“Time’s up. The task is rather demanding, so let’s get started.”
He glanced at the time.
Liu Yi said.
Chen Cheng nodded.
Under the staff’s arrangements, Beijing Film Academy welcomed its first auditioning student a few minutes later.
However, when Chen Cheng got a clear look at the student, he froze.
Lin Zihua?
This came as a surprise to Chen Cheng.
This guy sure was lucky. He had actually drawn Number One.
However, compared with Chen Cheng’s surprise at seeing Lin Zihua, Lin Zihua nearly stumbled when he saw Chen Cheng sitting on the casting panel.
Chen Cheng?
He could hardly believe it.
Lin Zihua rubbed his eyes.
“Please introduce yourself.”
Zhao Guangbin did not concern himself with whatever was wrong with Lin Zihua.
Although Lin Zihua was the first auditionee, seeing him in this state made Yifei frown as well.
Still, they had to follow the proper procedure, so Zhao Guangbin said,
“G-G-Good day, t-tea-teachers. My name is… L-Lin… Lin Zihua.”
“Do you stutter?”
Liu Yi shook his head.
“Teacher, no, I don’t… I was just too excited. I’m auditioning for the role of Guo Polu.”
“Guo Polu?”
Chen Cheng was somewhat surprised.
He had not expected this.
This guy really had talent. He had even thought of a role like Guo Polu.
Indeed.
Although Guo Polu had almost no storyline in The Return of the Condor Heroes, appearing in at most a few shots,
as Guo Jing’s youngest son, Guo Polu was a character familiar to nearly every fan of The Return of the Condor Heroes.
Even though playing such a character involved very little screen time, appearing in only a few shots was already enough for a Beijing Film Academy student who had not yet graduated. Some veteran actors who had already graduated likewise enjoyed making cameo appearances as such a memorable character.
Of course,
this also surprised Liu Yi and Zhao Guangbin.
Unfortunately,
if everything had gone smoothly, Liu Yi and Zhao Guangbin might have considered letting Lin Zhihua advance to the second-round audition.
But after Lin Zihua’s performance just now, the two of them had completely ruled him out.
“Student, I didn’t expect you to think of the role of Guo Polu. If you were to play Guo Polu, how do you think you should approach it?”
“Guo Polu doesn’t have many scenes in the original work. If I were to play him, I would take his name as my guide and make the defeat of the invaders my lifelong mission.”
“That was a good answer. You may go back for now. We’ll notify you if there’s any news.”
After asking a few perfunctory questions, the two of them said.
Lin Zihua felt his heart sink and had no idea how he left.
“Brother Zihua, Brother Zihua, how did it go? Come on, tell us.”
When Lin Zihua came out,
several classmates hurried over.
They were concerned about how Lin Zihua’s audition had gone, and also wanted to find out what they needed to pay attention to during the audition.
But Lin Zihua was silent, saying nothing.
Seeing this, the classmates understood and dropped the subject.
However,
although Lin Zihua said nothing,
very soon,
news about Chen Cheng interviewing applicants during the first round spread across the basketball court.
…
“Hey, I heard one of the teachers conducting today’s first-round auditions is from our Beijing Film Academy?”
“What? No way. Is it a senior alumnus or alumna, or perhaps a teacher from the Acting Department or Directing Department?”
“He hasn’t graduated, and he isn’t one of our teachers either. Apparently, he’s only a sophomore, and he’s from the Acting Department.”
“Damn, he’s a casting teacher for The Return of the Condor Heroes as a sophomore? That’s incredible.”
“He doesn’t really count as a casting teacher. After all, this is only the preliminary selection, and there’s another round afterward. Besides, the important actors aren’t auditioning in his round.”
“Damn, what more do you want? If you’re so capable, why did you come here to sign up?”
“Uh, I’m just saying. But can any of you guys get in touch with him? Since he’s from our school, maybe he could show us a little consideration.”
“I think you can forget it. Today’s auditions are being held at Beijing Film Academy, and he can’t show consideration to everyone.”
“All right.”
There was nothing they could do.
Although they knew Chen Cheng was from Beijing Film Academy,
today’s auditions were being held at Beijing Film Academy, and everyone who had signed up was a Beijing Film Academy Student.
Therefore, it was impossible for Chen Cheng to favor every Beijing Film Academy Student.
Besides,
although Director Yu had asked Chen Cheng to participate in the casting, Chen Cheng did not dare truly regard himself as a casting teacher.
Even if Liu Yi and Zhao Guangbin had shown him a little recognition, Chen Cheng still would not really consider himself their equal.
