Chapter 128: Auditions

The contract for The Female Grandmaster was signed smoothly. Lu Xu was only responsible for funding the project and didn’t interfere with casting or other aspects of production.

After all, he was just an actor—not a director, nor a scriptwriter. Professional matters were best left to the professionals.

As for The Female Grandmaster potentially not earning much at the box office, Lu Xu remained nonchalant. He simply had… a lot of money to spare.

Compared to the box office, Lu Xu was more curious about the selection of the female lead.

With the decline of the wuxia genre, the number of skilled martial arts stars had dwindled significantly since the 1980s. Among those, female martial artists were even rarer.

In short, finding a suitable lead for The Female Grandmaster wasn’t going to be easy. However, Mo Qi and Lin Hui clearly valued the script and were unlikely to handle the casting carelessly.

But this was ultimately the director and the production team’s concern. Among the actresses Lu Xu knew, none were skilled in martial arts.

The female lead in The Female Grandmaster had a wide age range to play, and in Lu Xu’s opinion, the ideal candidate would be an actress with decent acting skills and martial arts ability.

In the meantime, Lu Xu kept himself busy with auditions for Mu Lang’s new film, Reverse City.

He had to admit that Xu Wen’s connections in the industry were quite formidable. When Lu Xu was vying for the role of the film’s antagonist, Xu Wen directly handed him a list of his competitors.

Lu Xu asked, “…Where did you get this?”

Xu Wen’s ability to acquire the list had already shocked Lu Xu. What shocked him even more were the names on it.

It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that someone like Qi Di was just a minor player.

Xu Wen had already crossed Qi Di’s name off the list in advance. “His acting skills aren’t up to Mu Lang’s standards.”

In the manager’s eyes, Lu Xu’s acting skills were sufficient, but the real issue lay in Mu Lang’s unpredictable casting choices. Even if a crowd of A-list stars auditioned, Mu Lang might pick the most obscure one among them.

Sometimes, he even deliberately chose actors without iconic roles. Actors with well-known roles carried a fixed image that could easily remind the audience of other characters they had played.

“Forget it, let’s just leave it to luck,” Lu Xu said calmly. “I’ll go in and give it my all. If I don’t perform well, what’s he going to do, physically drag me off the stage?”

The story of Reverse City was set in a city steeped in blood and crime. The protagonist, caught in its chaos, accidentally stumbled into a transaction between two rival gangs and ended up becoming a member of one.

However, his true identity was that of an undercover cop.

Through the protagonist, the police uncovered numerous gang deals. Meanwhile, the protagonist, with his exceptional ability to disguise himself, thrived within the gang, gradually gaining access to its upper echelons and uncovering secrets that had eluded the police for years.

But just when he thought he was making progress, the protagonist found himself becoming a target. It seemed someone was intentionally guiding him toward those secrets. Even more puzzling, some information he hadn’t leaked had somehow been exposed.

He initially believed he had allies within the gang, comrades fighting by his side. However, he eventually realized he was merely being used as bait. When the gang’s leadership became suspicious, he would be the one thrown under the bus.

This was the protagonist’s journey of self-rescue.

The antagonist in the script was a gang leader who had a passion for playing games.

He had already discovered the protagonist’s true identity. Guiding the protagonist to uncover secrets and leaking those secrets to the police—all of this was orchestrated by him. The reason? He simply loved watching the protagonist run in circles, being toyed with at every turn.

To be precise, it was all part of a transaction.

The protagonist’s efforts and struggles were nothing more than a live performance orchestrated by the antagonist for the entertainment of the dark world’s true rulers.

The closer one got to the upper echelons, the more they loathed the emptiness of it all. Wealth and power no longer provided enough excitement. Only watching humans trapped in a desperate struggle, fighting with all their might yet failing to break free, could ignite a surge of adrenaline.

To make the performance even more authentic, the creators of the gang often played roles themselves—either as saviors or as cruel figures shattering the protagonist’s hope.

Lu Xu had seen Mu Lang’s previous films, where both the visuals and dialogue were nothing short of artistic masterpieces.

He didn’t have the full script of Reverse City, only parts of it. He didn’t know how it ended, but it was enough for him to piece together the narrative.

A dry summary might make Reverse City seem unrealistic, but within the script, the layered conversations between characters and the nuanced expressions of the “upper-class elites” revealed the brutal truths this movie aimed to expose.

On the day of the audition, as he sat in the backseat of the car, Lu Xu took a deep breath.

“Are you nervous?” Xu Wen asked him.

Lu Xu nodded. “A little.”

He had acted in plenty of projects. After The Path of Bones, most of the scripts he received came with direct offers from the production team, and it was rare for him to audition on-site anymore.

It wasn’t the audition itself that made him nervous, though. It was the realization he had come to the night before—that his interpretation of the character was off.

Lu Xu had spent a week analyzing this role. He had mentally rehearsed countless times and even done a full practice run himself.

But last night, he suddenly felt that his portrayal wasn’t quite right.

At the very least… it wasn’t precise enough.

At that moment, Lu Xu felt a sudden jolt in his chest. He hurriedly flipped through the script from beginning to end, and the more he read, the more he felt his revised understanding of the character was much closer to the truth.

With no other choice, Lu Xu had to completely discard his previous approach.

He reread the script and re-simulated the character, working late into the night. Since the audition venue was far away, by the time Lu Xu got in the car, he was yawning non-stop, which earned him several curious glances from Xu Wen.

Having been Lu Xu’s manager for so long, Xu Wen knew him well. He had witnessed countless moments of Lu Xu on set, but he had rarely seen Lu Xu looking nervous.

