Becoming a Movie Star, System Only Finished Loading After Ten Years

The film "Steel Piano" transformed Qi Hao from a well-known actor into a director enjoying a modest fame.

With a box office of thirty million and rave reviews.

Though some still think "Steel Piano" was Zhang Meng's work, Qi Hao has both the script and the money.

So, when it came to "First Love, This Little Thing," people like Lu Yang, Zhang Ruoyun, and trained students vied to join the cast.

Now, Qi Hao has started shooting his third film.

Although this movie's script wasn't bought for three million like "Steel Piano," nor did he spend 2.4 million on "First Love, This Little Thing," at 1.5 million the script from Korea still had enough buzz.

At most, some domestic screenwriters criticize Qi Hao for admiring foreign things excessively.

If there were no significant flaws but criticism persisted, it generally involves vested interests.

Qi Hao has indeed purchased domestic scripts.

The most expensive script he bought was the domestic "Steel Piano."

This time the public audition was for very few roles, primarily this nine-year-old girl.

This age group of child actors might at best play a cameo, not the young version of a major female lead; opportunities to appear are rare.

Qi Hao's new script clearly stated the minimum appearances for the actress.

Securely a leading female role tier.

Exciting parents of eligible little stars already in entertainment or girls aspiring to break into the industry.

For two days, there wasn't a moment of rest, with audition after audition.

Initially, it was child stars with previous works, and later mostly newcomers with little understanding of acting.

Qi Hao did his best to find a little girl who could play the role as herself.

"Can you introduce yourself?"

The young girl here is obviously younger than the others, mainly testing her thinking, comprehension, and expression abilities.

If communication or understanding isn't possible, no matter how suitable she is, it won't work.

"Hello uncle and auntie, my name is Zhao Jinmai, nickname Mai Mai, from Shenyang, Liaoning..."

The young girl quickly answered.

"When did you arrive in the capital, did you come by plane or by train?"

Qi Hao interrupted her directly.

"Arrived two days ago, we came by plane."

Once interrupted, the young girl answered the question without much hesitation.

"Okay, continue."

Qi Hao circled her age section prominently.

Born on September 29, 2002, she is currently only seven, which is slightly younger than Qi Hao's requirement of about nine.

Previously, domestically age was counted by nominal age; birth counted as year one, each lunar new year added a year.

Nowadays, age is more calculated by actual age, counted by complete years or birthdays since birth.

It's still August now, and there's a month to go before the young girl's seventh birthday.

Yet, she isn't without advantages.

Her eyes are large and bright.

They would be greatly impactful when refined.

"What's your favorite fruit?"

Qi Hao interrupted her introduction yet again.

"..."

The seven-year-old girl was interrupted again during her well-rehearsed introduction, but instead of crying, she thought a moment and listed some fruit names.

"Mom says don't be picky, eat various fruits for nutrition."

"Call out Mr. Wang for me, would you?"

"Mr. Wang."

"Now, someone is making trouble for you, and your beloved Mr. Wang chooses to ignore you. Do you know what ignoring means? Now show me an aggrieved yet slightly angry look."

Auditing all day, Qi Hao personally posed so many questions for the first time.

Lu Yang understands, Qi Hao favors this little girl.

However, seven is too young. It's not about the plot; Xiaomi's young age doesn't affect the story. What matters is how communication would be difficult, complicating filming.

Aggrieved yet angry?

The young girl hearing this request suddenly stopped holding back.

You asked me to introduce myself, and I obediently did, yet you kept interrupting me.

No manners at all!

I feel very aggrieved and angry right now!

"Show panic and helplessness, I'm a bad person about to take you away."

Qi Hao saw the previous performance was excellent, so added the test on a whim.

"Ah!"

Zhao Jinmai stepped back.

"Act subtly like me, try seeing if you can portray like this?"

Qi Hao demonstrated briefly without much bodily movement, shifting the acting focus to the eyes.

Even twenty-six, twenty-seven-year-old actors trained in the industry find it difficult to mimic Qi Hao's finesse.

Yet, Zhao Jinmai considered and managed to mimic it with 30-40% accuracy.

This impressed Qi Hao and the others.

Being taught just once and yielding such effect is quite impressive.

Performing no worse than those child stars who cameoed initially.

Those child stars were over ten.

Don't underestimate kids.

Many children's acting can not only surpass adults, but even trained adults.

Qi Hao, with not particularly high talents, was below par in acting when debuting.

He spent a long time observing diverse people to improve his acting.

At first, he believed older people should excel most in acting.

So focusing on observing the elderly, I can't say there were no gains, but it was far from what I imagined.

Later, as I gradually matured, I recalled that time and realized what mistake I had made.

Having experienced too many people, it's hard to be moved anymore.

The side they show in life is wrapped in layers of packaging, a kind of complex acting that the then Qi Hao couldn't learn.

