Tao Cen's eyes quickly became firm, and her determination to never give up suppressed her momentary feeling of defeat. She tilted her head and laughed:
"How long will the break be?"
Song Yi didn't dare to speak. Tao Cen clenched her fists and placed them on her sides. The fact that Jiang Se got the chance to star in "God's Redemption" was actually a big blow to Tao Cen. But at this time, everyone in the company might be waiting to laugh at her. The audience and netizens would be waiting for her to express her opinion. In the following time, she would see many people showing cautious expressions in front of her like Song Yi.
This expression is the biggest irony for Tao Cen.
She tried her best to adjust her facial expression so that Song Yi would not see her inner depression, and asked:
"I remember when the official cast of "God's Redemption" was announced, Jiang Se was not the lead actor yet."
Donald's partner at the time was Laura Brown, known as the Hollywood sweetheart. Jiang Se was able to squeeze out the leading actress in such a big-budget movie abroad even when the movie had already been filmed. This ability also made Tao Cen wary.
"The details are still unclear. Sister Xia returned to China a week ago and secretly met with the chairman. The news from the company is that it has a lot to do with Cesare's protection."
Cesare owns the copyright of "Prisoners" and has great say in "God's Crew". He is not just a director who is paid to shoot the film, but a big director who can directly participate in the box office revenue in the later stage. Jiang Se has his protection. "It is said that Donald also stands on Jiang Se's side, and there are people from Huaying working on it." Coupled with the relationship with Century Galaxy, all aspects of the situation added up to enable Jiang Se to get the role of the female lead in "God's Redemption".
But no matter what, Song Yi had to admit that Jiang Se was very lucky.
Being able to work with a director like Cesare is an opportunity that many people dream of. Not only is it her first time working with a great director like Cesare in a European and American blockbuster, she is also very lucky to be the heroine and act opposite Donald.
Regardless of the final box office performance of this movie, Jiang Se's status has been repeatedly improved. Not only will she be able to open up the situation and gain fame internationally and get more opportunities with these points, but even in China, she is also able to stand on equal footing with Tao Cen and will no longer be suppressed by Tao Cen's limelight.
Song Yi was somewhat helpless. When Tao Cen heard that Jiang Se's position as the female lead in "God's Redemption" was secured by Cesare, his heart was filled with mixed feelings.
She had also tried to please Cesare in order to get more opportunities, but this man was not easy to get close to. She only maintained a very good relationship with Jiang Se.
Tao Cen was silent for a while, and then she swallowed her breath quietly. After thinking for a while, she asked again:
"Has anyone in the company asked Jiang Se what new plans he has after filming "God's Redemption"?"
When Tao Cen and Jiang Se were both nominated for the 'Best Actress' award at the French Film Festival, Tao Cen had already anticipated that sooner or later there would be a dispute between him and Jiang Se over status and reputation.
Century Galaxy must have a leader among the female stars. The company's resources cannot be evenly distributed to two people at the same time. There will always be an order of high and low.
After Tao Cen asked this question, Song Yi was obviously prepared and guessed her plan. He licked his lips:
"I've also inquired before. Sister Xia is very tight-lipped about Jiang Se's endorsements and movies, and has no intention of piling a lot of work on her."
Compared to many actresses in Century Galaxy who are so busy that they can't handle everything, Jiang Se's workload is nothing to write home about. She doesn't take on multiple projects at the same time. When she takes on a drama, she will never take on a second movie at the same time.
Instead, they will wait until a movie is completed before considering other work issues.
"Jiang Se's new plan is not clear yet. The company is already preparing resources for her to choose."
Song Yi paused for a moment and glanced at Tao Cen: "However, before taking on Zhang Jing'an's "A Glimmer of Hope," Tao Cen pursed his lips when Song Yi mentioned Zhang Jing'an's "A Glimmer of Hope," and he continued:
"There's news in the company that Sister Xia had picked some scripts for Jiang Se at the time. She had read them and circled Huo Zhiming's new drama."
Tao Cen's calm expression showed some interest, and Song Yi said tactfully:
"Sister Tao, I guess if it wasn't for Zhang Jing'an's invitation, Jiang Se might have taken on this movie." He seemed to remember something again:
"Before taking on the role in 'God's Redemption', Lin Xiwen of Shangjia Company also contacted Jiang Se, intending to invite her to star in the next movie."
Unfortunately, Jiang Se later signed on to join the crew of "God's Redemption", and Lin Xiwen's invitation was eventually shelved.
Tao Cen waved his hand:
"Lin Xiwen?" She reached out and tapped the table lightly with her index finger.
