Chapter 627 Desperate Hope (10,000-word update!)
The main reason why "Love Letter" held its domestic premiere and special screening for friends at Zhenhua University was because it seemed to be another "base camp" for Lu Yanhe.
There are two forces outside the entertainment industry that can truly help him: one is the network of connections behind Chen Ziyan, and the other is the "Jump Up" team led by Chen Siqi.
Moreover, everyone here is in the entertainment industry, and we're all more or less stuck in the same pool. No matter how fast we spin, we can't escape this pool.
Chen Ziyan had told him many times that he should make good use of the alumni network at Zhenhua University.
The alumni network of Zhenhua University is undoubtedly one of the most influential. After graduation, they are distributed across various industries, and are highly likely to be elites in their respective fields. This is especially true in the financial sector, which is closely related to the entertainment industry.
Chen Ziyan also said, "It's not just that you need their help a lot; they need you a lot too. Of course, if they want you to be a spokesperson for some capital games, that won't work. Many capital firms have one or two celebrities as their spokespeople."
Lu Yanhe nodded: "I definitely won't participate in this kind of capital game."
“It’s not that I don’t participate in capital games, but that you can’t be their spokesperson in the spotlight; the risk is too great,” Chen Ziyan said. “Not all capital games are traps or pitfalls. If a game can be played, it means there must be winners.”
Lu Yanhe: "But I don't understand either. If I really get involved, won't I be fooled like an idiot?"
“You don’t understand, but it’s enough that the people around you do,” Chen Ziyan said. “Your Linghe, Chen Siqi’s Tiaoqiqi, and even my Shihuo—as the company gradually develops, we will inevitably have to participate in this kind of capital game. It’s not something we can refuse to participate in. When you reach a certain height, if you still think about staying out of it, you will inevitably be squeezed out by larger capital groups. No one will allow you to occupy such a large market share on your own; you are taking someone else’s cake. But if you have the support of the Zhenhua circle in various fields, anyone who wants to target you will have to consider their own worth.”
Lu Yanhe: "Okay."
“However, what does this have to do with me having to hold a screening event at Zhenhua?” Lu Yanhe asked.
Chen Ziyan: "Yes, you've already graduated, but your relationship with the school remains close. You need to send this signal to the outside world, especially to people in the Zhenhua circle. Beyond interests, there are also personal connections. With the school acting as a bridge, the foundation for cooperation is far stronger than with outsiders. Most importantly, you need to ensure that people in the Zhenhua circle see you and remember you from time to time. You are the first truly top-tier star to emerge from Zhenhua in recent years. Believe me, with your current fame and achievements in this industry, many of your seniors will be proud to have you as their junior."
Lu Yanhe nodded. "Okay."
-
For the special screening of "Love Letter" at Zhenhua, Zhenhua was responsible for coordinating with the Youth Association. The current president of the Youth Association is Wang Xiao—the first president in the association's history to serve for four years and who is poised to break new records.
There will still be a red carpet and photo area.
This time, Lu Yanhe walked the red carpet with his three undergraduate roommates.
This was also a special arrangement by the company.
Chen Siqi will walk the red carpet with her high school classmates from No. 13 Middle School, including Lin Yu and Li Pengfei.
For a film that has a somewhat nostalgic feel for youth, the company hopes to play the "classmate card" and let the public see that Lu Yanhe values the impressions of his old classmates.
Many celebrities, after achieving fame, often reduce contact with old friends due to changes in their social circles. It's not that they intentionally want to avoid contact, but as shared experiences and common topics diminish, this outcome is unavoidable.
But Lu Yanhe has indeed maintained contact with all his old classmates.
When Lu Yanhe's "high school classmates" and "university classmates" appeared on the red carpet, the media invited to the event all showed some surprise.
For this screening at Zhenhua University, Lu Yanhe did not invite any of his friends from the entertainment industry—if we don't count Miao Yue, who is also a screenwriter in the entertainment industry, only the three main actors were present: Lu Yanhe, Chen Bige, and Zhang Ruozhi.
The media never expected that the first public screening of "Love Letter" in China would be so lackluster.
Of course, no one would say that Lu Yanhe was unpopular and couldn't invite celebrities to participate at this time.
