Chapter 325
A few days later, Yu Yaoyao received the full payment from Yu Jianghai. The enthusiasm for her on the Internet had gradually faded. Finally, she was completely involved in filming with the crew, and her performance was getting better and better. Almost every performance surpassed director Qi Hang’s expectations and she surprised him every time.
The crew of ‘At That Time’ fell to two strange extremes. Without Yu Yaoyao, they would continue filming until they went crazy; with Yu Yaoyao, they would only need one take.
Even the talented actor Cai Fang, the female lead, had to admire Yu Yaoyao’s skill. She was a little put out at first, feeling that her acting skills could not compare to Yu Yaoyao’s. But later, she discovered that Yu Yaoyao’s performances were slightly immature but of high quality, as if she had encountered this kind of suffering in her life. In the end, Cai Fang couldn’t fault her.
Today, it was Cai Fang’s turn to act with Yu Yaoyao. In the script, they played two friends who hadn’t been in contact for many years, but accidentally met in the Bureau of Civil Affairs while going through divorce procedures.
“Today, I will shoot your three most important scenes in a row and try to finish the first scene of the reunion in the morning. There are almost no lines. Teacher Cai, you recognize Little Yu and call her, your body language is up to you. You haven’t seen each other for at least five years, and the last time you saw each other was at your child’s one-month celebration,” Director Qi Hang told them again from the background.
Cai Fang listened carefully and took a pen to mark the script. She and Wei Ming were the same age, and she was also acting in the true role of her life as a wife with a seven-year itch. But her personality was more low-key than Wei Ming’s.
When she was in her twenties, she became popular because she starred in a film directed by a famous director. After that, her superb acting skills won unanimous praise in the industry, and she played everything from a rural woman to a pampered lady in a mansion. But after she got married to her husband outside the circle, she cut the entertainment industry off, stayed away from all exposure, and was relieved to raise children with her husband at home.
It was not until this shoot that Director Qi Hang had personally taken the script, found her, and intimately discussed with her how to deal with being a woman who was no longer young, and how to deal with managing the household. In her heart, she finally re-evoked the love for her acting career, and she played the role of the heroine once again.
Seeing that they had no questions, Qi Hang continued, “At first sight, you must be strange but familiar with each other. The more you see each other, the more you know each other. Then you recognize each other. But as soon as you find out that you are acquaintances, you realize that your divorce is a shameful and embarrassing thing, and immediately want to hide. You will do everything you can to avoid one another. In the end, you will find that the other party was also coming for a divorce. At that moment, you will be instantly relieved. You can practice for a bit. We’ll go through it once and then we can start.” When Director Qi Hang finished speaking, he returned to the director’s seat and sat down.
After he finished explaining, Cai Fang smiled helplessly at Yu Yaoyao and gestured towards an empty corner with the script, “Little Yu, shall we go to the side?”
They were familiar with each other from the read-through. Yu Yaoyao’s bursts of tears and her skills with reading her lines also made Cai Fang appreciate her seriousness.
“We haven’t talked much in the past few days, so we are still a little rusty. But that is fine, it is more in line with the relationship between these two people,” Cai Fang said.
After being at home for the past few years, Cai Fang wasn’t the best at socializing. In the crew, apart from Qi Hang and Wei Ming who she could talk to, she was polite with other people, but there was an invisible barrier between her and true friendships. This made them fleeting and difficult to maintain.
Yu Yaoyao kept her true personality hidden. She was serious in front of the camera, and off-screen these few days. She kept up her working pace with more than a dozen tonics and snacks a day, and didn’t have time to talk to the other actors. If it weren’t for her attitude, the group of actors would probably have gotten to know her well.
“Sister Cai, you’re right. Then we have to listen to the director and connect for the next performance?” Yu Yaoyao said with a blink.
She had recently been asking Cai Fang about the things she didn’t understand and occasionally she asked Wei Ming. To her, Cai Fang was like her teacher.
“Let’s decide on our positions. I’m going to go in to file for divorce, but you just came out… and then we make eye contact,” as Cai Fang spoke, she looked up from her script and at Yu Yaoyao. What she saw stunned her!
Yu Yaoyao usually had the same obedient eyes as a humble, good-looking baby but that had suddenly changed. Her eyes were full of unfocused exhaustion and weakness, as if her soul had been sucked out of her body. She looked at Cai Fang like a zombie with none of her usual light behind her eyes. But as she stared at her, her blank eyes slowly gathered a little energy. A trace of embarrassment flickered over her face. She quickly hid it.
Yu Yaoyao was an extremely beautiful young female actor, even a method actor, and the idea and object of her work never left her. However, at this moment, Cai Fang seemed to only see a woman with low self-esteem whose marriage was broken. She looked ordinary and haggard, without a trace of her usual charm.
“Sister Cai, is it like this?” her delicate voice brought Cai Fang back to reality. When she returned to her senses, she saw Yu Yaoyao in front of her. She was back to the dazzling and lovely girl, the light in her eyes like a flash of gold.
One second, she was acting, in the next, she was normal. Cai Fang was shocked! If Yu Yaoyao could switch so freely, she wondered if she could do it herself.
But this Yu Yaoyao… was actually able to flexibly contain such a sharp and outgoing charm. In the space of a single sentence, she was able to transform between two completely different characters!
From eye-catching glamour to rotten muck…
Not only did she change her voice, eyes, and other micro expressions, but the temperament of her whole person, giving the illusion that she had completely changed her appearance.