Chapter 729

The person who came to find Su Xiao was Yu Qin, the director of *Happy Time*.

100,000 salary, six-month filming period, one movie.

That's right, it was the movie that had looked for Jiang Yuqian and was finally rejected by her.

Before Yu Qin came over, Su Xiao had never thought that one day she could be favored by a big director like Yu Qin.

However, 100,000, six months.

After Su Xiao heard these keywords, she was actually very clear in her heart that the company would definitely not agree.

She didn't have the capital now to spend six months filming a movie for only 100,000 salary.

She herself was willing to pursue art, but her team and her company were not willing to drink the northwest wind with her.

However, Yu Qin's producer said one thing to her: "Do you want to be a traffic star in everyone's eyes for the rest of your life?"

Su Xiao bit her lip subconsciously when she heard this.

She was actually very angry with herself.

Even though she was already a popular star, even if she was a traffic star "discriminated" against by the mainstream circle, if she didn't think she must be a particularly great actor, she was already at the top of this industry.

Is traffic bad? Is it terrible?

Top traffic also means high commercial value, meaning every project will be prioritized for her to choose.

However, Su Xiao also felt it tangibly. As a top traffic star, if you are not recognized, when you come into contact with those real people in the entertainment industry, you will be looked down upon.

Even, you will be looked down upon by many media outlets, mocked and ridiculed.

"We really don't need to take such a movie. Although Yu Qin's movie sounds high-end, who knows what the situation of her movie will be? Can it be shortlisted for the international four major film festivals? If shortlisted, can it win an award? Spending half a year to gamble on such a movie, the cost is too high."

The agent's attitude was indeed not supporting Su Xiao in taking this movie.

"Think about it, Yu Qin's last movie made Ning Xiulian win Best Actress at the Venice International Film Festival. By logic, her new film should be competed for by many actresses, but it's been so long and nothing has been decided, and now the script has been sent to us."

The agent's words were, of course, not unreasonable.

Su Xiao also had self-knowledge.

Now that this movie came over, it must be that other actresses were unwilling to take it.

Su Xiao asked: "Then when will I have the opportunity to film a proper movie in the future?"

The agent said: "There will definitely be suitable opportunities in the future, but we don't need to film movies just for the sake of filming movies, right?"

Su Xiao: "This is not a movie filmed just for the sake of filming."

The agent: "I'll go contact Linghe later. If you want to film a movie, I'll go there and see if there are any opportunities for cooperation."

Su Xiao: "If the company insists that I can only play the female lead, Linghe definitely won't use me, right? Xiao Yun is only the female second lead in *Those Years*."

"Is Xiao Yun as popular as you?" The agent immediately asked back. "And Xiao Yun doesn't have organized haters like you, right? If you play a female second lead, do you believe your haters will immediately smear you until you're out of fashion?"

Su Xiao was silent.

"Even now, there are quite a few haters on the internet using that reporter's words to mock you, scolding you for being looked down upon by the mainstream circle."

"Su Xiao is indeed in a dilemma now."

There was great controversy about Su Xiao on the internet.

In *Young Days*, other actors had already embarked on the mainstream path, only Su Xiao kept spinning in idol dramas.

Moreover, Lu Yan He didn't use her.

I don't know where such a voice came from, saying that Lu Yan He looked down on Su Xiao's acting skills, so all his friends were pulled into his projects, only Su Xiao had never collaborated with him on projects other than *Young Days*, and hadn't even gone to *The Birth of an Actor*.

Yet, amidst such controversy, Lu Yan He had never spoken out.

According to his past habits, if it were really his friend who had suffered some criticism, he would definitely have stood up.

There were even more people mocking Su Xiao.

After about two or three days, Lu Yan He posted on Weibo late at night: Plunged into the crew, filming until dizzy, but the noise rose again, forcing everyone to prove themselves. Pity the six years of the show, not in the eyes of others, how can one see the whole picture through a tube, who knows the long flow of fine water.

Afterwards, he posted a smiley face, jokingly saying he wrote a doggerel late at night, don't mock.

Lu Yan He @Su Xiao in *Young Days*: Filming recently, didn't have my phone, just learned about the recent controversy from my assistant, responded late.

Su Xiao: Sigh, even made you respond, sorry, dragged you into a disaster.

Lu Yan He: Who isn't dragged into a disaster? I'm stunned, you're already this popular, in the eyes of some brain-damaged media, the achievements you've made are worthless.

Su Xiao: Who told me to keep acting in idol dramas, the bottom of the food chain.

Lu Yan He: There are so many people acting in idol dramas, and I haven't seen anyone acting more popular than you.

