Chapter 40

“Very good. In two days, whether you’re selected or not, we’ll get in touch with you.”

With his decision made, Oliver Arthur said these words politely, then saw Simone Milton off.

Simona Milton stepped out of the audition room with a calm expression on her face. She showed neither ecstasy nor disappointment. This disappointed the actors who auditioned after her.

It wasn’t until they got in the car, right before entering Georgia, that Simone Milton smiled.

“Why are you so happy? Could it be…” Seeing Simone Milton’s radiant smile, Georgia frowned and couldn’t help but make a bold guess.

“I can’t be sure, but there’s an 80% chance they’ll choose me! I can tell that the director is very satisfied with me,” said Simone Milton confidently.

“Come on, eight percent chance? What if she doesn’t even get selected in the end? You’d just make a fool of yourself.” Although Georgia was glad that Simone Milton said that, she still poured cold water on the situation.

He warned Simone Milton very seriously: “After you get the audition notice, you can do whatever you want. But until the audition results are announced, you must not say anything foolish in public.”

This is to avoid the situation where, due to some force majeure, Simone Milton doesn’t get the role after all.

But before that, there was the embarrassment that occurred when Simone Milton publicly declared that the role belonged to her.

To be safe, it’s better not to create any hype until everything is confirmed.

“Don’t worry, I understand. I’m not the kind of person who doesn’t know what’s important.” Simone Milton said with a smile.

With Simone Milton’s assurance, Georgia felt relieved.

Just like that, two or three more days passed, and finally, news came from “Three Lives”.

“Ha, that’s great! According to ‘Three Lives’, the filming will officially begin in a week. You can go there then!” Georgia, who had already received the news, immediately called Simone Milton to share the good news with her.

Upon hearing this good news, Simone Milton was naturally delighted. She said, “That’s great.”

At the same time, Georgia also sent her a script and asked Simone Milton to study it thoroughly before joining the crew.

Only after receiving the complete script did Simone Milton finally understand what the story was about.

“Three Lives” tells the story of a male protagonist who possesses the energy of gods and demons. He becomes a disciple of the founder of the Sword Qi Sect. As they spend more time together, he falls in love with his cold and aloof master, who resembles the divine maiden of the heavens. This master is, in fact, the female protagonist of the story.

The two hadn’t been together for long when it became known that the male protagonist possessed the power of gods and demons. To protect him, the female protagonist volunteered to suppress the “Eye of Demons” and prevent demonic invasions. However, the male protagonist was forced to reincarnate, thus beginning a journey of pursuing his beloved across three lifetimes.

By this time, the Demon Lord had already sneaked into the World of Cultivation. With the help of the female character who was jealous of the heroine, he found the sacred fire that could completely break the barrier between the Demon Realm and the World of Cultivation.

At this point, the Essence Fire had developed consciousness and taken on a human form. In order to seize the Essence Fire’s vital spirit, the Demon Lord deliberately approached it.

Although during this time, the Demon Lord fell in love with the Spirit of Pure Fire, he ultimately tried to sacrifice his lover for the sake of the demonic realm. The Spirit of Pure Fire, having realized the truth, was also imprisoned.

In the end, when the male and female protagonists tried to attack the Demon Lord together but failed, the Spirit of Pure Fire appeared and perished along with the Demon Lord.

This script is truly excellent, combining both emotional moments and comedic elements.

Simone Milton spent the entire week pondering this character. By the end, she was so absorbed in it that every move she made seemed to reflect the character’s essence.

When it was finally time to go on set, Georgia went to pick up Simone Milton. Seeing Simone Milton, who exuded innocence and gentleness at all times, Georgia couldn’t help but wonder if her eyes were playing her tricks.

“There’s nothing wrong with that, really. Why did you go and mess yourself up like this?” Georgia looked at Simone Milton with a helpless expression.

Simona Milton, coming back to her senses after the performance, shrugged and said, “Aren’t I doing this to better understand the character?”

“Alright, come with me! The filming has started. We’re waiting for you to join us!” Georgia shrugged her shoulders and said to Simone Milton. Then she instructed Marian to pack Simone Milton’s belongings.

After Marian finished packing all of Simone Milton’s belongings, Georgia took them with her to the filming location.

Oliver Arthur truly lives up to being the third uncle of the Arthur family. With the entire Arthur family’s support behind him, for this movie, he simply had the stars stay in his own luxurious hotel.

