As one of the most famous directors in the Lunar New Year festival, Chen Kaige's films have naturally attracted widespread attention.
The filming of "Mei Lanfang" was very good, and some viewers and film critics even said that the opening sequence reminded them of the Chen Kai who made "Farewell My Concubine".
But it’s just the beginning and the first half, and it ends in an anticlimax.
In the end, "Mei Lanfang" took in 10 million at the box office on its first day, which is considered very successful for a biographical film.
But it’s only 10 million, so he is destined to be no match for Feng Xiaogang.
That’s it for the Lunar New Year holiday, there’s nothing to pay attention to.
On December 7, two days after the release of "Mei Lanfang", Tang An's new film "The Chinese Partner" held a press conference in Beijing to announce the official launch.
The preparation time for this movie is not short, and now it is finally ready.
At the press conference, the red floor-to-ceiling curtain slowly opened twice, revealing a huge poster six to seven meters high.
The poster is in a dilapidated classroom. Wang Xiaoming, Deng Chao, and Lu Yi are sitting behind two dilapidated old-fashioned desks side by side.
He was sitting back on the chair with his feet on the desk, looking different.
A few English words were clearly written in chalk on the blackboard behind.
think in american english
As soon as the poster came out, reporters started taking photos.
There was a constant clicking sound, and flashing lights could be seen everywhere in the huge conference hall.
"What does this poster mean? Is it their school days?"
"Who knows what this sentence means in English, can you explain it?"
"It means cultivating English thinking. It looks like it's a classroom, it must be a few years old."
"They must not be students. Didn't you see that all three of them are wearing leather shoes? Who the hell wears leather shoes in class?"
“If I’m not a student, am I a teacher?”
...
After they finished filming and the discussion subsided a little, Tang An spoke again.
"Dear media and audience friends, welcome everyone to take time out of your busy schedule to attend the launch conference of my new film "Chinese Partners"..."
After a lot of polite remarks, the reporters who had been waiting for a long time immediately asked questions.
"Hello, Director Tang, which industry's entrepreneurial history is "China Partner" about?"
I asked a key question, but until now, except for a few people, no one knows what the story is about.
There are all kinds of guesses, not to mention 360 lines, at least 36 lines have been guessed.
This is about to start, and there is nothing to keep secret.
Tang An picked up the microphone and, under the watchful eyes of all the reporters and spectators present, spoke out about the issues they had been concerned about.
He turned sideways and pointed at the blackboard and said with a smile, "Actually, everyone will understand very well after looking at this poster. In the classroom, either the students or the teachers are there."
"Look at how the three of them are dressed, and look at this sentence on the blackboard, Cultivate English Thinking, they are English tutors."
Wow...
The reporters were confused. They had never contacted the teacher before. How could this be a good start-up?
For a time, more than a dozen reporters in the front row and middle asked questions at the same time, and there was no order.
The movie fans who were lucky enough to be invited to the scene also didn’t know why they co-authored this story about three tutors. What’s the point of it?
The audience was chatting in whispers, reporters were asking questions loudly, and the scene was almost chaotic again.
Zhang Yijun, director of Huayi Public Relations Department, who acted as the press officer at the scene, was very familiar with this situation, and the scene soon became quiet for a while.
But she definitely couldn't let them ask questions freely at this time, so she first asked a reporter from Xinlang Entertainment, the leader of the portal website.
"Director Tang, why did you choose the tutoring profession?"
Questions are asked quickly, the language is concise and clear, and there is no nonsense.
"Actually, I initially thought about putting the deeds of Alibaba Chairman Ma Yun or Tengxun Chairman Ma Huateng on the big screen. After all, these two Internet companies are changing our current lives."
"However, after reading a lot of news and books, I found that they were described as successful and perfect Chinese businessmen. It was difficult to shoot flesh and blood, so I thought twice before choosing to shoot such a subject."
In fact, Tang An also met with Ma Yun. Huayi was about to go public, and shareholders' meetings were held several times to determine the number of shares to be issued, pricing methods, fundraising projects, principles for distribution of accumulated profits, and authorization of the board of directors for issuance matters.
That unattractive man spoke in a friendly manner and even chatted about movies with Tang An for a while, but the pressure on Tang An was even greater than that of Han Sanping.
Maybe it was the pressure from the richest man later.
As soon as he finished speaking, before Zhang Yijun could call his name, someone immediately spoke up.
“Does Director Tang’s subject matter have anything to do with New Oriental?”
Reporter Li is also not short of smart people. He took English tutoring and it was a partnership of three people. He immediately thought of New Oriental.
"The inspiration did come from New Oriental. I also asked Director Yu and others about their entrepreneurial experiences."
Tang An did not deny it and told the truth.
"In other words, this movie is about New Oriental's entrepreneurial journey, right?"
"Is this a biopic?"
"Of course not. This is an original movie. The movie should pay attention to the story and not copy the energy of Director Yu and others."
There seems to always be a conflict between the biography and the director in biographical movies. Most good-looking movies make the biography very dissatisfied, and movies that the biography is satisfied with usually make the audience very dissatisfied.
In 2002, Haier funded the filming of a biographical film about founder Zhang Ruiming, "The CEO," which was approved by Zhang Ruiming. However, the plot was flat and the characters were monotonous.
As an entrepreneur, Zhang Ruiming's success is generally recognized. However, as a movie actor, Zhang Ruiming makes the audience want to sleep.
...
Then each of the leading actors introduced themselves.
"Hello everyone, I am Wang Xiaoming and I play Cheng Dongqing, one of the partners."
"I am Deng Chao, playing Meng Xiaojun, one of the partners."
"I am Lu Yi, and I play Wang Yang, one of the partners."
"I am Du Juan, playing Dongqing's first love girlfriend Su Mei."
"I am Wan Qian, and I play Meng Xiaojun's wife Liangqin."
...
Two hours later, the press conference ended.
"Everyone, let's have something to eat. We will take the bus directly to Tianjing later. If we have time, we may have to shoot a scene."
"Wang Xiaoming, please eat more meat. How has the effect of gaining weight in the past month been?"
"Director Tang, my belly is bulging. I have been training muscles for a year in vain."
Wang Xiaoming felt miserable because he ate so much during this period that his standard figure was ruined.
The key thing is that if he takes on a movie next year that requires him to keep fit, it will be too torturous.
After dinner, he said goodbye to Wang Zhongjun and Huayi executives, and Tang An took the crew into the car and drove towards Tianjing.