Huayu: Director started with art films

Chapter 171 Chapter 181 [Telling "supernatural" stories to Americans]

The Oprah Winfrey Show.

Lee Ye-su, Monica Bellucci and Bruce Willis participated in the show.

Backstage.

Li Yishu met Oprah, the soul of this talk show. She was a typical black woman with long, slightly curly hair draped over her shoulders. She was a little overweight and gave people a kind first impression.

Li Yishu smiled and shook hands with the other party: "Hello Ms. Oprah, nice to meet you."

Oprah shook hands politely and said, "Hello Art Lee, can I just call you Lee?"

"Of course no problem." Li Yishu smiled.

"Li, I've seen your works, The Postman in the Mountain and Rain of Swords. Compared to your later sci-fi film, I prefer this independent film you made."

Oprah smiled faintly: "And your name reminds me of my mother. Even though she is not a qualified mother, I am grateful to her for raising me."

Oprah's life is actually quite miserable. Her mother, Vinita Lee, was a maid, and her father, Vernon Winfrey, was a soldier who became a barber after retiring from the army. Oprah was an illegitimate daughter born to her mother when she was 18 years old and unmarried.

She spent her childhood living with her grandmother and often wore clothes made from potato sacks, earning her the nickname "Sack Girl".

At the age of 13, he was sent to a juvenile detention center because he became a problem teenager, but was turned away because the beds in the center were full.

Until she was 14 years old, her mother sent her to her father because she could no longer control her. Under the discipline of her father and stepmother, Oprah gradually grew into a good student with excellent grades.

Walking step by step to where she is today, I see many inspiring shining points in her. She was stuck in the quagmire, but was finally able to shine her own light.

Perhaps this is the key to her being able to stand out in today's America where racial discrimination is serious.

Before coming here, Li Yishu also learned about this female host, who is now the most popular in North America. After learning about her personal experience, she was filled with emotion.

Hearing what she said now, Li Yishu nodded and said, "Yes, mother is the greatest in the world. In our China, there is a saying that mother may not be able to give you rich material conditions, nor can she teach you more knowledge, but mother will try her best to give you everything she can give you."

Hearing this, Oprah was slightly startled, then smiled: "Yes, she will give you everything she can, including her love."

Then she looked at the other two:

"Bruce, I'm really looking forward to your performance in the movie."

"I guarantee you'll be surprised."

"Wow, Monica, you are so charming. Even I am mesmerized by your beauty. I can't wait to see you in the cinema."

"Thank you, you are beautiful too."

"Forget it. Maybe I was hot ten years ago, but now I'm getting fat."

Oprah is very good at chatting. In just a few words, she became familiar with the three people.

After a brief chat.

Oprah asked, "Lee, can you tell me what topics you don't want to talk about?"

Li Yishu said: "Politics, everything can be discussed except politics."

"OK, no problem."

Oprah nodded and smiled, "You don't have to worry about politics at all with me."

"Thank you." Li Yishu smiled. He began to like this black woman a little. No wonder she was successful. Her emotional intelligence was very high.

Twenty minutes later.

The scene in the studio.

The audience was already in place, regular Oprah listeners and some of them were fans of Bruce Willis.

"Good evening, dear audience friends."

Oprah took the route of an intellectual host. As soon as she appeared on stage, she smiled with her own aura and greeted the audience and the camera.

With applause from the audience, Oprah sat down and first talked about some hot topics in the United States recently. Then she said with a smile: "The guest we invited today is an amazing young man."

"At the age of 21, when many college students have not yet graduated, he had already won the Golden Lion Award at the 1991 Venice International Film Festival for his outstanding work, becoming the youngest winner of the Golden Lion Award."

"A science fiction movie directed by a 22-year-old boy has grossed $1.8 million worldwide."

"And just half a month ago at the Cannes International Film Festival in Europe, this 23-year-old young man once again won the Cannes Palme d'Or, becoming the youngest director in Europe to win both Palme d'Or awards."

There was an uproar at the scene!
The three major European film festivals are still very famous in North America. Since they are hailed as the top international A-class film festivals, they are certainly not undeserved.

