Chapter 832: Unfair
Translator: Lan_ Editor: Efydatia
The popularity of the TV series and Qin Guan’s international influence inspired Asian traders, who always invested in domestic TV shows.
Japan was the largest market for Chinese historical TV series. The Japanese showed a special preference to detail and grand settings. South Korea, who was a loyal follower of Japan, also paid great attention to the series. In one week, the distribution rights had been purchased by both countries.
Provincial TV stations and advertisers were also approaching CCTV in great numbers. In a few days, the TV series had made CCTV a big fortune. The advertising director grinned from ear to ear even while he was asleep. The overwhelming news about Qin Guan’s new award were terrific.
Awards usually didn’t mean much, but the Golden Globes and the Oscars took place during the same period, and the former were called Academy Awards.
If the Golden Globe winner was recognized by other professionals though, then why wasn’t he nominated for an Oscar?
An Oscar was an award based on commercial value, promotion and popularity, and the selection was much more complicated than it was for other awards, which made data-analysts feel like throwing a pile of statistical forms at the Oscar judges.
The box office of “Charlie And The Chocolate Factory” in North America had reached 124.3 million dollars, and 26 countries had bought the film’s distribution rights, China included. The movie’s international box office had surpassed its gross in North America, reaching 1,500 million dollars.
Considering that the film’s budget had only been 23 million, the film was doing fantastic. Not a single film on the Oscars short list would dare compete against it.
Actually, Li An, who was the director of “Brokeback Mountain”, had won the Best Director Oscar. It was rare to see a Chinese man win an Oscar. Meanwhile, Zhang Ziyi’s “Memoirs Of A Geisha” had captivated audiences with its exotic charm.
However, the fact that there were too many Chinese people at the awards didn’t mean that Qin Guan should be snubbed. The organizers had just tried to avoid holding a Chinese-only Oscars ceremony in 2006.
Where was the fairness in that though?
Some radical Americans would argue that Qin Guan would not necessarily win the award, even if he was nominated, but the issue was that he had lost a fair chance in spite of his outstanding acting skills.
Another possibility was that the organizing committee was afraid of the actor. Given the chance, the Chinese media and agencies, Dreamworks, Columbia, as well as his fans, would become a powerful army that would stand behind him.
Thus, Qin Guan didn’t show up on the stage. This interesting incident would remain popular for a while.
There was no fairness in the future either though. George Clooney was the winner that year. Qin Guan’s fans felt better. If the winner had been a nobody, or one of the protagonists of “Brokeback Mountain”, they would have faced a storm.
This gossip was enough for Qin Guan. Some experienced actors finally accepted the film after some hesitation. They actually didn’t try to promote the film due to its limited budget, which was a rare case in the film circle.
The dark comedy with its absurd style did not follow mainstream directing methods. Qin Guan’s participation had ensured the approval of experienced actors though.
An award-winning actor with a high international box office was a good example for them after all. They would also be able to use him as an excuse if the film failed.
Qin Guan took advantage of the situation to disappear, despite his fixed schedule. Sister Xue had to call the crews of “If, Love” and “Letter From An Unknown Woman” to apologize and postpone Qin Guan’s scenes.
She had no idea about the deadline of the film in which Qin Guan had invested. Everyone was wondering if Qin Guan would have time to attend the Hong Kong Film Awards, the Tokyo Film Festival and the San Sebastian International Film Festival in Spain.
Considering his few, but extraordinary films the previous year, it would be easy for Qin Guan to be selected by a festival. People always tolerated lucky men. Thus, the directors of the two films came to terms with the result. They could wait until Qin Guan was done with “Crazy Stone”.
