Huayu Tianxian: This director is such a hypocrite!

3 month 1 day.

Feiye Studio, audition room.

The room, painted in pure white, was simply furnished with two tables, two chairs, and a security camera.

"Is a month enough? Will anyone come?"

Sitting in the casting director's chair, Chen Zhixi was holding a coffee spoon between two fingers, stirring the liquid in the cup in circles, while her eyes were fixed on the front door.

"Don't worry. Although our publicity methods are a bit limited, only posting casting information on Tianya Forum and Sina.com, as long as the people we invite come, that's fine. As for the supporting roles, we'll leave it to fate."

In the early 2000s, for companies other than large ones, casting information was generally announced in several ways: 1. by spreading the news within circles; 2. by spreading it on the Internet; 3. by issuing audition invitations.

The two spent more than half a month preparing for the film crew, and the casting process had to be kept simple.

Although I don't have a close circle of directors, my classmates' circle counts as a circle too!

Ye Chong was very optimistic. He had specifically named a few old classmates. Regardless of whether they could pass the audition, they could at least be used to save face!

"Hello, the audition room is 305. Just walk straight down the corridor and you'll see it."

The voice of Xiaohua, the receptionist, could be faintly heard from outside. Ye Chong turned his head and exchanged a glance with Chen Zhixi. The two of them sat up straight at the same time.

"Knock knock knock—"

"Enter!"

A tall figure walked in, a faint smile playing on her lips.

"Hello Producer Chen, Hello Director Ye, I'm Zhu Yawen, a sophomore from the 02 class of Beijing Film Academy. I'm here today to audition for the role of Gao Xiang!"

Ye Chong's lips twitched; he wanted to laugh but forcibly suppressed it.

Have you read the script?

Zhu Yawen nodded.

Chen Zhixi didn't waste any words. After selecting a scene, he asked him to start performing.

Ten minutes later, Chen Zhixi glanced at Ye Chong.

"Zhu Yawen, you can go back and wait for further notice."

"OK."

Zhu Yawen nodded, glancing at Ye Chong's stern face out of the corner of his eye, raising an eyebrow slightly, before turning and leaving.

The two people in the room exchanged a glance and silently put Zhu Yawen's resume into the basket.

"The first one is your classmate."

"Without fame, even if an actor is struggling to make ends meet, without fame there's no buzz, and people won't see your casting call."

Chen Zhixi sighed, "That's true."

Fame! With fame comes attraction, and with fame comes profit!

It's really hard to start something from scratch; you have to do everything yourself, and you can't even afford a casting director.

"Knock knock knock—"

"Enter!"

The door opened again, and a slightly simple-minded middle-aged man's face appeared before us.

"Good job, Director. Good job, Producer Chen."

Ye Chong's eyes lit up: "Senior, you're here pretty early!"

"..."

A silence fell over the room as the two men stared at Ye Chong with strange expressions.

"Why are you looking at me? Aren't you your senior? Your senior is my senior too!"

Chen Zhixi rolled her eyes, too lazy to pay him any attention.

She picked up the invitation list beside her. The senior from the Central Academy of Drama in front of her seemed to have been given the role of Ma Xianyong by Ye Chong, the male lead.

"Senior, we're going to be working together this time."

Chen Jianbin was a little confused: "No audition is required?"

"Isn't that necessary?"

Chen Jianbin shook his head, and a strange accent rang out:

"Well, I still have to give it a try."

Ye Chong and his companion had no choice but to go through the motions with him.

After Chen Jianbin left, the audition room fell into a long silence once again.

The next person to arrive was also an acquaintance of Ye Chong.

"Hello Director Ye, hello Producer Chen! My name is Luo Jin, male, born on November 30, 1981 in Jiangxi..."

"Stop, stop, stop!"

Ye Chong raised his hand to stop him, his face full of helplessness.

My old classmate is sometimes quite shrewd, but most of the time he's rather taciturn.

"You auditioned for... Hu Guangsheng?"

"right!"

Luo Jin nodded honestly.

The two asked him some more questions about his understanding of the character, and all of them were quite insightful!

After Ye Chong finished listening to his statement, he turned and exchanged a glance with Chen Zhixi, who also picked up a pen and paper.

"Shall we begin your performance?"

"good!"

Luo Jin took a deep breath and began his solo performance.

Why does she want to go to the city? Why do we want to go to the city?

"People strive to rise higher, water flows downhill!"

"To put it bluntly, moving to the city is about changing your way of life, it's about risking your life!"

"Alright, that's enough for now."

Luo Jin turned around and looked at his old classmate, whose face showed neither joy nor sorrow.

He paused, said goodbye, and turned to leave.

