Chapter 655: Chapter 479: That’s Cannes
"Life" is set to be released overseas, one after another.
Firstly, the dates are set for the United Kingdom and France, both in late March.
Zhou Yun cooperated with the promotional team, accepting interviews with five media outlets in English, and participated in two English-language online interviews with TV stations.
This activity wasn’t publicized domestically.
Zhou Lan’s idea was that if "Life" did well at the box office in the UK and France, then they would promote it domestically to further showcase Zhou Yun’s ability to carry a film’s box office performance.
While working on these activities, Zhou Yun also attended three "Four Killers" script reading sessions.
This movie is a very pure suspense action film that tells the story of four assassins teaming up to kill a warlord.
Director Hou Mengjie’s previous debut "Kill Autumn" was both critically acclaimed and commercially successful, so his second work was highly anticipated.
From New Shield’s casting for "Four Killers," it’s obvious how much confidence they have in Hou Mengjie.
Zhou Yun aside, the other three assassins include the popular young actor He Xuran, child star debutant and "Best Newcomer" award winner at age eleven Yin Linglin, and idol Liu Zhikun who rose to fame with a youth film five years after his debut and three years ago.
These four, aged between twenty-three to twenty-six, are some of the hottest actors in the entertainment industry within this age range.
All four are legitimate actors with their own signature works.
Even idol Liu Zhikun, known for a famous youth film, is different from the likes of Li Ci who has been famous for years but unable to name a significant representative work.
This film offered Zhou Yun a salary of ten million.
It can’t compare with television drama salaries, but it is at the top tier for movies.
Going higher, Zhou Yun must put out more high-box office films to prove her box office support capacity.
However, Zhou Yun also realized this film might be somewhat difficult to handle.
Aside from her, the other three actors seemed to be tough characters.
Each had big ideas—not that they were being divas, but each had a rich understanding of their respective roles and were constantly coming up with ways to enrich their characters’ portrayal.
Every script reading brought forth new ideas.
Zhou Yun felt as if the scriptwriter’s hair was about to explode.
Zhou Yun didn’t get involved; she’s not the type who likes to add scenes for herself. A good role, even just a silhouette, is a beautiful painting. If the added scenes are meaningless, they merely sketch features on the silhouette, but a silhouette with features might not necessarily be more beautiful.
She followed this principle, silently observing the others as they eagerly put forward ideas and requirements.
It is a process of negotiation and compromise.
After the third script reading, Hou Mengjie specially took Zhou Yun aside to have a chat.
"The others have a lot of ideas about their roles and the script, but I’ve noticed you haven’t spoken up. Do you not have any thoughts?" he asked.
Zhou Yun shook her head, saying, "I’m quite satisfied with my role and the script."
Hou Mengjie was taken aback.
Smiling, Zhou Yun said, "Director Hou doesn’t need to worry about me. If I have concerns about the script, I will communicate them with you in a timely manner."
Hou Mengjie nodded, still somewhat surprised, and hesitated to speak.
"I’ll take my leave now," said Zhou Yun. "We’ll meet again at the next script reading."
After Zhou Yun left, Yao Yuanfeng suddenly appeared, approaching Hou Mengjie.
"See, I wasn’t wrong about her, Zhou Yun is special, different from the other actresses; she isn’t one to snatch or add scenes," Yao Yuanfeng told Hou Mengjie. "Give her one scene, and she’ll make it more memorable than ten scenes of another actor combined."
Hou Mengjie chuckled, saying, "President Yao, you’ve praised her many times to me. I know she is a Movie Queen and has great acting skills, but surely she isn’t as exaggerated as you say."
"There are plenty of actors with good skills, but those with a clear mind are really rare," Yao Yuanfeng spoke bluntly. "You see, those people, fearing being overshadowed and not wanting others to suppress their scenes, are wrong from the start."
Hou Mengjie asked, "If that’s how you see them, President Yao, why did you choose to hire them?"
"Ah, they really do act well, and they’re popular actors," admitted Yao Yuanfeng. "It’s not surprising for them to act like this at their age; Zhou Yun is the real surprise."