Chapter 378: Controversy

The filming of *Manchester by the Sea* (also known as *Manchester by the Sea*) was proceeding very smoothly; at least for now, in terms of filming progress and fluidity, it was quite smooth.

As for the interaction scenes between the "nephew" and his two girlfriends—that is, the scenes involving Zhu Yilong, Jing Tian, and Yang Mi—Cao Yang arranged for them to be filmed last.

Yes, last.

It was truly the very end, scheduled after the scenes where the "nephew" breaks down in tears in front of the refrigerator and the protagonist encounters his ex-wife pushing a baby.

As for the reason.

The explanation given to Yang Mi and Jing Tian was to let them follow the crew to learn and practice more, so they could discover their own shortcomings, correct them in time, and lay a solid foundation for their future acting careers.

In reality, Cao Yang was afraid that these simple scenes would result in too many NGs, affecting everyone's state of mind.

While the filming was smooth, some "minor" problems arose regarding the actors.

Zhu Yilong was easier to handle; he was currently just a small student at the Beijing Film Academy. Outside of filming, he appeared silent and reticent, with a "strangers keep away" vibe, so everyone just assumed that was his natural personality.

Only Cao Yang chatted with him from time to time and instructed Teacher Qin Peiling to pay more attention to him, fearing he might actually become depressed.

Teacher Qin Peiling was a specialist invited from the Beijing Film Academy who studied emotional guidance after actors entered a role. She held a PhD in Psychology from Beijing Normal University and was a talent the school had only recruited in recent years.

The term "recruited talent" here was not meant in a derogatory sense.

It was currently 2007, and undergraduate majors had only just begun to expand enrollment not long ago; in this era, getting into university was no easy feat.

Teacher Qin Peiling had obtained her PhD in Psychology from Beijing Normal University in 2003. When she took her university entrance exams, universities hadn't even expanded enrollment yet, so the gold content of her PhD was very substantial.

Teacher Qin felt that this trip with the crew was very worthwhile.

As for the reason, it was naturally because there were three people in the crew currently who interested her greatly.

One was the Beijing Film Academy student Zhu Yilong, and the other was the world-renowned international superstar Cheng Long.

The last one was the international master director and the face of the Beijing Film Academy, Cao Yang.

Teacher Qin's doctoral thesis back then was on the study of the psychological characteristics of actors after entering a role, which was a relatively "niche" topic. Coupled with her years of teaching at the Beijing Film Academy, she considered herself to have quite a bit of experience regarding "entering a role."

However, following the crew this time gave her a sense of having her eyes opened.

She had seen "entering a role" many times, but seeing it done to this extent was truly rare.

Entering a role is a very complex topic; if Teacher Qin were to talk about it, she probably wouldn't finish in three days and three nights.

However, if one doesn't distinguish between the Method school and the Experiential school, and summarizes it in the simplest terms possible, entering a role can be divided into progressive immersion and extreme immersion.

Progressive immersion is when an actor reads the script thoroughly, understands the plot, and gradually "immerses" themselves into the character as the crew meshes together.

Not every actor can enter a character; it requires a certain level of acting support.

This type of progressive immersion causes almost no harm to the actor, and they can recover shortly after filming ends.

Extreme immersion is very extreme; the actor becomes completely immersed in the character, to the point where their cognition even develops problems, thinking they are the character themselves, making it very difficult to exit the role.

After extreme immersion, the impact on the actor is very significant, ranging from being influenced by the plot and falling in love with their scene partner, to depression, schizophrenia, and even tendencies toward extreme behavior.

Teacher Qin felt that Cheng Long and Zhu Yilong did not seem like progressive immersion cases. Just watching them perform in front of the camera, even when not filming, they seemed completely immersed in their characters; this had the feel of extreme immersion.

Another piece of evidence was that when they performed in front of the camera, it didn't look like acting at all; it felt like real people and real events.

Combined with the film's plot, one always felt that the two of them were the characters in the movie repeating their own lives!

This was simply more extreme than extreme immersion—extreme immersion only means complete emotional investment, which doesn't necessarily mean they are acting well, realistically, or naturally.

But to say they were in extreme immersion, it didn't look like that either.

A very obvious point of extreme immersion is the inability to distinguish between inside and outside the play.

