Huayu 1995

Chapter 224 The Legend of Shushan

Just eat your meal; your loud, giggling laughter is likely to cause trouble for the restaurant.

"When I came to Hong Kong, I heard a rumor that director Benny Chan had a script and had considered casting me. My agent contacted him, and they said that casting was already finished. You were the male lead, but who was chosen for the female lead?"

After Ning Jing had finished eating, she asked a question.

This question made Su Chao and Zhang Guorong want to touch their noses to hide their embarrassment.

The lead actress was introduced by Leslie Cheung.

Su Chao made the choice.

"I do know, but the director told me not to say. I recommended Sister Ning Jing to the director, but he rejected it."

Su Chao sighed deeply, quite regretfully.

Sorry, Director Benny Chan, but you had to slap me, so I have to sacrifice you.

Leslie Cheung's eyes widened instantly. "You're the one who's lying through your teeth!"

"Thank you so much, little brother!"

Ning Jing didn't press the matter further; it's normal for actors to encounter such situations.

It's perfectly normal not to get a role that's been agreed upon, let alone one that hasn't even been discussed at all.

"Don't worry, we'll definitely have the opportunity to cooperate."

Su Chao's statement was not a hoax.

He gets scripts very easily; he might find a suitable one any day.

Ning Jing immediately laughed: "I'm also looking forward to that day. I think the two of us are a better match..."

She was just mentioning it casually.

She made that promise, and that others would prioritize her when they had projects.

"No way, you're Ding Li and Xu Wenqiang's woman."

Su Chao quickly begged for mercy.

Ning Jing is a very proactive person.

Back then, Liu Xiaoqing had an affair with Jiang Wen during her marriage, and divorced her husband for Jiang Wen.

Jiang Wen wanted to film "In the Heat of the Sun," but he was so short of money that he almost couldn't continue filming.

Liu Xiaoqing did everything she could to help Jiang Wen, not only raising money for him but also recommending Ning Jing for the role.

She felt that Ning Jing had potential, so she personally took her to audition.

Unexpectedly, this recommendation led to Jiang Wen and Ning Jing getting together and sleeping together.

Feelings are fickle; they can change in an instant.

On set, the two became very close. Liu Xiaoqing visited the set several times and saw Jiang Wen and Ning Jing sticking together.

She was furious and went directly to Ning Jing to negotiate: "I've done everything I could for him, you can't just take him away like this."

Ning Jing responded even more bluntly: "Love is not something to beg for; whoever has the ability should step up."

Liu Xiaoqing stays true to herself, Jiang Wen is caught in a dilemma, and Ning Jing is youthful and bold.

Ultimately, the young and beautiful one won.

It can only be said that men are boys until they die, and will always prefer the young.

However, when Liu Xiaoqing encountered difficulties in 02, everyone avoided her, but Jiang Wen stepped forward to help solve the problem.

Jiang Wen also helped Liu Xiaoqing return to the entertainment industry after her release.

The relationships between these people are excessively complicated.

Su Chao, however, did not want to get involved with them.

Fighting Jiang Wen for a woman... uh, I have a feeling the bandits will come knocking on his door and kill him.

"You're going to the mainland to film a movie in a few days. Are there any fun places to visit?"

Leslie Cheung also put down his cutlery.

The heavy workload had kept his appetite poor.

Moreover, celebrities also need to maintain their figure.

"I've never been to Shanghai, but there are many old streets and alleys there that are very charming, as well as some ancient towns and such..."

Su Chao had been there in his previous life, so he was quite familiar with some of the attractions.

“I was filming in mainland China before and wanted to travel around, but I was told that some places in mainland China are very chaotic and that people rob people on the street. I didn’t really believe it, but I didn’t dare to take any risks.”

Leslie Cheung was having dinner with two people from mainland China.

Inevitably, the conversation will turn to things related to mainland China.

"It's not that these bad habits don't exist, but the mainland is currently cracking down on them, and as the economic situation improves, the mainland will become the safest place in the world..."

Su Chao will definitely speak in favor of the mainland.

He still has that sense of honor, and besides, what he said wasn't entirely unreasonable.

His favorite thing in his past life was going out drinking with a group of buddies at night.

Then, they drank and sang at the barbecue stand:

"How I long to go back to the past, to be back by her side..."

After getting drunk, they each went home.

No one was robbing or fencing.

Now that you mention it, I really want to go travel around.

At this point, Leslie Cheung had already begun to suffer from depression.

"Going to big cities is definitely not a problem. You can visit some well-established tourist attractions nearby, even if it costs some money. It's best to find some local friends or travel agencies."

Su Chao gave it a very enthusiastic recommendation.

In his previous life, he even considered starting a travel agency business for a time, but he ultimately chose to teach training courses.

