Chapter 57 - Let The Drama Begin
No wonder King Guan's make-up artists and costume designers were known as the best in the industry. In just ten minutes, Yuan Ge was dressed and made up as the valiant commander of the Great Ming Embroidered Uniform Guards and brought back to the room.
Still seated in the middle of the interview panel, Arthur Guan glanced at Yuan Ge with an expressionless face. Yuan Ge looked around and saw the same arrogance in the gazes of the other industry veterans of the interview panel, as if they were clubbed together to observe an inferior creature.
"I never say anything twice, so listen carefully before you act." The King spoke, using the same opening line and same attitude as before.
"You, Chu Jiliang, the youngest first grade commander of the Great Ming Dynasty, are assigned to marry a young princess of a border vassal state.. However, you are deep in an emotional whirlwind as the person you loved was killed by the current emperor, who is also in love with you, leaving you devastated and never able to accept your new bride. And your best Jurchen brother Sibeoci[1] arrives from the North, willing to do anything to get you back on your feet, only to discover that his feelings for you are not so simple either. And this scene is going to be the turning point in the changing feelings between the two of you."
"That's it?"
"That's it."
Master Guan was clearly not a man of many words.
"May I ask how, er, popular, this Chu Jiliang was? Do you mean that he was emotionally involved with all four of the people you mentioned? Was the person he loved deeply a man or a woman?"
Hearing his questions, Arthur Guan responded with a wicked smile, "The person he loves deeply is a eunuch."
So, it's a story about an emperor competing with am eunuch, a princess and a foreigner for the favour of his guard! That's a lot of information to digest …
Yuan Ge did not have time to question what kind of contrived melodramatic script King Guan had chosen for his first film, his brain went into overdrive mode trying to make sense of this complex emotional drama - in order to make himself who had fallen into an emotional quagmire bounce back, a brotherly love changes its nature … the sudden confession of same-sex love - Yuan Ge quickly distilled the key emotional points in this chain of events that needed to be performed in this scene.
Suddenly, he understood why Arthur Guan had thrown such an ambiguous emotional scene at him. On the surface, it appeared to be an improvised performance, but in fact the focus was not on acting at all, but on his ability to screen write and direct on the spot, and his ability to grasp and analyse human emotions!
Sweat broke out on Yuan Ge's forehead. To compose such a scene in such a short time, to match the emotional state of the characters and to devise the appropriate lines … This was definitely not an easy task, in fact it was hellishly difficult.
To Arthur Guan's right sat He Yiru, the big shot director of several of Guan's classic films, and Wang Xiaowen, a famous screenwriter who had been a prominent figure since the days of the Beijing Film Studio. They both looked at Yuan Ge with half-mocking, half-sympathetic smiles on their faces. It was hard to tell if they thought the scene was absurd or if they thought he was simply incapable of writing and acting the script well …
"I need an actor to play Sibeoci to support me in this performance."
Arthur Guan glanced towards Liu Sang when he heart it.
"Second master, young master Yu is quite tired after supporting dozens of performances today. Just now, I saw that there weren't many people waiting for the audition at the back, so I let him go back to the crew lounge to have a rest. Should I call him back now?"
"No need." Arthur waved his hand, got up and walked over to Yuan Ge, "Tell me your plot arrangement, and I'll play along with you."
Yuan Ge was a little surprised that Arthur Guan wanted to work with him personally for this audition scene. He had some doubts in his mind whether this stern-faced man could act well or not, but this was his home turf, he was the investor, he had set the rules, he could play it however he wanted, and no one could say anything. So he said graciously, "Master Guan, I'll call you Sibeoci for now, here is what I came up with for this scene … " and then whispered the script he had just thought up in detail to Arthur, explaining to him the lines he had devised, line by line.
Arthur Guan listened with unexpected seriousness and concentration. He remained silent until the end, then he said to Yuan Ge, "I have no objection to the plot you've devised, but I can't remember all the lines. I'm going to improvise and play it roughly along your lines."
--------------------
[1] Sibeoci Fiyanggū was the great-great grandfather of Nurhaci, the man who reorganised and united various Jurchen tribes. Nurhaci's descendants established the Qing Dynasty and became the Emperor of China.