Literary Master 1978.

Chapter 459: Sensation in Hong Kong
Julio Byrne did not leave the café but waited there. The appearance of Clement Metayer made him feel nervous about the competition.

Lin Chaoyang and his "The Truman Show" are not well-known in France, which is the most fundamental reason why he rejected Lin Chaoyang's request for royalties.

But Julio Byrne also understood that if "The Truman Show" could win some prizes at the Cannes Film Festival, there would be almost no problem in showing it in France, which would be a good publicity point for introducing the novel to France.

Moreover, based on his understanding of French readers, stories like "The Truman Show" should be very popular.

If the promotion is done properly, it might sell well.

Time passed slowly as Julio Byrne was thinking. After Clement Metayer finished talking with Lin Chaoyang, he got up and left the cafe. He hurriedly called Lin Chaoyang.

Seeing Julio Bourne, Lin Chaoyang was a little surprised, "Is Mr. Bourne not gone yet?"

Julio Byrne smiled and said, "I just thought about it and I think it's necessary to talk to you again."

"Really? I'd be happy to."

Lin Chaoyang sat down easily. Julio Bourne was not afraid that Lin Chaoyang would speak loudly at this time, so he asked, "How did Mr. Lin know Mr. Mettier?"

Lin Chaoyang said, "It was at an official film festival dinner two days ago. Mr. Giles Jacob introduced him to me. There were also several people from your publishing industry at the dinner that day, such as Southern Literature Publishing House and Midnight Publishing House."

Julio Byrne felt a little headache. He knew that Lin Chaoyang intended to create competitive pressure on him.

But he also knew that the Cannes Film Festival had always cooperated with these publishing houses, especially the Southern Literature Publishing House. A considerable portion of the materials, film albums and books related to the Cannes Film Festival were published by them.

With this in mind, Julio Byrne made a decision. The publishing house had already given him authorization, so he thought it would be better not to delay any further.

"Mr. Lin, regarding the royalties for The Truman Show, I think I can promise you."

"Thank you, Mr. Bourne. But..."

Lin Chaoyang's turn made Julio Byrne's face freeze, and he had a bad feeling in his heart.

"I have already negotiated with Gallimard Publishing House, and they will introduce The Truman Show to France."

Julio Byrne was both surprised and helpless. He had never expected that Lin Chaoyang would reach a cooperation with Gallimard Publishing House so quickly.

Clement Metayer agreed to the 15% royalty request so easily?

He was a little confused, but Lin Chaoyang didn't intend to give him time to figure it out. He exchanged a few polite words with him and left Palm Cafe.

"Mr. Lin, how did the discussion go?"

When the crew members gathered together for dinner, Zou Wenhuai asked Lin Chaoyang with interest that the crew had all attended the official banquet that day and they all knew that a French publishing house wanted to introduce "The Truman Show".

"It's been discussed." Lin Chaoyang replied with a smile, and then asked about Zou Wenhuai's copyright transaction.

Since its premiere a week ago, "The Truman Show" has become the darling of major film producers in Cannes. Zou Wenhuai meets with several film producers every day to discuss copyright issues.

But to this day, he has not signed any contract.

The copyright transaction of film festivals is actually very much like a gamble. Except for those films with poor reputations that have been scheduled to be eliminated early, many films with award-winning potential will not easily sign contracts.

Producers gamble that their films can win awards and get a better contract.

The film producers’ idea is simpler. I will buy the film of whoever wins an award. Only awards can bring attention, publicity points, and box office potential.

Although the contract has not been signed yet, it does not dampen Zou Wenhuai's good mood. Through the exchanges with reporters, film critics, jury members and major film producers in the past few days, he has become more and more confident about "The Truman Show".

Currently, the films with the highest ratings and the most likely to win awards at the film festival are "Life on Fire," "Sacrifice" and "The Truman Show."

Compared with the first two, "The Truman Show" is a bigger dark horse. Even if it doesn't win the Palme d'Or, winning the Jury Prize will be enough for them to make a fortune.

May 5th, the closing ceremony day.

After being bustling for more than a week, the small town of Cannes has gradually become deserted, and many film crews have already left.

Most of the tourists from all over the world have also left, and the business of the hotels, restaurants and cafes that were once bustling with traffic has visibly decreased.

The closing ceremony red carpet was at six o'clock in the evening. Compared with the opening ceremony, there were not so many enthusiastic fans, but the reporters were still there.