Thus, during the auditions that followed, Chen Cheng mainly served as an assistant to the two teachers and did not put on any airs as a casting teacher.
However, Chen Cheng might not have put on airs, but he was still sitting in that position.
Therefore,
the news quickly spread to the 2004 Acting Department class, which was Chen Cheng’s class.
“Xiaofei, someone said Chen Cheng seems to have served as the casting director for this preliminary audition.”
“No way.”
“The students who auditioned earlier all said so. It probably isn’t fake.”
“My goodness… This, this…”
Zhang Xiaofei made an exaggerated gesture. “Wait, didn’t he say he was working as a Stagehand in Hengdian?”
“Apparently.”
“Could he really be a rich second-generation heir who went to the film crew to experience life, while actually being the investor behind the production?”
Yang Mi burst out laughing. “Xiaofei, what are you thinking? Can’t you tell who’s a rich second-generation heir or who has money in our class?”
“That’s true.”
The three of them nodded.
If he really were a rich second-generation heir, no matter how low-key he was, it would be obvious from his clothes, speech, habits, spending, and every other aspect of his words and actions.
It was not as though they had just arrived at school. They had spent a year together and knew one another well.
Chen Cheng’s family could be said to be neither poor nor wealthy, but among the families of students in Beijing Film Academy’s arts departments, their circumstances were very ordinary.
“Then how did Chen Cheng become a casting teacher?”
Yuan Shanshan simply could not figure it out.
Zhang Xiaofei rubbed her head as well. “Today’s audition is truly bizarre.”
Yang Mi, on the other hand,
did not know how Chen Cheng had become a casting teacher, but the two of them had been on the same film crew during the summer vacation.
Chen Cheng’s abilities had given Yang Mi some degree of mental preparation.
…
“There are way too many applicants.”
Chen Cheng spent the entire day conducting auditions.
At the beginning,
Chen Cheng had thought the auditions were rather fun.
Especially because
the position he was sitting in was quite interesting, even though he did not say much.
But as more and more students came to audition, Chen Cheng gradually became numb with exhaustion.
Even so, they had only auditioned a little over a hundred people in an entire day.
This suddenly made Chen Cheng understand why Director Yu had asked him to participate in the casting.
This kind of workload was clearly physical labor.
Fortunately, the important actors were not auditioning here, so aside from the heavy workload, Chen Cheng did not feel much psychological pressure.
In any case, Director Yu already had a list of the important actors. The reason he had asked Chen Cheng to serve as a casting teacher was, first, to see whether they could discover any talented newcomers. Second, it was also a way to build publicity for The Return of the Condor Heroes.
Sure enough,
the auditions held at Beijing Film Academy that day attracted a large number of reporters.
Besides the media, many fans also became extremely expectant about The Return of the Condor Heroes after seeing auditions on such a large scale.
There were also several amusing incidents during today’s auditions.
Take the afternoon, for example.
While conducting auditions, Chen Cheng ran into Zhang Xiaofei and Yuan Shanshan.
Zhang Xiaofei was one thing.
When she saw that Chen Cheng was actually sitting on the casting panel, she came in and immediately burst into laughter at him.
Her laughter made the two teachers laugh heartily as well.
Naturally,
Zhang Xiaofei was not selected.
It would have been strange if she had been selected.
Li Mochou was not a role that just any actor could play.
Moreover,
Zhang Xiaofei was not the right age for Li Mochou.
As for Yuan Shanshan,
Yuan Shanshan had not made Zhang Xiaofei’s mistake, but the role she had chosen was Xiaolongnü.
Heh.
Chen Cheng simply did not have that authority.
The person with that authority was Director Yu.
All right.
According to the requirements of this production,
even Director Yu might not necessarily have that authority.
Even if he did,
Yuan Shanshan could not possibly have been under consideration.
As for the role of Xiaolongnü, people such as Zhou Xun, Zhang Baizhi, Jiang Qinqin, and others had already come forward.
Oh, right.
There was also Senior Sister Liu Yifei from their own school.
No matter how one looked at it, it was not Yuan Shanshan’s turn.
Therefore,
when faced with classmates he knew fairly well, Chen Cheng could only helplessly do nothing.
However, Chen Cheng really did lend Zhang Wei a hand.
Although Zhang Wei did not have much acting skill either, Chen Cheng simply said, “This guy looks like a villain at first glance.”
Liu Yi and Zhao Guangbin both nodded, allowing Zhang Wei to advance to the second round.