Chapter 858: Chapter 857 Negotiations

Director Jiang was naturally watching the surveillance monitor and said to Chen Hong, “Xie Yurou is still too weak. Against Xiaren, she can hardly perform at her usual level. The role of the disgraced concubine is supposed to be colorful, but it’s evident that Xie Yurou is not up to the task.”

Chen Hong gave a faint smile, “This is enough to show how profound Xiaren’s acting skills are. A good actor, no matter how many flaws the character has, can still make the performance not too distasteful for the audience. In this industry, it’s survival of the fittest, and ultimately the one rule for an actor’s survival is their acting skills. It’s clear that Xie Yurou harbors ill will towards Xiaren. When you initially let Xie Yurou join the cast, I thought you were intentionally trying to create gossip about discord among the actresses to generate buzz for the movie.”

Director Jiang almost rolled his eyes at her, “What are you talking about? Do I seem like that kind of person? Since Xiaren insisted on playing the Empress, the disgraced concubine obviously can’t be overshadowed in terms of visual appeal. Let’s not mention acting skills for now; as long as there’s beauty, she can just about hold it up.”

Chen Hong: “…”

Absolutely insincere and shameless!

Although Chen Hong was inwardly criticizing Director Jiang for his blatant nonsense, she still nodded in apparent agreement with what he said.

“I misunderstood you, my bad, my bad. But Xie Yurou’s performance just now was somewhat lackluster, should we do it again?”

Director Jiang looked at the monitor and indeed felt that the confrontational scene between Xiaren and Xie Yurou was a bit off, Xie Yurou’s performance was somewhat bland, highlighting only her character’s wickedness, which was quite off-putting.

But overall, the performance was still not bad.

Anyway, it will be Xie Yurou who gets criticized by the audience.

So, Director Jiang pretended not to notice any problem and approved the take as it was.

Xie Yurou’s agent, Zhao, saw what had happened and felt a bit uneasy.

If this performance is screened, it’s bound to be lambasted. Growing anxious, Zhao tapped her foot on the ground, wanting to negotiate with Director Jiang.

“Let’s take a ten-minute break, and then we’ll continue working.” Seeing that the shoot was going smoothly, Director Jiang generously gave the actors a ten-minute rest period.

Sitting under a dark green umbrella, Qiao Xiaren, Fen Qian, and the other leads started to chat casually.

“Girl, you know Li Zhiyao and Wu Xinghui, right?” Fen Qian casually asked. Qiao Xiaren nodded, “Teacher Li and Teacher Wu are both veterans in the arts, and it was an honor to get to know them during the filming of ‘Assassination of the Immortals.'”

“You’re quite fortunate, girl. Do well to build these connections; they’ll come in handy later on.” Fen Qian dropped this hint, and Qiao Xiaren nodded in understanding.

Connections, indeed, are very important in this industry.

Xie Yurou sat alone on a wicker chair, wearing sunglasses and exuding an aloof air, while her assistants were happily bringing her drinks and towels.

Qiao Xiaren glanced over unintentionally and noticed Xie Yurou’s agent Zhao approaching Director Jiang, seemingly with something to say. Chen Lanjun and Qiao Xiaren exchanged looks, each thinking the other was about to cause trouble.

“Director Jiang, there’s something I’d like to discuss with you.”

Seeing Xie Yurou’s agent, Director Jiang was neither cold nor warm, “What is it?”

“The scene we just shot, I feel that Qiao Xiaren’s performance was a bit over the top. Could we reshoot it? I’m thinking about the movie as a whole. If the heroine’s presence is too dominant and the antagonist has no real impact, the film won’t achieve that level of brilliance. What do you think, Director?”