The Birth of the Best Director

Chapter 99: "Heart Labyrinth" received rave reviews and found a special effects master.

……

"The best movie of the year is born!"

——【You are right, give you a thumbs up! 】

"These villagers in the movie 'Labyrinth of the Heart' all appear honest on the surface, but behind the scenes, they're more cunning than a beehive! The director is definitely a cunning person!"

——[The screenwriter is Xin Yukun, don't mistake him, the director is a very good person.]

"Wait a minute upstairs, let me interrupt and ask, is the village in the movie 'Labyrinth of the Heart' in Ye County, Pingdingshan? It looks familiar to me!"

"You've asked in the right place! That's right, it's from our Ye County! When Liu Shishi was strolling on the ridge of a field the other day, I happened to pass by and saw her. I was thinking to myself, how come I haven't seen such a beautiful woman in our area?"

——[What's so good about Liu Shishi? She's just average. Eat more good food!]

"Watch it a few times and you'll find this movie is filled with fascinating details. A photography friend of mine secretly told me that this movie is a horror film, and it should be viewed from the perspective of the old man who gets eaten at the beginning. You'll discover a new world. You're welcome!"

——【Young man, you are very professional. You have discovered this! 】

"Teacher Tingmei is invincible! I love Teacher Tingmei! I've watched it three times, and I love the part where Teacher Tingmei pushes her lover away and gets up and puts on her clothes! The blush on Teacher Tingmei's cheeks is just like they really did it. And Teacher Tingmei's figure is simply fascinating!"

——【Filthy! Dirty! Obscene!】

……

"I heard there's an uncut version with Teacher Tingmei completely nude in it. It won an award when it was screened at Cannes because it delighted foreigners... Please tell me where I can watch the uncut version?"

——【Nonsense! The director is not that vulgar! This is not the filming of "Summer Palace"!】

"Excuse me, where can I download 'Summer Palace'?"

"Same request!"

"Good people live in peace!"

"I have the resources. If you want them, leave your email address and I'll send a mass email later!"

"Brothers are loyal!"

……

The old community near Beijing Film Academy.

After Reba returned from Lu Zhiyuan's mansion, she started living with Zhang Tianai again.

On Monday night, Zhang Tianai was doing yoga outside.

Reba was in her room, looking at the computer screen at first, reading the messages and comments about "Maze" on the Internet.

Mostly praise.

After seeing the messages, she replied to almost every one of them, saying some nice words to bring some spiritual joy to the netizens who left the messages.

Maybe, once they are happy, they will promote the movie "Maze" to their relatives and friends, bringing some new box office revenue to Lu Zhiyuan.

This was a trivial thing she could do for Lu Zhiyuan.

However, for some reason, after chatting about movies for a while, these netizens always like to lead the conversation in the direction of Teacher Tingmei [Ni Hongjie].

Seeing that the comments were out of her control and went straight to the evil path... Reba was so angry that she pushed the keyboard away and simply turned off the computer without reading any more.

"Sister Xiao Ai, why are you practicing yoga again?"

"You're already in such great shape, stop training. It's useless even if you train better. You won't be able to see him anyway."

When I walked out of the room, I saw Zhang Tianai putting a yoga mat in the living room and exercising her beautiful buttocks.

Reba took a look and felt envious, but couldn't help but want to complain a few words.

"Reba, you don't understand. When it comes to exercising to stay in shape, you need to be persistent and not just do it at the last minute."

"Moreover……"

Zhang Tianai had almost finished his training. He stood up, wiped the sweat off his face, did a few stretching exercises, raised his eyebrows at Reba, and blinked his slightly charming eyes.

"Don't you think I'm becoming more and more like a bad woman?"

As she spoke, Zhang Tianai walked like a model, came to Reba's side in a sexy and enchanting manner, and gently lifted Reba's chin.

It made Reba shudder all over.

She took a few steps back cautiously and looked at Zhang Tianai with vigilance.

"Sister Xiao Ai, ever since you went to Chengdu to watch Zhang Jingying's concert last month, I've felt like something's wrong with you."

