1990: Starting from Baojia Street

At four o'clock in the afternoon, when the audition was almost over, Xiao Li from the Administration Department came to find Zhou Yan and said, "Teacher Zhou, there is a girl named Li Xiaoran who wants to see you."

Zhou Yan looked at the remaining people who had not yet auditioned, estimated the time, and then said to Xiao Li, "Take her to the lounge to wait for a while. It will probably be over in half an hour."

"Okay." Xiao Li nodded, turned and left.

Li Hong heard what Xiao Li said and asked in surprise, "Is this Li Xiaoran the actress that Lao Xiao was talking about?"

"Well, I called Director Zhao Baogang at noon and asked her to come over."

"I want to see how pretty this girl is."

At noon, what Xiao Can said made Li Hong interested in Li Xiaoran.

After all, Xiao Can is a veteran in the industry. What kind of actresses has he not seen?
Not to mention Hong Kong and Taiwan, almost all the famous actresses in mainland China have been to the Yanjing Film Studio.

If Xiao Can says that something is beautiful, then it must be good.

Zhou Yan smiled and said, "You'll know when you see it in a while."

Shen Yan came over at this time and asked curiously, "Which school did this Li Xiaoran graduate from?"

"I really don't know. I'll ask her when she comes."

"Oh, if it's from the Central Academy of Drama or Yandian University, maybe I can remember it."

Zhou Yan shook his head and said, "That's definitely not the case, because Director Zhao said that she is not a professional."

"Oh, no wonder."

Shen Yan nodded. This made sense. Logically speaking, whether it was the Central Academy of Drama or Yandian University, good-looking female students would actually be noticed very early on.

Many directors like to use students who are still in school. On the one hand, it may be because the role really requires it. On the other hand, it is also because hiring students is like a lottery, and the winning rate of students from the Central Academy of Drama and Yandian is relatively high.

Almost all the senior girls majoring in acting at the Central Academy of Drama and the Yanjing Film Academy have acted in movies, and many of them have already gained considerable fame.

Usually, good-looking girls are more likely to get roles and become famous first.

……

After more than twenty minutes, the auditions for the main roles were all over.

Jiang Mengfei was about to pack up when Zhou Yan raised his hand to stop him, "Mengfei, don't rush to pack up. There's another actor behind us."

"Anything else?" Jiang Mengfei flipped through the list with a puzzled look on his face. "Isn't this the last one?"

"Someone came temporarily. She is in the lounge. Please go and call her. Her name is Li Xiaoran."

"Okay, Li Xiaoran, right? I'll go right away." Jiang Mengfei nodded and went out directly.

Li Hong joked, "I said I would go and shout."

Zhou Yan rolled his eyes at him and said, "Stop being funny and bring me the script for audition number 24."

"Okay, I'll find it."

After Jiang Meng flew out, he came back soon, followed by a girl.

Li Hong stretched his neck to look with curiosity, and when he saw the girl behind him, he felt a little disappointed.

Because of what Xiao Can said at noon, Li Hong had very high expectations for Li Xiaoran's appearance, so when he saw Li Xiaoran for the first time, he felt a big disappointment.

Li Xiaoran is tall and thin, with long hair tied in a ponytail. She wore a slim-fitting short-sleeved T-shirt, which was ordinary in style, even a bit rustic, and a pair of blue jeans. At first glance, she did not give Li Hong a stunning feeling.

Shen Yan next to him feels similar to Li Hong. This girl does look quite ordinary.

However, when Li Xiaoran took a few steps closer, the feelings of the two changed again.

Although Li Xiaoran was dressed very casually, her face was indeed very pretty and clean, and she looked much better than at first glance.

"Hello, directors." Li Xiaoran greeted them coquettishly.

Zhou Yan looked Li Xiaoran up and down, "You're not wearing any makeup?"

"No." Li Xiaoran shook her head. "Does today's audition require makeup? Sorry, I came in a hurry and didn't have time to put on makeup."

"Don't you have anything on your face?" Zhou Yan asked again.

"Uh, wipe it off Dabao." Li Xiaoran said seriously.

Seeing Li Xiaoran's serious look, Li Hong and the others laughed.

Dabao is a skin care lotion, which is completely different from cosmetics. It is very popular in mainland China and almost every household has it.

Its advertising slogan is also very popular. Anyone you randomly pick on the street will know the slogan “See you Dabao every day”.

