The Beijing Film Academy basketball court, the temporary audition site for The Return of the Condor Heroes at the academy.
At this moment, a large crowd of students had completely surrounded the place.
“Chen Cheng, didn’t you say you hadn’t signed up? Why are you here too?”
“I’m just here to join in the excitement.”
“Brother Gouzi, which role did you sign up for?”
“I signed up for Xiao Wu.”
“Not bad. What made you think of playing Xiao Wu?”
“I figured everyone would want to sign up for Yang Guo and the like. There probably wouldn’t be many people applying for a supporting role like Xiao Wu, so I chose him.”
“Why do you think no one would apply for Xiao Wu?”
Pulling Zhang Wei aside, Chen Cheng said, “Brother, clear your head. Da Wu and Xiao Wu may be supporting characters, but they’re important characters in The Return of the Condor Heroes, and they have a huge amount of screen time. Who told you that no one would apply for Da Wu and Xiao Wu? Even if none of the students at the Beijing Film Academy applied for them, the other actors would still snatch up these two roles.”
“Uh, I guess you’re right. What should I do, then?”
“Choose another role.”
“Can I still change it now?”
“Of course you can. The Return of the Condor Heroes has plenty of named characters. Why fixate on these popular ones? If you ask me, choose a less popular character. That might improve your chances of success.”
“Huo Du?”
“Damn, you call that unpopular?”
“Yelu Qi?”
“He’s not exactly unpopular either.”
“Then…”
“Stop hemming and hawing. I’ll choose one for you.”
“Who?”
“Lu Qingdu.”
“Who’s Lu Qingdu?”
He blinked.
For a moment, Zhang Wei couldn’t remember which character Lu Qingdu was.
“You idiot. It’s obvious you haven’t read much of the original work. Lu Qingdu is Zhao Zhijing’s disciple. He once bullied Yang Guo and was later knocked unconscious by Yang Guo’s Toad Skill in a single move.”
“Oh, oh, him! I remember now… That character is really evil.”
“It’s not as if you’ll become evil just because you play a villain. Besides, this character isn’t especially important, but he has quite a few lines in the early stages. If you get the role, you’ll have struck gold.”
“All right, I’ll listen to you. I’ll sign up for Lu Qingdu later.”
He nodded and was about to leave.
At that moment, a voice sounded from behind him. “Chen Cheng, you signed up for The Return of the Condor Heroes too?”
The voice belonged to Lin Zhihua.
Chen Cheng frowned and replied, “Yeah.”
“Which role did you sign up for?”
“Yang Guo.”
“What the hell? Have you lost your mind? You still signed up for Yang Guo? Do you know how many people are competing for him? Even Major Stars are fighting tooth and nail for the role.”
“So what? Am I not allowed to apply?”
“Fine, fine, apply if you want. Taking a hit of reality might be good for you. Hey, where are you going… That’s the Production crew office.”
Seeing that Chen Cheng ignored him, Lin Zhihua snorted. “This guy really is something. He doesn’t even know where the auditions are and went through the wrong door.”
…
“You are?”
The Return of the Condor Heroes production crew office.
When Chen Cheng arrived,
the two people in the office were somewhat surprised.
“You must be Teacher Liu and Teacher Zhao. I’m Chen Cheng.”
For this casting, The Return of the Condor Heroes had divided the work at the Beijing Film Academy into two groups.
The first group handled the preliminary selection.
That was Chen Cheng, Liu Yi, and Zhao Guangbin.
Liu Yi was the Screenwriter of The Return of the Condor Heroes, while Zhao Guangbin was its Assistant Director.
“So you’re Chen Cheng. Have a seat.”
“Director Yu mentioned you to us before. He said you’ve done a great deal of research on The Return of the Condor Heroes.”
The two men smiled warmly at Chen Cheng.
However, after saying that, they exchanged a glance. Liu Yi then asked, “Chen Cheng, I hear you’re from the Beijing Film Academy Acting Department?”
“I’m currently a sophomore.”
“Young and promising indeed. By the way, what do you think of our version of The Return of the Condor Heroes?”
“I think…”
A film crew was a small jianghu.
Chen Cheng had understood that clearly when he worked as a Stagehand.
Thus, he understood the two teachers’ intentions perfectly.
It appeared to be casual conversation, but in reality, they were testing him.
Chen Cheng said, “Teachers, I’m only a minor assistant director. How could I have any opinions on The Return of the Condor Heroes? I’m here to learn from you.”
“There’s no harm in sharing your thoughts. Besides, Director Yu asked you to take part in the preliminary selection with us because he believes in your abilities. You can’t remain silent when the casting begins, can you?”
