Global Film Emperor

Chapter 119 The Interview (Third Update)
After getting off the treadmill, taking a shower, changing into new clothes, and leaving the gym, Liu Bin was already waiting at the door.

The gym near Lu Ze's home opens early every day, at 8:00 a.m. sharp. Lu Ze also arrives at that time, does an hour of cardio, and then leaves.

Coco Lee's advice to Lu Ze was not to exercise too intensely at the beginning, otherwise it would hurt his body. In fact, weight loss only requires moderate exercise. Whether you can lose weight or not is only related to whether you can control your eating habits.

Today, Lu Ze is going to audition for "The King of Boxers". He left the gym 20 minutes early and will arrive at Qingguo Media around 9:30 for the audition.

The car started moving forward. It was still rush hour, and there were still quite a few cars on the road, stopping and starting frequently. Lu Ze couldn't concentrate on the script, so he could only lean back in his seat and close his eyes to rest.

"Aze, we've arrived."

"Okay, let's park the car first and go rest somewhere. Don't stay cooped up in the car. I'll call you when I get out."

After giving Liu Bin some instructions, Lu Ze tidied up his clothes. An audition is not an interview, so there's no need to be so formal as to wear a suit and tie. Of course, it can't be too flashy either. After confirming that everything was okay, he entered the building and pressed the elevator button for the third floor.

"Hello Mr. Lu, I'll take you to the conference room."

"Thank you for your trouble."

Seemingly surprised by Lu Ze's politeness, the receptionist at Qingguo paused for a moment, then smiled warmly and said to Lu Ze, "You're welcome."

People in the service industry are always losing face. Sometimes, if you change "you" to "you" (formal), they will remember it for a long time. Perhaps at this moment, Lu Ze has gained another fan.

Pushing open the conference room door, Lu Ze found many people inside, all familiar faces from the industry. However, after looking around, he noticed that there weren't many tall celebrities.

The requirements for the lead role were so terrifying that they scared away many artists who came specifically for director Liu Ying.

As for using fake muscles, they don't withstand much force. It's fine if you're just showing off your physique, but this is a fight movie with a lot of movements. A high kick could easily rupture the fake muscles.

The final number of auditions has been determined. It seems there are only five artists over 1.8 meters tall, including Lu Ze himself. This makes Lu Ze feel a little more relaxed. With fewer people, the competition is less intense. If you include artists under 1.8 meters tall, the number of auditions for the male lead is estimated to be no more than ten.

Just like any audition, a cup of coffee sat on the corner of the table. Lu Ze quietly opened the script, sometimes closing his eyes and muttering to himself.

The other actors vying for the role with Lu Ze kept glancing at him. Because of the age requirement for the lead role, they were all young actors, and Lu Ze was one of the most famous among the candidates for the male lead.

Time passed slowly, and one by one the actors left after hearing their assistants' calls. Whether they were selected or not, those still in the meeting room didn't know.

"Lu Ze, Mr. Lu Ze, please come with me."

When his assistant called his name, Lu Ze looked up, his thoughts finally snapping out of his script. He noticed that half the people in the meeting room were gone. He glanced at his watch; more than two hours had passed.

He quickly put the script and water bottle into his bag, smiled and nodded to his assistant, who then led him to the door of another conference room.

Lu Ze placed his schoolbag on the shelf by the door, knocked three times gently, and after the person inside responded, he gently pushed the door open and bowed slightly to the three people sitting inside.

Liu Ying was a middle-aged man nearing fifty, with a very high hairline that almost reached the top of his head. He also looked quite old. If Lu Ze hadn't seen his basic information, he would have believed that Liu Ying was sixty years old.

His slanted eyes looked rather fierce, and his nostrils pointed outwards. Even without looking up, it felt like he was glaring at people through his nostrils. In short, this old man didn't seem like a good person.

However, his expression softened slightly when he saw Lu Ze. He had a good relationship with Shen Jinghan, and Shen Jinghan's daughter often visited Liu Ying's house, which showed how good their relationship was.

Liu Ying had heard about Shen Jinghan's newly signed artist. Since the two had never met, Shen Jinghan acted as a bridge, bringing them closer together.

"Hello Director Liu, hello leaders."

As Lu Ze sized up the four people behind the table, they were also sizing him up. His physical condition was outstanding among the "male leads" they had seen. They raised their hands to let Lu Ze sit down first.

"First, I have a very important question. Please answer truthfully: Do you have any hidden illnesses? For example, have you ever had a fracture? Have you ever had any internal organ damage?"

"No."

"Are you confident about the four months of pre-filming training? Of course, it won't be as tiring as a real athlete's training, but it won't be easy either."

"I have confidence in myself."

This statement was made with absolute certainty. Since they had been chosen, they had to see it through and finish filming no matter what. All four of them expressed their satisfaction, and that was enough.

