Chapter 393: My dad also has many videotapes

On the night before the film officially started shooting, James Pritzker drove Chen Nuo to an abandoned pier by the sea in New Orleans.

Before them lay a vast, pitch-black sea, and the two men leaned against the front of the car.

"Crack!"

James opened a can of beer.

Drinking outdoors in New Orleans is illegal everywhere except in the French Quarter, and if caught, one faces a fine of 200 to 500 dollars.

But James clearly didn't care, and Chen Nuo hesitated for a moment before taking the beer from him.

Two bright light pillars pierced the dark sea surface like two sharp swords beside the two men.

"My dad's company headquarters was right here back then, and I grew up here," James said. "I never played with those rich kids. I preferred running to this pier alone."

As he spoke, he tilted his head back and took a large gulp. "Later, when I went to New York, New Jersey, and Canada, I could never forget this place. Do you know the feeling of watching the sea alone here for a whole day? It lets you find a resting place for your soul."

Chen Nuo got goosebumps, and it definitely wasn't from the sea breeze. These literary youths were so damn disgusting.

James continued: "I also fell in love with movies here. When I was a kid, besides coming here to watch the sea, I watched movies at home. My dad had a super large screening room, and he had many videotapes—*Citizen Kane*, *The Godfather*, and he had all of *Star Wars*."

Chen Nuo chuckled and nodded: "Me too. Although my house didn't have a screening room, my dad also had many videotapes. Sometimes when I got home early from school and no one was there, I would sneak them out of his wardrobe to watch for a while."

"Why did he hide them in the wardrobe? Did your dad not allow you to watch movies?" James asked, surprised.

Chen Nuo said: "That's not it, you wouldn't understand... um, you go ahead and continue with yours."

James was dazed for a while, then took two more sips of beer. "Now I'm going to shoot the first feature film of my life. Without a doubt, this has always been my dream. I originally thought I was ready. Just like you guys, like you, Richards, including Janice."

"From the script readings over the past few days, I could tell that you were all ready."

"But... tonight, damn it, I found myself scared to death."

Chen Nuo laughed: "As scared as I was when I walked through Mid-City with that Mexican guy?"

"Hahahaha, yes, about the same."

James also laughed. "But you have the money to hire a top-tier security team for yourself to ensure your safety, letting that Mexican guy who wanted to rob you go back to his countryside now to hug his wife and kids and cry. But me? Every time I close my eyes, I feel like I can hear my older brothers and sisters mocking me. All of them think I'm crazy. Not a single person thinks my movie will succeed."

Chen Nuo was silent for a moment and said: "You also have the money to hire an Oscar-winning actress to play a stripper in your debut film."

"Hahahahahaha." James Pritzker burst into laughter. "That's true."

Chen Nuo comforted him: "Don't worry, James, you can tell from your name that you will definitely do great things in the future."

James took a sip of beer and chuckled: "Really? Do you think James LeBron can win the championship this year?"

"Uh... I don't think so. I was actually talking about James Bond."

"Hahahaha!"

James Pritzker's laughter carried far across the dark sea, and he tossed the beer can into the ocean.

"Screw the Heat! Only cowards group up for warmth; true warriors fight alone to the end, until the final victory."

New Orleans is a coastal city in the southeastern United States.

It has a humid climate and a diverse culture, known for being the birthplace of jazz, its Mardi Gras, and its French Quarter. Because of its geographical location near the Gulf of Mexico, it has attracted a large number of illegal immigrants to settle and work there since the 19th century.

These illegal immigrants are called "ghosts" by the local residents of New Orleans.

Ka Xian was one such ghost from China.

More than ten days ago, harboring dreams of getting rich, he and three other villagers from his village hid in a cargo ship's container and drifted across the ocean.

In the end, he reached his destination, while his companions all died on the way.

After paying the snakehead, Ka Xian was penniless.

After sleeping on the streets for a few days, he finally found a job helping out in the back kitchen of a Chinese restaurant.

"Scene 12, Take 1. Action!"

The camera began to roll, and the on-site lights focused on the small and cramped back kitchen of the Chinese restaurant. The prop master began to spray smoke to make the air look filled with oil fumes.

Chen Nuo stood in front of the stove, with several greasy spatulas hanging on the side wall, and the stove was piled with vegetables to be cut.

He wore a worn-out gray T-shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and he was looking down, cutting a carrot.

