Chapter 192: Daily Life on Set and Future Plans
Chapter 192
"The cold, icy rain is on my face..." Lin Yuan had only hummed half of it when He Mian continued.
This song accurately expresses the two people's feelings about the rain scene—it's so cold, really cold.
The rain scene cast a new shadow over the protagonist's tragic life.
It's worth mentioning that because of the rain, director Dou Youhui decided to reshoot the rain scene. But what's funny is that after the director made the decision, the rain gradually subsided.
There was no other way but to use artificial means for rain scenes.
"Does the director have a bad relationship with the heavens?" Lin Yuan muttered to himself.
One of the daily routines for the actors on set is to complain, especially about the director in secret. In short, Director Dou's luck was on full display in terms of the weather.
He wanted the sun, but it didn't come.
He wanted heavy rain, so it stopped.
Filming for "Double Edge" began after the Spring Festival. Although the temperature in S City was much higher than in A City, it was still not a pleasant experience to be drenched in water while wearing only a thin shirt.
He Mian suffered more. In the rain, Shen Yuan witnessed his adoptive mother's murder. That night, he let out the most violent howl of his life.
From that night on, Shenyuan completely changed.
He Mian prepared for this scene for a long time. Despite his complaints, he never slacked off once filming actually began.
He Mian was constantly getting soaked in the rain because the director wanted both visual appeal and to convey the character's despair at that moment.
When Lin Yuan finished work that evening, he spoke to He Mian, whose voice was hoarse. He had been feeding himself throat lozenges in preparation for the next day's filming, and before he knew it, he had eaten half a pack.
Lin Yuan asked curiously, "Isn't it cold?"
"It's cold," He Mian admitted. "I just got caught in the rain and then ate this, it's so refreshing."
But he felt that only in that state could the best essence of the source be revealed.
He Mian put so much effort into the role, so Lin Yuan felt embarrassed to treat Ye Li casually. Of course, Lin Yuan was never one to be casual.
...
A few days later, the scene where Ye Li and Shen Yuan were put to the test continued.
He Mianyu filmed the scene three times and looked a bit tired, but the two of them still put in 100% effort for this scene.
Fortunately, the weather cooperated this time. Just as the two found their rhythm, the sunlight shone at the perfect angle, and the stripes of the fence fell on their faces, as if they were locked in a prison.
Fortunately, once they were outside, Ye Chen and his companion discovered that the gang leader's interrogation was merely a test. They remained calm and thus escaped unscathed. However, the others were not so lucky.
In a corner where the sun doesn't reach, someone is making a deep, beast-like cry.
This is the price of being an undercover agent.
Having been undercover for four years, Ye Li and Shen Yuan have grown further. After that, unless absolutely necessary, the two no longer have any contact with each other.
Even... to some extent, the trust and tacit understanding that had remained between the two of them had been diminished without them realizing it.
Because this is a place where it's easy to lose your life.
Because... the two of them were gradually becoming unsure whether the other could be someone they could entrust their hearts to.
From this perspective, Double Edge is actually a rather terrifying story.
Ye Li and Shen Yuan, living in that kind of environment, have unknowingly been alienated.
Shen Yuan chose to vent his anger, believing that he was better adapting to his identity as a gang member. He even acted more ruthlessly than ordinary gang members, and the brutal side of him gradually emerged.
This is actually a vulnerable aspect of Shenyuan.
Ye Li chose to remain silent, becoming even more so than before.
In several scenes in the movie, Ye Li always casually finds a place to sit down, lights a cigarette, and lets the smoke drift away, his thoughts seemingly wandering off into the distance.
Amidst the swirling smoke, one could vaguely glimpse his eyes.
The pain in Ye Li's eyes was clearly visible.
His black eyes seemed to have lost their luster, filled with melancholy.
At this time, Dou Youhui would make Lin Yuan sit still so he could film the whole scene for as long as possible—Lin Yuan's ability to find the right shot could be described as divine.
When he slightly turned his gaze to the side, revealing half of his face in profile, his face looked like a plaster statue—as the director himself said.
In short, this is art, this is philosophy.
Lin Yuan: "..."
To be honest, he sometimes doesn't quite understand the art and philosophy of directing.
In the script of "Double Edge", the crisis and the rain scene are both turning points.
Ye Li and Shen Yuan thought their family members were already in the hands of the gang leader, but that was just a test, and their family members' identities were not discovered.
But one day, when Shen Yuan finally had a chance to go home, he took off his gang member's clothes, bought some tonics for his adoptive mother, only to receive news that his adoptive mother had been murdered.
Shen Yuan soon discovered that it wasn't the gang leader who did it, but rather... the superior who sent him to infiltrate.
Shen Yuan's belief completely collapsed in that instant.
The pillar supporting him is gone, or rather, someone needs him to devote himself wholeheartedly to the role at hand.
Ye Li had a similar experience, but fortunately his father was alert enough to escape unscathed.
What Shen Yuan heard from his neighbors was that his adoptive mother opened the door so happily because someone had brought him news.
It's impossible for Shen Yuan not to turn to the dark side; he has a million reasons to do so.
The reason Ye Li didn't turn evil was simply because he was unwilling to harm those weaker than him.
Although he himself was also considered the weaker party.
When Lin Yuan and He Mian discussed the script, they realized the cruelty of the story "Double Blade".
But for actors, this also means a huge amount of room for creative expression.
After spending some time on set, Lin Yuan felt that he was gradually becoming like Ye Li, becoming less talkative and silent. He had no one to confide in, so he could only silently keep his pain inside.
He Mian is also evolving in the direction of Shen Yuan.
Fortunately, both of them were quick-witted and gradually gained favor. Although Shen Yuan did not initially gain the absolute trust of the gang leader, he won over a group of subordinates with his fierce and ruthless style and became the one in power.
