Global Film Emperor

Chapter 225 Easily
One by one, the people in the conference room left. Lu Ze was not in a hurry and remained very calm. He got up, went to the water dispenser to get a cup of hot water, sat back down, crossed his legs, closed his eyes, and muttered something to himself.

"Mr. Du Junze, please come with me."

Du Junze agreed, got up to pack his things, glared at Lu Ze resentfully from behind, and left the meeting room. He was determined to perform well and get the male lead role to make that bastard Lu Ze furious.

Time passed slowly, and the Jiaxing staff informed the actors who did not have an audition that they could take a lunch break and choose to eat at the staff canteen or go out to eat on their own. The auditions would continue at 1 p.m.

The other celebrities chatted and made plans to go out for dinner in small groups. They left the conference room, leaving Lu Ze all alone. It wasn't that they didn't want to invite him; after all, the entertainment industry is all about connections, and they were more than willing to have dinner with Lu Ze, a big shot who would be winning two Best Actor awards the next day.

They were afraid that Lu Ze would slap them in the face just like Du Junze had slapped them in the face, so in the end no one dared to invite Lu Ze. They just said hello to Lu Ze and left.

Lu Ze wasn't disappointed. He preferred going to the dinner party alone to going alone, even if he didn't drink and just came back after the meal.

After leaving the meeting room, he asked where the staff canteen was. He was like a beacon of light, attracting everyone's attention even when he ate in the canteen. The staff canteen was really only for employees and trainees; even minor celebrities wouldn't eat there.

So when they saw Lu Ze sitting at an empty table with a tray, they were absolutely stunned, but their goodwill towards him gradually increased. A simple and pure person will always be loved by people. Now the employees in Jiaxing are a little sad. Why isn't Lu Ze an artist from Jiaxing?
Lu Ze had no other thoughts about this, but he did feel the difference between the new company and the old company. At Qian Shijia, the department heads ate in the cafeteria. President Hu would sometimes go there and would also talk to the trainees while eating.

Perhaps it's because the food at Qian Shijia is better than that in Jiaxing. Qian Shijia is quite conscientious in this respect, providing trainees with seafood, soy products, egg whites, chicken, and other high-protein, nutritious foods that can effectively control appetite and are not likely to cause weight gain. There is also fruit after meals, which keeps the trainees looking healthy and radiant even when they are tired.

In contrast, what are the trainees eating in Jiaxing? Vegetable salad and boiled chicken breast. It's tasteless. It's nutritious, but judging from the amount of food they eat, they clearly don't like it. Their nutrition is definitely not up to par. Their slim figures are not from exercise, but purely from hunger.

Even the staff meals that Lu Ze ate weren't very good. The taste was just average, not as delicious as the aunties' cooking at Qian Shijia's cafeteria. Back then, Lu Ze was a tough guy who made the cafeteria aunties chase him away. They would get a headache just seeing Lu Ze.

After finishing his meal and clearing away his plates, Lu Ze returned to the conference room to continue reading the script. However, he missed the cripple a little, so he sent Liu Bin a video to see the cripple living like a king at Liu Bin's house, enjoying good food and drink.

Soon, the artists who had finished eating returned, and the afternoon auditions continued. Lu Ze was the first artist to be called away that afternoon.

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

After packing his things, Lu Ze, carrying his bag, followed the staff member down the long corridor under everyone's gaze. They arrived at the door of another conference room, knocked, stepped aside to let Lu Ze in, and then closed the door.

This was the first time Lu Ze had met Director Xiao Fengying. The director, who had moved two generations of young men and women, was not actually pretty. She was fifty years old, not tall, and a little overweight. She wore a simple ponytail and black-rimmed glasses. Years of filming in the wind and rain had made her skin dark and rough. When she smiled, she revealed her two front teeth.

"Hello Director Xiao, hello teachers."

Lu Ze bowed slightly, put his bag aside, and sat down. He was relaxed, not sitting up straight, but not entirely formal either.

Hello, Lu Ze.

Lu Ze has proven his abilities and deserves the respect of directors. Although they have a superior-subordinate relationship on set, directors actually rely on the influence of actors. Lu Ze now deserves the attention of directors.

Xiao Fengying was actually a bit troubled because a movie with a rating of 4.9 had left her overwhelmed. So when she came across this script, she gave up on directly offering the role to actors privately and chose to audition to find her favorite male and female leads.

To be honest, she hadn't considered Lu Ze before, not because Lu Ze's acting skills were subpar, but because they were too good. All the directors had to admit that Lu Ze was one of the top actors in the country, and he was the youngest of them all, at twenty-nine years old. To act like this at less than thirty years old, they really didn't know what to say.

When actors are choosing scripts, directors are certainly also choosing actors, that's true. But they consider not only the actors' skills and appearance, but also whether they can keep the actors in check. Otherwise, the actors will become tyrants on set, and no director wants to have a tyrant on their set.

Xiao Fengying's concern was that Lu Ze was too powerful and she couldn't control him. After all, she was a woman, and she couldn't roar like a male director and rant at anyone she could grab. She couldn't do that, so her concern was not unfounded.

There's a saying in the film industry that describes Xiao Fengying: she never uses minor actors in her films, nor does she use big stars.

She only casts actors who are famous but haven't won any awards to prove themselves—the kind of actors who are the backbone of the entertainment industry, who won't cause trouble, have decent skills, and whose acting skills aren't too demanding in romance films, so they can easily land the roles.

So when Shen Jinghan approached her and said that Lu Ze wanted to audition for a role, Xiao Fengying was hesitant. She knew that none of the actors she had auditioned for could compete with the freakish Lu Ze. She was afraid that if Lu Ze took the role, she would fall for him, and then she would have to decide whether to accept him or not.
If she wanted to, she couldn't control Lu Ze, and what if he became a tyrant on her set? But if she didn't, Lu Ze was too tempting, and she couldn't bear to give up this actor who had made his name in serious dramas.

