Who are you calling "little fresh meat"? I'm the king.

Chapter 56: The Sound of Wind Premiere

At three o'clock in the afternoon, Shen Yan took Shi Shi to have a late lunch...

Then put her in the car.

Well, I'm starving...

Successfully unlocked the skill of talking nonsense...

After agreeing to meet up tomorrow night, Shen Yan returned to his room. Around 4: PM, Ji Xiang arrived and took him to wear a formal suit—the sponsor Li Bingbing had helped arrange.

Li Bingbing has top-notch fashion resources. In 07, she became the spokesperson for Montblanc jewelry in the Asia-Pacific region, becoming the first Chinese actress to endorse an international luxury brand.

Originally, this honor should have gone to Zhang Ziyi, but... Zhang Ziyi doesn't have a strong agency behind her...

Moreover, at this stage, Zhang Ziyi is facing many obstacles...

At least at this stage, the only one who can compete with Li Bingbing is Zhou Xun...

Fat Fan has not yet evolved into Big Fan!
Oh, it's called a dress, but it's actually a suit...

A black slim-fit suit and shiny black leather shoes, revealing slender ankles, coupled with a super-A slicked-back hair, directly brings the yuppie style to the extreme...

Looking at himself in the mirror, Shen Yan felt a little embarrassed: "If I go, will it be too high-profile? I'm just attending the premiere!"

Ji Xiang rolled his eyes: "...It's okay, you're not famous, there aren't many photographers taking pictures of you!"

“…What if?”

"There's no such thing as a surprise... I'm telling you, the cast of 'The Whistleblower' are all familiar faces... they all have good personalities!"

"Really? Then I heard that Bingbingjie and Zhou Xun are fighting for the top spot, and you're about to get your head pounded."

Ji Xiang was speechless: "Zhou Xun left Huayi this year, who is she going to compete with for the top female role?"

"Wasn't there a report that Bingbingjie snatched the role of 'Mystery of the Phantom Flame', which was originally slated for Zhou Xun?"

"That's hype!" Ji Xiang waved his hands. "Let me tell you, Director Xu Ke has been wanting to work with Sister Bingbing for a long time. He first approached her about playing Luo Bing in The Book and the Sword, but Jin Yong refused to authorize that film... This time, for Detective Dee, it was Xu Ke who specifically asked her to work with him!"

"Wow, Luo Bing..."

Shen Yan winked...

"What's wrong? Luo Bing is the eleventh leader of the Red Flower Society, nicknamed "Double-Edged Blade," and the wife of Thunder Hand Wen Tailai!"

“…Haha, Thunder Hand Wen Tailai…”

Shen Yan immediately thought of "The King of Destruction" and opened his phone to search for "The Legend of Luo Bing": "You haven't read this book, right?"

"Luo Bing...is this a pornographic novel?"

"Yes…"

Ji Xiang became interested: "You're still looking at these?"

"Studying..." Shen Yan changed the subject: "...Is the battle between the two ices real?"

Ji Xiang nodded: "This is true, Fan Bingbing is not easy to mess with. They had a big fight back then... But that's all in the past..."

Shen Yan probably understood...

Come to think of it, the producer and director of "Mystery of the Phantom Flame" and "The Whistleblower" is Chen Guofu, whose relationship with Zhou Xun is self-evident - the two of them, together with Chen Kun, later formed the Shanxia Academy...

It’s an actor training class!
How could he support Li Bingbing?
……

The Whistleblower is the first film starring actors from mainland China...

No, Alec Su is not! But he is a supporting role... not a big part.

In fact, actors from Hong Kong and Taiwan have occupied the leading roles, and mainland actors are very dissatisfied. Damn it, I am obviously prettier and more handsome than you, and my acting skills are better than yours, but you are the leading role, just because you are from Hong Kong and Taiwan?
Speaking of which, it was Feng Xiaogang who sounded the clarion call for a counterattack!
His "Assembly" directly brought honor to Zhang Hanyu and Deng Chao... and won the second place in the annual box office, surpassing "The Warlords" and second only to "Transformers"!
Only then did Huayi dare to use a purely mainland team to create "The Sound of Wind".

