Chapter 622: Inviting Guests to a Vicious Event

The next day, around three in the afternoon.

The premiere of "The Revenant" was held at the Chinese Theater, a landmark building on the Hollywood Walk of Fame that has hosted many Academy Awards ceremonies.

The theater welcomes approximately 400 million visitors each year and is the venue for many film premieres.

According to Leonardo, this is an advance rehearsal, and we hope that "The Revenant" can be successfully nominated for an Oscar.

"The closer I get to the Oscars, the more worried I get. Do you think I won't be a runner-up again this time?"

"The old guys in the academy have always disliked me. I always feel that things won't go smoothly!"

“To be honest, I’m a little worried. Even if The Revenant and The Wolf of Wall Street are successfully nominated, the results are still uncertain…”

Before the premiere started, Leonardo came to Gu Wei's villa early in the morning and started chatting with him.

"I say, are you suffering from paranoia?" Gu Wei finally couldn't stand it anymore and retorted directly.

"What do you mean?"

"Why do you think you won't be the Oscar winner this year?" Gu Wei asked back.

“Gu, it’s not that I don’t have confidence, it’s just that there are a lot of competitors this year, and they are all very strong.

For example, Matthew's "Dallas Buyers Club", "12 Years a Slave" and "American Hustle" are currently highly praised and praised in the film forum. "Leonardo is a little worried at the moment, and he has been tortured by his years of Oscar runner-up status.

"You didn't come here just to say these things!" Gu Wei was speechless. It seemed that Leonardo still needed his comfort. The key point was that it was quite embarrassing for him to have a grown man come here to seek comfort and encouragement.

"Isn't this important? To be honest, I don't care about the box office for this movie. I just hope it can win an Oscar." When saying this, Leonardo's resentful eyes made Gu Wei feel uneasy.

“Leon, even if this movie doesn’t work, I have other plans for the future.”

After saying that, Gu Wei stood up and prepared to change clothes.

"Hey, Gu, is there a new script?" Leonardo also stood up, and his skillful movements made Gu Wei feel uneasy.

"Look, you only have ten minutes. Once I change my clothes I'll be leaving."

Gu Wei went to the bookshelf, took out a script and threw it to Leonardo, then walked into the cloakroom.

"Manchester by the Sea..." Leonardo murmured to himself after getting the script.

...

China National Theatre.

At this time, the place was already crowded with people, or it cannot be described as crowded with people, because most of the people who came were media reporters and fans.

Considering that this period of time is when various movie receptions are popular in Hollywood, there were not too many celebrity guests and directors who came to the scene.

Leonardo's good friends, Matt Damon, Matthew McConaughey, Tobey Maguire and Teyana Taylor were all present.

Among the directors invited by Gu Wei, only Spielberg, Nolan and Zhang Yimou came to the scene.

As for Cameron and Martin Scott, they were unable to arrive in time due to other matters.

Cameron is busy with the "Avatar" series. In early November, Cameron announced that "Avatar 2", "Avatar 3" and "Avatar 4" will soon meet the audience.

As a result, "Avatar 2" alone made movie fans wait for almost ten years. So when it comes to procrastination, we have to look at the big directors. Compared with them, the procrastination of ordinary online writers is simply child's play.

As for Martin Scorsese, he is busy filming "The Third Side of the River", starring Alan Dvitak, Daniel Vinnis and others, and plans to participate in the Berlin Film Festival next year.

Speaking of film festivals, at this time every year, the Berlin Film Festival officials will follow the old tradition and send emails and make phone calls to ask Gu Wei if he has any new works to participate in the competition.

Considering time constraints, Gu Wei even rejected the other party's request to serve as a guest judge.

At least in the next few years, Gu Wei will not go to Berlin again. Venice and Cannes are his remaining destinations.

It was already five o'clock in the afternoon when the creative team of "The Revenant" arrived at the theater.

Starring Leonardo, Tom Hardy, Will Poulter, Domhnall Gleeson and others made their appearances one by one.

As soon as they got out of the car, they were surrounded by media reporters.

"Leon, welcome to the premiere of The Revenant. How do you feel?"

"I'm freezing to death."

Gu Wei, who was standing next to him, couldn't help but laugh when he heard Leonardo's answer.

The temperature in Los Angeles in late November was not high. For the premiere, the two of them only wore thin suits. Not to mention Leonardo, even Gu Wei felt a chill.

“Haha, let’s talk about the movie. There have been a lot of reports about how difficult it was for you to shoot this movie!

I want to ask which day or scene was the most difficult, and how did you manage to get through it?" the reporter continued to ask with a smile.