So after hesitating for a long time, she still gritted her teeth and sent Lu Ze an audition letter. If Lu Ze could really master the role in twelve days, she would accept being raised by an ancestor, as long as she could redeem herself.

But when Lu Ze actually stood in front of her, she still had a feeling she couldn't quite put into words. The confident aura emanating from this great actor constantly reminded her that this man was incredibly talented.

"Twelve days to prepare is a bit short, is that alright?"

"Okay, I'm fine with it. Shall we begin?" Lu Ze could sense Xiao Fengying's hesitation, but he really didn't know what she was struggling with. As for whether twelve days was enough to fully understand a character? Sorry, he had a system, and he had already spent eleven days learning.

"let's start."

As soon as Xiao Fengying finished speaking, she noticed that Lu Ze had made adjustments to himself at an extremely fast speed, and his temperament changed in an instant, becoming more and more like the male protagonist Zhou Yi in her mind.

Lu Ze's transformation was swift, a stark contrast to his demeanor just a second ago. Demeanor is a somewhat elusive concept, but ultimately it's a combination of body posture, facial micro-expressions, tone of voice, and speaking speed, along with external cues, that shapes a person's overall presence.

For example, if a person is slightly hunched over, likes to shake his leg, chews betel nut, smokes a cigarette, rolls his eyes upward from time to time, speaks very quickly and habitually uses profanity, then he gives people the impression of being a scoundrel.

Conversely, a person who stands upright, walks naturally, avoids fidgeting, is always neat and tidy, maintains eye contact during conversation, speaks at a measured pace, occasionally quotes philosophical statements, and has a warm and peaceful smile, gives the impression of having a good upbringing and a gentle personality.

The current Lu Ze is no longer as calm and composed as before. Instead, his smile is simple and his eyes are sincere. He has become somewhat ordinary and down-to-earth, portraying Zhou Yi as someone from an ordinary family, honest in school, with above-average grades, and a kind-hearted person in his department after starting work, yet showing a bit of wisdom in his ordinariness.

Lu Ze sat in the chair, his gaze somewhat unfocused, a smile playing on his lips, as if recalling some beautiful scene. He then shook his head, looked directly at Xiao Fengying, a faint light flickering in his eyes, a single glance enough to touch anyone's heart.

"You know, we should have been parallel lines that would never intersect, but fate played a trick on us. Two people who would never have met met. It's not that we fell in love with the right person at the wrong time, but that we fell in love with the wrong person at the wrong time. Not a single second from now on will be right."

He took out a cigarette and lit it for himself. His gaze shifted, and he grinned self-deprecatingly. The emotion in his eyes gave Xiao Fengying the illusion that she had met Zhou Yi in person, and this illusion was gradually deepening.

"I'm actually ashamed to say the word 'love,' I think it's pretentious. I've thought about ending it, but I can't bear to leave. If it really ends, I'll worry about how she'll live in the future, and she will too."

"If I really end this relationship, I still don't know how to let go. Some people think I'm unreasonable, or even mentally ill, for falling in love with a woman who doesn't exist. I guess she feels the same way. Don't you think it's funny that I fell in love with someone who doesn't exist? Hahaha."

He rubbed his face vigorously with his left hand, then lowered his head and laughed self-deprecatingly. The laughter didn't stop, and his shoulders kept shaking, but he couldn't hide the sadness in them.

The actor's expressive body language, superb delivery of lines, and masterful use of micro-expressions were all executed flawlessly. Any more would have been exaggerated, and any less would have lacked impact, completely shattering Xiao Fengying's psychological defenses.

The gap between the others and Lu Ze is too great.

The actors interviewed the other day all made the same mistake: they liked to show off and present their handsome side to the audience. But this is obviously different from the character Zhou Yi, who should be ordinary, not so dazzling.

Lu Ze, on the other hand, completely humbled himself to the point of ordinariness, without any unnecessary fancy moves, and took the ordinary to the extreme.

To be honest, Xiao Fengying had never worked with such a talented actor before. Lu Ze had only delivered half of his lines when he first showed his skill, and Xiao Fengying had already made up her mind that Lu Ze was the male lead she wanted.

Just thinking about Lu Ze playing Zhou Yi and conquering the box office alongside her makes her excited. She suppresses her excitement until Lu Ze's performance ends, then she lets out a long sigh of relief, feeling as satisfied as if she had just eaten a feast.

"This role is yours."

Lu Ze was not surprised by this. He had performed very well and knew his own strengths and weaknesses. He brought out his best performance and was quite indifferent to whether or not he would be selected.

"Thank you, Director Xiao, and thank you to all the teachers."

Lu Ze stubbed out his cigarette and threw it into the trash can next to him. He stood up and shook hands with them. Seeing that Xiao Fengying still had something to say, he stopped and waited for her to speak.

When can we sign the contract?

"Let me talk to my agent and have her contact you again. She should be here in the next day or two. I'll sign the authorization letter and add my personal seal, and then we can discuss the rest with my agent, okay?"

"No problem, I'll talk to Shen Jinghan about it later, I'll give it to you."

Xiao Fengying knew that Lu Ze was going to attend the Hong Kong Film Awards ceremony and wouldn't be back for the next few days. Knowing that Shen Jinghan could help Lu Ze handle this matter, she felt a little relieved and got up to see Lu Ze to the elevator, showing her sincerity.

Lu Ze breathed a sigh of relief after going downstairs. The matter was settled, and the new movie "Wrong Love" was about to start filming.

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(End of this chapter)