There's something wrong with you!
Zhang Tianai rolled his eyes, crossed his legs, sat on the sofa, and began to explain science to Reba.

"Reba, do you know? For men, there are generally four types of women."

what?
Only 4 kinds, is that all?
Reba felt that she was about to gain some new knowledge, and immediately pricked up her ears, like an antenna, locking onto Zhang Tianai's channel.

Zhang Tianai poured himself a glass of water and drank it while slowly saying, "These four types of women are mother, first love, green tea, and bad woman..."

Reba muttered a few words in a low voice, and suddenly felt that these four categories seemed to make sense.

"Liu Yifei looks like my first love, Liu Shishi looks like a green tea girl. Jing Tian looks like my mother, and Xiao Aijie and Yang Mi look like bad women!"

"It certainly fits that theory."

"what about me?"

Reba immediately locked onto the positions of everyone else, but when it came to her own turn, she became a little confused.

Zhang Tianai silently stabbed him from the side: "You are nothing, you are just a little brat! He doesn't treat you as a woman at all, he just treats you as a child."

When Reba heard this, she was immediately dissatisfied and snorted coldly, saying, "Sister Xiao Ai, don't you want to be my full-time agent anymore? I've already made an appointment with Brother Kun to arrange a seat in your office across from Brother Ayuan."

Yuankun Media only has one office.

Brother Kun is out doing business every few days.

After a while, if there is a need to edit a film, Lu Zhiyuan will most likely be alone in the company.

By then, I will be with him day and night and fall in love with him over time.

On a rainy evening, I went out, deliberately got my clothes wet, and then ran back to the office silently... letting the rain flow down my hair and drip onto my charming red lips.

Suddenly at this moment, the lights flickered a few times.

She screamed in fear and threw herself into his arms.

Then... hehehehe!

Thinking of this scene, Zhang Tianai's face suddenly became full of smiles, and he hugged Reba with his backhand: "My dear sister, you are so kind, I will never forget you."

"You're welcome."

Reba waved her hand calmly, then pretended to consider Zhang Tianai.

"Sister Xiao Ai, Jing Tian is a mother type. She is gentle and graceful, has a good personality, knows how to spend money, and takes care of people meticulously. She exudes a strong sense of maternal love."

"Brother Yuan, although he is very artistic and talented in art and filmmaking, he is basically a loser when it comes to life. At this stage, he likes a mother type like Jing Tian who can take care of him... If you want him to skip first love and green tea and directly fall in love with a bad woman like you, you have a long way to go."

Reba originally thought that since she was so beautiful and charming, she could also be a bad woman.

After all, what man doesn't like a good-looking badass woman?

But here is the problem.

A man's growth requires a process.

Lu Zhiyuan still likes the mother type now, and it is obvious that he has not grown up yet.

Next, his mental journey will involve encountering his first love like Liu Yifei and a green tea girl like Liu Shishi.

Wait, Gao Yuanyuan is also a green tea girl, and she is also eyeing Lu Zhiyuan.

And in the bad woman track, there are Zhang Tianai and Yang Mi, chasing and blocking, this track is very crowded.

This is bad!
The more Reba thought about it, the more she felt that she had no advantages.

"No, I have to find my own niche."

"Besides these four types of women... I heard that some men are sister-con! Is this the path I have to take?"

After much thought, Reba felt that she could only have a chance to overtake Lu Zhiyuan by becoming his younger sister!
……

Dongshan Villa.

Zhao Shanshan drove Jing Tian back.

"Ayuan, I knew that the movie 'Maze of the Heart' would be a success in China. It was released for three days this week and it directly won the weekly box office championship."

"It was eye-popping."

"Next week I'll contact the cinema chains, especially Wanda, and ask them to schedule more screenings. If nothing unexpected happens, next week's box office should exceed 2000 million."

1800 million this week, over 2000 million next week, and nearly 4000 million in box office revenue in half a month.

