Chapter 192
The actors and stars who came to audition for the second male role were much more than Fu Zhen imagined, and most of them had the same thoughts as Ceng Xingke’s agent, hoping that Fu Zhen would be able to polish their acting skills, and their image in the eyes of the audience could be flipped, so they could get more resources.
This time, Fu Zhen just wanted to find a better actor. One Gao Tian was enough. Moreover, Zhou Wenliang would be playing the leading role in this play. He doesn’t have as much time as the lead role unlike before when he could demonstrate every shot to Gao Tian.
Although there were not many scenes of this second male lead if the actor’s acting skills were not good, it would be a very time-consuming and labor-consuming thing to do.
Ceng Xingke’s agent came to Fu Zhen privately to negotiate.
“Ceng Xingke is willing to star in this movie for zero pay.”
This was not much of a deal for Fu Zhen, after all, he had already allotted a salary for the second male of 100,000. So, having Ceng Xingke play the role with zero pay has no impact on him.
Seeing that Fu Zhen was unmoved, the agent continued.
“Director Fu, although our Cocoa’s acting skills are not particularly good, he works very hard and will not drag down the crew.”
Fans call Cen Xingke “Xing Xing” and only his manager keeps calling him Cocoa.
Fu Zhen pursed his lips and was not impressed by the agent’s deal, but hearing the name Cocoa he couldn’t help but remember his family’s Cocoa and his face unconsciously showed a smile.
Seeing Fu Zhen’s smile, the agent thought they had the chance of getting the role and continued to persuade Fu Zhen.
“Our Cocoa played a lot of president’s roles, I also read part of the script this role is very suitable for him.”
Fu Zhen pressed his forehead. Indeed, Ceng Xingke had played many president roles but if he were to create a poll and compare it with other stars who play the same role he was sure Ceng Xingke would last on the list.
The agent then went on to prove to Fu Zhen from all aspects of Ceng Xingke’s ability, that he was perfectly capable of acting as the second male in the movie, and finally said.
“Director Fu, give our Cocoa a chance.”
Truth be told, today the star who auditioned for the second male lead role was comparable to Ceng Xingke’s acting skills. Even so, Fu Zhen does not intend to use Ceng Xingke but hearing his agent calling him ‘Cocoa, Cocoa’ this inevitable makes Fu Zhen’s fatherly heart begin to waiver and finally nodded.
“Then let’s give it a try but I already told you in advance. If he can’t play well I will immediately replace him.”
The agent happily bowed his head. As long as Fu Zhen used Ceng Xingke, they could discuss later whether Ceng Xingke’s acting skills were good or not. After all, if Fu Zhen could bear Gao Tian’s acting and polish it properly then Ceng Xingke should not be a problem.
After returning, the agent told Ceng Xingke the good news and stressed to him.
“Be honest on the set, don’t think about all that nonsense, do whatever the director tells you to do, you hear me?”
“Got it, got it.”
Ceng Xingke waved his hand, but the expression on his face looked a little impatient.
Even though he knew Fu Zhen was a very capable and good director, he was still a little resistant to the idea of being paid zero to play the role of a second male character who died not long after the plot developed.
Cheng Xingke’s fans were shocked to learn that he was going to star in Fu Zhen’s horror film, they asked the president of their fan group if the pay was particularly high before he agree to take the role.
The president of the fan group was secretly privately chatting with the agent on this issue, the agent sighed and did not reply to anything, he was too embarrassed to tell these fans that he did not ask for a fee at all to put Ceng Xingke into the cast.
Netizens also knew the news, but they didn’t have much reaction. Before, when they learned that Fu Zhen invited Gao Tian as a cast in ‘White Castle’ they all unceremoniously decided that the film would turn out bad but later were slapped in the face.
Now looking at Ceng Xingke, when the film comes out Ceng Xingke might suddenly be enlightened just like Gao Tian. With this thought, they did not want to send the other side of their face to be slapped again.
