Chapter 173 About Couples: You Can't Shake It Off
Chapter 173
"Lin Yuan..." Li Xinjin started to say, but then realized that Lin Yuan wasn't there.
Lin Yuan isn't here, so we'll be filming Liu Jingyi's scenes today.
In "Ascending to the Clouds," although Sun Bo and Yang Ji are close friends, Sun Bo is not as dedicated to his career as Yang Ji.
In today's scene, Sun Bo's family encounters a misfortune and faces difficulties. Just then, a friend who went into business a few years ago finds him, hoping to use his skills to take the company to the next level.
Sun Bo hesitated.
The content to be filmed in the morning was simple, mainly to show Sun Bo's hesitation and unease, a few shots of confusion, and a few shots of him wavering and hesitating.
As a result... Liu Jingyi's performance completely failed to satisfy the director.
If we lower our standards, this shot isn't unacceptable, it's just that... the director thought his acting was a bit over-the-top.
It's not that he didn't convey the character's emotions, but the director felt that he misunderstood, and therefore conveyed them incorrectly.
It would be better not to pass it on at all.
Li Xinjin also had a bit of a headache.
Liu Jingyi's work attitude was absolutely perfect. He arrived at the set early, never late or leaving early, and showed no intention of acting like a diva. This left Li Xinjin with no way to vent his dissatisfaction.
But he could tell that Liu Jingyi wasn't focused on filming.
If the other party puts in a little more effort, they should be able to achieve a breakthrough in the role.
However, Liu Jingyi himself does not seem to have any intention of making another effort.
After several attempts, Liu Jingyi's performance was at least acceptable, so Li Xinjin let him off the hook.
After all, it's a TV series, and he doesn't have time to go through the motions one shot at a time. The actors probably wouldn't want him to be so patient either.
The actors' salaries are fixed; if he tries to negotiate too much, people will complain that he's wasting their time.
In other film crews, the actors' scenes are all performed by stunt doubles, and they still get high salaries, right?
“Not everyone is like Lin Yuan,” screenwriter Zhang Cheng advised.
Zhang Cheng also felt deeply moved.
In the "Ascending to the Clouds" production team, among the younger generation of actors, Lin Yuan is arguably the most qualified to act arrogantly and not take things seriously, after all, he has won the Wall Award. In the eyes of most people, the director has no right to criticize Lin Yuan's acting skills.
However... Lin Yuan was the only one who could accept the director's opinions completely.
Although he won't act exactly as the director wants, he will definitely make improvements after receiving any reminders from the director.
As a result, the character of Yang Ji became more and more well-rounded and full, exceeding the scope of Zhang Cheng's original script.
Zhang Cheng genuinely believes that Lin Yuan's portrayal of Yang Ji is both the Yang Ji from his script and a real person, transcending his script.
After filming finished in the morning, Li Xinjin overheard Liu Jingyi promoting the show on set, saying that he was going to see Lin Yuan's musical.
The director didn't say anything at the time, but couldn't help but say it later that evening: "Who doesn't know that he and Lin Yuan are close?"
After A and B were severely reprimanded, Liu Jingyi realized that Director Li Xinjin cared a lot about the harmony of the crew, so he tried his best to show this to the director.
Li Xinjin: "..."
To be honest, it doesn't matter if actor A and actor B have a huge argument, or even if they fight off-set, as long as the filming is completed to a high standard.
There are plenty of actors who don't get along.
Then there are those couples who are all lovey-dovey throughout the story and gain a lot of fans who ship them as a couple, but in private they fight each other and can't wait to roll their eyes at each other.
The ability to keep the audience entertained is a skill in itself.
But directors simply can't handle actors who can't act well and are always causing trouble on set.
Liu Jingyi didn't cause trouble, but he didn't act well.
The director understood that after watching Lin Yuan's musical, he would probably do another live stream reminiscing about friendship.
"Lin Yuan is quite pitiful too." The director couldn't help but sigh as he took a sip of his drink.
Based on Lin Yuan's past style, if he were stuck with something, he would probably just tear it off. The reason he didn't tear it off this time is probably for the sake of the production team.
"Up in the Clouds" hasn't even aired yet, so if the actors start feuding at this point, it will not only embarrass the director, but also harm the show's performance.
Lin Yuan was too respectable, but Li Xinjin couldn't help him much; he could only offer Liu Jing a few subtle reminders.
The director had a good relationship with a high-ranking executive at Liu Jingyi's agency. The executive was also from the same industry and only became an artist manager because he didn't have much talent.
