Huayu: A Commercial Director

Chapter 63 Director, how was my acting?

Chen Shou was at the actors' training ground when he saw Zhang Yimou there, and the actors all stopped to greet him.

Zhang Yimou is still the top director in China; actors never show him any disrespect.

"How did you come?"

The only person who had a normal attitude towards Zhang Yimou was Gong Li.

"I came to visit the set. Didn't I tell you about my new movie before?" Zhang Yimou said with a warm smile.

"Okay, I'll talk about it after I finish filming this." Gong Li nodded.

Everyone else was excited when they heard that Zhang Yimou was going to make a new movie, and that Gong Li would be the lead actress. The two of them had won so many awards together.

No capital can resist a blockbuster movie, and no actor can resist the allure of awards.

An actor's value comes from many factors, including commercial worth, awards, and more.

Why did Leonardo DiCaprio pursue the Oscar for over twenty years? He also wanted to gain more recognition and prove his abilities.

Chen Shouzhe didn't understand before, and he still doesn't understand now. There's no first place in literature, but there's a second place in martial arts. Film art is entirely based on personal judgment, especially in Hollywood, where political correctness is more important than anything else. If you want to win an award, you have to please those academics. Of course, winning an award has many benefits, at least in terms of copyright and popularity, you can sell it for a good price. It's worth striving for such beneficial awards.

As for domestic awards, the more Chen Shouzhe understood about the inside story of those awards, the less he cared about them.

He declined invitations to attend many domestic film festivals and award ceremonies.

If it's a performance, that's fine; it's a publicity stunt. But if it's for an award, given his relationship with those old guys, it'll probably be even worse than when he messed with Feng Xiaogang.

Feng Xiaogang is a typical monkey in the Chinese zodiac. Before the award ceremony, he fawned over everyone, and when he was nominated, he praised everyone. After the award ceremony, he turned into a little firecracker. Even if you couldn't see clearly once or twice, you would still go up to him with longing eyes. Chen Shou really wanted to say something to him.

How shameless of you!
Since "Goodbye Mr. Loser", Chen Shouzhe has been suppressed by people because of his age. At the beginning of this year, he was even more tortured because he was not an outstanding graduate.

Sending him to participate in these so-called domestic awards would only be humiliating him.

The status of Zhang Yimou and Gong Li in the industry goes without saying; they have won numerous international awards, and their films are eagerly anticipated by countless actors.

Who wouldn't want the assistance of a top-tier director who can win awards? Commercial films can boost one's status, and awards can bring prestige.

Therefore, awards are very important for actors, provided they are prestigious awards.

Liu Yifei's eyes were sparkling, but unfortunately her acting skills were not very good. She is very beautiful, that's true, but her acting skills are only slightly better than that of the blind actress. She has lost the liveliness she had when she was a child and has lost a lot of her charm.

If she doesn't have enough representative works on the big screen, she will only be able to go back to making TV dramas in the future.

"Director Zhang has put a lot of pressure on me. Brother Yu, you'll have to work hard. You'll only be able to film with those potatoes. As for you guys, I'll prioritize filming your scenes within a month. It will be very tiring then. Sister Gong Li, thank you for your hard work," Chen Shou said.

“It’s alright, that’s how actors should be. You’re the director, so we’ll do as you say.” Gong Li nodded.

"Then let's get started."

Chen Shouzhe didn't hold back at all and started the process directly inside the space capsule. In order to build the space capsule, Chen Shouzhe actually borrowed a space simulation cabin from the Aerospace Engineering Department. The actors all underwent weightlessness training and simulated being inside the space capsule. However, a green screen was placed around them, and the set would be set up later.

The actors were actually filming in a weightless environment, not suspended by wires flying around.

The filming of Gong Li and the others' scenes was completed within a month. During this time, Zhang Hanyu was still waiting for the potatoes. From the moment the potatoes were planted, Chen Shou specially found real experts from the Academy of Agricultural Sciences to come and plant them.

They were even more interested in growing potatoes on Mars than Chen Shouzhe. Although it was supposed to be a simulation of the Martian environment, the experts from the Academy of Agricultural Sciences were actually immersed in it. Moreover, a professor brought his graduate students and doctoral students along, and they were going to write a paper about it.

The film crew harvested potatoes; they harvested an experiment.

