It's reasonable for me to be a three-time Golden Horse Award-winning director and an all-around

Chapter 42 Liu Yifei: "Studying? I don't want to!"

"The comedy/adventure film 'The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,' directed by up-and-coming director Lü Rui and with a budget of 5000 million RMB, officially started filming today."

At the press conference, director Lü Rui stated frankly that he had set his box office target at the level of "Hero"!

"Faced with the box office challenge previously issued by Feng Xiaogang, Lü Rui showed full confidence and made it clear that he had never taken this so-called 'challenge' seriously."

At this moment, on the set of "Cellphone," Feng Xiaogang looked at the news report with a terribly gloomy expression.

Each provocative remark stung his nerves like a sharp blade!

So what if he won a few worthless awards?
What's so great about it?
You're good at art films, but do you think you can handle commercial films too?
How many dicks does he have?! How dare he brag like that!
Seeing her husband's unpleasant expression, Xu Fan quickly and softly comforted him, "Don't get angry with him, it's not worth it. Let's see how long he can be so arrogant after his 5000 million goes down the drain."

She knew her husband's fiery temper all too well and was afraid that he might cause trouble in a moment of impulsiveness.

Not far away, Fan Bingbing, who plays "Wu Yue," was pretending to fix her makeup, but actually pricked up her ears and listened with great interest to the two people's discussion about Lü Rui.

The more she listened, the more curious she became about this young director.

The two first met at a drinking party, at which time Lü Rui had already won the Silver Bear for Best Director at the Berlin International Film Festival.

She offered to take him home, but he refused.

This left a very deep impression on her regarding Lü Rui!

"In this world of extravagance and debauchery, how can one remain unmoved by temptation?"

Fan Bingbing pondered to himself, and couldn't help but fantasize about whether he would have the opportunity to collaborate with Lü Rui in the future.
Meanwhile, with his wife's comforting words, Feng Xiaogang's surging anger gradually subsided.

But his face remained grim, and he gritted his teeth, saying, "We'll see! This year's Lunar New Year film season, I'll make him know what the 'father of Lunar New Year films' really means!"

As a well-known "quick shooter" in the industry, Lü Rui's main focus when it comes to filming is one word: speed.

--quick!

The location shooting at the Reader's Digest headquarters went very smoothly.

42-year-old Leslie Cheung lived a dull and repressive life day after day.

He was an ordinary employee in the negative assets department of Reader magazine, mechanically sorting through massive amounts of negatives every day, like a puppet trapped in a cubicle.

Introverted and reserved, he always hid quietly behind the crowd, keeping his wildest fantasies to himself.

Until he met his female colleague Mei Yanfang, whose frankness, cheerfulness, and ever-radiant smile deeply attracted him...

“Leslie Cheung, relax your shoulders a bit more, don’t be as stiff as a steel bar. Remember, you need to portray the state of being bent over by the burdens of life, yet already so numb that you are completely unaware.”

On set, Lü Rui kept his eyes glued to the monitor, constantly offering guidance.

After instructing Leslie Cheung, he turned to Anita Mui: "Tone your smile a little tighter. You're a single mother raising your child alone; your eyes should occasionally betray your weariness, and your smile should have a forced quality..."

Before he finished speaking, he quickly walked over to the supporting cast and casually quoted Ben Stiller's "character creation techniques," dissecting the action logic of each character with great insight and guiding them to express the feeling they wanted.

The set was completely silent, except for the clear voice of Lü Rui giving instructions.

Ning Hao's hand holding the camera was trembling slightly, and his eyes were fixed on the camera!
Leslie Cheung had already portrayed the dull office worker perfectly, and Anita Mui's smile was also captivating.

But after Lü Rui's guidance, they seemed to be injected with new vitality, and each movement had a deeper charm.

Ning Hao was stunned, especially when Lü Rui pointed out that Mei Yanfang's wrist angle was wrong when she was flipping her hair!
How could such minute details, which weren't even marked in the storyboard, affect the believability of a character?
Are you kidding?