This is a five-star luxury hotel, just twenty minutes away from the filming location. Every celebrity involved in the filming was accommodated in luxurious suites.

When they received the room keys and entered the suite, Georgia couldn’t help but marvel at how generous Oliver Arthur was.

It’s really rare to encounter a production team that’s so generous!

In some difficult filming situations, it’s not uncommon to set up tents in the wild.

After organizing everything, Georgia told Marian that she must take good care of Simone Milton while on the set.

He gave a long list of instructions, forcing Marian to take notes.

After giving all those instructions, Georgia took a sip of water, checked the time, and realized it was time to report to the filming crew.

So, in a hurry, he rushed off with Simone Milton to the filming crew.

Upon arriving at the set, Georgia went to meet with the assistant director and Oliver Arthur first.

At this moment, the crew is getting the set ready for the filming and ribbon-cutting ceremony. The marinated pig’s head is neatly placed in the center, with fruits arranged around it in small groups.

The staff worked non-stop, trying to get all the decorations ready before the auspicious time arrived.

At this time, the actors who were to star in the drama also began to arrive one after another. To Simone Milton’s surprise, there were quite a few people she knew among the cast.

Donna Warburton, dressed in a sexy manner; Katie Adams, who looks as pure as a white lotus; and Thongvan, dressed in casual clothes…

After talking with her, she found out that the female lead of the drama was Katie Adams. Donna Warburton, at nearly forty years old, took on the role of the young female lead, who was only seventeen or eighteen years old.

And Tang Fan was merely a guest appearance.

And the actor who plays the male lead is actually Tan Wen.

Upon hearing this news, Simone Milton couldn’t help but glance at Tan Wen, who was talking with someone else. But she quickly turned her gaze away.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony began shortly after. Everyone stood in their assigned positions, and under the cameras of the reporters present, the ceremony officially got underway.

After all the complicated and tedious ceremonies, the crew finally completed the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

There’s also news online about the filming of “Three Lives”.

After the ribbon-cutting ceremony, Oliver Arthur took all the actors out for a meal as a way to strengthen their relationships.

During the meeting, Oliver Arthur also said some encouraging words, hoping that everyone would work together to produce a great drama.

When the dinner finally ended, it was already 11 p.m. Simone Milton, exhausted and in pain from standing all day, longed to sleep forever upon returning to the hotel.

The next day, Simone Milton arrived at the filming location on time. In the makeup room, she waited for the makeup artist to apply her makeup.

The makeup artist who applied her makeup happened to be the same one who had done her makeup on the show “Famous Mouths’ Criticisms”.

The makeup artist glanced at Simone Milton and flashed a flattering smile. After all, she had watched that show too.

Whether Simone Milton and Nick Arthur’s love story is true or not, the fact that Nick Arthur is willing to come forward and clarify matters speaks volumes about this woman’s determination and strength.

No wonder this makeup artist is so relieved that she hadn’t done anything unnecessary earlier.

He would even adopt a somewhat obsequious attitude when dealing with Simone Milten.

Simona Milton paid no attention to the makeup artist’s ulterior motives. She acted as if she didn’t even know the makeup artist, calmly accepting his attempts to please her.

Li Rong’s outfit was quite simple and understated, so the makeup artist also applied a subtle makeup look to Simone Milton.

But this doesn’t mean that Simone Milton will appear listless with such a subtle makeup look.

Instead, when it came to the costume and props team, I’m not sure if it was intentional, but they gave Simone Milton a bright red dress with golden peonies embroidered on it.

Such a bright and eye-catching outfit, paired with minimal makeup, would make anyone else look awkward and ridiculous, like a clown.

But Simone Milton, with her natural grace, managed to overcome those unusual, almost playful expressions in her eyes and the slight smile on her face. This made her appear even more beautiful.

It was like a pure and innocent sprite, appearing before everyone’s eyes.

This made those who had evil intentions feel extremely angry and resentful.

When Simone Milton appeared before Director Ann, dressed in red, Oliver Arthur couldn’t help but frown.

As the leader of the entire crew, she naturally recognized it. The outfit worn by Simone Milton was actually supposed to be the heroine’s dress. It was supposed to be worn by Donna Walpole.

After all, the second female character is meant to be a fiery and willful person. Such a bright red outfit really highlights this character’s personality.

It’s quite amusing that the props team gave the wrong clothes. Oliver Arthur knows that it’s absolutely impossible for nothing to be wrong in this situation.

