I'm not mentally ill, I'm a master of a thousand faces!

Chapter 160, Let's keep the act under wraps.

At this moment.

Li Yun arrived at Hengcheng Film and Television City, at the film set of "Lotus Lantern".

Only members of the "Heavenly Court Group" are here.

Not only was the filming done in two batches, but even the script reading was done in two groups.

The Agarwood Group and the Heavenly Court Group.

The Heavenly Court team was filming in Hengcheng.

They will meet after both sides have completed their preparations.

The agarwood group members were reading together in Leshan.

The scenes on both sides were actually separated at the beginning.

A teenage adventure story centered around agarwood.

The story of power struggles and intrigues in Heaven, led by Yang Jian.

The Lotus Lantern still harbored some ambitions.

They wanted to win over "youth" and "teenagers".

Ultimately, we will choose one focus, with the main focus being the adventure stories between teenagers.

at this time.

When Li Yun arrived, he found that the members of the Heavenly Court Group were already discussing the script.

The members of the Heavenly Court group are all veteran actors.

They are all Liu Benchang, Xie Ning, Ma Weiguo, and Liu Xiaoqing.

They are all veteran actors from CCTV, and all are national first-class actors who receive state subsidies.

They are all employed under official staff.

The Heavenly Court team truly boasts a star-studded lineup, each member more formidable than the last.

Especially Laozi Liu Benchang, who was once the Living Buddha Ji Gong.

That actor truly brought the wandering world of Ji Gong, the Living Buddha, to life with unparalleled skill.

Great.

He was a landmark actor.

No one has been able to create a Ji Gong character better than Liu Benchang since.

He is none other than the Living Buddha Ji Gong himself.

Like others, they also have their own unique skills and their own unique roles.

CCTV really brought out all these veteran actors to play supporting roles this time.

"Erlang Shen Yang Jian, right? Come here, there are still some parts of the script that haven't been finished yet. Take these and do a group reading first."

Assistant director Yang Hui gave Li Yun a script.

script

It's actually quite thick.

Li Yun was somewhat surprised; this was the first time he had ever received such a thick script. As he flipped through it, he saw that everything, including expressions, movements, and demeanor, was marked down, down to the smallest, most subtle changes.

This screenwriter really knows everything!

"It seems that all the members of our Heavenly Court team have arrived. We have three days for a reading session, mainly to help you get a feel for the role. Then we will officially start filming. We will also start by filming separately to complete each person's individual scenes."

Assistant Director Yang Hui's arrangements weren't perfect, but they were at least thoughtful.

He glanced at Li Yun a few more times, but didn't pay any more attention to him.

At this moment.

Li Yun joined these veteran actors.

It's like a husky infiltrating a wolf pack.

Their acting, during the reading aloud, was so natural and effortless.

The last time Li Yun had this feeling was when the Iron-Blooded Marquis Zhu Wushi.

They truly embodied the aura of their characters during the rehearsal.

Ma Weiguo's Jade Emperor, Liu Xiaoqing's Queen Mother of the West.

On the contrary, Liu Benchang's temperament is not very obvious. Although his acting skills are also flawless, and he showed the composure of Laozi in this play, from Li Yun's perspective, he still can't get rid of the feeling of Ji Gong.

This might be because the roles I played before had too high a ceiling.

This caused some deviation in perspective.

It's not Liu Benchang's fault, but rather that he acted so well back then that he hasn't been able to surpass his previous roles.

Liu Benchang has never denied this. He is a method actor who is also an immersive actor. The role of Ji Gong was the only one he was truly immersed in. All other roles were played using the method actor approach.

The upper limit is naturally incomparable.

This time, the plot for the reading session was about the Jade Emperor ordering Erlang Shen to capture Chenxiang, the illegitimate child of a human and a god.

"Your Majesty, on this journey, will you be able to capture Chenxiang and bring him back?"

Ma Weiguo's portrayal of the Jade Emperor exudes majesty in every gesture.

A feeling of looking down from a high and mighty position.

An attitude of looking down on everything.

From Li Yun's perspective.

He was the real 'emperor'.

He once played Zhang Liao in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and the Jade Emperor in "Journey to the West: The Sequel".

His most striking quality is his absolute sense of "majesty".

Afterwards, Ma Weiguo decided to tone down his imposing demeanor.

After all, the target audience for "The Lotus Lantern" is teenagers.

The overall tone, at least on the surface, should be relaxed.

We can't be so serious.

That's the significance of reading together.

Adjust the feel and temperament of the character. Even if you have played similar roles before, the basic temperament is different in different dramas, so the temperament of the character also needs to be fine-tuned and changed.

These are all basic skills.

For veteran actors, acting skills are a given.

The key is to subtly adjust the character's overall feel and vibe.

"But I obey the decree."

At this moment, Li Yun knelt on one knee to accept the Jade Emperor's decree, but he still lacked a certain imposing presence.

