Chapter 489: The Performer

Entering the suite booked by the organizers, Murphy quickly looked around and then helped Gal Gadot unpack while continuing their earlier conversation.

"Every major city's girls have their own pride," Gal Gadot said, hanging her dress in the wardrobe. "For instance, New York girls often mock Los Angeles girls, and Los Angeles girls mock those from smaller cities."

"Regional discrimination," Murphy handed her a shoebox, "exists everywhere."

"Do people even discriminate against girls from big cities like Shanghai?" Gal Gadot placed the shoebox on the shoe rack beneath her dress.

Murphy shrugged. "Last time I was here for a premiere, I heard an interesting saying about Shanghai girls."

"Oh?" Gal Gadot's curiosity was piqued. "Tell me."

"There are only two types of people in this world who relentlessly chase after Americans," Murphy raised two fingers. "Shanghai women and Taliban men."

Gal Gadot didn't understand the joke, which had a 'foreign obsession' connotation. She thought for a moment and asked, "Does that mean Shanghai girls like American men?"

"Something like that."

Explaining this in detail would be cumbersome, so Murphy simply nodded and continued helping Gal Gadot with her luggage.

After unpacking, they washed up briefly and then lay down together, quickly falling asleep.

Over the next day and a half, Murphy and Gal Gadot adjusted to the time difference. Before the event, they visited the PDX district, which, though not yet under construction, had confirmed the Disney-Shanghai Disneyland partnership. With such a massive investment, future Disney films and related products would undoubtedly enter this vast market faster and more easily than those from other Hollywood studios.

In fact, Disney's main PG and PG-13 blockbusters might achieve simultaneous releases in both the U.S. and China.

From this perspective, Disney was ahead of all other Hollywood companies.

Compared to Disney's children's films, Murphy's movies would face enormous challenges entering this market. As long as the stringent censorship standards remained, Murphy's films would struggle to get released in theaters here. Even distributing official DVDs and online versions would be restricted.

In this market, films primarily rely on box office revenue for profit. Merchandise sales, while not negligible, are minimal. This applies to both domestic films and fully industrialized Hollywood movies.

"Strictly speaking…"

In the car heading to the Sino-American Film Forum venue, Murphy told Gal Gadot, "For the next five years, and possibly longer, this market will be closed to me."

Gal Gadot was puzzled, "Darling, then why are we here?"

"Well…" Murphy was momentarily at a loss for words. He couldn't exactly tell the truth, as that would be foolish. After hesitating for a while, he said, "It's complicated."

"Okay." Gal Gadot nodded and didn't press further.

She understood Murphy well and had long noticed that he kept some secrets. She never asked about them. Who in this world doesn't have secrets?

The car drove into one of Shanghai's top universities and stopped in front of a large auditorium that could hold hundreds. Murphy and Gal Gadot entered through a side door and met the American participants of the film forum in a waiting room.

Most were relatively unknown, except for one person.

"Murphy!"

A short, fat man stood up and approached Murphy, "It's great to see you here."

Then he turned to Gal Gadot, "And even better to see the lovely Ms. Gadot!"

Murphy walked over and shook hands with the man, "Jon, I didn't expect to see you here."

He hadn't known who would be attending.

The short, fat man shook hands with Murphy and Gal Gadot before saying, "Well, James Cameron refused to attend such events, so here I am."

This short, fat man was Jon Landau, the producer of "Titanic" and "Avatar," and a longtime collaborator with James Cameron.

Hearing this, and given his own collaboration with 20th Century Fox, Murphy understood that Jon Landau's participation likely had ulterior motives, probably related to the upcoming release of "Avatar."

After chatting briefly, they were informed that a discussion session was about to begin. The Sino-American Film Forum would last two weeks, and Murphy couldn't stay in Shanghai that long. This discussion session was his main focus.

Led by Murphy and Jon Landau, the American film contingent, seven or eight people in total, walked up to the stage in the auditorium.

As soon as they took the stage, the previously noisy auditorium fell silent, followed by thunderous applause. Sitting next to Gal Gadot, Murphy glanced around. The seats were packed, and even the aisles were filled with standing attendees.

These faces looked very young. Murphy guessed most were students from this university.

The Americans sat on the left side of the stage, while the right side soon filled with Chinese film industry professionals.

There were about ten people, including a few familiar faces like Jiang Xiaojun and Feng Daya. Murphy didn't recognize the others, who might be screenwriters like his side.

Once again, applause erupted. After these people sat down, Murphy noticed two empty seats at either end of their row.

Gal Gadot leaned in and whispered, "There must be some important people who haven't arrived yet."

"Hmm." Murphy nodded.

According to local customs, there had to be a heavyweight yet to arrive.

The organizers had prepared well. Despite the lively atmosphere, order was maintained.

Then, an elderly man in his sixties slowly walked out from backstage and headed to the front seat of the opposite row. This man seemed quite significant. Jiang Xiaojun and Feng Daya greeted him with smiles, but he only nodded slightly, maintaining a stern demeanor.

Murphy didn't know who he was, and neither did the students. When the organizer introduced him as 'Honorary Vice Chairman of the Film Association, Vice Chairman of the Writers' Association, renowned screenwriter and professor Cheng Baoguang,' the students barely clapped.

This place valued seniority, and Murphy quickly realized Cheng Baoguang must be a veteran with deep connections, possibly with the authorities.

Turning to scan the audience, Cheng Baoguang seemed displeased with the sparse applause, his discontent fleetingly visible.

At that moment, the students suddenly stood up, looking very excited, with some even shouting. Cheng Baoguang felt gratified, thinking the young people hadn't forgotten him, a famous writer of revolutionary films. But the successive shouts and applause embarrassed him.

"Fan Bingbing! Fan Bingbing!"

Clearly, the shouts and applause were not for Cheng Baoguang.

He turned to see a stylishly dressed woman ascending the stage, waving enthusiastically, eliciting more fervent responses from the audience.

Seeing the contrast between his cold reception and her warm one, Cheng Baoguang felt humiliated. Especially as the woman turned, revealing her backless dress, exposing her white skin, he found it quite offensive.

His pride, nurtured by the flattery from industry figures like Feng Daya and Jiang Xiaojun, was deeply wounded.

When did he, a respected mainstream writer and state-subsidized professor, become less significant than a female entertainer?

Cheng Baoguang, his face dark, took his seat.

The auditorium buzzed with excitement. Someone whispered to the actress, who acknowledged the situation and smiled at Murphy's row, then returned to her seat at the end of her row.

The organizers and host took some time to calm the enthusiastic audience.

"She's very popular," Gal Gadot whispered to Murphy.

Murphy nodded, "Yes."

Although her works weren't highly regarded, she was indeed on the path to stardom. While criticized by many, in Hollywood, Murphy had seen much worse. What she did was nothing compared to some Hollywood stars.

There were many stars in Hollywood like her, popular but with few notable works, such as Jessica Alba, Kate Beckinsale, Charlize Theron, and Gwyneth Paltrow. The last two at least won Oscars, but the first two were more famous here than in North America.

After the translation was set, the discussion finally began.

A bald host with glasses stood in the middle of the two rows, holding a microphone. After a lengthy introduction, he said, "Today, we have many outstanding filmmakers from China and the United States to discuss the art of cinema…"

"We're discussing the art of cinema, right?"

An older voice interrupted the host. Despite his awkwardness, the host, seeing it was Cheng Baoguang, nodded, "Yes, the art of cinema."

"Good! Since we're discussing the art of cinema…" Cheng Baoguang pointed to the end of his row, "What right does an entertainer have to participate?"

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