Chapter 607: He will make you famous in one show

"Things didn't develop as you thought. This can't be blamed on me. I've already done what I should have done."

After sending Chen Siqi away, An Jian sat in the room alone for a long time.

It wasn't until his wife knocked on the door and asked if he was eating dinner that he came out to have dinner with his family.

After dinner, his youngest daughter pestered him to tell a story.

His wife could see that he was preoccupied and also knew that he had encountered some things recently.

Since returning "due to illness" from the *Silent Staircase* crew, An Jian had basically locked himself in the room, rarely leaving the room, and hadn't stepped out of the house even once.

It wasn't until nine o'clock in the evening that he received a call.

"Lu Yan He didn't take over the director position as you thought, which is not something I can control."

"Of course, however, you can still stand up and accuse Lu Yan He, saying that the reason you left the *Silent Staircase* crew was because you had a difference of opinion with him, so he kicked you out of the crew."

"We didn't say that before, and I can't do such a thing!"

"We didn't think Lu Yan He wouldn't take the baton before," the other party smiled. "An Jian, you know clearly what you did back then. You've done things even more disgusting than this, so why pretend to be 'I was originally good'?"

An Jian was furious, saying: "I just used Xin Siyang's script idea. Were there few such things in the industry at that time?"

"There were not few such things in the industry, but Xin Siyang committed suicide," the other party said.

"His suicide has nothing to do with me. He had depression long ago."

"How do you know it has nothing to do with you?" The other party's tone was full of threats. "Maybe it was because you stole his script idea that became the last straw that broke him?"

An Jian glared.

"We already agreed back then that I would resign as the director of *Silent Staircase*, and you would no longer threaten me with this matter!"

"Director An, why are you so naive?"

An Jian smiled.

"Over the years, if we hadn't been providing you with some work, what would you use to support your family?" The person on the other end of the phone said. "With those two TV series of yours that no one watched and copied other people's scripts?"

An Jian's face turned completely black.

"Indeed, you were right about one thing."

"Hmm?"

"Why would you think I'm so naive?" An Jian put away the anger on his face. "Chairman Huang, if you intend to continue threatening me with things from the past, then let's see whose hands have more ruthless material."

The other end of the phone fell silent abruptly.

An Jian stood in front of the window, looking at the heavy night outside.

A cold light reflected from outside the window fell on his face.

Indifferent, firm.

"I have already fulfilled my promise. If you hope to let others see how you treat your promises, let's try it."

An Jian said this and hung up the phone decisively.

He stood in place for a few more seconds before coming back to his senses and letting out a long sigh.

A back full of cold sweat.

"Knock, knock," his wife knocked on the door again.

An Jian walked over and opened the door.

"Are you okay?" His wife looked at him worriedly and asked, "I made soy milk."

An Jian took the cup and smiled at his wife.

"The matter has come to an end. Let's watch TV together for a while."

The light in his wife's eyes, which had been worried, immediately shone.

"Good, what to watch?"

"Isn't it Sunday today? The Jump Up Theater should be broadcasting, right? Do you want to watch it?"

"Good."

There was even more joy in her voice.

The day Lu Yan He set off for Malaysia, it was pouring rain.

He had thought his flight would be delayed, but he didn't expect the rain to stop when he arrived at the airport, and the plane could take off on time.

Just finished filming a show with a filming time of only one week, and now he was going to film a movie with a filming time of only one week.

Lu Yan He had always known that the film and television projects he participated in had relatively short filming times, but he didn't expect them to get shorter and shorter.

Wang Biao joked: "This time entering the crew feels like the length of time to attend an event."

Usually, when Lu Yan He enters a crew, he has four or five suitcases, containing various things needed for eating, wearing, living, and traveling.

But this time, Lu Yan He only brought one large suitcase, daily change of clothes, and toiletries.

However, Huang Tianlin originally hoped that Lu Yan He could provide more filming time.

But Wang Biao disagreed in their communication.

Because Lu Yan He only had a few scenes in the script, and there was no such large filming volume.

If it really wasn't finished, then it could be delayed.

If he had given more filming time directly, then maybe Huang Tianlin would have inserted other shows to film in the middle, letting Lu Yan He wait all the time.

