Chapter 575 Divergence
After the director issue for "Nineteen Years" was resolved, Li Zhibai breathed a sigh of relief.
He felt that this period had truly been the most turbulent time he had ever experienced on set as an actor.
In the past, no matter what problems arose in the production crew, it actually had little to do with him.
He was just an actor; he had no idea, responsibility, or obligation to get involved in the situations that arose on set.
This time was completely different, and it brought him a completely different experience.
But what Li Zhibai didn't expect was something else entirely.
In the case of Liu Manbo, Li Zhibai felt for the first time that even if it meant going through more trouble, taking on more responsibility, and putting in more effort, it was all worthwhile—helping Liu Manbo retain her position as director and getting Lighthouse Video to abandon the idea of having Lu Xibo return to direct.
He suddenly realized why, even though being an actor was already a great achievement, Lu Yanhe was also simultaneously working as a screenwriter, director, and producer on many projects.
If directors and screenwriters are responsible for controlling a project's content and ensuring it stays on track, then producers are responsible for ensuring a conducive creative environment for creators, allowing them to focus on their work and placing the right people in the right positions.
It was this experience that gave Li Zhibai a very strong shock.
Even though he is already a popular actor, and even a producer with significant influence and voice in the drama "Nineteen Years", he is still powerless and lacks the ability to defend what he wants to defend when there are disagreements and conflicts with the platform.
No wonder many actors eventually become producers.
Because if they want to protect their project, they have to be more involved in it.
-
Malaysia.
Lu Yanhe and director Huang Tianlin arranged to meet at an ecological park.
Although Lu Yanhe didn't know why they would arrange to meet in such a place—indeed, very few people would invite him to meet in such a place—he gladly accepted.
This is the only film he is confirmed to be joining the production team for this year.
In the movie "Tropical Rainy Season", he played the lead role—the rascal older brother of a twelve-year-old boy.
This is a family story told from the perspective of a twelve-year-old child.
Lu Yanhe has never filmed this type of movie before.
Lu Yanhe found and watched all of Huang Tianlin's past directorial works.
Huang Tianlin struck me as a very gentle and meticulous director.
The family relationships in his films are all based on love; no matter how big the storm, they eventually return to the calm of daily life.
This trait is actually very difficult to handle; it's easy to turn it into a feel-good, inspirational story.
Chicken soup is too common and lacks artistry.
Huang Tianlin handled the situation very well.
Lu Yanhe believes that this is mainly because Huang Tianlin never intended to make a heartwarming story from the beginning. He was just looking at the world from this perspective—the difference between intentional and unintentional.
Lu Yanhe and Huang Tianlin met at the entrance of the ecological park.
Lu Yanhe only brought Zou Dong with him.
Huang Tianlin, on the other hand, was all alone.
Zou Dong was about two or three meters away from Lu Yanhe, giving them ample space to have private conversations.
Huang Tianlin spoke Mandarin to Lu Yanhe, not Malay.
This surprised Lu Yanhe.
Huang Tianlin said that his maternal grandfather was Chinese, and he grew up with his grandfather when he was a child, so he can speak Mandarin. However, he hasn't spoken it for a long time, so he speaks it a little slowly.
Lu Yanhe suddenly understood and nodded.
“I didn’t see this information in your interview,” he asked. “Was this not made public to the media?”
Huang Tianlin waved his hand with a smile and said, "It's not about whether it's public or not. I didn't intend to hide this matter, but I really haven't talked about it publicly. No one would be curious about who my maternal grandfather is."
Lu Yanhe nodded.
“When they told me that you were willing to act in the movie ‘Tropical Rainy Season,’ I was quite surprised,” Huang Tianlin said. “Actually, I didn’t know that my producer had contacted you before he told me.”
Lu Yanhe: "It should be my agent who contacted him. She has been helping me find scripts. I acted in a few commercial films recently, so I have been looking for films that are suitable for me but not so commercial."
