In order to save time, three makeup artists painted Jiang Se's body separately, and then used a low-temperature flame to melt the surface paint to make it look more natural and shiny.
More than two hours later, Jiang Se appeared in front of Cesare wearing Lanny's clothes. She was wearing thin and worn clothes, with long hair draped around her body. Her face was pale and her lips were tightly pursed. Her big eyes, with distinct black and white, were particularly clear on her palm-sized face. From her eyes, one could see the light and shadow swaying under the trembling pupils. She was a little uneasy, as if she had a premonition that something terrible was about to happen. She was a little timid, but had a complete trust in Andre, like a newborn bird, weak and helpless.
When she tried to raise her head as much as possible to look at the people in front of her, she was afraid and instinctively cowardly, so she didn't even dare to raise her eyelids completely. She could only keep her eyes half open and look at the legs of everyone on the set.
When Cesare saw this scene performed by Jiang Se, he felt as if his heart was struck directly. The feeling of truly participating in "Prisoners" and witnessing the happening of the story was very real, so real that it made his scalp tighten, his calves twitched slightly, and he leaned forward involuntarily, wanting to see the expression on her face more clearly and better understand her inner state of mind at the moment.
He had a premonition that Jiang Se's performance was not saved until the actual scene of being sacrificed, but he had already entered the state at this moment.
Her cheeks were trembling, and she was uneasy but trying to remain calm. Every time she observed and looked at the surroundings, she was so cautious that it made people feel sad.
This is Lanny!
Cesare sighed in his heart. This should be the Lannie in "Prisoners", who had the purest and most innocent heart, but was accused of heresy by Andre and was sacrificed in exchange for eternal life.
No matter how hard Laura had performed before, when Jiang Se stood in front of Cesare like this, he had no way of denying that apart from the girl in front of him, there was no one else who could be called "salvation".
He glanced at Laura who was watching coldly and disdainfully from a distance, and then looked at Jiang Se who was cowering in front of him. When there was no comparison, he could make up for the acquired deficiencies with his superb acting skills, but when 'Lanni' appeared, all his acting skills became just imitations.
It is indeed as Jiang Se herself said, she really likes "Prisoners", so when the opportunity comes, she can grasp it firmly. While she took on the role of Shilin, she had been preparing for Lanny and thinking about Lanny as a person.
Her multiple readings and deep understanding of the characters in the book enabled her to understand Lanny's personality and psychology much better than Laura, who had merely taken the script and memorized the lines. So when the opportunity came, she grabbed it tightly.
At this point, if Cesare said that he still couldn't understand Jiang Se's meaning, he would be deceiving himself.
When Jiang Se asked him for an opportunity, he blocked the role of Xilin and did not give her a choice.
But this smart yet ambitious girl took advantage of this opportunity to prove to him that she could do it.
Even though he knew Jiang Se's thoughts, Cesare found it hard to feel disgusted with her. She had fought for this opportunity today with courage, and he had no reason to interrupt her.
The pyrotechnician was still communicating with her softly, trying to comfort her, but he didn't know that the girl in front of him had already immersed herself in the role of the audition.
Under such circumstances, Cesare could not think of any reason to disrespect her for doing all this, so he made a starting gesture and shouted:
"Prepare."
When he said this, the crew members thought that the "preparation" Cesare mentioned was preparation for the next filming, but only Jiang Se could understand the meaning of Cesare's words.
She suppressed the surge of gratitude in her heart, took small steps, lowered her head and walked towards Andre anxiously. She didn't need to look up to confirm Andre's location, as if Andre was her salvation and destination in her heart.
"Master Andre."
She could remember the night when the town fell, when the demons from hell were wreaking havoc on the earth and she was hiding in a corner. It was Andre who appeared and saved her, extended his hand to her, and pulled her out of the abyss, and was cursed by the demon.
If Lannie had doubts about the existence of God before, the appearance of Andre at that moment had made him a savior in her heart.