His technique wasn't too skilled, and there were several fresh scratches on his fingers, as if he had been cut by a knife. These were scars left over from when he was the "Masked Kid" at the pizza shop, which saved the makeup artist some effort here.

"Thump, thump, thump."

The kitchen knife and the cutting board made a dull sound.

The lens slowly moved up from the hands on the cutting board, focusing on his face.

It froze for two seconds.

"Cut!"

Following the voice of director James Pritzker,

the gray-haired Iranian cinematographer revealed a smile from behind the camera and said to Chen Nuo: "OMG, this really gives me a feeling of time traveling back."

Chen Nuo smiled reluctantly; after getting into character, he generally didn't like to chat.

At this moment, James Pritzker walked over. "Chen, this time try slowing down the rhythm of cutting vegetables a little. Ka Xian just arrived here, he should be more nervous, and the movements of his hands can be more hesitant, showing that sense of unfamiliarity with the new environment."

"OK."

The prop master next to him quickly stepped forward to reorganize the vegetables on the cutting board, ensuring everything returned to the state before shooting. The lighting technician also adjusted the angle of the lights to make the shadows on Chen Nuo's face deeper.

"Positions, everyone."

"Scene 12, Take 2. Action!"

Darius Khondji's camera began to roll again, and the lens focused on Chen Nuo's hands once more. He began to cut the carrot.

This time, his movements clearly slowed down, recalling the sense of unfamiliarity from his first day at the pizza shop. Every cut he made carried a cautious probing, as well as vigilance and unease about the surrounding environment.

He ignored the lens, letting himself immerse in the persona of the Masked Kid.

The lens slowly moved up, capturing his lowered eyelids and tightly pursed lips.

The other actors in the back kitchen also cooperated with Chen Nuo's rhythm, and the faint sound of spatulas colliding and the chef's shouting could be heard in the background.

"Very good! Cut!" James Pritzker stood up from behind the monitor and clapped his hands. "Everyone take a ten-minute break, get ready for the next scene."

This was the first day of shooting for *Drop*.

The entire crew was still in the process of getting in sync.

They ended up working for 8 hours, but they didn't complete the five-scene shooting plan originally scheduled for the day.

As the director, James Pritzker didn't care about this and still wrapped up at six o'clock sharp. Afterward, he even gathered the crew members to go find a place to have a drink.

Chen Nuo politely declined.

He had already agreed with Darius Khondji to find a place to eat and catch up in the evening.

Like *My Blueberry Nights*, this *Drop* crew was also shooting on location, but the Chinese restaurant they rented was on a more bustling Chinatown street. There were plenty of places to eat and drink nearby.

Although the surrounding merchants knew that a new movie was being shot here, when Chen Nuo chose a restaurant and walked in with Guli Nazha, Hu Ge, and Darius Khondji...

the atmosphere in the restaurant still instantly erupted.

Even when they sat in the private room, they could hear the noisy discussions outside.

After the excited waiter left, Darius Khondji touched his increasingly balding head and smiled: "I must admit, when I first filmed you in *My Blueberry Nights*, I absolutely didn't think of today."

"I didn't think of it either." Chen Nuo didn't want to talk much at this time, smiling and saying: "Let's not talk about me, Darius, how have you been these past few years? Are you doing well?"

"Not bad," Darius Khondji said with quite a bit of pride.

The Iranian cinematographer talked about his work experience over these past few years.

After *My Blueberry Nights*, he didn't take on any more art films, but instead struck while the iron was hot, turning toward larger-production commercial films.

He participated in the shooting of A-list films like *Midnight in Paris*, *Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen*, and *The Wrestler* in succession, and also received nominations for cinematography awards like the "American Society of Cinematographers Award" and the "British Academy Film Award." Although he didn't win, he could definitely be said to be doing quite well.

When James Pritzker found him this time, he didn't think much of it at first.

"Actually, I had already received an invitation from Ang Lee at the time and was preparing to sign the contract. Ang Lee had a new film that was also starting in April. I felt the shooting style was quite challenging, and I was very interested. And Pritzker? I only knew of a Pritzker Architecture Prize; I really didn't know which director was called that."

"When my agent told me at first, I thought he was joking with me."

While filming *My Blueberry Nights*, Chen Nuo knew that this old man had a straightforward personality, and sure enough, he was chatting incessantly now.

When he heard that Ang Lee was looking for Darius Khondji to film, his heart couldn't help but stir.

