The Best Director

Chapter 381: Chapter 381: Who Made Who Cry! (Seeking Monthly Pass)

From July 15-21, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” newly released in 3770 theaters, took the crown with $85.8 million; in its fifth week, “Firefly” saw a North American box office trend of -38.4%, grossing $35,019,600 for the second place of the week (with an average of $8,724 per venue across 4013 theaters), and the North American total box office rose to $584.3 million, climbing to 15th place in the all-time box office rankings after adjusting for inflation, with a current gap of about $20 million from “Star Wars Episode III: Return of the Jedi” (1983) at 14th place, and just slipping to 16th place was the classic crime comedy “The Sting” (1973), which boasted Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, and more.

In the overseas market, “Firefly” expanded its release to 107 countries and regions this week, +31, though these were smaller markets. Despite some gains, the box office trend still fell by -35.6%. After taking in $72.62 million for the week, the overseas total box office reached $876 million, with a global cumulative of $1.4603 billion in 35 days.

Whoosh—against a backdrop of blue sky and white clouds, a passenger jet sped towards Asia.

As he would be returning to San Francisco in August with his wife to shoot “500 Days of Summer,” Wang Yang had prioritized something he had talked about for a long time but had never done: purchasing property back home to build a home in the Bay Area. Of course, all these domestic affairs were entrusted to Jessica to manage. With a reluctant heart, Wang Yang embarked on the inevitably hectic “Firefly” tour of Asia, leaving the remaining preparatory work for “500 Days of Summer” to the other producers and various departments of the crew.

“Magical Yang has come to Beijing!!!”

Forums like Tianya, Mop, and Baidu Tieba, hubs for movie and entertainment discussions, have recently added lively topics. Entertainment sections on websites such as Sina, NetEase, Sohu, and Tencent are boiling over with excitement. The superstar director Wang Yang incorporated the landscapes of Shaanxi’s Xunyang, Shanxi, and Hunan’s Zhangjiajie into the futuristic sci-fi world, and now with the impressive earnings of $1.46 billion for “Firefly,” he has once again set foot on the Divine Land.

What does overwhelming popularity look like? It’s having over a thousand fans and supporters at the capital airport with banners bearing all variations of “Yang,” enough flowers to instantly open a florist’s shop, where the entire airport security team and personal bodyguard team can barely control the scene; it’s threads on Tieba and other forums refreshing at the speed of sound, with Wang Yang’s newly opened Sina Weibo blog skyrocketing into the top ten rankings; it’s all the website’s news about Wang Yang marked with “HOT,” even the eighty-year-old grandmothers dancing in the squares know this young man! It’s breaking a ton of box office records…

According to multiple domestic media reports, “Firefly” has been the box office champion in China for five consecutive weeks since its release, with first-week earnings of 110 million yuan, 75 million in the second week, 70 million in the third week, 65 million in the fourth week, and 50 million in the fifth week, reaching a total of 370 million yuan over 35 days (about 12 million viewers, approximately $44.74 million), becoming the new weekly box office champion every week, and setting records as the fastest to 100 million (7 days), 200 million (15 days), and 300 million yuan (27 days)… It took 34 days to surpass the seven-year record (1998-2005 July) held by “Titanic,” soaring to the new champion of the domestic box office history.

Nowadays, most moviegoers in China go to the cinemas specifically for a certain movie. In this surge of movie-going, countless students and young people are visiting the big screen for the first time, spending dozens of bucks, yet they temporarily lack the spending power or enthusiasm. So while the film market is booming on one hand, “Initial D” suffers a severe blow on the other hand with its mediocre box office of around 15 million, leaving the crew unable to even celebrate, as the audience decides to save it for online watching later!

