Chapter 76 - Professional Ethnics
Chapter 76: Professional Ethnics
When An Wan said that, the set was silent. Honestly, this was not a bad idea. After all, they couldn’t just stop the whole shoot because of one Wen Xue. Wen Xue’s stand-in arrived quickly, but Director Zhang was still not satisfied.
Seeing as Zhang Hai was about to explode again, everyone was nervous and desperate.
The assistant director glanced at An Wan, he decided to ask her to give the scene a try. But An Wan rejected him. After all, she was currently embroiled in bad press. If she played a scene like this, she would only be attacked further.
The reason Director Zhang was so good at his job was because he was a perfectionist. While everyone was at a loss, Zhao Ying suddenly thought of something. “Xiao Hai, why don’t you give this girl a chance?”
There were not many female actors present on set and even less were those who were as pretty as Mo Li. Director Zhang’s first reaction was to say no but after he saw Mo Li and scrutinize her seriously from top to bottom, he said, “Make-up, clothes, get her ready!”
Before Mo Li could say anything, she was already pushed towards the dressing room. She wanted to say no but she knew she needed to please Nie Li to get the footage she needed. That was how Mo Li consoled herself.
As she was herded towards the dressing room, Mo Li noticed Wen Xue glare at her with a venomous gaze. If not for the crew members around, Wen Xue might come to claw her face.
An Wan met Mo Li’s eyes and nodded. After spending some time together, An Wan knew that Mo Li didn’t have any official acting training before. However, this was a very good chance for Mo Li.
Plus the suggestion was approved by Zhao Ying. Many people wanted to be Zhao Ying’s student, in fact, once upon a time, even Wen Xue tried to get Zhao Ying to teach her how to act but Zhao Ying firmly rejected her.
Back in the dressing room, Mo Li was still hesitant. After all, this was her first time acting and the degree of exposure was too intense for her. At the end of the day, she was just a high school student…
But with the footage in her mind, Mo Li thought about it and decided to roll with the punches. Once she had made her mind up about something, she would give it her best!
The stylists were soon ready and they led Mo Li back to the set. Director Zhang narrowed his eyes at Mo Li but didn’t say anything.
Director Zhang knew Mo Li was a new actor so he went over some rudimentary pointers with her. He even rehearsed the scene shortly with Mo Li. Mo Li’s lines were not long and she memorized them easily.
…
The scene was supposed to be a heartbreaking one. The Koi Spirit would have to depart from her love after their night together. Within the intimacy, there was a sense of despair. It was a small interesting plot point of the movie.
Wen Xue sat to the side and sneered. She had firm belief that this newbie would be scolded so hard by Director Zhang that she’d escape from the set with tears. After all, Wen Xue had been in the industry for decades. Director Zhang didn’t take a liking to her so why would he care about this unknown girl? When this girl proves to be another failure, Zhang Hai will have to come back to beg me.
The other crew members looked on with interest. Some of them managed to recognize Mo Li and they gasped in shock.
Director Zhang signaled for everyone to get ready. Mo Li moved to her designated spot and knew how to work with the camera… While concealing her face, she allowed her profile to fade into the background, it looked beautiful on camera. Mo Li had calculated the angles before she even walked on set.
The female lead just woke up from bed and she radiated a presence of melancholy despite the previous night of passion. The male lead then stood up to grab the medicine. The female lead thought he was about to leave her so she sat up in bed and started to weep.
Since Mo Li was just the stand-in, her face would not show up on camera. She read the lines according to the script. The trembling of Mo Li’s facial muscles as well as the tiny gestures of her phalanges were carefully calculated to present suppressed sadness. She winced and it pulled at everyone’s heartstrings.
“Cut!” Chen Fan only said one line and Director Zhang had to stop the camera.
Wen Xue immediately stood up with her nose held high. See, they still need me after all. How is this newbie going to be better than me?
However, Director Zhang surprised her by scolding the male lead and not Mo Li.
“Do you even know how to act? This is not a zombie film! I need more emotions! You are supposed to be moved! So stop making it look like you’ve just snorted some drug!”
Everyone was embarrassed hearing Director Zhang’s lecture.
The male lead was a popular rapper, he had millions of fans… Even though his acting skill was only passable, he was very hardworking.
He nodded at Director Zhang in apology. It was indeed his fault earlier. He didn’t realize the stand-in’s acting skill would be so much better than Wen Xue. It had caught him completely by surprise. It was why he looked so stunned.