Chapter 210. The way of the sword (3)CEO Xu looked at the old man with a strange look on her face when she heard that. Ren was also confused as he stared at the old man, looking for answers.
"The way of the sword?"
What was that? How can it help Ren? Wasn"t it just a martial art?
There were many questions like these in Ren"s mind. It was just Director Chen Pu who seemed to know everything.
"What do you mean?"
Ren asked, his eyes filled with curiosity and doubt.
"The problem is that you are fearing that you will get too immersed in the character that it will even affect your real personality."
Director Chen Pu began to explain.
"Your worries are not for naught. I think you are also getting affected by it. I can sense it from the performance you showed in the audition."
Ren nodded his head at that. He himself knows that the character of Cao Xu was affecting him.
If he can, he wants to stop it from happening.
"But there"s a way where you can control the character and not get affected by it."
"What"s the way?"
CEO Xu asked as she stared between both Director Chen Pu and Ren.
She may be against it but if it didn"t affect Ren, she wanted Ren to play the character of Cao Xu.
Just by looking at the screenplay, she can see that Cao Xu can be an iconic character and being remembered for playing an iconic character was an honour in itself.
In the past, there are several iconic movies made but how many of them have produced iconic characters?
They can be counted on one"s hand and Ren has a chance to play such a character. It was a chance sent straight by the heavens, it was too bad that there was a risk attached to it.
"Actors get affected by a role because it directly affects their mental health. One can protect one"s body, the mind is really feeble."
"What do you mean?"
"I just mean that when actors get too embroiled in a character, they can have an emotional breakdown. They will usually get back to normal after a role but there are some roles that are just too intense."
"Like the role of Cao Xu?"
CEO Xu said and he nodded his head. He stared at the cup of tea in front of him and said while looking at it.
"To become normal again after doing that sort of role is not easy and you need time for it."
"Yes, that"s why I don"t want Ren to do this role."
First of all, the shooting of «Slayers» will take close to half a year and if Ren gets affected by the role, then he won"t be able to do any projects for the next half of the year.
In this age, where young actors are doing 3-4 projects in a single year, doing only a single project is really not efficient.
"To stop this from happening, I have a way."
"You earlier said something about the way of the sword?"
"Yes, you can calm your mind down and increase your mental capacity by doing meditation and by practising martial arts."
"You mean to say that I can get control over the character of Cao Xu by practising martial arts?"
Ren asked and Director Chen Pu answered while shrugging his shoulders.
"I can"t guarantee it but it will certainly have an effect?"
"I thought martial arts only strengthened one"s mind."
CEO Xu said and the old man answered her.
"My dojo doesn"t just teach how to strengthen one"s body but also the mind. The mind and body are closely related to each other and although I don"t know how much it will help you, learning martial arts would surely increase the mental capacity."
"Learning martial arts?"
Ren has previously learned martial arts in his previous life but it was just from a normal martial arts dojo. He had learned some taekwondo because it was all the rage those days.
But he doesn"t know how much it will affect his mental capacity. He has a feeling that the dojo he was in was not some normal dojo.
"You are saying that after learning martial arts, Ren will not be affected by the character of Cao Xu."
"I can not guarantee but it will help him and I would not have called you here if I was not confident of it to some degree."
CEO Xu knows that Director Chen Pu was not the person who will call them here on a whim.
He was really busy these days because of the pre production and casting of «Slayers». He has only called them here because he was confident .
"I want to believe you but can learning martial arts really help him in controlling the character?"
"It will to some extent but it will mostly depend on how much Ren can learn."
Can she believe him?
CEO Xu pondered over the matter. She knows that Director Chen Pu doesn"t like jokes and there was a chance that it would work.
But there was also a chance that it would not work.
She has to choose carefully or Ren and her agency will suffer in the future.
"I will do it. I will learn martial arts."
Amidst the silence, Ren suddenly said, attracting all the attention in the room.
"I don"t think you should."
"CEO Xu, please, I want to really play this character and if there"s a way to better control it, I will take it."
"But...."
"Just let me learn for some weeks. If it didn"t show any effect, then I will do as you said."
CEO Xu wasn"t able to retort to that. Ren"s eyes were earnest and full of pa.s.sion at that moment.
"Uncle, can I trust you on this?"
She turned to Director Chen Pu and asked, and he replied a.s.suring her.
"Of course you can."
"Then, I will trust you…..for once. So, when will Ren"s training start?"
CEO Xu asked this question because Ren"s schedule will again change depending on the hours he will be learning martial arts but the answer she got was unexpected.
"I said that learning martial arts can help him but I never said that I will teach him."
The old man said as he sipped his tea with a tranquil expression on his face, but his words were completely different from his expression