Literary Master 1978.

Chapter 438 The Man Behind the Movie King

1985 can be said to be the most prosperous period of Hong Kong films. The industry was full of talented people, and wild imagination and fantastic ideas could be seen everywhere on the big screen.

Not only has the local market been growing steadily every year, but the foreign markets have also been conquered as well, with success in every trip.

Before Hollywood's special effects blockbusters became popular, it is no exaggeration to say that Hong Kong films dominated Asia.

The Hong Kong Film Awards was originally a film award co-organized by the film magazine "Film Biweekly" and Hong Kong Radio based on the selection of the top ten films.

In recent years, with the development of Hong Kong films, the new film award, the Academy Awards, has gradually gained more and more influence.

Early in the morning of the second day after the 4th Hong Kong Film Awards ceremony, news about the award winners appeared on the news broadcasts of major radio and television stations in Hong Kong, and the pages of entertainment newspapers and weeklies were also filled with the winners.

"Like Water Flowing Years" won five awards and became the biggest winner of the Academy Awards" "The Chess Master set a record, winning both the Best Actor and Best Screenwriter" "The 4th Academy Awards: Tony Leung won the Best Actor award for the second time, Siqin Gaowa won the Best Actress award unexpectedly" "The Academy Awards were unexpected, and the Z-type filmmakers won a great victory"...

The movie "A Time to Live and a Time to Die" won five major awards and also made mainland actress Siqin Gaowa win the Best Actress award.

This situation is new to many Hong Kong people. Many people still remember that at this time last year, Liu Xiaoqing, who starred in "The Last Emperor", was also nominated for the Academy Awards, but unfortunately she lost to Maggie Cheung in the end.

I didn’t expect that this year’s Best Actress award would be given to a mainland actress!

But the most news-driven and discussed topic at last night's awards ceremony was the re-election of Best Actor and Best Screenwriter.

Winning awards consecutively has always been a low-probability event in the film award selection process, and winning two awards consecutively is an even lower probability event.

More importantly, the two winners are collaborating for the second time.

Before there was "The Last Emperor", and after there was "The Chess Master".

Not only did it achieve great success in both box office and word of mouth, it also won many awards. This coincidence naturally became a huge topic.

Early in the morning, various news reports emerged one after another, fully demonstrating the city's strong ability to circulate news and information.

In addition to news reports from authoritative media such as Hong Kong Radio, TVB and Wen Wei Po, last night's award ceremony also became a feast for Hong Kong's many entertainment newspapers and weeklies.

In order to differentiate their content from those of the larger media, these newspapers and weeklies often focus on less serious issues.

For example, this morning, Hong Kong's "Overseas Chinese Daily" wrote a report based on Tony Leung's acceptance speech last night, with a very eye-catching title.

——"The man behind the best actor, doing it once is not enough."

If a report like this were on the front page, which passerby wouldn’t want to take a second look?

After watching it, these people couldn't help but curse because the content was far different from what they had imagined.

The most annoying thing about clickbait is that even though they clearly didn't tell lies, you are fooled by them, and they keep deceiving you over and over again. These clickbait headlines prey on the curiosity of the public.

Thanks to this "sexy" report, the sales of "Overseas Chinese Daily" today broke through 12 copies for the first time in a long time, and sold 5 more copies than usual.

The Chinese Daily has a long history. After World War II, it formed a "three-legged race" with the Commercial Daily and Sing Tao Daily in the Chinese newspaper industry in Hong Kong. It was a major newspaper back then.

But as time went by, this tiny place of Hong Kong had to support dozens of newspapers, and competition in the newspaper industry became increasingly fierce. After the 70s, this competition could only be described as brutal.

The fierce competition in the print media industry has forced these newspapers to come up with a variety of new ideas and to move towards gossip in their news reporting to satisfy the "low tastes" of the general public.

Inside Ming Pao Building.