"Don't worry about him. Among his works, probably only "Beijing Great Event" is the peak of his career." Jiang Se became famous with this movie at that time, and also won the trophy of "Best Supporting Actress" at the China Film Festival that year, and also got to know Cesare because of this.
Maybe in Jiang Se's heart, Lin Xiwen was a noble person who had helped her. After all, when she took on "Beijing Events", she was not famous and had not signed a contract with an agency. When she was shooting this film, it was said that her pay was pitifully low.
Lin Xiwen's work is not stable. His last movie lost both box office and reputation, and the movie was criticized by netizens.
He asked Jiang Se to film a movie, probably more because he wanted to ask Jiang Se to help restore his reputation in the name of their old friendship.
It is normal that Jiang Se did not accept the role. Even if she did not accept "God's Redemption", she might not necessarily take on Lin Xiwen's role.
Tao Cen didn't care about Lin Xiwen, but he had some curiosity about Huo Zhiming's script, which Jiang Se had been interested in:
"It's Huo Zhiming's new play..."
She had also heard about Huo Zhiming's preparations for a new movie, but she didn't ask for details.
Huo Zhiming's condition is also unstable. He is not young anymore and cannot adapt to the market environment. His recent works failed to capture the audience's taste and the investors' hearts. Many producers looked disgusted when they mentioned him. This man is stubborn and refuses to change his temper, so his position in this circle is very embarrassing.
Song Yi understood the elegant meaning of the music when he heard it. As soon as Tao Cen started talking, Song Yi said:
"Director Huo's new film has been struggling for investment."
He glanced at Tao Cen and gave him a look that said 'you understand'.
Because of Huo Zhiming's personality and temper, many investors were unwilling to invest in his movies. He might not be able to work with some famous movie stars, and newcomers lacked experience and acting skills. Huo Zhiming was desperate and looked for investment everywhere with his script, "and finally found the chairman."
Huo Zhiming's works in recent years have not been satisfactory and he has been severely criticized, but the old man did have some talent in his early years and had connections with artists. He came from a scholarly family and had some friendship with Luo Yin.
Luo Yin couldn't save face, so he accepted the script. Tao Cen was the top star of Century Galaxy at that time, so Luo Yin naturally didn't want to waste Tao Cen's talent by taking on this movie that might be unstable, so Tao Cen didn't even take a look at the script.
When Xia Chaoqun was looking for scripts for Jiang Se, this script was mixed into the resources for Jiang Se to choose from and was delivered to Jiang Se.
Who would have known that Jiang Se didn't fancy the movie scripts carefully selected by Xia Chaoqun, but instead took a fancy to Huo Zhiming's "Criminal Suspect". If Zhang Jingan hadn't found Jiang Se unexpectedly later, Jiang Se might have already finished filming "Criminal Suspect" and the movie would have been edited in the later stage.
After hearing Song Yi's detailed analysis, Tao Cen looked at him approvingly.
The agent chosen by Luo Yin himself for her is much more reliable than the previous Chen Jiao. He is smart and responsible, knows what she wants to ask, and finds out everything early in the morning. He never does anything unnecessary. Although it seems that he has not been able to help her much at the moment, he has not held her back either. She feels very comfortable working with him.
"Go ahead and tell Mr. Luo that I want to see what's good about the script that Jiang Se likes about "Criminal Suspect"."
Her words revealed her determination to win the film. Song Yi was not surprised at all and nodded:
"In fact, I guessed that you would ask about this matter. I have already contacted Assistant Luo and used some methods to temporarily obtain the script of this movie."
The script sent by Huo Zhiming had originally been kept by Xia Chaoqun, but if Luo Ao wanted to get the script, he naturally had his own way.
When he said this, he saw the satisfied look on Tao Cen's face, and he couldn't help but feel happy. He asked his assistant to get the "Criminal Suspect" from his car, and explained:
"The script was copied from Sister Xia. It is said that before this, there was a little celebrity named Feng who had taken a fancy to this role and had been trying hard to get it."
However, because this star surnamed Feng is not particularly famous, and apart from coming from a wealthy family, he has no acting skills at all. He is not a figure of the same importance as Tao Cen, so naturally there is no possibility of competition between them.
The one who deserves Tao Cen's attention is Jiang Se.
Xia Chaoqun kept the script, obviously preparing it for Jiang Se. This time Tao Cen wanted to get the drama "Criminal Suspect", which was equivalent to his obvious intention to compete with Jiang Se, and he might be interviewed by Luo Yin.
