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At that moment, with Fu Jinxiao’s eyelids lowered, the costume designer felt as if she had realized something.
She has never had such an awareness in her life, and she changed her words at the critical moment, “Actually, I don’t think they’re a good match. You look at the photo and it looks like it’s just purely acting. They have zero chemistry!”
Fu Jinxiao sneered, “You mean that Shen Xingsui is not photogenic?”
“!!!”
The costume designer panicked. “Of course not!! Suisui looks amazing! Totally divine!!”
Fu Jinxiao looked at her with a smile. Immediately, the costume designer wondered what kind of burial she would get.
At this time, Feifei behind him spoke, “Fu-ge, Meican-jie is on the phone.”
Fu Jinxiao looked away, raised his head, and stretched out his hand, “Hello.”
After the actor went out to answer the call , everyone in the room relaxed with a long exhale. They all looked at each other, and they were all keenly aware of the actor’s weird behavior.
Everyone looked at Feifei.
Feifei blinked at her fellow sisters and smiled, “This… cannot be expressed through words. If you understood, you understood.”
Wang Meican told Fu Jinxiao about Zhang Sansan.
This month, Zhang Sansan wrote a lot of emails to them, each of which asked Fu Jinxiao for his cooperation. Based on this, if Fu Jinxiao was still in China, the director would’ve gone to him directly.
After hearing this, Fu Jinxiao raised his eyebrows, “The adult version of Xu Yan?”
“Well, they said that they hope you can read the script and consider the role of Xu Yan,” Wang Meican smiled helplessly and said, “Actually, I have read the script and it is not bad, but the crew is very poor. He is a newcomer after all, and he has no experience, so I agree on letting Suisui join to gain experience. But if it’s you…”
Well, Fu Jinxiao was a Movie Emperor.
What kind of concept is this? The movies he has filmed, not to mention the ones that were well-known to every household, have already won various awards.
He had all the resources on his fingertips, he just needed to choose. Even big-named IP and popular directors couldn’t guarantee his cooperation even if they asked him.
“This matter…” Fu Jinxiao paused, “Does Suisui know?”
Wang Meican smiled and replied, “He knows. He doesn’t want you to lower your status for his sake.”
Fu Jinxiao curled his lips, and a little smile appeared in his eyes. His lover was very sensible, and even thought of him on every occasion. He wasn’t a spoiled baby, but my God, Fu Jinxiao wanted to spoil him silly.
Fu Jinxiao leaned against the railing outside. It was already night, the lights outside were bright and bustling, but compared to those luminescence, his mind was filled with his lover’s jade-like gentle face.
“I’ve read the script of this play. When I knew he was going to shoot, I took a copy and went through it for him,” Fu Jinxiao lit a cigarette. As the smoke dissipated into the air, so was a portion of his thoughts. “It’s a good script, but I think I won’t accept it.”
Wang Meican was a little surprised. “Is it because the production of the crew is small?”
Fu Jinxiao closed his eyes and chuckled, “No.”
Ashes and sparks fell into the ashtray. The man leaned against the railing, facing up to the starry sky. “If there are no accidents, this film can at least be a small hit. However… if I accept that role, I’m afraid I will inadvertently suppress him instead.”
After saying this, Wang Meican understood.
There was an unwritten phenomenon in filming – when a person’s acting skills were too superb and good, they would outshine their poorer partner no matter what. The audience’s sight would subconsciously be attracted to the better actor.
In other words, originally everyone would notice this small flower – they would want to see how it would grow and bloom. But if suddenly a gorgeous flower appeared next to this small flower, its limelight would be easily erased.
Wang Meican sighed softly, “In the blink of an eye, you have become someone who can take care of others at every occasion, huh…”
“In this circle, I can’t keep an eye on him all the time. He also has to grow up independently,” Fu Jinxiao held a cigarette between his fingertips. His voice drifted a little, “When I’m not around, I’ll leave him to you.”
“…”
“?!”
The next day–
“Lonely City” started successfully.