Even the most shameless media outlets wouldn't say something like that. If Lu Yanhe invited them, they could absolutely turn his film screening into an event comparable to an awards ceremony.
This was clearly arranged by the film's producers.
It's a friendly gathering then.
It really was a gathering of close friends.
This feeling deepened when Lu Yanhe walked down the red carpet with Zhou Mukai, Mao Jiayang, and Xiao Jing.
To give an interview.
When asked why he chose to walk the red carpet with his three roommates instead of his girlfriend Chen Siqi, Lu Yanhe laughed and said, "I went back to Zhenhua today, so I walked with my old classmates."
"Chen Siqi is here today too. With such a romantic movie, are you worried that Siqi will be jealous if she sees you doing intimate things with other girls in the movie?" a reporter asked with a smile.
Lu Yanhe blinked and said, "You probably won't ask that question after you finish watching the movie."
Sorry, there are no intimate scenes in this movie.
Pure love, absolutely pure love.
Seeing that they couldn't get anything out of Lu Yanhe, the reporter immediately turned the microphone to his classmate.
"Could you tell us what Lu Yanhe is like at school?"
“That’s it,” Mao Jiayang said. “It’s pretty much the same as what you see on camera, no difference.”
"Really? There must be some difference, right?" the reporter asked jokingly.
“It’s really like that. He’s a weirdo. I saw him on the show, and sometimes when the camera was rolling, he would relax and slack off. When he was at school, you could hardly ever see him in the dorm except when he was sleeping. He was either in the classroom or the library.” Mao Jiayang said very seriously. “Back then, when he was writing scripts, he would often spend the whole day in the library. There were people on our school’s internal forum who would post every day that Yan He went to the library.”
Zhou Mukai added, "He had basically completed the first draft of his graduation thesis in the second semester of his junior year. I really admire him."
"Stop praising me! You're making me sound like some kind of super genius. My grades have never even been in the top 15% in school." Lu Yanhe quickly stopped him. "You work so hard, and your grades are still so average."
Xiao Jing laughed loudly.
Lu Yanhe "threatened" media reporters: "You are not allowed to report this part."
They chatted and laughed as they finished the interview and went into the auditorium.
-
The auditorium was bustling with activity.
The auditorium, which can accommodate 500 people, was mainly filled with teachers and students from Zhenhua University.
Lu Yanhe's group of relatives and friends only made up a small portion of the group.
The dean of the Faculty of Arts and a vice president of the university were both present.
Wang Xiao was the one who made all the contacts.
As soon as Lu Yanhe entered, Wang Xiao strode over, patted him on the shoulder, and warmly welcomed him: "Finally back at school!"
Lu Yanhe laughed: "How could I come back without bringing some works with me?"
Wang Xiao: "You yourself are the greatest work, stop spouting this nonsense."
He led Lu Yanhe to greet several school leaders first. After Lu Yanhe took his seat, Wang Xiao went on stage as the host and gave a brief introduction to the screening, especially mentioning the two major awards the film won at the Jose Film Festival. Then, the film screening began.
-
Although Chen Siqi did not walk the red carpet with Lu Yanhe, her seat was still arranged next to Lu Yanhe.
This isn't the first time Chen Siqi has watched "Love Letter".
During the movie screening, Lu Yanhe and Chen Siqi were not really focused, and they would occasionally whisper in each other's ears.
When the movie ended and the lights came on, Lu Yanhe came to his senses and saw that many people around him had red and swollen eyes.
"..."
Well, it seems that movies like "Love Letter" are even more of a tearjerker for students in schools.
Thunderous applause erupted from the audience.
Lu Yanhe and Chen Bige both stood up, turned around, waved to the audience, and greeted them with bright smiles.
Only then, prompted by others, did the inexperienced Zhang Ruozhi, as if waking from a dream, stand up and stand somewhat shyly beside Chen Bige to greet everyone.
The response at the scene was very enthusiastic.
The youth association members have already started bringing chairs onto the stage; they will be holding an exchange event later.
Wang Xiao is the host, Miao Yue is a guest, and the three main actors of "Love Letter" are also present.
Lu Yanhe shook hands or hugged each of the important guests sitting in the first row to express his gratitude for their presence.