Leonardo thought for a moment and said:
“In fact, that scene was not the most difficult, because the difficulty of this film was unprecedented for all the crew members, and it was also the most difficult one in my career.

I thought some scenes would be difficult to shoot, but they turned out to be the most difficult in the end. The director should have a deep understanding of this..."

Leonardo talked for a long time, and the reporter finally got satisfactory material. Then he turned the microphone to Gu Wei next to him.

"Director Gu Wei, Leon just said that you have a deep understanding of this, so what scenes did you find difficult during the filming?"

"The most memorable scene? Probably the one where Leon was naked..."

"Haha, really? Could you please tell me in detail?" The reporter instantly realized that there was big news and did not notice that Leonardo's face next to him was gradually becoming more ugly.

After being interviewed by the New York Times and Hollywood Entertainment, Gu Wei made time for media such as the Sixth Princess from China.

The interview lasted until about six o'clock, when Gu Wei, Leonardo and others entered the venue.

Speaking of which, there are still big differences between North American movie premieres and those in mainland China.

At domestic premieres, supporting actors usually appear first, and the later they appear, the more famous they are, but there is no such clear-cut rule in Europe and the United States.

Secondly, a Hollywood movie premiere usually lasts three days, including the film screening day, interview day and premiere red carpet day.

And because Hollywood movies are shot in many places, their premieres will be held through online polls, with fans voting to select the premiere location.

Take "The Revenant" for example. In addition to the Los Angeles premiere, it will also be held in London and Tokyo in the next few days.

In the theater, many media reporters followed Gu Wei and others into the theater, and everyone signed a confidentiality agreement at the entrance.

The content of the agreement is very simple, that is, before the release of "The Revenant", no specific film review manuscripts can be leaked, otherwise you will get a spoiler after watching the movie, and the audience's interest in watching the movie will naturally be greatly reduced.

In China, media outlets often start watching films half a month before their release, while some films are simply not shown to the media. However, they all need to provide interview outlines in advance for modification and confirmation.

Before the movie was shown, Ryder arranged a cocktail party, which was a time for the guests to get to know each other, communicate and exchange ideas. Leonardo, Tom Hardy, Will Poulter, and Domhnall Gleeson each held a glass of champagne and dispersed.

"Gu, are you confident about winning the Golden Globe Award next year?" Spielberg took a break from his busy schedule and took the opportunity to attend the premiere. Adam Ferguson's schedule was too tight and he was exhausted during this period.

"Haha, I don't think The Revenant competed with 12 Years a Slave and American Hustle at the Golden Globe Awards." Gu Wei said with a smile.

"Maybe, but the Golden Globe, which is known as the weather vane of the Oscars, has become less and less accurate in recent years," Spielberg shrugged.

After the two chatted for a while, Spielberg continued to introduce Zhang Yimou to filmmakers from other Hollywood companies, while Gu Wei chatted with specially invited Scarlett Johansson and Jason Statham.

"Gu, I'm glad to receive your invitation." Jason Statham, with his signature hairstyle, came to Gu Wei with Scarlett and greeted him.

It has to be said that Scarlett Johansson has now won the title of "Black Widow" thanks to "The Avengers". She is still at the peak of her career in terms of both appearance and age.

Warner's original choice for the heroine was Jennifer Lawrence, who has become one of the hottest actresses in Hollywood and is at the peak of her career thanks to "X-Men", "Hungry Birds" series and "American Hustle".

However, the other party did not have the schedule, which made the Warner executives feel a little regretful. However, Gu Wei did not think it was a pity. Next year, the Hollywood version of the "porn photo scandal" will break out, and Jennifer Lawrence will be the first to bear the brunt. If she was chosen to play the leading role, it is estimated that the media public relations alone would be enough to keep Warner busy.

"I've seen your movie, the action is pretty good."

"'Don Juan' is also good, and the acting is very good." Gu Wei praised directly.

"Thank you for the compliment." The two responded in unison.

"Have you heard about my movie?"

"Are you talking about 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes'?" Jason Statham felt a little excited when he asked this question.

"I wonder if you guys have time to come over to Tomorrow Star Films to have a chat in a week."

"Of course, I'm looking forward to meeting you." Scarlett Johansson said hurriedly, and so did Jason Statham next to her.

He never dreamed that he would be invited by the world's top commercial film director. Perhaps this is the best opportunity for him to change his traditional image. Jason Statham suppressed the excitement in his heart.

As the focus of the premiere, the scene of Gu Wei chatting with the two people was seen by many people, and their chatting and laughing appearance made many celebrities jealous.

