The Best Director

The streets weren’t very crowded, and Ginny looked at the man and woman approaching her. Both wore T-shirts and denim shorts, and the girl also wore a sun visor cap. The brown-haired girl had a nice figure, which made Ginny take a second look. Suddenly furrowing her brow, she looked at the tall, dark-haired Asian man and exclaimed, “Oh my…” as she hurried over and said with surprise, “Are you Yang and Jessica? Oh gosh, I can’t believe I’m seeing you here!”

Wang Yang and Jessica both stopped in their tracks, knowing they were probably fans, and greeted her with a smile, “Hello.” Ginny rummaged through her waist bag for something, and said, “Hey, I’m Ginny. Yang, could I get your autograph?” She searched through her purse and eventually produced a makeup pen, handing it to Wang Yang with a smile, “Just sign on my T-shirt, wherever you like.” Saying this, she stood up straight.

“Oh!” Wang Yang took the makeup pen, glanced at Jessica, who smiled with her arms crossed and an “I don’t care” look on her face. He chuckled and scribbled his signature on the shoulder area of the girl’s T-shirt, “There you go.” It had been a long time since he had encountered fans asking for autographs on the street, but with the recent release of “The Pursuit of Happyness, his popularity and exposure had spiked, bringing back such encounters more frequently in the past few days.

Ginny glanced at her shoulder and said contentedly, “Hmm, perfect! Yang, ‘The Pursuit of Happyness’ was so good, I think you could totally take home the Best Director at next year’s Oscars.” Wang Yang just shrugged with a smile, thinking it was too early to contemplate the Oscars, and said, “Thanks for your support.” Ginny, with interest, asked, “And, you have another movie coming out this year, ‘Juno,’ right?”

“Yes, if everything goes as planned, it should be released during the Christmas season this year,” Wang Yang responded and glanced at Jessica, who was smiling, then said to the enthusiastic fan, “Ginny, we have to go now, so goodbye.” Ginny nodded, clutching the makeup pen, and suddenly turned to Jessica, “Jessica, do you want to sign one too?” Jessica was taken aback for a moment and then shook her head, “No, thanks.”

Wang Yang walked ahead with a mischievous smile, with Jessica following closely. Watching them walk away chatting and laughing, Ginny turned away, thinking, “She’s one lucky girl!” The youngest billionaire, the future youngest Best Director, and such a gentleman… where could she find a boyfriend like that?

“Jessica, is that guy at ten o’clock part of the paparazzi?” While walking, Wang Yang looked across the street. There, a man with a long lens camera was snapping photos in their direction. Jessica glanced over and nodded, “Yeah, looks like it.” Wang Yang laughed, self-depricatingly saying, “Lucky I didn t sign on that girl’s chest earlier.” Jessica also laughed, “If you had, you might have gotten slapped.” Wang Yang frowned and chuckled, “From you?” Jessica playfully responded, “Guess!”

Neither of them paid any mind to the paparazzi, as they had long become accustomed to, or rather, learned to ignore their presence, and just went about their business as usual, shopping for clothes and dating like normal.

After walking a bit, Wang Yang’s phone in his pocket suddenly rang. He pulled it out to see “Annie-Darren” on the caller ID. Jessica pointed to a beverage shop up ahead, “Yang, I’ll go buy us two drinks.” Wang Yang nodded, watching her quicken her pace towards the shop, then answered the phone, “Hi, Annie?” “Hello, Director, I hope I’m not disturbing you?” Annie’s voice on the other end seemed to be suppressing excitement. Wang Yang laughed, “Not at all, I’m just out shopping.” Annie immediately gushed, “Director, I just wanted to tell you that my audition was successful, I got another role!” Wang Yang couldn’t help but exclaim “Wow!” happy for her, “Congratulations, Annie!”

“Yeah! Director, I have to thank you! Not about how you saved my life.” Annie’s laughter was filled with joy and gratitude as she said, “It’s about this role, the producer and the director had seen ‘The Pursuit of Happyness,’ they recognized me as the hippie girl right away, they said ‘Yang’s insight is fantastic, she’s a great supporting actress,’ so they gave me this opportunity.”

Wang Yang, looking at the paparazzi across the street still taking photos, answered into the phone, “Annie, no need to thank me, you acted well! You know, I’ve noticed you have a strong presence on camera, which is the makings of a good actor, you have the talent.” Annie laughed dumbly on the other end, “Thank you, Director.” Wang Yang also smiled, “I mean it.” Having shot and edited two movies, he had come to understand that amongst the extras, some could stand out and attract attention, while others were just there to fill the scene.

