1990: Starting from Baojia Street

Yang Naiwen came to audition this time as a colleague of the male lead.

This role has more scenes than the average role and is also counted as a main role.

As for Li Jingfei, he came to audition to play the male lead's uncle.

The character of the protagonist's uncle is very special. He has almost no role of his own throughout the whole movie. In most cases, he is part of the background, but he cannot be ignored.

Even many viewers will feel that this uncle is very mysterious after watching the entire movie.

Some viewers also believe that the role of uncle is set up to confuse the audience or enrich the relationship between characters.

In Zhou Yan's heart, the role of uncle, like other main roles, cannot be removed. This role is more like a background, belonging to the background of the male protagonist's family.

The feeling of this family will be obviously different with or without him.

……

Zhou Yan entered the room. Jiang Mengfei and the camera crew were fiddling with the camera. Today's audition process would also be recorded.

"Can we start?" Zhou Yan asked.

Li Hong smiled and said, "Okay, I'll wait for you to come."

Zhou Yan nodded, walked over to sit next to Li Hong, and said, "Just call someone in, let's speed up the process."

"Okay, Director Zhou." Assistant director Shen Yan immediately stood up and ran out.

Li Hong looked at Shen Yan's back with a smile, "Old Shen's legs are still fast."

Shen Yan was a student of the 87 class of the Yenching Film Academy. After graduation, he did not join a company but rented a house and wanted to start his own business by setting up an advertising company.

However, after working for two years without achieving anything successful, and with limited funds, it was difficult to sustain the business, so he went to Qizi Company for an interview and became the company's advertising director.

Zhou Yan watched the commercial shot by Shen Yan and thought it was very good. After asking around, he found out that Shen Yan was a graduate of Yanjing Film Academy, so he called him over. Now he is assisting Li Hong in the director team.

Shen Yan has solid basic skills and a quick mind, and he plays a very important role in the director team.

After a while, Shen Yan brought in an actress who was about fifty years old.

As soon as they saw the actress, Zhou Yan and Li Hong stood up and greeted her with a smile, "Thank you, Teacher."

The person who came was Xie Fang, an actress from Yanjing Film Studio. Zhou Yan used to hang out at Yanjing Film Studio every day and knew most of the people there.

Xie Fang had long since retired to the second line and seldom played major roles. He spent more time in the factory. Because of this, he met Zhou Yan quite more often.

Not to mention Li Hong, he also graduated from Yanjing Film Studio and is very familiar with Xie Fang.

This time Zhou Yan was going to film "Time Traveler", and Yanjing Film Studio recommended Xie Fang to audition for the role of the male lead's mother.

Xie Fang has the temperament of an intellectual and an independent woman. What is rare is that she can portray the image of a weak woman while also showing a strong temperament.

The former is not a problem for most actresses, but the latter is rare.

In addition, in Han Sanping's words, her eyebrows are somewhat similar to Zhou Yan's, so she is quite suitable to play the role of mother and son.

The order in which numbers are called has nothing to do with status or seniority, it all depends on how early or late you sign in.

Xie Fang was the first one to be called in, which meant she was the first to sign in, which showed that she attached great importance to this audition.

Although Zhou Yan stood up and greeted Xie Fang very politely, she did not take advantage of her seniority and still greeted Zhou Yan very politely, "Hello, Director Zhou, hello, all the directors."

Normally when she was at the Yanjing Factory, she called Zhou Yan "Xiao Zhou", but in an occasion like today, she knew it was inappropriate to call him Xiao Zhou.

Zhou Yan nodded and sat down. "Teacher Xie, let's not waste any more time and get started. You are auditioning for play No. 62. Have you got the script?"

Zhou Yan asked this question because Xie Fang had nothing in his hand.

"I've got it, but I left it in the lounge. Since there aren't many lines, I'll try to do it without a script."

Although whether or not an actor speaks without a script cannot be used to directly judge whether he or she is good or bad, since Xie Fang dared to do so, it showed that she was very confident in her lines, which would definitely be a plus for Zhou Yan.

"Okay, I'll go with you then."

After all, he was a senior and they had a good relationship, so Zhou Yan also gave Xie Fang some privileges and personally came out to act with her.

Scene No. 62 is the part where the hero takes the heroine home and the heroine talks to the hero's mother.

