Generation Z Artists

Chapter 260 The premiere scene turned into a fashion show

For the next three days, Fang Xinghe was like a fully wound-up machine, running day and night without stopping.

With four promotional tasks weighing heavily on their shoulders—celebrity tours, special interviews, premiere ceremonies, and collaborations with consumer goods and fast-food restaurants—and time so limited, they had no choice but to give it their all.

Entertainment Weekly, People, Premiere...

More than ten print magazines have already published numerous reports about "Hero," and now, Fang Xinghe will deliver the final blow.

At 2 a.m. on the 22nd, U.S. time, Fang Xinghe arrived at the headquarters of Entertainment Weekly in Los Angeles.

An interesting little incident occurred when I got out of the car in the parking lot.

A group of people rushed out of the back door of the building, surrounding a key figure in the middle. The two sides met at the back door, and the security guards on both sides looked at each other warily.

Fang Xinghe hadn't paid any attention to the other person at first, but the staff member handling the liaison reminded him: "SR, that's Leonardo DiCaprio..."

Oh, it's Leonardo DiCaprio. He's promoting "How to Get Away with Murder".

As films released on the same day, they are direct competitors.

As different types of films, the overlap in their audiences is actually not high.

Therefore, the current situation is very delicate.

A commotion arose from the other side, and it's highly likely that Leonardo already knew who he had bumped into.

What would he do?
Fang Xinghe was very interested in the result, so he stopped silently.

Within two seconds, Leonardo's distinctive voice suddenly rang out from the crowd.

"Hey! Is that our Lord AS over there?"

The crowd parted, and Leonardo DiCaprio strode in with a big smile, waving and greeting everyone.

"This is your biggest fan, Leonardo DiCaprio. It's so great to see you here!"

AS, Astral Sanctus Star River, is Fang Xinghe's chuunibyou (a Japanese term for someone with delusions of grandeur) nickname in North America.

People who can shout "AS" are not necessarily fans, but they must be very concerned about everything related to Fang Xinghe.

Fang immediately flashed a bright, business-like smile, and parted the crowd to meet Leonardo DiCaprio in the middle.

"Hey Leon, what a coincidence, nice to meet you."

The two had a historic encounter, shook hands firmly, and were met with a burst of suppressed gasps from those around them.

Fang Xinghe carefully examined the "young man" opposite him. Born in 1974, he was no longer young and was no longer the Jack everyone remembered from 98. He appeared very mature and slightly overweight.

His official height is 180cm, but in person, he looks about the same height as Fang Xinghe, so his actual height should be at least 182cm.

In terms of looks, Fang Xinghe won easily.

When it comes to star power, no one can be outdone.

After exchanging glances, Little Li suddenly winked at Fang Xinghe.

"Hey AS, I bought a ticket for the Wizards' Christmas Day game. I thought you'd be playing, but you're so irresponsible... Isn't promoting the movie more tiring?"

"You don't know enough about my physical strength."

Fang Xinghe responded with a joke.

"Actually, I can go three days without sleep and then go straight to the court to play... On another note, did you really buy a ticket? Be honest now, I can still get you one."

"Hahahahaha!"

Leonardo DiCaprio laughed heartily, then shook his head in acknowledgment.

"Okay, okay, I haven't bought it yet. I probably don't have time unless... you decide to play."

"Same here." Fang Xinghe shrugged. "I don't have time either. Unless... you're willing to come."

A hint of interest flashed in Leonardo DiCaprio's eyes—a thoughtful yet highly interested gleam that meant he was beginning to seriously consider the matter.

"Can we exchange contact information to stay in touch?"

"of course."

Fang Xinghe nodded, and Wang Charlie immediately took out his personal business card and handed it to Little Li's assistant.

"OK, then let's all get back to work. Goodbye."

Both had tight schedules, so they didn't waste any time, met briefly, and then parted ways in a hurry.

As Fang Xinghe went upstairs, he received a call from Jeff.

"Jointly promoting with 'Catch Me If You Can't Get Away with Murder' is a good move. Their positioning is an all-star family-friendly film, while ours is an art-level kung fu blockbuster. The mutual promotion effect far outweighs the mutual obstruction effect."

So, could you possibly find the time to participate in the Christmas Day game?

"Of course," Fang said with a meaningful smile. "Otherwise, why do you think this year's Christmas Day game would still be Lakers hosting Wizards?"

Jeff was startled.