After having an investor, the film, which has been in preparation, was quickly put on the agenda. Shen Xingsui and other actors had good schedules without a conflict, so they could participate in the filming soon.
They were inside a film and television city, where many people come and go with every second of the scene.
Shen Xingsui changed clothes and put on makeup in the lounge. For this scene, he had to look like he was dirty and bullied.
Zhang Sansan came in and said, “Suisui, the filming is about to start, I’ll tell you about the play.”
Shen Xingsui quickly replied, “Okay.”
It’s been almost a week since the filming started, and he has slowly adapted to the life of the crew. He got up before dawn to put on makeup every day, and only finished work until late at night. Although his life was very busy, it was also equally as fulfilling.
Zhang Sansan explained, “This scene is about Fan Zhiwen being bullied by his classmates, after that, Xu Yan will come to the scene to save him.”
Shen Xingsui had read the script before, so he already had some image in his mind. “I know.”
“He was framed for stealing things, and he was hit as a result,” Zhang Sansan looked at Shen Xingsui with some worry and said, “Don’t worry, you will not have to be hit hard. We will find a convincing angle to sell the impact.”
Shen Xingsui had already made up his mind. After the background scene was completed, he comforted the director in turn, “Okay, thank you Director Zhang. Don’t worry, I’m fine.”
Zhang Sansan felt relieved.
Shen Xingsui had no burden to film and was not afraid of hardships, which was really great for him.
After the previous scene was cleaned up, they would move on to the next scene. As Shen Xingsui took his place, he greeted the actor who played Xu Zhe. The action instructor on the scene kept talking to him about the camera position, ” When the time comes, you will fall here. After he kicks you, you will protect your head and try not to show your face…”
Shen Xingsui carefully memorized every point.
His assistant Cancan came over and said, “Suisui, will the fight scene be real?”
“I don’t know,” Shen Xingsui smiled and said, “But it might look silly. But it’s okay, you have followed me these days, you’ve seen my worst.”
Cancan encouraged him, “Come on Suisui, you are the best!”
They were preparing to shoot on this side, but on the other side, the staff at the entrance found a car approaching. As the person inside the car exited, the staff were stunned.
–Because the visitor was Fu Jinxiao, clad in casual clothes.
How could such a big actor come to such a small-time crew?
The staff were all speechless.
Fu Jinxiao, on the other end, was still on the phone with Wang Meican, “Well, I’ll come and take a look.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t exercise any privileges. There are rules for filming. The youth have to hone their skills. If he has to suffer a bit to learn, I’ll let it be,” Fu Jinxiao said slowly, “I am just coming over to have a look.”
Wang Meican then hung up the phone in peace.
She was afraid that Fu Jinxiao would spoil Shen Xingsui. If the youth’s image was tarnished by being seen as this “spoiled, wilfull” celebrity, his future path might be thorny. After all, first impressions were paramount in this industry.
But after thinking about it, she could rest assured that Fu Jinxiao wouldn’t mess this up. He loved Shen Xingsui too much not to consider this matter.
The crew was still filming.
Someone came in from the outside. When Zhang Sansan was still explaining the scene, he accidentally saw a person standing not far away. He turned his head first, and then turned back again in shock, confirming that the person was indeed Fu Jinxiao. At that moment, his jaw almost dropped to the ground.
“T-Teacher Fu?”
Fu Jinxiao made a “shh” gesture with his index finger.
The literary part of the scene was already being filmed. Now, it was the action scene.
Fang Zhiwen was framed by a group of people for stealing. The group who bullied him was pushing and backing him into a corner. Everyone had malicious smiles on their faces, and they said in a taunting manner: “If you’re not the thief, then who? You’re the only poor person here, coming from such a shabby household. Otherwise, why would a rich person steal something like that?”
“You still don’t admit it.”
“I found everything in your pocket.”
Fang Zhiwen staggered from being pushed, and he clutched the corner of his clothes tightly. Obviously frightened to the extreme, he was still stubbornly red-eyed. With a trembling voice, he defended himself, “I didn’t steal it, I didn’t take it.”
