Rebirth 02, the Celestial Being Told Me to Stop Pretending

With the entire cast present, Lu Chen clapped his hands in the guesthouse courtyard to greet everyone: "We're having a get-together today!"

Huang Bo was the first to respond: "Hot pot? Chongqing hot pot is the best in the country!"

Lu Chen smiled mysteriously, "You'll know when we get there."

Wang Yan led the way on a borrowed tricycle.

After many twists and turns, we stopped at the entrance of the alley.

A shed, four plastic tables, and stools missing legs. A wire mesh is placed over a charcoal stove, and an uncle is sprinkling cumin.

The entire audience remained silent for three seconds.

Huang Bo: "...That's it?"

Lu Chen remained expressionless: "The top star in the mountain city's barbecue scene."

Liu Hua glanced at the shed, then at the stray cat licking an oil drum nearby: "Director Lu, what kind of 'top star' is this?"

Huang Bo volunteered to grill skewers, saying he had learned how, as there was a barbecue stall next to him when he sang in a bar.

Peng Bo joked, "Brother Bo, this skill must make more money than singing, right?"

"Singing for a night earns sixty yuan, grilling skewers earns eighty yuan." Huang Bo flipped the skewers with a deep voice, "Grilling skewers earns more."

Everyone was amused by him.

After a few rounds of drinks, Lu Chen raised his glass: "Everyone knows the crew is poor. No film set, no equipment, we can only eat at roadside stalls for meals. But no one has complained to me."

He paused for a moment: "I don't know how much money this film will make, but I know I'll never forget this barbecue tonight."

No one spoke.

Huang Bo raised his glass and continued, "Director Lu, you're making it sound like your last words."

"Hahaha!" Everyone burst into laughter.

Finally, Huang Bo sang a song.

I couldn't hear the lyrics clearly, but the melody was beautiful, a little melancholic, yet also a little heartwarming.

Smoke and mist from the barbecue stalls drifted above everyone's heads.

Lu Chen recalled a saying: The best film crew is not the richest, but the one where everyone is working hard for the same thing.

He didn't believe it before.

Now I believe it.

The day the machine was turned on was December 15th.

The location is that abandoned textile factory in YZ District.

The factory has been shut down for three years. The iron gate is rusted and the yard is overgrown with weeds, but the layout of the workshop is still there.

The mottled walls and rusty machines were perfect for filming.

Lu Chen stood at the factory gate, watching the whole group busily moving equipment, setting up lights, and affixing labels.

Ning Hao was confirming the camera positions with Zhao Bo, while Zhang Songwen was discussing the staging of the first scene with Guo Tao.

Xing Aina was also there.

She and Ning Hao arrived in the mountain city ahead of time. They had been revising the script at the guesthouse for the past few days, and they were even more energetic when they got to the film set.

Xing Aina sat on a broken table in the corner of the factory, with a script and a red pen spread out in front of her, ready to revise the lines at any time.

There was no opening ceremony. Once everyone was ready, Lu Chen personally struck the clapperboard. This was the first time in his two lifetimes that he had called for the start of filming as a director.

In his past life, he was a producer, standing behind the monitor watching the director work, occasionally offering suggestions, but never touching the equipment.

In this lifetime, he sat behind the monitor, watching Zhao Bo adjust the focus, watching Ning Hao confirm the composition, watching Zhang Songwen push Guo Tao to the marked point, and watching Guo Tao's face on the monitor.

"Attention, all departments!" Lu Chen clapped his hands.

"Crazy Stone,"

"Scene one, shot one, get set!"

Before filming began, "Diamond" was officially renamed "Crazy Stone".

"Action".

Guo Tao walked into the frame, wearing Bao Shihong's faded work clothes, with a tired but serious expression on his face.

He walked to the middle of the workshop, glanced at the clock on the wall, and then squatted down to inspect a machine.

One take.

"Okay!" Lu Chen said, "Next."

Ning Hao whispered from the side, "Your hands are shaking."

Lu Chen looked down at his hands, which were indeed trembling.

"You don't understand, it has its own ideas." He made up a story off the top of his head.

Ning Hao chuckled. "My hands were shaking the first time I yelled 'Start'."

On the first day of filming, we had seven clips, and the first six were all completed in one take.

Another reason is that Wang Yan was eating his lunchbox off-camera, making noises that affected the sound recording.

But overall, it went much more smoothly than the first day of booting up.

Guo Tao's performance was as steady as an old house, Zhang Songwen's guidance on the actors' acting rhythm was precise and on point, and Zhao Bo's shots were clean and crisp.