“Paranormal Activity” wasn’t imported, “High School Musical” wasn’t imported, “The Pursuit of Happyness” had a weak response, “Juno” had a weak response, “District 9” managed to break 100 million but was considered ‘only’ due to its late introduction, “The Hangover” wasn’t imported, “MIT-21-TEAM” showed early potential, “The Devil Wears Prada” was the favorite among women, but this year, with one production planned “Kung Fu Panda” and one directed “Firefly,” Wang Yang has completely shot to fame throughout the land, passed on by young people and netizens, and with that, the number of his detractors—’Yang haters’—has also soared, making him a widely controversial national idol.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

News of Wang Yang’s arrival in Beijing naturally caused a sensation among movie fans and a scramble for coverage by the media. The entertainment headline on Sina’s homepage read, “Wang Yang Arrives Alone at the Capital Airport,” noting he appeared solitary without the presence of Mrs. Yang or other “Firefly” cast members, though he was surrounded by plenty of bodyguards and assistants. He was seen leaving the airport amid a throng; Netease’s entertainment front page featured “Wang Yang Hugs and Takes Photos with Female Fans (Photos),” with each picture showing a crowded waiting area, where Wang Yang took photos with female fans who presented flowers and excitedly gave him bear hugs, ranging from fashionable ladies to ordinary girls; Tencent Entertainment News read, “Wang Yang Appears in Beijing, Smiles at his Fans (Photos)”…

“During the time you were just expelled from the University of Southern California, first off, I must say I’m sorry.” The audience in the studio fell silent; Wang Yang was participating in a recording for the CCTV-3 talk show “Artistic Life.” Zhu Jun on the stage sofa looked somber as he watched Wang Yang nodding with a smile, and asked, “That must have been tough, right? Was it like an end-of-the-world feeling? What were you thinking, how did you feel at that time?”

“Um, I felt lost, depressed, and angry back then, but very grateful I didn’t lose my fighting spirit; and I’m equally grateful that I didn’t feel any pressure from my family or parents, which allowed me to pursue boldly.”

Wang Yang shrugged. Compared to when he was 18 or 19 years old, he thought about many things much more comprehensively and clearly. Looking at the audience, he said, “Many people don’t lack courage or fighting spirit, but rather the opportunity. Compromising to family is not a sign of weakness, oftentimes, it’s just what you should do. How can one, in pursuit of another kind of happiness that knocks at the door, quarrel with and then break away from the present happiness and joy?”

The audience was silent, deep in thought. How would you feel if your parents argued with you, demanding you to study finance and economics at Stanford and threatening to disown you if you didn’t comply—that would still be considered light; what if you had to leave behind your family who relied on you for support, how could you then throw everything behind and head off to Los Angeles unhesitatingly? Environment, welfare, family, and other factors all nurture dreams, rather than a simple question of having or not having guts. Wang Yang spoke with a calm voice, “It’s in the face of those choices that life is really tough, my situation was nothing in comparison.”

Zhu Jun, failing to garner the emotionally stirring effect he was hoping for, nodded and let Wang Yang continue, “That’s why I understand how vitally important the full support of one’s family can be for a person. But no matter what, you simply cannot give up on yourself because you never know when the opportunity will come, and when it suddenly does, if you miss it, that’s the real end of the world.” As he finished, the audience burst into applause: “Clap clap clap—”

Not giving up on pursuing tear-jerking topics, Zhu Jun asked, “Did you ever resent anyone or anything at that time?” Wang Yang thought back and couldn’t help but smile, disappointing Zhu Jun once more, “At the start, I was mad at everyone. Me, racially discriminating? That was a huge mistake! Looking back now, I also made many mistakes in that incident, including my previous reputation—I shouldn’t have handled it that way, there were many ways to salvage the situation, but I was just too naive and radical back then. However…” he shrugged, “That was a beginning.”

Can’t this kid show some emotion?! Mentally disgruntled, Zhu Jun thought about other topics like jail time or the death of Wang Yang’s kung fu master; he decided to get straight to the point, “Did you ever cry?”

“No,” Wang Yang answered without a second thought. He was aware of the show’s “trying to make the guests cry” style before he came on, but he didn’t think he would cry, especially when lately he had been brimming with joy. Just the thought of his baby made him giggly! Wang Yang adjusted his sitting posture and smiled, “I’m not good at crying. I heard that you have to cry on ‘Artistic Life,’ but I’m really not good at that, you know, men have developed prostate glands, women have developed lacrimal glands.”

