Chapter 178: Heartless Man? Promiscuous Woman?
Li Chen's attack was undoubtedly the fuse that ignited the dynamite.
And the netizens were the spark that lit that fuse.
“So we were all suckers, adding bricks and tiles to Zhang Weiping’s dream of getting rich, all because of Zhang Yimou’s reputation.”
“curse of the golden flower, which no one in North America watched, was our proud Oscar-contending blockbuster!”
“A hodgepodge of film, television, and music — that’s so damn accurate.”
“Zhang Yimou cares about brotherhood and old flames, but he doesn’t care about us moviegoers.”
“Xiao Li Zi lives so freely; he doesn’t care if you’re Zhang Yimou or Zhang Yimou, if the movie is bad, he’ll still bash it.”
“Unlike me, I thought it was a bad movie after watching it, but I still doubted if my taste was not good enough, if I didn’t know how to appreciate it, after all, he is Zhang Yimou!”
“Is this going for an Oscar, or going to make a fool of himself?”
The previous vulgar negative reviews had caused huge fluctuations in the box office of curse of the golden flower.
Although the first weekend's box office of 90 million was impressive, the subsequent six days until the 24th only just broke 150 million.
Now that Li Chen had publicly exposed the North American box office and Rotten Tomatoes index, the box office of curse of the golden flower trembled again.
After Christmas, the box office was only 160 million.
Breaking 200 million was certainly not a problem, but breaking 300 million was a pipe dream.
Zhang Weiping was furious, publicly naming Li Chen to the media and saying that his character was corrupt.
The purpose of doing this was nothing more than to clear obstacles for the upcoming ip man.
The heated public opinion even drew writer Wang Shuo to join the fun when he was a guest on Sina promoting his new book.
“I’ve always said that Zhang Yimou is just a decorator, and Zhang Weiping is the owner, and I’ve always insisted that there’s no Zhang Yimou after To Live.”
The host asked Wang Shuo if he agreed with Li Chen’s remarks by saying this.
However, Wang Shuo replied, “Don’t compare me to him. I’m a writer, he’s a director.”
“Those two books he wrote are nothing in my eyes, at most a little better than that thief Guo Jingming.”
“What influential writer-director of the post-80s generation? I don’t even know what the post-80s generation is!”
Netizens were truly overwhelmed by all the drama.
They thought that Wang Shuo criticizing Zhang Yimou meant he was supporting Li Chen.
After all, Li Chen, like him, always spoke his mind, regardless of what others thought.
Unexpectedly, Wang Shuo showed no respect to anyone, even lashing out at Li Chen.
Now, many netizens and busybodies rushed to Li Chen's blog to challenge him.
“I’ve noticed that Xiao Li Zi seems to always disdain the Beijing Circle.”
“Wang Shuo’s ex-girlfriend, Xu Cai Nv, and Xiao Li Zi seem to have never had any interaction.”
“Wang Shuo’s good friend, Xiao Gang Pao, is even more at odds with Xiao Li Zi. Wang Shuo is standing up for his ex-girlfriend and brother.”
“Isn’t this another Zhang Yimou? The difference is that Zhang Yimou made a curse of the golden flower, and Wang Shuo just expended some saliva.”
Li Chen sneered inwardly and no longer responded to the media.
He directly replied to that writer on his Sina blog.
“It’s not strange that the post-80s generation doesn’t know him, after all, he’s from the post-50s generation.”
“But if the post-50s generation doesn’t know the post-80s generation, then they are either ignorant or out of touch with the Times.”
“Also, don’t talk to me about the Beijing Circle, Shanghai Circle, Hong Kong, or Northwest Circle. I hate these small cliques the most.”
“A toad crawling on your foot, it doesn’t bite but it’s disgusting.”
“Rongchen Film and Television faces the entire Chinese-speaking world, the Chinese community, not the small-mindedness of a single family!”
Netizens were even more excited. Wang Shuo was unreasonable, but Li Chen was even more so.
Blasting the Beijing Circle, he also dragged in the Shanghai Circle, Northwest Circle, and Hong Kong.
It was simply a show of overwhelming force, fearing no one.
Artists in the industry all widened their eyes.
The gossip came one after another, too much to keep up with.
But surprisingly, none of the artists dared to speak up.
This was because none of the bigwigs who were competing were people they could comment on.
Even Gong Li, who was named by Li Chen, chose to turn off her phone to deal with the persistent reporters.
Once Li Chen's blog post was published, Wang Shuo was also half-dead with anger.
For a while, it seemed like everyone had quieted down.
