No wonder King Guan's make-up artists and costume designers are known as the best in the industry. In just ten minutes, Yuan Ge is dressed and made up as the valiant commander of the Great Ming Embroidered Uniform Guards and brought back to the room.
Still seated in the middle of the interview panel, Arthur Guan glances at Yuan Ge with an expressionless face. Yuan Ge looks around and sees the same arrogance in the gazes of the other industry veterans of the interview panel, as if they are clubbed together to observe an inferior creature.
"I never say anything twice, so listen carefully before you act." The King spoke, using the same opening line and same attitude as before.
"You, Chu Jiliang, the youngest first grade commander of the Great Ming Dynasty, are assigned to marry a young princess of a border vassal state. However, you are deep in an emotional whirlwind as the person you loved was killed by the current emperor, who is also in love with you, leaving you devastated and never able to accept your new bride. And your best Jurchen brother Sibeoci[1] arrives from the North, willing to do anything to get you back on your feet, only to discover that his feelings for you are not so simple either. And this scene is going to be the turning point in the changing feelings between the two of you."
"That's it?"
"That's it."
Master Guan is clearly not a man of many words.
"May I ask how, uh, popular, this Chu Jiliang is? Do you mean that he is emotionally involved with all four of the people you mentioned? Is the person he loves deeply a man or a woman?"
Hearing his questions, Arthur Guan responds with a wicked smile, "The person he loves deeply is a eunuch."
So, it's a story about an emperor competing with am eunuch, a princess and a foreigner for the favour of his guard! That's a lot of information to digest …
Yuan Ge doesn't have time to question what kind of contrived melodramatic script King Guan has chosen for his first film, his brain goes into overdrive mode trying to make sense of this complex emotional drama - in order to make himself who has fallen into an emotional quagmire bounce back, a brotherly love changes its nature … the sudden confession of same-sex love - Yuan Ge quickly distils the key emotional points in this chain of events that needs to be performed in this scene.
Suddenly, he understands why Arthur Guan has thrown such an ambiguous emotional scene at him. On the surface, it appears to be an improvised performance, but in fact the focus is not on acting at all, but on his ability to screen write and direct on the spot, and his ability to grasp and analyse human emotions!
Sweat breaks out on Yuan Ge's forehead. To compose such a scene in such a short time, to match the emotional state of the characters and to devise the appropriate lines … This is definitely not an easy task, in fact it is hellishly difficult.
To Arthur Guan's right sat He Yiru, the big shot director of several of Guan's classic films, and Wang Xiaowen, a famous screenwriter who has been a prominent figure since the days of the Beijing Film Studio. They both looked at Yuan Ge with half-mocking, half-sympathetic smiles on their faces. It is hard to tell if they think the scene is absurd or if they think he is simply incapable of writing and acting the script well …
"I need an actor to play Sibeoci to support me in this performance."
Arthur Guan glances towards Liu Sang when he heart the request.
"Second master, young master Yu is quite tired after supporting dozens of performances today. Just now, I saw that there weren't many people waiting for the audition at the back, so I let him go back to the crew lounge to have a rest. Should I call him back now?"
"No need." Arthur waves his hand, gets up and walks over to Yuan Ge, "Tell me your plot arrangement, and I'll play along with you."
Yuan Ge is a little surprised that Arthur Guan wants to work with him personally for this audition scene. He has some doubts in his mind whether this stern-faced man could act well or not, but this is his home turf, he is the investor, he has set the rules, he can play it however he wants, and no one can say anything. So he says graciously, "Master Guan, I'll call you Sibeoci for now, here is what I have come up with for this scene … " and then whispers the script he has just thought up in detail to Arthur, explaining to him the lines he has devised, line by line.
Arthur Guan listened with unexpected seriousness and concentration. He remains silent until the end, then he says to Yuan Ge, "I have no objection to the plot you've devised, but I can't remember all the lines. I'm going to improvise and play it roughly along your lines."
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[1] Sibeoci Fiyanggū was the great-great grandfather of Nurhaci, the man who reorganised and united various Jurchen tribes. Nurhaci's descendants established the Qing Dynasty and became the Emperor of China.