Next, "Founding of a Republic" is about to be released, and their screening schedule will be squeezed. Coupled with the rampant piracy, the estimated box office potential is only around 5000 million.

But it’s already amazing!
Anyway, Zhao Shanshan is very satisfied with the box office results.

The movie "Maze" definitely has a small investment and a big return. So far, the profit is almost 30 times.

Not to mention the fame it brought her.

It cannot be measured simply by money.

Now, she is absolutely a very popular figure in the circle of her hometown.

"Before, art films could only win awards in Europe and sell copyrights to make money. But now it seems that the domestic box office is also good. You have shown a clear path for those art film directors."

There is no doubt that the movie "Maze" is an art film.

Because the film is rich in many artistic shots, as well as human reflections, and discusses the contradiction between power and individuals in rural society.

There is also the Eastern philosophy of "seeing through but not speaking out".

However, even if most viewers do not understand the hidden meanings in the movie, they will still think the movie is good just for the suspense story.

In Lu Zhiyuan's view, movies are a simple yet complex thing.

Most art films can be divided into three levels.

At the first level, the director needs to tell an interesting story.

On the second level, the director can use lenses and colors to inject some personal visual labels, just like Easter eggs. If the audience is interested in discovering these, it will be a delicious feast.

Even if you are not interested, it will not affect your appreciation of the plot and visual effects of this story.

Only at the third level can philosophical thinking be integrated into the story.

At this level, perhaps only 1% of the audience will pay attention to these things.

This level is actually not filmed for ordinary audiences, but for people in the industry and those who know the business, as a demonstration or teaching tool to inspire future practitioners.

Many great directors make a mistake of jumping to the third level right away and then complaining that the audience doesn't understand.

But Lu Zhiyuan felt that it was unnecessary.

Movies have been commodities since their inception, created to make money.

Lu Zhiyuan will make movies based on what kind of movies the audience likes!
"Sister Shanshan, although we did a pretty good job filming 'The Heart Labyrinth,' it's not a commercial film. Its current success is mainly due to the company's saturated publicity."

"I don't have any credit for this. All the credit belongs to you and the company."

If it weren't for the star-studded operation, spending money to hire Li An and sending this film to the Cannes selection, and a series of subsequent behind-the-scenes operations, this film would have won the Palme d'Or for the first time.

In addition, in the past two months, Starlight has never stopped promoting and generating publicity for this movie.

Without all of the above, under normal circumstances, the box office of "Maze" can reach 2000 million, which is already very impressive. After all, in this era, a very commercial comedy like "Nightclub" only made more than 1000 million at the box office.

Everyone likes to watch blockbuster movies.

Big scene.

Pursue special effects and cool action scenes.

Just like movies like "Transformers" and "2012"... not only ordinary audiences love to watch them, but literary youths like Lu Zhiyuan also love to watch them!
In fact, the audience's acceptance of rural suspense films such as "Maze" is not high.

Because the main force of movie box office in this era is college students and young people who have just started working. What everyone pursues is the freshness and excitement in the world of movies.

For example, if you release "Wolf Warrior 2" in 2009, it would still be a big hit.

This has nothing to do with any ideology.

It’s mainly the audio-visual effects, plot rhythm, and strong sense of immersion!

……

"Ayuan, you are too modest."

Lu Zhiyuan was not at all proud of himself, which surprised Zhao Shanshan a little.

"You should see what the papers say about you."

She smiled, then took out some newspapers from her arms, pointed at the content on them, and began to read the articles.

"Both are art films, but 'Love Has a Future' had negligible box office on its first day. However, 'The Labyrinth of Hearts' earned nearly 2000 million yuan in its first week. What's the reason behind this?"

"Director Lu Zhiyuan, does he really have the ability to turn decay into something magical?"

“The visuals in Labyrinth of the Heart are unique. I’ve never seen anything like this in a Chinese rural setting!”

First, she boasted about Lu Zhiyuan a few words, and then Zhao Shanshan took out another newspaper.

"and this."

"The reporter asked Liu Yifei, what do you think of Lu Zhiyuan?"

