Chapter 83 : Successful Audition~
83: Successful Audition~
Director Zhang had been having a headache lately because a video of the fourth male lead actor and a fan's inappropriate activities had been uploaded online.
This caused the filming progress of his "July Lies Love Song" to slow down considerably.
Originally, this would have been manageable, but when it rains, it pours.
Just the day before yesterday, another male lead actor 'Fan Hefeng' in the "July Lies Love Song" crew also unexpectedly left the production.
Although Fan Hefeng had always been of poor character, his departure wasn't due to making the same mistake with female fans—he was poached by the female investor sugar mama of this drama.
To show her apology, the female sugar mama even left a large sum of money for this, so in a certain sense, Fan Hefeng had brought benefits to the entire crew.
But with two actors leaving one after another, Director Zhang, who had already announced on Weibo that "July Lies Love Song" was scheduled to premiere in July, couldn't help but feel especially troubled thinking about having to reshoot scenes for two people.
Finding a replacement actor for Fan Hefeng was relatively easy.
After all, Fan Hefeng played a proper handsome male lead template in the drama.
Looking across the entertainment industry, finding a decent handsome guy was abundant—you could hit dozens with one swing.
But regarding the fourth male lead 'Ning Mo,' this had recently been giving Director Zhang a terrible headache.
In the novel, Ning Mo was 'female-to-male crossdressing' and had a very frail body. Each of these conditions alone suited many actors, but when combined together, too few met the standards.
Over the past few days, Director Zhang had auditioned quite a few people, both male and female.
But honestly, none had impressed him, and today's 20-plus people were mostly the same.
At first glance, the condition of having a sickly aura eliminated 70% of the candidates.
As for the remaining 30%, after Director Zhang looked them over, he shook his head repeatedly—they were all people without the natural feeling of 'male-to-female crossdressing' or 'female-to-male crossdressing.'
Just as Director Zhang was suffering from a headache, thinking today's fourth male lead actor selection would again be unsuccessful, he saw Lin Muyao pulling Su Mo toward the crew.
A few days ago, when Su Mo first accompanied Lin Muyao to the theater, Director Zhang had remembered him due to Su Mo's unique temperament. However, since Su Mo wasn't a professional actor, he didn't approach him immediately, thinking it better to find professionals first, as amateur actors could slow down crew progress.
But over the past few days, with no suitable fourth male lead actor found, and hearing that Lin Muyao was looking for acting part-time work for Su Mo, after the crew's power outage yesterday, Director Zhang went with the flow and asked Lin Muyao to bring Su Mo for an audition.
Now seeing Su Mo, whom he hadn't seen for three or four days, walking toward the theater again.
Looking at Su Mo's sickly aura, his height nearly matching Lin Muyao's as they walked side by side, and a face with feminine softness that could still be identified as male under his short hair, Director Zhang's eyes couldn't help but brighten.
This... wasn't this exactly 'Ning Mo'?
Was it an illusion?
How did it seem that Lin Muyao's little boyfriend had somehow changed in temperament over these few days?
Forget it, forget it, these weren't important!
Filming was most important.
Because he was really pressed for time, and as a director trusted his instincts, watching Su Mo who looked like the real Ning Mo walking toward him.
Director Zhang directly bypassed all the people who had come for auditions this morning and been eliminated, smiling warmly as he approached Lin Muyao.
"Muyao, this must be your little boyfriend."
Lin Muyao, holding Su Mo's little hand, saw Director Zhang's weathered face wrinkled with smiles and knew he must have taken a liking to Su Mo.
After gently squeezing Su Mo's somewhat nervous little hand as many people watched, and giving Su Mo a playful wink, Lin Muyao began introducing Su Mo and Director Zhang to each other.
After hearing Lin Muyao introduce the 50-plus-year-old man before him as Director Zhang.
Su Mo was honestly somewhat surprised, not because this man was Director Zhang.
Because on the day he accompanied Lin Muyao to act, Su Mo had noticed this man looking at him several times. Thinking back now, Director Zhang was probably already eyeing candidates for 'Ning Mo.' The surprise was mainly because he was actually communicating face-to-face with the legendary 'director'—this kind of interaction with people he normally couldn't contact felt strangely... peculiar.