The next day, filming began for Dao Ge's scenes.

Liu Hua stunned the audience as soon as he appeared. He was wearing a dark jacket, walking slowly and steadily, with a smile on his face, but no smile in his eyes.

That kind of smile is more unsettling than not smiling at all.

"I'm a very rule-abiding person." When Liu Hua said this line, he spoke slowly and pronounced each word very clearly, as if he were teaching a child to read.

But after he finished speaking, he paused for two seconds and tilted his head slightly, a gesture that sent a chill down the spines of everyone present.

Xing Aina slapped her thigh in the corner: "Yes! That's the feeling!"

Liu Hua was startled by her.

Lu Chen thought to himself, "That's right."

In his past life, when he watched "Crazy Stone," Dao Ge gave him the same feeling: you laughed and then you couldn't laugh anymore.

But a problem arose on the third day.

The first scene I filmed with Blackie.

Huang Bo plays Hei Pi, who is caught stealing from the construction site and then escapes by climbing over the wall.

This scene required Huang Bo to jump off a two-meter-high wall and run after landing.

Huang Bo jumped three times, but his running rhythm was off each time.

"Too fast," Lu Chen said. "You're not running away, you're catching a bus."

Huang Bo squatted on the ground, panting, his forehead covered in sweat: "When I was running, all I was thinking about was finishing as quickly as possible and getting back to work, not being chased by someone."

"Then don't even think about finishing," Lu Chen said.

"Think back to when you were an extra, chasing after people for your wages, how did you feel?"

Huang Bo didn't say anything.

"Everyone, take a ten-minute break."

Lu Chen sought out Ning Hao to continue discussing the details of the subsequent filming.

When the production assistant came to tell Lu Chen that everything was ready and filming could begin, the two were discussing the details of the international thief Mike's entrance.

Seeing the stagehand run over to say everything was ready, and noticing Huang Bo in the distance already getting into character,

"One more time," Lu Chen said.

"Scene 16 of 'Stone,' shot 4," "Action." Wang Yan, off-screen, makes a cameo appearance as the clapperboard player.

Huang Bo jumped off the wall for the fourth time, staggering slightly when he landed, and then started running.

I wanted to run fast, but every step was difficult, as if something was blocking my way.

"Good!" Lu Chen clapped his hands. "That's it!"

Huang Bo ran off-camera and bent over, panting for a long time.

Then he straightened up and looked at Lu Chen, his eyes a little red.

He knew he had succeeded.

After finishing work and returning to the guesthouse in the evening, Lu Chen sat in his room reviewing the day's materials.

The image quality is rough, the lighting is imperfect, and some shots are a bit shaky, but the overall feel is right.

Ning Hao pushed open the door and came in, carrying a bowl of instant noodles.

Xing Aina was revising her manuscript next door when he brought over two bowls.

"Let's eat first."

Lu Chen took the bowl, picked up a mouthful of noodles, and stuffed it into his mouth. The instant noodles in Chongqing were spicier than those in Beijing, so spicy that he gasped for breath.

"We're filming Chairman Feng's scenes tomorrow," Ning Hao said, sitting down beside him.

"Xu Zheng seems to be in good spirits today."

"Um."

Lu Chen's phone vibrated.

He picked it up and looked at it; it was a short message from Liu Yifei:

"How are you?"

Four words, nothing more.

Lu Chen replied with three words: "It's fine."

After sending it, he felt it was too perfunctory and wanted to add another sentence, but the message had already been sent.

He stared at the screen for two seconds, then put his phone down and continued eating his noodles.

"What were you thinking when you gave Huang Bo acting pointers today?"

"What are you thinking?"

Lu Chen looked up and glanced at him. "Don't you know my nickname? 'Bankruptcy Bro' from Beijing Film Academy."

Ning Hao burst out laughing, spitting out two noodles from his nostrils. He quickly grabbed the bowl, covered his mouth, and left.

This action of Grandma getting into bed really made Grandpa laugh.

I didn't expect there to be such an expert.

Lu Chen silently gave Ning Hao a thumbs up in his heart and continued looking at the materials.

Huang Bo is running in the picture.

Lu Chen stared at that scene for a long time.

He suddenly realized that this movie wasn't about stones; it was something far more sophisticated than just stones.

He turned off the TV and lay down on the bed.

Outside the window, the mountain city is bathed in night; in the distance, the sound of steam whistles from the Yangtze River can be heard; nearby, the sound of Wang Yan snoring from the next room can be heard.

There are still six scenes to film tomorrow.

Lu Chen closed his eyes and fell asleep in three seconds.