Chapter 871 Welcome Feast

Lu Yanhe arrived in New York, where Hua Ruzhen came to pick him up.

"Why did you come to the airport to pick me up yourself?"

Sometimes, when facing Hua Ruzhen, Lu Yanhe was both moved and felt a little pressured by her attitude.

Hua Ruzhen's kindness towards him was not a one-time thing, nor was it superficial.

Although Lu Yanhe was grateful, he did not accept it so smoothly.

He was certainly willing to become good friends with Muken Sorge and Hua Ruzhen, but their relationship was not like that of Li Zhibai and Yan Liang. Lu Yanhe could not accept their kindness without feeling at ease or having any scruples, especially kindness that clearly exceeded the usual standard.

Hua Ruzhen said, "I happen to be here and have some free time, so why don't you come and pick me up? Why are you being so polite with me?"

Hua Ruzhen, however, did not feel that her actions had crossed the line of ordinary friendship. In fact, given Lu Yanhe's collaboration with Muken Sorge and the years they had known each other, she clearly believed that she and Lu Yanhe already had such a familiar and close relationship.

“Muken made an appointment to meet D19, so he can’t come right now. I’ll take you to the hotel first, and I’ve booked a restaurant for dinner tonight,” Hua Ruzhen said.

Hua Ruzhen had already arranged the meal with Lu Yanhe beforehand.

Lu Yanhe nodded and agreed.

“The momentum of ‘Calm Wind One’ is getting bigger and bigger.” Hua Ruzhen said, “Fortunately, the battle is going on for a long time. Now the focus of everyone’s discussion on this movie has shifted to the movie itself, rather than the things that were discussed before. Speaking of which, Yan He, you are really amazing. You have successfully made it into the awards season with a movie like this. Even if it doesn’t get an Oscar nomination in the end, it has already achieved a historic breakthrough.”

Lu Yanhe smiled.

"I have to thank Sister Ruzhen for this. I know you have done a lot of work here."

Hua Ruzhen: "We're just getting everyone involved to promote the movie, it's really nothing. On the contrary, you're willing to use your reputation to promote this movie, that's truly remarkable. Muken said that if you do this, you might accidentally fall into a crisis of public opinion and get involved in politics, and all the achievements and advantages you've worked so hard to build in North America will vanish."

Lu Yanhe shook his head.

“If such a thing really happened, then it can only be said that everyone is making a mountain out of a molehill,” Lu Yanhe said. “I would never do such a thing, to go to someone’s door and say that our house is the best in the world, even if that’s what I really think. I’m not that kind of impolite person.”

Hua Ruzhen laughed.

"Is your next film going to be 'Men in Black'?" she asked.

"We have to shoot Huang Tianlin's film first, and then 'Men in Black'," Lu Yanhe said. "It's a real headache."

Hua Ruzhen smiled.

"Is this your second collaboration with director Huang Tianlin, and are you planning to dominate the Oscars again?" Hua Ruzhen asked.

Lu Yanhe: "Who knows? We'll just have to wait and see. Who knows how Hollywood will react?"

"Is your film a Hollywood production?" Hua Ruzhen asked.

"No, it's produced by director Huang Tianlin's own company, but the North American distribution should still be handled by Green Valley."

“Then the goal will definitely be the Oscars,” Hua Ruzhen said. “If art and serious films don’t compete for awards, it will be difficult for their box office to break through its limit.”

Lu Yanhe: "Winning awards has become a form of publicity."

“That’s how it’s been these past few years,” Hua Ruzhen said. “Look at ‘Windbreaker.’ Because of its Oscar nomination, Green Valley arranged for it to be shown in theaters. Although there weren’t many theaters showing it, only about 400, it was showing it little by little, and it was making tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars in box office revenue every day. If it can be nominated for an Oscar, the box office performance can be even better. Now that this movie is reaping box office revenue one after another, it is expected to make 30 million dollars in North America alone.”

Lu Yanhe: "It's quite unbelievable that such a serious subject, a foreign language film, could achieve so much at the box office."

“You underestimate how much attention your appearance in a movie will bring to the film,” Hua Ruzhen said. “The release conditions are top-notch for a foreign language film in every aspect. Just think, you’ve been on three top-tier talk shows alone. That’s the kind of publicity you only get for an A-list production.”

Lu Yanhe nodded.

That is indeed the case.

