Chapter 376: Immersed in the Role

With the global box office success and continuous awards of Cao Yang's films in recent years, his prestige and influence had increased significantly, to the point where the available prestige points had accumulated to an exaggerated degree.

Simply put, he couldn't use them all; he really couldn't use them all.

The last time he checked, it was over 3 million available prestige points; this time, it was already over 5 million.

How it grew, how much the awards and box office increased respectively—who knew.

Anyway, he couldn't use them all; he had no intention of probing and calculating now; as long as this growth rate was maintained, he estimated he wouldn't be able to use them all until he died.

Looking at that long string of available prestige points, which could be converted into nearly 60 immersive experiences, Cao Yang even had the urge to challenge people like Da Zhao Tiantian, the "Staring Sister," Nazha, Da Mimi, Reba, etc.

However, after thinking about it, he gave up the urge to challenge them all, because that was hell mode, and he estimated these dozens of immersive experiences wouldn't necessarily be enough.

However, this time there were two ready-made ones in the crew; if there was a chance, he could try to probe.

Actually, this kind of probing wasn't necessarily accurate; that kind of role with only a little bit of scenes was two different things from acting as the protagonist, and couldn't be mentioned in the same breath.

Cao Yang first exchanged 5 immersive experiences, and first used one to try to add it to Da Zhao Tiantian, but it didn't work; one immersive experience wasn't enough!

Damn!

Just that little bit of scenes, one immersive experience wasn't enough; Da Zhao Tiantian, oh Da Zhao Tiantian, you... are really something.

This was still Da Zhao Tiantian; compared to people like the "Staring Sister" who he had to press down, Da Zhao Tiantian could be considered to have acting skills.

Cao Yang couldn't imagine how many immersive experiences it would take to make those new-era traffic little flowers get into the role.

Cao Yang didn't try it on Da Mimi.

To be honest, before Da Mimi went out on her own and before she signed a gambling agreement with others, her acting skills were still there.

Look at her Guo Xiang in "The Return of the Condor Heroes" in her early days; that was still very spiritual.

Cao Yang felt that Da Mimi at this period definitely had better acting skills than Gao Yuanyuan and Yu Feihong at the time.

It was a pity that after she went out on her own, in order to complete the gambling agreement, she crisscrossed films everywhere, consuming her spirituality.

Not to mention being indistinguishable from the crowd, even the formulaic "performance" she summarized herself made her even more insulated from acting.

Cao Yang looked at the system panel.

Host: Cao Yang

Current Prestige: 9008865

Available Prestige: 5308865

Immersive Experience: 5

Film being shot: "Ties to the Seaside City"

Male Lead: Cheng Long

Female Supporting Roles: Yu Feihong, Kara Wai, Jiang Wenli, Jing Tian, Yang Mi

Male Supporting Roles: Zhu Yilong, Tian Zhuangzhuang, Wang Jinsong

Among these people, Wang Jinsong and Old Tian didn't have many scenes, and their acting skills were both considered very good, so they shouldn't need an immersive experience.

The only worry was that their scenes were mainly opposite scenes with the male lead, and he was afraid they wouldn't be able to catch the play when the time came.

Cao Yang thought about it; even if he stacked several immersive experiences on Cheng Long, old veterans like Wang Jinsong and Old Tian should have ways to deal with it.

Zhu Yilong—his opposite scenes with the male lead were even more numerous, so he definitely had to add an immersive experience.

Cao Yang tried adding two directly to Zhu Yilong, but it didn't work.

This was both unexpected and reasonable.

The 19-year-old Zhu Yilong had spirituality, but his acting definitely wouldn't be too much.

Cao Yang tried it directly with 3, and this time it was added.

Fortunately, fortunately, at least it wasn't a pit.

Zhu Yilong played the male lead's nephew, the role with the most scenes besides the protagonist, with a large number of opposite scenes with the male lead, and a few places that needed to explode.

For example, after the male lead's brother died, because of the special weather in Xiangjiang, he definitely had to be "frozen" in the morgue, waiting for a "good day" to be buried.

At first, the nephew chose to escape and deliberately not care about his father's death.