Those who have other work commitments may leave now. If you have nothing else to do, please continue with the following activities.
Only a few invited media outlets were filming at the event, unlike typical screenings where the participants are a mixed bag.
Ten minutes later, Lu Yanhe and the others sat down in their seats on the stage.
Wang Xiao first asked some standard questions to get to the point, and then invited everyone to share their feelings about making this film.
Lu Yanhe had shared similar experiences several times before, so he didn't say much, just a few words, and then handed it over to Chen Bige and Zhang Ruozhi.
Chen Bige said, "Looking back now, I'm still quite scared. I'm an actress who's very cautious about choosing roles, especially in recent years. But at the time, because I had already worked with Yan He on 'The Seventeen Floors' and filmed 'Rouge,' which he wrote, when he said he wanted me to act in another script, I agreed without much thought. As a result, he wrote, directed, and starred in it himself... Haha, I can only say this now. At the time, I was actually very worried, wondering if I was going to mess it up?"
Lu Yanhe laughed along with the audience.
“Before filming this movie, he said that it might not help me win any acting awards. He said that this is not a movie that focuses on the actors’ performances,” Chen Bige continued. “But he also told me that although I might not win any awards, this movie and this role might become a milestone in my acting career. I was shocked at the time. I thought to myself, young people are just prone to making wild claims.”
Everyone laughed again.
Lu Yanhe could only make a helpless expression and gesture.
“But as we were filming, I gradually realized that it might not be that he was spouting nonsense, but that I had underestimated the film,” Chen Bige said. “Seeing everyone’s reaction after watching it today, I’m even more convinced of this idea. I originally thought… well, I found that I have quite a lot of prejudices. I originally thought that Zhenhua students were all rational people, not so emotional, and might not be moved by this film. But it turns out that your eyes didn’t get any less red than others.”
Everyone laughed even harder.
Chen Bige: "Filming this movie was a wonderful process. The two characters I played in the movie are actually quite different from my own personality, but during filming, I could truly feel their inner world and understand their thoughts. This is all based on a good script, which is why we were able to achieve a kind of unrealistic realism. In recent years, I have collaborated with Yan He on many projects. Apart from 'The Seventeen Floors,' the scripts for the other projects were all written by Yan He. Sometimes I wonder if I have collaborated with Yan He too much, and whether it will cause audience fatigue."
"How could that be?" Wang Xiao faithfully fulfilled his role as the straight man, "As long as you're willing to act, we're willing to watch any kind of show."
Chen Bige smiled and glanced at Wang Xiao, expressing her gratitude with her eyes. "However, Yan He's scripts are completely different. Whether it's the subject matter, the characters, or the style, sometimes I wonder if he has different souls inside him, which is why he can write so many works with completely different styles."
Lu Yanhe revealed a surprised and delighted smile.
He didn't know if he had shown any sign of guilt on his face at that moment.
When it came to Zhang Ruozhi, she was almost exactly the same as in the movie—a very naive but not introverted girl.
Her makeup and styling were very clean and youthful, unlike many young female celebrities who often appear out of place due to heavy makeup.
She said, "For me, making a movie was a very sudden thing. He and Sister Siqi... It was in a bookstore when the two of them suddenly appeared in front of me and asked me if I would like to make a movie. I was very surprised."
Lu Yanhe said, "You weren't just startled; your first reaction was whether we were scammers."
Zhang Ruozhi gave a shy smile.
She was very embarrassed.
However, her reaction was very "Fujii Itsuki", which is very much in line with her character in the movie.
Someone asked Lu Yanhe if he would ever make a movie set against the backdrop of Zhenhua University.
Lu Yanhe said that he doesn't have any related ideas yet. If he comes up with a good story in the future, he would be very willing to make a movie with Zhenhua University as the background. He also welcomes everyone to send good ideas and creativity to Linghe Production's public email address. Once he has a good story, he would be very happy to work with everyone to create a movie about Zhenhua.
After he said that, applause immediately broke out in the room.
This is Zhenhua's home ground, so Lu Yanhe's public statement naturally earned him cheers and applause from the audience.
"Some people commented that since you wrote and directed this movie, why were you given a male decorative role?" During the Q&A session, a girl asked with a smile.