“Do you think we will believe such a weak excuse?”
The supporting characters swarmed, and they took turns kicking him like a ball. They were gleeful about it, in contrast to the frustrated Fang Zhiwen on the ground.
Xu Yan ran over from the opposite side, and the boy’s face was full of anger, “What are you doing!”
Zhang Sansan quickly said, “Cut!”
He went out from the director’s chair. He held Xu Yan’s actor with a helpless look and said, “You shouldn’t just have a pure anger expression on your face. You should have a hint of pity and unbearable-ness of seeing such an injustice. Because at this time, you have just learned of Fang Zhiwen’s life experience, so…”
The director had to give the inexperienced actor pointers.
This part has to be re-shot, and in order to better brew the atmosphere, it started from the bullying scene.
Therefore, Shen Xingsui was going to be beaten again.
For the second time, it was another NG.
And so was the third time.
At the fourth time, Xu Yan’s actor was too nervous after making so many mistakes. He directly forgot his lines, making it another NG.
Zhang Sansan knew of the actor’s anxiety, so he called for a short break in hope that the actor would regain his calm.
During the break, the extras gathered around Shen Xingsui in worry, “Teacher Shen, are you okay?”
Shen Xingsui stood up. Even though he was trying his best to mask the pain with a grin, he couldn’t move much. He could only shake his head slightly and reassure them with words.
The little assistant Cancan felt the most distressed. While supporting him, she whispered, “Your hand is bruised. Also, your stomach was kicked just now…”
This repeated mistakes also made Zhang Sansan very nervous.
Although the actor’s mistakes were not the director’s fault, every time he had to re-shot this scene, he could feel Fu Jinxiao’s pressure increasing bit by bit. Now, the pressure was high enough to choke him.
Zhang Sansan felt cold sweat all over his body, but he still had to say something to the actor. “Well… Mr. Fu, I’m sorry, these actors are young and inexperienced, so some scenes need to be shot many times in order to make sure the quality is good enough. A-and especially because during later filming, there will be more action scenes… and even fighting scenes in the battlefield…”
This was all true.
Because the actors were indeed newbies, they would have to suffer a lot. Especially when wires1for martial arts scenes. were involved.
Especially if the co-actors were not good enough – the torment would only become worse.
Fu Jinxiao hadn’t seen Shen Xingsui for a while, and he could see that the youth had lost a lot of weight. Seeing that he had to suffer this much during the youth era, he couldn’t imagine how much it would scale up when they film the adult era.
It’s not that Fu Jinxiao had never seen actors who suffer hardships. In fact, he had always been used to being hard-hearted, so he never had any fluctuations in his heart – if anything, he agreed that these kinds of hardships were fundamental in character and skill building for actors.
But this time, when he was sitting nicely, watching Shen Xingsui curled up in a ball and being bullied… it’s like seeing the precious pearl he held in his palm being thrown around by pigs who couldn’t cherish such a treasure.
After another NG, Fu Jinxiao’s patience snapped.
Zhang Sansan was trembling. “Mr. Fu, I’m really sorry. Our shot is more important, so we still have to…”
“You…” Fu Jinxiao side-eyed him with a visible sneer. He looked downright murderous.
Just as the pressure increased at rapid speed, Fu Jinxiao instead spoke calmly, “I heard from my agent that you have been contacting me?”
Zhang Sansan didn’t expect that Actor Fu came to the film crew in person because of himself. He was so moved that he almost burst into tears. For such a high-profile actor, he didn’t think that Fu Jinxiao was so down-to-earth when facing a small-time director like him. “Yes, Mr. Fu, I would like to ask you to read my script…”
Although he knew the hope was slim.
At first, Fu Jinxiao actually didn’t plan to pick it up. He even told Wang Meican that he wouldn’t spoil (or hinder) Shen Xingsui.
But at this time, Fu Jinxiao glanced at the shooting location not far away. After seeing the poor Shen Xingsui, he averted his gaze and looked at the director once again.
“Send me a copy of your script, and I will consider it.”
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