Super entertainment red envelope

Chapter 689 Dig Your Own Hole and Jump!
The "Fang Ji" director mentioned by Austin is actually called Fang Jie. Philippine reputation, the first Chinese filmmaker to leave handprints, footprints, and face prints on the Avenue of Stars.

Looking around the world, there are his fans everywhere, and he is one of the few Chinese people who everyone in the world knows.

But the racial barriers in Hollywood are very strong. Even for Fang Jie's sake, not all Hollywood filmmakers respect him, or even look down on him.

Especially those who think highly of themselves, like Austin.

If this were Hollywood, Austin would never say hello, or even make him smile.

But here is Huaxia and Xiangjiang, for the sake of box office, he endured it.

Austin always kept in mind his purpose of coming to China this time - to make money!
For the sake of money, he even did things like coming to China, which most Hollywood filmmakers would disdain, what else could he not do?
"Austin! Hello!"

Fang Jie stood up. He was over [-] years old and walked tremblingly, but he still got up politely and hugged Austin warmly, as if he had been an old friend for many years.

The meeting was organized harmoniously, and there were service staff pushing a trolley with red wine, champagne, etc. on it.

Fang Jie picked up two glasses of champagne and gave one to Austin. The two clinked glasses with each other, but they did not rush to drink, but showed it to the media reporters present. He took a sip, meaning.

Austin, on the other hand, drank his glass of wine, then ignored the other filmmakers present, asked the staff where he was, and walked over.

Austin's seat happened to be in the back row of Li Zhifan, and this row was full of special guests, as well as some public officials of the Xiangjiang government, while the first two rows of Li Zhifan were all important filmmakers in the film industry.

The significance of arranging such a position for Austin is obvious.

He is not an Asian filmmaker, but because he is here and he is an international director, he can only be a special guest.

And this time he has to give a speech and take the opportunity to promote his new movie, so this seat is actually just right.

As soon as Austin was seated, a young man beside him who was looking at him introduced himself and said hello: "Hi, hello, director. I am Wang Dewei, chairman of Xiangjiang Art Development Bureau. Welcome to Xiangjiang!"

"Hello there!"

Austin raised his eyebrows, "You speak English well, do you have experience studying abroad?"

"Oh, I'm studying abroad in Paris!"

Wang Dewei said with a smile, "Mr. Austin, which inland cities do you plan to visit when you come to China this time?"

"I'm not too sure about this, the specific itinerary is arranged by my agent!"

Austin spread his hands, "By the way, I followed your Hong Kong news reports before I came. I heard that there is a mainland filmmaker named Li Zhifan who is filming in the mainland during this time?"

"Ah! Yes, yes, yes!"

Wang Dewei nodded quickly, "Shall I introduce you two?"

"Oh, no need!"

Austin actually said directly, "I'm not interested in that."

Li Zhifan listened with his ears pricked up in the front row. He was thinking about getting ready, but he didn't expect to hear such words, so he couldn't hold back his temper immediately, and said to Liao Feng beside him: "Why is it so noisy in the back? It's like a mosquito buzzing around."

As soon as these words came out, Wang Dewei immediately became embarrassed.

But Austin didn't understand, and asked the translator on the side: "What did he say?"

The translator was an honest person, and he translated Li Zhifan's words to Austin. Because some words were different, the English after the translation was harsher than Li Zhifan's original words.

"Oh? Who is he?"

Austin's expression changed suddenly, "Is he talking about me?"

"Nonsense, I'm just talking about you!" Li Zhifan didn't wait for his interpreter to speak this time, and he went up in English, "You want to get money from the Chinese, but you are so rude, who do you think you are? This is China. People's territory, talk and do things with a little bit of tail!"

"You, you..." Austin's expression turned ugly, but it was precisely because Li Zhifan's words hit his sore spot that he had such an expression.

Li Zhifan switched to Chinese again and said, "Learn if you don't understand Chinese, and don't come to make money if you don't want to learn. I just give you one word: get lost!"