Su Xiao's idol dramas, they really have higher topics one after another, truly popular. Every drama can bring up a popular male star, or even two—in this era of blowing various data, the standard for checking whether a drama is popular seems to be only looking at whether it brought up popular stars.

Su Xiao: Sigh, recently a pretty good movie came to me, but because it takes half a year to film in one go and the salary is very low, the company firmly disagreed with me taking it. It's not just movies, basically the plays they give me are limited to the field of idol dramas.

It's not anything else, it's because Su Xiao's salary for taking idol dramas can be called the highest, one-third higher than the salary for other types of plays.

This is the appeal Su Xiao accumulated in the field of idol dramas.

Liu Zhiyin: Pat pat.

Su Xiao: Sister Zhiyin, why haven't you slept yet?

It's actually already one o'clock in the morning.

Liu Zhiyin: The plane just landed, just slept on the plane.

Su Xiao: True model worker.

Liu Zhiyin: Do you want to act in other types of plays? You don't like acting in idol dramas?

Su Xiao: No, I quite like acting in idol dramas, it's just that others always say it, saying I'm always spinning in the circle of idol dramas.

Li Zhibai: Hey, same as me, in others' eyes, I can only act in romantic comedies.

Su Xiao: Your situation is much better than mine, stop selling misery, okay?

Liu Zhiyin: However, filming a movie for half a year with a very low salary, for an actor in the rising period like Xiaoxiao, the cost-performance ratio is indeed a bit low. In case this movie fails, this half year is wasted.

Su Xiao: The company also told me this, the company also said, even if I go to act in movies, my acting skills can only act like that.

Liu Zhiyin: What kind of shitty company is yours.

Su Xiao: However, I also have self-knowledge, I am indeed okay acting in that kind of life drama, let me change to another person, act in a role unlike me, I am indeed not very good at acting.

Lu Yan He: Then putting aside the outside evaluation of you, do you want to try new types yourself?

Su Xiao: Do you have a role for me to act? If you have, I'm willing. If it's brought by another company... to tell the truth, if it's not the kind of crew that looks very awesome at first glance, I'm drumming in my heart, mostly afraid, I know I'm not the kind of person who is very good at acting.

Lu Yan He: I'll also tell the truth, I've done so many projects, I really don't have a relatively major role suitable for you.

Su Xiao: Because I look too much like a girl next door, right?

Lu Yan He:? What?

Su Xiao: Many directors say I can only act in that kind of cute girl type, and it's not suitable for ancient costume dramas, so I haven't filmed many ancient costume dramas.

Her plays are mostly modern idol dramas.

Lu Yan He: Then if that's the case, don't force yourself to transform and change tracks immediately. You act in idol dramas with such good results, unique, idol drama queen, why be influenced by those people.

Su Xiao: Isn't it all because of you, rolling us young actors to death with your own strength, not winning an award becomes our original sin, clearly we are only in our twenties!

Lu Yan He: Bow, apologize.

Su Xiao: It's okay, don't care what they say, I know your projects always choose actors based on suitability, that is, you don't do idol dramas, otherwise, no one is more suitable to act than me.

Xiao Yun: Am I dead?

Su Xiao: You... why did you come too.

Xiao Yun: Got up to go to the bathroom, saw you guys constantly sending messages.

Su Xiao: You bumped into this too.

Lu Yan He: To be fair, Su Xiao is still more suitable for acting in idol dramas than Xiao Yun.

Xiao Yun: Heh, that's because you didn't give me a chance, don't think I can only act as a female knight.

Li Zhibai: You can also act as a silly big guy.

Xiao Yun: Looking for death?

Li Zhibai: You can also act as a tomboy.

Xiao Yun: Tomorrow I'll let you know what a tomboy is.

Lu Yan He: How about I write an idol drama script for you two? You compare?

Xiao Yun: What the hell?

Su Xiao:?

Lu Yan He: I haven't written plays that lean towards idol dramas before, but I can try.

Although Lu Yan He himself is not an audience for idol dramas, he just happened to experience a period of vigorous development of idol dramas.

Also followed his mother and watched many idol dramas.

The one that left the deepest impression on him was *In Time with You*. To some extent, he felt this drama had already exceeded the scope of idol dramas, but essentially it was still an idol drama.

He was very moved at that time.

Besides that, things like *It Started with a Kiss*, things like *My Sunshine*...

Okay, that's it, he really watched very few, and even fewer that he could watch through. He really is not an audience for idol dramas.

Lu Yan He suddenly felt he was talking big.

He had never watched a double-female-lead idol drama at all.

Are there such idol dramas?

It seems that idol dramas basically don't have the saying of double male leads or double female leads. The basic operation is that perhaps there might be some dog-blood entanglement between the male lead, male second lead, female lead, and female second lead, but in the end, it must be the male lead and female lead together, and the male second lead and female second lead together.

