The "Fangji" director mentioned by Austen, in fact, is named Fang Jie, who is an old-timer spanning the 80s, 90s, 00s, 10s, and 20s of Hong Kong film history, and is also the first Chinese filmmaker to enter the Hollywood market and gain a lot of prestige, leaving handprints, footprints, and face prints on the Avenue of Stars.

Looking at the world, there are fans everywhere, and he is also one of the few Chinese that everyone in the world knows.

But the racial gap in Hollywood is very strong, even if Fang Jie does his part, not all Hollywood filmmakers respect him, and even look down on him.

Especially those who think highly of themselves, like Austin.

If this were in Hollywood, Austin would never say hello, and it would be difficult to even make him smile.

But this is Huaxia, it's Xiangjiang, for the sake of the box office, he endured it.

Austin always remembered the purpose of his visit to China - to make money!

For the sake of money, he even did things that most Hollywood filmmakers disdain, such as coming to China, what else can't he do?

"Hello Austin!"

Fang Jie stood up, he was over sixty years old, he walked tremblingly, but he still got up very politely and hugged Austin warmly, as if he had been an old friend for many years.

The meeting was also harmonious enough, and there were service staff pushing trolleys with red wine, champagne, etc. on it.

Fang Jie picked up two glasses of champagne and gave Austin a glass, the two clinked glasses to each other, but they were not in a hurry to drink, but appeared to the media reporters present, and when they finished taking photos, Fang Jie took a shallow sip, meaning meaning.

Austen, on the other hand, drank all the wine, then ignored the other filmmakers present, asked the staff for his location, and walked over.

Austen's seat is right in the back row of Li Zhifan, and this row is full of special guests, as well as some public officials of the Xiangjiang government, while the first two rows of Li Zhifan are all important filmmakers in the film industry.

The significance of arranging such a position for Austin is obvious.

He is not an Asian filmmaker, but because he is here and is an international director, he can only be a special guest.

And this time he is going to make a speech, and at the same time take the opportunity to promote his new film, which is actually just the right position to sit in.

As soon as Austin sat down, a young man beside him who was looking at the crepe introduced himself and said hello: "Hello, great director, I am Wang Dewei, chairman of the Heung Kong Arts Development Council, welcome to Hong Kong!"

"Hello!"

Austin raised an eyebrow, "You speak good English, you have study abroad experience, right?"

"Oh, I studied abroad in Paris!"

Wang Dewei said with a smile, "Mr. Austin, which cities in the mainland do you plan to go to when you come to China this time?"

"I don't know much about this, the specific itinerary is arranged by my agent!"

Austin spread his hands, "By the way, I paid attention to your news reports on Xiangjiang before I came, and I heard that there is a mainland filmmaker named Li Zhifan, who is filming in the mainland during this time?"

"Ahh

Wang Dewei nodded hurriedly, "Do you want me to introduce you two to each other?"

"Oh, no!"

Austin actually said directly, "I'm not interested in that." ”

Li Zhifan listened with his ears pricked up in the front row, originally thinking about getting ready, but he didn't expect to hear such words, and immediately couldn't hold back his temper, and said to Liao Feng on the side: "Why is it so noisy in the back? It's like mosquitoes buzzing around." ”

As soon as these words came out, Wang Dewei suddenly looked embarrassed.

Austin didn't understand and asked the interpreter on the side: "What did he say?"

The translator is an honest man, and he translated Li Zhifan's words to Austin as they were, because some words are not the same, so the translated English is more harsh than Li Zhifan's original words.

"Oh, who is he?"

Austen's expression changed suddenly, "Is he talking about me?"

"Nonsense, I just mean you!" Li Zhifan didn't wait for his translator to open his mouth this time, so he directly went up in English, "I want to make money from the Chinese, and you are so rude, who do you think you are?" This is the territory of the Chinese, talking and doing things with a little tail!"

"You, you ......" Austin's face was ugly, but it was precisely because Li Zhifan's words touched his sore spot that he had such an expression.

