2001 Media Godfather

Chapter 74 The Night Visitor
In Chu An's view, whether something is convenient or not is just an excuse.

Old Lu has gone astray now. He probably thinks the same way as Shen Jin: if there's popularity, might as well use it.

But Chu An really didn't want to act, so she used the same tactics she used on Shen Jin on Lu Mingze: "How about this, I'll personally pick a suitable male actor for you, and I won't act."

Lu Mingze neither agreed nor disagreed, but instead asked Chu An, "You haven't been online these past few days, have you?"

Chu An, "No?"

I was about to throw up from scrolling through posts for a month straight. Plus, Xu Shu had been busy filming night scenes lately and didn't have time to play with me, so after posting "Be Your Own Light" that day, I went offline immediately and didn't even want to touch my computer.

Lu Mingze said, "Why don't you go online and take a look?"

Chu An didn't take it seriously. "So what if everyone's praising me? My fan count is skyrocketing? What's the big deal?"

Everything was exactly as President Chu expected; there's nothing to be proud of.

Ma Lan couldn't help but laugh, "You should go and see for yourself."

Unable to persuade them otherwise, Chu An simply turned on his computer and logged into Ji Yang's fan club.

The post titled "Be Your Own Light, You Don't Need to Be Too Bright" is already at the top of the section, and its popularity remains undiminished.

Upon opening the post, the most liked comment came from a girl named Zhang Linlin.

The gist of the story is how she went from being a literature enthusiast who didn't care about entertainment gossip or like entertainment idols to becoming a die-hard fan of Chu An.

The writing is excellent, the content is very moving, and it represents the emotional journey of a large number of people who went from being casual observers to becoming fans.

This is not surprising. Chu An's actions, in the eyes of the general public, especially young netizens who dislike Ji Yang's fans, are nothing short of Western heroism.

Young people love the underdog story and the legendary tale of someone who defies conventions on their own.

"Hey!!" Chu An said, suppressing a smile. "Why are you showing me all this? It'll make you arrogant."

He feigned modesty, but in his heart...
To be honest, I worked behind the scenes in my past life, so I didn't really know that it's actually quite nice for an idol to be liked.

He jokingly told everyone, "Don't expect me to become this person just because of netizens' praise."

Before I could finish speaking, I saw Zhang Linlin's last sentence in the post.

"Keep it up, Xiao Anzi! Even though your acting is bad, I will always support you. You must do your best in your next drama!"

This one line ignited the powder keg, and most of the comments below revolved around the vast majority of "Chu An fans" mocking his poor acting skills.

Some people have raised different opinions, saying that if you have poor acting skills, you shouldn't act. You should focus on being a screenwriter and music composer and contribute good works to the general public.

However, such voices are clearly in the minority.

Chu An's fans responded, "If you're bad at something, you have to practice more! How can you practice if you're not going to be the male lead? How can you become the male lead if you don't practice? If you're not the male lead, who will we laugh at?"

Chu An felt that this logic was a bit off. Why didn't you just say you wanted me to be the male lead? Then you'd have something to laugh at!
Read on.

"Your next project is 'You Are My Glory,' right? Xiao Anzi has to play the lead role! It's okay, we'll just focus on the female lead."

"The person upstairs is sick! Xiao Anzi's acting skills can support eight TV stations and eight entertainment forums! Everyone must watch carefully and critically!"

"Ten thousand people wrote a petition: Xiao Anzi must continue acting! With Xiao Anzi's performance as a foil in 'With You,' I think Tong Meng's acting is beyond reproach."

"A petition written in the blood of ten thousand people."

The formation behind them was neat, and everyone was strongly advising Chu An to take the role, telling him not to be afraid of criticism.

Chu An was so angry that his face turned green.

Unable to contain himself, he angrily replied, "How dare you! Don't you dare insult me!"

As soon as the person in question appeared, a group of netizens immediately replied, "Go Xiao Anzi, you're the best! We definitely won't laugh."

"Xiao Anzi, be confident! A movie star and TV king are beckoning to you."

Chu An, "."

Lu Mingze then handed Chu An the male lead's script and makeup/styling plan, and then pretended nothing had happened.

"Come on, everyone, let's discuss the choice of the female lead."

Choosing the female lead is really a problem.

First, following the principle of starting with acquaintances, we chose Xu Shu and Lin Wanxing. Both are big names with many fans and good acting skills.

The problem is that Xu Shu is an artist under Tiandu, and Lu Mingze is a bit childish and doesn't really want to have anything to do with Tiandu anymore.

As for Lin Wanxing, the Lin brothers have expressed their willingness to act in the film. However:

Firstly, Lin Wanxing has an official mainstream-themed project scheduled for the second half of this year, which may conflict with his schedule.

Secondly, to be fair, Lin Wanxing exudes too much youthful energy. Currently, her acting range is narrower than Xu Shu's. The female lead, Qiao Jingjing, in "You Are My Glory," has to portray a character from seventeen or eighteen to over thirty. Xu Shu can handle that, but Lin Wanxing still lacks the experience.

The Lin siblings were well aware of this, so they weren't particularly eager for the role, and their willingness to take it was more of a gesture of friendship.

If a more suitable candidate is found, Lin Wanxing is willing to withdraw from the competition.

Chu An had already been drawn into the discussion by Lu Mingze; in fact, regarding acting in his own script...
President Chu was indignant! "My acting is bad? That's because I lack experience. Everyone has a head, so why should I always be a bad actor?"
Besides, the script is mine. At worst, I can just repeat the same crazy tactics as "With You" and make up for it with the plot and character design!

So, this can be seen as an implicit acceptance of the decision to play the male lead. Now, the female lead...
“Forget about Wanxing,” Chu An said seriously. “My professional skills are not good enough. If Qiao Jingjing’s character has problems, the whole show will fall apart.”

