Chapter 424: A Dangerous Scene
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“Master! I heard that you are going to be in a movie?” Back to the pet shop, when Wang Qian and Li Kun heard that Zhang Zian had passed the audition and signed a performance contract with the crew, they kept asking questions curiously, even Lu Yiyun could not help but stretch her ears. Whenever there was the slightest news, Lu Yiyun would worry that Zhang Zian would close the pet shop for good.
“It’s not me, it’s Famous that’s going to be in the movie; I just provide guidance,” said Zhang Zian while eating the lunch that he had bought on the way back to the pet shop. Famous was chewing the medium well steak with a glass of dry red wine.
“Providing guidance?” Li Kun was shocked, “Is that a Xian Xia film they are shooting?”
“Nonsense! What Xian Xia film?! It’s an animal film about the police dogs that fight heroically in the border areas.” Zhang Zian put down the chopsticks, opened the script sent by Feng Xuan after the contract was signed. “Including their deeds such as crossing through minefields, combating against drug trafficking, smuggling, poaching and other transnational crimes.”
This script had just been delivered to him and Zhang Zian did not have time to read it carefully. But as an official member of the crew, even if his responsibility was relatively simple, at least he should find time to read the script, especially taking a closer look at the dog-related scenes so as to see whether the dogs would encounter any danger so he could come up with precautionary measures in advance. Since he would get paid, he must eliminate the potential disasters for the crew.
Wang Qian looked at the cover of the script. “Oh, the director is Feng Xuan.”
“Do you know him?” Zhang Zian put some food into his mouth.
“No, but my dad is a die-hard fan of Feng Xuan, and he watched every anti-war movie that Feng Xuan made.” Wang Qian thought for a moment and said, “Can you help me get a signature of Feng Xuan? My dad’s birthday is coming up, and I have no idea what gift I should give him. If possible, could you please get an autographed picture of Feng Xuan for my dad?”
“No problem, a piece of cake.” Zhang Zian promised him confidently. “I am now an indispensable figure in the crew. It’s unknown whether the earth will keep spinning without me, but the crew definitely can’t move without me!”
Famous looked up at him, and then continued eating the steak.
“Master, who is the leading actress of this movie? Perhaps one of the beautiful and famous actresses?” Li Kun was very interested in this matter. If the answer was affirmative, he also wanted to get a signature.
Zhang Zian regretfully wiped his mouth. “At the beginning I thought so, but after I read the script I learned that this is a purely male movie. Not to mention, even the dogs are all male!”
Wang Qian asked tentatively, “Master, if there are female dogs selected, what are you going to do?”
“I don’t want to do anything!” Zhang Zian glared at him.
“Oh,” replied Wang Qian, who clearly did not believe him.
“Are there any idols or young hunks in this movie?” Asked Li Kun again.
“Yes!” Zhang Zian replied casually. Pointing to his nose, he said, “You are looking at him!”
“I mean, other than you? Who is the leading actor?”
“Why do you want to know?”
Li Kun’s obsession on this issue caused Zhang Zian to be alert, also arousing Richard’s interest. When Zhang Zian did not notice, Richard flew down from the bar and stretched its neck to accurately snatch an American grape in his lunchbox. Zhang Zian wanted to stop it, but it was too late, and he could only stare at Richard angrily.
“Quack! Do you have sexual interests in the young hunks?” It swallowed the grape and stared at Li Kun.
“No!” Li Kun felt ashamed, “My mother is interested in them!”
Zhang Zian turned over the script and said, “The protagonist of this movie is a dog called ‘Lightning’, which Famous is going to play. And Lin Feng will be the owner of Lightning. I guess he can barely be deemed as the leading actor.”
“Lin Feng, although he is not so famous, my mother seems to like this actor. Master, can you also get an autographed photo of him?” Li Kun begged him.
Zhang Zian nodded, but also was deeply worried about the harmony in Li Kun’s family.
He finished the rest of the meal quickly and asked, “Didn’t I tell you to take the day off? Why are you here?”
Wang Qian and Li Kun naturally replied, “We have nothing better to do anyway. We will only be playing games if we stay in the dorm.”
“Well, Mr. Store Manager,” Lu Yiyun whispered, “I would like to ask…”
“Do you also want a signature?” Zhang Zian asked.
“No, I would like to ask…will you have to stay with the crew for a while?” she asked with trepidation. Although she had only been working in the store for a few days, she had already seen many strange customers who put forward all sorts of bizarre questions and harsh demands, making her dumbfounded. When Zhang Zian was in the store, he could easily solve the problems for her. When he was not there, she could ask the customers to wait for him to come back. However, if he was absent from the pet shop for a long time, she really didn’t know how she was going to handle the situations.
