Character Auditions

After obtaining Stephen Chow's Comedy Character Creation Techniques.

Lin Chuan had been practicing his skills in observing and understanding people.

There's an old saying: "The world does not lack beauty, only the eyes to discover it."

A quick search on Weibo confirms this.

If you replace "beauty" with "comedy," the same logic applies.

Everyone possesses a unique aura.

Whether one can capture this aura and determine if it will resonate with audiences on the big screen.

is a very rare ability.

And Lin Chuan had pretty much mastered this ability.

After a five or six-day break at home, Lin Chuan headed to school to prepare for the semester's commencement.

"Classmate Lin, I heard you like lemon water, so I bought this specially for you!"

"Classmate Lin, can you give me an autograph?"

"Classmate Lin, can I invite you to eat at the cafeteria?"

"Classmate Lin, do I still have a chance?"

Upon arriving at school, Lin Chuan discovered he had become a celebrity in his class.

Lin Chuan hadn't deliberately hidden his identity.

His Weibo account was also registered under his real name.

So, upon arriving at school, he was welcomed by many of his classmates.

Although many people online called Lin Chuan an "old thief," in real life, everyone showed him considerable respect.

After all, Lin Chuan, still a freshman, had already directed a film like Balloon.

It was top-quality and its box office exceeded eighty million.

He was clearly a rising star.

Lin Chuan added the contact information of many new classmates and told them that he would prioritize them for roles.

Jianghai City Film Academy was, after all, a renowned institution throughout Huaguo.

It was a win-win situation to give them priority for suitable roles.

Of course, Lin Chuan wouldn't deliberately add roles for his classmates just for the sake of it.

He wouldn't engage in the foolish act of jeopardizing a film for the sake of some intangible favor.

There were quite a few things to prepare after school started.

And some procedures needed to be completed.

After completing these procedures.

Lin Chuan went to the office of his counselor, Teacher Ma Wei, to discuss whether he could film a movie at the beginning of the semester.

Teacher Ma Wei was in his thirties, chubby, and had an innocent, amiable demeanor; he was a very kind counselor.

"You mean you want to shoot a movie while attending school?"

Teacher Ma Wei chuckled, "Of course, the school fully supports it. I saw your Balloon, and it was excellent.

To be able to direct a film with such a high box office as a student has already surpassed 99% of people!"

Lin Chuan smiled, "Teacher Ma, please don't praise me too much. I feel reassured with your support."

At the same time, he handed the script to Teacher Ma Wei:

"This is the script I wrote, please give me your guidance."

The script for Happy Family was a one-to-one recreation by Lin Chuan from memory, so there were naturally no issues.

However, since Lin Chuan was filming during class time, having his counselor review the script was a basic courtesy.

Ma Wei took the script.

He was actually curious about what Lin Chuan's new script would be like.

After all, Lin Chuan's previous work, Balloon, had been so impressive.

Of course, Ma Wei also planned to offer some small suggestions to this student.

While Balloon was indeed popular, it was an animated film after all.

There was still a significant gap compared to live-action films.

As the counselor for the Director Department at Jianghai City Film Academy, Ma Wei was no ordinary person.

He also had students who had directed films with box office revenues exceeding one hundred million.

Lin Chuan is excellent, but he is not the most outstanding among Ma Wei's students.

Ma Wei opened the first page of the script and began to read it carefully.

A few minutes later, Ma Wei's pace of turning pages suddenly quickened, yet his movements were surprisingly gentle.

More than ten minutes later, Ma Wei finished reading the script, still feeling somewhat unsatisfied.

Ma Wei took a deep breath:

"This script is amazing, especially the final twist!"

Ma Wei closed the script, feeling a bit ashamed: "I initially wanted to guide you, Teacher, but I didn't expect your script to be even more brilliant than I imagined!"

"If you need anything, just ask me, Teacher. I will fully support you!"

"Then I'll trouble you, Teacher!"

Soon, a banner for Lin Chuan's new movie casting was put up at Jianghai City Film Academy.

Happy Family, as a comedy film with "ghosts."

The casting of these ghosts became the top priority.

Lin Chuan listed "approachability" as an important criterion for evaluating actors.

In the first half of the film, these ghosts need to torment the protagonist in various ways.

They need to harm the protagonist without making the audience disgusted, while also making the audience laugh heartily as much as possible.

This requires the actors themselves to possess a certain level of charisma.

At the very least, their appearance should not evoke dislike or wariness in the audience.

On the first day of auditions, Lin Chuan interviewed several hundred actors, but by the end of the day, he hadn't found suitable candidates.

In reality, very few people possess genuine approachability and maintain it long-term.

This not only requires a positive and proactive mindset but also the resilience to withstand life's wear and tear.

Initially, many people might be approachable.

However, in real life, these individuals might be mistaken for being weak and easily bullied, treated like pushovers.

Under the pressure of life, with their spirits constantly on edge, this approachability might disappear.

The casting for the "ghosts" remained undecided for a long time.

However, Lin Chuan did find several actors.

First, for the role of the nurse that the male protagonist has a crush on in Happy Family, Lin Chuan cast the Senior Female Student.

After all, the Senior Female Student had accompanied Lin Chuan throughout his growth.

The acting skills required for this role were perfectly within the Senior Female Student's comfort zone.

Furthermore, with the addition of Stephen Chow's Comedy Character Creation Techniques, the performance would undoubtedly impress the audience.

Among the several "Star Girls" made famous by Stephen Chow, some did not achieve significant success after leaving him.

A large part of the reason was that after separating from Stephen Chow, they no longer found roles as perfectly suited to them as those in his films.

For several other supporting roles, Lin Chuan cast people he knew from school.

Of course, Happy Family is not a youth romance drama, and most of the characters are ordinary people.

The majority of the characters are around thirty years old.

Despite his fondness for his classmates, Lin Chuan did not force them into the Happy Family cast.

Just as Lin Chuan was agonizing over this.

The head of the acting department at Jianghai City Film Academy approached Lin Chuan.

He certainly wasn't there for the auditions.

He had come to observe this promising newcomer director.

The department head had watched both the animated film Balloon and Spoon Killer Demon, and he greatly admired Lin Chuan's imagination and creativity.

The basic skills demonstrated in Spoon Killer Demon and the bold, terrifying art style in Balloon had left a deep impression on the department head.

When Lin Chuan saw the department head, his eyes lit up.

A greeting was about to blurt out subconsciously:

"Hey, isn't this the department head who studies foreign languages?"

The department head's surname was Hou, but his appearance bore a striking resemblance to Chen Qingquan from a certain TV drama who liked to study foreign languages late at night.

Especially that air of refined detachment mixed with hypocrisy, that shrewdness tinged with cunning slyness.

And that ingrained lechery.

It all made Lin Chuan's heart race.

What a perfect candidate to play a perverted grandfather!