The meeting room was full, and over 30 female stars were standing in a conference room, just like entering a garden of flowers, with each flower vying for attention.
No one spoke, and all eyes were on Yuan Xintong.
Yuan Xintong briefly glanced over each person's resume, then revealed an innocently gentle smile:
"You've all worked hard, but your looks don't quite cut it."
This remark caused dissatisfaction among many in the room. Some were murmuring, while some actresses didn't make a sound, as the director was at the top of the food chain - even if they didn't end up working together, they didn't want to offend her.
"What are you looking for? Tell us so we can accept it wholeheartedly."
Someone said to Director Yuan.
Director Yuan nodded and opened her notebook:
"Yun...Gong Lan's role is set up as a great beauty, sent to the enemy country as a hostage, one whom even the enemy country's ruler is willing to 'lavish thousands in gold on' - that kind of role.
So first, her looks need to be able to convince the audience - she has to dazzle from her first appearance, otherwise the audience will wonder what the enemy ruler was thinking.
Her appearance needs to match the character settings, she needs good acting skills - that's important - but appearance conditions are also important to me here."
After saying this, some people had already stopped talking.
"Also in terms of acting - this production has a lot of big scenes and action scenes in particular, and there are also quite a few places where subtlety is required in this role. I can't reveal too many details for spoiler reasons, but looks are the first priority."
After Director Yuan finished speaking, there were still some who were unsatisfied:
"So, Director Yuan, can you specifically say how high the looks standards need to be for this role in our play to match up?"
Director Yuan stroked her chin:
"She needs to be dazzlingly beautiful, but not vulgar; she should have an aura of elegance and nobility, a cold beauty but not overly glamorous, and not common either; her eyes should be attractive, alluring but not seductive...
The requirements aren't too much - in short, a beauty capable of toppling cities and kingdoms!"
Everyone: "..."
One actress asked Director Yuan:
"Your production isn't short on money, right? Maybe you could get Qin Wei to try..."
Another actress immediately corrected her:
"Hey! How can you directly address Teacher Qin by name? Do you still see her as a newbie?"
"Qin Wei..."
Saying this, Director Yuan tapped the table with her fingertips, lost in thought -
"Do you prefer the other role?"
Last night at the barbecue stand, just as the boss brought over lamb skewers and Director Yuan was about to eat, she heard Qin Wei say she wanted to play another role.
"Yeah."
Qin Wei nodded,
"Yun Lan is great, but I feel like Zhao Yu is also very cool."
Zhao Yu, the other female lead in the play, a warrior who crawled out of a pile of corpses.
"You can't do it. First of all, your appearance doesn't match. Zhao Yu is a warrior, I'm planning on using an actress who is less pretty and more androgynous..."
Qin Wei interrupted her and tilted her head to look at her:
"Why can't a warrior be good looking? I feel like in your eyes, Zhao Yu is just a macho character. There's nothing in the known script saying Zhao Yu isn't good-looking. Also, the synopsis says 'Yun Lan looks down from above, her gaze falling on her among hundreds of people, and falling on her again and again'...
If she wasn't good-looking, why would Yun Lan look at her a second time?"
Rendered speechless again by her words, Director Yuan remained silent.
"I mean, her acting is questionable but she's pretty! Director Yuan, consider Qin Wei! Or Teacher Qiao...although her schedule is very full, she was delayed a lot due to injury...and she may not be willing to cross over into film...plus her fees are so high..."
"Yeah..."
"Stop calling out Teacher Qin's name, things are different nowadays. If she finds out later, she'll feel you're being rude..."
The actresses began murmuring again.
Director Yuan snapped back to reality and said to them:
"Gong Lan's looks need to at least match Qin Wei, and have an even greater aura, because I've decided - Zhao Yu will be played by Qin Wei."
Even Song Huan was a little surprised to hear this. She raised her eyebrows and turned to look at Director Yuan:
"When was this decided? Wasn't the audition for Zhao Yu tomorrow?"
Director Yuan solemnly replied:
"Just now, this moment, I've made the decision - Zhao Yu will be played by Qin Wei. Without her, it'd be too boring, no challenge, I won't shoot it, I won't shoot anymore in the future either, I'll change careers, don't try to dissuade me, I'll become an athlete instead, I've been wanting to learn skiing ⛷."
Saying this, she tossed the pen in her hand onto the table, leaned back in her chair and continued:
"No one try to persuade me, I don't want to hear any of it."
Song Huan narrowed her eyes at her:
"Are you throwing a tantrum? Did you secretly become friends with Qin Wei? This way of doing things is very strange."
Last night at the barbecue stand -
"Don't eat anymore, give me a solid answer - I want to play Zhao Yu, I feel like I'm a fit for the role externally. If you don't agree, either pay me more, or I won't do it. It works out well, won't delay my studies - I'll just go take the civil service exam after graduating, or I'll go shoot a TV series instead, I won't do movies anymore. Don't try to persuade me."
After saying this, Qin Wei was about to leave when Yuan Xintong called her back:
"Then go resign first, come for the audition the day after tomorrow. There's a chance things may not go as planned, just depends if you dare to."
...
Half the actresses in the conference room left, while the rest hesitated for a moment before deciding to stay and take a gamble.
What if? What if the director felt their acting could make up for slightly lower appearance standards?
The industry was also very cruel, with competition at every turn, and all resources needed to be seized. The process was brutal, and you would encounter opponents who either had resources or no bottom line.
An actress's prime only lasted so many years. If you could establish yourself it was fine, but if those years passed without a major work, it would be very difficult to make a comeback.
So you still had to be bold enough to take the plunge.
Director Yuan looked over the actresses who stayed behind, was silent for a good while, then said:
"30 minutes to prepare, then we'll do a scene - a bed scene."
Song Huan nodded, she knew which one - Gong Lan assassinating the enemy ruler.
Director Yuan: "With Zhao Yu..."
Song Huan: "?? Yuan Xintong, it's not that kind of scene!"
Director Yuan turned to look at Song Huan, expressionless, then slowly said:
"Fighting in bed - the basic plot is Gong Lan loses consciousness, then wakes up to find herself in an unfamiliar place with Zhao Yu sitting by the bedside. Not giving Zhao Yu a chance to explain, they start fighting, from the bed to outside in the bamboo house's corridor, almost destroying the place..."
Song Huan breathed a sigh of relief: "Then don't pant heavily, okay? That makes things very difficult for the rating staff..."
Director Yuan snorted coldly, then told the actresses:
"The detailed script will be sent to you shortly. The actress playing the counterpart role isn't here yet, so my junior, also just a normal friend of mine, Song Huan, will play Zhao Yu."
Song Huan's eyebrows twisted together:
"How could I act?"
