The director starts by learning from the abilities of renowned directors.

Chapter 11 Filming Completed

After the original film "Fame and Fortune" was released, people quickly came up with a new interpretation that Nightingale and Qi Leshan were both assassins.

The basis for this includes the points that Liu Yifei just raised.

If Nightingale were just an ordinary young lady from the Republican era, and if she hadn't received professional training, how could she possibly have gone down into the mansion through the ventilation shaft? Keep in mind that was on the second floor, so high off the ground.

If she was just an ordinary daughter of an official, how could she have escaped from Shanghai to Vietnam alone and lived a good life there?

That was a time of war and chaos!

Lee Ka-fai was blacklisted because he reported on the collusion between the three elders and the Ministry of Military Affairs to resell arms and embezzle military pay.

The film features a director who makes bad movies who once proposed an idea called "Demon Wolf," which was later reversed to "Witch." Is this also a hint?

Even the collision between the cruise ship the main characters were about to board and another cruise ship at the end of the film, with all the tourists missing, has been interpreted as Nightingale orchestrating the collision to prevent the secret of assassinating the three elders from being revealed.

Therefore, Nightingale and Qi Leshan are both secret agents. Nightingale's father, who was also Qi Leshan's superior, died in battle because the three elders and the Ministry of Military Affairs were involved in arms trafficking and withholding military pay. So Nightingale and Qi Leshan came to Shanghai to seek revenge.

Nightingale's participation in the courtesan competition was a pretense; her true intention was to use the opportunity to get close to the three elders!

In short, the movie is full of foreshadowing, and Nightingale is the real killer who is the one who is most deeply hidden!

Shen Qing herself didn't like this interpretation, but she had to admit that the interpretation of the nightingale clues was indeed one of the film's charms.

At the end of the original film, when the director of the bad movie, Zheng Qianli, was asked by a reporter whether the film was adapted from a true story, he said, "Sometimes your interpretation as the audience may be more insightful than our creation."

There are as many Hamlets as there are people.

Did the spinning top in Inception fall over at the end?

Shen Qing dislikes those interpretations of the nightingale, but he wants to leave room for open interpretation in the film.

Why did he respond so coldly to Liu Yifei's suggestion, only asking her to act according to the script?

He is trying his best to avoid forming an "official standard answer"!

If Liu Yifei's speculation about the plot was approved by Shen Qing, then when the movie is released and the audience starts arguing about whether Nightingale is the killer, and the two sides are fiercely debating, a reporter will interview Liu Yifei.

"Ms. Liu Yifei, what are your thoughts on the current controversy? Is Nightingale really a hidden assassin? Is she also a secret agent? Have you discussed this topic with Director Shen Qing?"

Then Liu Yifei told the truth: "I did ask Director Shen this question, and he praised me for being very observant."

Alright, here comes the official standard answer. How are the audience supposed to interpret it themselves?

Nolan can't let everyone know from the beginning whether the spinning top has fallen or not!

That's why Shen Qing poured cold water on Liu Yifei's enthusiasm, telling her to just act according to the script.

Shen Qing's goal is to film all the clues from the original version; how the audience interprets them is their business.

What he needs to do is prevent the so-called standard answer from leaking out.

If you absolutely have to ask Shen Qing for her own interpretation of the film...

He felt that interpreting the final ship collision in the film as Nightingale's pursuit and assassination attempt in Vietnam was unacceptable.

The images of Nightingale and Qi Leshan are already beautiful and moving; there's no need to ruin them.

Those filmmakers and the main cast members were all good people. They may have had their share of minor flaws, but they were all good people at heart.

In order to prevent the secret from being exposed, they killed all of these people, which ruined the image of Nightingale and Qi Leshan.

Nightingale is capable, and if Shen Qing had to assign her the identity of an assassin, he would probably do it like this:

Nightingale's father, who was also Qi Leshan's superior, was indirectly killed in battle because the three elders and the Ministry of Military Affairs withheld military pay.

