CH 25

CHAPTER 25—Holographic Audition

On the fifth day after the actor recruitment post was released, all the actors who were interested in participating in the audition arrived from various planets across the universe, and most of them stayed in the hotel where the audition venue was located.

Xie Yu was no exception.

He moved into the hotel a few days in advance, and ran into several colleagues during meals.

On the star network, all the investors of the <Blood Wanted> project were announced.

Tengfei was the producer of the project.

The company and Li Wuqiang’s personal contribution accounted for more than half of the total investment, and they were responsible for the early integration of filming resources.

Howard Cinemas Group contributed about 30% to the total investment, and would lead the publicity and development of the project in the later stages.

Shen Qi, who joined with Tengfei Entertainment in time to meet the deadline, personally invested nearly 100 million in cash to join the list of major investors in the <Blood Wanted> project.

The large scale investment of 480 million star coins in a self-made weekly drama set a new record for the past 50 years.

As a self-produced drama that may not be able to obtain a holographic license, this kind of investment portfolio not only attracted the attention of industry insiders, but also stimulated the expectations of the public.

And in the actor circle, many artists who were not interested in <Blood Wanted> were a bit moved as a result, and began to inquire about the project openly and secretly.

""

As a leading artist who was strongly promoted by Tengfei and had a high possibility of winning a role, Xie Yu stopped all activities and settled down to prepare for the audition.

He went through almost every scene in the script by himself, analyzing the character of Misai over and over in his head.

After careful consideration, he also focused on preparing for the role of He Fei, in case there would be any changes or unexpected situations in the audition.

Less than a day before the official audition, Zhou Cheng took Xie Yu to the clothing studio that he had previously made an appointment with to choose costumes for the audition.

Fei Chen followed behind the clothing consultant, and communicated with the consultant about Xie Yu’s best looks from his most recent outfits.

The clothing consultant had long been interested in the suit that Xie Yu wore, and he was full of praise when talking about it.

He had been asking where the suit came from, because he was sure that suits would lead the future trend.

*****

After Anna grabbed water and snacks from the studio staff, she walked up to Xie Yu’s side and watched the makeup artist’s skilled and professional movements.

She was very clear about the makeup style and preferences of her artist, so it was within her ability to give opinions on his styling.

Xie Yu let the makeup artist apply products to his face, while he closed his eyes and listened to Zhou Cheng quietly.

In the past few days, Zhou Cheng had inquired into a lot of gossip revolving around the audition through the company’s internal relationships.

“It seems like Tengfei’s right to speak has been weakened, so it’s hard to say anything about this audition.“ Zhou Cheng said as he took a deep breath and looked at his light brain.

“Huh?” Xie Yu tilted his head according to the make-up artist’s direction and raised his chin.

Just as he was about to open his eyes, he was blinded by the bright light in front of him and blinked unaccustomedly.

“Interestingly, Tengfei previously fully funded this work, and <Blood Wanted> could’ve been considered an internal project.” Zhou Cheng rubbed his chin, “But it’s good that Shen Qi personally brought funds into the work. It’s too late for Tengfei to ask Shen Qi for concessions now after having already shared a part of the cake with him.”

“Yeah.” Xie Yu didn’t understand how investments operated in the interstellar entertainment industry, so he could only wait for Zhou Cheng to continue talking.

The make-up artist who was trimming Xie Yu’s eyebrows, and Anna who was eavesdropping, all quietly listened to the gossip.

“But once Howard Cinemas came in, the situation changed.” Zhou Cheng spread his hands in a shrug, without a trace of a smile on his face, “Who’s the Howard Group? Shen Qi’s <Simon’s Star> was invested in by Howard, and the publicity and distribution was all operated by Howard’s subsidiary. Them being so involved in <Blood Wanted> is almost equivalent to co-developing this project.”

Anna sighed and took a moment to lament about this, after all, <Simon’s Star> had a box office of 25 billion stars coins, which solidified Shen Qi as Howard’s cash cow.