Cheng Long and Zhu Yilong looked like they were in extreme immersion, but Qin Peiling had quite a bit of interaction with both of them every day; they could distinguish between inside and outside the play, knew they were filming a movie, and were completely clear-headed.

As a teacher at the Beijing Film Academy, Qin Peiling certainly knew that Cao Yang was adept at coaching actors.

She had always believed that Cao Yang achieved this through constant explanation and constant rehearsal, allowing actors to enter the role as early as possible, or even enter the role the moment filming began.

She had paid attention when Tian Zhuangzhuang was filming *The Blue Kite*; Old Tian did exactly that.

Old Tian spent nearly three months constantly repeating the explanation of the scenes, thereby allowing the actors to fully understand the "character" and the script, ultimately achieving "early entry into the role and good acting."

From the perspective of "inheriting the mantle," Director Cao Yang should also be like this.

However, reality was not like that at all.

Qin Peiling also inquired for news from Old Gu and some of Cao Yang's old crew members, learning that all the actors Cao Yang had "coached" were immersed in their roles in front of the camera, but had complete autonomous cognition when not filming.

This left Qin Peiling very surprised.

Therefore, she became increasingly curious about Cao Yang, and like someone who had discovered a treasure, she felt that if she could write a paper on this, it would definitely make the industry gasp in amazement.

Qin Peiling, as if she had discovered a "new toy," talked to Cheng Long and Zhu Yilong every day.

However, the state Cheng Long was in began to worry his team and family.

In the past, when Cheng Long was filming, he was quite active, talkative, and loved to joke around.

But now, Cheng Long felt like a pool of stagnant water; he was like this in front of the camera while filming, and he was the same way on set when not filming.

When they were filming in Xiangjiang, his wife and son came to visit the set, but he still showed little reaction and acted exceptionally cold.

Especially toward A Ming, he treated him almost like a complete stranger; one couldn't see even the slightest hint of the attitude one should have toward their own biological son.

A Ming was stunned.

He himself was also an actor and knew that his old man's state might be due to being too deeply immersed in the role, but this state was truly very worrying.

Consequently, A Ming made a bold decision.

He sat down next to Cheng Long and, in front of Cheng Long and his assistant, said to Cheng Long, "I picked up a pretty girl a while ago..."

Having said this, he cautiously glanced at Cheng Long, then continued, "However, she already had a boyfriend. We were cornered by her boyfriend at the hotel, and I... I gave him some money..."

After finishing, he secretly looked at Cheng Long again.

Based on his understanding of his old man, at this moment, his old man should be flying into a rage, cursing loudly, and it was even possible that a slap would come flying over.

A Ming had had similar experiences; his old man would definitely suspect he had been "honey-trapped," would call him stupid, would call him a good-for-nothing, would call him unable to control his lower half, and would also curse him for being a spendthrift...

However, Cheng Long acted as if he hadn't heard anything, his expression blank, not knowing what he was thinking.

Just as A Ming was secretly anxious and worried, Cheng Long suddenly stood up and dropped a single sentence: "Time to start work."

Cheng Long walked forward a few steps, then suddenly stopped again. Without turning his head, he just said to the assistant, "Cancel his credit card. If he wants money, let him go earn it himself."

Having said this, he walked away without looking back.

A Ming widened his eyes, mouth agape, reaching out as if to say something.

However, in the end, he didn't say it out loud; he just retracted his hand and gave himself a fierce slap across the face.

That'll teach you to run your mouth!

I had no business caring about him!

Cheng Long's "immersed in the role" state was eventually exposed by the paparazzi in Xiangjiang. You have to admit the paparazzi in Xiangjiang are incredibly resourceful; some tabloids even published a somewhat blurry photo.

In the photo, Cheng Long was expressionless, but he looked to be in poor condition, and he had a circle of scruffy stubble.

These days, everyone knows the character of Xiangjiang paparazzi and tabloids.

Those who don't can refer to those mainland paparazzi and "shock" departments that learn from Xiangjiang paparazzi and tabloids; you can roughly get the full picture from a glimpse.

Consequently, some tabloids used exaggerated headlines to report that while filming an romance movie for a big director, Cheng Long had become too deeply immersed in his role and was facing depression and a breakdown.

