Nobody knows movies better than me

Chapter 64 The Mantis Stalks the Cicada, Unaware of the Oriole Behind

With "Shanghai Dreams" winning the Jury Prize and the French film "The Child" taking home the Palme d'Or, the Cannes Film Festival has come to a successful close.

However, the events following the Cannes Film Festival are the highlight of the festival.

The following evening, the Cannes Film Festival organizers hosted a charity reception. As award winners of the festival, Hou Yu, Zhang Junhuan, and Ye Xiaoyi were naturally invited to attend.

At this charity gala, Zhang Jun also met Zhang Ziyi, who was surrounded by several foreigners.

Foreigners seem to be very interested in Zhang Ziyi, and a French director even tried to influence her with his romanticism.

Unsurprisingly, tonight is going to be an intense night.

Zhang Ziyi also saw Zhang Jun. Although she has been focusing on her international career recently, she also keeps up with the situation in China and knows about Zhang Jun's achievements in the country.

She casually made up an excuse to send the foreigners away, then came over with her wine glass to chat with Zhang Jun.

"Director Zhang, congratulations! Winning the Palme d'Or for a short film at the Cannes Film Festival is no easy feat."

Zhang Jun and Zhang Ziyi clinked glasses: "Actually, it wasn't that difficult. We won this award very easily."

"Director Zhang is truly exceptional!"

Looking at Zhang Jun's excessively youthful face, Zhang Ziyi thought to herself that he was an excellent person to date, being both a director and incredibly talented.

Young people who have just entered the workforce are relatively naive and easy to control; they are simply the chosen ones.

With this in mind, Zhang Ziyi became much more enthusiastic. She intentionally or unintentionally played a game of flirtatious physical contact with Zhang Jun, preparing to test his reaction.

But Zhang Jun, whether genuinely naive or having seen through her little scheme, remained unresponsive to her probing.

Judging from her actions and expressions, Zhang Jun could tell that this woman had feelings for him. However, Zhang Jun had no such feelings for her, so he kept his distance.

However, Zhang Jun does currently have a project that may require collaboration with Zhang Ziyi.

"Ms. Zhang, are you available recently? Would you be interested in collaborating with me?"

"How do we cooperate?"

International Zhang casually scratched at Zhang Jun's clothes, curious about his cooperation method. Was it to cooperate in bed?

However, Zhang Jun said he was very serious: "It's like this, I have a martial arts movie project, and the female lead in it is very suitable for you."

If you're interested, we can discuss it in more detail.

"Martial arts movies?"

Zhang Ziyi paused, thinking of the films "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "Hero," both of which she happened to have starred in.

In the past two years, period dramas have become very popular in China, and it seems that every director wants to try their hand at period dramas. It seems that Zhang Jun is no exception.

Faced with an invitation to a formal project, Zhang Ziyi hesitated, given her current impressive career trajectory.

Her Hollywood film "Memoirs of a Geisha," in which she starred this year, is about to be released, and the distributor, Columbia Pictures, has said it will help her compete for the Oscar for Best Actress.

That's the Oscars.

Since Ang Lee won an Oscar and then won the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar for "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," the Oscars have gradually gained a status in the industry comparable to the three major European awards in China.

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Zhang Ziyi, who has ventured into Hollywood, understands that compared to the three major European awards, the Oscars, located at the center of the world film industry, have the highest international influence.

If she wins the Oscar for Best Actress, she will break the record for Chinese-language film actresses.

After all, there are several actresses who have won the three major European awards, but there can only be one Oscar winner. She will become the first Chinese actress to win the Best Actress award.

Having already secured an Oscar for Best Actress, she naturally had no shortage of film offers, so she hesitated somewhat when faced with Zhang Jun's invitation.

Zhang Jun wasn't in a hurry. Zhang Ziyi was just one of his options; it wasn't necessarily the only choice. Zhang Jun would also invite Michelle Yeoh, and if all else failed, he would ask a female action star from Hong Kong.

Boss Wang ultimately chose the story of "Reign of Assassins," and Zhang Jun will discuss this with Boss Wang when he gets back.

While Zhang Ziyi was still thinking, Zhang Jun happened to see Gao Yuanyuan coming over, so he used this as an excuse to get rid of Zhang Ziyi.

Gao Yuanyuan looked at Zhang Jun and asked, "What did you and she talk about?"

Zhang Jun casually replied, "It's nothing, I just asked her if she was interested in acting in my movie."

Gao Yuanyuan became interested: "What movie? Can I watch it?"

"you?"

Zhang Jun looked Gao Yuanyuan up and down, then shook his head and said, "You're not good enough. You don't have the foundation for action scenes."

"I can go practice!"

"That won't do either, I'm afraid you'll get hurt!"

Gao Yuanyuan was delighted to hear this: "So you were concerned about me. You're such a good person."

Zhang Jun, feeling friend-zoned, retaliated: "This movie is a big investment, and your star power isn't enough to carry the box office."

"If you want to play a supporting role, I'm always welcome."

After attending the charity gala, Zhang Jun felt a bit bored and decided to leave with Gao Yuanyuan.

But at this moment, a foreigner who claimed to be interested in his film works contacted him.

"Hey Chris, interested in taking my investment? I can put a lot of money into your new movie."

Zhang Jun's mind raced: "Mr. Pierre, you're willing to invest in my film, there must be conditions, right?"

"It's always a pleasure to chat with smart people!"

Mr. Pierre and Zhang Jun clinked glasses: "I like the local customs of your country, and I like those art films, especially those that show the suffering of the lower classes."

If you could make a film like that, I think many investors would be happy to invest, and you could get millions of euros.

Sure enough, it's never a good thing when these foreigners invest in his movies.

However, this is quite normal in this era. Wang Xiaoshuai's "Shanghai Dreams" received funding from abroad; otherwise, not many people in China would have been willing to invest in his lousy film.

In this era of commercialization in China, investors are all focused on big directors, big stars, and big projects; who cares about art anymore?

Zhang Jun originally wanted to refuse, but then a plan came to him.

Why not take this opportunity to swindle this Frenchman out of some money?

During the burning of the Old Summer Palace and the Boxer Rebellion, the French plundered many valuable Chinese items for their own use.

Although the problem was essentially caused by the weakness and incompetence of the Qing government, it does not mean that the French were not at fault.

If he can swindle money from the French, then that would be doing justice and getting revenge, wouldn't it?

So Zhang Jun immediately put on an enthusiastic expression: "That's great, Mr. Pierre. I've always been concerned about the suffering of the lower classes."

But as you know, those investors in China don't care about any of that; they only care about making money.

"If you can invest a large sum of money in me, I guarantee I'll make a thought-provoking film that profoundly reflects these issues and satirizes these phenomena."

Mr. Pierre, with an "I knew it" expression, said, "That's great, Chris. I think we've reached an agreement?"

"certainly!"

Zhang Jun responded with great enthusiasm: "It is my honor that Mr. Pierre appreciates my talent, and I will not let you down."

"Then it's settled. I'll find someone to talk to you about how to invest."

Although Mr. Pierre said this, he secretly held Zhang Jun in contempt.

'Sure enough, Chinese people are naturally spineless. As long as they have dog food, they'll wag their tails and fawn over you,' Mr. Pierre thought to himself.

Little did he know, Zhang Jun on the other side was also laughing wildly in his heart: "This foreigner is really stupid, does he really think I'm like those people?"

You wait, I'll make sure you regret this...

They both thought the other was a fool, and then reached a cooperation agreement.