Chapter 772, "Raise the Red Lantern," is now showing.
"Knock knock!"
Ivan Paterson came to see him.
"Lu, I'd like to talk to you about the scene we're going to film later."
"Okay." Lu Yanhe nodded.
Ivan Paterson is just a seventeen-year-old boy who is still in high school.
However, he is no stranger to acting.
He started acting at a very young age.
Ivan Paterson has been coming to see him these past few days to discuss working together on a film.
In the first part of "Godless", Lu Yanhe's role is basically the "mentor" function that Ivan Paterson plays.
This also means that Lu Yanhe has a lot of scenes with Ivan Paterson.
Ivan Paterson's acting is very natural.
This surprised Lu Yanhe somewhat.
Young actors in Europe and America generally have a strong stage presence, which is related to their extensive stage performance experience during their upbringing.
This is also a significant difference between European and American actors and Asian actors.
Asian actors are often very adept at subtle nuances, while Western actors are better at precisely switching and expressing emotions.
Lu Yanhe was very curious about how Ivan Paterson developed his acting style.
According to what he knew, although Ivan Paterson had acted in the past, his films were all in the typical Western style. His performances in those films showed a high level of acting talent, but they were not in the natural and fluid style he had now.
Looking at Ivan Paterson, Lu Yanhe was reminded of a rather famous American actor—an American actor from the world before he traveled through time.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, the male lead in "500 Days of Summer".
They all have a non-traditional image of thick eyebrows, big eyes, and a handsome appearance; they are very "boyish," youthful, lively, and enthusiastic.
“Don’t you think it would have been better if I had added a push to you in the part where I’m going to get angry with you later?” Ivan Paterson asked.
Lu Yanhe nodded. "Okay, but I'll avoid it."
Ivan Paterson paused for a moment, then immediately realized what was happening.
"I tried to push it but failed. Instead, I missed and stumbled, which made me even angrier."
Lu Yanhe nodded.
Ivan Paterson's responsiveness and comprehension are truly top-notch.
He looked at him with admiration.
Ivan Patterson felt a little embarrassed by Lu Yanhe's gaze and said, "Why do you always look at me like that? I'm starting to suspect that you like me. I have to make it clear that I like girls."
Lu Yanhe was so angry that he blurted out in Chinese: "...You don't know what's good for you."
Ivan Paterson looked bewildered and asked, "What did you say?"
Lu Yanhe: "I told you to get lost."
Ivan Paterson chuckled and said smugly, "I know you appreciate me, and I appreciate you too, my friend."
Lu Yanhe: "You'd better get lost."
-
Ivan Paterson has the fearlessness of a young man his age.
He always greets everyone with a cheerful and enthusiastic "Hey, buddy" attitude.
Lu Yanhe belatedly realized that he regretted not being as cheerful and happy as Lu Yanhe at that age.
Whether before or after time travel, it is the same.
Of course, one must strive, work hard, and live a life worthy of oneself, accumulating enough capital to navigate the long journey of life. But looking back, how many regrets would one have if one hadn't experienced carefree times, the unbridled exuberance of youth, the sunshine free from worries, and the springtimes unburdened by pressure?
"We plan to release 'Raise the Red Lantern' on Friday, October 14th, but the timing is a bit rushed, and there isn't enough time for pre-release promotion."
Soon after, Wang Zhong called Lu Yanhe to tell him about the arrangements for "Raise the Red Lantern".
Clearly, Wang Zhong still values the performance of "Raise the Red Lantern" during the North American awards season. And the outcome of his communication with the Film Bureau should be quite clear—
As expected, the Chinese film nominated for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film this year is "Raise the Red Lantern".
Lu Yanhe said, "Okay, director, I don't have to film in October, so I can participate in the film's promotion."
"That's great." Wang Chong laughed.
Lu Yanhe is also very happy to hear good news about "Raise the Red Lantern".
Because of this movie—how should I put it, although it's not a movie that Lu Yanhe would watch repeatedly in private or that fits his aesthetic preferences, he will always remember that afternoon when he first watched this movie, that mansion without ghosts but that felt eerily haunted, those red lanterns, and those indistinct figures.
In the summer, on a quiet afternoon with the curtains drawn and the air conditioner blowing cool air.
I don't know if it was because the air conditioning was on too high or for some other reason, but I felt a chill while watching it.
This film is so well-crafted that even those who dislike this type of film wouldn't say it's badly made. It embodies a classic Chinese narrative structure and theme.
