Chapter 91: First meeting with King Liu and press conference

After returning to Guangzhou, Liu Zhou also met King Liu, who had been very popular for decades.

He arrived in Guangzhou the night before, having just finished filming "Slimming Men and Women" directed by Du Qifeng.

In recent years, many Hong Kong artists have not had many movies to shoot, but this year Andy Lau starred in five movies alone, and if this one is included, it makes six movies.

For those people in Hong Kong, it is really a case of drought killing them or flooding killing them.

There is nothing we can do about it. The Hong Kong film industry is in a downturn right now, so investors will definitely look for people who can pull in box office revenue to make movies.

After Chow Yun-fat left for Hollywood and Stephen Chow switched to being a director and his output decreased significantly, there are only a few who can keep up the box office.

And Andy Lau is the actor with the greatest box office appeal besides Brother Long.

At this time, Liu Dehua was less than 40 years old and looked very young.

Last year, he won the Best Actor Award at the Academy Awards for his outstanding performance in Du Qifeng's "Infernal Affairs", which means he has basically gotten rid of the label of being an idol.

"Brother Hua, I finally meet you. I am your fan." Liu Zhou said enthusiastically.

Zeng Li, who was standing by, couldn't help but curl up the corners of her mouth when she heard these familiar words.

Liu Zhou actually didn't lie. Although his idol is his brother Zhang Guorong, he also often listens to Andy Lau's songs and watches his movies. It's not wrong to say that he is his fan.

"Thank you, Director Liu, you are really young. There has never been a film director as young as you in Hong Kong." Faced with Liu Zhou's enthusiasm, Andy Lau also replied with a smile in not very standard Mandarin.

What he said is true. Many Hong Kong directors have climbed up step by step from the bottom of the crew. By the time they become directors, they are usually in their thirties or forties.

Perhaps the only person who became a director at a relatively young age is Wang Jing, who directed his first movie in his twenties, but he has a good father.

In fact, not to mention Hong Kong, the situation in mainland China is similar. Very few people become directors in their early twenties.

"I just happened to be in this situation, and I'm glad that Brother Hua didn't refuse to work with me just because I'm young."

"Director Liu's last movie was such a big hit at the box office, I'm sure no one would refuse to work with you."

Andy Lau has no shortage of movies to shoot, and a big part of the reason he agreed to work with Liu Zhou this time is because of the outstanding box office performance of Liu Zhou's previous movie "My Sassy Girl".

It’s not the box office results in Hong Kong, but the box office results in the mainland.

Although the mainland film market has not been good in recent years, compared with the endless depression of Hong Kong films, the mainland market is visibly improving.

Hong Kong filmmakers have a keen sense of smell and know that the mainland is the center of Chinese-language films.

So some people with a long-term vision have started to head north.

As a popular star in Hong Kong, Andy Lau has a keen sense of the market and has long been preparing to come to the mainland to make movies.

Liu Zhou is a new and emerging director in the mainland, so of course Andy Lau accepted his invitation immediately.

Moreover, Liu Dehua had specifically consulted Zhang Guorong before and learned that Liu Zhou was a real talent, which dispelled his last bit of concern.

In response to Andy Lau's praise, Liu Zhou was no longer modest, but he did not talk much about this aspect. Instead, he asked about the upcoming movie.

"Brother Hua, we have a habit here before filming a movie. Everyone will familiarize themselves with the script first, so we will officially start filming tomorrow."

"I understand. It's a script reading, right? Although I didn't write a biography, I have memorized the script."

Liu Zhou was a little surprised by Andy Lau's words. He didn't expect that he could memorize the script in such a short time. But Liu Zhou knew that his last movie had just been completed less than a week ago.

"That's great for us to have a discussion together later." Liu Zhou said with a smile.

The movie "Only You" is not a group drama, the plot revolves around the male and female protagonists.

The so-called script reading was just a communication between Andy Lau, Zeng Li and director Liu Zhou on their understanding of the script.

Although the script is not very complicated, Liu Zhou still feels it is necessary to go through this process.

After reading the script, Liu Zhou also communicated with the filming team again about the details.

In the afternoon, Liu Zhou brought Brother Hua and Zeng Li to Baiyun Hotel.

The launch conference of "Only You" was held here.

Having tasted success last time, Liu Zhou certainly would not miss such a good publicity opportunity.

At this time, Liu Zhou and Zeng Li are no longer the same as before, and coupled with the sporadic news released before, this launch conference made it even more lively.

Not only did the major media outlets arrange people to come, but some TV stations and online media also arranged people to participate.

The hall looked packed at first glance, with a rough estimate of more than a hundred media outlets.

All three of them are popular stars, and as soon as they entered the venue, the flash cameras started clicking non-stop.

With the experience from the last time, Liu Zhou was more calm this time. Under the rhythmic control of the host, the press conference was completed slowly according to the planned process, and came to the last item which was also the most concerned item of the media reporters, answering reporters' questions.

