Chapter 1628 - 809: The World’s Attention (15,000-word Update!)

Chapter 1628: Chapter 809: The World’s Attention (15,000-word Update!)

Zhang Cong nodded and tactfully withdrew.

Song Chi was just about to call Zhou Yun when, suddenly, Wu Chengbao’s call came in.

Song Chi had to pick up Wu Chengbao’s call first.

"Old Song, the film Cigarette has been selected for Berlin!" Wu Chengbao told him, full of surprise and excitement.

Cigarette was a movie Song Chi shot early this year, a black comedy.

Hearing this, Song Chi was pleasantly surprised and asked, "Really? Which section did it get into?"

"Special Screening section," Wu Chengbao said. "They want to confirm whether you can be there in person."

Song Chi said, "I haven’t been to any of the three major festivals in a long time. Since we got in this time, I’ll go."

Wu Chengbao: "Great, I’ll start arranging that. Oh, right, will Xiao Yun be there? If she is, I’ll need to coordinate with Zhou Lan. If the two of you both attend the festival but don’t appear together anywhere, the media will definitely make a fuss about it."

Song Chi: "I remember her saying she’d attend the opening ceremony, but I don’t know what her work schedule is after that. I don’t think she can stay more than two days—she’s still shooting Killing Song, she can’t be away too long."

"Right," Wu Chengbao said. "But since she’s going to the opening ceremony, the two of you can walk the red carpet together."

"Don’t I have to walk with the Cigarette team?"

"Same thing, you can all walk together," Wu Chengbao said.

"Let’s not. Don’t suggest that. Xiao Yun’s going over this time as a brand ambassador sponsoring the festival. It’s more appropriate for her to show up alone as the spokesperson," Song Chi said. "As long as we can find a moment to see each other, that’s good enough."

Wu Chengbao: "Alright then."

In fact, Wu Chengbao had his own little plan.

If Zhou Yun could walk the red carpet with the Cigarette team, it would be great publicity for the film.

Their most important task at Berlin this time was to sell the film.

The Special Screening section doesn’t compete for awards.

Wu Chengbao hoped this film could sell a bit better.

The company had a major stake in Cigarette; they handled both production and distribution.

Even though it was low-budget, the total investment still came close to sixty million, not counting marketing expenses during release.

Because of its subject matter, their estimate for the domestic box office was only in the two to three hundred million range. With just the box office, they might barely break even.

To make a bigger profit, they still had to open up more markets overseas.

...

When Zhou Yun got back to the hotel, she saw a Weibo push: New film Cigarette, starring and produced by Song Chi, selected for the Berlin Film Festival Special Screening section!

Surprised and delighted, Zhou Yun clicked in and immediately messaged Song Chi: Congratulations, congratulations!

Song Chi: You saw that fast. At the hotel?

Zhou Yun: Just got back. I was out at a restaurant with Hugh Redman, Lew Xi and the others just now.

Song Chi: Are you going to Berlin this time?

Zhou Yun: I’ll be there for the opening red carpet, do some brand promotion, then I have to come back to keep shooting.

Song Chi: Mm-hmm, then we can still see each other in Berlin.

Zhou Yun: Has the screening date for the film been set?

Song Chi: Not yet. But your shoot is more important—don’t force yourself to come to ours.

Zhou Yun: I’ll see if I can coordinate it. I’ll still try my best to show up and support you.

Song Chi: Thank you, my queen.

Those few words made Zhou Yun laugh.

She added: Things are fine on my side, don’t worry. There’s some chatter online, but none of that matters.

Song Chi: Yeah, I know. I have complete faith in you; you’re not going to be swayed by whatever people say online.

Zhou Yun: I’m about to go do Variety’s actors roundtable—Mowesen got me this gig.

Song Chi: That one’s pretty famous, it trends every year.

Zhou Yun: Yeah, I never thought Mowesen could land me an opportunity like this. I’m pretty lucky.

Song Chi: The actors who go on that are usually ones aiming for an Oscar run.

Zhou Yun: True, but I don’t have that kind of shot this year.

Song Chi: Your Falling Leaves kept saying it would be released, but it still hasn’t. What’s going on?

Zhou Yun: That film’s just had bad luck. I don’t know the exact reason, but somehow it just keeps not coming out.

Talking about Falling Leaves, Zhou Yun felt regret too.

Personally, she felt her performance in that film was very good. If it came to winning awards, she was incredibly confident about that movie—yet it had run into the problem of not being able to be released.