Chapter Fifty: The Dull Routine of Filming

After concluding his trip to Guangzhou and arriving in Macau, Zhang Qianjun integrated into the film crew at a speed no one could have imagined.

He woke up at 7:00 AM, did a warm-up, and started climbing stairs on an empty stomach. After running, he choked down that grueling fitness meal to gradually bring down his body fat percentage.

Filming officially commenced at 10:00 AM, with Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays dedicated to gym scenes, and Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays set aside for construction site sequences.

Flipping tires, swinging sledgehammers, running up stairs, carrying heavy objects while running in water—he went through every single strength and endurance training exercise.

In the words of Director Dante Lam, they would try out every single workout routine first and select the best footage from them. If the raw material wasn't good enough, they would pick the key elements and shoot it again.

This put Zhang Qianjun through absolute torture. Experiencing this kind of suffering for the first time in his career, he finally understood how Eddie Peng managed to land so many second-male-lead roles despite his broken Mandarin.

Aside from the favoritism of the Hong Kong and Taiwan circles, those roles were genuinely punishing. When traffic stars could make money so easily, who would want to snatch up such grueling, thankless work?

Since the male protagonist in the movie was an amateur who took up fighting halfway through life—possessing great physical fitness from years of cycling but having no formal combat training, with his master being a former boxing champion—the gym training sessions heavily featured jiu-jitsu and grappling.

After enduring a few days of continuous training and filming, Zhang Qianjun found himself thoroughly bored by the onlookers, noticing that Zhou Chongshan and his crew had nothing to do all day. Consequently, he added his entire security team to the extra cast list, having them act as the atmospheric background crowd for the male protagonist's various training stations.

Thus, the security detail suffered a miserable fate. In Zhou Chongshan's words, it was even more exhausting than being in the military; at least in the army, you just had to train straight through, whereas here, the director would call cut every so often, destroying their training rhythm once interrupted.

Zhang Qianjun couldn't help but chuckle secretly, giving these guys a taste of the joys of being an actor.

As filming progressed, Zhang Qianjun was struck by a sudden inspiration and approached Director Dante Lam.

"Director, why doesn't our script include the pre-match weight-cutting and the weigh-in ceremony?"

Dante Lam replied that since the tournament in the script was more like an underground folk fighting ring and not strictly official, he hadn't considered those elements.

Zhang Qianjun, however, had a different perspective:

"I watch UFC matches, and the weigh-ins and pre-fight face-offs are huge selling points. Since this movie has already decided to feature eye candy with our physiques, we might as well go all the way."

Zhang Qianjun thought to himself that it was a pity there were no weigh-in videos of Conor McGregor available right now; otherwise, he would definitely show Dante Lam what a true master of the weigh-in ceremony looked like.

After some discussion, Dante Lam agreed that it was indeed a marketable hook and decided to incorporate the segment into the upcoming fight scenes.

While the props team was setting up the octagonal cage, Zhang Qianjun offered another suggestion:

"Director, in combat sports, the audience sits in a circle all around the cage. This isn't a stage play; having the audience stands placed entirely on one side makes no sense."

Dante Lam looked somewhat troubled, explaining that having the audience surround the cage would complicate the camera work significantly.

Zhang Qianjun remained unswayed, thinking to himself that in his past life, when watching the movie starring Conor McGregor and Jake Gyllenhaal, they had filmed on location at a live UFC event in Las Vegas without it being particularly difficult. Reluctance to do it was purely about taking the easy way out.

He promptly brought over the crew's professional MMA consultant, who immediately backed Zhang Qianjun's viewpoint.

Realizing this was brought in by President Yu at a hefty price, Dante Lam decided to swallow his pride and reluctantly agreed, figuring he would just deal with the extra hassle.

When the first cage-fighting sequence began filming, the actor playing the male protagonist's gym teammate, Xiao Min, delivered a series of flying kicks inside the cage, repeatedly executing airborne theatrics.

Zhang Qianjun felt this was completely unreasonable and went to find Action Director Ling Zhihua:

"Brother Hua, aren't we supposed to be making China's first true MMA movie? Why are there so many flying kicks in the action choreography? You practically never see that stuff in a normal cage match."

Action Director Ling Zhihua was a seasoned industry heavyweight, having served as a stunt coordinator and action director for numerous domestic and international Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Hollywood action films such as *Fearless*, *The Warlords*, and *The Grandmaster*.

