January 1998.
A strong cold air from Siberia moved south, and the temperature in Shanghai suddenly approached freezing point. The plane trees on Anfu Road have long lost their summer luxuriance, and they stand bare on both sides of the road.
There were very few pedestrians on the road in the afternoon. Occasionally I saw one or two, all with their necks tightened and their steps hurried.
This area used to belong to the French Concession, and was originally a gathering place for garden houses and villas. After decades of vicissitudes, most of the buildings have still maintained their original appearance. Only the 18-story Drama Center Building, which was just completed two years ago, stands out.
"Teacher Li, Teacher Li, the stock market is falling but not rising. It's too late for everyone to escape. Why are you still chasing the fall?"
"The most basic common sense of stocks is that they go up and down, so how can it only go down but not go up..."
At this time, the last rehearsal of the drama "The Color of Stocks" is taking place in the theater on the first floor of the Drama Center. Because it is a new year drama that will be performed after the Spring Festival, the creators behind the scenes and the leaders of the center sat in the audience to watch.
Li Tang sat in the crowd in the back row, watching the hard-working performances of the actors on the stage with relish, with a bit of novelty in his envious eyes.
He is a B player with a small role. In layman's terms, he is a substitute. He rarely has the opportunity to rotate on stage, and most of the time he is rehearsing. As a new actor who has just stepped out of theater school, rehearsals are both work and experience.
For example, the protagonist Xu Zheng, who is in a suit and a wig, looks like a human or a dog on the stage. He was a senior who was three years older than Li Tang. He had emerged as a prominent figure in the school when he was still in school. But after entering the drama center, I still started out as a walk-on, playing small roles, and after more than two years of eating dried radish, I gradually reached the center of the stage today.
In contrast, as a newcomer with mediocre graduation grades and having only been in the drama center for half a year, he was lucky enough to be able to participate in a big drama, even though he was a supporting role B.
In addition to the center's emphasis on and training of young actors, of course there is also the need for worldly sophistication.
It's just that at this time, Li Tang's young body is filled with souls from later generations.
In his previous life, he was a second-generation Chinese on Broadway. Both of my parents were top students from top universities in China. They were among the first batch of international students to go to the United States after the reform and opening up. They were the best among the top students and the best among the elites.
In that era when the gap between China and the world was huge, and the moon abroad was rounder than at home, studying abroad, permanent residence, and naturalization were the choices of many academics and elites.
Elite parents created a favorable family environment for him, but he did not inherit his parents' genes of academic excellence, but became obsessed with drama performances.
But in the United States, whether on Broadway or in Hollywood, the profession of actor is not friendly to Chinese Americans. It is difficult for a yellow-skinned Asian actor to be accepted in the general mainstream perception.
In Hollywood, there are only a few routes that Chinese-American actors can take: one is "Chinese Kung Fu" action movies, like those of Cheng Long and Li Lianjie, which are rare and extremely difficult. In the past few decades, two actors, Bruce Lee and Cheng Long, have been produced. A big star, even Li Lianlian can only be considered a second-tier star.
Secondly, it is a low-budget independent film with a limited audience and no big prizes. Most of the characters are suspected of being frivolous and smearing the current regime.
Finally, there is the appearance of facial makeup in commercial blockbusters due to the so-called "political correctness" need.
Even here, the competition is quite fierce. And not only Chinese Americans, but also many Koreans, Japanese, Vietnamese, etc. are facing competition.
The competition on Broadway is not as fierce as in Hollywood, and the income is meager, but professionalism is more important. After Li Tang failed to break into Hollywood, he did pretty well on Broadway, and occasionally played a few serious roles with heavier roles.
Unfortunately, he died in an accident, and then was mysteriously reborn in Shanghai in 1997 as a young man who had just graduated from the Shanghai Theater Performance Department.
This young man, also named Li Tang, is quite unlucky. That day he and his college girlfriend had dinner at a restaurant near the school.
Like most college romances, graduation means breaking up, and that meal is their breakup meal.
As a classmate, his girlfriend was much better than him. When he was a sophomore, he starred in the popular spy drama "No Regrets" as the third female lead. He collaborated with many big names such as Wang Zhiwen and Liu Peiqi. After graduation, he successfully He was admitted to the experimental drama troupe in Beijing and signed an agent.
Due to the long-distance relationship and the gap in career development, this relationship naturally came to an end.
But while eating, someone at the next table started fighting. One party is an idle member of society, and the other party is a student in the 96 acting class. Li Tang stood up to break up the fight, not wanting to be knocked unconscious by a bottle of wine in the chaos.
What follows is the fixed routine of all rebirth novels. The soul of the dead Li Tang in the United States takes the opportunity to seize the body and inherits all the memories of the original body. After a set of procedures, the new Li Tang wakes up in the hospital.
When Li Tang woke up, he was scared at first. After all, he was still unfamiliar with rebirth in his previous life in the United States. But coming back from the dead and starting a new life made him ecstatic and novel.