"Guess what Liu Yifei answered?"

Zhao Shanshan looked at Lu Zhiyuan with a smile, wanting to make Lu Zhiyuan make a mistake.

"I don't care what she says."

Lu Zhiyuan rolled his eyes.

Zhao Shanshan wanted to trick him into falling for such a simple trick, but he was not a fool.

Under Zhao Shanshan's teasing gaze, Lu Zhiyuan looked outside the door: "Where's Tiantian? Didn't she say she would come back with you? Why hasn't she shown up yet?"

Zhao Shanshan burst into laughter.

After a while, Jing Tian slowly emerged from behind the door and glared at Zhao Shanshan: "I told you, don't play this kind of game, you're so childish!"

"Okay, I'm childish!"

Zhao Shanshan didn't mind. She smiled lightly and stuffed the newspapers back into her bag.

While filming in New York, Liu Yifei visited Lu Zhiyuan every few days.

After the news got back to China, Jing Tian was very angry.

However, she could only hold back on such things.

Liu Yifei just went to visit and didn't do anything. If she was jealous of this, then she would not be able to live like this.

You can't ask for directions.

Otherwise, it would seem like she is meddling too much!

……

"Tiantian, I've sent you home, it's time for me to go."

Zhao Shanshan smiled at Lu Zhiyuan, and then whispered a few words to Jing Tian.

Before leaving, she couldn't help but add, "When you two are together, remember to accommodate each other. Control your temper and don't be too aggressive. Otherwise, if he can't stand it and leaves you, I'm afraid you'll cry to death."

"Sister Shanshan, I understand. I'm not a child."

Jing Tian asked Zhao Shanshan to leave quickly.

I'm in love with Lu Zhiyuan, and she cares about him more than I do.

After sending Zhao Shanshan out the door, Jing Tian turned around and closed the door. He trotted over and suddenly hugged Lu Zhiyuan in his arms.

"Ayuan, do you miss me? If so, why don't you call me? No matter how busy you are at work, you should call me every day."

Jing Tian complained a few words in a low voice.

Lu Zhiyuan didn't say anything, but just held Jing Tian in his arms, lowered his head, and kissed her again and again.

"It's itchy. Don't touch me."

Jing Tian noticed that Lu Zhiyuan started to touch her and could no longer maintain the image of an artistic male god. He was like a little hooligan.

She chuckled.

That's right!
The two of them understood each other tacitly and went straight to the second floor.

……

The love between young men and women often begins with carnal desire.

"Tiantian, you're a little thinner than before."

"Ayuan, you're still talking about me. Look at your cheeks, you're almost unrecognizable because of the thinness, and your face is so pale, like you've just recovered from a serious illness. I'm so heartbroken. You're just filming a movie, there's no need to work so hard."

Jing Tian hugged Lu Zhiyuan tightly, and from time to time used one hand to touch Lu Zhiyuan's chin, as if he was stroking a beloved treasure.

"Ayuan, Liu Yifei said in the newspaper that you look really handsome when you paint. If you become an actor and play a painter, you will definitely be popular all over the world."

Jing Tian is still resentful towards Liu Yifei.

Without even going to New York to see Lu Zhiyuan, Liu Yifei flew across half the world from Yanjing to Los Angeles, and met Lu Zhiyuan by chance at the Santa Monica Pier.

When she appears on stage, the background music will be "I Crossed the Ocean to See You".

That's enough!
If Reba hadn't informed her, Jing Tian wouldn't have known that Liu Yifei was so scheming.

Immediately afterwards, Liu Yifei went to New York every few days and said that the technology laboratory that Lu Zhiyuan arranged for Reba had a color style similar to Frida Kahlo.

Only you understand.

You are the only one who studied art.

Are you Lu Zhiyuan’s confidant?
The newspaper was full of [Liu Yifei said], which made Jing Tian very angry!
Who is Lu Zhiyuan’s girlfriend?

"When did Liu Yifei say that? She doesn't seem like such a strange person. Is it just something the reporter wrote randomly? These days, some paparazzi and tabloids just love to exaggerate things like this."

