Pet King

Chapter 416: The Director

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

“Please go home and wait for our notice!” said the assistant.

Leading with his German Shepherd, a man asked hopefully, “How was it? Did it pass? My dog ??is well-behaved, and it looks very good on camera. Even if it isn’t be chosen to play a leading role, it should be able to play a supporting role, right? You need more than one dog to shoot a movie… ”

The assistant patiently repeated what he had just said and asked the man to go back and wait for the notice.

Persuaded by the assistant, the man took his dog and walked to the door. Just then, the capricious man let go of the leash in his hand and ran back to the director, frantically kneeling in front of Feng Xuan, crying, and begging him, “Director! Director Feng, I grew up watching your movies, I beg you to give me this chance! I just lost my job, and I have a large family to support. If I don’t get this role, my family will starve to death! ”

Feng Xuan was wearing a very expensive suit, but the suit was stained with soot and dust everywhere, plus with the numerous folds, the suit looked like it had been purchased from street stall. He rubbed his temples exhaustedly and did not bother to lift his head. He did not even want to say anything to the man in front of him. This person’s performance was actually quite good, but today, the audition was about dogs.

“Please don’t do this. You are embarrassing everyone. Please go home and wait for our notice, if your dog passes the audition, we will call to inform you,” said the assistant, glancing at the security guards on the side.

The two guards forcibly pulled the man from the ground, one on either side.

The man wiped away the tears he had just squeezed out. He still did not give up. He said, “What if I am taking a bath or sleeping when you call, and do not answer the phone?”

“We’ll call you over and over again until you pick up, and if you have not picked up, we’ll be at your place to find you. Haven’t you left a lot of contact information, including your address? Please rest assured,” persuaded the assistant.

Such things were too common in the audition process. Women would behave in a pettishly charming manner, while men would sell their tragedies. Even the young assistant had grown familiar with these scenes, not to mention the well-experienced Feng Xuan, who had already become immune to such dramas.

Everyone knew about the high salaries of showbiz, so it was not strange that so many people were desperate to get even a supporting role in the movie, not to mention today’s audition was to choose the protagonist, although the protagonist was not human.

The security guards were also unlucky. They dared to pull at the man, but did not dare to pull at his dog. Who knew whether this dog would let strangers pull at its leash? Some dogs had been trained to only recognize their owners, and would bite anyone other than their owner that tried to touch them. During the audition process, there had been two or three security guards bitten by dogs. Fortunately, the crew was generous and covered the cost of the damages, otherwise no one would be willing to do this job.

“Take your dog, too,” reminded the assistant.

“Well, remember to call me, do not forget…” the man implored the director over and over again, and finally led the dog and left.

“Next!” The assistant went outside and shouted down the corridor, then went back inside again.

“How many are left?” Feng Xuan repeatedly flipped through a stack of pictures of various dogs — these were the candidates selected from the auditions. Although none of them could make him completely satisfied, if no dog could be selected from the auditions today, he could only choose the best available.

The assistant looked at the tablet in his hand and replied, “There is only one that has made appointment.”

Most of Feng Xuan’s previous films were about wars, and occasionally some were about police and gangsters. He could be considered a senior director, who hadn’t created specifically blockbuster movies, but none of his movies had received particularly bad reviews. This was closely related to his principle of refusing to produce movies of poor quality and withstanding the pressure from all interested parties who tried to put people in the movies—in any case, he must personally select the protagonists and the important supporting roles. Regardless of how powerful their influential friends were, those people could only play unimportant and small roles in his movies.

His stubborn and tough gestures had offended a lot of people and he had not received appropriate films for a while, until the script for Dog Warrior was handed to him.

He had read the script several times, and felt that the script was quite good. The plot was very inspirational and very touching, and because one of the producers was the Tie Dun Film and Television Center, the film would pass the censorship system smoothly and probably would become a blockbuster movie after it was released. Despite all this, he was not prepared to take over the film. The reason was very simple: the protagonist of the film and many of the important supporting roles were dogs.

Feng Xuan had never shot any animal-themed films. The most animal-related scene in any of his movies was the scene where Japanese soldiers used big yellow dogs to invade Chinese villages… How he was supposed to make animals understand his intentions and interpret the plot of the movie, he had no clue at all.

Though cinematographic skills and special effects could solve part of these problems, in the end they were not a permanent cure, just like how idols and young actors couldn’t deliver the same emotions as veteran performers did. Experienced actors could vaguely release a specific meaning through a simple gaze or a slight movement, communicating with the audience via the screen.