Wang Biao did this to ensure that Lu Yan He's work was not neglected—

Although it is also hard to imagine that anyone would neglect Lu Yan He in the field of film and television work now.

Actually, Huang Tianlin's mood toward Lu Yan He was also very complicated.

If he said he didn't want to cooperate with Lu Yan He, that would be absolutely false.

Which director in the world wouldn't want to cooperate with an actor like Lu Yan He?

However, ever since it was confirmed that Lu Yan He would participate in this film, his producers and investors had all shown a fanatical attitude of "as long as Lu Yan He wants anything, promise him."

This made Huang Tianlin feel very uncomfortable in his heart.

He not only felt that his authority as a director was weakened, but more importantly, he felt a sense of unease.

It was as if, because of Lu Yan He's participation, the focus of this work suddenly fell on Lu Yan He.

The director and the film itself were not important.

*Tropical Rainy Season* had already been filming for a while.

The filming of this film was quite difficult.

Huang Tianlin was a person with very high requirements for film visuals.

For a shot, he could pull the entire crew to wait for four or five hours of daylight, just to wait for the light in the shot to reach the "dampness" he wanted.

Because the previous film was shortlisted for the Toronto International Film Festival, and this film had Lu Yan He participating, the production budget for this film was quite sufficient.

If he wanted, he could even film slowly for four or five months.

Huang Tianlin himself was not a director willing to film in a very industrial mode. What must film this scene or that scene today—

His planning was not that strong. Many times, the filming plan only helped him figure out what scenes he needed to film.

Many times, when he arrived at the scene, he would even change the content of the original script.

So, he originally hoped that Lu Yan He could give him more time.

Although the role Lu Yan He played didn't appear much, every scene was quite wonderful, and they were all the story-pushing climax points of this film.

The more such heavy-emotion, high-tension scenes, the more he hoped to do every detail in place.

However, Lu Yan He's team only agreed to sign a one-week performance contract no matter what.

Huang Tianlin was very angry.

Even if his producer said: "Any famous actor cannot give you a lot of time to arrange at will. An actor like Lu Yan He, you only have a few scenes in the script, it's not bad that he can give you a week. Don't forget, we don't have much salary to give him."

Huang Tianlin threw a tantrum again, saying: "Then don't let him act!"

Producer: "If he doesn't act, where are you going to send this film? You don't want your film to go to the international four major? Do you want to go to Toronto again? Or where? Go to Tokyo, Busan?"

Huang Tianlin fell silent.

"Tianlin, don't lose an incomparably precious opportunity because of your arrogance."

"Your attitude toward him makes me feel that this film doesn't belong to me anymore, I'm just his servant."

"No, it's not that you are his servant, but that he is your noble person. I'm not saying you have to be grateful, but don't resist, don't reject him because of your self-esteem, okay?" The producer said. "You are a director with incomparable talent, you deserve to walk onto a bigger stage, but you need an opportunity to be seen. Lu Yan He is your opportunity."

Huang Tianlin's face sank.

The producer patted him on the shoulder.

"Lu Yan He is arriving at the crew soon, think about it carefully."

"Hai-ge, why did you help me make the first film back then?" Huang Tianlin suddenly asked.

Yuan Hai smiled and said: "I said, you have the talent to film, so I am willing to help you film."

Yuan Hai still remembers the day he discovered Huang Tianlin. Looking back, it was really a bit like a manga or film and television drama.

That was at an investment meeting.

Going to the investment meeting is the work of all producers, especially independent producers like Yuan Hai.

He didn't work for a large film company, but relied on the contacts and resources he accumulated in this industry to do projects one by one.

After finding a good project, he started to connect with various film companies, strive for filming funds, find directors, and build a filming team.

There are actually many producers like Yuan Hai worldwide.

The first sentence Yuan Hai heard from Huang was him angrily saying to someone else: "You didn't read what my script is about at all!"

Because Huang's was in Chinese, Yuan Hai took another look.

He saw a young, green, face full of anger and dissatisfaction.

At the investment meeting, such faces are not uncommon.

Yuan Hai prepared to leave.