Seeing the reporters raising their hands enthusiastically, the host very tactfully called on the reporter from Southern Weekend.

"Hello, Director Liu. Your second film is also about love. Are you confident that the box office of this film will exceed that of My Sassy Girl?"

"Of course, we always have to look forward. But I don't have the final say on the box office. It's up to the audience to decide. All I can do is to make the movie to the best of my ability."

"Hello, Director Liu. I'm a reporter from the Beijing News. You've chosen Zeng Li as the heroine for two consecutive movies. Are you in a relationship? And Director Liu, you're from Guangzhou. Have you met each other's parents?"

Hearing this question, Liu Zhou wanted to punch him out.

The reporters below were obviously also very interested in this question. The conference room suddenly became quiet and everyone was looking forward to Liu Zhou's answer.

Liu Zhou said calmly:
"The reason why I chose Zeng Li as the heroine is because she is suitable, and we are also classmates, so everyone doesn't need to make these unnecessary guesses."

In fact, Liu Zhou and Zeng Li had discussed whether to make their relationship public, but Liu Zhou didn't care.

Although he is now a traffic star and will lose some fans if he reveals his true colors publicly, he has already completed the early stages of accumulation and has successfully taken the first step in his directorial career. He is not an actor and does not need to go to the front of the stage.

As long as he produces more and better works in the future, it will not have much impact on Liu Zhou.

However, Zeng Li thinks it is better not to make it public. Now that their careers are just starting, everything should be based on stability. She also doesn't think that making it public or not means anything.

So in the end, the two decided not to make their relationship public for the time being.

The reporters below were obviously dissatisfied with Liu Zhou's ambiguous answer and raised their hands to ask questions.

Just now, the reporter from Beijing News even stood up and asked directly:
"Director Liu, you haven't answered my question directly. Are you in a relationship? Have you met your parents?"

Liu Zhou ignored him and let the host take control of the situation.

Seeing this, the reporter continued to insist:
"Director Liu, if you don't give a direct answer, does that mean you two are in a relationship?"

At this time Zeng Li picked up the microphone and said:

"Liu Zhou and I are not in a relationship, we are just good friends."

Seeing that the reporter wanted to ask more questions, the host interrupted him and called on the next person to ask questions.

"Hello, Brother Hua. I'm a reporter from the Huaxia Youth Daily. This movie should be your first mainland movie. What made you choose to work with Director Liu?"

Liu Dehua picked up the microphone and said with a smile:

"There are mainly two reasons. One is that the script is very good and Director Liu wrote it very touchingly. The second is that Director Liu is very talented. He is not only a writer, but his first film was also very successful. I am also willing to work with Director Liu."

Without the troublemaker "Beijing News", the questions everyone asked became much more normal, and were mainly about movies.

But in the end, things don’t always go as planned. At this time, a reporter from Sina.com suddenly asked:
"Director Liu, your first movie had Zhang Guorong as the leading actor, and now you have Liu Dehua. Why don't you hire a mainland actor as the leading actor?"

Liu Zhou Yi heard that this was another person who wanted to cause trouble, but he still said calmly:

"First of all, my criteria for selecting actors is whether they are suitable, and then whether they have box office appeal. Now we cannot deny that, except for senior sister Gong Li, other mainland actors do not have strong box office appeal.

This is a commercial film, and the box office is the most important factor for me to consider. I also want to test the waters overseas for my film. Zhang Guorong and Liu Dehua are not only suitable, but also have strong box office appeal. They are undoubtedly the most suitable and ideal candidates in my mind."

He didn't know why someone was paying attention to this issue now, but this time Liu Zhou didn't say anything clichéd, but chose to tell the truth.

"Director Liu, how is the overseas box office of the movie My Sassy Girl?"

"The film has not yet been officially released overseas, but the copyright for Southeast Asia has been sold, and the distribution work in Japan and South Korea has also been completed."

After hearing Liu Zhou's words, the audience immediately became a little noisy. Apparently, they didn't expect that "My Sassy Girl" was already ready for a large-scale release overseas.

It is rare for mainland films to be released overseas, so this is undoubtedly big news.

Other reporters wanted to continue asking questions, but the host decisively announced the official end of the press conference.

Liu Zhou and his companions also stood up and left, going backstage.

"Director Liu, I find that you seem to be more popular in mainland China than I am as an actor." Liu Dehua said with a smile.

Although many reporters came to Liu Dehua at this press conference, the most reporters asked Liu Zhou questions.

Andy Lau did not expect that Liu Zhou was so popular in the mainland.

"How is that possible? I just have a lot of traffic recently. Those reporters keep coming to me to dig up news. If we walk on the street together now, 99% of people will gather around you."

"Director Liu is so popular and handsome, why don't you consider becoming an actor?"

"Well, I don't have the talent to be an actor, and I still like to be a director. My ideal is to be a director."

(End of this chapter)