Chapter 318 Letting Go
As he acted in more and more dramas, Lu Yanhe also enjoyed acting opposite actors with good acting skills.
The other person's acting skills are good, which can give him a better thrill.
A one-person show can be entertaining, but the brilliance of a performance with an accompaniment is something that a one-person show can never replace.
It was a very simple conflict at the dinner table. Lu Yanhe rehearsed the scene with Chen Yinghui and Jiang Biyu, pondering almost every line.
“Xiao Lu is stubborn with me, and my first reaction is to slap him hard across the face,” Chen Yinghui said. “Biyu, at this moment I will move my arm, but don’t wait for me to raise my hand, as soon as I make a move you hold me down.”
Jiang Biyu instantly understood Chen Yinghui's meaning. "Well, we've been married for over twenty years. I know what you're going to do with just one look from you. No, I should say I know what your next reaction will be with just one reaction from Xiao Lu. So you need to be quicker."
While the two were pondering the play, Liu Bige didn't interrupt, but just listened with his arms crossed.
"Xiao Lu, you still need to keep your eyes open with me just now," Chen Yinghui said to Lu Yanhe.
“I’m so angry with you here, shouldn’t I talk back?” Lu Yanhe asked, somewhat puzzled.
Chen Yinghui said, "If you were really so defiant and not afraid of me at all, wouldn't you have exposed my affair long ago? Why are you still sulking about it openly and secretly?"
Lu Yanhe realized what was happening.
"You mean, ultimately, I'm still a little afraid of you as my father?"
“If it weren’t like this, the other scenes wouldn’t make sense either,” Chen Yinghui said.
Lu Yanhe: "I also feel that I'm not so afraid of you anymore at this point."
“There are different kinds of fear. Some fears are specific, like when I’m strict with you and you’re afraid of me. Other fears are based on our natural father-son relationship. In the context of society, sons naturally have a sense of awe when facing their fathers, and the father’s authority is established from childhood,” Chen Yinghui said. “You dare to talk back to me because the former fear has disappeared, but you didn’t dare to expose everything directly. First, you didn’t want your mother to know, and second, it’s the latter kind of natural fear. In short, you have a weakness, you have concerns.”
Lu Yanhe looked enlightened.
Filming officially began. Lu Yanhe's performance was much richer. At the dinner table, Lu Yanhe's gaze was no longer just a back-and-forth exchange between him and Chen Yinghui, but rather contained tangible reactions, all subconscious details.
For example, when he was arguing with Chen Yinghui, he would subconsciously look at his mother again, and then suppress a look of forbearance.
For example, when Chen Yinghui gets emotional, he will subconsciously look to the side or directly at the table to avoid Chen Yinghui's gaze.
...
“It’s all acting.” Liu Bige, sitting behind the monitor, couldn’t help but praise, “Look, Lu Yanhe was in character before, and the feeling was right, but the effect was not as good as this scene. This scene’s reaction is like a mortise and tenon joint, fitting together perfectly.”
Miao Yue asked him, "Isn't it said that as long as the character's state is right, any way of acting is right?"
“That’s all nonsense,” Liu Bige said. “For professional actors, getting into character isn’t difficult, but getting the audience to empathize and get into character is really difficult. Acting is all about acting; do you really think you can just experience it without any technique?”
...
After filming this scene, Lu Yanhe came in from outside the house, every pore on his body trembling—he felt an excited sense of having had a great time acting.
"This one feels very different," he said to Chen Yinghui and Jiang Biyu.
Liu Bige walked over and said, "The last one was good, but let's do another one."
"Huh?" Lu Yanhe was taken aback, looking at Liu Bige somewhat blankly. "Was my acting bad just now?"
"You acted well," Liu Bige nodded, "but I think you could have done better."
Lu Yanhe: "..."
Chen Yinghui and Jiang Biyu both smiled and said nothing, continuing to act alongside Lu Yanhe.
Chen Yinghui fared relatively better in this scene, while Jiang Biyu was almost entirely just acting alongside the father and son.
Even so, she gave it her all in every take, portraying an ordinary mother with remarkable depth and realism.
The subtle shifts and changes in her gaze solidified her character.