Li Xinjin thought that if he mentioned it to the other party, he could probably get past Lin Yuan.
Unexpectedly, when he expressed his thoughts, the other party's agency thought that Liu Jingyi's actions were also for the sake of the "Shang Qingyun" production team.
The director was completely speechless.
What could he say?
This isn't just a hint, it's an explicit statement. The person clearly understands, but insists on pretending not to. What else can he say?
He could cut some of Liu Jingyi's scenes, but that would only happen after filming was finished.
Moreover, Sun Bo's storyline is complete. Cutting it out would not only make the storyline fragmented, but Liu Jingyi also doesn't have suitable content to fill in the gaps for the time being.
"It's tough," the director sighed.
After a while, he thought about it carefully and made a few phone calls.
He can't make up for Lin Yuan's situation for the time being. "Ascending to the Clouds" is his plan for this year. He plans to take a break next year and film a new movie when he is ready.
In other words, he himself will not be able to collaborate with Lin Yuan on the new drama for the time being.
However, just because he can't do it doesn't mean his friends can't.
Some people have some interesting stories hidden away, and the director plans to introduce them to Lin Yuan to give it a try.
Since Lin Yuan might not be filming any more dramas, the director thought that he could use this as a favor, and no matter who Lin Yuan introduced to film the drama, it would be considered a way of repaying the crew of "Shang Qingyun".
“Perhaps from the very beginning… the best friend storyline was a mistake,” Zhang Cheng remarked.
“That’s right.” Li Xinjin looked at him. “Don’t doubt your abilities.”
“That means the wrong actors were chosen,” Zhang Cheng added.
“That’s not wrong,” Li Xinjin sighed. “How can you say that 40 million is wrong?”
Liu Jingyi's salary for "Up in the Clouds" was not high; he was brought in by his agency as part of a package deal.
Li Xinjin readily accepted the offer because his agency helped him secure a 40 million yuan investment for "Shang Qingyun".
Li Xinjin is both the director and the producer, and no one knows the source of the production team's funding better than him.
That's how great the power of money is.
"It's alright, it'll be fine once it's finished filming," Zhang Cheng comforted Li Xinjin. "Lin Yuan didn't say anything."
“That’s because they’re nice,” Li Xinjin said. “If it were me, I would have exploded by now.”
The director was just saying that; the reason he didn't become someone who explodes at the slightest provocation is because he's very patient.
When he was young, he would suffer injustices alone, swallowing them down until he no longer felt anything about them.
The last time he was bombed was a long time ago, probably 20 years ago, when he was still a clueless newcomer.
As the two ate and drank, Zhang Cheng took out his phone and showed it to Li Xinjin: "Lin Yuan's musical is over."
He mainly showcased the opera sung by Liu Jingyi.
It was clearly a musical in which Lin Yuan participated, but he only made a cameo appearance, and his role wasn't particularly significant. This performance was also the 100th performance of "Jin Ge," so logically, the focus should have been on the main actors of "Jin Ge."
However, Liu Jingyi repeatedly emphasized on Weibo how well Lin Yuan sang, presented him with flowers backstage, and took photos with him. Throughout the entire process, he only mentioned "Jin Ge" once.
Although Lin Yuan was indeed the biggest star on set, Zhang Cheng felt that Liu Jingyi didn't need to act like that.
In the photo of the two of them, Lin Yuan's complexion didn't look very good.
Lin Yuan himself also shared photos of the performance of "Jin Ge", focusing on the lead actors, and he also posted a group photo of the main cast and crew.
“He’s singing and dancing right here,” Zhang Cheng remarked. “If I were one of the actors in that production, I wouldn’t feel comfortable watching him either.”
"What can we do?" Li Xinjin asked. "Who in this production crew is more famous than him?"
Liu Jingyi's fans adapted well to this, saying that Liu Jingyi "successfully chased his idol" and that he enjoyed a unique musical feast.
After the performance of "Jin Ge" ended, the trending search term was "Lin Yuan Liu Jingyi".
director:"……"
...
Director Li Xinjin felt that Lin Yuan had probably been unhappy for a long time.
After the performance of "Jin Ge" ended, Lin Yuan asked him a question that was unusual for him: "When will we be able to finish filming this play?"
"Up in the Clouds" has been filmed for so long, and Lin Yuan has never asked this question.
One can imagine that he has experienced the feeling of each day dragging on endlessly on the film set.
Li Xinjin answered honestly, while Lin Yuan sighed heavily: "Why is it taking so long?"
