Chapter 717 Publicity Director (6400 words)
Wen Shengming.
Another male lead in "Dingfeng No. 1".
The senior who asked Lu Yanhe to have breakfast with him every morning after he joined the crew.
One of the best living male actors in China.
Lu Yanhe replied: Okay, Professor Wen, when is a convenient time for you?
Wen Shengming debuted very early, in the 1980s. In an era when movies were not yet commercialized, he was already a popular young actor, famous throughout the country.
With popularity and fame, he had representative works and iconic roles. In the 21st century, he starred in two TV series that were so popular that everyone was watching them, which solidified his position in the industry.
For the next twenty years, he was a representative of the Film Association, an industry role model, and a film crew that could invite him to participate was considered to have "connections to the highest levels." Having him in a production was considered an honor for the production.
Even in the era of internet celebrity and hot money, no one can shake the status of such an actor.
This is something that Lu Yanhe, at this stage, lacks no matter how many honors he receives.
A witness to the times, a testament to the passage of time.
-
Lu Yanhe didn't know what kind of person Wen Shengming was.
He had never dealt with them before.
He already dislikes attending events, and Wen Shengming is even more so.
Lu Yanhe found some of his interviews and reports online, which gave him a vague impression.
An intellectual, a person of principle and artistic integrity.
Throughout his acting career, he has had many stories with younger actors.
Unsurprisingly, there were also sex scandals.
What's true and what's false, nobody knows.
Fortunately, most of the stories that have circulated are positive. The younger actors who have worked with him generally praise the tangible help he provided.
There are specific examples for each.
To determine whether someone's praise is just for show or genuine gratitude, look at whether it's general praise or something specific and meaningful.
The more Lu Yanhe learned about Wen Shengming, the more curious he became about this actor with a somewhat legendary background.
He has no international fame, unlike Chen Pinhe, Shang Yongzhou and Lu Yanhe who have worked on the international stage and have overseas Best Actor awards.
But whether it was the era of "worshiping foreign things" in the past or the era of "virtue and talent" in the present, this actor, who has neither international fame nor outstanding personal character, has always been steadily promoted by the entire industry to a "leader" position, and this has not changed over the years.
In the industry's view, Lu Yanhe will definitely benefit from collaborating with him.
-
This has nothing to do with strength; it has to do with cultural background.
This has been the case in China for thousands of years.
No matter how strong a young person is, they are still just a young person.
The position of leader of the martial arts alliance will certainly not be held by those young heroes.
-
Lu Yanhe went to Wen Shengming's house in a very polite manner.
This was Wen Shengming's suggestion—to have lunch together at his house.
Wen Shengming lives in Yulong Villa, the most upscale residential area in Yuming.
A detached villa with a yard, surrounded by well-arranged trees, bathed in sunlight, a picturesque scene.
A house here costs more than eight figures.
Wen Shengming, dressed casually, greeted him with a smile and welcomed him through the door.
"Xiao Lu".
Lu Yanhe greeted her politely, "Teacher Wen."
Wen Shengming is over sixty years old, but he takes good care of himself and doesn't look his age.
The media often says that he is the most suitable actor among the older generation of Chinese actors to play intellectuals.
A question lingered in Lu Yanhe's mind: why would an actor like this ask to have breakfast with him every day?
He believed that this was not Wen Shengming deliberately trying to torment him.
Why was that? Was it to help them get into character later? No. He and Wen Shengming weren't enemies in the play, so there was no need to increase his dislike and rejection of Wen Shengming in this way.
Wen Shengming's wife is named Yuan Zixing; she is elegant, gentle, and kind.
She gave Lu Yanhe a sense of propriety befitting a traditional, highly educated woman.
After saying hello, she left the living room and went to the kitchen to help the housekeeper prepare lunch.
This is what Wen Shengming said; we had lunch at his house at noon.
Lu Yanhe was a little reserved because they weren't familiar with each other and there was no one familiar with them to act as a go-between.
Actually, it would have been great if Liu Bige had come today.
Lu Yanhe thought to himself.
Wen Shengming said, "Am I that scary?"
