"Stop." Qu Xiyu stretched out her hand. "Today's filming ends here. Go back and get some rest."
"Okay." Ji Yan took off his costume, feeling as if he had been pulled out of the water. His forehead, neck, and back were all covered in sweat. Although the temperature had dropped, the physical exertion he had done every day still made him feel very tired.
Filming for "The Curtain" has entered its final stage.
In the end, Li Yu, played by Ji Yan, and Gu Chao, played by Xi Ming, will have a life-or-death battle. In these scenes, Ji Yan needs to jump from the third floor, climb water pipes, and have a lot of fight scenes. Although he has gradually mastered the essentials of action scenes, the fight scenes are indeed quite tiring to film.
He rubbed his arms, which were already bruised and covered with plasters. He was tired every day, but looking at his impressive fight scenes on the monitor, Ji Yan was quite satisfied.
The sense of fulfillment he gets from movies probably lies here—from the unknown to gradually accumulating experience in filming various types of works, and slowly enjoying the lives of the characters he plays.
From his first film, "I, Nameless," to this one, "The Curtain," including his only television series, "The Long Song of Lament," the themes of these films are all different. Through participating in these films, Ji Yan has also developed his own views on acting.
This feeling of exploring little by little is truly joyful.
Ji Yan is now very grateful to Li Xiang, who pulled him into the world of film when he knew nothing about it. When he was filming "I, Nameless", he only felt pain, but now, as he makes more and more films, Ji Yan is enjoying it.
"Want to go drinking tomorrow night?" Xi Ming patted Ji Yan on the shoulder. "How about fishing this afternoon?"
Ji Yan: "...I just want to get some sleep. Aren't you tired?"
He realized that the seniors he had worked with were all incredibly energetic. When he worked with Li Xiang and Zhu Shuguang before, he was amazed at how long these two great directors could last. But now, working with Xi Ming, the latter's energy was also frighteningly abundant.
On the contrary, the young people in the crew... were all incredibly lazy.
Aren't games great? Aren't cartoons entertaining? Stop thinking about your pathetic fish all the time.
But Xi Ming really liked to drag Ji Yan out to play, drink, eat barbecue, and go fishing. In Ji Yan's impression, Xi Ming was a very socially adept person. The impression he gave people was that he frequented high-end places every day and drank expensive wines that cost hundreds of thousands of US dollars. But for some reason, one time Xi Ming took Ji Yan out for a stroll. After they finished shopping, they went straight to a barbecue restaurant, ordered meat skewers and seafood, and even opened a beer and started drinking beer with Ji Yan.
As a result, the feelings that the two had not developed during filming actually deepened here.
Ji Yan: "..."
So now Xi Ming even calls him "fishing" now; he doesn't call anyone else, he just calls him Ji Yan.
Ji Yan felt that this was a classic case of one wrong step leading to another. He wanted to escape Xi Ming's clutches, but he knew all too well how adept Xi Ming was at manipulating people. He used all the same business tactics he used on investors on Ji Yan. With Ji Yan's pitiful experience in dealing with people, he naturally couldn't escape.
He was also saved by Qu Xiyu several times.
To be honest, Ji Yan is no longer afraid of Qu Xiyu at all. On the contrary, the director shines like a saint in his eyes, as if he is a savior from suffering.
However, if he has enough time, Ji Yan will usually agree to Xi Ming's request.
The main reason is that his fishing skills have improved significantly, all of which he honed during the filming of "Young Love Poems." Among the people Ji Yan knows, He Qing is the most outstanding in fishing skills. According to He Qing, his skills were originally only average, but unfortunately, the food on the set of "Young Love Poems" was really bad. Under the pressure of survival, He Qing practiced fishing skills diligently. After filming "Young Love Poems," he even participated in two amateur fishing competitions and won medals.
Before the release of "Young Love Poems", no one cared about He Qing's skill. However, after he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the Huayi Awards and the Changkong Awards for his roles in "Young Love Poems" and "The Vanished Murder Case" respectively, his talent was discovered by marketing accounts, which also greatly increased his number of followers.
He Qing originally took the route of serious dramas, and the number of fans was not important to him. However, after the number of fans increased, He Qing received several promotions and endorsements, and his commercial income increased significantly.
So He Qing would occasionally call Ji Yan to go fishing. If Ji Yan ignored him, he would go on a tirade about the importance of mastering a skill, and send a bunch of fish emojis when Ji Yan pretended to be offline.
Their current chat pattern is very simple. Generally, if He Qing contacts him, aside from 10% business, 90% of the time it's just—"[Fish]?"
It was so decisive and emotionless, like a cold-blooded fish killer.
...
Although the crew of "The Curtain" had a strict director like Qu Xiyu and a top-tier actor like Xi Ming, the overall atmosphere during filming was quite good. Qu Xiyu was strict, but that was only because she had high standards for filming. The preparation work for filming was usually very thorough, and the staff and actors cooperated almost 100%. Filming in such a crew was actually very comfortable, and the high-quality performances of the actors in the scenes with him also motivated Ji Yan.
