Chapter 114
It had been three of four months since Ming Yu last saw the name ‘Xu Yizhong.’ At the time, as the Huaxia spokesperson for the Nidelan Smoke perfumes, he filmed four television commercials and spent nearly a week with Director Xu.
During the meal at the end of the shoot, Ming Xiaoyu thought he would never cooperate with Direction Xu again.
In those seven days of filming, Ming Xiaoyu learned from Director Xu that the reason why he accepted the four advertis.e.m.e.nts wasn’t because of the generous rewards promised by Nidelan. It was because Director Xu owed a senior executive of Nidelan. Of course, Director Xu also collected a rich pay. Xu Yizhong was one of the most well-known commercial directors in Huaxia. His movies were basically destined to earn one billion yuan or even two billion yuan at the box office. He had seven movies and the highest one directly broke five million yuan, causing a sensation in the world
Such a famous commercial director was generally not likely to film advertis.e.m.e.nts for a brand. As for the advertis.e.m.e.nts of top luxury brands, they basically had their own specialized directors for many years and wouldn’t invite new directors to shoot advertis.e.m.e.nts.
In such circ.u.mstances, Ming Xiaoyu never thought he would be acting in a big movie. He also didn’t think that he would cooperate with Xu Yizhong for the advertis.e.m.e.nts of other top luxury brands.
However, this world was clever. Now Director Xu’s a.s.sistant personally came to Ming Yu to give him an invitation to audition for the new movie Director Xu was shooting this year.
Once he saw the a.s.sistant, Ming Yu looked down at the invitation in his hand. He hesitated for a long time and didn’t reply.
On the other hand, Zhao Rui frowned and asked, “Mr. Wu, are you sure that Director Xu hasn’t found the wrong person? Xiaoyu shot a few advertis.e.m.e.nts and a MV, but he has never shot a movie. Director Xu really wants him to go and audition?”
Director Xu’s a.s.sistant, Xiao Wu smiled and nodded earnestly. “Yes, before I came, Director Xu told me that he wanted the auditions to be the day after tomorrow. He also said that if Mr. Ming has any questions that you can call him directly. Both of you have exchanged contact information previously.
That was all there was to say. There was nothing to be confused about.
Luo Ru had been busy with a Muse PR engagement. She just returned to the lounge and felt that the atmosphere seemed wrong. Zhao Rui wasn’t normal but he was always like this. However, this time even Ming Xiaoyu was seriously looking down at a piece of information, his brows tight.
Luo Ru carefully examined them before asking tentatively, “Did something major happen?”
As soon as she spoke, Zhao Rui nodded and cried out, “Yes, you just came in and wouldn’t know. Just now, Director Xu’s a.s.sistant personally came to our company and delivered an invitation to Xiaoyu…”
Zhao Rui spoke quickly and Luo Ru listened. Once Zhao Rui finally stopped talking, Luo Ru turned with a startled expression to the boy sitting opposite her. She saw a bright ray of sunshine directly shining onto the youth’s clean skin, revealing a quiet and beautiful temperament.
Ming Yu smiled and calmly asked, “Sister Luo, have you heard of ‘An Li’?”
Luo Ru, “……（/=＿=）/～┴┴”
What was An Li?
They weren’t talking about that!!
Luo Ru translated Zhao Rui’s ‘Director Xu’ into ‘Director Xu Yizhong’ while waiting for Ming Xiaoyu to explain and suddenly had a realization. “Xiaoyu, are you talking about the movie ‘An Li’ that CX Entertainment spent a huge amount of money investing in?”
Apart from training artists, it was normal for Huaxia’s entertainment companies to invest in a variety of movies and television shows. For example, CX Entertainment, Huaxia’s leading entertainment company, spent one billion yuan this year to shoot a large-scale costume movie called—
‘An Li.’
Luo Ru naturally didn’t know the plot of An Li. The movie was still in the casting process. As someone in the fashion industry, Luo Ru knowing that Xu Yizhong was the director of An Li and that CX Entertainment had invested in An Li was already beyond her job.
