Global Film Emperor

Chapter 28 Returning to Hengdian

It's been almost two months since I returned from Beijing. My younger sister is doing very well at school. From what I understand, she gets along very well with her roommates. First of all, Lu Nan has a very good personality, and secondly, her roommates are also lively and cheerful. The four of them living together are quite compatible.

Lu Ze's income was also rising steadily. He was flattered when Liu Le told him that when he returned to Hengdian, the director of the drama he had turned down said he was waiting for him! As long as Lu Ze played the role, waiting a few days was no big deal!
His resume grew increasingly impressive, and the union began to pay more attention to this actor who started as an extra, because his acting skills were indeed excellent. Whether he played a soldier, a general, a traitor, or a Japanese major, he performed his roles admirably, embodying each character perfectly.

The directors in Hengdian also took a liking to this young actor. After all, he was cheap and of good quality, and no one had any reason not to like such an actor.

Even now, he's facing a scheduling conflict! This is something he's never experienced before; there have been many times when he had two or even three or four projects coming in at the same time.

In this way, Lu Ze would have the right to choose scripts. Although he usually played minor supporting roles that required acting skills, he was not only ambitious.

Lu Ze has come to enjoy acting; it's no longer just a means of making a living, but something he genuinely loves.

As for when he started liking her? It was probably after the first drama he worked on aired.

It's that guard who only had seven lines, and four of them were cut after the show aired.

When Lu Ze saw himself appear on the television screen as a soldier protecting the regimental commander, he felt a sense of estrangement. He felt that the person on the television screen was not himself, but a stranger. This sense of opposition made him feel very fresh and excited. So he longed to see himself on the television screen again, and the more screen time he had, the better.

Now he gets roles entirely through the Actors Guild, instead of from Liu Le. In this way, he has completely shed his status as an extra and is moving towards becoming a true actor.

However, he did not lose contact with Liu Le; they would always go out for meals and drinks together.

Although Lu Ze only worked under Liu Le for about two months, Liu Le helped him when he needed it most, and Lu Ze always remembered this kindness. Unfortunately, there was really no way to repay the kindness.

"Clang! Thump thump thump da da da! Thump thump thump! Clang! Da da da da!"

"Cut! Next take, get ready, pyrotechnician, on! Be careful! Makeup crew, get the extras' costumes ready, we're starting filming in fifteen minutes! Get the hell out of here!"

Lu Ze crawled out of the trench, covered in dirt. After climbing up, he sat on the edge of the trench, spat out a mouthful of dirt-covered saliva, and then asked the production assistant for a cigarette and lit it.

"Lu Ze! Get the hell away from me and smoke somewhere else! If I find a cigarette butt in the camera lens later, I'll skin you alive!"

A sudden roar startled Lu Ze, who shuddered. He glanced back at the director, who was glaring at him with wide eyes as if he wanted to kill him. Lu Ze patted the dirt off his head, stood up sheepishly, and ran to the director like a lackey to light his cigarette.

"Don't think I can't catch you just because you're hiding in the corner smoking. If I catch you next time, I'll deduct two hundred for the first time, five hundred for the second, and a thousand for the third. Let's see how much money you have to deduct from me."

The director flicked his cigarette ash, patted Lu Ze on the back of the head, and laughed and scolded him. In fact, aside from the leadership at work, Lu Ze had a good relationship with most of the staff in the anti-Japanese war drama crews in Hengdian, even the director.

“Okay, I’m still filming the next take, so I was thinking of just taking care of it here. I definitely can’t throw a cigarette butt into the trench, I’ll definitely bury it. Director Liu, don’t you believe me?”

"I believe you? If I believe you, you're out of your mind! Next time, you and the extras run away, don't get separated. We've used a lot of explosives, and if they get scattered and someone gets blown up, none of us can take the responsibility."

"I know, I'll be wherever the camera is, don't worry about that, it won't be a problem."

"Alright, you take the extras to get a feel for the place. Go ahead, I'll take a break too."

"That's it."

After seeing the director close his eyes to rest, Lu Ze got up, patted his butt, and walked towards the extras. This scene was a large-scale one in the whole movie, and it used quite a few extras, probably seventy or eighty, running through artillery shells and fighting with bayonets with the enemy.