He's also very outspoken.
Huang Tianlin: "When 'The Mist' was released, I went to the cinema to watch it. It was only when I got to the cinema that I realized that there are many of your fans in Malaysia, and many people went to see the movie specifically because of you."
“Really? I’m also very surprised,” Lu Yanhe said. “Because I’ve never been to Malaysia before, nor have I ever filmed a Malaysian movie. I didn’t expect that so many people would still know me and like me.”
Huang Tianlin: "I really didn't expect that a movie star like you would participate in the movie 'Tropical Rainy Season'. It surprised me."
“I really like this script; it reminds me of my childhood.”
Lu Yanhe walked under the shade of the trees, the sunlight dappling their bodies and the road in front of them.
There weren't many people in the ecological park, just a few here and there.
With his hands behind his back, he said, “In recent years, I’ve read a lot of scripts about family ethics and relationships. I don’t know if it’s because there’s a trend in the world of cinema, but in these stories, the family seems to become a prison, a shadow that needs to be healed. Of course, I know that for many people, family has indeed caused such harm. But when all the scripts are about this kind of theme and story, I feel a bit resistant. It feels like this has become a trend, a correct trend, that only by escaping one’s original family can one build another life that truly belongs to oneself.”
Lu Yanhe spoke slowly about his feelings about the script "Tropical Rainy Season".
"So, it was really a pleasant surprise to see a script that looks at family relationships from a teenager's perspective," Lu Yanhe said. "The older brother's character doesn't have many scenes, but every appearance is wonderful. In this story, he is actually a destroyer and a leaver, a restless element. But even such a character, behind his behavior, you can see that on the one hand, he desperately wants to break free from the cage of the family, while on the other hand, he cares about and finds it hard to part with the people in the family."
Huang Tianlin looked at Lu Yanhe with some surprise and asked, "Do you have any brothers?"
Lu Yanhe shook his head.
He had no brothers, neither before nor after his time travel.
Huang Tianlin hesitated for a moment, then said, "Yan He, I heard that you grew up with your grandparents?"
"Yes." Lu Yanhe nodded.
Huang Tianlin hesitated for a few moments, as if he wanted to say something, but then didn't.
Upon seeing his expression, Lu Yanhe immediately realized what was happening.
He smiled.
"Director, are you worried that I won't be able to understand the family relationships in 'Tropical Rainy Season'?"
Huang Tianlin said, "I'm not questioning your ability as an actor. I've watched all your dramas, but in all the dramas you've acted in, there are very few parts about family and kinship. Including the dramas you wrote, the part about family and relatives is basically absent—"
Lu Yanhe nodded.
"Now that you mention it, it's true." He didn't realize that none of the works he had participated in in the past had focused on family and relatives.
Huang Tianlin looked at Lu Yanhe intently.
"I don't know if your understanding of this script is the same as mine."
-
"Director, in the elevator scene, could you change my smile for the little girl? I don't want it to be too creepy. The murderer I'm playing isn't mentally ill; he just wants to kill everyone who has hurt him. The little girl has nothing to do with him. It's certainly scary that he's giving a creepy smile at this moment, but it feels strange and doesn't fit his character. After all, neither before nor after this scene does he show any neurotic traits. He's a vengeful killer."
The scene Li Zhibai was referring to was the next scene they were going to film—his character, a murderer, entered the same elevator with a little girl on her way home from school.
He was going to kill someone, and the little girl lived in the same building as the person he was going to kill.
The little girl saw the tip of the knife sticking out from the sleeve of his raincoat and turned pale with fright.
At this moment, in the script, Li Zhibai gives the little girl a chilling smile and tells her not to be afraid.
Liu Manbo said, "The word 'creepy' in the script doesn't mean he intentionally scared the little girl. I think his creepiness was unintentional. Think about it, if a little girl had seen your weapon, in that situation, you would definitely want to try to comfort her with a smile and tell her not to be afraid. But in that tense state of mind, your smile would be distorted and creepy, which is actually the right thing to do."