Xie Yu thought about Zhou Cheng’s words and guessed that Howard Cinemas and Shen Qi may be in the same camp, so it’s possible that they’ll share the decision-making power with Tengfei equally.

Over his years of working in this industry, he’s joined many production crews, most of which as a major investor, so he had a good idea when there would be a dispute among the production crew.

But, he didn’t even know how to evaluate the situation in <Blood Wanted>, which seemed completely balanced.

“So… even before the audition begins, it’s clear that the progress of the entire project needs to take into account and depends on two evenly matched opinion groups.” He concluded.

“Yes, if their opinions cannot reach an agreement, it’ll be very troublesome and may delay everything.” Zhou Cheng nodded, “However, if the project is delayed by even a day, it’ll cost money, and so the investors won’t intentionally delay the pace of the project.”

“No matter what, an open audition does not mean that Tengfei has no chance to intervene. If Director Shen can be satisfied by my acting, the two investors won’t have to fight.” Xie Yu chuckled, and didn’t tell Zhou Cheng and the others about his interaction with Shen Qi a few days ago, only saying that he would work hard.

“Of course it’s good if everyone is in consensus. Tengfei will recommend you for sure. If you can leave a good impression on Shen Qi, then joining the filming group will go smoothly.” Hearing what Xie Yu said, Zhou Cheng also thought of this possibility, but couldn’t help but want to laugh.

“Director Shen is very demanding, and I’ve been worried these days.” Xie Yu gave himself some leeway, and pouted slightly towards everyone after he finished speaking.

This playful appearance amused everyone in the studio.

Zhou Cheng was the most serious and least emotional person in Xie Yu’s team, so while the others were still joking around, he had already moved to Xie Yu’s side to quickly communicate with him about the salary issue.

Xie Yu frowned and listened, looking at Zhou Cheng with puzzled eyes.

“Even if the specification for holographic shooting has changed, the production cost shouldn’t be so high that it would affect the renumeration, right?” Xie Yu asked with some doubts, “We didn’t plan to ask for a high salary, but it’s unreasonable for it to be lower than the average. Can they justify it? It’s the highest amount of investment in the last 50 years…”

“Terran didn’t open up for film crews before. To get permission, you need relationships besides money. Most likely Shen Qi used his connections. Howard’s money will be used for post-production publicity, but it’s not much at all, and they may have to fill in with more funding. As for Tengfei, the early stage channels and resources have been used for decades, and with the conditions on Terran, and the crew preparing the costumes and a few other additional things, you won’t need to bring much…”

Zhou Cheng had a “just understand” expression on his face, and poked Xie Yu’s forehead, “I told you this earlier—don’t ask and talk less about the investment funds, and pretend to be incomprehensible about the things going on inside and outside, understand?”

Xie Yu was startled. On the surface he remained calm and just smiled, putting a finger to his mouth to show his silence, and promised Zhou Cheng that he would not discuss it again.

He changed the topic and talked about the holographic shooting.

“Are you sure that <Blood Wanted> can be shot holographically? If we can’t get a license, in the end, we won’t be able to gain access to the holographic channels.”

In the memory of the original body, he’s done works which were shot normally and holographically, and the cost of the equipment alone can be several times more expensive.

Xie Yu turned his head away, thinking about his own works which have been shown on the giant screens in IMAX theaters.

Leaving aside these thoughts, they began to discuss the post-production period when the workload usually doubles, which can indeed occupy a lot of production costs.

Interstellar holographic movies were similar to 3D movies from his time, but they were a bit different from normal, ordinary works.

“I’m 100% sure.” Zhou Cheng nodded and then said, “Tomorrow the audition will be done holographically, do you think they were just joking around?”

Xie Yu was truly stunned.

He never expected to be exposed to an interstellar holographic shooting environment so soon.

He didn’t know what to say, and could only start thinking about information related to holographic shoots.

Works shot in holographic mode were more suitable for home theaters or for small-scale viewing.

Unlike 3D movies, which only have three-dimensional scenes, holographic movies were fully spatial and three-dimensional, bringing a more dynamic experience to the audience.

