Global Film Emperor

Chapter 542 "An Actor's Diary"

"Can you stop lying around at home all day? You have to go downstairs and move around a bit. You can't go anywhere to have fun when you're resting? You just have to stay at home and lie there. You'll be lazy to death every day."

"Ah~ yes, yes, yes."

The mother was putting on her shoes at the door, her gaze falling on her daughter who had placed a long strip of shoes on the sofa. Her eyes were filled with exasperation and disappointment, and she couldn't help but point the shoehorn at her daughter. Hearing her daughter's perfunctory attitude, she deflated, slammed the shoehorn on the shoe cabinet, and with a loud bang, the door opened.

"You have no energy or spirit of a young person at all. Just lie there, and get up later to wash the dishes!"

The daughter didn't say anything, but just made an OK sign with her hand. A few seconds later, the door closed, and she pulled her head out from between the two cushions, peeked out in a duck-like position, and only breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that her mother had really left. She got up, took a bottle of beer from the refrigerator, and secretly took a cigarette from her room and lit it before sitting back down on the sofa.

She was all alone at home. It was so quiet that she could hear the clock ticking. She took a deep drag of her cigarette and casually ran her fingers through her messy hair, which had become tangled from static electricity while she was hiding under the cushions. It was still a complete mess.

Someone called her phone. She tore off a tissue, wet the edges, folded it in half, flicked the cigarette ash onto the tissue, and answered the call. The caller was a good friend from college. Although they hadn't seen each other for a long time, they chatted often and hadn't really lost touch.

"Hello? Watching TV? Oh, that variety show? I know, we haven't been in touch for a long time. I saw someone in the group say that I'm not going to watch it, really not. Hmm, I'm out here, not home yet. Okay, I'm hanging up now."

The call ended in less than a minute, after a few words. She tugged at the collar of her loose nightgown to cover the glimpse of her exposed skin. Her gaze was somewhat dazed. After a while, she mechanically picked up the wine bottle, took a sip, turned on the TV, found the channel in the built-in software, and watched "The Actor's Diary," which was being broadcast live.

She watched it not too late; the sponsor's thank-you advertisement had just ended. As she watched the four renowned mentors appear one after another, a slight ripple of emotion stirred within her.

"That's great, Lu Ze hasn't aged at all."

She had met Lu Ze when she was in college, at the premiere of "Exile" in the capital. As a member of the student council of the Capital Drama Academy, she was allocated a ticket to the premiere, which was the first time she had ever attended a premiere. The boy who dreamed of becoming a movie actor was with her at the time.

Lu Ze hasn't changed; the boy is still chasing his dreams. Only she returned to her hometown and took a job that has nothing to do with acting. So, it seems that the only one who has really changed is herself.

Thinking of this, she couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. She extinguished the half-burnt cigarette, wrapped it in a tissue, took it to the bathroom to flush, turned off the main light in the living room, and left only a wall lamp emitting a dim yellow light.

She had thought the quiet atmosphere would bring her some comfort, but soon she felt a wave of emptiness and loneliness. She couldn't stand being alone, so she turned on the live chat, hoping to find a sense of connection with these netizens she had never met.

"I, Liu Xiaopeng, from the Acting Department of Shanghai Theatre Academy, watched this video under my real name."

"All students in Room 402, Building E, Imperial Academy of Drama are making friends online."

"Lu Ze is so lewd! He's standing up."

The bullet comments always exude a youthful vibe. The witty and humorous remarks and the various outrageous comments from the male viewers gradually make other viewers feel younger as well. At least she laughed and felt a sense of déjà vu, as if she had returned to school and met those unruly male classmates again.

On television, the four mentors' appearance was very simple, with only their past works and honors marked on the screen.

Of course, even without the sycophantic introductions typical of other programs that glorify actors in their thirties or forties who lack representative works yet are still showered with praise, the four individuals' outstanding works and highly prestigious honors cannot be fully recounted in just one or two frames. Especially Lu Ze, a recipient of the Chinese Golden Horse Award, the European Golden Horse Award, and currently the most decorated Chinese actor worldwide—his numerous titles require scrolling subtitles to list; otherwise, his representative works and accolades would fill the entire screen.

