RPAGF Chapter 67, Exploration
Chapter 67, Exploration
"When are you planning to film?" Huang Lei asked.
"Let's wait until 'Brotherhood of Blades' is released."
Gao Huan said, "Let's work through the script thoroughly first, no rush. This is the fifth draft, and I want to revise it until I'm satisfied."
"Fifth draft?" Wang Xun's eyes widened. "This draft is already very good, why are you revising it?"
Gao Huan smiled:
"It's not good enough."
I wrote four versions of the scene where Ma Xianyong blocks the gun, and I felt that each version was not quite right.
After finishing the fourth edition, I left it for a week without looking at it. When I looked at it again, I found...
The problem isn't with the dialogue, it's with the pace.
The scene was too fast-paced, giving the audience no time to breathe.
I need to slow down the pace a bit.
The private room fell silent for a moment.
Sun Honglei put down his teacup, looked at Gao Huan, and said, "Alright. I'll wait until you're satisfied with the script. No rush, we'll discuss the schedule later."
Huang Bo nodded, "Me too. I'll coordinate whenever you've fixed it."
Wang Xun raised his hand: "I'm available anytime."
Gao Huan looked at them, and suddenly felt a strange, indescribable feeling.
These were people he had seen countless times on screen in his previous life.
Huang Bo is a film emperor, Sun Honglei is a TV emperor, Wang Xun is a golden supporting actor, and Huang Lei has students all over the world.
Now, they're sitting together, discussing his script, saying they'll wait for him to finish revising it, and that they'll make time for him.
Gao Huan picked up his teacup and took a sip.
The tea had gone cold, but he thought it was just right.
Sometimes cold tea tastes better than hot tea, just like life.
When it's hot, you don't have time to savor it; you only know what it tastes like when it cools down.
"Thank you all in advance," he said. "I'll go back and polish the script again, and then have Yangyang Jin coordinate with your teams."
Huang Bo waved his hand: "No rush, good things come to those who wait. Take your time, we'll wait."
The group continued eating, and the conversation shifted from the script to "Go Fighting!"
"Xiao Gao, have you ever recorded a variety show before?" Sun Honglei asked.
"I've done some interviews, but I haven't been on many variety shows."
"Then you'd better be prepared." Huang Bo patted him on the shoulder. "It's definitely not going to be an easy job. The production team probably deliberately picked the hardest and most tiring tasks for you. You and Yixing are probably the youngest, right?"
Gao Huan nodded: "I'm a year younger, and I'm prepared to endure hardship."
"It won't be too hard," Huang Lei said with a smile, "but you might see some things you don't usually see. I'm quite familiar with Yu Min and his group, one of the directors; he's a rather interesting person."
Gao Huan knew what Huang Lei was talking about.
He recalled his years in the orphanage in his previous life, and the ordinary people who did their best to survive.
He knows what life is like.
Those people were humble, insignificant, and clumsy, but they had a fire burning in their hearts.
That fire cannot be extinguished.
As the dinner was drawing to a close, Huang Bo suddenly remembered something.
"By the way, Xiao Gao, when are you going to release the song 'To My Love' that you wrote for your fans? My daughter keeps urging me, saying, 'Dad, ask Brother Gao Huan when the song will be released.'"
Gao Huan thought for a moment: "May 20th, 520. Part of the music video was filmed in Beijing, and we still need to film some outdoor scenes later."
After the dinner party ended, the group said their goodbyes at the restaurant entrance.
Huang Bo left first, and Wang Xun followed him into the same car.
Huang Lei answered a phone call, walked to the side to speak, and lowered his voice so much that it was impossible to hear what he was saying.
Sun Honglei stood at the door, waiting for Gao Huan.
The evening breeze at the end of April was just right, neither too hot nor too cold.
"Xiao Gao," he called out.
Gao Huan walked over and said, "Brother Honglei."
"That script," Sun Honglei looked at him seriously, "don't give the role of Ma Xianyong to anyone else. My new movie is waiting for you. If you invest in it yourself, the salary is negotiable."
Gao Huan was stunned for a moment.
He knew Sun Honglei valued this role highly, but he didn't expect it to go this far.
"Brother Honglei, you're putting a lot of pressure on me," Gao Huan said.
"It's good to be under a lot of pressure." Sun Honglei patted him on the shoulder.
"A good script is worth waiting for, and it's worth revising it to perfection. Don't rush to start filming; take your time to polish it. We'll start filming once you're satisfied."
Gao Huan nodded.
Sun Honglei turned and walked away, but after taking two steps he stopped and looked back.
"By the way, show me your revised version of 'The Great Buddha+' too."
