Chapter 482 Versailles' Speech: Too Many Nominations
Lu Yanhe shook his head, "I'll cook something occasionally, but I won't make any fancy dishes. What if I need to cook for a movie in the future? I can't have a hand double for chopping vegetables or flipping a wok."
Chen Ziyan: "Hmm, you really have a lot of skills now. You can sing, ride horses, shoot arrows, and do a little martial arts. That's great. An actor should have a wide range of skills so that he can play any role."
"When will filming for the movie 'The Mist' begin?" Lu Yanhe asked curiously.
“It might be around February or March next year. I’ve already spoken with them. You’re going to start filming ‘Burning Fire’ in April next year, so we’ll avoid that schedule,” Chen Ziyan said. “Fortunately, ‘The Mist’ hasn’t confirmed its filming date yet, so we can coordinate it according to your schedule. However, I’ve calculated that you have quite a lot of filming plans for next year. ‘The Mist’ and ‘Burning Fire’ will fill up the first half of the year, and you’ll also be filming ‘The Seventeenth Floor’ Season 2 in the second half. Basically, you won’t have time for anything else.”
Lu Yanhe nodded.
“There’s another problem,” Chen Ziyan said. “Your ‘Love Letter’ definitely won’t be released for Valentine’s Day next year. But you’ll be so busy next year, you probably won’t have time to do post-production either. It’s a question whether the movie will even be released next year.”
Lu Yanhe sighed once again, realizing that there really wasn't enough time.
He said, "We'll do the post-production stuff whenever we have a spare moment. I already have a very clear idea of what kind of film I want it to be, which will save a lot of time."
Chen Ziyan nodded and said, "That's good."
Lu Yanhe: "Oh, right, I almost forgot, I need to arrange a meeting with Director Hou Jun."
"Um?"
Chen Ziyan looked at him with some surprise.
Hou Jun is the director of the program "Little Song Gathering" and can be considered one of Lu Yanhe's early mentors.
Chen Ziyan didn't know why Lu Yanhe suddenly suggested meeting up with her.
“I need to ask him for help with the soundtrack for Love Letter,” Lu Yanhe said. “The soundtrack is very important to Love Letter. I have some ideas, but I don’t know many people in the music industry, so I have to ask him for help.”
Chen Ziyan suddenly realized.
Hou Jun, as a music variety show director, has an unparalleled network of connections in the domestic music industry.
The original soundtrack for "Love Letter" was considered "god-level".
Many viewers even said that without this soundtrack, the movie might not have achieved its legendary status.
The reason why "Love Letter" is a classic is that it awakens memories of adolescence and unrequited love in every viewer's heart.
The background music played a crucial role in triggering these emotions.
Lu Yanhe knew nothing about those musical instruments; such things could only be done by professionals.
"By the way, I have something to tell you," Chen Ziyan asked with a smile, "Do you still remember 'The Divine Map'?"
"I remember, wasn't it a drama that Wenxia Zhiyin was producing? They cast Li Zhibai and Yan Liang in it, but it fell through later."
“Yes, it’s been restarted now,” Chen Ziyan said. “They went to Li Zhibai and Yan Liang again, but Zhou Pingan and Lin Suyang both turned them down. They didn’t want Li Zhibai and Yan Liang to play the roles anymore, so now Wenxia Zhiyin is looking for other actors.”
Lu Yanhe thought to himself, since Chen Ziyan specifically told him about this, Wen Xia Zhiyin probably wants to find an actor who is usually close to him.
Chen Ziyan said, "They want to cast Huang Kairen in the role."
"Huh?" Lu Yanhe asked, "Brother Kai Ren... he's already thirty-two years old, isn't he too old for that?"
Chen Ziyan: "If Huang Kairen is willing to play the role, Wenxia Zhiyin will definitely modify the character setting for Huang Kairen."
"Uh," Lu Yanhe asked, "What does Kai Ren think?"
“He didn’t want to take the job, but his agent wanted him to. The two sides had a big conflict over this, and I even heard about it.” Chen Ziyan finally said what she really wanted to say about this matter: “Huang Kairen and his agent should break up.”
Lu Yanhe looked shocked.
“His agent can’t keep up with his current momentum,” Chen Ziyan said. “Huang Kairen had a big conflict with Lian Xun about his role in the movie ‘Rouge’ before, and their relationship became very bad. After that, there were constant small conflicts. This time, ‘The Divine Picture’ has once again intensified the conflict between them.”
