After the global premiere celebration of “House of Flying Daggers” ended, Zhang Yimou took a long breath in the lounge backstage, a tired but relieved smile on his face.

Although tonight’s event had many twists and turns, it ultimately ended successfully and received far more attention than expected.

At this time, Shen Lang walked in with Liu Yifei and Shu Chang. Zhang Yimou immediately stood up to greet them, shook Shen Lang’s hand warmly and said, “Xiao Shen, today is all thanks to you and Yifei. If you hadn’t saved us in time, we would have been in big trouble tonight.”

Shen Lang smiled and waved his hand, saying modestly: “Director Zhang, you are too polite. This is the result of everyone’s joint efforts. Moreover, Yifei’s performance today was indeed very outstanding. It was her strength that conquered the audience.”

Liu Yifei’s cheeks flushed slightly, and she said shyly: “Thank you Director Zhang and Brother Lang for the compliments. I just did what I should do, and I am very happy to be able to help.”

As he was talking, the film’s producer Zhang Weiping also walked in. He was full of joy and said excitedly: “Tonight’s event was a real success. Although there were some minor incidents in the middle, it now seems that it has become a good opportunity to promote the film, especially Yifei’s singing and Shen Lang’s performance. The Internet has exploded, and everyone’s expectations for our movie are even higher!”

Everyone was chatting excitedly when suddenly, a staff member rushed in and said in a panic, “Director Zhang, there’s news from Catherine. She threatened to sue us, saying that we cancelled her program without reason and violated her rights.”

Zhang Yimou’s face darkened instantly, and he snorted coldly, “She still has the nerve to sue? It’s obvious that she was the one who acted like a big shot and didn’t abide by the agreement. It’s good enough that we didn’t hold her responsible.”

Shen Lang frowned, thought for a moment and said, “Director Zhang, don’t worry. Catherine’s behavior is just bluffing. She violated the contract first, and the evidence is solid. Her lawsuit will not have any results. However, we can’t take it lightly and we still have to be prepared to deal with it.”

Zhang Weiping nodded and agreed, “Shen Lang is right. We need to have the lawyers sort out the relevant evidence as soon as possible, just in case. At the same time, we can also use this opportunity to direct public opinion to our side and let everyone see her true face.”

Liu Yifei said softly, “I hope this matter can be resolved as soon as possible and not affect the release of the movie.”

Shu Chang followed up by saying, “Don’t worry, there will be no problem. The quality of this movie itself is very good, and I believe the audience will like it.”

At this moment, on the other side of the city.

Catherine paced around the room angrily, and her agent carefully advised her, “Catherine, calm down first. We are indeed in the wrong in this matter, and I’m afraid we won’t have much chance of winning if we sue them.”

Catherine stopped and glared at her agent with eyes wide open. She shouted, “Are we just going to let it go? I can’t swallow this!”

The agent sighed helplessly and said earnestly: “Calm down first. Now we should try to save our image instead of making a bigger fuss. You can issue a statement to explain what happened that night and try to shift the blame to other parties.”

Catherine pondered for a moment, gritted her teeth and said, “Okay, I’ll do as you say, but if you can’t satisfy me this time, don’t even think about being my agent anymore!”

The agent’s heart tightened, and he nodded quickly, then turned around to prepare the statement.

——

——

The next morning, reports about Katherine’s ostentatious behavior at the premiere of “House of Flying Daggers” were everywhere, occupying the entertainment pages of major media and the headlines of the Internet.

“Entertainment Early News”–The premiere of “House of Flying Daggers” almost caused a performance accident!

“Yanjing Youth Daily” – The premiere celebration of “House of Flying Daggers” was disrupted by Catherine’s nearly 10-minute delay at the end, which disturbed the whole live broadcast!
Chengdu Daily – Why invite foreigners to sing “House of Flying Daggers”?

“Huaxia News Network” – There are too many things about Catherine, four major reasons for the delay in her performance and an insincere apology!
“Sina Entertainment” – According to an interview with this website’s reporter, the song “Everything I Need” sung by Liu Yifei was not the original theme song of “House of Flying Daggers”!

“Tianya Forum” – Shen Lang and Liu Yifei come to the rescue, the theme song of “House of Flying Daggers” has been changed!

……

Various comments and speculations also spread rapidly on the Internet, triggering heated discussions among netizens.

Someone said indignantly: “Catherine is too much. She is obviously showing off and has no respect for the organizers and the audience. She should not be invited!”

Someone complained: “We Chinese have so many excellent singers, why did we have to invite a foreigner to sing our movie theme song? And we invited such a difficult person, and now there is such a big mess.”

Someone else joked: “It was originally a good premiere, but because of her disturbance, it almost turned into a farce. Fortunately, Brother Lang and Liu Yifei came to the rescue, otherwise it would have been really ruined.”