As it turns out, both travel agencies and training courses experience a so-called "winter."

In those years, the tourism industry was not much better off than the training industry.

"Let's go to Shanghai first... Aren't you full yet?"

Seeing Su Chao eat another bowl of rice, Leslie Cheung finally understood why Su Chao had asked for two extra bowls.

Doesn't this guy know that he looks three times fatter on camera?
Eating so much is simply impossible to digest, and you'll only get fatter and fatter, so you'll have no choice but to follow Sammo Hung's path.

"My appetite has increased slightly..."

Su Chao was helpless; the food on the plane was minimal, which was equivalent to missing a meal.

I'll just have to eat more tonight.

When I go home for the New Year, my grandfather will definitely test my martial arts skills, so that I won't be too weak to lift a four-meter-long spear.

"This is more than just a little bit."

Ning Jing also noticed that Su Chao had eaten most of the food.

Being able to eat so much means you're in good physical condition.

I suddenly started to believe the story of giant cannons descending upon Hong Kong.

"I need to eat my fill... so I'll have the energy to film tomorrow!"

Su Chao's scenes began on the second day.

He led a group of black-clad revolutionaries to a warehouse, where he was tried and executed.

This is also Su Chao's only scene in Hong Kong.

We'll film two more scenes when we get back to Shanghai, making a total of three or four scenes.

"If you still consider yourself a soldier..."

Su Chao delivered his lines in his own voice, immediately launching into a tirade against Xu Wenqiang.

"Cut! The presence is lacking, that kind of passionate youthful energy. Starting with the lines, the eyes and brows need to convey that sharpness, the whole person needs to be assertive!"

Pan Wenjie was fairly satisfied with Su Chao's performance.

The makeup and styling were perfect, even better than he had imagined.

However, Tsui Hark felt it wouldn't work.

To convey this imposing presence, the production team assigned Su Chao dozens of henchmen in black.

They were all dressed in Zhongshan suits, each carrying a samurai sword.

If Su Chao takes this group of brothers to Causeway Bay, he can become the top dog overnight.

This arrangement has a backstory. The film tells the story of Taiwan during the Japanese occupation, where Xu Wenqiang and his colleagues were transferred to Northeast China by the Japanese for training, and the two regiments mutinied together.

The group that followed Xu Wenqiang was betrayed and wiped out.

Xu Wenqiang escaped alone.

The character played by Su Chao is the leader of another regiment.

He believed that Xu Wenqiang had betrayed his brothers.

They found him with their men, captured him, and were going to execute him.

Judging from this scene alone, it is a duel between two heroes.

Leslie Cheung was kneeling on the ground, while Su Chao circled around him with a samurai sword, ready to chop off his head at any moment.

Moreover, a group of revolutionaries dressed in black stood behind Su Chao.

The protagonist has to overpower Leslie Cheung in terms of presence. It's like creating a villain; if the villain is too weak, the protagonist's fight won't feel satisfying.

If Su Chao doesn't project a strong presence, how can he highlight Leslie Cheung?

Finally, Leslie Cheung's impassioned speech convinced Su Chao.

"Okay, director, let's do it again!"

Su Chao originally used a more moderate acting style to show the character's determination and rationality.

Since the director made such a request, he could only be more exaggerated.

Su Chao recently gained 2,000 points of beginner acting experience, which improved his acting skills.

In a serious acting role, he might not be able to outshine Leslie Cheung, but with this kind of exaggerated performance, he should be fine.

"Click~"

"You overdid it a bit, let's take a break, no rush."

Tsui Hark took a sip of water, but was still not quite satisfied.

However, he didn't say anything harsh, after all, Su Chao was a newcomer in his eyes.

As long as the newcomer is willing to be trained, that's fine.

"Sorry~!"

Su Chao reached out to Leslie Cheung, who was kneeling on the ground, and Leslie Cheung used his strength to stand up.

"You actually acted quite well just now. Have you studied acting?"

Leslie Cheung handed Su Chao a cigarette.

He has quite a few smoking scenes in this movie, and he also smokes a bit off-screen.

"I've studied some things, but I have relatively little practical experience."

Su Chao also knew what he lacked.

Unfortunately, there are very few projects starting production in mainland China.

"Smoke less...it's bad for your voice."

Leslie Cheung did not light a cigarette for Su Chao.

"...Didn't you give this to me?"

Su Chao smokes only when he needs to.

Often, men communicate more effectively with cigarettes and alcohol than with words.

"Just take it if it's offered to you!"

Leslie Cheung smiled.

"That's... Liu Xun?"

Su Chao saw a familiar face.

"Yes, I filmed 'A Chinese Ghost Story' with him. Come on, let me introduce you to him."

