Chapter 94
Due to sufficient preparations in advance and the excellent casting of the film, the filming of "Looking for Mr. X" went very smoothly. Lu Zixi and Yan Yunzhen had almost no NGs throughout the filming, and the filming went on smoothly.
This movie mainly focuses on the wonderful IQ wrestling between the antisocial Mr. X and the upright criminal police captain Gao Feng, as well as the tug-of-war and struggle involving human morality. It sounds like there are a lot of rival scenes, but in fact, it is not that simple.
The film's plot begins with Mr. X posting on Weibo that he was planning to commit suicide, and the police breaking into his house to rescue him. The plot then progresses through Criminal Police Gao Feng's tracking of the four time bombs arranged by Mr. X, and his visits and analysis of areas where Mr. X may have appeared. The use of profiling techniques also brings out nostalgia from Mr. X's first-person perspective. The two parallel lines allow the truth to gradually surface.
Until the end, Gao Feng, after two days and two nights of sleepless running, found Mr. X who was carrying a human bomb. Both of them were exhausted, disheveled, and even stumbled when they walked, but they still straightened their spines. One of them held a pistol, and the other pulled the fuse of the bomb. They had the final and most exciting peak showdown on the top floor of a commercial building that was about to be built, a dome in the bustling city.
In other words, except for the final plot that required rival scenes to be filmed on a pre-built outdoor set, many of the previous plots were basically one-man shows - especially the crazy and pathetic Mr. X, who was alone, secretly breeding malice, silently making bombs, and moving anonymously among the crowd.
Lu Zixi needs to use his limited facial expressions, numb body movements, and almost no lines to portray such a madman with a complete antisocial personality.
In order to portray the madness and obsession of Mr. X when he was researching explosives, Lu Zixi locked himself in a small dark room, relying on a solitary lamp, and repeatedly studied the relevant information provided by the crew for three days, trying to figure out Mr. X's psychological activities at the time. When someone from the crew pulled him out of the small dark room, even his eyes had changed, and he looked at everyone as if they were a dark well, like a vigilant lone wolf licking its wounds.
Zhou He shrank back at the look in his eyes, rubbing his arms subconsciously and muttering softly, "What's wrong? You... scared me. The other people's scenes have been filmed, and now it's time to shoot your solo scene. I came to call you."
"Where is Old Yan?" Lu Zixi was silent for a while and asked with a dry throat.
He originally thought that it would be Yan Yunzhen who came to call him. Although it was reasonable that Zhou He came in the end, he always felt a sense of loss that he could not explain.
"Today is Yuanhong's year-end dinner. He's taken a leave of absence from the crew. He hasn't attended many Yuanhong events this year. If he doesn't go this time, his father will probably be furious." Zhou He said, "Oh, by the way, you're Yuanhong's Newcomer of the Year this year. Yan Yunzhen asked me to ask if you want to attend the awards ceremony."
Lu Zixi shook his head.
Yuanhong's year-end dinner is not broadcast live and is only open to the media and partners. It is not an exposure opportunity. He always avoids such commercial activities whenever possible.
In his previous life, he always felt that as long as his performance was strong enough, he did not need to maintain his connections in this way. Good resources and film contracts would still think of him, and directors were willing to work with him. However, after his rebirth, he began to think that perhaps he did not need to maintain such interpersonal relationships in his previous life because he had Yan Yunzhen and his Yuanhong who silently supported him behind him.
"It's better not to go." Zhou He blew a puff of hot air on his hand. "You're standing on the cusp of the storm right now. Tianhan hates you to death and wants to find fault with you every day. If you ask for leave from the crew to attend the awards ceremony, there might be professional netizens clinging to you and saying that you are arrogant, unprofessional, unlike so-and-so who lives on the set during filming and never leaves the studio... and other nonsense like that."
"But why does Tianhan hate me so much?" Lu Zixi asked puzzledly, "Is it because of the incident in Changxing?"
"That's part of the reason," Zhou He had also heard about Lu Zixi's termination of his contract with Changxing and the lawsuit he filed against Changxing. "The grudge between Tianhan and Yuanhong is also a very important factor."
Zhou He pointed his finger at the studio next door and said in a low voice, "Next door, Tianhan is filming 'Ancient Times'. The male lead is Fu Ruixing, but the second male lead is actually a newcomer from Tianhan, named Lin Muyuan. He debuted a year earlier than you and has more works. He is a strong candidate for Tianhan's new generation to compete for the Golden Phoenix Award. Originally, Yuanhong had arranged for other newcomers to compete, but after all, genius is something that can only be encountered by chance. Your sudden appearance can be said to have turned the entire entertainment industry upside down..."
"When Tianhan snatched away Yuanhong's newcomer Chang Yi, we knew things were going to get worse. Yuanhong, with their vengeful nature, would definitely not let Tianhan go. And then you showed up," Zhou He said. "No one thought Yuanhong would go to such lengths to support you. Yan Yuanhong even invited his own son Yan Yunzhen to pave the way for you. Tianhan had no choice but to drag Fu Ruixing out. Otherwise, Tianhan would have been suppressed by Yuanhong for the past two years. So, just tell me, how much does Tianhan hate you?"
