Counting both lifetimes, it was the first time for Tao Mu to go to Africa. There were not many traces of modernization on the vast grassland, and the setting sun hung precariously on the horizon, reflecting half of the sky and the surrounding fields into orange red. On the big tree in the distance, one could even see a leopard coiled on the branch. Looking into the vast open distance, one could feel one’s horizon become more open.

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

The filming location of the crew was in an abandoned factory. The props team, the lighting team and the camera team were setting up the shooting scene. Tao Mu, who had already done his makeup, pulled the stunt performer who was going to act with him later, to the side to carefully discuss the scene to be filmed later. Cheng Baodong rolled the script into a barrel shape, walked to Tao Mu, and pulled Tao Mu to sit down on a prop box where he explained to Tao Mu about the scene with a serious face.

“Soldier Elite: Knife Unsheathed” tells the story of several special forces from the TV series “Soldier Elite” who went abroad for the first time on a mission. Although in the entire script, the only elements related to “Soldier Elite” are the names of the leading actor and a few supporting actors, but as long as the movie is released under the banner of “Soldier Elite”, there will inevitably be bored people who compare the two works together. Cheng Baodong had pride, of course he didn’t want someone to say that the TV series was better than the movie. What’s more, the filming cost of this movie had exceeded 100 million. There were few domestic films with such a huge investment. Cheng Baodong also didn’t want to be criticized as a director who didn’t deserve the resources and couldn’t control such a huge crew after the movie came out. So this time directing the film, Cheng Baodong was also going to put in his best efforts.

Putting aside Cheng Baodong’s character and temperament, in terms of professional ability, Cheng Baodong was definitely one of the best directors of commercial films in the domestic entertainment industry. Tao Mu also benefited a lot from listening to him seriously explain the scenes to be filmed.

Because the later scene involves explosives, the demolition team was constantly testing on the side. Explosions sounded one after another, and Cheng Baodong, who was explaining to Tao Mu, suddenly said with emotion: “I just like making commercial films. Many people think that the films I make have no meaningful content. In fact, what meaningful content does a commercial film need? As long as it is cool enough.”

Cheng Baodong said that since he was a child he liked watching explosions in action movies. When he watched Hollywood blockbusters before, it was always a group of foreigners playing the heroes. The adrenaline stimulated by various blasting scenes had him jumping in his seat. There were also Hong Kong movies, and the various gun battle scenes were also very eye-catching. On the other hand, the movies in the mainland were either about bound feet or some kind of scar literature. The actors, regardless of gender, always appeared dirty and poor and spoke in dialects. It was simply just tiresome to watch.

When Cheng Baodong said this, he asked Tao Mu: “What about you? Do you prefer to make commercial films or art films?”

Tao Mu glanced at Cheng Baodong, and said, “As long as the script is good, I will like it. But relatively speaking, I still prefer a faster pace.”

“That’s right!” Cheng Baodong nodded: “I think your current path is very good. In fact, young people with good acting skills should act more in commercial films. Some young people, obviously very talented, plunge into literary and artistic films and can’t get out. And they even feel that they are quite high-class and noble. They will regret it when they can’t get any scripts in the future. There is no distinction between male and female actors, the prime time is only a few years. If it is wasted, it will come back. Good resources also need popularity. Otherwise, why did the producers and investors choose you as the number one male lead?”

Cheng Baodong felt that Beijing Film students’ current career direction was a bit off. Obviously, the students’ acting skills were not bad, and their appearance was also acceptable, but because they were too focused on acting skills and art films, they were not as good as Yan Film’s second-rate students in a few years after graduation. Especially some female students. Cheng Baodong felt a pity just looking at them.

Fortunately, this situation improved a lot after Tao Mu entered the school. “The Great Wall of Flesh and Blood” and “Fashion Storm” made many sophomores and juniors of Beijing Film Academy become familiar faces in front of the audience, and the resources were gradually improving. This was actually a good thing. Acting was a job that focused on actual practical experience. Actors could only hone their acting skills better if they practice more in front of the camera. Working behind closed doors was useless. After a long time, they wouldn’t even get used to being in front of the camera. So despite the fact that there were only 20 or 30 students graduating from Beijing Film every year, there were some who quit the circle every year.

Listening to Cheng Baodong’s rambling words, Tao Mu knew that Cheng Baodong intended to show his goodwill, but he still couldn’t let his pride go, and he couldn’t help but chuckle secretly in his heart.

Suddenly, an assistant came over and said that the set had been set up. The demolition team and stuntmen tested it several times and it was fine. Tao Mu himself could now go to familiarize himself with the position.

Tao Mu got up, followed the assistant into the set, and took the submachine gun handed over by the props team. The demolitionist and the stunts coordinator surrounded Tao Mu, telling him about his position and movements later.

This scene was about the hero played by Tao Mu and several other special forces sneaking into the enemy’s base camp to rescue the hostages. There were not many lines, mainly action. All kinds of gun fights and blasting shots. Playing against Tao Mu were several strong foreign men who were nearly two meters tall. The chest muscles were bulging, and the arms were as thick as Tao Mu’s thighs when raised. The visual contrast was particularly striking. Therefore, Cheng Baodong asked that the fighting scenes later must highlight the smooth fighting of special forces and the ability to kill with one blow. It was required that Tao Mu’s movements must be strong and must not be limp.

“If it doesn’t work, then just fight for real. The kind with punches connecting to the flesh!” Cheng Baodong looked at Tao Mu’s slender figure in comparison with the stunt actors, and said seriously.

