Literary Master 1978.

Chapter 458: The Whirlwind in Cannes

The sudden applause and cheers in the Debussy Theater filled the crew with complete surprise and joy.

In just a few tens of seconds, they seemed to have walked between heaven and hell.

At this moment, it feels like being in heaven!

The warm applause in their ears seemed to have a kind of magic, gently lifting them up as if they were falling into a dream.

Xu Guanwen sat there, and between the ups and downs, he seemed to feel his heart beating, and he was a little dazed.

At this moment, he felt the touch on his wrist, and saw Lin Chaoyang patting him lightly, with a smile on his face full of ease and calmness.

"Michael, come on stage and accept the applause!"

Xu Guanwen stood up in a daze and walked to the stage instinctively. Together with him were Ann Hui, Cherie Chung and Maggie Cheung.

Xu Guanwen walked onto the stage and found that Lin Chaoyang was still sitting in his seat without moving, so he quickly walked down and pulled him onto the stage.

The applause and cheers in the theater continued, and when the two stood on the stage, the applause and cheers became deafening.

This is the gratitude of all the audience to these outstanding filmmakers, thanking them for creating such an excellent film and bringing all the audience a wonderful spiritual journey.

Lin Chaoyang and others stood on the stage and bowed to express their gratitude. The applause did not stop. It seemed that the audience would not be able to express their love for the movie if they did not do so.

After a few minutes, the audience's applause finally stopped. With more than 10 minutes of applause, "The Truman Show" became the film with the longest applause at this year's Cannes Film Festival so far.

Based on this reason alone, "The Truman Show" will definitely be featured prominently in tomorrow's program magazine "Screen".

All the reporters and film critics did not expect that "The Truman Show" would be so good.

They are now very sure that "The Truman Show" is definitely capable of competing for the Palme d'Or, the highest award at this year's Cannes Film Festival.

Many people present could no longer contain their excitement and shouted "Golden Palm".

Ann Hui and Xu Guanwen on the stage couldn't help but feel excited when they heard these shouts, and they were so excited that they could hardly control themselves.

After a long time, everyone calmed down and the Debussy Theater finally became quiet.

Next came the interview and communication session. Reporters and film critics on the scene raised their hands impatiently, hoping to be called on by the host.

"Thank you, host. I am Laurent Gutierrez, a reporter from French Cinema. Please allow me to give you my most sincere compliments. The Truman Show is absolutely an extraordinary masterpiece."

Laurent Godillon stood up and eagerly expressed his love for "The Truman Show" without even bothering to ask questions, which caused laughter from many of his colleagues present.

"Sorry, I'm a little excited right now. I love this movie so much. I want to ask you, Mr. Screenwriter, how did you come up with this genius idea of ​​'reality show'?"

Laurent Gutierrez's questions were not only about his own curiosity, but also what most people present wanted to know.

In the 1950s and 1960s, variety shows continued to develop in developed countries in Europe and the United States, and over the years, the prototype of variety shows such as reality shows has evolved.

But compared with the reality show in "The Truman Show" that was almost indistinguishable from the real thing, the current reality show can only be considered child's play.

The most important thing is that Lin Chaoyang presented this variety show in the artistic form of film, and actually created an indescribable artistic charm that impressed all the viewers.

All the journalists and film critics in the Debussy Theater are highly qualified professionals with a profound understanding of films.

It is by no means easy to win their love and admiration.

Lin Chaoyang took the microphone handed to him by the host with a calm expression.

“As we just introduced, The Truman Show is actually adapted from my novel of the same name, and the plots of the novel and the movie are almost exactly the same.

As for the idea of ​​the novel, it was actually because Michael found me through a friend and wanted me to help write a script..."

Different from the routine questions asked at the press conference, the reporters asked questions very enthusiastically after the movie screening. They now urgently need to know more behind-the-scenes stories of the film's creation through the creators' answers.

These reporters' questions took up a long time, which made the film critics present dissatisfied, and the host had to balance the speaking time of both sides.

The media exchange after the screening lasted for nearly an hour. Because other participating films were to be shown in the Debussy Theater in the afternoon, the activity had to be stopped. Reporters and film critics all seemed to be reluctant to leave.

Before the creative team of "The Truman Show" left the theater, some reporters had already impatiently invited them to interview.