The winner of the award will be decided tonight. They have been waiting for more than ten days just for this day.

In order to predict the final award results in advance, many reporters will call all the film teams shortlisted for the main competition today, and after clever calculations, they will come to very convincing conclusions.

Some newspapers also deploy personnel in hotel lobbies or airports to see which film crews or stars never return and which ones come back.

"Michael! Michael!" Shen Xicheng waved and shouted desperately at Xu Guanwen, finally attracting his attention.

Xu Guanwen came to the edge of the red carpet, and Shen Xicheng asked loudly: "Are you confident that you can win the Best Actor award tonight?"

Xu Guanwen was in high spirits today. When he heard Shen Xicheng's question, he waved his hand with a smile on his face.

"We can't be sure about this kind of thing. Being able to hold on to the end is already a victory!"

Xu Guanwen's tone was very humble, but the smile on his face betrayed his inner feelings.

At 4 pm, the jury concluded their discussion and the list of winners was announced.

Jury chairman Sidney Pollack has already notified all winning film crews, which is a tacit understanding between the film festival and the winning crews.

However, this notification is limited to "winning a prize", but what prize was won will not be announced until tonight.

Shen Xicheng watched Xu Guanwen return to the center of the red carpet. The foreign reporters around him kept shouting his name, asking Xu Guanwen to give them a better angle for their cameras.

"I can't believe it, in just a few days, Michael has become a big star in Cannes!"

Wu Song, a reporter from Ta Kung Pao standing next to him, nodded in agreement.

The reason why the two of them were able to come to Cannes was entirely because "The Truman Show" was selected for the main competition unit, and the newspaper also invested a lot of money.

They watched "The Truman Show" go from obscurity to being a big hit in Cannes, and even as a bystander it felt a bit like a dream.

These days, the two of them have been delivering various interview information to Hong Kong.

There was no Internet in those days. When the newspaper learned that "The Truman Show" was well received in Cannes, it immediately instructed them to transmit the information back to Hong Kong by fax and international long-distance transmission regardless of the cost.

Over the past week, their own reports and reprinted reports from foreign media have caused a huge response among Hong Kong citizens.

Today is the closing ceremony of the Cannes Film Festival and the day when the awards are decided.

They didn't know why, but they felt more excited than if they were winning the award themselves.

After the grand red carpet ceremony, the Lumiere Theater at the Palais des Festivals was packed with stars.

The closing ceremony of the 39th Cannes International Film Festival officially began. Jury President Sidney Pollack took the stage to give a brief speech, and then it was time for the awards ceremony.

The Short Film Palme d'Or, the Camera d'Or, the International Film Critics Award... the order of awards at all award ceremonies is from light to heavy, small to large, and the Cannes Film Festival is no exception.

Every time an award is presented, there is thunderous applause, and the winners are all delighted.

After all the non-competitive awards were presented, the atmosphere on site gradually became tense.

The first main competition unit award was announced, and the Best Actress Award was a double yolk, awarded to Fernanda Torres for "Love Me Always or Never" and Barbara Sukowa for "Rosa Luxemburg" respectively.

The two actresses hugged their colleagues with great surprise and went on stage to receive the award, but their colleagues were not happy at all.

Because according to the rules of the Cannes Film Festival, a film cannot win two or more of the Palme d'Or, Grand Prix, Jury Prize, Best Director and Best Screenplay awards at the same time.

Winning the Best Actress award certainly does not mean that these two films have no chance of winning the Palme d'Or, but the probability is obviously much lower.

The Best Actor Award was presented next. Xu Guanwen looked calm, but his fingers, which had turned white from being pinched, revealed the nervousness in his heart.

After the award presenter came on stage, he glanced at Lin Chaoyang beside him. Lin Chaoyang seemed to sense something and looked at him.

"Do you think you can win the prize?" Lin Chaoyang asked with a teasing tone.

Xu Guanwen kept his mouth shut and did not give him the chance to tease him.

"Michael Hui!"

As the name resounded throughout the Lumiere Theater, Xu Guanwen's butt seemed to be equipped with springs. He suddenly jumped up from his seat and punched hard in celebration. The same went for several other members of the crew.

"Congratulations, the new Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival!"

Lin Chaoyang stood up and hugged Xu Guanwen, but he was hugged tightly by him.

"Thank you! Chaoyang, thank you!"