On the contrary, there is a Japanese drama that fits his needs quite well, called *Hakusen Nagashi*.

At that time, Lu Yan He found this Japanese drama to watch because the leads of this Japanese drama were the two young actors from *Love Letter*, completely watching it as a side story of *Love Letter*.

Of course, this drama is still a youth love story, and it is also very classic.

However, Lu Yan He basically didn't remember the plot anymore, so he couldn't be a "copycat" again.

Oh no...

Su Xiao: Yan He, do you really want to try writing an idol drama?

Lu Yan He: It's not impossible, just don't know what it will look like when written.

Xiao Yun: I'm jealous.

Lu Yan He: What are you jealous of?

Xiao Yun: You specially tailored a script for Su Xiao.

Lu Yan He: Who wrote the *My Own Swordsman* you acted in?

Xiao Yun: The role of Guo Furong wasn't specially tailored for me by you.

Lu Yan He:...

Lu Yan He suddenly froze.

Wait.

Speaking of which—

There is a movie that is really suitable for Xiao Yun.

"..."

With Xiao Yun's personality, among the actresses Lu Yan He knows, and at this age, only she can act it.

*My Sassy Girl*.

And Su Xiao's style is actually closer to another Korean actress Lu Yan He knows, Son Ye-jin; the *The Classic* she starred in, although dog-blood, is indeed a tear-jerker.

Lu Yan He took a deep breath.

He hesitated for a moment, @Su Xiao, wrote: *The Classic*. Then @Xiao Yun, wrote: *My Sassy Girl*.

He said: An idea that just popped into my mind, record it here first.

Xiao Yun: What is this? What sassy girl? You want me to act as a sassy girl? Why don't you write me a fairy girlfriend?

Lu Yan He: No, can't chat anymore, I have to sleep, recharge, continue filming tomorrow.

Ever since being dissed by Liu Bige once, Lu Yan He is now conscientious on set, doesn't dare to be lazy, and doesn't dare to be perfunctory at all.

Honestly number one.

Xiao Yun:???

Xiao Yun: Won't you leave people hanging like this?

Xiao Yun: Damn? Really went to sleep just like that?

Xiao Yun: No way?

Xiao Yun: Be a person, how can I sleep tonight?!

Xiao Yun: At least tell me, are you really going to write me a script?

Xiao Yun: Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Li Zhibai: Hurry up and sleep, so noisy.

Xiao Yun: You wait to die tomorrow.

Still remembering the grudge of "tomboy".

After entering September, the crew of *Storm Calmer No. 1* started to wrap up one after another.

Liu Bige's movie basically adopts sequential filming, shooting according to the order of the script's plot development.

There were fewer and fewer actors in the crew.

Zhou Ruo also wrapped up.

This was the loneliest movie Lu Yan He had ever filmed.

Before, when Zhou Ruo was there, there was still a Zhou Ruo who could accompany him to talk; after Zhou Ruo wrapped up, there was no one left.

This was also something Lu Yan He did deliberately.

He was in such a situation in the movie, and outside the movie, he also hoped to keep himself immersed in this environment.

Wang Biao watched Lu Yan He leave the hotel every day, starting from getting into the car, letting himself enter the character state, and then staying in that state all day, not looking at his phone, not talking to others, most of the time, alone, standing in a corner like a ghost, until after work, on the way back, listening to music, only then allowing himself to come out of the character state.

This state of switching back and forth was something that had never appeared when Lu Yan He was filming other plays.

He didn't need to enter and exit the play through this form.

Wang Biao actually couldn't quite tell where the difficulty of *Storm Calmer No. 1* was compared to Lu Yan He's other plays.

Wang Biao even felt that Lu Yan He didn't look like his acting was very explosive many times in this movie. However, he had to admit that Lu Yan He gave him a state of "completely changed person" many times.

Even the eyes were different.

Not through some metaphysical changes in expressions, tone, rhythm, etc., but some caught-off-guard moments.

Wang Biao had seen many old actors with so-called "plastic surgery-like acting skills."

They seemed to be able to completely change a way of acting and a style according to each character. That is of course also very awesome, but you will also feel many times, well, the traces of acting are a bit heavy.

Just like the end of the movie *May December*, the part where Natalie Portman imitates Julianne Moore. You look at it alone and feel it's acted quite well, quite awesome, but when you recall Julianne Moore's part, you will suddenly discover what is life and what is acting. Most "plastic surgery-like acting" is actually "actor's acting."

Lu Yan He didn't want to deliberately transform himself from every aspect.

People definitely can't make themselves completely become another person; this accumulation on a yearly basis forms inertia in the body and limbs, which cannot be changed in a short while.

