Chapter 203: Self-indulgent, reverse learning

Jin Li shared her insights with Gu Cheng with great interest.

"After the veteran actor's reminder, I observed him carefully all afternoon today and found that he indeed incorporates acting into it, but he does it very unobtrusively, so I didn't notice it. He magnified his own traits.

From him, I saw another side of an actor, which is knowing oneself incomparably well—knowing oneself better than anyone else—which is why one can magnify one's own traits so much."

Gu Cheng listened attentively, looking eager to learn: "Knowing oneself can also be helpful for acting?"

Jin Li affirmed: "Yes! Ren Zhangtao knows his cheerful and straightforward side. He knows what his performance is like in daily life, so he deliberately magnified this trait while performing.

My understanding is that he became more open after performing; that is, his handling of this character is also a kind of acting expressiveness."

Gu Cheng was thoughtful.

Knowing oneself, then digging into one's own traits to echo with the character?

Gu Cheng asked: "Do you think this kind of acting is good?"

Jin Li pondered for a while and shook her head: "Only observed for one day, I'm not sure if it's good or not, but I feel that magnifying traits can allow newcomer actors to better integrate into the set.

Ren Zhangtao has even less acting experience than me, but his performance on set is far better than mine, which means he is better and more outstanding than me."

Thinking of this, she couldn't help but sigh.

"Unfortunately, my personality is too different from the character 'Vera'. I thought about it for a long time today and felt that this character and my own nature are poles apart, with nothing in common, so I can't learn Ren Zhangtao's method."

The veteran actor's advice was good, but everyone's situation was different.

However, Jin Li still planned to watch for a few more days; maybe she could see something different.

Instead, Gu Cheng felt he had gained something after hearing this.

At the end of the call, he suddenly asked: "Can I go to your set to visit?"

Jin Li was slightly stunned, then reacted: "Of course you can. You are welcome to come anytime. When do you want to come?"

Gu Cheng could come to visit as her friend.

Besides, they still had a joint variety show, *Leisurely Slow Life*, that needed to be filmed together, so visiting was very common.

Gu Cheng said: "This week won't work. I'll see if I can find time to go over this month. If not, then next month.

You also know that the script for *Assassination* has been pondered quite a bit recently. This is my first time filming, and I'm afraid I won't act well, so I want to learn Ren Zhangtao's method."

Jin Li nodded: "Okay, tell me in advance when the time comes, and I'll arrange it for you."

She thought of something temporarily and added: "But you have to come quickly. The character Ren Zhangtao plays is the first to die. He will definitely still be filming this week, but I'm not sure about next week."

Gu Cheng made a gesture to her: "OK!"

Early the next morning.

Jin Li had no scenes in the morning, but she still took a small stool and sat next to the director, holding paper and a pen in her hand.

Her equipment was more complete than yesterday.

She was still staring at Ren Zhangtao with full concentration, lowering her head from time to time to take notes.

Although she couldn't use the method of "magnifying one's own personality traits to set off the character" on this set, it didn't mean she couldn't use it on other sets.

Learning this method would be of great help to her acting.

And staring at Ren Zhangtao now wasn't without gains.

The opposite of magnifying traits is restraining emotions, but restraining emotions in a movie doesn't mean the actor really needs to be expressionless.

It is to act out the effect that makes the audience feel you are restraining.

Jin Li could observe Ren Zhangtao's extroversion and, conversely, ponder her own introversion, and this introversion could represent the character of Vera.

She always looked preoccupied, as if hiding many secrets.

And her biggest secret was related to her lover.

With a spirit of inquiry and eagerness to learn, the more Jin Li thought, the more she wrote, and soon she had taken several pages of notes.

"Cut!!"

Deng Zexu looked at Ren Zhangtao's performance in the lens and couldn't help but nod with satisfaction.

As expected of a good brother who had played together since childhood and wore the same pair of pants, he knew the character of Marston suited him!

It also made him clear that his good friend was a person with strong self-esteem.

After being denied by his Best Actor father that he could be an actor, although he acted as if nothing happened on the surface and didn't seem to want to take the path of an actor, he was actually unconvinced inside.

There was a kind of "the more you don't look favorably on me, the better I have to do than you" mentality.

That was why he approached Ren Zhangtao to play this character; he also wanted to support his brother's dream.

