Chapter 268 279 [Conquered the Three Golds but Not Discrimination]

After Harvey said this, the reporters at the scene were suddenly excited!
There is indeed something fishy about this. After all, Li Yishu has no vested interest in anything with Richard and Sean. Even though the two sides have such a big conflict, Li Yishu has never said anything. This is quite consistent with the stereotype of Oriental people in Europe and the United States.

A famous reporter in the audience suddenly asked loudly: “Mr. Harvey, what is the truth of the matter? Are Richard Gere and Sean Connery slandering Lee?”

“I know you are in a hurry, but don’t be anxious. Let me tell you what happened that day first!”

Harvey interrupted the reporter and began to talk about what happened that day.

From the time he invited the crews of the shortlisted films to a party and exchange ideas, to the time he welcomed Lee Yi-su and Zhang Yimou, everything was good at the beginning. But when Harvey mentioned Richard Gere and directly called Lee Yi-su and others Asian assistants, the discrimination had already begun.

Although this sounds like a normal sentence, Harvey imitated Richard Gere’s tone that day with great emotion, and his attitude of looking down on Asians made some Asian reporters and reporters from Asia in the audience very angry.

“I’m very sorry, this shouldn’t have happened. It’s the day of the Cannes Film Festival, and I don’t want to disturb this sacred film event where filmmakers from all over the world gather together because of other things. But it’s a pity that there are always some stubborn racists who like to criticize…”

Harvey was heartbroken, with tears in his eyes: “Lee and I are good friends. He is very, very good. He is the most talented and gifted Chinese director I have ever met. In my mind, he is also the well-deserved godfather of Asian films. This has been publicly commented on by Time magazine.”

“Not only has the world-class media given him high praise, but the three major European film festivals have also recognized Li’s talent.”

“In 1991, Li won the Golden Lion Award at the 48th Venice International Film Festival for “That Mountain, That Man, That Dog”;
In 1993, Li’s Farewell My Concubine won the Palme d’Or at the 46th Cannes International Film Festival in Cannes, which was the first time a Chinese director won the award.
In February of this year, Li won the Golden Bear Award at the 2th Berlin International Film Festival for his film “Central Station”, becoming the youngest director in history to win three awards…”

“Three awards in four years, Li conquered the three major film festivals with his talent!”

“But it can’t conquer racial discrimination!”

“Some people still use the color of their skin to discriminate and criticize Lee’s talent. I don’t know what Richard and Sean are thinking. Not only are they racist, they are also openly questioning the authority of the Cannes Film Festival, the Berlin Film Festival, and the Venice Film Festival.”

“Because they think Asians shouldn’t win awards, and they win awards through other means.”

“This is prejudice, this is naked racial discrimination, we should boycott such people!”

“Yes, I’m talking about Richard Gere and Sean Connery.”

At this point, Harvey seemed to have transformed into a messenger of justice, criticizing with righteous words: “Not only are they racist, they are also defaming the three major European film festivals that are fair, just and open. Their behavior is shameful.”

When the reporters in the audience heard these words, there was an uproar!
Racial discrimination + slandering the authority of the three major European organizations.

Asian journalists were angry at the two men’s discrimination against Asians, and European journalists were angry that they had slandered and defamed the three film festivals that Europe was most proud of.

Immediately someone stood up and shouted, “Mr. Harvey, is everything you said true?”

“I swear to God!”

Harvey made an Amen gesture, so pious, so full of faith!
“Mr. Harvey, may I ask why Lee is not here?”

“Who told you Li isn’t here? He’s backstage, go get Li!”

“…”

In a moment, Li Yishu walked onto the stage with a faint smile on his face.

His appearance immediately caused the reporters on the scene to get excited again.

Fortunately, with Harvey in control, the scene soon quieted down. Li Yishu said into the microphone:

“Dear journalist friends, I originally did not want my personal affairs to affect the normal operation of the Cannes Film Festival, but Richard Gere and Sean Connery’s smear campaign against me and the film festival forced me to stand up.”

“I have always been proud of winning the three gold medals. This is not only my honor, but also a reflection of the fairness and justice of the three major film festivals, Venice, Cannes and Berlin. Because as long as your film is good enough, no matter what color you are or what country you are from, you can win the gold medal at the three major film festivals.”

