Chapter 95: Joining the Crew

Chapter 95: Joining the Crew

In the following period, Lu Xu witnessed the entire process of Zhang Zhizhen and Zhang Che engaging in a bitter feud in "The Deception" crew.

If a TV series fails, at least there's a platform to cushion the blow, but if a movie flops... there seems to be no other option but to go crazy.

Zhang Che's fate was sealed—he was blacklisted by the film industry.

If he hadn't been so arrogant earlier, he could have gone back to acting in TV dramas, but unfortunately, he also offended the Starlight Award committee, so the path to cementing his status through awards is also closed.

Thus, the only road left for Zhang Che is to act in the ancient idol dramas that catapulted him to fame, which he himself doesn't particularly appreciate.

But the entertainment industry is always about the new replacing the old guard, and the ancient idol drama scene is always crowded, with a group of young male actors eager to make a name for themselves.

Even if Zhang Che is reluctant, there's no escaping it—"The Swordsman" fell too hard.

Although Zhang Che has many loyal fans and a thick skin, he still shed a significant number of fans this time.

Previously, when Wild Sea Agency insinuated that Lu Xu was poaching Zhang Che's resources, he had already lost quite a few fans. This time, besides the major flop of "The Swordsman," some fans gradually realized that Zhang Che's emotional outbursts had become a predictable pattern.

Almost every time, it's Zhang Che feeling sad, disappointed, and then his fans rallying to his defense.

If it were only once or twice, less perceptive fans naturally wouldn't catch on, and in the early years when Zhang Che's career was smooth, his emotional outbursts were mostly due to his dissatisfaction with himself, and fans could feel his ambition.

But now, every time Zhang Che posts on Weibo late at night, his words are heavily pointed.

Not getting nominated for the Starlight Award is Lu Xu's fault, "The Swordsman" flopping is Zhang Zhizhen's fault, and when a series became a hit, the credit wasn't the male lead's but his own to claim—meaning, he's never at fault.

In the past, Zhang Che was at least somewhat subtle, but this time, fans felt particularly strongly that they were being weaponized.

Zhang Che was once liked by so many people, and there must have been reasons for that, such as his ascent to fame through ancient idol dramas. He had been questioned by the industry many times before, but he persevered, attempted to reinvent himself, and took on diverse roles—at least he really made an effort.

But now, both fans and casual observers sense—Zhang Che has changed.

"Why only look at the director's reputation? 'The Swordsman' clearly had issues with the script."

"The feud is too messy."

Zhang Zhizhen's blame-shifting was in line with his consistent persona. This director has always been like this, looking down on his peers, TV drama actors, and the audience, but Zhang Che is different. In the eyes of his fans, he has always been more focused on his career.

But this time, Zhang Zhizhen's scandals kept surfacing, dragging many others down with him.

How Zhang Zhizhen ruled with an iron fist during the filming of "The Swordsman," how he bullied extras, how he looked down on actors who came from TV dramas... these should have been exposed during the filming of "The Swordsman," but why weren't they?

Why wait until "The Swordsman" completely flopped and everyone was calling for his head?

To say that Wild Sea Agency had no hand in these revelations, even the most gullible fans wouldn't buy it.

Thus, Zhang Che faced the biggest crisis of his acting career.

His past emotional outbursts were dug up again, and even casual observers knew that every time he had an emotional outburst, someone would inevitably be unlucky.

"LOL, after eating this melon for so long, only Lu Xu escaped the curse of emotional outbursts, truly fighting poison with poison."

"Zhang Che: Today I should catch a kid to have an emotional outburst about, who should I pick?"

"Puppy save me!!!"

When a bunch of comments like "Puppy save me" and "Puppy protect me" appeared, Lu Xu was baffled for a few seconds, but after figuring out the context, he couldn't help but feel helpless.

Why not just focus on acting?

No matter how much drama there is off-screen, an actor’s success ultimately depends on their work.

...

But in a way, *The Swordsman*'s failure wasn’t all bad.

Two other movies released around the same time were of good quality. After taking over *The Swordsman*'s screen time, both films achieved considerable box office success, showing that one’s downfall can lift others up.

The only real loser was *The Swordsman*.

Zhang Che was fuming.

Before *The Swordsman* was released, although he had shown intentions to move into the film industry, there were still people approaching him for TV dramas. But now, the offers he got had taken a nosedive in quality, and he was even offered a sidekick role in some show.

"Me, a supporting role?" Zhang Che was so mad his jaw clenched, and he couldn’t help but laugh. "So who’s the big star then?"

The team, clueless or not about industry gossip, actually told the truth: "For the lead role, we’re considering Lu Xu."

Zhang Che: "..."

This is ridiculous.

He’d never settle for a supporting role, let alone play backup to Lu Xu.

...

While *The Swordsman* team was in chaos, Lu Xu was calmly working on *Deception*.

In this movie, Lu Xu plays Yan Huan, a con artist tangled in a fraud scheme and becomes the target of a collective attack.

However, the greatest hunters often disguise themselves as prey.

Yan Huan seems casual but always manages to strike at the crucial point—he outlasts everyone in this game of lies.

Yan Huan wears many masks. At first, he appears as a timid and rigid bookworm, then becomes the prey targeted by the fraudsters, and only later does he slowly reveal his true self. Of course, even this "true" self doesn’t necessarily represent his core identity.

He’d never let anyone see the real him.

Not long after joining the crew, Lu Xu and Yue Hui began crossing paths more often.

Before this, they had only met once at the Starlight Award ceremony, and later communicated over the phone about the *Deception* script. Although Lu Xu had agreed to the collaboration, he wasn’t actually familiar with Yue Hui.