After listening to Liu Manbo's interpretation, Li Zhibai nodded thoughtfully and said, "That would be too difficult for me. I don't know how to show that kind of creepy smile you're talking about. I thought it was the kind of creepy smile that a murderer would give—it's quite technically difficult."
Liu Manbo: "Let's try it out first and see how the performance goes."
After three auditions, both Liu Manbo and Li Zhibai felt it wasn't good enough.
Li Zhibai knew what kind of feeling Liu Manbo wanted, but he couldn't act it out.
The intention was to comfort the little girl and tell her not to be afraid, but the laughter actually produced a more chilling effect—it's just a matter of saying a few words, but to achieve it technically, probably very few actors could do it.
When the performance was still not very good after the third take, Li Zhibai became somewhat irritable.
He didn't think Liu Manbo was wrong, but rather that he felt he couldn't act it out.
"Director, let's try a different approach. This is really beyond my capabilities." Li Zhibai sensed that after so many takes, the rest of the crew was getting restless.
Liu Manbo said, "Zhibai, let's try again. I think you can pull it off. You're getting better and better."
At this moment, Li Zhibai really wanted to tell Liu Manbo that he couldn't do it, but looking at Liu Manbo's determined eyes, he sighed and decided to try again.
-
"What kind of older brother do you want me to play?" Lu Yanhe asked Huang Tianlin.
Huang Tianlin said, "Just now, after listening to your understanding of the character of the older brother, I found that your understanding differs somewhat from my original idea when I wrote the script."
"What deviation?" Lu Yanhe knew that Huang Tianlin must have a reason for suddenly bringing up his family, but he didn't expect it to be because of his interpretation of the script.
Huang Tianlin said, "The character of the older brother has no attachment to this family. So, you could say that the underlying reason for many of his behaviors is that he can't bear to leave this family. This is not the original intention of my script."
Lu Yanhe suddenly realized.
He thought for a moment and asked, "Then was the part about his reluctance to leave his family that I read in the script also a misunderstanding?"
“It would be wrong to say that he has no emotional attachment to his family, but that is not enough to stop him from wanting to leave the family,” Huang Tianlin explained. “His desire to leave must be greater than anything else. From arguing with his parents to fighting his way home, including that conversation with his brother, it’s all about one thing: he doesn’t want to be trapped.”
“But no matter how much a person wants to leave, their feelings will change when they can actually leave, right?” Lu Yanhe said.
Huang Tianlin: "What if I said that at least at my brother's age, there wasn't one?"
"This is indeed a bit beyond my comprehension." Lu Yanhe did not expect that he would have a disagreement with the director on his understanding of the script and the characters.
It would be a lie to say there were no disagreements before. But those disagreements were more about the way the content was presented than about the understanding of the script itself.
Lu Yanhe was somewhat surprised.
Huang Tianlin said, "In 'Tropical Rainy Season,' the older brother's character represents a kind of rebellion and departure, and is a spiritual projection of the younger brother's adolescence. In this story, he does not need to have so much character complexity and richness."
Lu Yanhe remained silent.
The two continued walking for a while longer.
Lu Yanhe said, "Director, I may need to go back and sort out the script and my own ideas."
Huang Tianlin nodded.
When the two parted, Huang Tianlin said, "Yan He, if you don't want to act in this movie anymore, I understand you. Actually, it's really unfair for such a famous actor like you to play such a small role."
“Director, I’m not concerned about the size of the role.” Lu Yanhe looked directly at Huang Tianlin and said, “I also want to ask you something.”
Huang Tianlin looked at him with a puzzled expression.
Lu Yanhe said, "If our disagreement is really just a difference in understanding the script and the characters, I will think about it carefully when I get back. But, director, I don't know if it's just my imagination, but I feel like you don't really want me to act in this movie. Can you tell me if this feeling is just my imagination?"
(End of this chapter)
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