Some tabloids also inferred from this that the general plot of this romance movie should be that the male lead Cheng Long's girlfriend or wife abandoned him, causing him to be sad and desperate, and later a female lead should appear to "save" him. That's why it's called "Love in the Seaside City," right?

It's just that, perhaps the director was "too good" at coaching actors, and Cheng Long became too deeply immersed in the role when filming being abandoned by his ex-girlfriend, leading to his current state.

Based on this, this tabloid boldly speculated that Cao Yang's new movie was definitely finished and couldn't be filmed anymore.

Hmm, between the lines, there was still a kind of high-and-mighty "sense of superiority."

First, the messy tabloids reported on this matter frantically, most of them bearish on the prospects of this movie.

Then, a so-called "insider" who requested anonymity broke the news that Cheng Long already had tendencies toward depression and was currently unable to continue filming, and privately, the crew and his family had already hired the best psychologists in the world...

If the "insider's" revelation only left everyone half-believing, then a video that was shot with a digital camera and was reasonably clear "brought the truth to light."

In the video, a drunk A Ming was seen with his arm around a pretty girl, pushing aside someone blocking his way.

At this moment, a voice said angrily, "Your old man is depressed from filming, and you still have the face to drink and chase girls here."

These words caused the drunk A Ming to completely break down.

He pointed his finger at the person and cursed, "You bastard, when was my old man depressed? If you talk nonsense again, believe it or not, I'll find someone to kill your whole family? My old man is just immersed in the role, immersed in the role, do you understand..."

From the reasonably clear video, it could be seen that A Ming was likely set up by someone again.

Xiangjiang is a place that is typically a small temple with big demons, a shallow pond...

Although A Ming denied that Cheng Long was depressed, he confirmed the "immersion in the role."

Although "immersion in the role" and "depression" cannot be equated, they do have a certain connection; many actors who are deeply "immersed in the role" are very likely to become depressed.

Sometimes, the situation of being unable to get out of a role can be much more serious than depression.

With this video, those famous Xiangjiang newspapers and media outlets all started to get involved.

Some reported on what kind of consequences serious immersion in a role might have, and cited Xiangjiang's Zhang Guorong, as well as the actress who played Lin Daiyu in the mainland's "Dream of the Red Chamber," Chen Xiaoxu, who passed away in May of this year, as examples.

These are all classic examples of being unable to get out of a role.

Of course, such a thing as an actor being immersed in a role generally cannot be blamed on the director; one can only say the actor was too "immersed" in the character.

But there are exceptions to everything.

As everyone knows, Cao Yang is world-renowned for being good at coaching actors.

Since you are good at coaching actors, any negative impact resulting from an actor being immersed in a role is definitely your responsibility as the director—this is the implication of many Xiangjiang media outlets.

In short, no one was optimistic about the movie's prospects, and the Xiangjiang media also vaguely criticized the director and the crew for being unprofessional.

Unprofessional?

Cao Yang was speechless after reading the reports.

At this current time, most people in Xiangjiang were still immersed in the past glory of being "a cut above" the mainland and couldn't extricate themselves; it was estimated they wouldn't be able to change that for a while.

Cao Yang is an international big director who came out of the mainland. In the past two years, thanks to the efforts of a group of people led by him, although the Xiangjiang and Wanwan people who came north still hadn't let go of their inner arrogance, many unequal things from the past had improved a lot.

Therefore, the Xiangjiang media had always had a very complicated attitude toward Cao Yang. When Cao Yang was still filming art films in the country and winning awards continuously, they chose to treat him coldly, not reporting or reporting little, pretending not to see him.

But Cao Yang's achievements after entering Hollywood were too dazzling, especially last year's "Inception," which had a global box office of 900 million US dollars; it wasn't something you could ignore just because you didn't want to report it.

Consequently, the Xiangjiang media tried desperately to magnify Depp's role in it—a very petty approach.

Do they not understand Cao Yang's influence?

Of course not; they actually understand everything.

It's just that the mainland film and television circle, which they had always looked down upon, produced a big director like Cao Yang, leaving them somewhat at a loss and unwilling to admit it.

Now that there was an opportunity, of course, they wanted to take the chance to smear him.

In fact, when the Xiangjiang side was reporting on this matter on a large scale, Cao Yang had already taken the crew back to the mainland. The 10-day filming schedule expected in Xiangjiang took only 8 days to complete.

