klisemfg Chapter 143 Zhang Xiuli plays an old woman; the old man is run over by a car and his daughter cries
Chapter 143 Zhang Xiuli plays an old woman; the old man is run over by a car and his daughter cries
It just so happens that filming was taking place on the first day of the Lunar New Year. Actors don't get a holiday during the Lunar New Year; they get triple pay for filming. Most of the extras and featured actors gradually went home, leaving only a few at the film studio to continue filming.
Yang Yumei, Gan Zhengfang, Wang Yufeng, Zhang Xiuli, and others did not leave the film studio's union group and continued filming.
It just so happens that Zhang Xiuli has a role in her group of contract actors, and Yang Yumei is also in her group of contract actors.
Yang Yumei was not assigned a special role, but she had extra roles. Gan Zhengfang and Wang Yufeng also had extra roles, and the several of them had extra roles at the same time.
I happened to run into Zhang Xiuli, a minor extra in the same film, on set. She was playing the wife of an old man and her seventeen or eighteen-year-old daughter in a period drama set in the Republican era.
The old man lay supine, his face covered in blood, under the front wheel of a wealthy gentleman's black sedan, and appeared to have lost all life.
Then, at the director's command, Zhang Xiuli, who was already prepared nearby, saw the command and immediately crawled on her knees, crying and shouting, toward the dead old man. The actress playing her daughter ran up behind her, crying as she ran.
Then Zhang Xiuli lay on the body of the extra who was also playing the dead old man and cried uncontrollably. Her performance was really realistic, and even the extras shed tears.
The mother and daughter were crying their eyes out when suddenly an extra playing an officer raised a hand and fired two shots into the air. "Bang! Bang!" The extras were so frightened that they covered their ears and ran around in panic!
Yang Yumei and the others were caught in the middle! In the chaos, Yang Yumei accidentally fell to the ground. Gan Zhengfang turned around, saw this, and quickly reached out to help her up. At this moment, the gunfire stopped, and everyone gradually calmed down. The director shouted "Cut!" indicating that the scene was successfully filmed.
Zhang Xiuli stood up from the ground, her face still streaked with tears, but she smiled and joked with those around her, saying that she had cried so hard that she now had a terrible headache. Everyone burst into laughter.
The actor who played the officer came over and apologized, saying that he had startled everyone by firing the gun without prior warning. Yang Yumei and the others waved their hands, saying it was alright, as they were just filming.
Afterwards, everyone returned to the rest area to wait for the next scene to begin filming. Yang Yumei took a sip of water, thinking that although filming during the Spring Festival was hard work, some interesting things had also happened.
Gan Zhengfang came over to discuss the highlights of the scene with her, and the two talked enthusiastically, while Wang Yufeng occasionally chimed in.
Just then, the staff in charge of scheduling came over to inform them that the set setup for the next group scene was about to begin, and the group quickly tidied their costumes and got back into filming mode.
Zhang Xiuli was genuinely serious and dedicated to filming extra roles, and she worked very hard, hoping to continue taking the exams to advance to the next level, from junior to senior, and so on. However, reality is often not as rosy as imagined! She worked hard for at least two years, but never passed the advancement exams, remaining a junior extra earning only a little over 300 yuan per scene.
Yu Mei also continued to work hard. She joined the special cast group and was assigned roles by the special cast leader a few times, but only had two lines.
She has worked just as hard as Zhang Xiuli, but she hasn't been here long enough to take the audition for becoming a featured actor.
The group leader will call the extras out of the rest area to begin the next group scene. Filming will start shortly after; the scene will be a street demonstration.
Yang Yumei, Gan Zhengfang, and Wang Yufeng stood in the middle of the crowd as ordinary citizens.
After the director yelled "Action!", the crowd surged forward, chanting slogans. Suddenly, something went wrong; a horse pulling the cart was startled and galloped towards them.
The crowd erupted into chaos, scattering in all directions. Yang Yumei stared wide-eyed in terror, momentarily at a loss. Gan Zhengfang reacted quickly, pulling Yang Yumei to the side of the street for cover. Wang Yufeng followed suit.
The horse charged wildly, about to hit a child on the roadside. At that critical moment, Zhang Xiuli, who had been reading a script in the nearby rest area, suddenly rushed out, grabbed the child, and rolled to the side.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and the director yelled "Cut!" Although there was an unexpected situation, Zhang Xiuli's heroic actions were praised by everyone.
After this incident, Zhang Xiuli seemed to have a change of fortune. In a special actor upgrade assessment not long after, she performed exceptionally well and successfully advanced to the second level of minor special actor.
Yang Yumei was greatly encouraged and became even more determined to continue her efforts. She believes that as long as she perseveres, one day she will be able to make progress in her acting career just like Zhang Xiuli.
Zhang Xiuli became a Level 2 Special Contributor and entered the Second Group of Special Contributors for Filming. She started to show off her very ordinary face again, implying that she was awesome again.
She and Bai Yu were good friends during filming, and she respected Bai Yu very much, calling her Sister Bai.
When Zhang Xiuli was filming a cameo role, she always followed the makeup artist's instructions. Once, the makeup artist shaped her eyebrows so that one eyebrow was higher than the other. Then, it was discovered that the back half of her hair was shaved into a buzz cut, leaving only the top half of her head with long hair.
When Yang Yumei saw how she had done all this for the sake of filming, she was immediately filled with lingering fear. She didn't want to be made to look like this by the makeup artists on set just for a few small shots and a few lines! She wasn't discouraged, but she knew that only by becoming a big star could she subdue these lowly, condescending makeup artists on set, and only then would top directors listen to the arrangements of A-list stars.
Yang Yumei secretly vowed to herself that she must work hard to become a big star. In the days that followed, she put even more effort into every minor role she played than before.
Once, a character needed to portray someone who was extremely hungry but still had to work. To better interpret the role, Yang Yumei barely ate anything for two consecutive days, just to find that feeling of weakness and helplessness while having to endure it.
Finally, the opportunity arrived. A large-scale period drama was casting, and one of the actresses had a significant role. Yang Yumei mustered her courage and went to audition.
On the day of the audition, she saw that her competitors were all impeccably dressed, some even accompanied by well-known agents. But she did not back down. Relying on her solid acting skills and the experience she had accumulated over the past few days, she perfectly portrayed a classic scene from the drama.
The judges all nodded in approval, and Yang Yumei ultimately won the role. After the drama aired, her portrayal of the character garnered widespread attention from the audience, and Yang Yumei gradually became known to the public.
She knew she had taken a big step toward her dream, and there were many more challenges ahead, but at this moment she was full of confidence because she believed that hard work would eventually pay off.