The question immediately drew laughter from the entire audience.
Lu Yanhe also smiled.
He waved his hand and said, "I don't think I've prepared myself for a male decorative role. To be honest, in a sense, I believe that this role will be the one that people remember the longest and the most unforgettable in my film career."
When Miao Yue heard Lu Yanhe say that, she initially thought he was joking. However, after waiting for a while without receiving any signal from Lu Yanhe that he was "making fun of himself," she was somewhat surprised and asked, "Why would you say that?"
Lu Yanhe, however, kept it a secret.
"It wouldn't be good for me to say it myself. Let's wait for the audience's reaction. In a few years, we'll see if my judgment today was correct," Lu Yanhe said with a smile.
With this special screening at Zhenhua University, the promotion of "Love Letter" has officially begun.
The next day, the program "How Are You? I'm Fine" made a surprise appearance, releasing a trailer and announcing that the first episode would be released in three days.
Do you remember who you had a crush on back in the day?
Do you know who once had a crush on you?
"How have you been all these years?"
Each line of text reveals the theme of the program.
Last sentence: This program was inspired by the movie "Love Letter", which will be released during the Qixi Festival.
Chen Siqi reposted the trailer and wrote—
This program was conceived by Xin Zixing, the producer of the hit show "Rooftop Confessions." PS: A behind-the-scenes story: I asked, "Sister, do you have any good ideas for promoting 'Love Letter'?" She said she needed to watch the movie first. After watching it, she said she wanted to make a program. I said, "Sister, our promotional budget is limited; we can't use the entire promotional budget for a movie on a program." She said, "I don't care about your promotion; I'm going to make this program." I was stunned; she just said she'd do it!
As the program gained traction, screenings of "Love Letter" continued.
Unlike "Paths of Glory," it did not follow a long-running film route, but instead held special screenings in various locations.
Most of them are university campuses.
Cat Tail was responsible for the domestic distribution of "Love Letter." Longyan wanted to compete, but their offer and distribution terms were not as good as Cat Tail's. In addition, Cat Tail's distribution strategy for the film was more in line with Lu Yanhe's ideas. Longyan's distribution strategy for the film was to take a simple and crude route of big stars and blockbusters, which Lu Yanhe shook his head upon hearing it.
If this movie dared to follow the distribution path of big stars and blockbusters, it would probably be questioned by a large number of viewers as "selling dog meat under the guise of mutton," since it is not a romantic comedy like "I Can't Even Fake My Death."
Love Letter should indeed have relied on word-of-mouth from the audience, especially from students.
Let's see if we can leverage the "youthful nostalgia" topic it sparked among students to generate even greater impact.
Lu Yanhe and Chen Bige split up and began attending screening events at universities across the country.
If a celebrity is going to appear at a university, almost everyone in the school, from faculty to students, will hear about it. A typical university has tens of thousands of faculty and students.
These screenings all require tickets to be snapped up, which is where Cattail's capabilities as a distributor shine. In each city and school, someone needs to scout the screening venue beforehand, bringing the equipment and tapes for testing, and then finalize the online ticketing process. Cattail has the technology, a nationwide network, and its own ticketing platform, making it entirely possible to organize such nationwide university screenings.
Lu Yanhe spent five days running around doing this kind of publicity.
It really takes a lot of energy and mental strain.
Subsequently, he, along with Chen Bige, Zhang Ruozhi, Li Songfan, Wan Xin, and others, appeared on two of the most popular variety shows in China to promote the film.
The show "How Are You? I'm Fine" has a natural ability to generate buzz.
Jump Up made significant concessions on advertising revenue sharing and copyright cooperation for this program, thereby allowing Aurora Video and Icefield Video to invest more in online promotion and traffic generation for this all-amateur program.
Unsurprisingly, the show became a hit online.
The mere mention of the word "unrequited love" is enough to attract clicks on certain platforms.
In a time when various observational programs are emerging one after another, this program suddenly pulls the relationship between men and women, which has been dissected to the point of exhaustion, back to both ends of the corridor of time, allowing people to once again experience the nervousness and shyness of not daring to open their hearts in their youth, as well as the sense of loss and deep regret when looking back on the past as adults.
