Chapter 639: Nascent Soul Realm

They had only come to take a look, then returned to the Huanqiu Dajiudian in Hami.

This Huanqiu Dajiudian has nothing to do with "Universal" at all — the local owner just casually picked such a fancy-sounding name.

And this hotel only opened in April or May this year, so it's a new hotel and still quite clean.

It's rated four-star; if you're looking for five-star here, that's impossible — having a four-star is already pretty good.

The Huanqiu Dajiudian is basically fully booked by the film crew.

They had also spoken with the management: Liu Tianxian's whereabouts had to be kept confidential and could not be leaked to outsiders.

The two of them, of course, stayed in the hotel's deluxe suite.

Liu Tianxian was cramming at the last minute, holding a pen, leaning against the headboard and seriously reading the script.

She had actually read it several times already, but each time she got different insights into the character, and whenever something struck her, she would jot it down.

"Hey!" Fang Hong, naked except for a pair of boxer briefs, leapt onto the bed in one bound, and the big bed shook violently!

Liu Tianxian glanced at him speechlessly and went on reading the script.

"Shall we do what humans love to do?" Fang Hong burrowed under the covers and wrapped his arms around her soft body.

"We're about to start filming — I need to hurry and read the script, really get inside the character's mindset. Where would I find time to keep thinking about that human nonsense of yours?" Liu Tianxian said with a hint of teasing.

"Oh my — you're not human, you've become an immortal, let me come soak up some immortal aura." Fang Hong breathed in her scent and nuzzled her face.

"Are you a dog or what!" Liu Tianxian burst out laughing, feeling her face tickle, and smacked his head with the script.

Then she leaned her shoulder over and held up the script for him to see: "Why don't you run lines with me?"

This man still hadn't run lines with her, and filming was about to start.

"That's because I wanted you to read it yourself first and form your own understanding. If I told you too early, I'd easily make you lock onto my interpretation before you've even started. How's it going now — what have you gotten out of it?" Fang Hong said.

If he spoke too early, Liu Tianxian would already have a subjective notion that the character's mindset was just that.

But his understanding wasn't complete either — it still had to be combined with Liu Tianxian's own experience and acting style.

"I think the protagonist is an optimist, resilient and wise. What do you think?" Liu Tianxian looked at him.

"I think you're right." Fang Hong said.

"As the director, don't you have any other angle of interpretation? Any other insight?" Liu Tianxian said.

"Of course I do — let me tell you." Fang Hong pulled one of her hands over and nestled into the crook of her arm.

Liu Tianxian also adjusted her posture a little so he could lean more comfortably.

Fang Hong said: "What you said is too general, without layers of inner state. You have to understand, the protagonist went through many layers of hardship.

At the very beginning, the panic after discovering he was stranded on Mars, then calming down rationally to survive; in the middle, the loneliness and inner repression — you have to know that when a person stays alone too long, their mind can develop problems.

Later, by re-establishing contact with Earth, his fighting spirit is reignited, and finally, through teamwork, he achieves redemption.

Of course what I said is also general, but this character definitely has many layers — whether it's subtle changes in gaze, speech pace, or body language, all of it can reflect the gradual shifts in his psychology."

Hearing him say this, Liu Tianxian was thinking it over in her head.

"Actually this character is simple too — just play the character as an ordinary person. He'll panic, he'll be happy, he'll feel lonely, he'll feel isolated. Don't put on the tragic-savior halo. He's just an ordinary person relying on his own abilities and his own knowledge." Fang Hong said again.

"An ordinary person relying on himself." Liu Tianxian murmured, still thinking it over in her head.

"Right, no heroic qualities at all. Every movie protagonist has some kind of heroic quality — like in the Gravity you acted in before, that protagonist had a strong tragic-hero quality. You don't want that here.

Don't over-render the emotions, restrain your emotional outbursts, highlight the character's calm pragmatism. Actually, real astronauts are exactly like that.

If you don't believe it, you can look into the real-life experiences of astronauts, and the state of their words and deeds — they are extremely calm and pragmatic."

Fang Hong spoke quite seriously.

"Hearing you say that, I really do need to look into some things and videos about those astronauts." Liu Tianxian had clearly taken it in and was very eager to understand the astronauts' style.

The protagonist she understood was resilient, wise, and carried a rational sense of humor — that counts as optimism.

But those were all the character's inner qualities, not outward expression. She still needed to look at the outward qualities of astronauts.

"Let's look at it tomorrow. Your husband will help you form your core and cultivate to the Nascent Soul realm." Fang Hong said with a smile.

"Hahaha!" Liu Tianxian burst into laughter — although she had never heard the term before, she got it instantly.

She pushed him away coyly and said: "No way, I need to cultivate — you keep me company and watch the materials."

So that whole evening, Fang Hong kept Liu Tianxian company as she watched materials and videos about those astronauts, just to observe that quality they carried.

There were quite a lot of such videos — both domestic and international — including footage of them giving talks, appearing on shows, and giving interviews.

