530: Chapter 530 Best Director Du Qiyu

"Good, good, good. That was a great line: 'If you lose, you must lose with dignity; if you win, you must win fair and square.' You said it perfectly."

Hearing these words from Ruan Xingyu, Lin Chuyan beamed instantly.

She was truly his wonderful wife; her words were so pleasant to hear, and so domineering. Honestly, this was the side of her Lin Chuyan loved the most, the one that could make him deeply captivated without even trying.

Moreover, these words perfectly complemented his own thoughts. Saying this at an event as high-profile as the Hong Kong Film Awards was equivalent to welding the car doors shut, giving no one a chance to get off.

Everyone present was impressed: Was this what they meant by "a family that stays together"? Or perhaps "birds of a feather flock together"?

Only then did everyone suddenly remember that Ruan Xingyu had never been the type to play the delicate and coquettish persona. Usually, it was just because Lin Chuyan loved to be in the spotlight so much, and since this was a film industry event, she was content to play second fiddle.

But if anyone thought she was a docile, easily bullied little lamb because of that, they were terribly mistaken. Look at what she said: "No one should even think about finding excuses to welch on the bet." Doesn't that include Lin Chuyan? She's so ruthless she won't even let her own boyfriend off the hook, right?

Netizens watching the live stream were delighted by this.

[ Big sister is so domineering! Love it, love it! Lin the Dog, take notes. ]

[ My wife is absolutely right, Director Deng Yu, get ready to retire from the industry! ]

[ Xingxing, Xingxing's words are a level ten translation. ]

[ Husband sings and wife follows, wife sings and husband follows; this CP is officially locked in for me! ]

At this moment, Director Deng Yu was staring intently at the live stream screen.

All night, his eyelids had been twitching non-stop. Ever since Lin Chuyan stepped onto the red carpet for his interview and said, "Is 3.5 billion much? It's less than 500 million USD," he had felt a vague sense of unease. He couldn't figure out exactly where the problem lay for a moment, so he could only hurriedly order his subordinates to check who the investors behind the film currently being submitted for review, la la land, actually were.

It wasn't until he entered the award ceremony venue and saw Lin Chuyan chatting happily with President Fu and Boss Yang that he suddenly realized the source of Lin Chuyan's confidence.

"This is bad..."

China Film Group plus Emperor Group? One responsible for the mainland market, the other handling distribution in other countries and regions? What else? Where are the other investors? There must be more than just these two!

Director Deng Yu panicked.

No, how exactly did Lin Chuyan convince China Film Group to invest? And Emperor Group, why do these two trust Lin Chuyan so much?

The movie is about to be released now; if you count the investment time, it has to be pushed back quite a while.

The movie started filming in August, so the investment must have been finalized at least two months in advance. But back then, Lin Chuyan had just been blacklisted by him; what right did he have to gain the favor of these big shots?

Just by holding a script for la la land and sweet-talking them with empty promises?

Director Deng Yu couldn't figure it out no matter how hard he tried.

Looking further, it was the teaser trailer for la la land.

Director Deng Yu immediately started screen recording, watching the trailer, which totaled less than three minutes, over and over again, not missing a single frame or detail.

From the use of lighting and shadow to the presentation of characters, and then to the musical score... although it was hard to glimpse the full plot from the trailer, there wasn't a single flaw to be found. This was what he found most terrifying.

You have to understand, as Lin Chuyan's mortal enemy, he was looking at this trailer almost as if he were "looking for bones in an egg."

"The genre, this genre still belongs to the niche category..."

Director Deng Yu could only comfort himself this way: the combination of a musical and a romance film had a relatively narrow audience, so a box office target of 3.5 billion was easier said than done...

Then he waited for Ruan Xingyu's statement.

No one should even think about finding excuses to welch on the bet? What does that mean? They already feel like they've won? No, why on earth, why are these two so confident?

The unknown brought fear. Even though the heating was already on in Beijing, Director Deng Yu was breaking out in a cold sweat.