Hua Ruzhen added, "The box office success of 'Calm Wind No. 1' will give your other films better screening conditions, and they complement each other. Among the films competing for Best Foreign Language Film this year, 'Calm Wind No. 1' has the highest box office performance, and it is far ahead of the competition. To be honest, the core reason why films have such momentum during the awards season is because of its box office performance."

“Yes, Darren said the same thing,” Lu Yanhe said. “It is indeed a capitalist society. Whether or not you can get a good result in the awards is also related to your commercial performance.”

“In a capitalist society, the most fundamental value is monetary value,” Hua Ruzhen said. “The reason why Hollywood recognizes and accepts you is because you can bring them huge monetary value.”

"Sister, are your current film and television investments still mainly focused on the Chinese market?"

Hua Ruzhen nodded and said, "We mainly invest in Chinese films and television dramas. We will also invest in some from other Asian countries depending on the situation, but the share will not be large."

Lu Yanhe nodded.

“Like your Linghe project, didn’t you reserve 3% to 5% of the investment share for me in every project as a priority?” Hua Ruzhen said. “In most projects, I actually only take that share, and I don’t invest much.”

Lu Yanhe: "So, can investments like this usually be recouped? I'm a little curious about the current state of the domestic film and television industry."

Hua Ruzhen: "Under normal circumstances, if you can get an investment share in TV series and it's not delayed from airing due to some special reasons, it's relatively stable. You can basically know how much you can get back when you invest, so it's predictable. Movies are different; it's all about gambling. Big directors and directors with good box office results can't get projects in. That's not something an outsider like me can handle. As for other projects, you don't know what the situation will be like. Nine out of ten investments will lose money. It's even better to invest in some art films by new directors. At least they are serious about making movies."

Lu Yanhe understood.

In reality, the domestic film and television market, especially the film market, is still quite chaotic and unclean.

Hua Ruzhen said, "Of course, after a few years, I have a general idea now. To put it bluntly, the project proposal is secondary. It depends on the person in charge. If the person is reliable, the project won't be too bad. If the person is unreliable, no matter how beautiful the project proposal is, it won't work. This is different from Hollywood."

Lu Yanhe: "To be honest, the Chinese market has no shortage of money. However, investors with money find it difficult to find reliable projects. Good projects also have difficulty finding investors willing to invest in them because of this mixed environment. For truly good projects, you can't get in without connections."

Hua Ruzhen: "Yes, you are absolutely right, that is exactly the situation."

She suddenly thought of something.

“But this is also an opportunity,” Hua Ruzhen said. “The more chaotic the situation, the more opportunities we can find. The reason they put me in charge of investment in the Chinese market is because they saw this opportunity. Before, the Chinese film and television market hadn’t taken off, and everyone just saw it as a box office. Now that the market has taken off, order is being established. Although there is order on the surface, there are still many gaps and chaos in the actual operating rules.”

Lu Yanhe asked, "Everyone will just see you as a sucker, someone who'll rip you off as much as they can."

"So, I can only cast a wide net to see how people and things are handled." Hua Ruzhen shrugged. "Fortunately, I have you, Li Zhibai, Yan Liang, and a few others, so I don't end up blindly stumbling in and paying a hefty tuition fee."

Lu Yanhe and the others did indeed provide a lot of help with Hua Ruzhen's work.

On one hand, there are projects; on the other hand, there is the extension of personal networks.

Just like the film *The Boat*, which received investment from Hua Ruzhen's foundation—though not a large sum, only $50,000—Hua Ruzhen used this investment to get to know Luo Yuzhong and Yu Mengling, as well as other behind-the-scenes personnel involved in the project. This gave her a ticket to participate in Luo Yuzhong and Yu Mengling's future projects.

Many people think that investors are the bosses, so why do they need an entry ticket? As long as you are willing to invest, others will open the door for you.

Of course, this is the case most of the time. But projects that offer easy access are often not favored by investors. And projects that investors are interested in are often difficult to get through.

-

Murken Sorge is preparing his next project.

That evening, Lu Yanhe met with him and they talked about the work.

Mocken Sorge said, "D19 has always wanted me to develop the Mist series. Even if you don't return as the lead, they think you can use the characters from the original two movies to develop spin-offs, but I myself want to take a break."

Lu Yanhe laughed.

"Do they really want to make a Mist series that badly?"