But after just a few conversations with Yue Hui on set, Lu Xu found that, while the man was smooth, he was genuinely sincere.

In other words, he was empathetic without being phony.

The film industry is full of sharp operators, but Lu Xu thought the truly successful weren’t just smooth talkers.

Those who are too slick can’t handle setbacks, so others end up paying the price.

Yue Hui handpicked the *Deception* team. The director, Gao Xingchuan, is 27 years old and started with short films. Before *Deception*, he had only directed one movie, which was somewhat similar in style to *Deception*, though it had mediocre box office results.

Lu Xu specifically watched that film and could only say that Gao Xingchuan was too good at creating atmosphere. The movie he directed had a bit of a cult vibe, with a simple and easy-to-understand story, but he managed to build an eerie and terrifying atmosphere.

To put it more precisely, Gao Xingchuan has the ability to make mundane stories captivating.

"Coming up with fresh scripts is tough these days," Yue Hui mentioned the reason he invited Gao Xingchuan. "There are only so many stories, and any creative ideas we come up with have already been done by other films."

"So it's not easy to bring something fresh."

Yue Hui doesn’t idolize big directors. He’s been in the film industry for years and has collaborated with almost all the renowned directors in the field. However, being a big director doesn’t mean you can do it all or handle any genre.

Especially since "Deception" is not a traditional genre film, it’s better to find a director with fresh ideas.

Lu Xu has read the entire script of "Deception." After joining the crew, the actors, director, and scriptwriters held a meeting mainly to discuss the filming. In a movie crew, the scriptwriter’s role isn’t as central as the director’s because TV series are more scriptwriter-centered, while movies can express themes through visuals, music, and more. This is also why movie directors can transition from being photographers, whereas TV directors cannot.

In movies, the importance of dialogue is not as significant as in TV series, but it’s not entirely unimportant—the flop of "The Swordsman" is a prime example.

In Lu Xu’s view, Zhang Zhizhen focused too much on the effects of sound and visuals, overlooking the script’s lack of depth.

However, after the meeting and hearing the director and scriptwriters' explanations, Lu Xu started to feel the heat.

For example, "Deception" tells the story of a group of people trapped in a game, lying to each other to win the fortune. Each has a hidden dark past, including Yan Huan, who disguises himself as Chang Qing, which is the reason he enters the game.

The script follows a normal narrative sequence, with characters appearing one by one and the tricks starting. As an outsider, Lu Xu could follow the script’s order.

But Gao Xingchuan plans to disrupt the script, making the story trickier and making it harder for the audience to guess the progression of the plot.

Lu Xu thought carefully and realized that filming it this way would make "Deception" more interesting. However, this would require more creativity to support the script, and at least Gao Xingchuan would need to control the pace well, keeping the plot from unraveling.

He must be the one to steer the ship.

...

Lu Xu quickly discovered that the reason Gao Xingchuan dared to propose this idea was that he already had a plan—while setting up the crew, Yue Hui had shown the script to Gao Xingchuan and heard his ideas.

During Lu Xu’s time in the crew, Gao Xingchuan reorganized his ideas, removing the unreasonable parts, so even if the filming is disrupted, the script’s logic stays intact.

However, the actors would have to memorize their lines again, and the scenes shot each day might not connect with those from the previous day.

But... Yue Hui would clearly struggle more.

He’s not as quick at memorizing lines as Lu Xu, and as he has aged, his eyesight isn’t as good. Lu Xu noticed that Yue Hui always carries reading glasses, a notebook, and a pen, carefully jotting down what he needs to remember for the day.

Yue Hui’s script is packed with neat notes, unlike some actors whose scripts are always clean or scribbled with unrecognizable handwriting.

"Deception" sounds like a complex script, but the set has an unusually quiet vibe. Apart from the two leads, Lu Xu and Yue Hui, the other actors, though less famous, are clearly talented—as Lu Xu realized when he acted with them.

—Yue Hui is no exception.

Lu Xu’s first scene with him was the initial meeting between the nerdy "Chang Qing" and Shi Xinshan, played by Yue Hui. In just a few words, Shi Xinshan picked up on something strange about "Chang Qing."

Shi Xinshan is sly like a fox, quietly drawing people into his trap.

"Is the first scene today between Teacher Yue and Lu Xu?"

At the crack of dawn, the actors huddled to talk about the day’s shoot. Seeing Lu Xu and Yue Hui already preparing for makeup, everyone’s eyes naturally turned toward them.

The "Deception" crew is full of skilled actors, and everyone knows that.

However, compared to Yue Hui, these seasoned movie actors are not very familiar with Lu Xu. Yue Hui picked him for Yan Huan, and everyone’s eager to see how Lu Xu plays the role.

When Gao Xingchuan announced the start of filming, Yue Hui spoke first on set.

With a somewhat strange rising tone and a face full of wrinkles from smiling, this is the image of Shi Xinshan.

Yue Hui has played more righteous roles, but Shi Xinshan feels uncomfortable and strange, radiating a vibe of cunning and scheming.

When "Chang Qing" appeared, Shi Xinshan looked up: "A stranger has arrived."

Chang Qing was wearing a starched shirt and thick glasses, looking so plain that no one would bother to talk to him. He seemed especially nervous about the new world he had just stepped into.

Out of place—this was the characteristic Chang Qing displayed at this moment.

He was so unnoticeable that it was easy to forget he was actually played by Lu Xu.

But this was indeed the impression Chang Qing gave at his first appearance.

No one thought he’d make it to the end.

Lu Xu hid the charisma of a famous actor, and behind Chang Qing's thick glasses, his striking face was also hidden.