Chapter 170 - Arrogance
The Mummy 3: The Phantom of the Ancient City is basically a parody based on the ruins of the ancient desert kingdom of Loulan, something that hasn't attracted much media attention in the U.S., but has created quite a ripple in China. This is supposed to be the first time a Hollywood commercial blockbuster has turned its lens on China, and for Chinese movie fans and filmmakers, the news is both delightful and saddening.
People are happy that the rise of China's economic status has brought about the enhancement of its cultural status, that is, the self-proclaimed arrogant Hollywood, also began to favor the Eastern culture. While national pride has been satisfied, knowledgeable people have also raised their concerns.
The total box office of Chinese movie market every year, there are close to half of the share was Hollywood commercial blockbusters rolled away, and now Hollywood "intensified", ready to use Chinese culture packaged commercial movies to earn Chinese money, which makes a lot of people pained. At the same time, there are also people who worry that Hollywood only knows a little bit about Chinese culture, and if they follow their ideas to make something that is not like anything else, not only will it not be able to expand the influence of Chinese culture in the international arena, but it will also be misleading to the people of other countries.
Supporters and opponents of the film started a war of words in the media, and these discussions, whether good or bad, drew people's attention to Zhenbei Castle. With the increasing media attention, the phone of Western China Film and TV City Co., Ltd. began to ring non-stop, all of which were journalists who wanted to make an appointment for an interview.
After sending off a group of interviewing reporters, Zhang Xianliang dragged his tired body back to his office. When he sat down, he felt weak and exhausted, his upper eyelids were constantly fighting with his lower eyelids, and he didn't want to stand up when he sat on the recliner. Although the thought of later there are reporters to come to interview, when the spirit of the strong finally can not resist excessive fatigue, like a bubble in the sea, just get up, and then fade away.
In the nap, Zhang Xianliang dreamed a long time ago some of the past. 1961, in the nearby Nanliang farm labor Zhang Xianliang found that it has a decline but not defeat the majestic momentum and from the depths of the yellow earth tenacious vitality. In the 80's, after his rehabilitation, he wrote Zhenbei Fort for the first time in his novel "Green Tree", called "Zhennan Fort" in the book, and introduced it to the film and television industry, and one after another, there are crews to come to this scene shooting.
Movie "horse herder", "red sorghum", "the Yellow River ballad" is shot in this period and won the international awards, has been the ruins of Zhenbei Castle began to attract attention, but the wind erosion and think the damage is also increasingly serious, in 1993, Zhenbei Castle Western Studios was established, decadent walls to get the "old as the old" maintenance.
Into the new century, China's movie into the commercial era, Zhenbei Castle Western Studios also became busy. The integration of the historical sites of human landscape and modern film and television art of the ancient fortress, has become renowned at home and abroad to China's western themes and ancient themes of the best film and television location shooting base, Zhang Xianliang's company has also gradually realized from "sell desolation" to "sell culture and history Zhang Xianliang's company also gradually realized the development leap from "selling desolation" to "selling culture and history".
The scale of the film and television city expanded, the company's strength is also on a whole step, standing in a higher position, Zhang Xianliang naturally want to look farther than others, he has set his sights on the international film market, but delayed to find a breakthrough.
But it is "no place to find, no effort to get", just when Zhang Xianliang was at a loss for this matter, an opportunity came to his door, Hollywood studio giant Universal is preparing to shoot a desert-themed adventure movie, they took the initiative to contact Zhen Bei Bao Western Studios, and wanted to build a similar ruins of the ancient Loulan country in the vicinity. The ruins of the ancient kingdom of Loulan.
Overjoyed, Zhang Xianliang knew this was a rare opportunity and agreed without hesitation, and the two sides quickly signed a cooperation agreement. The construction of the location attracted attention from all sides, and the name of Zhenbei Castle Western Studios began to appear frequently in the press and on the Internet. It was conceivable that if that film was successful, more Hollywood crews would come afterward, and Zhang Xianliang's dream of building an international film city seemed to be on the verge of being realized.
"The knock on the door woke up Zhang Xianliang's beautiful dream, he shook his head violently, and only after his consciousness was fully awake did he shout, "Come in!"