However, he had a scene where he opened the refrigerator at home, and then the frozen chicken inside fell out.

This made him think of his father who was still "frozen" in the morgue, and he could no longer control his emotions, collapsing directly.

If this place was acted well, it could form a sharp contrast with his previous behavior, and it was very possible to win Best Supporting Actor at domestic film festivals.

Cao Yang only hesitated for a moment before adding another immersive experience to Zhu Yilong.

When the film came out, Zhu Yilong's performance would definitely be beyond expectations.

Although Cao Yang already had the name of being good at training actors, having another acting school come out of his film would solidify his label of "being good at training actors."

Moreover, a film was a whole; just the explosion of the protagonist could at most bring awards to the protagonist, but having more actors act well would increase the probability of winning Best Picture.

As for Best Director, the general evaluation standard for this was the film's meaning and metaphor, plus some lens language.

These were the director's way of "speaking."

This film "Manchester by the Sea" still had a lot of lens language.

For example, there were many lenses about the male lead, all limited to the door frame or forming images similar to the door frame; this was to explain through these that the male lead was "trapped" and couldn't walk out of this "cage."

There were many similar lens languages.

These were all things a director wanted to tell the audience through the lens.

Of course, most audiences definitely wouldn't notice these.

But film critics and film festival judges cared about these—if your film didn't have enough metaphors and enough lens language, it was hard to convince people if you wanted to win Best Director.

Jing Tian and Yang Mi wouldn't be added; Yang Mi shouldn't be a problem; as for Jing Tian, anyway, the scenes were very few, so just shoot and see when the time came.

Kara Wai and Jiang Wenli—one played the male lead's brother's wife... also ex-wife, one played the cousin-in-law; the scenes were not many, and the opposite scenes with the protagonist were not many; with their acting skills, they should be able to handle it.

As for Yu Feihong, who played the male lead's ex-wife, ever since Cao Yang added several immersive experiences to her in "Empty House," her acting skills had been retained a bit.

However, after she won the Venice Best Actress, she became completely Buddhist, appeared in very few films, and didn't consolidate those acting skills in time; he didn't know how much was left now.

On this point, she wasn't as good as Li Xiaoran, Gao Yuanyuan, and Dong Xuan.

Now, among the five people of the Four Qingyi, uh, now add Fan Bingbing, Fan Bingbing also belonged to this grade; among the six people of the Four Qingyi, the one with the best acting skills, and also recognized, was Li Xiaoran.

Ever since Li Xiaoran won the Berlin Best Actress, she had appeared in many female leads and cooperated with domestic big directors many times, such as Feng Xiaogang's "A World Without Thieves" and "The Banquet," and Old Chen's "Forever Enthralled."

The acting experience brought by the immersive experience to Li Xiaoran could be considered consolidated.

Including many domestic directors such as Zhang Yimou, Old Chen, and Feng Xiaogang, as well as many film critics and media, all believed that among the new generation of actresses like the Four Qingyi and the Three Huadan, Li Xiaoran's acting was in a class of its own.

Cao Yang thought about it; the male lead's ex-wife played by Yu Feihong had a scene of pushing a baby carriage and reuniting with the male lead, and that place also needed to explode.

Still the same sentence, as long as it was acted well here, don't look at how the scenes were few, but at any domestic film festival, including Golden Rooster, Golden Horse, and Hong Kong Film Awards, winning Best Supporting Actress would definitely not be questioned for acting.

It was just that the three major European festivals only had Best Actress and no Best Supporting Actress, otherwise winning the three major European festivals' Best Supporting Actress would be no problem.

It was just that the male lead's ex-wife's scenes were too few; if there were more, the three major European festivals' Best Actress, which was the Best Actress, could also be contested.

Cao Yang doubted Yu Feihong's acting skills now, so he added an immersive experience to her.

Anyway, she was his woman; adding some acting skills to her was nothing to feel sorry about.

Cao Yang tried adding an immersive experience to her, and it succeeded.

It seemed Yu Feihong's foundation was still there; the previous immersive experiences weren't added in vain.

The 5 immersive experiences exchanged had been added, and Cao Yang looked at the available prestige, and could still exchange 53.

Therefore, he exchanged another 5.