The key is that "The Whistleblower" has good box office and reputation, entering the top ten of the box office charts, and also won the Golden Horse Awards...

By the way, there was a movie called "The Gunslinger" at the beginning of the year. It was directed by Lin Chaoxian, Huang Xiaoming was the male lead, and Chen Guanxi and Richie Ren were supporting roles...

This film was only released in Hong Kong and was shot before Mr. Chen’s photography exhibition...

At the beginning, Chen Guanxi was the male lead, and then the big photography exhibition broke out, and Huang Xiaoming became the male lead!
It is worth mentioning that Lin Chaoxian once publicly stated in an interview that he "would never consider using mainland actors as the protagonists."

Although "The Sound of Wind" is not bad, mainland actors are truly the mainstream at this time.

Because the bosses believe more in the so-called "appeal" of Hong Kong and Taiwan actors...

Otherwise, Love Is Not Blind and Lost in Thailand wouldn’t have been unable to find mainstream investors, with Perfect World as the main investor and Light Media as the other…

We had to wait for the famous Donnie Yen and Zhao Wenzhuo incident to make many film and television bosses realize that the general public still likes mainland actors and is disgusted with those who flatter Hong Kong and Taiwan actors...

Then in 2013, eight of the top ten box office charts were domestic films. Although not all of these eight films starred mainland actors, the middle-aged generation from the mainland played an absolute leading role in publicity and marketing. Thus, mainland actors succeeded in taking the top spot!

Zhao Youting starred in "So Young" and "Detective Dee," but most viewers had no idea who he was. The promotions were handled by Zhao Yanzi and Xu Ke...

Back to the premiere, it was pretty much the same as Ji Xiang said. No reporters tried to take photos of Shen Yan at all. The media focused all their attention on the main creative team...

"The Whistleblower" can be said to have a superstar team!

Wang Zhonglei is full of confidence and declares, "The box office will definitely break 300 million!"

Actually, there is still pressure. You have to know that "The Whistleblower" was released on September 9th, and "Founding of a Republic" was released on September 29th. The box office in the first week was 9 million yuan, and the box office exceeded 16 million yuan in the second week. "The Whistleblower" and "Founding of a Republic" were released simultaneously during the National Day holiday...

In addition, the publicity for "The Whistleblower" focused on the horrific punishments and the on-set quarrel between Zhou Xun and Li Bingbing - mainly because Li Bingbing slapped Zhou Xun...

There's also a highly-liked comment on Douban: "I think Li Bingbing's slap on Zhou Xun was genuine."

It is understandable. After all, it is the first commercial spy movie, and it is the main theme, so it is not easy to promote. So they just promote the quarrel!
If we wait a few more years, Zhou Xun’s monologue would be enough - I am not afraid of death, but I am afraid that those who love me don’t know why I died.

I am in purgatory, leaving this record. I only hope that my family and Sister Yu can forgive my decision at this moment.

But I firmly believe that you will eventually understand my feelings.

My dearest ones, I am so cruel to you only because the nation is at the critical moment of survival and we can only risk our lives to save it in the event of an emergency.

My body will soon perish, but my soul will be with you. The enemy will never understand that Lao Gui Lao Qiang is not a person, but a spirit, a belief.

Only faith is an irreplaceable force.

……

"I feel Bingbing played the role better, because if Zhou Xun played the role of Li Ningyu, she wouldn't be able to do it... Zhou Xun is more suitable for the kind of roles that are particularly persistent and a bit stubborn. Her height determines her acting style!"

"Do you really think so?"

"be honest!"

After the premiere, Ji Xiang asked Shen Yan to share his opinion, and the latter decisively gave a theory...

Ji Xiang was very happy: "When you see Sister Bingbing later, just say this!"

Shen Yan was speechless: "No, do you think I'm flattering you on purpose? I'm telling the truth! I'm telling you that Zhou Xun is a typical experientialist. The biggest problem with experientialists is that if they don't have similar experience, they can't play that kind of role."

(End of this chapter)