This director lacks vision.

Chapter 119 I grew up watching your dramas.

In 2010, Shu Chang's popularity was still at the tail end of its peak, and she was still very well-known among the people.

She has starred in many TV series and has always been quite popular.

The 08 drama "Magic Phone" was controversial, but it had high viewership ratings, which brought Shu Chang's popularity to its peak.

However, after Magic Phone, the TV series that Shu Chang starred in later, such as The Deer and the Cauldron and The Great Ming Dynasty, did not have good ratings or reviews.

Moreover, Shu Chang did not attend any of the top three universities in the entertainment industry, and she was working alone in her own small workshop. She lacked connections and her career path planning was also problematic.

At the height of her popularity, instead of pursuing the path of a popular young actress, she took on roles in TV series such as "The Battle of Taihang Mountain," "Sister Jiang," and "Liu Sanjie," moving towards more revolutionary and serious dramas.

This is an extremely unwise act.

Shu Chang's acting skills are excellent, even among established actresses.

However, if you put it in the category of Qingyi (a type of female role in Peking Opera) and try to compete with actresses like Yin Tao in terms of acting skills, then it will be very difficult.

Moreover, as she has grown older, Shu Chang's round face has become a bit bigger, making her look much more mature and less lively and cute than when she was a young girl.

This can be seen from the stills of her in the TV series "Liu Sanjie".

It was precisely because of this, coupled with the pressure of her best friend being too beautiful, that Shu Chang decided to have plastic surgery a few years later, resulting in her face looking somewhat taut.

Fortunately, as a top student, she does have some skills.

In the future, live streaming e-commerce on Douyin will be very successful, and it can be regarded as one of the most successful cases of celebrity-driven e-commerce.

Jiang Yifeng first had Shu Chang perform a scene of buying groceries, and then had her perform the main scene of lying on the operating table to save her grandson.

Shu Chang's overall performance deserves a score of 70. There is still some room for improvement, but it is already quite good.

Especially when she was buying groceries, she portrayed the mercenary nature of an ordinary person.

"Have you ever bought groceries before?"

Shu Chang nodded and said, "When I was little, I often went grocery shopping with my mother, and that's how she bargained."

Sometimes she would deliberately go grocery shopping a little later, asking the vendors for some leftover, rotten vegetable leaves that they couldn't sell. She'd take them home, wash them, and stir-fry them.

So, to be an actor, besides talent, you also need to have a life experience.

Shu Chang's father ran away shortly after she was born. She suffered hardships with her mother when she was young, and has a deep and direct experience of the lives of ordinary people.

Everyone wants to be more dignified and not be petty, but life forces us to become "cunning".

The mercenary nature of those at the bottom of society is their philosophy of survival.

Jiang Yifeng then asked, "If you're going to play the female lead, I'd like you to gain a little weight. Would you be willing?"

Shu Chang's round face is very approachable. If she were a little chubby, she would look even more festive, and the comedic effect would be even better.

"No problem, I will follow Director Jiang's arrangements."

"Okay, we'll need to consider it. I'll contact you again in three days."

Upon hearing Jiang Yifeng's words, Shu Chang greeted him and left the audition room.

After her came in Tang Yan, a tall, beautiful woman with a large forehead.

This person's acting skills are even worse than Yang Mi and Liu Yifei, truly a disgrace to the Central Academy of Drama.

Despite having the appearance of a mature and sophisticated woman, she prefers to act in a naive and innocent style.

After Tang Yan left, Jiang Yifeng said, "The actresses competing for the female lead role have all finished their auditions. What are your thoughts?"

After a moment of silence in the meeting room, Hu Qian spoke up: "Personally, I think Ma Li and Shu Chang performed the best, and the female lead should be chosen from among them."

Hu Qian paid close attention to Jiang Yifeng's reactions and had a very accurate grasp of his thoughts.

Tian Yusheng didn't think that much about it. He said, "When I was perfecting the script, my idea for the female lead after she returned to her 20s was that she would be a beautiful young girl."

I don't think Ma Li is good-looking enough to play the female lead.

Several men in the movie are in love with the female lead, and Ma Li's appearance isn't very convincing.

Moreover, she is already 28 years old, and she looks older than her age.

When she plays an old lady, I feel that she is an old lady; there is no sense of contrast between a 20-year-old girl portraying the soul of a 70-year-old.

