Sheng Tang heard these words, only feeling as if some sharp sound scraped past her ears.
She might have been silent for a rather long time, so much so that she heard Gu Jiahui’s voice on the phone slightly raise: "Are you still listening?"
"Still here," Sheng Tang said, "I will delete it."
Gu Jiahui acknowledged with a hum and hung up the phone.
Sheng Tang held the phone, dazed for a moment.
Until someone called her: "Mr. Sheng?"
It was other crew members arriving.
Sheng Tang came back to her senses and greeted them. The makeup artist also arrived and began doing Sheng Tang’s makeup.
While getting her makeup done, Sheng Tang took out her phone and checked it, first deleting the call log, then locating Gu Shiting’s number and selecting delete.
She had long since needed to delete it.
Even if she hadn’t deleted it at the moment of their breakup, when she agreed to sign the contract with Gu Jiahui, it should have been erased.
Sheng Tang placed the phone beside her.
The morning had scenes for Sheng Tang; it was her and the leading actress Wen Yu’s scene together.
The two first rehearsed their positions and pre-ran lines, the director gave them some instructions.
Wen Yu’s acting was commendable.
Sheng Tang knew she was not the lead in this drama, and the film wasn’t carried by one person. If her acting overshadowed Wen Yu too much, causing imbalance in a scene, it would definitely affect the filming progress.
Therefore, when acting with others, she grasped the rhythm well, doing her best to align her own acting towards Wen Yu’s level.
Even so, after several takes, the director still sensed something was off.
The director announced, "Take a thirty-minute break."
Wen Yu and Sheng Tang were both a bit surprised.
The shooting had been going smoothly so far, everyone’s state was great, there was no need for a break, they didn’t know what was up with the director.
The director, however, found Zheng Weiwei and producer Wang Xi.
With films being shot digitally now, he could easily pull up the footage for Zheng Weiwei and the producer to see, no special film room was needed, very convenient.
So, the three of them began watching the footage from this morning in the director’s break room.
"Have you noticed any problems?" the director asked the two of them.
This was the unretouched and uncut footage, the long shots were a bit lengthy, the background noise also intrusive, the lighting slightly dim.
All these would need post-production work.
Zheng Weiwei and Wang Xi watched it through, both somewhat pondering.
Wang Xi spoke first, "Feels a bit off, can’t quite tell exactly where."
Zheng Weiwei said, "Wen Yu is being overshadowed by Sheng Tang. In these scenes, I can only see Sheng Tang’s brilliance, it’s hard for me to focus on Wen Yu, even when she’s speaking, I’m watching Sheng Tang."
"Right, right, that’s the feeling, Sheng Tang seems to be glowing," Wang Xi immediately added.
The director also nodded, "That’s right. Sheng Tang’s portrayal of Zhao Beibei should clearly be very unlikeable, but her speech and actions have the presence of a supermodel."
She’ll make you curious, even though she’s deliberately restraining her acting. I can tell, Sheng Tang’s performance is different from her audition; she’s accommodating Wen Yu’s acting.
Even so, her presence still overshadows Wen Yu. In shots where they appear together, Wen Yu’s presence is significantly diminished by her.
Sheng Tang is fully immersed in her character, making even the villainous role charming. That’s her professional skill."
Zheng Weiwei nodded as well.
"What do we do?" the director asked, "Wen Yu can’t match Sheng Tang. Her aura doesn’t complement Sheng Tang’s. In this film, we can’t have the leading actress losing so badly, can we? The leading actress is the box office draw."