In Song Yi's opinion, under such circumstances, Jiang Se should strike while the iron is hot and take on big foreign productions to build her reputation by riding on Cesare's popularity. However, she unexpectedly turned around and took on Lin Xiwen's movie.
"Lin Xiwen had worked with Jiang Se when she filmed "Beijing Events" in her early years."
Jiang Se also became famous for her role as "Douku" after "Beijing Great Event" and won the "Best Supporting Actress" award at the China Film Festival that year.
The two of them should have a good relationship. Combined with the box office failure of Lin Xiwen's previous movie, Song Yi guessed that Lin Xiwen found Jiang Se to put out a fire.
Tao Cen was not at all surprised that he had such an idea. Perhaps many people in the entertainment industry had the same idea as Song Yi, thinking that Lin Xiwen was using their old friendship to get Jiang Se's help.
But she had worked with Xia Chaoqun for many years and knew her personality very well. After listening to Song Yi's analysis, Tao Cen said:
"Friendship? Help?"
She lay back on the sofa and let her assistant wash her face and apply a facial mask:
"You're talking about Jiang Se."
Jiang Se was able to develop smoothly in this industry and work together with Xia Chaoqun. He couldn't be a simple character, nor was he worthy of being regarded as an opponent by Tao Cen.
There was still a long way to go between Song Yi and Xia Chaoqun, and Tao Cen also wanted to give some advice:
"Since Jiang Se entered the industry, count the movies he has participated in in the early stage and the movies he has starred in in the later stage."
His early supporting roles in "Rescue Operation", "The 99th Love Letter" and "Fake It Comes True" all did well at the box office. Later, he performed well in "Beijing Events" and won an award, but the media's focus was on the director, screenwriter and the film story itself.
In "About I Love You", her popularity overshadowed Hang Yuyi, who played the male lead.
"Caring" had a good box office, but in fact, during that period, more people were paying attention to the fact that Zhao Rang returned with "About I Love You" after "The 99th Love Letter".
Needless to say, the subsequent success of "Demons" not only won two major awards at the French Film Festival, but also the participation of Liu Ye, which also helped to create good momentum for the film in the early stages of promotion.
All in all, the audience has seen and recognized Jiang Se's improvement in acting skills, but she has not yet shown her huge advantages in starring in movies and in box office appeal.
At this time, there was this movie Lin Xiwen.
Lin Xiwen’s previous films had very bad reputations and were criticized by the audience. But if Jiang Se stars in the next film and the quality is good, it will give people the feeling that it is Jiang Se that holds up the box office, laying the foundation for her box office appeal.
Song Yi opened his mouth, "But why does Jiang Se have such confidence?"
Tao Cen opened his eyes and looked at him:
"'God's Redemption' was just finished a few months ago. Calculating the time, Jiang Se has just taken on Lin Xiwen's movie and will start filming after promoting 'A Glimmer of Hope'."
At this point in time, the new film may be released around the time of "God's Redemption". By then, Jiang Se will collaborate with Cesare and be the heroine in European and American blockbusters. Such news alone is enough to make the Chinese audience excited.
After Jiang Se signed the contract for "Xianyuan", as Tao Cen expected, Huaying quickly agreed to the request made by Xia Chaoqun. In the end, Huaying's compromise on the film remuneration also led to Jiang Se taking the initiative in the negotiations with Luo Yin.
By the end of January, Luo Yin agreed to a 5:6.5 profit split between Century Galaxy and Jiang Se, and Jiang Se would receive 0.5% of Century Galaxy's shares, and Jiang Se would renew his contract with Century Galaxy for another eight years.
The treaty is kept secret from the outside world, but it can't escape the inquiries of those who are interested. Jiang Se has no time to find out what other people are thinking. Cesare's "Lost City" is about to be released, and the "Lost City" team has come to China to promote it.
Although Tao Cen's role in the play is not important, this is the first time that a Chinese actress has participated in an international blockbuster, so it still aroused great enthusiasm among Chinese audiences. Before the movie was released, the pre-sale box office in China has already earned more than 300 million yuan thanks to Cesare's name and the male and female protagonists in the play.
Although Jiang Se did not act in this movie, because the director was Cesare and the two had a good personal relationship, Cesare still invited Jiang Se to attend the premiere of "The Lost City" in the imperial capital.
The premiere ceremony was still held at the IMAX Cinema in the imperial capital. The venue was very large and personnel from major media industries across the country received the news early in the morning and rushed to the imperial capital early.
