At the end of May, Brother Chen Kai took Gong Li and Leslie Cheung to France. The film "Feng Yue" they collaborated with was shortlisted for the main competition unit of Cannes. Because the influence of "Farewell My Concubine" is still there, these people have high voices for winning the award.
.
However, when the list of winners was announced, there was no winner for "Wind Moon". Instead, a Hong Kong film called "Horse Race" became the real dark horse of this Cannes Film Festival.
The male protagonist of this film is Ding Jichuan and the female protagonist is Ren Yao. They are both young people around the age of 0. They graduated from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and are relatively low-level third-rate actors. Not to mention overseas, even in Hong Kong
Not famous.
The most famous actor in the whole film is Wu Ma, who plays a poor old gambler. His wife and children were separated because of horse racing when he was young. He still refuses to regret it when he is old. He throws all the money he makes into the racecourse and looks forward to it.
It can be turned over in one day.
As for director Ang Lee, he is not a big name. He worked as Kang Jianfei's deputy for several years. After directing independently, he also made some blockbuster commercial films. His reputation in the Hong Kong film circle is not as good as Liu Zhenwei's.
But such a low-cost literary film made by a young director and young actors made a splash at Cannes, winning the Grand Jury Prize and Best Actor (Wuma) in one fell swoop, shocking countless people.
The most surprising thing is Wu Ma, who has acted in movies for so many years and has only been able to play a supporting role as Green Leaf. This time, although it is also a supporting role, he was crowned the Best Actor at Cannes (there is no distinction between Best Actor and Best Actress at Cannes).
After the news came back to Hong Kong, everyone couldn't believe it. Even Wu Ma himself thought Ang Lee was joking.
Oriental Film and Television Distribution Company seized the opportunity and took advantage of the award to start negotiations with foreign film producers. The European rights fee alone (sold out) was sold for US$600,000. Not only did it recover the production cost, but it also made a net profit of US$400,000.
Ang Lee is finally proud. This kind of literary and artistic film is not popular in Hong Kong and Taiwan, and he is afraid that he will lose his underwear.
The beginning of June is the warm-up for the summer season. Riding on the popularity of the award-winning news, "Horse Race" can't wait to land in major theaters in Hong Kong. There were not many films scheduled at the beginning, and the number of shows was not well arranged. They were all shown during the day and late at night.
After all, this is just an art film.
However, the feedback from theaters is surprising. With a sparse number of shows and a small schedule, "Horse Race" grossed 180,000 at the box office in its first week, and the average attendance rate in the afternoon screenings was as high as 60%.
This data may not seem like much, but it is actually quite shocking.
Oriental Cinemas quickly added more films to "Horse Race", with an average of three screenings per cinema every night. This move helped "Horse Race"'s single-week box office soar to 470,000, and its reputation spread rapidly.
Hong Kong people's love for the sport of horse racing ranks among the top three in the world, and their enthusiasm for betting on horse racing ranks first in the world. Although the movie "Horse Racing" is very literary, it is close to the lives of Hong Kong citizens.
The profound thoughts expressed also made Hong Kong audiences empathize with them.
By the third week, the single-week box office of "Horse Racing" was still growing. It had exceeded the 6 million mark, and the cumulative box office was 1 million. It defeated Jiahe's "Hudumen" (starring Xiao Fangfang and Yuan Yongyi) and became the box office of this period.
champion.
"Horse Race" continued to be released for five weeks. It was not until the summer blockbuster movies were released one after another that it finally closed. The final box office in Hong Kong was 1.08 million. When the annual box office was calculated at the end of the year, this result ranked seventh in Hong Kong's annual box office list in 1996.
.
Ang Lee became very proud with this film, and newcomers Ding Jichuan and Ren Yao, who played the leading roles, also became famous. As for Wu Ma, hey, he is an international actor, the first Hong Kong actor to win this honor in history.
However, Wu Ma has always felt confused about the title of Best Actor. How can he become the Best Actor even if he plays a supporting role?
I can only say that Ang Lee’s ability to train/teach actors is amazing.
When the box office of "Horse Race" reached 10 million, DreamWorks held a celebration banquet specifically for Ang Lee. Due to personal connections, Kang Jianfei was also invited to congratulate him.
...
evening.
Kang Jianfei's black Cadillac stopped at Fulinmen. He took Wang Zuxian's hand and slowly got out of the car. The reporters who had been waiting for a long time suddenly swarmed up.
At this time, the stock price of Oriental Network Technology Company rose sharply, Chen Bo's theory of changing his destiny against heaven was aroused, and reporters' questions were basically related to these two things.
A reporter asked first: "Mr. Kang, when do you think EITC's stock price can break $100?"
"I'm very confident about this. It will probably happen soon." Kang Jianfei said with a smile.
Another reporter asked: "You have been engaged in the cultural and entertainment industry. How did you first think of investing in the Internet?"
"I think the Internet is the future development trend. In 20 years, 95% of people in Hong Kong will be able to surf the Internet, and there are unlimited business opportunities." Kang Jianfei said.
Soon the reporter turned the topic to Feng Shui: "Mr. Kang, Uncle Chen said that your destiny is the evil star of heaven. The reason why you are able to achieve your current achievements is because there are experts who help you change your destiny against the sky. You can
Can you tell me some news?"
Kang Jianfei smiled and stretched out his index finger, pointed to the sky and then to himself, and said with great pretentiousness: "My fate is determined by me and not by God."
"Ouch!"
Everyone was in an uproar.
The reporters are even more excited. They already have the headline for tomorrow's news, which is the sentence "My fate is up to me."
Before the reporter could ask further questions, Kang Jianfei had already walked into the restaurant, holding Wang Zuxian's hand, guided by his bodyguards.
Today, Wang Zuxian wore a black knee-length gauze skirt and a pair of black velvet gloves, revealing her snow-white arms and calves. She was playful and sexy. After she was far away from the reporters, she said with admiration: "Fei
Brother, what you just said was so domineering."
Kang Jianfei smiled and said: "Don't reporters just like hearing this? I can't let them down."
Wang Zuxian asked: "Brother Fei, do you know what Uncle Chen said to Sister Guan after recording the show that day? When she mentions Uncle Chen now, she says he is an old liar and looks very ugly."
"Hahaha," Kang Jianfei couldn't help but laugh and whispered, "Uncle Chen said that Guan Guan's chin is too pointed, which is a sign of losing money and cannot save money; there is also something wrong with the nose, which does not make a person prosperous; and there are also tail eyes
If her roots are not stable, her marriage will not go well, so she can only be a stepmother or concubine. Anyway, her only advantage is that she has a good mouth, will have enough food and clothing throughout her life, and will be rich and wealthy."
"That's really tragic." Wang Zuxian also laughed, a little gloating about his misfortune.
Among all Kang Jianfei's women, Wang Zuxian, Li Jiaxin and Guan Zhilin are the most in the limelight because they have openly fought against each other. Wang Zuxian and Guan Zhilin have a good relationship, but they also have a small mind to compare with each other. Now that I heard that Guan Zhilin's appearance is not good, she naturally
It was also a bit of a joy.
Kang Jianfei arrived a little late. The celebration banquet was about to begin, and some reporters were allowed inside to take pictures.
Although Ang Lee and the two new actors are the protagonists, the reporters always focus their cameras on Kang Jianfei, which is somewhat of a prestige.
Amidst countless flashes and shutter sounds, Wang Zuxian suddenly held his throat and bent over and vomited: "Ouch!" (To be continued)
