Chapter 898: Joining the cast of "Blackbird," the savior Xiao He
So Xiao He had just finished filming "The Dragon" when he was immediately put to work on "The Black Tortoise" as a replacement.
The recent chaos in Hong Kong's entertainment industry has affected many people and film crews. Many projects that were originally planned to be released in mainland China have been completely halted. Even several internet celebrities who have transitioned from actors to live-streaming e-commerce hosts have been implicated and have had to quietly stop broadcasting.
So when the production team of "The Blackbird" officially announced the resumption of filming, many people were quite surprised.
【No, although I'm really looking forward to the release of "Blackbird," have they resumed work so quickly? It seems other productions have been greatly affected; many people have withdrawn from their projects or suspended work to avoid this period of scrutiny.】
【The production of "The Blackbird" must have been quite affected! They lost several important roles. At the Xiang Sheng Hao banquet, several people who walked the red carpet had already withdrawn from the production. I doubt they've filled all the vacancies yet.】
【Are you planning to delete the character altogether?】
【It seems not; they must have found someone to step in.】
【Hmm, speaking of saving the day, I can't help but think of someone.】
【Sigh, now that you mention it, I also—】
【What kind of riddle are you playing?】
【What, what?】
【If that's the case, then the person who saved the day seems to be in Hong Kong right now, and they just recently officially announced the end of filming.】
【They just finished filming this, and then someone from the "Blackbird" crew came to the rescue. Wow, that's a chilling thought.】
【Haha, let me explain to everyone: Brother Xiao is currently in Hong Kong, and he's known as the "God of Saving the Day." Any role he's cast in that situation has practically carried the entire production. This time, "The Blackbird" is supposedly a police thriller, so... it's hard not to wonder if Brother Xiao got wind of it and went there.】
【What! So you guys were talking about Xiao He?! So finally! Brother Xiao, you've finally gone back to your old ways! Do you even remember you're a villain?! Look at the good guys you've been producing lately, they're completely out of character! Hurry up and go back to being a villain!】
【So everyone's assuming Xiao Ge will go to another film crew to play a super villain?】
【Isn't that right? And I seriously doubt that the production crew offered to fill in; as soon as Brother Xiao heard they needed a villain, he grabbed a bucket and went over.】
【Haha, I'm truly impressed, but I'm also quite looking forward to Brother Xiao's new role.】
As netizens predicted, not long after the rumors started circulating online, the production team of "Blackbird" officially announced and released a statement.
Xiao He was among the newly appointed members of the creative team.
He really did come to the rescue.
He filled in for the missing roles in the film "Blackbird".
This is truly confirmed as a lifesaver!
Actually, even though netizens were joking and making fun of him, Xiao He himself couldn't help but laugh when he saw their comments: "To be honest, I didn't expect that I would add the'savior' label to my list of 'chosen villains'."
Including the role of Wei Dong, he has saved at least four or five film crews.
From Mo Tun at the beginning to Wei Dong now, Xiao He has realized the benefits of being a professional villain: "No, if you think about it this way, I feel like every production team is short of villains?"
If you look at it this way, apart from Wei Dong, who is a good cop who is initially bad but later becomes good, the characters he saves the day are basically villains, the kind who can just grab a knife and start killing people on set.
No wonder he can step into any production crew and save the day – he's really good at carrying a knife!
No prior training or getting into character is required. After reading the script, you can start acting as soon as you arrive on location, and you can even perform better than some of the main actors. It takes less time, and the filming efficiency is extremely high, perfectly matching the crew's mentality of rescuing the crew at the lowest cost.
So how could a director not love such villainous actors?
Liu Rulan shrugged: "Perhaps it's because there are relatively few good villains anywhere? After all, villains with personal charisma are rare in the entire film and television industry."
Besides, if given the chance, who would keep playing villains?
Uh, no—
Liu Rulan glanced at Xiao He sideways and finally couldn't help but complain, "But I'm afraid it's just a personal hobby for someone else!"
Xiao He:???
Liu Rulan: "I saw it all. Before you came, you weren't very interested in the script. You just didn't want Shu Han to come with an injury, so you came to do him a favor. But then they said you looked like a villain and changed the character to the old one, and you agreed immediately without even discussing it with me."
They have two completely different faces when they come and when they agree to come!
Xiao He: "Uh—"
While it is indeed true, there's something strange about saying it like that.
"Uh, wait a minute!" Xiao He tried to save face. "So, does that mean my role is already automatically classified as a villain? I'm on the side of good guys! Even though it's my first time playing a good cop who's the opposite of what I'm supposed to be, and I'm single-handedly drawing all the suspicion away from everyone, I can't possibly be considered a villain!"
He was so wronged!
Wei Dong is a policeman! A policeman!
It's so presumptuous of you to automatically assume I'm a corrupt cop!
Liu Rulan chuckled: "Oh right, you're not the villain, you just look like one."
Xiao He sighed, rubbing his forehead. "This is beyond my control!"
He didn't want to either, but there was nothing he could do; it was just fate.
-
On the other side of the film set.
Zhang Zhelin, who plays the male lead, was somewhat surprised to hear that Wei Dong had been replaced by a younger actor: "Xiao He? Is that the one I know?"
"who?"
Du Yuebin, who was playing the mole, was a bit confused and didn't even hear the name clearly: "Xiao Hei?"
"Oh, it's that young man who acted in 'No Bait,' the one who won Best Actor last year—"
Although Zhang Zhelin is now over fifty years old, he is clearly still in a state of high-intensity internet use and has not become out of touch with the current entertainment industry. He still pays attention to some outstanding young actors who are emerging from time to time.
However, compared to Zhang Zhelin's "keeping up with the times," Du Yuebin still looked completely bewildered when faced with Zhang Zhelin's long string of words: "You know me, I don't usually go online when I get home."
Compared to Zhang Zhelin, Du Yuebin is at the other extreme. Although they are about the same age, he has completely entered the "elderly mode." When he is not working, he goes for walks and fishing, and doesn't use his phone at all.
He's still not very good at using even today's touchscreen smartphones!
"Ah, I almost forgot—"
Zhang Zhelin slapped his head helplessly, "Anyway, he's a young man with very impressive acting skills. You can pay close attention to him later. I've seen several of his works, and his acting skills are indeed quite good."
"I see." Du Yuebin recalled for a moment and then said, "I remember in the script, there is a confrontation scene between the three of us at the end. Whether the acting is good or bad will be obvious at a glance."
For the role of Wei Dong, besides needing to match the star power of the previous actor, the most important thing is naturally his acting skills.
For example, this actor needs to act opposite the two of them.
If the acting falters, the pacing of the scene becomes completely uninspired.
When the time comes, whoever can't keep up with the acting will be the most embarrassed.
Otherwise, wouldn't anyone be able to play Wei Dong?