The male artists under Longteng are relatively low-key. To be precise, this was specially arranged by Shen Fang. It's okay for a work to become popular for a while, but people shouldn't be exposed to the public eye too much. If you want to go far, you must be low-key and reserved. Learn from Chen Daoming and Zhang Guoli, and do things and be low-key.

There are over 500 artists here today alone. That doesn't even include the journalists, media representatives, bigwigs, directors, and leaders from various sectors who were specially invited.

The auditorium was packed with people.

The host came on stage; today's guest was Bai Yansong, which was very official and high-class—a regular host for CCTV.

"Distinguished guests, colleagues from the media, leaders, and movie fans, welcome to the premiere of Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon." Bai Yansong opened the curtain in a genuine broadcasting voice.

"Let's give a round of applause to invite director Zhang Yimou, Andy Lau, Xu Qing, Simon Yam... and the main cast to the stage."

A thunderous applause erupted from the audience...

Zhang Yimou took the microphone: "Thank you all for coming."

"Director Zhang, are you a little nervous?" Bai Yansong chimed in.

"I am indeed a little nervous."

"Why are you nervous?"

Zhang Yimou...

"This is the first time we've held a premiere in such a formal venue."

Upon hearing this, the leaders in the audience all smiled.

The reporter's interview began.

Penguin reporter: "Director Zhang, it's said that your directing fee for this film was 20 million yuan. Is that true?"

Upon hearing this, the crowd erupted in excitement. 20 million!

Not only were the moviegoers shocked, but the directors present were also shocked, especially Director Chen, whose directing fee was only 1.5 million yuan. Feng Xiaogang's fee was 2 million yuan, and that was only because Feng Xiaogang was a box office success. The Wang brothers were quite generous to Feng Xiaogang. The directing fees for the remaining fifth and sixth generation directors were only a few hundred thousand yuan.

The hundredfold difference made them somewhat envious and jealous, especially Director Chen.

He and Zhang Yimou are from the same place. In terms of background and awards, he's just as good, so why is there such a huge difference in the money they earn?!

This statement has put Zhang Yimou in a very difficult position, and everyone harbors resentment towards the wealthy. Many people want to see Zhang Yimou suffer.

Zhang Yimou, however, said nonchalantly, "It is indeed 20 million. To be honest, I didn't want this money at first. I didn't think I was worth that price. But my junior brother, who is also the president of Longteng, told me that this is the market price, and that's the price in Hollywood. Moreover, this price was given by the Japanese investor, K.K. Co., Ltd."

Zhang Yimou's words were quite clever. First, he was just going with the flow; the boss wanted to give it to him. Second, he didn't really want the money in the first place. Third, the money was given by the Japanese; he was making money off the Japanese, so you can't really say anything about it.

Sohu reporter: "Andy Lau, this is your first time working with Director Zhang. Did you two have any chemistry?"

Andy Lau responded to the topic: "There were definitely sparks. Director Zhang has always been a director I greatly admire and have wanted to work with. This time, it's like a dream come true. Director Zhang taught me a lot, and this collaboration was very pleasant."

Zhang Yimou continued, "Andy Lau is an extremely dedicated actor. This collaboration was very pleasant, and we sparked a lot of interesting moments. Andy Lau is not only dedicated but also exceptionally professional. Among the actors I've seen, he may not be among the best actors, but he is certainly one of the most hardworking. He strives for perfection and personally performed many of the more difficult scenes. Working with him was very comfortable. Our second collaboration, 'House of Flying Daggers,' will be officially released on January 30th. I hope everyone will support it then."

Zhang Yimou gave House of Flying Daggers a good advertisement.

Southern Metropolis Daily: "I would like to ask Director Zhang, you have produced two films this year, both of which are commercial films and big-budget productions. Does this mean that you will be working on this kind of high-output project in the future?"

Zhang Yimou smiled upon hearing this: "Well, how should I put it? I'm 53 years old this year, which would have been considered an old man with a long beard in the past. However, I still feel very young and energetic. How much money I make isn't important. What's important is to make more good works that I like while I can still work. Of course, the script is also very important. I won't make a film without a good script. Here, I want to thank the screenwriters in the Longteng script department. They are a group of very outstanding young people who have given me a lot of good ideas and inspiration."

"Finally, I'd like to say that the output of Chinese directors is indeed too low. If we want to revitalize this industry, directors need to speed up the shooting schedule and post-production. They can't just dawdle; they need to be ready to deliver when it's time to go."

Upon hearing this, the fifth and sixth generation directors cursed inwardly.

You're amazing, you're aloof, you make a lot of money, you have big investors supporting you, you don't need to embezzle investment funds, you don't need to please investors, you don't need to do those miscellaneous things, you don't need to please leaders, you don't need to manage publicity and distribution companies, you don't need to serve actors, do you know how difficult it is for us?

I have no opinion, since Zhang Yimou is the most powerful person right now. Whatever you say goes. But when the time comes, things will still be done the way they should be, and nobody can control me.

Beijing Daily: "Director Zhang, what are your expectations for the box office of Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon?"

Zhang Yimou smiled and said, "Of course, the higher the box office, the better. This filming has really cost a lot of money. If the box office is not good, we will let down the investors."

Shen Fang, sitting in the first row below, smiled slightly. To be honest, whether or not Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon made money was not important to him. What he wanted was to export Chinese culture and let foreigners see the grand scenes of Chinese films.

Losing a little money is fine; there are plenty of ways to make it back from the Americans.