Chapter 851 Using Strength

“There is an old Chinese saying, ‘High skill breeds boldness,’ and I think that saying can also be used to describe you.”

Darren Wilson said to Lu Yanhe on the phone.

Lu Yanhe responded, "Thank you for the compliment."

"Do you think it's easy for you to win an Oscar or get nominated for one?" Darren Wilson couldn't help but ask.

Lu Yanhe said, "I didn't think it was easy, but I didn't think it was impossible to get it either."

Darren Wilson said, "That's because you've had it too easy winning awards and nominations before. You became famous at a young age. You haven't seen how many actors struggle their whole lives and are rejected by the Oscars."

Lu Yanhe: "Darren, I have indeed had a very smooth journey, but my success is not due to luck. You asked me if I think it would be easy for me to win an Oscar. Let me put it this way: if I wanted to, I could have a film nominated for an Oscar every year, whether it's acting or screenwriting. I am indeed very confident in myself."

Darren Wilson: "Well, if it weren't for the fact that you just won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor and the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, I would definitely say, 'You arrogant bastard!'"

Lu Yanhe smiled.

-

“The filming of ‘The Boat’ is almost finished.” Zhang Yuezhen said to Chen Pinhe, “After this film is finished, let’s invite Wen Shengming to have a meal together.”

Chen Pinhe frowned in confusion and asked, "Why did we suddenly invite him to dinner?"

“My friends in Hollywood told me that Lu Yanhe and Wen Shengming have finalized their public relations strategy for this year: Lu Yanhe will be the main target, and Wen Shengming will be the supporting target,” Zhang Yuezhen said. “Now Lu Yanhe and Wen Shengming have a very close relationship. Do you really want to see their relationship grow closer and closer? Through this incident, we might be able to plant a seed between them.”

Chen Pinhe asked, "What do you want to do?"

Zhang Yuezhen: "This movie is clearly a dual male lead movie, so why is Lu Yanhe the one who reports to the master and Wen Shengming the one who reports to the concubine?"

Zhang Yuezhen smiled slightly.

Chen Pinhe immediately understood Zhang Yuezhen's meaning and what she wanted to do next.

Zhang Yuezhen said, "Moreover, since the film 'The Pianist' is basically out of the running for nominations, why don't we give what we have to Wen Shengming?"

Chen Pinhe nodded.

"That's acceptable."

"Also, Maxine has confirmed that it will help you with public relations for 'The Seventeenth Floor: Reboot,' the Golden Globe Awards, the Emmy Awards..." Zhang Yuezhen said, "Given the current popularity and viewership of 'The Seventeenth Floor: Reboot' on Maxine, it has a very good chance of getting a nomination."

Nowadays, a drama series has a high chance of being nominated if it has a good reputation and the actors are big names.

Especially compared to movies.

After all, the awards for TV series not only distinguish between comedy and drama categories, but also have a separate category for limited-time shows.

There are many more awards.

This is why Zhang Yuezhen put so much effort into "The Pianist".

TV series awards tend to favor film actors more.

This is a well-known fact.

Zhang Yuezhen said, "Originally, Maxine was unwilling to help you with the public relations for 'The 17th Floor: Reboot' because of the 'Death Stranding 2' incident. Fortunately, the show performed very well on Maxine, and there are two more seasons to come, plus a spin-off movie. From a commercial perspective, they believe that if they can help 'The 17th Floor: Reboot' win one or two awards, it will be more beneficial to the series."

Chen Pinhe: "Death Stranding 2, did they find the person?"

“The script has been revised. Instead of casting someone else for your role, two new characters have been added to share some of your scenes with the female lead,” Zhang Yuezhen said. “The second season has become the main storyline for Wang Jiaqi’s character.”

Chen Pinhe: "As expected, you have to work in Hollywood; the treatment there is just different."

Zhang Yuezhen: "Now Chinese-language films and television dramas are gaining more and more influence around the world. Our market is constantly opening up, and our works are constantly going global. In the future, this gap will become smaller and smaller."

Chen Pinhe: "I was already old by then."

Zhang Yuezhen: "It's not that exaggerated."

Chen Pinhe: "Isn't that all there is to it?"

"It's at its peak. The data for 'The Seventeen Floors: Reboot' shows that in just one month since it aired, the number of viewers on Maxine has already exceeded 25 million, ranking in the top 15 of the year," said Zhang Yuezhen. "This is the best-performing Chinese-language drama this year. 'Grasshopper' has been left far behind. With 'The Seventeen Floors: Reboot' here, your global popularity will definitely increase significantly, even surpassing the level of 'Death Stranding' at that time."

