The entertainment empire began with Liu Yifei's premarital pregnancy.

"Is there anything you don't understand?"

Lin Bufan turned to look at Dong Jie, Chen Shu, and Xue Kaiqi.

The three women exchanged glances, and then Xue Kaiqi, the third female lead, spoke first: "Director Lin, I don't understand. Lai Xiujin and this character are clearly Wang Jiazhi's classmates, so why would she do that?"

The script doesn't describe Lai Xiujin's character much; it only tells what she did. As for her motivation, she needs to create her own character biography to flesh out the character.

"How you play this role is crucial!"

Lin Bufan looked at Xue Kaiqi: "If you just want to simply follow the script and act it out, you can do it verbatim, but after the film is released, the characteristics of your character will not be so distinct."

The movie "Lust, Caution" mainly focuses on the male and female leads. The supporting characters are important but not that important. The film's award appeal is due to its plot and the roles played by the male and female leads.

As for supporting roles, they need to rely on their own efforts to stand out.

Of course, if she doesn't want to work that hard, she can simply act according to the script without delving into the character, and that won't stop her from winning awards.

"Director Lin, I want to give it a try!"

Xue Kaiqi looked at Lin Bufan with a serious expression.

If there were no opportunity, it would be fine, but now that the opportunity is in front of her, she doesn't want to miss this chance for advancement.

"Then I'll give you a brief overview of this character. As for the rest of the story, you'll have to flesh it out yourself."

Of course, a character needs a rich story, but this only applies to Xue Kaiqi herself. The more fleshed out the character, the more "real" she may seem when she plays the role, and it won't add any more screen time for her in the movie.

"First, you need to grasp the character's motivation..."

"The character Lai Xiujin, although she is Wang Jiazhi's classmate, is jealous of Wang Jiazhi in her heart. Her jealousy stems from the character Kuang Yumin..."

"Whether she participated in the plan or actively promoted its progress, it was all to increase the time she spent with Kuang Yumin. Even the plan to deflower Wang Jiazhi was her doing; she wanted to 'dirty' Wang Jiazhi so that Kuang Yumin would no longer like her..."

Simply put, the character Lai Xiujin uses the name of revolution to satisfy her own selfish desires.

A sophisticated egoist.

"I understand, Director Lin!"

Through Lin Bufan's explanation, Xue Kaiqi gained a deeper understanding of the character and a greater confidence in playing the role well.

Xue Kaiqi, who debuted in Hong Kong, has acted in movies, but in Hong Kong, filming is simply a matter of getting the script and starting to act. There is no such thing as script reading. It's just about getting the script, familiarizing yourself with the role you play in the movie, crying when you're sad, and laughing when you're happy. As long as your acting isn't too awkward, the director usually won't say anything.

This is the first and only time she has done this since her debut: a biographical sketch or a fully fleshed-out character sketch.

In Hong Kong, filming is so fast, there's no time to figure out the character's inner world, especially since you're not the lead.

"Sister Chen, is there anything you don't understand about the character of Mrs. Yi?"

Lin Bufan turned to look at Chen Shu.

Chen Shu, a woman who becomes more charming and attractive with age, is full of allure, as seen in her roles as Chen Jiaying in "Peace Hotel" and Lin Baiyu in "Chang'an Road".

"Director Lin, there's one thing I just don't understand. I don't get the logic behind Mrs. Yi's behavior. Wang Jiazhi is Mr. Yi's mistress. According to the characteristics of the Republic of China era, she would not only beat or scold Mr. Yi's mistress, but also indulge her like this. I don't understand her motives!" Chen Shu frowned, looking somewhat troubled.

She really couldn't understand this.

Of course, even if she can't understand it, she can still act. However, if an actor doesn't understand the character's behavioral logic and motivations when acting, the character she portrays will only be superficial.

This is indeed a flaw in Mrs. Yi's character, which was not shown in the original film, and Lin Bufan also omitted this point when revising the script.

In the original version of "Lust, Caution", Mrs. Yi's logical motivation was to consolidate her position as a high-ranking official. She knew that in the Republican era, it was normal for a high-ranking official like Mrs. Yi to have mistresses.

Rather than letting Mr. Yi find an uncontrollable woman outside, she would rather she take the initiative to "keep" a mistress for her husband.

Therefore, Mrs. Yi personally investigated Mrs. Mai, accepted her, and created various opportunities for her.

This logical motivation seems reasonable, but it is actually unreasonable when placed in the context of the Republic of China era.

During the Republic of China era, although many high-ranking officials kept mistresses to varying degrees, very few, if any, brought them home; they were kept outside the home.

What is home to a woman?

The home is a symbol of "legitimacy." Those kept outside are always mistresses, but once they enter the home, they are no longer mistresses, but concubines.

If you really think about it, Mrs. Yi is the first wife, while Mrs. Wang Jiazhi, the second wife, is the third wife.

If both are wives, it touches on the core interests of a family, namely the issue of inheritance.

That's why Chen Shu couldn't quite understand it and couldn't convince herself to empathize with the character's thoughts and motivations.

It doesn't interfere with her acting, but the logic and motivation are unclear, which makes it difficult for her to truly become one with the character.

"I'll think about that."

Lin Bufan couldn't figure out how to handle the situation for a moment, so he turned to Dong Jie and asked, "Wang Jiazhi is the soul of the film. Do you have any ideas?"

"Director Lin, the character Wang Jiazhi is supposed to be an innocent female student, so why would she agree to let Liang Runsheng take her virginity?"

Dong Jie frowned: "Also, the script says that Wang Jiazhi develops feelings for Mr. Yi, but she was clearly following the plan to get close to him, so how could she develop feelings for her target? In the end, at the crucial moment, she let him go."

Especially in the end, the fact that she let the other person go because of a pigeon egg ring made her unable to understand the character's deeper motives. Was she noble or superficial?

If she was noble and willing to abandon anything to complete the mission, then she allowed Liang Runsheng to deflower her to make the plan more perfect and without loopholes.

But if that's the case, she made such a huge sacrifice, so why did she let Mr. Yi go in the end?

If she were the kind of superficial woman, she shouldn't have agreed from the very first step of the plan. Dong Jie thought about this for several days but couldn't figure it out.