Chapter 175: Mastering Acting Skills

“Aran, what are you thinking about?”
Xiao Ran tossed and turned in bed, lost in thought, unknowingly waking Lin Qingxia. He scolded himself—why toss and turn when he could just think it through? Lin Qingxia turned on the light and saw Xiao Ran’s self-reproachful expression, immediately understanding what he was thinking. “It’s okay, I just fell asleep not long ago!”
Xiao Ran nodded and casually said, “I was wondering whether to acquire a film company or Light Magic and Pixar…” At that moment, he realized he had blurted it out.
Lin Qingxia asked in confusion, “Isn’t Phantom already the largest film company in Hong Kong? Why acquire more? And what are Light Magic and Pixar?”
After hesitating for a moment, he explained the businesses of these two companies to her. Lin Qingxia pondered for a while before smiling and saying, “Computer special effects—aren’t they already being done by our company? Why acquire them?”
Xiao Ran sighed deeply and leaned against the headboard. “Based on my estimates, computers will make breakthrough advances within three years. In the future, they will become the main tool for film production. If we don’t prepare in time, we might lose to Hollywood!”
“You want to acquire Hollywood film companies to establish a distribution network. But local films aren’t yet advanced enough to compete with Hollywood, so it won’t be very useful.” After thinking carefully, Lin Qingxia quickly offered a suggestion: “Since you think computers can play a huge role, why not take the lead?”
Xiao Ran suddenly felt enlightened. When his long-puzzled question got an answer, he remembered that in the future, Skywalker Sound would hold a monopoly in Hollywood, as would Dolby Laboratories. Ah, and DTS technology, which emerged later, could also be acquired if possible.
The distribution network wasn’t important; the key was technology. As long as they could obtain these technologies, and since Xiao Ran wouldn’t interfere with their internal operations and R&D, the technology would remain in Phantom’s hands. Then, they would truly be in control.
Thinking this, Xiao Ran felt extremely relieved, his mood lightening once again. Then he stared at Lin Qingxia, who was smiling softly. “How do you…?”
It was strange—Lin Qingxia had no reason to know about these business matters, let alone analyze them for him. Lin Qingxia couldn’t help but laugh and gently poked his head. “Have you forgotten? I’ve been studying these things. I think I’ll work as a junior employee in your company in the future!”
“What junior employee?” Xiao Ran remembered and tapped his own head lightly before deliberately gazing at her seductively. “You should stay as the promising boss!”
“You’re just talking nonsense!” Lin Qingxia’s blushing cheeks always seemed mysteriously attractive. She bit her lip and said, “How about you play the lead role in this movie, ‘Unforgiven’?”

“What’s wrong?” Xiao Ran was greatly surprised. Could Lin Qingxia really not appreciate an outstanding actor like Fa Ge? He turned around and fixed his gaze on Lin Qingxia’s red lips. “Fa Ge is great…”
At that moment, Xiao Ran saw Lin Qingxia’s strange expression and suddenly understood. It turned out she just wanted to act opposite him once on screen. Realizing this, he couldn’t help but burst into laughter until Lin Qingxia pushed him away in annoyance.
Xiao Ran, who almost fell off the bed, managed to stop laughing and lay down beside Lin Qingxia’s calves, gently tracing circles on her smooth, jade-like skin, making her face turn red.
Acting! Xiao Ran hesitated. Acting didn’t seem like something suitable for him. After being scolded by Xu Ke on set during the filming of “The Female Warrior,” he became wary of acting. Mainly because he really didn’t have much acting skill to speak of.
“I don’t think I’m suitable, and I don’t even want to play a love story with you!” Xiao Ran mused, his fingers still tracing circles, making Lin Qingxia feel itchy. She sat up and swatted at him. Only then did Xiao Ran look at her red-faced, itchy self and say, “Besides, my acting isn’t very good either!”
“What’s there to worry about? Aren’t you very interested in movies?” Lin Qingxia smiled at Xiao Ran. Now he was rolling around on the bed like a loach. “I’m just asking you to be the lead actor. You’ve had plenty of time lately—let’s shoot a movie and give it a try!”
What would the outcome be? With the intense promotion by the Oriental Daily recently, it would likely be quite sensational. Thinking about his own acting, Xiao Ran couldn’t help but laugh. “No problem. As long as you let me kiss you, I’ll act!”
Hearing this, Lin Qingxia smiled secretly and sent him a flying kiss. Xiao Ran was stunned. Was that even a kiss? Of course he refused and immediately pounced on her, leading to a chaotic scene—needless to say…
Taking this opportunity to advise readers, it’s better to avoid such promises. For example, Xiao Ran was now extremely troubled because he suddenly realized he didn’t have enough time. Although he usually had few things to deal with, there were still some tasks left. But since he had promised to act, he really didn’t have enough time, often having to take work home. Unfortunately, since he had decided in advance that the filming would take place during the summer vacation, he couldn’t afford to delay things for progress’ sake. Delaying would only harm him.
For director Chen Kexin and producer Zhang Wanding, they were the ones truly suffering. Usually, on set, if an actor got several “NG”s, the director could curse loudly—this was completely normal. But when it came to Xiao Ran and Lin Qingxia, none of them dared to scold them. Seriously, they would only do that if they didn’t want to ruin their careers.
The most typical example was this scene—the one where the lead actor was shot. Just for this death scene, Xiao Ran got at least ten “NG”s. Every actor was sneering, and even the crew members didn’t spare him.

Xiao Ran was extremely distressed. Don’t think just because he could give advice on others’ performances that he must be a great actor. Different perspectives and roles can easily lead to a lack of insight. That’s exactly the situation Xiao Ran was in now—he thought he had performed well, but it didn’t meet the director’s requirements at all.