Almost all of the scenes in “Escape Life” were indoors and mostly at night, so Fu Zhen had to stay late and there was no way to continue to follow the schedule set by Jiang Hengshu.
He begged Jiang Hengshu for a long time before he obtained the permission of his superior. However, Jiang Hengshu asked him to take a break after the film was made, to make up for the honeymoon trip that they haven’t carried out until now.
Fu Zhen naturally agreed in one breath.
Wei Dechi finished writing the script “Escape Life” very quickly. Many of the horror scenes in it were accumulated in a sudden flash of inspiration when he was writing urban emotional dramas these years that had never been shown to outsiders.
When writing urban emotional dramas, he would also put some horror insight. No wonder the audience watches his dramas in a cold sweat.
After the script was finished, Wei Dechi sent it to Fu Zhen for the first time. After reading it, Fu Zhen was amazed. He had to say that a professional horror writer was different from him.
Because of this, Fu Zhen had a nightmare all night. Fortunately, Jiang Hengshu was always by his side. Otherwise, he might not be able to close his eyes all night. The next day, he went to see Wei Dechi with two dark circles under his eyes.
Wei Dechi saw Fu Zhen’s haggard appearance and said.
“Director Fu, you were too intense with Mrs. Fu last night.”
“I got nightmares because of your script.”
Fu Zhen sighed as he ordered two cups of coffee from the waiter to refresh himself before pushing the printed script in front of Wei Dechi and saying to him.
“I think it would be better to change the ending.”
Wei Dechi lowered his head and turned the script directly to the end. With a clear smile on his face, he looked up and asked Fu Zhen.
“Cinema?”
Fu Zhen nodded.
Wei Dechi’s smile became even more meaningful, shaking his head and commenting on Fu Zhen.
“You bad old man is very bad.”
In early April, the script, locations, costumes and props, and actors were all ready for “Escape Life” to begin production.
As before, there should be a worship ceremony before the film starts. And because there would be more dead people in Escape Life the worship ceremony this time was more formal. Fu Zhen also prepared a lot of red envelopes and sent them to the actors when they receive their packed lunches.
After the ceremony and eating, they should be able to start filming the next day.
When Fu Zhen came to the crew, he strolled around and found that there was one less actor who was missing. He asked the assistant director.
“How come Ceng Xingke hasn’t come yet?”
The assistant director explained to Fu Zhen.
“He took the day off, saying he had an appointment in the next city and couldn’t come.”
Fu Zhen moved his lips as if there was something he wanted to say, but after his eyes turned around the crew, the words were swallowed back and he said to the assistant director.
“Then let’s shoot the other scenes first.”
The makeup artist has put good makeup on Zhou Wenliang and Jiang Ying. Jiang Ying plays Zhou Wenliang’s mother in the film, though Jiang Ying was in her early twenties and was portraying a woman in her 50’s, this didn’t stop Fu Zhen and Wenliang from trusting her acting skills.
“Okay, card!”
Fu Zhen’s eyes moved away from the monitor screen and were about to talk to Zhou Wenliang about his next play when he saw Fu Jianchen standing in the crowd not far away and he was looking at him with a gentle gaze.
Fu Zhen hesitated for a moment before he stood up from his chair, and walked over in the direction of Fu Jianchen, he led him through the crowd and asked him.
“Why did you come over?”
Fu Jianchen replied, “I heard you were filming here, I had nothing to do and came to see you.”
Fu Zhen didn’t know what else to say when the prop staff took a chair, Fu Zhen then asked Fu Jianchen to sit down.
“Please sit here for a while.”
“Have you eaten?” Fu Jianchen asked him.
Fu Zhen shook his head: “Not yet, wait for the next scene to finish shooting and then eat.”
“Then you go busy, don’t worry about me.” Fu Jianchen said with a smile.
“Hmm.” Fu Zhen turned around and went back to the monitor, before sitting down he looked back at Fu Jianchen who was looking away at this time.
Fu Zhen withdrew his gaze and said to the actors, “Let’s continue.”