"As for Xu Shu," Chu An pondered for a long time, "I'll talk to her about it later!"

Putting it aside for the time being, Lu Mingze recommended a few more actresses.

They are all top-tier celebrities, between twenty and thirty years old, including a female artist from Hong Kong.

Both are quite similar to the image of Qiao Jingjing that Lu Mingze imagined.

After reviewing the basic information, Chu An still wasn't sure, so he said, "Why don't we invite them all and schedule a time for them to audition?"

"At the same time, we can also spread the word within the industry that we haven't decided on the female lead yet, and let the various schools and agencies recommend actresses themselves."

Lu Mingze nodded and looked at Ma Lan. Ma Lan immediately understood, "I'll take care of it right away."

Casting has always been a very mysterious thing.

Some actors whom the creators thought were suitable might not look the same when they actually tried on makeup and stood in front of the camera.

Some actors you think are unsuitable might actually surprise you.

For example, when casting for "Lurking", Sun Honglei even offered himself up, but the director rejected him. How could a gangster boss like him play Yu Zecheng?
Ultimately, the actor the director had his eye on couldn't make it, and he auditioned all the actors he thought were suitable but wasn't satisfied with any of them. So, with a "let's give it a try" attitude, he let Sun Piaoliang audition. The result was the creation of a timeless classic character.

That evening, Chu An called Xu Shu right on time, "Do you want to play Qiao Jingjing?"

Xu Shu, "To tell the truth?"

Chu An: "Mm."

Xu Shu: "There's no challenge at all; it doesn't matter whether I act or not."

Acting is Xu Shu's only hobby; she's a bit of a drama fanatic. The role of Qiao Jingjing really offered her no room for development.

"What's wrong? Haven't you found a suitable actor?"

Chu An: "Hmm! No one has chosen yet."

Xu Shu said, "Then I'll act in it! The company talked to Sister Yuan yesterday, and if you invite me, I can make time for it."

Chu An, "."

Suddenly, he asked, "Let me ask you another question. In two years, would you like to switch to my agency?"

Xu Shu immediately perked up: "Of course I wanted to! I originally wanted to be the first artist in your agency." Her tone was a little unhappy, "But you signed Fei Zhu!"

Upon hearing this, Chu An said, "Then let's not act. Try to avoid any collaborations in the next two years, otherwise it will be easy for people to criticize us when we terminate the contract."

Xu Shu: "Okay, I'll listen to you."

The two chatted for a while longer, and it was past midnight. Xu Shuming still had a filming to do, so Chu An urged her to go to sleep.

After hanging up the phone, Chu An thought about trying out other actresses first.

Before he could even put his phone down, another call came in.

It was Tong Meng calling.

Chu An was puzzled and answered the phone, asking, "What happened so late?"

Tong Meng, "Where are you?"

Chu An: "Home."

Tong Meng said, "Then pick me up at the intersection of Xiejie Street in twenty minutes. It's urgent."

After saying that, Tong Meng hung up the phone.

This left Chu An completely bewildered, but there was nothing he could do. He timed it perfectly, put on his military overcoat, and sneaked out the door.

There's no way around it; people are afraid of becoming famous, just like pigs are afraid of getting fat. Although his home address hasn't become an open secret yet.

However, who knows, if some incredibly resourceful paparazzi manages to catch him meeting a female celebrity late at night outside his home, then tomorrow's entertainment news will be quite a spectacle.

He turned up his coat collar and walked to the intersection of the sloping street. There wasn't a single pedestrian, let alone Tong Meng.

There was just a yellow Mercedes 230 sports car parked across the street.

Chu An walked towards the car with suspicion. Tong Meng's car wasn't this one, so he wasn't sure, but there was no one else around.

As soon as he walked to the car, the passenger door opened, and Tong Meng, wrapped in a down jacket, stepped out. "Little Brother Chu!"

Chu An leaned closer. "What's going on? Why aren't you sleeping in the middle of the night?"

Tong Meng didn't have time for pleasantries and went straight to the point, "Would you take on any publicity and planning work?"

Chu An was speechless. He glanced in the direction of the driver's seat, but couldn't see who was sitting there. He immediately refused, saying, "Forget it!"

“I’m duty-bound to help you with this, but if you’re treating it like a business transaction, then there’s really no need for that.”

I'm so familiar with Tong Meng that we sometimes have a tacit understanding.

Chu An's near-unbeatable public relations efforts this time demonstrated more than just generating buzz; those in the know will understand his professionalism in public relations.

Therefore, it was inevitable that someone would come to him asking for help with planning, and Chu An was not opposed to this kind of business that came to him.

It doesn't matter whether you make money or not; the key is to know more people in this circle.

However, Chu An had warned those around him beforehand not to introduce just anyone; he was selective.

As for why they refused right away, that's a matter of social etiquette.

If there's no need to befriend the people in the car, or if Tong Meng doesn't intend to genuinely help, then she can conveniently back down and have an excuse to send them away.

If it were truly a desire to help, or something that would be useful to everyone in the future, then Tong Meng would naturally plead with Chu An for help further. At that point, Chu An would conveniently accept the favor and do Tong Meng a favor.

Upon hearing this, Tong Meng did not follow Chu An's plan. Instead, she frankly said, "No need to beat around the bush. We're family, as close as sisters."

As he spoke, he knocked on the window, asking the driver to lower it slightly. "My friend is having some trouble."

Chu An understood and looked into the car. A stunningly beautiful face smiled faintly at Chu An.

"Hello, Professor Chu. I apologize for the late visit."

Chu An, "."

chap!
Has this person reached the top?
What difficulties could there be?
.

I'll try to write another chapter, it might be very late, I'll read it tomorrow morning.

(End of this chapter)