Seeing the leading man approach him, he looked quite troubled.

"Handsome, I can choreograph much prettier moves, but the director won't allow it. He insists on realism and wants the film to focus heavily on practical combat."

Zhang Qianjun inwardly complained: When have you ever seen anyone in actual cage combat doing flying stunts all day long? Most importantly, it was neither realistic nor cool.

So, bypassing the seemingly honest action director, he went straight back to the director.

"Director, I think this action choreography doesn't make sense. Whether it's sanda, kickboxing, or MMA, those arcade-style flying kicks are extremely rare. If we're pushing authentic MMA, this choreography completely pulls the audience out of the movie."

Having his directorial authority challenged repeatedly, Dante Lam finally snapped.

"Handsome, you've got so many ideas every single day—why don't you direct the film yourself?"

As soon as these words were uttered, the entire set fell dead silent. Everyone wanted to see whether the director or the lead actor would end up dominating the other.

To everyone's surprise, Zhang Qianjun acted as if nothing had happened and casually replied:

"Director, I'm only good at finding flaws; I don't know how to direct movies. I simply don't have that capability, you know."

Hearing this, Dante Lam was utterly helpless against this slippery rogue. Fine, fine, let him have his way then.

Consequently, Ling Zhihua pulled up footage of various brilliant moments from actual matches and redesigned the cage action sequences from scratch, and the crew did not resume filming until Zhang Qianjun expressed his satisfaction.

This spectacle left Nick Cheung and Gao Jie, who played the male protagonist's father, marveling in amazement.

"Jie Ge, would you have dared to pull something like that when you were young?"

Gao Jie shot a side-eye at Nick Cheung.

"Even at the peak of my popularity, I was just an ordinary actor. On the other hand, you're a dual Golden Horse and Hong Kong Film Award Best Actor—you ought to be a lot bolder."

Nick Cheung waved his hand dismissively.

"I couldn't possibly. Acting like that back in the day would have gotten you beaten up."

Another day of filming came to an end, and Han Qiming proposed that since it was a rare trip to the City of Sin, shouldn't they go experience Ukraine and Russia?

The group collectively criticized this uncivilized behavior and then eagerly announced they wanted to team up to inspect the local customs and traditions.

Regarding this, Zhang Qianjun had only two demands: prioritize safety and stay away from gambling. After instructing Zhou Chongshan to keep a tight leash on the bunch, he let these passionate young men go off as they pleased.

Before long, the noisy inspection delegation returned to the hotel, with Li Kai looking exceptionally distressed. Upon inquiring, Zhang Qianjun learned: Ah, 123 paid the bill, huh?

Li Kai looked indignant and declared he needed to buy some Yilishen to boost his physical vitality. At this point, acting as both an employer and a friend, Zhang Qianjun could no longer sit idly by.

The group gathered in Li Kai and Han Qiming's room, and Zhang Qianjun's lecture officially commenced:

"Normally, this sort of thing is a matter of personal freedom, and I wouldn't want to interfere. But if you guys mess up your health by taking random things over something like this, you're truly getting the cart before the horse.

Taking medication is, in itself, a form of physical devastation, and generally speaking, it is not recommended.

Under normal circumstances, weight loss and deep squats yield the best results; I suggest everyone study Teacher Shimizu Ken's video tutorials.

If you genuinely have unspeakable difficulties, then I advise buying certified, compliant products from legitimate pharmacies with official CFDA registration certificates—do not randomly purchase tabloid products.

You need to target the exact symptoms: if 123 pays the bill, what you need is Dapoxetine;

If you want fast-acting results, what you need is Vardenafil hydrochloride;

If you want frequent effectiveness, what you need is Tadalafil;

If you want an outstanding single-dose effect, that's when you need Sildenafil.

Furthermore, taking external substances carries side effects. Everyone must act within their capabilities, practice moderation in all things, and note that taking them simultaneously with alcohol is strictly prohibited—the consequences are extremely severe.

Did you all take notes?"

Li Kai, Han Qiming, and the others listened in a daze. A few individuals even pulled out little notebooks to start jotting things down, only to scratch their heads in frustration because they didn't know how to write the corresponding characters.

Seeing that this bunch had roughly absorbed the lesson, Zhang Qianjun didn't bother with them any further and walked straight back to his own room.

After Zhang Qianjun left, Han Qiming suddenly raised a question that instantly plunged the entire room into silence:

"Why does Qianjun know about this stuff in such detail?"