Brother Dao Took the Entertainment Industry by Storm, Fans Beg Me Not to Kill Anymore

Chapter 1061: The True Destination of "The Phantom Thieves 3"

Seeing that Xiao He's attitude was calm and he didn't seem to have any worries, Zhuang Hongyi was temporarily relieved and started talking to Xiao He about the "Long".

Originally, "Long" did not intend to compete for awards at Cannes. Their initial goal was simply to get a midnight screening at Cannes and find a suitable distributor. However, to their surprise, "Long" was eventually nominated for an award.

However, the nominee was not from the main competition, but from another competition category, which is second only to the main competition: the Un Certain Regard category.

This award is not in the same category as the most famous awards. In terms of popularity and authority, it is slightly inferior to the main competition awards. It is more like an independent parallel award. It has the name of Cannes, but the threshold is relatively low. It also has detailed award divisions such as Best Film, Best Performance, and Best Director. It is the final destination for many Chinese works that have reached Cannes.

—After all, being shortlisted for Cannes is being shortlisted for Cannes. In fact, many domestic fans simply cannot distinguish the differences between these different award categories. Just being officially shortlisted for Cannes is enough to be a symbol of honor, but they don't realize that there are significant differences between the awards.

Of course, the Un Certain Regard award is not as prestigious as the Palme d'Or in the main competition, but that does not mean that the works that win this award are not good enough or not excellent enough.

On the contrary, works that stand out from global films and win awards cannot rely solely on connections and luck.

Because it prefers unique aesthetics and novel, niche styles, many classic and excellent but lesser-known works are popular contenders for this award.

Even before Hong Kong-style ghost films declined, several works were nominated for this award, and those works are still considered classics today, belonging to the classic ghost film works that film bloggers will definitely review.

However, more than a decade later, no more Hong Kong ghost films made it to Cannes.

The market has also seen a decline in purely Eastern metaphysical ghost films.

No one expected that "The Grizzly" would bring Hong Kong horror films back to Cannes with its subject matter.

Hong Kong-style supernatural phenomena, exorcists and ghosts, the I Ching and feng shui, Eastern philosophy... these categories, which should have been a genre, have disappeared due to various unavoidable reasons.

Zhuang Hongyi, who dared to bring it to Cannes, is indeed a remarkable person.

On the surface, they only brought a supernatural film to Cannes, but the controversy, public pressure, and even official investigations and fines were all borne by director Zhuang Hongyi.

Even Xiao He was not affected much.

Well, that makes sense. His drama "The Emperor's Conquest" just ended not long ago, and many netizens still have a positive view of him. So even though they saw that he was in Cannes for a horror movie, they weren't too harsh on Xiao He.

What happened after Emperor Chen's death, when he used his domineering aura to rampage through the underworld?

I support Emperor Chen taking his position down there, and everyone else going down there can follow him to fight the angels next door!

From now on, we'll be in charge of the underworld...

-

"Ahem, actually, several familiar publishers have already sent people over to discuss cooperation."

Zhuang Hongyi coughed lightly, "That includes Shield Screen Pictures."

Xiao He raised an eyebrow: "When did this happen?"

“Just now, before you came back,” Zhuang Hongyi said, “I was wondering why they were in such a hurry. It turns out you have a complicated relationship with Shield Curtain. I’d better refuse to work with them.”

"No--"

Upon hearing Zhuang Hongyi's plan, Xiao He pondered for a moment and then shook his head, "Please don't refuse outright, Director Zhuang."

Putting aside Shield Screen Pictures' scheming, their strength is undeniable, especially in North America, where they control many theatrical resources and act as distributors themselves.

If we refuse them immediately, it will likely provoke dissatisfaction and retaliation from those above.

During the Cannes Film Festival, what kind of retaliation is most direct?

Without a doubt, it's the copyright distributor.

If Shield Screen says just one word, many distributors probably won't dare to approach their production team anymore.

"The Dragon" still needs to fetch a good price during the film festival!

When dealing with a "big spender," one should be a little "serious."

At least keep up the act until the film festival ends.

After all, everyone's just pretending right now, aren't they?

Zhuang Hongyi understood Xiao He's meaning, chuckled, and said with relief, "I understand."

He wasn't really concerned about Xiao He's situation, but he needed to make sure about the "Long" matter.

"I'll arrange a time with them," Zhuang Hongyi nodded. "I'll call you to come along then."

"good."

Thus, the question of "尨" was temporarily put to rest.

Zhuang Hongyi prepared to get up and leave.

Xiao He called him back again: "Director Zhuang, there's still the matter of 'Phantom Thief 3'. I've read the script. Are you planning to go to Central Europe this time?"

The Phantom Thieves series is all set overseas. According to Zhuang Hongyi's vision, the next place Phantom Thieves 3 will go is Plague.

Prag, located in Central Europe, was once the core capital of the Holy Roman Empire and the center of European alchemy, and was known as the Golden City.

This incident is precisely a unique contest between an alchemical treasure and a phantom thief, unfolding around this special city.

The protagonists, Lu Xiaokong and Shi Ji, will come here to witness the true "alchemy" in history, steal the most important treasure, unveil the mystery of the second-ranked master thief, codenamed Magician, and finally expose the villain's conspiracy.

It can be said that the entire script still carries the strong comedic style of the "Phantom Thief" series. While rendering the story, it also tries its best to fit the local culture and characteristics. From the White Elephant Kingdom at the beginning, to the Perfume Town later, and then to the Alchemy Castle, each item here has a related background cultural story as support, and is also the ultimate goal of the Phantom Thieves.

Xiao He himself really likes this type of story, as it gives him a sense of joy in traveling to different countries and visiting different places from the perspective of the protagonists.

The only troublesome thing is that these actors need to go abroad to film every time, which is a rather troublesome and big project.

Moreover, after participating in Cannes this time, Xiao He was really unsure whether he would be able to go out with the film crew in the short term.

"Ah, this is indeed a bit troublesome."

Zhuang Hongyi pondered, "However, you don't have many scenes in this part, so I think there's still room for discussion. If all else fails, we can revise the script."

In the second part, Xiao He's role as the white-haired hacker was undoubtedly more significant, while in the third part, as the synopsis suggests, the main focus is on the second-ranked "magician."

New characters have emerged, and the old character, the white-haired hacker who's always been third, is no longer important.

"Otherwise, it wouldn't be impossible to finish filming your scenes in China this time."

Thinking this way, Zhuang Hongyi felt no regret at all about not being able to take Xiao He abroad to film. Instead, he almost laughed: "After all, we went through the same thing with our first film!"

Who remembers that Xiao He was a new character added later in the first season of "The Phantom Thieves" and never even went to the set with the crew for filming?

Even the filming was done in Zhuang Hongyi's villa studio!

Unexpectedly! In the third installment, Xiao He has once again received special treatment.

Upon hearing Zhuang Hongyi's words, Xiao He also recalled that past event.

Immediately, the two looked at each other and smiled, all anxiety gone, leaving only ease and nostalgia.