What's even more amazing is that the first face he saw when he woke up was Ada Wong from "Resident Evil 5". Although the face was much greener than the one in the movie, he still recognized it at first sight.
It's a pity that Ada Wang didn't stay with him for too long. After making sure that he was okay, she left in a hurry. Looking at the other person's back, the past tense flashed in her mind: classmate, girlfriend; present tense: classmate, ex Girlfriend; future tense: Ada Wang.
Ada Wang is the second female lead in Hollywood commercial blockbusters. She is very beautiful and can fight well. Like Zhang Ziyi and Michelle Yeoh, Chinese female stars cannot escape the stereotyped label of being a womanizer in Hollywood.
From the moment he recognized her, Li Tang was certain that his hard-working classmate and ex-girlfriend would become a big star in the future. Now from his girlfriend to his ex-girlfriend, although Li Tang has regrets, he is not disappointed. After all, he does not seek to last forever, but to have what he once had. The past few years of getting along still left him with good memories.
The fight was so big that the police came forward and detained the social idlers who started the fight. The students in grade 96 were also left behind. The leader was expelled and the rest received demerits. The only victim, Li Tang, was not implicated because he was involved in a fight and received a thousand yuan in compensation for medical expenses.
After rebirth, Li Tang was cautious at first, for fear of showing his flaws. Fortunately, the two Li Tangs had similar personalities in the past and present life, and with their professional counterparts, everything went as usual after half a year.
The only change is probably that he who was once unknown and only managed to get into the drama center by relying on greetings from his old leaders, in the first internal assessment, he impressed people with his mature performance, and also impressed the person who greeted him. The old leader was deeply pleased, so he successfully joined the creative team of the new year drama "The Color of Stocks".
"Hua Hua Hua..."
The rehearsal was very successful, and the center leaders spoke highly of it and also praised the creative team.
After the leader left, Li Tang mingled with a group of staff members and went on stage to help pack up the props, lift tables and move stools, and he was very skillful. He is a newcomer, and he was suspected of "opening the back door" at first, so he is very knowledgeable and will take the initiative to lend a hand in various chores and menial tasks.
After finishing his work, it was time to get off work. He got out of the central building and rolled out a brand new Xingfu 90 from the carport. It has a high base and handlebars and looks very much like a mini version of Harley. It is commonly known as the "Prince Car".
Just as he put on his helmet and was about to start the car, the car sank. A braised egg climbed onto the back seat, nagging: "Ride, hitchhike. Why do you want to run away without even saying hello?"
Li Tang looked helpless: "Boss, I have to go back to the countryside today, and it's not going my way."
Xu Guangtou was very private: "Oh, let's go around and kick the accelerator. I have good news to tell you."
"What's the matter?"
Li Tang had no choice but to start his motorcycle and slowly drive out of the central gate and turn east.
Baldy Xu's home is on Changshu Road, not far from the drama center, a fifteen-minute walk. Because Li Tang bought a motorcycle along the way, he took him with him twice, so the habit became natural.
Bald Xu put his hands on Li Tang's shoulders and said mysteriously: "I heard from Teacher Wei that the Shanghai Film Studio is planning to make a film to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the liberation of Shanghai, and has already started to select actors."
"You want to try it?"
Teacher Wei is an old master of the Drama Center. He has played Sima Yi in "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and Gao Qiu in "Water Margin". For people of Li Tang's age group, the most impressive one is the old lady in "Sanmao Joins the Army".
This time he and Xu Guangtou co-starred in the drama "The Color of Stocks", playing a father and son, which can be regarded as the old leading the new.
"I would like to, but how can I walk away in this situation?"
There was a strong sense of showoff in this guy's tone, and he continued: "I mean you can try it!"
"Uh...I won't go into this commotion. They don't have anyone." Li Tang shook his head.
Shanghai Film Studio has its own actor troupe, which is much larger than the Drama Center. They have several troupes there this time. Everyone is of the same type, not to mention that if the wealth does not go to outsiders, he feels that there is no hope at all.
"Why don't you go and give it a try? Let's touch your forehead. If you have time, it would be nice to make some extra money even if you do a small job."
Li Tang understood what Baldy Xu meant. He was just idle when he was idle, trying his luck and finding something to do.
He hesitated and said, "Do you know what the movie is about?"
"It seems to be about the liberation of Shanghai from Chenguang. Find out the details yourself. Oh, by the way, I heard that the director is Peng Xiaolian, who has just returned from the United States."
The name Peng Xiaolian is no stranger to her. She used to be a famous female director at the Shanghai Film Studio. She went to the United States for further studies in the late 1980s, but unexpectedly she has returned to China.
As they were talking, they arrived at the entrance of Alley 188, Changshu Road. Bald Xu got out of the car and said with a smile, "Go and ask, have a look. It might be an opportunity."
"Okay, bye!"
