The Best Director

But Wang Yang didn’t stay in to sleep in at the hotel. Knowing that Natalie and Rachel planned to visit the nearby Forbidden City Museum for sightseeing, he also decided to go. He was leaving tomorrow, and having been to Beijing twice without visiting the Forbidden City, he took the opportunity to admire the cultural relics and see the magnificent palace complexes. Of course, it wasn’t just the three of them on this trip; bodyguards and assistants were with them, so there was no need to avoid anyone.

“China’s beauty is so unique and spectacular. I was shocked by the Great Wall yesterday, and now these buildings are so grand…”

Under the azure sky, the afternoon sun shone on the classical buildings’ eaves and glazed tiles, making them glitter with gold, the solemn vermilion doors, the majestic stone lions, the willows swaying in the breeze…

The group headed towards the Hall of Supreme Harmony, with the casually dressed Rachel and Natalie leading the way. Both of them sometimes together, sometimes separately, had visited many tourist attractions over the past few days and had bought some characteristic items. However, Rachel felt it wasn’t enough and planned to play a few more days before leaving on her own; Natalie was ready to take a flight to Guilin, where the crew of “Star Wars: Episode III” was filming on location.

Hearing Rachel expressing her admiration for the surrounding scenery, Wang Yang, who trailed behind, looked at the palace with its red columns and yellow tiles and said, “Yes, it’s majestic, but compared to these, I prefer the natural landscapes, they are truly one of a kind.”

“I’ll see them soon,” Natalie said with a smile tinged with a hint of doubt. She looked back at Wang Yang and asked while walking, “Buddy, how does that saying go?”

If it hadn’t been for researching “Firefly,” Wang Yang wouldn’t have been able to recall the saying right away. Now remembering the beautiful mountains and clear Li River, he laughed in Chinese, “Guilin’s landscape tops those elsewhere,” and then praised in English, “The karst landscape is incredibly beautiful.”

When the conversation turned to Guilin, Natalie seemed to recall something, “Did you know? Mr. Lucas also loves Chinese landscape paintings.” Wang Yang shook his head, “I don’t have much contact with Mr. Lucas usually.” Besides work and ceremonial events, he occasionally stayed in touch with people like Robert Zemeckis, but everyone’s busy and with different ages and environments, personal relationships were naturally limited.

“It was on the set he mentioned outdoor scenes; Kashyyyk is a mystical place and needs to have that ‘pristine’ feel.” Natalie slowed her pace to walk with Wang Yang, fanning her hands as she described, “Surrounded by many peaks and mists. I get what he means, it’s like the poetic imagery you’re talking about, with a sense of spiritual energy. Mr. Lucas wanted to incorporate Chinese landscape painting into it.”

Wang Yang nodded with a smile, as the idea wasn’t uncommon among sci-fi filmmakers; Chinese landscapes have a charming and naturally mysterious and ethereal quality that’s perfect for representing an alien planet, hence there’s Kashyyyk in “Star Wars: Episode III” as well as Pandora in “Avatar.”

In terms of visual style, “Avatar” set all its scenes in Pandora, with dense primeval jungles on the ground and misty mountains when flying, maintaining a consistent ‘pristine’ style; “Firefly,” on the other hand, faced a different situation. Similar to “Star Wars,” scenes included different planets, but unlike “Star Wars” which had a medieval courtly style, “Firefly” aimed for a thorough blend of Western cowboy and Eastern sensibilities.

“I’m all in, one hundred percent! I’m going to bring Chinese landscape art into the sci-fi world! Wish me luck!” Wang Yang clenched his right fist and raised it, encouraging himself with a smile, “Beautiful——!”

Rachel and Natalie immediately looked puzzled, as the Firefly project had not yet been exposed and Wang Yang hadn’t mentioned it before, they had no clue what he was talking about. Natalie asked curiously, “What do you mean? Are you planning to make a sci-fi movie? With Chinese landscapes as well?”

“Yes, there should be quite a lot,” Wang Yang glanced at Susan McCarthy and some other assistants and bodyguards behind him, along with groups of tourists in the distance, he quickened his pace and whispered mysteriously to them, “It’s a space sci-fi, with spaceships, crew, planets, battles… It’s enough that you two know, keep it a secret! It’s still a long way to go, I estimate it won’t be out until at least 2005.”