Even when facing the Jade Emperor, they were unable to demonstrate the interdependence of "divinity and humanity".

After all, he himself hadn't finished creating the character of "Erlang Shen".

A middle-aged scholar, he remained a middle-aged scholar.

He hasn't grown a third eye on his forehead yet.

It's quite different from the method acting style, where actors skillfully integrate and utilize their acting abilities during the script reading.

but.

After a partial script reading.

These veteran actors also gained a basic understanding of Li Yun.

At this point, during a part of the script reading, after Li Yun left at the end of the day.

The wolves mixed in with the huskies, these veteran actors, are also scrutinizing Li Yun and discussing him.

"Yeah, he is indeed quite young and handsome, and his acting skills... well, for a young person, they're actually pretty good."

"He is indeed somewhat handsome—but that's definitely not the reason he could defeat Jiao Jun'en." Xie Ning gave a small thumbs up and said, "It can only be said that his background is really amazing. He was able to defeat Li Jianyi, a guy who played a eunuch, and this time, Erlang Shen also defeated Jiao Jun'en and Liu Yehong."

"That's right. In order to select Li Yun, our Heavenly Court group's scenes, including his, were cut and given to Liu Yehong. Speaking of background, Liu Yehong is more powerful."

"If he's that good, why not let Liu Yehong play Erlang Shen? He'd be quite good too."

"If Liu Yehong had played the role, we might not have had many scenes."

"Haha, you're right."

These veteran actors, it's not that they don't have emotions, it's that they do.

After all, it was because of Li Yun's Erlang Shen.

The Heavenly Court group's scenes were cut.

Originally, from the perspective of screenwriting focus, the cast was divided into youth group and juvenile group. However, due to the lack of star power in the youth group's main roles, and out of risk considerations, more screen time has been given to the juvenile group. Actually, Liu Yehong is also part of the juvenile actor group on Chenxiang's side.

It's probably because of Liu Yehong that they benefited from his connections.

Ma Weiguo smiled and said.

"Alright, alright, no matter what, whether we shoot a lot or a little, we won't get a penny more or less in salary. There's no real loss. Besides, we're too old to get promoted anyway. Wouldn't it be better for our old arms and legs to work less?"

"You know, at our age, all we have left is a little artistic pursuit."

"What I'm worried about now is that this young actor, Li, won't be able to keep up with the role and will have to hold back," said Xie Ning, who plays Zhu Bajie.

These words really resonated with everyone.

These are secondary.

The director told them to hold back in their performance.

That's the most difficult thing for an actor—having to be completely compatible with lower-class actors.

It's even more painful than not paying them their wages.

"Don't take too much. Just practice your role during the reading aloud. When filming, you shouldn't have any trouble keeping up with the characters," Liu Benchang, who plays Laozi, said with a smile.

"I hope so."

in fact.

Even the assistant director, Yang Hui, thought so.

Li Yun stood out somewhat awkwardly among these veteran actors.

too young.

How can they compare to these veteran actors?

After Li Yun left, assistant director Yang Hui came to chat with them.

Although Yang Hui was the assistant director in charge of filming and rehearsals for the Heavenly Court group, he felt that it was fine for these veteran actors to improvise freely, and there was no need for him, an assistant director with very little power, to be here giving guidance.

At this point, they came to chat as friends from the same circle.

"I heard that Zhang Dahuzi from the Beijing entertainment circle is endorsing him. No wonder he was able to beat Li Jianyi in 'The World's Number One' before. He definitely has connections."

In fact, the collaboration between the three circles was quite a stir at the time. Li Yun's victory over Li Jianyi in "The World's Number One" and his winning the role of the eunuch that he was most good at had already surprised the CCTV circle.

Lee Kian Yee.

That's my father-in-law's specialty.

Although the analogy is not very accurate, it's like Liu Benchang losing to someone else in the audition for Ji Gong.

This matter in itself is worthy of scrutiny and questioning.

but.

With Wang Jing's "Eight Heroes" and "Red Dust Girl" both flopping, people have become indifferent to the delayed broadcast of "The World's Number One"—a third consecutive flop is imminent, and the casting choices are just something to talk about over tea within the industry.

"Young people aren't without their advantages. At least in terms of fame, he's much better than us old guys who work in the CCTV circle. Maybe his viewership ratings and appeal are no worse than ours," Ma Weiguo said with a smile. "Besides our CCTV circle, other circles also take popularity and current fame into account to some extent."

"Otherwise, how come we use 'veteran actor' and certificates to categorize people, yet others can still distinguish between third-rate and fourth-rate actors?" Xie Ning said, rubbing his stomach.

"So, does that mean our CCTV circle feels like it's 'transcended from the three realms and outside the five elements'?" Liu Xiaoqing joked.

"You're talking like the Queen Mother of the West."

"That is."

"So, we just need to do our own thing. If Li Yun is really far from being up to par by the time filming starts, then we'll just have to hold back and act accordingly."

(End of this chapter)