“Hahaha!” The entire audience had already burst into laughter, with not many conservative middle-aged and elderly people present. Young people laughed and applauded, as the sound engineer played some crisp, atmosphere-lifting music, some were eagerly gossiping, “Zhu Jun’s got it rough this time,” “Told you he can’t sway Wang Yang,” “Would be great to see him cry!”…

Although he couldn’t hear these voices, Zhu Jun still felt embarrassed and annoyed, as if he had been slapped in the face without warning, unsure of what to say next. He cursed Wang Yang under his breath for being unfit for sophisticated company, then chuckled and said seriously, “Behind the sentimentality is a serious matter.”

Wang Yang nodded in agreement, refraining from adding another “we’re all made of water.” He explained with a laugh, “I just think we can talk about it with a smile, no need for tears.” Looking around, he suddenly said, “There’s nothing really scary here, though it’s not a beautiful female host, there’s no need to cry about it.” He turned to Zhu Jun, “You’re quite cute yourself.”

“Haha!” The audience had already burst into a whole wave of laughter, infuriating Zhu Jun to the point of breathlessness, who chuckled foolishly, “Thanks a lot!”

With a satisfactory response from the audience’s laughter, Wang Yang believed there was no issue at hand – the topic wasn’t serious. And at some point, his appearances on talk shows had become about how to tease and play tricks on the hosts, to steer the atmosphere towards humor, ensuring the audience enjoyed the fun. Not wanting to let Zhu Jun control the pace, Wang Yang took the lead with a smile, “I’d like to share some happy and interesting things with everyone, especially since my wife is 18 weeks pregnant and just started to feel the baby move. It’s such an amazing feeling! Zhu Jun, I’m not sure, do you have kids?”

Zhu Jun, sensing danger, reluctantly replied, “Yeah.” Wang Yang beamed with the joy of finding a kindred spirit, “Then you must know that feeling!” Zhu Jun went along with it, “I know, it’s wonderful.” Wang Yang seemed to remind him, “I’m not talking about the baby moving, I’m talking about the feeling of listening to the baby move.”…

“Hehehe! Haha!…” Amid the laughter from the hundreds in the audience, the chuckles and forced laughter from Wang Yang and Zhu Jun, this strangely tense episode of “Artistic Life” finally wrapped recording. The directors were sweating profusely. Afterward, Zhu Jun scrapped the original plan of generously offering everyone a meal, and could only scream inside, “I never want to see him again, even if Bill Gates came, I’d tell him to get lost! Get out—!!”

That very day, news spread online, with a blog post on Sina saying “I’m going to record ‘Artistic Life’ today! Looking forward to conversing with Mr. Zhu Jun!” The Wang Yang episode of “Artistic Life,” which had garnered a lot of media and fan attention, indeed got recorded, with the biggest celebrity the show had ever invited! However, according to netizens who were present at the recording, Zhu Jun was nearly brought to tears by the magnificent Yang Wang! Nearly lost his cool on the spot!

What?! That exhilarating! What exactly happened!! The media and public were instantly stirred up. Previously, everyone was guessing if Zhu Jun would make Wang Yang cry, you know, firing, jail, the death of a master, all tearjerkers! Some said yes, others no, with a survey showing ratios of 42%, 45%, and 13% of netizens not interested, the editor forgot to include the option “Zhu Jun being made to cry by Wang Yang”!

Die-hard fans of Wang Yang weren’t surprised or shocked in the least; it was all expected. After all, the “funniest Best Director of all time” wasn’t someone Zhu Jun could make cry, no? It wasn’t merely underestimating Zhu Jun; truly, the magnificent Yang had never made a single mistake on various award stages, never disappointing, always a sweet friend to the organizers and live broadcasters; and even more so on all types of talk shows. Tracing back to his appearance on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” in 1998, where he and Rachel McAdams sparked tons of laughter with ease, he had already shown his talent for biting wit, and since then, had become even stronger. Today, talk show hosts in America love and hate the magnificent Yang.

And now, Zhu Jun, who usually carries the air of a lofty artist, came up against the magnificent Yang…

“Can you please spare me?” Halfway through the recording of the show, Zhu Jun was almost reduced to tears by Wang Yang! According to netizens, Wang Yang wasn’t being senselessly argumentative or disruptive; on the contrary, he spoke a lot of heartfelt truths and philosophies. But on the other hand, his ‘quotes’ were frequent, causing Zhu Jun to go through a range of emotions on his face—blushing, then pale, then green-tinged, completely thrown into disarray. Zhu Jun tried several times to drive the conversation to emotional depths, only to have Wang Yang disarm the moment with a few words, followed by uproarious laughter from the audience.

