Chapter 35: Everything Ready

Today, the area outside the small theater of the Beijing Film Academy's Performance Department was exceptionally lively. Before the theater even opened, a line had already formed outside.

Those who didn't know the situation would have thought there was an important performance here.

Dong Xuan was a student in the 2000 class of the Performance Department. Yesterday, the teacher told them that a film crew was recruiting people at the small theater today, and those who wanted to try out could go take a look.

At the time, the students in the class were all very surprised. Usually, when film crews came to the school for auditions, the teachers didn't really recommend that freshmen go. What was the situation today?

Upon further questioning, the teacher smiled and said, "Today is different. This is a practice film by a junior student from the Director Department. It's different from outside film crews; the school supports current students participating."

Hearing the teacher say this, many students were a bit disappointed. So it was a practice film? A short film? Then it was boring.

Then someone realized: if it were just a practice short film, it couldn't possibly have the face to let the Performance Department open the small theater for auditions, right?

Someone tentatively said, "It wouldn't be Cao Yang from the Director Department, would it?"

The class went quiet for a moment, and then suddenly turned into a vegetable market, with everyone talking at once, chaotic and noisy.

It wouldn't really be Cao Yang, would it?

Wasn't his film still in theaters? Was he going to shoot a new one so soon?

The teacher signaled for them to be quiet and smiled as he told them it was indeed Cao Yang's new film.

This time, they were recruiting five actors at the school, all supporting roles—two men and three women. As long as they were current students who hadn't graduated, they could go audition.

Dong Xuan was very tempted. For them, this was a very rare opportunity. Sign up, sign up quickly.

"Yueyue, are you ready yet? It starts in an hour. Let's hurry and line up. There were too many people signing up yesterday; don't be late."

"Don't rush. Our dorm is close to the small theater; it only takes a few minutes. We won't be late."

"In this palm-sized school of ours, which dorm isn't close to the small theater?"

Dong Xuan complained, looking around before whispering: "Yueyue, do you think what they're saying is true? Everyone says that film was shot by Director Tian. Why do I feel it doesn't look much like Director Tian's previous films?"

Guan Yue looked in the mirror, carefully drawing her eyebrows before saying: "Who knows? Why do you care who shot it? It doesn't have much to do with us anyway."

"Wait, no, it has a lot to do with us."

Guan Yue put down her eyebrow pencil and muttered to herself: "If the film that won Li Xiaoran the Berlin Best Actress award was shot by Director Tian, and he suddenly stops shooting, then what's the point of this new film?"

"No, are you sure it wasn't shot by Cao Yang?" Dong Xuan looked at Guan Yue, speechless.

"It's obvious. Count back—our school's Director Department has produced so many great directors, but which director have you seen win two Silver Bears in their junior year? Can the National Master do it? Can Kaige do it? Even Director Tian can't, right?"

"Just because they can't doesn't mean Cao Yang can't, right?"

As Dong Xuan said this, she herself lost confidence. Could Cao Yang compare to the National Master, Kaige, and the others?

Dong Xuan suddenly remembered the gossip she had heard these past few days and quickly said: "Didn't the seniors in the Director Department say..."

The words were on the tip of her tongue, but she didn't know whether she should say them. Although those words could refute that the film wasn't shot by Tian Zhuangzhuang, they weren't very friendly to Cao Yang.

"What did they say?" Guan Yue's curiosity was piqued, and she tugged at Dong Xuan's arm, urging her to speak quickly.

"Many seniors in the Director Department are spreading rumors, saying that this film was shot by Cao Yang. How could Director Tian use such low-level, straightforward shots? Even someone who hasn't studied directing has more complex camera movements than him."

"They also said Cao Yang just got lucky, happening to run into Li Xiaoran, whose acting is god-tier, which is why he won the Silver Bear."

Seeing Guan Yue nod thoughtfully, Dong Xuan continued: "They also said that if they were given a Li Xiaoran, let alone a Silver Bear, they could even take home a Golden Bear. Li Xiaoran is indeed amazing. If only I could have half of her acting skills."

"Mm-hmm." Guan Yue nodded repeatedly, saying: "They're right. Li Xiaoran's acting is too awesome. Every time I think about it, my head is still filled with the scene of her painting on the beach."

"Pfft, Tian Zhuangzhuang is too inhuman. Li Xiaoran is such a charming woman, and he didn't even go look for her. She's so pitiful."

"Hey, hey, don't confuse the movie with reality." Dong Xuan smiled and lightly tapped Guan Yue.

Then, the two of them started laughing and playing around.

Girls are just so strange.

Suddenly, someone shouted: "Oh no, we still have to audition!"

The two quickly tidied up and hurried toward the small theater.

By the time they reached the small theater, there were still more than ten minutes until the audition time, but a long line had already formed. Almost all the students from the Performance Department who were still at school had signed up.

Dong Xuan didn't quite understand. Since so many people suspected the film wasn't shot by Cao Yang, why were so many people signing up?

She even saw quite a few seniors who were already somewhat famous in the line.

She thought that most people were probably like Guan Yue: who cares who shot it? It was a movie, after all. What if it was shot well and won an award? This qualification was so rare.

!

After nearly a day of auditions, the two assistant directors, Liu Shan and Li Mingyi, finally selected the five actors.

For the male actors, the righteous police officer was chosen from the '99 class, Yang Zhigang; the correctional assistant, the prison guard who beats the male lead, was chosen from the 2000 junior college class, Zhou Yiwei.

Yang Zhigang was recommended by an acquaintance; anyway, it was a small role, and Liu Shan and Li Mingyi felt his acting was passable, so they chose him.

Zhou Yiwei's audition performance was a bit evil, and they felt it would be very interesting for him to play that prison guard, so they chose him.

For the actresses, the photographer's little girlfriend was chosen as Che Xiao, the boxer's girlfriend as Dong Xuan, and the kind and gentle man's girlfriend as Wen Zhengrong.

There were still a few roles with too little screen time left, such as the three prisoners, the old man's children, and the couple returning halfway through their trip. They could just have crew members or interns make cameos.

With this, all roles were set, and the props were ready; they could start filming at any time.

At the same time, more good news arrived: after twelve days of screening, *On the Beach at Night Alone* had successfully broken the 20 million box office mark.

Boss Han and Hou Keming called Cao Yang one after another to share the good news. This could be considered a big hit. They also told Cao Yang that according to the current trend, without extending the run, there would still be about 3 to 4 million more in box office.

On March 16th, everything was ready, and the opening press conference for *3-Iron* was held on Ludong Island.

As far as Cao Yang knew, it was rumored that Jin Laoguai had prepared the crew and only spent thirteen days shooting this film. He didn't know if it was true, but he definitely couldn't shoot it in thirteen days.

Jin Laoguai's talent was indeed formidable. A person who painted on the streets and beaches of France, couldn't make it, returned home, and only wrote scripts to sell for money because of financial hardship, and then several of his scripts won awards.

Then he started directing films and couldn't stop, winning a Berlin Silver Bear, a Venice Silver Lion, and a Golden Lion.

He was a genius, a freak, and a pervert... highly controversial. His works were mainly based on erotic themes and ethical discussions. He liked to play with ethical tropes and often involved sensitive topics such as violence, sex, and the social underclass.

*3-Iron* was relatively speaking, already one of Jin Laoguai's more "normal" films.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 36 =====