Chinese Showbiz: The Madcap Movie Star

The air in Hengdian seemed forever steeped in the grease of cheap boxed meals, the faint sourness of evaporated sweat, and something deeper: a drab, worn-out staleness built up over the years. Hong Xiaofan huddled in a corner of the extras’ shed, his back pressed against the cold plastic chair, its surface speckled with suspicious stains. His vacant gaze rested on an A4 sheet of paper, dampened by sweat and gone a little soft. It was his “imperial decree” for the day: “Corpse C,” a nameless extra with no lines, dressed in a ragged uniform. He had absentmindedly rubbed the edges until they frayed, like the last remnants of his youth, worn down over five years in the corners of countless film sets.