“Well…”
It seemed
that staying silent wouldn’t do.
After thinking for a moment, Chen Cheng said, “We all know that The Return of the Condor Heroes is a classic wuxia work. Many versions have been filmed before, and everyone constantly compares each new version with the others. I believe the public will compare our version as well. At the same time, because ours is being filmed later, we’re at a disadvantage in certain respects. Especially with the public already having formed preconceived impressions, if our version isn’t filmed well, the criticism will be severe.”
“Chen Cheng is right.”
Liu Yi nodded, signaling for him to continue.
“Therefore, I think our version of The Return of the Condor Heroes should be somewhat different from the previous versions in its screenplay narrative.”
“What differences do you think there should be?”
“Although the previous versions were well made, some of their plots dragged on, while others made drastic changes to the original. It has been more than forty years since Elder Jin completed The Return of the Condor Heroes in the 1960s, and after so many Film and Television Dramas have been remade, everyone is already very familiar with its plot. If we make random changes as well, the audience may reject it. So if we want to distinguish our version, I think it would be better to respect the original work and let everyone experience a more authentic The Return of the Condor Heroes.”
“Not bad. I think so too.”
It had to be said.
Chen Cheng’s words won Liu Yi’s approval.
As the Screenwriter, he had actually followed this direction while writing the Screenplay.
He had not expected
Chen Cheng’s thoughts to coincide with his own so perfectly.
Of course,
this agreement was no coincidence.
In his previous life, Chen Cheng had watched this version of The Return of the Condor Heroes.
If he couldn’t cater to Liu Yi’s preferences even with that advantage, he would have wasted his life.
“Chen Cheng, what suggestions do you have regarding the filming of our version of The Return of the Condor Heroes?”
Seeing that Chen Cheng had some substance, Assistant Director Zhao Guangbin also asked him.
Chen Cheng replied, “The previous versions were all filmed many years ago. Take the 1995 version of The Return of the Condor Heroes, for example—it was released ten years ago. Although that version was indeed excellent, its filming techniques, costumes, props, fight choreography, and so on were not especially advanced. I believe that under the guidance of Teacher Zhao and the other seniors, our version of The Return of the Condor Heroes will definitely surpass the previous one.”
Those words delighted both teachers.
Originally, the two men had been somewhat displeased about conducting the casting alongside Chen Cheng.
After all, they were both well established.
Chen Cheng was merely a young upstart.
No matter how talented he was, he could not stand on equal footing with them.
But Chen Cheng’s words were sweeter than honey, and the displeasure in their hearts vanished without a trace.
Of course,
his words were not merely flattery.
Although the two men could tell that Chen Cheng was telling them what they wanted to hear, they had to admit that his vision was truly exceptional.
Just as with Hero Jin’s previous wuxia dramas,
the cinematography, visuals, costumes, props, and fight choreography had all earned widespread recognition.
This version
would likewise build on those strengths and make this version of 《The Return of the Condor Heroes》 a success.
However, no matter what,
one should still be a little modest.
Although Zhao Guangbin felt extremely comfortable inside, he still said, “I can’t say yet whether we’ll surpass the previous version, but I’ll be satisfied as long as we don’t get too much abuse.”
…
“Why are there still so many people? This is way too many applicants.”
“I heard more than a thousand people signed up.”
“Damn, doesn’t that mean half the students at our academy signed up?”
“Of course it does. Who wouldn’t want to apply for a major production like this? But with so many people, when we go to audition, we’ll probably just be going through the motions. Sigh, my number is 300. Who knows when they’ll get to me? Brother Zhihua, what’s your number?”
“Here, take a look.”
“Holy crap, number one? How did you get number one, Brother Zihua? How did you manage it?”
“Secret.”
Lin Zihua was incredibly excited.
He certainly wasn’t going to tell them
that he had spent 1,000 yuan buying this number.
Although he knew that auditioning first did not mean he would get the role,
given how many people at the Beijing Film Academy had signed up, going first would definitely leave a deeper impression on the Director.
Besides,
he considered his acting skill quite good.
Moreover, he was extremely clever and had not applied for roles with intense competition or a great deal of screen time.
Instead, he had chosen the relatively obscure role of Guo Polu, who had few lines but could still be remembered by the audience.
Hahaha.
You didn’t expect this, did you?
Who could have imagined that I would choose the role of Guo Polu?
Lin Zihua felt rather pleased with himself.
As far as he was concerned,
as long as the role had not already been assigned, he was virtually guaranteed to secure it.