Hit by a bullet, Xiao Ran collapsed to the ground instantly. Chen Kexin stared in shock before taking a deep breath and shouting, “CUT!”

Helplessly, Xiao Ran stood up, knowing he had messed up again. He didn’t want this to happen. All along, when navigating between the business world and the underworld, he had always shown superb acting skills. But now he realized that acting in real life was different from acting on screen.

Certain effects needed to be enhanced during performance to create a strong sensory impact on screen. Lin Qingxia regretted it a bit—if Brother Fa had acted in this scene, he would have nailed it on the first try. Just the scene where he was shot and fell at the end of *A Hero’s Heart* was far better.

Xiao Ran smiled bitterly and shook his head, waving at the crew members who were helping him up, signaling them to get back to work. He stood there for a long time, realizing he could never imitate the original male lead no matter what.

Perhaps it would be better to add something unique to his performance! Xiao Ran thought quietly. Acting in this scene wasn’t difficult. The real challenge was making it less conventional. Too traditional an acting style meant lack of distinctive skills. Aside from a few actors like Brother Fa who could take conventional techniques to their extreme, almost no one could succeed relying solely on them.

He needed something his own! It was a lively and cheerful character. Xiao Ran closed his eyes slightly in deep thought. If his own methods didn’t work, he might as well try to merge himself with the character.

That wasn’t what Xiao Ran wanted. What would happen if a cheerful personality met with sorrowful emotions? He suddenly opened his eyes, realizing he had understood. The sadness in the film was softened by the female supporting character, so he didn’t need to act overly cheerful.

His eyes needed to convey sorrow, while for expressions, he could stay calm, creating a contrast with the female character’s performance. In terms of body language, Xiao Ran thought he could be more expressive, using gestures and eyes to convey his emotions while keeping his face calm. That way, a strong contrast would emerge—a truly extreme kind of impact.

After figuring this out, Xiao Ran immediately flashed a bright smile and greeted Chen Kexin. They started shooting the scene again. As soon as the camera started rolling, Xiao Ran tangled with the extra actor before quickly separating, slowly falling downward with his eyes wide open and fingers slightly raised.

“CUT!” Chen Kexin exhaled softly. Not only him but also the other crew members breathed a sigh of relief. If they failed to get this scene right again, work hours might be extended. Chen Kexin was satisfied with Xiao Ran’s performance earlier—he thought that slow, almost motionless feel was exactly what he wanted.

Xiao Ran actually understood Chen Kexin’s style relatively well. Chen often preferred to use medium to long shots to capture what he wanted, complemented by the surrounding environment. Moreover, he felt that Chen Kexin seemed to have an interesting habit—enjoying backshot scenes; if one examined his works carefully, this could be noticed.

The following scenes were much easier to shoot, such as those involving wall penetration, which required the help of the special effects team. However, the special effects team had no problem handling such small scenes; otherwise, all of Xiao Ran’s money would have been wasted!

The next scene was the encounter with that fortune-telling woman. Xiao Ran had considered two actors for this role. The first was Wu Mengda. This role required a comedic element, and Wu Mengda, having collaborated with Zhou Xingchi on two films, was more than capable in this regard. Xiao Ran fully trusted him as the best supporting actor of his time.

The second option was Luo Lan, known as the “ghost woman.” She was called that because this veteran actress had starred in countless horror films, sharing similarities with another actor known as the “king of ghosts,” Lei Yuyang. Luo Lan’s weakness was that she didn’t have a comedic look at all and appeared rather strange.

Yet, Xiao Ran ultimately abandoned Wu Mengda. After all, if two men played the role together, the film would have too strong a masculine vibe. In the end, Luo Lan was chosen. Her somewhat eerie appearance wasn’t a problem—makeup could address that.

Here, Chen Kexin demanded that Luo Lan speak at a speed as fast as a bullet, which caused her some trouble. Fortunately, being an experienced actress, she quickly satisfied the director.

The subsequent scenes went smoothly because Xiao Ran had figured out how to act. But while his performance was smooth, Chen Kexin felt something was off. Staring at the camera feed, his sense of discomfort grew stronger. For some reason, the cameraman even gave Xiao Ran several close-ups, especially of his eyes.

Suddenly, Chen Kexin was shocked—he realized what was wrong. Xiao Ran’s performance was quite different from what he had imagined, so different that he had to change his filming approach.

Don’t think that an actor’s performance has nothing to do with the director’s direction. For example, in Xiao Ran’s current performance, his face wasn’t expressionless, but he relied more on eye contact and body language to convey emotions. This forced Chen Kexin to use close-ups on Xiao Ran, otherwise, it would be hard to capture those emotions.

After stopping filming, Chen Kexin walked up to the stunned Xiao Ran, hesitated for a moment, and finally said, “Bro Ran, acting like this doesn’t seem right. You’re indirectly controlling me!”

“Controlling you?” Xiao Ran was not only stunned but also wanted to laugh. How could an actor’s performance control the director? Suddenly, he froze, as he thought of a very real example proving that an actor’s performance can indeed influence the director.

That was in history. The movie is “Beast Cop,” which won the Golden Horse Award for Best Film and Best Actor, and it was the film that enabled Wong Chau-sang to achieve success once again. The director of that movie was Chen Ka-shang, who had good control over the first half of the film. However, in the second half, Wong Chau-sang’s performance became so extreme that it forced Chen Ka-shang to change his filming methods and the script.
This was the first time Xiao Ran heard about an actor’s performance being so intense that it overwhelmed the director. The second example was “Gunfire.” When filming that movie, Wu Zhenyu also had his own ideas, wanting to bring more vitality to his performance.