To have a more accurate grasp of the character and emotions, one must immerse oneself in the scene and replace the female lead.
Yu Li was quite confident in her acting skills, but Zhao, a well-known stubborn figure in the entertainment industry, would require some effort to win his favor.
...
The presidential suite of a five-star hotel.
Yu Mo'er still had her makeup on, and she was sitting on the sofa in a very bad mood, listening to Ning Yuan's phone call.
"Wang, Mo'er's acting has won awards, and several senior colleagues in the industry have praised her. Please speak highly of her to Zhao, if possible."
"Yes, I understand. If you can secure this contract, it would be a great help to me, brother!"
"Thank you, I appreciate it. I'll treat you to a meal another day.""Goodbye." After hanging up the phone, Ning Yuan's face was also not looking good.
He walked over to the sofa, looked at Yu Mo'er, hesitated, and didn't know how to speak.
"You know Zhao's temper. It may take some effort to secure this script. But don't worry, I'll handle everything for you."
"It's late now, rest well, and we'll talk about anything else tomorrow." As he finished speaking, Ning Yuan turned around to leave, but Yu Mo'er suddenly called out to him.
"There are already rumors online about replacing the lead. Find a way to suppress this."
"I understand," Ning Yuan nodded almost without hesitation. "Don't worry, this role is perfect for you."
Yumoer also felt the same way, but she couldn't shake the feeling of unease in her heart.
Another sleepless night passed.
When she woke up the next day, her eyes were noticeably swollen and red, and even makeup couldn't cover it up.
The makeup artist was hesitant to apply makeup to Yumoer, afraid that it would worsen the swelling around her eyes.
"Brother Yuan, what should we do?"
"Is there a way to quickly reduce the swelling?" Ning Yuan looked at Yumoer with a hint of pity. "You must not have rested well last night."
Yumoer felt a sourness in her eyes and closed them slightly, tears welling up in the corners of her eyes. "Just put on the makeup."
"But, Brother Yuan, she might not look good on camera like this. What if she gets criticized?"
"Forget about the rest, just focus on the makeup." Ning Yuan impatiently glared at the makeup artist, urging her to hurry up as he was in a rush to go to the brand store.
The makeup artist hesitated.
As soon as Yumoer left the hotel, Yuli and Yang Fang walked in purposefully and headed straight for the temporary hall rented by the crew.
"No, I said no!" Zhao Jiakui slammed his hand on the table in anger and shouted, "Lao Wang, we're working together based on our years of friendship. But if you insist on going against my wishes, don't blame me for finding a new partner!"
"The real purpose of this movie is to win awards, there's no box office to be made at all. If you want to switch to another partner, it depends on whether they're willing to work with you," Wang Juntian's anger was also ignited.
"If no one wants to work with me, then I won't make the movie!" Zhao Jiakui retorted.
"You!" Wang Juntian glared at him for a while, then softened his voice, "Lao Zhao, I understand that as directors, you must have your own ideas. But Yumo'er is currently the most suitable actress for the lead role. If we have to go through a big casting process, it will definitely waste more time. Every day we delay, I'm pouring countless amounts of money into it."
"You also know that the purpose of this movie is to win awards. If we don't have the right lead actress, how can we make the movie?" Zhao Jiakui snorted, "Alright, I don't want to waste any more time talking to you. You better hurry up and cast the role!"
"You!" Wang Juntian scolded for a while, but couldn't even say a complete sentence.
"Knock knock," a very light knocking sound came.
Wang Juntian put his hands on his waist, still angry, naturally not in a good mood, "What?"
"Director Wang... someone is looking for you," the assistant said tremblingly.
"Not seeing anyone! Don't you see that I'm busy with the director? I won't see anyone no matter who comes!" Wang Juntian waved impatiently, "Get out!"
"But they..."
"What? Can't even understand what I'm saying!"
"Director Wang, hello, I'm Yang Jie," Yang Jie introduced herself first, "I'm Miss Yu Li's agent. We came here today for an audition.""Audition?" Wang Juntian turned his head to look at Yang Jie when he heard her voice, and saw Yu Li next to her.
He knew about the recent online controversy between Yu Li and Yu Mo'er.
Wang Juntian suppressed his surprise, "Miss Yang, are you mistaken? We have already selected all the roles in our crew, and we will officially start filming tomorrow."
"Who told you that the roles have been selected!" Zhao Jiakui said angrily, "Wang Juntian, let me tell you now, if you insist on having Yu Mo'er in the cast, then I won't participate!"
"Tsk," Wang Juntian clicked his tongue, "Old Zhao, let's talk about it later."
"Director Wang, we are here to audition for the female lead," Yang Jie interrupted in time.
Wang Juntian looked at Yang Jie strangely, suspecting that this woman was crazy. Everyone knew about Yu Li's acting skills on the internet.How could she, a person who only knew how to flirt with her eyes and expressions, have the audacity to come and audition!