In the memories belonging to original body, the crew building the holographic landscaping will use a special camera lens.

For actors, they only need to have their internal chips docked and activated with the holographic device before shooting, and wear contact lenses for synchronized reality imaging.

There was no need to equip any other equipment, and they’d be able to see the virtual scenery when they start shooting.

They wouldn’t need to worry about camera positions and could just act freely.

Whether it be for production or distribution, it became way more convenient compared to making 3D movies from the past.

Xie Yu was looking forward to seeing the new technology, but when he thought about using it tomorrow, he felt somewhat anxious.

During the whole costume fitting process, he was very silent, and only expressed his opinions during the final fine-tuning session.

When he got back to the hotel, he went straight to the private theater that came equipped with his suite.

The holographs in the Interstellar Era greatly shocked him.

Although he was unable to interact with the people and objects, Xie Yu was still excited by the reconstruction of the scenes in the film.

He quickly started adapting to the holographs, then paused the holographic film that was playing to lean back on the sofa in the corner to meditate.

He found that the original body had a lot of detailed memories about participating in shoots for holographic works, but concerning <The Legend of Aquarius>, his memory was very vague.

He felt that something was wrong.

<The Legend of Aquarius> was obviously a work that the original had just finished filming not long ago, so how could he have less of an impression of it than other film works?

Xie Yu put down his hand which was rubbing his forehead, and touched the skin near his heart under his left shoulder.

According to Zhou Cheng, and the original’s memories, he knew that actors who participate in the production of holographic films need to connect their subcutaneous chips to special equipment before filming starts.

But regarding the docking link before the filming of <The Legend of Aquarius>, why did the original body not have any details of it in his memory…

The more Xie Yu thought about it, the more strange he felt, but there was no time for him to speculate.

He could only go through holographic movies one by one, and force himself to become familiar with the landscapes built using holographic technology as soon as possible, so that he won’t make mistakes in the audition tomorrow due to unfamiliarity.

Although Xie Yu wanted to get more familiar with the holographic technology, Anna came over from next door to urge him to stop.

She came to convey Zhou Cheng’s advice for Xie Yu to go to bed early because he needed to get up early tomorrow to get his styling done.

Xie Yu nodded, but he wasn’t sleepy even after washing up and lying down in bed, so he flipped through the script for a while, and went through a few scenes that needed to be memorized in his head before falling asleep in a daze.

******

On the second day, Xie Yu and his team took the time to get his styling done and returned to the hotel.

While Zhou Cheng went to the audition site to get a number plate, Xie Yu was called away by Tengfei’s staff.

After registering Xie Yu’s information, he wanted to check on the environment of the area where the audition would be held, but was politely invited out by the hotel staff.

On the other hand, Xie Yu met Li Wuqiang in a suite, and another high-level Tengfei executive whom he was not familiar with and had no personal acquaintance with.

As soon as Li Wuqiang raised his eyes when he saw Xie Yu coming, he saw the light blue jacket on the upper body of the young man, matched with slim dark trousers, and then saw Xie Yu’s face with refreshing light makeup.

He was stunned for a bit, but then smiled.

He stretched out his hand to greet Xie Yu, “Xie Yu, have you eaten? Just now someone went to call you, but there was no one in your suite or Zhou Cheng’s room… You look good.”

The executive surnamed Wang beside Li Wuqiang also nodded.

Xie Yu greeted the two high-level executives, and only asked Li Wuqiang why they had come over.

“You told me before that you want the role of Misai.” Li Wuqiang then asked, “Zhou Cheng also knows, right? Are you absolutely sure?”

“Yes, I want to try for Misai.” Xie Yu nodded, wondering if there was some change in the audition.

“Then Jiang Yike, it really is possible that…” Li Wuqiang tilted his head and exchanged glances with his companion, the high-ranking officer surnamed Wang nodded upon hearing this, and didn’t say much.

When Xie Yu heard Jiang Yike’s name, he immediately came to a realization.