“Brother Kai Ren really doesn’t need to act in ‘The Divine Picture’ anymore. He finally managed to successfully transition into an actor who can carry serious dramas,” Lu Yanhe said. “Even I can see that, surely his agent can too?”
“But dramas like ‘The Divine Picture’ are the ones that make money. One drama can bring Huang Kairen more than 40 million yuan in remuneration. The remuneration that those serious dramas can provide Huang Kairen with is less than a quarter of that,” Chen Ziyan said. “Agents don’t run charities by managing actors. They still want to make money. Huang Kairen’s remuneration for acting in ‘Rouge’ was not high to begin with. No matter how good the reputation is, in the eyes of an agent, it has to be something that can be converted into income to be considered a good reputation. Otherwise, it’s a waste of effort.”
Didn't Kai-Yan get any new commercial endorsements thanks to "Rouge"?
“Of course there are several more,” Chen Ziyan said. “But given Huang Kairen’s current status, if he doesn’t accept endorsements from FMCG brands, his endorsement fees won’t be very high, especially for some top luxury brands, where he might not even get an endorsement fee. Huang Kairen is now determined to take the high-end route and won’t accept business deals from FMCG brands, so that aspect won’t bring in much income either. Actually, Huang Kairen’s approach is correct and very farsighted. If he can weather these years and truly establish his current position, transforming from a traffic star into a powerful actor, he won’t have to worry about income at all. Lian Xun might be losing his composure. Seeing Huang Kairen’s career getting better and better, he might feel a sense of crisis, thinking that he will be kicked out by Huang Kairen in the future.”
It's not just celebrities who lack a sense of security; agents feel the same way.
Between a minor artist and their agent, the latter definitely has the upper hand.
However, between top-tier artists and their agents, the agents are the ones in a weaker position.
Lu Yanhe asked, "Then Kai Ren... will he really break up with Lian Xun?"
In my judgment, yes.
-
Chen Ziyan's judgment was so accurate that it was confirmed two days later.
A marketing account revealed that Huang Kairen and his agent had an irreconcilable conflict, and there were rumors that they had broken up.
One stone stirs up a thousand waves.
News of artists having conflicts with their management companies or agents, even to the point of breaking up, is commonplace. Just like when celebrities date, get married, or get divorced, it tirelessly piques the interest of the general public.
After rumors of Huang Kairen and his agent Lian Xun's breakup circulated online for a long time, Huang Kairen and Lian Xun finally came forward to respond to the matter.
Instead of openly accusing each other, the two issued a joint statement, indicating that they did indeed have some disagreements regarding their future plans, but that it was not the situation rumored online. They asked for space to discuss and resolve these issues.
They both handled things very gracefully, unlike typical breakups between agents and artists, which often end badly and irreconcilably.
In reality, Huang Kairen and Lian Xun did not have any deep-seated hatred between them.
“From the beginning of my career, Lian Xun has been in charge of my management. Without him, I would never have achieved what I have today.”
In a phone call with Lu Yanhe, Huang Kairen mentioned this incident and expressed his gratitude to Lian Xun.
Lu Yanhe asked, "Brother Kai Ren, why don't you have a good talk with Lian Xun?"
“If we could have had a proper talk, we would have done it a long time ago.” Huang Kairen pursed his lips helplessly. “He and I do have significant differences regarding our future development direction.”
"That--"
“I will find a new agent to handle my affairs,” Huang Kairen said.
Lu Yanhe: "Will Lian Xun accept it?"
“He didn’t accept it at first, but after several talks, he has gradually come to accept it,” Huang Kairen said.
After Lu Yanhe finished his phone call with Huang Kairen, he originally thought that Lian Xun was a fairly easy-going and kind person, and that even if he and Huang Kairen had different views and wanted to break up, they could break up amicably.
But then Chen Ziyan told Lu Yanhe something that shocked him.
The reason Huang Kairen and Lian Xun were able to break up amicably was because Huang Kairen gave Lian Xun a breakup fee of ten million.
Upon hearing this number, Lu Yanhe was stunned.
Just when he thought that the two of them still had feelings for each other and that even if they couldn't continue together, they could part amicably, the huge breakup fee of ten million yuan shattered his beautiful imagination of humanity.
"Brother Kai Ren... this came at a great price."
“Yes, Huang Kairen has earned a lot over the years, but he also spends a lot. Giving away ten million in one go must have emptied his wallet considerably,” Chen Ziyan said. “Fortunately, the figure was not made public, otherwise, we would not know whether Huang Kairen or Lian Xun would be criticized.”