Lu Yanhe was taken aback.
Wen Shengming raised his hand and tapped him, saying, "From the first moment I met you, you were very reserved, making me think you were a newcomer who had just started acting."
Lu Yanhe said, "In front of you, I'm just a newcomer who hasn't been in the industry for long."
“Newcomers won’t be as reserved as you after winning Best Actor at the Situ Film Festival,” Wen Shengming chuckled. “Back then, when Chen Pinhe won Best Actor at Situ, he was far more famous than you.”
Lu Yanhe was somewhat surprised.
First, it was unexpected that he mentioned Chen Pinhe; second, it was unexpected that he would directly bring up something that was not so honorable for Chen Pinhe in front of him.
"I--"
“I’ve been observing you for a long time,” Wen Shengming suddenly said.
Lu Yanhe looked at him in surprise.
“It’s been a long time since China has produced an actor like you, a ‘heaven-sent star’,” Wen Shengming said. “Actually, you and your two friends are both quite good.”
"Li Zhibai and Yan Liang?"
Wen Shengming nodded.
“I’m quite curious. You have every right to be more proud, but you seem to be someone who can’t be proud.” He looked Lu Yanhe up and down. “However, you are a person who focuses on creation, and you are also very practical. Many of your actions are entirely for the purpose of pursuing a practical result.”
Lu Yanhe slightly curled the corners of his mouth.
He said, "Actually, I'm quite prone to pride."
Wen Shengming continued to scrutinize him, then asked, "Do you think the pride you're talking about is the same thing as the pride I'm talking about?"
Lu Yanhe felt as if a gust of wind had swept through his heart.
My mind, which had just relaxed a little, tensed up again.
The look in Wen Shengming's eyes was complex, almost like an inquiry.
There's even an implication.
But Lu Yanhe didn't know what it was.
"What did Teacher Wen say?" he asked.
Wen Shengming picked up the teapot and refilled Lu Yanhe's water.
"Have some tea."
-
"Xiao Lu, when do you and your girlfriend plan to get married?"
At the dinner table, Yuan Zixing asked with a friendly smile and a caring tone.
"It's in the planning stage," Lu Yanhe replied, pulling out a multi-purpose ointment. "The specific timing hasn't been set yet."
“You two have been childhood sweethearts since your school days, what an enviable love story,” Yuan Zixing said, glancing at Wen Shengming. “Next time, you have to bring her along.”
Lu Yanhe nodded obediently and said okay.
At the dinner table, the person who led the conversation changed from Wen Shengming to Yuan Zixing.
What remains unchanged is Lu Yanhe, the person answering the question.
Because the other party was of a much higher generation, Lu Yanhe could not truly relax no matter what.
Even though Wen Shengming and Yuan Zixing never acted authoritatively, arrogantly, or condescendingly.
This feeling made Lu Yanhe very uncomfortable.
He felt very uncomfortable inside, but he couldn't say it.
A very subtle sense of anxiety gradually emerged in his heart.
-
Meanwhile, Chen Ziyan was having lunch with Shang Yongzhou.
When the topic of Lu Yanhe's upcoming collaboration with Wen Shengming came up, Shang Yongzhou wore an extremely complicated expression.
"You've worked with him before, right?" Chen Ziyan asked.
"Yes." Shang Yongzhou nodded. "We've collaborated once, a memory I'll never forget."
Chen Ziyan looked at him in surprise.
"You started working with him around the time we ended our collaboration. By then, you had been acting for many years and were already a film emperor. From what you're saying, it seems like the collaboration wasn't very pleasant?"
“I can’t say it was unpleasant.” Shang Yongzhou immediately shook his head. “But I can’t say it was pleasant either. I can only say that he is a very—to put it this way, no matter who you are, he seems to respect who you are, but in fact he is always trying to guide you.”
"Guide you?"
“Yes,” Shang Yongzhou said. “Ordinary drama fanatics are crazy about themselves. What makes him extraordinary is that he unconsciously exerts a strong mental pressure to force you to shape your performance according to his expectations. Many people don’t know this, and many even feel that they can get into character more easily and give better performances when they act with him.”