Scarlett Johansson is okay. Although she cannot be considered the top actress in Hollywood at the moment, she is deeply loved by the American people because of her beauty, figure and acting skills.

But Jason Statham is different. He switched from a diving athlete to an actor. Although he has representative works, his fixed action star image makes him not as popular as Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon.

...

The movie started at around seven in the evening.

To be honest, "The Revenant" is a standard American story and the plot is not novel.

But Leonardo's acting skills exploded, causing the guests present to exclaim frequently.

Especially Jason Statham and Scarlett Johansson, who had just been invited, turned their heads to look at Gu Wei from time to time, and marveled at his directing ability.

"Clap clap clap."

After more than two hours of the movie ended, applause broke out from the audience. People who knew the story were amazed at Leonardo's acting skills, while the media reporters were already thinking silently about the next report.

After the movie, there was still a traditional cocktail party.

In other words, before The Revenant was released, there were almost always promotional receptions.

In the following days, Gu Wei took the main creative team to London and Tokyo for promotion.

.........

domestic.

The first shot of the Lunar New Year box office was fired by Huayi Company, with Detective Dee: The Mystery of the Phantom Flame postponed from its original September 9 to November 28.

Although it is also released during the Lunar New Year holiday, it is released one month apart from Huayi’s other film “Private Tailor”. Wang Zhongjun is not worried that the two films will cause internal friction.

On the contrary, other film and television companies believe that these two films released one after the other by Huayi Company are likely to dominate the Lunar New Year box office.

On the day when "Shendu Dragon King" was released, something happened in the domestic entertainment industry that had a very bad impact.

On the 20th, at the "2013 Youth Choice Annual Ceremony" jointly organized by Tudou Video and Shenzhen Satellite TV, South Korean popular star G-Dragon was nominated and appeared. G-Dragon's fanatical fans asked for photos on the spot and knelt on one knee to present awards to their idol.

Du Haitao, the host of "Happy Camp", whose ratings often surpass those of other major satellite TV variety shows across the country, knelt down on the stage to worship Korean male idol G-Dragon at the annual ceremony to express his admiration and love for his idol.

This also included a "famous" response to the show's effect, which made him and Quan Zhilong both trending on Weibo and received criticism from all sides.

The South Korean media have all been in a collective climax and are reporting on the news one after another.

"Shocked! Chinese stars kneel down to our singers."

"Brain is a good thing, but unfortunately he doesn't have it!"

"A man has gold at his knees. What's going on in his head?"

"Where's dignity? No more?"

Netizens bombarded the post one after another, and many even cursed directly.

Now this incident has happened again, causing netizens to have an even worse impression of the company, and even the movie "Detective Dee: The Mystery of the Phantom Flame" which was released on the same day was affected.

According to the feedback given by the cinema chain, the screening rate of the movie on the day of its release exceeded 35%, but the box office on the first day only reached more than million, which also included more than million from the midnight show. In the end, the box office of "Dragon King of the Divine Capital" on the first day was less than million, which was far from the forecast of Huayi Company.

You know, in the original time and space, the box office of "Shendu Dragon King" on the first day was as high as more than 6400 million, which was the best-selling film in the National Day holiday.

Tudou Video was naturally also criticized by netizens, with the most common complaint being why South Korean artists were invited to the celebration program?
"Your major shareholder is working hard in Hollywood to make money from the Americans, but the people on Tudou Video are here to admire Korea?"

Afterwards, netizens also complained about the Xingchen Film and Television Company, saying that they should not have invested in Tudou in the first place and that Gu Wei was really blind.

As for Mango TV, it naturally could not escape the complaints from netizens. Many netizens joked that the hosts it trained were of such a character, which was a disgrace to the domestic entertainment industry.

When the incident happened, Gu Wei was completely unaware of it, because today was also the day when "The Revenant" was released in major theaters in North America.

Early in the morning, Gu Wei arrived at the company and kept an eye on the movie's attendance rate with Reid.

Because "The Revenant" is an arty, award-winning film and not many theaters have opened it, after consultation between Gu Wei and Leonardo, they did not choose to let Warner or Universal distribute the film.

Instead, the film relied on its own promotion by two companies, Tomorrow's Star Pictures and Leonardo's Appian Way, and was released in only more than 2,000 theaters. This is the film with the fewest openings in North America among all of Gu Wei's films in recent years.

But for Gu Wei and Reid, although the number is small, it is of great significance. Once "The Revenant" has good box office in the first weekend, it will be equivalent to stepping into the theater channel in Hollywood, and he will not have to be completely controlled by other big companies.

.........

(End of this chapter)