Chapter 428: A Low-Key Release

Chapter 428: Chapter 428: A Low-Key Release

With only one week left before the official North America release, Future World Pictures headquarters held the final core preparatory meeting before the film’s premiere.

All key personnel—including production, marketing and publicity, public opinion management, distribution, and after-sales—were in attendance to coordinate the final release details, public opinion contingency plans, and the Oscar campaign strategy.

After a long time, Irene finally saw Ang Lee again.

At the beginning of the film’s creation, Irene, as the Producer, was deeply involved throughout the entire process, personally following up on and controlling everything from script polishing and finalising the main cast to script adjustments and pre-production preparations.

After filming officially began, she fully respected Ang Lee’s creative style and directing rhythm, completely letting go and delegating power, giving him one hundred percent creative freedom, and no longer intervening too much in the details.

Subsequently, she devoted herself entirely to the high-intensity filming of "Transformers," and since the schedules of the two projects were completely staggered, she had little interaction with Ang Lee from then on.

After filming wrapped and the initial cut was completed, Ang Lee completely faded from the public eye, as if he had exhausted all his energy, remaining silent and disappearing for a long time.

The outside world could see almost no updates from him, until the eve of the Venice Film Festival, when this talented director reappeared, stunning the international film scene with a highly polished finished product and winning the Golden Lion Award in one fell swoop.

Irene had thought that after such a long time, having experienced the glory and rest of the film festival, Ang Lee would have long since emerged from the exhaustion of filming and returned to his usual gentle and calm demeanour. But upon actually seeing him in person, she realised she was wrong.

Now, Ang Lee’s expression was still elegant and gentle, but a lingering layer of fatigue and weariness haunted his brows and eyes. His eyes carried the sense of vicissitudes left by long-term mental internal friction and extreme creative consumption. He still looked severely drained, far from the glamorous and relaxed state the outside world imagined.

Indeed.

But this fatigue did not stem from frustration; on the contrary, when the meeting turned to the work "Brokeback Mountain," a light instantly ignited in Ang Lee’s calm eyes. The weariness faded completely, replaced by undisguised pride.

That was the unique recognition and pride of a creator facing a masterpiece into which he had poured all his heart and soul and polished to perfection. He knew the texture, depth, and power of this work, and he also knew that this was a groundbreaking pinnacle of his directing career.

During the meeting break, while everyone was resting, Irene took the initiative to walk to Ang Lee’s side and spoke softly to start a conversation.

"Seeing that your state has been poor, filming this movie really took too much out of you. I let you have full creative control back then because I knew your extreme exacting standards for art films, but I did not expect the toll this film would take to be even greater than I anticipated."

Ang Lee nodded gently upon hearing this, a trace of emotion crossing his eyes.

"The filming of this movie was far more difficult than what is presented on screen. It was not just the harsh environment, but more so the control of emotions and scale.

This kind of hidden, restrained, and deeply buried secret affection is too delicate, too restrained. A bit too much would be deliberate, a bit too little would be bland. The whole process required precise handling of the nuances, which was a huge test for me and for the two actors."

Irene nodded slightly and took the opportunity to discuss the subsequent core plans, clearly finalising the Oscar campaign rhythm.

"After the film is officially released, we will first rely on the general audience base for ordinary romance films to stabilise the basic box office, and then slowly ferment and break out through word-of-mouth.

Once the film’s reputation is fully established and stably fermenting, and it successfully enters the Oscar nomination list, we will arrange a round of high-quality, in-depth media interviews, at which point we will need you to personally cooperate."

Ang Lee raised his eyes slightly upon hearing this, listening intently.

"For the core tone of the interviews, we do not need to deliberately play on emotions or overly sensationalise the suffering; we just need to truthfully recount your creative journey during filming.

You can be honest with the public about the various difficulties during the filming process, such as going to the Canadian mountains for location shooting, the extremely changeable and harsh weather, the remote and arduous filming environment, physical discomfort from not being acclimatised, and all the force majeure factors in mountain shooting."

"Including the rapidly changing weather during filming, the strong winds, low temperatures, complex mountain road conditions, the hardship of the crew travelling over mountains to shoot every day, and camping outdoors; also the repeated obstacles in shooting the sheep, the dilemma of repeatedly hitting walls while trying to adjust for the mood of the lens. These authentic behind-the-scenes details are what will most move the judges and the audience."

"Besides that, you can focus on your extreme control over the film’s emotions, scale, and narrative rhythm."

Irene further refined the promotional strategy.

"How to use the most restrained lens language to show the deepest, most regretful love; how to avoid subject matter risks and tell the story from a delicate, gentle, and objective perspective, without deliberately seeking novelty or playing on emotions, just restoring the most authentic emotions and fate of the characters.

Let the outside world see that this work is not an opportunistic topic-driven piece, but a sincere masterpiece that you have exhausted all your energy, repeatedly polished, and demanded the absolute best for."

After listening, Ang Lee’s eyes were full of agreement, and he slowly replied.

"Your approach is very solid. The hardest part of this movie was never the technical aspects like camera movement or composition, but the release and restraint of emotions.

Throughout the whole process, I was deliberately suppressing outward expression, using negative space, forbearance, and regret to support the core of the entire story. This restrained narrative style is difficult for the public to understand at first; it needs time to settle, and it needs the right channels to let everyone see the intention behind it."

"So for the subsequent interviews, I will truthfully recount all the difficulties and trade-offs of the filming.

Including the physical and mental torment of shooting in unfamiliar mountains for a long time, the repeated pondering of character emotions, the layer-by-layer control of narrative scale, and the process of the entire crew working together to polish the work despite the harsh environment.

Let everyone understand that every frame of the picture and every emotion is the result of repeated polishing."

Irene chuckled upon hearing this.

"That is enough. The Oscar selection is never just about film quality; it values the work’s humanistic value, creative sincerity, and artistic attitude even more. Your true journey, the crew’s extreme polishing, plus the film’s own texture, are enough to support us in steadily completing the entire Oscar campaign."

After a simple conversation, the two finalised the complete plan for word-of-mouth fermentation, public opinion guidance, and Oscar campaign promotion after the film’s release.

The anxiety and fatigue in Ang Lee’s heart quietly dissipated a lot. The confidence and righteousness exuded by Irene were also transmitted to him, making him feel a sense of certainty and confidence from the bottom of his heart.

Without a grand red carpet ceremony, without a premiere filled with stars, and without overwhelming street screen promotions, "Brokeback Mountain," directed by Ang Lee, landed in major cinema chains across North America in such a quiet and extremely low-key manner.

Under the precise control of Future World Pictures, the release rhythm of the entire film maintained a restrained style throughout.

From the release of materials to the landing in theatres, the entire process avoided all high-profile exposure, only using public labels like beautiful Western romance and fateful, regretful love for light traffic guidance.

The moment it landed in theatres, Echo Pictures launched the established art film Oscar campaign process, methodically submitting the finished film to major mainstream film selection institutions across North America, while simultaneously targeting top professional film critics and authoritative media reporters for screenings and reviews, starting to pave the way for official word-of-mouth.

Future World Pictures was already well-versed in this set of operations.