Among these invitations, there are many reporters from well-known magazines such as "Film Handbook" and "Feature Film".

Cai Lan played the role of a liaison staff member, communicating with these reporters about the subsequent interview arrangements.

Everyone tried to remain restrained when going out, but the excitement in their hearts had already overflowed.

Before leaving, they said goodbye to several judges on the jury, whose attitudes were much more enthusiastic than in the morning.

According to the habit of the jury, if they are busy with work today, they will usually find an opportunity to slip away after the movie starts and watch the movie again when they have time.

But today, several of them stayed until the end, because the quality of "The Truman Show" really exceeded their expectations. Everyone was unconsciously attracted by the characters and plot of the movie and stayed until the end.

Oshima Nagisa also held Lin Chaoyang's hand and said sincerely, "Mr. Lin, this movie is really great! It's such a bold idea, it's unforgettable!"

Nagisa Oshima's film style has always been known for its bizarreness, and the setting of "The Truman Show" is very much to his liking.

What's a pity for him is that the director's technique is a bit immature and the handling is too ordinary. If he were to shoot this script, it would definitely make all the audience drop their jaws.

Before leaving, Nagisa Oshima invited Lin Chaoyang again, saying that his film "Marx, My Love" would premiere at the Lumiere Cinema tonight.

Lin Chaoyang readily agreed to attend the premiere event in the evening.

After the screening, Zou Wenhuai happily led everyone to the House of Thoth restaurant for a meal to celebrate.

The location of the Thoth House restaurant offers an unbeatable sea view of the Cannes coast. The meal prices during the film festival are outrageously high, with an average consumption of US$150 per person, and it is difficult to get a table.

While everyone was having dinner, Cai Lan also came over. He had just stayed at the Film Festival Palace to discuss interview invitations with those reporters.

As soon as he sat down, he started talking about interviews. The latest interview was scheduled for 2 p.m., with Cahiers du Cinema.

"Cahiers du cinéma" is the leading publication of the French film industry and has considerable international influence. Two days ago, the fact that their reporters would actively request an interview was something that Ann Hui and others would never have dared to imagine.

"At 4 o'clock there is an interview with 'Main Films', at 7:9 in the evening there is a live interview with TV, and at o'clock there is an interview with 'Variety' from the United States..."

Cai Lan didn't have time to eat, and kept on telling everyone about the upcoming series of interviews.

While everyone was happy to hear this, they couldn't help but be amazed. They didn't expect that a successful premiere would attract so much attention from authoritative media to the film.

The sharp contrast between this treatment and the experiences of the past three days made everyone feel a little uncomfortable.

We all understood why Zou Wenhuai invited everyone to celebrate right after the screening. Given the frequency of interviews, there would be no time to celebrate in the evening even if we wanted to!
In the interviews in the afternoon and evening, the director and the two leading actors were the protagonists.

Lin Chaoyang had nothing to do, so when night fell, he prepared to leave for the Palais des Festivals, taking the bored Maggie Cheung with him.

There were a lot of interviews with the crew these two days, but unfortunately they had nothing to do with her as the supporting actress. People wanted to see the director and the male and female protagonists.

It just so happened that there was a red carpet for the premiere of "Max, My Love", and there were definitely more reporters present than there were this morning, which also gave Maggie Cheung a chance to show her face.

There were too many stars on the official red carpet on the opening day, and a little-known celebrity like Maggie Cheung had no presence at all.

But today's red carpet was different. She followed Lin Chaoyang here as an invited guest. She stood beautifully in front of the red carpet and enjoyed dozens of seconds of exclusive photo time.

After walking the red carpet in her gorgeous dress, Maggie Cheung's eyes were full of excitement and excitement, but she soon lost her excitement.

What, what, what, what is this!

Maggie Cheung felt like her eyes were going blind.

Although she has been working in the film industry for two or three years, she was still shocked by the scale of "Max, My Love". To be precise, she was not shocked, but she felt physically uncomfortable.

Not only her, many reporters and film critics present had similar reactions.

After the movie ended, there was a brief silence in the Lumiere Theater. This silence was different from the atmosphere in the Debussy Theater in the morning. Maggie Cheung could even sense the helplessness of those reporters and film critics.

After a few seconds, polite applause broke out in the theater.

After the premiere, Lin Chaoyang and Maggie Cheung left the Palais des Festivals.