The former is criticized because there's always a group of people online who hate the rich, while the latter is criticized because of greed.
Regardless, let's leave it at that.
On the surface, the two broke up amicably.
Who will be Huang Kairen's agent is also attracting much attention in the industry.
Lu Yanhe even asked Chen Ziyan out of curiosity, "Sister Ziyan, haven't you considered trying to bring Kai Ren here with you?"
“He just broke up with Lian Xun, but his contract with his agency hasn’t expired yet,” Chen Ziyan said. “And it’s impossible for me to sign an agreement with his agency and become his contracted agent.”
In the realm of celebrity management, agents and agencies are generally integrated. Celebrities typically sign contracts with agencies, not agents. However, this only applies to the most common scenario. In reality, in many cases, agents can be independent individuals, signing separate agency agreements with agencies to represent their artists. Sometimes, a powerful and well-resourced agent, while personally contracted with an agency, might have an artist they're interested in sign a management agreement with them, not with the agency—meaning the artist is the agent's artist, not the agency's.
Lu Yanhe: "I wonder who Kai Ren will choose as his manager, or whether his agency will arrange another one for him?"
“It’s highly unlikely.” Chen Ziyan shook her head. “Even if the agency arranges another agent, the agent still represents the agency’s intentions and cannot possibly consider Huang Kairen’s work arrangements from his perspective 100%. Given Huang Kairen’s current status, what he needs is an agent who can help him break into the top tier in the future, and moreover, an agent who is 100% aligned with his interests.”
Lu Yanhe suddenly realized.
I learned another lesson from Sister Ziyan.
-
With the breakup between Huang Kairen and his agent coming to an end, and just before October was drawing to a close, the Fei Hong Awards, one of the three major film awards in China, announced its nominations for this year.
This time of year is when the three major domestic film awards begin to simmer and vie for attention.
This time, "Rouge", "Road to Glory", "The Angry Crow", "Nine Yin", "My Home I Haven't Been Back For a Long Time", and "Happy Hour" became the most nominated films.
These are all movies that have generated a lot of buzz this year.
Of course, some highly anticipated films surprisingly failed to secure nominations for major awards, such as "Exploding Needle," starring Li Yuefeng and Zhang Lan. Yu Jiang's "Flowers on the Stars," on the other hand, was clearly not a contender for awards even before its release.
In the Best Director category, the directors are Wang Zhong for "Rouge", Fu Kai for "Road to Glory", Erlang Xia (stage name) for "The Angry Crow", Ning Zhiyuan for "Nine Yin", and Yu Qin for "Happy Time".
There are both established directors and young directors, making the competition fierce.
Judging from media opinion, Wang Zhong and Yu Qin are considered to be in the first tier, while Fu Kai and Ning Zhiyuan are in the second tier. It is quite surprising that Erlang Xia, the director of the animated film "The Angry Crow," was nominated.
In the Best Screenplay category, Lu Yanhe for *Rouge* and Ning Zhiyuan for *Nine Yin Manual* are nominated alongside *My Long-Awaited Home*, *Heartache*, and *The Seventh Chapter of a Floating Life*. *The Seventh Chapter of a Floating Life* is considered the frontrunner. Upon its release, the film gained considerable fame for its adaptation of the Qing Dynasty work *Six Chapters of a Floating Life*, receiving extensive discussion and praise.
Regarding the actors.
Huang Kairen received his first nomination for Best Actor at the three major Chinese film awards for his role in "Rouge". Other nominees include Zhou Yuning for the martial arts film "Nine Yin" and Zhang Ding for the art-house romance film "Upstream". These three will compete for Best Actor against Lu Yanhe and Shang Yongzhou for "Road to Glory".
For Best Actress, although "My Long-Awaited Home" is a suspense thriller, the phenomenal success of the film, which she carried, directly secured her a nomination. Ning Xiulian, who won Best Actress at the Venice International Film Festival for "Happy Time," was also unsurprisingly nominated, as was Chen Bige, who won Best Actress at the Jose Film Festival for "Rouge." The other two nominees were considered by the media to be filler: Li Xiaoning, the lead actress in the still unreleased art film "Bai Feng," and Qin Sangwen, the art film goddess who starred in "Upstream." The latter two were seen as "nominations that mean elimination."
The media is saying that this year is a year of great explosion for Chinese-language films.
The film lineup includes acclaimed works that have won awards at international film festivals, such as "Rouge," "Road to Glory," and "Happy Hour," as well as box office hits of various genres, such as "My Home I Haven't Been Back For a Long Time," "Nine Yin," and "The Angry Crow."
