Yin Fenghua has revelled in his looks and voice endlessly.
He remembers the "Run Hua" combo days when he was a huge star loved by millions of fanatic fans. But times change so quickly, and youth and beauty also fade easily. Now when he sings on stage, he often feels his overused voice falling short. The glory that was his once upon a time is fleeting fast. He doesn't want to give up singing early and marry into some big family and become a kept man like his old partner Chow Mingrun has done, nor does he want his evergreen singing career to be abandoned by today's so-called Generation Z in just a few short years. If it wasn't for the big data analysis showing that people might like a fresh-faced director like Yuan Ge and an oddball movie like Qingqing, why would he bother to come to such a small filming company and work with a bunch of amateur kids? And getting lectured by his juniors every now and then, losing face left and right!
After observing him over the past few days, he actually quite admires Yuan Ge. Although he is a few years younger than himself, he is handsome, talented, and very artistic and self-assured. Before he joined the cast, he made a point of watching Yuan Ge's self-directed film, Eve's Fallen, which featured bold nude scenes and exotic love triangles, and his bed scene with Brother Run was quite well acted, pretty exciting to watch actually. It is obvious that he is in the same boat. He's been in the entertainment industry for so many years, when has he ever misread anything? He must be in the gay scene. If not gay, at least bisexual. He thought he would be able to figure out his sexuality in a few days so he could hook up with him, curry some favours and save himself from needless suffering on set. But the guy seems immune to his tactics, putting on a straight face and always giving himself a hard time for no reason. There's a rare gay bed scene today, so he's determined to test him out!
"Cut!"
Finally, he gets through one take, but the next one, with a soft call of "Childe Liang", Yuan Ge shouts out "Cut" again.
"My dear director, what are you up to again?" Yin Fenghua says lazily, not bothering to put his clothes back on, baring his shoulders.
Yuan Ge looks at him for a long while, but finally explains patiently and dutifully, "You have more or less understood the intent of the script in your act, but the moment you opened your mouth you ruined your good efforts. This call 'Childe Liang' was too unsubtle, not in keeping with Qiuchen's sensitive and delicate character and lingering heart. Instead of evoking a sense of pity, your call sounded like you were asking to be pleasured."
"Sensitive... delicate... Lingering heart... Help! I'm going to throw up!"
Yin Fenghua is fed up with the constant NGs and shows his true colours again.
"Yuan Ge, aren't you tired of talking in such a bookish way all day? When it comes to domestic market positioning, I'm much more of an expert than you are. It's you who seem to have no idea what your company and Brother Run are after in this movie. Qing dynasty or not, It doesn't really matter, it's just a shell. At its core, it's just a gay movie. You are needed because having a fresh faced arthouse director can make this movie feel classier. But in the end, you've made this movie so complicated, working on things that don't even matter. I'm using today's bed scene to help you straighten out a few things on your path and you don't even appreciate it. Who the hell is wasting our budget and time every day? Who in public is going to buy a ticket to see a film if you make it so hard to understand?"
Since Yin Fenghua has made a patronising start, the urge to teach his junior a lesson could no longer be held back, so he might as well get it all out.
"This world is always the same - men and men, what love? It's simply to seek something more thrilling to play with, and changing partners often just to have more varieties. It's all about getting laid, and getting a man is not as troublesome as getting a woman. What does that have to do with genuine affection?
"I've also done my homework for your film. Gay culture was a lot more prevalent in the Ming and Qing dynasties than in our time. Why do you think that opera singers were at the bottom rung of society? Because in those days, they were the same as prostitutes; the only difference was whether they sold male sex or female sex.
"In those days, the male actors looked like girls, sang like girls and acted like girls, so they were all prostituting themselves in addition to singing. What else do you expect the lords of high society to do with them? Of course they were treated just like playthings. A male actor was called 'Xiang Gong', which literally meant 'like a girl', and 'calling a Xiang Gong' meant to call for a male whore.
"In your script, Rong Qiuchen, who is said to be the winner of the Flowers of the Opera Stage, is actually just a top ranking prostitute, singing during the day, and selling his arse at night. Jinyu Troupe is a brothel; his two masters are pimps; and his seven brothers are fellow prostitutes who are used as good money-makers... And you treat him as some kind of soulmate, a god of art! And talk about purity! True love! The fact is that you are completely out of touch with the times! This is just your own wishful thinking! I downright doubt the logic of your story and your direction …"