There are only two characters in this section, one is the heroine, and the other is the hero's mother. Zhou Yan is here to act, so naturally she plays the heroine.

Zhou Yan had already memorized the script, so he started right away without making any preparations.

"start."

As soon as Zhou Yan finished speaking, Xie Fang immediately got into the mood. She looked at Zhou Yan with a smile, "What are your shortcomings? I mean, some small weaknesses?"

Seeing Xie Fang's expression, Zhou Yan nodded secretly. There was no problem with Xie Fang's professionalism. She got into the state very quickly, and her body language and eye expressions were very good, which showed that she had studied this role carefully.

In fact, this is not easy, because the script Zhou Yan gives to the auditioners is very limited, with basically no explanation, and the actors often need to act on their own.

Zhou Yan replied expressionlessly at this moment, "I don't feel safe."

Compared to Xie Fang, Zhou Yan's line was spoken very stiffly, without any emotion, and even his pronunciation was not clear and a bit vague.

Of course, this is not because Zhou Yan’s acting skills are bad, nor because Zhou Yan is not used to playing the leading female role, but because he did it on purpose.

He took the initiative to act with Xie Fang, but he didn't mean to make Xie Fang's life easy. On the contrary, he wanted to create some difficulties for Xie Fang, because only in this way could he better see Xie Fang's level.

Actors need to integrate into the environment, but sometimes, they also need to jump out of the environment.

No matter how Zhou Yan's performance was not in line with the role, Xie Fang would take over the role.

Xie Fang only raised her eyebrows, and was not affected by Zhou Yan, and continued to speak her own lines, "Well, it's good."

Zhou Yan followed up, "Sometimes I also have a bad temper."

Xie Fang laughed and said seriously, "That's great. Otherwise, how can you make a man listen to you?"

"Besides, I have a weakness, and that's your son."

At this time, Xie Fang suddenly looked away, then quickly retracted her gaze and said in a playful, indifferent, yet affectionate tone, "Me too, but don't tell him, or he'll be so proud."

The audition ended here, but Zhou Yan did not intend to let Xie Fang go, and continued, "What about you? What are your shortcomings?"

When Zhou Yan asked this question, the staff on the scene were all stunned. Li Hong and Shen Yan looked at each other, and both saw confusion in each other's eyes.

There is no such line in the script.

Not only was it not in the script they gave to the auditioners, it wasn’t even in the official script.

Could it be that Director Zhou remembered it wrong?

Shen Yan was more inclined to believe that Zhou Yan remembered it wrongly. After all, Zhou Yan didn't read the script and started right away.

Although the script was written by Zhou Yan, how many screenwriters can remember the lines in their scripts clearly, word for word?
But Li Hong didn't believe that Zhou Yan had remembered it wrong. He had followed Zhou Yan for so many years and was very familiar with his memory. Such a situation of misremembering a whole line had never happened before.

If he didn't remember the lines wrong, then Zhou Yan must have done it on purpose.

Xie Fang was of course also very surprised, because the script she got ended here, and there was no line that Zhou Yan said afterwards.

But at this time, she didn't have time to think too much. Although it was an audition, she required herself to do exactly the same as the official shooting. As long as the director didn't call cut, she had to continue acting.

Xie Fang first made a thoughtful expression, then smiled and said, "Marrying a husband who tolerates you in every way has a very serious consequence, that is, you will gradually forget what shortcomings you still have."

This line was purely made up by Xie Fang, because she had no idea what kind of husband the protagonist's father was, but she felt that based on the character's personality, he would most likely say such words.

At this point, Zhou Yan did not embarrass Xie Fang anymore. He smiled and clapped his hands, "Teacher Xie, you did a great job."

Seeing Zhou Yan applauding, Xie Fang breathed a sigh of relief. She couldn't help but ask Zhou Yan, "Did you add this line temporarily?"

Zhou Yan said with a smile, "I messed up my lines. After I said them, I suddenly realized it. But Teacher Xie, you picked up the topic very well."

Although Zhou Yan said that he remembered the lines wrong, Xie Fang always felt something was wrong, but she didn't ask any more questions.

“I almost didn’t catch it either.”

"Blame me, blame me. Teacher Xie, you know the shooting schedule of our movie, so the schedule should be fine."

Xie Fang nodded, "No problem, otherwise I wouldn't have come to the audition."