Qi Leshan originally brought Nightingale to Shanghai to start a new life, but when Nightingale learned that becoming the top courtesan would give her the opportunity to meet the three elders, a seed of revenge sprouted in her heart.

Qi Leshan was initially reluctant for her to take the risk, but seeing her insistence, he agreed.

The original plan was for Nightingale to enter the three elders' secluded room as the courtesan, get them and their bodyguards drunk or drugged, and then Qi Leshan would break into the room at the right time to deal with the people Nightingale couldn't handle.

The plan took an unexpected turn. Nightingale originally thought that as a newly crowned courtesan, she would only be drinking with customers in the room at most, which would be a good opportunity to get rid of some of them and create an opportunity for Qi Leshan. After all, with so many people present, in broad daylight, what could the three elders do?

But she didn't expect that she was the one the three elders were after that day. She had only tricked a few people into drinking the contaminated wine when she was hung up.

Qi Leshan broke in as agreed, witnessed Nightingale's plight, and then went on a killing spree.

The nightingale's skills could have been learned from her father or from Qi Leshan; it didn't matter.

The Nightingale appears in Vietnam not to hunt down the main characters, but rather to be portrayed as the one who saves them.

Whether the main characters actually boarded the ship was a mystery, so what if Nightingale secretly prevented a few people from boarding?

In this way, the images of Nightingale and Qi Leshan remain the touching pair that the audience recognizes.

……

Liu Yifei has finished filming, and the production team prepared a small wrap party for her.

During the process, her gaze occasionally met Shen Qing's, and she would subconsciously look away.

It seems that Shen Qing's refusal to interpret the script and insisting on acting according to it had some impact on her at the time.

However, Shen Qing felt that he had handled the situation well. He wanted to avoid official leaks and prevent the formation of a standard official answer. He also needed to consider the film's dissemination, public opinion, and interaction with the audience after its release.

Filming continued the following day.

Then, before they knew it, it was Chinese New Year. Shen Qing called her parents, and on New Year's Eve, the crew wrapped up half a day early, and on the second day of the Lunar New Year, they postponed their start of filming until the afternoon.

In early February, filming finally wrapped up.

Zhao Hongwei flew to Shanghai specifically to organize a wrap party for the entire crew.

……

The wrap party was held at the hotel.

Tonight, every member of the main cast drank alcohol, and everyone was also looking forward to the reaction after the movie's release.

At first, everyone just thought that the word "lead actor" was very rare, but as filming went on, they discovered that the story was genuinely good.

"Director, please say a few words."

"Yes, let the director say a few words."

"director……"

Unable to refuse, Shen Qing raised his glass:

"Then I wish our movie great box office success!"

Wishing you great success!

"A box office smash!"

The crowd echoed this sentiment.

Shen Qing paused, then added, "And I wish everyone in our crew continued success in their careers, and that all the actors rise to A-list status!"

"Hehehe..."

The room erupted in laughter.

Wan Qian raised her glass and laughed, "Director, why are you only talking about career? What about love?"

Shen Qing looked at Wan Qian and said seriously, "Love is an illusion, and I'm afraid you won't be able to grasp it. The waters in this world are very deep. It's better to focus on your career."

"Hehehehe..."

Laughter broke out again.

Zhao Hongwei brought his wine glass to Shen Qing, clinked it with hers, and said, "I wish our film great success in Toronto and a huge sale of the copyright."

Shen Qing took a sip of her drink before asking, "How do I get to Toronto?"

"Go sell the rights! Our movie has a bit of a locked-room mystery feel to it, which is a popular genre in the international market, so there will be buyers."

"No, I understand selling film rights at a film festival, but why Toronto?"

"Venice's copyright transactions are not active, while Toronto, backed by North America's largest film market, has enough buyers and a wide enough demand to find buyers for any kind of film."

"I know the Venice Film Market isn't very active, but I mean, why not go to Cannes? Isn't that the biggest film market?"

Cannes?

"What's wrong?"

"Cannes closed its registration at the end of March, and it's already early February, and we haven't even edited the film yet."