After the director problem of "Nineteen Years" was solved, Li Zhibai breathed a sigh of felt that he had been going through the most turbulent period of time on the set since he became an actor.
In the past, no matter what problems the crew encountered, it actually had little to do with him.
He is just an actor. He has neither the idea nor the responsibility or obligation to participate in the situations that occur on the crew.
This time was completely different, but it also brought him a completely different experience.
What Li Zhibai didn't expect was another thing.
In the case of Liu Manbo, Li Zhibai felt for the first time that it was worth it even if he had to go through more trouble, take on more responsibilities, and put in more effort - to help Liu Manbo keep his position as director and make Dengta Video give up the idea of letting Lu Daobo come back to direct.
He also suddenly realized why Lu Yanhe served as a screenwriter, director and producer of many projects even though being an actor was already a good enough job for him.
If the roles of director and screenwriter are to control the content of a project and keep it on track, then the role of producer is to ensure the creative environment for these creators from a more fundamental level so that they can create well and the right people are in the right positions.
It was this experience that gave Li Zhibai a very strong stimulus.
Even though he is already a popular actor, and even a producer with great weight and say in the drama "Nineteen Years", when there are disagreements and conflicts with the platform, he is still weak and still does not have enough ability to defend what he wants to defend.
No wonder many actors choose to become producers later in life.
Because if they want to protect their project, they have to participate more in it.
-
Malaysia.
Lu Yanhe and director Huang Tianlin made an appointment to meet at an ecological park.
Although Lu Yanhe didn't know why they would arrange to meet in such a place - indeed, few people would ask him to meet in such a place, he still gladly accepted the invitation.
This is the only film he is confirmed to be directing this year.
"Tropical Rain Season", in this movie, he plays the protagonist - the bastard brother of a twelve-year-old child.
This is a family story told from the perspective of a twelve-year-old child.
Lu Yanhe has never filmed this type of film before.
Lu Yanhe looked for all the works directed by Huang Tianlin in the past.
Huang Tianlin gave him the impression of being a very gentle and delicate director.
The family relationships in his lens are all based on love. No matter how big the storm is, it will eventually return to peaceful daily life.
This characteristic is actually very difficult to deal with and it is easy to turn it into a chicken soup movie.
Chicken soup is too vulgar and not artistic enough.
Huang Tianlin handled the situation very well.
Lu Yanhe felt that this was mainly because Huang Tianlin did not actually want to shoot a heartwarming story from the beginning. He just looked at the world from this perspective - the difference between deliberate and unintentional.
Lu Yanhe and Huang Tianlin met at the entrance of the ecological park.
Lu Yanhe only brought Zou Dong with him.
Huang Tianlin was alone.
Zou Dong was about two or three meters away from Lu Yanhe, leaving them enough space for private communication.
Huang Tianlin and Lu Yanhe did not speak the Malaysian language, but Mandarin.
This surprised Lu Yanhe.
Huang Tianlin said that his grandfather was Chinese and he grew up with him when he was a child, so he can speak Mandarin. However, he has not spoken it for a long time, so he speaks it a little slowly.
Lu Yanhe suddenly realized and nodded.
"I didn't see this information in your interview." He asked, "Is this matter not disclosed to the media?"
Huang Tianlin smiled and waved his hands, saying, "It's not about whether it's public or not. I didn't intend to hide this matter, but I did not talk about it publicly, and people would not be curious about who my grandfather is."
Lu Yanhe nodded.
"When they told me that you were willing to act in the movie 'Tropic Rain Season', I was shocked." Huang Tianlin said, "In fact, I didn't know that he had contacted you until my producer told me."
Lu Yanhe: "It should be my agent who contacted him. She has been helping me find scripts. I starred in several commercial films some time ago, so I have been looking for films that are suitable for me and not so commercial."
He also speaks his mind.
Huang Tianlin: "When The Mist was released, I also went to the cinema to watch the movie. It was only when I arrived at the cinema that I realized that there were many of your fans in Malaysia. Many people went to see the movie specifically for you."
“Really? I was surprised too.” Lu Yanhe said, “Because I have never been to Malaysia before, and I have never filmed a Malaysian movie. I didn’t expect that so many people would know me and like me.”
Huang Tianlin: "At first, I never thought that a movie star like you would star in the movie "Tropical Rain Season". I was shocked."
“I love this script, it reminds me of my childhood.”
Lu Yanhe walked under the shade of the trees, with dappled sunlight falling on them and on the road in front of them.
There are actually not many people in the ecological park, just a few scattered around.
He put his hands behind his back and said, "In the past few years, I have read many scripts about family ethics and family relationships. I don't know if it is because there is such a trend in the world film industry or what, but in these stories, the family seems to have become a prison, a shadow that needs to be healed. Of course, I also know that, indeed, for many people, the family has caused such harm. But when all the scripts talk about such themes and stories, I feel a little resistant. It feels like this has become a trend, a correct trend. Only by escaping from your original family can you build another life that truly belongs to you."
Lu Yanhe spoke slowly about the feelings that the script of "Tropical Rainy Season" brought to him.
"So, I was really surprised to see a script that looks at family relationships from a teenager's perspective," said Lu Yanhe. "Although the role of the elder brother doesn't have many scenes, every time he appears, he is wonderful. In this story, he is actually a destroyer and a leaver, an uneasy factor. But even for such a character, behind his behavioral logic, we can see that on the one hand, he is extremely eager to break out of the cage of his family, but on the other hand, he cares about and cannot let go of the people in this family."
Huang Tianlin looked at Lu Yanhe with some surprise and asked, "Do you have a brother?" Lu Yanhe shook his head.
Whether before or after the time travel, he had no brothers.
Huang Tianlin hesitated for a moment and said, "Yan He, I heard that you grew up with your grandparents?"