Suddenly, he heard the person standing opposite Huang Tianlin say in a condescending, mocking tone, with extreme contempt: "Who do you think you are? Your script is garbage. I can't even understand your script, why do you think others can understand it? Like you, a young man who doesn't know the height of the sky and the thickness of the earth, thinking he has talent, I don't know how many I see every year. Arrogant, narcissistic, not knowing that what you possess is not talent, but cynicism."

Huang Tianlin's face flushed red, and many people around were watching them.

At that moment, Yuan Hai looked at Huang Tianlin, and sighed softly in his heart.

Because he also walked through the stage of a young man, and he also experienced times when he was mocked, ridiculed, and laughed at to his face. At that moment, Yuan Hai walked over.

"You have a script, right? Why don't you let me see it."

Originally, Yuan Hai just wanted to help Huang Tianlin out of a siege.

Huang Tianlin turned his head in disbelief when he heard his words.

His eyes were so bright, as if a cluster of flames suddenly burned up.

Yuan Hai was thinking at the time that this young man was a bit different from those who were talented but unrecognized that he usually saw.

Some people, you only need one look, a look of fate, and you know that he may not be very eye-catching, but he is an artist who is out of tune with the surroundings.

People who are not out of tune with this world will not have those eyes burning like lions.

Looking at the script he wrote again, wild, a large number of "walking flames", "silent boulders" and other descriptive words that actually cannot be converted into images.

However, Yuan Hai felt a raw, fresh, and ready-to-come-out thing from his script.

So, he started his first cooperation with Huang Tianlin.

"Yan He, hello, we finally met. Last time you came to Malaysia, I wasn't there, I just went to Paris."

Yuan Hai personally picked up Lu Yan He at the airport.

He was enthusiastic and very polite to Lu Yan He.

Lu Yan He smiled and shook hands with Yuan Hai, saying: "Hello, Yuan-zong."

Yuan Hai wore a T-shirt and jeans, unlike the producers of big film studios who were in suits and leather shoes.

"Director Huang is filming on site, so he couldn't come to pick you up with me," Yuan Hai said with a smile. "We have been waiting for you to come."

Lu Yan He smiled.

Judging from the situation of his last interaction with Huang Tianlin, he might not have been so eager for him to come.

"I also wanted to come over a few days early to familiarize myself with the crew's situation, but I temporarily took on a show not long ago, just left the crew, plus some other work that hadn't been completed, until yesterday it was finished," Lu Yan He asked, "Yuan-zong, how long does *Tropical Rainy Season* plan to film in total this time?"

Yuan Hai said: "It is expected to film for about 120 days, and according to the current progress, it may take a few more days."

Lu Yan He listened and was quite surprised.

Mainly because except for *Burning Fire*, Lu Yan He basically hadn't filmed a movie with a filming time of more than two months.

*Tropical Rainy Season* doesn't look like that kind of movie with many scenes and complex scheduling, how could it take so long?

Lu Yan He only cared about how long he had to film before, and didn't care much about the filming time of the whole movie.

Yuan Hai: "Because Director Huang still has high requirements for the polishing of every shot."

Lu Yan He heard this and was even more surprised.

Yuan Hai accompanied Lu Yan He into the car and sat in the back with him.

He took out a tablet computer and handed it to Lu Yan He.

"This is some footage we have already filmed, you can take a look."

Lu Yan He took the tablet and put on headphones.

Looking at this, he knew why Huang Tianlin took such a long time to film such a movie.

What kind of texture a movie's photography and visuals are, every frame is making an annotation.

In the footage already filmed for *Tropical Rainy Season*, every shot and every person presents a very high-level and delicate texture.

This texture of the picture made Lu Yan He think of Wong Kar-wai. That is also a director whose personal style can be clearly identified just by looking at the shots. Of course, the picture of *Tropical Rainy Season* is not the same as his style. In fact, it is more like the gentleness of Japanese films combined with the art and freshness of Wes Anderson, presenting a delicate feeling like a still life oil painting.

In the footage, there are numerous shots of the child taken from various angles: a high-angle shot from the stair railing, a side shot from another person's perspective, a close-up reflected in the glass... Different shots compose a child with different facets, possessing a sense of secrets and stories.

And to be able to make a child present this feeling—

Lu Yan He felt it was very magical.

After all, children are often the cleanest and easiest to see through on the screen.

