Global Film Emperor

Chapter 106 Preparing for Filming
"Brother Lu, Brother Lu, we've arrived."

After being gently nudged by Wang Zixuan, Lu Ze opened his eyes and glanced out the window. He had arrived at a small rural restaurant, which was just like his hometown, a familiar environment to him.

Putting on the hood of his long down jacket, Lu Ze opened the car door. A cold wind rushed in, accompanied by fine snow blowing down from the roof. He stepped through the snow and entered the two-story rural house.

A wave of heat rushed in instantly. The crew members inside were eating hot copper pot stewed pork with pickled cabbage. When they saw Lu Ze and Wang Zixuan come in, they quickly got up and greeted them.

These people are all from the industry, and everyone knows this actor who has recently become popular.

"Lu'er! Come here, sit here, sit next to me."

Lu Ze heard a very familiar voice. He turned his head and saw Li Wei standing up and waving at him. Lu Ze knew that Li Wei was going to participate in this play, playing Mr. Tree's brother. As expected, the two hugged warmly.

The two are old acquaintances. They got along well during the filming of "My Team". This man from Hunan Province is generous and doesn't play any petty tricks. He and Lu Ze get along very well.

Sitting at this table with Wang Zixuan were Li Wei, Zhuang Yu, and several group leaders. A copper pot was burning charcoal, and the pickled cabbage inside was bubbling away. Lu Ze, who hadn't had pickled cabbage in a long time, was really craving it.

Li Wei held up a kettle, the kind you put directly on the stove to boil water. The bottom of the kettle was covered with a layer of black ash. He waved it at Lu Ze, squinted at him, and smiled with a slightly lewd expression: "Want some?"

"Then let's have some."

He poured the entire contents into the small plastic cup. Lu Ze touched it; it was still warm. He took a sip, and the spiciness hit him. It flowed down his stomach, feeling incredibly comforting and warming him up.

"Ha~ This liquor is pretty good, it must be around 60 proof? It's quite strong."

"That's right. I told Director Zhuang that Lu Ze likes to have a drink now and then, so Director Zhuang went to the brewery in the next village to get some bulk liquor for you. It's pure grain liquor and it's almost 70 degrees."

Li Wei was also a good drinker. After taking a sip of baijiu, he joked with Zhuang Yu about Lu Ze, creating a lively atmosphere. Zhuang Yu looked at Lu Ze and asked with a smile.

"Is it good? If it is, I'll go to the master to make some money. So many men drink alcohol, and fifty jin (25 kg) won't last more than a few days."

Zhuang Yu neither smokes nor drinks, but he doesn't stop the actors and staff from drinking. As long as the schedule is up to par and everyone can maintain their performance after a little alcohol, then it's fine as long as it doesn't interfere with the work.

Lu Ze took the small stainless steel bowl and handed it to Wang Zixuan. He then broke open his chopsticks, picked up a piece of pork, and stuffed it into his mouth. In the dead of winter, you have to drink baijiu and eat fatty pork with skin on to feel good.

He reached out and put a piece of pork on Wang Zixuan's plate as well. At first, she thought it was too fatty and didn't want to eat it, but after taking a bite, she found it wasn't greasy at all. It was like jelly, melting in her mouth with a wonderful texture. She couldn't control herself anymore and kept quiet, occasionally picking up a piece with her chopsticks, eating with great relish.

Lu Ze picked up a piece of pickled cabbage with his chopsticks, offered Li Wei a sip of baijiu, and then steered the conversation back to the main topic: "Director Zhuang, when do we start filming?"

"Tomorrow morning at nine o'clock."

Lu Ze didn't speak. He took a bite of food, scratched his hair with his long-nailed right hand, raised his glass, clinked it with Li Wei's, took a big gulp, grinned, and exhaled.

It was already six o'clock in the evening after we finished eating. It gets dark quickly in winter, and since we were in a rural area without streetlights, we could hear a few scattered barks from dogs and the sputtering of motorcycles outside.

The film crew was small, with only about fifty people in total, who stayed at this farmhouse and a small hotel nearby.

Lu Ze stayed at a hotel, wearing the military overcoat and dog-skin hat provided by the film crew. He carried his suitcase, a cigarette dangling from his lips, and entered the hotel. He even slipped and fell as he was about to go up the steps.