Dong Qiao flipped through the pages of the Overseas Chinese Daily and made a sound of "tsk tsk". "I can't believe the tone of the Overseas Chinese Daily is getting lower and lower."

He read the newspaper with interest for a while, then raised his head to look at Lin Chaoyang, with ill intentions written all over his face.

"Chaoyang, as the 'man behind the movie emperor', what do you think of this report?"

Lin Chaoyang smiled helplessly, "I think they will be finished sooner or later."

Dong Qiao couldn't help but burst out laughing.

Early this morning, Lin Chaoyang's phone was flooded with calls. The callers could be divided into two categories: one was media interview invitations, and the other was film companies looking for him to work with them.

Lin Chaoyang rejected all these interview invitations.

He doesn't want to be a star, so there's no need for him to be in the spotlight.

As for the cooperation invitations from those film companies, Lin Chaoyang just perfunctorily responded to them.

Among all the people who called Lin Chaoyang, Dong Qiao was the most serious one. The purpose of his call was to discuss the publication of his new work with Lin Chaoyang.

Last month, Lin Chaoyang handed the manuscript of "The Truman Show" to Li Shifei, and Huacheng Publishing House planned to publish it in mid-August.

The biggest difference between this publication of "The Truman Show" and previous ones is that there is no magazine publishing process.

With Lin Chaoyang's current fame, he no longer needs magazine publication to spread the influence of his new works.

Moreover, magazine publication will more or less affect the sales of the work after it is published. In the past, when he was paid per thousand words, sales did not matter. But now Lin Chaoyang is paid royalties, and there is income behind every sale.

"The Truman Show" is about to be published in mainland China, and it is time to put its publication in Hong Kong on the agenda.

With the previous collaborations, the publishing of the new work went smoothly, and the royalty rate was still 20%.

After discussing the publication of the new work, Dong Qiao suddenly asked Lin Chaoyang for an interview.

At yesterday's award ceremony, Lin Chaoyang won the Best Screenwriter Award for the second time, and he is also the most talked-about winner of this year's Academy Awards. The outside media had no chance to interview Lin Chaoyang, so Dong Qiao naturally would not miss this opportunity.

Now that he was here, Lin Chaoyang couldn't bluntly reject his request, so he had to agree.

The interview was not conducted by the editor-in-chief Dong Qiao. The conversation just now took place while the two were waiting for the interview.

After a while, two reporters from Ming Pao arrived, one was responsible for the written interview and the other was responsible for photography.

The person in charge of the written interview was named Shen Xicheng. He had a small mustache and a shrewd look on his face. When he saw Lin Chaoyang, he started chatting with him very enthusiastically.

After getting familiar with each other for a while, we officially entered the interview session.

The tone of Ming Pao is relatively high among Hong Kong media, so Shen Xicheng's questions during the interview were very serious. However, he would show off his knowledge from time to time, which made Lin Chaoyang a little uncomfortable.

"Mr. Lin has won the Best Screenplay Award at the Academy Awards for two consecutive years. Now someone has dubbed you a 'genius' in the news. What do you think of this?"

As the interview entered the second half, Shen Xicheng asked a rather sharp question with a determined look in his eyes, as if he wanted to dig out some topical content from Lin Chaoyang.

Lin Chaoyang looked relaxed, and after a moment's silence he said:

"According to Chinese custom, I should be modest.

However, everyone has a different definition of talent and a different judgment of talent.

Some media praised me as a talent because the script I wrote won an award. That was the media's flattery. Readers and audiences just laughed it off. There is no need for me, a "talent", to take it seriously.

Otherwise, next time someone calls someone else a ‘talent’, I, as a ‘talent’, might feel jealous.”

Lin Chaoyang answered the question in a humorous tone, and easily dispelled Shen Xicheng's clever questions.

Shen Xicheng is a reporter for Ming Pao. When interviewing Lin Chaoyang this time, he also had to advertise the upcoming novel The Truman Show.

