Chapter 458: A dare
Translator: eunimon_ Editor: Caron_
One may say that Xu Ming was very arrogant.
But he could afford to be arrogant – he had both skills and a strong backer.
Although his acting skills were a far cry from old-school artists, if Xu Ming was compared to a group of young idols, his acting skills would be considered pretty good.
For example, the classic bad example, Gong Xu – even though he gained popularity through his stunning looks and abundance of wealth, his acting was too horrible to even watch – he could only show one facial expression from start to finish. He couldn’t even remember his lines and only said the numbers 123456 while acting, forcing the dubber to add his lines in manually. Photoshop cutouts, using substitutes, and all kinds of other shady techniques weren’t out of the ordinary.
So a young man like Xu Ming who was popular, had a sponsor as his backer and had average acting skills was already considered quite remarkable.
No wonder he got the part of Lin Luo Chen in Ye Wanwan’s past life.
If the director was anybody else, Ye Wanwan wouldn’t have dared to bet that Luo Chen could fight with Xu Ming, but the director this time was Song Jin Lin – the Song Jin Lin who revived the second season of “Terrifying Dragon” to fulfill Lin Zong’s final wish.
To him, the most important principle – more important than having sponsors or the original cast, was the artist’s acting skills and also, his perception of the role.
In her past life, Xu Ming was the best candidate according to Song Jin Lin.
However, if there was someone more suitable for the role than Xu Ming…
The hype she created for Luo Chen was simply to help him gain entry into the competition. Right here was where Luo Chen’s real fight would begin.
Facing everyone’s ridicule and insults, Ye Wanwan curled her lips upwards and said casually, “If you’re talking about fame, background or backing, Luo Chen doesn’t compare to Xu Ming; he’s not even as good as anyone else here.”
“But since today’s the casting, the judges only care about one thing – talent.”
“And from what I heard just now, Mr. Xu seems to have a misunderstanding of my artist’s abilities? I’m afraid I have to let you all down today. If there’s nothing going on behind the scenes, then based on acting skills alone, nobody can replace Luo Chen in playing the part of Lin Luo Chen!”
Ye Wanwan’s words immediately caused an uproar.
“Damn! This person really dares to talk big. Nobody can replace Luo Chen in playing the part of Lin Luo Chen? He isn’t scared of getting his tongue twisted for bragging, huh!”
“This new manager is too cocky!”
“You mean brainless! He dared to spout nonsense even at times like this; he’s just ruining his own reputation!”
…
When Xu Ming heard what she said, his face darkened. His manager, Wu Zheng Fei, looked at Ye Wanwan and sneered, “Tsk, manager Ye, don’t be so boastful. If you get slapped in the face later, I’m afraid that wouldn’t look too good, huh!”
Ye Wanwan waved him off. “Then why don’t we have a live telecast, a public casting?”
Wu Zheng Fei instantly furrowed his brows when he heard her words.
Ye Wanwan turned directly to Xu Ming and asked, “Why? You don’t dare?”
There was a storm of protest after Ye Wanwan said that.
“Damn, is he crazy?! He actually requested a public live telecast of the casting? Is he not embarrassed enough?”
“What do you guys know? This Ye Bai is so crafty – he was able to bring an artist past his prime into a casting like this – how could he not have any tricks up his sleeve? He’s obviously trying to freeride on Xu Ming’s fame!”
“So that’s why… he clearly knows he’ll lose without a doubt, yet he still wants to take advantage of Xu Ming’s popularity! He’s really shameless!”
Everyone was in the middle of a heated discussion when the director, assistant director, producer and the others entered one after another. Some of them had overheard the conversation between Ye Wanwan and Xu Ming.