Chapter 111: The New Film

Chapter 111: Chapter 111: The New Film

Liam finished settling the work for his future brother-in-law, thinking he would finally have some free time to sit back, nourish his pregnancy, wait for the day of childbirth. Unexpectedly, the very next day, a headache cropped up over at Benjamin and Elijah’s New Generation Film Producers Studio.

After [The Love Song on the Rooftop] achieved a resounding success that grew into a social phenomenon, the reputation of director Benjamin Martinez and the anonymous screenwriter behind the film had risen to the ranks of A-list stars in the art world. All across the Galaxy, people were eagerly awaiting the Studio’s second work.

However, when Elijah completed the new screenplay and Benjamin summoned the company’s sixteen long-term contract actors to the meeting room on Sirius to assign the roles, the entire meeting room fell into a suffocating silence.

Liam was sitting in the main seat beside Benjamin, leisurely eating snow-white, syrupy-sweet mangosteen segments freshly traded from the Trading Hall while curiously observing the complexions of the young actors turn from pink to white, then from white to a sickly green.

The large screen in the middle of the meeting room was displaying the title of the new film screenplay:

[Title of work: Kiss of the Black Widow]

[Genre: Sci-fi, Interstellar war, Cross-species romance (Human x Insectoid race), Romantic tragedy.]

Natalie, the actress who had once doused herself with cold water in the middle of winter to play the role of Ella without batting an eye, was currently holding the electronic screenplay with both hands trembling violently as she stammered out a question:

"Di... Director Benjamin, Screenwriter Elijah... The two of you did not hand out the wrong screenplay, did you? In here it says... the male lead character is an Alpha Major General of a human Legion who crashes onto a deserted planet, then gets his life saved by an... an S-grade Insectoid King in human form, then the two of them... fall in love, even having intimate scenes?!"

Another male Alpha actor in the crew also swallowed hard with a gulp, his expression as unsightly as though he had just swallowed a live worm:

"That is right! For thousands of years now, the Insectoid race has always been the sworn enemy of humanity all across the Lumina Galaxy! Almost every family in the Empire has had relatives injured or killed out on the front line from fighting against them. In the eyes of the citizens of the Empire, the Insectoid race is a pack of hideous monsters that only know how to tear apart and destroy.

Now we are making a film about a deep love between a human general and an insect... This matter... setting aside whether the audience will hurl enough stones to bring down the theaters or not, when we ourselves read up to the scene where we have to hug, kiss, and look at a giant spider with a deeply affectionate gaze... we truly cannot overcome the psychological barrier!"

"That is right, that is right. Moreover, the Insectoid race always has a gigantic build, with a hideous and ugly armored shell. How could they possibly have a shape resembling humanity?!"

The remaining actors in the room also nodded in unison, their faces filled with rejection and fear.

School violence or horror ghosts were ultimately still matters between human beings, so they could use empathy to get into character. However, falling in love with the Insectoid race?! For galactic citizens who had grown up since childhood hearing stories of the Insectoid race eating human flesh, this was no different from telling a normal person to go cuddle and whisper sweet nothings of eternal love to a giant cockroach!

Benjamin sat in the director’s chair, furrowing his brows with a sigh as well. In truth, when he first read Elijah’s manuscript, he himself had been in shock for three days before managing to digest this crazy idea of Elijah’s.

Elijah, the screenwriter and author sitting at the corner of the table, saw the tense atmosphere in the meeting room, letting out a faint cold snort. The boy pushed the screenplay stack out to the middle of the table, raising his chin to look over the actors once:

"You all only skimmed past the words ’Black Widow Insectoid’ before turning green with fear; has anyone bothered to read my character settings carefully yet? The Insectoid race in this screenplay is not the pack of mindless low-grade soldier bugs out on the battlefield, but an ancient Royal branch capable of evolving its form into a human shape after reaching maturity!

Furthermore, the core message of the film is not to promote loving the Insectoid race, but to pose a question: When a creature regarded as a monster carries a heart capable of love and sacrifice, whereas those wearing noble human forms use vile schemes to betray their own kind, then who is truly the monster?!"

Elijah’s sharp words left the entire meeting room tongue-tied. Indeed, the second half of the screenplay was exceedingly brilliant; the political battles of wits and the tragedy when the Insectoid King character, in order to protect the one he loved, willingly drew out all of his life-silk to form a cocoon shielding against artillery shells from the human army itself had claimed no few tears from Benjamin and Liam when they read the manuscript.

However, Harper Voss, the female psychologist who had played the villain role of Sofia, still hesitated before speaking up:

"Screenwriter Elijah, we acknowledge the screenplay has great artistic depth. However, the role of the submissive male lead, that Black Widow Spider Insectoid King, is far too difficult. In the first half of the film, when this character has only just molted into human form, he still retains cold-blooded predatory habits, half bewitchingly seductive, half innocently cruel; his gaze must possess both the heartlessness of a cold-blooded species and the lonely sorrow of one forsaken by the entire universe.

