raknovel Chapter 117 The Journey to the Hong Kong Film Awards
Chapter 117 The Journey to the Hong Kong Film Awards
Chapter 116 The Journey to the Hong Kong Film Awards
Although Zhang Jun is quite famous in mainland China, not many people in Hong Kong know him.
Before the awards ceremony began, he rested in the VIP lounge, where only a few directors and stars he had met at the Golden Horse Awards came to greet him.
After Aaron Kwok greeted Zhang Jun and returned, someone nearby asked him, "Who's this guy? He looks really handsome!"
Aaron Kwok replied, "This is a director from mainland China. He worked with Andy Lau on 'Reign of Assassins,' but he's very famous in mainland China."
"Look at this young guy, he's already a director?"
"Don't look down on him. 'Reign of Assassins' grossed over 100 million yuan in mainland China. He is the youngest director in mainland China to achieve this milestone."
After hearing Aaron Kwok's introduction, the people around him immediately became curious about Zhang Jun. However, not many people took the initiative to talk to Zhang Jun. After all, Hong Kong filmmakers still maintained some arrogance, and many still looked down on mainland filmmakers.
Zhang Jun was happy to have some free time and exchange ideas with several filmmakers from mainland China.
The cast and crew of "Curse of the Golden Flower" also came, and Zhang Jun and Zhang Yi exchanged ideas.
Zhang Yi revealed an important piece of information to Zhang Jun: "There's a big event coming up next year; I'm going to be the chief director."
Zhang Jun immediately guessed: "Is it the opening ceremony of the Olympics?"
Zhang Yi nodded: "I will be the chief director, working with several directors from the August First Film Studio. However, this is a big project, requiring many people from various fields. I recommended you to the organizing committee to be my assistant director."
Zhang Jun was surprised: "Why me?"
Why not you?
Zhang Yi patted Zhang Jun on the shoulder: "In terms of seniority, many directors are indeed more experienced and better than you. However, the future ultimately belongs to you young people."
You are a master filmmaker. I have seen your films, and they have a very international perspective.
I also believe that you can help me make the opening ceremony a world-renowned event.
For Zhang Jun, this was indeed a major event, and a good one at that. Participating in this grand event and being able to interact with people at the official level would enhance his qualifications and status.
Therefore, Zhang Jun did not hesitate: "Okay, if the organizing committee approves my participation, I will definitely do my best."
Zhang Yi was very satisfied with Zhang Jun's attitude: "Okay, I'll let you know when we get back to Beijing and there are results."
With Zhang Yimou's promise, what he receives at tonight's Hong Kong Film Awards is no longer important. In China, being able to participate in official projects is a form of endorsement, and Zhang Jun believes he desperately needs this.
The Hong Kong Film Awards ceremony has officially begun. Although "Reign of Assassins" was nominated for seven awards, it was not a strong contender for the win.
However, right at the start of the awards ceremony, the film garnered a major award: Wang Xueqi won the Hong Kong Film Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as King Reign in "Reign of Assassins".
For Wang Xueqi, this award carries considerable weight. Although he has been in the film industry for many years and is a veteran actor, he doesn't have many awards to his name.
"Reign of Assassins" also achieved a double victory in supporting actor awards, with Fan Bingbing winning Best Supporting Actress at last year's Golden Horse Awards and Wang Xueqi winning Best Supporting Actor at this year's Hong Kong Film Awards.
Wang Xueqi accepted the award calmly and even showed off his Cantonese, though his Cantonese was probably difficult for locals to understand. This created quite a few humorous moments, making the guests in the audience laugh.
In the subsequent technical categories, Chin Ka-lok lost to Yuen Woo-ping's "Fearless" for Best Action Choreography. There's no way around it; Yuen Woo-ping is arguably the best action choreographer in the world, and the fight scenes in "Fearless" were indeed very impressive.
Zhang Jun also missed out on the Best Screenplay award, while Tan Jiaming and Tian Kailiang won the award for their work on "Father and Son".
The Best Art Direction award was a tie, with Wong Ka-neng for "Reign of Assassins" and Huo Ting-hsiao for "Curse of the Golden Flower" sharing the prize.
Both films have their own unique aesthetic designs, but both have received high praise and their awards are well-deserved.
Before several major awards, there is the Best New Director award.
Although Zhang Jun is no longer considered a new director, he is certainly considered a new director for the Hong Kong Film Awards.
The award was pretty much a foregone conclusion. "Reign of Assassins" grossed HK$1260 million in Hong Kong, placing it in the top ten of Hong Kong's box office rankings for last year.
It would be problematic if the director of this film didn't win an award.
Zhang Jun remained calm as he received the trophy from the presenter. Seeing the familiar Hong Kong stars in the audience, and realizing it would still be them years later, he couldn't help but sigh.
But now is not the time for sentimentality.
After holding the trophy above his head and showing it off, Zhang Jun gave his acceptance speech: "Yesterday, I was interviewed by Hong Kong media and said that I grew up watching Hong Kong movies."
Seeing so many familiar actors whom I've seen in movies since I was a child today gives me a feeling of both unfamiliarity and warmth.
I believe that both Hong Kong films and mainland Chinese films are part of the Chinese-language film industry. Let's work together for the future of Chinese-language cinema!
Whether they actually want to work together is another matter, but Zhang Jun's high-sounding speech still won a round of applause.
Zhang Jun took the trophy backstage and gave another interview to the media, expressing his feelings about winning the award and stating that mainland Chinese films and Hong Kong films are not separate entities.