Li Zhifan converted Chinese again and said: "If you don't understand Chinese, learn a little, don't come to make money if you don't want to learn, I'll only send you one word: Get out!"

Everyone around was dumbfounded.

Wang Dewei, Liao Feng, Yang Yu and others were all stunned.

This is Austin!

Many fans worship him as a god, not to mention in Asian countries, but in the minds of the American people, his status is higher than that of the president, and in Hollywood, he can pinch the existence of a bunch of people in one sentence.

But this time, he was actually deflated by Li Zhifan, and he was speechless.

Austin gasped, and after calming down heavily, he opened his mouth and said: "You are Li Zhifan? Hehe, I have watched your "Wolf Warrior", young people are very talented, but it is not advisable to be polite, I love China very much, I hope that my movies can bring a different experience to Chinese audiences, not make money as you say." ”

"Yo?" Li Zhifan turned his head to look at the translator next to him, "You also translated the last few sentences I just said for him? Okay, you can translate for him again! Mr. Austin, in the 90s, you made a movie called "Gunshots in Kyoto", do you remember? In the movie, you wantonly scandalized the image of the mainland public security police, haven't you forgotten? That was directed by yourself, and in this movie you also satirized the Chinese, making China in the 90s into the old China in the 20s, and this movie was banned by the Ministry of Culture of China at that time, have you not forgotten?"

"I ...... That's ......"

"Hey, don't say you were just working for a film company at the time!"

Li Zhifan waved his hand and said with a smile, "Although you later said many times that you took over the filming of this movie because of the film company and the need to survive and eat, but after you learned that the movie was banned by my country, in order to vent, you shot a new film called "The Great Retreat of the Chinese Army" within half a year, which fictionally said that my country sent troops to the United States, invaded your two states, and then was sent back to the East by you, haven't you forgotten this movie?" It's a pity that this movie was rated as an R-rated film because of alleged racial discrimination, and it was not released in theaters, but many people in the United States still saw it, and you also won the Best Director Award from the New York Film Critics Association for this movie, don't you remember?"

It was the first time Austen won Best Director, how could she forget?

This history and the relationship between these two films are extremely complicated for Austen.

On the one hand, he regarded these two films as his past glory, because "Kyoto Gunshots" made him famous, and "The Great Retreat of the Chinese Army" won him the first director award in his life.

But in the face of the Chinese, especially when he came to China to make money, he especially didn't want others to remember that he had these two movies, so he publicly denied it many times out of his heart, and every time he denied it, it was to the Chinese media, in the Hollywood media, he didn't let go of an explanation of these two movies, and even on a talk show, the host made fun of these two movies to him, and he accepted it happily.

Many Chinese filmmakers around, whether they are from the mainland, Xiangjiang or Taiwan, know these two movies, but they don't dare to mention them on the surface, but Li Zhifan mentioned it, and Austin was speechless, so they applauded him in their hearts.

That's amazing!

Dare to talk about this topic openly in front of Austin, and so many journalists.

What a hot-blooded man.

But these are just thoughts, and most people don't dare to take sides openly.

And Austin has defended this matter many times, whether it is out of sincerity or falsehood, at least Li Zhifan said so, or there is some intention to turn over old accounts and stalk around.

Austen said stiffly: "Sorry! I have to admit my mistakes, when I was filming "Kyoto Gunshots", I was just a small director, I didn't think much about this opportunity, and I didn't seriously understand the situation in Huaxia at that time, and in order to earn living expenses, I started the film, and the second movie was really my momentary mood, and I blamed me for being young and frivolous, and I didn't understand the root cause of the matter, so I still have to say sorry to all Chinese! But I don't have any unkindness towards the Chinese, that's what I've been emphasizing, I love this country very much, and I hope to work with more excellent Chinese filmmakers. ”

As soon as these words came out, the reporters at the scene were boiling.

