Nobody knows movies better than me

Chapter 72 What should I do if a senior director suddenly praises me?

In fact, after Zhang Jun achieved success, some people questioned whether it was due to his genuine ability.

For example, some people suspect that Zhang Jun is just a nominal director, and that his works are actually produced by proxy with the help of others.

Surprisingly, this idea is quite popular.

Moreover, because Ye Xiaoyi was Zhang Jun's investor, she was also exposed along with the movie, so she also became popular.

Thus, the story became that Ye Xiaoyi hired someone to take photos for her boyfriend, portraying her as a brainless rich girl.

Those who studied art and directing, in particular, felt an indescribable jealousy towards Zhang Jun, and could only resort to this method to spread rumors about him.

This claim has a large following because directors know how difficult it is to get opportunities, and they don't believe that Zhang Jun obtained investment so easily.

Without Ye Xiaoyi's unconditional help, Zhang Jun would never have had the opportunity to direct even after another ten years.

Given the current climate of online discourse, such doubts, once they spread, may haunt Zhang Jun for the rest of his life. Even when Zhang Jun is in his fifties or sixties, people may still bring up the old issues.

This is how rumors spread, and there's not much that can be done to stop them.

Zhang Jun can't exactly say that he actually traveled back in time and was a director in his previous life, can he?

If someone were to say that, the mental hospital would probably have one more bed available.

Regardless, the promotional efforts for "About Time" were quite successful. The online buzz and media coverage effectively boosted the film's popularity.

As August slowly approaches, "About Time" is stepping up its promotional efforts, releasing more trailers and previously unreleased stills.

The lead actors also gave interviews to the media and appeared on TV shows to promote the film.

The film market performed poorly in the first half of this year. The highest-grossing film so far is the Hollywood import "Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith", which grossed 75.5 million.

The best-performing Chinese-language film is "Initial D," which was released on June 23 and stars Jay Chou in a crossover role. It has already grossed 6039 million yuan at the box office.

The film is still showing in theaters, and it shouldn't be a problem for it to gross a few million more at the box office.

Secondly, there's "Seoul Raiders," starring Tony Leung, which was released on February 5th and grossed 41 million yuan at the box office.

The other films performed poorly, with very few films grossing over ten million yuan.

But don't worry, most of the major films are concentrated in the second half of the year.

First, there's "Seven Swords," which was released on July 15th. Before the release of "About Time," this film had already grossed 63 million yuan at the box office.

Following that were Jackie Chan's "The Myth", Chen Gezi's "The Promise", Nicholas Tse's "A Chinese Tall Story", and Hollywood films such as "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" and "War of the Worlds".

It's worth mentioning the movie "The Promise." Zhang Jun knew that the movie was actually quite bad, but at that time, the public still had high expectations for it.

Chen Gezi was also very confident, saying in an interview, "Box office is not important. Our film is about presenting the best story to the audience."

He also asked Zhang Jun: "We older generation directors should set an example for young people. I have high hopes for Zhang Jun's future, but after all, he is not a professionally trained director."

Hopefully, he will learn something from watching this movie.

Chen Gezi didn't mention Zhang Jun without reason; after all, with the vigorous promotion of "About Time," Zhang Jun's popularity has risen again.

Chen Gezi naturally wanted to "educate" the young people properly, and incidentally ride the wave of popularity, although Chen Gezi would not agree to the idea of ​​riding the wave of popularity.

In response to Chen Gezi's statement, Zhang Jun said at a preview screening: "Chen Gezi is a senior I greatly respect. His 'Farewell My Concubine' is still a classic of Chinese-language cinema."

As for studying or anything like that, Zhang Jun didn't mention it at all. The movie "The Promise" hasn't been released yet, and Zhang Jun hasn't commented on the movie either.

However, as one of the major films promoted this year, "The Promise" is indeed making a big splash, and it is said that it will even compete for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.

Chen Gezi's initiative to mention Zhang Jun can be seen as a way of promoting "About Time" by leveraging the popularity of "The Promise".

So if anyone mentions "The Promise" later, Zhang Jun might be willing to give it a perfunctory compliment. After seeing so many bad movies, "The Promise" isn't so hard to accept.

It becomes a habit!

On Saturday, August 6th, a sunny weekend with no wind or rain, the premiere of "About Time" was officially held in Beijing.

Although the presence of top Hong Kong and Taiwanese stars was absent, a considerable number of mainland celebrities attended, making the premiere a star-studded event.

"I watched the trailer, and it looks really good. I'm a little envious of you."

Huang Xiaoming came to show his support and expressed his envy of Chen Kun.

Chen Kun responded with a smile: "Didn't Director Zhang ask you to act in a movie? I heard it's a big production."

"Hey, what big production? I'm just a supporting character." Huang Xiaoming pretended to be very disappointed.

"Really? Then you can act for me if you don't want to!" Chen Kun immediately chimed in.

Huang Xiaoming looked regretful: "I wanted to give it up, but Director Zhang wouldn't agree, so there was nothing I could do."

Chen Kun expressed his disdain: "Hypocritical!"

On the other side, Zhang Jun was chatting with his good friend from college, Ma Qiang.

Ma Qiang was stunned by the large number of celebrities who came to support the premiere: "Hey buddy, you've really made something of yourself now. I've only ever seen these people on TV before."

Zhang Jun understood Ma Qiang's feelings and said with a smile, "Take it easy. Celebrities are people too, they need to eat. How about I introduce you to them?"

Ma Qiang waved his hand: "Never mind, I won't trouble you. I came to see a movie."

Zhang Jun didn't insist. After inviting Ma Qiang to sit down, he went on to social activities.

Although Yang Mi was inconspicuous among the group of celebrities, she still stubbornly came to show her support and attended the premiere.

After all, this was a good opportunity to get to know Zhang Jun better, and she couldn't miss it.

However, upon arriving at the scene and seeing the stunningly beautiful Fan Bingbing beside Zhang Jun, the courage she had just mustered vanished completely.

However, Zhang Jun clearly noticed her and walked towards her, saying, "Miss Yang, you've come too!"

Yang Mi was pleasantly surprised and didn't expect Zhang Jun to take the initiative to greet her: "Director Zhang, I heard that your movie has a premiere, so I came to attend."

"Welcome, welcome! We're all friends. I'm very happy you came to support us," Zhang Jun said.

"A friend?" Yang Mi pondered the word, feeling that this was her biggest gain from coming here today: having a director friend.

Zhang Jun chatted with Yang Mi for a while, then invited her inside.

Fan Bingbing walked over, looked at Yang Mi's back, and said, "This girl's face is a bit square, do you like that kind?"

Zhang Jun shrugged: "She'll become beautiful later."

"Prettier than me?" Fan Bingbing pressed.

"You can't make comparisons like that. Every beautiful girl is unique in my heart."

Zhang Jun changed the subject: "The premiere has started, let's go in!"