Chapter 222 - Speechless

Countless memories popped up in Lu Chen’s mind.

All belonging to Mo Ran.

This powerful actor in the dream world was deeply reserved, strong-willed, and has outstanding talent.

But his luck had always been bad, and he had never been the leading actor.

Although Mo Ran was very open-minded about it, Lu Chen knew that it was one of the biggest regrets in his life.

For an actor, who didn’t want to be the leading actor?

Lu Chen once made an oath in his heart to help Mo Ran realize his long-cherished wish in his own world.

So, today’s audition was undoubtedly an excellent start!

His mind was full of thoughts, but his expression was calm and composed, and his steps were steady and powerful.

Because Lu Chen knew that as an actor coming to an audition, the first impression left on the director was very important.

He didn’t want to lose points in this respect.

The conference room of Alchuang Company wasn’t big. In order to meet the needs of the audition, the table has been readjusted to leave enough room for the actors who came for the audition.

Behind the long table sat four people, three men and a woman, all with paper and pens in front of them. Moreover, there was a digital camera next to them, with two young men and women standing side by side.

Lu Chen stood in front of the judges, bowed to them, and then said, “Hello, Director Yan, Hello teachers, I am Lu Chen, please give me a lot of advice!”

Among the four judges, he recognized Yan Chengyi, the director of “Urban Love”.

After receiving the audition notice, his studio sorted out the corresponding information for Lu Chen, and there was a picture of Yan Chengyi on the Internet, so he couldn’t get it wrong.

When Lu Chen came in, everyone present brightened up.

Compared with the first three guys who were quickly eliminated, Lu Chen’s overall appearance was undoubtedly much better. He was tall and handsome. Dressed in a police uniform, he has a kind of warm-blooded spirit of a passionate man.

In terms of the industry’s language, his appearance was suitable for resistance war movies or spy movies. Wearing the national/military uniform was the style of underground workers1, full of sunny and righteous spirit!2

Most importantly, Lu Chen was composed and polite. He didn’t look like a newcomer at all.

Yan Chengyi was very satisfied in his heart. He came to preside over the audition today, mainly to interview Lu Chen.

The other were there just to serve as a contrast. It was a necessary part of the process.

After all, the company and the investors have requirements.

For example, the middle-aged woman wearing gold-rimmed glasses sitting on the far right was the representative of the largest investor.

Yan Chengyi didn’t have much good impression on her. He was a little worried that she would make trouble for him.

Similar things have happened several times.

However, Lu Chen was so outstanding that he believed that she would have nothing to say!

“Hello, Lu Chen.”

The director smiled kindly, nodded and asked, “Have you read the script?”

Lu Chen replied, “Yes, I have read them all.”

He had not only read the contents of the two thin sheets of A4 paper, but also memorized them.

There were several scenes involved, which belong to the content of the audition.

“That’s good…”

Yan Chengyi pointed to the young man and woman standing next to the camera and said, “Then you can have a try. The two of them will act as the part of the female lead and the thief respectively.”

Alchuang obviously attached great importance to this audition. Not only did they prepared uniforms, there were even people who would accompany the auditionees with the acting.

In this way, the auditionees wouldn’t need to be empty and unrealistic when acting, which was conducive to their own level of acting.

Lu Chen nodded: “Okay!”

He had the script in his head and had analyze it many times, so there was no problem with an on-the-spot performance.

The assistant sitting next to Yan Chengyi pressed the play button of the digital video recorder lying on the table.

The sound of heavy traffic in the city immediately rang out in the conference room.

The man and woman who accompany the auditionees stood apart, with the man standing behind the woman, staring at the latter’s satchel.

He slowly extended his hand towards the bag.

The scene of the play was in the subway. The female lead was targeted by the thief, and the male police officer stepped in to help.

As a result, the two became attached and had an emotional entanglement.

At the moment the “thief” made his move, the expression of Lu Chen, who stood just a few steps away, became fierce. There was a cold light in his dark eyes, as if an eagle was staring at a fox, and all the muscles in his body suddenly tightened!

“Good!”

Yan Chengyi couldn’t help but praise Lu Chen in his heart.

As the saying goes, a real expert knows whether others have it or not with a single glance. After so many years of directing work, Yan Chengyi’s insight on people’s acting was undoubtedly more profound than his directing skills.

What he was most worried about was Lu Chen’s acting skills, because the latter was not professionally trained or even a real actor – Lu Chen was a rookie singer who just debuted.

Although Lu Chen has already appeared in commercials and music video, but in Yan Chengyi’s opinion, they weren’t even worth mentioning.

Although “Urban Love” was a youth idol drama3, Director Yan still has high requirements on the actor’s acting skills.

Lu Chen’s expression, eyes and seemingly subconscious movements just now made him realize that he might have pick up a treasure today – it felt so good!

Next, Lu Chen turned to his side and lunged toward at the “thief”. He stretched out his right hand like lightning, grabbed the thief’s hand that the latter had just retracted, and grasped it firmly.