Jiang Yike was another actor. His studio was affiliated with another agency, and it’s rumored that he has a close cooperative relationship with the Howard Group.

“Jiang Yike also wants to try the role of Misai. You have to be mentally prepared.” Li Wuqiang stood up, moved his shoulders and neck, and said in a gloomy tone, “This person has filmed villains roles before, and his past experience will definitely be an advantage.”

“How about…why don’t you think about it again?” The high-ranking officer surnamed Wang, who had been silent all this time, spoke up in a questioning way, but his tone showed an attitude that didn’t seem like he was casually asking Xie Yu something at all.

“If… let me try Misai first, if it doesn’t work out, I can take another chance, so why not let me try?” Xie Yu responded in this way, and added, “It’s just that I told Director Shen a few days ago that I wanted to audition for Misai.”

“Shen Qi already knows.” The high-ranking executive surnamed Wang pursed his lips, “Then try it, if it doesn’t work, let’s talk.”

Li Wuqiang thought it through again, but was unable to find a better way, so he just waved Xie Yu away and told him to prepare well.

Xie Yu left Li Wuqiang’s room and met Zhou Cheng who was waiting for him outside.

“Tell me.” Zhou Cheng probably guessed the intention of the higher-ups calling Xie Yu over, so he asked directly.

“Jiang Yike is auditioning for Misai.” Xie Yu also cut to the chase.

Zhou Cheng grumbled in a low voice, and his face became obviously unhappy.

“It’s rumored that he has a good relationship with Howard?” Xie Yu asked with his usual expression.

His tone was also very calm, as if he was asking about the weather.

“His studio has signed a gambling agreement with the Howard Group through an affiliated brokerage company.” Zhou Cheng led Xie Yu through the corridor, entered their suite, and closed the door before continuing.

He stretched out three fingers, making a gesture as he talked, “From Howard’s, he took nearly 300 million in resources, and promised to earn back four times in five years, which increases by two points every year. It’s now the third year, but the promised performance hasn’t been achieved by even half. If he doesn’t work even harder for Howard, he’ll cry until he loses money to compensate next year.”

When Zhou Cheng explained everything, Xie Yu finally understood.

He was amazed that the VAM agreement didn’t just happen in his time, but was still popular in the interstellar entertainment industry.

He’s been filming for most of his life, but he didn’t dare to accept a betting agreement, because if an actor really couldn’t make back a profit of billions, he’d have to pay it all back in cash.

In addition to sympathy, he also feel that Jiang Yike was very ambitious.

“But the pay for <Blood Wanted> isn’t high, and if he accepts a role, he can’t deduct much using his performance.” Xie Yu thought that there was something wrong after thinking about it.

“He either has to make money or sacrifice his life.” Zhou Cheng waved his hand, “Jiang Yike has only participated in major productions this year, and now he’s going to work on a self-made weekly drama, isn’t he? He gets little salary working in that crew, but Howard can give him credit similarly by doing it.”

Xie Yu nodded thoughtfully and was no longer entangled with thoughts about Jiang Yike, so he flipped through the script again and read it back and forth.

Seeing Xie Yu like this, Zhou Cheng didn’t bother him anymore.

He retreated and headed outside the room, then took out his light brain to continue working.

He was going to look for a few more new film contracts.

That way, if Xie Yu’s audition did not succeed this time, they wouldn’t fall into a passive position and be left with a vacant schedule.

*****

Xie Yu was interrupted by a knock on his door after less than an hour of preparation.

The crew notified Xie Yu to head over to the audition.

Zhou Cheng was worried about sending Xie Yu alone, so he went with him, and stopped in the outer rest area, watching as Xie Yu entered the room.

There were other people in the rest area who seemed to be managers that brought newcomers or little-known stars.

They saw Zhou Cheng and Xie Yu, and when the door of the audition room closed, they approached in pairs, using the banner of chatting to get close to Zhou Cheng, and inquired and talked about news they heard in passing.

Zhou Cheng wasn’t interested in the so-called revelations from these other agents, since he had already grasped all the important inside information.

So he didn’t bother to deal with their hypocrisy.

