Chapter 60: Secret Recipe Braised Pig’s Feet p1
Director Pan remembered it was about half a month after “Imperial Secrets” officially started filming. Qiao Rubai from Qiong Yu, as if possessed, suddenly demanded that Dajin Entertainment replace the male lead, Zhang Zijing, and one of the supporting actresses, Jiang Duo.
Not many people in the crew knew about this. But Director Pan, as the director, naturally knew.
Replacing actors during filming wasn’t unheard of. Usually, it was due to an actor’s injury or illness preventing them from continuing, irreconcilable conflicts between the actor and their agency or the investors, or realizing during filming that the casting was a mistake, the actor not fitting the role, requiring a replacement for the sake of the film’s quality. The last scenario was rare. In this increasingly commercialized industry, very few productions were meticulous enough to replace actors mid-filming. And major miscasts were also rare.
“Imperial Secrets” had only been filming for half a month. Director Pan’s filming pace was slow at first, then gradually accelerated. They hadn’t filmed many scenes in the first half month, focusing mostly on building rapport between actors and understanding the characters. Everyone was just getting into their roles. Qiao Rubai’s sudden demand to replace actors, and actors from their partner, Dajin Entertainment, was surprising. Director Pan thought Zhang Zijing and Jiang Duo’s acting was passable. And the casting, the collaboration between Qiong Yu and Dajin, had been finalized by Qiao Rubai herself just half a month ago. Changing her mind so decisively now was shocking.
The contracts were signed, and the collaboration had already begun. Dajin’s attitude was quite good. But just as Qiao Rubai almost persuaded the person in charge of this project at Dajin to replace Zhang Zijing and Jiang Duo with other actors from their company, the opposition within Dajin prevailed.
The attempt to replace the actors failed, and Director Pan was relieved. Dajin Entertainment wasn’t a large company, and they didn’t have many artists. If Zhang Zijing and Jiang Duo were replaced, the replacements would also have to be from Dajin. In Director Pan’s opinion, Zhang Zijing and Jiang Duo were already the best Dajin had to offer. The replacements might be even worse. He didn’t want to replace barely passable actors with failing ones. Qiao Rubai’s failure was his secret relief.
It seemed that Zhang Zijing and Jiang Duo were completely unaware of this incident. Dajin probably didn’t want them to know, afraid it would affect their already limited acting skills and increase the chance of them being replaced by Qiao Rubai.
Director Pan thought that after this failed attempt, Qiao Rubai would let it go. But she didn’t. As if possessed, her attitude completely changed from the earlier amicable contract signing. After failing to replace the actors, Qiao Rubai decided to change the script.
Director Pan didn’t know how Qiao Rubai did it, but she actually managed to persuade all the partner companies and investors to replace a large portion of the “Imperial Secrets” script almost a month after filming started.
When Qiao Rubai handed him the revised script, Director Pan, seeing the name “Pan Xiang” listed as the screenwriter, thought it was just someone with the same name as his granddaughter.
The revised script was excellent. It expanded the story beyond the confines of the palace, adding two major settings, making the story much grander in both depth and scope. The characters’ personalities were more distinct, the relationships and conflicts between them more complex, and the newly added estate and battlefield scenes injected a dose of positive energy into the film. Both commercially and artistically, the revised script was much better. After reading it, Director Pan understood why the partner companies and investors agreed to the last-minute change. Filmed this way, the movie would be a hit, a huge hit! He felt his youthful ambition rekindled.
Director Pan didn’t understand why Qiao Rubai, having a screenwriter who could produce such a good script in just a few days, hadn’t brought her in earlier, wasting a month of filming. But this didn’t stop him from wanting to have a long discussion with Qiao Rubai, his blood boiling with excitement over the new script.
Then… he saw his granddaughter, who was supposed to be studying at university, walking towards them…
When Qiao Rubai formally introduced Pan Xiang, the new screenwriter of “Imperial Secrets,” to Director Pan, the latter’s shock was another story about HP loss.
Perhaps because he learned that this excellent story was written by his own granddaughter, Director Pan, who had been enthusiastic, calmed down and carefully reread the script several times.
As an experienced, insightful, and capable director, he noticed some problems.
Of course, it wasn’t that the story was bad, but compared to the original version, the male lead’s role was significantly weakened. This wasn’t about reducing the emperor Ji Yan’s screen time, but about the other characters being more compelling in the revised version. In comparison, the still ordinary male lead, besides his title, didn’t leave much of an impression. And the revised battlefield scenes added a brilliant general character. Although the role wasn’t large, Director Pan believed that as long as the actor wasn’t terrible, this character would be very eye-catching. So, the male lead… became even more ordinary.
