Chapter 720: Glorified Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Each time a car stopped by the entrance to the red carpet, a few cameramen would always s.h.i.+ft their eyes towards it. If it was an unfamiliar face, they’d ask the fellow cameramen who it was. If the others didn’t know, then it was most likely a small name coming to mooch the red carpet and was not worth moving the camera for.
As the influence of Berlin Film Festival was gradually declining, more and more people were calling for changes. Fewer and fewer big named actors and actresses were willing to travel to Germany for the red carpet, so most people were just red carpet moochers.
One of the cameramen noticed Famous first and focused on it with their lens. They then focused on Zhang Zian, trying to figure out who was playing the leading role.
The experienced cameramen bowed their heads and discussed the dog in low voices. “Where did this dog come from?” they asked each other. “Did this young Asian bring it here?”
“Is he a celebrity? How could the committee allow a commonplace dog to step on the red carpet?”
“Is it the Dog Warrior?” they continued to ask.
“It is the Dog Warrior!”
A quick-minded person quickly thought of the film that was soon to be premiered and connected it with the German Shepherd on the red carpet. He immediately realized that this was a very significant moment––maybe this was the first time in history that an animal had ever stepped onto the red carpet at the Berlin Film Festival.
Lin Feng walked out of the car with a slightly rigid smile on his face. He repeated in his heart, I am the biggest Chinese celebrity and everybody’s coming here for me.
He lifted his hand but didn’t know which direction he should wave it. The film fans on both sides of the red carpet were screaming towards a few international superstars. Apparently not many people cared about him, the B-list actor from China.
According to the plans prepared by his personal a.s.sistant and agent company ahead of time, he was supposed to stay on the red carpet for at least 10 minutes.
How could he survive these ten, hard minutes? Did he pose for the cameramen? Very few cameramen were focusing on him.
Did he sign autographs for the fans? No fan seemed to know who he was.
In comparison, the red carpet at a Chinese film festival was much easier.
Maybe he had to use his plan B and stir up enough courage to greet the other A-list celebrities with his broken English in hopes that the cameramen might capture him in the same photos with the superstars––otherwise known as popularity mooching.
It would be quite embarra.s.sing, but he had no other options. He had to keep up with the exposure in order to get more film invitations and commercials. He didn’t want to be forgotten by this forgetful industry.
Being forgotten was fine with Feng Xuan. He was over 50 years old, after all, and fame was no longer a big deal to him. After waving around for the sake of it, he walked towards the entrance of Berlinale Palast at his natural pace.
Lin Feng identified a superstar signing autographs for the fans and he silently rehea.r.s.ed some lines he prepared in advance in order to suck up. As he was about to walk over, he suddenly noticed that everybody was looking at him and all the cameras were focusing on him. The camera flashes were firing continuously and some cameramen even ran towards him to get a better angle. The look on his face was as if he really were the biggest Chinese celebrity!
Even the superstar that he was about to suck up to stared at him from a distance, unwilling to have all of the attention stolen by him.
The noisy fans suddenly quieted down. It was as silent as a pond before a thunderstorm.
Lin Feng’s heart was pounding. Did he suddenly become an internationally recognized celebrity without even knowing it?
As all of his confidence came back. He lifted his hands fas.h.i.+onably and waved to the fans with the brightest smile he’d had since the start of his career.
However, the fans were still silent and did not respond to him.
This was awkward.
“Could you please step aside?” the closest cameraman waved at him sharply. “You are standing in front of the dog.”
Lin Feng didn’t understand the cameraman’s German, but judging from his gesture and movements, he seemed to be more interested in something behind him…
Lin Feng suddenly turned his head and saw the dog trainer in the crew, of whom he didn’t remember the name, stepping onto the red carpet with Famous.
Every eye pa.s.sed by him and landed on Famous, who was wearing a bow tie and sungla.s.ses.
He knew that this was Famous’s debut in film. They both had blank CVs before this, and both were stepping onto the stage at the Berlin Film Festival for the first time. Why did Famous get so much attention? Were Germans really this fond of dogs? He had no idea at all. Besides, why did Famous look so d*mn calm and confident?
The camera flashes were firing again, but the extra light was absorbed by Famous’s sungla.s.ses, so that it could still look around without being in discomfort.
With everyone’s eyes gazing upon it, it lifted one front paw and waved it at the eager fans.
On the red carpet, it was hard to find a four-legged dog, but not hard to find two-legged people.
In the 2016 Cannes Film Festival and 2015 Academy Award Ceremony, there were dogs on the red carpet. Those two dogs, however, were nothing more than background characters and were not as handsome as Famous at all. In recent years, as the Berlin Film Festival had been remembered as old-school and conservative, no dog had even walked on the red carpet.
After seeing this, some business insiders turned their eyes towards the poker-faced chairperson of the film festival committee and secretly wondered if this was a signal of a long-antic.i.p.ated change to the Berlin Film Festival.
Most of the festival’s fans were from Germany, while some were from Europe and overseas.
Earth-shattering applause, cheering, and whistling poured out generously towards Famous.
Feng Xuan, who had almost entered the Berlinale Palast, stopped in surprise and looked back, wanting to find out which superstar had just arrived. But all he saw at the entrance of the red carpet was Zhang Zian and Famous.
Famous straightened up its body, lifted its head, and stepped forward.
Zhang Zian was planning to step back and let Famous walk in front. It was the hero of the festival, after all; however, Famous stopped after a few steps and waited for him to follow.
Zhang Zian stepped up with a smile and walked side by side with it.
He wasn’t carrying any baggage at heart, as he had a very proper perception about his ident.i.ty. He was nothing more than an owner of a pet shop, as well as the dog trainer in the crew. What did he have to do with the fame and money of the entertainment business?
They pa.s.sed by the motionless Lin Feng, then continued on their way forward.
“Hey, Jeff! Hey, Famous!”
They heard someone calling their names. After tilting their heads to look, a few people were jumping and waving as hard as they could from one side of the red carpet, hoping to be seen by them.
It was Reina and her employees. They were no longer wearing uniforms. They closed the store early so that they could come and cheer for Famous and Zhang Zian.
Zhang Zian waved his hand at them and Famous waved its paw.
“Did you see? He bought those sungla.s.ses from my shop. Isn’t it handsome?” Reina asked proudly to those around her. “I have the autograph of Famous. I’m its first fan in Germany!”
Zhang Zian and Famous took a few more steps and suddenly heard a familiar voice.
“It’s you!”
The young Turkish chef was also in the crowd, gazing at them in surprise.
Zhang Zian pointed a thumb at him. “Turkish kebab––delicious!”