Becoming a Movie Star, System Only Finished Loading After Ten Years

"The awards at the three major film festivals aren't easy to win; you need some good PR."

This PR isn't about wining and dining, bribing judges.

It's about showing off at film festivals and to the international media, making people know your film is badass and can be analyzed from many angles.

You also need to get some veteran international filmmakers to praise it.

Of course, if you have connections in the international film circles, it would definitely be the icing on the cake, a double insurance.

For example, if you're good friends with the head of the jury, or you've sworn brotherhood with the head of the festival.

Then as soon as your film is put up, a bunch of big names will immediately support you.

They could identify lots of profound meanings you weren't even aware of.

"This is your department to handle, I'll provide you with the activity funds."

Qi Hao was very generous.

No kidding, with a bit more stocks, he could earn tens or even hundreds of millions, who the hell cares about this PR expense anyway?

"By the way, you know Jiang Wen, right?"

Han Jie thought for a moment and suddenly asked this question.

"Yeah, we often drink together. I just wrapped up filming in his new movie, and... I invested half in his new film."

Qi Hao felt that if this doesn't count as knowing someone, then there's nothing more to say.

Now if Jiang Wu and Qi Hao stood together and you asked Jiang Wen who his blood brother was, he might hesitate a bit before choosing.

It's not like getting the investment means everything is settled.

He's thinking about shooting the next film, too.

"Is that so? Then let's head to the Venice International Film Festival, Quentin is the head of the jury this year."

Han Jie didn't say it out loud, but he was secretly hung up on Qi Hao's promise of a million and researched the jury composition of various film festivals.

Although there's no Chinese jury member this year, Quentin is there.

Quentin also loves Chinese films.

That classic "badass" line of his was learned from Jiang Wen. If we can PR Quentin through Jiang Wen, then there's a really good chance of winning Best Actor.

"Uh... what do you mean?"

Suddenly such a mercantile thought, Qi Hao almost didn't recognize Han Jie.

Buddy, did you fake all that untamable attitude before?

Then your acting skills are even better than mine.

"If you think it's inappropriate, just pretend I didn't say anything."

Han Jie felt a bit embarrassed under Qi Hao's gaze, he had been proud too, but without money, life is hard.

For a director like him, it seems he's entered this flashy world of the entertainment industry, but the prosperity has nothing to do with him.

He can't even talk about buying a house; even buying a car means choosing the cheapest one.

If he had a million, he could definitely buy a house in the capital.

Yeah, enough for a down payment.

"Appropriate, why not?"

Qi Hao immediately took out his phone and sent Han Jie Jiang Wen's personal phone number.

"I'll contact him directly?"

Han Jie is just a small director, worlds apart from Jiang Wen.

Calling him, there's no guarantee he'd even get a response.

"I'll explain the situation to him later, and then you can contact him. Old Han, have some confidence. After all, you've worked with me. I'll take you to have a drink with Jiang Wen and Zheng Xiaolong sometime."

Qi Hao encouraged this guy to boldly make a move.

As for him,

he really hasn't got the time to handle this matter.

After all, he has more than one task now: besides an actor award, there's a directing a film task.

Of course, the directing task is pretty simple.

He's about to direct his fourth movie now.

To keep up with the timeline, he plans to finish shooting this movie in the first half of the year.

The next task is probably around 2008 or 2009.

A maximum of three tasks, then he could get a usable script.

However, Qi Hao won't just finish any old work to deal with the task, he still values his reputation.

The fourth movie must be filmed well too.

It's just the casting that's troublesome.

For some reason, young actors' skills are just too poor nowadays.

Of those he's worked with, Tang Yan, Liu Shishi, Yang Mi, Gao Yuanyuan... they're either too old to play high school students, or their image and temperament don't fit. Even if they played themselves, it'd be difficult.

Qi Hao once considered casting Tang Yan as the female lead, but eventually gave up.

With Tang Yan like that, playing a female academic star feels too off. Maybe consider her for a sweet and silly role in the future.

Shu Chang also entered Qi Hao's candidate list, but after thinking for a long time, he couldn't come up with a male actor who had a good chemistry with her.

Cao Jun is out; Qi Hao can't imagine this pair in a campus drama.

The current generation of male actors is not as good as the previous.

The four young actors selected last year, Hu Ge, Zhang Junning, Lin Yushen, Zhu Yuchen, Qi Hao had an impression only of Hu Ge and Lin Yushen.

Lin Yushen is a second-generation star.

Hu Ge's acting can't be said to be very bad, but it's a bit too rigid.

And these new young actors.

Like Feng Shaofeng, Li Chen, Du Chun, these ones are actively marketing themselves, seemingly eager to grab the next title of top young actor, hoping to walk the glorious path of past seniors like Qi Hao and Huang Xiaoming, but these three are actually older than Qi Hao.