The superior who sent him to infiltrate the organization back then has been ruthlessly eliminated by him.
The successor did not want to suffer the same fate, so now, Shen Yuan has taken control of everything.
Even though some people within the gang vaguely realized that Shen Yuan's background was not right, no one dared to say anything.
Because Shen Yuan is very fierce when he strikes; he's the kind of ruthless person who doesn't hold back at all.
Even the most vicious figures in the gang have their weaknesses, but Shen Yuan seems to have no weaknesses at all.
His momentum had gradually become unacceptable to the gang leaders, and one day, Shen Yuan was ambushed.
Shen Yuan has become the new big boss.
For He Mian, "Double Edge" required him to complete the transformation from naive to shrewd.
Compared to Lin Yuan, He Mian has far fewer psychological scenes; his changes are mainly reflected in his demeanor and tone of voice—looking at He Mian now, probably no one can recall what he looked like when "Double Blade" first started filming.
From Lin Yuan's perspective, he felt that He Mian had made great progress.
After joining the cast of "Double Blade", the two did not get along much like before. When having breakfast in the morning, they would talk about their scenes for the day and give each other a heads-up.
When faced with particularly challenging scenes, the two would pull out their respective notebooks and conduct in-depth research.
Sometimes the director would join in, but most of the time it was just Lin Yuan and He Mian.
The two will also comment on each other's performances.
He Mian had slightly more scenes than Lin Yuan, and he worked harder during filming. On their days off, if time allowed, the two would take some time to think about the filming schedule for the following week.
Recently, Lin Yuan and He Mian haven't had many scenes together, and sometimes they don't even run into each other on set. However, when Lin Yuan has free time, he will make a point of coming over to watch He Mian's performance. He Mian does the same; when Lin Yuan is filming scenes and he has nothing to do, he will take a notebook and doodle.
Lin Yuan was fortunate enough to see the contents of the book, and he could only say that it was full of He Mian's art, which was beyond the comprehension of ordinary people.
As time went by, the weather gradually got warmer.
The box office performance of "The Storm" is truly remarkable, so the release was extended again and again, from February during the Spring Festival to the end of April. If it weren't for the many excellent films during the May Day holiday, the miracle of "The Storm" might have continued.
Even so, by the time it was taken off the screens, "The Storm" had grossed a total of 6.8 billion yuan, more than 1 billion yuan more than the third highest-grossing Chinese film of all time.
"Science fiction" and "disaster" have become unavoidable terms in the film industry this year.
While Lin Yuan was filming "Double Blade," he received a constant stream of invitations to continue starring in special effects blockbusters, including one from Hollywood.
As the domestic film market grows, actors are gradually losing their fascination with Hollywood, and at least they won't act in those special effects blockbusters that are obviously scams or money laundering.
Chinese people have gradually come to understand Hollywood and know that for truly big-budget productions, Hollywood will not allow Chinese actors to get a share. Hollywood's new generation is not good enough to promote, so it's not even a chance for outsiders.
This is one of the reasons why fewer Chinese actors have developed in Hollywood in recent years compared to actors from Japan and Korea; the domestic market is enough to support them.
Objectively speaking, the script that Hollywood got is quite decent, at least they found a big-name director to be the producer. As for who the director is, and whether the filming will be outsourced layer by layer, none of that is known.
The box office of "Storm" has now squeezed into the top 60 of the global box office rankings. The films that are in the same position as "Storm" on the list are all well-known commercial blockbusters.
Hollywood has reaped global success, but "The Storm" achieved its success in a single box office market.
Hollywood likely invited Lin Yuan because of his box office appeal in China.
However, Lin Yuan did not intend to accept the role. Objectively speaking, if he were willing to take on this role, the producer himself would have to be in charge of filming.
Simply lending your name won't fool Lin Yuan; he has no shortage of good scripts.
After winning the Woolf Award for Best Actor, there was no script that Lin Yuan couldn't get in the art-house film market.
The 300 million yuan revenue from "Bloody Past" made art film directors even more enthusiastic about Lin Yuan.
The box office results for "The Storm" were released, and the commercial film market followed suit.
For Lin Yuan, Hollywood's invitation was not sincere enough.
"Are you still planning to release more albums?" One day after dinner, Lin Yuan and He Mian talked about this topic, and Lin Yuan received a surprised look from He Mian.
"What about the movie?"
“Keep filming,” Lin Yuan said. “There’s no conflict between the two.”
"I really admire you for having the energy to do so much." He Mian sighed. "Filming movies alone is exhausting, completely different from filming TV series."
As the top actor in the drama industry, in He Mian's words, when he's filming, the entire crew revolves around him. Whatever his ideas are, the crew will definitely address them immediately.
On a film set, the director is the absolute authority and no questioning is allowed.
If the director felt a scene wasn't shot well, he could ask He Mian to film it a second or third time. But when filming a TV series—
“Everyone tells me, Teacher He, you filmed so well, you are so excellent, you work so hard, you are a role model for everyone.”
"And then you got arrogant?"
"Pretty much," He Mian smiled sheepishly. "In that situation, who wouldn't get cocky?"
"I'm about the same." Lin Yuan peeled nuts for a while, eating them one by one, using the "crunching" sound to express his resistance to fatigue.
"What are you planning to film next?" He Mian asked.
Lin Yuan shook his head: "I don't know yet, we should release the album first."
Fans can't wait any longer.
There's also "The Detective with the Magic Eyes" airing this summer, and "Up in the Clouds" will most likely be released during the summer as well.
Lin Yuan could only sigh.
-----------------------
Author's Note: It's here!!! [Sprinkling flowers]
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com