An entire week.
The casting for The Return of the Condor Heroes at Beijing Film Academy was over.
However, although the casting at Beijing Film Academy had ended, that did not mean the casting for the entire production was over.
According to the production side,
the casting at Beijing Film Academy was intended, on the one hand, to promote newcomers, and on the other, to build momentum.
Therefore, none of the roles cast this time at Beijing Film Academy would be particularly important.
The particularly important roles would only be announced after several rounds of publicity and recommendations.
Even so, Director Yu had finalized some roles that were not particularly important.
For example, Chen Cheng's roommate, Zhang Wei.
He had auditioned for Lu Qingdu. Since the role was not particularly important, and Director Yu felt Zhang Wei had a rather comical appearance, he was selected.
Among them was Teacher Zhang Songwen, whose role was Yelu Qi, Guo Fu's future husband.
The role was not especially significant, and Zhang Songwen was also an acting teacher at Beijing Film Academy. He was qualified for it in both credentials and ability.
However, the important roles, such as Xiaolongnü, Guo Xiang, Guo Fu, and Yang Guo… had not been announced.
One reason was that Beijing Film Academy had not completely finalized the roles.
Another was that some roles had already been decided, but would not be announced so quickly.
For example, the role of Guo Xiang, for which Yang Mi had auditioned.
Thus.
When Yang Mi received Director Yu's news, she was so excited that she wanted to treat Chen Cheng to a meal.
“Director Chen, do me a favor and have lunch with me.”
Yang Mi's excitement was understandable.
Although Yang Mi had started out as a child star and had even acted alongside Stephen Chow at the age of six,
other people would at most think she had simply been lucky.
In reality,
up to now,
Yang Mi did not truly have many noteworthy representative works.
She had acted as Wang Zhaojun,
but to be honest,
Wang Zhaojun was not a major production and had not attracted much attention. Moreover, it had not yet aired, so it did not give her much seniority.
Being able to obtain an important role like Guo Xiang in The Return of the Condor Heroes was worth celebrating for anyone.
Chen Cheng waved his hand and said, “Mimi, treating me to a meal feels too formal. Besides, I didn't really help with anything.”
Yang Mi refused to accept that. “Who says you didn't help? If you hadn't told me to read more of the original work, I probably wouldn't have been able to answer any of the questions Director Yu asked me.”
“Director Yu's questions were merely for appearances. If he really didn't want you, it wouldn't matter how well you answered.”
Although Chen Cheng was not a director and was merely an assistant director,
during the preliminary selection over that week, he had come to understand the rules involved.
Take the preliminary selections he conducted with Teacher Liu Yi and Teacher Zhao Guangbin, for example.
The preliminary selection itself did not hold much authority.
The final decision still rested with Director Yu.
As for whom to choose, it was not based on your performance at the audition.
The most important thing was
whether your name appeared on the film crew's list of intended candidates when you came for the audition.
For example,
when The Return of the Condor Heroes needed to cast Guo Xiang, the film crew had already decided which actresses could try out for the role.
Yang Mi was undoubtedly on Director Yu's list.
Or perhaps one might ask whether an actress who was not on Director Yu's list could snatch the role of Guo Xiang.
Of course she could.
However,
an opportunity like that was no different from winning the lottery.
As for why Yang Mi was chosen,
saying that Yang Mi was talented was merely a polite platitude.
The truth was that Yang Mi naturally came with built-in publicity value.
Just imagine.
When The Return of the Condor Heroes aired, the media could write a headline saying, “Stephen Chow's daughter joins The Return of the Condor Heroes…” That alone would be a major attraction.
On top of that, Yang Mi was from the Beijing Film Academy Acting Department, was the right age for Guo Xiang, and although her acting skill was not particularly strong, it was barely acceptable.
Therefore,
with so many reasons, why would they not choose Yang Mi?
“Chen Cheng, I've noticed that you've changed a lot.”
“Have I become more handsome?”
“Pfft… Now that you mention it, you really have changed a little. Come here, let me take a closer look.”
“Hahaha…”
Feeling rather pleased with himself, Chen Cheng leaned his face over. “Come on, come on, look more carefully. Do I have the potential to become an idol?”
Yang Mi had not expected this at all. She froze for a moment before pushing Chen Cheng away. “How can I see clearly with you leaning so close? We'll look at you during lunch. Oh, right, I'm not the only one treating you this time. Senior Sister Zihan wants to treat you too.”
“Zihan? Who's that? Chen Zihan?”
“Of course. Zihan is our Senior Sister. You can't refuse to show me consideration and then refuse to show Senior Sister Zihan consideration too, can you?”
“All right, okay. Where are we having lunch? Send me the location.”
“What location?”
“Which restaurant.”
“I'll call you when the time comes.”
“Okay.”
Chen Cheng nodded.
…
At noon.
At a relatively quiet little restaurant near Beijing Film Academy,
Yang Mi called Chen Cheng.
When Chen Cheng arrived, he discovered that several classmates were already seated in the private room.
“Shanshan, Xiaofei, Brother Gou… you're all here.”
“Senior Sister, you came too.”
Although Yang Mi had invited Chen Cheng to the meal, she had also brought Yuan Shanshan, Zhang Xiaofei, and Zhang Wei along.
Chen Cheng secretly gave Yang Mi a thumbs-up.
Although among those present,
Zhang Wei, Yuan Shanshan, and Zhang Xiaofei… neither now nor in the future would have the same star ranking as Yang Mi.
Still, the fact that Yang Mi had invited all three to Senior Sister's table showed how much she valued her classmates.
“Junior Brother Chen Cheng, we've been waiting for you. You were late, weren't you?”
Chen Zihan was a senior in the Beijing Film Academy Class of 1994's Acting Department and had graduated many years ago.
At the same time, Chen Zihan was also among the small group of people who had done quite well at Beijing Film Academy.
In 1996, Chen Zihan had participated in the costume drama 《The Warring States of Eastern Zhou》.
In 2000, she played Lan Fenghuang in 《The Smiling, Proud Wanderer》.
In 2001, she also had another good representative work, playing Princess Pingyang in 《The Han Emperor》.
In 2003, she received praise from within the industry for playing Yin Li in the Su Youpeng version of 《The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber》.
And that was not all.
In later generations,
Chen Zihan also appeared in many classic works, including Legend of the White Snake, The Myth, and Swords of Legends…
It could be said that
Senior Sister Chen Zihan was the idol admired by countless Beijing Film Academy students.
Although Chen Cheng had never met Chen Zihan before—even if they had crossed paths in his previous life, they were several years apart in school—
and their statuses had differed considerably at the time, so at most they had exchanged greetings and had not shared much of a relationship.
Now that he had started over and saw that Chen Zihan was even more beautiful than in his previous life, Chen Cheng said, “Senior Sister, I grew up watching you on television. You wouldn't really make me drink, would you?”
Everyone burst out laughing at this and said one after another, “Senior Sister, I also grew up watching you on television.”
“Senior Sister, me too, me too…”
These words delighted Chen Zihan. “Junior Brother Chen Cheng, I didn't expect you to be such a smooth talker.”
After the round of pleasantries, everyone quickly became familiar with one another.
Afterward, no one discussed anything serious. They simply chatted about amusing things from campus, which brought them even closer.