Chapter Sixteen: Trial Mirror
Sorry for the delay, there was a power outage at home, just got the electricity back on. Also, I wanted to say that the contract has been sent out, please give me some encouragement and support~~
It's really good to have someone in the imperial court who can get things done. Tao Qu is quite familiar with Huayi, although he's not a big shot, but the news is still quite informed, and Zhang Xiaoming has already pointed him out as a special director assistant for this new play, exercising part of the director's duties, so he knows a lot about this play.
This play was initiated last month, and the main roles have been basically determined. Only a few small supporting roles are still vacant, even if it's just a supporting role, it's enough to make people jealous.
Today, Zhang Xiaoming announced the audition notice to various brokerage companies and brokers in Beijing. Tao Qudu thought that He Mu didn't have a broker, so he informed him himself and had a private meeting with He Mu, revealing some information about this play to help his interview.
From Tao Qu, He Mu learned that the name of this play is "The Young Yang Family Generals", which tells the story of the loyalty and bravery of the seven sons of the Yang family. The investment for this play reached 40 million RMB. Of course, Huayi Brothers was not the only investor in this project. It was first proposed by Tangren Film and Television Production Co., Ltd. in Shanghai (hereinafter referred to as "Magic City"), with Li Guoli, who created the ratings miracle of "The Legend of Sword and Fairy", serving as the general director. However, due to limited financial resources, Huayi Brothers and another company, Tiger Wolf Film and Television Production Co., Ltd., were introduced to co-invest in this project, resulting in a joint investment by three companies.
In terms of filming and production, Tangren Film is still the main lead, Huayi Brothers is the main financier, while that Tiger Wolf Film is a small company that suddenly appeared from somewhere, with very little investment, not worth paying attention to.
Tao Yue didn't get the script of the play, but the plot outline and the main characters are still clear.
This play is about the Yang Family Generals, which doesn't need to be said much. The focus of this play is on the 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th brothers, with the 4th and 6th brothers being the most important.
Of course, these four roles are not suitable for He Mu. According to internal news, the role of Fourth Brother has been confirmed to be played by Taiwanese actor He Rundong, Sixth Brother will be played by Hu Ge, who became popular this year with "The Legend of Sword and Fairy", Fifth Brother is temporarily set to be played by mainland actor Chen Long, although Yuan Hong, an artist under Tangren Media, was initially considered for the role but he prefers to play Ye Lüshi instead. As for Seventh Brother, Mr. Chen Guofu, who has a high status within Huayi Brothers, recommended his Taiwanese junior Peng Yuyan.
He Mu didn't even dare to think about these four roles, as a newcomer who only had some fame online and wasn't backed by a big company, it was impossible for him to get such heavy roles.
As the deputy director of this play, Tao Qu understood the situation of the script and suggested that He Mu try out the four roles of Da Erlang, Sanlang, and Pan Bao. Although Da Erlang has a relatively small role, he appears throughout the entire play until his death in the final battle at Jinsha Beach, with Da Lang being the most important; while Pan Renmei's son Pan Bao is killed by Yang Qilang halfway through the story, but he is an important villainous supporting character.
With Tao Qudu's reminder, He Mu had a plan in mind. Tao Qudu could only help him this much, after all, his power as an assistant director was not great either. The rest would depend on He Mu's own abilities.
Liu Lanfang's pingshu "Yang Family Generals" was something He Mu had listened to with his grandfather since he was a child, and the story of Yang Family Generals was extremely familiar to him. Although Tang Ren's adaptation might have been quite extensive, He Mu was confident that he could handle it.
Moreover, He Mu is familiar with the styles of Tang Ren and Li Guoli's directing. He had watched "The Legend of Sword and Fairy", another work by Tang Ren, and Li Guoli's "New Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio" was also filmed in Hengdian a few months ago. He Mu had played minor roles in several episodes, so he has participated in Director Li's play before. One of the characteristics of Tang Ren and Li's dramas is that they are mostly ancient costume dramas with modern dialogue, fashionable costumes, handsome male actors, and beautiful female actors, which suits the taste of young people. It would be more accurate to call it an ancient costume idol drama.
In terms of appearance, He Mu meets Director Li's requirements. The next test is his acting skills and understanding of the role. Although it's impossible to improve much in a short period of time, He Mu still spared no effort to study Li Guoli's TV works, hoping to cater to his taste. On the other hand, he found Liu Lanfang's audio book "Yang Family Generals" online, trying to get a feel for the atmosphere of that war-torn era.
"What era is this that you're still listening to storytelling, these days it's all about radio dramas," said Li Wen Hua, who was holding a transistor and plugged the earpiece into He Mu's ears, "listen to this."
"Living with a flight attendant? Yellow broadcasting drama?" He Mu teased.
"What's with the yellow broadcast drama, this is the most popular online pure love adaptation broadcast drama nowadays, you don't know how many young people across the country stay up late at night just to listen to this!" Li Wenhua said indignantly.
"Do all young people nowadays want to cohabitate with flight attendants?" He Mu smiled slightly and continued listening to his "Yang's Generals".
Two days later, He Mu drove to the interview location provided by Tao Qudu. He had everything ready and calculated, but forgot one thing - the traffic in the capital city. Originally, he had planned to arrive an hour early, but unexpectedly got stuck on the elevated highway for over half an hour. When he rushed into the lobby of the office building, the elevator was just about to close, "Wait!"
He Mu panted heavily, made a fierce dash, and used his hand to block the elevator door. Inside, he saw a little girl with a ponytail, wearing jeans, looking delicate, and biting on a straw, who was startled by He Mu.
He Mu smiled at the girl without thinking much of it: "Which floor?"
"13th floor." The girl replied after recovering from her stunned expression.
"What a coincidence, I'm also on the 13th floor," He Mu said with familiarity, "There's a film crew interviewing on the 13th floor today, do you know that?"
The girl listened and was slightly stunned, saying nothing affirmative or negative: "Is that so."
"Uh, I'm just here for the audition," Perhaps it's a man's nature to talk more when facing a beauty, and He Mu is no exception. He starts talking non-stop, "I'm an actor, you can tell... Are you still in school? Do you have any interest in giving it a try? I have a friend who's an assistant director on that crew, arranging a small role shouldn't be a problem..."
They arrived at the 13th floor and got out of the elevator, only to see that this floor was packed with a large number of handsome men and beautiful women, some of whom were even familiar faces from TV shows and shopping malls, belonging to second- or third-tier celebrities.
When they saw a new person coming over, a bespectacled man holding a folder walked over. He was about to hand over his materials when the bespectacled man directly asked the girl next to him, "Are you Miss Liu Shishi?"
"Yes, it was He Rundong who introduced me," said the girl.
"Come on, Director Li is waiting for you."
Director Li? Is it Li Guoli? He Mu thought of this name immediately.
"Oh, okay." The girl playfully winked at He Mu and then ran after him.
"What's going on here?" He Mu felt that he had been played by the little girl, and it turned out that this was the real "hand-eye coordination". It was laughable that he had just been boasting about his connections and wanting to help someone get a small role, but now he had lost face all the way back to his ancestors' home!