Netizens were talking about it with great relish.
“Indeed, if Xiao Li Zi doesn’t come out, who can compete? Once Xiao Li Zi comes out, all is peaceful.”
“Xiao Li Zi dares to bash Wang Shuo because Xiao Li Zi’s fame has nothing to do with Wang Shuo.”
“Unlike Zhang Yimou, Xiao Gang Pao, Jiang Wen, and others, whose breakthrough works were all adaptations of Wang Shuo’s novels. They owe him, so how dare they bash Wang Shuo!”
“Zhang Yimou was called a decorator by Wang Shuo, and he could only laugh and jokingly say that he was indeed busy with studio renovations during this period.”
The fierce competition during the New Year Film Season was spectacular, and Zhang Weiping temporarily chose not to argue with Li Chen.
He focused on the box office of curse of the golden flower, still stirring up topics every day.
The war of words with Chow Yun-fat continued, but it didn't seem to have much effect.
Zhang Weiping then launched his second move: fabricating scandals. Whose scandals? Of course, Zhang Yimou and Gong Li's.
“Insiders from the curse of the golden flower crew reveal that Zhang and Gong have been reunited for several months.”
As soon as this news broke, the keywords “curse of the golden flower,” “Zhang Yimou,” and “Gong Li” once again appeared in various websites and media publications.
Even the Premiere of ip man, held on January 6th at the Great Hall of the People, had some of its attention stolen by the news of Zhang and Gong's reunion.
However, the red carpet ceremony and the guests attending the ip man Premiere were not at all inferior to the lineup of curse of the golden flower.
Li Chen, Han Sanping, Boss Yang, and Wang Changtian, several bigwigs in the industry, all made an appearance.
Artists from Rongchen Film and Television, Emperor Motion Pictures, Enlight Media, and Orange Sky Entertainment all turned out in full force.
The scene was star-studded, and even more rare was that.
Jackie Chan and Jet Li, two kung fu stars, as well as Hong Kong’s Sammo Hung and other martial arts stars, also appeared at the Great Hall of the People.
It was a lively kung fu feast.
Li Chen also reined in his sharp edge, trying to only talk about ip man and nothing else.
Liu Yan and Xie Nan's dual hosting combination still delivered witty remarks.
When Liu Yan asked Li Chen, who was sitting in the audience, why he chose Zhang Jin on stage to play ip man.
Li Chen directly said, “I only hope that more Jackie Chan and Jet Li can emerge from China, after all, these two are not young anymore.”
“Hong Kong has Donnie Yen and Max Mok who can take over, and the mainland also needs new talents like Zhang Jin to carry on the legacy.”
As soon as Li Chen finished speaking, Zhang Jin, who was standing on the stage, actually shed tears.
Who says a man doesn't shed tears easily? It's just that he hasn't reached the point of sadness yet.
Xie Nan seized the opportunity to ask Zhang Jin if he was particularly grateful to Director Li.
Zhang Jin smiled and said, “The ancients once said that a favor should be repaid a hundredfold. I now understand what kind of feeling that is, just like how I feel now.”
Everyone in the audience applauded. Tonight's ip man Premiere was undoubtedly a success.
Zhang Jin’s screen image and fight scenes were much better than Donnie Yen’s.
The grand success of the Premiere was reported the next day.
However, it was overshadowed by a piece of news about curse of the golden flower.
Sina Entertainment News
“Zhang and Gong’s reunion is absolutely impossible, insiders reveal Gong was unfaithful first!”
It turns out that back then, it wasn't that he refused to give a marriage certificate.
The insider also revealed that if it were the current internet era back then, Gong's true colors would have been exposed long ago.
How could the man have carried the blame for so many years?
In addition, the insider also revealed another important reason for their breakup was that Gong verbally abused the other party’s daughter.
Even Sina added a line at the bottom of this news: Sina publishes this news only to convey more information and does not represent Sina's endorsement of the above views.
Miss Liu, who rarely paid attention to gossip, also widened her eyes and pulled Li Chen’s arm.
“Look quickly, is this true?”
Miss Liu found it very hard to believe that the woman could be such a person.
Although Li Chen didn't know how credible the news was.
But in an instant, he immediately understood what the previous day's scandal was all about.
It turned out that everything was a self-directed and self-acted hype by Zhang Dapao.
He truly stopped at nothing, not only clearing Zhang Yimou’s name but also promoting curse of the golden flower.
At the same Time, he also disgusted Gong Li, whom he had always looked down upon.
Killing three birds with one stone.
Truly formidable.