Chapter 26: Martial Arts Star
Lu Wanqi's scandal intensified. After just over two hours, the headlines on almost all major news platforms were about Lu Wanqi's love affairs.
Compared to various female stars who do everything they can to grab headlines, it was too easy for Lu Wanqi to get the headlines.
Of course, this is also because she has never been involved in any scandals in the few years since her debut.
Lu Wanqi's fans have been constantly denouncing the strange man. Among them are some supporters, while some skeptics suspect that it is because Lu Wanqi will have a movie released soon and is being hyped in advance. They also shout that the only pure female artist left in the entertainment industry who does not rely on hype to attract attention has also fallen.
Tang Shuo and Lu Wanqi, who were at the center of the storm, were completely unaware of the situation. As soon as they arrived at the Jiangsu and Zhejiang Airport, they headed straight for Hengzhan after getting off the plane.
The three of them first took a tour of the Qingming Shanghe Tu scenic area, then had a simple lunch and came to the Xiangjiang Street scenic area.
The Xiangjiang Street Scenic Area is mainly used to shoot TV dramas or movies with Hong Kong characteristics. The background spans from Hong Kong in the late Qing Dynasty to the modern era. For example, several of the well-known Huang Feihong series of movies were filmed here.
The three of them wandered around for a long time and when they came to an alley in Hong Kong from the late Qing Dynasty, they found that the road ahead was blocked.
"They're probably filming a movie up ahead, so we can't go over there now." Lu Wanqi, who has filming experience, introduced to the two.
"I don't know what movie they are filming or who the protagonist is." Xiao Ran asked.
Tang Shuo looked at the surrounding buildings absentmindedly, obviously not interested in this place.
"Do you want to go take a look?" Lu Wanqi asked, pointing to a middle-aged man standing in the cordoned-off area, fiddling with his phone. "That man in front is the production manager for my previous film. I can ask him if he can let us in."
"Okay." Xiao Ran nodded. "We can see what filming is like."
After saying that, Lu Wanqi walked towards the man in the baseball cap.
"Li Qiang."
The man in the baseball cap heard someone calling his name and turned around in confusion to look for the source of the voice.
When he saw Lu Wanqi in the crowd, he immediately ran towards her with a smile.
He had worked with Lu Wanqi once and had a good impression of this big star who was very humble and kind.
"Miss Lu, why are you here?" Li Qiang asked. They were filming a new movie by internationally renowned director Li Quan, and he was one of the production managers. He hadn't heard of any other crews filming there.
"I brought two friends here to play." Lu Wanqi replied: "What kind of movie is being filmed in there? Can we go in and take a look?"
Li Qiang nodded and said, "No problem. Director Li Quan is filming an action movie. You'll see when you get in."
"Thanks."
Lu Wanqi waved to Tang Shuo and the other two, and then the three of them walked directly into the blocked shooting location.
Li Qiang looked at the backs of the three people and felt that something was wrong, but he couldn't tell what was wrong.
After the three people walked away, Li Qiang took out his mobile phone and continued to browse the news.
When he saw the entertainment news on the homepage headlines, he almost dropped his phone.
When he saw the news this morning, his first reaction was that it was impossible.
He had met Lu Wanqi before, and she was not that kind of person at all, but she was still with that man now.
Is what the news reports true? Otherwise, why would they not hide it?
Li Quan is the first Chinese director in film history to win the Best Director award at the three major world film awards: the Oscars, the British Academy Film Awards and the Golden Globe Awards. He is also the most famous Chinese director in the contemporary international film scene.
He is over sixty years old and is sitting in front of the camera on the set with a gloomy face, frowning as he watches the picture displayed on the camera in front of him.
The background of the movie he is currently filming is somewhat similar to Fist of Fury, but the structure of the entire story is completely different.
We are currently filming a fight scene involving the second male lead, who is a man who helps the weak and fights against the strong. In this scene, he has to knock down several knife-wielding gangsters who are surrounding him with his bare hands, and jump onto the balcony on the second floor of the building next door without any external force.
Of course, this was impossible for the second male lead Zhang Yulun, who only knew a little bit of kung fu, so a stunt double was used from the beginning.
The crew hired this martial arts stunt double from Hong Kong at a high price, and the progress was very smooth at the beginning. However, the shot where the other party jumped from the ground to the second-floor balcony could not achieve the effect that Li Quan required.
"Cut," Li Quan, wearing a baseball cap, called out. "Take a break and come back later."
In fact, this shot may only appear in the film for a short second or two. Most directors or actors will just deal with it casually, or use some shooting techniques and then process it later.
And the stunt double did a good job as well, and he was able to perform the movements from the ground to the balcony very well.
It’s just that Li Quan’s requirements were a bit too high. He disliked the other party’s body movements as not beautiful enough and their postures as a bit awkward. He kept emphasizing that what he needed was a very smooth and elegant feeling.