For example, Zhai Zhigang and Wang Yaping had been on "Face to Face"; Liu Boming had been interviewed on "News 1+1"; Jing Haipeng had been on "Are You Ready?", which is the show hosted by Sa Beinan.

There was a lot of such video content out there, and you could see their words and deeds — exactly as Fang Hong had said.

They all shared a common quality: calm and pragmatic.

Actually, in the predecessor Gravity, sending a rookie to space and having them panic that much was a bit unreasonable.

But it's a movie — it can't be too logical; too much logic leaves no conflict.

The next day the weather was fine. If it didn't snow in this area, there was almost no rain all year — out of 360 days, at least 300 were sunny; it was basically sunny year-round.

Even when it snowed, there was plenty of sunshine.

Actually, the west is the best place to shoot films, the best location for a film and television base — the land is open, rainy days are few, it's rarely overcast, and you don't have to worry too much about the weather.

You can make great use of the local resources — there's a strong natural advantage. At least it's far better than Hengdian, where it rains every few days, and when it rains, the whole crew has to take shelter and wait for it to stop before shooting again.

Once it rains, the ground, the props, everything gets wet. If you're shooting a period drama, that muddy earth — imagine how painful that is.

And when shooting resumes after the rain, you still have to ask the cinematographer whether it's shootable, because the color tone might be off and would need color correction.

Why was the film and television center set up in Hengdian? It's actually because of capital — the Jiangsu-Zhejiang area has a lot of wealthy people, a lot of capital.

Put bluntly, there are many private enterprises, and Zhejiang merchants have a lot of money.

Doing this isn't about the government having money — it's that private capital has to be invested in. Only when private money is invested can it flourish.

Another factor is having a good leader — the founder Xu Wenrong was very bold and decisive, carrying out sweeping reforms.

This is a matter of people. The north can't compare — not that no one has tried, but when it comes to private capital, it's far behind Jiangsu-Zhejiang.

GDP everyone has, but having money among the people is another matter entirely.

It's the inevitable trend of development—the film and television industry is either in Jiangsu-Zhejiang or in the Guangdong area, both wealthy places.

But Guangdong's electronics and foreign trade are already very developed; there's no need to get into this stuff.

Fang Hong and Liu Tianxian arrived at the filming location, where the staff were still busy at work—today was also the day of the opening ceremony.

So they didn't wait, just started filming directly.

Wen Muye's crew over there would also start filming directly; there wasn't much to prepare.

The opening ceremony was held right on the Gobi desert. All the key creative personnel were present: Han Jianü, Shen Ao, Li Anran, Liu Yin, and Best Special Effects director Chen Xiuwei.

Although there were many live-action scenes, some special effects were still needed, such as visual effects and the like.

The Best Special Effects director on Wen Muye's side was Yao Qi.

"Come, come, come, here's your opening ceremony red envelope!" Han Jianü and the production group's finance staff held thick red envelopes in their hands, handing one out to each person.

This move immediately excited the entire crew, who crowded around. Because there were so many people, they didn't surround just one person, and it wasn't just one person handing them out—several people were distributing red envelopes.

And around each finance staffer handing out red envelopes, there were layers upon layers of people surrounding them.

Some raised their hands, some hopped up and down saying: "Me, me!"

"Those who got red envelopes, don't open them yet—wait until we take a group photo." Assistant director Shen Ao shouted through a loudspeaker.

The staff who received red envelopes were all very happy, gathering together to share how much each had—how much you got, how much I got. When they opened them, they found ten crisp new bills.

Instantly overjoyed, they stuffed them back in.

The Principal really is generous—it's rare for a crew to give a thousand-yuan red envelope; three to five hundred would be the max.

"Tianxian, this one's yours!" Han Jianü handed the last red envelope to Liu Tianxian.

"Thank you, Sister Han." Liu Tianxian was also very happy. Whether the money was a lot or a little didn't matter to her—what she wanted was the festivity and the atmosphere.

"Don't thank me—I'm just giving away your family's money." Han Jianü made a joke.

"The way you put it, even if my family's money is being given back to me as a red envelope, I'm still happy." Liu Tianxian laughed.

The place was very lively for a time. Then it was time to organize the group photo. Because there were too many people, not everyone was in one line for the photo.

They split into several groups; those not in the photo could stand around as extras.

Fang Hong's group was of course all the core key creatives, numbering several dozen. They stood in three rows—the first row squatting, the second row standing, and the third row standing on a long chair, forming a stepped arrangement.

The two people at the very edges of the top row each held up a banner strung on a pole, inscribed: "The Martian Opening Ceremony!"

In the background at the very back was the "Mars" base, and further away, of course, were mountain ranges. The mountains at this angle had no snow and weren't very tall—still the red-brown sandstone of the Gobi.

Everyone in their hands held a red envelope, except Fang Hong—he was the director.

He and Liu Tianxian stood in the middle of the second row, with Han Jianü and other core personnel beside them, of course.

Facing the camera, they held their red envelopes in one hand and gave a thumbs-up: "A grand opening!"

(End of chapter)