Although Tao Mu also began as a martial arts extra, the stuntmen recruited by the crew were all boxers. From Cheng Baodong’s point of view, compared with these stunt performers, Tao Mu’s basic skills were practically decorative. So he asked Tao Mu to really fight while filming. This was for the pursuit of shooting effect.

Tao Mu frowned slightly.

“Don’t worry, all the staff of our crew have signed confidentiality contracts.” Cheng Baodong took a look at Tao Mu and added. Afraid that Tao Mu would not really fight due to concern over his image. After all, this kid had deep shrewdness, and the two of them still have grudges. In case Tao Mu privately speculated that he wanted to take this opportunity to discredit Tao Mu, under the banner of pursuing the shooting effect, to signal Tao Mu to really fight, and then find someone to reveal that Tao Mu was playing big names on the set to bully the stuntmen. It was inevitable to have such concerns.

Cheng Baodong felt that he sincerely wanted the shooting effect to be good, so he was not afraid to tell Tao Mu clearly: “Aren’t the camera crew recording the behind-the-scenes of the shooting. This will also be evidence.”

With these words, the originally noisy studio suddenly became quiet. Everyone looked over at the same time.

The stuntmen standing next to them didn’t speak Chinese very well, and their faces were full of bewilderment.

Tao Mu was slightly taken aback. He didn’t expect Cheng Baodong to say that. He actually didn’t think of this just now, but was just thinking that if he really fought, how many moves of the stuntmen could he resist. After being reminded by Cheng Baodong, he now understood. It turned out that Cheng Baodong meant to let him fight for real and have the stunt performers restrain their hits.

“Since it’s for the shooting effect, then it has to be a real fight. Otherwise, in the camera, there will be a difference.” Tao Mu was quite confident in his fighting skills. After all, he grew up in the alleys since he was a child. After that, he also trained in the army for so long, and also trained with the special forces for several months. His physical fitness was there, even if it was not as good as those in boxing, it would not be much worse.

After all, the stuntmen in front of him had just trained in boxing, not illegal boxing.

Tao Mu knew that the reason why Cheng Baodong gave such instructions was that on the one hand he was not confident in his martial arts skills, and on the other hand he was afraid that the stuntmen would hurt him, which would be difficult to explain to the Li family and also delay the filming. But everyone was here to film. If there were too many scruples, this scene would not be able to be filmed.

Tao Mu looked at the special actor, patted the other actor on the shoulder, and said in English: “You really hit too.”

Cheng Baodong’s expression changed: “Isn’t that unnecessary?”

“It’s okay!” Tao Mu waved his hand calmly: “Let’s first try it out.”

Cheng Baodong’s face was not very pleased, but he waved his hand. The five sets of cameras were ready and the lights were ready. The clapperboarder took the clapboard and slapped it in front of the camera. Camera No. 1 slowly advanced, and Tao Mu was holding a pistol and hiding behind the pillar bunker, panting slightly, as various gunshots could be heard in his ears.

Tao Mu held a pistol in his hand and kept shooting back under the cover. After firing a few shots, he quickly rolled and rushed behind the door. Just this one action made Cheng Baodong’s eyes shine. Regardless of the accuracy of Tao Mu’s shots, the appearance of the action alone could be regarded as a standard textbook stance.

Unlike many Hong Kong gunfight movies, where the hero had endless ammunition, after Tao Mu changed the magazine with one hand twice, the submachine gun ran out of ammo very quickly. Tao Mu met the thug played by a stunt actor, and a fist-to-flesh fight followed. Tao Mu pressed down the stuntman’s arm with his own, and with a cross clamp of his legs he imprisoned the stuntman’s neck. The stuntman’s other hand clenched into a fist and slammed into Tao Mu’s right leg. However, the hero played by Tao Mu kicked his chin causing him to pass out.

“Cut!” Cheng Baodong called “cut” in time, reluctantly moved his eyes away from the monitor, and looked at Tao Mu on the set. He found that it was not without reason that Tao Mu became so popular in just two to three years.

Not to mention that beautiful play, the most important thing was his amazing expressiveness in front of the camera. In fact, real fighting was far less beautiful than the movies show. Many actions need both sides to be entangled together, the scene was not only awkward, but also slightly embarrassing. However, Tao Mu had a talent for showing off skills in this respect. Even in the move of using one’s legs to clamp the opponent’s neck, which looked rather embarrassing to outsiders, he could still pull it off beautifully and keep it pleasing to the eye. And there was a strong killing aura in every gesture, like a vigorous leopard hunting. Even in the messy studio, Cheng Baodong could feel a strong visual impact, not to mention the effect of the film after post-editing.

It was precisely because of this that Cheng Baodong asked for once with some concern, “Are you okay?”

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

Tao Mu’s face was a little blue, he let go of the stuntman, and rubbed his calf. He just asked the stuntman to do it for real, and the stuntman indeed gave him a solid punch. Those blows hurt quite a lot. Tao Mu felt that his calf must be bruised.

However, the big talk that he made must be held onto even while kneeling. What’s more, Tao Mu, who had a ton of idol baggage, couldn’t kneel. He just waved his hand calmly, indicating that he was fine. Cheng Baodong was also a straightforward person, so seeing Tao Mu’s normal expression, he believed it. So he called the crew to continue filming the next few scenes——all fight scenes.

Tao Mu: “…..”

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