The second scene took place in a hospital.
After the male lead was revived, he found an uncle sitting by his bed, smoking.
A nurse came over and scolded him, telling him he wasn't allowed to smoke.
The male lead turned his head and realized the cigarette was between his own fingers.
Because of the invisible uncle, the doctor thought the male lead was mentally ill.
Just as the doctor was about to ask whether he had any other invisible friends, the male lead suddenly heard someone crying.
The sobbing came from a pretty young woman.
Naturally, the doctor couldn't see her either.
So, as a matter of course, the doctor concluded that the male lead was genuinely insane.
His imaginary friends had increased from one to two.
In the middle of the night, the male lead had to pee, so he went out to use the restroom.
He spotted an old man in a floral shirt crouched on the reception desk, blowing papers onto the floor.
While the nurse was distracted picking up the papers,
the old man admired her ample backside.
And just like that, there were three ghosts haunting the male lead.
The next day, the male lead woke up, thinking it had all been a dream.
He asked the medical staff making their rounds what was going on with the little boy bouncing around on the bed beside him.
The staff turned to look and saw nothing but an empty bed.
The smoking uncle was played by Lin Chuan's counselor, Ma Wei.
As you'd expect from someone trained in acting, his performance was outstanding.
The pretty young woman was played by the art teacher, Xu Xiu.
The role itself wasn't very demanding, and Teacher Xu Xiu's acting was more than up to the task.
The little boy had even fewer scenes than she did.
Lin Chuan played the male lead, portraying his panic and bewilderment after encountering ghosts with remarkable skill.
His helpless frustration at being unable to convince anyone that he was the only one who could see the ghosts was especially amusing.
But the most outstanding performance came from Director Hou, who played the lecherous old man.
It was fair to say that every wrinkle on Director Hou's face could act.
His lascivious gaze had reached a level of perfection.
The movie needed a shot of Director Hou staring at the nurse's backside.
A man would play the nurse's backside.
For one thing, plenty of men were actually in better shape than women, and some even had perkier bottoms.
For another, not a single actress was willing to play a nurse bending over to pick up papers.
After all, Director Hou was a department head at the film academy.
There was no shortage of actresses willing to take shortcuts and do whatever it took to get ahead.
But Director Hou's gaze was so lecherous that it made people feel as if they were being defiled.
That kind of defilement of the soul might have been even harder to endure than physical violation.
But you had to hand it to a veteran actor.
He could look at a man's ass and still manage to make his gaze so lascivious. He was a role model for us all.
The second scene wrapped up quickly.
Everyone had done well, and they only needed to reshoot a shot or two now and then.
Soon, it was time to film the third scene.
According to the usual logic of the story,
after being discharged, the male lead went to ask a spiritual medium for answers.
The medium told him that his near-death experience had opened a door in his body.
He could see ghosts, and they could possess him and control his body.
Until he fulfilled their lingering wishes and sent them on their way, the male lead could forget about killing himself.
The third scene took place after the male lead went to see the charlatan.
It showed the everyday life of the male lead and the ghosts.
After bringing the four ghosts home,
they took turns possessing him.
After Perverted Grandpa possessed him, the male lead started drinking and flirting with the aunt next door who was hanging up her blankets.
After the little boy possessed him, the male lead started gorging himself on cakes and other food.
After the smoking uncle possessed him, the male lead's home looked as if someone had set off a smoke bomb.
After Crying Aunt possessed him, the male lead went to a residents' meeting and wept like a child.
The scene sounded simple, but it wasn't easy to pull off.
Lin Chuan had to portray four different characters at once, making it instantly clear to the audience which ghost had possessed the male lead.
The first moment Lin Chuan performed was when Perverted Grandpa, played by Director Hou, possessed him.
He stuck his head out the window and greeted the aunt next door, who was hanging blankets, with a lecherous grin.
The aunt first yelled at him, then blushed coyly and touched her cheek with the back of her hand.
She thought she must have gotten younger.
The scene was tricky to get right.
