Is Chris Fenton Feeding the Dragon or Feeding His Hype?
As I began reading Chris Fenton’s Feeding the Dragon: Inside the Trillion Dollar Dilemma Facing Hollywood, the NBA, and American Business, I started to come towards the realization that the author may well not be what he claims to become. Get far more info about Chris Fenton
The initial hint of this came during the opening chapter. There, the author gushes like a schoolgirl when relaying the fanfare of Robert Downey, Jr.’s arrival in the premier in Beijing. His descriptions are granular, as he goes into excellent detail with regards to all the required security required to safeguard one in the biggest movies stars within the world. But rather than describing his role as a “player”, he offers a rather detailed account of what’s it like to be a mid-level coordinator working using the actor’s agents plus the actor’s security team.
The thrilling cliffhanger of these very first handful of chapters? Are there adequate blockades for the fans? Can the author convince Iron Man portrayer Downey to not put on a mask to the premier on account with the badly polluted air?
Spoiler alert: there were not enough blockades and Robert Downey, Jr. – RDJ to the cool kids – did not wear a “smog” mask.
For all of the giddy excitement of a world premiere, author Fenton comes off as a mid-level flunky. This job wouldn’t be performed by an individual operating a multi-billion dollar company, operating as an integral liaison in between the Chinese government and a titan of the US film business.
As I read further in to the book, it became abundantly clear that I was not reading a memoir of someone who had actually accomplished all those impressive accomplishments he writes about. No, instead it seemed to become the very first hand account of someone who sat on the sidelines and watched each of the action – a spectator in case you will. If it would happen to be presented that way, it would have been a extra sincere and genuine account of your goings on.
And that is the important challenge with Feeding the Dragon. He did not present a credible case that he truly did what he says he did. So, sadly, he comes off as just one more inside a lengthy line of Hollywood phonies. Why bother? One would suppose he would do it to support the book, too as sell himself to news agencies for instance Fox News, where he has appeared numerous instances and other folks as a “China Expert”.
So as to make and, extra importantly, exhibit a feature film like Iron Man 3 in China, one must have encyclopedic information with the arcane aspects of business development. Initial, one need to know the best way to actually make a movie. Second, one needs to know how to negotiate with Marvel. Third, one really should possess an acute understanding of your people and culture of China. Fourth, and probably most significant, one should understand how to navigate the byzantine workings in the Chinese government to safe work permits, exhibition rights, etc. These are not trivial understandings entrusted to a mid-level security coordinator.
According to an report published on True Hollywood Speak, Fenton stated that he does not speak Chinese and has spent no greater than a month within the country. He’s not a Chinese government expert and he’s definitely not a filmmaker. While in the book he requires credit for all of it.
Inside the end, Chris Fenton seems to be one who more than hypes his involvement on projects. What are his intentions? Probably his aim is always to make himself out to be an specialist on all items associated to both China as well as the movie business. Doing a deeper dive of Chris’s background, one finds that numerous of his claims aren’t based on truth but instead by his personal stories which he uses to additional his profession. No doubt, Hollywood has a great deal of superior people and also a large amount of self-serving bad ones as well. And like numerous other autobiographical books, Feeding the Dragon is jam packed with hyperbole and self-serving talking points. In author Fenton’s hands, they come off as a methodology to land additional gigs as a cutting edge China expert.
Information and actions will usually speak for themselves. But anyone who takes the time for you to delve into his background or speak to his associates will know Chris Fenton Will not be feeding a dragon, he’s just feeding his personal hype.