“That’s because their acting skills aren’t high enough. Under Wen Shengming’s guidance, they can reach a higher level,” Chen Ziyan immediately said. “But for an actor like you, it will be very painful.”
“Yes.” Shang Yongzhou nodded. “But you can’t say anything yet, because he will never tell you explicitly what he wants you to do. I’ve said it before, and I even think he does it unconsciously. When you don’t meet his expectations, many of his subconscious reactions and the mental pressure he puts on you make you unconsciously reflect on yourself and want to compromise. Then, starting from the compromise, you unconsciously steer the wheel in his direction.”
The reason he was able to do this was, of course, because Wen Shengming himself possessed extremely strong abilities, so strong that he could elevate the performance of his fellow actors to a higher level.
However, this may not be a good thing for actors like Shang Yongzhou and Lu Yanhe.
They need positive stimulation and responses from their co-stars, rather than a kind of oppressive guidance.
-
In the story of "Dingfeng No. 1", Wen Shengming plays the deputy head of the intelligence station, and Lu Yanhe plays a worker at the intelligence station.
One day, Lu Yanhe received a secret mission: to monitor the deputy station chief, because there was evidence that the deputy station chief was suspected of being a spy.
The movie tells a story set against this backdrop.
These two characters appear to be adversaries. However, in the script, they are not actually adversaries most of the time.
Lu Yanhe's surveillance was not public; only he knew about it. On one hand, he was monitoring Wen Shengming, and on the other hand, he was under immense mental pressure. This pressure was twofold: the pressure of being monitored, and the pressure of being discovered. No matter how anxious or uneasy he felt, he couldn't let Wen Shengming see it.
Lu Yanhe thought to himself that this feeling was probably the same as his current one.
Even though Wen Shengming didn't give him a good feeling, and even made him uncomfortable, he still had to completely hide it and not let anyone see it.
He breathed a long sigh of relief after leaving Wen Shengming's house.
It's like a drowning person finally climbing ashore.
He got into the car and immediately called Chen Ziyan.
“He was so intimidating,” Lu Yanhe said. “I couldn’t even explain to you exactly what was so intimidating about him.”
Chen Ziyan: "I just had lunch with Shang Yongzhou. He used to work with Wen Shengming, and he mentioned it to me."
"What did he say?"
Chen Ziyan then told Lu Yanhe what Shang Yongzhou had said to her.
Lu Yanhe hasn't felt pressured about acting in a long time.
The current situation, however, has made him worried.
"So, it's possible that his meeting with me today wasn't just to lay the groundwork for filming, but also because he already had ideas about how to act in the film, and he was guiding me into the role?"
“That’s possible,” Chen Ziyan said. “What you just said sounds a lot like the relationship between you and his character in ‘Calming the Wind No. 1’, doesn’t it?”
Lu Yanhe fell silent.
After a while, he said, "If he thinks that this will guide me to act according to his ideas, then he is oversimplifying my thinking."
Chen Ziyan: "In any case, since Wen Shengming can stimulate your true emotions, then make good use of those emotions."
Lu Yanhe responded.
"It's kind of amazing. I really don't know how he did it. Why did he not say or do anything, but in just the time it takes to have lunch, he made me feel a strong sense of resistance and rejection towards him?"
Chen Ziyan: "Whether he is deliberately creating this relationship between you and him to make you feel the same way for the later filming, he has made his move, so it's up to you to deal with it."
Lu Yanhe: "What can I do? I can only push it back quietly—"
In an instant, a thought flashed through Lu Yanhe's mind like lightning.
—Isn't this exactly how he treated Wen Shengming in the movie?
When dealing with a traitor, one may harbor hatred, incomprehension, and anger in one's heart, but on the surface, one must restrain oneself, endure, and act as if nothing is amiss, so as not to alert the traitor. Therefore, the underlying tone of his performance is to remain calm and composed.
Another problem then arises.
Is this the kind of image Wen Shengming wanted him to project?
Lu Yanhe was shocked and fell silent.
Liu Bige's worries resurfaced:
I'm worried you'll get caught up in it.
