Chapter 905 Reunion with Li Zhibai in New York
When Lu Yanhe was filming "Men in Black", the image of Li Zhibai would often pop into his mind.
To be fair, Will Smith's handling of many situations, with his arrogant and cocky attitude as a young man, is very similar to Li Zhibai's in many ways.
This includes James deciding to join the Interstellar Immigration Bureau, arriving here the next day, changing into a black suit, wearing sunglasses, and saying to Agent K with a touch of arrogance, "Do you know the difference between you and me? I make this suit look better on me."
100% Li Zhibai.
However, Lu Yanhe really enjoyed playing this role.
Especially the scenes with Siegfried—
He had many scenes with Thicke in this film. Thicke is also a very skilled and veteran actor. Their characters in the film are a classic example of opposition yet complementarity.
Lu Yanhe felt that he had never been as lively as James in "Men in Black".
He has a kind of arrogant, fearless attitude.
One minute he's complaining about how bad the car they were given, the next he's nagging about how bad the agent's attitude wasn't. He seems all high and mighty, and once the car starts, it goes like a race car, but the intense acceleration makes him shut up.
After about two weeks of filming, Lu Yanhe stopped having to think about acting.
As long as he maintains this mindset every day, once he arrives on set, he can simply let his instincts guide him.
The same goes for Sik.
His handling of Agent K was very sophisticated. He appeared aloof, taciturn, and seemingly a silent gentleman, but in reality, he was a kind person who cared about the young James and understood and accepted James's world in his own way.
Sidley Scott did not simply portray Agent K as a dryly humorous, cartoonish character.
He continues to use his performance to portray him as a man with a past—and through countless details, he makes people involuntarily curious about his past and how he gradually became the man he is today.
In front of Agent K, played by Xi Ke, James, played by Lu Yanhe, is as clean as a bottle of boiling pure water.
It looks lively and exciting, but you can actually see the whole story at a glance.
Each shoot brings Lu Yanhe new insights—he enjoys this process. If a shoot ever stops offering him something new, that would be truly terrible.
-
Lu Yanhe was off work that day and had no filming assignments.
He was able to meet Li Zhibai, who had arrived in New York two days earlier.
Li Zhibai came to meet a director.
There's a film project here, and his agent here thinks he's a good fit, so he recommended him to the director.
The director was also interested in him.
When Lu Yanhe met Li Zhibai, Li Zhibai had already met the director.
"How is it?" Lu Yanhe asked.
Li Zhibai said, "The conversation went alright, but I haven't decided yet whether or not I should take on this movie."
"ah?"
"It's adapted from a very famous novel, but to be honest, I don't even understand why that novel was so popular. It even had a Chinese translation, but I think the story is very ordinary," Li Zhibai said. "It's a very... how should I put it? Maybe the novel is a bit better because it focuses a lot on atmosphere and has some captivating elements, but this script is very boring. It tells the story of a high school boy who discovers an entrance to another world in his backyard, then adventures in that other world and defeats the world's great demon king."
"That sounds a bit mediocre," Lu Yanhe asked. "Why does your agent think this script is good?"
“We didn’t talk much about the specifics. I thought I’d meet with the director and have a chat to see if things would change. But his vision for the film made me feel that it was more like a children’s movie, made for kids, rather childish and immature,” Li Zhibai said. “I guess they found me because the male lead in this movie is an Asian boy.”
"Oh?" Lu Yanhe was somewhat surprised.
“Haven’t you heard of this project?” Li Zhibai said. “Maybe your agent turned down the script outright.”
“Possibly,” Lu Yanhe said. “However, I don’t think you need to rush into a decision. You can talk to your agent. Because many movies aren’t very good in the initial script stage. They’re revised one draft after another. The key is whether there’s anything in the script that moves you or touches your heart. If there is, you can make requests to the film company and director, raise your doubts about the script and the parts you feel are not good, and see if they are willing to revise it and to what extent. What if it could be revised to a level that you are both relatively satisfied with, like 'Buried 2'?”
Li Zhibai: "This is fine, but it's too much trouble. Why don't I want to revise your script?"
"Come on, your aesthetic sense regarding scripts is largely based on my experience. You've already developed a filter on me, so even if my script is really bad, you wouldn't be able to tell," Lu Yanhe said. "Objectively speaking, you're not the Li Zhibai you used to be. You have your own aesthetic sense, so it's perfectly normal for your standards to become higher and more demanding, regardless of these filters."
"If you put it that way, then I do have fewer and fewer scripts that I'm looking for now."
“Many actors’ initial reading of the script may be completely different from the story they end up filming, and the story they film may be different from the final edited version.” Lu Yanhe smiled. “The script is very important, but sometimes it is not so important for the film. In fact, the most important thing is whether the person you work with, the director, has the ability to control a project as a whole.”
Li Zhibai: "Alright, I've learned my lesson."
He suddenly remembered something and said, "Yin Xincheng is getting married tomorrow. Don't forget to send him a message. Yan Liang specifically told me to remind you. I almost forgot."
Lu Yanhe took out his phone, found the chat history, and showed it to Li Zhibai.
"It's okay. He doesn't trust you much anyway. He sent me a message two hours ago to remind me."
Li Zhibai: "Damn it!"
Lu Yanhe laughed.
Li Zhibai: "Yin Xincheng is pretty quick, getting married so soon. He's not even thirty yet, is he?"
"Isn't that how it works: get on the train first, buy the ticket later?" Lu Yanhe said. "Who's going to wait until you're over thirty to hold a child and swear an oath to you?"
"His girlfriend, tsk tsk," Li Zhibai suddenly sighed.
"What's wrong? Has she gotten into any trouble with you?"
“Oh, no, it was at a banquet hosted by a commercial brand that she met Qianqian.” Even now, Lu Yanhe couldn’t help but feel a chill run down his spine whenever Li Zhibai mentioned Qianqian’s name—but he could only hold it in. Li Zhibai was completely unaware that what he had just witnessed was particularly disgusting to Lu Yanhe. He continued, “She told Qianqian that she was a fan of hers and asked if they could follow each other on social media. Qianqian, seeing that Li Zhibai was about to marry Yin Xincheng and was practically a member of the industry, followed her back. But a couple of days later, Qianqian saw her say in a live stream that she and Qianqian were very close best friends.”
"..." Lu Yanhe frowned in disbelief, "Is it really that easy to leech off someone like this?"
“That’s right, she’s just trying to piggyback on her friendship,” Li Zhibai said. “Qianqian has already followed her on social media, what can she do? Qianqian can’t just stand up and say, ‘Oh no, she’s not her best friend.’ That would be so embarrassing. Yin Xincheng is the lead actor in ‘Friends.’ Even if she doesn’t care about Yin Xincheng, she’ll have to consider your feelings.”
Lu Yanhe took a deep breath and sighed.
"I have a premonition right now."
What premonition?
“This person will definitely cause us trouble in the future.” Lu Yanhe clasped his hands together. “I hope God will tell me with facts that I am a petty person who doesn’t trust others, and that I am wrong, and that she is actually a nice person who seems annoying on the surface.”
Li Zhibai sneered.
"Then I think you've hit the nail on the head."
Li Zhibai said, "Anyway, the next time I see her, I will definitely expose her for using other people's names to run her own social media accounts without leaving a trace."
Lu Yanhe: "I really don't understand, is she short of money or short of attention? She's about to marry Yin Xincheng, she shouldn't lack anything, right?"
“What are you thinking about here? What’s the point of your thinking?” Li Zhibai said. “Why don’t you think about how much you can tolerate Yin Xincheng when she is caught between you and him?”
(End of this chapter)
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