Huayu: From charlatan to great entertainer

Chapter 136 Director, You Are So Philanthropic

November 2002, 11, Taoyuan City, Taiwan Province, the crew of "Shoplifters".

Lu Kuan's filming in Taoyuan, Taiwan has been going on for a week.

The original movie was set in the background of the Japanese invaders. In order to pass the review, Lu Kuan set the adaptation of the script in Taiwan during the economic downturn.

Therefore, Taoyuan was chosen. It was also the economic and political center of the devils during the special period, and many buildings of that period are still preserved.

This week is the week for the crew to adapt to the venue and climate.

It was also a week for cast members including Zhou Xun, Yu Feihong, and Fan Bingbing to get along with Lu Kuan and the crew.

Everyone has heard from interviews with Jay Chou and Liu Yifei that Boss Guolu was dictatorial and strict during filming, as well as the high standards set by the crew.

But once they actually entered the crew, the actors couldn't help but feel secretly frightened by Lu Kuan's iron-fisted style.

It can be said that except for the youngest Guan Xiaotong, even an actress with mature acting skills like Zhou Xun had to be subjected to multiple NGs and lectures.

Hou Xiaoxian was also present today. His last communication with Lu Kuan had aroused his strong interest in this young director.

Even though there are some differences in film style and subject matter, he is a pure filmmaker.

As the president of the Bay Area Film Association, it is natural for me to give some support to my compatriots and future filmmakers.

He was sitting on the set concentrating on the script.

Grandma Li and her family live in a dilapidated bungalow in Taoyuan City, Taiwan Province, and everyone relies on Li Mingqi's pension to survive.

Zhou Xun and Feng Yuanzheng are a "couple", Zhang Yishan is the child they adopted, and Fan Bingbing is Zhou Xun's "sister".

As can be seen from the quotation marks, these family relationships are fictitious. They are a group of poor people who got together to survive during the economic downturn.

Feng Yuanzheng would take his "son" Zhang Yishan District supermarket to steal daily necessities, one to attract attention while the other to steal;
Fan Bingbing worked as a drinking and singing host in bars and karaoke halls;

Zhou Xun worked as a handyman in a wealthy area, doing laundry, cleaning, etc.

The turning point of the story comes when 6-year-old Guan Xiaotong is discovered and brought back by Feng Yuanzheng and his son, and Zhang Yishan steals from a fruit store, revealing the true face of this "thief family".

Depressing, gentle, and cruel.

"Director Lu, this is an excellent work."

Hou Xiaoxian closed the script and his evaluation of Lu Kuan became even higher.

The story is actually very plain, but it fully reflects the complexity of human nature.

The warmth shared by a family without blood ties in daily life redefines the meaning of "family".

Their theft and violation of mainstream public order and morality reveal the ugliness of human nature.

This is a contradiction and struggle between the pursuit of interests and the satisfaction of human needs.

"Thank you for the compliment. I was also inspired a lot after my last conversation with Director Hou. I plan to experiment more with the camera language in this film."

Hou Xiaoxian said with relief: "Great! I'm really looking forward to it."

There was both admiration and regret in his tone.

Mainland films have rising stars like Lu Kuan, but as the president of the Taiwan Film Association, he has not yet discovered any young talents worth cultivating in the province.

"Director, shall we continue?"

After seeing Hou Xiaoxian off, assistant director Yu Feihong came over to ask for instructions on work.

She casually tied her long hair with a hairband, wore a black baseball cap, and wore outdoor work clothes. There was some dirt on her face.

That was left over from when she took the initiative to learn how to use the large jib camera track.

She doesn't look like a charming young woman of 32 at all.

Boss Lu didn't even look up: "Well, continue."

The monitor shows a heartwarming scene between Zhou Xun and the picked-up Guan Xiaotong.

“Come and see this picture.”

Boss Lu waved to his assistant director, who leaned over without any pretense and stared at the monitor in front of him.

This is a valuable learning opportunity for her.

I spent several months working on the crew for almost free, and helped contact some post-production film review issues. Isn't this all I was doing?
"Tender scenes like this usually use static shots, with stable images and long blank spaces."

"This way, in the finished film, the audience will have time to think about and understand the inner world and emotional state of the characters."

Yu Feihong kept nodding her head. Although she was a novice, she could still apply the simple camera language to other situations.

If the images switch very dynamically, the audience's attention will be scattered and they will have no time to think about the plot and feel the characters.

There are many such static images in "Shoplifters", which also give the audience time to observe the background details and further feel the pressure of the environment and society.

