award away from a Grand Slam, but it was snatched away. How could he not be obsessed?

Li Yu did not win any awards such as the Newcomer Award.

There are definitely some regrets, but not obsessions.

As they chatted, Lin Chaoxian and Wen Muye began to angrily criticize Oscar for being unfair to Li Yu.

The special effects of "Aquaman" are so good that many movies with special effects not as good as "Aquaman" have been shortlisted, but "Aquaman" didn't even make the shortlist.

If it were another director, he would probably have publicly criticized the Oscar judges.

This is what Wen Ziren did. He publicly left a message to the film's visual director on the social platform, saying that it was a shame for him that the Academy did not appreciate the film's cinematic contribution.

Li Yu can also criticize Oscar, his special effects director and Warner will definitely stand on his side and speak for him.

But Li Yu did not do so, mainly because he felt that the movie "Aquaman" was indeed mediocre.

The plot is so old-fashioned that it's normal that the author doesn't even look down on the real prize.

This time, "Barbie" just needs to be nominated and win an award.

So Li Yu waved his hand to interrupt Lin Chaoxian and Wen Muye's fire output: "Superhero movies are not favored by the judges of major awards. This is normal. There are gains and losses. Since you have chosen the audience and the market, you must be prepared to lose the big award. How many movies can win the market and the big award at the same time?"

Li Yu is very open-minded. Even if there is no award, isn't it good enough to have a box office of 1 billion Euros?
If a movie can earn 1 billion Euros at the box office, but at the cost of not winning any awards, I believe most directors would be willing to do that.

…On the evening of March 3, Li Yu took Liu Yifei, Lin Chaoxian, Wen Muye and others to attend the Oscars ceremony.

During the red carpet interview session, Li Yu and Liu Yifei faced a lot of questions as soon as they stopped.

"Director Li, are you confident of winning the award?"

"You brought Liu Yifei with you to attend the awards ceremony. Is there any deeper meaning behind this? Are you trying to promote Mulan?"

The reporters were talking a lot.

Li Yu only selectively answered a few questions: "I definitely have some confidence. Let's see the results. I believe the Oscar judges are fair."

Martin McDonagh, the director of "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" was the first to disagree with Li Yu's words after tonight.

Before this year's Oscars began, countless people inside and outside the circle believed that "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" would win the Best Picture.

But the judges gave the Best Film award to "The Shape of Water".

"The Shape of Water" has been criticized as the wateriest and best film ever.

Zheng Zhi played a very crucial role.

Of course, both films are correct, but "The Shape of Water" is more extreme.

Li Yu would not complain about the two films in which Zheng Zhi was correct, because his "Barbie" actually also has some elements of Zheng Zhi being correct.

In recent years, this is what we like to do here.

Many directors are helpless. If they don’t bring in some correct elements, not only will they not win awards, they will also be easily criticized by certain groups of people. Therefore, stacking buffs is a helpless move.

Li Yu didn't want to care about these things, he thought it was good this way.

Hollywood films were constrained by various correct elements, and the quality of films began to plummet, which was conducive to the rise of Chinese-language films.

As a native Chinese director, he would definitely be happy to see this.

But...Hollywood is getting worse, and domestic entertainment is also getting worse, which makes it very difficult to maintain tension.

This is the general trend. Not only domestic entertainment and Hollywood, but the entertainment industry all over the world is regressing compared to before. The only difference is whether the regression is more or less.

A dozen or twenty years ago, the Chinese music scene was full of talented people. Various high-quality albums were released, and there were hit songs every month.

The Chinese music scene is in a state of disrepair now, and there aren't many good works.

English songs are also regressing, but the decline is not as obvious as that of the Chinese music scene. They cannot be compared to themselves decades ago.

There are always some complaints at every Oscars ceremony. Li Yu's comments were boring and chaotic. It may be that he just doesn't get the foreigners' jokes.

As expected, "The Shape of Water" took home the most prestigious awards for Best Picture and Best Director.

The worst Oscar for Best Picture in history was born.

If nothing unexpected happens, once this result is announced, "The Shape of Water" will be criticized to pieces.

"Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" won the Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor awards, and was nominated for Best Picture, Best Editing, and Best Original Screenplay.

However, the production team probably won't be very happy about losing the Best Picture award, which is the most prestigious award.

Li Yu's "Barbie" was nominated for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Costume Design, etc., but in the end only won the Best Original Song.

This award was given to singers, and Li Yu had no way of taking the award home.

However, for a Chinese director, it is already quite good to get such a result when striving for an Oscar.

(End of this chapter)