"I'll give you one minute to prepare. Okay, let's begin." Lu Ze fell silent, his brows furrowed as if he had something on his mind. He placed his hands on the armrests of the chair and sat down.

"What's the point of you training? Can you even play in a match? Six years! You haven't played a single game in six years! If you had any shame, you should have gone to do something else long ago!"

Liu Ying picked up the script and handed the lines to Lu Ze, then looked up to watch Lu Ze's performance.

"It's possible to hit it."

Lu Ze gripped the armrests with both hands, but not with force, because he wasn't angry. He just became increasingly silent. These four words weren't meant for Liu Ying; rather, it seemed like he was brainwashing himself, trying to boost his confidence.

“Screw you! Your second uncle is selling seafood now. I told him you can help him out. He'll give you four thousand yuan a month.”

"I'm not going; it would interfere with training."

Lu Ze placed both hands on the table, his left hand as if holding a bowl, and his right hand as if holding an air chopstick, and began to shovel rice into his mouth, making a hissing sound.

This move made all four of them raise their eyebrows. This scene was filmed at the dinner table, but none of the people who came for the interview had ever done this action; they were only responding with lines.

Lu Ze's intention was obvious: he wanted to show off his "kung fu" to the four of them. He made a pair of air chopsticks and bowls look real, and his mouth kept chewing.

He seemed to still be eating spicy food, because he took very short but heavy, rapid breaths while eating, and his lips pursed slightly when he inhaled.

Like someone whose nose is running from the spiciness and who keeps sniffling back, with sweat seemingly appearing on his philtrum, Lu Ze reached out and wiped it, picked up a mouthful of food, put it in his rice bowl, mixed it with the rice, blew on it gently, and then took another bite.

"Details!"

Liu Ying was very satisfied, but now that the audition was still going on, he continued reciting his lines: "I've supported you in boxing for twelve years, I don't care about the money! But it's been six years and you haven't had a chance to fight. Do you still have a chance to fight?"

Lu Ze swallowed a mouthful of rice, and as he was about to speak, he tapped the edge of the bowl with his chopsticks, trying to knock off the grains of rice stuck to them. He then looked up and stared directly at Liu Ying.

“I’ve been boxing for twelve years, since I was fourteen. How can I give it up? I’ve thought about quitting and even looked for other jobs, but I still think about it and can’t forget it. I gave you the prize money from the competition before, but I think it’s still a little short. I’ll pay you back when I get to compete again.”

Why are you so stubborn and unwilling to see the truth?

"Because this is the life I'm used to, I don't want to change it, and I don't have the ability to change it. I'm not used to it, and I don't want to be."

After saying that, Lu Ze put down his chopsticks, got up, picked up his coat, shook it out, put it on, and turned to leave.

The performance ended
Sitting back down, Lu Zeping looked at the three of them, waiting for a result.

The four whispered among themselves for a while, but Liu Ying seemed a little unsatisfied. This scene wasn't the most dramatic, but it did contain some depth, which Lu Ze expressed, but it was a bit too bland.

He had seen Lu Ze play Qin Ming and Guo Xiaofei. The two characters were actually quite similar in their performances, and Lu Ze had overacted a bit when playing Guo Xiaofei's outburst.

He was worried that Lu Ze's acting style would become formulaic, causing his emotional outbursts to be as intense as Guo Xiaofei's back then. This was what troubled him. As for whether Lu Ze's acting skills had improved, he guessed so, but Liu Ying hadn't seen it yet, so he wasn't taking it into consideration.

Moreover, there were other actors who auditioned for the male lead who were quite good, but their handling of details was not as good as Lu Ze's. However, at the end of this scene, their performance was more pleasing to Liu Ying than Lu Ze's.

He was stumped and tapped his fingers on the table.

"Go back and wait for news. I will give Jinghan a reply tomorrow or the day after tomorrow."

Lu Ze was not surprised, because he made a mistake. The reason was that he had too little time to work on the script. He had just finished dubbing "Mr. Tree" the day before yesterday, and today he came to audition for "The Boxer". The time was too tight.

Before this, Lu Ze was filming "Mr. Tree" with all his heart and soul, and never touched "The Boxer", which resulted in him not fully understanding the character.

He could see Liu Ying's hesitation; he must be genuinely considering it. There were probably one or two actors Liu Ying liked, so he had no choice but to follow Liu Ying's decision.

He nodded, stepped forward and shook hands with the four people. Two of them liked Lu Ze's performance, so after taking Lu Ze's hand, they reached out with their other hands and patted the back of Lu Ze's hand.

After shaking hands, Lu Ze bowed slightly to the four of them, turned around, and left with his schoolbag.

The expression method of original screenplays is the same as that of short stories. In the later stages, there will be more and more short stories because there are more original films.

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(End of this chapter)