“Of course they want to make a franchise with such a high return on investment,” said Murken Sorge. “Both films grossed around $300 million worldwide, which is very high for a horror film, close to the ceiling. Even if the spin-off only grossed half of that, if the production costs of the first two films are maintained, it will still be a huge profit.”

Hua Ruzhen added: "Especially after Get Out, this was even more true. D19 was incredibly enthusiastic about Muken."

Lu Yanhe smiled.

"All right."

"But after I made Get Out, I had a new idea," said Murken Sorge. "The project I'm working on now is a similar concept. I'm making a film about a group of people who encounter a storm at sea and accidentally end up on a mysterious island. On the island, they meet an ancient tribe and experience a series of terrifying and thrilling events before finally escaping."

Upon hearing this, Lu Yanhe was pleasantly surprised. "This combines horror, thriller, and adventure?"

“Yes,” said Muken Sorge. “Actually, I really enjoy this kind of story.”

Lu Yanhe said, "If it doesn't involve gods or ghosts, this movie can be released in China. Does your script have any Asian characters?"

“Yes,” said Muken Sorge. “I spoke with D19 today specifically about this. The main cast consists of five people, and they want to change the Asian character to a male role that a Korean actor could play. Originally, it was a female character.”

Lu Yanhe asked, "Are you interested in becoming an actor?"

Murken Sorge nodded: "According to my initial concept, she should be a female scholar who is usually obsessed with the study of ancient culture. She has a somewhat eccentric personality, but she is not a weirdo. She is a very cute and lively girl. I wanted to cast Bai Jin to play the role. In Friends, my favorite character is the one she played."

Lu Yanhe looked surprised.

This was truly beyond his expectations.

Murken Sorge: "But a South Korean investor started a collaboration with D19, so D19 wanted to give the role to the actor recommended by the South Korean investor. I looked at the photo, and sigh, it was completely different from the character I originally envisioned."

Lu Yanhe asked, "What is D19's attitude?"

“I was quite insistent, and they didn’t object, but they turned their attention to another character, wanting to change the character who was originally set as a British man into a Korean one.” Muken Sorge sighed. “They don’t understand that the character settings I made for the five main characters were specially designed to be paired up, and they are all closely related to the plot. If you change the settings, the script will have to be changed as well.”

Hua Ruzhen said, "Do they really have to include that Korean actor?"

"They think that for this type of film, changing the characters isn't a big deal, it can be changed, and they don't really care about the pairings I'm emphasizing," said Murken Sorge.

"So what are your plans? If D19 insists on revising the script, are you willing to compromise?" Lu Yanhe asked.

"If I really can't reach an agreement with them, I'll contact other film companies and see what their attitude is," said Murken Sorge.

Hua Ruzhen: "If you take your project to any film company now, they will open the door for you."

Lu Yanhe nodded and said, "Muken, why did you accept D19's arrangement? You no longer need to listen to such unprofessional advice."

Mocken Sorge sighed, somewhat embarrassed, and said, "But D19 is the only one that agreed to my $80 million production budget."

"How much? 80 million US dollars?" Lu Yanhe was suddenly shocked and stunned. Was this number too exaggerated?

It's worth noting that the production budget for "Men in Black," a film that required a lot of special effects, was only around $100 million.

After listening to Murken Sorge's description, Lu Yanhe did not think that this film needed such a high production budget.

Murken Sorge, however, said: "Because this film will require a lot of special effects, a very important part of the horror and suspense elements in this film is the bloody and terrifying scenes presented in the first half of the film through oral accounts, murals and notes, which are then realistically presented before our eyes."

Lu Yanhe suddenly realized.

Murken Sorge: "Moreover, I plan to invite Alexander Ryan to play the male lead in this film, and his salary will be $15 million."

Alexander Ryan, one of Hollywood's hottest actors, is a male actor who almost made it into the $20 million club.

In that sense, the $80 million budget for this film isn't just a pipe dream.

Alexander Ryan's salary budget alone is $15 million. Adding the other four actors, the lead actor's salary alone is at least $20 million. Mulken Sorge's current net worth is approximately $10 million.

Lu Yanhe thought to himself, "This is really expensive."

Moken Sorge suddenly winked at Lu Yanhe and asked, "If D19 insists on changing the script and character settings, are you interested in doing this project?"

Lu Yanhe said, "I don't have the power to produce an $80 million budget. Of course, if it really comes to that point and you need to raise the money yourself, I can introduce you to a few companies, especially Soren. I think, given Soren's current situation, they would be very willing to take over this film."