“Richard Gere and Sean Connery have never won any awards from the three major European film festivals, but they openly criticize the fairness of the three major European film festivals…”

After answering several pre-arranged questions from reporters, Li Yishu handed the microphone to Harvey, asking him to continue talking to the reporters and express his determination to the organizers and judges of the Cannes Film Festival. He firmly believes that the European Film Festival, including this year’s Cannes Film Festival, is absolutely authoritative and fair.

Seeing that things were developing in the direction she had imagined, Li Yishu could already imagine how newspapers around the world would begin to criticize Richard Gere and Sean Connery tomorrow.

Li Yishu knows how to change the topic. If he only talks about himself, the popularity will definitely not be high, and it will not have much impact on Richard Gere and Sean Connery.

After all, Li Yishu has seen too much of the nature of European and American countries in later generations. He is not like those sheepdogs in the mainland today who naively believe that there is really cooking in European and American countries.

Therefore, the best way is to downplay his “individual” as much as possible and shift the focus to these two people criticizing the injustice of the three major European film festivals. This will arouse the indignation of ordinary Europeans, including journalists.

Among them, the people of Germany, France and Italy are definitely the most angry, because the three major film festivals are right at their doorsteps and they are being slandered and defamed, which is tantamount to scolding them.

There is also Time magazine, which is a global authoritative weekly magazine. It publicly named Lee Ye-seok as the godfather of Asian films. But now two actors have criticized Lee Ye-seok for being unworthy of the title. Doesn’t this undermine the authority of Time magazine?

If a media outlet loses its authority, it will only become a third-rate gossip media.

Time magazine will definitely fight back to defend Lee Ye-su’s title as the godfather of Asian films in order to maintain their authority.

The press conference, originally scheduled for one hour, lasted a full two hours.

Only then did the reporters from all over the world return with the materials in satisfaction. They had to compile the press releases as quickly as possible and send them back to their respective newspapers so that they could be published before others.

5 month 6 number.

With only six days left until the 47th Cannes International Film Festival, media from all over the world began to report on the press conference held by Harvey yesterday afternoon.

Public opinion completely exploded in an instant.

In a hotel box.

Harvey put the newspapers from dozens of newspapers he had collected on the table and said, “Li, look at these newspapers. Charlie and Sean will be in trouble this time. Don’t forget what you promised me.” After he finished speaking, his eyes were narrowed with laughter.

“Don’t worry, Harvey. I’ve always been very caring towards my friends. If you don’t believe me, you can send someone to ask around. I’ve given generous rewards to those who have helped me in the past.”

Li Yishu patted Harvey’s arm and said, “You can tell Quentin that I won’t compete with him for the Palme d’Or this year, and I will find a way to help him win it.”

“Can you PR the Cannes jury?”

Harvey’s face changed. The jury of the three major film festivals is different from the jury of the Academy Awards. The jury is different every year, and no one knows who the judges are before the announcement.

Li Yishu said meaningfully, “Xavi, you are not naive enough to think that someone of my age and skin color can win the triple gold grand slam, right?”

Harvey is a typical profit-seeking person. He has not yet gained popularity, let alone become world-famous for his public relations Oscars in the future. Li Yishu must have established a mysterious image of her with extraordinary connections and background in his mind in advance.

After all, the fact that he won three gold medals seemed incredible to many people, and there were also conspiracy theories.

Especially after the Berlin Film Festival announced the list of judges, including the Hong Kong film producer Xu Suo, some newspapers and media naturally made many controversial remarks for the sake of publicity.

But again, it doesn’t matter if there is controversy, because Lee Yi-su definitely got it anyway.

Even after Harvey handled so many Best Actress and Best Picture awards, and despite all the controversy, the Oscars did not cancel their trophies.

“Li, it seems I need to learn how to do public relations from you.”

Harvey’s eyes flickered. He didn’t expect that the three major European film festivals could also do public relations. In this case, would the Oscars, an award that already allows for public relations, allow for even more unbridled public relations?

Li Yishu didn’t expect that because of her words, she could actually open up Harvey’s Ren and Du meridians and make him start to take the public relations route.