After watching, Lu Yan He took off his headphones, smiled at Yuan Hai, and said: "No wonder it takes so long to film. These lights... look like natural light?"

The lighting effects reflected by natural light and artificial light are very different.

Lu Yan He will always remember the real feeling that the movie *The Revenant* starring Leonardo DiCaprio brought him. How good the movie was, how explosive Leonardo DiCaprio's acting was, he didn't have much impression, but he just remembered the real feeling that the movie brought him. Like a high-magnification documentary, the air exhaled by people seemed to be real, the quietness, deep blue, lead gray, and fire tongue under the real natural state.

"Director Huang's previous film didn't seem to adopt such high-requirement lens language," said Lu Yan He.

Yuan Hai: "For the previous film, we only raised $200,000 to film that show. For this film, we got more production funds."

Lu Yan He nodded.

Just as a chef's cooking skills also depend on the quality of the ingredients, a director's talent and technology also depend on whether there is money to realize it.

Yuan Hai asked: "Yan He, do you have any other work arrangements after filming this show?"

Lu Yan He said: "There are some works that are being connected, specifically need to ask them."

He signaled to Wang Biao sitting in the passenger seat.

"My work is all connected by them, I don't know very well myself."

Yuan Hai: "Good, if you have time after filming, please give me a chance to take you around Malaysia."

Lu Yan He smiled and said: "Yuan-zong, don't be so polite. After I wrap up, the crew should still have a lot of scenes to film, right?"

"Yes," Yuan Hai nodded. "However, it is still possible to extract two or three days of time."

"That's not dare. If there is time, Yuan-zong, you can introduce me to which places are worth going. Crew filming is important."

The two were polite to each other.

Back then, the script of *Tropical Rainy Season* was sent to Lu Yan He, and it was Yuan Hai who was chosen by Chen Ziyan.

Chen Ziyan wanted an art film script. When Yuan Hai heard this news, he actively connected through people he knew in the middle.

Thus, this cooperation was achieved.

Yuan Hai was very active in cooperating with Lu Yan He.

Although Huang Tianlin had always had a bit of self-esteem, and his attitude toward Lu Yan He was cold and indifferent, Yuan Hai had shown huge enthusiasm and welcome to Lu Yan He from beginning to end.

All the way to the vicinity of the filming site.

Yuan Hai took them to the place where they stayed first.

The filming site is a remote village.

"There are no good hotels nearby," Yuan Hai took Lu Yan He and them off the car. In front of them was a very beautiful building with a courtyard, "This is my friend's house, I have asked someone to clean it up. You can live here during this time."

Lu Yan He walked in with some surprise.

He didn't expect that in such a remote filming site far from the city, there would be a log-style building that had just been built not long ago.

"Thank you," he said to Yuan Hai. "Can we use the rooms inside at will?"

"Yes," Yuan Hai nodded. "However, it is limited to the first floor. The rooms on the second and third floors are locked."

Lu Yan He nodded.

"The environment here is really good, thank you."

Yuan Hai: "I hope you can feel happy filming here."

Yuan Hai took Lu Yan He around the house.

"Your friend should be very rich, specially built such a building, but it seems he hasn't lived in it much."

There are few traces of life in the house, all equipment is there, very complete, but there are not many traces of use.

Yuan Hai smiled lightly, "He flies all over the world, rarely has time to stop in one place. This house was his whim one year, thinking he could retire here, so he started to build it."

"Then I live in, does he mind?"

"He doesn't mind, on the contrary, he is very welcome," Yuan Hai said. "He has seen your movies, so he agreed to my request immediately. If you live here, we only need about thirty minutes to go to the filming site every day. If you live in the city, the one-way trip will take an hour and a half."

Lu Yan He nodded.

"It's much more convenient to live here."

"I don't know what you need, anyway, if you have any needs in life, you can contact me at any time, or let your agent contact me, both are fine," Yuan Hai emphasized again. "I hope your filming in the *Tropical Rainy Season* crew is a very happy and comfortable experience."

Lu Yan He took a few photos of the house and sent them to Chen Siqi.

Chen Siqi replied: Do you want to buy? Where is this house?

Lu Yan He:... This is the place where the crew arranged for me to live in Malaysia.