Sharp screams rang out behind Zhou Wenliang who was hiding behind the door panel making him startled, his fingers kept shaking when a footstep slowly approached him, he looked up, only to see his mother, who had died two years ago, standing in front of him.
………
….
As soon as Ceng Xingke got off the show, he received a call from his agent who asked him.
“Didn’t you go to the crew today?”
“Did you forget? I have to meet the fans today.”
Ceng Xingke said carelessly, to him, fans were a little more important than filming.
“Didn’t I tell you to cancel it? Why did you push it through?”
“I don’t have many scenes. So, I was planning to stay for two or three days, and I’ll finish shooting all my scenes, then asked the director for leave.”
But what Ceng Xingke didn’t say to his agent was that he asked for leave from the assistant director.
“Ceng Xingke! Are you going to kill me! Do you know how hard I had to work to get you this role?”
“Do you think I like this role?” Ceng Xingke’s voice raised a bit.
“So much for the president, he’s still an older president!”
Every time Ceng Xingke quarreled, he sounded coquettishly making the manager confused by him at first but after many times he was completely resistant and yelled at him on the phone.
“Can’t you be a little self-motivated? Are you happy to be scolded by netizens all day? Are you going to be just an idol all the time!”
Ceng Xingke said nothing, with a deflated mouth he looked a little aggrieved.
“You hurry back to the set, apologize properly to the director, and end this matter.”
Ceng Xingke answered, but in his heart, he was thinking of bringing forward the matter of changing agents, which was not the first time he has done it anyway.
He took the film without pay, but he couldn’t stand Zhou Wenliang getting the main role even though he was just in 18th line.
Ceng Xingke got on the car back to Pinghai city and checked who the screenwriter of Escape Life was. After finding out that the screenwriter was a three-tier screenwriter who wrote emotional urban dramas. Ceng Xingke was immediately happy.
If couldn’t appeal to Fu Zhen, then wouldn’t the little screenwriter be easy to handle?
Not that many scenes? Add more! Must add more!
Just spend money and add more!
***
Chapter 192
The actors and stars who came to audition for the second male role were much more than Fu Zhen imagined, and most of them had the same thoughts as Ceng Xingke’s agent, hoping that Fu Zhen would be able to polish their acting skills, and their image in the eyes of the audience could be flipped, so they could get more resources.
This time, Fu Zhen just wanted to find a better actor. One Gao Tian was enough. Moreover, Zhou Wenliang would be playing the leading role in this play. He doesn’t have as much time as the lead role unlike before when he could demonstrate every shot to Gao Tian.
Although there were not many scenes of this second male lead if the actor’s acting skills were not good, it would be a very time-consuming and labor-consuming thing to do.
Ceng Xingke’s agent came to Fu Zhen privately to negotiate.
“Ceng Xingke is willing to star in this movie for zero pay.”
This was not much of a deal for Fu Zhen, after all, he had already allotted a salary for the second male of 100,000. So, having Ceng Xingke play the role with zero pay has no impact on him.
Seeing that Fu Zhen was unmoved, the agent continued.
“Director Fu, although our Cocoa’s acting skills are not particularly good, he works very hard and will not drag down the crew.”
Fans call Cen Xingke “Xing Xing” and only his manager keeps calling him Cocoa.
Fu Zhen pursed his lips and was not impressed by the agent’s deal, but hearing the name Cocoa he couldn’t help but remember his family’s Cocoa and his face unconsciously showed a smile.
Seeing Fu Zhen’s smile, the agent thought they had the chance of getting the role and continued to persuade Fu Zhen.
“Our Cocoa played a lot of president’s roles, I also read part of the script this role is very suitable for him.”
Fu Zhen pressed his forehead. Indeed, Ceng Xingke had played many president roles but if he were to create a poll and compare it with other stars who play the same role he was sure Ceng Xingke would last on the list.
The agent then went on to prove to Fu Zhen from all aspects of Ceng Xingke’s ability, that he was perfectly capable of acting as the second male in the movie, and finally said.
