The Best Director

When Chris Gardner and his son smiled and walked toward the Golden Gate Bridge on the big screen, the 120-minute movie had come to an end. Joyful music began to play, and the detailed credits rolled upwards in rows against the backdrop of various static images: Chris Gardner’s first day on the job, him and his son moving into their new home, buying his son a complete set of Captain America toys… Each image radiated brilliant smiles and faces full of happiness.

As the movie ended, the sound of the audience’s chatter buzzed through the theater, but no one left their seats. They waited until the logo of the movie company, a flame on the big screen, appeared and other movie trailers started to play. Then the audience began to get up and leave.

“This movie was so good! It’s really surprising; I always thought it was going to be terrible…” a pair of young friends walked down the aisle, and on hearing this, the other person nodded in agreement, saying, “Yeah, I’m going to buy a DVD set when it comes out! It’s so well made, and Will Smith was great too, his son is quite adorable…”

Listening to these words of praise, Rachel smiled, feeling happy and excited about the success of the movie. She pulled out her phone from her purse and typed a message, “Yang, the movie was fantastic, congratulations! Romantic Moth!” At that moment, she heard a couple beside her getting up, talking. Jennifer spoke with a joyful tone, “See, Martin? Was it a flop?”

Martin still seemed unconvinced, saying, “Actually, the movie was quite boring; I almost fell asleep. There were no big scenes, no beauties, the prettiest thing was that hippie chick.” With a dismissive tone, he continued, “Jennifer, what are you happy about? I’m your boyfriend, not Wang Yang. Plus, you couldn’t possibly be his girlfriend. His current girlfriend is too hot, and the next one will only be hotter…” Jennifer laughed heartily, saying, “So what? I love Magical Yang, I love Magical Yang! Wow, are you jealous?”

They walked toward the exit of the theater, and their voices grew fainter. Rachel’s smile had long disappeared; she stared blankly at the text on her mobile phone screen, took a long time to delete the line “Romantic Moth,” and pressed the send button. Rachel felt a pang in her heart and let out a long sigh. She shouldn’t have come to see this movie, she really shouldn’t have exposed herself to this information anymore… But soon, the promotion for ‘High School Musical 2’ would begin, and she would see Jessica again, and she would hear “Yang, Yang, Yang”…

Rachel sat in her seat for a long time, watching trailer after trailer on the big screen. Suddenly she sighed, stood up, and left.

In Los Angeles, at the Vita Projector Cinema, Wang Yang and the movie’s creators stood in front of the big screen on stage, thanking the audience who had come to the premiere. Will Smith said into the microphone with a smile, “Hey, thank you, thank you, everyone! My acting wasn’t too bad, right? Can I get a Razzie?” A light laughter echoed from the seats, and Will said, “But guys, I want to say ‘The Pursuit of Happyness’ was the best movie I have ever made in my acting career. During filming, I got so into character, when I called my son’s name, it wasn’t Terry, it was always ‘Christopher, Christopher’.” Amidst the audience and crew’s laughter, he loudly said, “All thanks to one person! You’ve guessed it, yes.” He looked towards Wang Yang beside him, and smiling, continued, “He’s our director!”

The audience below immediately burst into applause, and Wang Yang also smiled and clapped. Will Smith added mysteriously, “Now, I have a secret to tell. At first, when the director invited me, I said ‘NO,’ I couldn’t take another risk. But why am I standing here now? Aside from a good script, it was also several long letters. I have never seen anyone do that; every few days he would send me a handwritten long letter ‘Trust me, Will, this role is perfect for you, it’s going to be a great movie, I can do it!’ And then I believed him.”

“Now, has he done it?” Will Smith asked with a smile, and the applause from the audience accordingly became thunderous, with someone shouting, “The movie is great!” Will nodded and laughed, “Yes, the movie is great. After filming for a few days on the set, I stopped worrying. He is a good director, with convincing explanations and knows how to stir your emotions, and is so demanding it’s almost grueling… but thank God, he has a good temper.” The audience laughed again, and Will shouted, “Come on guys, let’s give it up for him! Let’s give our applause to the amazing Yang!”

Everyone in the audience stood up, clapping vigorously and shouting loudly. Wang Yang opened his arms and embraced Will Smith, saying with a smile, “Will, thank you! Thanks for your trust!” Will Smith patted Wang Yang on the back and said, “Buddy, I thank you. This movie has renewed my confidence in acting. I can win an Oscar, can’t I? Ha ha!”

The creators on stage were also clapping nonstop, Valerie Fest, Margaret, Jan Kaczmarek… Jada Pinkett Smith, Terry Smith… Everyone had a happy smile on their face, enjoying this shared joy. Standing in the front row below the stage, Jessica clapped her hands and looked sweetly at Wang Yang, who was embracing Will Smith, thinking to herself, “Yang, 1 love you!”