After all, a renowned philosopher had once said that even seasoned perverts had different tastes.
Even if they liked both mature women and little girls, they still had their own preferences.
How could the audience tell at a glance that Perverted Grandpa had possessed Lin Chuan?
And how could Lin Chuan avoid coming across as greasy, sleazy, and repulsive? It would take exceptional acting and a thorough understanding of the character.
Lin Chuan's solution was to make Perverted Grandpa a heavy drinker.
Once he was drunk, his face turned red. He stuck his head out the window and leered at the aunt next door as she hung up her floral blankets.
The aunt jumped in fright, and the blanket slipped from her grasp and fell to the ground.
She pointed at Lin Chuan and said, "What... are you doing right now?"
Lin Chuan raised his brows, wiggling them in an absurdly funny way.
Between the person he was flirting with and the character's setup,
this reduced the audience's natural dislike of lecherous ghosts as much as possible.
The second scene was the little boy possessing the male lead and gorging himself.
Lin Chuan had to portray the boy's innocent purity.
He also had to show the instinctive resistance to food of an adult who wanted to lose weight.
That made sense in the script, after all. The little boy was just a child.
His spiritual power was weak, so unlike the other ghosts, he couldn't take control of the protagonist.
Lin Chuan's shifts between the two personalities were seamless.
His gaze shifted between longing and fear as he looked at the cake.
His expression went from satisfied to utterly miserable.
After scenes featuring the little boy, the uncle, and Crying Aunt,
Lin Chuan's performance made it seem as if he really had been possessed.
While filming this scene, the one who kept needing retakes wasn't Lin Chuan, but the actors he was imitating.
Everyone at the set had the exact same expression.
Their eyes were wide, their mouths formed an O, and their faces were blank.
They were stunned. Everyone was completely stunned.
Lin Chuan's performance was simply incredible.
He wasn't human!
When Lin Chuan imitated Perverted Grandpa, Director Hou felt like Lin Chuan was playing him exactly.
He couldn't help wondering if he and Lin Chuan were related by blood.
There was no way Lin Chuan was a child he'd fathered out of wedlock, was there?
Of course, if Lin Chuan had known, he would have scoffed.
Director Hou might have been able to play a pervert convincingly, but his looks were nowhere near Lin Chuan's level.
Lin Chuan's counselor, Teacher Ma Wei, was beginning to question his entire life.
He felt he didn't deserve to be Lin Chuan's teacher.
And there was no need to mention his imitations of the other characters.
Every one of them felt as if Lin Chuan were holding up a mirror.
The little boy actor was the most affected.
He even thought he'd mastered some kind of "spiritual power."
He believed he could make Lin Chuan do exactly what he did.
It took everyone quite a while to explain things to the young actor.
They filmed three major scenes in a single day.
Lin Chuan was pleased with the production's progress.
At this rate, Happy Family would be finished in about a month.
Lin Chuan took Happy Family very seriously.
The reason was simple: after Balloon came out, audiences generally thought Lin Chuan only knew how to make horror movies.
After all, from Spoon Killer Demon to Hide-and-Seek to Balloon, he'd only made horror movies.
Lin Chuan didn't want audiences to think he could only make horror films.
After all, in the world of directing, directors who only made horror movies ranked lower than other directors.
There were two ways to prove himself.
One was to keep making horror films, but take the genre to an entirely new level.
He could become a groundbreaking master like Hitchcock.
The other was to try making films in other genres.
Lin Chuan's choice was to do both.
First, he would try other genres to prove to audiences that he could do more than make horror movies.
Then, he would make some horror thrillers that would blow audiences' minds.
The Usual Suspects, Saw, Fight Club, Se7en.
They would definitely change the way audiences saw him.
Happy Family was really a lighthearted, heartwarming comedy disguised as a horror film.
It didn't attract audiences with suspense and terror, but with warmth, humor, and healing.
If Lin Chuan wanted to change the way audiences saw him, the quality of this film would undoubtedly be crucial.
Before you continue