Global Movie Emperor

Chapter 35: A Farce

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation

Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

“Hey! Can you really do it or not? You have to fall, fall! Understand? How many takes will you take? How many takes! Is one half of your body paralyzed? Are university students like you? I can have a random person from the street on this set, and he can act better than you!”

Curses flew on the set. Of course, they were not for Lu Ze but the students. Lu Ze was sitting on the side, not joining the conversation. Silently sitting, he stomped the cigarette with his feet.

They had already taken four takes but to no avail. He felt quite tired. The most troublesome part was the heat, and his entire body was drenched in sweat by now.

To be fair, it was not because the students were too lacking. It was not the case. On the whole, their understanding was much better than the absolute majority of the extras. However, they had two significant shortcomings: their cowardice and not being able to listen.

It was a handsome lot. They were probably afraid of letting themselves fall without fear like other extras, fearing that they might end up disfiguring themselves. Some were too careful in their falls as they dropped down softly on the ground. This action was quite lacking according to the standards of the director.

Secondly, it was due to nervousness, having their thoughts, and some trying to show off a bit, pulling off sly tricks in secret. However, the director was able to see them clearly on his monitoring screen.

The director began to curse from the last take. On the first take, he endured their performance. They were kids, and some mistakes were to be expected. In the second, he still held his tongue. They were university students so that he could let them off on account of their teacher at the very least. However, after the third take, he finally began his cursing.

At the fourth take, none of them actually made any small errors. However, perhaps they were tired and wanted to rest early, or they were a bit dazed from the scolding, three of them ran out of the camera. It was only one who charged out of the pack first, but the two behind also followed after him.

After that, the director completely lost it. Smashing a water bottle on the ground, he walked to them and began cursing while pointing directly at them. If not for the fact that they were students and not regular extras, nobody could have stopped profanities from the director’s mouth.

Lu Ze didn’t have the ability to interfere, nor he had any intentions of doing so. The three of them caused explosives to trigger, making him break out in cold sweat. Even now, he was shaking a bit.

He even wanted to go and beat the three up good. If they were really extras, there was no need for the director, as he would have gone and knocked them out. Those b*stards almost caused them to have to look for a new job.

As the director kept cursing, the situation began to shift…

They were proud sons of heavens, so how could they hold their anger in. Even their own mother had not scolded them so much, so who was this small director pointing fingers and cursing them?

“Then, I’m not doing it! I am not f*cking doing it!”

It was also the director’s first time confronting such a bad temperament. After staring blankly for a moment, he remembered their identity, and his face went completely red. He furiously nodded at the students as he turned around and roared at Lu Ze.

“Lu Ze! Call their f*cking supervisor! Get them off here! I have no use for these princes!”

He then turned around and looked at the three students as he furiously sneered, revealing his white teeth. “Very good! I’ve been in this industry for almost twenty years, and it isn’t like I haven’t seen your type. When you graduate, I’ll be waiting to see how far you can really go. I’ll be waiting!”

Lu Ze went to the dressing area as he took his phone and found an isolated spot to call Liu Le.

“Hello? Big brother Le, hurry over here and take these students away. If they don’t leave, a fight will break out. I’m serious. It might really happen!”

He was not uttering nonsense. After all, before his two eyes, many people were trying to make the two sides calm down but could only hold the two sides back. Once the insults started to flow around, every kind of profanity could be heard.

“Director, these kids are just like this. You don’t anger yourself so much for their sake. Here, have a cigarette and forget it.”

The director was almost fifty. After the cursing was over and the students were taken away, Lu Ze sat beside him and offered him a cigarette.

“I’ve never seen somebody that could anger me so much. From here on in, not one student will enter my set. Are you clear, Old Chen? Not one student! I don’t want to die of anger during the shoot!”

The executive producer’s assistant acknowledged with a nod. Lu Ze saw Director Wang’s still pale face as he reclined on the chair with a cigarette in his mouth. He shut his mouth to not pour oil on the fire.

“Alright, settle Lu-er’s accounts. You’ll be going back?”

“Eh? We’re not shooting?”

“What shooting? Look at the time! Change, change, change! Prepare for the next scene. Lu-er, you are available tomorrow, right? I’ve finally understood that I can only trust you to cause no trouble. If something like this happens again, I reckon you’d find me in a hospital.”

Director Wang was pretty chill. As a fellow from Shanbei, his temperament was pretty good, and he was quite humorous. Seeing him acting in such a manner, Lu Ze sniggered.

“Well… I can’t say for sure. I want to work with you, Director Wang. It’s just that I’m somewhat busy for a few days. Don’t curse at me if I have to take a leave in between.”

“Fine, fine. Go…”

Lu Ze changed his clothes and put the three hundred yuan given by the production team in his bag. Then, he hung the bag on his shoulder and left the set. This matter… was quite absurd. For an extra to fight back with the director… It was the first time Lu Ze saw such an incident during his stay in Hengdian. If they were true extras, they might even be intercepted on their way home, put into sacks, and received a good beating.

However, all of this had nothing to do with him. He had offended nobody and had kept himself entirely out of the whole matter. If somebody wanted to find trouble, they would not find it with him. However, this had made him develop a somewhat wrong perception of college students, feeling that they were too arrogant and hard to please.

He found Liu Le in a corner outside the Film City, still surrounded by the teacher and the students. Looking at his appearance, he seemed to be giving advice.

It had nothing to do with him, though. He bought fried cold noodles cooked in a sweet and sour sauce from Er Mao’s shop and continued on his way while eating. He glanced at them as he walked by: it was quite interesting to see. The boy who had just fought with the director was sitting on the curb, glancing around with tears streaming down his face, occasionally wiping his cheeks.

The other group of girls also had interesting appearances. Four girls, who had pretty good impressions, were wailing without any care for their reputation. They had most likely been cursed at by the director as well. Their director was certainly much fiercer than Director Wang. Looking at their appearances as if somebody had died in their families, they could easily earn three to four hundred yuan for such a job.

The teacher was counseling them furiously, comforting them along with Liu Le. But, what about the quiet boys? Who would take care of them? They would most likely get scolded upon their return, and it would be it for this matter.

As far as this lot was concerned, most of them were not stupid. When this fool wanted to beat up the director after being cursed at, nobody supported his actions. They knew the consequences of beating a director all too well. The teacher was also helpless. Yesterday, when they shot in the urban set as extras, they did quite well and had a grand party with their earnings. Today’s shoot should have only been a little more complicated than that of yesterday. So, how did it come to this?

Watching up till this point, Lu Ze suddenly felt that these students indeed lacked training. Their technical knowledge was indeed quite good, but their ability to endure was too lacking. Sending them to serve as extras was indeed a wise choice.

“Uh… Big Brother Le, then I’ll take my leave now, alright?”

He had no business here, so he informed Liu Le and continued on his way. En-route, he could not help but snigger as he recalled this incident. This bunch of kids… It was indeed quite an interesting matter to happen in his boring life as an extra.

After he finished his meal, he saw a bunch of people playing poker. He joined in the fun for a few rounds, but after losing twenty yuan, he returned home and entered the system space.

Three days later…

Ring! Ring!

Lu Ze placed the bowl on the table and picked up his phone. “Hello? Big brother Zeng, what’s the matter?”

“Director Guo replied. He’s asking you to come tomorrow and sign the contract.”

After chatting for a few moments, Lu Ze hung up. A smile appeared on his face as he clenched his fist.