After the premiere, the creators of “The Pursuit of Happyness,” along with family and friends, went on to have dinner at a hotel. On the way to the hotel, leaning against the soft car seat cushion, Wang Yang checked the text messages on his phone, all from friends who had attended the premiere, like Zachary, Michael-Pitt, Joshua… and others in different cities like Tom-Willing and Natalie Portman, who sent a one-word message “Good,” and then Rachel… He opened her message and read it silently, “Yang, the film is fantastic, congratulations!” He smiled slightly and replied, “Thankyou, Rachel, you really should have come to the premiere. Good night.” After sending it, he continued to read the next message.

“Yang, guess what the media critics will write? They all said you were crazy before.” Sitting beside him, Jessica was brimming with excitement and a sense of vindication, “They saw it tonight, who is the crazy one now!” Wang Yang replied to the messages while laughing along with her, “Jessica, I am the crazy one! The promotion for ‘The Pursuit of Happyness’ has just finished, but the summer vacation is upon us, and I have to shoot ‘Juno’ now, oh! Only a few days of rest…”

The next day, the media’s reports and reviews for “The Pursuit of Happyness” underwent a major turnaround. Initially thinking Wang Yang was crazy and predicting a likely flop, with Will Smith making another foolish choice… but now, no one mentioned these things as if they never happened. The newspaper stands were piled high with papers, and the entertainment headline of the Los Angeles Times was very prominent: “Happiness Arrives, the Magic Continues!”

This film review occupied almost an entire page, thoroughly introducing the surprising aspects of the movie: “This is another masterpiece by the amazing Yang. After seeing this film, I think no one will call him ‘Baby Director,’ other than to describe his age. The movie is so simple, yet so profound. It has no complex story, no intricate character relationships, just a father and son, telling a warm and moving story.”

“Its visuals are full of Wang Yang’s film style, bright sunlight; the structure of the film is smooth and natural, with the 120 minutes progressively unfolding, presenting the legend of Chris Gardner at an unhurried pace, and the lively off-screen voice makes the characters more three-dimensional; fitting music, outstanding editing, all of which make it impossible not to praise. I once worried whether a 20-year-old director could handle a biographical drama, could he bring back the ’80s era? The answer is faultlessly restored, it is so excellent, filled with genuine emotions everywhere, the love and warmth between father and son, the persistence for dreams and happiness, the adherence to dignity… The 20-year-old director grasped it, he told it simply, but it leaves a profound impression.”

After a series of praises, the Los Angeles Times finally commented on his directing ability, “He is no longer in the ‘teenage film director’ category. He has surpassed many 30 and 40-year-old ‘old guys.’ This movie says it all.”

When it came to Will Smith’s acting, the review said, “It’s hard, very hard to believe that Will Smith just won the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actor. Did that really happen? In this movie, Will Smith transforms all past screen personas. He looks haggard and aged, a middle-aged man who hustles for a living every day; he also changes all previous acting styles, successfully portraying a refined, positive, optimistic man who loves his family with a hint of humor. His silent weeping in the subway station bathroom is one of this year’s most fantastic movie scenes. The amazing Yang is right, his performance is worthy of an Oscar for Best Actor.”

The Los Angeles Times summarized, “Do you have a dream? Do you want happiness? Then strive to achieve it! That’s what ‘The Pursuit of Happyness’ tells us.”

Many other newspapers at the newsstands also heaped praise on the film. USA Weekend commented, “The film is warm and moving; the performances by the two leads are genuine, believable!” The Cinema News, previously questioning if Wang Yang had gone mad, titled an article “Another Miracle!” After extensive reviews, they concluded, “Without a doubt, ‘The Pursuit of Happyness’ is a superior film and one of the best so far this year. It comes from the hands of a 20-year-old director, it’s a miracle.”

The San Francisco Chronicle’s tone was very proud and satisfied. In an article titled “Yang, well done!”, they praised the depiction of 1980s San Francisco within the film, “Want to see what the San Francisco Bay Area looked like in 1981? Watch this movie.” They had nothing but praise for Wang Yang, commenting with a tone of “one of our own,” “This Bay Area kid has made San Francisco proud, has made the Bay Area proud, and clearly, in the future, he will bring us even greater honor, just like Clint Eastwood has done.”

The critic Kevin Thomas, who had previously slammed ‘Paranormal Activity’ and ‘High School Musical’, still had nothing good to say. It seemed as if he had clashed with Wang Yang, maybe doing so because tabloids were more willing to publish his criticism. This time he commented, “This film is laughable, the young director ludicrously tries to force-feed his point of view to the audience. The message is not wrong, but the method is so artificial and nauseating; the most ludicrous part is that the Smith family appears on the screen together, and all I see is the Smith family, not the Gardner family.”

