As the filming of "Operation Red Owl" was about to start, Chu Yinlong organized two small-scale script readings. The script details have been basically finalized, and the character modeling and makeup are also on the agenda.
Jiangdao sat in front of the makeup mirror and let the makeup artist fiddle with his face.
Next to him, Chu Yinlong was still giving suggestions: "No, the color is still too tender, make it a little darker... Hmm, how about adding some special effects like spots and acne marks? These people are desperate criminals, their skin is not that good."
The makeup artist held up the tools and stared at Jiang Dao's face for a long while, completely speechless.
"Brother Long, I have tried my best to make him ugly...but his foundation is there, and even if I make him uglier, he can't get much uglier!"
Chu Yinlong thought for a moment, raised his hand and drew a line on Jiang Dao's face: "Add a scar here."
The makeup artist took a deep breath and turned to prepare the scar special effects tools.
Seeing Jiang Dao staring at the mirror with curiosity, Chu Yinlong asked: "You were so beautiful, but now you are painted so ugly, can you accept it?"
"Yes, I can accept being uglier." Jiang Dao didn't care. "According to the description in the script, Jess often travels in tropical areas, and as a member of a criminal organization, he often participates in battles, so he must have scars on his body. In addition, his skin must be very rough due to the wind, sun and rain. He doesn't seem like someone who cares about his appearance. He might even be too lazy to shave..."
After listening to the long speech, Chu Yinlong couldn't help laughing: "Aren't you afraid that your fans will be scared and stop following you?"
Jiang Dao didn't care: "Just take it off, sooner or later."
Chu Yinlong reached out and patted Jiang Dao on the shoulder and said nothing more.
It took another hour, and the makeup artist finally dressed Jiang Dao up as a dark-skinned desperado as Chu Yinlong requested. After sending the person out of the dressing room with great sorrow, she stood beside the photographer who was taking the final photos, sighing.
The photographer was puzzled: "What's wrong? Are you still not satisfied?"
The makeup artist raised her hands to cover her face: "That's not the case... it's just that... I feel so guilty for ruining such a beautiful little boy with my own hands."
Photographer: …
In the scene, Jiang Dao stood in front of the camera confidently and posed in several ways according to Chu Yinlong's request.
Fortunately, his role does not require too many expressions, just a cold face is enough, and the individual makeup photos were taken very smoothly.
Unexpectedly, when Yao Yuhua came on stage and was about to take a group photo of herself playing the villain, problems arose.
"No," Chu Yinlong frowned as he stood behind the camera, "It doesn't feel right."
"It's indeed not right." The lead artist of the crew who came along also frowned.
The two of them pondered for a moment, looked at each other, and said at the same time: "Jess is not right."
Jiang Dao, who was standing next to Yao Yuhua, subconsciously looked at Chu Yinlong.
Chu Yinlong was hugging his arms, rubbing his chin gently with one hand, looking a little solemn. Beside him, the screenwriter and the main artist also had the same look of deep thought on their faces.
The photographer zoomed in on the camera, looked at it carefully for a moment, and whispered, "He's still too conspicuous. How about a darker makeup?"
"It's not a makeup problem." Chu Yinlong sighed helplessly, "His... temperament is actually not suitable for a bodyguard, um..."
Seeing that everyone was in a dilemma, Jiang Dao didn't hesitate to walk to Chu Yinlong and looked at the camera.
The small screen of the camera was showing a photo of him, Yao Yuhua and another actor. The villain boss played by Yao Yuhua is the domineering type, while his godson Ning Shao is a mentally-minded gentleman. Finally, the bodyguard Jess played by Jiang Dao should have been the most silent and inconspicuous of the three.
Unfortunately, even though the makeup artist has tried his best, Jiang Dao's presence in the captured images still clearly overshadows Ning Shao.
After staring at the screen for a while, the screenwriter suggested: "How about we switch roles?"
Chu Yinlong didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "Jess's scenes are all about fighting. I chose Xiaodao because he can fight... Is Liu Ge going to play the bodyguard?"