Chen Siqi: Oh, I thought you saw a house somewhere and wanted to buy it.

Lu Yan He: You are coming to Malaysia soon, right? I'll send it to you to see. If you come over, you can also live here.

Chen Siqi: I'll come over the day after tomorrow. You send me the address when the time comes, and I'll go there after I finish my business.

Lu Yan He: Good.

Lu Yan He said again: However, I think we can really plan what kind of house we will live in in the future.

Chen Siqi: What are you doing? You don't want to find someone to design and build a house yourself, right?

Lu Yan He: Only in this way can the house 100% satisfy your ideas.

Chen Siqi: I don't have that many ideas, I am a pragmatist.

Lu Yan He: Do you have no imagination for the house where we two will live in the future? Don't you love me?

Chen Siqi:... That's enough for you.

Lu Yan He laughed, the corners of his mouth raised very high.

Wang Biao put things away, saw Lu Yan He's raised corners of his mouth on the sofa, and gave Zou Dong a look, letting him go see.

Zou Dong took a look, and a smile appeared in his eyes.

How in place and detailed is Yuan Hai's work?

He even specially arranged a person for Lu Yan He during this time to be responsible for cooking and cleaning for Lu Yan He and them.

Wang Biao said: "Although this is a small crew, this producer has considered everything very thoroughly. All the quilt covers and mattresses here have been replaced with new ones, and local phone cards have been prepared for us."

This is considering that this place is remote, and the network may not be good everywhere.

"However, Little Lu-ge, can I ask you a question?" Wang Biao suddenly asked.

Lu Yan He nodded: "Ask if you want to ask. Why are you still so secretive and hesitant with me?"

Wang Biao laughed and said: "Actually, it's not just that others don't understand why you act in *Tropical Rainy Season*, I don't understand either. But the place where I don't understand is a bit different. I think small crews and small costs are nothing, many good movies are not made with high budgets. However, Huang Tianlin is obviously not very enthusiastic about you. Why do you want to endure a director who is not very enthusiastic about you to film such a movie?"

Lu Yan He laughed.

"You think he is not enthusiastic about me, not enthusiastic, it seems that I am particularly... indifferent to my reputation, lowering my posture, right?"

Wang Biao said: "Yes, of course, I know Little Lu-ge, you have always said that the posture doesn't need to be placed very high."

"Hmm, but the posture can't be placed too low either," said Lu Yan He. "However, I don't feel that I have lowered my posture."

Wang Biao was stunned.

"He doesn't really look down on me, nor does he really not hope that I appear in his movie. All his rejection and resistance come from the fact that he is a new director who has just started, and I am already a big-name actor with a lot of fame, so he feels inferior, even anxious and uneasy."

Lu Yan He looked at Wang Biao seriously.

"If he belittled my acting ability and resisted me personally, I would abandon this movie without hesitation. But for a sensitive director who only has personality flaws, I actually didn't feel that... I wasn't respected."

Wang Biao was thoughtful.

"Lu Yan He has already arrived?"

After Yuan Hai returned to the set, Huang Tianlin saw him, and the first sentence he asked was about Lu Yan He.

"Yes, he has arrived, just settled down," Yuan Hai

Huang Tianlin sighed gloomily.

"Fine."

Yuan Hai looked at him. "He thinks very highly of the footage you shot before; he likes it a lot."

Huang Tianlin was taken aback, looking at Yuan Hai with some surprise.

"Didn't expect that, did you?"

Huang Tianlin curled his lip. "He was probably just being polite to you."

"Whether he was being polite or not, you'll know soon enough."

"Even if he likes it, he only gave us one week of shooting time," Huang Tianlin said to Yuan Hai.

Yuan Hai seemed to know why Huang Tianlin had always maintained such an attitude.

He didn't take it to heart.

He only said, "Tianlin, shoot the film well. *Tropical Rainy Season* is a good movie. Even if he only gives you one week of shooting time, if you film it well, he can take you to the four major international film festivals."

"And then?"

"And then you'll have the chance to become famous in the world of cinema overnight," Yuan Hai said decisively. "When that time comes, tell me again how you really view Lu Yan He."

*Sword of Demon Hunting* is about to be signed; those who want to earn an investment can go and put some money in.