What's more, the novel has been confirmed to be adapted into a movie of the same name, which is also a publicity point. Therefore, Shen Xicheng asked some more questions about the cooperation between Lin Chaoyang and Ming Pao Publishing House.

After the interview, Shen Xicheng felt a little regretful. All the questions he asked were answered by Lin Chaoyang with ease, without any sense of worldly matters. For the reporter, such an interview really lacked explosive points.

Of course, the entire interview process was very smooth, Lin Chaoyang's answers were meaningful, and the occasional flashes of humor and wisdom also added a lot of color to the interview process.

After Shen Xicheng left, Dong Qiao talked with Lin Chaoyang for a while and politely saw him out of the building.

"With your exclusive interview today, Ming Pao will definitely have good sales tomorrow!"

It was already evening when Lin Chaoyang returned to Oriental Garden. Tao Yushu said that the phone at home had been ringing all day. Later, Tao Yumo and the children were so annoyed that they finally put the phone receiver on the coffee table and got some peace and quiet.

"Last year when you won the award, I didn't see so many people contacting you. I really don't know how they got our phone number?"

"Last year was my first time winning the award, and this year is my second consecutive win, so the impact is naturally different. And this time, Hui Zai and I won the award together, so there will definitely be a cumulative effect.

Our home phone number is not a secret. It won’t be hard to find out if you ask someone.”

The family ate while chatting about the day's news.

Tao Yumo vividly told Lin Chaoyang about the reports in the newspapers that praised Lin Chaoyang. Today, she specially ran out and bought several newspapers just to read the media reports on Lin Chaoyang.

"Brother-in-law, they praised you as a 'master screenwriter'. You have produced two best actor awards at once, and they are both the same person."

"Some newspapers even praised you as a 'mainland talent'. They said you are a talent, but they had to add the word 'mainland', which made people feel awkward."

When a few people were chatting animatedly, the doorbell rang. Lin Chaoyang got up to open the door, and it turned out to be Li Hanxiang.

As soon as he entered the door, he complained: "I called your house all afternoon, why didn't anyone answer?"

"There are too many harassing calls." Lin Chaoyang replied, and then asked him: "Have you eaten?"

"What are you eating? Come on, come on, we're waiting for you to hold a celebration party."

Lin Chaoyang was dragged out of the house by Li Hanxiang and went all the way to the Fook Lam Moon Restaurant in Wan Chai.

When the two arrived, there were already quite a few people there, including the main creators of "The Chess Master" such as Chen Huaikai and Tony Leung Ka Fai, as well as Li Hanxiang's friends in the circle such as Xu Guanwen, Yue Hua, Ti Lung, Cai Lan and others.

As soon as they met, everyone complained about Lin Chaoyang's late arrival. Li Hanxiang also teased him, "Chaoyang, you are now a famous screenwriter in Hong Kong, so you should at least have a mobile phone."

"If you have a mobile phone, you have to answer the phone when someone calls you. Isn't that like putting yourself in shackles by spending money?"

When he said this, everyone was speechless.

"Okay, okay, let's not talk about this for now. The Chess Master has once again won big at the Academy Awards this year and has won the award again. We have to celebrate!"

Li Hanxiang was in high spirits and his voice was loud. With just a few words he created the atmosphere of the celebration banquet.

"The Chess Master" was produced with investment from his New Kunlun Pictures. The movie was a big box office success and won many awards. In the film industry, this is a very rare success story, so it was natural for Li Hanxiang to be happy.

But there is another reason why I am so happy today.

New Kunlun Pictures is his own film company, which has always been an inconspicuous presence in the now booming Hong Kong film industry.

Originally, Li Hanxiang established the company just to film "The Last Emperor", and he never thought about how the company would develop in the future.

But no one expected that after three or four years, New Kunlun Pictures would successively produce two critically acclaimed films, "The Last Emperor" and "The Chess Master".

Not only did it make him a fortune, but it also made the New Kunlun Pictures famous.

