227: Chapter 227 How should Li Xiaohai be portrayed?

...

Lin Chuyan felt he hadn't rested for more than a few days before having two more scripts on his hands.

"pegasus 2" was urging him urgently. Director Chu Dong's exact words were: "Xiao Yan, trust me, as long as you come, I will definitely make you look incredibly handsome on screen! What lead actor? He's 3 years older than me! What does he have to compare with you?!"

Lin Chuyan nodded along, but he knew exactly what was going on: in front of the lead actor Dong Peng, Director Chu Dong would definitely have a different spiel...

Finally, Director Chu Dong gave him a deadline: he had to give an answer within 3 days. If there were no issues, he would have to join the production immediately—the sets were already built, and they really couldn't afford to delay. Director Chu Dong's plan was to finish filming within 2 months. As for the remaining 4 months leading up to the Spring Festival Movie Season? That was time reserved for the special effects team.

If Lin Chuyan didn't agree, he would have to find a replacement immediately. The film wasn't lacking in actors; there were plenty to choose from, but he just strived for perfection in everything and didn't want to settle.

As for "the knockout", they were still constantly picking actors. Wu Yue had a chat with the director, and honestly, the production team really couldn't afford Lin Chuyan's current salary.

Originally, they would definitely have found a cheap actor to play this role. The salary per episode might have been only a few tens of thousands of yuan, and for the whole series, it would likely not exceed 500,000.

Now that they suddenly wanted to switch to Lin Chuyan... it was tempting, really tempting, but the budget was absolutely blown out of the water. Still, offering too little would be too shameless, so in the end, the director painfully quoted a number: 1.5 million.

There really wasn't any more.

Since the script had already been sent out and read, whether he pulled his head back or stuck it out, it was still one cut. Whether to act or not was just a matter of a single sentence, so he might as well be straightforward about it!

Filming such a series for 1.5 million, for the current Lin Chuyan, was truly a volunteer performance.

However, he didn't say anything. After all, it was a strong invitation from his senior, and it was a series destined to be a huge hit. Considering these two points, he agreed readily, which thrilled the director.

As for other requests Wu Yue discussed with the director, such as scheduling issues or leave requests... they were accepted unconditionally. Whether they felt Lin Chuyan was Acting like a diva in their hearts, that was unclear.

But there was no choice; Wu Yue didn't want it to be this way either. In his view, the importance of "pegasus 2" was far higher than "the knockout". And considering there were award ceremonies later, he definitely wanted Lin Chuyan to attend.

It wasn't just "Golden Melody Glory Night", there was also a "Golden Maple Leaf Award", which specifically recognized web series and television dramas. Wu Yue always felt that "the long season" had a great chance.

...

With Wu Yue helping him consider everything, Lin Chuyan didn't worry about these things; he started reading the script for "pegasus 2".

After finishing it, Lin Chuyan could finally give an evaluation: the second installment was indeed much better than "pegasus".

"pegasus" was a bit chaotic in its pacing, sometimes fast, sometimes slow. But "pegasus 2" had a significant improvement in plot fluidity.

The whole plot started with Zhang Chi working as a driving school instructor. It didn't spend too much time on this; soon, Zhang Chi was smeared online due to malicious editing by someone, which eventually led to the driving school being unable to continue operating.

This was Zhang Chi's first hurdle, intended to lead into the subsequent story and find a reason to participate in the racing competition, so the director moved very decisively to the next part of the plot.

After receiving the call from Xindi Machinery, his character, the second male lead, would make his appearance.

Looking at it as a whole, it was very compact and well-paced. Compared to the first one, it reduced a lot of meaningless banter, and the content was dense and effective.

Reading further, Lin Chuyan felt the plot was much more reasonable.

Take a simple example. Regarding obtaining the startup capital for the racing team, how did Zhang Chi do it in the first one?

—Without any setup, it was just through Sun Yuqiang's line, "I know a big brother"...

After they performed a song and dance routine at a karaoke, they easily resolved the funding issue, and the big brother just agreed like that.

How to put it, it was very simple and crude. Of course, if you think the big brother was just wealthy and didn't care about that small amount of money, that's fine too. But indeed, many people felt it was quite abrupt... after all, the big brother's money didn't just blow in with the wind.

