Director of Photography Department of Huayu

Chapter 127: Killing the chicken to scare the monkey, the truth is not that many people care

It was late at night, and at half past nine the capital city fell silent.

The training room was empty and quiet, with only the rustle of sleeves from waving folding fans and the echo of repeated footsteps on the wooden floor.

Liu Yifei was still practicing her water sleeves in the center of the stage. Her light-colored training suit was already soaked with sweat and clung to her slender back.

She casually tied her long hair into a loose ponytail, with a strand of hair falling to her cheek and then thrown behind her ear.

Wu Chen sat in the corner, leaning against the wall, looking at her quietly.

The door knocked softly.

Then the door was pushed open and Liu Xiaoli walked in.

As soon as she entered the door, she saw Wu Chen sitting there. She was a little surprised, paused for a moment, then walked over with a smile.

"Director Wu!" she called softly.

Wu Chen immediately stood up, smiled and nodded: "Hello, Auntie, just call me Wu Chen."

Liu Xiaoli responded with a gentle smile, looking past Wu Chen and at her daughter on the stage.

Her eyes revealed a strong sense of pride mixed with a hint of heartache.

"Sissi, it's time to go." She called softly.

Liu Yifei turned around, her eyes still etched with concentration. Upon hearing her mother's voice, she gave a playful smile, closed her fan, and replied in one breath, "Okay."

The three of them walked out of the training room, and the moment the door closed, the lights in the training room seemed to be swallowed up by the night.

The wind was blowing outside, a crescent moon hung in the sky, and starlight fell on the ground, as if someone had accidentally knocked over some silver coins.

A cool breeze gently rustled the treetops, lifting a few strands of wet hair from Liu Yifei's forehead. Standing in the night, she turned to look at Wu Chen, a smile curling in her eyes, as if she had become one with the tranquil night.

"Junior brother, see you tomorrow!" She waved her hand and smiled like a flower blooming in the night.

Wu Chen shrugged: "Tomorrow? I might not come tomorrow. Just practice slowly on your own."

"Hmph!" Liu Yifei's nose wrinkled and her face became wrinkled like a bun. Before leaving, she stomped her feet lightly and stepped on Wu Chen's shadow.

Wu Chen smiled and said nothing more. He just waved his hand and watched the mother and daughter walking away until the night gently enveloped their outlines.

These days, Wu Chen finally found time to write a creative proposal for the Olympics.

It was not for the sake of seeking credit, as it was naturally not his turn to be the chief director of the Olympic Games, but he knew in his heart that some of his ideas might serve as supplementary parts or be used by those who came after him.

His conception does not follow the grand and classical style of Zhang Yimou, but rather wants to tell the theme of "Thousands of years of inheritance, a generation of fire".

The story begins with a young boy as the protagonist, starting with a small inheritance story: his grandfather taught him to write calligraphy, his grandmother sang Kunqu Opera, he and his mother learned the etiquette of Hanfu, went to sweep tombs during Qingming Festival, and posted couplets during the Spring Festival.

Each scene is based on "home" and integrates cultural traces from ancient times to the present.

The camera then "penetrates the wall," extending from countless homes to squares, cities, and mountains. The boy gradually grows up, enters a science classroom, boards a rocket, and steps onto the world stage.
Finally, he lit the torch in the center of the stage - not the torch of one person, but the "spark" that converges thousands of years of culture and the dreams of hundreds of millions of people.

The entire creative process does not rely heavily on historical dramatization, but also incorporates cultural fragments such as Chinese calligraphy, Hanfu, Kunqu Opera, acrobatics, intangible cultural heritage paper-cutting, bronzes, Dunhuang paintings, etc., but all are presented with teenagers as narrators, and three generations of "past, present and future" are connected in it.

Young people are the future, elders are the roots, and we are the bridge.

After Wu Chen finished writing, he looked at the creative draft and felt unsure.

This idea is too "literary" and too "quiet", without thundering drums or grand ceremony.

"It still feels a little bit off." Wu Chen smiled.

Compared with Zhang Yi's Olympic pictures, his idea seems to lack a bit of grandeur, but when I think of Kaizi's "Suddenly, there is news of the conquest of Jibei from outside the sword",

Well, it’s actually pretty good.

The film and television industry is not at peace these days.

The first thing that sparked heated discussion was Zhao Yanzi's crowning as the queen at the Shanghai Film Festival.

When the host announced her as the best actress of this year, there was a discordant booing from the audience.

Wu Tianming, chairman of the committee, responded personally: "Zhao Yanzi was unanimously approved, without any controversy. Her performance was the most composed and promising of all the participating actresses."

However, this response still failed to quell the doubts. Even Zhao Yanzi herself did not go on stage to give a speech, and hurriedly left the stage.

After the report came out, netizens were even more skeptical. After all, Zhao Yanzi's performance in "Lover's Knot" was not convincing at all.