Walking on the Croisette Promenade, the small town of Cannes is brightly lit, neon lights are flashing, and there are noisy voices. The beaches, hotels, and restaurants are full of people, most of whom are tourists from all over the world.

There was a bonfire burning on the beach in the distance, and many viewers were watching an open-air movie there.

During the film festival, there are films screened for general audiences every night, but these films are usually not from the main competition unit, but some old films.

Her eyes looked towards the beach, deep and with a hint of melancholy, and she asked Lin Chaoyang hesitantly.

"Brother-in-law, do you think I can be a good actor?"

She has a close relationship with Tao Yumo now, so it is not inappropriate to call him "brother-in-law".

When Lin Chaoyang heard this, he was slightly surprised, and then he understood her thoughts.

Maggie Cheung debuted as Miss Hong Kong. After entering the showbiz, she first went to TVB and then played a vase in several movies for two years. As for the film industry, she had not yet entered the door.

This was my first time at the Cannes Film Festival and the shock was undoubtedly huge.

It’s like the children from the mountain village walking out of the mountains for the first time and seeing the prosperity of the big city.

She didn't see it before, and didn't think it was a big deal, but now she sees that the crazy growth of ambition is inevitable.

"Everyone has the potential to become a good actor," said Lin Chaoyang.

"How can I become a good actor?" Maggie Cheung looked at Lin Chaoyang with hope in her eyes.

Lin Chaoyang shook his head helplessly, you think I am Doraemon!

Seeing Lin Chaoyang's reaction, Maggie Cheung lowered her head in disappointment, thinking that Lin Chaoyang was not optimistic about her.

After a long while, she suddenly heard a voice saying, "Act well!"

These four words are ordinary and not surprising at first, but when Maggie Cheung read them softly several times, she slowly gained some insights, as if she understood something all of a sudden.

She raised her head suddenly. Lin Chaoyang had already walked into the distance. The light from the street lamp shone on his head, making him look indescribably elegant and wise.

On the afternoon of the third day and the morning of the fourth day of the Cannes Film Festival, a movie that had not attracted much attention before appeared on the pages of the daily reviews of many media outlets at the film festival. It was "The Truman Show."

The daily review of Cahiers du Cinema commented on it as follows: Ann Hui's The Truman Show brings absurdism back to France.

The review article of "Feature Film" wrote: Its unique and extreme story setting is amazing, and it is a film worthy of the Palme d'Or.

The film review of "Sight and Sound" is very distinctive:
A huge studio, a fake world, everything is carefully designed. Here, free will is deprived, personal privacy is gone, and ethics are not worth mentioning.

Welcome to Utopia! Welcome to watch "The Truman Show"!
At every Cannes Film Festival, there is one word that is mentioned most frequently by the media: program brochure.

The Cannes Film Festival's program catalogue is called "Screen" and is published the day before the opening of the festival.

After that, one issue will be published every day, containing all information about the film festival, behind the scenes, reviews and advertisements.

Of course, the most important thing is the program score, which is also the focus of all the crews, reporters and critics participating in the film festival.

On the fourth day of the film festival, the program for the third day of this year’s film festival has just been released.

In today's "Screen", "The Truman Show" made a big splash and occupied the cover.

This was not the result of the Daily Screen magazine, which was responsible for the program, recognizing the talent, but the result of Zou Wenhuai's use of the Golden Yuan Magic.

The success of yesterday's premiere made Zou Wenhuai see the possibility of "The Truman Show" winning an award. With such a good situation, of course he had to create more momentum.

The front and back cover advertisements of the Cannes program are clearly priced, and you can appear on the cover for $5000.

Compared to the generous rewards after the movie wins an award, this little money is nothing.

In addition to being on the cover, "The Truman Show" also surprised many people in terms of the most important program ratings.

3.6 points!
This is the highest score of the festival so far.

Before "The Truman Show", the film with the highest program score was Roland Joffe's "Life in War", with a score of 3.5 points.

The festival's program score is given by a small group called the program jury, which is composed of film critics from major media outlets.

These include well-known media such as "Film Handbook", "Feature Films", "Daily Mail", "Sight and Sound", and "Variety".

The scoring is divided into five levels: "×" and one to four stars. "×" means no score, which means that the highest score for the program booklet is 4 points.

The media jury gave "The Truman Show" a score of 3.6, which shows how optimistic they are about the film.

