Chapter 1389: Chapter 720: Shortlisted
Despite Liu Ziyin’s flattery, Zhou Yun didn’t truly believe she was better than them.
Zhou Yun has always been rational in this regard.
Zhou Yun was merely pondering whether Song Qiqi’s attitude was truly her personality or if it was as Liu Ziyin said, that Song Qiqi considered herself superior and looked down on many actors in the crew.
Indeed, there is such a hierarchy in the entertainment industry.
This hierarchy isn’t everywhere, nor does everyone become a link in this chain, but it is undeniably a phenomenon.
Song Qiqi originally came from theater, having consistently acted in plays before; it wouldn’t be too hard to understand if she looked down on film actors.
However, Zhou Yun didn’t think Liu Ziyin’s one-sided opinion could truly define Song Qiqi as such a person.
Perhaps it’s just a matter of a poor personality.
The role Zhou Yun was set to play was that of a stunningly beautiful female officer.
On the surface, she appeared to be a very open and bold woman, wielding great power and holding a high position, but in truth, she was a spy, infiltrating the enemy forces to gather intelligence.
She knew Song Chi shared the same identity, and at many times, she would subtly provide Song Chi with great assistance.
This was the foundational relationship between the characters played by her and Song Chi in this story.
The script didn’t explicitly detail any other relationship between Zhou Yun’s and Song Chi’s characters, but while reading the script, Zhou Yun had an intuitive feeling that her character should have fallen for Song Chi’s character, and Song Chi’s character should have fallen for hers, though both kept these feelings to themselves without revealing them.
Since it wasn’t explicitly written in the script, Zhou Yun wouldn’t portray something that wasn’t clearly present in the script.
However, her understanding of the character could influence many non-verbal and even non-performance aspects.
Like a glance, for example.
Many lenses have been interpreted with various meanings, even ones not designed by the original writer or director, or even without the intent during the performance—just an instinctive reaction at the moment.
Yet it is precisely these instinctive reactions that often mysteriously evolve into more enduring nuances beyond the original script.
Zhou Yun pondered whether she should portray that feeling.
As per her habit, Zhou Yun began analyzing her character and writing a character bio.
Jiang Yueming, a female officer with a rich and tumultuous life experience, boarded the ship to carry out tasks at the destination. Unexpectedly, she encountered agents capturing an internal traitor on this vessel.
Jiang Yueming’s true identity was a hidden member of the underground party, precisely the "traitor" they sought.
However, the traitor the agents intended to capture was not Jiang Yueming. The department received intel that the code-named "Black Spade" was on this ship. Only Nationalist Party officers could board this vessel.
The character portrayed by Song Chi, Jiang Yu, was this secret spy codenamed "Black Spade."
Initially, Jiang Yueming didn’t know Jiang Yu was a spy, nor did Jiang Yu know Jiang Yueming was; both acted and opposed each other.
Until Jiang Yueming accidentally discovered Jiang Yu’s identity, she began to secretly help Jiang Yu resolve crises.
Agents wanted to capture "Black Spade" on this enclosed ship, for once the ship docked, "Black Spade" would escape under their noses again.
Jiang Yu was in great peril.
This sets the backdrop for the story "Moon Sinking at Sea."
Zhou Yun loved this story, an ensemble drama where each character harbors their secrets, beliefs, and commitments, touching people’s hearts.
However, whether Jiang Yueming truly fell in love with Jiang Yu was crucial for Zhou Yun’s decision on how to act.
These are entirely different matters.
Zhou Yun pondered for a long time before beginning to discuss this with Song Chi.
Song Chi’s eyes suddenly brightened and said, "You have this doubt as well?"
Zhou Yun: "What, you have it too?"
"Yeah," Song Chi nodded, "Jiang Yu is outwardly a very silent and unassuming person, often blending into the background in crowds—neither lively nor attention-grabbing, until suddenly this time, he’s plunged into immense danger, forcing him to reveal his true self. Yet during this process, Jiang Yu doesn’t know that Jiang Yueming is on the same side, and Jiang Yueming’s assistance deepens his confusion and anguish, but he scarcely has time to dwell on this because he must find ways to conceal his identity or relay the information before his cover is blown. In fact, I understand that until this act concludes, when Jiang Yu leaves the ship, he most definitely hasn’t proactively considered whether he has developed feelings for Jiang Yueming, yet I just want to know if there’s subconscious affection for Jiang Yueming or none at all."
Zhou Yun said, "Do you think if we ask Teacher Zhi Wei, he’ll tell us?"
"He’ll tell us everything he wanted to say is already in the script, and how we interpret it is up to us," Song Chi shrugged, having collaborated on "Laissez-faire" with Zhi Wei before, he understood Zhi Wei’s thought process and attitude.
Zhou Yun: "I had heard about his style before, didn’t expect it to be true."
"Many creators actually often think offering an open-ended scene or character relationship interpretation is highly sophisticated, but what they can’t grasp is that, as actors, we actually must have very clear information to build a logical performance, otherwise, even if our portrayal is realistic, its essence remains disoriented."
Zhou Yun: "Yes, exactly."
Song Chi said, "What do you think?"
Zhou Yun shook her head, "I can’t decide now, can’t think, no worries, let’s wait till we’re officially acting, see what feeling the actual performance brings."
Song Chi: "Hmm, that’s fine."
Zhou Yun returned to the hotel to rest.
Song Chi had to continue filming.
Zhou Yun had actually studied the script thoroughly by now; she no longer wanted to revisit it.
While acting in "Behind the Scenes," she had vaguely gained some new insights into acting, and subsequent experiences heightened her desire to try this new approach.
Instead of doing detailed analysis of script and performance subtleties, she prepared thoroughly until understanding the cause and effect and context of every scene for the character, then threw herself into the filming scene to act with an instinctive and direct reaction.
Zhou Yun still wanted to further break through her limitations.
Feeling eager to advance herself, Zhou Yun received an unexpected piece of news.
"Four Killers" had surprisingly been selected for the main competition of the Venice International Film Festival.
When Zhou Yun heard this news, she was stunned.
The first reaction was, really?