But such a film award was won by a 23-year-old young man in just two years. It seems that he will win the third award sooner or later. Is he the birth of another film master? The audience exclaimed, and Oprah nodded with satisfaction and said, "Yes, it's incredible! When I was 2, I was just a reporter for a small local TV station. But some people are already famous all over the world at the age of 23."

"I think everyone has already started to look forward to who the other party is, so let's applaud and welcome the director Art Li from China, let's welcome him!"

clap clap-

Accompanied by applause, Li Yishu walked out from the backstage in a neat suit. He waved to the audience and the camera with a smile on his face.

Oprah stood up and walked over, extending her hand in welcome: "Lee, welcome."

Li Yishu smiled and said, "Thank you, thank you Ms. Oprah, I am also honored to be able to participate in your talk show."

"Please take a seat."

After Oprah asked him to sit down, they began chatting. The topic was mostly about how Lee Yi-su felt after receiving these honors. After a few questions, Oprah brought up the movie "The Sixth Sense".

It also allowed the two leading actors, Monica Bellucci and Bruce Willis, to take the stage.

"So beautiful!"

Oprah held Monica's hand and praised the audience: "She is so charming, just like a sculpture by an Italian master. I think I have fallen in love with her."

Monica Bellucci smiled brightly: "Thank you."

Many audience members at the scene were also deeply attracted by Monica.

Now is Monica's most beautiful age. In terms of appearance alone, she is not inferior to the current popular Hollywood actresses.

After introducing Monica, Oprah began chatting with Bruce Willis.

After everyone was taken care of, Oprah began the real interview of the day: "Lee, can you tell us why your movie is called "Sixth Sense"? "

"Because this movie explains the sixth sense of human beings."

"Sixth touch?"

"Yes, the senses known to humans are hearing, vision, smell, touch, and taste. The sixth sense is the sense of touch that people have not yet fully scientifically studied."

“Is there really a sixth sense?”

Oprah looked curious. She was really curious about this thing, not just for the show effect.

"Although the scientific community has not yet given a clear answer, in fact, I believe that anyone can feel the existence of the sixth sense. When I came up with this story, I had to talk about my childhood..."

Before coming to the show, Lee Yi-su was thinking about how to promote the movie.

Double gold medal director?
That’s true, but Li Yishu is Chinese, so the influence she can bring is still limited.

The movie "Sword Rain" he filmed before promoting it?
The film itself was not a big success at the box office, earning only over 2000 million US dollars a month. And that was with the help of Columbia Pictures. Almost half of the box office revenue was earned in theaters with a large Chinese population, plus a small number of Kung Fu movie fans in the United States.

The movie "The Sixth Sense" is a pure English film. If you want to attract audiences, you have to create some topics.

And the best topic is the supernatural.

A large proportion of Americans of this era are extremely superstitious about supernatural forces, including mysterious events such as UFOs and aliens.

Every year, there are a large number of people in the United States who see UFOs, including some blurry photos.

Combined with the "pseudo-documentary" "The Blair Witch Project" which later grossed $2.48 million worldwide, Li Yishu also decided to tell some "stories" to Americans.

After all, 30 years later, the Internet is highly developed, and there are still a large number of Americans who firmly believe in geocentrism and heliocentrism.

From this point of view, not all Americans believe in science and are equally ignorant.

Li Yishu's "storytelling" has created a lot of buzz, and with Columbia Pictures fueling the trend from behind, Li Yishu believes that as long as she can attract the first wave of audiences to the cinema to watch "The Sixth Sense", there will be a steady stream of follow-ups.

Because this movie itself is a bit like an art drama, rather than a pure horror thriller, there are probably only a handful of truly thrilling scenes in the entire film, less than three minutes.

Li Yishu casually combined several supernatural stories that were popular in later generations. After he told them briefly and quickly, Oprah also felt a little creepy. Many audiences at the scene looked at Li Yishu with serious expressions, and many people believed that this was the director's personal experience in his childhood.

Oprah swallowed and said, "Are there really supernatural phenomena in this world?"

"Why not?"

Li Yishu shrugged and said, "You know, the world is huge. How much have we humans studied of the mysteries of the universe?"

"Li, are these things you just said your real experiences?"

"This matter...is not easy to talk about."

(End of this chapter)