In fact, it is understandable if you think about it. The theme of "The Truman Show" itself is related to news dissemination and personal privacy, which can be said to have scratched the sore spot of these media.

With this program score, "The Truman Show" has been successfully promoted to one of the strong contenders for the Palme d'Or at this year's Cannes Film Festival in the minds of many filmmakers.

Ann Hui, Xu Guanwen and others were extremely happy to see this score. They thought the same as those filmmakers, that although the score did not mean that the film would definitely win an award, it was definitely proportional to the probability of winning.

But Lin Chaoyang couldn't be happy when he saw this rating.

In his impression, a high score in the Cannes Film Festival program is not a good thing. There are many works that have received high scores from award media over the years but unexpectedly failed to win any awards.

Of course, this phenomenon is not completely absolute.

In any case, in less than a day, many heavyweight media participating in the film festival reported and commented on "The Truman Show", which immediately caused a wave of public opinion at the Cannes Film Festival.

"The Truman Show" was like a whirlwind blowing through the sky over the small city of Cannes, not only firmly capturing the attention of many media, film critics and filmmakers, but also successfully sweeping the attention of many movie fans.

It took only one day to complete the transformation from obscurity to the center of attention, and became the biggest dark horse at this film festival.

As "The Truman Show" becomes more and more famous and influential at film festivals, each of its screenings attracts numerous media reporters, film critics, film investors, and film producers, and the attendance rate remains high.

At the same time, audience members holding signs asking for tickets began to appear at the door of the Debussy Theater.

The screenings of films in the main competition unit of the Cannes Film Festival are arranged by the organizing committee. There are not many screenings, and admission is only possible with an invitation letter, work permit or ticket issued by the organizing committee.

Every year, the Cannes Film Festival attracts thousands of movie fans from all over the world. The official will release some tickets to these fans, but tickets for many popular films are not so easy to get, and sometimes they are even hard to come by.

So during the film festival, there will be a group of audiences holding "Ticket Request" signs in front of each theater showing popular movies in Cannes.

After a few days of fermentation, "The Truman Show" has become one of the hottest movies at the film festival.

There are many "ticket seekers", and many of them even write down the price.

But because tickets were so scarce, the price on the sign went up from the original "US$5" to "US$20".

You should know that in today's America, a movie ticket is only 2 to 3 dollars, and the French ticket price during this period was about 20% lower than that in the United States.

Spending $20 on a movie ticket is absolutely sky-high.

But even so, tickets for "The Truman Show" are still in short supply, for no other reason than that there are simply too many viewers who want to watch it.

"Mr. Pollack! Mr. Pollack!"

Sidney Pollack, who had just attended a proposal meeting for literary film adaptations at the Ambassador Salon, was surrounded by several strange men. The judges accompanying him immediately became nervous.

Sidney Pollack also asked with a vigilant look: "Gentlemen, what's the matter?"

A leading brown-haired young man on the opposite side said, "I'm sorry, sir. We don't mean anything else. We just want to express our demands."

"What's the demand?" Sidney Pollack asked.

"You should schedule more screenings for The Truman Show and give out more tickets to fans. There are too many fans who are eager to see this movie."

Sidney Pollack's face relaxed when he heard this, and he smiled and said, "Of course, gentlemen, I am very happy to serve you."

After agreeing to the requests of these enthusiastic fans, Sidney Pollack and his companions were able to leave. On the way back to the hotel, they couldn't help but discuss the current popularity of "The Truman Show".

Now that the film festival has entered its second half, The Truman Show has received the most media attention and audience love among all the films participating in this year's film festival.

Even the jury chairman Sidney Pollack had a special liking for this movie.

He is an American, and the values ​​of pursuing freedom at all costs as shown in "The Truman Show" are really to the liking of Americans.

Although "The Truman Show" expresses and explores much more than the word "freedom", Sidney Pollack doesn't care. "Freedom" is enough.

The fans' move to surround Sidney Pollack was very effective. On the ninth day of the film festival, the organizing committee made a temporary decision to add two screenings for "The Truman Show" and released a large number of tickets to amateur fans.

Such a move cheered and encouraged movie fans. Before the movie was screened that day, hundreds of fans gathered in front of the Debussy Theater, as if celebrating a great victory.

"Xu! Xu!"