The competition is exceptionally fierce.
The media thinks Xu Yiren is the most unfortunate one.
Given Xu Yiren's performance in "My Home I Haven't Been Back in a Long Time" and the representative achievements of this leading lady-centric drama, she would definitely have won a Best Actress award in a normal year. But she just happened to encounter this year, with a Venice Film Festival Best Actress award and a Josep Borrell Best Actress award, both incredibly strong contenders.
As for the male lead, this year is a big year, and the media is saying it's a battle of gods.
Shang Yongzhou and Lu Yanhe need no introduction. The former is currently the top male actor in China in terms of acting skills and is a big winner of awards. The latter has been a rising star in recent years and is undoubtedly the "number one of the younger generation." He has also received a bunch of acting award nominations during the North American awards season with the movie "Road to Glory."
Zhou Yuning, from "Nine Yin Manual," was also a dark horse that emerged during this summer's box office. His portrayal of the swordsman is arguably one of the most successful martial arts characters in recent years, and his tragic ending deeply moved a large audience. One role propelled Zhou Yuning into the ranks of top-tier film actors—this isn't just about starring in a blockbuster movie; his role was compelling, and his own star power was dazzling enough to achieve such meteoric success under perfect circumstances.
Besides Zhou Yuning, Huang Kairen also changed everyone's impression of him with "Rouge." His portrayal of the dashing and deeply affectionate Twelfth Master in "Rouge," while a typical example of a role that makes the actor shine, was enough to make Huang Kairen's performance stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Chen Bige, demonstrating his success in the film. If there's a disadvantage, it's that "Rouge" is a female-centric film, and Huang Kairen's role was relatively small, lacking the depth and complexity of his character compared to other nominees.
Even Chen Ziyan said, "This year's Fei Hong Awards were truly spectacular."
The film magazine "Movie Jianghu" directly published an article saying: This is the most interesting Fei Hong Award in the past decade.
This is Lu Yanhe's first time being nominated for the Best Actor award.
He was previously named Best Supporting Actor.
Chen Ziyan said, "It's a pity that movies like 'Lost in Thailand' are still not favored by awards."
"It wasn't even aiming for awards; the box office results are already very good. We can't be too greedy."
Chen Ziyan looked at her phone and suddenly laughed.
"Now everyone online is saying that you get nominated for every award, and always twice. Before, you got nominated twice for acting awards, and now you get nominated once for acting awards and once for screenwriting awards. Some people say that maybe after 'Love Letter' is released, you will be Lu the Three-Nomination Guy, the director, screenwriter, and actor three-nomination guy."
Lu Yanhe was both amused and exasperated by this statement.
"It's not that exaggerated." Lu Yanhe smiled. "My performance in 'Love Letter' probably won't get me nominated for any acting awards."
That role was practically effortless to perform.
In fact, the characters in "Love Letter" were not particularly difficult to perform.
Including the role played by Chen Bige.
The reason why "Love Letter" is a classic is simply because it takes the themes of youth, unrequited love, and nostalgia to an extreme. It's not because any one actor's performance was particularly outstanding. The reason all the characters are so moving is because they are driven by the story and the atmosphere of the film.
Lu Yanhe thought about it and realized that if "Love Letter" had any chance of winning an award in the future, the Best Screenplay award would be the most likely.
The day after the nominations for the Fei Hong Awards were announced, the Asian Television Festival awards ceremony was also held.
Lu Yanhe flew to Singapore again to attend the closing ceremony and awards ceremony.
He was there to announce, together with Ms. Kim Eon-sook of TVN, that "Rouge" would be adapted into a Korean drama.
Lu Yanhe will also announce at the same time that "Rouge" will be adapted into a Chinese-language TV series.
As for his nominations, Lu Yanhe really didn't care about any of them—because, as they expected, he didn't win any awards.
The winner of this year's Best Actor award at the Asian Television Awards was none other than Kong Lingfan, the South Korean actor who asked Lu Yanhe during the opening ceremony if he could make a cameo appearance in the Korean drama version of "Friends".
He won the award for his role in the suspense drama "Death Wanted," which became a sensation across Asia last year. He was overjoyed and cried tears of joy when he accepted the award.
The Chinese-language media present were very dissatisfied with Lu Yanhe's failure to harvest any crops.