In the first version, the numerous female characters, some deeply in love with the male lead, some hating him because of their love, all lived for his affection. They schemed against each other, harmed each other, lived and died, all for the emperor’s love. Emperor Ji Yan, although his role wasn’t particularly large or complex, was the center of the story, the source of all love and hate. He was the male lead.
But in the second version, things changed. Of course, on the surface, in the early palace scenes, the concubines still competed for the emperor’s favor. Miao Qianye, innocent and gentle, attracting the emperor’s attention; Concubine Zhu, scheming to gain his interest; and the young empress, who believed in their deep love, all loved the emperor in the early palace scenes, raised his heir together in the estate scenes, and reunited with him in the later palace scenes.
Weakening the male lead was one issue, and after reading the second version repeatedly, Director Pan noticed another problem. Although Pan Xiang’s writing was beautiful, and there seemed to be several love lines between the emperor and the concubines running through the story, there actually… weren’t…
When Miao Qianye, favored but childless, was promoted to Zhaoyi, just below a consort, the emperor’s love for her intensified. Then came a solo scene of the young empress, the setting being that the emperor hadn’t visited her on the first and fifteenth of the month, as he was supposed to. The young empress waited until late at night, then dismissed the food and left in tears.
This scene, on its own, wasn’t unusual. But it was followed by two more scenes. One was of the young empress by the window in the early morning, watching the sunrise, her expression gradually shifting from sadness to serenity. The other was of the young empress, having regained her composure and authority, summoning Miao Qianye for a private conversation.
These three scenes, when viewed together, depicted a woman deeply in love with her husband, losing his affection, initially angry, then gradually calming down, and then… developing a sense of camaraderie with her rival.
Pan Xiang hadn’t explicitly written the young empress’s emotional state, but Director Pan felt that an experienced actress would understand why she underwent this transformation. It was because she had fallen out of love.
Although discussing the complexities of love with his granddaughter, who hadn’t even graduated from university, felt a bit awkward, as a responsible director, he pointed at these three scenes and asked, “The empress was deeply in love with the emperor, why would she suddenly fall out of love?”
Pan Xiang first praised her grandfather’s sharp eye, then retorted, “Why couldn’t she suddenly fall out of love?”
Director Pan was speechless.
In real life, if someone was truly hurt, it was possible to fall out of love. But this was a movie, a movie about palace life. The empress falling out of love with the emperor? Then what about her later protecting their heir? What about her later sacrificing herself for the heir’s ascension to the throne?
Seemingly sensing his doubts, Pan Xiang clearly explained her thoughts on the emotional arc.
Finally, Director Pan understood. He hadn’t misread the script.
In Pan Xiang’s vision, the emperor’s unusual interest in Miao Qianye, his growing favoritism towards her, disrupted his previously indifferent attitude towards the harem. He even ignored the custom of visiting the empress on the first and fifteenth of the month, deeply hurting the young empress. She had once dreamt of a lifelong love, and although that dream was shattered, she still believed in their affection, that she was special. Reality had slapped her hard.
The greater the pain, the clearer the realization. After a brief period of helplessness and confusion, the young empress chose to love less, to hurt less. This was where the setup of the young empress coming from a military family came into play. Love, when it was there, was absolute. When it was gone, it was gone, decisively and without hesitation.
Precisely because the young empress, partly voluntarily, partly forcing herself, chose to no longer love the emperor so deeply, she could then, with curiosity but without malice, appreciate Miao Qianye, who was supposed to be her rival.
Later, when the emperor disappeared, the empress held the fort and protected their heir, not because she still loved the emperor deeply, but because she was the empress, it was her duty, her responsibility to the country.
Similarly, in the estate, precisely because she no longer loved the emperor so deeply, she could face his concubines, those women who had once shared her husband, with such calmness. She calmly arranged their lives, calmly did her best to protect everyone.
Because she no longer loved the emperor, she could have a greater love, the love of an empress for her people.
Although he had already sensed the hidden meaning in the script, Pan Xiang’s detailed explanation still moved Director Pan. The empress, who had been deeply in love with the emperor in the original version, now falling out of love, this severed love line elevated the story to another level. From personal love to a greater love… just hearing it, he could almost see the previously narrow scope of the story expand, vast and boundless.
