Standing at one corner of the set, Zhou Mingyu couldn"t remove the smug look from her face. She was waiting for Xin Mei or her a.s.sistant to make an appearance. She wanted Xin Mei to get absent from the shooting because of her face.
Last day, everyone was praising the beauty of Xin Mei. Therefore, Zhou Mingyu had done something which was going to affect that beautiful face of Xin Mei. She had especially given a costly makeup set of brand X to the makeup artist. She wanted Xin Mei to have rashes on her face.
"Director Zhang was praising Xin Mei very much. What will he say when his dear Xin Mei will come on the set with rashes on her face? Or what will he say when Xin Mei will decline to shoot for today?"
Zhou Mingyu was celebrating her victory in her heart when she heard a loud commotion coming from the direction of the dressing room.
"Isn"t actress Xin Mei looking really beautiful today? I saw her coming out of the dressing room and she was looking very beautiful."
Zhou Mingyu couldn"t believe what she was hearing. How could Xin Mei look beautiful? She should look ugly after applying that makeup right? Didn"t the makeup affect her face this time?
She received the answer to her question when Xin Mei stepped on the sets. Her face was looking perfect. There were no red rashes as Zhou Mingyu had expected.
"What happened Zhou Mingyu? Why are you looking at me like that? Thinking about Brand X makeup?" Xin Mei walked towards Zhou Mingyu. She smirked in her direction. Then she turned and made her way towards Tang Min to practice her scene.
When Tang Min had heard that a newbie was playing the role of Ruyi, he wasn"t impressed. He despised Xin Mei. He thought that Xin Mei wouldn"t be able to act. But when he saw her act the last day, all his doubts had flown out of the window. A newbie could also act well!
So when Xin Mei approached him for practice, he didn"t decline her the way he was thinking to, instead, he practiced with her. He also gave some pointers to her and had some in return. He realized that Xin Mei was much easy to interact with unlike Zhou Mingyu.
"Everyone ready?" director Zhang yelled. Everyone took their position, waiting for the scene to start. "Action."
The scene to be played was an interaction scene in-between the three leads of the movie.
In the opening of the scene, Ruyi was feeding grapes to Emperor Kai. At that moment, they both were sitting in the garden of the Han kingdom.
Director Zhang had perfectly given the mountain and river view of city B as a background. Tang Min and Xin Mei sitting on the couch were not looking any less than any intimate couple.
"Ruyi, what do you think about becoming my empress?" Emperor Kai questioned. His eyes were looking down at Ruyi with love.
"Empress? Me?"
"Yes, you my love." Emperor Kai wrapped his arm around Ruyi and pulled her closer. "When I married you, I couldn"t make you my official wife due to father. But now that I am emperor, I am planning to make you my empress. What do you think?"
Ruyi smiled brightly. Stars appeared in front of her eyes. Her smile was the answer to his question.
"Ruyi thanks my emperor for making her as his empress. Ruyi promises the emperor that she will not disappoint him."
Ruyi smiled brightly. She plucked grapes and fed the emperor. Emperor took her fingers in his mouth and sulked on them, making Ruyi blush hard.
"Cut." Director Zhang yelled. "Excellent. I really love the scene of both of you. I am sure that your chemistry is going to hit the pars. Tang Min, you are doing really well. I am sure that the second male lead will need to work very hard to beat the mark which you have created."
Director Zhang was very much impressed with the acting of Tang Min and Xin Mei. He wanted to add more and more scenes of them. He wanted to cut short the scenes of Zhou Mingyu and Tang Min, but if only he could do so.
"Everyone, get ready for the next scene," Director Zhang yelled. "Now Chunhua will enter the scene."
Chunhua entered in the garden and walked toward where Ruyi and emperor Kai were sitting.
At this point, everyone on the set was looking at the scene without a blink of eyes. This was the first time that both leads were filming for the same scene. Everyone wanted to know who would overpower who?