Assistant Xiao Wang pushed the door in, and as soon as he saw Zhang Xianliang, he couldn't wait to shout, "Mr. Zhang, good news!"
"Quickly tell me, what's the good news?" Seeing Xiao Wang's excited look, Zhang Xianliang followed in anticipation.
"Felix Lin is coming to China!" Xiao Wang rushed back to the company's headquarters immediately after confirming this news, and before he even had a chance to take a sip of water, he hurriedly ran to report to Zhang Xianliang, at this time, his face was suffocating red from excitement, he couldn't take a breath, and he spoke without catching up with the next sentence, "He's in...right in the film city!"
"What did you say?" Zhang Xianliang stood up in a huff, he held back the excitement in his heart, personally poured a cup of water for Xiao Wang, and said in a pleasant manner, "You take a breath first, speak slowly, how is this a situation!"
After taking a sip of water and quickly organizing his thoughts, Xiao Wang began to tell Zhang Xianliang the whole story of what happened. This morning he went to understand the construction progress of the location of The Mummy 3: Phantom of the Ancient City, and at the entrance of the construction site he encountered a man and a woman, two foreigners wearing sunglasses. At first, Xiao Wang was surprised that it was just two foreign tourists who had gone to the wrong place, but the young foreign man among them climbed into a conversation with the gatekeeper of the construction site in Chinese.
Wang was curious and eavesdropped a few words. The foreigner wanted to take a look inside, because the company has rules prohibiting outsiders from visiting the site, and the two foreigners' request made it difficult for the guards. After several attempts were rejected, the foreign youth began to beat around the bush to inquire about the progress of the project, which caused Xiao Wang's vigilance.
"I went up to question the suspicious guy then, but he took off his sunglasses." Xiao Wang paused, "Who did you just I ran into?"
"Felix Lim?" The answer was obvious, and Zhang Xianliang guessed it right away.
"That's him!" Xiao Wang slapped his thigh in excitement, "This is the first time I've seen him in person outside of a movie, and I was confused at the time."
Zhang Xianliang began to impatiently rush up Xiao Wang, "What happened afterward?"
"Later on, I did something very inappropriate... "Little Wang clasped his hands around a paper cup with an air of wanting to say something.
Zhang Xianliang became anxious upon hearing this, "You clashed with him?"
"That's not true." Little Wang shook his head, "I took Felix Lin to visit the movie location without your consent."
Zhang Xianliang's lifted heart suddenly fell to the ground, he laughed, then patted Xiao Wang's shoulder, "You did the right thing in this matter, Felix is the screenwriter of the movie, and is also the supervising producer, if he wants to visit it's just that I can't stop him either. Only that you were still a bit ill-considered at that time, you should have informed me the first time after you met him!"
Little Wang scratched his head, "I was too excited at the time and forgot about it!"
Zhang Xianliang did not blame him, "Then you sent him back to the hotel later?"
Xiao Wang took out the address of the hotel where Lin Mingyang was staying, Zhang Xianliang nodded with satisfaction, he didn't rush to meet Lin Mingyang, but paced back and forth in his office, "Did you inquire how much longer he's going to stay here?"
"Probably another day or two!"
"If he wants to visit the set up of the location, he should contact us through official channels, based on your observation, do you think it's a coincidence that he went there today or was it intentional?"
"I think he's just traveling and stopping by to take a look!"
Zhang Xianliang stopped and looked at Xiao Wang, "What about the reason?"
Xiao Wang reminded, "You forgot that when I met Felix Lin, there was another person with him."
Zhang Xianliang was enlightened, "The foreign woman you mentioned?"
"This woman you also know, a big Hollywood star, Kate Beckinsale, has acted in many movies with Felix Lin, I heard that their relationship is a little bit that..." Xiao Wang deliberated on the words and finally used the adjective "ambiguous". "I've heard that their relationship is a little bit....
"So he's really here on tour?" After determining this, Zhang Xianliang's brows wrinkled, "Kate Beckinsale came along, it should be a tour of a private nature, do you think he would be willing to appear publicly in front of domestic reporters?"