"it is good."
Sun Honglei waved his hand and got into the car.
Gao Huan stood there, watching the car's taillights disappear into the night.
Yangyang Jin came up from behind and handed him her coat. "Brother Huan, how did the talk go?"
"fine."
Gao Huan put on his coat. "Brother Bo took the glasses, Brother Honglei took Ma Xianyong, and Brother Xun took Datou. All three are booked."
Yangyang Jin's eyes widened: "All three are confirmed? Confirmed before filming even started?"
"Um."
"They made the decision after reading the entire script?"
"I've seen it," Gao Huan said. "Brother Bo read it twice before making a decision, as did Brother Honglei. Brother Xun made his decision after seeing that Brother Bo had made his."
Yangyang Jin opened her mouth as if to say something, but seeing Gao Huan's expression, she swallowed her words.
The two got into the car, and it drove into the night.
The streets were wide and crowded, with streetlights sweeping overhead one by one, casting a flowing shadow on the windshield.
In late April in Beijing, the night wind still carried a slight chill, but it was no longer biting.
Gao Huan leaned back in his seat and took out his phone.
There are unread messages on WeChat.
Naza posted a selfie with the caption, "Filming a night scene in Hengdian today, it's so cold, I miss you."
He replied with two words: "Wear more clothes. Stop dieting, eat more, you're too thin and don't look good."
Meng Ziyi sent a voice message, which he didn't open, but replied with an "Mm".
Chen Duling sent a picture of the school at night, with the caption, "The moon is so round tonight, it's broken into pieces on the lake."
He replied with two words: "Beautiful."
Liu Shishi posted a message with only four words: "I've read the script."
Gao Huan's fingers paused for a moment.
He sent Liu Shishi the script for "The Nameless," not really wanting her to act in it, but just wanting her to see it and feel a little envious.
He wanted to know how an method actor would feel after reading the script.
He typed: "How is it?"
The other end replied instantly: "I cried."
Then another comment came: "I cried the most during the scene where Ma Xianyong blocked the gun."
Because it's so real.
That man had never done anything right in his life, but finally he did something right once, but everyone thought he was dead.
He was alive, but everyone thought he was dead.
Gao Huan looked at the line of text and a slight smile appeared on his lips.
Liu Shishi understands.
She understood what he was hiding in that scene.
He typed: "So, who do you think could play Ma Xianyong?"
There was a few seconds of silence on the other end, then a reply of two words: "Old Hu?"
Gao Huan locked the screen, stopped replying, and put the phone in his pocket.
Outside the window, the night in Beijing was as dark as ink.
The lights of the China World Trade Center in the distance are still on, like a sleepless sea.
There are still people working overtime in those office buildings, struggling to make a living.
……
The car was parked downstairs at the apartment building.
Gao Huan opened his eyes, opened the car door, and got out.
A night breeze blew by, and the few North American crabapple trees in the community's green belt were just past the end of their peak bloom.
When the streetlights shone on the petals, they appeared as a nearly transparent pink. As the wind blew, they fell down in a flurry. A few petals brushed past Gao Huan's shoulder and twirled before landing on the damp ground.
He stood there for a moment, brushed the fallen petals off his shoulder, walked into the building, and pressed the elevator button.
Before the elevator doors closed, he remembered something Huang Bo had said earlier that day.
"I can see images in this notebook."
Gao Huan's lips curled up slightly.
An actor can visualize the scene just by looking at the script.
That's talent, and that's passion.
The elevator arrived at the floor and the doors opened.
Gao Huan walked out. The corridor was quiet, and the carpet was thick, so there was no sound when you stepped on it.
He opened the door and went inside.
The room was quiet, the curtains were drawn, and only the bedside lamp was on.
Naza isn't here today, Meng Ziyi isn't here either, and Chen Yao isn't here either.
Liu Shishi helped him take off his coat, and the two lay down on the bed together.
The light from the ceiling flickered slightly, much like ripples on the surface of water.
……
The next morning, when Gao Huan was woken up by his alarm clock, it was already daylight.
After washing up and changing into his workout clothes, he had several unread messages on his phone.
Yangyang posted a message: "Brother Huan, we're recording a song this afternoon. I'll pick you up at noon."
He replied with two words: "Okay."
Then another message came in, posted by Huang Bo.
"Xiao Gao, a friend of mine heard me talk about the script for 'The Nameless' and he thought it was very good."
Ning Hao said this might be the best dark comedy he's seen in recent years, and asked if he could see the script.
Gao Huan was stunned for a moment.
Ning Hao.