In this respect, Shu Chang is far superior.

However, Shu Chang's portrayal of Princess Jianning in The Deer and the Cauldron was too awkward, and it remains to be seen whether she is capable of comedy.

She's not as good as Ma Li in this respect.

Tian Yusheng did not make any decision, but only analyzed the advantages and disadvantages of Ma Li and Shu Chang.

Jiang Yifeng looked at Han Jianu.

Han Jianu said, "I'm a newcomer, so I won't offer any opinions, right?"

Jiang Yifeng said with a smile, "Newcomers are good. From the perspective of an audience member, who would you like to see in the movie theater?"

Encouraged, Han Jianu said directly, "Then it must be Shu Chang. Ma Li isn't well-known; I don't even know her."

Shu Chang has played many classic roles, including Xiao Yu, Jing Wei, Shui Sheng, and Sha Niu, and is very well-known.

And Director Jiang, aren't you going to have dinner with Liu Yifei later?

We cast Shu Chang as the female lead and Liu Yifei as the second female lead.

Seven years later, these two best friends are collaborating again in a movie.

Viewers who watched "The Story of a Noble Family" and "Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils" back then will likely be interested in their collaboration again.

One of the selling points of our film is nostalgia.

"The reunion of Shu Chang and Liu Yifei could generate a wave of nostalgia, which fits perfectly with our film."

Jiang Yifeng nodded, gave Han Jianu a thumbs up, and praised, "Like father, like daughter. Sister Han's thinking is excellent and coincides with mine."

After Shu Chang appeared, Jiang Yifeng thought of hyping up the friendship between Shu and Liu to attract a wave of traffic.

Seven years is not a short time.

The teenagers who grew up watching Shu Chang and Liu Yifei's movies have now graduated and started working, and are now one of the main groups of movie consumers.

Targeting this group with marketing efforts should yield some results.

At least it generated a lot of buzz.

Unexpectedly, Han Jianu has good judgment and was able to see this point.

Tian Yusheng said, "The idea is good, but Liu Yifei won't come to our movie to play a minor supporting role, will she?"

She's popular and has a high status; she's definitely the female lead in A Chinese Ghost Story.

"Coming to our movie to play a minor supporting role, isn't that lowering your own value?"

Hearing this, Hu Qian smiled and said, "Leave this to President Jiang. He's best at persuading... uh... convincing actresses. With him on the case, Liu Yifei will definitely be able to handle it."

Tian Yusheng slapped himself and joked, "I was confused and overlooked President Jiang's charm."

The two even put on a show, taking turns flattering each other.

Jiang Yifeng coughed and said, "I'll go have dinner with Liu Yifei first. If she agrees to play the second female lead, then we'll cast Shu Chang as the female lead. If she doesn't agree, we'll discuss it again."

After the discussion, the morning's auditions ended.

Jiang Yifeng chatted with Nazha for a few minutes, told her to go eat by herself, and then left the multimedia conference room.

I saw Liu Yifei and Shu Chang chatting in the lounge next door. The two women were laughing and talking and seemed very happy.

Liu Yifei's teeth gleamed, and Shu Chang laughed loudly.

These are truly best friends; they had a great time chatting.

"Mr. Liu, what would you like to eat for lunch?"

Upon hearing Jiang Yifeng's words, Liu Yifei straightened her teeth, flicked her hair, stood up, and said, "Director Jiang, please don't be so polite. Just call me Qianqian."

"You decide what we eat; I don't have any dietary restrictions."

Shu Chang also stood up and said, "You guys chat first, I'm leaving now, bye!"

In Shu Chang's mind, if she said something polite, Liu Yifei would definitely try to persuade her to stay.

However, Liu Yifei habitually made a cat-like paw gesture and said, "Bye-bye, I'll come see you tonight."

Shu Chang immediately understood that Liu Yifei wanted to have dinner alone with Jiang Yifeng.

She really wanted to gossip a bit, but knowing the timing wasn't right, she politely withdrew.

Watching Shu Chang's departing figure, Liu Yifei said, "It was I who encouraged Chang Chang to come for the audition."

"So, how was her performance? Pretty good, right?"

As Jiang Yifeng led Liu Yifei toward the cafeteria inside the Souhu Building, he said, "Your performance was very good, but there's one problem."

"what is the problem?"