The award of "The Chess Master" at the Academy Awards not only brought fame and popularity to the main creators of the crew, but also made New Kunlun Pictures a darling of some bosses and film companies. Today, a boss has already asked Li Hanxiang to discuss the investment in his next movie.

You know, since Li Hanxiang went to the mainland to make movies, he has rarely met bosses in Hong Kong who would actively invest in him. Basically, he has to take the initiative to negotiate. Such a change is naturally welcome.

The atmosphere of the celebration banquet gradually became more heated, and as more and more wine was drunk, some people began to become ruddy and unrestrained.

Lin Chaoyang drank a few glasses of wine with everyone, and spent most of the time listening to them talking about various gossips in the Hong Kong film industry.

Most of the people present today were from Shaw Brothers, and once they had a few drinks, they inevitably talked about the past, and the topic of the haunted Shaw dormitory came up. Everyone chatted back and forth, and the originally good atmosphere became cold.

Of course, the story of ghosts seems nonsense to outsiders, but for people like Li Hanxiang and Ti Lung who have personally experienced that period, it is an indelible memory.

Li Ting, Lin Dai, Mo Chou, Lotte, Bai Xiaoman...

In the words of Li Hanxiang, the stars of Shaw Brothers in those years seemed to be possessed by a Gu, and died mysteriously one after another, which further confirmed the rumors that the Shaw Brothers studio was haunted.

At the end of the conversation, these people's tone was full of sighs.

"Alas, Shaw Brothers is about to close down! Every generation has its own talented people, and all of us have become old antiques." Yue Hua said with great emotion.

He became famous at a young age and was also a popular actor in the 1970s. His fame at that time was not much less than that of Ti Lung.

But in recent years, with the decline of Shaw Brothers' traditional martial arts films, Yue Hua can no longer act in decent movies in the film industry. In the past two years, he has started to play supporting roles in TV dramas.

"You're lucky. At least you still have movies to shoot. Ah Long is the worst. He offended Miss Fang and now he has no movies to shoot!" Li Hanxiang said casually, patting Ti Lung's shoulder.

Dillon couldn't help but smile bitterly, his face full of bitterness.

Back then, he was firmly sitting on the throne of "number one" in Shaw Brothers and a rising star in the Hong Kong film industry. When he was popular, he was even more popular than Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan.

Unfortunately, times have changed. In the 1980s, Shaw Brothers was defeated by Golden Harvest and Cinema City, and Ti Lung's acting career also fell into a trough.

By the beginning of this year, Ti Lung's contract with Shaw Brothers was about to expire. Shaw Brothers urged him to renew the contract several times, but Ti Lung refused.

In recent years, he has seen his juniors, who were originally not as good as him, become prosperous after leaving Shaw Brothers. It is impossible to say that Ti Lung had no thoughts in his mind.

As a result, Ti Lung was naturally shelved by Shaw Brothers and has not made any movies in the past six months.

Last month, his contract with Shaw Brothers expired. He thought he could enjoy his career as high as he wanted from then on, but reality gave him a hard slap in the face.

In recent years, the Hong Kong film industry has produced many talented people and new stars. He left Shaw Brothers when he was in his forties and his acting career was limited to martial arts films. Few investors and film companies were optimistic about him.

Before he left Shaw Brothers, many film companies were very interested in talking to him. But after he left, all these film companies stopped talking to him.

Ti Lung would not believe that Miss Fang had no hand in this.

The huge gap between before and after made Ti Lung feel the fickleness of the world and the ruthlessness of the test of time.

"Aaron, has no film company contacted you recently?" Xu Guanwen asked.

Ti Lung shook his head. Yue Hua frowned and said, "Miss Fang is really ruthless. How much effort did it take?"

"I guess they want to make an example of him."

Everyone was discussing Ti Lung's situation. Miss Fang's interference was one reason, but another important reason was that Ti Lung's status in the industry was such that ordinary productions and roles were not worthy of him.