She was too innocent and trusted Andre too much, so when Andre sent her to the altar, she blinked her innocent eyes, a little at a loss, but stood there obediently.
The Holy See has controlled the empire for many years, and the people of the empire originally firmly believed in the existence of God.
But when the prophecy that the devil was about to appear one day sounded on the earth, and God's warning never appeared, the people began to doubt the prestige of the Vatican.
In order to prevent all this from happening, Andre decided to recite the spell in front of the people, so that they could see the coming of God and the miracle happening.
Donald had already changed into his costume inside and put on a thick down coat outside and was waiting, but he didn't look like he was ready to get into the action.
He looked at Jiang Se who walked to his side, lowered his eyes, and fiddled with the pair of gloves in his hands.
Under the confused gazes of the surrounding staff, Cesare stood aside with a smile, saying nothing.
Jiang Se has convinced him to give her a chance to audition for the role of Lanny, but no one knows whether she has convinced Donald to accompany her in this farce.
Jiang Se's ambition is too big. When it comes to the heroine Lanny, she has to face pressure. In addition to her own acting skills and strength to convince Cesare and investors, there is another biggest problem to overcome, that is Donald.
He is the male lead of the show. Unlike the female lead like Laura who needs to find ways to find someone from the Borgia to join the crew through the agency, Donald has already achieved a legendary status among Italian actors. His acting skills are superb and he has a huge fan base all over the world.
For the filming of "God's Redemption", in addition to Cesare using his personal friendship with him to entrust him, people from the investment company of the two also communicated with him and persuaded him to act in this scene.
The current situation is already very clear. Jiang Se's ambition is probably already seen by all smart people, and Donald should also be aware of it.
The contract he signed with the crew is there, and the scenes have been filmed for more than a month. If the crew wants to replace the female lead, not to mention that his filming time will be extended, all the scenes he has filmed before will need to be re-rehearsed and filmed again.
The sufferings that had been endured before had to be endured again, and all the preparations made in the previous period had come to naught.
As a heavyweight male star, if he is unwilling to make any more efforts and unwilling to cooperate with Jiang Se in this play, then Jiang Se's plan tonight, even if he can convince Cesare, can only be a farce and end in nothing.
Cesare's eyes fell on his cuffs, but he was watching Donald out of the corner of his eye, waiting for his reaction.
Jiang Se lowered his head and stood with his hands hanging down.
After a while, Donald smiled slightly, took off his down coat and handed it to his assistant.
The assistant showed a look of surprise and confusion in his eyes and took the coat. Donald's scene officially began to be filmed, when Jiang Se was put on the rack and the fire started.
But now Jiang Se was not ready yet, and even the camera was not pointed at the two of them, but Donald seemed to have already entered the filming state, which made the assistant a little puzzled.
"My dear child."
There was a kind look on his face, a kindness that even convinced himself that there was compassion in his eyes, but for some reason, it made people shudder.
The moment the thick down jacket was taken off, Donald's smiling expression changed. His smile was no longer as cold and distant as before, but instead had a meaningful look.
The bishop's robe seemed a little empty on his thin but extremely tall body.
Two strands of hair fell on his forehead. He squinted his eyes, and this action caused wrinkles to form at the corners of his eyes, blocking the unclear expression in his eyes.
He had a hunched back, as if he had a problem walking, and it was difficult for him to walk and talk. He tried to raise his hand, as if trying to touch the top of Lanny's head, but as soon as he stretched out his hand, he seemed to realize something was wrong and retracted his hand silently.
All these actions made him instantly enter the state of Andre from Donald.
There were still many people in the crew who didn't understand Donald's behavior. Many people, like his assistant, didn't understand why Donald was so into the role. But Jiang Se, who had been following Donald and seemed docile and nervous on the surface, finally let go of his worried heart until this moment.
Of course, Jiang Se could also think of the problems that Cesare could think of.