"If she plays the female lead, it might sacrifice some of the comedic elements, and there will be fewer selling points. My movie needs a new selling point."

Jiang Yifeng said this on purpose to lure Liu Yifei into a trap.

Liu Yifei didn't think much of it and asked directly, "Then what selling point do you want?"

"Shu Chang will play the female lead, and you will play the second female lead. It's the first time the two of you have collaborated in seven years. I'm going to create a wave of nostalgia."

Liu Yifei paused for a moment, then said very frankly, "If it's a supporting role for a singer, I have no problem with it."

But what's with this whole "hyping up nostalgia" thing?

We're only in our early twenties, not some old actors.

Jiang Yifeng smiled and said, "You're underestimating yourself. You and Shu Chang debuted very early and are both veteran actors."

Putting everything else aside, I grew up watching your shows.

Liu Yifei: "..."

"Thank you so much!"

Liu Yifei laughed and made a sarcastic remark before following Jiang Yifeng into Souhu's cafeteria.

It was lunchtime, and there were many people eating.

Upon seeing Jiang Yifeng and Liu Yifei walking together, the employees of Sohu immediately began to whisper among themselves.

"She's so beautiful, she's just as pretty as Gao Yuanyuan, it's really hard to choose."

"I'd choose you my foot! Are you President Jiang? Then choose me!"

"Didn't President Jiang reject Liu Yifei's offer to endorse Weibo last time? How come the two of them are together now?"

"Could it be that Liu Yifei joined Fengxing Media for the sake of endorsements?"

Liu Yifei also heard these comments, and she felt a little embarrassed.

Unexpectedly, Jiang Yifeng took the initiative to say, "Endorsement matters are business matters. Gao Yuanyuan is an artist in my company, so it is only right that I take care of her."

"I understand, I really don't care that much," Liu Yifei explained.

The more you try to explain that you don't care, the more you seem to care.

Liu Yifei had no choice but to change the subject.

"Shall we go to the front to get food?"

She thought Jiang Yifeng was going to invite her to dinner in the lobby, so she didn't pay any attention to it.

"No, go to the private room on the second floor."

Sohu's cafeteria also has private rooms, which are specially for senior executives to dine or to entertain visiting guests.

Jiang Yifeng didn't go out to eat because he had to audition for other roles in the afternoon.

The two entered the private room, and Jiang Yifeng, after ordering the dishes, asked bluntly, "How about it, do you want to play the second female lead?"

Liu Yifei said, "You have to tell me exactly what kind of role it is."

Jiang Yifeng explained his granddaughter's role, saying that although she was the second female lead, she was actually just a minor supporting character with only a few scenes in total.

“No role is too small or too big; what matters is having a highlight moment,” Jiang Yifeng said. “Look at the audience nowadays; not many people actually watch old Hong Kong movies anymore.”

They only remembered the classic scenes.

Zhang Min's Zhao Min glances back with a smile, Qiu Shuzhen deals cards sexily in God of Gamblers, and Brigitte Lin's Dongfang Bubai drinks with her head tilted back.

When Gong Li went to Hong Kong to film movies, the most memorable character was Qiu Xiang laughing among a group of ugly women.

Although your role in "Back to 20" was small, you definitely left behind some classic scenes.

Jiang Yifeng's words were actually not wrong.

In the future era of short videos, there will be more and more entertainment options, and most people's understanding of movies and TV dramas will come from narration and clips.

Even for Liu Yifei herself, what people focus on are the classic scenes such as Wang Yuyan's peach-blossom face and Xiaolongnu's arrival under the moon.

Few people would bother to dig out old movies and TV shows and watch them in their entirety.

In this situation, the popularity effect brought by the highlight performance of a supporting actor is no less than that of the lead actor.

For example, after the release of Brotherhood of Blades, the main characters' popularity did not increase much, but Zhou Yiwei's famous scenes such as "very smooth" and "want more money" became very popular.

The lay Buddhist who offered extra money quickly became famous.

However, this only applies to ordinary actors.

Liu Yifei herself is aware of this, so she said, "I already have quite a few classic roles, so having one more supporting role won't make much of a difference."

Jiang Yifeng was about to speak when Liu Yifei changed the subject, saying, "I'm willing to play a supporting role, but you have to answer one question for me."

"what is the problem?"

"Are you the author of Fifty Shades?"

(End of this chapter)