Oliver Arthur, who had initially wanted to fly into a rage and warn everyone on the set not to pull any tricks, suddenly felt it wasn’t worth worrying about after noticing Simone Milton’s expression.

After all, after Simone Milton put on this outfit, she didn’t experience any discomfort as he had expected. In fact, it even added a bit more charm to her appearance.

In that very moment, it seemed as though the true essence of Lirong came into view. It was as if Lirong was supposed to be like this: delicate yet not overly charming, charming yet not vulgar.

Repressing the thoughts in his heart, Oliver Arthur nodded, then gave directions to the actors who were about to start filming the next scene.

The first scene of the filming crew is an interaction between the lead male and female characters.

When the heroine learned that the hero possessed the aura of gods and demons, she felt utterly helpless. All she could do was suppress the hero. But by then, the hero had already given up on life.

That’s how filming works in the entertainment industry. The scenes aren’t filmed sequentially according to the script. Instead, scenes that resemble each other are filmed first, and then the rest of the scenes are shot afterward.

Simone Milton would be filming in the next scene, so she sat aside and watched quietly as Katie Adams and Tan Wen filmed their scenes.

To be honest, in the first scene, both Katie Adams and Tan Wen performed very steadily.

It’s not even clear whether it was because she was standing nearby watching that Katie Adams went all out, even secretly suppressing Tan Wen’s efforts.

However, this doesn’t mean that the two of them will finish filming this scene anytime soon.

In fact, due to the differences between large and small screens, there are also significant differences between filming TV dramas and filming movies.

When filming TV dramas, after all, the screen is small. As a result, actors can make more expressive use of their body movements. However, the details on their faces aren’t as easily noticeable.

This also means that actors who are used to acting in TV dramas often struggle to control their facial expressions when filming movies.

Tan Wen and Katie Adams are in this awkward situation. Their acting skills are more than sufficient for the small screen.

But it’s more than enough for use in TV dramas.

When displayed on a large screen like those in cinemas, everything about the actors is magnified several times due to the screen’s size.

Whether it’s the shimmer in their eyes, the subtle expressions on their faces, or their body movements, if even one detail isn’t right, the whole appearance becomes awkward and uncoordinated.

“Click. Katie Adams, your eyes need to show helplessness and pain. Look at those lifeless, expressionless eyes of yours. Try again!”

Oliver Arthur frowned, scolded Katie Adams, and then turned his anger toward Tan Wen.

“Tan Wen, tell me, what were you thinking just now? You’ve been hurt by the master you loved most. You must be feeling extremely painful and sad right now! Look at your behavior earlier—where did it show any signs of your pain or sadness? It was way too exaggerated. Try to be more restrained!”

After berating both of them mercilessly, Oliver Arthur even went ahead and demonstrated himself before starting filming again.

With Oliver Arthur’s personal guidance, the first confrontation between the male and female protagonists was finally over.

It was precisely because of the mishaps in this first scene that Katie Adams gained a more accurate understanding of her uncle, Alberta Arthur.

After the performance, Katie Adams was still a bit upset. She felt that her performance today had been quite good.

But Oliver Arthur still ignored her feelings and insulted her in front of everyone. What’s more, Simone Milton, that annoying woman, was sitting right there.

It’s obvious that Simone Milton must be secretly mocking her in her heart.

Thinking of that possibility, Katie Adams couldn’t help but feel angry and annoyed.

But then, she couldn’t help but think: So what if Simone Milton was a better actress than her?

Simone Milton, like her, doesn’t have any stunning performances on the big screen. She’ll definitely get scolded mercilessly by Oliver Arthur.

Thinking of that scenario, she suddenly stopped feeling angry. In fact, she even felt a slight sense of anticipation that such a thing might actually happen.

The second scene started filming quickly. In this scene, the lead actress and the supporting actress happened to meet the third actress. After chatting for a while, the third actress smiled sweetly when the topic of the third actor came up.

As soon as filming began, Simone Milton, Katie Adams, and Donna Walpole took their positions and slipped into their roles.

The heroine and the second female character walked towards them from a distance. They happened to meet the third female character and asked her where this place was.

The third female character replied, and asked why the second and main female characters were in this remote area.

Donna Warwicker is also a veteran actress, so she performed very consistently.

And Katie Adams, having learned from the previous scene, was even more cautious this time.