Zhou Xun in the camera fully interprets the role of a loving middle-aged mother. After a few prompts from him, she can get into the state very well and create an image that is a few years older than her actual age. She is very talented.

Liu Yifei is unmatched in this regard, and only hard work can make up for one's shortcomings. Fan Bingbing is above average, but he also needs to make some breakthroughs in role types.

You can't always play female roles that are too gaudy and vulgar.

Yu Feihong lowered her head, and the few strands of hair that were not tied tightly were blown by the wind onto Lu Kuan's face, making her feel itchy and numb.

Boss Lu was not blinded by lust and was still watching the monitor intently, but Yu Feihong on the side suddenly realized that she seemed to be too close to the director.

Even the faint smell of tobacco on him was so obvious.

The two of them buried their heads in front of the monitor and could even hear each other's breathing.

Except for the director, no other crew members were close to this position. Yu Feihong glanced at the young man who was almost ten years younger than her, and suddenly felt that the atmosphere was a little ambiguous.

No one should be able to see it, right?

Seeing that Lu Kuan was looking intently, Yu Feihong was not satisfied with just observing him out of the corner of her eye.

The angular profile and fine stubble that caught the eye, coupled with his dictator-like demeanor and posture in the crew, added a lot of maturity to him that transcended his age.

Opposites attract, especially when one partner possesses talents and qualities that the other greatly admires. . .

However, this scene was seen by Fan Bingbing who was waiting on the side.

Guan Xiaotong in the monitor was slow to get into the mood. She needed to act out the sadness of her unfortunate family, but this was too different from her real life.

"Crack!"

Lu Kuan suddenly stood up and wanted to find Guan Xiaotong's mother to discuss how to "coax her to take the photo", completely forgetting that Yu Feihong was watching the screen closely beside him.

"oops!"

When he suddenly stood up, his shoulder hit Yu Feihong's cheekbone, and the girl covered her face with her hands while screaming in pain.

"sorry Sorry!"

Boss Lu is quite selfless at work, otherwise he would not have been so oblivious to the distance just now given his character of "when he succeeds, he will corrupt the world". Only now did he notice that Yu Feihong's left cheekbone was visibly swollen.

The white and tender peeled eggs will probably turn black after swelling.

The careless Zhou Xun and Fan Bingbing, who had been observing this side, came over, but the crew members paid little attention at first.

Cao Yu grabbed his photography assistant and whispered, "What are you doing? Wait a minute before you go over there!" These inexperienced people, the director and the beautiful assistant director had some minor problems in front of the monitor, why were they in such a hurry to rush over?
It's obvious that he hasn't been on many film crews, and he's watching things he shouldn't be watching!
"Oh, Sister Feihong, this is quite serious. Should I take him to the hospital?"

Fan Bingbing enthusiastically supported Yu Feihong, but accidentally exposed her swollen cheekbones, which she was covering, to Lu Kuan.

It shouldn't be so beautiful from this angle, right?

"No, no, it's just a small matter."

Yu Feihong didn't think it was a big deal at first.

Just seeing the inquiring and curious eyes of the crowd, she suddenly screamed, as if exposing that the two of them had really done something shameful in that little world.

At this moment, her pretty face turned slightly red and her eyes were evasive.

Of course, Lu Kuan believes that everything must give way to the movie.

He called another assistant director over and gave him some instructions, then asked everyone else to take their positions and continue filming.

After the crew finished work in the evening, Lu Kuan, Zhou Xun and Fan Bingbing went to Yu Feihong's room to visit her.

"Sister Feihong, are you okay?"

Yu Feihong smiled and welcomed them into the house. "Oh! You're making a big deal out of nothing. I even broke my arm while rehearsing a play last year. This is nothing."

"Sister Feihong, things have been tough these past two years. Why don't you ask Director Lu to do some math for you? His nickname is Little God!"

Zhou Xun and Lu Kuan knew each other from humble beginnings and were used to joking with each other.

"Really? I've heard about that, but I'm worried the incense money is too expensive and I can't afford it!"

Yu Feihong also spoke jokes openly, but the few bruises on her cheekbones were still a little shocking.

Fan Bingbing laughed and said, "Men are just clumsy. Look how badly Sister Feihong got hit. It really hurts!"

He said as he placed a bottle of peppermint oil on her bedside table.

"Sister Feihong, this can reduce swelling. Remember to apply it every morning and evening."

"You're so beautiful, you need to recover quickly, otherwise it will be so boring for our guide to stare at the monitor alone every day!"