Amid the applause, Xu Guanwen's voice was genuine and passionate, and it reached Lin Chaoyang's ears clearly, full of gratitude.

Xu Guanwen's gratitude comes from the heart. He has been seeking transformation in the past two years, but the results have not been satisfactory.

Without Lin Chaoyang's script, none of this would have been possible.

Cannes Film Festival Best Actor!
Before Xu Guanwen, no one from Hong Kong had ever won this award. Even if the scope is expanded to China and the whole of Asia, no one has ever received such an honor.

He had imagined it many times and hoped for it many times, but when he was actually crowned the Best Actor, the joy and excitement in his heart seemed to burst his whole body.

I want to explode with joy!

When he finally stood on the stage and looked at the blond-haired, blue-eyed foreigners sitting in the audience, he couldn't help but feel a deep sense of pride when he thought that he had won the Best Actor award at such a film festival dominated by European and American countries.

He delivered his acceptance speech in a mixture of English and Cantonese, and the audience burst into warm applause again.

"The Truman Show" has created a sensation in Cannes since its premiere. In addition to the quality of the film itself, Xu Guanwen's performance as "Truman" has also received a lot of praise, bringing him huge prestige.

A film festival is different from general film awards. Being shortlisted for the main competition unit itself means that the film has the potential to win any award.

In other words, Xu Guanwen won the honor of Best Actor after a fierce competition with more than 20 peers.

Among them are many Oscar-winning actors such as Robert De Niro, Erland Josephson and Gérard Depardieu, whose performances are of great value. The heartfelt applause from the guests present is the greatest recognition of Xu Guanwen's acting skills.

When Xu Guanwen returned to his seat, everyone around him congratulated him again.

Although the probability of winning another major award has obviously become much lower after winning the Best Actor award, at least it is a prestigious award, which can be considered a peace of mind.

The award ceremony continued, and the next award was for Best Screenplay.

After Xu Guanwen sat down, with excitement still on his face, he said to Lin Chaoyang: "There is a Best Screenwriter award this year, Chaoyang, you have a chance!" There are only four awards for crew members at the Cannes Film Festival: Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Screenwriter.

The first three are awarded in every session, but the latter is not.

In previous film festivals, awards often went vacant, and it was common for them to be awarded the following year. The Best Screenplay Award at the Cannes Film Festival was last awarded in 1984.

Lin Chaoyang did not show any nervousness or anxiety because of Xu Guanwen's words. At this moment, he was thinking about the ownership of the award, and whispered to Xu Guanwen and Zou Wenhuai from time to time.

The Palme d'Or, Grand Jury Prize, Jury Prize, Best Director and Best Screenplay awards have yet to be awarded.

Given Ann Hui's performance, she will definitely not be able to compete with Martin Scorsese of "After Hours" and Roland Joffe of "Life in the Air".

And if "The Truman Show" could win the Palme d'Or, according to the film festival's usual practice of distributing awards, Xu Guanwen would not have won the Best Actor award.

After excluding these two awards, The Truman Show is most likely to win one or two of the three awards: the Grand Jury Prize, the Grand Jury Prize and the Best Screenplay Award.

Listening to his analysis, Zou Wenhuai nodded frequently and agreed with this judgment in his heart.

"Since Michael won the Best Actor award, I knew there was no hope for him to win the Palme d'Or..."

Zou Wenhuai was speaking with some regret when the voice of "Chaoyang Lin" suddenly rang out in the Lumiere Cinema. Boss Zou stood up without even saying a word.

It doesn't matter whether the Palme d'Or or not, as long as they can win an award, the more awards the better. Every award they win now is a huge progress for Hong Kong films.

"Chaoyang, congratulations!"

"congratulations!"

Colleagues from the crew stood up and hugged Lin Chaoyang to congratulate him, and applause rang out again in the theater.

At the same time, many filmmakers stood up to express their congratulations, and the live broadcast of France 4 TV also cut to Lin Chaoyang.

It is true that "The Truman Show" is a hot favorite at this year's Cannes Film Festival, but most veteran filmmakers understand that the strength of this movie lies in the screenwriter's wild imagination.

It gives the film excellent imagination and extraordinary artistry, and while telling a good story, it also achieves a strong social critical significance.

This can be said to be the ultimate goal pursued by the vast majority of art film directors and screenwriters.

Therefore, Lin Chaoyang's award made these filmmakers so excited.

Lin Chaoyang went on stage to receive the award, and after giving his thanks as usual, he left the stage. Xu Guanwen teased, "Your acceptance speech was too perfunctory."