Before the other party could react, Lu Chen’s left hand has already grabbed his shoulder and twisted his arm behind his back, while his right leg landed perfectly on the middle knee joint.

The “thief” was caught off guard and instantly lost his balance. He was put down on the ground by Lu Chen with standard capture movements, and his hands were firmly locked!

“Ah!”

All four judges exclaimed in unison.

Because the script didn’t require the actor to do that at all. That was, to held back and suppressed the “thief” to the ground after being caught, where he was completely immobilized like now, that it seemed like Lu Chen has him completely under control like a puppet.

The “thief” didn’t really get hurt, right?

In fact, their worries were unnecessary. Lu Chen controlled the force very well. Although the actor4 was restrained, he didn’t get hurt at all. He just screamed instinctively.

Lu Chen stopped paying attention to the “thief”5. He grabbed the purse that had just been stolen from the other party’s hand, half squatted, and handed it to the female lead.

He smiled and said, “Miss, is this your purse?”

The female lead was completely stunned and didn’t know how to deal with it. It took her a moment to regain her senses, like waking up from a dream.

She blushed and took the purse that Lu Chen handed over and said softly, “Thank you.”

Lu Chen didn’t continue the performance. Instead, he helped the helpless “thief” up, and helped the other party pat off the dust on his body several times, and said apologetically, “I’m really sorry. You didn’t get hurt, did you?”

The “thief”6 shook his head with a look of admiration on his face: “You’re amazing!”

Lu Chen smiled and turned to face the judges.

Yan Chengyi was the first to raise his hand and clapped his hands, clapping them very hard.

Lu Chen not only met his requirements for the role of Chen Yaoyang, but also excelled!

Lu Chen’s skill wasn’t fake, but real skills.

Not to mention young and handsome, his acting skills were first-class and he also knew martial arts. He was simply a perfect idol star!

Yan Chengyi firmly believed that Lu Chen was Chen Yaoyang.

The director even got excited. According to Lu Chen’s standard, the plays related to him could be extended for several episodes.

The others applauded as well.

This didn’t happen at all in the previous auditions.

Yan Chengyi put down his hand and said with a smile, “Very good, I think…”

“I think…”

However, to Yan Chengyi’s great surprise, he had just opened his mouth to express his approval of Lu Chen, when the representative of the largest investor sitting on the far right interrupted and said: “You are not very suitable for the role of Chen Yaoyang!”

As soon as this remark came out, everyone present was shocked.

Including Lu Chen.

Everyone looked at the middle-aged woman in disbelief.

The latter reached for her gold-rimmed glasses, smiled at Lu Chen and said, “Lu Chen, your overall appearance and acting skills are very good, and I like it very much, but you are too tall to match the female lead. Moreover…”

After a pause, she continued: “You’ll put too much pressure on the male lead, which is not conducive to the overall style of our series, so it’s really regrettable.”

It turned out that he got rejected, and it was because of such a reason…

Lu Chen was speechless.

It wasn’t that they didn’t approve of his skills, instead they thought that his skills were too high that he might overwhelm the main lead.

Such a strong argument left him speechless.

And Yan Chengyi’s face turned blue.

What bullsh*t reason, he chose Lu Chen, what he wanted was such an effect!

The ratings of the first season of “Urban Love” were mediocre. Although the second season was renewed to be filmed, in order to improve the ratings, it has to have something eye-catching or even a breakthrough point.7

The role of Chen Yaoyang was the breakthrough point, and it needed an actor like Lu Chen to shine.

Moreover, Lu Chen’s reputation wasn’t small. He has nearly 10 million followers on Inspur blog.

This was guarantee of ratings!

The representative of the investor unexpectedly thought that Lu Chen would steal the show.

She was simply out of her mind!

It would be a problem if it was a movie and the supporting role outshone the lead. However, as a fast-paced weekend series, a good supporting role would undoubtedly bring sense of freshness to the audience. Having disputes and conflicts was a good thing.

He decisively said, “Manager Gong, I don’t think this is a problem.”

The middle-aged woman still smiled: “Director Yan, let’s put this aside for now, and let the others have a try. If there is no one more suitable, then we’ll consider this Mr. Lu Chen, okay?”

Yan Chengyi finally understood. What bullsh*t “putting too much pressure”. It was clear that the investor already had a candidate.

It was 100% one of the candidates that was still waiting to audition in the back!

What was too much was that the other party didn’t discuss it with him in advance, putting him on the line at the critical moment.

As for the reason, it was very complicated.

However, Tiandadi8 was the largest investor. If the investors got angry, replacing the director was very simple. The first season of “Urban Love” has been filmed, and Yan Chengyi’s importance to this TV series has not reached the indispensable level.

Unless the first season’s ratings were so high that it was impossible to ignore his role.

Yan Chengyi couldn’t help but be disheartened. He said unemotionally, “Whatever.”

It was the biggest protest he could make.