Global Film Emperor

Chapter 261 Look at other people

"In the stillness of the night, when all things are asleep, only you and I remain awake, sometimes singing, sometimes grieving."

At 7:30 a.m., the timed CD player was playing Penicillin's "Summer Night Riddles". Lu Ze logged out of the system space. Although he was mentally awake, he just didn't want to get up. After staring at the ceiling for about five minutes, he threw off the covers and got out of bed.

Breakfast consisted of a steamer of dumplings, a bowl of porridge, a dish of pickled vegetables, and an egg. It wasn't particularly fancy, but it suited Lu Ze's taste best, or rather, the taste of most Chinese people.

The TV was broadcasting news from Shanghai, but Lu Ze didn't pay much attention to it. He kept his head down, eating and flipping through his script. He would only look up when there was news that interested him. His phone vibrated, and he reached out to pick it up. Lu Ze looked somewhat helpless and answered the call.

"Mom, have you eaten? Where's Dad?"

“We ate around six o’clock. Your dad is right next to me. Daze, hurry up and show me that Level 2 certificate. Your dad is waiting to see it too. Quickly take a picture for Mom.”

Li Yumei really couldn't wait any longer. The older generation's thinking is still very traditional, or rather, they are more materialistic. Compared to money, they value honor more. Ever since they heard the news that Lu Ze had received a national-level honorary title, the old couple hadn't been able to sleep well for the past few days and had to call Lu Ze three to five times a day. This is why Lu Ze was so helpless.

Upon hearing that Lu Ze had been successfully selected, Li Yumei was overjoyed, and even Lu Weiguo seemed much more agile and energetic. To them, Lu Ze's acting career, no matter how much money he earned, was just a high-income job. Only when the word "national" was added before his name could he be called an artist. The Lu family had been farmers for eighteen generations, and the elderly couple never imagined that their family would produce an artist.

"I'm eating now. The certificate is already in my hands, so I can't run away now. I'll send it to you after I finish eating. Wasn't the medicine I brought back from Hong Kong working well? My dad is still using it. If he runs out, I'll go buy some more."

"Oh dear, don't worry about your dad's old bones. Daze, stop eating for now and take a picture of Mom. Your dad and I are waiting to see it."

Seeing how anxious Lu Ze was, he had no choice but to put down his bowl and chopsticks, get up, go into the bedroom, and take out the National Second-Level Actor Qualification Certificate that he had just received the night before from the bedside table.

He didn't go to Beijing to get the marriage certificate in person, but instead asked an employee of Rongchuang's Beijing branch to collect it on his behalf. After the certificate was issued yesterday, the Rongchuang employee picked it up, and then an employee who was on a business trip from Beijing to Shanghai brought it over and delivered it to Lu Ze.

This item has no economic value, but it is an affirmation of Lu Ze's acting skills, which Lu Ze values, so he naturally has to keep it safe.

Take a picture of the cover. It has a dark red background with a gold logo. The four characters "Professional Title Certificate" are below the national emblem. Below that are two lines of slightly smaller text and an English translation, which reads "Professional Qualification Certificate for Cultural and Artistic Opera and Music Performance of the People's Republic of China".

He then took clear photos of each page and sent them to Li Yumei via WeChat. When he heard that the elderly couple was going to visit the graves, Lu Ze didn't stop them. He just told them to be careful and not to fall on the slippery mountain road. After all, it was not easy to make the elderly couple so happy. Even when Xiao Nan was admitted to the graduate program at the same university, the couple were not this happy.

After finishing my meal, I turned off the TV, took a break on the treadmill to digest, and then sat by the bay window with the script in hand to practice quietly. This was a drama with strict requirements; performing well was my duty, and performing poorly would be a sin.

Moreover, the audition invitation given to Lu Ze was for the male lead role. In their eyes, Lu Ze's image should be a perfect fit for the lead role, and they had full confidence in Lu Ze's acting ability.

Since receiving the script from Shen Jinghan a few days ago, and after reviewing it himself, studying the protagonist's autobiography through the system courses, and learning from his experiences in the truck driver course, Lu Ze has basically grasped Wang Jian's basic thought processes and can empathize with him, thus enhancing his own sense of immersion.

It can be said that this role is one of the two roles that Lu Ze has the strongest sense of immersion in, the other being Lin Qin. Therefore, Lu Ze is very confident in getting this role. If he goes all out, why shouldn't he get the role?

The script for this audition was different from all the scripts Lu Ze had auditioned before. He was given three lines, presumably to perform a set of scenes by drawing lots. This meant that the auditioning actors couldn't just focus on one line and shine during the audition. As a result, once they were on set, they would always feel like something was missing, which reduced the possibility of someone taking advantage of the situation.

However, the timeframe was quite generous, with auditions starting two months later, giving the actors ample preparation time, which showed some humanity.

Looking at the details, the story seems somewhat gloomy, but it is also accompanied by hope. If there were no hope, the higher-ups probably wouldn't have approved the project.

Moreover, this story is adapted from a true story. Lu Ze looked up the prototype of the protagonist online and found that there were not many records about this matter on search engines. However, he finally found the prototype's past experience on a website for finding missing children.