The most hazy and ambiguous feelings of attraction between men and women have thus returned to people's hearts.
Both episodes cleverly incorporated quotes from the film "Love Letter" at the beginning, end, and transitions, seamlessly blending the movie with the program's content and immediately building audience anticipation for the film.
As July drew to a close, the movie "Love Letter" had already generated buzz on various social media platforms, especially those frequented by college students.
This is a movie that is not afraid of spoilers.
After all, the movie revealed the male protagonist's death right at the beginning.
This movie is the kind of movie that attracts more people to the theater the more spoilers it gets.
The most distinctive feature of this film is its emotional resonance and impact.
At this time, the promotional tour for "Love Letter" was scheduled to be suspended for a few days.
Lu Yanhe has to go film "Hurricane 2". After he comes back, he will be involved in another promotional event for "Love Letter" – a media screening.
That was another battle.
Of course, their main creators have suspended offline promotions, but not online ones.
In just over two weeks, the number of people who want to see "Love Letter" has exceeded 350,000, and box office estimates from agencies have also exceeded 500 million yuan, demonstrating the remarkable effectiveness of the promotion.
The next step is to see if this positive trend presented by the data can truly translate into box office revenue.
There have been too many "Waterloo" incidents in the past. No one can truly relax yet.
It's always the same with movie releases; you can never truly know for sure whether a movie is actually attracting audiences to go to the cinema until the opening day box office results are in.
Wanting to go and actually going are two different things.
-
At the end of the month, Lu Yanhe very quietly took his team to the United States.
This time, the filming only took three days, which is very fast. However, it will take another two days to travel to and from the location.
This time, Lu Yanhe truly witnessed what a Hollywood A-list production was like.
In just three days, the production team provided Lu Yanhe with a car and a full-time driver. In addition, the production team also funded the provision of bodyguards and service teams for Lu Yanhe during his three days in the United States.
This is not included in Lu Yanhe's $1.5 million.
The hotel turned out to be a luxury suite priced at tens of thousands of dollars a night.
Lu Yanhe was stunned.
Is it really that extravagant?
That's outrageously extravagant!
Lu Yanhe did not receive such treatment when he filmed "Misty".
Of course, that movie was also a low-budget film, costing only a little over ten million dollars.
"Hurricane 2" cost hundreds of millions to produce, and the marketing and distribution costs will likely be just as high.
At that moment, Lu Yanhe suddenly realized firsthand what kind of treatment truly top Hollywood stars enjoy.
What Lu Yanhe didn't expect was that after he arrived at the hotel, the crew's contact person asked him rather suggestively if he needed someone to provide him with certain services, specifically emphasizing safety and reliability.
Lu Yanhe declined directly.
The next day, Lu Yanhe was picked up and taken directly to the photography studio.
Lu Yanhe's scenes for the past three days were all filmed in the studio.
Some are green screens, and some are actual sets.
Because he plays an Asian elite, his look is actually quite simple; a suit and tie are all he needs to wear.
However, even so, the production team prepared fifteen suits for him to choose from.
Business style, casual style, elite style... actually, if you don't look closely, the differences aren't that big.
However, for the costume designer of this film, it was completely different.
While he was trying on clothes, Derain Dylan, the film's star and producer, arrived.
"Hey, bro!" Derain greeted Lu Yanhe warmly as soon as he came in.
Derian is a traditionally handsome man with a very strong physique and a "superman" look.
“It’s great to have you on board,” Derian Dylan said, patting Lu Yanhe on the shoulder.
Lu Yanhe said with a smile, "I am a fan of 'Hurricane' and I am very happy to be able to film 'Hurricane 2'. I was pleasantly surprised to receive the invitation."
Actually, he only watched "The Hurricane" on the planes flying over here.
Some insincere social niceties.
Derian Dylan glanced at the new outfit Lu Yanhe had just changed into.
“I have to say, I suddenly regret inviting you to star in ‘Hurricane 2’.” He frowned seriously.
Lu Yanhe smiled and glanced at him. "Why?"
He already guessed what Derian Dylan was going to say next.
"Because you, you damn guy, are too handsome and will steal my thunder!" Derian Dylan deliberately made a "bad" expression and tone.
really.