Wu Chen sent the plan via email to the public mailbox of the Olympics, and suddenly an advertisement for "Initial D" popped up in the lower right corner.

Wu Chen was stunned and smiled.

Nowadays, we haven't gotten rid of advertising plug-ins yet, and all kinds of pop-up ads are everywhere. However, "Initial D" did perform well. After four days of release, the box office exceeded 3500 million in the first weekend.

Even Yu Dong, general manager of the distributor Bona, patted his chest at the celebration banquet and said, "Breaking 100 million is definitely a problem!"

Nowadays, a movie that has a chance to break 100 million is quite rare, and it can make the creative team famous in the industry for a while.

Wu Chen thought about it and then called Ning Hao.

"Regarding the release date, President Han gave us a promotional plan, suggesting the National Day holiday, which is a good time.

Ah, is it too risky to release this movie during the Lunar New Year holiday?

Ning Hao was stunned when he heard Wu Chen's proposal.

The Lunar New Year holiday season is usually a big time slot that only big productions with a budget of tens of millions dare to take advantage of, and he really hadn't thought much about this small budget.

"The Lunar New Year holiday is supposed to be a family-friendly timeframe, and comedies have a market. We're not clashing with Chen Kai's The Promise, and Director Zhang's A Single Man's Journey is also coming out in the middle of the month. Isn't the market empty in the first half of the month?

"Stone" is a Lunar New Year comedy, and if it's released in early December, it's not much worse than the National Day period. You should communicate more with Mr. Han. I personally think it's feasible."

Wu Chen suggested.

Instead of betting on the immature National Day period, it is better to enter the Lunar New Year period. Early planning can seize market opportunities and provide more publicity gimmicks.

"Okay!" Ning Hao was persuaded by Wu Chen.

The Lunar New Year period has always been a battleground for big directors. Being able to gain a foothold in this period is a testament to any director's strength.

Who doesn’t want to dominate the world in one battle?
Not long after Wu Chen hung up the phone, Xiang Zhuo hurriedly pushed the door open.

"Brother Chen, something happened." His face was gloomy, he was holding a newspaper in his hand, his brows furrowed.

Wu Chen knew something was wrong when he heard the tone. He took the newspaper and looked at it, and his face changed immediately.

The front page prominently published Song Zude's revelations from the program, the content of which was extremely absurd—

Liu Yifei is a "male" who underwent "two sex reassignment surgeries" and her mother is the "manipulator behind the scenes" with the goal of creating a cash cow;
There are even testimonies and pictures from so-called "hospital insiders", which blatantly claim that she "doesn't wear short skirts because of her thick leg hair" and that she wears makeup to "cover up her male characteristics."

"Brother Chen, when I came here, I had already informed Li Xiaoping, the producer of Light Media, and Zhang Qiang, the producer of China Film Group. They have already reported to President Wang and President Han." Xiang Zhuo's face was equally gloomy, his mouth tense, and he slammed his fist on the table, his knuckles turning white.

"This scumbag is clearly deliberately slandering and defaming my senior sister's reputation to gain attention."

"How is the current situation?" Wu Chen's eyes narrowed slightly.

“It just started spreading, but, Brother Chen, you know, netizens love this kind of gossip, so it will probably spread quickly.

And what Song Zude said, I heard it was spread from a domestic website called "Entertainment Gossip"

As soon as Xiang Zhuo finished speaking, Wu Chen's cell phone rang. It was Wang Changtian calling.

The moment the call was connected, Wang Changtian's voice was as steady as an old sailor encountering a familiar storm:
"Director Wu, do you know what happened?"

This kind of thing can be fatal for an actor because public figures fear gossip the most.

People discussing this don’t care whether it’s true or not, they just care about watching the show. Except for the parties involved, no one actually cares about whether it’s true or not.

However, for Wang Changtian, Wu Chen and others, this matter was not a big problem that could not be solved. It just depended on how to handle it properly.

Wu Chen leaned against the window, his eyes cold, "I just found out."

Wu Chen's voice was not loud, but there was a hint of sharpness hidden deep in his tone.

"Boss Wang, I guess I'll have to trouble you again."

On the other end of the phone, Wang Changtian snorted and sneered:
“What’s the trouble with this?

Someone just told me that Song Zude relies on rumors like this to make a living, otherwise who would invite him to the show? But he actually showed me his plan.”

As a former senior journalist, Wang Changtian naturally understands the dirtiest and most cunning tricks in this industry.

But at this moment, someone was playing with knives and guns under his nose.

Wu Chen didn't say much just now, but his words have already made his attitude clear: Liu Yifei is still a candidate for the female lead of "Black Peony".

Song Zude's "revelations" not only attempted to use traffic to gain popularity, but also clearly damaged the interests of Guangguang.