Crazy Stone, Crazy Racer, and Breakup Buddies.
One of China's best directors at making dark humor films.
He said, "This may be the best dark comedy script in recent years."
Gao Huan stared at the line of text, his finger hovering over the screen, unsure of what to say.
Finally, he typed four words: "Thanks, Brother Bo. Director Ning can certainly watch it; just give it to him directly."
Lock the screen and place the phone on the table.
He walked to his desk, sat down, and took out the script for "The Great Buddha+" from the drawer.
Gao Huan opened the script and started reading from the first page.
"In a small town called 'Globber,' there is a factory called 'The Great Buddha.'"
He paused here.
Grober.
The place name was made up, but in his mind, there was a picture of that small town.
Gray sky, gray buildings, gray streets, gray faces.
Everyone is alive, but no one seems to be living.
He continued reading.
I read very slowly, carefully examining each page and not missing a single punctuation mark.
When he reached the third act, he stopped writing.
He wrote several versions of that dialogue, but he never felt it was enough.
He picked up a pen and wrote a line in the blank space.
"The world of the rich is colorful. The world of the poor is black and white."
After he finished writing, he stared at the line of text for a long time.
Then it was crossed out.
It's too straightforward. Not bad, just too direct. Dark humor doesn't need to state the truth; it needs to let the reader discover it for themselves.
Gao Huan leaned back in his chair, staring at the ceiling.
He was thinking about how to write so that when readers turn to that page, they won't be struck by the道理 (principle/reasoning), but by the visuals.
He thought for a long time, then picked up his pen and wrote a new line.
"The world seen through the dashcam is in color. But the world outside the car window is in black and white."
After he finished writing, he put down his pen.
This time, he didn't cross it out; he kept it as a backup.
Sunlight streamed through the gaps in the curtains, casting a thin golden line on the floor.
In late April in Beijing, spring was almost over, and summer had not yet arrived.
That ambiguous seasonal feeling is very similar to the atmosphere in "The Great Buddha+", and the female celebrity looking up at him from the floor.
Gao Huan told her to stand up and walk to the window, but didn't open the curtains.
But sunlight seeped in, making the whole room bright and airy.
He looked out at the city and recalled a line from The Great Buddha+.
"Although we are now in the space age and humans can travel to the moon in spaceships, we cannot explore the inner universe of others."
Gao Huan's lips curled slightly. There was no need to explore the mind; exploring the body was enough.
……
After a long while, Gao Huan picked up the woman and carried her into the bathroom.
He quickly finished washing up, returned to his desk, sat down, and continued revising the script.
The pen tip scratched on the paper.
The sunlight outside the window moved little by little.
Time marched on, but he remained still.
He sat there and wrote, word by word.
……
At 1 p.m., Yangyang Jin came to pick him up.
Gao Huan got into the car and leaned back in his seat.
Yangyang Jin turned around from the passenger seat and glanced at him: "Brother Huan, did you not sleep well last night? Your eyes are a little red."
"She's asleep," Gao Huan said. "Maybe she's been revising the script and staring at the paper for too long."
"You haven't finished revising 'The Great Buddha+' yet?"
"Almost there."
"What's missing?"
Gao Huan thought for a moment and said something that Yangyang Jin didn't understand: "It's just one breath away. If we find that breath, the notebook will be complete. If not, it's just waste paper."
Yangyang Jin didn't ask any more questions.
The car drove toward Baihua Recording Studio.
The car stopped at the intersection waiting for the red light.
Gao Huan took out his phone and glanced at WeChat.
There's a new message from Chen Yao.
"I've read the script for 'Wu Xin: The Monster Killer,' and the second female lead's role is more interesting than the first. Are you doing this on purpose? Do you want me to have more scenes with you?"
Gao Huan looked at the line of text and a slight smile appeared on his lips.
He replied with four words: "Guess."
The other person instantly replied with an eye-rolling emoji, followed by, "I don't need to guess, I know you're doing this on purpose."
Gao Huan did not reply.
The light turned green, and the car continued driving forward.
My phone vibrated.
He looked down and saw a message from Liu Shishi.
"I read the new script for 'The Unknown' again today, and I cried again when I saw the scene where Ma Xianyong listens to his daughter's voice message in the car."
That man had never heard a kind word in his life. His daughter sent him a message saying, "Dad, be careful," and he heard it over and over again.
Gao Huan looked at the line of text and a slight smile appeared on his lips.
He replied with four words: "That's how you think of Ma Xianyong."
The other end replied instantly: "Because I understand, my dad is that kind of person too. He's never said a kind word in his life, but he'll secretly slip money into your bag when you leave the house."