When Xu Guanwen appeared in front of the Debussy Theater, their cheers became even more deafening. These fans excitedly shouted Xu Guanwen's name with fanatical expressions.

"The Truman Show" remained popular in Cannes for a week, and made Xu Guanwen, who was previously unknown at the film festival, a big star. He conquered reporters, film critics and audiences with his wonderful performance in the movie.

Standing on the steps in front of the theater, Xu Guanwen waved to the fans with superstar demeanor. Looking at the scene before him, he was filled with emotion.

Looking back ten days ago, he was sitting in the open-air restaurant of the Carlton Hotel, hesitating whether to take a photo with Robert De Niro.

Now, he has become the most watched star at the Cannes Film Festival.

The difference between before and after is really sad.

Xu Guanwen couldn't help but think of Lin Chaoyang's encouragement to him and several crew members during the first two days of the film festival. He had previously thought that it might be a kind of blind self-confidence.

But now it seems that Chaoyang is clearly sure to win!

Surrounded by movie fans, Xu Guanwen walked into the Debussy Cinema, which is on the second floor of the Palm Café not far from the Debussy Cinema.

At this time, Lin Chaoyang looked at Xu Guanwen's back, slowly retracted his gaze, and gently put down the coffee in his hand.

"As for the publisher, I am certainly happy with it, Mr. Bourne. But I need to think about the royalties."

He spoke calmly to Julio Byrne who was sitting opposite him.

Julio Byrne frowned, "Mr. Lin, the royalties we give are not low. You should also understand that it is not easy for a novel written by a Chinese writer to be published in Europe."

"Mr. Byrne, who doesn't want to make more money? We writers need to eat, don't we?"

Lin Chaoyang's frank attitude revealed a confident toughness, and he did not waver in his persistence because of Julio Byrne's words.

Julio Byrne paused for a moment and then said, "So how much royalties do you want?"

"About 15%."

Julio Bourne shook his head when he heard the number. "Mr. Lin, this is too unrealistic. I think you should understand..."

Before he could finish his words, Lin Chaoyang raised his hand and looked at his watch.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Bourne. I have an appointment later. Since we can't reach an agreement, let's leave it at that for now."

Julio Byrne opened his mouth, wanting to keep Lin Chaoyang, but was afraid that Lin Chaoyang would take this opportunity to ask for too much. In the end, he could only watch Lin Chaoyang get up and leave.

He paid the bill and was about to leave the cafe, but when he walked to the first floor, he was surprised to find that Lin Chaoyang had not left, but was sitting in a booth on the first floor, leisurely drinking coffee.

Julio Byrne immediately understood that Lin Chaoyang's next date would also be here.

Just then, Julio Byrne saw a familiar figure walk into the cafe. The other person glanced inside the cafe, then waved to Lin Chaoyang and walked away.

"Damn it! Why is he here?" Julio Byrne cursed inwardly.

He saw Lin Chaoyang chatting and laughing with the man, and he felt very anxious.

Julio Byrne is a senior editor and a big movie fan. He spends almost all of his annual leave at the Cannes Film Festival, and this year is no exception.

A few days ago, "The Truman Show" caused a sensation in Cannes. Julio Byrne took great pains to get a ticket for the movie. After watching the movie, he felt astonished.

When he was young, absurdist drama was developing at full speed in Paris. In his opinion, the rebellious absurdity and black humor satire shown in "The Truman Show" were no less than any absurd drama he had seen in his youth, and even better.

Then he learned that "The Truman Show" was actually adapted from the novel of the same name, which immediately aroused Julio Byrne's interest.

Although he has not read the original novel, based on his more than 20 years of experience in the industry, he believes that the movie "The Truman Show" has such a strong core, the novel must be correct.

In his career, he has never seen a movie adapted from a novel that is better than the original.

Therefore, he had the idea of ​​introducing this novel to France. His publishing house, Grasset, is one of the most famous literary publishing houses in France.

The man who was chatting and laughing with Lin Chaoyang at this time was Clement Metayer, an employee of their biggest competitor in France, Gallimard, who was in charge of foreign literature publishing.

Gallimard Publishing House is superior to Grasset Publishing House in terms of strength and reputation. Julio Byrne looked at the two of them talking and laughing, and his heart was full of regret.

I should have agreed to Lin’s request earlier.

(End of this chapter)