You were right.
“…” Lu Yanhe laughed, “Alright, the media was right, you really are a very nice person.”
Derian Dylan immediately laughed.
“Let’s have a drink together after we finish work today!” he said. “I’ve wanted to get to know you ever since I watched ‘The Mist,’ and now I finally have the chance.”
Lu Yanhe nodded and said okay.
-
In "Hurricane 2", Lu Yanhe really had no room to showcase his acting skills.
Although he has a significant amount of screen time in this film, he appears frequently on camera, making him a character who is present throughout the entire movie.
From the beginning, he was an investor who was somewhat at odds with the meteorologist played by Derain, because of a project of Derain's weather tracking system, and he had some ideological differences with Derain.
When they actually encountered the once-in-a-century hurricane disaster, he tried to contact Derain and his team, but couldn't reach them, so he decided to drive to find them and take them to safety from the catastrophe.
As a result, by the time they found the main characters, it was too late. They also had to help the townspeople escape the disaster. While the main characters were trying to lead the people to survive the hurricane, Derain was almost blown away by the wind. He grabbed Derain's hand and pulled him back.
However, just as they all breathed a sigh of relief, exchanged a few words, explained the misunderstanding at the beginning of their acquaintance, and finally put an end to their past grievances, a shard of glass, which had been swept in from somewhere by the hurricane, suddenly shot into Lu Yanhe's neck.
The Asian character played by Lu Yanhe just died like that.
Definitely a tool or utility role.
There are only a few scenes in total.
However, fortunately, his character has a reversal from beginning to end, and his act of dying to save the protagonist makes his character very positive, rather than just a pure tool.
Today's scene is the one where Lu Yanhe and Deli'en have an argument.
He didn't intend to create a past life or present life for his character.
If you're playing a support role, then just focus on fulfilling your support role's duties.
Given Lu Yanhe's current abilities, if he were to try to "develop" a minor supporting character in such a "three-dimensional" way, the actual effect might be the same as "even the wisest can make a mistake"—he might overact and make the character clash with the simple and straightforward plot.
When Lu Yanhe was thinking about how to play this role, he was actually thinking about the supporting characters in the Mission: Impossible series.
In Mission: Impossible, Tom Cruise is undoubtedly the protagonist, but many of the supporting characters, though with limited screen time, also have their own highlights and brilliance. Tom Cruise does this admirably; he doesn't allow the supporting characters to shine just because he's the main character.
Those were all very stereotypical characters, but the actors all brilliantly portrayed each characteristic to the extreme, thus leaving a deep impression on the audience.
Lu Yanhe thought about it for a moment, and inexplicably, he began to identify with Zhou Ping'an.
A persona that is neither particularly good nor particularly bad, and whose actions are entirely driven by practical interests.
If we base the character's design on Zhou Ping'an's appearance, it seems we can find a foothold.
But after hesitating for a moment, he gave up.
In the script, this character is not actually a "bad character". He just has different ideas from the protagonist. His choices are more conservative and not as risky as the protagonist's.
He is essentially a good person; otherwise, he wouldn't have gone out of his way to drive to find the main characters and warn them of the impending disaster when he couldn't contact them.
Lu Yanhe did not want to portray his Chinese-American character as a "secular person" in such a global blockbuster.
Therefore, he ultimately decided to adopt the safest acting approach, but to amplify the emotions in every scene, instead of his usual restrained performance.
By amplifying the performance, the character's personality and emotions are dramatically externalized.
-
Lu Yanhe arrived on set for the first scene.
This scene was filmed on a set, an indoor set—a weather forecasting center.
There were a dozen or so extras playing researchers at the center, serving as background figures.
Lu Yanhe is the representative of the investors in this center.
The director was a man named Raul Ward, who was bald and looked like a very ordinary and mediocre person.
Lu Yanhe greeted him.
Raul Ward nodded to Lu Yanhe and briefly explained to him how to film the scene.
Lu Yanhe nodded.
There was no further communication.
It was only after Derian arrived that everyone suddenly seemed to have a pillar of support, and they began to focus their attention away from their previous busy schedules.
The same goes for Raul Ward.
Looking at the situation, Lu Yanhe made a judgment in his mind: it seemed that this was a movie crew where Delien was the absolute core.