Muken Sorge, however, seemed to have been insulted.

“The first person to reject me was Soren,” Muken said. “They said that even if the film sold as well as The Mist, with such a high production budget, it wouldn’t make much money.”

Adding in the marketing budget, it's true that, by the standard that a horror/thriller film would be considered a huge hit with a global box office of $300 million, it would be very difficult for this film to profit directly from theatrical releases.

However, Lu Yanhe felt that Murken Sorge, having directed so many box-office hits, was fully qualified to direct a film with an 80 million budget.

This isn't a horror/thriller film in the conventional sense; it falls into the category of mainstream commercial cinema. Of course, because of its horror/thriller limitations, many viewers might be hesitant to go to the cinema to see this film, which is also a problem.

Lu Yanhe didn't know how Muken Sorge would balance these issues.

He just felt that the movie didn't sound that far-fetched to him.

Alexander Ryan's $15 million salary is definitely not the result of data marketing. He is a genuine movie star in the global market; while not at the top, he is certainly not to be underestimated. His fame and star power ensure that this film will not flop quietly.

Lu Yanhe was well aware of Murken Sorge's talent. He was someone who understood film very well and knew how to make films.

This duo has both talent and star power, and their subject matter isn't particularly unconventional.

Sauron didn't understand.

D19 is a savvy businessman, so he will agree to Murken Sorge's $80 million budget.

Lu Yanhe said, "You can leave the role of Bai Jin to her. She won't let you down. However, when do you plan to shoot this movie? She's going to the UK to study for her master's degree in the second half of the year, and the schedule might not be flexible."

"Oh? She's going to England for graduate studies?" said Murken Sorge.

Lu Yanhe nodded, "She wants to take advantage of the time she's filming 'Friends' to continue her studies."

Muken Sorge's brows furrowed immediately.

“Don’t listen to me, maybe she’ll change her mind later,” Lu Yanhe said. “What I want to say is that she is an actress with a very distinctive style. I never thought she could act in a horror movie before, but when you just said you wanted her to play a role, combined with what I know about her and the style of your movie, I suddenly felt that it was a very interesting combination, and she would be very suitable for this movie.”

Murken Sorge asked, somewhat puzzled, "Really? You don't even know what my movie is about?"

“Although I don’t know exactly what it looks like, I’ve already imagined some scenes in my mind based on the elements you just mentioned,” Lu Yanhe said. “Especially the image of her suddenly screaming in an ancient, eerie environment filled with traditional exotic symbols—”

Lu Yanhe bluntly stated, "If you had told me that this is a role that requires a lot of acting skills, I probably wouldn't have said that. But if I'm not mistaken, this role is actually a type of role. What you need more is the actor's own temperament and image. Ideally, the actor should have a familiar image to the public. Then, you need to put that familiar image into the movie, scream loudly, create a huge contrast, and create a sense of powerlessness and terror from civilization falling into barbarism and backwardness."

Muken Sorge paused for a moment, then turned to look at Hua Ruzhen.

Hua Ruzhen immediately said, "It has nothing to do with me. I didn't mention a word about your movie to him. All of what he said was his own idea."

Muken Zorge looked at Lu Yanhe in disbelief.

Lu Yanhe smiled.

"It seems I was right."

Therefore, Muken Sorge thought of Bai Jin.

What he wanted was the public image that Bai Jin had created in "Friends".

“I give up.” Muken Sorge shook his head in disbelief and helplessness.

Lu Yanhe smiled slightly.

-

"Of course I'm taking leave to film this movie!" Bai Jin raised her voice without hesitation on the phone. "Yan He, are you serious or not? Does Mu Ken really have a role for me?"

“Yes,” Lu Yanhe said. “I thought you really wanted to study.”

“I really want to study, but I don’t want to give up my identity as an actress and become a scholar in the future,” Bai Jin said. “I just want to learn and accumulate more things that I don’t usually come into contact with as an actor and artist.”

“Okay, then I’ll call Muken again tomorrow. Don’t let my words cause him to misunderstand and stop contacting you,” Lu Yanhe said. “He probably really wants you to play this role.”

After all, there are very few actors who possess all of the above qualities.

While her image is widely recognized, the actress herself isn't particularly famous, and the public's impression of her is concentrated on one particular role—

This is Baijin's advantage.

Lu Yanhe was very happy that Bai Jin had such an opportunity.

(End of this chapter)