Otherwise, with Ti Lung's fame, he would not have fallen into a situation where he had no movies to shoot.

"Aaron, don't be too picky. This is not our era anymore."

Yue Hua's words were very unambitious and very realistic, but if Ti Lung wanted to bow to reality, he would have renewed his contract with Shaw Brothers long ago. Why would he have to go to this point?

Dillon expressed his attitude with silence. Everyone could understand his thoughts, but they just shook their heads helplessly.

Movies are entertainment, but they are also a world of entertainment.

Beauty grows old, heroes grow old, and things in the world are hard to change.

The celebration banquet continued, the winners were jubilant, the losers were dejected, and in the end, the party ended and everyone went their separate ways.

When everyone was leaving, Lin Chaoyang patted Dillon on the shoulder and said, "Brother Long, I have a feeling that your luck will turn around soon."

Dillon sneered, thinking that Lin Chaoyang was comforting him, and everyone around him thought so too.

Xu Guanwen joked, "Chaoyang, I think Brother Long's good fortune will come to you, so you have to be responsible for him to the end."

Cai Lan also joked, "Why? Chaoyang wants to be the 'man behind the movie emperor' again?"

Everyone couldn't help but burst into laughter when they heard this. It was obvious that everyone had seen today's news report.

After the joke, everyone waved goodbye.

In the few days after the Academy Awards, the news about the awards was very popular in the media. Lin Chaoyang also benefited from this and gained a lot of fame in the Hong Kong film industry.

Even the movie "The Truman Show" which is currently in preparation has received a lot of attention because of this.

Apart from him, the person who benefited the most from this year's Academy Awards was Tony Leung Ka Fai.

A young man in his twenties, who has only acted in a few movies and is still under a ban in Taiwan, has already won the Best Actor award twice. Such a legendary figure has never appeared in the Hong Kong film industry.

If we make a comparison between the popularity he and Lin Chaoyang have received in recent days, Lin Chaoyang is equivalent to a third-tier internet celebrity going out on the street, while Tony Leung is treated like a top star attending an event.

Invitations from various film companies came in one after another, with conditions more attractive than each other, making it dizzying.

Although some film companies came to approach Tony Leung when he won the Best Actor award last time, the treatment he received this time was completely different. He truly felt what it was like to be a popular star.

With so many choices, he was a little confused and didn't know how to make a decision. Then he ran to Lin Chaoyang's house with a few scripts, asking Lin Chaoyang to help him make a decision.

Lin Chaoyang suddenly felt embarrassed. It was not that he could not help make this choice, but the sense of responsibility of being placed with high hopes forced him to treat it with caution.

"Yushu, what do you think?"

Tao Yushu asked Tony Leung Ka Fai: "Does Ka Fai want to make money or gain reputation?"

Tony Leung hesitated for a moment. If he was really thinking about it, of course he wanted to make money.

He has been acting for three years and won two Best Actor awards, but to be honest, the pay he received was really pitiful.

But whenever he thought of the two Best Actor awards he had been fortunate enough to win, his unbridled pursuit of money seemed to be shackled and became docile.

“We need word of mouth!”

Tao Yushu was flipping through three scripts on the coffee table. These three scripts were from Lo Wei Pictures, Baohe Pictures and Film Studio.

The boss of Lo Wei Pictures is Lo Wei, a well-known director in Hong Kong in his early years, who single-handedly produced two kung fu superstars, Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan.

Golden Harvest Films is Sammo Hung's film company and a satellite company of Golden Harvest Films.

The film studio was established last year by Tsui Hark and his wife Nansun Shi after they launched Cinema City. The financial backer behind it is Mr. Lei, the boss of Golden Princess.

"If you want word of mouth, then choose the film studio's "Dagger and Lady."

"why?"

"Lo Wei Pictures' influence has been decreasing since it fell out with Jackie Chan. The director of Ghost Informer, Liu Jianquan, is not well-known either. In the end, the quality of the film depends entirely on luck.