Seeing that Jessica hadn’t come out yet, Wang Yang asked, “What kind of role is it?” Annie quickly replied, “Oh, that role has five scenes where she can converse with the female lead, adding up to over a dozen lines of dialogue; she’s a quirky and funny classmate in the school…” Wang Yang listened to her attentively, and when she finished, he asked, “Did the director give any specifics on how to play it?” Annie laughed cheerily, “The director, well, not every director cares that much about minor roles. He didn’t say anything. Just perform at the set when the time comes.”

“Ha!” Wang Yang smiled, thought for a moment, and then said, “Annie, these opportunities are rare, it doesn’t matter how the movie does, that won’t be your responsibility, but if you play that small role well, you’ll have more opportunities.” Thinking of what he had learned in the editing room, he said, “On one hand, you have to be captivating, but at the same time, not too much, since a supporting role is just that. But when you tap into the function of that supporting character in that scene, and you express it just right, conveying it through your facial expressions, you’ll discover you have a lot of close-up shots when you watch the movie…”

“Hmm…” Annie listened very seriously at the other end, suddenly saying, “Wait a moment, director, can you speak slower? I can’t keep up with writing down.” Wang Yang was taken aback—was she actually taking notes? He was just speaking off the cuff… He nodded and said, “OK, I’ll speak slower.” Then he slowly repeated what he had just said. Annie laughed happily, “Thanks, I’ll think deeply about your words, it’s great to get pointers from you, the future Best Director!”

“I just realized you like to joke around sometimes,” Wang Yang said with a smile, blinking somewhat sheepishly. The words he had just said were spoken on a whim, and in truth, did not provide much guidance for grasping the role. Thinking of this, he seriously said, “Annie, if you have any questions about that role, give me a call, see if I can be of any help.”

Seeing Jessica coming out of the drink shop with a beverage in hand, Wang Yang went up to meet her while saying to the phone, “Annie, I have to hang up now.” Annie laughed on the other side, “Alright, I won’t keep you, bye.” During this short holiday of just a few days, Wang Yang enjoyed half of it leisurely. Why just half? Because he was also preparing for the “Juno” crew. The work wasn’t difficult; it was almost entirely the same team from “The Pursuit of Happyness.” However, for things like costume design, he had contacted the staff from “High School Musical.”

Meanwhile, as May 26th to June 1st became history, the second week of “The Pursuit of Happyness” screenings came to an end. In that week, the number of theaters showing the film increased to 3,420, bringing in a box office of $47-831 million, making the total box office over $88,529 million. However, this high box office figure didn’t allow it to retain the title of the top box office film of the week, ranking second instead; “Mission: Impossible 2” claimed the first place with $82,701 million. Ranked third was “Dinosaur” with $30,902 million, and the newly released action blockbuster “Shanghai Noon” was fourth, with $20,266 million. With the release of “Mission: Impossible 2,” the summer movie season fervor officially began.

In response to “The Pursuit of Happyness” having to graciously concede the box office throne so soon, “Movie Weekly” ‘s box office report took on a somewhat schadenfreude tone, jokingly saying, “The summer season is just that brutal. Even though ‘The Pursuit of Happyness’ is both critically acclaimed and financially successful, it enjoyed the limelight for only a week. Wang Yang’s kung-fu overcame Jackie Chan, but lost to John Woo. Maybe he needs to get more violent, let Will Smith go back to being ‘Men in Black’ and take down the agile Tom Cruise. Is that his next movie? Sounds pretty good.”

Wang Yang could say for certain, it wasn’t. The pre-production of “Juno” was pretty much completed, and all that was left was to cast a few other major supporting roles. Once Natalie Portman was on summer break, they could start shooting. Fire Flame Studios had begun contacting talent agencies quite a few days ago, naturally for casting “Juno,” and the agencies had already sent back the resumes of potential actors.

At this time, Wang Yang was sitting on the sofa at home, looking at the laptop on the coffee table, browsing through the profiles of various actors. He didn’t need big names; as long as the image and acting skills fit the bill, everything would be fine—Juno’s classmate, Juno’s father, Juno’s stepmother, middle-class family couple… He clicked the mouse to go to the next page when suddenly his phone next to the laptop rang, and it was Natalie Portman.

Since confirming her role in “Juno,” Natalie called him almost every other day with strange and intriguing questions about Juno—what’s Juno’s zodiac sign, what’s Juno’s blood type, does she like eating spinach, and why? Although Wang Yang sometimes felt like laughing at her questions, he always answered seriously. For questions he couldn’t answer, he told her to fill them in herself. He knew that Natalie was trying to construct and “give birth” to a real Juno in her mind to immerse herself into the character’s world and become the character.

