Chapter 94: A Glimpse of an Era
Seeing Zhou Shengyi looking up at her and waving and smiling in response, Li Sishi's smile grew even brighter.
In truth, she put a lot of thought into tonight's "battle," and her most thrilling yet most effective move was to use Zhou Shengyi's nervousness while climbing the telephone pole to add to his attraction through the suspension bridge effect.
After all, the current comedy king and film set tyrant is at most a young man in his early thirties. Even though he has experienced ups and downs since his debut, the time it took for him to achieve box office success and rise to fame is still too short to mature into a super director who can resist all temptations.
Moreover, the two are currently playing a couple in a romantic scene. Using their charm to enhance their subtle intentions might even make their on-screen chemistry even stronger.
They are all professional actors, and a momentary infatuation won't cause any trouble. On the contrary, it can add a more emotional atmosphere than just acting.
In the future, this kind of atmosphere will have a specific name: "CP feeling".
Of course, no one would think of this adjective at this time, but as long as you're not blind, you can feel that irresistible feeling that lingers between the male and female leads while watching the show—especially every scene between the male and female leads, which makes you want to become a group of people who want to force their heads together on the spot.
Moreover, by using a little trickery to create this attraction, not only can Zhou Shengyi, a comedy king who doesn't have much chemistry with many female artists, be given a "CP" (couple pairing), but she can also take advantage of the complex emotions that this attraction gives to Zhou Shengyi to recklessly conquer his hesitant mind until he can't bear it anymore and surrenders...
With the intention of creating a strong sense of chemistry between "Lili" and "Yiwen", Li Sishi's performance in the following scenes became increasingly masterful. Her almond-shaped eyes, filled with a myriad of complex emotions, not only captivated the actors, but also amazed and impressed the director and others watching the filming.
Zhou Shengyi has worked with many famous actresses in the industry, including many great beauties with excellent acting skills and appearance. Therefore, he has some "knowledge" of these beauties who will inevitably become classic photos. The young newcomer in front of him, who is only eighteen years old, still looks a bit immature, but the kind of charm that only classic beauties can possess is already subtly present in him.
During his rest time late at night, Zhou Shengyi suddenly thought, what if Li Sishi could become a regional beauty like Xia Yingyun, the number one beauty on Taiwan Island?
This iconic beauty, even though this commercial film is only meant to make money at the box office, may become a "classic" memory for people to reminisce about the early days of this beauty.
Just like how people would dig up his minor roles in TBL TV series after he became famous, they would also look for the young and inexperienced days of a big star with an indescribable sense of appreciation.
Li Sishi was unaware of Zhou Shengyi's thoughts at that moment, but her current mindset was somewhat similar to Zhou Shengyi's opportunistic mentality: after Zhou's comedies become a series of films that evoke memories of an era, she, as a "Shengyi Girl" of a certain period, could also continue the life of this film and this character in the internet age by following the netizens who play with memes, right?
Especially after she modified some of the character settings, the female protagonist "Lili" is a rare female protagonist image today. She is a perfect goddess on the surface but a clear-headed human being in the real world. She is also very down-to-earth and even a bit funny at times. This character setting is also a female protagonist image that will not be outdated in ten or twenty years.
A classic character who can leave a lasting impression on one or two generations of childhood, no matter what she encounters in the future, at least has a very solid national foundation—although she is backed by the tail end of Hong Kong's golden age of entertainment, she still has opportunities to strive for and doesn't need to become one of those artists who rely on a classic role in a movie or TV series for their entire life...
But no one would refuse the opportunity to have another classic photo: being able to play one type of role well for a lifetime is to be dedicated and specialize in one area; but being able to play multiple types of roles well for a lifetime is what makes a true legend in the film industry!
This is the real reason why she went from trying to join the cast and play the role to scheming and gradually stealing the male lead's screen time, and finally succeeding in making her character the protagonist of the subplot.
If she is content with the status quo and doesn't take the risk of change, but simply molds "Lili" into a decorative character with nothing but screen time and beauty based on her memories from her previous life, she can certainly rely on Zhou Shengyi's fame and subsequent film marketing to regain the reputation of being a "newcomer with good acting skills".
But is this what she needs for her second life, knowing the realities of the industry yet still choosing to venture into it again?
No.
She should cherish this precious second life, experience it fully, dare to take risks, and strive to leave no regrets.
therefore
The character "Lili" can only achieve her goal of leaving no regrets by transforming from a decorative figure to a hidden protagonist—this will
This will be her first screen role in her life, and also her first time playing the leading lady on the big screen!
