Chapter 1950 The Tyrant on Set

Since it was still early, Zhao Fusheng decided to stay on set and watch Jiang Wen and the others shoot.

Watching them, he indeed learned a lot.

Actors all like to add scenes for themselves, after all, it signifies their status in the film or TV drama.

For instance, International Zhang, when participating in the film *Climbing*, explicitly stated that if her role wasn't given a romantic subplot to make it more rounded, she wouldn't sign the contract.

So after the screenwriter submitted the original draft, the chairman of the production company revised the script eighteen times until International Zhang was satisfied and signed the contract.

And the cost?

A mountain-climbing film originally meant to celebrate the main theme was somehow turned into *The Everest Love Story*—what more could be said?

Although the original script by the writer was indeed not great, a mess, an actor forcing the production company to change the script just to add scenes for herself was truly exasperating.

International Zhang does have acting skills, but her character? That's another story.

She has a mountain of dark history, yet she turns around, participates in a few variety shows, peddles the persona of a good wife and good mother, and thinks she can whitewash herself—that's impossible.

Besides, she only met a director like Li Rengang; if it were a set tyrant like Jiang Wen, would she still want to add scenes?

Hah, he'd scold her to death!

What is a set tyrant?

This starts with the identity of the director.

A director is an artist who creates dreams, an engineer of light and shadow, and a true star in this industry, but in the corners unknown to the public—that is, on set—he can also be a tyrant, a control freak.

To make the 'chess pieces' in his hands—the actors—perform to his satisfaction, directors often use every trick in the book, all kinds of tactics, to stimulate their acting.

Sometimes these methods are positive and constructive, making the collaboration between director and actor as natural and smooth as a duet of qin and xiao.

But more often, the ways directors treat and motivate actors are controversial, even inhumane in the eyes of outsiders, yet it is precisely these tricks employed by directors that give us the classic films we see today.

Among these 'notorious' directors, most are auteur directors—this is no accident. In the operation of big-budget commercial films, studios can replace directors for the smooth running of the project and its needs, and stars often hold higher status.

But in auteur films, directors are all highly prestigious and occupy the core position; everyone has to run around to satisfy their artistic style and filming habits. When they hold great power on set, they naturally do whatever they want with the actors.

Hitchcock liked to use real actions on set to provoke genuine reactions from actors. For example, when filming *The 39 Steps*, he actually handcuffed actress Madeleine Carroll to experience the role. Diane Baker also recalled that during the filming of *Marnie*, Hitch deliberately ignored her on set to make her angry, just like her character.

When Zhao Fusheng saw this, he even thought, this guy is no director, he's a thug!

But that's nothing. The truck driver started from the bottom of Hollywood's sets and step by step became one of the world's most famous directors. In this situation, the guy only trusts himself and doesn't listen to others at all.

When filming *Titanic*, he showed that his work was his own decision. The studio wanted Matthew McConaughey for the lead, but he insisted on DiCaprio, refused to insert product placements, and wouldn't shoot a sequel—another interpretation of the set tyrant.

When filming *The Abyss*, all the actors first obtained diving certificates for the plot. Later on set, Cameron wore a special diving helmet equipped with a one-way communication device that could issue commands. Others underwater had to obey his orders and couldn't talk back. This forced the crew to invent sign language to communicate in a flooded set converted from a decommissioned nuclear plant's containment shell.

Even more terrifying, the breathable liquid used in the film was actually used in the shooting process, whereas before it had only been tested on animals. During filming, Ed Harris didn't breathe the liquid, and his eyes swelled up.

Additionally, in one scene, the actors soaked in water for a full five hours. The lead actress, Mastrantonio, broke down physically and mentally on set, vowing never to work with Cameron again. The latter also admitted, 'I don't want to go through this kind of filming again either.'

Scary, isn't it?

Really scary, but that's the director's authority.

Even when facing big-name actors, it's the same.

Why did Jiang Wenli, despite being disliked by Jiang Wen, still stay with the crew and not dare to leak any news to the outside? Not only because of the deterrence of Future Group or Future Film, but because the director was Jiang Wen.

Even though her husband Gu Changwei is also a director, she didn't dare to challenge certain boundaries.

If an actor completely suppresses the director on set, either the director is useless with no ability to resist. As long as the director has some influence, the actor is essentially narrowing their own path.

So even a big star like Fat Brother, when Jiang Wen was filming, absolutely respected his authority.

If told to reshoot, he reshoots; if told to do something, he does it.

That's a truly smart actor.

