Chapter 95

As the time for his trip abroad approached, Lin Han, besides busying himself with preparing his travel itinerary, had almost nothing to do all day. With his formidable memory as a backup, he learned languages very quickly.

Originally, the rather tongue-twisting French became easier to learn and apply after a few listens. If he had used this skill during his student days, it would have been absolutely crushing, and becoming a globally renowned top student would not have been a problem.

Looking at maps and itineraries, learning French and etiquette, Lin Han even simulated the transportation methods. He could simply rely on his memory when it was time to travel, and this was how a top student’s travel style was so different.

He was not a big star or a famous writer, so his travel was very simple, just dragging a suitcase and carrying a backpack.

On the contrary, Chen Jiaxuan had more luggage and had to pay extra for checked baggage. She was there for official business, so she was fully equipped with clothes and gear.

"Are you not planning to wash these clothes? Are you going to wear one and throw it away, or stuff them in the suitcase to wash when you come back?"

Lin Han asked casually, trying to make conversation to break the awkward silence.

In the waiting hall, Chen Jiaxuan put down her phone and said, "Don't you know that hotels have dry cleaning services? You can just dry clean them after wearing. In the entertainment industry, appearance is everything; you can't afford to lose on that front."

"Okay, okay, you're right. I'm going to look online for some good movies to cache."

"You haven't seen how much stuff artists carry when they travel abroad; five or six suitcases are considered few. You can directly cache the latest movies on video websites. Do you have an account? If not, I can lend you mine."

A long flight obviously required some small distractions to pass the time. Although the plane’s movie library could be used to watch movies, the updates were slow, and there weren’t many of the latest releases.

Lin Han’s iPad was fully charged, and the business class they booked could also be charged, so there was no need to worry about battery issues. "I have a membership account, I just don’t know what to watch."

These days, there were too many online water armies, and many movie ratings were all over the place, causing Lin Han a lot of trouble.

Just as he was searching for the movies he wanted on the video website app, Chen Jiaxuan touched his arm and said, "Hey, look at this news. Li Wenyuan is speaking up for you in an interview. I guess I didn’t misjudge him."

"What news? Let me see."

Leaning over, Lin Han took Chen Jiaxuan’s phone to look, and his eyes widened.

...

After becoming the owner of "Fantasy Era," Li Wenyuan had to step forward to promote the magazine. He, who usually avoided the media, began to accept interviews one after another.

As a significant figure in the adaptation of science fiction novels into movies, the journalist naturally asked about the movie "Beyond the Solar System" and its director, and Tencent Entertainment even used this as a selling point to post online.

"Everyone knows that Hollywood science fiction movies can achieve extremely high box office revenues in China every year, while the path of domestic science fiction movies is particularly difficult. Your movie 'Beyond the Solar System' seems to have performed poorly in both word of mouth and box office. Are you satisfied with this adaptation?"

This was not the first time Li Wenyuan had been asked such a question, but journalists and readers always cared about such details.

So Li Wenyuan had to answer, "I have always thought the movie was actually quite good. People were just influenced by the malicious negative reviews online and didn’t watch it with an open mind. If I were to rate it out of ten, I would give the movie 6.5 points and the DVD version 8 points."

The journalist immediately became interested and asked, "Are you saying that the DVD version is different from the theatrical release?"

"Yes, Lin Han is a talented director. The director’s cut on the DVD is the version he truly prefers, but it was abandoned due to its length of 162 minutes. If people watch this version, they will have the same thoughts as me."

The journalist silently praised himself for finally asking something different. Who would have known that "Beyond the Solar System" had a director’s cut? Under the flood of negative reviews, no one had even bought the DVD, let alone spent money to suffer.

"Is it true that you and Lin Han have a good relationship? Can you give a brief evaluation of him?"

"I can only say thank you to the netizens. It is they who have added a uniquely talented writer to the science fiction community, which is very fortunate for us. Lin Han is a talented writer, and his stories are very moving, whether they are soft or hard science fiction. Here’s a little scoop: it’s said that he is about to attend the London Book Fair to officially release the English and Spanish versions of 'I, Robot.'"

The Tencent Entertainment journalist was already overjoyed. What was supposed to be a perfunctory interview turned out to be so fruitful that it could be turned into several articles.

...

After reading the interview in one breath, Lin Han let out a sigh and said to Chen Jiaxuan, "He’s indeed a good buddy, even saying good things about me. Now, while there’s still Wi-Fi, I’ll quickly download the director’s cut of 'Beyond the Solar System.'"

"Are you not tired of it yet?" Chen Jiaxuan patted her forehead and advised, "There’s no need to make yourself unhappy. We’re going on a long trip, so let’s be happy. Focus on novels for now, and don’t rush to be a director."

Lin Han searched on his own and found the resource in the video library, which had only been viewed a few hundred times, and cached it on his iPad.

Although the director’s cut today is often just a gimmick for DVD releases, many so-called director’s cuts are not much different from the unrated or extended versions, just adding some deleted scenes and making minor edits, which don’t add much to the viewing experience.

However, some movies have such significant differences between the theatrical release and the director’s cut that they can be considered two completely different works. Many directors don’t have final cut rights and are heavily edited by producers, but the director’s cut can make a significant improvement.

A recent example is the epic film "Kingdom of Heaven" by director Ridley Scott, which was brutally edited into a story about a blacksmith’s struggle, leading to terrible reviews.

But when the DVD was released, the director’s cut highlighted the narrative advantages, fundamentally salvaging the movie’s reputation. As a result, netizens on IMDb, Douban, and other sites specifically noted that their ratings were for the director’s cut.

The same situation happened with "Once Upon a Time in America," which was edited down to 110 minutes by the producers, leading to protests from audiences and negative reviews from critics. However, when the 4-hour director’s cut was released, it became a classic, a true resurrection.

Since the author backend mobile app was developed, the author would constantly refresh the backend to see if the number of favorites had increased, if there were any comments in the past half hour, which friends had tipped, and how many recommendation votes had been cast in the past half hour.

However, he didn’t dare to look recently because the data was bleak. There was only one tip in a whole day, no recommendation votes in the past few dozen minutes, and even two fewer favorites when he refreshed.

...

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