He originally wanted to add all 5 to Cheng Long in one breath, but considered it, and still took it slowly; too much is as bad as too little, don't add him to "collapse."

Still look at Cheng Long's basic conditions first.

Cao Yang tried adding 1 first, and sure enough, it didn't work.

Considering Cheng Long was the male lead, and "Manchester by the Sea" had very high requirements for the male lead, it was normal that 1 didn't work.

Cao Yang directly used 2 immersive experiences to add to Cheng Long.

Unexpectedly, it was beyond expectation, and it succeeded!

Damn!

Cao Yang really didn't expect that Cheng Long's acting was actually quite good.

The impression he left on the audience was that of a funny kung fu superstar; every fighting action produced unexpected comedy effects, which was also the key to his success.

Where could he have thought that Cheng Long's acting was actually quite good.

Cao Yang thought of Cheng Long's early film "Heart of Dragon," which was actually an art film; most of the space was talking about the warmth between him and his mentally disabled brother, and his acting in it was still quite good.

And his transformation work "Shinjuku Incident," the acting was also commendable.

Looking at it this way, 2 immersive experiences could succeed, which was considered normal.

Of course, success and performance beyond expectations were two different things, just like Dong Xuan in "Black Swan," that was quite... um, the acting was unexpectedly good because one more immersive experience was added. Therefore, Cao Yang decided, double the immersive experience, double the performance beyond expectations!

To express the apology in his heart, no, to express respect for Cheng Long, Cao Yang muttered to himself:

"Brother Long, I am doing this for your own good; your films in Hollywood have been failing one after another, and you also unfortunately took the co-production "The Forbidden Kingdom" between Huayi and Hollywood, which is destined to fail.

Up to this point, you probably won't be able to receive mainstream commercial films in Hollywood again.

However, if I promote you and let you win the Berlin Best Actor, even if your Hollywood road can't be revived, it's a perfect full stop, isn't it?

With your fame, maybe you can't receive mainstream commercial films in Hollywood, but those independent films in Hollywood, especially art films, might hire you under the dual blessing of your fame and the Berlin Best Actor.

Um, I am really doing this for your own good."

Cao Yang added another 2 immersive experiences to Cheng Long, and this made 4.

Don't thank me, just wait for the world to be shocked by your acting.

Cao Yang looked at the 1 immersive experience left from the 5 exchanged, frowned, and hesitated for a moment on Yu Feihong's name.

Smacked his lips, closed his eyes, and added another immersive experience to her.

Still the same sentence, his own woman, even if she couldn't win the three major European festivals' Best Actress, winning a few domestic Best Supporting Actress awards was also good.

As for the sequelae...

Anyway, it would be eliminated after a period of time, nothing big.

Thinking of the sequelae, Cao Yang thought of Dong Xuan.

Dong Xuan after shooting "Black Swan," that was really memorable... cough, now Dong Xuan had long since recovered, there was no bad psychological shadow at all, quite good, quite good.

Shy and pure during the day, passionate like fire at night, that was really... cough.

After adding the immersive experience, Cao Yang touched his chin, always feeling he had forgotten something.

Thinking and thinking, thinking for a while, finally slapped his thigh, and hurriedly called assistant director Li Mingyi.

"Mingyi, did you find the psychologist I asked you to find?"

"Is it scheduled? Can join the crew tomorrow? Good."

"Also invited a teacher from the school who specializes in emotional guidance after getting into the role? Not bad, not bad, Mingyi, worked hard."

Cao Yang hung up the phone and finally breathed a sigh of relief.

The male lead Cheng Long had to play was too special; this kind of "depressed" to the extreme film, and added so many immersive experiences... um, all for the film, all for Cheng Long's transformation.

Cheng Long was still obedient to Cao Yang.

After all, he didn't perform well today, and he just wanted to make up for it, so he was particularly obedient.

After Cao Yang explained the play to him for another two hours, he followed Cao Yang's requirements, lay on the bed, and began to think about the positioning and special features of the male lead that Cao Yang explained.

Thinking and thinking, I don't know when, he fell asleep.

In 1998, at a private party, he met an emerging actress who had just begun to show her head; the girl was only 25 years old and was the winner of the "Miss Asia" beauty pageant.

