Chapter 468 Venice Film Festival [Part ]
Venice, the water city.
As soon as the makeup artist stepped aside, Wang Zhonglei came over impatiently, leaning over the back of the chair to carefully examine Xu Kun's reflection in the mirror.
The last thumbs-up praised: "This outfit really suits you. It's worth my bringing people all the way here - wow, you look more like a business tycoon than my brother in this outfit."
Originally, Huayi didn't have high hopes for this trip to Venice, so the chief producer Wang Zhonglei did not come along.
It was not until yesterday when he received a tip from the crew that Xu Kun had somehow become a hot favorite for the Best Actor award that Wang Zhonglei hurried to Venice, and brought along Xu Kun's personal makeup artist when he was filming "The Boss".
"no……"
Xu Kun leaned forward and said speechlessly, "Second brother, can you please not be so excited? I wasn't that nervous to begin with, but now you're staring at me and I feel uncomfortable."
Wang Zhonglei laughed loudly, patted Xu Kun on the shoulder, and said, "Don't worry, Second Brother is here to support you, not to anal you."
Although he usually wouldn't hide his hobbies in front of people he knew, this was the first time he had exposed it so blatantly, which showed how excited he was at the moment.
"As for it?"
Xu Kun was speechless and said, "Don't mention that I haven't won an award yet. Even if I did win, so what? It's not like no one in China has won one before. Isn't Uncle Ge's Cannes Best Actor award more valuable than this?"
Wang Zhonglei corrected, “Including actors from Hong Kong, there are only seven people who have won the three major European awards. If we count mainland actors, there are Ge You, Xia Yu, Gong Li—and there is only one person who has won the Venice Film Festival award, Xia Yu!
Mr. Ge’s Cannes Best Actor award is of great value, but when he won the award, our Huayi had not even been established. How can this be the same as your current situation?
I tell you, the company has already prepared the money. As long as you win the Best Actor award, we will spend 30 million on various publicity. I guarantee that everyone in China will know about it, and it will also help boost the popularity of Operation Kunpeng!"
Xu Kun had never taken inventory of this stuff before, and over the years he always heard people talk about so-and-so winning awards abroad, so he subconsciously thought it was not that rare.
Now that Wang Zhonglei has taken stock, he discovered that the top three movie kings and queens in mainland China can be counted on one hand, and there are even some richer ones.
He stood up, straightened his collar, and said to the mirror, "Well, your words have put me under more pressure."
The two were chatting when Feng Xiaogang, also in a suit, pushed the door open and walked in, urging them, "Are you ready? If you are, let's go."
In order to cover up his vitiligo, Feng Xiaogang applied a lot of powder on his face and neck, which actually matched the suit he was wearing better.
…………
The indigenous residents of Lido Island are no longer surprised by the annual Venice International Film Festival, but this year is a bit strange.
First, the number of media reporters who came was more than double that of previous years; second, despite the presence of so many reporters, the cheers surrounding the red carpet were the weakest in history.
Many reporters were armed with cameras, but they turned a blind eye to the big and small stars on the red carpet. Occasionally, when they saw an Asian face, they would whisper to each other, but soon calmed down and acted as if it had nothing to do with them.
Until a scream that could not be distinguished between a man and a woman was heard: "CHINA Xu!"
The originally calm scene suddenly became like a boiling pot, with countless reporters screaming and shouting, trying to attract Xu Kun's attention, even with some broken Mandarin mixed in.
In just a moment, more than half of the railings on both sides were knocked down. Fortunately, the security guards, who were originally useless, fulfilled their responsibilities in time and quickly formed a human wall behind the railings.
After finding that they couldn't break through the human wall, the reporters could only extend their microphones and shout even louder:
"China Xu, do you think there will be other big investment banks affected?!"
"Xu, how did you predict that the CD crisis would expand in the second half of this year?!" "China Xu, I heard that you have kept more than a dozen beautiful celebrities in China, is this true?!"
Although the last question was outrageous, it was one of the few questions related to the entertainment industry at the scene.
Seeing this scene, Wang Zhonglei and Feng Xiaogang stopped at the same time.
While Wang Zhonglei asked the photographers he brought from China to record this scene, he said to Feng Xiaogang with emotion: "Even if he doesn't win the Best Actor award in the end, the scene today alone is enough to set off a wave of enthusiasm in China."
Feng Xiaogang nodded slightly to show his approval, but he felt extremely complicated.
Feng Xiaogang is somewhat worried about Xu Kun becoming a hot candidate for Best Actor. After all, Xu Kun is not just an actor, and his second movie, which he wrote, directed and starred in, is about to be released.
He has already seen the finished film of "Operation Kunpeng". The action scenes are similar to those of Jackie Chan, but the fighting is more fierce and exaggerated.
The plot of the entire movie is full of patriotism. If we put aside the plot in which the male protagonist shoots the villain, it is not at all abrupt to label this movie as the main theme.
You have to know that before 08, mainstream movies had been abandoned by the market for more than ten years, so when this movie was first launched, people inside Huayi were not very optimistic about it.
It was not until later that Xu Kun linked the film with the Olympics that people's views gradually changed.
But no one expected that this year there would be one wave of events that aroused people's patriotic enthusiasm, and the successful holding of the Olympic Games brought this patriotic enthusiasm to its peak.
Taking advantage of this trend, Feng Xiaogang estimated that "Operation Kunpeng" has a chance to surpass "Assembly" and even "Curse of the Golden Flower", and its box office in mainland China will approach or exceed the 300 million mark.
But that was under the premise that Xu Kun did not win the Best Actor award.
In the traditional Chinese concept, the presence of all nations and the achievement of fame overseas complement each other - the Olympic Games are considered to be the presence of all nations, and Xu Kun's winning of the Venice Film Festival Best Actor Award, although not comparable to it, can barely be considered as achievement of fame overseas.
Therefore, once Xu Kun wins the Best Actor Award at the Venice Film Festival, it will definitely drive up the box office of "Operation Kunpeng".
How much will the final box office be?
If this suddenly leaves "Assembly" too far behind...
"Director Feng."
Feng Xiaogang was just thinking about this and that when Wang Zhonglei pushed him and reminded him, "It's time for us to go in."
Feng Xiaogang came to his senses and found that the red carpet, which was only three meters wide just now, had now returned to seven meters wide. Before the security guards holding hands could react, a considerable number of reporters had already begun to leave.
"Record this as well—the cameras can't get in anyway, so just watch and shoot from outside. Later, you can compare Director Xu's red carpet walk with other people's walks."
Wang Zhonglei gave a few more instructions before walking into the venue with Feng Xiaogang - given the current situation, Feng Xiaogang was not in the mood to walk slowly down the red carpet.
As a result, when they arrived at the award ceremony venue, they found that Xu Kun was surrounded by three layers of people again.
This time, there were not only reporters from some well-known European newspapers, but also several wealthy Italians and two members of Congress - of course, translators were indispensable, and there were four or five of them in this circle alone.
Looking at the situation, it seems like they want to turn the Venice Film Festival into an economic forum.
Seeing this scene, Feng Xiaogang couldn't help but sigh secretly. Wang Zhonglei was right. Regardless of whether Xu Kun could win the Venice Film Festival Best Actor award or not, today's event alone would definitely cause a stir in the country.
(End of this chapter)