This method can sometimes be dangerous, the so-called “getting lost in the role.” If after the performance one is unable to shake off the character from their mind, it can lead to numerous psychological issues, such as insomnia, drastic changes in temperament, and so on. However, Wang Yang thought that since Natalie herself studied psychology, she probably understood it better than him, and he didn’t need to worry about this aspect.

As Natalie grew more comfortable with her portrayal of Juno, they started to occasionally text each other, and she would only call when a new question popped into her mind. But now that June had arrived, and without a call from her, Wang Yang felt it was time to reach out. Picking up his phone, he connected and said, “Hey, Natalie, are you on summer break yet?” “Hey, Yang,” Natalie responded calmly, then added, “The semester’s over, I’m back in New York.” Wang Yang chuckled, making small talk, “So, how’s college life? Done anything stupid?” Natalie sounded puzzled: “What kind of stupid things?” Wang Yang leaned back on the sofa, telling his phone, “Plenty, like trying to sneak into a nightclub? Skinny-dipping? Who knows, it’s a mystery.” When he had first arrived in Los Angeles, he too had indulged in some wild behavior but soon found it meaningless. Besides, he was determined to forget that girl, and as a result, his life became very “dull.”

“Sounds like you’ve gone skinny-dipping?” Natalie seemed to zero in on that detail. Hearing this, Wang Yang burst into laughter, “No way, absolutely not! I don’t have the time. Maybe in my junior or senior year I’ll consider it? But you know my story.” Natalie suddenly laughed heartily, her tone shifting completely from the prior calmness, “I’ve already done plenty of silly things, dude, I almost went skinny-dipping!”

Is she “Juno” now? Wang Yang asked curiously, “Natalie, you’re not going to develop dissociative identity disorder doing this, are you?” Natalie on the other end chuckled, nonchalantly saying, “Don’t worry about that, I know how to control it. Every move she makes is under my watch. Ha! So, I’m on summer break already and I’m already Juno. Everything is good on your end, right?” She? Was he referring to Natalie, or to Juno? Wang Yang frowned, he wasn’t causing her to become the “Black Swan,” was he? Shaking his head with a smile, he said, “No problems here, I’m all prepared, and the crew is ready too. But I’ll need another half month to find the actors for the other roles.” Natalie’s voice returned to its calm state, “Oh, half a month? I hope to finish ‘Juno’ before August, then I have to go to Sydney for ‘Star Wars: Episode II’. I don’t want to miss any classes. Of course, I won’t allow this to affect the movie, so just go with your own schedule.”

My schedule? A month and a half for shooting should suffice, there aren’t any big scenes, and Juno doesn’t need to fly…” Wang Yang shrugged, telling his phone, “It mainly depends on your performance, the fewer NGs, the faster we’ll be.” Natalie expressed surprise and disdain, “Oh, buddy, do you think I’ll NG that much? Enough to make a comedy out of the outtakes? That’s a joke!” Helplessly, Wang Yang closed his eyes, thumping his head against the sofa, then chuckled again, exclaiming, “Natalie, you nut, you drive me crazy!” Still showing her disdain, Natalie responded, “What’s the movie’s name going to be? ‘Natalie’s NG Show’? ‘Natalie’s Silly NG Show’?” Wang Yang couldn’t help but laugh and said, “OK, OK, I apologize, alright? If there’s nothing else, I’m hanging up, I need to give my brain a rest!”

You could try standing on your head and dunking it in water; it might work according to some silly theory…” Natalie sounded very serious, which made Wang Yang laugh, “I’ll leave that to you! Bye!” Suddenly, he remembered something and called out to her, “Wait a minute! I’m going to announce it to the media, the news about you playing Juno.” Natalie casually said, “Oh, announce it, but I think you might need to worry about it more.” “Maybe,” Wang Yang said with a laugh, then hung up and shrugged, continuing to review the information on his laptop. When he had finished checking all replies from one talent agency and moved on to the next, the sound of the door opening, along with Jessica and Joshua’s voices, came from the entrance: “Why are you following me here?” “I’m here to see Yang, it’s none of your business.”

Suddenly, Joshua came bursting in, holding a bag of something, and greeted with a smile, “Hey, Yang!” Jessica followed behind, smiling at Wang Yang, then walked toward the kitchen with the item in her arms.

“Yang, I need a favor, just a simple thing,” Joshua said as he took a seat on the sofa, pulling out a marker and an object from the bag. Wang Yang saw it was a large glamorous photo of himself. Joshua handed it over with a smiling request, “Yang, could you please sign your name on this for me?” Wang Yang nodded, assuming it was for a friend of Joshua’s who wanted an autograph, so he took the marker and photo and signed it, saying, “There you go.”