Some people also accused Catherine of being arrogant and rude: “Her so-called reasons are nothing but excuses. She just wants to act like a big shot, and her apology is so perfunctory and there is no sincerity at all.”

Some people focused on Shen Lang and Liu Yifei: “I didn’t expect Liu Yifei to sing English songs so well. Brother Lang is indeed a musical talent. It’s amazing.”

Someone analyzed: “This song change incident may be a blessing in disguise for “House of Flying Daggers”. Anyway, I want to go to the cinema to watch this movie even more. I hope I won’t be disappointed.”

For the crew of “House of Flying Daggers”, although Catherine’s incident caused some controversy, it also unexpectedly gave the film a higher exposure.

At this moment, Zhang Yimou and Zhang Weiping were in the office looking at the overwhelming reports and comments from netizens with mixed feelings.

Zhang Yimou frowned and said, “Although this incident has made the movie popular, it has also caused us a lot of trouble. We must quickly find a way to direct the audience’s attention to the quality of the movie itself.”

Zhang Weiping nodded and said, “Yes, we can increase the publicity of the film and release more highlights and behind-the-scenes footage to let the audience know the dedication and sincerity of our film. In addition, Liu Yifei and Shen Lang’s performances also add a lot of points to the film. We can do some publicity activities around them.”

Just as they were discussing, the phone suddenly rang.

Zhang Yimou answered the phone, his face changed slightly, and then he said, “Okay, I understand. We will deal with it as soon as possible.” After hanging up the phone, he said to Zhang Weiping, “Catherine has made new moves again. She actually posted a video on social media, confusing right and wrong and putting all the blame on us.”

After hearing this, Zhang Weiping angrily slammed the table and said, “This Catherine is really too much! We can’t let her do this. We must respond quickly and clarify the facts!”

Therefore, the crew of “House of Flying Daggers” quickly held a press conference, and Zhang Yimou personally came out to explain in detail to the media and the public how Catherine acted like a big shot, delayed her performance, and the crew was forced to cancel her show, and showed relevant evidence. At the same time, they also expressed their gratitude to Shen Lang and Liu Yifei for saving the situation.

After the press conference, the direction of public opinion gradually changed.

More and more people began to condemn Catherine’s behavior and support the actions of the “House of Flying Daggers” crew.

The film’s pre-sale box office continues to rise amid controversy.

As one of the parties involved in this incident, Shen Lang was not affected too much.

That afternoon, he was in a good mood. He waved his hand and gave half a day off to the employees of Julang Film and Television and Jingtao Music. He also generously booked a theater for everyone to watch “House of Flying Daggers” together.

On the one hand, this can be regarded as his support for Zhang Yimou;

On the other hand, he could also take this opportunity to go to the movie theater with Gao Yuanyuan openly and share the movie-watching time.

When we arrived at the cinema, we saw crowds of people filling the hall.

Gao Yuanyuan couldn’t help but exclaimed softly, a hint of surprise flashing in her beautiful eyes: “Wow, there are so many people!”

Shen Lang raised the corners of his mouth slightly, revealing a faint smile, and explained softly: “This movie has always attracted much attention, and with the incident last night, the popularity has soared, naturally attracting more people to come.”

Fang Wanhua, who was standing by, nodded slightly and said, “Ah Lang, it’s not that I don’t trust you, but seeing how popular it is now, will this movie still lose money?”

After all, Shen Lang was not optimistic about the prospects of “House of Flying Daggers” at the beginning, so their Shenghua Film and Television and Julang Film and Television did not participate in the investment.

Shen Lang paused for a moment, then thought for a moment and said slowly, “It’s hard to say. With a huge investment of 2.9 million, the box office must reach at least 9 million to barely make back the investment. But considering the current scale of our domestic film and television market, how can we have such a large capacity to support it? Moreover, it will be difficult for this film to replicate the brilliant achievements of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Hero in the overseas market.”

He clearly remembered that in the original time and space, the box office of “House of Flying Daggers” in mainland China was only 1.53 million yuan, and the global box office was only 9300 million US dollars. Judging from the box office revenue alone, it was far from paying back the investment and was even in a loss-making state.

If other income such as copyright sales and audio-visual products are included, it may be possible to barely break even or make a small profit, but the profit will be extremely slim.

Therefore, it does not make much difference whether you invest or not.

Gao Yuanyuan blinked and said softly, “So, this movie is facing a lot of pressure, but with Director Zhang’s ability, the quality of the work should still be guaranteed, right?”

Shen Lang sighed inwardly and said slowly: “Director Zhang is indeed a talented director, but the market is unpredictable, especially in the overseas market. Cultural differences are like a gully that is difficult to cross, which brings a lot of uncertainty to the promotion of the film.”

As they were talking, they had already reached the entrance of the theater.