This is a twelve-year-long story of searching for relatives, recorded in great detail. It contains many touching stories, as well as many dark aspects.

After the adaptation, there may be less of the dark elements, but it largely respects the true events without much secondary creation or artistic embellishment, making it more authentic and moving.

However, around 11 o'clock, Lu Ze temporarily stopped practicing the script, turned around and went to the kitchen to make himself a cup of lemon honey water, then packed his schoolbag, took the script of "Wrong Love" and the stress-relieving spinning top with him, put on his shoes, put on his hat, and left home.

Xiao Fengying and Lu Ze had arranged for Xiao Fengying to bring her post-production team to Shanghai today to find a recording studio to complete the dubbing for "Wrong Love." Why not record in Beijing? Because Lu Ze was resting in Shanghai, Dai Xilu was filming a music video for her new album in Hangzhou, and Ding Zhiyi was filming a TV series in Hengdian. All three main characters were in the south, and all of them except Lu Ze had heavy workloads.

She is indeed different from other directors; she is accommodating to these busy actors. You could say she is somewhat weak, or you could say she is considerate of others—it all depends on whether you put it positively or negatively.

Another very important reason is that the sound recording quality is good, and Lu Ze's delivery of lines is incredibly stable. There are not many lines that are unclear or need to be re-dubbed. This is why Lu Ze only leaves home at noon. He can finish recording in about half a day.

On the contrary, Ding Zhiyi and Dai Xilu are somewhat weak in their acting skills, especially Dai Xilu, who is expected to take one or two days to re-dial the unclear lines.

So, if Xiao Fengying were to ask Ding Zhiyi and Dai Xilu to go to the capital for dubbing, that would be fine. But if she were to ask Lu Ze to go to the capital for two or three hours of dubbing and then send him home? That would be a bit too much trouble, especially for Lu Ze. To be honest, Xiao Fengying was hesitant to do so.

While the entertainment industry may seem to value seniority, it also depends on ability, right? If you've been playing minor roles for over thirty years and have achieved nothing but seniority, would you dare to act as a senior to a young person who debuted only five years ago, won a Best Actor award, and is highly regarded by the company? You'd probably be ruined the next day and wouldn't even be able to get any roles.

Although Xiao Fengying wasn't that bad—she was still a well-known director with a high status in the romance film industry—Lu Ze was more than just a Best Actor winner; he was merely an actor highly valued by his company. Even though Xiao Fengying was a director, in reality, she didn't have as much prestige as Lu Ze.

After driving for an hour and a half, Lu Ze arrived at "Echo Studio," a very impressive independent recording studio. Its equipment is top-notch, comparable to those of major recording studios worldwide. Many big-name singers choose to record here instead of in their own company's studio.

"Brother Lu, come and sit down, I'll give you my seat. Where's the cripple?"

Following the staff of the recording studio to the No. 2 recording studio, Lu Ze saw Dai Xilu sitting on the sofa playing on her mobile phone as soon as he pushed open the glass door.

"Where's Zhiyi? I haven't seen him."

"He has a lot of scenes to film today and can't come. He won't be here until the day after tomorrow. Director Xiao told me to do my dubbing first. Here's some honey water for Brother Lu to warm up his voice."

"No need, I brought my own. You drink yours. Didn't you say you were recording? Why aren't you going in?"

When the topic of recording came up, Dai Xilu's face fell. She really didn't like acting, and she wasn't very talented. Although she had received guidance from Lu Ze when filming before, acting is something you can't do without practice. If you don't practice for a day, you'll be rusty when you come back to it, and it's hard to find the right state of mind. Obviously, Dai Xilu wasn't the kind of person who would diligently practice her acting skills when producing an album.

"She's not feeling well. We've been trying for two hours, but it's still not working. Why don't you go first, Lu Ze?"

Xiao Fengying pushed the door open and walked in from outside. She had obviously overheard Lu Ze and Dai Xilu's conversation. She was also very displeased with Dai Xilu. At this rate, it would take two or three days to finish matching people, probably five days.

"Okay, I'll go first."

Lu Ze did not refuse. He picked up his water glass, script, and spinning top and went into the recording studio. He took a sip of water, put it aside, put on his headphones, and listened to which lines Xiao Fengying was saying outside that were not recorded well. He opened the script, twirled the spinning top with his fingertips, and nodded to the sound engineer after he found the right feeling.

An image appeared on the monitor. Lu Ze opened the mouth and microphone pop filter by five centimeters, and waited for his image to open before he began reading his lines.

"Many bizarre things happen in the world, but there's probably no one else like me."

As always, Xiao Fengying and Dai Xilu were used to it. When they saw the sound engineer with his mouth agape and a look of surprise on his face, Dai Xilu suddenly had the illusion that the sound engineer was a country bumpkin.

Instead, Xiao Fengying glared fiercely at Dai Xilu, making her lower her head in embarrassment. Perhaps she was really angry with Dai Xilu, because Xiao Fengying couldn't help but tease her.

Look at other people.

"."

(End of this chapter)