As the most accomplished Chinese director, Li Quan has no one who dares to point out problems in film shooting.
Others can only obey his words.
The director was in a bad mood on the set, so naturally the rest of the people weren't in high spirits either. The director said that after the break, everyone would be busy with their own things.
Originally, as the protagonist of this scene, the second male lead Zhang Yulun should have been the busiest one, but because of the use of a stand-in, he became the one with the easiest job.
When Zhang Yulun, who was sitting on the sidelines resting, accidentally saw Lu Wanqi in the crowd, he immediately threw the script in his hand to his assistant, stood up and walked towards Lu Wanqi.
"Wanqi, why are you here?" Zhang Yuluan asked in surprise.
After his debut, Zhang Yulun starred in two movies in succession. With his handsome face and good temperament, he quickly became popular and became a popular young actor in China.
It is conceivable that after the broadcast of this film directed by Li Quan, his popularity will definitely increase.
There is no reason for Zhang Yulun, who is in the rising stage of his career, to be in a bad mood.
Zhang Yulun has a good family background. Filming is just a hobby for him. He likes the feeling of being sought after and the unspoken rules behind the halo of celebrities in the entertainment industry.
The entertainment industry is undoubtedly synonymous with handsome men and beautiful women. It's not uncommon for a young man and woman to develop feelings for each other after spending some time together while filming, and then the two are likely to enter an unconventional relationship.
Zhang Yulun has not acted in many movies, but under his exquisite arrangement, the number of female stars who have had close contact with him is almost breaking through double digits.
Of course, there are exceptions to everything.
He had made a cameo appearance in the last movie that Lu Wanqi acted in, so the two of them knew each other.
At that time, he had vaguely hinted at his feelings for her, but Lu Wanqi never responded to him at all.
Lu Wanqi frowned in displeasure when she heard Zhang Yulun address her, then said, "I brought two friends here to play, and just happened to walk here."
"Are these two your friends?" Zhang Yulun glanced at Tang Shuo and the other man, then smiled and said, "Is this Miss Xiao Ran? I really like your songs."
It was easy for Zhang Yulun to spot Xiao Ran wearing sunglasses. The media had already reported that Xiao Ran and Lu Wanqi were best friends, and Xiao Ran's eye-catching pair of jade rabbits were too much for the spotlight.
Xiao Ran smiled faintly and said politely: "Thank you, the movie you acted in is also very good."
The conversation naturally attracted the attention of many crew members, but since there was no shortage of celebrities here, no one was willing to take photos or ask for autographs. Since filming had begun early in the morning, the busy crew was still unaware of the Lu Wanqi scandal.
The stuntman has been filming for half a day and needs a break.
Taking advantage of this break, Li Quan planned to find Zhang Yulun to talk to him about his ideas for the next film shooting, as well as some problems Zhang Yulun encountered during the shooting.
When he turned his head, he found that Zhang Yuluan was chatting with someone on the sidelines.
After he saw clearly the people around Zhang Yuluan, he gave up the idea of asking the staff to call Zhang Yuluan over and walked over himself.
"Hello, Miss Lu." Li Quan walked over to the group and said, "I've seen your movie, it's great."
Lu Wanqi smiled and replied, "Thank you, Director Li."
Li Quan nodded and said, "If there's a chance for the next movie, we can work together."
If other actresses heard what Li Quan said, they would definitely faint from excitement.
Li Quan received an American education and lived abroad for a long time. He was not good at chatting and rarely exchanged pleasantries with others.
The fact that he could say such words to Lu Wanqi proved that he really had high hopes for Lu Wanqi and wanted to cooperate with her.
Although Li Quan's films have no record of being big hits, they have never been bad films. What's more important is that his golden signboard is very popular overseas, and it is very likely that he will enter Hollywood through his films.
"Thank you, Director Li. I'm honored."
Li Quan saw that he had finished what he wanted to say, nodded to Lu Wanqi, and then said to Zhang Yulun on the side: "Come here."
"Director Li, wait a minute." Seeing Li Quan about to leave, Lu Wanqi hurriedly stopped him and whispered to Tang Shuo, "Can you jump straight up to that floor?"
"There shouldn't be any problem." Tang Shuo replied.
Lu Wanqi nodded and said to Li Quan, "My friend knows some Kung Fu, he should be able to be a good substitute."
"Really?" Li Quan asked doubtfully. "Ask your friend to try it."
Lu Wanqi excitedly grabbed Tang Shuo and said, "Perform well. If Director Li Quan notices you, maybe you can become a martial arts star."
Tang Shuo opened his mouth in surprise and gave a bitter smile of self-blame.
He thought Lu Wanqi asked him to help Li Quan in order to repay Li Quan, but who knew that Lu Wanqi actually did it for him.
But when did I say I wanted to be a star?
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