What Ang Lee was filming at this time must be *Life of Pi*.

If nothing went wrong, this film would be invincible during the awards season and would also bring Director Ang Lee his second Oscar for Best Director at the 2013 Oscar ceremony.

Calculating the time, it was very likely to collide with the Chinese worker story that Quentin Tarantino was about to collaborate with him on.

At that time, it would be hard to say who would win.

If, just saying if, the Chinese worker story Quentin filmed was even more awesome than the black slave story, causing Director Ang Lee to return empty-handed from the big Oscar stage, wouldn't the hearts of the vast compatriots in Taiwan be shattered? How could that be?

"... But later, when I heard your name from my agent, I knew, okay, the truly tricky choice had arrived," Darius continued.

"I've earned enough money in these two years; now I just want to get an Oscar to make up for the regret of '96. I'm already 56 years old this year, and I don't know when I won't be able to carry the camera anymore. Every movie I shoot now is very important to me."

"There are two reasons for coming here," Darius's eyes were very serious. "On one hand, because *My Blueberry Nights* is a work I'm very proud of, and it failing to be nominated for an Oscar made me very sad."

"On the other hand, compared to Ang Lee, I'm more willing to believe that your performance can make my lens shine."

Guli Nazha couldn't understand English, but she knew this old man was the cinematographer for *My Blueberry Nights*. That world-famous shot from *My Blueberry Nights* came from his hands.

When she saw the gray-haired old man suddenly become serious, Guli Nazha instantly became a little nervous.

What's going on?

Did they talk about something unhappy?

Ah! The feeling of not understanding is too uncomfortable. I must work overtime to memorize words when I go back tonight! Learn English well!

Hearing the old man say this, Chen Nuo toasted with tea instead of wine and said: "I hope I didn't let you down today, Darius."

Darius Khondji clinked glasses with him and smiled: "Haha, no."

"That's good."

"To be honest, the first shot, the way you were cutting vegetables, reminded me of the scene where Daniel Day-Lewis was repairing shoes in *The Unbearable Lightness of Being*. If I were the director, I would definitely have used the first take."

"However, he insisted that we do it again..."

Speaking of this, Darius paused and looked at Chen Nuo very seriously: "Chen, I think, perhaps you should have a chat with him. I feel he is a bit nervous."

Nervous? He must be nervous.

A director shooting his first feature film, and an immigrant who just arrived.

They both need time to adapt and adjust.

Ka Xian was like a ghost, living a life without seeing the sun in the gloomy kitchen and the narrow basement.

At first, like the millions of people in New Orleans dreaming the American Dream, he fantasized about striking it rich one day and becoming someone superior.

But slowly, he didn't think that way anymore.

He just wanted to survive now.

If there was a prerequisite, it would be to find a woman and continue living.

However, so far, he was still far from this goal.

The heavy work every day weighed on him, making it impossible for him to contact the outside world or find a woman.

His only recreational activity was looking at the erotic magazines left in the basement by the previous tenant, sitting on the mattress and masturbating.

When Chen Nuo performed this scene, he brought a chilling sense of realism.

He wore a tattered undershirt, sitting on the worn-out mattress, his shoulders slightly hunched, one hand flipping open a yellowed magazine, staring at the naked blonde woman on it.

At first, the lens gave him a close-up.

You could see his half-squinted eyes, his tense chin, and his slightly twitching mouth corners.

The water the prop master had just sprinkled on him was dripping down his face, as if it were truly a sweltering summer in an airtight room.

Darius Khondji stared at the viewfinder, steadily pulling the camera away along Chen Nuo's side and back.

Because the incandescent light cast large patches of shadows, Chen Nuo's body was cut into blocks of light and dark in the lens, and the dim light outlined the contours of his tense shoulders and arms.

You couldn't see the specific details of his lower body.

However, he was clearly reaching a critical moment, because his arm movements were getting faster and faster.

In the dirty basement, his breathing was also getting heavier.

Finally.

"Hah."

With a low, muffled groan, the man began to tremble. At the same time, his head jerked back. After a few violent shakes, you could see that the energy that had filled his entire body seemed to have been drained away all at once.

He was panting, and although his body was still sitting there,

his slumped shoulders and sagging buttocks made people feel that he had gone completely limp.

Chen Nuo threw the magazine in his hand away, lay back, and sprawled out in a star shape.

"Cut!"