Hearing this, Liu Xingyun, who plays the role of Mr. Ning, showed exaggerated surprise and said, "I'm playing a bodyguard? That's it. I can't film the role of Xiao Chu. My hands and feet are not coordinated. I can't even do the broadcasting body movements, let alone the fighting scenes."
Just when everyone was feeling gloomy, Jiang Dao suddenly spoke up: "Actually, I have an idea."
Chu Yinlong raised his eyebrows: "What?"
Jiang Dao grinned at him and said wickedly, "Wait, let me try."
After saying that, he turned around and went on stage again, coming to Yao Yuhua's side.
"Teacher Yao, I'm sorry." Jiang Dao apologized.
"It's okay, do as you wish." Yao Yuhua smiled kindly, sitting in the chair, very relaxed, looking like he was ready to do whatever he wanted.
So Jiang Dao walked forward and sat in...Yao Yuhua's arms.
He put one arm around Yao Yuhua's neck and one hand gently on her shoulder. He leaned against her, tilted his head slightly, and looked at the camera with cold eyes.
The whole place was silent.
Chu Yinlong's Adam's apple trembled unconsciously, and the hands hanging by his sides curled up slightly.
He looked at Jiang Dao sitting in Yao Yuhua's arms, and somehow his chest felt a little stuffy, so he took a deep breath slowly, trying to relieve this strange stuffiness.
Beside him, the screenwriter clapped his hands fiercely: "Okay!"
He reached out and grabbed Chu Yinlong's sleeve: "I think it's okay! Look - in our original setting, He Zhenhai has no family, and his godson He Ning is just his tool. So he would have a lover who is very good at fighting to be his part-time bodyguard. No problem! It can also catch people by surprise!"
He flipped open the tablet and said, "Let me see how to change it. It doesn't need to be too much, it will definitely be fine!"
The photographer stared at the camera for a while and smiled: "Well, Teacher Yao, please be more intimate and I will take a few pictures to try."
"Stop shooting for now." Chu Yinlong interrupted.
He paused and sighed softly: "…Give him a new look."
…
Forty minutes later, Jiang Dao came out of the dressing room after having his hair re-done.
He changed into a sleeveless vest, revealing his muscular arms, and jeans that fit his legs tightly. He did not change his leather boots, and his arms were still wrapped in a blood-stained gauze. The tiny scars on his skin were not wiped off, but his wildness as a desperado was not diminished at all.
However, in order to fit the new identity, the stylist added a collar around Jiang Dao's neck - black, leather, with a cold metal ring in the middle that clasps his Adam's apple, giving him a sense of being controlled and tamed.
The makeup has naturally changed as well - although the skin color is still slightly darker, the facial scars and rough grainy texture have been removed, and the eye tone has been adjusted, making the character look more wild while also having a hint of charm.
Chu Yinlong silently looked at Jiang Dao for a few times, and seemed quite satisfied. He nodded and said, "Go and take the photo."
After saying that, he lowered his head and continued to look at his phone.
Jiang Dao came to the scene and took several group photos with Yao Yuhua at the instruction of the chief artist and photographer.
Now, the chief artist and the photographer were both satisfied - Jiang Dao had clearly changed into a bolder and more unconventional identity, but he had mastered this identity and even made the unconventional "homosexual lover" look more reasonable than the conventional "bodyguard".
After glancing at Jiang Dao sitting in the man's arms, Chu Yinlong lowered his eyes to look at the phone screen.
A message just happened to be pushed in: "The personal information was collected by Galaxy Media and filled out by the artist himself. For crisis public relations considerations, it should be true information."
Chu Yinlong rubbed his fingers on the edge of the phone for a moment, and replied: "Got it."
Then he locked the screen, looked up at the shooting location, swiped to unlock it, brought out the camera, and quickly took a picture of the scene.
Jiang Dao suddenly tilted his head, looked at Chu Yinlong, and curled his lips at him.