However, when the replay showed Mei Yanfang adjusting her angle and casually tossing her hair, a miracle happened!
The originally slightly frivolous movements instantly became weathered and restrained due to the subtle tilt of the wrist, and the character's image was truly renewed as a result!
Ning Hao stared at the monitor, his Adam's apple bobbing, his heart churning with turmoil!

Then, even more surprising things happened one after another.

During filming, Lü Rui seemed to have a built-in scanner; as soon as each shot was completed, he could hit the nail on the head with just a few words about the essence of the performance.

From the amplitude of the actor's pupil tremors to the force of the heels striking the ground... every adjustment can bring about a qualitative leap in the quality of the picture!

When the final scene at the Reader's Digest headquarters was filmed and the crew began packing up and moving the equipment, Ning Hao finally understood why those major awards had fallen into Lü Rui's hands.

Because of his meticulous attention to detail in performance, he has already broken through the conventional boundaries of a director's thinking, and has clearly pushed character portrayal to a breathtaking artistic height!
In particular, his terrifying insight into dissecting a character down to the level of a single strand of hair made Ning Hao feel inferior, and at the same time, a strong sense of amazement welled up in his heart!
"Strong! Too strong!"

Every day after work, when Ning Hao held his phone and talked to Xing Aina, his voice was filled with an overwhelming sense of awe.

At such times, Xing Aina would always come through the receiver with gentle advice: "There is no order of learning, but those who are accomplished come first. You must learn from them carefully."

"Don't worry." Ning Hao took a deep breath, his tone full of enthusiasm. "I'm learning from others every day now. After this movie is finished, maybe I can make a blockbuster that's both critically acclaimed and commercially successful!"

However, the moment he hung up the phone, he suddenly froze in place.

Because Lü Rui was squatting on the ground at that moment, demonstrating to the props team how to adjust the angle of the pen.

"Holy crap! How am I supposed to learn this?"

Ning Hao grimaced.

Are all genius directors like this? It's almost like an artist's obsession with their work!

That kind of extreme attention to detail is incredibly difficult to imitate!
……

There is no subway in Lanzhou, so after filming wrapped, the crew immediately returned to Yanjing and found a subway station.

In Leslie Cheung's daydream, he was a superhero who saved the world, a dashing and romantic knight who stepped forward in times of crisis and successfully won the admiring gaze of Anita Mui.

But back in reality, he had to rehearse even a simple greeting in his mind for a long time before he dared to say it timidly.

He only has the opportunity to show his "shining" moments when he is in front of his daughter.

For example... teach her to skateboard.

Liu Yifei plays a teenage girl who is obsessed with the latest trendy art.

To highlight the character's personality, Lü Rui designed a very interesting line for her. On set, the camera was steadily focused on the center.

Liu Yifei placed one foot on the skateboard, swaying her body gently to the rhythm of the board, while the colorful hair ties on her ponytail bounced merrily.

She tilted her head, biting into a strawberry lollipop, and suddenly winked mischievously at the camera, her almond-shaped eyes curving into two crescent moons, as if hiding countless quirky little secrets.

"3, 2, 1—action!"

The sharp sound of the clapperboard suddenly rang out.

"Go to school? I don't want to!"

Faced with Mei Yanfang's patient persuasion, she suddenly stood on tiptoe, her skateboard "clicked" up, and with a clever move, she jumped half a circle in the air before landing steadily.

The fluttering hem of her school uniform skirt swept across the golden ginkgo leaves scattered on the ground, as if the autumn sunlight had been blended into her graceful movements.

"Then what do you want to do?" Mei Yanfang said her line with a helpless expression.

"Me? Skipping class!"

She deliberately elongated the last syllable, her tongue deftly swirling against her canine teeth, each word seeming to be coated with leaping honey, exuding a playful and fearless spirit.

Before she finished speaking, she glided backward at high speed, then suddenly braked in front of the camera, her nose almost touching the lens, her fluttering eyelashes casting dappled shadows on the lens.