"This is pretty good."

Ye Chong glanced at her.

"You said that because of me?"

"Hehehe... How did you know!"

That's obvious!

It's really jarring to have a handsome guy play a small-time hoodlum!

"Knock knock!"

"Enter!"

Zhang Yu pushed open the door and walked in, and the two of them immediately brightened up.

Chen Zhixi felt there was no need to try it; they should just make a decision directly.

Zhang Yu finished the audition and left in just ten minutes.

Then came another long period of waiting.

It wasn't until 11 a.m. that new actors came to audition.

"Climb?"

A strange look appeared in Ye Chong's eyes.

"Old classmate, you've become a great director!"

Jiang Papa's face was full of a sincere smile. She had obviously put a lot of thought into this audition, not only wearing lipstick but also putting on a glamorous makeup look.

"I'm not some big-name director, I'm just doing this job, so I'll just muddle along. But you, Crawler, you're very well prepared today!"

Jiang Papa smiled shyly, placing her hands on her lower abdomen, giving off a gentle and graceful feeling, and her words were even more poised and generous.

"Although it's an old classmate who's directing, as an actor, giving it my all is the attitude I should have."

The two argued for a while longer before the audition finally ended.

"Click—"

As soon as the door closed, Ye Chong's smile vanished, and he grabbed Jiang Papa's resume and threw it into the trash can.

"Hey! What are you doing? You're acting really well, aren't you?"

Ye Chong rolled his eyes.

How could a bakery owner not play a good "club girl" role?

"A good performance doesn't mean we should choose her."

"What kind of logic is this?"

Chen Zhixi's gaze lingered on Ye Chong for a moment, then she understood and stopped trying to persuade him.

The next person to audition was another acquaintance.

"Click—"

The door closed, and a sweet, childlike voice rang out.

"Hello Director Ye, hello Producer Chen, my name is Yang Mi, I'm seventeen years old, and my acting experience includes..."

The girl is very smart; that was Chen Zhixi's first impression.

Upon entering, he glanced discreetly at the two people behind the table, then at the surveillance camera in the corner. When introducing himself, he skipped the "education" stage and focused the conversation on his status as a child star.

"What kind of person do you think Ma Yiyi is in the script, or rather, how should she be portrayed?"

Ye Chong's question was standard and reasonable, and he didn't think that such a simple question could stop Yang Mi.

These actresses were quite talented before 2010.

Yang Mi only thought for a few seconds: "First of all, the script I received only had a few scenes: being scolded by her father at school, and slapping her father at the police station. I think Ma Yiyi is a character with insufficient character arc, but she has many highlights."

"Oh?" Ye Chong unconsciously leaned forward, and stopped twirling his pen.

"Tell me in detail."

"Hmm..." This time, Yang Mi thought about it for quite a while.

"Ma Yiyi was rebellious in the early stages. She was clumsy and awkward with her father, often causing harm. Her reconciliation with her father in the later stages was too hasty."

"Go on."

"What highlights this point about the character is that, although she expresses hatred for her father—hatred for causing her mother's death, and dislikes his crude male chauvinism—her rebellion remains superficial. She doesn't engage in truly outrageous acts like getting tattoos or going to bars. This shows that, like Ma Jiaqi, she has forgiven her father..."

"call……"

After saying a lot, Yang Mi blinked her big eyes and looked at the man, at the equally young and handsome director.

"You can leave now."

"what?"

Ye Chong glanced at her, then bent down to pick up her resume and put it in the basket, repeating what he had just said.

"You can leave now."

"oh--"

Yang Mi's face fell, and she turned and left.

On the contrary, Chen Zhixi looked at Yang Mi's back with a teasing expression.

This girl is smart, but only superficially so. Didn't you see she's already put all her resumes in the basket?

"Phew... Shall we do it this afternoon?"

Ye Chong took out his phone and glanced at the time: "Okay."

Seeing that he agreed, Chen Zhixi got up and walked outside, changed the direction of the sign on the door, and locked the room again after Ye Chong came out.

"Want some noodles downstairs?"

"Walk!"

In the afternoon, the casting process continued.

The casting for "The Unknown" didn't involve any "organic" support, but basically all the stars that Ye Chong invited came.

After all, at this stage, everyone was a nobody, and they were lucky to even have a role to play, let alone a role with lines.

That evening, in Ye Chong's office.

After finishing organizing the cast list, Ye Chong yawned and planned to get up and go to the dressing room to sleep.

"bite--"

Ye Chong picked up his phone and looked at it.

[Liu Yifei: I probably won't be able to take that role.]

Ye Chong's eyes dimmed.

[Liu Yifei: But can I have a cameo role?]