The quality of the cast of "Lucky Stars" produced by Baohe Films is guaranteed, but this film is obviously an entertainment film. The cast includes Sammo Hung, Michael Hui, and Alan Tam. Ka Fai is just the fourth male lead, which makes it difficult for people to remember him.

The film studio's "Damadan" is different. According to the script synopsis, although it is a female-centered film and she has few roles, he is the male lead after all.

The female stars you work with are Brigitte Lin and Cherie Chung, which will help your fame and future acting opportunities.

Moreover, I have seen several of Tsui Hark's films. He is not the kind of director who can only make comedies. He is very talented. The investment of this movie and the lineup in front of and behind the scenes are all guaranteed.

Taking all the above into consideration, I think "Dama Dan" is the best choice at the moment."

Tao Yushu's analysis was well-reasoned and made Lin Chaoyang and Liang Jiahui nod their heads in conviction.

Liang Jiahui looked at Lin Chaoyang again, "Mr. Lin, what do you think?"

"Yu Shu's words are very pertinent."

After listening to him, Tony Leung said cheerfully, "Then I will take on the role of Swordsman!"

Lin Chaoyang and his wife were very happy to be trusted without reservation. They continued to chat with Tony Leung to find out more details.

It turned out that no less than twenty film companies had contacted him in the past few days, and seven or eight of them had handed him scripts.

The three scripts that Tony Leung brought over were carefully selected by him.

Although he has achieved unprecedented achievements in the Hong Kong film industry, he has not yet proven himself in commercial films.

These film companies invited him to play the role largely because of his fame, so the roles offered to him were not the absolute leading male roles with heavy lines. "Swordsman" was considered a big guy among small guys.

After talking about his own affairs, Liang Jiahui remembered something else and said to Lin Chaoyang: "By the way, Mr. Lin, when Mrs. Xu gave me the script, she said she wanted to meet you."

The "Tsui Madam" mentioned by Tony Leung Ka Fai is Tsui Hark's wife Nansun Shi. Lin Chaoyang asked curiously: "See me? What did you say?"

"No. But from the tone of your voice, I think he wants to discuss cooperation with you."

Lin Chaoyang nodded slightly. He had not answered any calls from the film company in recent days. It was estimated that Nansun Shi could not contact him, so he asked Tony Leung to be a middleman.

"Then you can make an appointment with her and we can meet."

Lin Chaoyang's answer made Tony Leung very happy. He knew that Lin Chaoyang had ignored the film companies that came to him recently, but he agreed to bring the news on his behalf.

What does this mean?
This shows that I have a place in Mr. Lin’s heart!

Tony Leung left Lin Chaoyang's house happily, and called Lin Chaoyang the next morning.

He was told that Nansun Shi had asked him to meet her tomorrow afternoon and that Tsui Hark would also be there, so Lin Chaoyang readily agreed.

In the afternoon, he received a letter from the mainland, which turned out to be from Ermaitai.

Er Maitai wrote in the letter that his and Luo Huifang's wedding was scheduled for August 8, and invited Lin Chaoyang and his wife to attend the wedding.

Lin Chaoyang was delighted from the bottom of his heart when he received the letter.

He discussed it with Tao Yushu. There were nearly 20 days left until the wedding, and Tao Yushu would be more than seven months pregnant by then, so he would not let her go through all the trouble. He could go alone then.

"I'll have to give him a big red envelope later," Lin Chaoyang said with a smile.

Tao Yushu had been working in Xiaoyangtun for several years and was very familiar with Ermaitai. When she heard that Ermaitai was going to get married, she was very happy for him.

"It's not good to just give money, give me something useful."

"what to give?"

"This is something the young couple urgently needs and can use. Don't worry about it, I'll take care of it." Tao Yushu said.

"it is good."

The next evening, Lin Chaoyang arrived at an underground restaurant called Palm in an alley on BJ Road in Kowloon as scheduled.

(End of this chapter)