Beijing, Ning Jiaqi's home.
When Xiao He and his group visited, they discovered that Director Zhuang Hongyi was also there.
Upon seeing Xiao He, Ning Jiaqi, who was chatting with Zhuang Hongyi, stopped talking and gestured for Xiao He to sit down with a smile.
"I'm just going to take a stroll around Beijing this time. Don't worry about the awards; what's meant to come will come."
Ning Jiaqi tapped the coffee table, crossed his legs, and suddenly felt a rare sense of ease and composure, as if he were back in his home base, no longer experiencing the anxiety and confusion he felt abroad.
Xiao He knew that Ning Jiaqi was prestigious in Beijing and that he couldn't possibly have no connection with the judging panel, so he smiled and said, "This time it's all thanks to the joint efforts of everyone in the crew. I hope everyone can get a satisfactory result."
Liu Rulan also said with a smile: "No Bait is an excellent work, and we believe that solid strength will definitely enable it to achieve corresponding results."
Both sides spoke eloquently, but their true intentions were already clear to each other.
After Xiao He and the others took their leave, Zhuang Hongyi turned his attention back to his teacher and said, "Xiao He is indeed a worthwhile investment. It was a wise move for you to give him a final boost."
As is well known, most awards require a degree of impartiality.
For example, the Best Actor and Best Actress awards are usually not given to actors from the same production, and the Best Screenplay and Best Director awards are usually given to different productions.
Although there may be some tilting at times, it's generally not a wasted trip.
In terms of story content, "No Bait" is indeed not suitable for winning Best Picture and Best Screenplay, and the female lead is only making a cameo appearance, so she has no competitiveness. Therefore, the most suitable major awards to win are Best Director and Best Actor.
This time, Ning Jiaqi asked the judges to give full support to Xiao He for Best Actor, instead of competing for his own Best Director award, which is enough to show his attitude.
The reason "No Bait" was nominated this time is to help Xiao He win an award!
Xiao He deserved it too!
Faced with Zhuang Hongyi's words, Ning Jiaqi remained noncommittal. Instead, he picked up the cup on the table and said calmly, "Things are different now than before. The fact that 'No Bait' was able to pass the review is enough to show that those people at the top have wavered. Liu Rulan spent a lot of time and energy in Beijing recently. Maybe they could still get the award without our hint."
Now that he could easily gain an extra favor, he naturally wouldn't refuse.
And it's quite obvious that Xiao He's side is also a smart one.
Zhuang Hongyi felt a little regretful for his teacher: "But Xiao He is still young, he will always have opportunities."
When Ning Jiaqi said he was going to retire, he really meant it. "No Bait" was basically his last work.
If he could end his directing career with an award, wouldn't that be a perfect ending?
Ning Jiaqi just smiled and said, "I've already won awards in Cannes, so I don't care about these domestic awards now."
He already has box office success and awards; he doesn't need to compete with younger people for opportunities.
"You'd better come up with your good script sooner rather than later and get people involved," Ning Jiaqi said earnestly.
To be honest, Zhuang Hongyi and Xiao He have only collaborated twice, namely the first and second seasons of "The Phantom Thieves", and both times they were just guest appearances. To this day, Xiao He has never played an important role under Zhuang Hongyi.
Even "The Corner" was mainly funded by investors, with Yan Shaohan as the main director.
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