As for the newly emerging ones, there's someone named Yang Yang in "New Red Chamber," a newcomer from Li Shaohong's company, introduced by Li Shaohong at events to meet Qi Hao. His acting doesn't seem that great either, acting greasy at such a young age, always thinking he's extremely handsome.

Qi Hao marketed himself as the aloof male god type but he's not that greasy.

Handsome my foot.

Your handsomeness should be seen by the audience, not acted out, not self-perceived.

Plus, it's fine to act handsome in real life, but if you act handsome on screen, it's not very liked by the directors.

Qi Hao watched some of his performances and felt no enthusiasm to help this junior.

So, he might as well make another movie with An Feng.

As for the script, we'll shoot "Those Years," taking advantage of the lasting heat from "First Love, This Little Thing," to polish the public recognition for him and An Feng.

Let's see who else can match their level of popularity then.

"First Love, This Little Thing" has a really happy ending, so let's do a regretful "Those Years" to elevate the ceiling for youthful campus genres.

As long as the movie quality is good enough, it won't be considered just money-grabbing.

Having the filming experience from "First Love, This Little Thing," "Those Years" should be finished in a month.

Rush the post-production and it can be released by mid-year.

After Qi Hao made the decision, he called Lu Yang for film preparation.

This guy has served as the assistant director several times and is starting to prepare his own movie.

By then, Qi Hao's side will provide investment.

Besides, after attracting a group of animated film directors, Qi Hao is considering cultivating some live-action directors as well.

The Chinese film industry can't solely depend on animated films in the future.

Moreover, the future market for animated films is not yet clear, it still needs works to verify.

The wrapping up of "Hello! Mr. Tree" happened at the end of February, the crew added a few shots, and then started heading back to the capital.

Qi Hao can finally rid of the semi-permanent makeup and the exhaustion on him.

He sat in the car on the way back, still feeling dazed, unable to distinguish whether he was Mr. Tree or Qi Hao for a while.

Not exaggerating to say, he's even been dreaming messily during this period.

He even once dreamed about almost being hanged by the actor playing his father with a rope on the tree.

Thankfully, Qi Hao has been acting for over ten years.

He knows how to quickly snap out from the character.

He sat in the same car with An Feng, holding hands and quietly discussing gossip from the entertainment industry.

For example, Xuriyanggang got famous on the Spring Festival Gala, then started getting commercial performances everywhere, leading to the original singer Wang Feng suing them.

Also, Hu Ke and Sha Yi's relationship got exposed.

"Have you ever had rumors with Hu Ke?" An Feng couldn't remember all the rumored partners Qi Hao had.

It always feels like all the female stars around the same age are suspects.

"How could it be, I'm not even familiar with her. If you really have to talk about rumors, then Sha Yi is more likely to have rumors with me."

Qi Hao felt wronged.

He worked with Sha Yi a long time ago, and they co-starred in "Married the Right Man."

Back then, Sha Yi also fought to get the male lead role, but couldn't surpass Qi Hao.

Their interactions during filming were alright.

Better than just nodding acquaintances in the entertainment industry, Sha Yi even attended a few of Qi Hao's parties, though not frequently, not a regular attendee.

"I remember when Sha Yi was young, he was pretty enough to be considered a pretty boy."

An Feng really picked up on that.

"Stop talking nonsense, Hu Ke's rumored boyfriend used to be Huang Xiaoming, and the second one seemed to be Nie Yuan."

"Ah, Sha Yi then found Nie Yuan's ex-girlfriend?"

An Feng couldn't help but marvel at how small the entertainment circle is. Sha Yi and another ex-girlfriend of Nie Yuan, Huang Yi, even collaborated before, and there were rumors that Qi Hao intervened causing Huang Yi and Nie Yuan to break up.

"Sha Yi also has an ex-girlfriend, supposedly named Bai Hui."

Qi Hao, having been in the industry longer, has insights into many things that An Feng lacks.

That's how the entertainment world is.

No matter how you twist it, relationships can always be linked.

Qi Hao and An Feng also discussed the matter of roadshows.

Now that they have free time, they definitely have to go on a roadshow tour and continue promoting "First Love, This Little Thing."

At this moment, the box office for "First Love, This Little Thing" had already reached 160 million.

It's still achieving single-day box office results of several million each day.

Two hundred million seems somewhat difficult.

With controversy and hype around pairings, it can't push to higher box office.

Unless...

Qi Hao and An Feng publicly announce their relationship.

If they really did announce it, then the box office would surely rocket up.

Extend the film's screening period for another month, and it's sure to surpass 200 million in box office earnings.