Chapter 77: Exploding in Silence

Lu Kuan ignored his confusion: "Mr. Feng, do you think using Grotowski's physical training would be effective?"

Liu Yifei had also wandered over at some point; she was wide awake now that they were talking about this.

"I know! Doing kite training and tiger-style training!"

Feng Yuan shook his head: "There isn't enough time. Little Liu should have his own realization; this kind of training is not a one-day task."

Performance tension, in the final analysis, consists of two aspects: physical and psychological.

Physical conditions are ensured through basic drama training to guarantee acting output.

Psychological conditions require the actor's own understanding and the director's guidance.

Just like a spring, one must rebound after being constantly compressed.

Taking Zhou Jielun as he is now, it means first detaching and then adding pressure, letting him explode in silence!

Like thunderclaps ending a storm, like the sea condensing green light—it is nothing if not this.

Lu Kuan suddenly turned to the bitter-faced little superstar.

"Jielun, do you want to act this scene well?"

Zhou Jielun was stunned: "Of course, I really don't want to see the whole crew stalled because of me."

Lu Kuan nodded and said: "Jielun, I originally thought this character's image and psychology were a perfect fit for you, but I overlooked the fact that you aren't a professional actor yet. I'm prepared to give you some special training to improve your performance tension and also help you relax your body and mind. How about it?"

"Sure? How do we do it?"

The little superstar was instantly interested; he was a competitive person by nature.

"Play basketball!"

Lu Kuan didn't explain much to the dumbfounded group, taking Huang Bo and Zhou Jielun into the car.

This idea of his was learned from Hitchcock, that American director who treated actors like animals.

There were many blondes in Hitchcock's films, his preferred type, but many of these vase-like women often failed to meet his requirements.

He would crazily make them run and swim, punishing them physically like a devil.

Destroying their self-esteem and pushing their physical limits to the extreme, so as to empty themselves before accepting his guidance.

Boss Lu made a few calls on the way.

One was to Tian Zhuangzhuang; the private sports club he was going to had a high threshold, and it was Tian Zhuangzhuang who had taken him there last time to meet several Xiangjiang investors and the club owner, Zhang Jian.

Another call summoned Zhuang Xu; today would be a simple 2v2.

Considering Zhou Jielun's current popularity, there was no way to avoid crazy fans without going to such a private venue.

The group met at the club entrance; the courtyard was parked with several luxury cars and license plates with repeating numbers. It seemed this sports club, known as the gathering place for Beiping stars, was indeed extraordinary.

It is worth mentioning that the founder of this club, Zhang Jian, was none other than Fan Xian's father, a television director with deep ties to the Jing circle.

In the first dozen years of the new century, the domestic entertainment industry roughly formed "factions" such as the Hong Kong-Taiwan, Xiang Army, Northwest, and Jing circles.

Everyone might belong to different tracks, or they might be eating from the same pot.

Generally speaking, due to the rapid development of the domestic film and television industry in the first decade of the millennium, the small circles within large circles and small factions within large factions were mainly based on win-win cooperation and seeking common ground while reserving differences.

Today you promote my artist, tomorrow I boost your status.

For example, the wife of a Northwest circle director in later generations, Jiang Wenli, recommended the young actor Huang Xuan to star in the Jing circle's Zheng Xiaolong's TV series "The Legend of Mi Yue."

In turn, the big directors of the Northwest circle would let several Jing circle artists be shortlisted when casting their own films, sharing resources.

And this TV director of "Snow Leopard" and "Black Fox," Zhang Jian, had had many years of close cooperation with Wang Jinhua and the core of the Jing circle.

This was why, at the "Joy of Life" launch press conference, Chen Daoming and Fan Xian referred to each other as father and son.

Chen Daoming was a long-term client of Wang Jinhua.

Back in 2002, the venue Lu Kuan and the others were now stepping into was the Mengzhou Sports Club, which the well-connected Zhang Jian had opened as early as 1994. He didn't play himself, but his organizational ability was extremely strong.

This is the same concept as those big shots in society who don't drink themselves but can organize a drinking party at will.

The vice-chairmen of this club included Yu Rongguang and Chen Kaige; Chen Daoming, Zhang Fengyi, and Hu Jun were all regulars on the basketball team.

Feng Xiaogang, Ge You, and Zhao Baogang were the mainstays of the table tennis team, along with other big and small stars, too numerous to mention.

At the front desk, the group had the receptionist connect them to Tian Zhuangzhuang's phone, and after a detailed registration process, they leisurely entered the inner court.

Watching them leave, the receptionist quickly dialed the manager's office: "Hello, Manager Xu, a few guests of Director Tian just arrived. I saw Zhou Jielun and Lu Kuan."

"Yes, that's the director, Lu Kuan. Okay, I understand."

"No, no, don't worry, how could we ask guests for autographs? We have rules."

The beautiful receptionist hung up the phone and stuck her tongue out at her companion; her predecessor had been fired for asking a star for an autograph.

Private venues protected privacy even more strictly; otherwise, insecure big-name stars wouldn't be willing to come.

Lu Kuan introduced everyone to each other; his main purpose in bringing Zhou Jielun to play basketball was to help him relax.

In Grotowski's performance theory, there are many movements and training methods to improve performance tension, such as the tiger style and snake form.

Through such training, actors can effectively improve their control over their abdominal and facial muscles, achieving above-average performances in segments that require performance tension.

But for Zhou Jielun, time was too tight; it was impossible to train him slowly and methodically.

Therefore, Lu Kuan made up his mind to torment him well today, push him to the edge of an explosion, and release the pent-up frustration and mental pressure in his heart.

For Zhou Jielun, who had already tasted the bitterness of life and the path of art, what needed to be done was to let him completely shed his burdens and get rid of the past perception of timidity in his portrayal of the character Xu Huan.

He had to be tough when he needed to be tough, so he could go back and forth with the character Zhuang Zhong, played by the powerhouse Feng Yuan.

The game started quickly: Zhuang Xu and Lu Kuan on one side, Huang Bo and Zhou Jielun on the other.

They had clearly decided to bully these two short guys.

Lu Kuan said calmly: "Jielun, the purpose of playing basketball today is to stimulate you, to make you suffer, to make you experience the psychological state of the character Xu Huan in the play. You need to find that feeling of either exploding in silence or perishing in silence, mobilize your emotions, and release the pressure."

Zhou Jielun nodded blankly; he couldn't understand it for a moment, so he just followed what Lu Kuan said.

Among the four, everyone except Zhou Jielun and Huang Bo was over 1.8 meters tall, and Zhuang Xu was nearly 1.9 meters; they quickly took the upper hand.

The little superstar prided himself on being a basketball genius, and throughout his career, many topics were frequently linked to basketball; his level was higher than that of ordinary people.

Investment banking elite Zhuang Xu was a member of the Huashengdunzhou university team, and with his physical condition, he grabbed almost all the rebounds, letting Lu Kuan do whatever he wanted once he left the three-second zone.

The score embarrassingly reached 10:1, with only one mid-range shot scored by Zhou Jielun.

Zhou Jielun was covered in sweat, his expressions and movements becoming increasingly intense, constantly applying physical pressure to Lu Kuan, his patience nearly exhausted.

(End of chapter)