Auditions (2)

Lu Yan was also very familiar with this movie and this role.

Although many years had passed, Lu Yan in his last life missed the movie and this character, and never found his chance again. Therefore, whenever he fell into a low tide, Lu Yan would always find this film and watch it over and over again, and making up for the mistake of letting the opportunity go.

This was a spy movie.

Although in the following years, spy warfare had become a popular theme, there had been several follow suits in both movies and TV, and of course there were many excellent ones. But in that year and now, Li Ran’s spy war movie could be said to be the first. Coupled with Li Ran’s reputation and the great power of several leading actors, the box office of this movie was very high, and many awards had been won in the Baicao Award for one year.

And the role that Lu Yan and the others were auditioning for today was one of the important supporting roles.

This was a young military officer who had returned from studying abroad and was full of enthusiasm for serving the country, with some aristocratic atmosphere. During the eight years of the Anti-Japanese War, he was ordered by his superiors to break into the Wang Jingwei regime¹ and become a spy. The story happened during the cooperation between the two parties, an underground party had mastered an important piece of information and stranded in Shanghai, and his task was to use all available relationships and abilities to escort the underground party to blockade the entire city of the Japanese invaders and leave safely.

Ironically, when the young officer met with the underground party, he found that the other party was the young man who took the lead in raiding his own home during the National Revolution. The enemy was extremely jealous when they met, but the opponent was someone he was ordered to protect. Between the righteousness of the country and the private enmity of the family, he struggled and struggled. In the end, he finally gave up his private enmity after all the righteousness, and even sacrificed himself to lay a good cover.

The scene in the script that Lu Yan and the others were holding was the scene where the young officer recognized each other. This scene was not easy to act. The shock, hatred, struggle, and restraint in the characters’ heart must be properly expressed in just a few shots. Even those who come from a professional class did not have it easy.

The reason why Li Ran chose among the recommended students was because he wanted someone young but that had a foundation. The actors in the circle who could meet his requirements were either out of schedule or inconsistent, so he decided to use newcomers. Anyway, it was not the first time that he had used a new person to play an important role in a movie.

When it was Lu Yan’s turn, there were already seven people who had auditioned before him, and when they came out, they were all basically frustrated. Xu Yongzhou got this role in the previous life, and Lu Yan knew Xu Yongzhou’s ability. Since these people weren’t Xu Yongzhou’s opponents, Lu Yan would naturally not take them too seriously.

There were three people in the room. Sitting in the middle, the man with a gloomy face and disheveled hair, who looked about 30 years old, was the great director Li Ran. Lu Yan also recognized the gentle-looking middle-aged man sitting on his right, Yan Zhan, the gold medal screenwriter. But the handsome man sitting on Li Ran’s left hand holding his hand with a playful smile on his face surprised Lu Yan.

It was him, Su Jue, the vice president and general manager of Starry Sky Entertainment, and he was also the investor in this movie.

Lu Yan frowned inwardly. The reason why Xu Yongzhou in the last life was able to climb so fast in the entertainment circle, where dragons and snakes were mixed, in addition to his own strength, it was precisely because he had climbed a good backer, that is, the one in front of him. Young master Su Jue. According to legend, their relationship was very unusual, and Su Jue was still a man who could eat men and women.

Lu Yan had naturally heard such rumors. As for the facts, he didn’t care. What if it was true? The entertainment circle was not a nice place. It was a skill to never laugh at the poor and never laugh at prostitutes². It was also a kind of ability to be able to achieve that kind of success. Besides, Lu Yan believed in Xu Yongzhou’s ability.

It’s just a fact that they had a great relationship. Lu Yan in his previous life had not participated in this audition, it was not the first time he saw Su Jue, but it turned out that they knew each other so early.

Lu Yan was not so sure at first. Although the legend said that Li Ran never sold anyone’s face, the legend also said that his relationship with the Su brothers was too good to say. He didn’t know if Xu Yongzhou in this life could still enter the eyes of Su Jue.

In any case, showing one’s strength was the prerequisite for success.

Lu Yan suppressed all his emotions and spoke neither humble nor arrogant, “Hello, Director Li, my name is Lu Yan, Lu from land and Yan from derivate³. Chen Xueming recommended me to come.”

Li Ran raised his head, his eyes straightened with a little bit of energy, as if he was quite satisfied with his first impression, and pointed to the script in his hand, “Let’s play a paragraph.”

Without saying anything, Lu Yan put down the script, brewed for a while, and walked to the middle.

Lu Yan was no stranger to this scene.

In the movie that year, Xu Yongzhou’s handling of the scene was not particularly good, but it was also quite satisfactory, and it was not wrong to stand out. However, for them with higher requirements, it was a little insufficient after all. Afterwards, Lu Yan also heard Xu Yongzhou mention it. It was a pity that he had insufficient experience at the time and it was the first time that he played an important role, so his performance was not good enough.

So, Lu Yan also studied it very carefully, and today was the time to check and accept the results.