As for International Zhang, hah, she probably forgot her days under the National Master.

"That's not right, do it again!"

"Reshoot!"

"Cut!"

"Cut!"

I don't know what was wrong today, but Zhao Fusheng's presence might have put some pressure on the crew. Mistakes that usually didn't happen occurred one after another.

Even Fat Brother made two mistakes, which really surprised Zhao Fusheng.

"Let me adjust."

Fat Brother seemed to feel his mood was off and proactively asked Jiang Wen for a break.

Jiang Wen had no problem with that and simply called another group to come up and continue shooting.

A moment later, Old Jiang's furious roar echoed on set...

"How is it? Interesting, isn't it?"

Fat Brother sidled up to Zhao Fusheng and said with a smile.

"Not bad."

Zhao Fusheng smiled: "Not my first time seeing it. By the way, Fat Brother, did you ever encounter such a director in Hong Kong?" "I'm okay."

Fat Brother smiled: "I generally don't cooperate with that kind of director. They're too nitpicky. You know Mirror King Wang? I don't take his films because I'm afraid he'll torture me to death."

"Ah?"

Zhao Fusheng was taken aback; he didn't know about that.

Fat Brother smiled and told him stories about Mirror King Wang.

As a top director in the Chinese film industry, Mirror King Wang's films never lack big stars, and his habit of 'not writing scripts' and long shooting cycles naturally leads to friction with stars.

Rumor has it that when filming *Happy Together*, Old Wang 'tricked' Leslie Cheung and Emperor Liang into going to Argentina to shoot, without telling them it was a gay-themed film, but there's no solid evidence.

But Brother really almost delayed his concert because of filming *Happy Together*. As the concert date approached, Mirror King Wang wouldn't let him go, so he had to fly back to Hong Kong from Argentina just tens of hours before the show, perform, and then return to act... Even Leslie Cheung was treated like this; other actors had it worse. For example, Kwan Suk-yee followed the crew to Argentina for several months, but in the final cut, she didn't even see a trace of herself.

But the most extreme was filming *Days of Being Wild*. On the first day of rehearsal, everyone experienced Mirror King Wang's 'torturous' skill: Jacky Cheung ate over twenty plates of Italian pasta; Carina Lau's smoking scene was shot ninety-eight times; Leslie Cheung's toothpick-playing scene was shot over a dozen times. At that time, Leslie planned to hold thirty-three concerts at the Hong Kong Coliseum and then emigrate to Canada. Through Chen Shanzhi's introduction, he decided to make a cameo in *Days of Being Wild*. But as filming went on, Mirror King Wang became increasingly satisfied with Leslie under the lens, so he expanded his role, and eventually Leslie became the male lead.

And when filming *Ashes of Time*, due to Mirror King Wang's slow progress, a group from the same crew was pulled by Jeffrey Lau to shoot the slapstick comedy *The Eagle Shooting Heroes*, with Mirror King Wang as producer.

Moreover, because of the slow progress, Wang Xianxian's contract expired before she had shot much, so they had to bring in Yang Caini as a replacement. During editing, Mirror King Wang wanted to delete all of Wang Xianxian's scenes, but since her name was already written into the funding agreements, cutting everything would be hard to explain to investors, so he kept half of her face in one shot, and in the Taiwan version, she appeared for eight seconds. However, when he later re-edited *Ashes of Time Redux*, Old Wang deleted everything without hesitation.

"Really?"

After hearing the gossip from Fat Brother, Zhao Fusheng was stunned. He really hadn't expected that Mirror King Wang had such skills.

So this guy not only screws over investors but also actors.

"Some true, some false."

Fat Brother said with a smile: "That's why I dare not work with him."

"Hahaha."

Zhao Fusheng laughed. He knew that Fat Brother was joking; with his acting skills, he certainly wouldn't be afraid to work with Mirror King Wang as he claimed.

The reason they didn't collaborate was likely a mismatch in style.

You see, Mirror King Wang specializes in literary films, while Fat Brother hasn't acted in literary films for many years.

Moreover, Fat Brother's image inherently exudes boldness, confidence, and ease, which doesn't match the gloomy, brooding characters in Mirror King Wang's films.

It's like asking a young idol to play a founding general—not that they can't act well, but it's simply impossible!

"I heard that Director Jiang is planning to replace the actress playing the county magistrate's wife?"

After chatting for a while, Fat Brother suddenly asked Zhao Fusheng.

Zhao Fusheng was startled, looked at him, and felt a bit surprised inside.

This guy wasn't the type to be gossipy.