Chu Yinlong frowned, took a look at the photos in his hand, then quickly deleted and cleared them, locked the screen again, and leaned back in his chair leisurely.
By the time all the final makeup photos were taken to our satisfaction, it was already past eight o'clock in the evening.
Jiang Dao hadn't bought a car yet, and Chu Yinlong's assistant had left to do other things and had not returned yet, so he had to take out his cell phone to hail a taxi.
Suddenly, a hand appeared in Jiangdao's field of vision and gently covered the phone screen.
Jiang Dao looked up and saw Chu Yinlong retract his hand: "No need to take a taxi, I'll take you back, let's go."
Hearing his tone that brooked no room for rebuttal, Jiang Dao simply stopped hesitating and got into Actor Chu's car without any psychological burden.
It was not until the car drove out of the basement that Jiang Dao realized that it was drizzling outside.
Outside the car, the lights were shattered by raindrops hitting the glass.
In the car, neither of them spoke at first. The silence lasted for a long time before Chu Yinlong spoke carefully: "Just now, why did you think of changing the bodyguard into a gay lover?"
Jiang Dao was stunned at first, then he remembered that the screenwriter and the main artist were still working overtime, and he couldn't help but apologize: "Ah, I changed the role without permission, did it cause trouble? Will it affect the start time?"
"This doesn't have much of an impact." Chu Yinlong said, "Originally, there wasn't much description of the villain's background, and they didn't have families. Bodyguards were changed to... lovers, so there are probably only a few lines that need to be changed."
Jiang Dao was relieved: "That's good. It was just a sudden idea. I thought it might be too bold, but I didn't expect it to be changed like this in the end."
After a moment of silence, Chu Yinlong said, "Generally speaking, it's hard to think of such an unconventional character... How did you come up with it?"
Jiang Dao leaned back in his seat, his arm resting on the lower edge of the window, and replied with a smile, "I have seen it."
"Have you seen it?" Chu Yinlong frowned.
"Yes," Jiang Dao said as a matter of course, "I saw it with my own eyes."
In the apocalyptic wasteland outside the book, due to frequent disasters, constant wars, and an uncertain future, people live more unscrupulously than in the world of the book. Not to mention hugging and kissing same-sex lovers in the street, it is not uncommon to see people doing even crazier things.
However, in this book the world is different.
If you want to see same-sex couples behaving intimately with your own eyes, you can either be very close friends and not shy about it, or you can only see them in some special places.
Chu Yinlong coughed lightly, his tone a little stiff: "You are now a public figure, try not to go to sensitive places, bars, nightclubs... especially places that are not so popular... if you are photographed by entertainment reporters, it will have a bad impact."
Jiang Dao blinked his eyes, feeling as if he understood, but also seemed not to understand the implication.
Chu Yinlong glanced at Jiang Dao from the corner of his eye and sighed helplessly: "If you want to have fun and drink, there are people in the circle who run private bars. I can take you there... It's safer than outside."
"I know, it's about preventing fire, theft and paparazzi!" Jiang Dao quoted a sentence he saw from the book, and then laughed softly.
"You see, even if you are an award-winning actor and have reached this level, as long as you are in the entertainment industry, you still have to hide. If you are not careful, your life will be exposed. You also have to care about your public image and worry about setting a bad example for everyone..."
Having said that, he turned his head to look at Chu Yinlong and asked with a smile: "...Aren't you tired?"
Chu Yinlong couldn't help laughing as he was originally trying to persuade the newcomers but ended up being the one being asked questions.
He thought about it and answered frankly: "It's tiring... but rather than being free and indistinguishable from the crowd, I would rather leave some traces in this world to prove that I existed."
Leave some traces in this world...to prove that I existed?
Jiang Dao murmured it in his mind and suddenly felt shocked.
He once thought that people in the entertainment industry pursued nothing but fame and money, but he never imagined that excellent literary and artistic works could actually break through the shackles of time and make the world remember them.
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