Yu Feihong is not a naive girl, she also teased her with a smile: "Don't you have me, Bingbing? If you guys go out to cook for me someday, please call me too. I can't get used to the food on the set."

Fan Bingbing suddenly stopped talking. Zhou Xun and Yu Feihong looked at each other and smiled maliciously.

This is gossip that came out in the Taiwan media a few days ago.

Young director Lu Kuan had dinner with the beautiful actress Fan Bingbing from the same group. After dinner, they allegedly stayed in the same hotel and left in the early morning.

Boss Lu was careless, thinking that not many people in Taiwan knew him. He didn't expect that the news would be leaked to a magazine by the public the next day.

Fortunately, no solid photos were leaked, but the crew all knew about it.

Lu Kuan was speechless. The three women were making a big drama. Fan Bingbing was being tough in words, but Yu Feihong was not someone to be trifled with either.

Only Zhou Xun, who was just watching the show, was amused. He took advantage of the fact that he had known Lu Kuan for a long time and was familiar with his personality, so he dared to make a joke.

"Alright, alright, let's go quickly and don't disturb Assistant Director Yu's rest."

Boss Lu was afraid that if he continued talking, all his ugly deeds would be exposed, so he quickly stopped talking.

Early in the morning, on the 5th floor of the crew hotel.

Apart from the director's suite, this floor only has the rooms of Yu Feihong, Fan Bingbing and Zhou Xun.

And they are separated by at least two rooms.

This was of course arranged by the crew's assistant director who was very good at handling accidents.

When on a business trip, rooms are arranged for leaders, usually on the highest floor among all the people. Leaders of the same level should be staggered, or at least not face to face.

If there are secretaries or female employees in the same industry and they know there is an affair going on, they will of course be arranged on the same floor as the leader.

If not, it is best to arrange them on the same floor.

This is certainly a disgusting and fawning practice in the workplace, but it is common on the crew.

Because you don’t know who the director is having an affair with, or whether he is a decent person.

At least doing this will be a meritorious act and may even win the favor of a big director and allow him to become his personal assistant director or producer.

Bingbing made another night attack. Now the clouds had cleared and the rain had stopped, and he was lying in Boss Lu's arms.

"Director, I find you are quite philanthropic."

"what?"

"Sister Feihong is 32 years old, I am 21 years old, and Liu Yifei..."

Boss Lu was furious: "How dare you slander someone's innocence out of thin air!"

Fan Bingbing watched him pretending without exposing him, but just drew circles on his chest with her nutmeg-like nails, trying her best to seduce him.

"Have I slandered your innocence? Let alone you, I also like Sister Feihong's gentle and delicate appearance."

I can’t say anything else, but at least if an intellectual beauty like Yu Feihong is willing to be submissive, this lecherous director will definitely not turn her away.

She whispered to Boss Lu: "Don't you men all like this kind of lady in public and a slut in bed?"

Boss Lu sneered in his heart, Bingbing, you understand what a contrast bitch is.

He suddenly remembered the scene today when the two of them were accidentally "touching each other" on the set.

Mature men are familiar with this, but they are also attracted to such open ambiguity and romance, which is even more exciting than serious matters.

"He's here to learn how to be an assistant director. He has artistic aspirations. Don't talk nonsense."

Then he turned around, pinched her chin and said with a smile: "But judging by her posture today, I don't think you can take advantage of her."

Fan Bingbing smiled sweetly and said, "I won't compete with her!"

"By the way, Xiao Gou called me today and asked me how things were going on the set."

These are the code names of the two brothers, Puppy Dog and Big Dog.

"Oh, has your seduction mission been arranged?"

Fan Bingbing rolled his eyes at him, but his hands didn't stop moving: "Yes, I'm on a mission!"

Boss Lu grinned with a sense of relief, his mind still maintaining a trace of clarity.

"Then just let it go, and you won't have to worry about them getting suspicious in the future."

"Huayi will go public sooner or later. You should try your best to become the top shareholder before then and get more shares."

"is it?"

Fan Bingbing was a little confused. The storms in the capital market at that time had not yet caused a storm in the entertainment industry, and the artists had not yet realized the "money prospects" of this field.

"Well, the capitalization of entertainment is an inevitable trend. No matter how many endorsements you actors take on or how much money you earn in the future, your hard work over a decade may not earn you as much as a single cash-out move in the capital market."

Fan Bingbing's eyes lit up. She was no longer sleepy when she heard about money and status!
Another sleepless night.

(End of this chapter)