Who gave her confidence?
"Is it you?" Before Wang Juntian could even speak, Zhao Jiakui's gaze had already fallen on Yu Li, with a slight frown on his face. "Have we met before?"
"Director Zhao has a good memory. We have indeed met before." Yu Li's lips curled into a faint smile, as she brushed aside the stray hair around her ear. "I apologize for the sudden visit this time. I don't want to waste your time, so let's do a trial performance first."
"No problem with the trial performance, but you need to go and do your makeup first." Zhao Jiakui spoke as he picked up the script and sat back at his desk, completely ignoring Wang Juntian.
Wang Juntian sat down next to Zhao Jiakui and lowered his voice. "This Yu Li's acting is ten thousand times worse than Mo'er's. Why are you letting her audition?"
Zhao Jiakui remained silent.
Wang Juntian sighed helplessly. "You can just mess around here. Let's make it clear that if Yu Li doesn't perform well, we must start filming tomorrow!"
Zhao Jiakui still didn't respond.
They didn't have to wait long. When Yu Li appeared in the room again after finishing her makeup, Zhao Jiakui's eyes lit up instantly.
Yu Mo'er was pretty, but after putting on makeup, she always gave off a sense of helplessness.
Yu Li, on the other hand, was different. Especially the determination in her eyes, as well as the outstanding temperament between her eyebrows and eyes, made it hard to look away.
This role was simply tailor-made for her!
"Afang" was born in the 1960s. Her mother was a kiln worker, while her father was an ordinary farmer. Due to her mother's background, Afang was labeled as a fox spirit reincarnated from birth. Later, her father accidentally fell to his death while on the mountain, leaving Afang and her mother alone and helpless.
Afang's mother was unanimously ostracized by the villagers and eventually died of illness. Afang suddenly became an orphan, and the villagers all believed she was ominous and had killed her parents. Especially when she grew up and developed a delicate appearance like her mother's, she became a scourge in the village.
All the adult men were attracted to Afang's beauty, while all the women hated her. However, Afang still longed for the world outside the mountains and worked hard to leave. She later met "Awang" who came from the big city and believed he would take her away from there. However, Awang eventually found her a burden and returned to the city alone. Afang was left heartbroken and jumped into the river to commit suicide.
The overall pace of the movie is quite depressing, but it is this kind of artistic film that has a higher chance of winning awards.
Afang's delicate features cannot be concealed by her dark skin, and her black hair is covered by a gray headscarf. Her tattered clothes highlight the difference between her and other peasant women.
Zhao Jiakui nodded to signal that Yu Li could begin.
Yu Li chose the last scene where Afang commits suicide.
Without time to sort out her emotions, her eyes immediately turned red, and tears gradually swirled in her eyes. Her hollow and desperate gaze looked ahead.
Then she lowered her head and looked at the paper in her hand. It was a letter after letter of love from "A-Wang" when he pursued her. Although she couldn't read, her fingers gently touched every word on the paper, from the joy of a young girl, to the passion of love, and finally to being abandoned...
Without a single line of dialogue, the emotions were expressed so perfectly.
"Bravo!" Zhao Jiakui was the first to applaud, and Yang Jie and Wang Juntian were also mesmerized. When did Yu Li become such a good actress?
"You're the one." Zhao Jiakui's excitement was evident in his eyes. "Have you read the script?"
"I glanced at the original work last night, but there are still many details that I haven't grasped well." Yu Li's lips curled into a faint smile. "Please give me more guidance in the future, Director."
"Do you still need my guidance with your acting skills?" Zhao Jiakui said happily. "Not bad, you're beautiful, humble, and most importantly, you have acting skills. There aren't many people like you."
"Don't praise me too much, Director Zhao. I'm easy to get arrogant."
"Haha..."
"... "Wang Juntian hadn't figured out what was going on yet, but Zhao Jiakui had already decided to sign Yu Li.
Yu Li?
Actually, he didn't insist on having Yu Mo'er play the role. The main reason was that if they didn't start filming yet, it would cause even greater losses. Since they had switched to Yu Li now and Zhao Jiakui was particularly satisfied, as a producer, he couldn't manage so much.
After signing the contract with great satisfaction, Yang Jie was still in a daze.
"Yang Jie, I don't like personal matters affecting work. Please try not to talk about personal matters when I'm working."
"Huh?" Yang Jie was stunned for a moment before realizing, "You, you just..."
She had been with Yu Li these days, and Yu Li didn't have time to invite an acting coach.
How could Yu Li's acting improve so much in such a short time?"Yang Jie, I took on this script mainly to spite Yu Mo'er."
"I will put all my energy into filming next, after all, I still hope to win awards with it. I'm ready to make her sick!"
"... " Yang Jie was speechless.
Anyway, Yu Li was quite happy to have taken on this script.
Some are happy while others are worried.