Feng Xuan was over fifty years old, and he had two regrets in his movie career. One was that he hadn’t filmed a blockbuster movie, and the other was that he had never cooperated with big-name, award-winning actors from the Western countries. He wondered what it was like to work with those actors.

After reading the script for the first time, he had thrown it aside randomly. Because he was busy, he did not immediately return to the script, and then forgot about it.

The next day, his wife saw the script when she was cleaning the house. She was thinking of bringing it to her husband, but then she became so immersed in reading it that she even forgot to prepare lunch. She loved animals like kittens and puppies, but she had stopped raising pets since the death of their previous Labrador. Before going to sleep that night, she handed the script to Feng Xuan, persuading him to take over the film, saying that even if it did not become popular, it would be a rare experience for him, and it was better for him to undertake the project than to let this excellent script be destroyed by other directors.

Feng Xuan was moved by his wife’s words. Coupled with the fact that he had no films to work on at the moment and the fact that it was boring to stay idly at home, the next day, he called the producers and agreed to take the film.

Since he had promised to shoot the film, he thought he should do his best, and soon he began to contact the screenwriters to discuss making changes and adjustments to the script. His wife, a loyal fan of the story, also gave him a lot of advice. After the script had been finalized, the complicated work of pulling funds, selecting actors, and organizing a shooting team came one after another. However, he was accustomed to the shooting process. Using his own old team as the major crew, and having some young attractive actors and actresses jammed in by various influential friends, the staff was soon in place.

The obstacles lied in choosing dogs. The protagonist of the film and several important supporting roles were dogs. Where was he to begin? At the beginning, he asked the police dog training base of Binhai City for help. The training base was very cooperative, and almost brought all the police dogs over to audition. But Feng Xuan felt that these police dogs were trained to be too obedient. They were stiff and lacked spirituality.

So, he decided to conduct an audition facing the public. He must be serious about casting the protagonist.

His wife not only liked kittens and puppies, but also liked to watch foreign animal films. It was she who had advised Feng Xuan to make the names of the animal actors and the trainers appear in the closing credits of the film. She said that there were many capable brains in society, and that doing this could attract truly capable trainers and talented dogs.

Of course, the film itself required using police dogs, so only German Shepherds, the most representative breed of police dogs, were allowed to participate in the auditions. Since so many people were attracted to this, the audition became chaotic. During the few days when the crew began to rent the courtyard, barking sounds were heard frequently everywhere, and due to some dogs being poorly trained, a few people had gotten bit.

Right now, Feng Xuan was regretting his decision to conduct auditions, and he even regretted taking over the film. But it was too late — he could only bite the bullet and do it now.

Sitting next to Feng Xuan and co-presiding over the audition was Nie Yuan, director of the Tie Dun Film and Television Center, and one of the producers.

Nie Yuan quite impatiently advised him, “Lao Feng, there’s no time to dilly-dally, I think these dogs are all about the same. I can’t see many differences among them, just choose one.”

Feng Xuan understood that Nie Yuan was trying to protect the producer’s interests. If he prolonged the audition further, not only would a funding gap occur, but morale may even slack, and it wouldn’t be surprising if the project came to a premature end. If producers suffered huge losses, Feng Xuan would be put on their blacklist, and he would never get the chance to work on theatrical films with big-budget productions — he would be destined to only shoot Webisodes or indie movie like rookie directors…

In the face of realistic pressure, he could only choose to compromise.

Feng Xuan reluctantly sighed, putting the stack of resumes down, “Seems like it’s the only way.”

Upon hearing the obstinate Feng Xuan finally give in, Nie Yuan instantly stood up and happily said, “Director Feng, come on! Let’s go to have lunch, someone is treating us!”

Feng Xuan looked at the watch and said, “It’s so early and far from lunchtime… who is buying? Where are we going to eat?”

Nie Yuan squeezed his eyes and grimaced, “The public relations department of Stars Pet Chain Supermarket. We are going to the most upscale restaurant in Binhai City.”

Feng Xuan immediately frowned, waved and said, “Director Nie, how many times have I told you? I will not let their dog become the protagonist just because they promised to sponsor the film. I want to be responsible for my movie. No, I’m not going, you go yourself.”

Nie Yuan urged him, “Director Feng, haven’t the auditions ended? Since you have to choose one dog as a protagonist, why not…”

“There is one more dog auditioning, isn’t there?” Feng Xuan asked, looking at the assistant again, “Why not let it come in?”

“Well… I’ll go take a look.” The assistant wondered if the dog owner had flaked out on them.

Just when the assistant had opened the door, he almost bumped into two men walking in from outside.

“I’m sorry we’re late,” Sheng Ke smiled.