Apart from the invited media professionals and some professional film critics, the rest are practitioners in the film-related industries.
In the largest VIP theater on the top floor of IMAX, the media were anxiously awaiting the opening ceremony.
The waiting area under the building was also busier than usual.
In addition to some moviegoers, there were also some netizens who arrived early to watch the fun.
"The Lost City" premiered tonight. Some people had already bought tickets for the midnight premiere and were waiting to watch this work directed by Cesare, while others came to see the stars.
With the release of Cesare's movie, many celebrities have privately expressed their intention to buy tickets to support it. Many netizens have already seen many celebrities' cars in the underground parking lot.
The idol stars who used to be seen only through the screen are now right in front of us, going upstairs surrounded by bodyguards and assistants to wait for the movie to start.
Among the crowd, Feng Nan was also sitting in the VIP waiting area with a few assistants, waiting for the movie to start.
Her status in the entertainment industry is too low, and she is not eligible to receive Cesare's invitation to a premiere like tonight. However, Feng Nan is ambitious and she also longs to have a chance encounter with Cesare and try her best to leave a good impression in front of Cesare.
For Feng Nan, her luck was not good last year and this year. The qualification for "Criminal Suspect" that she originally wanted to take was taken away by Tao Cen. After her plan fell through, Feng Nan was so angry that it took her a long time to recover.
However, she did not give up so easily. Knowing that her current status in the entertainment industry was too low and that she did not have Feng Zhongliang to be her backer, she quickly adjusted her mindset and no longer focused on those movies with high box office and good reputation.
She finally figured it out. In her memory from her previous life, most of the movies with good box office and good reputation had good directors and scripts. Such movie resources would first fall into the hands of large companies like Century Galaxy, and would only be released after layers of screening.
Good things can be seen by others, but will never fall into your hands.
She is not young anymore and has achieved nothing in the circle. Her greatest achievement was the role of "Miss Jiangkou" in Zhang Jing'an's "Rescue Operation". However, over the years, this role has not brought her glory again.
She did not strike while the iron was hot and choose to join a large agency to enjoy the shade of the big tree. Now it is too late to make a choice.
Since she couldn't get the best resources, she had no choice but to lower her standards. She no longer focused on the movies that caused a sensation in her previous life, but instead focused on those movies that were not well-known at the beginning but eventually performed well at the box office.
Many movies like "Revenge" were made by directors who were not well-known before, but the movies they made were praised, which became her goal.
She also has an advantage. The memory of her previous life has become her greatest reliance. With this advantage, Feng Nan has already taken a fancy to two films in preparation at the beginning of this year. She invested all her salary from the films she took last year and the funds that were originally intended to be used to invest in "Criminal Suspect" in these films, and naturally became the heroine of the two films.
After these two movies are finished and released, although the box office will not be as good as that of big movies, they should be able to make her a small profit and make some name for herself.
However, although Feng Nan lowered his standards, he did not give up his initial hope.
So when she learned that Cesare's team had come to China, she took great pains to inquire about Cesare's whereabouts many times, and finally decided to go to the theater, preparing to see if she could stop Cesare after the premiere.
There were many people who had the same idea as Feng Nan, and the VIP waiting area was soon filled with people. The assistants separated a small open space for Feng Nan. She also sent Dai Jia to keep an eye on the garage downstairs. Once the main creative staff of "The Lost City" came in, someone would notify Feng Nan so that she could create an encounter.
She was a little anxious, holding her phone with her head down, but her mind was not on the phone.
When Jiang Se came to the cinema, it was still early. When she got out of the car in the garage, she saw Dai Jia from afar.
She was standing in the corner next to the elevator. Under the light, if Jiang Se hadn't looked up and seen her when he was about to enter the elevator, he probably wouldn't have noticed her there at all.
Dai Jia was wearing a black suit, with her long hair tied behind her head, light makeup, and headphones in her ears. Her eyes fell on Jiang Se, who was surrounded by his assistant, Xia Chaoqun and others.
The elevator door was still open. She was wearing a white down jacket, and she looked as radiant as ever. Under the light, her skin was as white as jade and her face was as beautiful as a flower.
When the two passed by each other, Jiang Se stared at her for a long time. She raised her head and looked at Jiang Se for a while. Finally, she pursed her lips, lowered her head, and whispered to others:
"Jiang Se is here."