After a series of enthusiastic pursuits, the girl agreed to him, gave up her acting career for him, and three months later, the two got married.

The following year, one of their children was born.

Both were very happy.

Five years later, their third child was born; the two were still as loving as ever, feeling that life was simply happy and perfect.

Just when the third child was one year old, he had a party at home with several friends, playing until very late.

His wife felt that their party was too noisy, to the point of affecting the children's rest, so she came out and said a few words to him.

Of course, his wife called him over privately to say it, giving him enough face.

He felt his wife was right; it was indeed too late.

Therefore, he told his friends, let's stop here today, and gather again when we have time.

After his friends left, when he was cleaning up the wine bottles and cigarette butts on the ground, his wife asked him if he bought diapers when he came back from work today; there weren't enough diapers at home.

Early this morning, his wife told him about this.

He remembered this time; he was just thinking about the small gathering with friends today and forgot about this.

Therefore, in a hurry, he poured the wine bottles, cigarette butts, tissues, and other garbage he cleaned up into the trash can beside the sofa.

Because he drank a lot of wine today, he didn't think about throwing these garbage away, nor did he think there would be danger, just hurriedly went out to buy diapers, fearing that the nearby shops would close.

When he bought them and came back, he found that the house had already caught fire.

He stared blankly at the big fire, only feeling that the sky had collapsed.

He didn't care about anything and threw away the diapers in his hand, wanting to rush into the fire, because his most beloved wife and three children were still inside.

However, because it was too dangerous, he was held tightly by his cousin who came over.

Fortunately, he was reminded that the firefighters had already saved his wife in the sea of fire.

He didn't listen to his cousin's words completely, and ran to the ambulance regardless—saw his wife, saw... he searched everywhere, but didn't find any child.

The police investigation report afterwards showed that it was an unextinguished cigarette butt that ignited the tissues, and those wines with some residual brandy were just the type that was easy to ignite.

Therefore, the fire burning in the trash can spread to the sofa beside it, thereby igniting the entire house.

His wife was saved in time and was fine.

However, when he saw the three children again, it was in a special bag. 【376-

……

"No, no, no!"

Cheng Long shouted and yelled on the bed, thrashing about constantly, as if someone were holding him back, preventing him from going into the sea of fire to save the children.

"No, no, no!"

He finally sat up from the bed, his face covered in tears, calling out incessantly: "No, no, it's not real, it's not, it's not, wuwuwu..."

"Wuwuwu..."

He just sat on the bed like that, crying, and it continued for half an hour, until his assistant came to knock on the door, and he was still crying "wuwu."

The assistant had a key to the room. After she entered, she saw Cheng Long sitting on the bed, his hands covering his face, crying "wuwu," his throat already hoarse from crying.

"Big Brother, what's wrong with you?"

The assistant hurried over, placed her hands on Cheng Long's shoulders, and asked urgently.

She thought some unexpected accident had occurred.

Cheng Long seemed to have found something to lean on.

He grabbed the assistant and hugged her, crying "wuwu," crying and crying, then said with a hoarse throat: "They're gone, my children are gone, all three children are gone, my children, I don't deserve to be a father, I don't deserve to... wuwu..."

The assistant was stunned.

Big Brother Cheng Long's children are gone?

What is going on?

How come I didn't know?

"Big Brother, what's going on? What happened to A-Ming? What's wrong with him?"

Although the assistant also wanted to know why Big Brother Cheng Long mentioned three children, she thought she had misheard and only assumed something had happened to A-Ming.

"Wuwu..."

Cheng Long held the assistant and cried very sorrowfully.

"I shouldn't have drunk alcohol, I shouldn't have failed to throw away the trash when I left, it's all my fault, I don't deserve to be a father, I don't deserve to, wuwu..."

Cheng Long's words left the assistant even more confused.

What drinking? What party? What throwing away trash?

Big Brother, what on earth are you talking about?

She simply took out her phone and called A-Ming to see if he would pick up.

As it turned out, A-Ming answered the phone very impatiently.

Huh?

Nothing happened?

Then what is going on right now?

(End of chapter)