"Although it was just a hurried meeting, I have a feeling that Felix Lim is still a very reasonable person, as long as you sincerely invite him, I think he shouldn't refuse!"
----
Zhang Xianliang hosted a banquet for Lin Mingyang and Kate who came with him that night. Knowing that Kate would also be playing an important role in this movie, Zhang Xianliang's doubts were dispelled and he generously invited Lin Mingyang and Kate to attend the press conference arranged for tomorrow. Kate did not want to appear in front of the media again, politely declined, while Lin Mingyang gladly accepted the invitation.
Hollywood's popular movie star Felix Lin appeared in Zhenbei Castle Western Studios, well-informed journalists gathered there, originally arranged only 150 seats in the venue finally crowded into more than 200 people, many of whom stood in the seats, some simply sat on the floor.
When Lin Mingyang appeared on stage, all the photographers rushed forward to take pictures, there were too many and too few, and the scene was immediately thrown into chaos, the organizers hastened to send additional security guards, which barely stabilized the scene. Stage reporters patiently waiting for the local cultural bureau of the leader of the end of his long and tedious speech, that kind of irritation, even sitting on the stage of Zhang Xianliang also have some feelings, but the deputy director did not realize this, he prepared a large speech. Half an hour's speech made the reporters on stage drowsy, and even Lin Mingyang had an impatient expression on his face.
When this director finished his speech, the applause on the stage was sparse, and Zhang Xianliang took the microphone and only said two short sentences, letting the reporters on the stage start asking questions freely.
"Mr. Felix, as the screenwriter of the film, why did you set the story of the sequel to The Mummy in China instead of somewhere else?" The first reporter to ask a question was most concerned about Lin Mingyang's original intention for the script.
"Compared to other parts of the world, I probably know more about China!"
"Do you really understand Chinese culture?" A reporter stood up very nonchalantly, "I've met many Chinese descendants like you who were born and raised in America, and some of them can't even speak Chinese!"
"Your query reminds me of Zhuangzi? The Dialogue between him and Huizi in 'Autumn Water', and the question of that reporter gentleman just now, can I interpret it as 'If the son is not a fish, he can know the joy of the fish'?" Lin Mingyang's off-the-cuff "quoting from the classics" made the reporters on stage dumbfounded, "Then I'll use Zhuangzi's words to answer you now, if the son is not a fish, would he know that I don't know the joy of fish?"
The reporters on the stage were a bit embarrassed, a foreigner's Chinese language skills, they felt a bit ashamed of themselves. After a short period of coldness, finally a reporter bravely stood up and uncovered the topic.
"As the executive producer of the movie, why did you choose the shooting location here instead of other places in China?"
"Because our story is related to desert exploration, and only here is the most suitable."
One reporter stood up, "How do you feel about this movie base?"
"I remember that at the entrance of the film and television city, there is a big stone monument in the tree: Chinese movies go to the world from here. Oh, the tone of the words above is really not small. Just like all attractions like to brag about their differences to highlight their importance, I also thought at first that this was an eye-catching publicity slogan, and even scoffed a bit at this kind of trick."
"However, when I passed by this stone monument again on my way out of the movie city, I had come to agree with it. It was from Red Sorghum and Yellow Earth that Chinese films began to be recognized by their foreign counterparts, and all of these films precisely showed the vicissitudes of western China. In the eyes of foreigners, China itself is vicissitude and mystery. I know that most of the literary works and writers that have emerged after China's reform and opening up have focused on depicting the state of existence of people under the yellow earth in the west."
If just now, facing the reporter's provocation, Lin Mingyang showed the kind of condescension in his American bones, then now he has become modest and introverted, which is more like the character of a Chinese person. This kind of back-and-forth attitude was so different that it made everyone present tsk-tsk.
"Will this movie invite Chinese movie stars to star in it?" When a reporter asked this question, all the people on stage hoped to get an affirmative answer from Lin Mingyang.
Lin Mingyang regretfully shook his head, "I haven't received any notification in this regard yet, but as far as the script is concerned, there is definitely a need for Chinese actors and actresses to take part in the movie. However, none of the roles have much to do, so I'm not considering inviting Chinese stars to star."