The reason Xu Wen decided to accompany Lu Xu this time was that there were too many actors vying for roles in Mu Lang’s new film—most of them well-established names in the industry. He worried that Lu Xu might not handle the pressure well.

“There are auditions for several roles today. You’re in Room 2 in the morning,” Xu Wen informed him.

After getting out of the elevator, a celebrity entering alongside them caused Lu Xu to pause—mainly because Xu Wen seemed momentarily distracted.

“Long time no see. Are you here to send someone to their audition today?”

The woman, whose bold and striking appearance left an impression, made Lu Xu recall that she was one of Xu Wen’s former signed artists.

Lu Xu hadn’t asked about the details of her departure from Feiyang Entertainment, though he’d heard it was due to an unhappy collaboration. However, her relationship with Xu Wen seemed cordial, as she had even invited him to join her studio in the past.

“Yes,” Xu Wen nodded lightly. “Lu Xu, this is Guan Sha.”

Guan Sha curled her lips into a faint smile. “Pleasure to meet you.”

She turned her gaze back to Xu Wen. “Looks like you’ve been doing well. I was thinking of stealing you back once you hit a rough patch.”

Guan Sha had been fortunate in her career, winning a Best Actress award and securing a firm foothold in the film industry. While her box office performance wasn’t stellar, it wasn’t bad either. She maintained a solid presence among actors, though she couldn’t quite compare to the true box office heavyweights.

In high-grossing films, Guan Sha was often relegated to supporting roles, while the movies that earned her awards tended to perform modestly at the box office.

Thinking about this, Guan Sha couldn’t help but glance at Lu Xu with a hint of envy.

Privately, she had often marveled at Lu Xu’s luck.

She knew all too well how challenging it was to secure box office success.

In truth, every top-tier actors had a collection of awards. However, actors who could carry a film to box office success were exceedingly rare. For an actor to truly ascend in the industry, awards were often the stepping stone.

But when everyone had awards, they remained on the same playing field. At that point, actors with strong box office numbers stood out from the crowd.

Guan Sha had come to audition for Reverse City this time, hoping to try her luck.

She was auditioning for the role of the woman by the antagonist’s side. In other words, if Lu Xu succeeded in landing the role of the antagonist, they would play a couple.

“Doesn’t that make it even harder?”

Guan Sha didn’t say anything in front of Lu Xu, but she was much more candid with Xu Wen. “It won’t be easy for him to get this role. Everyone auditioning for my character today is over 35.”

If Mu Lang wanted to ensure good chemistry between characters, he would likely cast a more mature actor.

“Let’s wait and see,” Xu Wen replied. “Nothing is certain until the results are out.”

“You’re really confident, aren’t you?” Guan Sha raised an eyebrow. “Fine, I’ll wait too. Let’s see how things turn out for your group. Once we’re done, let’s grab a meal together.”

Xu Wen hesitated for a moment before nodding.

Guan Sha shook her head with a small smile. “You’ve had this protective streak for decades, and it still hasn’t changed. Do you really think I’m going to cause trouble? Were you about to turn me down?”

Guan Sha was a remarkably carefree Best Actress. Though no longer young, she had never settled down or started a family. She went through one relationship after another, exclusively dating handsome men. She fell for them quickly and broke up just as decisively. She never shed tears over any of her ex-boyfriends, nor did she publicly badmouth any of them.

She was so unbothered that her exes were often the ones left cursing and begging her not to leave.

Most of Guan Sha’s exes were widely recognized heartthrobs. With Lu Xu being a handsome man himself, Xu Wen wasn’t entirely convinced Guan Sha would keep her hands clean.

In the waiting room, Lu Xu was number 11 on the list. A lot of actors were auditioning for the role, and they were all reputable and well-known. Among them, Lu Xu was undeniably the youngest.

Qi Di was there as well, seated diagonally across from him. Qi Di’s dislike for Lu Xu was obvious, with no attempt to hide it. Lu Xu even suspected that if Qi Di’s seat were directly in his path, the guy would probably trip him on purpose.

Not that it mattered—after all, Lu Xu’s badminton training had given him excellent balance.

In fact, he was confident he could step on Qi Di’s foot in retaliation just as quickly.

Lu Xu understood that, in today’s audition, Qi Di was doomed to be cannon fodder. Of course, Qi Di probably thought the same about him.

“Chai Fu is the most likely candidate,” Xu Wen murmured. “He’s worked with Mu Lang before and has played a memorable villain role.”

Lu Xu didn’t respond.

Inside the audition room, Director Mu Lang remained silent for a long while. Eventually, the screenwriter, Luo Kun, broke the quiet. “What about Chai Fu? Out of today’s actors so far, he’s performed the best.”

“How many more are left?”

Mu Lang suddenly asked.

“Five,” Luo Kun replied.

“Then let the next one in,” Mu Lang said.

Luo Kun understood immediately—Mu Lang wasn’t satisfied with any of the previous actors.

As he glanced at the next resume, Luo Kun’s brows furrowed slightly. “This one’s way too young,” he muttered.

Instinctively, Luo Kun felt that Lu Xu probably wasn’t suitable for the role.

When the door opened, and a strikingly handsome young man walked in—so dazzling it almost hurt the eyes—Luo Kun had already made up his mind about Lu Xu’s fate.

No chance, no chance. This guy’s way too good-looking.

Villains didn’t look like this!

<< _ >>

Related Posts

One thought on “Famous! Ch.128

Leave a Reply