Global Film Emperor

Chapter 431 Filming Wrapped Up (Part 2 Combined)

"Mr. Lu."

The prop worker carrying the climbing frame nodded and greeted Lu Ze. He seemed very confident in his physical strength. There were two bundles of wires hanging on the climbing frame, which had been dangling to the edge of the corner. If he didn't notice them soon, they would fall down. Lu Ze reached out and steadied them before responding and telling him to be careful.

He weaved through the crowds of people coming and going in the film crew, occasionally lending a hand, and finally walked to Kesha's side. He first threw the yellowed and damaged script on the table, sat down next to Kesha, crossed his legs, and watched the filming process of Ding Zhiyi being projected on the monitor.

How has he been performing these past few days?

"It's just so-so, but better than Xu's."

Kesha didn't turn around, keeping his eyes fixed on the monitor as he answered Lu Ze's question. His brows were furrowed, and it was clear that Xiao Ding hadn't brought out the best in the role, only meeting the director's minimum requirements, far from being a superb performance.

Ding Zhiyi's character doesn't have a plot with too much emotional fluctuation, but even so, he still struggles. More than ten years of experience filming romance movies has exhausted his talent, and once he switches to other styles of films, his performance becomes somewhat difficult.

At this point, his skill level is higher than many of the most popular male stars of his age or even older in China. However, compared to those male stars who can't even control their facial expressions and whose crying looks like laughing, he is just the tallest among the short. This is also Lu Ze's biggest regret. He is clearly a promising talent with unlimited potential, but he has wasted his time in places where he shouldn't have stayed.

The dialogue delivery was decent, the emotional control was also quite good, and the control of actions and expressions was commendable. However, after watching the thirteen moves over and over again, I have to give a rather ordinary conclusion.

He has no weaknesses, but he also has no outstanding qualities. If he doesn't work his hardest to catch up on what he's missed over the past ten years, he'll only end up as a working-class actor.

Where is Wang Pushen?

At this moment, he was filming a scene with Ding Zhiyi. He was in a commanding presence and there was a significant difference in their abilities. Lu Ze unscrewed the thermos, blew on the chrysanthemum floating on top, and asked Kesha again.

"He's a bit unpredictable. Compared to other actors, he's had the most reshoots. You've brought back an actor who's been in the industry for several years, so naturally the crew has to wait for him to relearn the skills he's forgotten. But he is indeed a good actor, always striving for perfection. After a few reshoots, he'll definitely have a breakthrough performance, completing the filming at an extremely high level. I'm willing to wait for an actor like that, even if we film hundreds of takes. When he has a breakthrough performance, I always have the illusion that the actor on set is you, and the performance is always so pleasing to the eye."

No one would refute this statement. Lu Ze nodded happily. When filming "My Chief and My Regiment", he already knew that among all the actors, Wang Pushen was the most talented. However, due to a series of unfortunate events, it was Wang Pushen who left the stage in disappointment.

"OK, this one's through."

After speaking through the loudspeaker, the actors' spirits waned, and they returned to their seats to rest and prepare for the next scene. As the staff came on stage to tidy up the props, Kesha finally turned his attention away from the monitor, turned his head to pick up a cigarette from the table, and offered one to Lu Ze. Seeing Lu Ze wave his hand, Kesha then put it in his mouth and lit it.

"After filming this scene, do you plan to stay in the UK or return to China?"

“There’s no point in staying in the UK. Mickey and Fatini will handle the new project. There’s no point in me staying here. I should go home and spend time with my family. Isn’t Lucas planning to bring his wife to the UK? They haven’t seen each other for over half a year.”

"They... Lucas is planning to go back sometime to finalize the divorce."

After much consideration, Kesha finally told Lu Ze the truth. After all, even if he didn't tell him now, he would find out later anyway, so revealing the truth now wouldn't hurt.

Lu Ze was taken aback and looked at Lucas, who was not far away with a serious expression and tidying up the camera. Neither of the brothers were people who liked to smile. It was as if the Siberian cold wave had frozen the nerve endings on their faces. Just by looking at their faces, you couldn't tell that anything had happened to them.