She must have been talking to someone on the phone. After the elevator door closed, Mo Anqi glanced at Jiang Se, feeling a little puzzled.
Mo Anqi knew the relationship between Jiang Se and Dai Jia. They were friends. When Dai Jia was wronged, it was Jiang Se who found someone to sue for her, which eventually led to Dai Jia being released from prison after serving a few years.
When Dai Jia was released from prison, Jiang Se had thought about asking her to be his assistant, but the idea was finally dismissed by Xia Chaoqun.
Logically speaking, since they are friends, they shouldn't be so cold when they meet. But when they met before, Dai Jia didn't even say hello to Jiang Se!
It would have been fine if Dai Jia had been cold, but Jiang Se's reaction was also strange. She seemed to not care about Dai Jia's attitude, as if she had just met a stranger.
Mo Anqi shook her head and took the elevator to the VIP lounge on the top floor. As soon as she opened the door, a group of media and film critics who had been there a long time ago turned their heads.
When everyone saw Jiang Se, many of them looked surprised.
Jiang Se and Cesare have a good relationship, and many Chinese media know about it.
At the French Film Festival two years ago, Cesare not only praised "Demons", but also praised Jiang Se, and vowed to work with her. She was also on the cast list of last year's "God's Redemption".
It was not surprising that Cesare would invite Jiang Se to such an occasion, but what made many people excited was that Jiang Se actually came.
People in the industry have a set of stories circulating about some things that happened before the filming of "The Lost City". The most popular one is that when "The Lost City" was first being prepared, Cesare originally had his eyes on the Chinese actress who won the "Best Supporting Actress" award at the China International Film Festival for her role in "Beijing Events". He even flew to China specifically to meet with Jiang Se and discuss the role.
At that time, the scene of Cesare and Jiang Se meeting and having dinner caused a lot of controversy. It was only later that Xia Chaoqun did emergency public relations to get the news out of the way.
Some people once said that this news eventually angered Cesare, causing Jiang Se to regretfully lose the opportunity to star in "The Lost City", and Tao Cen was finally able to successfully join the crew.
Regardless of whether the news was true or not, the fight between the two top female stars in Century Galaxy was already evident at that time.
With Century Galaxy's gold medal agent Xia Chaoqun leaving Tao Cen to concentrate on training Jiang Se, the struggle between the two actresses becomes even more confusing.
Not to mention the dispute between Tao Cen and Jiang Se's films at the French Film Festival, and their subsequent nominations for the title of "Best Actress". Until now, fans of both sides are still supporting their idols and the dispute is still going on.
Jiang Se is now attending the premiere of "The Lost City" because of Cesare's invitation, but with Tao Cen's presence, this premiere will probably be quite exciting.
A group of media crowded over, and Mo Anqi quickly stood beside Jiang Se, opening her arms to protect her. Jiang Se had taken off her coat before leaving the elevator.
Tonight she wore a white round-neck yellow polka-dot dress, which made her look fresh and beautiful, but too low-key. It was obvious that she had no intention of competing for the limelight with the main creative staff and leading actors.
"Ms. Jiang and Director Qi are really close friends. She even came to the premiere of The Lost City to show her support."
A reporter from China News came over. Because the formal interview had not started yet and private photography was not allowed in the VIP room of the cinema tonight, the reporters did not take out their gear and no one took photos. Most of them just came over to say hello.
"Sese, may I ask if you came to the premiere of "The Lost City" because of Cesare's invitation, or to watch Miss Tao's performance?"
"In fact, it's both. I'm very grateful to Cesare for giving me the opportunity to be the first to watch The Lost City. I'm also looking forward to Ms. Tao's performance in The Lost City."
Jiang Se answered briefly. This was not the main interview session. The security guards arranged by the theater's publicity department were watching. Although the media reporters still had many questions to ask, they could only watch Jiang Se go into the lounge to put on makeup before going on stage.
Tonight was Cesare's home court. When facing the media, he didn't say much and seemed overly calm and elegant. However, he had a strong ability to control the situation. Most of the questions raised by reporters and film critics were about the movie. Few people were ignorant enough to bring up the topic of Tao Cen and Jiang Se competing for the role in such an occasion.
When Cesare mentioned the idea of filming "The Lost City" in the beginning, the media reporters in the theater were all writing down his words. Tao Cen listened to Cesare's speech with a smile on his face, and turned to look at Jiang Se. (To be continued)