But it’s a good thing this way. Next year, I can try to let Harvey do the public relations for those old white men who are winning Oscars.

At this moment, he caught a glimpse of a photo published in the newspaper. He picked it up and asked in surprise, “Is Duckling Chicken’s wife Cindy Crawford?”

Secretary Li Yixi remembered that Cindy Crawford’s husband didn’t seem to be this person. Did they divorce later?

“Yes, Charlie is really lucky!”

Thinking of Cindy Crawford’s sexy face, the charming beauty mole at the corner of her mouth, and her graceful figure on the cover of Playboy magazine a few years ago, Harvey couldn’t help drooling with envy.

“Cindy Crawford!”

Looking at the woman in the photo, Li Yishu still felt very familiar with her.

Cindy Crawford entered the modeling industry at the age of 17 and was unstoppable. In the 90s, she became one of the top five legendary models, along with Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Kristi Turlington, Claudia Schiffer and others.

It just so happened that this time point was also the golden age of the mainland modeling industry. Various modeling competitions emerged, and these beauty pageants were all sensational.

Men all love to look at beautiful women, especially in this era when aesthetic tastes are not distorted. Li Yishu first started by getting to know mainland models, and gradually got to know the four major supermodels in Europe and the United States. Among them, the one who impressed her the most was Cindy Crawford.

Naomi is black, Claudia looks weird, Christie is not delicate enough, and Linda looks pretty good, a bit like the heroine of the later Resident Evil, but she is not famous enough.

Therefore, Cindy Crawford best fits Li Yishu’s personal aesthetic in terms of appearance and figure.

But I didn’t expect that she would get married so early, and her husband was a “duck and chicken”!
“Charlie is almost 50 years old, but he married a young and beautiful supermodel. It’s really enviable!”

Harvey was so envious. Ever since he learned that Charlie married Cindy Crawford, he vowed to marry a hot model, even though he was already married.

“Yeah, it’s enviable.”

Li Yishu’s eyes flickered. He had to think carefully about how to treat people like “Duck Chicken” who had strong anti-China and independent ideas.

If this old guy hadn’t come to cause trouble for her, Li Yishu wouldn’t have deliberately targeted him. But now that he’s come to her doorstep, if she doesn’t take advantage of his current popularity and give him a good beating, there won’t be so many opportunities in the future.

His wife is supermodel Cindy Crawford…

Li Yishu gradually came up with an idea.

Models in Europe and the United States all want to develop into the film industry, because making movies is really profitable. A model can earn at most several hundred to tens of millions of dollars a year, and this is the treatment of a supermodel. After all, this is not the era when models can make a fortune.

It just so happened that Lee Yi-su wanted to make a musical film, and he was struggling with which one to make. Now he has the answer, which is “Chicago”!
Lee Yi-su was deeply impressed by this movie, because it was the first time he watched this kind of American musical. The movie almost restored a lot of popular song and dance elements from the 1940s and 1950s. At the same time, one of the male protagonists in this movie was Richard Gere!

But now there is definitely no share for this chicken, but the heroine can have a share as his wife.

Although Li Yishu is not very clear about the relationship between the two, it is certain that Richard Gere will not allow his wife Cindy Crawford to star in the movie he directs, but will Cindy Crawford really agree?

Americans themselves value independence and self-reliance, and a supermodel like Cindy Crawford must be very career-oriented.

Given his status as a director who has won three European awards, and the fact that a single movie has grossed over $4 million worldwide, Cindy Crawford would most likely agree to star in the film despite Richard Gere’s objections.

In terms of roles, the second female role Velma, originally played by Catherine Zeta in the movie, can be played by Cindy Crawford.

Neither of them looks like the traditional American blonde beauty, and their heights should be about the same. Li Yishu met Catherine last time in England, and Cindy should be slightly taller than her.

And since she is a model, body coordination will definitely not be a problem. We just need to find someone to give her more training in singing and dancing. Anyway, this movie is mainly based on singing and dancing, so acting is secondary.

Who will play the heroine Roxie? There are many blonde and blue-eyed actresses in Hollywood, so we can just audition when the time comes.

(End of this chapter)