"Could it be... that you had already communicated this matter with the league before the season even started?"

Hahaha! Guess for yourself!

Fang Xinghe laughed loudly as he hung up the phone and walked into the editor-in-chief's office of Entertainment Weekly.

《英雄》的首映礼时间是12月24日22点整，上映时间是12月25日0点整，而奇才队圣诞大战的时间是25日下午8点，都在洛杉矶。

Is it such a coincidence?
No, the head of the online army never relies on luck; he simply wins by calculating more.

After finishing the interview with Entertainment Weekly, I rushed to People magazine.

People magazine gave Fang Xinghe the cover of this issue, so he stayed a little longer. LV sent a team to do styling for him, which lasted until 8 a.m. before he went to "The Tonight Show with Jay Reynolds".

After recording the program, I boarded a plane to New York to participate in an interview for The New York Times' film column.

Afterwards, a meeting was held with Starbucks to customize a global Heroes coffee set.

In reality, Starbucks has absolutely nothing to do with period kung fu movies, but Fang Xinghe's personal popularity is guaranteed. Essentially, this is Starbucks' sycophantic behavior in order to secure Fang Xinghe's endorsement rights.

Once this negotiation is settled, I'll fly back to attend the pre-screening dinner organized by Sony Classics.

The banquet was attended by a large number of Hollywood celebrities and well-known film critics from across the United States. Apart from a few big-name film critics who did not attend in order to maintain their "neutral and objective" personas, Fang Xinghe met many active film and television columnists.

This gathering was actually more fun than I had imagined.

Because our Brother Fang also has another high-profile identity—a traditional literary writer.

Yes, although there is no foreign language translation of "The Snow in the Night," its status in the Japanese literary world has also influenced the Western world.

This topic is a bit convoluted if we go into detail, but the logic is roughly as follows.

The modern Japanese literary scene holds a significant position in the world due to the reputation of serious literature established by its predecessors (Yasunari Kawabata, Yukio Mishima, Kenzaburo Oe) and the huge audience base and reading interest brought about by contemporary popular culture.

This directly led to Haruki Murakami's transformation from a "famous Japanese writer" to a "world-class bestselling author."

Fang Xinghe also benefited from this wave of opportunities.

Because "The Snow in the Night" was a critical and commercial success in Japan, his achievements were highly recognized by the Japanese literary world, and the world literary world also embraced him. Although only that collection of essays was published in North America, its influence was by no means small.

Criticism of freedom, democracy, and class; awakening of youth consciousness; rebellion and counter-rebellion; a fighting spirit that resonates with the needs of the entire nation…

Those things are meaningless to the film and television industry, but they have a huge practical effect on film critics who call themselves writers.

For example, Stephen Hunter, who made a special trip to Los Angeles today.

He is the second-ranked film critic in the United States, second only to Roger Ebert, and his influence is enormous. Even before winning the Pulitzer Prize, he is already recognized as the strongest technical and genre film critic.

But now, this arrogant boy is asking Fang Xinghe for advice like a primary school student.

"SR, how do you skillfully incorporate simple, descriptive language into paragraphs that require power? I mean, without using metaphors, just narrating, yet it reads so movingly. Is there any practice method for this mastery of language?"

In fact, Stephen Hunter's questions were more complex than they appeared. He was professional enough to ask very insightful and detailed questions, even down to a specific sentence or word.

Master Fang simply spread his hands and said regretfully, "Dear Mr. Hunter, writing a descriptive text in English and writing a descriptive text in Chinese are two completely different things. I don't think the English translation of 'Sex' truly captures the soul of my writing, so I can only roughly share some of my writing techniques with you."

—When emotions are running high, try to calm the words themselves, discard all flowery language, and do your best to present objective details.

Emotions such as anger should not affect the writing itself, but rather subtly influence the format, relationships, and overall flow of the text, ultimately allowing the reader to feel the power from their own heart, rather than simply experiencing the words you wrote with force.

"Hua Hua Hua..."

A round of enthusiastic applause erupted from the crowd.

Writers and film critics, whether they understood or not, spared no effort in praising Fang Xinghe.

Because they are not orthodox writers, they are at the bottom of the hierarchy of writers, while Teacher Fang Xinghe is different. Teacher Fang is a genius writer, a cut above the rest.

Of course, most film critics with sufficient expertise can appreciate the value of Professor Fang's words, and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call them insightful.

Faced with a barrage of flattery, Fang Xinghe humbly waved his hand.