But at the same time as they felt interesting, Li Hong and the others were also very surprised, because if Li Xiaoran didn't use makeup, her skin would be so good, a little too white.

In reality, it is rare to see a girl with such good skin. This is truly a gift.

At this time, Li Hong and Shen Yan's feelings changed again. The more they looked at this girl, the more beautiful she became. If you look closely, she even looks like a lotus blooming in clear water.

Zhou Yan also nodded secretly. Li Xiaoran was indeed naturally beautiful. Even if she was dressed like this, she would be noticed at a glance in the crowd.

However, this girl seemed a little unkempt. Not to mention her clothes, her hair was too messy and it was not combed properly at all. When Zhou Yan saw her, two words emerged in his mind - stay-at-home girl.

"I heard from Director Zhao that you are not a professional student?"

Li Xiaoran nodded, "Yes, I studied dance and used to work in the Oriental Song and Dance Troupe."

"Oriental Song and Dance Troupe, why did they come out?"

"I have never really liked dancing. It's too tiring. Our group happened to be laying off people this year, so I took the initiative to resign and make room for others."

Zhou Yan smiled secretly, this girl is quite real.

"Take a look at this script first." Zhou Yan handed the audition script for number 24 to Li Xiaoran, "You'll have ten minutes to study it."

After all, she is not a professional, so Zhou Yan has to give her more time.

Li Xiaoran nodded, took the script, and stood there to study it.

Li Hong looked at Li Xiaoran, nodded first, and then shook his head.

Shen Yan saw Li Hong's reaction, came over and asked in a low voice, "Director Li, what's wrong?"

Li Hong lamented, "This girl is indeed pretty, but I feel like she doesn't quite match the role."

Shen Yan couldn't help but nodded, "Well, this girl looks too pure."

The role of "first love" requires beauty, sexiness, and preferably a bit of unrestrainedness, as well as the shrewdness to manipulate men to their heart's content.

As for Li Xiaoran, apart from being pretty, she seems to have nothing in common with the character.

Compared to "First Love", Li Xiaoran seems more suitable to play the male lead's sister.

Zhou Yan's feeling is different from all of them. He thinks that as long as Li Xiaoran dresses up, she will be very suitable for the role of "first love".

But... Zhou Yan looked Li Xiaoran up and down. He thought that Li Xiaoran should gain some weight. He was still a little thin now.

Li Xiaoran actually has quite a lot of potential, but because she is too thin, the primitive impulse she gives people is a little weaker. To use a more fashionable term in later generations, there is not enough sexual tension.

The role of "first love" needs to embody "sexual tension". Ten minutes later, Zhou Yan said, "Are you ready?"

Li Xiaoran nodded, "I'm ready, shall we start now?"

Zhou Yan didn't let her start directly, but asked, "Can you gain some more weight?"

Li Xiaoran was stunned for a moment, then replied, "It should be okay to grow a little bit, I'm not the kind of person who can't gain weight."

After receiving a positive response, Zhou Yan nodded and said, "You can start now. You don't need anyone to act with you. Just act to the air."

Hearing Zhou Yan asking her to start, Li Xiaoran took a deep breath and then started performing to the air.

The audition script that Li Xiaoran got was the scene where the male lead confessed his love to her and she rejected him twice in a row.

"Wait, you're not here to confess your love to me..."

When Li Xiaoran finished her first line, Zhou Yan frowned.

As expected, as she is not from a professional background, Li Xiaoran's professional ability is indeed not comparable to that of professional actors, whether it is her lines or expressions, they are all a little lacking.

Li Hong and Shen Yan also looked at each other. They could naturally see that Li Xiaoran's business ability was not good.

Zhou Yan did not say anything, but quietly waited for Li Xiaoran to finish her act, then he said, "The character of Qin Yu is not some innocent female college student. From her lines, we can tell that she is very skilled. Before the male lead, she must have been confessed to by many boys, so she was able to handle it so easily. Obviously, she did not fancy the male lead, so she could not have hesitated at all about his confession..."

Shen Yan showed a surprised expression. He didn't expect Zhou Yan to explain the play to Li Xiaoran on the spot. All other actors who came to audition before did not have this treatment.

The key point is that Zhou Yan's explanation was very detailed. He started by talking about the personality of Qin Yu, and then began to talk about how to express some details in this scene.

Li Xiaoran didn't take it seriously. She had never participated in many auditions and thought it was normal.