“That’s not the case.” Zhang Zian raised the script. “I will only go with the crew whenever I am needed. I won’t be stationed with the crew. Although this is a movie with dogs as the main characters, there are still many scenes involving human actors. Considering their tight schedule, the priority will be given to shoot their scenes.”
He continued, “In addition, let me use Famous’s role Lightning as an example. At the beginning of the story, the lead male role played by Lin Feng picked up a puppy and named it Lightning. They played with each other and grew up together, so the puppy was played by another dog. When shooting this part, Famous and I don’t have to be there. No matter how incompetent the crew might be, they don’t need me to direct them on how to play with puppies, right? So as a chief dog trainer, I will have a daily settlement, and be paid based on the days that I spend in the crew.”
“Oh.” Lu Yiyun was somewhat relieved.
Not everyone knew that, but when shooting a film, the script was not filmed chronologically. The script was divided into different scenes and shot according to the scenes, also considering the actors’ schedules, which was a more efficient and economical way to shoot. Lu Yiyun did not know this, because she had always drawn her comics chronologically from scratch.
Zhang Zian did not need to go with the crew every day, he just needed to be present whenever Famous and the other fully-grown dogs were shooting scenes. Other times he could stay in the pet shop, and occasionally Feng Xuan would solve some problems over the internet or telephone.
Having finished their cleaning work, Wang Qian and Li Kun left the pet shop. Since there were no customers in the afternoon, Lu Yiyun was quietly sitting behind the cashier to concentrate on painting, with her cat Jasmine lying on her lap. Occasionally, Jasmine would timidly glance at Fina across the glass door. Due to Lu Yiyun’s low presence, the shop was particularly quiet. So quiet that Zhang Zian thought that he was the only person in the pet shop. After he had finished his meal, he lay on the recliner and read the script carefully.
With neither a sense of literature nor a good imagination, the script was far less interesting than novels and movies, and he was drowsy reading it. Tired after lunch, Zhang Zian yawned while trying to raise his spirits.
Since there were no female actresses nor sex scenes in this movie, he just glanced over the dialogue between the humans, only focusing on the scenes played by Famous and other dogs.
After turning a few pages randomly, his gaze fell on the plot of encountering danger in the wilderness. Although not explicitly stated, the background of Dog Warrior should be near the borders of western China, where the expansive desert, plateau, and unmanned areas provided natural soil for the development of transnational criminal activities. As technology developed, criminals could easily access more advanced equipment and high-tech criminal tools, such as the cell phone signal jammer and the like, which has hurt Zhang Zian before.
In this scene, a brigade of border police officers were sneak attacked by armed criminals. Although the enemy was repelled, the brigade also suffered heavy losses. Several officers were wounded and could not move. However, communications equipment and vehicles were destroyed by the criminals, leaving the police officers unable to get in touch with the garrison headquarters.
The weather was cold and it was snowing heavily. Lacking supplies, the border police officers were trapped in the no man’s land in the desert. The area of no man’s land was too large. Even if the headquarters sent an aircraft to search and rescue them, it would be hard to locate them in a short time. If they remained in the extreme conditions, they would definitely die. When the headquarters found them, they may have starved or froze to death.
The border police officers were carrying out the task with Lightning and several other police dogs. In despair, they decided to resort to the police dogs for help. The dogs needed to cross a large, dangerous, no man’s land, enduring hunger and thirst, travelling through mined areas, escaping from poachers’ bullets, and breaking away from the besiege by ferocious beasts and eventually, head back to the headquarters.
When they arrived at the headquarters, these police dogs were covered with wounds all over their bodies and were dying. They fell on the ground in front of the armed police on duty. From their collars, people found the letters asking for help, along with the location coordinates, written by the border police officers trapped in the desert.
This was a very touching scene and was the dramatic climax of the movie. The headquarters not only sent helicopters to rescue the trapped officers and soldiers, but also ordered the rescue of these meritorious police dogs at all costs.
Of course, as a movie promoting the mainstream political rhetoric of China, the story came with a standard happy ending. Not only had the trapped officers and soldiers been promptly rescued, but the dogs were also saved. After recovering from their injuries, these dogs would all be commended, their fame spread wildly, and people sent regards to them. They would appear on television, internet, and become the victors who had it all.
Putting aside other questions, Zhang Zian noticed the words “besieged by ferocious beasts.” He turned the script back and forth several times without missing out any word, but still couldn’t find the specific description about the beast. Maybe the writer had not figured it out or had deliberately omitted it in the script.
Ferocious beasts sieging the dogs on the western border… After thinking hard, Zhang Zian could only think of the only kind of beast skilled in sieging.
How to shoot this scene? He couldn’t help but whisper to himself.