"When it comes to basketball or action movies, I'm undoubtedly the world's number one, but in the field of literature, I'm just a primary school student following in the footsteps of my predecessors. How about we talk about movies? I have full confidence in 'Hero'..."

Film critics also have great confidence in "Hero".

They all secretly made their decisions:

As long as it's not too bad, it will be a legendary work by screenwriter Fang Xinghe and actor Fang Xinghe.
If it's bad, it must be director Zhang Yimou's fault;

If it's really that bad... you bunch of sinners, you've betrayed SR's trust!
The money Sony gave them certainly contributed to their decision, but if it weren't for Fang Xinghe, things would not have been so simple.

Even someone of Stephen Hunter's stature wouldn't give Sony the opportunity to attend the banquet.

What is his identity?
A columnist for The Washington Post, the second-ranked film critic, a gun and tactics expert, a kung fu enthusiast, and, well, a big fan of the Washington Saint...

Interestingly, he traveled thousands of miles to Los Angeles, while Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times refused to move a mere few kilometers.

Fang Xinghe? That beast who shattered the Lakers' dynasty dream! I will never let him get away with this!

……

At 10 p.m. on the 24th, the highly anticipated premiere of "Hero" was finally held at Grauman's Chinese Theatre.

This is undoubtedly the premier venue for Hollywood premieres.

Its famous front yard, with handprints, footprints and signatures of more than 200 celebrities, has made it a pilgrimage site for movie fans around the world.

This afternoon, Fang Xinghe also left his handprints and signature here, and ABC TV broadcast the entire event live.

Our Brother Fang has that kind of star power. Although he doesn't have a single movie released yet, he can already be called a superstar.

Nearly 200 media outlets from around the world gathered at the ceremony, chattering away and praising the event.

"Fang Xinghe will be the first superstar to leave his handprints here as a purely entertainment and sports star..."

"His Highness Fang Xinghe has not yet truly descended upon Hollywood, yet Hollywood has already submitted to him. Brilliant jewels adorn his crown, a symbol of power crafted for him by the gods of literature and sports..."

"The wise, handsome, mysterious, and legendary Astral Sanctus Star River has finally roared into the cinematic world for the first time. Let's hear what he has to say!"

When interviewed by the anchor, Fang Xinghe slightly raised his chin and glanced sideways at the camera—

"Superstar? I don't care."

I deserve a title that belongs only to me, and an era that is mine alone.

I don't know how long this era will last, what it will be like, or how many of your so-called superstars will pale in comparison to my brilliance...

All I know is that I will bring my believers the most glorious and brilliant period of their youth.

If you still have youth, then following me will be your greatest fortune.

If you no longer have a youth, then you should follow me, abandon your feelings about youth, and let me tell you again what true youth should be like—incredible and crazy.

I neither create hope nor sorrow; I am simply there, and I am both your hope and your sorrow.

With the movie about to be released, it's time to brag a little.

Fang Ge's awesomeness will always be so resounding and inspiring.

Those who dislike him will hurl insults at his arrogance, while his fans are already lost in their screams.

The ABC reporter screamed wildly, broadcasting her distorted voice to millions of households.

"YES! This is the SR we know! YES! This is his damn insane magic! I want to hug him and kiss him... Oh no! Look over there, someone's already doing it!"

Some of the American fans were truly crazy; dressed in simple robes resembling pilgrimage attire, they knelt in a neat square formation outside the Chinese Theatre, bowing and prostrating themselves in worship.

This scene was also spread to every household.

This made many neutral viewers, who were not directly involved, realize that a new fanatical cult had emerged in the United States.

The Church of the Astral Sanctus.

The Cult of the Astral Gods is a sect that worships the Astral Supreme.

It's outrageous, yet so normal; it's hard to describe.

……

It's 10 p.m.

Fang Xinghe changed into the silver armor from "Hero" and walked onto the red carpet.

This wasn't a fashion show, but Fang Xinghe turned it into a runway.

As he walked slowly down the red carpet holding the spear upside down, the special coating on the metal tip of the spear sparked a trail of sparks on the ground outside the red carpet, sending the media and fans into a frenzy.

Whether "Hero" is good or not remains to be seen.

Fang Xinghe's good looks, however, were etched into Hollywood in a more fierce and aggressive way.

The world's largest, highest, and most prestigious arena of fame and fortune?

I am coming.

(End of this chapter)