Lu Yanhe recalled that this film had been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in its original timeline.
The competition for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film is no less intense than that for Best Picture.
The year before, Zhang Yimou was nominated for the same award for "Ju Dou". Normally, it would not be nominated again so quickly the following year, the same country, the same director... but "Raise the Red Lantern" did it.
Its criticism is so strong, yet it doesn't feel obscure or uncomfortable.
-
On September 21, Lu Yanhe completed the first phase of filming for "No God".
Everything went very smoothly.
Next, Lu Yanhe can rest for more than a month and start the second phase of filming in November.
Lu Yanhe was not in a hurry to leave the United States.
Because the second recording of "The Days of Youth" happened to be held in New York.
Lu Yanhe missed the first recording because he was filming "No God". He was going directly to New York to participate in the second recording of "Young Days".
During this recording in New York, only Li Zhibai was absent due to filming "Grass on the Grass," while everyone else attended.
For this recording in New York, Li Zhenzhen specially designed a theme based on the city of New York.
They will all be filming on location in New York City, and the content will mainly consist of a classic "treasure hunt" game.
Each person fights independently, although they can cooperate in pairs or groups in each level, but the final ranking is determined by the score.
If the total points of each individual exceed a certain number, the program will add another million dollars to the existing scholarship fund donated by Chinese Americans to children in mountainous areas of China.
If their points don't exceed the limit, they will all have to share the burden of this one million.
This isn't for the sake of the show; it's for real.
However, when Li Zhenzhen communicated with each team, each team gave quick feedback, and all of them agreed.
"This is a good thing," Lu Yanhe said immediately. "This isn't advertising for any charity or foundation, is it?"
Li Zhenzhen said no.
"It was a sister here who offered to help when we were contacting New York. Originally, the theme of this episode was that our production team would provide a million-dollar scholarship as the ultimate goal of everyone's 'treasure hunt'. She heard about it, thought it was meaningful, talked to her friends, and together they contributed 2.7 million without making any other requests."
Lu Yanhe: "That's great."
-
Actually, recording such a program has a bit of a show-off element to it.
However, Lu Yanhe has always supported such a show of using real money.
As long as the money is genuinely given to those who need it, a showy performance is fine.
After learning the whole story, Lu Yanhe also raised an idea in the group chat of the regular MCs of "The Days of Youth", which immediately received a response from everyone.
This treasure hunt game was definitely not your average "playing house".
This treasure hunt will last for three days and involve eight levels, each testing different abilities.
It requires both individual ranking competition and everyone working together to accumulate points.
This is arguably the most competitive episode of "The Days of Youth" in all its seasons and episodes.
Lu Yanhe also had a lot of fun recording.
He discovered that he actually quite enjoyed playing this kind of "treasure hunt game".
I thought this recording would be tiring, but it turned out to be a lot of fun.
He hadn't played this kind of game much before.
Lu Yanhe said, "I hope there will be more games like this in the future, with such advanced game settings. You can't find a place to play them normally."
Yan Liang wholeheartedly agreed, saying, "I think so too."
Lu Yanhe said, "Director Zhenzhen, I think you should consider building an amusement park in the future. Take all the games and interesting tasks that appeared in 'The Days of Youth' and turn them into a theme park so that everyone can have a place to play."
Li Zhenzhen was both amused and exasperated, and said, "I'd like to do it, but the problem is I don't have any money. How about you sponsor me?"
“If you’re really willing to do it, I’m willing to sponsor it,” Lu Yanhe said immediately.
“Forget it, forget it. I’m a variety show director, why would I go with you to make an amusement park?” Li Zhenzhen said. “This isn’t how you cross over into a new field.”
Three days later, everyone had completed their treasure hunt. No one gave up on any level, and people would often come over to help others after completing their own challenges.
Finally, they successfully completed the points challenge and received an additional one million yuan in scholarships provided by the program team.
Everyone looked exhausted, yet they cheered and hugged each other, displaying their team spirit in that moment.
Then, Peng Zhixing raised his hand and shouted, "Director, we have one more thing to say."
"Huh?" Li Zhenzhen was taken aback when Peng Zhixing suddenly said this, just as she was about to turn off the phone.
Peng Zhixing said, "We discussed it and decided that although we've accumulated so many points and won't have to pay for the scholarship ourselves, it's still a wonderful thing. We've all grown up with 'The Days of Youth,' and this program has given us so much. If we want to contribute something meaningful to this program, we hope we can be a part of that effort. So, this is a bank card—"
Peng Zhixing took a bank card out of his pocket and handed it to Li Zhenzhen amidst the shocked expressions of the production crew.