During their communication, when Director Zhang heard that Su Mo was actually a media student at Su University and had even read the script in advance last night, his evaluation of this young man rose even higher. As a breeze blew by and he caught Su Mo's faint, indescribable delicate fragrance, he found him increasingly pleasing to the eye and simply waved his hand:
"Student Su Mo, let's have a simple audition. Since you and Muyao are a couple, let's simulate a scene where Ning Mo initially finds fault when the female lead is working part-time, where they first meet!"
As Director Zhang spoke these words, everyone in the "July Lies Love Song" crew turned their attention to Su Mo. After all, over the past few days, although there had been occasional auditions for the Ning Mo role, Director Zhang's mood hadn't been this excited.
Feeling everyone's gaze focused on him.
Su Mo, usually a wallflower, was somewhat nervous. He quietly summoned the 'Twilight Price Ring' in his jacket pocket and gave the mental command: Begin imitating the character 'Ning Mo.'
Su Mo heard an electronic synthesized voice in his mind.
[Ding, given that the host and character Ning Mo have similar physiques, same gender, same body type, with slightly incompatible personalities, imitation difficulty is low. Estimated consumption of one luck point per 8 hours. Current host luck value 37, in small lucky emperor range. Warm reminder: don't overuse the ring.]
As the imitation skill took effect, perhaps because 'Ning Mo' in the script came from a wealthy family, plus with life approaching its end, not caring about others' gazes.
Su Mo felt that the gazes that had made her extremely nervous moments ago suddenly became light and breezy.
Gently straightening her back, looking at the female lead (Lin Muyao) who was 'working part-time' playing piano in an upscale restaurant, Su Mo's lips curved into a mocking smile, like a hunter who had found a little white rabbit, full of excitement.
Although Director Zhang was very satisfied with Su Mo's physique and appearance, as an actor, while these character conditions were important, the most important thing was still acting ability.
Originally, for this university student who wasn't a performance major, Director Zhang thought he'd need to personally guide him in various aspects.
But seeing Su Mo now enter the state in one second, with expressions and movements that were even better than the best scenes he had imagined in his mind.
Director Zhang felt his heart begin to beat nervously.
He... seemed to have struck gold!
Regarding Director Zhang's thoughts, Su Mo was unaware.
This moment, 'Ning Mo,' focused solely on acting, walked with arrogant steps according to the script toward Lin Muyao, who was playing piano at the center of the crew.
Buzz~~~ buzz~~~
The next moment, he arrogantly sat directly on the piano being played.
As Ning Mo sat down, triggering multiple keys, the piano immediately made muffled sounds.
The crew's prop master saw this scene and her eyebrows twitched slightly.
Although this piano was nth-hand and Su Mo didn't look heavy, not caring for props during auditions was unacceptable.
She stepped forward to Su Mo's side, wanting to say a few words.
But she saw Ning Mo nonchalantly take out a check from his pocket, scribble a bunch of numbers on it, then turn his head toward Lin Muyao without even looking this way and handed it over.
That casual attitude mixed with arrogance and elegance was so natural that the prop master couldn't react for a moment.
Just as everyone marveled at Su Mo's contrasting acting skills,
They saw Su Mo, sitting on the piano with a wicked smile, gently reach out to lift Lin Muyao's smooth chin, his peach blossom eyes full of playful amusement and frivolity, seductively whispering:
"Beautiful miss, how much can you earn working here? Why don't you come to the big bed at my house—you can earn much more there!"
According to the original plot, Lin Muyao (the female lead) should refuse here, because if she agreed, wouldn't the female lead be succumbing to monetary temptation, leaving no room for future developments.
But looking at Su Mo now sitting on the piano, unrestrained and wild, though his body remained frail, his behavior had lost its usual softness and gained some aggressiveness, recalling that unfinished afternoon nap cake dream.
In her daze, Lin Muyao forgot this was acting. Looking at Su Mo extending the invitation, after serious consideration, she actually thought the proposal of sleeping in a big bed together didn't seem too bad.
Just as Lin Muyao looked at the different Su Mo, feeling amazed and slightly excited, about to nod in agreement.
"Cut~~~~"
Director Zhang loudly called out, stopping Lin Muyao's about-to-be-embarrassing action.
The next second, applause erupted from the crew, and amid this applause, Director Zhang congratulated:
"Student Su Mo, congratulations on your successful audition~"