Lu Yan lowered his head slightly and let out a sigh of relief. When he lifted it up again, his eyes had completely changed.

His pupils shrank suddenly, as if seeing something extremely shocking, his thin lips pressed unconsciously, and he even clenched his teeth secretly in order to prevent shaking.

At this moment, the turbulent emotions in his eyes were so strong that it was shocking. The whole room was quiet. Even Su Jue, who had a playful smile on his face, reduced his smile, and put his hands down, his face solemn, as if he was brought into that intense emotion.

This suffocating atmosphere was maintained for a while, all of Lu Yan’s emotions were condensed under his eyes, but his face remained calm, only the hands that were slowly tightened and released by the trouser legs showed his restraint.

Finally, he squeezed his hands for the last time and closed his eyes lightly. When he opened them again, all his emotions had been hidden in the depths, and could no longer been found. There was only peace in his eyes. He slowly raised the corners of his mouth, showing a smile that did not reach the bottom of his eyes, stretched out his right hand, facing the hypothetical opponent opposite, calmly said his first and only line “Hello, He Jingjun, I came here to meet you.”

As the voice fell, Lu Yan’s entire performance was over. The oppressive aura that had just risen all over him had disappeared. Standing in front of them was still the faint and calm student of the film school who was about to graduate, Lu Yan, who had come to audition.

After a while, there were a few sparse applauses in the room, breaking the silence of the room.

It was Su Jue who applauded, and he put on his signature playful smile again, but there was still undisguised amazement and admiration in his eyes.

Yan Zhan also nodded to Li Ran with a smile on his face, and he could see that he was also very satisfied.

Although Li Ran did not smile, his expression was not as tense as he was at the beginning, and the depression on his face disappeared. He grabbed his somewhat tousled hair, took the registration form and looked at it again. “Is it Lu Yan? It’s good. You have a good grasp of the character’s emotions and heart. But it doesn’t seem to be the first time you have encountered it. Why, have you studied the script before?”

Lu Yan was startled, and secretly regretted performing too much, forgetting that he should had been exposed to scripts for the first time in this life, and could not help but secretly admire him. He deserves to be the most professional director. He could see through it at a glance, but fortunately he was also a sufficiently professional actor.

Lu Yan only froze for a moment, and even before anyone else noticed his frustration, he adjusted it. He smiled, showing a slightly rejoicing expression, “I ran through a few scripts before and saw similar role and found it very interesting, so I deliberately studied it. I didn’t expect it to be such a coincidence. I ran into it today. It was my luck.”

Li Ran nodded. He and Yan Zhan had just finalized the script a few days ago. Although it was not kept secret, it should not be leaked out so quickly. Moreover, two days were not enough for people to figure out so much. He just said that casually. Lu Yan’s explanation was also very reasonable. It was normal for students like them to look for special scripts on the studio before they come out. Although such a role was quite interesting, it was not unique, so he accepted it. After hearing what he said, and admiring his frankness and hard work, he naturally had a better impression.

Li Ran habitually knocked on the registration form, “You go back and prepare, then I will let the assistant contact you, and then join the crew in half a month. You’d better find an assistant. If you don’t have, let the drama crew make arrangements for you.”

Li Ran’s resolute decision really shocked Lu Yan, but this person often acted unexpectedly, not to mention that his goal had been achieved, and he was always more happy than surprised.

Lu Yan didn’t conceal his surprise and joy too much, so he agreed now, “Then it depends on the crew’s arrangements.”

However, Yan Zhan felt that something was wrong and reminded Li Ran in a low voice, “Director Li, there are several others waiting for the audition. Wouldn’t it be too unreasonable not to give them a chance to play.”

Li Ran waved his hand, “I have found the most suitable one, so don’t waste time anymore. There are suitable characters in the back, just call them back.”

Yan Zhan couldn’t say anything more. As for Su Jue, he was originally just watching the excitement, so naturally he wouldn’t have any opinions.

After Xu Yongzhou knew the result, he was a little bit uncomfortable. Although he knew that the chance of winning Lu Yan was not great, it was really embarrassing that he didn’t even have a chance to give it a try.

He looked at Lu Yan with an unnatural smile and said congratulations, Lu Yan didn’t hypocritically say some comforting words, just smiled faintly.

Notes

1. Wang Jingwei regime, was a regime that maintained cooperative relations with the Empire of Japan during the Anti -Japanese War of the Republic of China. More info. ↩︎
2. Laugh at the poor but not at the prostitute, It’s a true portrayal of materialistic desires and the supremacy of money, and a morbid condemnation of this society. Prostitutes here refers to people who will spare no effort to live a rich and noble life. It may be evil, or it may be a criminal, but on the surface it looks beautiful. What it means is that people can only distinguish who they think highly of and who they despise based on the quality of the material on the surface, completely disregarding morality. ↩︎
3. Lu Yan, ‘Lu/陆’ from ‘Ludi/陆地’ which means land and ‘Yan/衍’ from ‘Yansheng/衍生’ which can mean derivate but can also mean “to give rise to”. ↩︎