The Heartbeats of the Hidden Actors Chapter 10

Hearing what assistant director Zhang Xi said, Ethan Smith looked down and asked, "Why can't Julian Hayes act anymore?"

"Yeah, that's right," Zhang Xi replied, "Julian Hayes has always been in poor health. He has been sick several times since joining the crew and always has to take medicine. He just said that he has an allergic skin disease. If he touches it hard, it will swell up and take a whole day to go away. It's a bit troublesome to shoot this scene. Julian Hayes looks delicate and tender, and the scars are indeed not easy to go away."

Ethan Smith: ...

"For the sake of effect, Director Li asked Actor Zuo to really fight, not just slap him. You should act for him in this scene."

"Oh, was he slapped?" Ethan Smith raised his eyes, "The nude stand-in has to work part-time as a 'slapping stand-in', right?"

...

"Okay," Ethan Smith said, "Let's draw, no problem." After thinking for a moment, Ethan Smith said, "200,000 is a lot, this game will be a gift."

Although he has left the entertainment industry for many years, Ethan Smith is also very clear that it is normal to be a nude stand-in or other "stand-in", to be beaten, to fall into the water... or even to eat delicious food. Nowadays, there are many kinds of "stand-ins". It is said that there are K!ss stand-ins, kneeling stand-ins... If the popular young actors don't want to act, they can always find a stand-in to solve the problem.

Ethan Smith walked back to the set and saw several staff members busy with the set and lighting for the "slapping" scene. Julian Hayes sat on a chair, his eyes red, like a weak rabbit, obviously he had just cried, his breathing was only in and out, he was sobbing, and he said to Oliver Brooks in front of him: "I will go to the hospital to get a certificate on my next day off..."

"No need," Oliver Brooks said, "Just stay here on your day off."

"Yeah." Julian Hayes reached out and wiped his tears with his palm, revealing a strong smile on his face. "I haven't cried in years... It's so embarrassing... You forgot..."

When he looked up, he saw Ethan Smith who had just appeared. He stood up mischievously and bowed deeply in front of everyone: "Senior, I'm sorry... This should be my responsibility... I'm sorry for causing trouble to you, senior. "

... Ethan Smith said, "It's okay." As a stand-in, what else can I say? Not to mention that Julian Hayes has a reason, even if he doesn't have a reason, he will still be a stand-in.

Julian Hayes added: "I will try my best to compensate you. If you have any problems in the future, please come to me."

"It's really okay," Ethan Smith said, "I won't look for you."

Nathan Drake stood aside, his attitude towards Ethan Smith's "gift" was quite cold.

...

The scene where "Shen Yan" slaps "Song Zhi" is actually an important part of the plot. Before that, Song Zhi opened a shop in the city and worked hard to support his family. Finally, he used the money he saved to build a new house for his family. On the day when his mother moved to the new house, she specially beat gongs and drums and walked slowly all the way. The purpose was to show off her son to the people in the village - she wanted to say, so what if she is a widow?

Unexpectedly, this "housewarming" was also a disaster. Song Zhi's father used to be a servant of the local landlord, the old man of the Lin family. Before his death, the old man of the Lin family said that he would give Song Zhi's father some silver dollars. As a result, after the old man died, the Lin family refused to admit it, and Song Zhi's father had no choice but to give up. This time, because they needed money to buy furniture, the eldest brother took his son to the Lin family again with the mentality of "giving it a try". Unexpectedly, because the Lin family scolded them for being scoundrels and liars, the eldest nephew was so angry that he started fighting with the other party. The Lin family was so powerful that the nephew was eventually imprisoned.

This was far from the end of the nightmare. Because he had broadened his horizons in the city, Song Zhi once paid for his second nephew to study in the city. Once, the second nephew was running on the table and fell down, hitting his scrotum on the corner of the table. He was unable to have children from then on, and Song Zhi's sister-in-law was too sad to get pregnant.

Under such circumstances, Song Zhi's mother urgently asked him to return to the village to live, get married and have children, so that he could take on the responsibility of being the pillar of the family.

At this stage, Song Zhi was planning to follow Shen Yan to Beiping. After painful hesitation, Song Zhi chose to return to the small village to help the family "spread branches and leaves" and stop his widowed mother from worrying too much. Song Zhi believed that this was what he should do in the midst of family crisis. He could not add more misery to his mother, brother and sister-in-law because of his own personal happiness. Moreover, he always believed that the "cause" of the suffering of the two nephews was caused by him - he wanted to compensate.

In a traditional Chinese family, every "individual" serves the big family.

When Song Zhi had made up his mind, he went to Shen Yan's house to say goodbye, but Shen Yan realized that he was powerless to save the relationship. So, in order to make Song Zhi "not miss him" and marry and have children peacefully, he slapped him in the face, destroying all possibilities between them.

