lovenovelstory Chapter 63 Script Reading
Chapter 63 Script Reading
New York, Manhattan.
Lin Ruiyang sat in the back seat of a luxury sedan heading to Manhattan, with the cast-iron buildings typical of the SoHo district visible through the window.
The car turned a corner, only to find itself completely blocked off from the road ahead without warning.
A yellow taxi was blocking the middle of the road, and the driver was exchanging profanities with a delivery guy on a bicycle. The variety of words they used made Roger look up from his Blackberry screen and listen for several seconds.
"The direction ahead is Times Square. It's normal for traffic to be congested at this time." The driver tapped the steering wheel and glanced at Lin Ruiyang's expression in the rearview mirror.
"It'll take another ten minutes to go around."
"No rush."
Lin Ruiyang looked out the window at the two New Yorkers who had already started greeting each other's grandmothers, his expression relaxed.
In his view, the Manhattan traffic jams and the unrestrained profanity were actually the most authentic soundtrack to the film.
When Lin Ruiyang pushed open the meeting room door, it was bustling with activity inside.
It wasn't just polite small talk; it was genuinely lively.
Stanley Tucci stood in front of the whiteboard, drawing a crooked coffee cup with a marker, explaining to Emily Blunt why she had to drink espresso instead of Americano every morning.
Emily leaned back in her chair, arms crossed, her expression indifferent: "That thing you drew looks like a hand grenade."
"It's a hand grenade." Stanley said seriously, "I blow it up to wake myself up every morning."
Channing Tatum was laughing so hard his shoulders were shaking. This young man, who hadn't yet become a big star with "Step Up," still smelled like bread yeast.
Anne Hathaway sat in the middle of the long table, holding a half-eaten bagel, trying not to choke on it while laughing.
Seeing Lin Ruiyang push the door open and come in, Annie instinctively tried to stand up, but half a bagel got stuck in her throat, causing her to cough loudly.
"Slow down, Annie." Lin Ruiyang walked over with a smile and took the bottle of mineral water that Roger handed him and opened it.
"The Manhattan bagel may be tough, but it doesn't want to murder future fashion stars."
Annie's face flushed red, and she gulped down a large mouthful of water before she could catch her breath. Her eyes held a look of gratitude for surviving a close call when she looked at Lin Ruiyang.
"I'm coughing so hard, thank you director." She wiped the water from the corner of her mouth.
Just then, a soft yet very noticeable footstep came from the doorway.
The lively atmosphere seemed to have been sucked away in an instant.
Meryl Streep walked in, carrying a silent sense of pressure. She nodded slightly to the crowd, then naturally sat down opposite Lin Ruiyang.
"Now that everyone's here, let's get started. This isn't just a simple rehearsal of lines; I need to hear the characters breathing."
Lin Ruiyang opened the script.
The first half of the reading went very smoothly, with Anne and Emily's banter full of tension, and when Meryl's almost whispered deep voice rang out in the conference room, everyone even forgot to breathe.
The real interesting twist comes when Andrea comes home from get off work and faces her boyfriend Nate, played by Channing.
Anne Hathaway slumped wearily in her chair, her tone carrying a neurotic quality, as if she had been "brainwashed" by the fashion industry:
"...You have no idea. Miranda said that all the designers that season were geniuses; they changed the way we dress!"
Channing Tatum put down his script, but instead of reading it verbatim, he gently picked up a water bottle from the table as a prop, with a touch of Texas-style gentleness.
"Andrea, look me in the eyes. That woman changed the way you dress, but she can't change the fact that you look pale because you didn't eat dinner."
In my eyes, you look better in this old pajama set with its weird logo than in that Chanel dress crammed with designer labels. At least in your pajamas, you won't jump up like a rabbit getting electrocuted at the slightest phone call.
Channing's performance was very relaxed, and this relaxation, in such a high-pressure reading environment, surprisingly produced a wonderful chemical reaction.
"stop."
Lin Ruiyang interrupted them.
Chan Ning puffed out his chest nervously: "Director, did I go too far with the changes to the lines?"
"No, it's been revised very well." Lin Ruiyang turned to Meryl and asked, "Meryl, what do you think?"
Meryl Streep took off her reading glasses and looked at Channing with admiration:
"This boy is very insightful. The depth of his life experience he just showed really created a sense of rivalry for Miranda."