“Including Zhibai, each of us transferred some money to this card as a token of our appreciation.”
Li Zhenzhen was stunned.
She was unsure whether to accept the bank card.
"this--"
"How much money is in here?" Li Zhenzhen asked.
Peng Zhixing shook his head and said, "I don't know either. We don't know how much money the others transferred. We only know our own. Anyway, we all did what we could to contribute. No matter how much it is, it's a token of our collective good from the nine of us."
-
The filming in New York was divided into three episodes.
By the time the final episode aired, it was already the end of the third recording of "The Days of Youth".
It's almost mid-October.
Lu Yanhe and everyone finished recording in the manganese sand. In the evening, instead of rushing to continue their journey, they had dinner together and watched the latest episode.
It was only at this point that Lu Yanhe saw how much money was in the bank card.
Li Zhenzhen specially recorded a scene where they checked their account balance on camera.
There are a total of 22.3 million in the bank.
The astonishment on Li Zhenzhen and the others' faces in the footage was so genuine that it didn't need to be acted.
Even Lu Yanhe and others who were watching the program showed expressions of shock.
Peng Zhixing's first reaction was to look at Lu Yanhe.
His eyes seemed to ask: Did you spin it a lot?
Lu Yanhe shook his head.
He had to admit that although he had made quite a few moves, he certainly hadn't shouldered the majority of the burden.
He then transferred 2 million into that card.
He figured the program had set a limit of 1 million for all the guests, and his transfer of 2 million was just a small gesture.
Did everyone share this much?
Of course, the program did not show how much each person spun.
At their request, the money was taken out in the names of the nine of them.
Privately, their group chat of nine people was in an uproar.
Liu Zhiyin was the first to say: I am so ashamed. I only transferred 500,000. Who is such a generous person?
Actually, Liu Zhiyin had already come up with many ideas for transferring 500,000. Initially, she said the total amount for the nine people would be 1 million, but she went further, and who knew that the total amount would reach more than 20 million.
Lu Yanhe: It wasn't me, but I... am ashamed too.
Su Xiao: Aren't I even more ashamed... I only transferred 200,000 [embarrassed].
Yan Liang: @Li Zhibai, is that you? Rich young master.
Li Zhibai: Why ask so many questions? Anyway, my number of reposts is definitely not as high as you imagine. There are definitely other people who have reposted just as many as me.
Xiao Yun: It wasn't me...
Peng Zhixing: Okay, okay, stop guessing. The reason we didn't give everyone a fixed amount was so that everyone could contribute according to their means. No matter how much anyone transferred, it's just a donation. I know everyone has been consistently working on some public welfare projects, but we just haven't made it public.
After Peng Zhixing said that, everyone stopped guessing who had transferred such a large sum of money.
However, as the show aired, this number went viral online.
After all, even at important moments, it's rare to see such a large donation from fewer than ten celebrities.
This was originally a good thing, and at first, everyone was shocked by the number and gave it a thumbs up. However, after about a day or two, a voice suddenly appeared online, saying that these celebrities could donate more than 20 million yuan so easily, and they really didn't know how rich they were.
High income is always one of the most sensitive topics for artists.
Fortunately, the people in "The Days of Youth" are no longer at the stage where they worry about their public image being affected by discussions on a few topics.
The online discussions were one thing, but what Lu Yanhe didn't expect was that one day, Wang Biao overheard some artists discussing how the "Young Days" project had put those of them who usually only donated 200,000 or 500,000 yuan in a very difficult position.
Lu Yanhe's initial thought was, "How did this put you in such a difficult position?" But upon further reflection, it would indeed be unreasonable to say that it hadn't burdened others. Take Su Xiao, for example; she even said she only transferred 200,000 yuan.
Not every artist can earn money like Lu Yanhe and Li Zhibai.
Take Liu Zhiyin as an example. She is already a top-tier celebrity in China. However, after deducting the company's share, the agent's commission, the team's salary, and the usual expenses for publicity and marketing, Liu Zhiyin's actual income is far less than what many marketing accounts estimate.
This was something even Lu Yanhe hadn't expected.