Of course, this is normal; Derain is an A-list Hollywood star, a true top-tier movie star.
It's perfectly normal for him to have such a voice in his film series.
Lu Yanhe is a little worried now, wondering if Delien will interfere with his performance.
He knew that some actors liked to do that.
Especially actors who occupy an absolutely central position in a film crew.
Fortunately, Delien still respected him quite a bit.
Perhaps because he only gave him three days to film, Delien didn't nitpick about Lu Yanhe's performance. Instead, he kept saying things like "It's great" and "You acted exactly as I imagined when I read the script."
Lu Yanhe had never expected that a Hollywood A-lister would be so friendly and enthusiastic towards him.
The first day of filming went much more smoothly than he had imagined.
That evening, he went to a bar with Derain.
At first, he was surprised that such a big star like him wasn't worried about being mobbed at a bar. Then he realized that he had brought seven or eight bodyguards with him. After entering the hotel, the room had already been reserved for him, and his bodyguards were guarding the area. It was impossible for anyone else to get close.
In a place that is clearly a mixed bag of people, there is a place that he has designated as a "no strangers allowed" sanctuary.
Besides the two of them, several other actors from the crew also came.
Since it was Lu Yanhe's first day, everyone's conversation initially revolved around him, with many questions asked out of curiosity.
When they learned that Lu Yanhe was busy promoting his film, and that the film he won an award for at the Jose Film Festival was going to be released in about ten days, they all showed expressions of shock.
Derian was also surprised and said, "Shouldn't you be fully committed to publicity at this time?"
In Hollywood, after a movie is released, there are usually various promotional activities, and the lead actors' schedules are basically all centered around this movie.
Lu Yanhe stated bluntly: "Film promotion in China is different from Hollywood. You have established a very fixed promotion model here. When a film is released, there is a set pattern for how to promote it. But in China, if we rely entirely on your approach of holding screenings and mainly promoting a film through media reports, film critics' word-of-mouth, or recording one or two talk shows, the box office will most likely be terrible. Even if I didn't come to film this movie, my current promotional schedule should have stopped."
Now is the time to let the discussions sparked by the earlier university screenings and the program "How Are You? I'm Fine" gradually develop.
These key members of the film's creative team should disappear for a few days. Otherwise, with the promotion from Cat's Tail for the past two weeks, there's been news about them every day, and everyone will get tired of it. By the time the movie is finally released, everyone might already be fed up with them.
Derian immediately asked, "The Hurricane only grossed over 40 million US dollars in China. Do you think The Hurricane 2 can gross even more in China?"
Lu Yanhe nodded and said, "Of course."
"Do you think Chinese audiences will like this movie?" Delien asked.
"Yes, the first film's box office didn't meet your expectations, mainly because 'Hurricane' was positioned as a disaster special effects blockbuster in China. Unlike other types of blockbusters, which have seen a continuous stream of different films released over the years and thus have a larger base of fans, disaster special effects blockbusters haven't had a big-budget production like 'Hurricane' for a long time. Many viewers don't know what this type of film is like, so they might choose to watch another film instead." Lu Yanhe explained according to his understanding. "However, the first 'Hurricane' received quite good reviews in China. With its subsequent broadcast on television and online, it should accumulate a lot of viewers who liked the first film and are willing to support the second one."
Delien was very happy to hear Lu Yanhe's words.
“I believe that with your involvement, more Chinese audiences will come to see this film. I’ve heard that your films have never failed in China.” Derain raised his glass and clinked it with Lu Yanhe’s.
Lu Yanhe smiled.
Delien didn’t seem to realize that Lu Yanhe, who had just become a sensation in North America and even the world with the movie “The Mist”, actually had an influence that was not limited to China.
Of course, in the eyes of a global superstar like Derian Dylan, Lu Yanhe's influence might not be significant.
Previously, Lu Yanhe didn't have much ambition to star in movies in Hollywood, thinking that things would happen naturally.
But at this moment, he suddenly felt an urgent hope that he could soon be able to take on a major role like Derian Dylan.
-
I recommend the older book, "I Became the Leading Lady of a Scandal Overnight".
(End of this chapter)
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