Zhang Yuezhen has high expectations for Chen Pinhe's future development.

If it weren't for Lu Yanhe's more outstanding and dazzling achievements, Chen Pinhe's success in recent years would be undeniable.

"The White Pearl" and "The Pianist" were both nominated for the main competition at the Venice International Film Festival, with the latter even winning an award.

He starred in "Death Stranding," a critically acclaimed film in a niche genre.

Starring in "The Seventeen Floors: Reboot," which achieved one of the best results for a Chinese-language drama overseas.

"The Pianist" also helped Chen Pinhe gain praise from a number of media outlets in Europe and America.

Next up is a romantic comedy film from a major Hollywood studio, a film directed by Isaac Asimov.

For a Chinese actor, unlike Lu Yanhe who can work on projects in Hollywood on his own, achieving this level of success is already top-notch.

Without Zhang Yuezhen using her connections to navigate the complexities of Europe and America, this situation would not have been possible.

Even though Lu Yanhe's momentum is unstoppable, Zhang Yuezhen is not nervous.

She knew one thing very well: in the entertainment industry, no one can ever control everything.

As long as Chen Pinhe has everything he needs, no matter how capable Lu Yanhe is, he won't be able to affect Chen Pinhe's side in the slightest.

Lu Yanhe could use some means to get "Destruction Day" into Jiang Jun's hands, but with so many projects in the world, could he possibly snatch them all?

If "The Pianist" hadn't encountered a formidable competitor this year, Chen Pinhe would definitely have won the Best Actor award at the Venice International Film Festival.

This has absolutely nothing to do with Lu Yanhe.

His hands couldn't reach that many places either.

Having figured this out, Zhang Yuezhen is now focusing all her attention on Chen Pinhe's career development.

Nothing else matters; what matters is that Chen Pinhe's own career develops well enough.

-

Why do that couple always ask me out to dinner?

Wen Shengming frowned.

"I politely declined."

Wen Shengming didn't like Chen Pinhe much to begin with, and after Zhang Yuezhen came to him last time and said she was willing to help him with public relations for the North American awards season, he didn't like Zhang Yuezhen anymore either.

Wen Shengming wasn't an artist who completely shut out all social niceties. But he genuinely disliked those who were overly calculating and scheming. If Chen Pinhe was too much of a performer, making Wen Shengming feel that he was too aloof, then Zhang Yuezhen made Wen Shengming feel that behind every smile and every word she spoke lay ulterior motives.

As one of China's top actors, Wen Shengming has encountered far too many people like Zhang Yuezhen.

Of course, it's undeniable that Zhang Yuezhen's words were somewhat tempting. But that was for others; Wen Shengming didn't really care. He had been at the top in China for a long time, and his vision and level of understanding meant that, frankly, he didn't have that kind of "eagerly pursue" mentality when it came to the Oscars.

You ask Song Dandan if she wants to win an Oscar? She can win one easily, of course she wants one. But to ask her to do things that go against her principles, to fight for it, to play both sides—that's something this old lady has seen all along, her mindset is no longer what it used to be.

Wen Shengming is the same.

He was willing to cooperate with Lu Yanhe in the public relations for "Dingfeng No. 1" for two reasons. First, because of the special nature of the film itself, he wanted to do his part to help the film perform well overseas. Second, Lu Yanhe made clean and transparent arrangements. All the public relations activities were nothing more than interviews, TV interviews, cocktail parties, etc., which required him to appear in such occasions to introduce himself, introduce the film, and help the film gain attention.

However, some people form alliances to increase their chances of being nominated.

What a piece of junk.

-

After Wen Shengming finished explaining to his agent, he turned around and saw Lu Yanhe doing stretching exercises.

His assistant was sleeping in his recliner.

Lu Yanhe stood to the side, twisting left and right, and occasionally running and jumping in place.

His bodyguard, Zou Dong, wearing an earphone, sat in the corner, his eyes fixed on Lu Yanhe and the people around him.

No matter who in the crew wanted to talk to Lu Yanhe, communicate, or exchange ideas, his assistant and bodyguards would not stop them.

Only when unfamiliar faces appear would they cautiously approach Lu Yanhe's side, in order to prevent any unexpected incidents.