Therefore, when Lu Yan He acts, unless it is certain specific characters and scenes, his aesthetics and pursuits are not to make range-based adjustments in a large span, but to make momentary strangeness on a large and general daily common divisor.

Just like everyone—ordinary people who are not actors, in daily life, must also have those moments that make people around them feel extremely strange.

This is what Lu Yan He pursues.

It was precisely after realizing this point that Lu Yan He understood why Liu Bige said his performance could only be discovered in the editing room, and the quality was not up to standard.

Because those "large and general" parts of his were definitely fine, but Liu Bige could no longer find those moments in the lens that seemed to condense the screen into eternity.

Such moments are things that Lu Yan He can only seek but not find after being tempered again and again.

For Lu Yan He, once something can be sought and found, it is technology, it is acting, and it can even be said to be superb acting, but it is definitely not art.

Because art cannot be replicated.

Lu Yan He is this type of actor.

Just like the widely praised ending in *Comrades: Almost a Love Story*, that smile and that tear of Maggie Cheung.

She herself cannot replicate it.

There are many types of actors, and good actors are the same, but top actors must have some kind of "uniqueness."

Of course, different good actors, for good performances, are actually different paths to the same destination.

The key is to find the path that belongs to you to reach a good performance.

Lu Yan He is very lucky, he found it very early.

Wen Shengming watched with his own eyes as Lu Yan He walked into a realm that almost no young people had walked into in this play, with no one else around.

He found it difficult to describe his mood.

He always felt that acting certainly requires talent; some actors can produce performances that will go down in history in their teens.

However, to evaluate an actor from a more grand perspective, one must look at what kind of acting aesthetics his long career has formed.

Wen Shengming has always thought so.

Therefore, winning Best Actor once or twice, being gifted, and being highly praised, those are all meteors.

The actors he truly respects are actors who "hear the Dao."

He himself is practicing such a philosophy, and also looks at other actors with this.

Lu Yan He doesn't say it himself, but Wen Shengming knows very well that Lu Yan He is the kind of person whose talent has reached a certain terrifying height, and he also uses a kind of near-cruel rationality to break through the ordinary goodness of acting and reach a momentary eternity that has never existed before.

Every morning, Lu Yan He would come to have breakfast with him as promised.

When the two of them have breakfast, they also almost don't discuss private matters outside the crew.

But they would chat about foreign movies and foreign actors.

Chatting, it is bound to talk about everyone's acting views, in their hearts, what kind of actor is a good actor—

This answer means their respective acting aesthetics.

They will not have disputes, let alone quarrels.

If there are different opinions, stop at the point, and then, in the rival scenes, under their respective acting aesthetics, trade blows.

This is a tacit consensus between the two of them.

Liu Bige doesn't even know.

Everyone can only see that the scenes between Wen Shengming and Lu Yan He increasingly have a sense of "four ounces of force to move a thousand pounds" of lifting weight as if it were light, precise, no sparks, only silent confrontation.

Just like their characters in the play.

Then, finally, *Storm Calmer No. 1* ushered in the wrap-up.

Rain, falling drizzlingly.

The sky is pale blue.

After Liu Bige announced the wrap-up, the crew members all breathed a sigh of relief, their faces filled with joy.

The busy crew life came to an end, and everyone could have a good rest for a period of time.

Lu Yan He and Wen Shengming stood on the corridor by coincidence, watching the rain.

Rain fell from the atrium.

Everyone came and went, moving things.

Wen Shengming suddenly asked: "What are you going to do after wrapping up?"

Lu Yan He turned his head, smiled at him, and said: "There are several screenwriter projects to push forward."

Wen Shengming nodded.

The conversation stopped.

As if someone pressed the pause button.

After a while, Wen Shengming continued seamlessly as if no pause had happened.

"I haven't felt pressure from someone when acting for a long time," Wen Shengming said with a smile. "You will be incredible in the future."

Lu Yan He: "Thank you for always guiding me."

"I didn't guide you, I don't dare to take this credit," Wen Shengming smiled. "Yan He, act well, be a person well, I will always watch you."

Lu Yan He looked at Wen Shengming with some surprise.

Wen Shengming nodded at him, turned and left.

There was no one around him, no assistant, no bodyguard, and no kingly aura that could be seen at a glance.

But his figure was very solid.

After leaving, he still remained in Lu Yan He's impression.

Recommend the new book *Chasing Demon Sword* with Xianxia theme, 140,000 words already.

Four months, updating 1,000 words a day, neither affecting the updates here, the monthly update word count is over 200,000 words, nor abandoning the pit after writing like a play, on the contrary, a completely different theme and story made me write *Pick a Day* very happily, can you believe what I said now? (End of chapter)