"What are you doing here princess Chunhua?" Emperor Kai asked.
Ruyi, who saw her emperor"s attention-getting diverted towards some other female, wrapped her arms around his arms.
Chunhua was forced to come in front of Emperor Kai, to accept the marriage proposal which she had rejected before. Her father had forced her to do so. Moreover, she had seen the love of the emperor Kai toward his concubine. She also wanted the same love as his wife.
Standing in front of emperor Kai, Chunhua needed to express a lot of expressions within a second. Xin Mei knew that Zhou Mingyu couldn"t do so.
Ruyi looked at Chunhua she straightened her posture and gave her a dominating look. Her eyes were challenging Chunhua. The look on her face was so powerful that it confused Zhou Mingyu, who couldn"t give the right expression on right time.
"Cut," Director Zhang yelled. "What is this Zhou Mingyu? Don"t act like a newbie in front of Xin Mei? Don"t forget that you are the professional here. Everyone on positions. We will reshoot the scene."
Zhou Mingyu again entered the scene but every time she forgot due to the dominating acting of Xin Mei. During Film University, she was taught about dominating acting, where a person could easily affect the acting of the person opposite to him. A person can improve or degrade another person"s acting.
Ruyi kept dominating over Chunhua, who kept forgetting her dialogues, her expressions. She had taken a total of fifteen retakes but still, there was no progress.
"We will retake the scene after a small break. Zhou Mingyu, reread your script in the meanwhile."
Director Zhang could feel a headache forming. How could a renowned actress act so badly? Was his decision to select Zhou Mingyu seriously very wrong?
After the break, the scene was again shot and again Zhou Mingyu did a mistake.
"Zhou Mingyu," Director Zhang yelled. "Is there any problem with you? Why are you acting like this? Even a kindergarten student can perform better than you. I don"t know how you got the award of best actress. Look at Xin Mei, wasn"t she your manager? But look at her now, her acting is far better than yours. Act seriously from next time. Don"t force me to change your role. It will not be good for your image."
Zhou Mingyu felt embarra.s.sed upon hearing the words of director Zhang. She felt more embarra.s.sed about being compared with Xin Mei. She didn"t want other cast and extras to make fun of her. Already the other female cast was speaking ill behind her back.
"Xin Mei, can you demonstrate this role to Chunhua? I am sure you remember this scene seeing you were originally planning to play the role of Chunhua only."
A smirk appeared on the lips of Xin Mei. She was waiting for this moment only. She wanted to slap hard on the face of Zhou Mingyu, with Chunhua only.
"Of course director." Xin Mei walked towards the spot where Zhou Mingyu was standing.
"Zhou Mingyu, look at her with concentration. And others around me, the one who were saying ill about Xin Mei." He turned and looked at the other cast who were gossiping about Xin Mei, the very last day.
"Watch the acting of Xin Mei as Chunhua. You all will understand the reason as to why I had selected her. Xin Mei, start acting."
Upon hearing the command from the director, Xin Mei started to act. The aura around her had completely changed it became very different from the aura of Xin Mei and Ruyi. Everyone around her was shocked to see the transformation.
Xin Mei didn"t remember the scene very perfectly, but still, her dialogues and expressions were flawless. Everyone around her was shocked. Everyone could see that the acting skills of Zhou Mingyu were nothing in front of Xin Mei. Even Tang Min was impressed with the acting skills of Xin Mei.
This was the most embarra.s.sing moment in the life of Zhou Mingyu. She never thought to get defeated by Xin Mei in such a way. All of her plans were getting failed. Why?
After her demonstration, Xin Mei walked towards Zhou Mingyu.
"Senior, I hope you can play this character with ease now that I have demonstrated the scene." She then leaned against the ear of Zhou Mingyu. She whispered so only Zhou Mingyu could hear, "don"t forget, I made you what you are today."
With that, she stepped away from her, a satisfactory grin left from her lips!