Chapter 234: Don’t Let Yu Wei Play The Fool
Before heading out, Yu Wei checked the audition location and time again: Chaoyang District, Xing Mou Building, starting at ten in the morning.
He had no relevant experience with role auditions; the only scenes he knew were from entertainment novels, so naturally they couldn’t be taken as true.
Beijing was great in every way except for the terrible traffic; the East Third Ring was already at a standstill during the morning rush hour, but Yu Wei wasn’t in a hurry and casually flipped through the script again.
Today, the main auditions were for those few roles that could be gotten free of charge; first consider spending little money to accomplish big things, and if not a good fit, then open auditions for the second round.
Old Qi was still reliable in this aspect; although he had his own free-of-charge “connections,” Xing Mou Company had also contacted another team as a backup plan.
At nine twenty, Yu Wei walked into the grand lobby of Xing Mou Building, where the walls were posted with signs for the Charlotte Troubles audition.
Following the clear directions, he smoothly found the elevator to the third floor audition venue and bumped right into Zhang Lingye.
“Wei Zi, you’re finally here. Look at this role of mine…”
“I believe in you.”
Yu Wei patted his shoulder without saying anything unnecessary; he was only giving them an opportunity, whether they could seize it depended on them.
“Sigh.” Zhang Lingye glanced toward the audition room and said in a low voice: “I’m just afraid of getting cut. What if Director Qi finds out my fans cursed his son and targets me?”
This showed a bit of misunderstanding of Old Qi; Qi Yunming wasn’t one to hold grudges, he probably wouldn’t bother with such things.
“My fans have cursed Qi Yuan too.”
As the chief culprit for Qi Yuan’s unfollows, the artist most hated by a million Yu Yuan “in life,” was Yu Wei proud?
“You’re different; you’re the prospective son-in-law…”
The music awards ceremony incident from the night before yesterday had made several trending searches; even if Zhang Lingye hadn’t deliberately gossiped, he knew about it.
He was one of the earliest to ship this CP, so he naturally knew the intricacies well.
“I’m a der, and besides, even Qi Yuan, the favored son, has to do open auditions when he arrives?”
Yu Wei pointed to Qi Yuan in the corner seriously studying the script; compared to others, Qi Yuan had gotten the script latest, so he naturally had to put in more effort.
He went over to greet his friends one by one; the guys were all in good state, especially Fei Hong, who clearly came fully prepared.
“Everyone, do your best.”
Yu Wei entered the audition room, where a long table was placed in the middle with place cards labeled “Director,” “Producer,” and “Screenwriter” already set on it.
These were the judges’ seats, and Yu Wei’s spot was right next to Director Qi Yunming.
“Teacher Yu, pleased to meet you.”
The somewhat short and plump producer quickly came over to greet him; Qi Yunming briefly introduced him—this was Peng Chao, his old partner; the two had collaborated on many films.
That meant he needed some special attention…
Qi Yunming made one bad movie after another, probably not unrelated to the producer; their duo of double sword union, a pair of flops, who knew how much “history” they had created.
Good thing he had placed one of his own in the director’s team; Lu Zhou hadn’t arrived yet, but with his international movie award credentials, he should have some right to speak.
The literary and art circles still valued international prestige highly; Lu Zhou was a good-for-nothing, but he was indeed popular.
“The story is very good; Teacher Yu is practically a genius.”
Normally, a producer wouldn’t talk to a screenwriter like this, but Yu Wei wasn’t an ordinary screenwriter; he was just part-time, so he had to be respected as the source.
“There are plenty of genius screenwriters in the entertainment industry; I don’t even rank.”
Yu Wei understood this reasoning; writing a good script didn’t count as winning—only filming it did.
“We were just discussing your advantage in role understanding; you’re both screenwriter and lead actor, so today you really need to make full use of your insight.”
Qi Yunming’s words already showed signs of slacking off; it was fine that the screenwriter had the deepest understanding of the roles, right?
Producer Peng Chao nodded in agreement; mainly, he wasn’t sure if his own understanding was correct, so whatever Teacher Yu said would settle it.
This didn’t feel right…
Signs of Old Qi’s unreliability were emerging already before formal filming even started; what would it be like once shooting began?
At this moment, a staff member brought a stack of actor resumes and handed them to Yu Wei: “These are the actors auditioning this morning; they’re the ones you particularly noted.”
Although he knew his friends inside and out, the process still had to be followed.
The top one was Qi Yuan; no movie experience, but he had shot four TV series, though all idol dramas with little reference value.
Yu Wei wasn’t worried about his acting skills; after all, from an entertainment family, Qi Luo An had only studied a few years and was already quite decent, so Qi Yuan’s basic skills were surely solid.
The richest acting career in the resumes was undoubtedly Fei Hong’s; he started acting at nine, with countless big and small roles, so calling him a veteran actor wasn’t overstatement.
However, the quality of his roles in recent years had plummeted; in his youth he could still play leads, now only minor one-episode roles.
“What do you two think?”
After all, these were people he had brought; he had to hear the director and producer’s opinions and couldn’t just decide everything himself.
“Big names gathered, bringing their own traffic; not bad.”
Qi Yunming had of course seen the resumes already; from a commercial value perspective, their normal picks definitely weren’t as good as these Yu Wei had pulled in.
Though a bit short on seniority, each was popular, so no lack of traffic; moreover, they didn’t want money.
All free of charge—what more bicycle could one want?
Just as the topic was getting awkward, Lu Zhou finally arrived; seeing Qi Yunming, he was clearly respectful, not missing any due socializing pleasantries.