This scene wasn't a nude scene; Chen Nuo was wearing an undershirt on his upper body and shorts on his lower body, and he didn't actually perform a live show.

So the set wasn't cleared.

Guli Nazha also stayed on set as Chen Nuo's assistant.

Seeing the end, Guli Nazha's heart was beating like a drum, thump-thump-thump.

Especially hearing that groan Chen Nuo squeezed out from his throat at the end... although she didn't look in a mirror, she was sure her face must be bright red.

My God, it was truly too erotic.

Although nothing was exposed, watching from beginning to end, it really felt like watching a Japanese movie; it was too, too, too... unbearable.

If she hadn't seen his pants were worn properly, she would have really thought he was doing that.

However, although she was flustered, fortunately, she hadn't forgotten her duties. As soon as the director shouted "Cut," she quickly ran over with the large towel in her hand and draped it over Chen Nuo. Chen Nuo was still completely immersed in the scene at this time and hadn't come out at all.

Feeling something extra on his body, he looked up, glanced at the beautiful Xinjiang girl, his eyes brightened, and the corners of his mouth twitched slightly, revealing a half-smile expression.

Chen Nuo hadn't come out of character at all at this moment.

And this look of his as Ka Xian was too lethal.

Even if Guli Nazha only made eye contact for a split second, her hand shook, and her legs went a bit soft.

She hurriedly lowered her head, but her heart couldn't calm down no matter what.

Next, Chen Nuo performed two more times, and James shouted "Pass."

After watching these few times, Guli Nazha was somewhat adapted and didn't blush anymore.

Only one thought remained in her mind:

From this angle, you can't see anything at all!

But she couldn't just walk around.

Hey, come to think of it, what kind of movie is this?! The girl thought in a daze, is it 18+? Is it a porn movie? Will it be shown in theaters?

If it really is shown in theaters, then at that time... Guli Nazha felt that she would definitely buy a ticket to go watch the front view again.

At the same time, she also fantasized a little about the reaction of his "Sticky Rice" fans back home after seeing this scene.

Thinking about it, she couldn't help but giggle secretly.

I really want to see what the theater will be like then.

Jenny is the daughter of the owner of the Chinese restaurant where Ka Xian works, 19 years old, studying at Tulane University in New Orleans, and can speak Cantonese and English.

The first time they met, Jenny fell in love with Ka Xian.

It was a busy Friday night.

The Chinese restaurant was bustling with noise, orders were constant, and Jenny had just returned from school and decided to come help. She carried a large stack of empty plates to the back kitchen, and when she entered the kitchen, she bumped head-on into Ka Xian, who was just coming out.

At the kitchen door.

Seeing that Janice Man was about to fall, Chen Nuo instantly supported her waist.

"OMG, you scared me." Janice Man looked terrified.

Chen Nuo said in English with a bit of an accent: "Sorry, it's my fault."

"No, it's my problem, I was walking too fast. Who are you? How come I haven't seen you?"

"My name is Ka Xian, I'm new here."

"Ka Xian." Janice Man repeated the name, looking at the man's face, a smile suddenly appearing on her face. "My name is Jenny, nice to meet you."

2 hours and 43 minutes ago, they were still strangers meeting for the first time.

And then 2 hours and 43 minutes later, they were rolling on a bed.

That's right, if anyone hoped that James could write a script like *Chungking Express*, they would be very wrong.

The simple and crude Americans didn't have much patience for romance, and they didn't understand what ambiguous "playing hard to get" meant.

It was just that Jenny had a bit of a crush on the handsome helper she just met, so the plot of waiting until after work to invite Ka Xian for a drink under the guise of gratitude formed a powerful motivation for them to go to bed in James's eyes.

However, fortunately and unfortunately, James didn't intend to give the Chinese girl too many opportunities to perform.

The passionate scenes between the two were limited to kissing, hugging, and tearing at each other's clothes.

"Oh, you live here? In my family's basement?"

The girl was brought down to the basement by the man.

"Yes, that's right. Thanks to the boss for being willing to rent it to me."

"Haha, him? Forget it. But it looks okay now, quite clean. By the way, when did you come to our restaurant?"

"Two weeks ago. Do you want to drink something? I only have beer here."

"Beer is fine."

Janice Man looked around with a bit of curiosity.

Chen Nuo took a can of beer from a plastic bag next to the mattress on the floor and tossed it to her, asking casually: "How old are you?" His gaze followed the beer and landed on the girl's body. It didn't linger on her face but wandered over the girl's chest and thighs.