When the script of "Criminal Suspect" was sent to Tao Cen, because it was copied from the original in Xia Chaoqun's hands, the name of the heroine that Xia Chaoqun had circled in the character outline of the script was also copied. Tao Cen took a look and found that this was the name of the female lead in the play, a righteous and compassionate police officer.
She was not surprised by this. With Jiang Se's current status, there was no other choice for her to star in Huo Zhiming's movie except as the female lead.
Just seeing the circled name undoubtedly confirmed what Song Yi had said before, that Jiang Se was indeed interested in this movie and the characters in it.
Tao Cen spent two days reading the script of "Criminal Suspect" and looking through the character outlines. It was no wonder that Jiang Se was interested in this movie, as Huo Zhiming's script was already quite outstanding.
The play unfolds from several different branch lines and depicts a complete story around the main line. The image of the heroine "Shen Xunran" in the play is very likable. She seems to have all the good sides that the audience will like. She is kind, just and strong. She has the gentleness of a woman and a firm belief that justice will prevail.
Jiang Se is indeed good at choosing roles. If she stars in this movie, as long as the actors' acting skills are good and Huo Zhiming shoots the movie according to the script, it is conceivable that the box office will perform well after the movie is released.
But sorry, Tao Cen touched the script, and gently stroked the three circled words "Shen Xunran", his eyes determined. Now this role no longer belongs to Jiang Se, because she decided to play it!
Tao Cen currently has other work plans. Her work schedule has been arranged until the end of the year. She has taken on the filming of "Criminal Suspect". If she wants to make time to shoot it, she may have to wait until next year. However, if she agrees to take on this movie, Huo Zhiming will no longer have to worry about investment. I believe he should be willing to wait.
Her plan to take on the film did not surprise Song Yi, who reported her decision to the company.
Song Yi didn't know how the company's top management would make the decision, and he didn't want to speculate whether Luo Yin would have a headache. But no matter how fast Jiang Se's status rose, "God's Redemption" was still being filmed, and Tao Cen was nominally still the leading actress of Century Galaxy, so Luo Yin would still give her this face.
Sure enough, two days later, Song Yi got the news from Luo Ao that the role of "Shen Xunran" finally belonged to Tao Cen.
Huo Zhiming had met Tao Cen once during the production. In terms of acting skills and fame, Tao Cen was more than qualified to play the role of "Shen Xunran" in "Criminal Suspect". She had more advantages than Fan Zhiyun, whom Huo Zhiming had originally favored.
After signing the contract with Tao Cen, Feng Nan was still filming on the set when she received the news.
The call was from Huo Zhiming's assistant. Dai Jia answered the call on behalf of Feng Nan. When the assistant said the word "sorry" in a very apologetic tone, a faint smile appeared at the corner of Dai Jia's mouth.
More than two months ago, Dai Jia quit her job as a waiter and applied for the position of Feng Nan's assistant. Taking advantage of the fact that Feng Nan's assistant resigned and was in trouble at the time, she easily got close to Feng Nan.
Compared to the other assistant who trembled in fear when facing Feng Nan's beating and scolding, she was patient and smart, and slowly began to take care of more of Feng Nan's chores.
The set was in a mess at the moment. The director was a young man with little experience. This scene had been filmed for several days. Feng Nan would always hold back his impatience in a corner where no one was around before venting it.
The director's filming was not going smoothly. After repeating a shot twice, several actors showed annoyance on their faces. The director had no choice but to call for a pause. When Feng Nan came over, Dai Jia had already unscrewed the cap of a bottle of mineral water and handed it to Feng Nan.
Her thoughtfulness and obedience earned her an approving look from Feng Nan.
"Who are you calling first?"
After taking two sips of water, Feng Nan asked casually.
The most important reason why she hired Dai Jia was not only because Dai Jia appeared when her assistant resigned and she was in need of someone else, but also because Dai Jia knew Jiang Se.
Feng Nan still remembers what Dai Jia said when she came to apply for the job. She said that she and Jiang Se were old acquaintances. In terms of acting skills and appearance, Dai Jia was not inferior. She even had an advantage over Jiang Se who was halfway through.
She graduated from the Imperial Capital Film and Television Academy, and her starting point was much higher than Jiang Se's. Jiang Se's second film, "Fake It, Fake It", was only with her introduction that he was able to get in.
But in the end, Jiang Se did better than her. Because she made a mistake when choosing the agency, she accidentally killed someone and spent several years in jail. Her star career was ruined. Jiang Se, who was inferior to her in every way in the past, became a big star, while Dai Jia, a girl who had a promising future, could only become a waitress in a restaurant in the end.
This is why Feng Nan is willing to use Dai Jia. The enemy of her enemy is her friend. (To be continued)