For mid-to-low-tier directors like them, Qi Yunming was still out of reach; despite his countless bad movies, his reputation was there, and box office was guaranteed.
“Everyone’s here; we can pretty much start.”
Yu Wei felt they were solidly a makeshift team: one slacking off, one parroting along, and one here to make friends.
“The four main roles we’re looking at today are Yuan Hua, Da Chun, Meng Te, and Zhang Yang.”
He briefly described the role traits: Yuan Hua’s father is a district head, well-versed in officialdom but timid and afraid of trouble; Da Chun nicknamed Big Fool, all brawn and simple-minded; Meng Te male by gender cognition female; Zhang Yang a snob.
In Yu Wei’s plan, Qi Yuan would play Yuan Hua, Fei Hong Da Chun, Su Jian Meng Te, and Zhang Lingye Zhang Yang.
The first to enter was Fei Hong; he should be the most prepared among the male actors present, his state clearly different.
“First, talk about your understanding of the role.”
Qi Yunming routinely asked as per standard; actor selection had clear criteria, with role understanding a key part.
Besides that, appearance, performance ability, and professional morality were all key considerations; unfortunately, many actors now couldn’t even manage these basics.
Fei Hong took a deep breath, slightly hunched his back, hands unnaturally rubbing his pant seams, gaze showing honest simplicity mixed with slight tension.
Yu Wei’s eyes lit up; this was Da Chun’s signature body language—he hadn’t expected Fei Hong to get into state so quickly.
The others felt nothing special; after all, only Yu Wei had seen the original film with clear imagery in mind, so his impression was especially strong.
“Da Chun isn’t truly foolish but lives purely; he’s simple and warm like spring, seemingly slow but actually having long seen the essence of happiness: contentment and cherishing those before you.”
Fei Hong spoke very slowly yet firmly, his positioning of the role quite precise.
Qi Yunming had thought of this too, but he figured Yu Wei wanted to satirize this fame-chasing society through the role…
Yu Wei nodded: “Now perform a scene: the first one, Da Chun confesses to Ma Dongmei.”
He deliberately picked a not-so-classic camera shot to see if Fei Hong had really put in effort; without seeing the original, one probably couldn’t even recall this plot.
But Fei Hong immediately got into state, pulling an imaginary sunflower from his pocket and clumsily holding it to his chest, gaze evasive yet expectant.
“Dongmei, Xia Luo says you like sunflowers… I think you’re prettier than Qiu Ya.”
Suddenly patted on the head by the imaginary Dongmei, he shrank his neck but grinned: “You still hit so hard!”
He even remembered this?
Fei Hong not only remembered the lines but even the opponent play so clearly; Yu Wei pretty much decided on him for the role in an instant.
The feeling of being bullied by a crush yet happy about it was performed too well; Yu Wei even suspected Fei Hong had truly had a crush.
It seemed he really had…
“Feels not transparent enough.”
Qi Yunming sighed, “Playing Da Chun, you can’t just act his foolishness; you need to bring out his pure wisdom and layers.”
In that instant, Yu Wei almost wanted to shout “What the hell are you talking about”; Fei Hong performed it so well, no need for overinterpretation.
Role portrayal can’t be dissected too finely; too fine becomes excessive, too thorough instead leads to heavy performance traces.
Yu Wei had previously thought Qi Yunming made bad movies from laziness and letting things slide; now he realized it was laziness plus overthinking.
Laziness plus overthinking—actors wouldn’t end up on a downward spiral?
“Thanks, Director; I think… I kind of get it.”
“No no no no no, you don’t get it.”
Yu Wei hurriedly cut him off; if he really got it, that would be truly hopeless—stop it, Old Qi, outside it’s all one-star bad reviews.
His sudden and somewhat forceful interruption successfully startled everyone present; did Yu Wei have something to say?
“You performed it very well already; your understanding is fine.”
Fei Hong’s performance felt very real; forcing layers would make it not human-like—who makes decisions considering depth in real life?
Words alone weren’t proof; afraid direct opposition might hurt Qi Yunming too much, he proactively suggested performing it himself as a demo.
His perfect mastery, though not god-level acting, could 100% restore the movie original.
Hearing this, everyone perked up; Teacher Yu, so talented, could he really play a fool convincingly?
Qi Yunming had seen Yu Wei act on a program; felt there were highlights but not many—he only remembered this kid’s blind person was good.
Just right to see how his acting skills had progressed lately.
Fei Hong blankly stepped aside, puzzled; scriptwriters probably weren’t guaranteed to act well—Director Qi’s words seemed more reasonable…
Yu Wei was calm and composed, standing in position and finding his state.
When he looked up again, his entire aura had changed—not deliberate foolishness, but a childlike innocence untouched by worldly pollution.
Nearby Fei Hong was struck like lightning; Da Chun’s foolishness was less like intellectual disability and more like an unopened child’s mind.
Yu Wei’s entry point was refreshingly new; he really learned something.
“Don… Dongmei!”
He called the name, voice rising with unthinking joy, like a child seeing their favorite playmate.
If the earlier state was a different entry point, this line was a dimensional strike; Fei Hong only shouted foolishness, but Yu Wei’s tone had that childlike excitement, like a naively foolish person.
Merely an opening segment and Fei Hong realized the gap between himself and Yu Wei; was this the screenwriter’s role understanding ability?
Yu Wei was right!
Though image didn’t fit, Yu Wei’s acting undoubtedly shocked Qi Yunming; his progress was too great.
Previously national server blind person, now already national server fool?
Don’t let Yu Wei play a fool; too realistic.
