Huo Ge's dream of becoming a director was practically an open secret on the crew, but no one cared. Some even joked during work, "Director Huo, come over and carry the boxes!"
Who among the extras didn't have a dream of becoming a big star?
It was just that Huo Ge's dream was bigger than most.
After chatting animatedly with Huo Ge for a while, Liu Yifei was still surprised by his confidence in wanting to become a director. "Why do you want to direct?"
Huo Ge's gaze drifted toward the distant green mountains, seeming to pierce through time and space to look at some distant place. "I once had a director's dream!"
When he graduated from high school at eighteen, he didn't go to college. Instead, he went with a fellow villager to work as a truck driver.
Once, because his partner fell ill halfway and had to go to the hospital, he drove the delivery to Xinjiang Province all by himself.
One night, feeling tired from driving, he decided to pull over on the roadside to rest.
He lay on top of the truck cab, looking up at the boundless starry sky. At that time, stars dotted the firmament, there was no one around, and the occasional howl of a wolf echoed in the distance.
With complete peace in his heart, taking the starry sky as his quilt and the earth as his bed, he fell into a deep sleep, and then had a long dream.
"In the dream, it seemed I became a famous actor and singer, and later a director, collaborating with many big stars like Master Xing, Wah Jai, Uncle Tat, Gong Li, Ching-hsia, Maggie, Chen Daoming, Ge You...!"
"I rarely watched entertainment news before, and many of the big stars I collaborated with in the dream I didn't recognize, apart from the ones seen on TV and in movies, like Master Xing, Uncle Tat, and so on!"
"But some big stars I had never even heard of. Later, I dreamed of racing against a truck driver right there in the Gobi Desert."
"After that truck driver overtook me, he even said something quite infuriating: 'Come on, pass me!'"
"Watching that truck drive away into the distance, no matter how hard I chased, I couldn't catch up. In a fit of anger, I woke up!"
Huo Ge recalled the dream. "That truck driver was a foreigner. Later, I watched a documentary from the United States and found out he was the great director Cameron!"
"So that's why you became determined to be a director?" Liu Yifei also knew that before becoming a famous director, Cameron had been a truck driver; he wasn't a formally trained director.
"Yeah, if Cameron could become a famous director, then I can too!"
Huo Ge flashed a confident smile. "So I kept working as a truck driver, driving all over most of Huaxia. Every place I went, I would stay anywhere from a few days to over ten days, either observing people from all walks of life and pondering how to act, or taking odd jobs to experience real life!"
"Later, I felt my acting had improved, so I went to work as an extra, running through many crews and meeting many benefactors."
"The biggest star I met was Master Xing. I feel like my path is very similar to Master Xing's, so we became friends!"
"Wait," Liu Yifei interrupted. "You said Master Xing? You know Master Xing? How do you know him? You're friends?"
"A while ago, Master Xing was shooting Shaolin Soccer in the Mainland. I went to play a background extra and even cameoed in a role. Master Xing, Uncle Tat, and I are very close; we often go out for late-night snacks together!"
Deep skepticism showed in Liu Yifei's eyes. "I don't believe it! Master Xing is such a huge star, why would he go out for late-night snacks with you?"
"Put it this way: the bit-part roles Master Xing played in King of Comedy were pretty much the same as my experience playing background roles in Shaolin Soccer. Master Xing thinks I'm timber for the industry and even wanted to sign me, but I didn't agree!"
"Wow, you actually dared to turn down Master Xing's invitation," Liu Yifei said with a tone of deep regret. "If Master Xing wanted to sign me, I guarantee I'd agree immediately. He's my idol, and I've watched his movies countless times."
"I'll introduce you to Master Xing sometime. It's just a phone call away. Though he can be a bit paranoid about money and isn't the easiest person to deal with—he's much better now, though—if you say you're treating him to dinner, he'll definitely come!"
"Don't you talk about Master Xing like that!"
"He's a human being just like you. Master Xing has to eat and go to the bathroom too; he's not a god!"