While Lu Yanhe was acting, he focused most of his attention on Chen Yinghui. When he went to the monitor to watch the footage he had just shot, he noticed that Jiang Biyu hadn't been idle for a moment while he and Chen Yinghui were confronting each other. Her changes in expression and the back and forth of her eyes firmly controlled the balance of the whole scene, making the originally tense scene a little more relaxed.
Liu Bige made the three of them shoot two more takes before he stopped.
Lu Yanhe couldn't help but ask, "Are the last two better than the first two?"
Liu Bige shook his head: "No."
"Then why do we always have to reshoot?" Lu Yanhe asked.
Liu Bige smiled and said, "I wanted to see if we could give something better. The scene you actors put together was even more exciting than I expected. I thought it was just an ordinary shot, a transitional scene, but you all made it so dramatic. So I raised my expectations, and they've only gotten higher and higher."
Jiang Biyu smiled and said to Lu Yanhe, "Don't ask him anymore. That's how directors are. They're always greedy. They shoot a good take, and then they want an even better one. They won't stop until they realize they can't squeeze anything better out of you."
Lu Yanhe: "..."
He exchanged contact information with teachers Chen Yinghui and Jiang Biyu.
"I've learned a lot from filming this scene with you two today. Thank you both," Lu Yanhe said, bowing to them.
Jiang Biyu cupped Lu Yanhe's face in her hands and patted it gently, just like a mother would do to her child.
"You child, why are you being so polite with us?"
Chen Yinghui smiled and said, "Jiang Jun has praised you to us countless times, saying that you have a knack for acting. Seeing you today, it's true."
Teacher Jiang Jun!
Lu Yanhe suddenly realized what was going on.
So that's the reason behind it.
-
On his way to meet Director Wang Zhong, Lu Yanhe told Chen Ziyan about it with great emotion.
Chen Ziyan smiled and said, "That's how the entertainment industry is. It's big in some ways and small in others. It's just a circle. That's why I always tell you to be kind to people and make good connections. You never know when someone you've made a good connection with might help you in some way."
Lu Yanhe nodded.
Along the way, Lu Yanhe has worked hard, but he has also relied on the help of many people.
Without Jiang Yuqian's recommendation, he wouldn't have been able to star in Luo Yuzhong's "The Golden Era".
Without Luo Yuzhong's recommendation, he wouldn't have been able to star in Chen Lingling's "Phoenix Terrace".
Without Chen Lingling's "Phoenix Terrace," Wang Zhong would never have thought of casting him as the fortune teller in "Three Mountains."
Many things are connected in this way, one link after another.
Lu Yanhe told Chen Ziyan, "The longer I've been an actor, the more I feel that what I saw in the entertainment industry before was just a very superficial world. The celebrities we know are just a group of people who are the most prominent in this world. Besides them, there are also actors like Teacher Jiang Jun who are not well-known but are equally talented."
"In the acting profession, there's no use in rushing for quick success; you have to strive for long-term success," Chen Ziyan said. "There have been many actors who were once very popular, but they all faded away early. On the contrary, actors like Jiang Jun have been steadily working in this industry. No one knows when they will become famous. Chen Jiping and Zhang Zhiwen are actors who have emerged and become famous overnight in recent years. Before they became famous, they also experienced more than ten or twenty years of dormancy and obscurity."
In Chen Ziyan's eyes, Lu Yanhe became famous at a young age, experiencing overnight fame as well as the rise and fall of his popularity. This is Lu Yanhe's most valuable experience, and it is through this experience that Lu Yanhe has become so rational, self-disciplined, and humble.
Lu Yanhe asked, "How is Teacher Jiang's recovery going?"
“He has almost recovered, but many people are worried that he has not fully recovered and that he might relapse. They are afraid to ask him to act because they are afraid that he will not be able to act halfway through.” Chen Ziyan said with a sigh.
Lu Yanhe frowned slightly.
"It's one thing to have such concerns before, but now that almost half a year has passed, why are they still saying this?"
Chen Ziyan did not speak.
Lu Yanhe said, "Has Aurora Video not given us any feedback on the scripts for the first five episodes of 'The Squid Game' yet?"