Lu Ze knew a little about Lucas's wife. She was a farmer's daughter with little education. She married Lucas, who was about to join the army, when she was seventeen. Hardworking, able to endure hardship, and loyal were the labels attached to her. There were also negative comments, such as vulgar speech, violent tendencies, and narrow-minded and prejudiced views.

Lucas won't cheat; he's very honest in matters of the heart, Lu Ze can guarantee that. So, no one can judge who's right or wrong in the couple's separation.

The fisherman's net cannot catch seagulls, and the few feet of soil cannot contain a lion. Even if an iron cage can confine a tiger, the tiger is destined to yearn for the entire forest.

The two fell silent, both pondering the same question: choosing a partner. For an actor or director, this is a difficult problem. For people like them who often don't go home for half a year at a time, even the strongest love will slowly be worn away by endless waiting.

"I'm going to find Wang Pushen to rehearse with. Call me when you're going on stage."

"it is good."

They parted ways without saying more. This was Lu Ze's last scene, as all of his other scenes had been moved forward. This was quite unusual, as the male lead was the first of the main actors to leave the crew.

Back in the small circle of Chinese actors, Ding Zhiyi and Xu Shuang were somewhat hesitant to look Lu Ze in the eye, especially Xu Shuang, who was a girl who was joining a film crew for the first time and was dragging the entire crew down.

"It's okay, take your time, you can adapt to everything. As long as you work hard enough, you will definitely see results."

Lu Ze comforted the two of them, since they had been scolded by Ke Sha quite a bit. However, the two were quite resilient. Even when they were scolded in public and treated strangely by the crew, they never shed a tear in front of others. They had made significant progress since the beginning of filming. Even if they lacked ability, their backbone and willingness to learn were enough to earn their admiration.

Subsequently, Lu Ze began acting opposite Wang Pushen, attempting to evoke Wang Pushen's emotions before filming, hoping that his emotions would erupt during the first take. So far, the effect has been very good. Wang Pushen has been able to handle all the scenes with Lu Ze very well, and his performance level has only slightly fallen behind Lu Ze's.

"Actors in position, ready to begin filming."

After the notice was issued, Wang Pushen put on a white coat, a mask, goggles, and medical gloves, and followed Lu Ze into the film set, standing in front of the pre-set camera position.

The scene was set in a rented laboratory of a local pharmaceutical company in Liverpool. The silver laboratory was full of technology, with an iron cage on the experimental table containing a fake gorilla, just like the mechanical dog before, all of which were specially made lifelike animals by a technology company.

The original plan was to find a real gorilla to film this scene, since in a cage, a gorilla's behavior is much simpler than a dog's on the beach in terms of expressing emotions.

However, in recent years, animal protection organizations have become increasingly strict in protecting animals during filming. Filming a live gorilla in a cage could easily lead to a lawsuit from animal rights groups. If they win, the production team could face huge compensation claims, and even the main creators could face imprisonment. Nobody dares to gamble on this. However, there's an advantage: facing what looks like a gorilla but is actually just a bunch of steel machines, they can film scenes that are more brutal without animal rights activists pursuing the matter.

After the staff finished adjusting the equipment, Kesha waved, the script supervisor came on stage, aimed the clapperboard at the camera, and struck it with a crisp snap.

"Scene 42, Act III of 'Exile,' begins!"

With a long, drawn-out breath, the two instantly got into character, ignoring the camera and beginning their performance. Lu Ze walked to the cage, reached his hand through the bars, and stroked its head.

Suddenly, its fur stood on end, and it bared its teeth, revealing two fangs. Although its face was blank, it was already marked with a cursor, and the special effects would make it look as ferocious as a furious gorilla.

Startled, Lu Ze withdrew his hand, but facing the frenzied gorilla, he slowly stretched his palm forward again until it reached above the gorilla's head.

"Relax... little one, I won't hurt you, relax..."

It truly fell silent until the hand stroked its head. Its black fingers lightly touched Lu Ze's hand before swiftly withdrawing, as if this was all the trust it could offer Lu Ze.

“We won’t hurt you, you’ll be alright, poor little guy, Professor.”

Turning to look at Wang Pushen, he simply addressed him with a respectful title, which Wang Pushen understood. He then took out a small DV camera from the cabinet, pointed the lens at himself, and answered the questions into the camera.