Janice Man noticed his gaze, and for a moment, she seemed to shrink back, but immediately she puffed out her chest and said frankly: "19, how about you?"

"I'm 24. It seems you can't drink at 19 in the US."

"So what? Are you going to stop me?"

The girl looked at him provocatively.

In these few years, not only did Chen Nuo maintain his standard, but Darius Khondji's camera techniques were as consistent as ever.

The lens moved steadily forward, starting from Janice Man's profile, capturing her slightly upturned mouth corners and those bold yet slightly shy eyes.

The warm yellow and black tones shrouded the entire basement, and the dim light outlined the contours of her fair face. In James Pritzker's monitor screen, it was as if a white orchid was blooming in the darkness of the gloomy basement.

Afterward, the lens moved along her line of sight, focusing on Chen Nuo's face. The man's face flickered in the light, making it difficult to distinguish his inner thoughts.

However, the contours of his profile in the lens were like a sketch that only the most brilliant artist could draw.

This scene, without words, could make all logic flow smoothly.

Why did the girl come here with him?

Why did everything progress so quickly?

Why did she tease a nearly strange man so boldly?

James Pritzker felt that this profile was the best answer; no matter the judges in Venice or Cannes, they should have nothing to say about this.

Sure enough, inviting this old guy Darius Khondji was absolutely the most correct choice. When he was looking up information, the most famous French film magazine, *Cahiers du Cinéma*, wrote it correctly.

The young Chinese actor under this Iranian old man's lens was indeed more alluring than *Twilight*. *Twilight* could only attract little girls, while Jeremy in *My Blueberry Nights* was attractive to both men and women. It's just a pity that *Blueberry* was too niche and too raw back then!

James Pritzker bit his finger; this was his habitual action when he was nervous and engrossed.

In the script, he only wrote about Ka Xian's inner struggle here, desire and restraint intertwined. Desire was the base color, while restraint was the concern about the girl's identity and whether it would make him lose his job.

As for love?

Sorry, for an illegal immigrant whose life is hanging by a thread, love is too luxurious.

So how would he express it?

Next, Chen Nuo revealed the answer.

In the monitor, at first, the man's upper face was in the darkness, his neck in the light, and the Adam's apple above rolled slightly.

Subsequently, he took a small step forward, exposing his entire face to the lens. You could see his eyes were slowly moving upward, as if he had been looking somewhere else just now.

Where was somewhere else?

Need I say more? Any man or woman seeing this scene would understand; it wasn't the towering chest or the legs under the skirt, where else could it be?

Finally, it arrived at Janice Man's eyes. Under their four eyes meeting, he said in a low voice: "I won't stop you, but are you sure you want to drink?"

James looked at the picture on the monitor, biting his index finger hard. The entire set of performance techniques before wasn't unusual, but this look was truly making him unable to control himself.

He felt that only black pupils in the whole world could perform such emotional narrative; otherwise, why hadn't Gary Oldman, Leonardo DiCaprio, or Brad Pitt done it in his impression?

It looked so deep and layered in the lens, mysterious and elegant, as if hiding countless words and complex emotions, like a deep, bottomless pool.

This even made him feel a bit jealous.

In the next shot, facing Chen Nuo's question, Janice Man opened the beer can cleanly with a "zz" sound.

She stared at the man with a provocative gaze.

This was her response.

Alright,

what happened next, in Darius Khondji's lens, was like a red fantasy dream; everything happened so unexpectedly yet logically.

The lighting technician adjusted the color temperature of the top light at this time, projecting an ambiguous red halo, making everything become bizarre, and the shadows of the two overlapping were cast on the basement walls.

At first, Darius Khondji set up a ladder, using the techniques he learned in *My Blueberry Nights*, filming from the bed downward.

Accompanied by jazz music from an old radio in the corner of the basement, on that tattered mattress, the man and the girl were kissing and rolling, roughly touching each other.

Chen Nuo's senses were all mobilized at this moment.

He devoted himself wholeheartedly to this scene.

This was definitely thanks to Janice Man.

As an immersive actor, what he needed most to perform a scene well was feeling.

Feeling was like the finishing touch of a dragon to him, like a spiritual connection from heaven.

In order to find the feeling of an illegal immigrant, he didn't hesitate to cover his face and go to the city center of New Orleans, spending time with some real illegal immigrants, chatting with them all night to understand what they were thinking and where they came from.