Is he worried about "you" or "you in front of Wen Shengming"?
After returning home, Lu Yanhe tossed and turned, constantly recalling the scene of his meeting with Wen Shengming, pondering and reflecting on it repeatedly.
He was acutely aware that he had been “guided.”
His current mood and state of mind are certainly what Wen Shengming would like to see.
This made him even angrier and more anxious.
However, the angrier and more anxious they became, the more successful Wen Shengming's methods proved to be.
That's infuriating.
-
In the scorching July sun, the temperature felt like it was going to bake people alive.
The premiere of "Burning Fire" was a very grand event.
Nowadays, Chinese-language films rarely hold premieres before their release in China; this is something that European and American films do.
However, Longyan did it for "Burning Fire".
Because "Burning Fire" has an all-star cast, and because "Burning Fire" needs extensive publicity, even without a premiere, a media conference will still be held.
There was a red carpet at the premiere.
Lu Yanhe and Chen Siqi attended the event together.
This is his first starring role in a commercial blockbuster, and it has garnered much attention.
The film received much praise from international media at the Jose Film Festival, which gave Longyan the confidence to hold such a premiere before its release.
A blockbuster should be promoted with blockbuster standards, using all sorts of methods to tell everyone:
This movie is very good.
This is Longyan's publicity strategy.
Before its release, the film used an all-star cast to boost its popularity and built its fanbase on special effects blockbusters.
Lu Yanhe and everyone watched the movie "Burning Fire" together again.
The special effects in the movie still amazed Lu Yanhe.
The production cost was several hundred million yuan; it was a real investment.
-
Longyan directly adopted the publicity and distribution standards of Spring Festival films for "Burning Fire".
Moreover, at the premiere, Long Yan also announced that "Burning Fire" would be released simultaneously in nine markets: North America, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, New Zealand, and Australia, stunning the media present.
The film "Burning Fire" was a real success at the Jose Film Festival.
As the film's biggest selling point overseas, Lu Yanhe had previously cooperated with distributors in various regions to record VCRs and shoot promotional materials.
Through a series of maneuvers, the attention and buzz surrounding "Burning Fire" reached its peak. The day before its release, the film's first-day pre-sales exceeded 40 million yuan.
On its opening day, the box office unsurprisingly exceeded 100 million yuan.
Afterwards, the special effects of "Burning Fire" sparked heated discussions on social media.
The marketing team for "Jump Up" began to heavily promote the film's "top-notch acting performances by two leading actors and the best special effects in the history of Chinese-language films."
This is the publicity and distribution principle set by Longyan: three days after the film's release, the core focus of the publicity will shift from celebrities to special effects.
Longyan has produced many commercial blockbusters over the years and understands the market very well, especially the Chinese market.
Indeed, while celebrities can contribute significantly to generating buzz and increasing fame, special effects are far more effective in converting that buzz into box office revenue.
These days, people don't just casually check what movies are showing anymore. Now, people only go to the cinema when there's a good movie that's definitely worth watching.
Therefore, all publicity and promotion should revolve around the word "worth it".
After "Burning Fire" grossed over 500 million yuan in its first three days of release, the marketing team for "Jump Up" promptly created a discussion on "the box office performance of Lu Yanhe's first leading commercial film," using box office performance to demonstrate the film's appeal.
In addition, there are related topics such as "the reason why Shang Yongzhou took on the role in 'Burning Fire'" and "the celebrities who were willing to star in 'Burning Fire'", all of which use the star power to demonstrate the quality of the film itself.
After the opening weekend, box office results from nine major overseas markets were also released.
The film grossed $1.7 million in 350 theaters across North America (Lu Yanhe felt it was a pity, and in the end, Longyan sold it to Green Valley at a higher distribution price to be on the safe side, so Green Valley only negotiated 350 theaters for the film).
In addition, other markets also performed well at the box office in their opening weekend, bringing the total opening weekend box office to over $10 million.
Especially in the South Korean market, its opening weekend box office of $1.9 million was even higher than that of two new South Korean films, ranking second.