"I'm not being perfunctory. I'm trying to give enough time to the next winners." Lin Chaoyang joked.

When it came time to present the Best Director Award, it was unsurprisingly given to Martin Scorsese for After Hours.

Ann Hui's face was filled with disappointment. After being a director for so many years, the Best Director Award at the Cannes Film Festival was the biggest award she had ever been nominated for, but unfortunately she missed it.

"It's okay, there are three more prizes to come." Lin Chaoyang comforted her.

The three awards, the Palme d'Or, the Grand Jury Prize and the Jury Prize, can be simply compared to first, second and third prizes.

The Jury Prize went to Saint Therese, leaving only two awards to go.

The atmosphere in the Lumiere Theater was already tense to the extreme. There were 22 films shortlisted for the film festival, and most of them did not win any awards tonight. Everyone was paying attention to the award presenter on the stage.

The judges Charles Aznavour and Sonia Braga presented the Grand Jury Prize. They went on stage and spoke in French. Just like the previous award ceremonies, no one could understand what they were saying and no one cared. What everyone cared about was who would win the award.

"The winner of the Grand Jury Prize is... The Truman Show!"

As soon as Sonia Braga finished speaking, several people from the crew of "The Truman Show" stood up together, excited.

Although they missed the highest award, the Palme d'Or, this is the second largest award after all, not to mention that they had already won the Best Screenplay and Best Actor awards.

One film, three awards!

Such an achievement is not inferior even when compared with the Palme d'Or.

You should know that in the history of the Cannes Film Festival, it is rare to give multiple awards to a film. These three awards are undoubtedly the jury's high recognition of "The Truman Show".

Ann Hui went on stage to receive the award as a director and was extremely emotional.

“Thanks to Chaoyang for writing such a wonderful script, thanks to Michael for giving us his best performance ever for this film, and thanks to our investor Mr. Zou Wenhuai…

This award is the pride of all Hong Kong filmmakers, and also belongs to all Chinese filmmakers..."

The final Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival was awarded to Roland Joffe's "Life in War", and the 39th Cannes Film Festival officially came to an end.

Tonight is destined to be a sleepless night for the crew of "The Truman Show".

Not only because of the joy of winning the award, but also because of the many media interviews he needed to deal with, Zou Wenhuai was also busy making phone calls and meeting with film producers from various countries.

It was a bit regrettable that it did not win the Palme d'Or, but with the Jury Grand Prix, Best Screenplay and Best Actor awards, "The Truman Show" is still the biggest winner of this year's Cannes Film Festival.

Waiting for a price before the closing ceremony was a risky thing, but he made the right bet!
This time, "The Truman Show" will bring huge returns to Golden Harvest.

The day after the closing ceremony, Cherie Chung and Maggie Cheung left Cannes. They were just vases at this film festival, but they walked the red carpet and were featured in major media outlets, so the ticket price was worth it.

Ann Hui and Xu Guanwen still have to accept several interviews from European and American media and plan to return to Hong Kong tomorrow. Raymond Chow and Chua Lam are busy with copyright transactions.

And Lin Chaoyang has already boarded the plane to Paris.

"The Truman Show" won three awards at the Cannes Film Festival. In just a few days, the film will surely become famous in France and Europe.

After watching the live broadcast on France 4 TV last night, Clement Metayer of Gallimard couldn't wait to call Lin Chaoyang.

Every year at the turn of spring and summer when flowers are in full bloom, Gallimard Publishing House holds an annual reception in the large garden on the Left Bank of Paris. Clement Metayer invited Lin Chaoyang in the name of signing a publishing contract.

Lin Chaoyang was not interested in the reception, signing the contract was his main purpose.

The contract Gallimard gave him was no more favorable than that of Grasset. It adopted a tiered royalty system: the royalty was 3000% for novel sales below 10 copies, 3000% for sales between 6000 and 12 copies, and 6000% for sales above 15 copies.

What Lin Chaoyang really values ​​about Gallimard Publishing is their influence and promotion capabilities in the European literary world.

This publishing house, founded in the early 20th century, has been focusing on the publication of literary works for many years. Writers it has collaborated with include Malraux, Camus, Sartre, Beauvoir, Yourcenar and Sarraute.

In addition to these famous writers from France, they also introduced many foreign writers to France, such as Spanish writer Gabriel Garcia Lorca, American writer Fitzgerald, Japanese writer Junichiro Tanizaki, and so on.