“Now this one.” Joshua brought out another photo, which Wang Yang signed again. Then, as Joshua reached for yet another one, Wang Yang asked with a hint of confusion, “How many do I need to sign?” Joshua gave him a grin, opened the bag wider, and Wang Yang saw a huge stack of his photos inside. Joshua said with a smile, “Just sign these and you’re done.” Wang Yang was taken aback and blurted out, “What’s all this about?”

Joshua chuckled, knowing he couldn’t hide it any longer and confessed, “I’m planning to put them on eBay, autographed photos by the Amazing Yang!” Wang Yang couldn’t help but roll his eyes and said irritably, “Dude, will anyone actually pay money for that?” Joshua’s eyes widened as he clenched his fist and said, “Of course! Your popularity is through the roof right now! Plus, I’ve already done some market research, and there are loads of people who want to buy them. Please, just help me out, it’s the least you could do!”

At that moment, Jessica walked out of the kitchen, puzzled by what she heard. When she saw the photos, she immediately understood what was going on and exploded in anger, “Joshua, you idiot! Didn’t I tell you not to pursue these crazy ideas?” She had been bothered by Joshua about this before, and although she had not agreed, she hadn’t expected him to move over to Yang now.

“Yang, my dear brother!” Joshua ignored his sister’s roaring, hugged Wang Yang with a pitiful look on his face, and pleaded, “Look, I’ve already made copies of the photos, they cost me a hundred US dollars! Just sign them for me, please. I need money, I really do!” Wang Yang patted his shoulder but shook his head, “Joshua, forget about it. This is not a good way. My autograph is only worth a few bucks because none are being sold on eBay; if they were, it would be worthless. And frankly, I don’t want to sell my autograph.”

Joshua let go of him in a frenzy, pulling at his hair and said, “What should I do? I need money! And I just lost a hundred dollars!” Jessica took a deep breath, picked up the bag of photos from the coffee table, and said, “I’ll give you a hundred dollars for these photos. I’ll buy them all. It’s a good thing they’re Yang’s photos, otherwise, I don’t know who would bail you out.” Joshua looked at her helplessly and said, “Oh my God! What am I supposed to do now!” If Joshua needed money due to some urgent difficulty, both Wang Yang and Jessica would have given it to him without hesitation; but his need for cash was to chase after a girl, and Jessica had explicitly forbidden Wang Yang from lending money to him. Wang Yang could do nothing to help, and besides, lending money to him would hardly benefit Joshua in his efforts.

“What about that DV camera?” Jessica asked with a furrowed brow, seeming unable to stand it any longer, “Sell it! Then you’ll have money.”

Joshua vehemently shook his head, “No, I’m not touching the DV camera! Uh, even though I don’t know how much it’s worth now, I know it will appreciate in value.” He wrapped an arm around Wang Yang’s shoulder, grinning, “You know, it’s a legendary item. Yang doesn’t even have one Oscar for Best Director yet. Haven’t you seen online predictions? He’s going to get one, and he’s going to break the record for the youngest winner. By then, I can sell the DV camera for a fortune.” Wang Yang covered his eyes and said, “It’s not certain I’ll win one.”

“You sure have an eye for investment!” Jessica couldn’t help but smile, set the bag of photos aside, and said, “Joshua, why don’t you join Dad and learn about the mortgage business in real estate?” Joshua slumped against the couch, groaning, “Ugh, ugh, ugh… spare me, man, that’s not my dream. Right, that’s what Yang said!” His spirit revived as he raised his fist, “If you have a dream, you’ve got to fight for it! And my dream is to be a great actor, that’s it.” Jessica laughed and said teasingly, “Please, spare me the act.”

Wang Yang looked at the resolute Joshua and suddenly smiled, “Little bro, I’ve got an opportunity for you to make some money and chase your dream, too. Are you in?” Joshua’s eyes lit up, “What? You’ll let me be the main character in a movie?” Wang Yang shook his head, smiling, “Not quite yet, but ‘Juno’ is about to start filming, and as I’ve mentioned before, you can play one of the classmates; if you want to earn more, you can also work on set doing various jobs.”

“Oh, a minor role, and odd jobs…” Joshua chewed on his thoughts for a moment then shouted, “Yes! I’ll do it, brother, count me in!” Wang Yang punched him in the chest and smiled across at Jessica. With a very happy smile on her face, Jessica said, “Joshua, go and chase your dream, I’m rooting for you!”

“But Yang, could you maybe wait until after the NBA finals to start filming? The Lakers are about to make it to the finals…”