"Today is August 17th, Wednesday. We continue testing the effects of the CRTV-3 reagent. The subject is named 'Bapa,' a six-month-and-four-day-old bonobo. Seven weeks ago, he received his first injection. In the first week, he could quickly choose between green and yellow bananas. In the second week, he could perform simple addition and subtraction within ten. In the third week, his intelligence did not improve further. Unfortunately, on Thursday of the third week, we discovered a tumor growing in his pituitary gland through an X-ray. In the fourth week, we removed the tumor, but his intelligence still did not improve. Next, we will inject Bapa with a second CRTV-3 reagent. Wish us luck, and wish Bapa good luck."

He set up the DV camera directly in front of the lab bench, waved for Lu Ze to stand up, and the moment Lu Ze stood up, it became fierce again, staring coldly at the professor with a hateful gaze. Clearly, it had developed the ability to hate people.

But you can't kill someone just by staring at them. The professor gave a cold laugh and pressed the switch to inject the drug. The air pump squeezed the transparent glass reagent tube, and the milky white liquid flowed in the tube. Finally, through the needle buried in Bapa's spine, the liquid was injected into Bapa's body.

At first, there was no movement, until five minutes later, it began to feel uneasy, its body trembling, but its hateful gaze remained fixed on the doctor and never left.

Thirteen minutes later, it started circling in the cage and pulled out the IV tube, but the needle was still firmly embedded in its body. The doctor put away the IV tube and silently watched the restless creature in the cage.

Twenty minutes later, it began to whimper and wail, losing all its strength. It lay sprawled in the iron cage like mud, unable to lift its head no matter how the professor called out to it. Its gaze began to glaze over, and even that deep-seated hatred had vanished once more. If it weren't for the fact that the electrocardiogram showed that all its indicators were good, Lu Ze would have thought that Bapa was about to die.

"Professor, let's stop here for today. The side effects are already quite obvious..."

“Every drug has side effects. Too much glucose can lead to diabetes. During the experimental stage, we must see whether the reagent works before we think about how to deal with the side effects.”

Wang Pushen's spoken English is not very good, with a very obvious Chinese accent, but that doesn't matter, Kesha has already found a voice actor. In fact, none of the three Chinese actors will use their real voices in the movie.

"But this is really...inhumane."

“We’re being humane with people. We’re not killing innocent people. It’s a drug experiment with government permission. Think about how many innocent children we would help if the reagent were successful. I don’t mind being seen as an executioner by animals. I only care about being seen as a hero by humans. Neo, tell me how it feels right now.”

"It's very painful..."

"Anyone who isn't blind can see that it's causing it a lot of pain."

Lu Ze hesitated for a moment, then gently squatted down in front of the cage, reached out and stroked its hand, softly comforting the poor gorilla that had suffered so much.

"It will all be alright, child. Would you like an apple later? How about a sugarcane? Professor... It's very dizzy, extremely dizzy, and also weak, without any strength at all. It's very thirsty, but not hungry, and doesn't even have any appetite."

Its bodily functions were all good. After forty minutes, the dizziness disappeared, but the feeling of weakness remained. With the professor's permission, Lu Ze fed it some water. Its eyes regained their sparkle, and there was still no hatred in its feelings towards Lu Ze. With all its might, it gently raised its hand and tapped Lu Ze's palm.

Feeling conflicted, he put the baby bottle aside, turned his head, and saw the professor making notes on the computer, unaware of Lu Ze's complex emotions...

"OK, passed."

In an instant, the two detached themselves from their characters' emotions. Lu Ze stopped paying attention to the fake gorilla in the cage, got up and took off his protective gear. Wang Zixuan took the water cup, and Lu Ze took it and held it in his hands, talking to Wang Pushen.

"She's leaving already? She's going back with you?"

"Yes, her flight is tonight, and she's going back with me. Do you need me to bring her anything?"

"No need, I'll just send it by courier. Okay, you should hurry home and pack your things, don't rush things."

Lu Ze nodded, said goodbye to all the crew members, then went into the dressing room to remove his makeup and change back into his old clothes. When he came out, the crew had already started filming again. He waved to Kesha, Lucas, Fatini and others, left the set, and began his journey back home.

"..."

(End of this chapter)