"Yes." Lu Yanhe nodded.
Huang Tianlin hesitated a few times, as if he wanted to say something, but didn't say it.
When Lu Yanhe saw him like this, he reacted immediately.
He smiled.
"Director, are you worried that I can't quite understand the family relationships in "Tropical Rain Season"?"
Huang Tianlin said: "I am not questioning your ability as an actor. I have watched every play you have starred in, but you have acted in so many plays, and I rarely see any parts about family and family affection. Including the plays you wrote, the part about family and family is basically absent——"
Lu Yanhe nodded.
"Now that you put it that way, it is true." He also did not realize that the works he had participated in in the past were not centered around family and relatives.
Huang Tianlin looked at Lu Yanhe seriously.
"I don't know whether your understanding of this script is consistent with my understanding of this script."
-
"Director, can you change the way I smile at the little girl in the elevator scene? I don't want my smile to be too creepy. The murderer I play is not a psychopath. He just wants to kill everyone who has hurt him. The little girl has nothing to do with him. It's really scary for him to show a creepy smile at this time, but I think it's weird and doesn't fit the characteristics of his character. After all, whether before or after this scene, he doesn't have any neurotic traits. He is a revenge-oriented murderer."
The scene that Li Zhibai was talking about was the next scene to be filmed - the murderer played by him entered the same elevator with a little girl who was going home from school.
He was going to kill someone, and the little girl lived in the same building as the person he was going to kill.
The little girl saw the tip of the knife sticking out from the sleeve of his raincoat and turned pale with fright.
At this time, in the script, Li Zhibai gave the little girl a very creepy smile and told her not to be afraid.
Liu Manbo said, "The word 'scary' in the script doesn't mean he wanted to scare the little girl on purpose. I think he was unintentional. Think about it, if a little girl saw your murder weapon, you would definitely want to try to comfort the little girl with a smile and tell her not to be afraid. But in that tense mental state, your smile would be distorted and become scary, which is actually right."
After listening to Liu Manbo's interpretation, Li Zhibai nodded thoughtfully and said, "That's too difficult for me. I don't know how to make that creepy smile you mentioned. I thought it was the creepy smile of a murderer - the technical difficulty is a bit high."
Liu Manbo: "Let's try it first and see what the performance will be like."
After three auditions, both Liu Manbo and Li Zhibai felt that it was not good enough.
Li Zhibai knew what Liu Manbo wanted to feel, but he couldn't act it out.
The original intention was to comfort the little girl not to be afraid, but in fact, the laughter had a more creepy effect - it is just a matter of words, but to achieve it on a technical level, I am afraid that few actors can do it.
After performing it for the third time, when the effect was still not very good, Li Zhibai felt a little annoyed.
He didn't think that Liu Manbo was wrong, but he felt that he couldn't act it out.
"Director, please try a different way of acting. This is really beyond my ability." Li Zhibai felt that after so many NGs, other crew members were getting a little agitated.
Liu Manbo said, "Zhibai, let's try again. I think you can act it out. You are getting better and better."
At this moment, Li Zhibai really wanted to tell Liu Manbo that it was not possible and he really couldn't act it out. But when he looked at Liu Manbo's determined eyes, he sighed and decided to try again.
-
"What kind of brother do you want me to play?" Lu Yanhe asked Huang Tianlin.
Huang Tianlin said: "Just now I heard you talk about your understanding of the role of the elder brother, and I found that your idea is a little different from what I wrote when I wrote the script."
"What deviation?" Lu Yanhe knew that there must be a reason why Huang Tianlin suddenly mentioned his family, but he didn't expect it was because of his interpretation of the script.
Huang Tianlin said: "The character of the elder brother has no attachment to this family, so you say that the underlying tone of many of his behaviors is because he is reluctant to leave this family, which is not the original intention of my script."
Lu Yanhe suddenly realized.
He thought for a moment and asked, "Then what I read from the script, about his reluctance to leave his family, was also a misunderstanding?"
"It's definitely not true to say that he has no emotional attachment to his family, but that's not enough to constrain him to leave this home." Huang Tianlin explained, "His desire to leave must be greater than anything else. From quarreling with his parents, to coming home with a fight, to the conversation with his brother, they were all about one thing: he didn't want to be trapped."
"But no matter how much a person wants to leave, his mood will change when he can actually leave, right?" Lu Yanhe said.
Huang Tianlin: "What if I say, at least there is no such thing at your brother's age?"
"This is indeed a bit beyond my understanding." Lu Yanhe did not expect that he would have a disagreement with the director in his understanding of the script and characters.
It would be a lie to say that there were no differences before, but those differences were more about differences in expression rather than differences in understanding of the script itself.
Lu Yanhe was a little surprised.
Huang Tianlin said: "In "Tropical Rain Season", the role of the elder brother represents a kind of rebellion and departure, which is a kind of spiritual projection of his younger brother's youth. In this story, he does not need such complexity and richness of character."
Lu Yanhe fell silent.
The two continued walking forward for a while.
Lu Yanhe said: "Director, I may need to go back and sort out this script and my own ideas."
Huang Tianlin nodded.
When the two of them parted, Huang Tianlin said, "Yan He, if you don't want to act in this movie anymore, I understand you. In fact, it's really unfair for you, such a famous actor, to play such a small role."
"Director, I don't care about the size of the role." Lu Yanhe looked directly at Huang Tianlin and said, "I also want to ask you something."
Huang Tianlin looked at him puzzledly.
Lu Yanhe said: "If our disagreement is really just a different understanding of the script and the characters, I will think about it seriously after I go back. But, director, I don't know if it's my illusion. I feel that you don't really want me to play this movie. Can you tell me if this feeling of mine is my illusion?" (End of this chapter)