The "Seven Star Library" series of books they published during World War II won them great reputation and brought the publishing house's reputation in the French and European literary circles to its peak.

After the 1950s, Gallimard expanded rapidly and gradually developed itself into one of the largest publishing houses in France through mergers.

It never hurts to find a strong partner.

After a short stay in Paris for one day, Lin Chaoyang flew back to Hong Kong.

As soon as he landed, he was surprised to find that he was blocked by reporters.

"Mr. Lin! Mr. Lin! The Truman Show won three awards at the Cannes Film Festival. Is there anything you want to share with the Hong Kong audience?"

"Mr. Lin, you won the Best Screenplay Award at the Cannes Film Festival this time. I heard that the boss of a film company has offered you a sky-high script fee of 50 Hong Kong dollars. Are you interested?"

"Mr. Lin..."

A group of reporters blocked Lin Chaoyang at the entrance, their camera flashes kept flashing, and they asked questions at once, creating a chaotic scene.

Lin Chaoyang didn't have time to answer the reporters' questions. He just wanted to know how these reporters knew about his flight.
Hearing Lin Chaoyang's question, these reporters looked proud.

"We have been waiting at the airport these past few days. Cai Lan landed yesterday and told us that you will be back today and tomorrow as well."

Lin Chaoyang cursed his bad friend inwardly, then discussed with the reporters to give up his position at the entrance of the passage, found a place to give a brief interview, and was able to get away.

He came out of the airport and took a taxi to go home. When he got in the car, the driver saw his face in the rearview mirror.

"Eh? Mr. Lin!"

Lin Chaoyang was surprised that even the taxi driver knew him. He wondered how many times the citizens of Hong Kong had been bombarded with news about the Cannes Film Festival in recent days.

He smiled at the taxi driver, "Yeah!"

"Lin Shenghou is so smart! 'The Truman Show' won three major awards at the Cannes Film Festival, which made us Hong Kong people proud!" said the driver excitedly.

"Thank you for the compliment. It seems that Hong Kong has been reporting a lot about the film festival these days!" Lin Chaoyang said politely and started chatting with the driver casually.

"Of course! Your film is the first Hong Kong film to win an award at the Cannes Film Festival. Ming Pao even said it created a record for Hong Kong films.

Those newspapers even compared you with Li Hanxiang and Hu Jinquan. They were only shortlisted back then, and at most won a...what's that called? Oh, yes, a technical award, just a little bit, nothing compared to what you won this time.

If you open the newspaper these days, you will definitely see your movie..."

The driver talked incessantly to Lin Chaoyang about the Hong Kong media's coverage of "The Truman Show" in recent days.

More than a month ago, when the Cannes Film Festival released the shortlist, the Hong Kong media hyped up a wave of news, but the heat soon died down.

When the Cannes Film Festival opened this time, Ming Pao and Ta Kung Pao sent reporters to Cannes to conduct interviews and reports.

Not to mention that these two newspapers were not invited media to the film festival. Going overseas for interviews alone would be a considerable burden for the newspapers just for the reporters' food, lodging and air tickets.

On the other hand, the real-time nature of the reported content could not be guaranteed. In those days, there was no Internet, and information could only be transmitted through telephone and fax, which was too costly.

Therefore, Hong Kong media rarely send reporters abroad to interview and report. This reality further highlights the importance that these two media attach to "The Truman Show" participating in the Cannes Film Festival.

The attention paid by Ming Pao and Ta Kung Pao also paid off handsomely.

When Shen Xicheng and Wu Song reported back to Hong Kong the popularity of "The Truman Show" at the Cannes Film Festival, they also translated and reprinted many high praises of "The Truman Show" from European and American media, which soon caused heated discussions among Hong Kong citizens.

And as they brought back more and more news, citizens became more and more concerned about "The Truman Show".

It was not until the closing of the Cannes Film Festival two days ago and the announcement of the award list that Shen Xicheng and his partner reported the news back to Hong Kong overnight.

The next morning, Ming Pao reported: "The Truman Show swept the Cannes Film Festival, winning three awards over European and American films."

Not to be outdone, Ta Kung Pao published a report shortly afterwards: "Cannes Film Festival brings 'Hong Kong whirlwind'; The Truman Show wins three awards."

The two reports caused a sensation in Hong Kong once they were published!

(End of this chapter)