"Okay, I'll take a look at the script."
Xiao He opened his phone and began to look at the script that Wang Xingyuan had sent to his email.
The script is titled "Sea Fog Tracking".
The story takes place in the early 2000s, when the protagonist, Mu Wen, who has just graduated from university, returns to his hometown to help his recently deceased grandfather clean up his antique shop.
Unexpectedly, a group of people came to his shop that day.
The group of people spoke a dialect he couldn't understand and asked him about his grandfather's whereabouts in extremely difficult Mandarin. After learning that Mu Wen's grandfather had died in an accident, their expressions turned very ugly. And when they found out that Mu Wen was a graduate student in archaeology, they actually forcibly took Mu Wen away.
Of course, they weren't taking Mu Wen to rob tombs; their main purpose was to have Mu Wen help appraise a batch of antiques that had just been smuggled from a neighboring country.
It was only then that Mu Wen realized that his grandfather had been working for these people all along, appraising antiques, determining their authenticity, and even grading and packaging them for transport... No wonder his grandfather left behind a large inheritance after his death; it turned out that the money wasn't earned from running an antique shop, but from doing shady business for these people!
But at this point, as the ultimate beneficiary, Mu Wen had no chance to refuse, especially since these guys even had guns in that era. Mu Wen had no way to escape and was forced to follow them, disguising himself as a local fisherman and taking a fishing boat °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° to that dangerous international waters.
On that ship, Muwen saw things he had previously only seen in books and museums.
Especially the Buddha head that they had cut off from who-knows-where. The Buddha's face was intact, and the Buddha had a kind and benevolent expression. But perhaps because of his guilty conscience, under the influence of Mu Wen's fear, he actually felt that the Buddha's face was staring at him with a ferocious expression, and a string of Sanskrit words from who-knows-where was whispering in his ear, interrogating his soul.
That was destined to be the day that would change Muwen's fate.
He dutifully helped appraise the batch of antiques, then followed the group's instructions to arrange and organize them in batches. Finally, he sat on the drifting boat and watched as the group sailed away with the antiques to a distant western country.
In the end, Mu Wen returned safely to his grandfather's antique shop with the payment and hush money he received from those people. In the following days, he began to take over his grandfather's previous job, helping these people with appraisals.
Meanwhile, the police, who had been keeping an eye on this group for some time, also began their own operation.
A silent battle between black and white unfolds on the sea...
The role that Wang Xingyuan needs Xiao He to play is Mo Tun, the small-time boss in charge of maritime transportation in this antique smuggling gang.
Mo Tun was ruthless, treacherous, and cunning. He led his men across international waters to transport large quantities of antiques and other contraband between China and two nearby small countries. Even in those days, they were a group of very rampant criminals. The police listed him as an important target and carried out arrest operations against him many times, but he managed to escape every time, as slippery as an eel.
In the early part of the story, this character only appeared in people's conversations. Mu Wen was only seen by mistake during a transaction, and was then grabbed by the clothes and brutally beaten by the henchmen as a warning. Therefore, Mu Wen always had a sense of fear and dread towards this character.
It wasn't until later, when Mu Wen gained the trust of the onshore transport personnel and gradually infiltrated the criminal gang, that he finally met this person for the first time.
On their first meeting, Mo Tun brutally murdered a subordinate who had betrayed him, right in front of the protagonist.
This part of the plot is described very little, but after Mu Wen returned, he began to vomit profusely and had nightmares for three or four consecutive days, and his fear of Mo Tun reached a new peak.
Even at the very end, the police failed to catch him, and instead killed him on the spot during a chase at sea...
Xiao He quickly skimmed through the script and soon made a rough summary of the character.
The character's personality isn't particularly unique. In many films and television shows, crime bosses are generally portrayed as ruthless, cruel, and terrifying. However, it must be said that in the current Chinese entertainment industry, very few young actors can portray this character so convincingly.
Because he needs to be ruthless enough, so that the audience can feel the protagonist's fear even through the screen, and his performance needs to be imposing enough, with acting skills that can overshadow the other actors.
Otherwise, if the character has been built up for so long, and then the person actually appears and all the momentum collapses, it'll just look like a street thug acting like a hooligan. The audience will only have one thought in their minds: "Is that all?"
Of course, Xiao He has absolutely no need to worry about this.
Liu Rulan was busy with other things when she noticed Xiao He put down his phone. She looked up and asked, "What do you think?"
“I can accept it.” Xiao He nodded. “I think Director Wang is really going to realize his dream of entering the entertainment industry this time.”
This script is actually quite unique. It creates a third-party perspective between the two camps of police and criminals, with the protagonist Mu Wen, who originally did not belong to either side, participating in the case from the perspective of both participants and recorders.
The struggle between the two sides is also vividly portrayed. These criminal gangs are not only arrogant but also extremely cunning. The police have repeatedly tried to track down the sellers and buyers, but have failed many times. The criminal gangs have also repeatedly tried to exploit loopholes to smuggle antiques, but have been successfully intercepted and confiscated by the police on multiple occasions.
Although the entire series isn't very long, only about 16 episodes in total, Xiao He felt that as an ordinary viewer, he would quite enjoy watching this type of TV drama.
Liu Rulan noticed the satisfaction on Xiao He's face and nodded, "I just checked your recent filming schedule. You've been filming action scenes these past few days, so the filming schedule is very heavy and you definitely won't be able to come. However, after the action scenes, Director Ren has arranged about two days of rest for you. I'll go ask Director Ren first to see if he'd be willing to give you an extra day off."
According to Wang Xingyuan, in such emergency situations, it usually doesn't take too much time; the entire storyline for this character can be filmed in two or three days.
Xiao He hesitated for a moment: "Director Ren shouldn't mind, right?"
I heard that this is considered filming multiple projects at once in the entertainment industry?
Liu Rulan understood immediately: "Oh, you mean filming multiple projects at once?"
Xiao He nodded: "Yes, it seems that fans in the industry are quite resistant."
Liu Rulan chuckled: "You seem to know more and more these days, but don't worry, this is nothing. You're not going to play a major role over there. It's just a short-term replacement. Director Ren will usually agree after a little communication. Besides, it's just to adjust your subsequent filming schedule. It won't delay the overall progress of the crew."
In the early days, filming multiple movies simultaneously was a sign of an actor's hard work and dedication. During the peak of Hong Kong cinema, almost all stars filmed multiple movies at the same time. Not filming multiple movies at the same time only meant that the actor was not famous enough. At the peak, some stars could film 14 movies in a year.
However, later on, the phenomenon of actors taking on multiple roles simultaneously became rampant, and actors who lacked the ability were forced to take on multiple roles, which gradually led to the term becoming a derogatory term.
Generally speaking, fans and directors dislike filming multiple projects simultaneously for two main reasons. One is that seamless transitions between multiple projects can easily lead to a decline in performance quality. The other is that if a lead actor is filming multiple projects at the same time, it will likely affect the filming schedule of the entire production, and other main actors will have to wait for the actor who was filming multiple projects to return before they can start filming.
Liu Rulan patted Xiao He on the shoulder, half teasing and half disdainfully saying, "You little Karami, you should go wash up and go to bed early. I've met the most hardworking person in the industry before, who had 17 movies and several other gigs in one year. Don't worry about it."
Xiao He: ?
ah?