Filming is proceeding smoothly, and the people who visit the set the most are Yu Qian and Guo Degang.

"Director, is my acting okay?" Liu Yifei asked, squatting down next to Chen Shouzhe and looking at the camera. "No problem," Chen Shouzhe replied, looking at the screen.

"But I still feel like something's missing." Liu Yifei has improved a lot after being guided by Gong Li and others. After filming, she would come to see how her performance was.

Unfortunately, if it were an art film, Chen Shouzhe would definitely have higher expectations for her. Her acting just now could be summed up in four words.

not so good!
However, science fiction movies have lower requirements for actors' acting skills. Besides, she is a supporting role, so passing is enough. Chen Shouzhe cannot expect her to reach a score of over 90.

Gong Li's acting skills don't need Chen Shou's supervision; she can achieve 90 points. Zhang Hanyu can at least achieve 85 points. Huang Xiaoming can reach 90 points when he has a breakout performance, and he can at least achieve 70 points. Zhang Fengyi, like Zhang Hanyu, is so steady that it makes people's scalp tingle.

To put it bluntly, Liu Yifei's previous TV dramas relied entirely on her face, while her actual acting skills, under the circumstances of her special age, barely reached 80 points, and could even reach 50 points or lower.

With Gong Li and others guiding her, she can now score at least 60 points, a significant improvement compared to when she first started.

Chen Shouzhe's requirement for her is 60 points. As long as she reaches 60 points, she will basically pass.

Sometimes, the reason why the photos don't turn out well isn't because of her, but more because other people's scores are too high. When she's compared to these people, she immediately falls behind.

For example, if Gong Li's performance is 95 points and Liu Yifei's is 60 points, the huge difference makes it easy to see how bad Liu Yifei is. This is definitely not acceptable. Either Liu Yifei should be promoted, or Gong Li should be made to hold back.

I heard that when Zhang Yimou and Gong Li collaborated on their last film, Jay Chou was completely overshadowed and couldn't continue filming, almost causing the music superstar to give up.

It is said that it was because Gong Li was angry that she went all out and crushed the opponent.

I ask you, how many young actors in China can keep up with her performance? Apart from the older generation like Ge You, there are very few who can.

Acting skills are more about talent, technique, and understanding of the characters in the script.

Although there are many factions, they all ultimately share the same goal: to play their roles well.

Looking at Gong Li's acting on the screen and then at her own performance, Liu Yifei realized that it wasn't that her acting was bad, but rather that she appeared too immature compared to Gong Li.

She's been acting for over ten years, but compared to a true award-winning actress, the difference is visibly significant.

"If you know you're lacking, then study harder," Chen Shou said without turning his head.

Liu Yifei rolled her eyes when she heard Chen Shou's incredibly masculine words.

"Should we do another shot?" Liu Yifei asked.

“It’s not that you can’t get it fixed, you should ask them. I don’t think it’s necessary. If they’re willing to cooperate and continue filming, I don’t mind. The question is, can you handle them, or do you want them to go easy on you?” Chen Shou then turned to look at this pretty face that wasn’t particularly outstanding, but which was quite pleasing to the eye.

Liu Yifei may not be the most beautiful woman he has ever seen, but she has an ethereal quality. The only thing that detracts from her beauty and temperament is her smile, which is hard to describe.

Liu Yifei looked up at several actors who were exhausted and resting. Perhaps noticing her looking over, Gong Li waved to her, inviting her to come and eat watermelon.

"Let's... let's forget about it." Liu Yifei immediately shrank back.

Chen Shou picked up a sliced ​​watermelon from the side, scooped out a spoonful, stuffed it into his mouth, and muttered, "Instead of wasting time like this, I should eat more watermelon. The watermelons in Daxing are really good. I eat dozens every year, slurp slurp slurp..."

Seeing Chen Shou's mouth spitting out watermelon seeds like a machine gun, Liu Yifei picked up the half watermelon next to her and started scooping them out as well.

She took a bite and her eyes narrowed as she tasted the sweetness; she looked incredibly beautiful.

Chen Shou glanced at them, then looked away. These watermelons were all sent by his master, some of which were even grown in his own field. They were very sweet and tasted even better chilled.

"Director, how do you suggest I improve my acting skills?" Liu Yifei asked softly, sitting next to Chen Shouzhe, eating watermelon and covering her mouth.

(End of this chapter)