After nodding his head politely, he kept his head down and focused on his work while waiting for Xie Yu to finish his audition.

Xie Yu, who entered the room, took a look around and saw the people sitting behind the long table on one side.

Li Wuqiang from Tengfei, the high-level executive surnamed Wang, and Wang Xiaoping and Shen Qi from the director team sat in the middle.

Li Wuqiang had a serious expression on his face.

After seeing Xie Yu coming in, he slightly bent the corners of his mouth and smiled.

Shen Qi was lowering his head to write something on his light brain, but when he heard his voice, he looked up, and soon lowered his head again.

Sitting to the side was an elder who was a well-known independent screenwriter in the industry.

The screenwriter looked at Xie Yu and frowned unobtrusively.

Xie Yu just stood in the middle of the room, keeping an appropriate distance from the long table.

The room was very quiet, and Xie Yu paused for a second or two, then directly introduced himself.

“Hello teachers, I’m Xie Yu, and I’m here to audition for the role of Misai…”

“Okay, I know.” Shen Qi spoke up and interrupted neatly.

Then, raised his head and glanced at the colleagues around him intentionally or unintentionally.

In Xie Yu’s eyes, that expression seemed like he was wondering why everyone else didn’t speak.

“Let’s talk about your understanding of the role—you have three minutes.” Shen Qi put down his pen, and sat up straight, with a serious expression that had a hint of tiredness.

“Looking at the setting that Misai was originally a retired professional killer, I think that Misai in the storyline cannot be explained simply with the image of a killer. In terms of character design, he also has a shining point, his humanity. For example, he treats flowers very piously. Yes. The relationship with his neighbor, Sheiffer, is also worthy of in-depth exploration. Except for his revenge, he doesn’t hurt unrelated people, which means that although he is somewhat extreme and pathological, there are times when his mind is stable.”

Xie Yu changed the subject, “If I were to act as him, I would focus on grasping the changes in Misai’s mentality in the early and late stages. Sheiffer is the trigger for Misai, that brings out the violence and antipathy that Misai has suppressed for many years. And he only regains himself after his vengeance is over…”

Everyone listened to Xie Yu’s analysis in silence, and Shen Qi was jotting down things while Xie Yu spoke, as if he was taking notes.

No one called out Xie Yu even after three minutes passed, and just listened to him finish speaking smoothly.

After Xie Yu finished talking, Shen Qi spoke first, “Let’s talk about the psychology of the characters…In your opinion, what emotional positioning do Misai and Sheiffer have?”

Xie Yu blinked, and rolled out his pre-thought-out statement from his mouth.

“Let’s discuss the experiment volunteer Sheiffer who died at the beginning. At first, I thought that Sheiffer’s treatment of Misai was out of love, but later I found that it was not.” Xie Yu said this, and saw that behind the long table several people exchanged glances, “Sheiffer was a child who grew up on the streets of Callander. As a clone, he had no father and no mother. His neighbor was also Misai, a killer who had changed his face to enter a new life…”

He had repeatedly disassembled and analyzed the script and felt that Sheiffer, who was still young when the accident happened, had feelings for Misai that had more to do with friendship, respect for someone older than him, and a subconscious trust in the same kind.

Sheiffer knew that Misai was also a clone and that he had physical problems.

He happened to run across the experiment for “optimizing the physique of clones”, which was recruiting volunteers, and resolutely decided to participate.

His death due to the illegal experiment directly led to a change in Misai’s frame of mind.

“If I had to describe Sheiffer’s feelings as pure, then Misai’s feelings for Sheiffer are very complicated. At the end of the script, after killing all of his targets, Misai solemnly cleans himself and visits Sheiffer’s grave with star flowers. Their meaning in the language of flowers is quite deep—they stand for nostalgia and cherishment…”

Xie Yu expressed his conjectures, and at the same time observed the facial expressions and reactions of the judges, “He is quite knowledgeable about flowers, so if he really only regarded Sheiffer as his younger brother, then there was no need to choose star flowers, right? Another detail, is that other neighbors also mention that Misai would leave flowers specially for Sheiffer. Even after Sheiffer passed on, there would always be flowers placed for him every day. If Misai regarded Sheiffer as an ordinary neighbor, he wouldn’t take things that far. Based on these details, I speculated that Misai may have had a crush on Sheiffer.”

