After The Vicious Cannon Fodder Was Reborn

The celebration banquet of "Black and White" was scheduled for the first Sunday in March. In addition to inviting SARFT and the main creative staff of the crew, Tao Mu also invited "The Great Wall of Flesh and Blood" and "Soldier Elite" screenwriter team who were plot consultants for the mainland remake of "Black and White". Other than this, no media or industry guests were invited.

This made the media and artists who have been watching Tao Mu's actions feel very disappointed. Those entertainment media were a little better, they just felt that it was a pity they could not write a report that could attract the audience. As for the stars who wanted to take this opportunity to befriend Tao Mu, they were quite disappointed. However, everyone could understand Tao Mu carefully arranging the party to let his own people have a better time.

The celebration party was arranged in the restaurant on the top floor of Beijing Hotel. When eating, there was no lack of raising a glass to speak. The Hong Kong production team felt a bit embarrassed here. Especially after seeing the meaningful smiles of the SARFT leaders present. Many people seem to be able to hear the sharp sound of the face being "slapped". Director Xu Musen, who had been the most vehement opposition even in front of the media reporters, who had ridiculed the SARFT leaders for being ineffective, coughed constantly in embarrassment. He even bowed his head for once when toasting.

"…..This time the success of the remake of "Black and White" in the mainland is absolutely inseparable from the careful guidance of the leaders of SARFT. It was I who didn't understand the rules of your domestic film market, and I accidentally offended quite a lot of people. I must ask the several leaders here to forgive——"

Before the words were finished, Zhou Yanqing and Yan Sheng, who were more attentive and sensitive, frowned at the same time. Sure enough, just as Xu Musen raised his glass to drink, he was interrupted by the leaders of SARFT: "Director Xu's remarks are inappropriate. It has been many years since Hong Kong returned, whether domestic or foreign, everyone here is family. So don't speak the words of two different families."

The leaders of SARFT were actually quite annoyed by these Hong Kong filmmakers and could not help lightly rebuking. When they had works to be released and wanted to come to the mainland to make money, everyone was from China. But once they make enough money they always say things like, your country, or your circle have too low quality and are not worthy of comparison with us…..the switching back and forth between these two faces could not be more smooth.

Director Xu made an unintentional gaft and was deliberately pointed out by the SARFT leader, and his face became a little hot. He immediately smiled and said, "Yes, yes, it was my slip of the tongue. Everyone here is from China, and we are all descendants of of the Fiery Emperor and Yellow Emperor (TN: Han Chinese people)."

The leaders of SARFT smiled slightly and did not speak.

The atmosphere suddenly became even more awkward. All the Hong Kong people looked at each other, and they could pick up on the aggressiveness of the SARFT leaders. In the entire main table there was only one female star, Fang Ruoti. When she usually attended dinner parties and social gatherings, she was used to being a social butterfly character to set off the atmosphere. But it was the first time for Fang Ruoti to have dinner with the leaders of mainland's SARFT. She was also afraid that she could not understand the taboos of the SARFT leaders, and accidentally offend the leaders with a wrong word. So she hesitated, wanting to stand up for Director Xu, but didn't know what to say.

Zhou Yanqing and Yan Sheng hurriedly poured wine, their popularity and influence in the circle was enough, but it was not good to make amends for Director Xu in his place. They could only smile and help Director Xu explain. But the atmosphere at the dinner table was still a bit stuffy.

As the host, Tao Mu certainly couldn't watch the atmosphere of the dinner party run off further and further away like a wild horse. He immediately stood up with a smile and said, "Let me say a few words. Actually, before Director Xu found me, I never thought that Director Xu would want a student like me to play the role of Zhou Yuanting. I also never thought that Director Xu could give the role of Zhou Yuanting so much screen time. Of course, I didn't expect that I, who just debuted not long ago, could play the role of Zhou Yuanting, and even have the opportunity to be the producer of the remake of such a classic movie. First of all, I am very grateful to Director Xu for his kindness, and I am very grateful to Director Xu and the members of the production team for trusting me, and I am also very grateful to everyone who taught and guided me during filming. I benefited a lot.”

After Tao Mu said this, he drank a glass of white wine in one go. The members of the Hong Kong production team and the main actors present were also full of emotion. They never thought that Tao Mu could grow so much in such a short period of time. No need to say anything more about his acting, the key was that even his production level was so high.

