Chapter 195 You Are Old
"I can't play this role." Xia Lu didn't want to play a villain, especially a ruthless female villain, which would ruin her popularity with the audience.
"You have good acting skills and can handle Yamamoto Masako."
"Director Qi, you promised Xiu, but now you want me to play a bad guy?"
"I promised Xiu to take care of you and give you an important role. The role of Yamamoto Masako is a very important role. She has the most scenes among the three characters, and it's a type you haven't played before. Xia Lu, maybe with your acting skills, this role will bring unexpected surprises."
Qi Weiming then said to Xia Lu earnestly, "I know you're returning to television with the intention of making a splash. But have you ever thought about it? You've been away for so many years. The world has changed, and the audience's preferences have changed. Have you considered what path you want to take? If you want to go back to your old ways as a young actress and play the sweet, youthful heroine, you're bound to fail. You're not young anymore. You can't be as young and sweet as you were back then. You can't play cute roles."
Qi Weiming's words stabbed into Xia Lu's heart like a knife. It hurt so much that she couldn't even say anything.
"I suggest you look at Yuna," Qi Weiming said. "She's not much younger than you, but she established her own image early on, purposefully accepting roles. With a dedicated career path, she's not worried about running out of roles as she gets older. Furthermore, the new female elite image she's portrayed only becomes more popular as she gets older. Of course, I'm not asking you to copy her, I'm asking you to gain some insights."
Qi Weiming rarely gives such advice to artists. It was all because of his friendship with Xiu that he gave Xia Lu a few more words of advice. "I asked you to play Yamamoto Masako after careful consideration. If you want to make a strong comeback, you can't follow the usual path. You have to find a new way. Whether you can play Yamamoto Masako well and leave a deep impression on the audience depends on your ability."
"Director Qi, do I have to act?" Qi Weiming's words made Xia Lu think a lot, but she still felt very uncomfortable. Her eyes were red and she looked at Qi Weiming pitifully.
Qi Weiming softened his heart for a rare moment and comforted her, "Don't worry about the audience being disgusted by playing a villain. First, you have to tell the audience that you're back, that Xia Lu, whom they once loved, is back. Later, I'll ask the company to get you a female lead role, so you can play some positive roles to change the audience's perception. And you still have Xiu. Xiu said he was the one who delayed you, and he'll get you some resources. You won't lack resources, you just lack the ability to gain a foothold."
After Qi Weiming's counseling, Xia Lu finally came to terms with her situation. She had no choice but to let it go. Otherwise, what else could she do? Finally, she agreed to take on the role of Yamamoto Masako and secured resources for her next film from Qi Weiming.
After all the preparatory work was completed, the crew asked a Feng Shui master to select an auspicious day to hold the opening ceremony.
The people of Baogang believe in Feng Shui and gods. They worship before doing anything, and they worship in a more solemn manner when doing big things.
As one of the main actors, Hu Xiaoxiao will also attend today's opening ceremony.
Hu Xiaoxiao had participated in several pre-production prayer ceremonies. The larger the production, the more grand the ceremony. Today's ceremony was far from the small-scale rituals she'd attended before; it was the biggest she'd ever held since her debut. Not only the crew and the main cast, but even CEO Lu had expressed his desire to come and pray to Guan Gong for good luck.
Hu Xiaoxiao arrived at the film and television city half an hour early. After parking the car, Zhu Wanwen also arrived. The two of them went for a stroll in the film and television city first.
The film and television city has built a new street in the style of Shanghai during the Republic of China. "The Bund" is the first TV series to be filmed after the street was built. In other words, "The Bund" was written specifically for this street.
Because the film and television city is also an industry of the parent group. If "The Bund Storm" is made well and becomes a hit, more films about old Shanghai will follow suit and Ji Sheng's income will increase again.
The two of them strolled around and chatted. Since they were in the film and television city, the topic of conversation was inevitably related to this place.
"Huh? Hasn't this crew finished filming yet?" Hu Xiaoxiao passed by an old-style house and saw a sign outside that said the film "Ancient House Love" was currently being filmed. He then asked Zhu Wanwen, "I remember they started filming this movie half a year ago, and it's still not finished. How much money did they invest that it took so long?"
Zhu Wanwen looked over, saw the movie title, and immediately pulled Hu Xiaoxiao away in a hurry. They didn't say anything until they were across a street. "Something went wrong with this movie a while ago. During filming, an actor saw something dirty, and everything went wrong. I heard that during the opening ceremony, an actor said something they shouldn't have said. Plus, it's a horror movie, so it must have been a ghost."
"Is it so weird?" After hearing the gossip, Hu Xiaoxiao wanted to run back to see if there was really something dirty inside.
How could Zhu Wanwen let Hu Xiaoxiao go? He quickly grabbed Hu Xiaoxiao and said, "Don't make trouble. We are going to worship the gods today. We want good luck and avoid unlucky places."
Feeling a bit regretful that he couldn't see what was going on, Hu Xiaoxiao asked, "Since you bumped into something bad, why did you dare to take pictures?"
Zhu Wanwen was no longer surprised. He said, "Those who shoot supernatural films are bound to encounter these strange things. If they stopped filming when something happened, how could there be so many ghost movies in Hong Kong? Their crew had already invited a master to review the film and performed rituals to confirm that there was no problem before continuing filming."
Then, Zhu Wanwen told Hu Xiaoxiao a lot of supernatural events that happened during the filming, and Hu Xiaoxiao listened with great interest.
It wasn't until they were in front of the opening ceremony of "The Bund" that Zhu Wanwen stopped talking and instructed Hu Xiaoxiao: "Be sweet-mouthed and say more auspicious words. Don't say a single bad word. Although Director Qi has strong professional skills, he is very superstitious."
Hu Xiaoxiao nodded, "I saw it."
From a distance, Hu Xiaoxiao saw that director Qi Weiming was wearing bright red clothes, and several crew members were also wearing bright red clothes, which symbolized prosperity.
A statue of Guan Gong, roasted pig and fresh fruits were placed on the table.
There was also a camera, covered with a red cloth.
Jiang Yu, the protagonist of "The Bund", also arrived. Zhu Wanwen took Hu Xiaoxiao over to say hello to Jiang Yu.
Jiang Yu was in a good mood today. He smiled at the two of them and said, "The ceremony is about to begin. Don't run around. If you can't find me, Director Qi will be furious."
Zhu Wanwen promised that he would not do so.
Jiang Yu saw that the male lead Song Yan'an had also arrived and waved him over.
They have worked together on TV for so many years and are old friends.
Song Yan'an was not arrogant. After coming over to greet Jiang Yu, he said to Hu Xiaoxiao, "Congratulations on getting the role of Xie Weihua."
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