Director Pan was silent for a long time, then asked, “Since the empress’s character is defined by her love for her people, then at the end of the script, after the emperor’s death, with the eldest prince raised by her, the court officials, fearing that the eldest prince’s ascension would mean the empire falling under the empress’s control, supported the second prince, born to Consort Zhu. So, to ensure the eldest prince’s ascension, the empress committed suicide. Then, if the empress truly cared about the country, to ensure a more capable ruler, why didn’t the script include scenes showing the eldest prince’s talent or the second prince’s incompetence, to make the plot more reasonable?”
“Precisely because I didn’t want to explicitly show that her final choice was purely for the good of the country,” Pan Xiang replied with a smile.
So what was the reasoning then? Did her great love in the end become maternal love? Director Pan frowned.
“But you didn’t indicate the empress’s change of heart in the script. You have to indicate it so the actress knows when to change her feelings towards the emperor.” Director Pan felt that although his granddaughter had written a good script, the details were lacking.
Pan Xiang hesitated, then replied, “I think I’ve written the story completely. As long as they carefully study the script, the actors should be able to grasp when and how to change their emotions. I could add notes, saying, ‘After this scene, Empress, you no longer love the emperor.’ Or, ‘In this scene, Empress, you initially love the emperor, then after standing by the window, you feel disheartened, then looking at the table, you feel sad, and finally, when you leave, you no longer love him.’ But even with my notes, actors who aren’t invested in the role might not be able to portray it. And actors who are invested don’t need my notes.” She paused, then continued, “I think all emotions, their development and transitions, should be the character’s own realizations, so it won’t seem forced.”
Director Pan felt that Pan Xiang’s idea was very idealistic. It meant that only an actor who truly understood the script, or was very experienced and invested, could grasp the emotional changes.
Seemingly sensing his concerns, Pan Xiang continued, “Different people will have different interpretations of the same script. Different actors will portray different feelings. Even I, after writing the script, can’t be completely sure how the young empress’s feelings change subtly. But I think a good actor should be able to feel the character’s emotions during filming.” Just like, she is her… Pan Xiang didn’t say the last sentence, or her grandfather would accuse her of being too idealistic again.
Even without the last sentence, Director Pan still felt that her idea was very idealistic. But for some reason, Qiao Rubai had full confidence in Pan Xiang, even more so than he did.
Recalling Qiao Rubai’s earlier attempt to replace Zhang Zijing and Jiang Duo, Director Pan now understood why, after the script revision, although Zhang Zijing’s screen time hadn’t decreased, the importance of his character had plummeted.
He had pointed out to Qiao Rubai that the revised script left too much room for interpretation, and Bao Yueqiao, the actress originally cast as the young empress, although petite and delicate, might not be able to handle the revised role. Qiao Rubai had just told him not to worry, and a few days later, she brought Mi Hongdou into the crew.
Putting aside the first wedding night scene, as a complete newcomer, Mi Hongdou’s performance had truly impressed him.
However, he hadn’t told Mi Hongdou about his discussion with Pan Xiang regarding the young empress’s emotional arc. Firstly, because Mi Hongdou seemed to dislike Zhang Zijing, the actor playing the emperor, and all the love scenes were already a struggle for her. Director Pan was afraid that explaining the emotional arc at the beginning would make it even harder for her to portray the changes. Secondly, he didn’t quite agree with Pan Xiang’s idea of the actor independently controlling the emotional changes. He felt that it would only confuse the actor.
So far, although Mi Hongdou disliked Zhang Zijing, her performance had been exactly what he wanted. So, he had almost forgotten about his discussion with Pan Xiang and the whole “actor’s autonomy” thing.
Until that night, when Mi Hongdou asked to rehearse alone, to find the right emotions, and he secretly filmed it, capturing a brilliant performance, even better than Pan Xiang’s original script.
Director Pan seemed to understand what it meant when an actor truly understood the character’s emotional changes.
Mi Hongdou’s performance perfectly captured Pan Xiang’s idea of the unwillingness to love after experiencing extreme pain. The script, which he had initially found slightly illogical, now made perfect sense after seeing Mi Hongdou’s interpretation.
Compared to rigid instructions, wasn’t this flowing emotion, this transition from love to indifference, the hidden essence of the script?
It wasn’t explicitly stated or indicated in the script. But Director Pan believed that when the audience saw this scene, they would definitely feel the change in her emotions.
So, when Mi Hongdou, lacking confidence, said that she was just rehearsing and her performance wasn’t good, Director Pan praised her profusely and shared with her and Ji Junxin what he remembered from his conversation with Pan Xiang.
Director Pan’s explanation, interspersed with praise for Mi Hongdou, made her a little embarrassed. But Ji Junxin listened intently, grasping Pan Xiang’s intention.
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