Jia Yapeng's "Farewell My Concubine" had encountered the worst problem, and that was the issue of the censorship.
There was no need to mention the specific reason, but Director Chen had received news from some of his internal friends that the higher-ups were very dissatisfied with Farewell My Concubine. It was impossible for the film to pass the censorship, so they told Director Chen to give up.
Although he had already guessed that there was such a possibility, Director Chen still had a glimmer of hope. Now, that glimmer of hope had completely disappeared. If Farewell My Concubine couldn't pass the censorship in China, then it definitely wouldn't be able to be released in China.
Actually, this was expected. Director Chen and the Tomson Corporation behind him had thought that perhaps they could rely on the overseas Chinese market to make up for this investment.
But now, the Tomson Corporation's funds were in trouble, and they received the terrible news that it was impossible for the film to pass the censorship. The Tomson Corporation decided to withdraw their investment and quit.
This problem was also the reason why Director Chen went around begging for investors to invest in the film, but he couldn't get a single cent.
With the gradual popularization of television, the originally profitable domestic film market began to collapse. Every year, the domestic box office continued to decline, and this happened under the constant appreciation of the yuan.
"Hua Xia movies are doomed!"
"The film industry will be completely replaced by television in the future!"
Similar voices continued to appear on various news outlets in China. Everyone believed that with the popularization of television, the film industry would completely become a sunset industry, and there would no longer be a market for films.
Therefore, although Director Chen went around begging for investors, Farewell My Concubine still couldn't get a single cent of investment. None of the investors were optimistic about Farewell My Concubine.
Moreover, Farewell My Concubine's main storyline was about gays. Many of Hua Xia's investors were disgusted when they heard about the theme, and directly rejected it.
Now that he heard Jia Yapeng directly throw out the censorship issue, Director Chen suddenly felt discouraged. It seemed that there was no hope for Jia Yapeng.
Just as Director Chen was about to lose all hope, he heard Jia Yapeng say, "However, I am a person who values art, and I also have high hopes for you, Director Chen. In my heart, you are the best director in Hua Xia, so I think we can still talk!"
Jia Yapeng's words made Director Chen's eyes widen. The flattery made Director Chen's heart feel warm. Other things aside, in the domestic film industry, Old Mou was still firmly above him. When he heard Jia Yapeng say that he was the best director in Hua Xia, Director Chen's impression of Jia Yapeng skyrocketed.
Moreover, Jia Yapeng said that they could talk. Didn't that mean that investment?
"Director Jia, what do you want to talk about?" Director Chen asked with concern.
"Let's put it this way, I'd rather be the head of a chicken's head than the phoenix's tail. If you want me to invest in 'Farewell My Concubine,' then I don't want to be a buyer-taker. If I want to invest in 'Farewell My Concubine,' then the entire 'Farewell My Concubine' needs to be invested by me alone. If I become the producer of 'Farewell My Concubine,' all the assets of 'Farewell My Concubine' will belong to me. Director Chen, do you understand what I mean? "Jia Yapeng laughed.
"I understand, I understand!" Although Director Chen had never heard of the word 'taker', the magical thing about Chinese was that even if you put together three words that you had never heard of before, you could immediately understand the meaning of these three words.
Jia Yapeng's meaning was very simple. He wanted to invest in 'Farewell My Concubine' alone, which made Director Chen overjoyed. The Tomson Corporation had already made it clear that they wanted to withdraw their investment. If Jia Yapeng was willing to fully invest in 'Farewell My Concubine', then everyone would be happy. Everyone's request would be satisfied. Director Chen never dreamed that this would happen!
"However, 30 million is still a little too expensive. I'll have to trouble Director Chen to talk to the boss of the Tomson Corporation. I'm willing to spend 15 million to buy all the rights in his hands!" Jia Yapeng laughed. "Of course, I'll give you the remaining 10 million as well. You don't have to worry about that."
"15 million?" Director Chen was a little hesitant. He didn't know if the Tomson Corporation would be willing to bear such a loss. However, at this point, Director Chen had no choice but to talk to the Tomson Corporation's people.
"Director Jia, I have a question. I wonder if you're willing to answer the question in my heart?" Director Chen suddenly asked.
"Of course!"
"Since you already know that my movie won't pass the censors, why are you still investing in my movie?" Director Chen asked curiously.
"I'm interested in you as a person, not in your movie. I hope that with this timely help, I can continue working with Director Chen!" Jia Yapeng said sincerely. Director Chen was instantly moved.
Actually, Jia Yapeng was completely bullshitting. After working together on 'Farewell My Concubine', he had no intention of working with Director Chen anymore.
Just look at Director Chen's box office records. 'Wind and Moon', 'Jing Ke Assassinates Emperor Qin', 'Lü Bu and Diao Chan', 'The Promise', 'Mei Lanfang', 'Orphan Zhao', 'Search', 'The Taoist Descends the Mountain', 'The Legend of the Demon Cat'. Which one of them had made money?
In particular, 'The Promise' and 'The Legend of the Demon Cat' had become the biggest joke in the country's film history. How many investors had lost their hard-earned money?
It would be strange if Director Jia was willing to continue working with Director Chen. To put it bluntly, he was just envious of 'Farewell My Concubine', the Palme d 'Or behind it, and the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. As long as he got all the rights to' Farewell My Concubine ', Director Jia would change his face.
Right now, of course, he would listen to whatever was said. The most important thing was to make Director Chen happy.
After all, Director Jia hadn't done anything wrong to Director Chen. In fact, Director Jia even planned to find a way to get Director Chen the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.
For the first time, Director Chen drank a bottle of white wine with Director Jia. Then, he was carried back to the hotel by his younger cousin. The next day, he flew directly to Hong Kong. On the third day, there was good news. The Tomson Corporation's Chairman Tang agreed to Jia Yapeng's conditions. He agreed to let Jia Yapeng use 15 million yuan to buy his original investment of 20 million yuan, as well as all the rights to 'Farewell My Concubine'.
As a result, Jia Yapeng directly sent his secretary, Zhu Qiushui, to lead a delegation to Hong Kong to sign the contract with the Tomson Corporation. The whole process went smoothly. It seemed that the Tomson Corporation was really in a huge financial crisis and was eagerly waiting for 15 million yuan to save their lives.
Just like that, Jia Yapeng became the sole investor of 'Farewell My Concubine'. He had all the rights and rights to 'Farewell My Concubine', which made Director Jia almost wake up from his dreams.
As for Mr. Jia, he still stayed in Lin 'an. When the semi-finals began, Mr. Jia appeared at the competition venue again and quickly found Liu Nian.
This time, Liu Nian came alone. Jia Yapeng didn't see his parents.
"Uncle, you're here!" When he saw Jia Yapeng, Liu Nian's face lit up with surprise.
"Here, this is for you!" Jia Yapeng handed a small black cube to Liu Nian. Liu Nian took a look and immediately exclaimed in surprise, "This is a microchip! Uncle, where did you get this? This microchip costs more than a dozen yuan! "
"It's fine. Focus on the competition. I'm waiting to see your automatic mini 4WD!" Director Jia said with a smile.
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