The makeup artist is only seventeen years old this year. It is said that she dropped out of high school and her family found her a job as a makeup artist on set. She also has a good relationship with Lu Ze, since Lu Ze has a younger sister of his own.

"Little Bean, have the extras changed their clothes yet?"

"No, Brother Lu, how about you treat me to lunch? I woke up late this morning and didn't eat, I'm starving. I'm so tired of boxed lunches, can you arrange something for me today?"

"I don't have any money, let me tell you. If you're hungry, I have two handfuls of sunflower seeds in my bag. Here, take them, it's on me, okay?"

Xiao Douzi rolled her eyes at Lu Ze, then grinned and grabbed a handful of sunflower seeds from his bag, eating them as she beckoned the extras to line up. Once everyone was in position, Lu Ze clapped his hands and shouted, "Listen up, guys! I'm going to lead you through this. Remember my face and this outfit! Don't spread out too much! And don't crowd together. I won't go into detail about how the stuntmen act; you all know. Just follow me, got it?"

"understood!"

"Alright, everyone, give it your all and try to get it right on the first try. That way, you can all get other jobs sooner and earn more money. That's all for now, come with me!"

"Heroes of the Anti-Japanese War, Hengdian, Scene 13! Act 6! Ready! Action!"

After the clapperboard was struck, Lu Ze waited for the lead actor to give the order. When he said, "Charge! Fight the Japanese devils!" he led all the extras to fix bayonets and start fighting.

Having already anticipated the trajectory of the crane, Lu Ze immediately shouted after the lead actor delivered his lines: "Fix bayonets! Charge with me!"

He then led seventy or eighty men out of the trenches, carrying a gun, and ran for their lives in the "battlefield" littered with gunpowder.

The director kept watching the monitor. This kind of scene is the most nerve-wracking for all directors. Then he breathed a sigh of relief because Lu Ze had perfectly completed the task he had assigned to Lu Ze.

The troops were very well organized, not too scattered, and moved at a moderate pace with proper spacing between them. Then they began a direct confrontation with the Japanese.

Lu Ze went up and "stabbed" one of them, then kicked another one over. The Japanese soldier opposite him was also a stuntman, and he was trained. His movements were very coordinated, and he was kicked to the ground without any hesitation.

Just then, two people from the film crew entered. They walked to the director's side but did not disturb him from directing the scene; instead, they stopped to watch.

"Click! This is a pass! Time for lunch!"

After the director finished speaking, he turned his attention to the two men. One of them was Zeng Long, an office worker at the Actors Guild, and the other was a minor supporting actor that the director was looking for.

"Director Liu, I've brought the person over. Would you like to see if he's alright?"

Zeng Long chuckled and pointed to the people around him. Director Liu looked them up and down for a moment, then said to Zeng Long, "Okay, let me see. You can go now if there's nothing else."

"Okay, I'll go first then."

Zeng Long paused for a moment because he saw Lu Ze leisurely climb out of the trench, dust himself off, and swagger away. Suddenly, a thought flashed through his mind: there was a job that was suitable for an actor!
Lu Ze swaggered out of the film crew, walked to the entrance of the film city, took the takeout from the Meituan delivery rider, and then strolled back.

"Little Bean!"

"what?"

"Didn't you say you were tired of the boxed meals from the crew? Brother Lu promised to give you an extra meal."

"Wow! Brother Lu, you're such a great guy!"

"no big deal."

Lu Ze tossed the fruit salad and two hamburgers that the girl liked onto the table, then happily accepted the boxed lunch handed to him by the production assistant and found a place to eat.

"."

I got back from my walk early today, so I'm updating a little earlier. I'll add an extra chapter later.

Thank you to Red Brick and Green Tile, GW77, L, M Li, X Rocket Head CM, and Yanzhai for their generous donations.

I'll start a thread in the comments section later to discuss the two biggest issues with this book: one is the suppression of knowledge in dreams, and the other is whether the overly powerful cheat abilities were intentionally suppressed by me. We'll talk about it in detail in the comments section later.

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(End of this chapter)