Moreover, during combat, the role requires extremely high physical flexibility techniques to simulate the web-spinning movements of a spider. Among the actors here... truly no one is capable of shouldering this role."

A Beta actor timidly raised a hand: "I read the description regarding the characteristics of the Black Widow Spider. To us or to the Insectoid race, sacrificing oneself to nurture the next generation is a noble act. Yet this male spider fears death, fleeing to a desolate place outside the jurisdiction of the Insectoid race to avoid being forced to mate with a female spider; the moment this setting is released, it would be strange if it were not cursed to death..."

The entire meeting room sank back into a deadlock.

For the role of the Alpha general male lead, an actor in the crew who was a discharged soldier had already nodded to accept trying his hand at it because he deeply sympathized with the character’s tragedy of being betrayed by superiors. However, the soul of the entire film lay in that role of the Black Widow Insectoid King. Nobody dared to accept it, while even if someone were forced to accept it, failing to deliver the performance would turn a tragic masterpiece into a cheap farce.

Right when Benjamin was about to suggest temporarily shelving this project to switch to a lighter screenplay, Elijah suddenly slammed the table, springing to his feet:

"None of you dare to act in it, is that it? Fine! I will personally play this role of the Black Widow Insectoid King!"

The entire meeting room simultaneously whipped around to look at Elijah, their eyes wide open.

"Elijah, do not act recklessly!" Benjamin was startled, stopping Elijah: "Last time when you played the role of Wyatt, appearing in only a few uncredited scenes, you already ran a fever for two days. This Insectoid King role is the main character throughout the entire film, plus you have to show your face completely and perform countless action scenes suspended on silk threads at great heights!"

Elijah looked at his eldest brother, then turned to look at Liam, who was resting his chin on his hand smiling at Elijah, the boy’s chestnut-brown eyes shining with an unprecedented determination:

"I am not acting recklessly, Brother Benjamin. Regardless, previously I studied majoring in Contemporary Dance at the Capital Arts Academy for a whole year; although my normal dancing lacks soul, I have practiced physical flexibility and mid-air contortion techniques hundreds of times already!

Furthermore, this Insectoid King character was written by my own hands, so nobody understands his loneliness and madness better than I do. Last time playing Wyatt was me hiding in the darkness to cry for the past, whereas this time... I want to stand openly and legitimately beneath the light under the name Elijah Hall!"

Liam finished listening, set the mangosteen rind down on the plate, then smiled while clapping his hands:

"Well said! I approve of letting Elijah play the lead role. Elijah’s face naturally has an innocent, chubby look; when made up in the dark, bewitching style of the Black Widow, it will create an extremely explosive visual contrast, guaranteeing that a single gaze looking straight into the lens will be enough to make audiences across the entire Galaxy shudder."

With the final word from the "largest investor and supreme advisor" Liam, combined with the determination of the screenplay’s author himself, Benjamin finally nodded in approval.

The cast list and the start date for filming were quickly set for early June, right after the actors completed their physical and psychological training courses.

"As for the set design for this film..." Liam opened the 3D planning map, using his finger to point at three distinct locations:

"This film has three major settings. The first setting is the ’Desolate Planet’ where the male lead’s spaceship crashes and the Insectoid King’s lair sits; we do not need to waste money building fake sets at all, just bring the film crew over to the barren, un-terraformed rock and gravel area on the western side of planet Cygnus to shoot, the desolation is one hundred percent authentic!"

"The second setting is the ’Humid Primeval Forest’ where the two main characters develop feelings for each other; we will use the primeval jungle and waterfall zone right here in the Northern Hemisphere of planet Sirius, only needing to have the lighting technical team string up additional glowing artificial silk webs at night to make it perfect."

"As for the third setting, the ’Space Ruin Battlefield’ at the end of the film..." Liam turned to wink at Benjamin: "I have already contacted Brother Alexander and Daniel’s second brother Michael. The Legion will lend us an abandoned missile target range on the asteroid belt of Altair for five days, accompanied by the hulls of more than twenty real scrap Mechas to serve as battlefield props!"

The entire film crew heard about getting to shoot directly in the real primeval forest of Sirius and the real Mecha battlefield of the Legion, their professional blood immediately boiling over; the slight initial apprehension regarding the "human loving an insectoid" theme vanished clean away, everyone brimming with enthusiasm as they threw themselves into preparing for the new masterpiece.

However, before the film could start rolling, another momentous event of the family drew near a step ahead.

Liam looked down at his pregnant belly, which had entered its eighth and a half month, protruding so roundly that when standing straight he could no longer see the tips of his own toes at all.

His due date could now only be counted in weeks...