Lu Yanhe neither "drove away" the people around him, making it seem as if he were just an ordinary actor, nor did he have a large team guarding him and protecting him tightly.

Wen Shengming had to admit that he was growing to admire this young man more and more.

This world seems to be one where "everyone is driven by self-interest." But sometimes, one person's appreciation for another has nothing to do with self-interest.

Wen Shengming had heard rumors that he was so supportive of Lu Yanhe because Lu Yanhe was using his best resources to help him "expand his overseas business." But the time he told Lu Yanhe, "I'll always be watching you," was when filming for *Dingfeng No. 1* wrapped up. One person's appreciation for another can be unrelated to self-interest, yet it doesn't need explaining to others.

Because for many people, their lives have never had such a "metaphysical" moment, you can't tell them that sometimes when you look up, the sky is actually quite beautiful.

So when his agent told him somewhat discontentedly that the US side had decided to nominate Wen Shengming as the bride and Lu Yanhe as the groom, he said it was fine. When his agent later explained somewhat apologetically that the reason for nominating Wen Shengming was because nominating someone as the bride had a higher probability of success, while nominating someone as the groom was basically cannon fodder, and this was something Lu Yanhe had conceded to the other side—the US side originally wanted Lu Yanhe to nominate someone as the bride. Wen Shengming was silent for a while, and only said that it was fine.

Whatever the decision, as long as it was made by Lu Yanhe, Wen Shengming was willing to believe it, and he made himself believe it too, accepting everything calmly.

This is something Zhang Yuezhen will never understand in her entire life: the support, trust, and care that elders have for their juniors.

-

Lu Yanhe reported to his boss, which is not surprising in Hollywood.

In Europe and America, the movie "Dingfeng No. 1" was promoted with Lu Yanhe as the absolute core.

The problem lies with his marriage application.

People might think that he was too scheming to change a role that could have been played by the main character to one that was played by a spouse, all in order to win an award.

Just like Rooney Mara in "Carol" back then.

This behavior has been highly controversial.

However, many people also admire Lu Yanhe's choice, because Lu Yanhe has essentially given up his journey during the awards season.

This is not Lu Yanhe's problem.

This year is a tough year for Best Actor, with many competitors.

-

“Lu Yanhe certainly won’t give up on the upcoming public relations activities,” Chen Ziyan said. “Even if his chances of being nominated for an Oscar are slim, he still has a fighting chance at the Golden Globes. Moreover, if Lu Yanhe is absent from the public relations activities, the buzz and presence of ‘Dingfeng No. 1’ will not be able to rise.”

Lu Qingzhen: "Lu Yanhe has put in a lot of effort. Even though he himself was not going to get a nomination, he still did his best to do this."

“In matters like this, we must take a long-term view. It’s not just a single acting award nomination that will benefit Lu Yanhe’s career,” Chen Ziyan said. “If ‘Dingfeng No. 1’ can be nominated for an Oscar, whether it’s for Best Foreign Language Film, Best Original Screenplay, or Best Supporting Actor, it will be a milestone victory for the film. Its status in global film history could be greatly elevated because of such a nomination. Yanhe is the male lead, so the film’s success is his success, and the film’s achievement is his achievement.”

Lu Qingzhen: "If that's really the case, wouldn't it have been more likely for Yan He to get a nomination if he had changed his application to Best Supporting Actor?"

"Indeed, but that kind of nomination would be less meaningful than Professor Wen's nomination."

"What's missing? I don't understand."

“One is an actor who has already made a name for himself in Hollywood, and the other is a Chinese actor who has never appeared in Hollywood before. They represent different things,” Chen Ziyan said. “Yan He’s decision was based on his own considerations. He is a person with a long-term vision and a broad perspective.”

"All right."

-

At this point, the most crucial scene of "The Boat" was also filmed.

The death of Wen Shengming.

Lu Yanhe had to kneel in front of the bed, his eyes red and his face showing suppressed pain, and promised his father: "Don't worry, I will support this family, I will take good care of my sister, and Abao."

Yu Mengling held Abao in her arms, and knelt on the other side, covering her face and weeping.

This scene had almost no dialogue; it was all acting. The only line with any information was Lu Yanhe's.

Before filming the scene, Lu Yanhe had thought about it many times, how to act out the scene and how to say the line.

I've tried all sorts of methods.

However, he never made up his mind.

So, Lu Yanhe couldn't sleep the night before filming began.

He hasn't had insomnia in a long time.

(End of this chapter)