I handed over my ID card. It was a single room, old-fashioned in style, but very clean. I stubbed out my cigarette in the ashtray, exhaled the last puff of smoke, and started packing my suitcase.

The hotel's Wi-Fi was slow and choppy, making it difficult to make calls with Lu Nan. So I used my own mobile data. After we finished talking, I charged my phone and turned on the bedside lamp.

He drank three glasses of baijiu (Chinese liquor) and two bottles of beer. He wasn't drunk, but he felt sleepy. He never used the hotel thermos, so he picked up the bottled water he had bought at the convenience store and gulped down half of it. He changed into his pajamas, washed his face, brushed his teeth, went back to bed, rolled over, covered himself with the blanket, and went to sleep.

At 6:30, the class ended. He drew back the curtains and could still hear the sporadic crowing of roosters in the distance. It was just getting light. After taking a dump, he looked at himself in the mirror. He was disheveled and his expression was still somewhat blank.

Good morning, Tree.

He didn't wash his face, only brushed his teeth, and this might continue for a long time. He put his phone in his pocket and left the room.

"You woke up pretty early. Do you still get up that early every day?"

As Lu Ze pushed open the door, Li Wei also opened the door and tossed Lu Ze a cigarette. When Lu Ze was filming "My Chief and My Regiment", he would get up at six or seven o'clock every day to wake everyone up. Li Wei thought that Lu Ze would not get up so early after he became famous.

"I'm used to it. You get up pretty early too, don't you?"

"I'm not used to sleeping in this kind of bed, so I don't sleep well. Anyway, I don't have many scenes, so I guess I'll finish filming in a day or two."

After chatting for a while, Zhuang Yu and all the staff came out and got into the car. The temperature dropped sharply again last night. Zhuang Yu's Land Cruiser was fine, but the other two cars had frozen oil and couldn't be started.

With everyone pulling and tugging together, all the cars were finally able to move. The six cars headed towards the filming location. After arriving at 8 o'clock, they began to set up the equipment.

Despite it being his first time directing, Zhuang Yu remained calm, indicating he had done his homework. Everything proceeded smoothly until Wang Zixuan and Li Wei's assistants brought over breakfast, at which point everyone stopped and took a quick bite.

"Lu Ze, the actors for the first scene, go change your clothes."

Lu Ze stood up, followed by a contract actor who had no name in the play and played the driver of the van. In real life, he was a folk opera performer. Lu Ze had seen him on TV a few times before, but he probably hadn't been able to find work in the last two years.

The two weren't very familiar with each other and didn't exchange many words. Lu Ze received his clothes: a brown coat, a light blue cotton-padded jacket, a pair of baggy trousers, and a pair of old leather shoes.

These are all washed and distressed, they look just like everyday worn-out items, you can't tell the difference.

After changing his clothes, Lu Ze didn't look as tall because of the baggy clothes and pants. He patted some water on his face and went outside. The cold wind made him feel a stinging sensation.

Lu Ze stood there for a full ten minutes. Neither the costume designer nor the makeup artist dared to stop him. When Lu Ze returned and wiped his face with a towel, red marks had appeared around his cheekbones from the cold. Upon closer inspection, there were also many tiny red blood vessels, making him look even uglier.

"Let's put on makeup now."

"okay."

The makeup artist actually admired Lu Zezhong's professionalism and attention to detail, but didn't know what to say, so she could only silently make Lu Zezhong's beard even darker.

She grabbed some hair wax and rubbed it vigorously, then pressed it onto Lu Ze's head and rubbed it haphazardly. Without using a comb, she used her fingers to reshape the hairstyle, making it look very oily, as if it hadn't been washed for days.

Lu Ze took out an orange from his pocket, peeled it, and ate the pulp. He then picked up the orange peel and rubbed it repeatedly on his fingernails, making all ten fingers turn yellow and look dirty. In this way, the makeup was completely finished.

Just as he got up, firecrackers went off outside. They didn't last long, just crackling for about ten seconds, when Lu Ze heard Zhuang Yu shout something.

"Start shooting!"

(End of this chapter)