Chapter 272
The contradiction between the rapid rise of artists and the long cycle of film and television projects
Although Ling Suisui's team tried to keep a low profile during the trip, when Ling Suisui walked out of the airport, he was still stunned by the number of people waiting to greet him.
She was a little confused: "Does America also have the culture of picking up people at the airport... Didn't I go abroad?"
“Don’t underestimate your overseas fans.”
Zhang Wen pushed up her glasses. "Last year, for your birthday, they not only booked the big screen in Times Square, but also the big screen on the rooftop in Los Angeles, the big screen on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and the big screen in Las Vegas. In addition to these landmarks, they also booked airplane banners, bus bodies, bus stops, and other things that are available in China, and they also booked them overseas."
Zhuo Siyu even took out her cell phone to take pictures. Ling Sui was also on the big screen showing the arrival at the airport. It was a business picture released by the studio last month.
These are all real overseas popularity. Unfortunately, many people only know that Ling Sui has the highest number of Instagram fans among domestic entertainment stars and has been ranked first on the world trend many times. Usually, her fans don’t like to brag about her, after all, they can’t even brag about all the birthday support in China.
Under the escort of security guards, Ling Suisui struggled to move forward through the crowd.
She would also chat with fans who came to see her along the way. If fans spoke Chinese, she would answer in Chinese. If fans spoke English, she could also communicate smoothly in English.
Rita fell in love with Ling Sui after accidentally watching "Perfect Life". This drama was popular in North America a few years ago, but not many people around Rita watched it. It was not until she tried posting updates on social media using the keywords Cheng Yimo and Ling Sui that she realized her favorite actors were not a niche group.
On the recommendation of others, she watched "Zhao Jiang" and "The Game is Online", and then successfully upgraded from a casual fan who liked the actors because of the characters, to a die-hard fan. When Ling Sui won the Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival, she and her friends were so happy offline that they cried and almost burst into tears.
When she heard that Ling Suisui was coming to the United States to film a movie and that the airport she was landing at happened to be not far from the city where she lived, Rita went to pick her up at the airport with her international student friends.
She was excited and nervous. Seeing that many international students had written letters, Rita, who had no idea that she had to prepare this, could only borrow paper and pen from the staff at the service desk and fold it.
Fortunately, Ling Suisui and his assistant accepted all letters, even those without envelopes. The paper in Rita's hand was taken by Ling Suisui himself, and she heard the other party say "thank you".
Rita wanted to scream with excitement, but she was so excited that her brain seemed to be disconnected from her vocal cords. It was her first time to come to the airport to chase stars. She had too little experience, and there were so many fans talking to Ling Sui around her that she couldn't find a chance to say a word.
She was tripped by someone in the crowd and was about to lose her balance. But before that, Ling Sui quickly grabbed her arm and pulled her back.
"Caution!"
Ling Suisui shouted a warning, and the crowd surrounding her finally dispersed a little. She quickly let go of Rita's hand, but Rita still felt the warm touch on her arm until she got in the car and left.
The fans watched the business car carrying Ling Sui disappear, and suddenly they heard someone in the crowd screaming and dancing on the spot, and his mental state seemed a little worrying.
It was Rita who was going crazy - her excitement finally reached her throat through the nerves in her brain. She saw Ling Sui was 18 years old, handed her a letter, and even pulled her back when she almost fell! They had physical contact, at such a close distance!
Rita was immersed in this joy for a long time, but when she and her friends were sitting in the restaurant and she could only see Ling Sui on the mobile phone screen on World Trends, she felt excited but empty in her heart.
"This is normal." Her friend, an international student, explained to her, "Chasing someone offline is addictive. Once you meet them once, you will want to meet them again. The feeling of a real person in front of you is completely different from the feeling on the screen. You are now in a state of... um... wait a minute, let me find a translator."
“Withdrawal symptoms,” she described it this way. “They’re not as exaggerated as the pathological ones, but they’re based on a similar principle.”