After a while, Producer Zhang Nuo sent a message: "China Film Group and Emperor Group did indeed participate in the investment. Besides them, there are several other companies. The others are easy to explain, but one of them... I really don't know how Lin Chuyan managed it."

Director Deng Yu was burning with anxiety: "Which one?"

"Lionsgate."

Director Deng Yu was stunned: "...Isn't Lionsgate from North America?"

"Yes, that Lionsgate. He went to Hollywood to film a movie, so he definitely needed to find a North American company to help him distribute it. I just thought he would sell the film directly to a distributor; I didn't expect him to be able to secure investment from Lionsgate."

Director Deng Yu couldn't sit still anymore.

He quickly associated it with Emperor Group: Did Boss Yang act as the go-between? It wasn't impossible, and in fact, it was highly likely.

But new questions followed: Why was Boss Yang so keen to facilitate this? Was the script really that good? Besides, this kind of cross-border cooperation was definitely not as simple to achieve as one might imagine!

Director Deng Yu had too many questions; his mind was a tangled mess, with numerous doubts swirling within. It made no sense, it really made no sense, a musical film attracting so much investment. The most nonsensical part was Lionsgate; you're all the way in North America, why on earth would you look favorably upon Lin Chuyan's crappy musical film?

In the end, it was a few words from Producer Zhang Nuo that snapped him out of it: "You forgot about Mango Media. The biggest difference between Lionsgate and other North American film companies is that it has long-term, in-depth cooperation with domestic Mango Media."

"We can't wait any longer, Producer Zhang Nuo." Director Deng Yu finally came to his senses. "There's never enough time to prepare. If we keep dragging this out, his movie will be released, and he'll have won the Best Actor award."

Producer Zhang Nuo was speechless: Best Actor? I'm afraid even Lin Chuyan doesn't have as much confidence in himself as you do!

After thinking for a moment, she asked again: "Does Lin Chuyan want to release the movie during the Spring Festival Movie Season? Will he have enough time? Can the Dragon Seal be approved that quickly?"

"It's very possible, after all, he has China Film Group backing him."

"Understood, I'll go make the arrangements."

The movie promotion segment ended, Lin Chuyan held Ruan Xingyu's hand as they returned to their seats, and the Hong Kong Film Awards continued with the ceremony.

The first major award for the mission finally arrived—the Best Director was indeed Director Du Qiyu!

At this moment, Director Du Qiyu actually appeared exceptionally calm. He turned his head to look at Lin Chuyan, their eyes met, they smiled at each other, and then he stood up and gave him a firm hug.

"Director Du, now that you've won, it won't lower my chances of winning Best Actor, will it?"

"Hahahaha, you kid!"

The two of them had been whispering about probability theory all night. Even when it was time for Director Du Qiyu to go on stage to accept the award, Lin Chuyan didn't forget to nag him, and Director Du Qiyu almost couldn't keep a straight face.

After Director Du Qiyu took the stage, he first expressed his routine thanks to the creative team of the mission, and then began to share the unknown stories behind the mission.

Regarding this gangster film that was completed in just 19 days, he had too much to share.

"The first actor cast for the mission was Lin Chuyan; I had already invited him while we were still filming a moment of romance. I have to say, his temperament is truly a perfect fit for the movie the mission."

Everyone in the audience laughed: Does the temperament of the people in the mission even need to be mentioned?

Lin Chuyan: Revenge, this is definitely revenge for what I just said.

Director Du Qiyu then mentioned another interesting story: "Actually, I once invited Ruan Xingyu to make a cameo as the Boss's Wife in the mission, but it was later rejected by Lin Chuyan. Today, after watching the trailer for la la land and witnessing Ruan Xingyu's superb acting skills, I finally understood: with such good acting skills, Lin Chuyan must have wanted to save her to use in his own movie."

Everyone in the audience: Let Ruan Xingyu play the Boss's Wife to seduce Ah Lai, played by Lin Chuyan? How did you even come up with that? If they were Lin Chuyan, they wouldn't agree either.

Lin Chuyan: That's too much, too much of a good thing is bad, Director Du; how did you see superb acting skills in this trailer? That's enough!