Everyone around was dumbfounded.

Wang Dewei, Liao Feng, Yang Yu and others all looked stunned.

This is Austin!
Many movie fans regard him as a god, not to mention in Asian countries, but in the eyes of the American people, his status is higher than that of the president, and in Hollywood, he can kill a bunch of people with a single sentence.

But this time, Li Zhifan was utterly deflated, and was left speechless.

Austin panted heavily, calmed down a bit, and then opened his mouth and said, "You are Li Zhifan? Hehe, I have seen your "Wolf Warrior". Young people are very talented, but it is not advisable to be ignorant of manners. I love it very much." China, I hope my film can give Chinese audiences a different experience, not just making money as you say."

"Yo?" Li Zhifan turned to look at the translator next to him, "Did you also translate the last few words I just said? Well, you can translate for him again! Mr. Austin, in the 90s, You made a movie called "Gunshots in Kyoto", do you remember? In the movie, you wantonly vilify the image of the police officers in the Mainland, have you not forgotten? You directed it yourself, and in this movie you also It satirizes the Chinese people and made China in the 90s into the old China in the 20s. This movie was banned by the Ministry of Culture of our country at that time, have you not forgotten it?"

"I... that is..."

"Hey, don't say you were just working for a film company back then!"

Li Zhifan waved his hand and said with a smile, "Although you said many times later that you accepted the film because of the film company's reasons and the need to survive and eat, but when you learned that the film was banned by our country, you wanted to vent A new film called "The Great Retreat of the Chinese Army" was filmed within half a year. In it, it is fictional that our country sent troops to the United States, invaded your two states, and then you sent them back to the East. Have you not forgotten this movie? It is a pity that this movie Because of suspected racial discrimination, it was rated as an R-rated movie, and it was not released in large theaters, but many people in the United States still watched it, and you also won the best director award from the New York Film Critics Association for this movie. Award, you don’t forget, do you?”

That was the first time Austin won the best director, how could he forget?

This history and the relationship between these two films are extremely complicated for Austin.

On the one hand, he regards these two films as his past glory, because "Gunshots in Kyoto" made him famous, and "The Great Retreat of the Chinese Army" won him the first director award in his life.

However, when facing the Chinese, especially when they came to China to make money, he didn’t want others to remember that he had these two movies, so he publicly denied many times that it was out of his own heart, and every time he denied it, it was a tribute to the Chinese media. Well, in the Hollywood media, he never let go of an explanation about the two movies. Even on a talk show, the host made fun of him with the two movies, and he accepted it happily.

Many Chinese filmmakers around, whether they are from the mainland, Xiangjiang or Taiwan, all know these two films, but they dare not mention them publicly, but Li Zhifan mentioned them, and also said that Austin was speechless, so they all Applaud him in my heart.

Cattle!It's so awesome!
How dare you face Austin, and there are so many reporters talking about this topic openly.

What a hot-blooded man.

But these are just thoughts, and most people dare not stand in line clearly.

Moreover, Austin has defended this matter many times, no matter whether it is sincere or false, at least Li Zhifan said so, and he still has the meaning of turning over old scores and stalking.

Austin said stiffly: "Sorry! I have to admit my fault. I was just a small director when I was filming "Kyoto Gunshots". In order to earn living expenses, I turned on the phone, and the second movie was indeed a momentary impulse. I blamed me for being young and frivolous. I didn’t understand the root cause of the matter, so I still have to say sorry to all Chinese! But I don’t There is no unfriendliness to the Chinese, this is what I have been emphasizing, I like this country very much, and I hope to cooperate with more outstanding Chinese filmmakers."

As soon as this remark came out, the reporters on the scene were boiling.

For a long time, Austin only explained the movie "Gunshots in Kyoto" because the movie caused too much criticism in China at that time, and it was released in many countries around the world. "But there was no explanation, because in Austin's view, this movie didn't even show up in theaters, but only played a few rounds in a few small movie theaters. Although the video tape was printed later, it still didn't get paid back. Even many Americans have not seen this movie, so I am afraid it has no profound impact on distant China.

