Qin Guan's old employer, Armani, had provided the costumes. Although high fashion for men was not as expensive as haute couture, which cost billions of yuan, the designer's clothes still elevated the film to a higher level.
The romantic film now looked much more elegant.
Qin Guan put on his white shirt and black suit in the dressing room. The Armani Shanghai Branch had worked overnight to prepare them. Two of the buttons on his chest were unfastened, and he wasn't wearing a tie. Qin Guan looked restrained in that strict formal outfit.
"Are you ready, Mr. Qin?"
The assistant knocked on Qin Guan's door. When she saw Qin Guan, she was left speechless.
Qin Guan nodded and went out of the dressing room, heading for the shooting site of the first scene.
There were three European-style chairs arranged in a line. Zhou Xun, Qin Guan and Zhang Xueyou greeted each other silently and turned towards the director's camera.
"The actors are ready!"
"Lighting, props, assistants, figurants..."
Everything was ready.
"First scene, the press conference. Three, two, action!"
The scene began at his command.
The director, who was played by Zhang Xueyou, was sitting in the middle, answering the tricky questions of the reporters. Qin Guan's eyes were fixed on the charming actress.
She was rubbing her thumb and index finger together nervously. She seemed unhappy. After so many years of being obsessed with her, she was still fresh in his memory. Zhou Xun denied any connection to him though. She told the reporters that this was the first time they were meeting.
He still didn't want her to feel uncomfortable though, so he tried his best to attract the attention of the reporters and bear all the pressure himself.
"If there are no constructive questions, we'll have to put an end to the conference."
The reporters restrained themselves. Some of them finally raised some good questions that didn't involve gossip.
"Everyone knows that you never shoot films at home. Why did this particular film move you?"
"It was the high salary, good editor and beautiful actress that did it."
His funny answer was actually honest. She is still as beautiful as she was 10 years ago...
A long-lost smile appeared on her beautiful face. Lost in her smile, Qin Guan remembered their first meeting 10 years ago. It had been winter...
Zhou and Zhang became a blur on the camera. Only Qin Guan's profile was visible clearly.
"Cut! Good!"
The three actors cooperated very well. Their line delivery, the position of the camera, the lighting and the figurants had all been perfect, yet Director Chen was pulling his hair with all his strength behind the camera.
He was happy with the smooth shooting process. The producer had invested a lot in the movie, and the three actors were all very talented, but the film would be shot in high resolution, which was the most clear, but expensive shooting method.
Zhou Xue looked good. The makeup made her face look smooth, but there were lots of pimples on Zhang's face.
This made sense. A man couldn't have the same beautiful face as a girl after all. Zhang was famous for his acting skills, but his face looked like the surface of the moon.
As a director in pursuit of perfection, Chen couldn't express his sorrow with words. Fortunately, the professional cameraman, whose name was He Gong, solved the problem with a few words.
"It doesn't matter. You could just pull the camera a little farther away from Zhang's face. Then edit it, and it'll be perfect."
"That's it!"
Thus, Zhang lost most of his screen-time. Both he and Qin Guan had no idea about that interesting piece of information. Qin Guan was consulting with Zhang about the next scene, as the man was the most experienced when it came to operas.
Qin Guan had never acted in a musical before, but Zhang participated in Hong Kong song and dance dramas very frequently.
As a VIP in both the music and the film circle, he was also curious about the young man. The guy had never released a single record, yet the company had cast him as the lead of the film.
The credit had to be given to Paris Hilton and Qin Guan's performance during her party. The music producers who had attended it had taken pictures and videos of him and studied them later that night.
Some of them had made Qin Guan offers to join the music industry, as some record companies had wanted to cooperate with him after the whole affair with Britney and Madonna.
Qin Guan turned down all offers though. Despite the close cooperation between Hong Kong and American pop musicians, the Yankees sneered at Hong Kong singers when record companies tried to hire American producers.
"No! Our singers are awful. Even an amateur singer from the Chinese mainland would be better than them. I'd rather waste my songs on Qin Guan than you!"
After hearing this several times, the singers got angry. Of course, we can't compare to him when it comes to acting. He is an award-winning actor after all. But what the f*ck do you mean? He can sing too? Are you kidding me?