And seeing how patient Zhou Yan was, she felt that this famous director Zhou was quite amiable.

However, she didn't quite understand some of the things Zhou Yan said.

Seeing that Li Xiaoran was a little confused, Zhou Yan asked again, "Have you ever met a boy who confessed to you?"

"Well, I've met a few."

Li Xiaoran is being modest when she says a few. She grew up in a compound and because she is pretty, there are always a lot of boys around her.

"So how do you respond?"

"Of course I'll just refuse directly and say I don't like them." Li Xiaoran said without hesitation.

"How do you feel when you encounter such a confession?"

Li Xiaoran thought for a moment and said, "It's a bit annoying."

"In fact, Qin Yu has the same idea as you. She is also a little annoyed. But unlike you, she won't show her annoyance. On the one hand, the male protagonist is the brother of her good friend and she is still living in his house. On the other hand, she doesn't want to push her admirer too far away..."

Following Zhou Yan's analysis, Li Xiaoran gradually gained a deeper understanding of the character of Qin Yu and a more accurate understanding of this scene.

Zhou Yan thought it was almost done, so he asked Li Xiaoran to do it again, and he even went on stage himself to act with Li Xiaoran.

In today's audition, Zhou Yan only acted with Xie Fang and Jiao Huang, and Li Xiaoran was the third one.

However, unlike the previous two, when Zhou Yan was acting with Xiao Ran, he did not set up any obstacles. Instead, he tried to bring Li Xiao Ran into the play.

This time, Li Xiaoran's performance was much better than the first time, and it could be considered quite good.

Seeing Li Xiaoran's performance this time, Zhou Yan nodded. Fortunately, Li Xiaoran's professional level was not that bad, and it was not very difficult to train, so he could still be used.

Li Hong and Shen Yan beside them also nodded. Although Li Xiaoran's performance the second time was still not very good, it was a qualitative change compared to the first time. If he became more familiar with the script, he should be able to meet the requirements.

Anyway, Qin Yu doesn’t have many scenes to begin with, so it’s easy to adjust them.

After the second scene was over, Zhou Yan asked, "How much do you weigh now?"

"I haven't weighed myself recently, so I think it's less than 90 kilograms."

"How tall?"

"One meter sixty-eight."

"I'm too thin. How can I gain five to ten pounds in a month?"

"But wouldn't it be better to be thinner on camera? I heard that movie cameras can make people look 20 pounds fatter. Actually, I used to be quite chubby, but I lost some weight to look better on camera."

Zhou Yan smiled and said, "Even if you are 20 kilograms fatter, you are still less than 110 kilograms."

"Oh, it should be no problem to gain weight, I just need to eat more."

"Eat more and exercise more."

"Do you want to exercise again?"

"Aren't you a dancer? Just dance more often."

Li Xiaoran pursed her lips. She resigned from the dance troupe because she felt dancing was too tiring. Her biggest dream in life was to stay at home and play video games every day.

But for the sake of the role, she nodded and said, "No problem."

Zhou Yan nodded and said, "Go back and wait for news."

"Ok."

"By the way, if it's confirmed to be you, you'll be joining the group in a few days. Is that okay with you?"

"No." Li Xiaoran shook her head.

"it is good."

……

After Li Xiaoran left, Li Hong asked, "Director Zhou, have you decided to give her the role of Qin Yu? Do you want to watch the video first?"

"Well, we must watch the video."

Audition, audition, you are auditioning the camera, just looking with your eyes will not work.

Many times, actors’ performances on stage are very good, but their reflections in front of the camera are not quite there.

Shen Yan smiled and said, "The actors in our movie are really stunning in terms of appearance alone."

Li Hong followed suit and flattered Zhou Yan, "That's right, don't you see who the male lead is?"

"Okay, stop flattering me. Ask them to develop the audition footage for this afternoon as soon as possible and decide on the roles quickly. We still have a lot of things to do."

"No problem, the films can be developed today and we can watch them tomorrow morning." Li Hong said with a smile.

"That's good. If it is finally confirmed that Li Xiaoran is the one, we must let Coach Gao give her some more training to improve her. Although the role of Qin Yu doesn't have many scenes, we should also take it seriously."

"clear."

"That's it for now. Take a rest. We'll watch today's audition video together tomorrow morning."

After saying this, Zhou Yan packed up his things and left. (End of this chapter)