Shen Qi just simply looked at Xie Yu without any expression on his face.

The screenwriter on the side nodded, propped up his arms, and pressed his palms to his chin.

His expression was much better than at the beginning.

“But once Sheiffer died, Misai’s unspoken feelings all turned into a desire for revenge…” Xie Yu wanted to explain further, but was interrupted by Shen Qi again.

“Okay.” Shen Qi exhaled, “Let’s try the part involving assassinating the initiator.”

He gave the assistant who was on standby at the far end a look and asked him to get the equipment for Xie Yu.

Xie Yu cooperated with the assistant. He put on the contact lenses, which allowed him to see the virtual scenery in the room—which was the interior of a large villa with a high ceiling and a set of leather sofas.

The middle-aged man who was sitting motionless on the sofa looked in the direction he was standing with a frightened expression on his face.

“Okay, let’s start.”

Shen Qi’s deep voice sounded for the last time, and the whole environment immediately came to life.

The branches outside the window swayed, and the face of the man inside the scene became more and more ferocious.

In his ear, he could hear a synthetic voice imitating the voice of the initiator in the scene.

Xie Yu’s expression changed instantly, from completely harmless and relaxed to wide-eyed eyes and a tense jaw.

He followed the setting of Misai grabbing a rope and holding a dagger as dictated in the script, then swung his left hand back, and his naturally hanging right hand tightened its grip, trembling with excessive force.

He took a few steps forward, walked quickly. Then moved to the side of the sofa, grabbed it with his left hand, and naturally leaned forward.

Wang Xiaoping, who was silent throughout the audition, stretched out his hand and made the same gesture as Xie Yu.

Then he hooked his fingers together and gestured to indicated that he thought Xie Yu was doing well.

In the virtual scene, Xie Yu tied up the initiator.

His left arm was tense as he pulled the rope, and his right hand stretched forward to follow the virtual initiator’s hand movement as he drew his knife and stabbed it between the initiator’s palms.

The moment the knife stabbed down, it was very stable, and as the scene progressed, his range of motion began to increase.

When Xie Yu was preparing for this audition, he specially studied several sets of performance methods for this type of movement, and kept in the mind the best examples, so he executed the action smoothly and naturally on the scene.

He vented the emotions he had accumulated for a week, and the speed of his lines matched the strength he put into the dagger, while a smile stretched out on his face with a hint of madness.

His entire being was immersed in the scene, and was filled with tension.

Li Wuqiang stared blankly because he had never seen Xie Yu like this before, and then subconsciously touched his palms.

The screenwriter focused on the bulging veins on Xie Yu’s neck and nodded.

After the whole scene was over, Shen Qi called a stop.

He glanced at Xie Yu who hadn’t completely escaped from his emotions, “Okay, you can go back first.”

“Thank you.” Xie Yu replied with a slightly hoarse voice.

The voice belonging to the original body was clear and clean.

So in order to fit Misai’s age, he suppressed his voice throughout the whole scene.

Moreover, when Misai restrains his emotions when he assassinates the initiator, he lowered his voice even more, so his throat was now uncomfortable.

It was also the first time for him to audition a full scene, and he obviously felt that he hadn’t recovered from the burst of emotions yet.

Seeing that Shen Qi and the others had no intention of asking any more questions, he bowed and left the room directly.

In the room, Li Wuqiang and others let out a heavy sigh of relief.

The screenwriter tapped his fingers on the table and opened his mouth to speak.

While Shen Qi relaxed after sitting upright for a whole day, then threw his pen on the table, and folded his arms.

*****

TL: Director Shen on the outside: *serious, professional director mode*

Director Shen on the inside: *٩(^ᗜ^ )و ´–Xie Yu, you can do it!*