"Yes, yes, as if you were Master Xing yourself. Go on, keep bragging," Liu Yifei figured Huo Ge was just blowing hot air.
"I'm not bragging," Huo Ge took out his phone and opened his contacts. "Look, here's Master Xing's number, here's Uncle Tat's, here's Uncle Ge's, here's Wah Jai's, here's Gong Li's, here's Yang Mi's..."
Liu Yifei looked at the contacts and indeed saw many familiar star names, but she had no way of knowing if the phone numbers were real.
"How do you get the phone numbers of so many stars?"
"I run around playing extras everywhere. Every time I join a crew, I brazenly ask for advice on how to act and direct. After going back and forth and getting familiar, don't the phone numbers just happen?"
"Those are stars, and they just hand their numbers over to an extra like you?"
"Even though I'm an extra, I'm a future director. As long as I approach celebrities to exchange ideas with an attitude of seeking advice, most of them are willing to offer a pointer or two."
Huo Ge patted his face. "Plus, with this face of mine, relying on both talent and looks, I can go anywhere and never fail!"
"Well, you certainly are handsome," Liu Yifei scrutinized Huo Ge's face. "As for talent, I wouldn't know, but I do know your skin must be very thick!"
"That's for sure," Huo Ge didn't care about the thickness of his skin at all. "If I shoot a movie, would you come be the female lead?"
The sudden shift in topic caught Liu Yifei completely off guard. "You want me to be the female lead? What kind of movie?"
"I wrote a movie script, a horror film. Interested?"
"Why shoot a horror film?"
"Low budget. I estimate we can shoot it for under one hundred thousand."
"One hundred thousand? To make a movie?"
Liu Yifei's face was plastered with an expression that screamed, *Are you pulling my leg?!*
Huo Ge explained, "I've done the budget. We'll shoot indoors and finish in a week. It's mostly actor fees, which is why we can't hire well-known actors!"
Liu Yifei pouted, unhappy. "Turns out I'm not a well-known actor."
"Not really, but you'll be a star soon enough, and by then I won't be able to afford you. So I'm hiring you to make a movie before you get famous."
"You think I can become a star?"
"Yes. You'll become the Fairy Sister in the eyes of the audience. But with the help of a future great director like me, you'll be a global superstar!"
"A global superstar? Ha ha!" Liu Yifei burst out laughing.
Because Huo Ge was handsome, when a handsome guy bragged, it looked pretty cool too—especially Huo Ge's confident tone and demeanor, which kept her from uttering any mocking words.
"Do you have a script?"
"I have an outline, but there aren't many lines; it relies mostly on on-the-spot improvisation!"
"That sounds unreliable!"
"Take a look at the script and then talk!"
Huo Ge dug a bound stack of A4 paper out of his backpack and handed it to Liu Yifei.
Liu Yifei took it and looked. The script title was The Paranormal Activity. Flipping through it, the outline was only two pages long, followed by rough storyboard drafts and a detailed shooting budget. This wasn't just a script; it was a complete shooting plan.
She had never made a movie before and didn't know what protocols were required, but the shooting plan Huo Ge handed over clearly showed a lot of thought had been put into it.
"The male and female leads here are a couple, and I'm afraid I won't be able to pull that off." Liu Yifei was currently in her first year of high school, had never been in a relationship, and her mother didn't let her do romance plots.
"That can be changed! We can change it to brother and sister, father and daughter, or mother and daughter!"
"Can you just change a script like that?"
"Sure. I wrote the script, I'm directing, and I can also play the male lead!"
"Ah, doesn't that mean..."
Liu Yifei pointed at herself, then pointed at Huo Ge. "We play a couple? You write, direct, and star in it yourself?"
Huo Ge nodded affirmatively. "It saves money! Besides, my acting is pretty good; I'm a powerhouse actor."
Liu Yifei lowered her head and pressed both hands against her cheeks, really not wanting Huo Ge to see the expression of laughter she was trying to hold back.