111: Baoqiang's aptitude is natural; he was born for this!

On the set of *Hello, Mr. Tree*, Wang Baoqiang was puffing away on a cigarette.

And he was coughing while smoking.

Clearly, Wang Baoqiang didn't know how to smoke.

However, the role required it.

Mr. Tree doesn't just smoke; he drinks too.

But Wang Baoqiang did neither.

To adapt to the role, he bought cigarettes and practiced smoking intensely.

And he wasn't faking it; he was really inhaling.

He was giving his all for this movie.

He knew how important this film was for him.

"Baoqiang, you're pushing yourself too hard!" Chen Le watched from the side, unable to help but frown.

"Cough, cough! Director Chen, I'm fine. I'm just not used to smoking," Wang Baoqiang coughed twice, looked at Chen Le, and waved his hand.

Later scenes involve Mr. Tree smoking and drinking; in the film, Mr. Tree is not just a long-time smoker but also an old drunkard.

Seeing this, Chen Le nodded.

The Wang Baoqiang of his past life was the same, which put him at ease.

"Director Chen, I'll practice a bit longer!" Wang Baoqiang said, lighting another cigarette.

He needed to train himself to look like a veteran smoker.

"Alright, practice for a while." Chen Le didn't rush him, quietly waiting for him to finish.

Soon, after finishing a whole pack, Wang Baoqiang decided to give it a try.

This character in the script is a very tragic figure; just reading the script, one can feel the oppression and despair.

To act out this feeling is not easy.

Wang Baoqiang took a deep breath.

"Director Chen, I'm ready."

Chen Le nodded.

The lead of this film is Wang Baoqiang; if he wasn't ready, they couldn't start filming.

"OK. Let's go to the set and get ready." Chen Le called the staff and set up the filming equipment.

With a cry of "Action!"

Filming began.

Just finishing work at the repair shop, Wang Baoqiang saw villagers in a van at the entrance.

Seeing him, a villager smiled and shouted, "Hello! Brother Tree!"

Wang Baoqiang got into the car with practiced ease, took a cigarette, and the two lit up.

In the car, he saw some kids ahead bullying a classmate.

He got out and walked up to stop the bullying, "Are you rebelling? You kids! Disrupting social order!"

Seeing Wang Baoqiang, the kids looked defiant, "Who are you? Who do you think you are?"

They didn't take Wang Baoqiang seriously, even though he looked like a big guy.

Seeing this, Wang Baoqiang got a bit anxious, put the cigarette in his mouth, and reached out to teach them a lesson.

The kids scattered.

"Cut!" As Chen Le's voice fell.

Only then did Wang Baoqiang snap out of it; he had been trying to find Mr. Tree's state of mind.

"Baoqiang, it's okay, but you seem a bit out of it? Did you not find the feeling?" Chen Le walked over and asked.

"Still a bit off." Wang Baoqiang nodded.

He always felt something was missing, couldn't find that specific feeling.

"Yeah, your performance just now was indeed lacking a bit of feeling, without that natural familiarity of an old smoker. You have to be like a real veteran smoker—just be natural, no need for any fancy tricks," Chen Le said.

What he said was very ambiguous, and the staff nearby were also confused.

But Wang Baoqiang seemed to understand; his eyes lit up as if he were pondering that feeling.

"Mr. Tree in the movie is gradually descending into despair. Everyone can bully him. He wants to resist, but he's cowardly and powerless, eventually only able to live slowly in his own world," Chen Le continued.

Wang Baoqiang carefully pondered these words.

After ten minutes or so, he let out a long breath.

"Director Chen, I'm ready. Let's go again," Wang Baoqiang said, lighting a cigarette.

Then filming started again.

This time, the staff noticed that Wang Baoqiang was clearly different.

Just now his acting was a bit off, but now he had clearly entered the state.

The gap between the before and after transformations shocked them.

They didn't expect Wang Baoqiang's savvy in acting to be so high.

Although they didn't understand acting, they weren't blind; acting skills could be seen at a glance.

Previously, Wang Baoqiang always played the role of a fool, and they couldn't see any acting skill at all, so they hadn't cared about it, thinking it would be the same as before.

But now it seemed Wang Baoqiang had changed.

Soon, this segment was finished.

Then the next segment.

Changed to a different scene, back home.

His mother was burning joss paper; seeing Wang Baoqiang return, her face was full of helplessness and sadness.

Wang Baoqiang stood to the side, smoking, "This... what are you burning? Burning this?"

His mother's voice carried a hint of sadness: "I dreamed of your father and brother last night."

"They're asking me for money, so I'm burning some for them."

Wang Baoqiang stood nearby, listening with annoyance.

"Er Zhu's family factory has taken over our family's land, and you don't even go say something."

Then, Chen Le shouted, "Cut!"

This segment ended.

"Not bad, Baoqiang, this segment is very good," Chen Le praised with a smile.

Wang Baoqiang's progress was rapid; just a few explanations and he could find the feeling quickly.

When others saw Wang Baoqiang finish this scene, their original impression of him as a funny, brainless fool immediately changed.

This kind of acting, this image, was a Wang Baoqiang they had never seen before.

After finishing the scene, Wang Baoqiang was still holding a cigarette and smoking.

He walked back to look at the monitor and felt his smoking action was still somewhat unqualified, not very natural, with a bit of a stiff feeling.

Such a habit is indeed hard to form in a day or two, but Wang Baoqiang was very stubborn; he was quite pedantic about this detail.

He could ignore other details, but the smoking action wouldn't do.

Seeing Wang Baoqiang still practicing hard, Chen Le couldn't help but feel emotional; Baoqiang was really pushing himself too hard.

But without pushing this hard, his acting skills would probably be hard-pressed to reach their current level.

At night, there were night scenes.

After the night scenes were finished, a phone call suddenly came in. Chen Le looked and saw it was actually Yang Mi.

Connecting the call, Yang Mi's voice rang out.

"Old Chen, where are you now? Still in Yanjing?"

Hearing Yang Mi's question, he smiled and replied: "I'm filming a new movie, in the Northeast right now."

"Northeast? Why did you run off to the Northeast?" Yang Mi was a bit surprised; what kind of movie required going to the Northeast?

"An art film, I suppose. I'm filming this movie just to get Wang Baoqiang an award," Chen Le explained.

"Get an award?" Yang Mi was curious upon hearing this.

Wang Baoqiang's acting could win an award? In her impression, the characters Wang Baoqiang played were all simple-minded and silly, nothing to do with acting skills at all!

"Yeah, Baoqiang's acting is very good; it's just that the movies he played in before were mostly the simple and silly types," Chen Le said with a smile, hearing Yang Mi's doubt.

"That impressive?" Yang Mi didn't expect Chen Le's evaluation of Wang Baoqiang to be so high, and she became somewhat curious.

Just what was Wang Baoqiang's new movie like?