This was a very straightforward expression, but the director was too embarrassed to respond.
It's really pathetic, such a big shot.
Although Lin Yuan's income was much higher than his, the director was not jealous at all, but some actors made him think, "Why does he deserve to earn so much more than me?"
Lin Yuan is a highly skilled talent in the industry, so it doesn't matter if he earns a little more.
Liu Jingyi was simply trying to take advantage of the situation, doing it recklessly and haphazardly.
If a couple is only popular on one side, what exactly are the fans shipping?
Aren't you worried about breaking your teeth if you try to crack them open?
The director really couldn't understand it.
All he could say was that Liu Jingyi always managed to keep Lin Yuan's dissatisfaction at bay, so that even if Lin Yuan was unhappy, it would seem as if Lin Yuan had gone too far.
"Wait a minute." That was all the director could say to Lin Yuan.
Lin Yuan looked completely bewildered.
A few days later, he understood what the director meant.
The cast and crew of "Up in the Clouds" have accumulated a group of well-regarded actors. Recently, at an event in the television industry, all the main actors from "Up in the Clouds" attended, except for Lin Yuan, who did not go, and Li Xinjin did.
Before the trip, the production team had already teased the event on their official Weibo account, saying it was a team-building activity for the crew.
Lin Yuan didn't go. He had too many things to do. Now, Feng Zeng would try to postpone any event that wasn't too important, ensuring Lin Yuan's work time while also guaranteeing his rest time.
Almost the entire cast and crew were present, and given that "Up in the Clouds" is a relatively popular drama recently, the director and actors naturally gave interviews together.
The reporter naturally brought up the topic of relationships between the actors.
The previous incident involving actors A and B was suppressed because the media was giving the production team face. Now that they've come to interview, the production team naturally has to give the media face as well.
Li Xinjin answered frankly that he felt everyone got along well: "Like Lin Yuan and Du Jian, they are a generation apart in age, but they actually get along quite well."
Du Jian said, "Lin Yuan and Zhang Xiaoyang have a good relationship and work together very well."
"Lin Yuan and Du Jian are doing well."
"Lin Yuan and D are also good."
"F is also good."
Du Jian and Zhang Xiaoyang were mentioned several times, as were actors D, E, and F, but the fact that Lin Yuan and Liu Jingyi had a good relationship was not mentioned at all.
Du Jian and Zhang Xiaoyang, the two actors mentioned, also presented evidence: group chat content from the "Shang Qingyun" production team, and the two did not mind being photographed by reporters.
It was obvious that Lin Yuan and Du Zhang interacted in the group chat, with Lin Yuan even taking the initiative to tag them, but there was no interaction between Lin Yuan and Liu Jingyi.
The most direct evidence is that Lin Yuan has been following Du Jian and Zhang Xiaoyang.
"..."
"...complex interpersonal relationships."
"By the way, wouldn't you say this counts as the 'Ascending to the Clouds' crew spilling oil?"
"How can it be considered pouring oil? The director and other actors didn't mention him at all. They said that the actors in the crew had a good relationship and that Liu Jingyi was part of the family."
"Hilarious! Did they push the CP pairing so hard that even the rest of the crew couldn't stand it anymore?"
"Why do I have this feeling that Princess Lin Yuan was rescued by the film crew?"
"How can this be? What's wrong with your head, upstairs?"
Lin Yuan: "..."
In a way, he did feel saved.
The most obvious sign is that Liu Jingyi has finally mentioned him less often lately.
Thank goodness.
"Luckily I never spent money on creating a CP (couple pairing) for publicity. I never imagined it would be so tiring," Lin Yuan sighed deeply.
“Stir-frying isn’t tiring,” He Xun corrected him. “The key is purification and cutting after stir-frying.”
"...Why do you look like you have so much experience?"
"I've also had my share of popular on-screen couples, okay?" He Xun retorted.
"Could it be that Shao Jing and the Emperor are a couple?" Lin Yuan asked curiously.
"Otherwise what?" He Xun retorted, "With my square face, who would want to create a CP (couple pairing) with me?"
Lin Yuan: "..."
Yu Ying, who also went online at the same time: "..."
There's no need to make fun of yourself like that.
To be precise, He Xun simply has a respectable face, making him more suitable for serious dramas.
A decent face ≠ a square face; this is clearly a misunderstanding of himself.
“Most importantly,” Lin Yuan explained, “I don’t want to be paired with someone who has a square face. I don’t want to see them on TV every day.”
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Author's Note: It's here!!! [Sprinkling flowers]
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