And how did the second one do it?

First, it introduced Xindi Machinery, giving a reason to restart the racing team. Then, the factory owner encountered a funding crisis and could only provide half the money. If he wanted to launch the car himself, he would have to put in another 500,000. Then, Zhang Chi and the others had a trust crisis with Li Xiaohai, even selling the latter to another racing team, and in the end, they even sold the paint booth.

Looking at it as a whole, the plot progression was both engaging and seemed quite reasonable.

Not bad, not bad, it's a good script.

The one thing Lin Chuyan appreciated the most was that he saw a dream in this script that was completely unpretentious.

Living is easy, but we cannot live without goals.

Could Li Xiaohai just lie flat at Guangke Racing Team? Yes, he could.

Could Zhang Chi continue to be mediocre and no longer strive for Bayanbulak? Yes, he could.

He was already a five-time champion; he absolutely could.

But they didn't do that.

That kind of life, for people with dreams, would be torture every single day.

"pegasus" spirit was always in their hearts.

...

As for the role of Li Xiaohai that the director wanted him to play, there wasn't much to say; for him now, it held no difficulty in terms of Acting.

He just needed to grasp the character's personality.

Lin Chuyan thought about it and finally decided to play a younger version of Zhang Chi.

"Talented, with dreams, with persistence, willing to strive for it."

The first half was the Zhang Chi of the past, and the second half was the Zhang Chi who stood on the Bayanbulak track again at the end of the film.

Li Xiaohai was a novice, green, but he wasn't a fool.

Lin Chuyan discovered this through a few scenes in the script. For example, after being sold to Guangke Racing Team, he found he couldn't get on the track. The conversation with the team manager was actually one where he was at a disadvantage. But he could act out that stubbornness he had to achieve his dream—he wouldn't accept it, and he wouldn't submit.

And the most important point: he absolutely must not play it wooden or lifeless; instead, he had to act out a sense of cleverness, or maybe add a bit of a cheeky vibe?

Hiss... why does that sound a bit like he's just playing himself?

And the reason he wanted to act this way wasn't something Lin Chuyan just thought of on a whim; the logic was actually simple—Li Xiaohai had to be able to integrate into Zhang Chi's team.

As an outsider who only appeared in the second installment, if the audience watched it and felt that his character's vibe was completely incompatible with the original cast, and couldn't integrate into their team at all, that would only mean his Acting was a failure.

This was the most important point.

And what were the characteristics of that team?

Lin Chuyan didn't even need to think: of course, it was the comedic vibe that was constantly being exuded...

This part wasn't even intentional; it was something that could be naturally brought out in every gesture and movement...

Plus, the director had written quite a few funny Lines in this script; Lin Chuyan could already imagine how fun it would be when filmed.

So, should he take it or not?

Lin Chuyan gave Wu Yue a call.

"Xiao Yan, how is it?"

"Although the role isn't very challenging, the script is very good. The story is simple but very solid and also very fiery; it's indeed better than the first one. I like it very much."

"That's great..." Wu Yue smiled. "No wonder Director Chu is so confident, saying straight out that he's aiming for number one at the box office."

"Don't say that, it's actually quite possible. By the way, what movies are in this year's Spring Festival Movie Season?"

Wu Yue shook his head at the phone: "I checked, but it's all hearsay; no one knows for sure. After all, it's the Spring Festival Movie Season, and with so much invested, once they really enter the fray, the winner might be decided in the first few days... Director Chu is fast, no doubt about it. Other film producers might spend several years of hard work from script polishing to finishing filming, regardless of whether it's good or not. So for them, the Spring Festival Movie Season is a battle of life and death. Many big films are waiting and watching; there really aren't many as confident as Director Chu."

"How exciting... Anyway, I think this film has a chance." Lin Chuyan changed his phrasing, "Or rather, if they film it according to this script and make the special effects a bit better, its box office can't be low. Director Chu Dong + Dong Peng + a good script, it's a sure thing."

"And adding you, wouldn't it be even more certain?"

"Hahahaha, then let's add it!"