Jing Tian was obviously jealous, but Lu Zhiyuan didn't want Liu Yifei to bear any strange stigma.

There is obviously a misunderstanding here.

"Although she didn't say it, she must have thought so in her heart."

Jing Tian hummed a few times, then suddenly sat up, narrowed her eyes, and stared at Lu Zhiyuan: "She must like you, otherwise, why would she always come to play with you?"

Out of woman's intuition, Jing Tian has already regarded Liu Yifei as a love rival.

The biggest one.

"Tiantian, you misunderstood."

Lu Zhiyuan shook his head and said seriously, "Liu Yifei doesn't like me. In fact, with her Minotaur-like personality, it's hard for her to like others. She's not the type to be in love. She just likes my paintings. It's very pure, just like I appreciate Monet."

Jing Tian thought about it and it seemed so.

Liu Yifei is definitely not the type of person who is in love, let alone stealing someone else's boyfriend.

That's not something she would do.

Thinking about it this way, Jing Tian even felt that when Lu Zhiyuan was free, he should spend more time with Liu Yifei, so that other questionable women would not take advantage of her absence to try to steal her away!
At least, Liu Yifei won't.

"Ayuan, you are always so calm. I don't think I've ever seen you angry. How about you get angry and let me see?"

After figuring it out, Jing Tian was no longer jealous and even started joking with Lu Zhiyuan.

"Why should I be angry for no reason?"

Lu Zhiyuan pinched Jing Tian's nose and told her to be quiet, saying it was getting late and time to go to bed.

"Then hold me."

Jing Tian hugged Lu Zhiyuan and acted coquettishly in his arms.

Lu Zhiyuan didn't buy it. "How can I sleep while holding you? You like to move around when you sleep."

Jing Tian pretended to be unhappy and snorted coldly, then smiled slyly: "If you don't hold me, then I will hold you to sleep! You put your head on my chest, I will sing a lullaby and coax you to sleep like a child."

Good guy!
Where did you learn this?
Although Jing Tian’s proposal was very tempting, Lu Zhiyuan thought about it and decided to hold Jing Tian in his arms while sleeping.

Otherwise, others would think that you have an Oedipus complex!

……

The next morning.

Lu Zhiyuan was woken up by a phone call.

"Who is it, so early in the morning? Can't you let me sleep?"

Jing Tian was also woken up and looked unhappy.

"Be good, I'll take a call, you continue to sleep."

Lu Zhiyuan turned around and kissed Jing Tian on the forehead and touched her cheek. Jing Tian was like an angry female beast, and after being comforted, she immediately became docile.

He walked out of the door with the phone, and Lu Zhiyuan answered it.

"Brother Kun, what are you in such a hurry about so early in the morning?"

"Brother, good news! Schwarzschild agreed. He watched the movie 'Labyrinth of the Heart' and became very interested in China. He's ready to leave his family and career behind and come to China to start a business with us!"

Xin Yukun was chattering non-stop about Lu Zhiyuan.

It is said that he tricked senior technicians from Industrial Magic Light into working for them for one of his movies and created a robot special effects universe.

But after listening for a while, Lu Zhiyuan heard something wrong.

"What was it about 'The Labyrinth of the Heart' that sparked Schwarzschild's interest in China? Given his surname, his ancestors must have been German, specializing in black hole research, right?"

Brother Kun didn't say anything, just laughed.

Considering that Xin Yukun and Schwarzschild had just met and were already going to a nightclub together, Lu Zhiyuan instantly understood something.

Teacher Tingmei!

Lu Zhiyuan now had to wonder what on earth he had filmed.
Did you shoot it yourself, or is it "Maze of the Heart"?

For some reason, this feeling reminded him of the movie "Lust, Caution".

After several years, everyone has forgotten what the theme of this movie is.

What about glorifying traitors and vilifying anti-Japanese heroes... these labels have almost faded.

I just remember that Tang Wei took off her clothes!

(End of this chapter)