However, to Ming Yu’s further surprise, Luo Ru heard about Director Xu’s invitation and said bluntly, “It might be in the casting process but the male and female protagonist, as well as the second male and female have already been decided. The main actor is Fang Liangxiu, a rising movie actor. The heroine is Xiao Biqing, who won three awards. The second male and female are also considered to be well known. I think Director Xu is letting you audition for a supporting role that only has a few scenes.”
Ming Yu didn’t care about his own problems. He asked, “Sister Luo, how do you know so much about An Li?”
Luo Ru was slightly surprised by the question. After a moment, she smiled and explained, “It isn’t like that. I just went to the PR department to report to Deputy Director Linda. She is a fan of Fang Liangxiu and I have a good relationship with Linda. Therefore, she told me this gossip.”
A light flashed in Ming Yu’s eyes. “Then Sister Luo, do you know the plot of An Li?”
Luo Ru shook her head. “The contents of the movie are confidential and they are very good at maintaining this secrecy. I don’t know.”
Ming Yu had expected this answer. He returned home in the evening and didn’t immediately start preparing for the audition. Instead, he made a long-distance call to France.
The surprising thing to Ming Yu was that even Xi Ze was ignorant about An Li and couldn’t provide any help. But at the end of the call, Xi Ze asked if there was a need to have Shen Xiang inquire about the movie. Ming Xiaoyu sternly refused.
“I think I already know what to do.”
Ming Xiaoyu hung up and then found Director Xu’s contact information. Director Xu agreed quite readily. In three minutes, he sent the story outline to Ming Xiaoyu and said, “The audition set on the day after tomorrow is an audition for you alone. Ming Yu, if you pa.s.s then the character is yours. If you don’t pa.s.s, we will remove him from the script.”
Ming Yu was stunned. He immediately asked, “Director Xu, this role was deliberately designed for me?”
Don’t blame Ming Xiaoyu for being narcissistic. Anyone would misunderstand after hearing Director Xu’s words.
Director Xu immediately laughed at the words and replied, “Ming Xiaoyu, ah Ming Xiaoyu, why didn’t I realize that you are incredibly narcissistic when we previously worked together? Rest a.s.sured that no one is helping you through a back door. CX Entertainment really wants to return the favour you did them. However, my movie wouldn’t open a back door to the extent of creating a new role.”
Ming Yu became even more confused by the words. He asked, “Director Xu, you just said that the role will be deleted if I don’t pa.s.s. What does that mean?”
The other person’s laughter immediately ceased. Director Xu said solemnly, “It is because in the entire entertainment industry and fashion industry, only your image fits the role.”
The next day, Ming Yu read the story outline Director Xu gave him as well as the audition script sent by the a.s.sistant.
Looking at it, he finally understood why Director Xu said ‘we will delete the character’ and ‘this role is only for you.’
Yes, in the end, it was as Director Xu said. Only he fit the role.
It might just be Ming Yu feeling hope but he was sure that he was the only suitable possibility.
It was because the character was too illusory for the entire movie. He was like a beautiful dream, illusory and elusive. If you wanted to imagine an image of him in your head, only a vague figure would appear.
This role was the first beauty in the world of An Li.
The number of appearances was very small and he was the enemy of the heroine. He didn’t have too many lines.
The absolute appearance made this character the bright spot in the entire movie. The industry’s top screenwriter could only use ‘a brilliant person that ordinary people can’t look directly at’ to describe the character’s appearance.
Ming Xiaoyu spent the whole day thoroughly reading the audition script. He even called Brother Yuan, Zhu Kejia and other people who had experience with movies. In the end, Zhu Kejia pulled some strings and got him in touch with a movie queen. He called the actress and they exchanged experiences and he managed to achieve the right emotions.
The night before the audition, Ming Yu slept early to maintain his spirit. The next day, Luo Ru arrived early in the morning. The two people looked at each other and Ming Xiaoyu smiled. Then he got in the car and it quickly drove to the audition venue.