Rita doesn't smoke, drink, or have any addictive hobbies. She usually heard others say that these things were difficult to quit, but she had no concrete experience with them. Until this moment, she suddenly understood a little.
She leaned on the table and sighed: "I really envy the fans in China. They have so many more opportunities to chase her offline than we do! Maybe I'll run into her on the street."
The international students thought that in the past, it was the fans of American entertainment in China who envied Europeans and Americans, but after Ling Suisui suddenly appeared, the situation was reversed.
But she still explained to the other party: "No, Ling Suisui is too famous in China, and she probably rarely goes out. When I was still in China, I rarely saw posts from netizens who met her by chance, unless it was when she was in college."
"She doesn't have many offline activities in China, and her appearances have been decreasing significantly in recent years. She always uses the VIP channel when she takes a plane in China, and never comes out of the ordinary terminal. I guess after this, she will land in a more covert manner at an American airport next time."
The fact is indeed just as the international student expected, Zhang Wen is looking up information related to VIP services at American airports.
It's not like Ling Sui has never been abroad before, but the previous few times she went there were not such crowded scenes. It seems that winning the Cannes award has truly skyrocketed her international fame and influence.
Also, the trailer for "Beauty and the Beast" which sparked a wave of discussion on the global Internet should have played a role. From this perspective, it is very worthwhile for her to take on this movie.
The team members are busy, and Tong Xiaoman is regretting that the contract with Warner was signed too early!
Ling Suisui was in a relatively stable state of mind. She even teased her, "How come you make it sound like we lost 100 million?"
"We signed a fixed salary + box office dividend model." Tong Xiaoman sighed, "How do you know that we didn't lose 100 million? Maybe it's still US dollars."
"...It's too exaggerated. Even Warner Bros. doesn't dare to have such high expectations for the box office."
Ling Suisui tilted his head back and leaned against the seat of the business car.
Similar things actually happened many times because her career was constantly moving forward. If you want to sign a contract and look back and feel that you have made a profit, either the other party will move up or you will go downhill.
With Werner's size, it would be very difficult to make a qualitative leap. Rather than falling down, Ling Sui would rather experience the feeling of "losing out". After all, she couldn't really delay signing the contract until now.
However, although the core distribution of interests cannot be changed, the treatment Warner provided her with was clearly beyond the standards agreed in the contract. In order to cater to her dining tastes, they even hired a professional Chinese chef - real Chinese food, not the sweet, American-only version.
The chef's specialty is Cantonese cuisine. Ling Sui had rice rolls as soon as she arrived, and they were even more delicious than what she had had in the capital.
As expected, celebrities have to be popular outside. There is no such thing as feeling uneasy and homesick in a foreign land. As long as your status is high enough, you can feel the taste of home wherever you go.
Tong Xiaoman was very satisfied with this situation. What she cared about was not the treatment, but the attitude shown by Warner.
If it was just a one-time deal, there was no need for Werner to be so attentive. They clearly know that they have taken advantage and want to work together again, but unfortunately, Ling Sui's schedule for next year is already full, so they have to wait until at least the year after.
Is it okay to talk about next year? Then I'll give you a number plate first. There are several Hollywood film companies queuing up ahead of you. It doesn’t really matter who comes first, what matters is whether there is a good script that can impress her.
The film has not started shooting yet, but Warner's sincerity is there. It is obvious that he is very optimistic about Ling Suisui's long-term development and thinks it would be best if he could take advantage of her more often - even if Ling Suisui's team can borrow against future achievements, they cannot always get an accurate valuation, and she always brings surprises beyond expectations.
This makes Tong Xiaoman both happy and sad. She always has to face the contradiction between the rapid rise of an artist's career and the long cycle of film and television projects, which greatly increases the difficulty of her business negotiations!
She has no one to express her frustration to, and no one understands her. Others just ask her to stop being so pretentious:)
"Dragon Slayer" started filming in mid-October, and Ling Suisui arrived in the United States at the end of September.
