Chapter 507: Self-Entertainment

"Hello, Director Rosenberg."

"Hello, Mr. Han."

Right after he walked the red carpet and entered the VIP waiting area, someone came up to greet him. The two had already met formally yesterday. Duke gave Mountain Eagle's outstretched hand a measured shake. He was a man who minded his manners, neither discourteous nor overly enthusiastic.

After shaking hands, Mountain Eagle took the initiative to introduce Duke to the guests present. These were mostly figures Duke had once needed to look up to. Seeing them politely shaking his hand now stirred a distinct emotion within him.

But the past was far behind him now. Given his personality, Duke wouldn't show any outward reaction. Just as he would at a Hollywood premiere or red carpet, he simply treated these people with his usual demeanor.

Compared to these directors and producers, the celebrities who came over later were far more enthusiastic.

Actually, the actors here weren't stupid at all. They knew it was fundamentally impossible for them to truly break into Hollywood. People like Miss Zhang scrambled to squeeze their way in for one simple reason: if they could secure an opportunity in Hollywood, their worth and status would skyrocket once they returned home. In the domestic entertainment circle, this strategy of gaining clout abroad to boost domestic value was highly marketable.

Unfortunately, until the theater chains here truly developed, Duke had no intention of casting Asian actors in significant roles. Certain villain roles weren't suitable for local actors either; otherwise, a film like The Dark Knight would likely end up failing censorship.

As for leading this region's actors and film industry to take Hollywood and the world by storm, Duke wasn't foolish enough to forget his current status.

Besides, whether a country's films could dominate the globe had never been a matter decided by the films themselves.

In just over twenty minutes, Duke lost count of how many people he had greeted. Unlike on the red carpet, where he had spoken to ordinary fans in Chinese, he strictly used English at this semi-official formal occasion. He was extremely polite while maintaining the necessary distance.

Showing off his Chinese depended on the occasion. Speaking it to these shrewd industry veterans was entirely meaningless. They would never feel a sense of closeness to him like ordinary audiences would. Even if he spoke Chinese as fluently as a native speaker, he would always be an outsider to someone like Mountain Eagle.

A person's status and stance often dictated what attitude they had to adopt and what words they had to say in any given situation.

If Mountain Eagle could increase his film's box office revenue share by fifty percent, Duke would have no problem speaking entirely in Chinese for the next few days. But that was absolutely impossible. For one, Duke wasn't naive enough to think Mountain Eagle would do that, and for another, Mountain Eagle simply didn't possess that kind of authority.

The revenue-sharing ratio for Hollywood films here was part of the WTO agreement signed between China and America. Ten Mountain Eagles put together wouldn't have the power to change it.

Just how naive and stupid would Duke have to be to think that Mountain Eagle or the China Film Group could dictate the film's box office split?

After greeting the festival's jury panel, Duke walked into the interview area according to their prior arrangement to take questions from the film festival's partner media.

"Director Rosenberg..."

The female reporter across from him clearly wasn't faking it. She looked genuinely thrilled to be interviewing Duke. "It's a great pleasure to meet you."

Like everyone in this industry, Duke naturally put on a different face for the media. Smiling, he said, "It's a pleasure to meet you too."

The female reporter immediately revealed a look of pleasant surprise. "You... you understand Chinese."

"I have no problem listening to or speaking Mandarin."

Sweeping his gaze across the faces of the surrounding reporters out of the corner of his eye, he saw that they all looked somewhat astonished, but Duke didn't care in the slightest. There were too many linguistic geniuses in this world; the number of foreigners who could speak the local language fluently was practically countless. The hint of surprise on these people's faces was merely due to his fame and status.

Much like Mountain Eagle, anyone who could enter the film festival's interview area wasn't lacking in life experience. Their surprise lasted only a few seconds before they quickly returned to normal.

However, that female reporter still asked, "When did you learn Chinese?"

"A long time ago. It's been over ten years now. I took Chinese as an elective when I was in school, and I'm somewhat gifted in this area."

Facing these media reporters, Duke knew exactly what to say to best benefit himself. "I really love Eastern culture and history. I've specifically studied it before, and I've read several classic literary works."

"Could you tell us what you've read?" the female reporter immediately asked.

Duke maintained his smile. "For example, The Art of War. Have you seen The Rock?"

"I've seen every one of your films," the female reporter smiled sheepishly. Some of Duke's films hadn't been imported; what she had seen were pirated copies.

"Then do you remember? When Agent Mason walked out of prison in the film, he had an English edition of The Art of War in his cell." Duke knew the local circumstances well and didn't mind at all. "That's a book I really love, so I specifically added it to the film."