On Tianya, a wildly popular new post titled “Miraculous Yang Ends ‘Artistic Life’!” by the poster Jīn Mábù recounted many memorable new sayings from Wang Yang. For example, when Zhu Jun asked him about his firing, “Have you cried?” Wang Yang explained the reason for not crying: “Men have developed prostate glands; women have developed tear glands.” Not only that, but later, because Zhu Jun kept harping on the topic of his master’s passing, Wang Yang seemed to get irritated. The show took on a heated tone when he said, “Zhu Jun, do you know the easiest and best way to manipulate emotions? Just say to someone, ‘Your mom!’ The greatness of maternal love moves people to tears when they hear it.”

By the two-hour mark of the recording, even the big star Wang Yang couldn’t smooth things over, as Zhu Jun visibly became annoyed and impatient. He took out his frustrations on the staff several times: “This microphone isn’t working!” At times when Wang Yang’s antics made the scene too comedic, he even shouted at the audience, “We can’t continue with this show!”

This post’s click-through rate was extraordinarily high, reaching six figures shortly after it was made, with the number of replies rising wave by wave. Netizens expressed their opinions. Sēnlín Lǎoláng commented, “Zhu Jun got what he deserved! He kept hunting geese and thought eagles were easy prey, now he’s pecked in the eye, right?” Wēnshā 03 said, “Zhu Jun’s tear-jerking acts make people sick. He talks about people’s families all the time. Others might fear you, but Wang Yang doesn’t, way to go!” Netizen Xiǎolù remarked, “If this is true, then Wang Yang is obnoxious. Zhu Jun was asking nicely, what’s with the anger? If you don’t want to answer, then don’t appear on the show. Think you’re something special because you’re a Hollywood director?” Wúyán de Chūnyǔ added, “That’s too disrespectful from Wang Yang!” The original poster Jīn Mábù explained, “At first, the atmosphere was just funny, but later Wang Yang obviously didn’t want to talk about his master anymore. He tried to skip it several times, getting increasingly agitated, and probably Zhu Jun thought it was his last chance, kept asking and asking, and as a result…”

yā o yī māo o ο Ο said, “Support Miraculous Yang!! Support, support, support…” Gaoxingg said, “Wang Yang is just an idiot!” Fánhuáluòjì said, “So satisfying! When will this episode air? I must watch it! I suggest that if Zhu Jun wants to make someone cry in the future, he should use Wang Yang’s words, but what about the female guests?” …

Portals like Sina and NetEase reported on the incident, and regardless of the platform, views and comments surged. A Sina journalist even contacted one of the producers of “Artistic Life,” Liu Guozheng, who responded, “It’s not as serious as you say, that there were fights, that’s not true! The entire recording process was very joyful; it was mostly that Wang Yang joked a lot.” When asked if this episode would air in its entirety, Liu Guozheng said, “There will certainly be some adjustments and cuts; we do this for every episode, it’s not targeted at Wang Yang.”

That said, netizens knew that the version they would see on the screen would likely show Wang Yang and Zhu Jun in apparent harmony, at the very least, lines about ‘prostate glands’ would definitely not be aired. Not seeing Miraculous Yang teach Zhu Jun a lesson would be a real pity! So netizens questioned why, if it’s an interview program and nothing violated regulations, shouldn’t it all be broadcast? What about all those male hospital ads, why delete?

For a while, the controversy and criticism surrounding “Artistic Life” came thick and fast, with many lingering issues suddenly erupting—the show’s intentional emotional manipulation, Zhu Jun’s past actions that had exasperated viewers and made them laugh…

As the instigator, Wang Yang spent two days in Beijing, gave several interviews to newspapers and magazines, attended a fan meet-and-greet, and then hurriedly flew to his next destination, Hong Kong. (To be continued. If you like this work, your votes and monthly subscriptions at are the best support for me.)