Because it was held in their own Spark Cinema, staff were arranged in advance to maintain order and not cause too much chaos.

Everyone walked into the screening room, found their seats and sat down.

The lights gradually went out and the surroundings fell into silence.

On the big screen, the movie slowly began.

During the turbulent Tang Dynasty, the Feidao Sect of the people confronted the corrupt government. Both sides tried to spy on each other and infiltrate each other. The head constable Jin, played by Jin Chengwu, fell in love with the blind girl Xiaomei, played by Zhang Ziyi, while investigating her. However, he did not know that the other party was a bait specially arranged by the Feidao Sect, and the head constable, played by Andy Lau, who had always been his good brother, was also an undercover agent of the Feidao Sect…

When Shen Lang revisited the film after 20 years, he was still amazed by the costumes and props in the film. As a director, Zhang Yimou is an expert in photography and composition. Every frame is like a carefully crafted work of art, with harmonious colors and delicate scene arrangements, giving people a strong visual impact.

However, the film’s plot still has obvious weaknesses.

Take the famous Battle of Bamboo Forest for example. Although the infinite bamboo spears used by the head constables’ formation were creative in design, they seemed a bit abrupt in the actual presentation, making it easy for the audience to be distracted and unable to fully immerse themselves in the tense battle atmosphere.

Looking at the relationship entanglements among the three protagonists, there is an irreconcilable contradiction between their love for each other and their respective identities. They struggle and hesitate between emotion and mission, and ultimately can only end up with a lose-lose ending, which is really regrettable.

In addition, the plot of the younger sister played by Zhang Ziyi “resurrecting from the dead” in the final stage was very abrupt, which destroyed the overall coherence and logic of the film and greatly reduced the audience’s viewing experience.

Before “The Promise” and “Curse of the Golden Flower” were mocked and ridiculed on the Internet, “House of Flying Daggers”, the costume martial arts film that was another attempt after “Hero”, was the first to encounter widespread negative reviews, and even triggered “millions of viewers looking for loopholes” on the Internet. The film’s plot, characters, costumes, editing, etc. did not escape the “whipping”.

Compared to the Warring States historical background and family and national justice of “Hero”, “House of Flying Daggers” is a purely fictional story set against the vague background of the Tang Dynasty. The pattern and perspective are smaller. To be precise, it is more like a costume love version of “Infernal Affairs”.

In terms of roles and performances, Andy Lau’s performance in House of Flying Daggers is actually not pleasing, and there is not much room for his acting skills to be fully developed.
Regarding Jin Chengwu, the role of the romantic but affectionate “Suifeng” is indeed suitable for him. Zhang Yimou also joked that “after you finish filming this drama, the number of female audiences will increase by at least 80 to 100 million.” Therefore, the image of a handsome man is Zhang Yimou’s “frame” for Jin Chengwu. Compared with Wang Jiawei’s “Chungking Express” or Chen Kexing’s “The Warlords”, which explored Jin Chengwu’s acting skills, Zhang Yimou’s performance this time is indeed a bit shallow and flat.

As for Zhang Ziyi, she also “disapproved” of the role of Xiaomei at first. She had discussed it with Zhang Yimou in person and felt that the setting of a blind girl did not allow her to give full play to her role. Moreover, the script had been constantly revised and she was unsure about it. The final result was not satisfactory.

It can be said that “House of Flying Daggers” is a film made by Zhang Yimou’s personal imagination, combined with the beauty of images that he is good at, and a tribute to Hu Jinquan’s classic martial arts films such as “A Touch of Zen”. Unfortunately, he failed to make the script smooth at that time. He also knew that there were problems with the plot at that time, and invited various experts to give suggestions. After reading the script, Zou Jingzhi bluntly said that “it is too serious, there is nothing to say, and the plot and characters are very simple.” Although he accepted the criticism, he was unable to change it to satisfy everyone, so he just filmed it.

After watching the movie, Gao Yuanyuan whispered to Shen Lang: “Now, I understand why you didn’t take this role and didn’t let me play the role of the younger sister. I can feel that although the pictures are beautiful and the actors are working hard, the flaws in the plot still make the whole movie a little less interesting.”

Fang Wanhua, who was standing nearby, also came over and said with a little emotion: “Yes, I originally thought that Director Zhang’s work would definitely not be bad, but I didn’t expect it to be a bit disappointing. However, his photography and picture style are still very impressive, which is undeniable.”

Shen Lang sighed: “Director Zhang’s talent is unquestionable. His ability in visual presentation is top-notch. It’s just that this time, the script creation may not be up to his previous level, but this can’t be entirely blamed on him. Creation is a challenging thing, especially to find a balance between business and art, which is even more difficult.”

Honestly, even if he knew that “House of Flying Daggers” was a bad movie, he wouldn’t know how to revise it. (End of this chapter)