Huayu started as a lecturer at Beijing Film Academy

Compared to the big brother Venice Film Festival, the Toronto Film Festival is an absolute little brother, but nowadays, the influence of the big brother is getting weaker and weaker. There were many third countries that regarded participating in Venice as an honor. With the decline of its status, more people have focused their attention on the Toronto International Film Festival, which is backed by the large North American market.

Venice still adheres to its neo-realism style, which is too high-brow!

But the world has changed. It is really difficult for people to appreciate art films that are too high-end.

In addition, in recent years, the Toronto Film Festival seems to have become the previous stop for Oscar-winning films. "American Beauty", "Slumdog Millionaire", "Brokeback Mountain", "The King's Speech", "Argo", almost every movie that won the Oscar for Best Picture has shined at the Toronto Film Festival, which has led to more directors and producers being more willing to bring their films to the Toronto Film Festival!

Many people may ask why the Oscars and most of the film festivals in the world don't like the comedy or science fiction films that are big hits at the box office. Nonsense, you have a big hit at the box office, and you still want to win the award. Do you have any shame?

The arrival of Gu Zhongyu and his group was warmly welcomed by the organizers.

There are no absolute secrets in Hollywood. The Invisible Guest, which was shot by Zongheng and Lionsgate in less than two months, has long been a secret.

The reason why the Invisible Guest, which has not yet been released, has such a big name is due to the publicity of Lionsgate and the strong popularity of Hollywood actress Sha Liz.

As the distributor of the film, Lionsgate and Zongheng bought a total of ten screenings for The Invisible Guest at the Toronto Film Festival. From the first screening, every screening was full. Even in the later screenings without Sha Liz, the actress, the attendance rate reached more than 95%!

On the first day of the Toronto Film Festival, The Invisible Guest was screened for a total of three sessions. The public reputation was very good, but the reputation of the media and professional film critics was completely suppressed by another movie.

This is the early masterpiece "12 Years a Slave" that made the political correctness of Europe and the United States famous.

This movie is very black, literally black!

It tells the story of a free black man living in New York, who is educated and married. Then he met two people who promised to help him find a job in Washington. When Solomon arrived in Washington, he found that he had been kidnapped and began his life as a slave. After years of suffering, he relied on a kind Canadian to help him send letters home. After a lawsuit, he regained his freedom.

You can imagine how correct it is just by listening to the plot. What kind of film critic dares to criticize such a correct movie?

Asian, African and Latin American, gender equality, people of color, civil rights, LGBT, etc., these things or ideas, now in Europe and the United States, have gradually become more than just the claims and demands of some people, but have become an ideology, an idea that serves the vested interests of a certain group and has begun to dominate the mainstream.

In the end, this "12 Years a Slave" won three major awards in history, including the Oscar for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay, and was also selected by the British "Guardian" as one of the "100 Best Films of the 21st Century", ranking second.

If you encounter such a movie, you have to admit defeat. Unless Gu Zhongyu is willing to put a bunch of Laohei, Nantong, transgender people, etc. in his movie, he will not even be qualified to fight.

However, there is a little surprise, that is, the movie "Chinese Partners" has become the only Chinese-language film among the 20 films in the main screening unit of this session. Although it is not very useful, for the distributor Zongheng, there are two movies participating in the exhibition at once, at least they can be familiar with it again.

"What a pity! Encountering such a movie, our movie may not get the most important "People's Choice Award" this time."

Looking at the unanimous praise of "12 Years a Slave" by the online media, Chen Sicheng was very discouraged. He felt that he had wasted a great opportunity and it was probably hopeless to win an Oscar.

"It's okay. Even if we don't win the big prize, we have achieved our goal. Foreign film producers are still quite interested in "The Invisible Guest". It would be good if we can export it to more countries."

How can you become fat in one breath? The quality of "The Invisible Guest" in the previous life was so high, but it only won the Douban Best European Film Award of the Year. Can you believe it?