Leslie Cheung took a deep breath, stubbed out his cigarette, and walked over with Su Chao.

Su Chao couldn't have gotten it.

This is a versatile actor in Chinese cinema.

Su Chao wanted to see what the old man was carrying.

"Uncle Liu, you don't have any scenes to film today, what brings you here?"

Leslie Cheung went up and greeted them.

"Come and see~" Liu Xun shook hands with Leslie Cheung and politely nodded to Su Chao.

"This is Su Chao, one of my brothers."

Leslie Cheung explained.

"Brother Su!"

Liu Xun studied Peking Opera from elementary school, a very traditional profession, and he was very particular about how he treated people.

"Just call me Chaozai, and I'll call you Uncle Liu."

Su Chao shook hands with him.

Six acting attributes.

Two points of master-level acting experience.

The script for "The Legend of Shushan".

I never expected to see the script for "The Legend of Shushan" here.

He only played a supporting role in it, didn't he?
He was instantly killed after shouting "Great Buddha Hand".

It seems that even those who aren't the main characters can produce scripts.

The key is whether you can leave a lasting impression on the audience.

Su Chao had also seen the script for "The Legend of Zu" at Tsui Hark's place.

However, both of Tsui Hark's scripts were too expensive, and Tsui Hark's scripts have never been that good, so Su Chao never considered buying them.

Liu Xun's copy of the "Legend of Shushan" script was so badly damaged that it only cost him 15,000 yuan.

This made Su Chao a little tempted.

The Legend of Zu Mountain holds a rather special place in Chinese-language films.

Su Chao took it over and discussed it with Tsui Hark.

It's unrealistic for Tsui Hark to hand over such a large project script to a newcomer, but joining the scriptwriting team is not a problem.

Joining the screenwriting team is not the ultimate goal.

My ultimate goal is to get a lead role!
If Su Chao were to name something he'd like to collaborate with Tsui Hark on, the top three would be "New Dragon Gate Inn," followed by "Swordsman," and then "A Chinese Ghost Story."

Unfortunately, that's all in the past now.

So, the next one should probably be "The Legend of Shushan".

The later ones, even if they weren't exactly bad movies, weren't much better.

Especially after his divorce from Nansun Shi, he hasn't had any decent works since.

Su Chao hesitated for a moment, but still spent the 15,000 yuan.

In addition, he also bought two Master-level performance experience points, which is equivalent to two thousand Beginner performance experience points, for a total of 160,000.

After numerous takes, Su Chao realized the gap between his performance and that of Leslie Cheung.

If there's really no other way, then we'll just have to add some points.

Two thousand points of beginner performance experience directly upgraded Su Chao's performance to intermediate level.

With at least more experience points, the level can only be increased to intermediate.

Of course, it will take time to fully digest it.

Su Chao chatted with Liu Xun and Zhang Guorong for a while, and specifically asked them for advice on his performance.

Both of them are top-notch actors.

If they are willing, they can always help Su Chao find his shortcomings.

Tsui Hark didn't rush him.

Honestly, he's growing to admire Su Chao more and more.

Zhao Wenzhuo was filming with him before, but he went to meet Anita Mui while filming and wouldn't come back even when called.

He was so angry that he started cursing.

In contrast, Su Chao stayed on set yesterday even though he didn't have any scenes to film, learning and doing whatever he was asked to do.

We filmed his scene today, and we had to do several takes.

But anyone with eyes can see that he is making different attempts.

We're getting closer and closer to meeting Tsui Hark's requirements.

Even when encountering senior actors in the acting industry, they will actively seek their advice. This attitude alone puts them far ahead of many celebrities in the entertainment industry.

Liu Xun has no opinion about people from mainland China.

He was originally from the mainland, born in Beijing, and began learning Peking Opera at the age of 6. During that time, he was taught by seniors such as Li Wanchun, Zhang Dejun, Li Shaochun, and Gai Jiaotian.

At the age of 41, he moved to Hong Kong and became a lecturer at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, where he conducted research on Cantonese opera.

She was invited by Tsui Hark to film "Peking Opera Blues" in 86, which marked her entry into the entertainment industry. She didn't act in her first film until she was 48 years old.

In "A Chinese Ghost Story 2" and "A Chinese Ghost Story 3", he could portray both villains and good guys with remarkable depth.

There are so many people who can teach Su Chao.

Su Chao could clearly feel the experience points that were waiting to be digested being rapidly processed.

It took Su Chao nearly an hour before he reluctantly ended the "teaching session".

We can't keep the film crew waiting forever.

If we wait any longer, we won't have time to film today.

Moreover, the old man has other things to do.

Su Chao rubbed his hands together and gripped the katana tightly again.

Xu Wenqiang, prepare to die!
(End of this chapter)