Although currently, Ren Zhangtao's dream didn't necessarily have to be becoming an actor, but rather wanting to "slap his father in the face."

This scene ended, and Ren Zhangtao walked a few steps toward Deng Zexu, noticing Jin Li on the side.

He couldn't help but pause his steps, gave Deng Zexu a wink, and walked to the other side.

Deng Zexu perfectly received his friend's meaning, turned his head to look at Jin Li, and just as he was about to speak, he suddenly saw her full notebook and couldn't help but choke.

Memories of student days suddenly attacked me. jpg

Deng Zexu coughed a few times and asked kindly: "Jin Li, why are you taking so many notes?"

Jin Li came back to her senses and said: "I asked some veteran actors how to act well in a drama. The veteran actors told me not to learn from them, but to learn well from Ren Zhangtao."

Deng Zexu suddenly had a bad premonition in his heart.

"So?"

Jin Li said as a matter of course: "So I've been observing Ren Zhangtao's acting these past few days to see how he acts."

Involving filming on set, Deng Zexu quickly threw Ren Zhangtao's request to the back of his mind and asked curiously: "Have you observed it?"

Jin Li nodded: "Observed. He deliberately magnified a certain personality trait of his own while filming, and this trait is very consistent with the character, right?"

Deng Zexu truly admired Jin Li this time.

"You observed very carefully, reacting so quickly without me needing to mention it to you separately."

He said frankly: "The reason I let Ren Zhangtao play Marston is that I discovered a certain spark between him and the character, which can cause a wonderful collision."

Jin Li's eyes flickered, and she suddenly discovered that she had entered a misunderstanding these past few days.

She had communicated with veteran actors and even had a small amount of communication with Ren Zhangtao, but why hadn't she thought about having a good chat with Director Deng?

Jin Li asked curiously: "Director Deng, then why did you choose me to play Vera? Do I also have a spark with this character?"

Deng Zexu said "uh," "Do you want to hear the truth or a lie?"

Jin Li said without hesitation: "The truth."

Deng Zexu said honestly: "You are famous, popular, and have koi luck. I invited you because I wanted to ask you to boost this drama.

On the other hand, I think you can play Vera, not because I think you can strike a different spark with this character, but because I think you are fully capable of handling this character."

Jin Li couldn't help but be stunned and said hesitantly: "Are you overestimating me?"

Deng Zexu smiled: "I believe in my own vision. Being able to act out a character like Liu Ci, you can definitely ponder Vera well.

Everyone's understanding and feelings about characters are different. In my heart, Liu Ci and Vera actually have the same traits.

Vera killed the nominal murderer in the end, but she also ruthlessly buried herself on this isolated island, realizing the death in the prophecy.

She is very crazy, yet collapsed and helpless. I think this trait is very similar to Liu Ci.

It's just that Liu Ci is stronger than Vera; she used her own strength to walk out of the predicament, while Vera chose death."

Deng Zexu summarized: "Although the choices are different, it doesn't mean they don't have similar personalities."

After hearing this, Jin Li was thoughtful.

The director's idea opened up another line of thinking for her.

Pondering a brand-new character would be very difficult.

But drawing nutrients from the foundation of an old character to ponder another character, the difficulty was reduced a lot.

Jin Li had different ideas about Vera.

She didn't know what she thought of, smiled: "Director, listening to your words is better than me guessing blindly for several days. If I had known this, I should have talked to you on the first day I joined the set."

Deng Zexu said quietly: "You were brought to the set by Sister Fang herself. I didn't dare say much to you."

Jin Li burst into laughter, not expecting Sui Lingfang to cause such great pressure on Deng Zexu.

If Deng Zexu knew Jin Li's thoughts, he would definitely say loudly that the pressure given by Sui Lingfang started from the investment share!

Chenxi Entertainment could occupy 40% of the shares, and Sui Lingfang's negotiation skills were indispensable.

At Tianding Entertainment.

Gu Cheng returned to the company to specifically communicate with Brother Guang about *Assassination* and other matters.

In the conference room, Brother Guang brought up the progress and said: "According to their speed of revising the manuscript, filming can start in December next month. I will represent the company to urge them again to have them hand it in early as soon as possible."

Gu Cheng asked with concern: "The director is set as Yan Jianqiao and cannot be changed, but what about the production team? Has he found them?"