To be honest, Chinese-language dramas didn't have much influence overseas before. They couldn't compete with Korean and Japanese dramas, which had the backing of streaming services, so their influence was huge. Even if they couldn't be broadcast normally in China, they still had millions or even tens of millions of viewers thanks to the rampant pirated resources.
But which of these films—Friends, The Seventeen Floors, and The Silent River—didn't achieve remarkable success?!
Lu Yanhe has already held two fan meetings in South Korea.
Who can honestly say that these dramas are less influential than Korean and Japanese dramas?
In everyone's mind, Lu Yanhe is the most awesome actor. He sat in the awards ceremony with so many nominations, but he didn't win a single award.
Are you kidding me!
However, while everyone felt indignant for Lu Yanhe, they saw that Lu Yanhe didn't take it to heart at all. After hearing that others had won awards, he chatted and laughed with director Chen Lingling next to him, seemingly not caring at all.
It wasn't until director Chen Lingling won the Best Director award that Lu Yanhe happily stood up, applauded, and celebrated for her.
After the awards ceremony, Lu Yanhe was surrounded by many media outlets.
The question he was asked most often was, "You came here this time and got nothing. Will that affect your mood?"
Lu Yanhe originally wanted to humbly say something like "no" or "nothing," but when he saw that his media friends were genuinely indignant that he hadn't won the award, he smiled and decided to take a Versailles approach.
"It doesn't affect anything," Lu Yanhe said with a smile. "There have been so many award nominations lately that I can't even tell which one is which. If I win an award, I win an award; if I don't, it's no big deal. It feels like there are new nominations every day. With so many nominations, I'm bound to win a few, haha."
He didn't say these things in a boastful way, nor did he have a smug tone. It was just a kind of nonchalant, "I'm just showing off" frankness that made his words sound strange.
There's a feeling of "Damn, this guy really got away with it!"
What Lu Yanhe didn't dare say was that this wasn't a top-tier award, and he hadn't taken it seriously from the start. If it were a top international film festival where he didn't win, or if he missed out on one of the three major domestic awards, he might have been a little disappointed.
After the awards ceremony, before the media had left, Kim Yeon-sook held a press conference.
This press conference will announce many of TVN's future project plans.
Lu Yanhe, a collaborator on the Korean drama version of "Rouge," appeared on stage with a smile, eliciting excited cheers from the audience.
“It’s wonderful to see my work adapted into new versions in different countries and regions in different forms and languages, allowing more audiences to see it,” said Lu Yanhe. “I’m really looking forward to seeing the Korean versions of Friends and Rouge.”
Some media members raised their hands to indicate that they wanted to ask a question.
It is Chinese media.
Lu Yanhe nodded, indicating to the host that he was ready to answer questions.
The reporter from the Chinese media asked, "The news that 'Rouge', a Chinese-language film, is being adapted into a Korean drama is quite shocking. I'd like to ask why you didn't consider adapting 'Rouge' into a Chinese-language drama series?"
"It will be adapted."
Regarding this, Lu Yanhe had already spoken to Jin Yanshu in advance. Jin Yanshu did not object to Lu Yanhe mentioning the Chinese version at this press conference. On the contrary, she believed that if China and South Korea adapted the drama at the same time, it would generate more buzz and be of great benefit to the adaptation of Korean dramas.
Lu Yanhe said, "The Chinese-language TV series adaptation of 'Rouge' will be produced by Icefield Video."
The audience gasped in surprise.
A movie that has only been released for a short time is now being adapted into two TV series.
This speed is almost unheard of.
Is "Rouge" really that popular?
This is truly unexpected. After all, "Rouge" wasn't exactly a phenomenon. While it did perform well at the Chinese box office, it didn't become a global blockbuster.
Why did TVN suddenly decide to adapt this into a Korean drama?
Many media outlets immediately asked Kim Yeon-sook questions.
What everyone is most curious about is why they wanted to adapt "Rouge".
Lu Yanhe was quite nervous at this moment.
If Kim Eon-sook overemphasizes feminist consciousness at this point, it might cause a lot of controversy online. After all, this topic is quite sensitive online. However, given that Kim Eon-sook has remained a prominent figure in the Korean drama industry for so many years, she certainly possesses this sensitivity.
As soon as she opened her mouth, she attributed her original intention to adapt "Rouge" to Lu Yanhe.
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Today's monthly votes only increased by 200+, so I'll only be updating with 7,000 words.
The extra chapters don't mean extra chapters, they mean extra words.
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I'd also like to recommend the old book, "I Became the Scandalous Woman Overnight".
(End of this chapter)
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