“Director Fu, give our Cocoa a chance.”
Truth be told, today the star who auditioned for the second male lead role was comparable to Ceng Xingke’s acting skills. Even so, Fu Zhen does not intend to use Ceng Xingke but hearing his agent calling him ‘Cocoa, Cocoa’ this inevitable makes Fu Zhen’s fatherly heart begin to waiver and finally nodded.
“Then let’s give it a try but I already told you in advance. If he can’t play well I will immediately replace him.”
The agent happily bowed his head. As long as Fu Zhen used Ceng Xingke, they could discuss later whether Ceng Xingke’s acting skills were good or not. After all, if Fu Zhen could bear Gao Tian’s acting and polish it properly then Ceng Xingke should not be a problem.
After returning, the agent told Ceng Xingke the good news and stressed to him.
“Be honest on the set, don’t think about all that nonsense, do whatever the director tells you to do, you hear me?”
“Got it, got it.”
Ceng Xingke waved his hand, but the expression on his face looked a little impatient.
Even though he knew Fu Zhen was a very capable and good director, he was still a little resistant to the idea of being paid zero to play the role of a second male character who died not long after the plot developed.
Cheng Xingke’s fans were shocked to learn that he was going to star in Fu Zhen’s horror film, they asked the president of their fan group if the pay was particularly high before he agree to take the role.
The president of the fan group was secretly privately chatting with the agent on this issue, the agent sighed and did not reply to anything, he was too embarrassed to tell these fans that he did not ask for a fee at all to put Ceng Xingke into the cast.
Netizens also knew the news, but they didn’t have much reaction. Before, when they learned that Fu Zhen invited Gao Tian as a cast in ‘White Castle’ they all unceremoniously decided that the film would turn out bad but later were slapped in the face.
Now looking at Ceng Xingke, when the film comes out Ceng Xingke might suddenly be enlightened just like Gao Tian. With this thought, they did not want to send the other side of their face to be slapped again.
Almost all of the scenes in “Escape Life” were indoors and mostly at night, so Fu Zhen had to stay late and there was no way to continue to follow the schedule set by Jiang Hengshu.
He begged Jiang Hengshu for a long time before he obtained the permission of his superior. However, Jiang Hengshu asked him to take a break after the film was made, to make up for the honeymoon trip that they haven’t carried out until now.
Fu Zhen naturally agreed in one breath.
Wei Dechi finished writing the script “Escape Life” very quickly. Many of the horror scenes in it were accumulated in a sudden flash of inspiration when he was writing urban emotional dramas these years that had never been shown to outsiders.
When writing urban emotional dramas, he would also put some horror insight. No wonder the audience watches his dramas in a cold sweat.
After the script was finished, Wei Dechi sent it to Fu Zhen for the first time. After reading it, Fu Zhen was amazed. He had to say that a professional horror writer was different from him.
Because of this, Fu Zhen had a nightmare all night. Fortunately, Jiang Hengshu was always by his side. Otherwise, he might not be able to close his eyes all night. The next day, he went to see Wei Dechi with two dark circles under his eyes.
Wei Dechi saw Fu Zhen’s haggard appearance and said.
“Director Fu, you were too intense with Mrs. Fu last night.”
“I got nightmares because of your script.”
Fu Zhen sighed as he ordered two cups of coffee from the waiter to refresh himself before pushing the printed script in front of Wei Dechi and saying to him.
“I think it would be better to change the ending.”
Wei Dechi lowered his head and turned the script directly to the end. With a clear smile on his face, he looked up and asked Fu Zhen.
“Cinema?”
Fu Zhen nodded.
Wei Dechi’s smile became even more meaningful, shaking his head and commenting on Fu Zhen.
“You bad old man is very bad.”
In early April, the script, locations, costumes and props, and actors were all ready for “Escape Life” to begin production.
As before, there should be a worship ceremony before the film starts. And because there would be more dead people in Escape Life the worship ceremony this time was more formal. Fu Zhen also prepared a lot of red envelopes and sent them to the actors when they receive their packed lunches.