Miranda rules over their physical bodies, while the chef tries to preserve Andrea's soul. This confrontation is quite interesting.
"Cha Ning, remember this feeling." Lin Ruiyang sketched quickly on the script.
"You are Andrea's stabilizing force, but I want you to gradually reveal a sense of helplessness in the later scenes. This helplessness is not because you don't love her, but because she has flown too high and can no longer hear the sounds of cooking fumes in the kitchen."
Cha Ning nodded thoughtfully.
The ensuing reading reached its climax.
When Nigel, played by Stanley Tucci, joked about Andrea's weight with the witty humor of a seasoned office worker, the meeting room was filled with laughter once again.
"Andrea, in Runway, size six is big, and you are... oh, you're the kind of body type that needs a special enclosure to keep you in a zoo."
Stanley pinched his nose, his expression both lewd and elegant.
Anne burst out laughing: "Stanley, your gaze just now was even more piercing than Susan's!"
Lin Ruiyang tapped the table, signaling everyone to calm down and continue.
The reading session lasted for a full four hours. Lin Ruiyang never rudely corrected the emphasis of the lines, but he always managed to provide a fulcrum that the actors couldn't resist, starting from the underlying logic of the characters.
As the reading session came to an end, the neon lights of Manhattan began to flash.
Anne Hathaway leaned close to Channing Tatum and whispered boastfully, "Hey, Chef, were you stunned by my stylish aura just now?"
Channing chuckled, took a bagel wrapped in brown paper from his bag, and handed it to Annie:
"Don't overeat, heir to the fashion icon. I could hear your stomach growling all over the other side of the long table. This is something I made at the bakery, with cinnamon and blueberries. Eat it while it's hot."
Anne paused for a moment, then glanced somewhat embarrassedly at Lin Ruiyang and Meryl, who were still there, before taking a big bite out of the bagel.
The sweet and sour taste of blueberries exploded in her mouth, bringing her a high-calorie and primal sense of happiness that instantly transported her from the high-pressure "Runway office" back to the real world.
"Hey Channing, is there some kind of contraband in this bagel?" Annie mumbled indistinctly, her eyes bright.
"I feel like all the brain cells that Miranda killed have come back to life."
"That's called calories, baby." Cha Ning raised an eyebrow smugly and turned to look at Lin Ruiyang who was walking over.
"Director, look, this is Nate. When she walked out of that gilded cage, the only thing that could save her wasn't Chanel boots, but this carb with blueberries."
Lin Ruiyang stood aside, watching the two young people share the bagel under the dim light.
Annie even accidentally got some blueberry jam on the corner of her lips, and Channing naturally reached out to wipe it off for her, then casually smeared it on his own hoodie.
This raw, authentic, and chemically-driven interaction stirred something within Lin Ruiyang: this was exactly what he wanted, enough to counter the cold, fashionable "sense of life" of Manhattan.
"You two had a fantastic interaction," Lin Ruiyang said confidently, his hands in his pockets.
"Remember that feeling. Nate's love for Andrea transcends any aesthetic standards. He only cares if she's hungry, not whether she's wearing last season's clothes."
Anne, when you eat this bagel, you need to convey a sense of vulnerability, as if you've been saved. Because in that world, no one will allow you to go hungry.
Meryl Streep had already reached the door. She glanced back at the two young people fighting over the remaining bagel crumbs, then at Lin Ruiyang, a very subtle, even somewhat benevolent, smile curving her lips.
She didn't disturb them, but instead pushed open the door and walked into the Manhattan night.
"Director, I bet Miranda wants a bite too." Annie swallowed the last bagel and made a face.
"If she eats it, then this movie will be called 'The Chef Saves the Demoness'," Lin Ruiyang said with a smile and a shake of his head.
Then he stuffed the script into his bag, zipped it up, said goodbye, and left. Roger had already called a car, which was waiting downstairs.
"Rogge".
"exist."
"Are you ready for the first scene tomorrow?"
"Five Avenues, 5 a.m., all road closures are complete." Roger closed his Blackberry phone.
"Director, it's up to you now," Roger said in an exaggerated manner.
Tomorrow, in Midtown Manhattan, at the first clapperboard, this project, which has been shelved for two years and has gone through four screenwriters, will finally rise from the page in his hands.