"Tianhan let Fu Ruixing come back just to compete with me?" Lu Zixi repeated this sentence. For some reason, he always felt that something was wrong.
But he was not the type of person who liked to argue with others. As Zhou He spoke, he just listened, suppressed his doubts in his heart, and decided to wait for Yan Yunzhen to come back before talking to him about this matter.
"Chinese New Year is just ten days away." Seeing him lost in thought, Zhou He patted his shoulder and changed the subject. "How is it? This is your first time celebrating Chinese New Year on set. What are your thoughts?"
Lu Zixi was stunned for a moment. In fact, this was not his first time to celebrate the New Year on the set. When he was filming non-stop before, he had no idea about the date. He only remembered which shots needed to be shot every day and which scenes were left to shoot. If his father's birthday was not on New Year's Eve, he would set the alarm to remind himself every year. He estimated that he would even forget what day the New Year was.
But for "Lu Wenqi", this is indeed the first time to celebrate the New Year on the set.
"Searching for Mr. X" was originally planned to film after the Lunar New Year, but after Wang Tengfei and Zhou He discussed it, they decided to place the final showdown on New Year's Eve. As Mr. X pulled the trigger and Gao Feng flew to stop him, midnight arrived. A dazzling display of fireworks exploded on the sky's large LED screen, blending with the blazing light of the explosion, illuminating it like daylight. The two figures were obscured by the white light, making it impossible to discern what was happening. This served to whet the audience's appetite at the film's climax.
Zhou He believed in the abilities of Yan Yunzhen and Lu Zixi, and believed that they could finish the film in one take on time. For the sake of the final film effect, Lu Zixi's professionalism also made it impossible for him to refuse.
In order to answer Zhou He's question, Lu Zixi recalled the life of the original owner who was an orphan and had few friends. He was surprised to find that he had spent many previous New Years alone in the rental house, watching the fireworks outside the window, quietly.
He suddenly felt a little distressed. This person came quietly and left quietly. It seemed that there was no trace of this person left in the world.
Now that Changxing has fallen, and the person who posed the most direct threat to his life is in prison because of the incident, I wonder if the former Lu Wenqi can find any comfort in Tianzhiling.
"It makes no difference. It's also nice to spend the New Year on the set." Lu Zixi then said, "As long as every day is a positive one, then every day is a good day. It doesn't matter where you spend it."
Zhou He then remembered that Lu Wenqi seemed to be an orphan, and the memories of the New Year might not be very pleasant for him, so he kept silent, turned around and clapped his hands to the crew. The stylists and makeup artists gathered around and took care of Lu Zixi's styling and makeup effects, preparing him to shoot the scene where Mr. X was conducting experiments in a corner of a moldy room.
This is a multi-shot splicing plot of Mr. X trying to make explosives based on some external information. Professionals will guide Lu Zixi to perform some simple chemical experiments. In order to ensure the safety of the experiment, the content of all explosive substances is based on the original 01%, which will produce a small explosion effect. The large explosion shot if the experiment fails will be realized by the special effects team.
Many years later, Gao Feng found evidence that Mr. X had conducted experiments here through residual traces of radioactivity. He continued to track the next step and found the place where one of the bombs might be stored, saving many innocent lives.
At this moment, Mr. X worked hard for many days and finally found a possible successful combination method. His hair was tangled into wisps due to dirt and mud, but his eyes were terrifyingly bright, like a man who was about to die of thirst in the desert and found an oasis.
His hands were covered with calluses and scars from the explosion, but he didn't care at all. Instead, he trembled and used his gauze and bandaged hands to drop the last drop of liquid into the test tube.
This time, there was no explosion. The liquid smoothly changed into another color, like a succubus with enormous energy, quietly rippling in the transparent test tube, reflecting strange colorful rainbow light under the incandescent light.
Mr. X's eyes widened nervously, followed by a hysterical laugh.
He shook the test tube in his hand as if he was shaking the world's most precious red wine and the highest-end red wine glass, and even stumbled around his laboratory in a posture as if he was about to dance, swaying his body like a drunk, looking at his masterpiece in ecstasy, laughing until he was out of breath, and tears of laughter flowed down his face.
Finally, he calmed down, held up the test tube in his hand, and gently kissed its bottom, as if kissing the back of a god's hand.
The madness surging in his eyes was clearly revealed under the high-definition camera, like a surging dark sea.
"Click!" Zhou He watched it over and over again behind the camera and felt very satisfied. Just as he was about to inform everyone that it was passed, he suddenly said "Huh" softly when he saw a long shot that circled around Lu Zixi.
"What's wrong?" Lu Zixi stood up and walked over. "Is there any problem?"
Zhou He nodded, then shook his head, rewound the video, adjusted it to the appropriate time, pointed at a corner of the screen, looked at Lu Zixi and asked: "Look, this seems to be..."
"...Fu Ruixing?" Lu Zixi frowned, suspecting that he had seen it wrong.
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