This level of prestige is something even casual viewers who don't follow the entertainment industry can directly appreciate, making one marvel at CCTV's generous investment and the strongest lineup of mentors among all performance-based variety shows.

The behind-the-scenes interviews also focused more on the requirements for the trainees, with the criteria listed clearly and logically. Compared to other similar programs where mentors often ramble on about irrelevant selection criteria, such as "he's like so-and-so" or "he has more energy," or even blatantly rigging the show, forcefully promoting and hyping up the show's star trainees, and treating the audience like fools, this was much better and gave the audience a better initial impression of the program.

Moreover, the format is novel. The performance venue is no longer limited to the studio. A group of famous or unknown actors are selected to perform excerpts from previously released works over and over again. This format is enough to watch once. If you watch it a second time, it means that the production team has a good grasp on the fans of each group and makes them fight tooth and nail for the pre-determined rankings. It doesn't earn viewership ratings from casual viewers at all.

In contrast, "The Actor's Diary" features mentors contacting production teams to request audition slots. The entire cast consists of amateur alumni from academies, with a focus on training and no ranking. The final decision rests with the production team's decision on whether to hire the actor. This model, which gambles on the future and is more like a talent development program, is undoubtedly more eye-catching.

The show started with a nationwide audition of 400 people. The process of how the mentors obtained the scripts in the early stages was not emphasized. After all, the ridiculous process of Lu Ze and Song Guiyuan asking for the scripts was really damaging to the dignity of the mentors.

When more than 400 spirited young men and women appeared on the screen, the number of comments on the screen increased significantly, with countless students from the same acting department constantly searching for their fellow alumni in the video.

"The fourth one from the right in the third row, the one who looks like a monkey, is my roommate!"

"My goddess has chosen me too! Waaah, goddess, please take me away."

“Three years ago, Li Chao and I ate instant noodles at the end of the month. Three years later, he entered the top 400 in the country, and I am eating instant noodles at the beginning of the month.”

The comments were still hilarious until the selection mechanism of the first part was announced, at which point they quieted down, because the cruel elimination mechanism of the entertainment industry was being brutally exposed to them.

It's not because you're not good enough, nor because you're worse than others; it's just that he's more suited to the role's temperament, so he becomes your priority. As long as he's not too much worse than you, you have no chance at all. And you come to the capital with great excitement, only to find yourself packing up and going home without even a chance to showcase yourself.

She watched the program nervously, afraid of missing a single name. Only when the boy's name was announced did she breathe a sigh of relief. Gone was her initial indifference; instead, she was overjoyed and clapped her hands vigorously for him.

The boy was selected early and had a high priority, so he was the first to be interviewed. When he nervously pushed open the door to the mentor's room and met his idol Lu Ze, he couldn't contain his excitement. So he bowed deeply and introduced himself to Lu Ze in a loud voice.

"Hello, Professor Lu, I am Peng Kuo, an interviewee from the Beijing Academy of Drama."

"..."

Everyone must take precautions recently, wash your hands frequently, and wear masks when going to crowded places. I tested positive again. The first time I tested positive, I had no symptoms. I didn't expect to feel symptoms the second time. The night before, I thought someone had broken into my house in the middle of the night and beaten me up. They even knocked my kidneys off. All my joints, especially my lower back, were in excruciating pain. My head was also throbbing. I was groaning in pain in bed. My fever and cough weren't as severe as with H1N1. Today is the fourth day, and I'm feeling slightly better.

Ibuprofen worked for me during the H1N1 flu outbreak, but it didn't work this time. My fever didn't even go down. 999 Cold Remedy worked. Of course, this is just my personal problem. If you unfortunately test positive, you should follow your doctor's advice. I wish you all good health.

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(End of this chapter)