He put in so much effort to collaborate with Wu Chen on "Black Peony", but someone still wanted to make trouble.

"I'll arrange for someone to handle the media." Wang Changtian's tone darkened. "But Director Wu, you also know that with the internet right now, there are many legal loopholes, making verification difficult. If we really want to send someone to prison, it's going to take some effort."

He paused and continued, "Our technical team checked and found that the two articles in 'Entertainment Gossip' were signed by 'Female Bachelor' and the other was written by 'West Street Rain', who pretended to be a classmate.

The source of the IP address is likely a large internet cafe, and it was sent anonymously, so the specific person cannot be found at this time."

"He must pay the price." Wu Chen's tone was calm but undeniable. "We have to make an example of him to scare the monkeys. Otherwise, when our project is fully announced, others will think that the three of us are easy to bully."

These powerful words made Wang Changtian pause for a second.

He suddenly had a new understanding of Wu Chen - this young director seemed gentle on weekdays, but when his bottom line and interests were really touched, he would not be so easy to talk to.

"Look, Mr. Wang, do you know someone at Entertainment Gossip? Contact the backstage team and have them deal with the post, but keep the evidence to prevent it from being deleted." Wu Chen changed the subject and said calmly, "I'll figure out how to get to the source."

"Okay, I'll take care of it. It's a small media outlet, so it's just a matter of making a phone call." Wang Changtian agreed readily.

As soon as the phone was hung up, another call came in. It was Han Sanping.

As Liu Yifei is the leading or second female lead in "Black Peony", China Film's interests will also be affected if the project is disturbed by such absurd rumors.

"Mr. Han, let's prepare a joint statement and a letter of clarification. With Guangguang's media influence, no one will care about this matter anymore." Wu Chen said succinctly. "By the way, do you know anyone who's familiar with the internet cafe system?"

Han Sanping was silent for a moment and shook his head: "I'm not familiar with this."

Wu Chen no longer insisted and could only think about whether there was a suitable candidate on his side.

After hanging up the phone, he stood up and walked towards the practice room.

There is an acting class in the morning, and Liu Tianchi is teaching.

When she saw Wu Chen come in, she just took a look and smiled bitterly.

That bitter smile said nothing, yet it also said everything.

Liu Xiaoli was sitting nearby, comforting Liu Yifei softly.

Wu Chen looked over and saw Liu Yifei with her head lowered and her eyes slightly red.

The girl, who was only seventeen years old, had not had time to adapt to the bizarreness of this circle before she was hit by a sudden rumor.

She raised her eyes slightly and looked at Wu Chen, her eyes confused and aggrieved.

"Auntie, what are you going to do?" Wu Chen asked.

"Let's just ignore it for now. This rumor is too outrageous, no one will believe it, right?" Liu Xiaoli's tone was full of hesitation, and she felt powerless in this media field.

Wu Chen shook his head slightly.

If he remembered correctly, Liu Xiaoli had handled it in the same way in her previous life. At first, she thought it was just a small incident, but the other party became more and more aggressive, and the news became more and more intense. However, the original evidence disappeared due to the passage of time, and eventually even the lawsuit became empty talk.

"Junior brother, did I offend him?" Liu Yifei asked softly, her voice choking. "But... I've never even met him."

"You didn't offend him." Wu Chen said calmly, "You just have what he wants—traffic and curiosity."

"Keke, this is so fake!" She raised her head and looked at Liu Tianchi with a hint of pleading, "Teacher, you know, right? How could I be transgender?"

Liu Tianchi gently held her little hand and said softly but firmly, "Yifi, I know."

But there were still tears in the girl's eyes.

"But why do people still believe it when it's so ridiculous?"

Wu Chen was silent for a moment, and finally spoke the cruel truth:

"A large portion of people only want to hear what they want to hear and believe what they believe. As for the truth you tell, no one else cares except those who truly care about you."

Wu Chen's words made Liu Tianchi and Liu Xiaoli slightly stunned, and they couldn't help but look at Wu Chen a little more.

"As a director, I'm supposed to be behind the scenes, but there are still many people who are secretly slandering me. If I fail one day, these voices will only get louder because they can make money and gain huge attention and traffic.

Therefore, in this circle, what matters is not the understanding of others, but your own clarity of mind.”

Liu Yifei looked at him for a long while, then murmured "hmm" in a low voice, and the tears in her eyes slowly faded away.

"Teacher, let's continue." Liu Yifei said softly.

The sunlight from outside filtered into the training room, breaking into spots of light that sprinkled on her, just like the stubbornness on her shoulders that had not been completely defeated by the rumors.

"Don't worry, the three of us will come forward to resolve the matter. Senior Sister is from the crew of "Black Peony". If China Film, Xingchen, and Guangguang were all here, she would still be bullied. Wouldn't that be a joke?"

(End of this chapter)