The Longyan publicity team was not to be underestimated. They keenly noticed that many people in China were giving very positive feedback when they mentioned the overseas box office results. Immediately, they started using the overseas box office performance to promote the success of "Burning Fire" overseas.
On Monday, despite it being a weekday, "Burning Fire" still managed to gross 95 million yuan thanks to the summer holiday season. Moreover, by Tuesday, it had rebounded to 103 million yuan, reversing the previous decline.
According to box office prediction agencies, the box office prediction for "Burning Fire" jumped from 1.2 billion to 2 billion.
Longyan hopes to strike while the iron is hot, and wants to increase the number of roadshow performances and arrange for the actors to appear on TV shows to maintain this publicity momentum.
After completing the promotional tasks stipulated in his contract, Lu Yanhe did not participate in any of them.
At the Jose Film Festival, Lu Yanhe had a conflict and disagreement with Long Yan due to the accumulation of several minor issues, which were not resolved at the time.
This doesn't mean he doesn't remember.
Mrs. Huang called in person.
Lu Yanhe didn't mince words with her and said, "I think I made myself very clear back in Jose."
Huang Tai said, "Yan He, what happened before was indeed wrong of the people below. I'm very sorry. However, 'Burning Fire' is doing so well now, and the box office may even break 3 billion. This is the time when we need you the most. If there are any problems, we can talk about them after the movie's promotion is over, okay? I will definitely not treat you unfairly."
Lu Yanhe: "Even if you had called me a week earlier, I would have agreed now."
He hung up the phone immediately.
-
During the promotional tour for "Burning Fire," Lu Yanhe was absent. At one stop, a reporter asked, "Why hasn't Lu Yanhe participated in any promotions since the premiere?"
Neither the director nor Shang Yongzhou said anything.
They know the reason, but of course they can't say it.
Huang Tai smiled and raised the microphone to explain: "Yan He is about to join the filming of another movie of our company. He is preparing for it. The roadshow is very tiring, so he will not participate for the time being."
The entire production team refused to reveal any unresolved conflict between Lu Yanhe and Long Yan.
Mrs. Wong also issued a gag order.
During the roadshow, the second most pressing question was about the sequel.
It's obvious that a sequel is going to be made for "Burning Fire".
Mrs. Wong said, "As long as the first film does well, we will definitely make a sequel."
The box office performance of "Burning Fire" was indeed good.
In its first week of release, the box office exceeded 900 million yuan.
The target of 2 billion seems to be a sure thing.
All the participating actors were actively sharing the film's promotional materials and box office celebration posters, except for Lu Yanhe, who, after the premiere, only appeared in one promotional interview program and has not appeared in any other promotional activities since.
Even if Lu Yanhe is very busy, does he not even have time to post a Weibo?
Gradually, some voices appeared online saying that Lu Yanhe was not cooperating with the promotion of "Burning Fire".
"Burning Fire" now has many fans.
They all went to Lu Yanhe's Weibo account to ask him why he was unwilling to promote "Burning Fire".
Lu Yanhe did not respond.
Another day passed, and suddenly, news appeared online that Lu Yanhe was dissatisfied with Shang Yongzhou's lead role and that Shang Yongzhou's salary was higher than his, so he was not cooperating with the promotion of "Burning Fire".
As soon as this news broke, major marketing accounts started flooding the internet with it.
Chen Ziyan went online and posted a picture with a huge "fake" written on it.
However, no further explanation was given.
On the day that "Burning Fire" surpassed 2 billion yuan at the box office, a picture circulated online.
Zhang Yang, the publicity director of Longyan, posted a message on his WeChat Moments to celebrate the box office of "Burning Fire" exceeding 2 billion yuan. He also wrote: "Many people have been asking me why so-and-so did not participate in the subsequent publicity. In fact, as everyone has seen, whether so-and-so participated or not did not affect the box office, did it?"
After this screenshot circulated online, many people interpreted it as: "This so-and-so is obviously referring to Lu Yanhe."
Not long after, Zhang Yang posted another message on his WeChat Moments: I clearly said that someone in our publicity team "deserted at the last minute," how did it become Lu Yanhe? Can you stop making baseless accusations?
(End of this chapter)
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