This even included the one day of rest when they first arrived in Xiangjiang; the actual filming took only 7 days.

The crew didn't set off for Canada to film immediately; instead, they had to attend the 26th Golden Rooster Awards on October 27th before they would go to Canada for location shooting.

Because they finished filming in Xiangjiang two days ahead of schedule, Cao Yang simply gave the crew a three-day break: the two days from finishing early, plus the third day for attending the Golden Rooster Awards ceremony.

It was precisely because they finished two days early and came back that Cao Yang missed this wave of large-scale reporting by the Xiangjiang media.

Otherwise, he would definitely have been annoyed to death by these media outlets in Xiangjiang.

"These Xiangjiang paparazzi are too much, and these newspapers too—isn't this just nonsense? An actor being immersed in a role is because the actor wants to play the character well; how can that be blamed on the director and the crew?"

Gao Yuanyuan was looking at the news on her computer in anger, and while looking, she said some beautiful internationally common language; if others heard it, their jaws would drop.

Her fans and supporters would definitely suspect, is this still our quiet goddess?

"I'm not even angry, why are you?"

Cao Yang smiled and pulled Gao Yuanyuan up from the computer chair, letting her sit in his lap.

This Golden Rooster was the first one after Cao Yang became the vice chairman of the Federation of Literary and Art Circles, and it could be considered a session that implemented some of his will; he attached great importance to it and definitely had to attend.

And precisely because of the importance of this Golden Rooster, Li Xiaoran, Yu Feihong, Gao Yuanyuan, Dong Xuan, Pang Bing, and others would also attend.

Furthermore, Yu Feihong, Gao Yuanyuan, and Pang Bing would appear as award presenters, while Li Xiaoran and Dong Xuan both had works nominated.

Gao Yuanyuan returned to Jingcheng today, and Cao Yang also came over.

"Look, didn't many Xiangjiang actors and directors speak up for me?"

Cao Yang pointed at the computer screen and said.

Gao Yuanyuan took a look, and there really were.

However, some were not speaking up voluntarily, like Wang Jiawei, who was interviewed by the media and asked how he viewed the director letting the actor be immersed in the role.

Although he was wearing sunglasses, one could still see that Wang Jiawei looked at the reporter as if looking at an idiot, and said slowly:

"Didn't you report that Liang Chaowei became depressed because of filming my movie? I want to say, being able to make Liang Chaowei immersed in a role and depressed is the thing I am most proud of.

What are you reporters reporting blindly for? It's simply inexplicable.

Do you understand what the art of cinema is? Do you understand what every director's most desired ability is? If I had Director Cao's ability, I would be the King of the World, damn it!"

"Pfft."

Gao Yuanyuan laughed. At this moment, she suddenly felt that Wang Jiawei was also a pretty good director, and her impression of Wang Jiawei improved greatly.

Of course, if Wang Jiawei invited her to film a movie, sorry, no time and energy; she couldn't afford to waste it, really couldn't afford to waste it.

With that time, wouldn't it be better to endorse a few big brands?

Don't look at the fact that since Gao Yuanyuan won the Cannes Best Actress award, she hasn't acted in many movies, but her advertising resources are the best in the country, and her endorsement fees are also the highest in the country.

"Wu Qihua is still the one who is loyal; look, he even specifically accepted an interview on this face-to-face program to angrily denounce the media."

Gao Yuanyuan pointed at a piece of news and said.

Subsequently, she pointed at another piece of news and said somewhat angrily: "How can this person be like this? He's even a star who broke into Hollywood. When people interview him, what does his 'no comment' mean?

Hmph, he has been filming for so many years, how could he not know the benefits of being immersed in a role? How could he not know that being immersed in a role is something some actors dream of? This Xiangjiang person really has no sense of responsibility."

"Alright, alright, why are you angry? It's other people's freedom if they don't want to get involved in muddy water; this is such a normal thing."

Subsequently, Cao Yang used some force to pick her up and said with a smile: "Let's go, I'll go help you cool off; I guarantee you'll be happy in a moment."

Gao Yuanyuan wrapped her arms around Cao Yang's neck, looked up at him, bit her lower lip, and whispered: "What about you? Do you have any anger?"

Cao Yang thought for a moment.

"I have a lot of anger right now."

(End of chapter)