"Not yet. I guess they're still waiting for the market reaction to 'The Seventeenth Floor.' However, if we're willing to sign that cooperation agreement with Aurora Video, their evaluation of the 'Squid Game' script should be given much priority," Chen Ziyan said. "What are you thinking? You've been considering a long-term cooperation with Aurora Video for a while now. What are your thoughts?"
Lu Yanhe said, "Sister Ziyan, I've thought about it for a long time. I mainly want to simplify the content of our collaboration with Aurora Video. I don't want their investment, nor do I want to make the terms of the collaboration too complicated. The more complicated it is, the more obstacles there will be. Of course, I'm willing to cooperate with them long-term, but acting is acting and screenwriting is screenwriting. These are two different things."
“If we separate these two identities, the conditions that Northern Lights promised us will definitely be discounted,” Chen Ziyan immediately reminded us.
Lu Yanhe's most illustrious achievement is actually "Friends".
Only a blockbuster project like Friends could impress a major platform like Northern Lights Entertainment to proactively collaborate with Lu Yanhe.
The success of "Friends" stems from the fact that the show was written and starred by Lu Yanhe. It's impossible to pinpoint which role was the main reason for the success, so we can only view it as a whole.
Lu Yanhe said, "It's fine if the conditions are discounted, just don't trap me."
Chen Ziyan laughed.
"So how do you want to talk to them?"
“Let’s discuss the actor’s collaboration and the screenwriter’s collaboration separately,” Lu Yanhe said immediately. “Acting is acting, and screenwriting is screenwriting. That way, the company won’t have to argue with me about contracts and profit sharing, and I won’t have to worry about losing out on one side while focusing on the other.”
Chen Ziyan pondered for a moment and nodded, "That's good too. Your acting contract is with the company, and you're doing the scriptwriting yourself. You don't have anyone else acting as your agent. Splitting it up like this is the easiest way and will save you a lot of trouble in the future."
"The most important thing is to keep the initiative in my own hands," Lu Yanhe said. "I want to try to eliminate unnecessary interference in what roles I take on, what roles I act in, and what scripts I write."
“You signed a long-term cooperation agreement with Northern Lights Entertainment, not so much to get you to act in their films, but because they have high hopes for you and want to invest in you, to buy shares in advance,” Chen Ziyan said. “Our production company hasn’t revealed much about you yet. Nobody knows how many film scripts you have. They only know that you have ‘Squid Game’ and a period sitcom that’s still just a pipe dream. Under these circumstances, President Lin is willing to spend such a large sum of money to invest, which is actually an investment in you.”
Lu Yanhe said, "Actually, we have these scripts, but none of them have been filmed yet, so no one knows what the results will be."
“That’s a good thing. Now everyone only sees that you had a huge hit with Friends, so they will look at your future works with more respect,” Chen Ziyan said. “Scripts like Raise the Red Lantern and Rouge won’t have a large box office. Although they are more entertaining and easier to understand than movies like Three Mountains, they are not the kind of movies that will satisfy the audience. Once they are released, people’s expectations for you may be lowered after seeing their box office results.”
Lu Yanhe nodded and said, "Make money if you can, and don't lose money if you can't. My goals aren't high. Just do what you want to do and don't do anything that loses money. That's enough."
Chen Ziyan smiled. "It's normal for you to think this way now, but once you make a movie like 'Friends' that achieves huge box office success, even if you don't change your mind, the people around you will force you to change. Just like Director Wang Zhong, those people in Sanhe clearly knew Director Wang Zhong's ideas and his pursuit of art, but that didn't stop them from repeatedly persuading and trying to change his mind. You see, in the end, didn't Wang Zhong still get pushed by them to come to you for publicity?"
Lu Yanhe was startled.
What Chen Ziyan said is actually a very scary truth.
In this world, if you want to be yourself, it's not enough to just stick to being yourself.
-
Wang Zhong should have been riding high.
As a film director, his status in the film industry soared, reaching the very top.
However, once any artwork becomes famous, it cannot be kept hidden away. Even if you want to preserve it as a rare and precious gem, there will be a large number of people who will assess its market value.
Wang Zhong's film "Three Mountains" was given such a big promotion and hype by the distribution company Sanhe. They repeatedly told him that if the film was managed well, it could be a box office hit.
"Director Wang, don't you even want your film to achieve good box office results?"