She had dealt with Cesare several times, and Cesare had a certain good impression of her, so she took the risk to try this time, and Cesare finally acquiesced, but Jiang Se did not expect that Donald was willing to give her this chance.
This was just an informal audition, and Jiang Se was nominally Laura's stand-in.
At this moment, she had not yet been officially pushed onto the rack, and he was willing to accompany her in this scene, so he didn't have to take off his coat.
But after Donald understood her intention, he not only gave her a chance, but also carefully took off his coat and acted with her wearing only a thin bishop's robe.
At this moment, Jiang Se suppressed the dizziness caused by his rapidly beating heart, and raised his head, his eyes a little moist.
Under the light, she looked like a frightened deer being chased by a hunter. Her lips had been bitten leaving deep marks, and her eyelashes were trembling due to nervousness.
She actually had some protective oil applied to her face, but it didn't affect her expression at all.
Everything was ready. Jiang Se slowly walked up the steps built by the crew and headed towards the place where "Lanni" was executed. Behind her was a large green screen. She wore the dress that Laura had worn that day, walked where Laura had walked, and performed the play she had performed before.
Laura had already finished filming the scene before Lanny was hung on the rack, but at this time Donald accompanied Jiang Se again, and Cesare did not say anything to stop him.
Jack, who was far away, felt something was even more wrong when he saw this. The performance of this Chinese girl did not seem like a stand-in, but rather like she was already playing her own role.
Especially with Cesare's acquiescence and Donald's cooperation, Jack had a bad feeling even more.
In this scene, Laura lost not only a special scene, but she might also lose something more.
He acted decisively, stood up, picked up his cell phone and made a call. He felt that he should stop the performance of this scene and should not let the Chinese girl continue.
Jiang Se had already finished her rehearsal with Donald and had been sent to the rack, having performed a role that was not supposed to be hers.
The camera had been turned on at some point and was pointed towards the rack. The girl had been tied up and the extras below were ready. Once the director gave the order, they would start filming the next scene.
"My dear child, you have the purest heart in the world. You are willing to sacrifice yourself for the gods and to sweep away the filth in this world," Andre said, paused for a moment, raised his eyelids, and looked at Jiang Se with a smile:
“You’re the best.”
His words hinted at something, and Jiang Se subconsciously looked up at him. After knowing that he would be Laura's stand-in in this scene, Jiang Se had already memorized the script for this scene just in case.
The last sentence was not included in Andrea's lines. I don't know whether it was Donald's compliment to her or a line added temporarily by this national treasure-level Italian actor.
He had already turned his head away, and was shouting at the "people" who were surrounding him. He suppressed his extreme excitement, and his voice sounded a little hoarse due to excitement and effort:
"Do you want to witness a miracle with your own eyes?"
At this time, Andre's body was tilted, as if he was out of his control.
But the fanaticism in his expression made every believer in front of him see clearly that this bishop, who had saved a remote town from the baptism of hell overnight because of the favor of God, was swaying on the high "altar" with his tall and thin body. There seemed to be a "foot-high cliff" behind him, and the wind seemed to blow his paper-like body away.
His eyes, tone and expression infected everyone. At this moment, Donald was no longer the gentle, introverted and taciturn Italian actor. What appeared in front of everyone was a man who seemed to be waiting for the dawn and was controlled by desire, Bishop Andrew, no, the supreme Pope!
The staff on the set seemed to be infected as well, feeling inexplicably excited. Everyone once again witnessed the famous Donald's acting skills.
He had collaborated with Laura on this scene before, but for some reason, the appeal back then was not as strong as it is now.
The wind was still blowing, and the girl on the rack was swaying, not knowing whether it was because of the wind or because of her inner fear that caused her to sway continuously.
Andre's roar echoed in every corner of the set and reached the ears of everyone on the set.
In front of the camera, Cesare watched the scene intently, holding his breath.
Donald's acting skills are superb, but no matter how good the performance is, it still needs a qualified "foil" to form a special charm that touches people's hearts. (To be continued)