His remarks will likely draw some criticism in Hong Kong, since not everyone is aligned with the mainland.
But as a mainland director, he must maintain his principles and not let small things cause him to lose sight of the bigger picture.
Furthermore, despite the current apparent glory of Hong Kong cinema, in Zhang Jun's eyes, it's already a thing of the past. Hong Kong filmmakers either need to face reality or decline along with Hong Kong cinema; there's no other way.
However, he still admires some of the professional film talents in Hong Kong. In terms of professionalism, these behind-the-scenes talents are far superior to those in mainland China.
This is also why Zhang Jun actively participated in this year's Hong Kong Film Awards.
As Uncle Ge (a famous Hong Kong film critic) has said, the 21st century is the century of talent. Rather than letting these behind-the-scenes talents in Hong Kong cinema lose their jobs with the decline of Hong Kong cinema, it would be better to let them develop their careers in the mainland.
And you have to be quick, otherwise all the good ones will be picked, and all that's left are the bad ones.
After finishing the interview, Zhang Jun returned to his seat. Next door was the cast and crew of "Curse of the Golden Flower," where Zhou Xun, who had won a Best Supporting Actress award, was beaming with pride.
Zhang Jun held the trophy, his face expressionless.
Zhou Xun asked curiously, "Director Zhang, why do you look so unhappy?"
Zhang Jun curled his lip: "It's not like I won five million, there's no prize money, what's there to be happy about?"
Zhou Xun was somewhat stunned: "It seems you don't value these awards very much!"
"certainly,"
Zhang Jun said solemnly, "For me, the most important thing is always the audience. I am happy when they are happy."
This statement is unique. In an era where directors generally talk about concepts and art, Zhang Jun is the first director to put the audience first, which also shows his distinctiveness.
Zhou Xun seemed to understand why Zhang Jun was able to make one successful film after another at such a young age: because his ideas were fundamentally different from those of other directors.
Is it simply because Zhang Jun is a top student who graduated from a prestigious university that he stands out from the crowd?
Zhou Xun had no answer to this question, and it was something many people in the industry couldn't understand. In the end, it could only be attributed to Zhang Jun's own talent.
When it came to the most important awards, Zhang Ziyi lost the Best Actress award to Gong Li for "Curse of the Golden Flower." However, Zhang Ziyi had already won the Golden Horse Award for Best Actress last year for "Reign of Assassins," so she wasn't too disappointed.
In the Best Actor competition, Andy Lau defeated a host of competitors and won the Best Actor award for his role in "Reign of Assassins".
When Andy Lau took the stage to speak, he thanked Zhang Jun profusely: "It was a very pleasant collaboration with Director Zhang Jun, and I hope to have the opportunity to work with him again in the future."
With this, the Hong Kong Film Awards have come to a successful conclusion. "Reign of Assassins" received four out of seven nominations, a respectable achievement.
After the awards ceremony, Zhang Jun didn't stay long and flew directly back to the mainland. However, before continuing to promote "Bad Genius," Zhang Jun first visited the set of "The Forbidden Kingdom," which was being filmed in Hengdian.
This is a typical Sino-US co-production film, featuring two kung fu superstars, Jackie Chan and Jet Li, as well as Liu Yifei, Li Shuangbing, and others.
As for the people on the American side, they are not important. They are not big names in Hollywood. The highlight is the historic appearance of the two kung fu stars together.
However, Zhang Jun's visit to the set wasn't to see the two kung fu stars, but to see Liu Yifei.
Liu Yifei was very happy to see Zhang Jun coming over.
"Why did you come here?"
"Can't I come to see you?"
As Zhang Jun spoke, his eyes searched around. Sure enough, less than five seconds later, a still-attractive woman rushed over.
However, upon seeing Zhang Jun, the woman stopped in her tracks: "Feifei, who is this?"
Liu Yifei introduced, "Mom, let me introduce you. This is Director Zhang Jun. Zhang Jun, this is my mother, Liu Xiaoli."
"Hello, Auntie!" Zhang Jun greeted politely.
Liu Xiaoli looked Zhang Jun up and down, then nodded with satisfaction: "Director Zhang, I often hear Feifei talk about you, saying that you two are friends."
Feifei is still young, so please take good care of her.
It has to be said that Liu Xiaoli is selective in her treatment of people. If Zhang Jun had come as an actor, he would most likely have been turned away by Liu Xiaoli.
Rumors circulated that Liu Xiaoli forbade Liu Yifei from contacting male actors, fearing that rumors would spread.
But Zhang Jun is different; he's a director with resources at his disposal. While Liu Yifei has easier access to resources compared to other actresses, no one can have too many resources.
Liu Yifei is now fully transitioning to film, and in Liu Xiaoli's view, a film director like Zhang Jun is someone her daughter should associate with.
Even more remarkably, after Liu Yifei mentioned Zhang Jun several times, Liu Xiaoli realized that her daughter had a crush on Zhang Jun. Zhang Jun himself was not only young, but also possessed excellent looks and charisma.
If my daughter and Zhang Jun were to get married, that would be perfect.
This shows that Liu Xiaoli wasn't forbidding her daughter from contacting men, but rather forbidding her from contacting men who couldn't provide help—a very pragmatic approach.
After meeting Zhang Jun in person, Liu Xiaoli was even more satisfied with him. After chatting for a few minutes, she left some space for her daughter and Zhang Jun to be alone together.
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