For a long time, Austen only explained the movie "Kyoto Gunshots", because the criticism caused by this movie in China at that time was too great, and it was released in many countries around the world, but for the second "The Great Retreat of the Chinese Army" But there is no explanation, because in Austen's view, the film was not even released in theaters, but only played a few rounds in several small movie theaters, and although the videotape was printed, it still did not return to the original, and even many Americans have not seen this movie, so I am afraid that it will not have a profound impact on distant China.

Of course, Austen didn't expect it at all, but his thinking has been evasive, unwilling to believe the other side, until today Li Zhifan pointed out the seriousness of the movie, he felt that he should apologize - because he still has to earn the box office in China, and he can't let this matter ruin the overall plan of the new film.

Wang Dewei finally breathed a sigh of relief, in his opinion, it didn't provoke Austen to leave, it means that the matter has been resolved, and he also said with a smile: "Everyone is a filmmaker, there are problems that can be discussed together, the ideas may be different, but they are all for the art of film!"

Many Chinese filmmakers around immediately echoed it, and sure enough, this world is still willing to stand for hypocrisy.

After the accusation just now, Austin was obviously much softer, although he was more silent, but the state he showed was not as dragged as he was when he first entered the door.

However, Austin has been thinking about how to fight back against Li Zhifan, and scolded him a few times, so he can't just leave in a bad mood.

So when everyone was discussing the special effects of the movie, Austen proudly showed off: " Everyone knows that Hollywood special effects have been done to the extreme, but Chinese movies have been catching up over the years, imitating and learning, I remember that Hollywood movies were completely invincible in China before, but in recent years, this is not the case, many North America and even the world have won a lot of box office, but the box office in China is not high, but many North American box office is not high, and it is also known as a big bad movie, but it has achieved good results in China, which shows that the Chinese film market has been done, but there are still conflicts and estrangements between Eastern and Western civilizations, many film companies I know have listed the Chinese film market as the first item, and many films are in the early stages of production, will consider the Chinese film market. ”

Although there are a few words that make sense, why does it sound so wrong?

In particular, the sentence "foreign bad movies can sell well in China, but foreign movies with good reputation have suffered Waterloo in China", which is clearly a satire on the low level of Chinese audiences!

What else is the Eastern and Western civilizations?

These Chinese filmmakers have heard the connotation, but they can't find a way to reply for a while.

And many people, in line with the attitude of "more things are better than less things", do not have conflicts with Austin at all.

Li Zhifan is different, he thought about it for a while, and then said: "Hehe, but there are a lot of bad Hollywood movies that sell well in China, especially some movies that use Chinese actors, because they themselves are running for the Chinese market, aren't they? Mr. Austin, have you noticed that those Hollywood-made superhero movies are getting worse and worse at the box office in China, why? The core of the story is too simple, and even contradictory. The Oscar is a guild award in Hollywood, but every year, there are only two kinds of movies that give these super high-grossing movies: best visuals and best special effects, and those who win awards such as Best Actor and Actress, Best Director, Best Film, and Best Screenplay are what Mr. Austin calls a bad movie with a bad box office. I'm very happy, I didn't expect the Chinese audience to be on the same level as the Oscar judges, which is really gratifying!"

Austin was stunned, he wanted to hear how Li Zhifan would refute, but he didn't expect to move out the Oscar card, as a senior Hollywood insider, Austen certainly knows what the Oscar is all about, and this award will not be awarded to him for the kind of large-scale commercial film he made, he also complained when he was young, but after finding out the taste of the Hollywood judges and the standards and routines of this award, he also saw it, if you want to win the award, you really can't rely on vain appearances, you have to have real things.

can be refuted by Li Zhifan like this, but Austin is very uncomfortable in his heart - isn't this digging a pit for himself to jump?

PS: The "Infernal Affairs" trilogy is finally on Tencent Video, behind the long negotiations, is the importance of copyright in this era, friends who want to reminisce can go and watch it again, maybe ten years apart, and you can see a different feeling.