“You mean for the release?” Natalie suddenly laughed heartily, with excitement in her voice, “The summer release? Oh man, won’t that clash with Star Wars: Episode III? It wouldn’t release at the same time, would it?” Wang Yang shrugged, why bother getting into that kind of trouble? He laughed and said, “I’m not that dumb; even if we do hit the summer of ’05, the release would be over a month apart.”

“I know the media won’t miss the chance to hype up such a showdown. Yang, are you doing this on purpose?” Rachel said with a charming smile, looking at Natalie and teasing, “Doesn’t he have a nickname, like ‘The USC Avenger’? He loves to go against the likes of Mr. George Lucas, Mr. Steven Spielberg, and Mr. Robert Zemeckis. I suspect he’s doing it deliberately.”

Wang Yang rolled his eyes noncommittally. Natalie looked at him with a frown, remembering the 1999 Star Wars: Episode I, when after two days of premieres, it was officially bested by the wide release of High School Musical. It seemed like everyone was singing and dancing, and then she went to the theater to watch it and inexplicably ended up in a ridiculous scandal…

Last year’s Star Wars: Episode II still premiered in May and didn’t face a direct clash with District 9 in August, but when it came to critical reception and awards, District 9 firmly claimed the title of “the best sci-fi film of that summer.” If Star Wars: Episode III in ’05 encountered this “USC Avenger” again, and it was another star-studded sci-fi…?…?!!

“Magical Yang Slashes Star Wars: Episode III,” “Magic Yang Brings the Biggest Surprise This Summer,” “Natalie’s Performance Seems Ridiculous”… Natalie pursed her lips and touched her forehead, saying, “I suddenly have a bad feeling. I’m doomed!”

“Oh, then I’m very sorry!” Wang Yang couldn’t help but burst out laughing, though he didn’t feel the slightest bit arrogant. As the final installment of the Star Wars prequel trilogy and the last of the main Star Wars series, it had unmatched appeal and influence, and was an exceptionally fine work in itself. It was like a very tall mountain, hard to surpass.

In terms of their relationship in the theaters, Firefly was the challenger; but for him, the film was the film, with what he wanted to say, wanted to have, and wanted to attempt… There was no doubt it would be an unprecedentedly grand challenge.

As they talked, they had already ascended the white marble steps that were flanked by balustrades on both sides. Natalie climbed the stairs, saying, “Facing that magical, magical, magical… monster of yours, how can I not worry?” Wang Yang sighed and laughed, “It seems you really hope to see me pelted with rotten tomatoes.” Natalie said casually in Chinese, “Hé lè’ér bù wéi?”

She chuckled and replied back in English, “Why not? As long as I’m not playing the lead actress in the film.” She glanced at a smiling Rachel and teased, “That way everyone will say that Wang Yang is magical only because of Natalie Portman! Without her starring, it’s no good.”

“I don’t think so,” Rachel laughed, shaking her head and jested, “unless the name is Rachel-McAdams.” But as she brought up the topic of an “undefeated screen record,” she suddenly thought of the small screen, thought of the TV series he produced and created, and immediately asked excitedly, “By the way, Yang, ‘Prison Break’ is going to premiere on NBC next month, right? I’ve been looking forward to it for so long!”

Even though the series starts with the sad event of him being sentenced to prison, all that is in the past now, and as a TV series fan, she’s really excited. The “Magical Yang” brand is so attractive, especially since this is his first foray into television series, so fans like them can look forward to it as much as they want, freely imagining the possibilities.

At first, she thought he was just saying things out of spite, but it turned out not to be the case. After a long two-year wait, it was finally about to premiere.

Having grown up watching Canadian and American TV series and being so addicted to them that she would skip classes, and having studied drama in college, Rachel was a “top-tier TV fan,” but she had to admit, ‘Prison Break’ really knew how to do promotion! Like countless other series fans, she had been so anxious that she almost wanted to pull a knife on the guy sitting across from her and demand that he hand over the DVD of the first season right away!