On the one hand, it was because the Spanish company that produced the film was too weak and did not do a good job of public relations and publicity. On the other hand, it was also because there was no black minority in the whole film, which did not conform to the trend of political correctness.

The quality of a movie has never been necessarily related to whether it wins an award or not. Gu Zhongyu has long experienced this, but Chen Sicheng has only been a director for a short time and is not mentally prepared for this.

Fortunately, a few newspapers finally said something good for "The Invisible Guest".

Los Angeles Times: "The plot of "The Invisible Guest" is compact and fascinating, with ups and downs in the story, making it hard to guess the ending. The film cleverly uses visual language to show complex psychological activities and interpersonal relationships, making the film full of suspense and tension. The characters are distinct and emotional, and the audience can easily immerse themselves in the inner world of the characters..."

The New York Times: "Overall, "The Invisible Guest" is an excellent suspense film with high viewing value. The film's compact plot, distinctive characters, and outstanding actor performance make the audience guess the truth of the case. At the same time, you can also feel the complexity and contradiction of human nature. I strongly recommend this movie to bring a visual and spiritual feast to the audience..."

These media reviews and reports have attracted the attention of many movie fans in North America, especially some qualified movie fans, who even came to the Toronto Film Festival to watch the film in advance.

The domestic media was a little slow to react, and many people even didn't know that the movie starring Gu Zhongyu was shortlisted for Toronto.

Now that "The Invisible Guest" has become a hit in Toronto, they know that Zongheng and Lionsgate Pictures have actually produced a feature film together.

After they learned about the specific situation, each one of them was full of doubts: Gu Zhongyu, who has always been in love with the domestic market, actually followed suit and made a suspense film that has almost become synonymous with bad movies?

So Sina News promptly sent reporters to Toronto to interview Gu Zhongyu and his party.

In fact, interviews like this should only come from the director, but Gu Zhongyu is the producer, producer, screenwriter and starring of the movie. He is the one with the biggest say, so he is the one being interviewed.

Just like Zhang Jizhong, people often say that Zhang Jizhong is the version of Jin Yong's drama, but in fact Zhang Jizhong has only been a director twice, and he was a producer at other times. However, because of his strong control over TV dramas, his actual power is far greater. More than the director, these TV series are all marked by his mark.

The same goes for "She Disappeared". The directors are Cui Rui and Liu Xiang, and Chen Sicheng is only the screenwriter and producer, but almost everyone regards this movie as a work of Chen Sicheng.

Therefore, it is difficult for Gu Zhongyu to cooperate with those big directors, because the bigger the director, the stronger his desire for control. Even if Gu Zhongyu is the father of the financial sponsor, he may not always be able to listen to him.

"I took a look at our movie. Why did Mr. Gu adopt the form of a co-production instead of localization?"

"Because the movie-going age in China is still too young, if "The Invisible Guest" is filmed in China, it must first be censored. The subject matter is sensitive, and I estimate that it is unlikely to pass censorship. Even if it is lucky enough to pass censorship, I don’t think the box office will be very satisfactory, but the North American market is different. Their mainstream viewing age is around 40 years old. Coupled with the emphasis on this type of film during the awards season, the box office revenue is still very considerable. This time I came to Toronto. At the festival, we have sold almost $25 million in out-of-town screening rights.”

Perhaps it was because he had not faced the domestic media for too long and he was abroad. Gu Zhongyu seemed very excited, so he spoke out a lot of what was on his mind.

"So, you still have a negative attitude towards domestic censorship?"

"I'm afraid this is not my opinion alone. Most domestic colleagues have some opinions on the review with vague and uncertain standards."

Gu Zhongyu answered very calmly, and he told the truth.

Not to mention practitioners of film and television dramas, even ordinary viewers are absolutely full of complaints about the domestic censorship system. How many movies, games, and animations are introduced into the country are destined to be castrated.

"Actually, making a movie in Hollywood is not as easy as everyone thinks. There are at least hundreds of things to note. Firstly, it must be politically correct. Secondly, it must have a black actor, and it cannot be a villain. There are too many..."