However, movie fans who watched the film clearly stood in the “this is a good film” camp. On IMDb, ‘The Pursuit of Happyness’ currently has a high score of 8.5. Although the score will normally decline as more people vote, receiving a score of 8.5 for a biographical drama is a mark of an Oscar-caliber classic film. In comparison to ‘Paranormal Activity’s’ 6.8 and ‘High School Musical’s’ 6.5, ‘The Pursuit of Happyness’ has earned much more respect.

On Sunday the 21st, in the afternoon, Flame Films received the first day’s box office numbers from its premiere: with 3,050 theaters showing, each ticket priced at $6.50, the film grossed $13.68 million US dollars on the 20th, and another $15.64 million on the 21st. After the weekend ended, there was the usual significant slump in cinema attendance rates. After six days of showing, ‘The Pursuit of Happyness’ finished its opening week with a total of $42.1581 million at the box office!

This figure put it at the top of the North American box office rankings for the week of May 19-25. It was Wang Yang’s first film to win the weekly box office champion in its opening week, even though he had lost out on Friday. Ranked second was the animated blockbuster ‘Dinosaur,’ which also premiered that week and grossed $40,698 million across 3,257 theaters.

As a family animation with touching moments as its main selling point, ‘Dinosaur’ was directly competing with ‘The Pursuit of Happyness’ in the market. However, that week, when it came to choosing which movie to watch, many families let the fathers decide, and their choice was ‘The Pursuit of Happyness.’ Ranked third was ‘Gladiator,’ now in its third week showing and earning $23,548 million at the box office, also feeling the impact. Looking at this ranking, many media reviewers humorously declared, “Magical Yang has once again defeated the ‘big guys’ in cinema!”

“After the $70 million-budget ‘Saving Private Ryan’ and the $115 million-budget ‘Star Wars: The Phantom Menace’, the $127 million-budget ‘Dinosaur’ becomes the latest victim,” joked an editor from Yahoo Entertainment. “If Magical Yang made a film with a budget over a hundred million, would he be beaten by smaller guys? But the current question is, which director in Hollywood is a ‘small guy’ in front of him?”

The Pursuit of Happyness had a production cost of $32 million, promotional expenses of $25 million, plus an additional $3 million for print and advertising costs, bringing the total cost to exactly $60 million. Without considering the revenue from DVD sales and other ancillary markets, and focusing solely on the theatrical release, it needed to make at least $140 million at the box office to break even. Neither Flame Films nor Wang Yang worried about this. Given the current momentum, a box office gross over $100 million was a certainty, and profitability was inevitable.

However, it seemed that the same situation was about to repeat itself as with High School Musical, where its reign as the weekly box office champion would be short-lived. This was due to two upcoming action blockbusters set to release in the new week. The biggest threat wasn’t Shanghai Noon but rather Mission: Impossible 2, produced by Paramount Pictures with an investment of $125 million and opening in 3,653 theaters. Directed by John Woo and starring Tom Cruise, the sequel’s popular franchise and Tom Cruise’s box office appeal were formidable.

But in that week, The Pursuit of Happyness outshone the entire movie industry, and Wang Yang’s popularity soared once again, reaching unprecedented heights.

In the latest issue of the Chicago Sun-Times, Wang Yang’s die-hard fan and renowned film critic Roger Ebert “defected” once again. His belated review did not stubbornly hold on to his previous “Golden Raspberry” argument but instead changed his tune, praising, “I must apologize for my earlier predictions. This wondrous boy wasn’t rash, nor was he rushing production. In his new film, what I see is sincerity and miracle.”

“Watching The Pursuit of Happyness left me feeling like I had bathed in sunlight, but the difference is, this time the sunlight brought me to tears. It’s truly incredible. Miraculous Yang has startled me yet again. I can’t find the words to describe my surprise, but it’s true—this is an Oscar-caliber film! I’m thinking, maybe Miraculous Yang could win the Youngest Best Director at the Oscars? Oh, there’s no ‘maybe’ about it! I’m sure that in the future, he will win Best Director. The only ‘maybe’ is whether it will be next year or not.”

“I’m very much looking forward to his claimed Christmas release, Juno. Will it be just an ordinary romantic story? I don’t think so now,” he wrote self- deprecatingly. “And if Miraculous Yang makes a movie every month, I won’t call him rash anymore, this poor old soul.”

Finally, the signature trademark that belonged only to Roger Ebert, seen exclusively in his reviews, he gave The Pursuit of Happyness a “Two Thumbs Up!”

This review garnered widespread support from movie fans, especially for his prediction of “future Best Director.” Yahoo held a poll asking, “Do you think Wang Yang will break the record for the Youngest Best Director Oscar? (Currently held by Norman Taurog at 32)” 74% voted yes, and 26% voted no.

Another related survey asked, “By what age do you think he will break the record?” 15% voted for “21-24,” 36% for “25-28,” and 49% for “29-32.”