"I'm very happy to work with you." Zhou Yanqing raised his glass and clinked it with Tao Mu's, saying sincerely: "You are a genius and also work very hard. I look forward to more cooperation with you."

The reason the leaders of SARFT participated in the celebration banquet this time really did have some intention of slapping some faces. But for the sake of Tao Mu, they wouldn't take it too far and just stopped after a few words. But they did not forget to sigh with emotion: "Hong Kong's film market developed decades earlier than the mainland, so it is more complete in all aspects. This is also what our mainland film market needs to learn from. The truth being what it is, we must admit it. But there are actually many talented and capable actors and filmmakers in mainland China, and of course there are more film topics that could be explored in depth. We also hope that filmmakers from the three places can cooperate sincerely, learn from each other’s strengths and make up for each other’s shortcomings, and communicate with each other. Together, we can develop the Chinese film industry better, and we can transport Chinese culture and values ​​to the West as soon as possible."

As expected of a leader within the system, he could summarize the topic to a high level in a few words. The people from the Hong Kong film industry present were a little uncomfortable with this way of speaking, but with the huge profit of 100 million yuan at the box office in just two weeks, everyone could only accompany the leaders to laugh and chat.

Fortunately, the leaders of SARFT also know that they were not welcome among these filmmakers. They had taken out their anger already, and the face was also slapped, but they still have to take care of the child's emotions and face. The proud leaders of SARFT finally had a few drinks with the Hong Kong filmmakers and left early.

Before leaving, in front of everyone, the leaders of SARFT also explained to Tao Mu the issue of increasing the film slots in the next two weeks. Speaking of which, the leaders of SARFT really regarded Tao Mu as their own son. Just because Tao Mu participated in this film, the leaders of SARFT considered the need to support their newcomers, and deliberately considered the types and schedules of other films when arranging the film slots. Except in the first week, it came across a Hollywood 3D blockbuster that was unstoppable all over the world, so that the box office came in second. At the beginning of the second week, because of its excellent reputation and cast, "Black and White" actually overwhelmed the Hollywood 3D blockbuster towards the end and became the champion of the next week's box office chart.

Considering that several other films released in the same period were overwhelmed by the Hollywood 3D blockbuster, the SARFT leaders simply suggested to the theater distributors to remove some of the films that were really weak and give up the screen time to "Black and White". Make sure that its box office could go up in the third week and the fourth week. At least in terms of big data, don't let their domestic films compare too badly to Hollywood blockbusters——even if the SARFT leaders didn't like the attitude of the filmmakers in Hong Kong, "Black and White" was still a co-production. And it was also a film produced by a young man they were optimistic about.

The leaders of SARFT were dedicated to the public. Although there were times when they were not very good, as long as they have the opportunity to carry forward the national prestige and national self-confidence and pride, and make Chinese local films shine, they would also try their best to support them.

——Because of these words explained before leaving, Director Xu and the other members of the Hong Kong production team reluctantly forgave the grievances of being slapped in the face by the SARFT leader at the celebration banquet. And sincerely thanked the leaders for their support and cooperation.

The SARFT leaders did not like the Hong Kong filmmakers represented by Director Xu very much. But towards Zhou Yanqing, a superstar with a good professional level, good character and good personality, and also liked to do charity in the mainland very much, they were quite appreciative. Especially as Zhou Yanqing had also begun to support emerging mainland directors to make movies in the past two years. The SARFT leaders hoped that there would be more such influential actors with the spirit of a leader. Even to a certain extent, they made a subtle promise: "Mr. Zhou is a very good actor, and Tao Mu is a very good film and television producer in the mainland. We also hope that you two will have more opportunities for cooperation and cultivate film talents for the mainland."

Director Xu and the other members of the Hong Kong production team stood at the door of the hotel and smiled, watching Tao Mu send the SARFT leaders away one by one. This scene was photographed by the media reporters squatting at the entrance of the hotel.

So the next morning, all the headlines in the newspapers were the huge headline of "SARFT leaders came to the celebration banquet of "Black and White", and the producers of Hong Kong lined up to exchange goodbyes". They also didn't forget to attach the box office numbers of "Black and White" in the mainland.

Once comparing this to the various reports that Hong Kong and Taiwan production crews bullied mainland actors in recent years, it was truly all kinds of profound and interesting.

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