Of course, it’s not that Austin didn’t expect it at all, it’s just that his thinking has been evading and he is unwilling to believe the other side. It wasn’t until Li Zhifan pointed out the seriousness of this movie that he felt that he should apologize—because he still has to earn money. China's box office, it can't let this ruin the overall plan for the new film.

Wang Dewei finally heaved a sigh of relief. In his opinion, the fact that Austin did not leave in a huff means that the matter has been resolved. He also said with a smile: "We are all filmmakers, and we can discuss problems together. We may have different ideas, but It's all for the art of film!"

Many Chinese filmmakers around immediately echoed, as expected, this world is still willing to stand for hypocrisy.

After the accusations just now, Austin was obviously much softer. Although he was more silent, the state he showed was not as dragging as he first entered the door.

But Austin has been thinking about how to fight back against Li Zhifan, retort him a few times, and can't just walk away in a fit of anger.

So when everyone was discussing the special effects of movies, Austin proudly showed off: "Everyone knows that Hollywood special effects have achieved the ultimate, but Chinese movies have been catching up and imitating and learning over the years. I remember before Hollywood movies are completely invincible in China, but this has not been the case in recent years. Many North American and even global movies have made a lot of money at the box office, but the box office in China is not high, but many North American movies are not high at the box office, and they are also known as big movies. Bad movies have achieved good results in China. This shows that the Chinese film market has been established, but there are still conflicts and barriers between Eastern and Western civilizations. Many film companies I know have listed the Chinese film market as the first item. , Many films will consider the Chinese film market in the early stages of production."

Although there are a few words in this statement that are reasonable, why does it sound so wrong?
In particular, the sentence "Big bad foreign movies can sell well in China, but well-known foreign movies have suffered from Waterloo in China" is clearly an insinuation of the low level of Chinese audiences!

What else are you talking about about Eastern and Western civilizations?

People in these Chinese movies have heard the connotation, but they can't find a way to reply for a while.

Moreover, with the attitude of "one thing more is worse than one thing less", many people don't want to have conflicts with Austin at all.

Li Zhifan was different. He thought for a while, and then said, "Hehe, there are a lot of bad Hollywood movies that sell well in China, especially some movies with Chinese actors, because they are going to China. It’s from the market, isn’t it? But now Chinese audiences no longer blindly pursue those ostentatious things, and top-notch special effects are no longer the magic weapon for winning. The key is to have a good story. Mr. Austin, you Have you noticed that the box office performance of those big superhero IP movies produced by Hollywood is getting worse and worse in China? Why? The core of the story is too simple, even contradictory. Oscar is a guild award in Hollywood, but it is given every year. These super-high-grossing movies only have the best visuals and best special effects, and those who won awards such as best actor and actress, best director, best film, and best script are Mr. Austin, you It’s a big bad film that didn’t do well at the box office. I’m very happy, I didn’t expect that the Chinese audience has reached the same level as the Oscar judges, this is really gratifying!”

Austin was taken aback. He wanted to hear Li Zhifan's rebuttal, but he didn't expect to mention the Oscar. As a senior Hollywood insider, Austin certainly knew what was going on with the Oscar, so this award would not He also complained about the kind of large-scale commercial film that was awarded to him when he was young, but after figuring out the tastes of Hollywood judges and the standards and routines of this award, he looked away. If he wants to win an award, it is really You can't rely on appearances, but you have to have real things.

But being refuted by Li Zhifan in this way, Austin felt very uncomfortable - isn't this digging a hole for himself to jump into?
PS: The "Infernal Affairs" trilogy is finally on Tencent Video. Behind the long negotiation is the emphasis on copyright in this era. Friends who want to reminisce can go and see it again. Maybe it will be ten years later. same feeling.

(End of this chapter)