The next second, she chuckled again, casually flashed a crooked "V" sign, and sped off off-screen like the wind on her skateboard, leaving behind only a string of clear, melodious laughter, "None of you will catch me~"

Behind the monitor, a smile unconsciously crept onto Lü Rui's lips.

At this moment, Liu Yifei perfectly replicated the image of the rebellious yet lively girl in his mind.

Whether it's the deliberately upturned corner of her mouth when she speaks, the swaying backpack ornament when she stomps her feet, or the graceful arc of her hair when she turns around, everything exudes an unadorned freshness and purity, as if she were a heroine who jumped out of a comic book, with every strand of hair shouting that youth is invincible!

"Click! Perfect!"

With Lü Rui's order, Liu Yifei's scenes were successfully completed.

It's already late March, and just yesterday, the cast and crew of "Hero" attended the Oscars ceremony.

Almost everyone believed that "Hero" was a shoo-in for an award!

Zhang Weiping even boasted, "With the release of 'Hero,' who can compete?"

Unexpectedly, after the awards were announced, the Best Foreign Language Film award was won by "Love in Africa".

The internet exploded immediately, with heated debates raging on various forums.

However, this did not affect the crew of "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty".

Liu Xiaoli greeted Liu Yifei the moment her scenes were finished.

Ever since she was almost forced to drink alcohol on the set of "The Story of a Noble Family," Liu Xiaoli has become extremely cautious. Whenever her daughter is filming, she stays on set.

Unless Lü Rui invites her out for barbecue at night, she won't go out no matter how much others call her.

Zhu Yawen and Zhou Yang tried to invite Liu Yifei out, but failed several times.

Lu Rui didn't think there was anything wrong with what she did.

A 16-year-old girl navigating this complex and chaotic world is bound to encounter some perverts, so it's better to keep a close eye on her.

"Bye-bye, senior, I'm off to audition for a new movie!"

Four days ago, "The Story of a Noble Family" officially premiered on CCTV-8, achieving an average viewership rating of 7.68%, breaking the channel's viewership record for the past two years.

Liu Yifei's popularity skyrocketed after playing "Bai Xiuzhu"! Film offers poured in like snowflakes.

"Okay." Lu Rui raised his hand and waved at her. "I wish you success in your audition."

If I remember correctly, the next one was "The Legend of Sword and Fairy 1"?
The tank's "health value" is steadily increasing!

Before leaving the film crew, Liu Xiaoli came over to say goodbye: "The house paperwork is all done."

With her help, Lü Rui's parents bought several high-quality properties in the capital and have now returned to Harbin.

"Okay, thank you, Aunt Liu."

Since her mother always called Liu Xiaoli "little sister," Lü Rui's way of addressing her naturally had to change as well.

"You're welcome. I should thank you for taking care of Sisi."

Liu Xiaoli spoke with great sincerity. The young man in front of her was only 21 years old, but the ability, talent, intelligence, and emotional intelligence he displayed made her very impressed!
Young talents are nothing more than this!

"Goodbye, my dear. Come visit me in Hong Kong sometime!" Mei Yanfang smiled and patted Liu Yifei's head.

She really liked this girl.

Liu Yifei nodded and happily replied, "Yes, godmother, I'll go!"

After filming for a month, she even found a godmother, which can be considered a significant achievement.

After she left, the filming of "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" in China also came to an end.

Lu Rui rushed to complete all the filming work in China before April arrived.

Meanwhile, Wang Jia, Zhu Yawen, Luo Jin, Jiang Yiyan, Zhou Yang, and other actors arranged by the Beijing Film Academy to make guest appearances have all finished filming their respective scenes.

On April 1, 2003, Lü Rui, along with the entire film crew, including Anita Mui and Leslie Cheung, boarded a plane to Iceland!
Where the story of "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" will officially unfold, and the protagonist Leslie Cheung's "daydreams" will gradually become reality.

(End of this chapter)