Chapter 213: Make a movie, return to Asia

Fan Xi had no interest in becoming a singer. In fact, Taylor Swift had long ago written a love song for Fan Xi to sing as a duet, simple enough that he only needed to hum along in the chorus.

But he still refused.

Because he didn't like singing, and he wasn't good at it.

But acting, he held an open attitude.

This had nothing to do with Hollywood actresses generally being prettier and sexier than female singers; it was purely because there was more money.

Thanks to the Duke's reputation, Fan Xi had huge appeal in Hollywood, and many distributors were willing to cooperate with him, except for Disney.

Disney believed Fan Xi had ruined their most important idol group and had also stolen away their most obedient and commercially valuable little princess, Selena.

But Hollywood wasn't dominated by Disney alone, although they had a lot of say. And even Disney was divided into several departments; their film department had no prejudice against Fan Xi.

When Chen Ye walked into the Hollywood film set again, his excitement was overflowing. He wasn't here to be a stunt double this time; he finally got a role... God knows how difficult this was for him. He had been in Hollywood for eight years and hadn't even gotten a single audition opportunity. Hollywood was a very realistic place; if you had appeal and could drive the box office, you were a god, and everyone would hold you up.

But if you were a nobody, you wouldn't get respect, and people didn't have the time or mind to waste on a small role like you.

Even Hollywood superstars would be ruthlessly abandoned by film producers after a few box office flops, or even given insulting offers.

Fan Xi was invited into the crew of this film called *We're the Millers*, and he was the male lead.

Because of Fan Xi's agreement, the screenwriter even made drastic reforms to the original script. Fan Xi's role was originally supposed to be played by a white middle-aged man, but now, they made some adjustments.

At the same time, they adjusted the age of the young actors, trying to cloak this dark comedy crime film in the colors of a warm family travel film.

It is worth mentioning that Fan Xi got a perm for this movie and grew some facial hair so that he, at 20 years old, would look more mature.

The female lead partnering with him was Jennifer Aniston. From the day before Fan Xi entered the set, the media had been frantically speculating whether Jennifer would become the new "Duke Girl."

After all, all past cases proved that any female star who got involved with Fan Xi eventually became Fan Xi's girlfriend.

However, Jennifer didn't care about this and told the media arrogantly: "My only requirement for Jack is professionalism. He must treat the movie professionally. I hope he changes some of his physical expressions as a player; perhaps he can bring an acting teacher onto the set."

"My heart has long been as cold as rock; I won't fall in love easily, so don't worry."

Jennifer also told her good friends in private.

Fan Xi did bring an acting teacher onto the set, and that teacher was Chen Ye.

Although the basketball circle called Fan Xi's crossover into filmmaking "finding a way out for himself because he knows he can't make it in the basketball circle anymore."

But Fan Xi treated this matter very seriously, and he pondered the character very delicately. He even called Carmelo Anthony, Zach Randolph, and Matt Barnes. These three guys had been hanging out on the streets since they were kids, and Fan Xi's character was a street thug, even a small-time drug dealer.

These three were real gangsters. Many NBA players were entangled with these things when they were young because most basketball stars came from chaotic streets; people like Kobe were the minority of the minority. Even Derrick Rose, who looked the most honest, actually had a brother who was a core member of a local Chicago gang.

If it weren't for his brother, Rose wouldn't have been able to settle down and play basketball.

Based on the detailed and truthful information gathered from these people, Fan Xi's pondering of the character reached a very profound level. He was someone who was willing to put in the hard work to study deeply. Every move he made was very fitting for the character, and the detailed actions were even more vivid, as if Fan Xi had been hanging out on the American streets since he was a child.

The director was extremely surprised and even asked Fan Xi which film academy he graduated from.

Chen Ye said Fan Xi was of the Stanislavski acting system.

Actually, Chen Ye didn't know either.

He played a driver in the movie and was scolded by the director. When he acted, he was just acting, and the traces were serious.

If it weren't for the fact that his role was very small and he was shoved in by Fan Xi, his movie dream would have been broken again.

Fan Xi filmed on the set for half a month. He only filmed a few scenes with Jennifer, and then he returned to Asia.

He would return to the set in 20 days.

Now the NBA was officially locked out, and both labor and management were very tough and unwilling to take a step back.

Many people even estimated that the NBA might be suspended until 2012.

The next season would inevitably be a shortened season. A shortened season usually means a change in the situation. The long vacation would make the millionaires and billionaires with insufficient willpower indulge in depravity. In the last lockout period, superstars like Shawn Kemp returned as meat balls and were very out of shape. Thus, Duncan's legendary story was achieved; Duncan won the championship in the shortened season and was elected MVP, starting the Spurs' legend of winning championships in odd years.

Now, the media had begun to criticize Fan Xi, criticizing him for not attending to his proper duties.

Fan Xi remained calm about this.

Nothing was sweeter than 5 million USD. Fan Xi's salary for this movie was 5 million USD, and the filming process didn't affect his normal training at all. Hollywood strictly implemented an eight-hour system, and Fan Xi's daily filming time would not exceed 3 hours.

Moreover, Fan Xi felt that compared to those guys who were in wine and meat forests every day, the media seemed to have sprayed the wrong person. Andrew Bynum even carried a female model on his shoulders from one bar to another, and the media actually turned a blind eye, caring about whether he had swapped tea cups with Jennifer Aniston?

Wasn't this a targeted attack?

"Are you ready to welcome the enthusiastic cheers of the people of the motherland? Jack, you absolutely can't imagine how popular you are in the country."

On the plane to Asia, Lu Yuan said excitedly to Fan Xi.

Fan Xi raised his eyebrows.

His heart was full of expectations. Homesickness is the true thought at the bottom of every Chinese man's heart.

"Our first stop is the place of *Slam Dunk*, oh, you can adapt first." Chen Ye added from the side: "Maybe some Japanese female star will take a fancy to you, saying Tokyo is so hot, and insist on cooling down with you, flying together, letting you taste the power of *Yamete*! Hahahaha."

Fan Xi rolled his eyes at Chen Ye: "I don't want to learn Japanese."

Chen Ye laughed: "Body language is an international language. I can teach you a few tricks..."

"You'd better save it to teach Dr. Laisi, hahahaha..." Lu Yuan teased.

Chen Ye immediately blushed: "It's a normal academic exchange between her and me, don't talk nonsense. I'm single, but she has a family."

"But how did I hear that Dr. Laisi is having a family dispute because she gave up being a consultant for the Lakers medical team and turned to the Clippers, and the couple is getting a divorce?"

"That's because her husband cheated on his female boss..." Chen Ye blurted out. When he saw everyone's special gaze, he quickly covered his mouth.

But it was too late.

*Oh!!! *

Lu Yuan let out a strange cry.

"Anyway, a gentleman doesn't take what others love. Dr. Laisi and I are clean and innocent," Chen Ye said seriously.

"Then she's not someone else's love after she gets divorced," Ma Chen added at the right time.

"This... this also has to wait for her to complete the procedures," Chen Ye had his own principles.

This was Fan Xi's current core team. Lu Yuan was the agent, Ma Chen was responsible for publicity and public relations, and Chen Ye... he was a jack-of-all-trades, doing a bit of everything.

Compared to the huge and complex teams of other NBA superstars, Fan Xi's team was simplified to the extreme.

After a long flight, the plane finally arrived in Asia and landed at Tokyo International Airport.

Just as the plane landed steadily, Fan Xi and his party seemed to hear the shouts outside: "Jack! Jack! Jack!"

With a strange accent.

... ===== CHAPTER 214 =====