Not to mention those artists who are either unknown or only moderately famous.
but--
Chen Ziyan also said, "To be honest, Liu Zhiyin has earned less in the past two years, and there are special reasons for that. She has been focusing on stage performances and albums, and her demands are high, so her income is not enough to cover her expenses. In addition, she doesn't have many other sources of income. She usually does cameo roles in movies and TV shows, and she doesn't get paid much. Her income mainly comes from commercial endorsements and variety show appearances. But she is careful to protect her reputation and hasn't taken on many of the truly lucrative commercial endorsements, focusing on maintaining her own market value. This has resulted in her income being far lower than that of artists of the same level. After deducting those costs, she has indeed earned less in the past two years. But once these two years are over, and her concerts can truly take off as a tour, and her commercial resources open up, she can start earning money anytime she wants, even before two years have passed. Putting aside her special case, most unknown artists don't actually face the situation of being implicated. Would you pay attention to whether an actor who can only play supporting roles in various dramas has donated money at critical moments?"
Lu Yanhe shook his head.
"That's exactly how it is," Chen Ziyan said. "Whether they're willing to compete or not, of course they will, but you didn't do this to show off. How should I put it? If they feel cheated, they can either compete back or ignore it. You're a Best Actor winner and you're still competing with them. Are you going to give up your own excellence just to make them feel comfortable?"
Lu Yanhe nodded: "You're right."
Chen Ziyan: "I was really shocked that you guys donated so much money this time."
“Actually, I didn’t expect that, besides Zhibai, Qin Zhibai must have donated a lot as well,” Lu Yanhe said. “I didn’t expect that in the end, the two of them would be the most unscrupulous and donate the most.”
“They are the two people among you who care the least about public opinion, haven’t you noticed?” Chen Ziyan sighed. “The environment in which people grow up really shapes each person very differently. Sometimes, you have to admit that everyone’s starting line is completely different.”
Lu Yanhe: "But thankfully, God is fair. Although everyone's starting line is different, we can still choose to become the person we want to be."
Chen Ziyan: "You guys from 'The Days of Youth' really impressed me this time."
"Don't even mention you, I'm shocked too."
-
No matter how loud the discussions became, no one came out to respond to the matter or mention it.
Gradually, the hype died down.
After returning to China, Lu Yanhe caught up on the latest movies released, and his daily activities mainly consisted of meeting different friends at the cinema or at home to watch movies.
It allows me to meet up with friends I haven't seen in a long time and catch up on all the movies I needed to watch.
With the end of the National Day holiday, the domestic film market has entered a period of sluggishness.
Lu Yanhe would generally share his experience of watching a movie on his social media if he thought it was good, which would also be a way of advertising the movie.
Of course, this means that every time he shares something, he faces a lot of criticism, such as "Why would you recommend such a bad movie?"
Lu Yanhe was too lazy to respond to such comments.
Liking and aesthetics are inherently very personal things.
He simply acted according to his own conscience.
But in this world, there will always be many people who, because they don't like someone, question everyone who likes them, and even directly ask, "Are you blind?"
There's no point in arguing with people like that. Let's just say "you can't talk about ice with a summer insect." You go your way, and I'll go mine. There's no need for either of us to convince the other.
At this time, "Raise the Red Lantern" entered a period of intensive promotion.
Because it's about to be released.
This film, which won an award at the Citur Film Festival last year, did not hold a large-scale premiere, nor did it hold any "celebrity friend screenings" or "celebrity screenings" like many films do, or generate "positive reviews and recommendations" on social media.
In an interview, Wang Zhong said, "This is a movie that doesn't need to be too exciting. I am the director, Lu Yanhe is the screenwriter, and Chen Bige is the lead actor. If the three of us together can't attract audiences to the cinema to watch this movie, then all our past efforts have been in vain."
As Wang Zhong said, the promotion of "Raise the Red Lantern" has basically focused on its themes, film quality, and the three main creators.
The distributor also said that the box office ceiling for this film is fixed, and there is no need to invest tens of millions more in publicity expenses—even if they do, they won't attract non-target audiences to buy tickets to see it, which is a waste of money and obviously a business that won't make money.
However, the issuer was not idle either.
It sent movie tickets and an invitation to all celebrities and influencers who "love movies" across the internet.
One person jokingly said, "This is the first time I've received only a movie ticket and an invitation from the film company. There was no red envelope or other gifts. But this simple and pure invitation actually made me feel relieved. I can go see the movie with peace of mind and share my most genuine feelings with you afterward."
This is a masterpiece that is "shabby" in form but "attracts" everyone's attention.
On an ordinary Friday, the film grossed 24.2 million yuan on its opening day.
Soon, an article titled "Lu Yanhe finally failed" was published.
(End of this chapter)
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