And in this scene, his feeling came from the bold yet shy love in Janice Man's eyes.

Weren't he and her just like this?

In the first accidental encounter, in the rendezvous of only a few hours, because of a glass of wine, everything that followed happened.

But facing this introverted yet enthusiastic Hong Kong girl, this woman who once traveled across mountains and seas to come to him...

What about him?

How similar was the feeling in his heart to Ka Xian's?

Facing someone who loves recklessly, their hearts might all be like cold snow-capped mountains.

When Darius Khondji changed the angle and started filming the close-up, Chen Nuo had forgotten he was acting for the most part. He could feel that Janice Man was the same.

For the sake of today's scene, they had been like strangers for the past few days, not talking or touching.

And in the end, the passion and desire they had accumulated toward each other erupted like a volcano in front of the lens.

If it weren't for the last shred of reason in his mind still existing, pulling the galloping wild horse like reins, it really would be hard to say what would have happened.

A man and a woman were kissing in the lens. In Darius Khondji's perception, they were no longer the two fish separated by life and death in *My Blueberry Nights*.

But two hungry fish in a desert without a drop of water.

Supporting each other with moisture.

"Cut!"

After this long yet short passion, Chen Nuo finally heard James Pritzker's voice.

When he rolled off Janice Man's body and sat on the bed, looking at the woman,

he believed that at this moment, their two souls were connected.

Janice Man draped the large towel Guli Nazha handed over and smiled slightly, and he couldn't help but smile too.

At this time, the fat director finished watching the playback and was clapping hard: "This is what I wanted, too good, perfect! Pass!"

This day, finally, had a perfect ending.

After more than ten NG takes that were stumbling before, Chen Nuo and Janice Man finally passed in one take in the last shot.

From this night on, Ka Xian's situation in the plot finally changed.

At Jenny's pleading, her father, the Chinese restaurant owner, finally gave him a new errand.

That was delivering food.

This had a certain danger for the restaurant owner. Because once stopped by the police for a traffic violation, if he couldn't produce legal documents, not only would the person be deported, but the restaurant would also face a high fine.

Therefore, Ka Xian would only be arranged to go out at night.

But the higher hourly wage and the rare freedom of a delivery person were enough to make the man happy beyond measure.

In the gloomy basement, with a quilt covering their bodies, Chen Nuo kissed Janice Man's soft lips while saying with tenderness: "Thank you, Jenny, I will repay you."

Janice Man looked back at him infatuatedly, the love in her eyes like substance. She shook her head and said: "No, I don't need your repayment. I love you."

Chen Nuo was stunned for a moment, then smiled: "I love you too." As he spoke, he kissed her gently.

Logically speaking, at this time, James Pritzker should have shouted stop.

But the fat director delayed for two seconds, because in this close-up kissing shot, he suddenly saw a line of tears rolling down the corner of the girl's eye.

He didn't know this was Janice Man's first reaction in her life to hearing Chen Nuo say "I love you."

So he marveled at the complexity and instantaneous explosiveness of the girl's acting, muttering: "Fuck. This is an actor from China?"

In the drinking gathering with the old cinematographer that night, James raised this question, which resulted in Darius Khondji's loud laughter.

Darius Khondji was just about to share some Hong Kong gossip he knew.

Suddenly, he stopped again.

Looking at James, then looking back at the others around, the old cinematographer decided to keep his mouth shut.

Perhaps a few years ago, he could have told Wong Kar-wai without hesitation that the male and female leads in his play had definitely slept together.

But now, it was different.

He didn't want to spread the news he knew everywhere, eventually reaching someone's ears and leaving a bad impression.

Don't bully the young because they are poor. If Darius were Chinese, he would definitely sigh like this.

"Indeed, Janice performed very well," Darius finally just said. "But after filming today, what makes me even more gratified is that you are more relaxed."

"This is very good. Facing an actor like Chen, sometimes you just need to wait. You give him enough room to perform, instead of pointing fingers at his performance."

"Whether it's him or Theron later, my personal advice is the same. Let them play freely."

"Don't look at me like that, I'm telling the truth. Do you know Wong Kar-wai?"

"Yes, that Hong Kong director. He actually doesn't know anything; he just finds some good actors, then lets them act themselves, and finally picks and chooses to edit them together, that's all."

PS:

Trains will be late, and so will I.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 394 =====