This sentence was like a spell, enticing Wang Zhong to gradually change his principles and cooperate with their publicity and marketing plans. Until these past two days, he belatedly realized that everything was very different from what he had imagined.
“They did invest, but the overseas copyright revenue of ‘Three Mountains’ has already made them a lot of money. I don’t owe them anything!” Wang Zhongdu had angrily cursed Chen Ling like this before. “I was worried that they would lose money and that I would let them down, but ‘Three Mountains’ didn’t lose money! The overseas copyright revenue alone has already made them more than 20 million, not to mention the long-term benefits in the future. Tell them that I will no longer cooperate with them in this kind of false marketing!”
For Lu Yanhe, what bothered him about the promotional methods for "Three Mountains" was that he was made to work for free and his role in the film was deliberately misrepresented.
However, for Wang Zhong, the current promotion of "Three Mountains" is completely concealing the theme of the film itself. It was initially promoted as a story of three teenagers searching for treasure and going on an adventure during a famine – which is the positioning of a commercial film. Later, they touted how superb Lu Yanhe's acting skills were, saying that it was worth going to the cinema just for Lu Yanhe's acting skills.
All of this was just gimmicky marketing, which Wang Zhong found hard to accept.
Wang Zhong has not appeared in the promotional activities for "Three Mountains" for two days.
It was all done by Chen Jiang, Sui Fangran, and Wang Lu working together.
However, the three of them were complete newcomers, and not many people knew them. Their promotional efforts before the film's release were not very effective.
The people from Sanhe have been contacting Wang Zhong these past two days, apologizing to him and trying to persuade him to come back by appealing to his emotions and reasoning with him.
Wang Zhong was further annoyed by their incessant behavior.
At this moment, Lu Yanhe and Chen Ziyan suddenly took the initiative to invite him to dinner, which surprised him.
Wang Zhong actually admired and felt somewhat close to Lu Yanhe.
The high praise that "Three Mountains" received is largely due to Lu Yanhe's brilliant performance.
Wang Zhong knew that, in fact, when the film was screened at the Citium Film Festival, the judges and media had all pointed this out to some extent.
However, it seems that not many people in China are paying attention to this; instead, they are focusing on Lu Yanhe's celebrity status.
However, since returning from the Citium Film Festival, a rift has developed between him and Lu Yanhe over film promotion, though it has not been openly discussed or spoken to each other.
Wang Zhong didn't know how the rift between him and Lu Yanhe had started. He had been too busy and troubled lately to think about or analyze the matter.
So, Lu Yanhe and Chen Ziyan suddenly decided to come over and have dinner with him.
This incident reminded Wang Zhong of the problems that had inexplicably arisen between him and Lu Yanhe.
Chen Ling said, "Wang Zhong, Xiao Lu has never intended for others to think that this movie's success is due to his performance. Therefore, he has intentionally avoided participating in the movie's promotion these days and has not cooperated with these arguments. Sanhe's approach not only makes you uncomfortable but also makes him unhappy. Neither he nor Chen Ziyan wants their fans to be tricked into going to the cinema by Sanhe's false advertising, only to find that he only has ten minutes of screen time. He was willing to make a cameo appearance for us when he was at the height of his popularity because of you, and he helped us a lot. Don't let Sanhe and his group's actions cause friction between the two of you."
Wang Zhong felt as if he had been struck on the head with a stick.
He instantly realized why he felt somewhat disliked Lu Yanhe.
This film, which he had been preparing for so many years, has seen Lu Yanhe become the most crucial person in many people's eyes since returning from the Sitour Film Festival and starting from the film's promotion. Even the director himself has to take a backseat.
As the director of this film, how could Wang Zhong possibly want to see this situation?
He looked at Chen Ling.
Chen Ling was also looking at him.
They've been working together for so long that they're already old friends.
Chen Ling had clearly seen through his inner conflict long ago, and only now did he specifically point it out to remind him.
Wang Zhong fell silent.
Chen Ling smiled.
Wang Chong asked, "Did Lu Yanhe say anything?"
"I was initially quite critical of our constant use of his publicity methods, but after learning that you, Director, have also suffered from this kind of publicity, I've come to accept it. That's why I've come to invite you to dinner."
(End of this chapter)
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