“During filming, stills had to circulate on the internet like street snaps. But maintaining a sense of mystery brought curiosity and anticipation,” this was one of the marketing strategies that the media summed up for ‘Prison Break,’ which made her want to know what that painting-like tattoo on the protagonist meant right now. Does it look fiercer? A contact signal with someone in the prison?… She didn’t ask, of course, as she didn’t want to be spoiled and reduce the fun.

Rachel wasn’t sure if these promotional strategies were Magical Yang’s idea, but when it came to “viral marketing,” she felt that those incredibly creative ideas definitely had something to do with him.

For instance, the blogs. Aside from the official blog opened by the ‘Prison Break’ crew, there were also viral blogs written by a mysterious inmate, a mysterious guard, and the prison from the series. The inmate published updates on prison survival rules, sentencing diaries; guards also had duty rules, work logs; and from the prison’s perspective, there were management rules, prison security check logs…

Not only did this clarify what prison was like, the more interesting point, she felt, was probably the purpose of these viral blogs. If you were locked up in such a highly guarded, technologically advanced prison with no security or management flaws, “escaping would be absolutely impossible,” even if you had wings you couldn’t fly out. But now, the protagonist says he’s going to escape! How will he do it?

“I remember September 15th is a Monday, right? The premiere is two episodes back-to-back?” Rachel added another excited question and, seeing him nod with a smile saying “Yes,” she squealed with delight, “COOL! I can’t wait!” Natalie naturally knew about ‘Prison Break’ as well, and hearing this, she laughed, “I’ll wait until the first season is over to check it out, I don’t like to follow series week by week, one episode a week is too slow.” Rachel disagreed, “Following a series is also a kind of pleasure, a way of life.”

“Rachel, it might disappoint you.”

“Why?”

“It’s not a soap opera.”

As they chatted and laughed, they finished climbing the stairs and stepped into the Hall of Supreme Harmony, also known as the Jinluan Hall, which was originally completed nearly 600 years ago and used by the emperor for various ceremonies. Having lingered in the Hall of Supreme Harmony for a while, since the three of them wanted to visit different sights next, they each went their own way with their assistants and bodyguards to enjoy the scenery.

After spending the afternoon sightseeing, it was nearing dusk when Wang Yang and his companions returned to Wangfu Hotel. After tidying up their clothes, he headed to the charity dinner being held in the hotel banquet hall, and then his ears didn’t have a moment of rest all night.

He became the sole focus of the evening, with waves of people approaching, smiles upon smiles: “Mr. Wang, it’s such a pleasure to see you today!” “Director Wang, I really love your movies.”…

Wang Yang barely knew any of these people attending the dinner, only familiar with a few like Han Sanping, Zhang Yimou, Feng Xiaogang, and Zhao Wei, but by the end of the night, he had little memory of all the people he met in passing. And during the charity auction, Wang Yang didn’t have anything particular he wanted, and rather than arbitrarily picking something donated by someone, he straightforwardly bid for “an autographed photo by Wang Yang” time and again, willingly donating the highest bid of one million US dollars in the room.

Perhaps that was the ultimate box office revenue of ‘Las Vegas’ in mainland China, but the fact that it could help SARS patients recover made him extremely happy, and his charity foundation was also doing these things.

When night yielded to day, and the warm sunlight of the rising sun broke out on August 16, a Saturday, it was the day ‘Las Vegas’ officially premiered on a large scale in various regions like mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Fans who had been longing for the film crowded into theaters, swamping the whole auditorium to catch a glimpse of the movie that was rated as beating all past American and Hong Kong gambling films in elegance.

In an instant, poker cards monopolized the attention of viewers and media focus in this Eastern nation, presented by a true story of a Chinese-descended card counter, with a Chinese director and lead actor.

As night fell, an airplane slowly ascended from Beijing Capital International Airport and, after entering the sky, roared away at high speed toward the other side of the globe, across the ocean.

※※

※※

※※

PS: Wow, continuing to ask for recommendation tickets, still needing 300 more! The national holiday month tickets are double, so throw some of your next month’s tickets to Wow, please. The updates dropped a lot in September, but Wow will try hard again in October, thank you ^0^. (To be continued, for further information, please visit , where there are more chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!)