Instead, it was from some children that Qi Hao gained a lot.

It's not so strange for a child of six or seven to have some acting skills.

"Come, think of something unhappy, cry for me to see, don't cry loudly, cry slowly..."

Qi Hao added another test.

"Mr. Wang... can you demonstrate for me?"

The little girl hesitated. She was good at crying, but "don't cry loudly, cry slowly"—what kind of crying was that?

"I'm Qi Hao; Mr. Wang is a character in the movie."

Qi Hao corrected her, so the little girl wasn't a prodigy after all.

"Oh, Uncle Qi, can you show me?"

Zhao Jinmai cautiously asked, her mom said that once she entered the room, she should be obedient.

"Okay, watch me; I'll demonstrate once: wait a moment, have you studied acting, like acting classes?"

Qi Hao suddenly shifted the topic.

"Yes, my mom takes me to acting classes every Saturday."

Zhao Jinmai nodded. Her mom didn't tell her not to mention this.

"How long have you been learning?"

Qi Hao realized this child had already been introduced to acting, no wonder she showed something in her performance.

The parents were clever enough not to mention it in the profile.

Still, even if she'd attended a training class, being at this level at seven was quite good.

She's a kid who can make a career out of it.

"Almost a year," Zhao Jinmai answered honestly, and then asked, "Uncle Qi, when will you cry for me to see?"

"Don't rush, I need to get into character too."

Qi Hao sighed, really feeling like he'd shot himself in the foot.

But this level of acting was easy for him, and Qi Hao was soon able to cry pitifully.

In the movie, Xiaomi is a really cute child, despite many issues.

In these Uncle and Little Lolita films, the uncle is responsible for being handsome, and the little lolita primarily needs to be cute.

"Uncle Qi..."

Zhao Jinmai softly called, please stop crying, your tears are making me uncomfortable.

"Alright, it's your turn now."

Qi Hao signaled the little girl to start her performance.

Zhao Jinmai imitated Qi Hao's style to act; of course, she didn't perform as well as Qi Hao, not by a long shot.

However, for a grown man like Qi Hao, acting cute and crying was unsightly.

Yet, the cute little girl nearly in tears made people want to hug her and comfort her.

"Alright, alright, you can go find your mom, tell her to wait for the call."

Qi Hao waved her off without any hesitation.

He hurriedly ushered out the little girl, visibly about to cry, whom he'd stirred up.

After Zhao Jinmai left, they began to discuss.

"Seven years old is a bit too young. Even eight would do."

Lu Yang could naturally discern Qi Hao's favoritism towards the little girl just now.

During previous auditions, Qi Hao rarely asked so many questions; sometimes, he didn't participate at all.

"She's still a month away from being seven," Yang Liu emphasized.

"The kid is quite sensible; I feel like having a little sister."

Gao Fei seemed a bit sentimental; when she was young, her mother often asked if she wanted a brother or sister, and she always objected.

Brothers and sisters would take her toys.

Later, her mother passed away, and she could no longer have siblings.

"Indeed, a bit young, so let's keep her as an option. Last month for 'Tangshan Earthquake', Feng Xiaogang hired a seven or eight-year-old girl to act, I'll ask him for any advice later."

Qi Hao was inclined to choose Zhao Jinmai for the role; her image fit the movie role, she had some acting talent, and she'd received professional training.

The most important thing was that communication was not an issue.

This was extremely important.

Even if an actor could essentially become the character, if communication failed, it would make shooting very difficult.

Like clamoring to go home during shooting, or throwing a tantrum after several NGs, or not understanding instructions no matter how you explained.

After the filming of "Wait and See", Hei Liu and Hei Qi made Qi Hao realize how hard it was to capture moments based solely on luck.

The next day, more little girls around nine years old came for auditions.

Zhao Jinmai wasn't the youngest, some born in 2003 were auditioning too.

Qi Hao's tone was slightly stricter, deliberately harder to please, which left some crying hysterically.

Finally, the candidates in front of Qi Hao focused mainly on a few little girls.

Guan Xiaotong, Song Zu'Er, Zhao Jinmai, Li Landi, Zhang Xueying.

Two twelve-year-olds, one eleven, one ten, and one seven.

The eleven or twelve-year-olds were slightly too old.

Qi Hao wasn't old enough, the age gap isn't big enough, it could easily give off a "This Killer Is Not So Cold" kind of CP vibe.

This was something Qi Hao was trying hard to avoid.

He didn't want to be accused of having a crush on young girls, and there was no romantic storyline in this movie to begin with.

Ten was the right age, but the temperament didn't fit, and their acting wasn't significantly better than the seven-year-olds.

After much discussion, Qi Hao finally decided on the seven-year-old.

Filming would start at the beginning of September, she'd be seven by then.

But the little girl likes to call him Uncle Qi, looks like they better change the surname of the lead male in the script.