"So you're a Chinese culture enthusiast?"

Hearing the female reporter's words, Duke gave a slight nod. "I really like this country's culture."

"Is it possible that you might produce a Chinese-themed film in the future?" another reporter asked.

"It's possible." Duke turned his head to look at him as he spoke. "However, my schedule for the next few years is already full. I probably won't have the time in the short term, and it would also require a suitable subject and script."

The reporter suddenly steered the topic away from film. "Mr. Rosenberg, it's said that back in America..."

"Sorry..." Duke didn't give him the chance to finish asking at all. Interrupting him, he pointed toward the entrance of the cinema. "Mr. Han is waving at me."

Having said that, he walked straight toward the cinema entrance where the opening ceremony was being held, leaving them no opportunity to ask sensitive questions.

Certain questions simply had no appropriate answer. The best approach was not to listen and not to answer. Otherwise, once they asked, it would cause trouble even if he refused to respond.

"What did they want to ask?"

Tina Fey had been following behind Duke since they entered the interview area. As they walked, Duke said in a low voice, "Questions regarding politics."

Tina Fey nodded in understanding.

Actually, she was well aware of this too. Film was an entertainment product, true, but films had never been divorced from the influence of politics, nor was it even possible for them to be.

This was the film festival's opening ceremony. Although he wore the halo of an Oscar Best Director, Duke was not the main character here. The jury panel and the opening film, the actual protagonists of the event, were equal draws for the media and the fans. Moreover, he possessed a strong sense of self-awareness; he neither wanted nor needed to steal the spotlight on such an occasion.

Given his current status and position within the global film industry, there was no need for that anyway.

Subsequently, Duke followed the entourage specially dispatched by the China Film Group into the large auditorium of the Shanghai Cinema, ready to watch the opening film.

As for the opening feature, it was a relatively unfamiliar film starring the Off-Broadway Obie Award winner John Lone and the female singer from Taiwan, Coco Lee. The film was titled Self-Entertainment. For Chinese cinema, which had only recently begun its transition toward commercial films, a movie of this caliber left much to be desired. Let alone Duke, most of the audience present were actually quite dissatisfied with it.

To put it bluntly, the film had a very fitting name. It truly was just the cast and crew's own self-entertainment.

This opening film could only be described as very mediocre.

Of course, for a country whose film industry had only recently been marketized, nothing came easy.

Anyone with a slight understanding of the film industry knew that it couldn't develop rapidly just by having excellent scripts, directors, or even crews. In today's world, film had long since become an industry, and every industry was comprised of countless upstream and downstream businesses.

It was simply impossible to seize the global market by merely relying on a few films or a few directors to lead a country's film industry, without developing the entire interlocking industrial chain.

Although the road ahead was difficult, many people here had seen the market's potential and its future. The entire industry was developing in a positive direction.

Just like Hollywood, developing the film industry was absolutely not something that could be achieved in a short period of time. How many years did it take Hollywood to completely suppress European cinema and become the world's film factory?

If the film industry wanted to grow, theater chains could be considered one of the most fundamental infrastructures. After Duke attended the film festival's opening ceremony and returned to his hotel, he met with Phil, the head of Warner Brothers' Greater China region. The other man seemed to have come over specifically to wait for him.

"Here's the situation, Duke."

Entering the suite's reception room, Phil spoke as concisely and directly as possible. "The Chinese side asked me if there's any possibility of one of your films shooting on location in China in the next few years."

"Shooting in China?" Duke frowned.

Batman primarily took place in the fictional Gotham City. Any plotlines involving the outside world were essentially focused on villains, making it unsuitable for shooting here; otherwise, it definitely wouldn't pass censorship.

Duke thought for a moment before saying, "We'll look for a suitable opportunity in the future."

Looking at Phil, Duke asked curiously, "Did something happen?"

"The China Film Group wants to enter into deeper cooperation with us."

Phil was well aware of Duke's status at Warner Brothers, so he didn't hide anything. "They want to jointly invest with Warner in building the theater chain market, and they also want to secure our support in terms of film resources."

This so-called support in film resources certainly didn't mean completed films, but rather all the elements involved in film production.

"What does the company think?" Duke asked.

"The group is very optimistic about the future prospects here," Phil replied. "They want to establish a closer cooperative relationship with them."

He smiled at Duke. "Especially you, Duke. Your works possess unparalleled influence here. You're Warner's trump card for promotion."

Duke shrugged and said nothing more.

The market here was just getting started and had not yet entered a rapid development phase. Duke knew very well that the film he brought this time wouldn't actually yield much tangible profit. This was merely an investment for the future.