...

After Director Li shouted "action", Ethan Smith quickly immersed himself in the role.

His eyes were filled with despair, and he tried his best to endure it. The blue veins on his neck bulged and jumped. He stared at Nathan Drake in front of him and said softly, "I'm sorry."

Ethan Smith knew very well that all his performances would be cut out of the film. The close-up of this section would be shot by Julian Hayes, and he would only appear in the scene when he was hit. The camera would shoot from behind him and focus on Shen Yan. Shen Yan would slap him, and he would just act from behind. It was for this reason that Director Oliver Brooks used a body double, not to mention that Ethan Smith looked a lot like Julian Hayes.

However...in order to allow Nathan Drake to be more involved in the play, Ethan Smith still read "Song Zhi's" lines.

According to the script, after saying "I'm sorry", Nathan Drake should give Ethan Smith a loud slap and say, "This is my answer to you - get lost!"

However... Nathan Drake's slap was just like a light caress, landing on Ethan Smith's face like a feather, like an intimate joke between lovers. Even if it was a slap on a five-year-old child, the child would not feel any pain.

"Stop, stop, stop." Oliver Brooks shouted, "It's too light! Another one!"

Do it again, still the same; do it again...no difference.

"Nathan Drake..." Oliver Brooks had a headache, "Have you ever failed three times?"

Nathan Drake was still very indifferent: "No."

"So what's this?"

"Can't get into the show---"

...

Nathan Drake made a request: "I want to watch the video and understand where I am lacking."

"bring it on."

Next to the monitor, Nathan Drake crossed his arms and watched the video again and again, as elegant as ever, but Ethan Smith always felt that something was churning under the calm surface of the water. After a while, Nathan Drake suddenly looked at Oliver Brooks who was sitting on the chair and said, "Director Li, the stand-in didn't dare to turn around after being slapped in the face."

... A few seconds passed, and Oliver Brooks nodded, "I understand what you mean. In fact, I was just thinking about this - the ending is a bit unnatural, it's better not to use a stand-in for this scene."

After that, Oliver Brooks stood up and asked Zhang Xi to call Julian Hayes over: "Try shooting one take and try to get it right in one take. After the shooting, the crew will give you a day off - if it doesn't work, we can go back and use a stand-in."

... Julian Hayes pursed his lips and said, "I'm sorry... I'm sorry for causing so much trouble to the crew... I'll try my best."

"Nathan Drake," Oliver Brooks looked at Nathan Drake again, "Whether it can be done in one go depends mainly on you. Julian Hayes is the one being whipped, and there is no physical movement. The visual effect is your responsibility,"

Nathan Drake looked at his hands, moved his knuckles, and said, "Hmm."

The same scene, starting over with a different cast.

Julian Hayes frowned and said, "I'm sorry..."

On the other side, Nathan Drake's acting skills suddenly became superb, and then he suddenly reached out and slapped Julian Hayes hard and fast: "This is my answer to you - get out!"

The sound of slapping echoed throughout the set, and everyone was shocked. Ethan Smith opened his eyes wide in surprise, unable to believe what he saw - such a big difference?

Nathan Drake slapped Julian Hayes so hard that he staggered. Julian Hayes could hardly stand and was completely stunned by the opponent.

"Hey..." Oliver Brooks was shocked - he had seen many beatings in his life, but he had never seen one so brutal.

Nathan Drake stopped and asked, "Is that all right?"

Oliver Brooks watched it two or three times: "OK... But why did you suddenly get into the play?"

Nathan Drake's voice seemed even colder than usual: "Julian Hayes can inspire my acting skills more."

"Because Julian Hayes has always been acting opposite you." Oliver Brooks actually felt that Ethan Smith's performance was better.

Nathan Drake didn't comment, glanced at Julian Hayes calmly, and walked away. When passing by Ethan Smith, Nathan Drake stopped, and suddenly seemed to remember something, and asked casually: "Does it hurt?"

Ethan Smith shook his head: "It's so light, how can it hurt?"

On the other side, Julian Hayes's face swelled up quickly. However, with Nathan Drake's strength, anyone's face would swell up, and Julian Hayes's face didn't seem to swell more than an ordinary person.

Everyone present could sense that Mr. Zuo was angry...but... why was he so angry?

Ethan Smith was relieved that he no longer had to be a "substitute". He said goodbye to everyone again and left the set with his luggage.

When he left, he was still thinking: What kind of person is Mr. Zuo? He seems very mysterious and hard to figure out. Also, he has been in the industry for five years without any scandals. However, looking at his "stud" appearance in the S3x scene, he doesn't look like a "stud"...