After the ceremony and eating, they should be able to start filming the next day.
When Fu Zhen came to the crew, he strolled around and found that there was one less actor who was missing. He asked the assistant director.
“How come Ceng Xingke hasn’t come yet?”
The assistant director explained to Fu Zhen.
“He took the day off, saying he had an appointment in the next city and couldn’t come.”
Fu Zhen moved his lips as if there was something he wanted to say, but after his eyes turned around the crew, the words were swallowed back and he said to the assistant director.
“Then let’s shoot the other scenes first.”
The makeup artist has put good makeup on Zhou Wenliang and Jiang Ying. Jiang Ying plays Zhou Wenliang’s mother in the film, though Jiang Ying was in her early twenties and was portraying a woman in her 50’s, this didn’t stop Fu Zhen and Wenliang from trusting her acting skills.
“Okay, card!”
Fu Zhen’s eyes moved away from the monitor screen and were about to talk to Zhou Wenliang about his next play when he saw Fu Jianchen standing in the crowd not far away and he was looking at him with a gentle gaze.
Fu Zhen hesitated for a moment before he stood up from his chair, and walked over in the direction of Fu Jianchen, he led him through the crowd and asked him.
“Why did you come over?”
Fu Jianchen replied, “I heard you were filming here, I had nothing to do and came to see you.”
Fu Zhen didn’t know what else to say when the prop staff took a chair, Fu Zhen then asked Fu Jianchen to sit down.
“Please sit here for a while.”
“Have you eaten?” Fu Jianchen asked him.
Fu Zhen shook his head: “Not yet, wait for the next scene to finish shooting and then eat.”
“Then you go busy, don’t worry about me.” Fu Jianchen said with a smile.
“Hmm.” Fu Zhen turned around and went back to the monitor, before sitting down he looked back at Fu Jianchen who was looking away at this time.
Fu Zhen withdrew his gaze and said to the actors, “Let’s continue.”
Sharp screams rang out behind Zhou Wenliang who was hiding behind the door panel making him startled, his fingers kept shaking when a footstep slowly approached him, he looked up, only to see his mother, who had died two years ago, standing in front of him.
………
….
As soon as Ceng Xingke got off the show, he received a call from his agent who asked him.
“Didn’t you go to the crew today?”
“Did you forget? I have to meet the fans today.”
Ceng Xingke said carelessly, to him, fans were a little more important than filming.
“Didn’t I tell you to cancel it? Why did you push it through?”
“I don’t have many scenes. So, I was planning to stay for two or three days, and I’ll finish shooting all my scenes, then asked the director for leave.”
But what Ceng Xingke didn’t say to his agent was that he asked for leave from the assistant director.
“Ceng Xingke! Are you going to kill me! Do you know how hard I had to work to get you this role?”
“Do you think I like this role?” Ceng Xingke’s voice raised a bit.
“So much for the president, he’s still an older president!”
Every time Ceng Xingke quarreled, he sounded coquettishly making the manager confused by him at first but after many times he was completely resistant and yelled at him on the phone.
“Can’t you be a little self-motivated? Are you happy to be scolded by netizens all day? Are you going to be just an idol all the time!”
Ceng Xingke said nothing, with a deflated mouth he looked a little aggrieved.
“You hurry back to the set, apologize properly to the director, and end this matter.”
Ceng Xingke answered, but in his heart, he was thinking of bringing forward the matter of changing agents, which was not the first time he has done it anyway.
He took the film without pay, but he couldn’t stand Zhou Wenliang getting the main role even though he was just in 18th line.
Ceng Xingke got on the car back to Pinghai city and checked who the screenwriter of Escape Life was. After finding out that the screenwriter was a three-tier screenwriter who wrote emotional urban dramas. Ceng Xingke was immediately happy.
If couldn’t appeal to Fu Zhen, then wouldn’t the little screenwriter be easy to handle?
Not that many scenes? Add more! Must add more!
Just spend money and add more!
***
