And a Star is Born – 智者无敌

Tuesday, July 27th, 2010 in: News, Travel

有一天，我经过休息室的时候，我的同学和他的中国朋友在那儿坐着。他们问我“你要不要上电视？”我有一点儿吃惊，犹豫了一会儿，我说“要”。

第二天，在休息室等着，他的朋友来得有点儿晚。他很着急，问我们“你们有没有两个女性朋友？”因为本来说好的那两个演员没来，他需要新的女配角。我们给我们的朋友打电话，他们有一点儿犹豫，但是最后答应了。

我们坐了一个小时汽车去排电影的地方。在那儿有很多的老式建筑。也有很多的卡车，那些卡车上有中影集团标志。有很多的人穿着日本军队的制服，还有很多女人穿和服，还有人穿着三四十年代的衣服。只有我们四个外国人。他们给了我们一些衣服，帮我们化了妆，让我们演德国大使馆的人。电视秀的名字是“智者无故”。我们刚开始了不久下起了雨，我们搬到屋里。这时候，很多中国演员过来和我们一起拍照。真的很有意思。雨停了，我们又开始。我们只拍了几个镜头，导演说“可以了”，我们就很快地跑去换了衣服，然后坐汽车回家了。到宿舍已经十一点半左右了。他们给了我们每人三百块钱，说“你帮了我们大忙了！”真是非常有意思的一天。

Continuing from the other day…

Come 4pm the next day, we were waiting in the lobby as promised. Almost half an hour late, Alan’s friend arrived in a panic. The two Russian girls flaked and didn’t show up, so we were missing our “wives.” She asked us if we had any female friends who would be willing to join us on the shoot. We called Megan and Adrien, and after some hesitation, they finally relented. We piled into a cab and drove to BLCU, all rather incredulous at the situation we found ourselves in. Megan leaned in and whispered to me “if I wake up tomorrow in an ice bath missing a kidney, I’m taking one of yours.”

After an unexpectedly long drive to the set, we arrived at a large outdoor studio full of old-looking buildings. The driver assures us that these are actual old buildings that are mostly used for shooting period pieces these days. We pull around the back and step out into a crowd of people wearing Japanese military uniforms, kimonos and historical costumes. Several people gather around to get photos with us, as we are the only foreigners in a sea of Chinese actors.

They gave us some costumes and had us change, then put us through hair and make-up. The girls were put in ballroom gowns, Alan and I in tuxedos. My hair was carefully combed to the side to complete the illusion. I apparently looked quite “dapper” as a German diplomat. Fortunately our part was just to add some “color” to the scene, and we had no speaking parts.

Just as we were put in our places and began filming, it started to rain, and we were ushered indoors to protect our outfits. Once inside, we were swarmed by the other actors who produced cameras, ready to get their photos taken with the token foreigners. One girl said she was studying English, and exchanged e-mail addresses with Megan. It was pretty amusing.

The rain let up and we moved back outside. We only had to do a few takes of three or four different shots before the director shouted out “that’ll do!” and everyone clapped and chanted “guo le! we’re done!” Everyone dashed out to the waiting costume vans to change out of their stifling costumes so they could go home. The four of us piled back into the van and headed back to the dorm, arriving sometime after 11:30pm. Alan’s friend handed us each our 300 RMB salaries, thanking us for helping them on such short notice, then asking if we knew a white guy in his 40’s who would be interested in a similar role later this week. There’s no business like show business!

The name of the show is 智者无敌, zhizhe wudi, wise man has no origins. If you’re ever watching a Chinese drama and see a dinner party scene set in Japan with some German diplomats, look again: you might see someone you know.

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