"First impressions always leave the deepest mark. In this circle, once you're labeled a 'pretty face,' you're doomed."
This title, whether it's a male or female celebrity, requires a tremendous amount of effort to shed.
Especially for beauty pageant contestants like her, even though most beauty pageant contestants usually enter the film and television industry, they still have to spend more effort than ordinary artists to suppress their beautiful appearance with acting skills because of their past on stage.
It can be said that beauty pageants were both their strength and their weakness.
Among Li Sishi's predecessors, the number of those who successfully transformed from beauty pageant contestants into film and television artists can be counted on one hand.
Therefore, she must make every step, from the very first step to every subsequent step, exceptionally beautiful in order to become another promising rising star in people's eyes, and then... firmly establish her position, showcase her unique style, wash away the title of "the second so-and-so," and become someone whose name people can immediately recall as "Li Sishi" whenever they meet her.
In a small lounge partitioned off from the holiday home, Li Sishi lay down on the narrow single bed, her heart filled with a myriad of emotions, while her assistant, Zuo Lili, had already fallen into a deep, weary sleep.
In three hours, the dark night, so obscuring everything and everyone, will be illuminated by the rising sun—and then, it will be a new day.
It was a tiring but incredibly fulfilling period, allowing one to witness firsthand the people who persevered in their work for their dreams, for their livelihood, and for so many other things during the tail end of Hong Kong's golden age of entertainment in the 1990s.
They will eventually constitute an era that will be missed countless times.
With this thought in mind, Li Sishi quickly drifted off to sleep, hoping to get at least three hours of rest before starting work the next day—sigh, back then she lamented that she could only get four hours of rest a day, but now, even four hours of rest has become a luxury for her…
Li Sishi drifted off to sleep until she was woken up by the alarm clock on her bedside table. She rubbed her eyes and sat up in bed. On the other side, Zuo Lili had already jumped out of bed, ruffled her short hair a few times, and then got out of bed to wash up: "Ah May, this is my alarm clock timer. You can still sleep for fifteen minutes."
"Never mind, I'm already awake." Li Sishi said, then quickly washed up.
After I felt a bit better, I started to take care of myself.
Her subsequent scenes were still mainly set in the sports center. Because the character's setting had changed, Zhou Shengyi added a lot of things to the script at some point...
Li Sishi acted out the script bit by bit, and after filming many times, she encountered Zhou Shengyi's brainstorming session once again. They put aside all the previously filmed footage that was very good and held a small meeting with Li Sishi, the female lead actress, and Qu Dexiao, the screenwriter, to discuss how to express the emotions of the new character with a deeper performance while keeping most of the female lead "Lili's" scenes as largely as possible.
Sitting blankly to one side, watching Zhou Shengyi's incessant chatter and the pen he kept gesturing with, Li Sishi could only sigh inwardly and console herself, "If you're going to eat salty fish, you have to be able to handle the thirst..."
However, once the new character designs and added plot were roughly arranged, the filming progressed much faster. After several days of intensive work, it was already time for the biggest villain and male supporting character of the entire movie, "Master Brother of Kyokushin-ryu," to make his appearance.
The actor who plays "Senior Brother of Kyokushin-ryu" is a male artist who looks a bit like Ling Chen. However, compared to Ling Chen's scholarly and refined demeanor, this male artist named Wen Guokun has a more rugged and tough temperament due to his background as a martial arts instructor in the Lung Family Stunt Team.
However, according to Qu Dexiao, the gossipy chubby screenwriter, Wen Guokun was Zhou Shengyi's backup actor when he couldn't get Ling Chen to play the male supporting role, because the comic book character that the role pays homage to looks a lot like Ling Chen...
Then Li Sishi actually managed to get Ling Chen to make a cameo appearance. Maybe they can even make some jokes based on their similar appearances, and incidentally add a plot point to the storyline where "Lili" and "Kyokushin-ryu senior brother" suddenly get close: because "Lili" like many young girls in Hong Kong like the idol superstar Ling Chen, so when "Kyokushin-ryu senior brother" who looks a lot like Ling Chen comes to the sports center as the karate captain, and this guy even pretends to be her masked savior, their relationship naturally develops rapidly.
So, when Men arrived at the agreed time in the early morning to visit the set and make a cameo appearance, they were dumbfounded to see Li Sishi smiling broadly, leaning against a man who looked a lot like him, and saying to Zhou Shengyi, who was dressed like a down-on-his-luck deliveryman, "Look, this is my old classmate from when I was studying in Japan. Doesn't he look a lot like my favorite male celebrity, Leo?"
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