After adjusting to the jet lag, she went to the studio to try out various character makeups. The first few sets of makeup and hair effects were good. It can be seen that the makeup artist has studied the facial features of Asians and did not directly apply European and American formulas. But when it came to the evil dragon makeup that Ling Sui was most looking forward to, it was a big mess.
She looked at herself in the mirror and saw that her smoky makeup was a complete failure. The eyeliner is so thick that it looks like it was painted with crayons, the entire makeup is very dirty, and the purple lipstick is even more scary. Is this how the makeup artist understands the "evil dragon"? How strong a sense of belief does it take to be able to act with this kind of makeup!
Although the makeup artist changed the lighting mode and it looked slightly better, the improvement from minus 100 to minus 80 was obviously not very meaningful.
Ling Sui didn’t know if her aesthetic taste was different from Warner’s, but no matter how they praised her for being “beautiful”, she felt uncomfortable.
Worried about the difference in visual experience, she also tried to take a video of herself with a camera to see the effect after the "lens eats the makeup". The degree of dirtiness of the makeup has been reduced, but the picture still looks very strange and abrupt.
She said: "If you don't position the dragon as a clown, you should change the makeup. I don't see the point of it."
The person in charge of Werner explained to her that according to the film's setting of the dragon's identity, when she appeared in this role's makeup, she wanted to bring a sense of horror and fear, forming a sharp contrast with all her previous images.
Ling Suisui had read the script and knew this, but she did not think that this kind of makeup could have such an effect. The audience would only find the scene curious, and the characters who were originally immersed in the movie would instantly walk out of it.
...Is Werner going to use this makeup to attract traffic? Not really? Or is there something wrong with their aesthetic taste for Asian faces?
She told the person in charge and the makeup artist to wait for a moment, and then removed the makeup on her face.
In fact, Ling Sui often practiced putting on her own makeup when she was in college. After all, she was still very confused at that time. Fortunately, although I haven’t done my own makeup in many years, I haven’t completely forgotten it.
Ling Suisui also wore a smoky eyeshadow, but she replaced the dark grey eyeshadow with a light-colored one, making her light-faced face look very exotic.
She remembered that "The Great Swordsman" had not yet been released in North America. No wonder the other party insisted that she use makeup to convey the message she had just said. Well, don't blame him.
"I want to do an improvisation," she said.
"What?" The person in charge obviously didn't understand the meaning of this sentence, but he soon understood it.
Ling Suisui turned his head and locked his eyes on him.
Her expression became playful, with a fake smile on the corner of her mouth and a cruel and aggressive look in her eyes, which made him swallow unconsciously.
Without BGM, she just tapped the table with her fingers. The sound of "tick, tick, tick" was sometimes light, sometimes heavy, sometimes fast, sometimes slow. He felt like he was nailed to the spot, unable to escape his sight. Even if he covered his ears, the melody would still echo in his heart.
When he was trying to say something, Ling Suisui suddenly stood up.
With Ling Sui's height, it was not enough to cause him any sense of oppression, but the visual change in this instant still scared him a lot. He instinctively took a few steps back, and only after seeing the surprised looks from the people around him did he realize that he had screamed.
At this moment, the person in charge had mixed feelings.
It is certainly embarrassing to be frightened like this by Ling Suisui's casual acting, but it also means that the effect of the new movie is guaranteed!
Dillard’s “Times Change” can be ranked first in the world, and he has also thought about what kind of exciting trailer to edit for “Dragon Slayer”!
No, no, no, let’s save this for the main film... No, there’s no need to decide so early, what if Ling Suisui has someone better?
The person in charge recovered, and even though Ling Suisui had not yet completely gotten out of the role, he was no longer afraid, but looked at her lovingly, his eyes full of affection.
It was obvious that he was not looking at her, but at the mountains of US dollars and gold in his heart.
Ling Suisui: ...
Sure enough, no matter how terrifying the dragon is, it cannot make profit-seeking capital retreat even a single step.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