In his view, the experience of filming "Black Curtain" was completely different from that of filming "I, Nameless", "Young Love Poems" and "The Vanishing Murder".
During the filming of the other three movies, Ji Yan did not have a reference as outstanding as Xi Ming.
Although no one asked him to, the truth is that whenever Ji Yan had a scene with Xi Ming, he would tense himself up even more, focusing his attention to 100% or even beyond that limit. Whenever Xi Ming appeared in the studio, the pressure on him was indescribable.
With the other person around, Ji Yan had to force himself to do better.
Of course, despite being on edge, Ji Yan was not overwhelmed. On the contrary, acting alongside some of the best actors in the industry gave him a strong sense of excitement. He was completely immersed in the role, his nerves, his gaze, his movements, his mind... every part of his body was absorbed in the filming, almost to the point of self-forgetfulness.
To be honest, it feels pretty good.
...
The final scene of "The Curtain" takes place in the rain.
Since filming began, the crew had been hoping for a heavy rain. They waited for a long time, but what they got was either a thunderstorm that lasted for ten minutes or a light drizzle from morning to night. So this scene was delayed again and again. The crew was already considering artificial rain, but the effect of artificial rain is generally not as good as the effect of real rain, especially this kind of rain with its own lightning and thunder effects.
In the rain, Ji Yan and Xi Ming completed a fight scene.
In this match, both of them performed their own stunts without using stunt doubles.
The reason we used stunt doubles before wasn't because the fight scenes were particularly brutal, but because there were some dialogue scenes interspersed throughout the film. According to the script, those dialogue scenes were supposed to take place before the fight scenes, so the stunt doubles couldn't have any injuries.
In this scene, to make the filming effect more realistic, there are more action scenes between the two, and there is also a bomb disposal scene.
Before filming, Guo Hai gave the two a long talk, explaining the key points of filming the scenes and the scenes to pay attention to during the fight.
It started with seizing the gun—
Gu Chao and Li Yu were almost out of bullets. Li Yu had two bullets left in his magazine, but Gu Chao's was empty. So he pounced on Li Yu from a distance and threw Li Yu's pistol into the river.
The two began to wrestle wildly on the ground.
Li Yu punched Gu Chao in the face, and Gu Chao didn't back down either, grabbing his arm and flipping him over. But the next moment, Li Yu found an opportunity and punched him several times in the chin.
Although Ji Yan and Xi Ming were really fighting, they always kept their distance. Under Guo Hai's guidance, the two knew exactly how to fight in a way that looked real. Their movements looked fierce, but they didn't actually hurt each other. However, there were still some bumps and bruises. Xi Ming punched Ji Yan directly on the bridge of his nose. As soon as Xi Ming let go, Ji Yan felt a stinging sensation in his nose.
The two continued punching each other, each blow more brutal than the last. Gradually, their faces became incredibly ferocious. Gu Chao roared angrily, beating Li Yu even more fiercely, but Li Yu, with his face blurred from being punched, laughed arrogantly: "Kill me, it doesn't matter, let's fall into depravity together."
He was a person who didn't care about life or death, or rather, he had actually been looking forward to this moment.
For Gu Chao, Li Yu had destroyed everyone he cherished. At first, he could remain calm, but now, he felt nothing but uncontrollable anger and murderous intent towards this person. His expression grew increasingly fierce, while Li Yu's eyes were filled with anticipation.
He was like a devil; even in death, he wanted to drag Gu Chao into his dark world.
Li Yu's smile could almost be described as insane.
The camera is shooting a close-up of the two at this moment—in the not-so-wide frame, Gu Chao and Li Yu's expressions are incredibly clear, even their pores can be captured clearly.
That's why everyone present was able to truly appreciate the acting prowess of Xi Ming and Ji Yan.
Xi Ming has no problem handling the role of Gu Chao, but it is also a relatively challenging role in his acting career. So he decided to participate as soon as he received the script. As for the role of Li Yu, Xi Ming did not hesitate to point out Ji Yan's name.
If Ji Yan's initial invitation was partly due to his nomination for the Chang Kong Award, then now, judging solely from this seemingly frozen moment, Ji Yan is probably the only choice for the role of Li Yu.
Among young actors, who can act opposite Xi Ming without being overshadowed?
The production team of "The Curtain" couldn't think of any actors' names at first, but after watching Ji Yan and Xi Ming's scenes together, they found the right answer.
Under his performance, Li Yu's madness, cold-bloodedness, cruelty and other terrifying qualities were fully brought to life. From the beginning to the end of filming, whether it was a battle of wits or a fight scene, Ji Yan maintained a high level of performance.
In this scene, even though his face is covered in blood and gore, the oppressive feeling from Li Yu's eyes remains. He is like a black net, firmly capturing everyone's gaze.
You could even say he is the cover-up itself.
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