Zhang Guang said: "Yan Jianqiao found them, but I investigated and felt it wasn't very good. I contacted the company's senior management and asked the company to send a better team for you."

Gu Cheng nodded. In this regard, he still believed in Tianding's strength.

Although the company was mainly focused on idols, they also had relevant resource channels in acting. Tianding could contact more professional film and television production companies.

Any industry reaching the peak position could not be underestimated; their own connections and strength were better than many second-tier companies.

Zhang Guang's voice came: "What needs to be solved urgently now is the female lead. Do you have a suitable candidate?"

Gu Cheng shook his head. "No, this matter is decided by the director."

Zhang Guang also shook his head: "Now just getting them to revise the script is so difficult. If we let Director Yan intervene in the casting, I think this drama might not even be able to start filming by February next year."

He pondered for a while. "How about this, I've also read the script. The female lead is divided into youth and adulthood. For the youth period, we'll find college students from film academies to act. How about that?"

Gu Cheng played the role of a hands-off manager perfectly at this time: "I don't know. My understanding of the character is limited to the male lead. I don't know how the female lead should act, and I don't know how to find people. You should ask Director Yan about this."

Zhang Guang was choked by his words.

It would be a ghost if he didn't know!

The drama *Assassination* was a big female lead revenge drama. As the male lead, he was like a "white moonlight" existence, appearing little in the early stages.

Later, he also had to play the white moonlight's younger brother, but the person he had the most scenes with was the female lead. Regarding understanding the female lead, Gu Cheng was definitely the first.

He was just too lazy to think, which was why he didn't say!

Among March Sky, if one had to choose an artist Zhang Guang felt was the most troublesome, it was actually Gu Cheng.

Silent and cold, seemingly not liking to talk, but actually seeing everything through.

And he had the most opinions. He would suddenly shoot you, scaring you.

Yan Xingdong would consider the overall situation, Luo Yi would be kind to others, and as for Chen Lin, he had a child's temperament, just coax him.

Just Gu Cheng, he would only move his fingers for things he was interested in, and wouldn't say anything if he wasn't interested, holding it in.

Then, either die in silence or explode in silence.

Before, when he wanted to disband the group, Gu Cheng was the one who did it most thoroughly, directly saying he wanted to terminate the contract, which scared Brother Guang.

Recalling that scene now, Brother Guang wanted to give himself a quick-acting heart pill.

Although this kid was in the entertainment industry, he was in a very detached state, as if he didn't care about anything.

Finally determined to act, he still had to take out a lot of money to invest.

Brother Guang thought Gu Cheng would care about this drama to some extent.

Who would have thought he only cared about acting and didn't care about investment at all. Anyway, Brother Guang often couldn't understand his thoughts, so he simply didn't think about it.

Zhang Guang said: "Forget it, I'll look for the actress. You don't need to. When you have time, hurry back to the group."

Gu Cheng's footsteps, just about to leave, suddenly paused and said: "You reminded me. There is really something I need your help with. Give me a leave of absence this week."

Without Brother Guang asking why, he gave the answer: "I want to visit Jin Li's set.

She said there is an actor there who, although playing himself, can connect his own personality with the character's personality to be more extreme. I think it's helpful for my acting, so I want to go see it."

A tone of certainty.

One could tell it couldn't be questioned; he had to go.

Zhang Guang originally wanted to ask whether you were really to improve your acting or had your own selfish motives.

But seeing Gu Cheng's calm and composed face, he turned his words to his lips and took them back.

"Okay, I'll try my best to arrange it for you."

Another night.

When Ren Zhangtao went to find Deng Zexu this time, he found Jin Li was also there, and his heart tightened.

However, Deng Zexu's door was open, so there was no need to worry about hearing content that shouldn't be heard.

He knocked on the door and walked in after Deng Zexu replied.

"Director Deng, Sister Jin Li." Ren Zhangtao greeted them rarely obediently.

If it were in the past, he would have been grinning and hooking shoulders with the director.

Deng Zexu saw him, his eyes lit up, and he immediately said: "Perfect, the person is here. Jin Li, if you have anything you don't understand, ask quickly. I guarantee he will know everything and say everything."

Ren Zhangtao:?

Jin Li hesitated for a moment and said: "Hello, I have an acting technique I want to ask you. How do you switch characters freely?" ===== CHAPTER 204 =====