"I will be going on a business trip to Pengcheng for a while."

"That's no problem. As an actor, it's normal to go on business trips."

"Okay, I have no problem with that. The audition is over. Teacher Xie, just go back and wait for the news. If there are no accidents, the results will be notified to you within three days. Thank you for coming here today."

"Director Zhou, you are too polite. I will leave first."

"Well, walk slowly."

After Xie Fang left, Zhou Yan asked Li Hong and Shen Yan, "What do you think?"

Li Hong looked at Shen Yan and then spoke first, "She is good in all aspects. Teacher Xie is the first generation of intellectual women on screen. There is nothing wrong with her image. However, maybe because the script she got is relatively short, she is not good enough in understanding the role."

Shen Yan also spoke up at this time, "For such a short script, I think it's pretty good to be able to achieve this. If I were to give a score, Mr. Xie's performance would be eight points."

Zhou Yan did not express his opinion, but just nodded and said, "Let's do this for now. There are two more actors auditioning for this role today. Let's wait until everyone has finished their auditions before we decide."

"I'll go call for more people." Master Shen Yan stood up again and went to call for more people.

……

The person brought in this time was Li Naiwen, whom Zhou Yan had just met outside.

After Li Naiwen was brought in, he seemed quite excited. He first bowed respectfully to Zhou Yan and the others, "Hello, directors. I am actor Li Naiwen, and I am 22 years old."

Zhou Yan looked through Li Naiwen's information and asked, "You are just a senior now. Can you balance your studies and filming?"

When Li Naiwen heard this question, he was obviously stunned. He felt that the person sitting in front of him was not the director, but their teacher. This question sounded so teacher-like that it made him a little nervous.

Faced with this question, Li Naiwen could only pat his chest and guarantee, "Director Zhou, rest assured, I will definitely not delay the filming."

"Filming is one thing, but the most important thing is schoolwork." Zhou Yan did not go into the topic further, and began to talk to him about the role. "You auditioned for the role of Zhong Xuwen. Can you tell me about your understanding of this role?"

In fact, this question is a bit embarrassing, because the script Li Naiwen got is the same as Xie Fang's, which is very short.

It’s nonsense to expect to have any in-depth understanding of the characters from such a short script with only a few lines of dialogue.

However, Li Naiwen did not panic. He organized his words a little and said, "I think Zhong Xuwen has a bit of a nerdy feeling, a little unaware of himself, and not sensitive enough to other people's emotions. Perhaps I said a little too much. This character is a bit stupid."

Zhou Yan nodded. Li Naiwen had done everything he could.

Zhou Yan still asked the question even though he knew it was a difficult one. He certainly didn't want a very accurate answer. In fact, no matter what Li Naiwen answered, even if there was a huge deviation in his analysis of the character of Zhong Xuwen, he didn't care.

What Zhou Yan wanted was Li Naiwen's attitude towards the role.

Even if the script is short, actors should do their best to analyze the character through clues.

Whether it is done well or not is one thing, and whether it is done at all is another. What Zhou Yan wants to see is whether it is done at all.

Obviously, Li Naiwen did it, and did it very well, which made Zhou Yan very satisfied.

After that, Zhou Yan did not make things difficult for Li Naiwen anymore and let him start directly.

The scene that Li Naiwen tried out was very simple. It was the scene where the male lead meets Zhong Xuwen for the first time. There were only a few lines in total, and it really showed Zhong Xuwen's stupidity.

During the entire audition process, Li Naiwen performed very well and he portrayed that kind of stupidity very well.

However, Zhou Yan was a little dissatisfied, because Li Naiwen's image was not the kind of person who looked like a bullied person at first glance.

First of all, Li Naiwen is not short at all.

Li Naiwen should be only a little shorter than Zhou Yan, about 1.8 meters tall when wearing shoes.

With such a height, when filming later, most of the actors in the crew were not as tall as him, so he didn't look like a punching bag at all.

Although acting skills can make up for the difference in image, it is also limited.

Moreover, since you can directly find an actor with the right image, why do you have to find someone with a different image and then make up for it with acting?

But Zhou Yan didn't want to give up Li Naiwen.

After a moment's silence, Zhou Yan said to Li Hong, "Bring the audition script for No. 33." (End of this chapter)