Gu Zhongyu changed the topic and did not continue to discuss the censorship system to avoid being made a fuss by some people. Instead, he talked about many Hollywood filming regulations.

"So, our colleagues in China think that it is wrong for Hollywood to be freer than us, unless you are making a non-theatrical film. But if "The Invisible Guest" is a co-production, it must pass the censorship of both countries. , if you want to make a commercial blockbuster, you must restrain yourself! This regulation is the same in every country!”

The reporter asked: "So you don't think censorship is the main reason for China's lagging behind in film art?"

"For example, Iran's censorship system is definitely more stringent than that of our country, but they have produced far-reaching films such as "A Separation", "Little Shoes" and "The Color of Heaven". Therefore, many domestic directors have I think it’s very unfair to push my own lack of ability into the review!”

"Okay, thank you, Mr. Gu, for accepting our interview. By the way, can you predict which film will win the top award at this year's Toronto International Film Festival? Is there any hope for "The Invisible Guest"?"

"Haha, although I am very confident in my movie, I can tell you clearly that the one that won the grand prize in the end must be "12 Years a Slave". You can go see that movie!"

After the reporter finished the interview, Alexandra couldn't hold back her curiosity and asked Gu Zhongyu: "Gu, do you really think that "12 Years a Slave" is very good and can beat us?"

Chen Sicheng also looked at him a little puzzled. Such praise for a movie was inconsistent with his understanding of Gu Zhongyu.

"There is a saying in our country that you will die if you are hot! Have you heard of it?"

Gu Zhongyu smiled and did not explain why he mentioned "12 Years a Slave" on various occasions.

"12 Years a Slave" is certainly a good movie, but unfortunately director Steve McQueen's skills are somewhat lacking, making this big proposition seem too neat and tidy, even mediocre.

A movie that denounced the history of black slavery did not make the moviegoers angry at all, and sometimes it almost made them laugh out loud.

Even if there is disgust, it is human nature to hate unfairness, and it is not given by the movie.

However, in the past two years, especially after Ao Guanhai was re-elected, political correctness seems to have become the trend of the Oscars. This is also the reason why "12 Years a Slave" won the best picture.

"Did you do it on purpose?" Shalizi, who knew more about film selection, quickly understood what Gu Zhongyu meant.

"Yes, if you look at the movies of the past few years, there are endless movies with anti-terrorism themes or related to terrorism, such as "The Hurt Locker", "The Hunt for Bin Laden" and "Escape from Tehran". As long as the production standards are met, they can all be produced in Making waves during awards season…”

"Similarly, this situation is also consistent with movies related to "color narrative", such as "Django Unchained", "Fruitvale Station", "The Butler", "Mandela", etc. There are many movies with the same theme. On the one hand, it expresses a certain demand, but on the other hand, it is also an unoptimistic phenomenon. Hollywood has been dominated by visual blockbusters, and many high-quality independent films cannot be promoted by good distribution companies. As a result, they remain unknown from the beginning to the end. Moreover, even if a few of them are favored by major distribution companies, it will ultimately be difficult to compete with films like "12 Years a Slave" that seem to be tailor-made for the academy. Therefore, the ecosystem of Hollywood is not so optimistic. It would be somewhat sad if films like 12 Years a Slave continue to dominate awards season.”

After saying a lot of things eloquently, several people were dumbfounded. Shalizi couldn't help but praise: "Dear, I can't even figure out which one of us has won the Oscar. What do you think?" It’s so right!”

Chen Sicheng quickly got the key point of Gu Zhongyu's words: "So you mean to make people hype the political correctness of "12 Years a Slave"? Absolutely not mention the film itself?"

"That's right, find a few film critics to objectively compare "The Invisible Guest" and "12 Years a Slave". Just mention the content of the movies casually, focus on the actors' performances and their predictions about the awards. Let everyone It feels like this year’s grand prize is 12 Years a Slave!”

Gu Zhongyu smiled like a thief.

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