Hugo lifted his gaze from the script in front of him. The densely packed English letters gave him a bit of a headache, reminding him of the miserable days of doing English reading comprehension in middle school. However, what made it better than his school days was: he was now a native English speaker. Although only part of his memory had fused so far, he had no issues with listening, speaking, reading, and writing in English.
Still, every time he read a script for a while, Hugo found it amazing. Even though he had experienced it himself, the idea of transmigration remained unbelievable.
The news of failing the audition for A River Runs Through It was indeed confirmed the next day. Even though the media's main focus was on the 49th Golden Globe Awards, quite a few outlets still reported that Brad Pitt had been chosen as the male lead of A River Runs Through It. The reason was simple: because Hugo Lancaster, the newly crowned Worst Actor at the Golden Raspberry Awards, had been rejected. This left Hugo feeling both amused and helpless.
Although he failed the audition, Hugo didn't stay down for long. He realized that this transmigration might actually be his chance. If he gave up after just one failure, that would definitely not be his style. Besides, just thinking back to the joy and happiness he felt while immersed in acting during the A River Runs Through It audition made him unwilling to give up. This was the very moment he had dreamed of before traveling through time—how could he be willing to miss it? That was the real reason Hugo pulled himself together again!
What Joseph said earlier about many audition opportunities waiting for Hugo was clearly a lie. While Hugo's situation in Hollywood wasn't exactly notorious, producers still needed to be extra cautious if they wanted to cast him—that was beyond doubt. Joseph also understood that after three consecutive failed projects, Hugo's next role had to be chosen with the utmost care. If he failed again, his acting career might truly come to a temporary end.
Therefore, after the A River Runs Through It audition, Joseph got busy, constantly trying to find the right audition opportunity for Hugo. Unfortunately, without the help of Ron Meyer or Tracy Jacobs, Joseph's capabilities were indeed limited, and naturally, chances were hard to come by. But fortunately, this also gave Hugo some buffer time to adapt to life in Los Angeles.
Joseph was indeed a highly capable agent. Though he was new, both his tactics and his mind were outstanding. He didn't keep Hugo waiting too long and secured an excellent audition opportunity for him. In the current situation, this was no easy task. And when Hugo saw the script Joseph brought him, he was actually pleasantly surprised, which made it all the more valuable.
This time, the script Joseph brought was for a low-budget film with a $10 million budget from Universal Pictures, one of the current top eight film studios: Scent of a Woman.
Scent of a Woman is a remake of the 1974 classic Italian film Profumo di donna. It tells the story of a prep school student who serves as an assistant to a blind, irritable, retired military officer. The original version focused more on Lieutenant Colonel Slade's past life, but the remake's script placed greater emphasis on the relationship between the characters.
Bo Goldman, the screenwriter behind the classic One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, shifted the perspective of the adapted story to a young student, gradually revealing the story's essence through the evolving relationship between the student and the colonel.
Scent of a Woman, still in the pre-production stage, had already caught a lot of attention, especially since the producers had invited the legendary Al Pacino to play Lieutenant Colonel Slade.
Al Pacino's third film as an actor was the universally acclaimed The Godfather, which is often considered one of the best films in history. In that film, he performed alongside Marlon Brando and held his own, earning an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. After that, Al Pacino earned consecutive Best Actor nominations at the Oscars with Serpico, The Godfather Part II, and Dog Day Afternoon. His explosive performances established him as one of the greatest actors in film history, and he, along with Dustin Hoffman, Robert De Niro, and Jack Nicholson, was hailed as one of the four acting geniuses of the 1970s.
In the 1990s, although Dick Tracy brought Al Pacino another Best Supporting Actor nomination, The Godfather Part III was widely seen as a disappointing sequel. Not that it was terrible, but compared to the brilliance of the first two, the third installment was clearly underwhelming.
Previously, Al Pacino had retired for four years after Revolution, a film with a $28 million budget that only grossed less than $1 million. After returning in 1989, the successes of Sea of Love and Dick Tracy still didn't bring him back to his peak. Now, faced with criticism over The Godfather Part III, Al Pacino's reputation wasn't what it used to be ten years prior.
Thus, Al Pacino taking on the role of Lieutenant Colonel Slade in Scent of a Woman didn't stir much media excitement. People remained cautious about the idea of a major comeback for him. The fact that Universal Pictures only allocated a $10 million budget for the film also reflected their cautious attitude.
Even so, the collaboration between Al Pacino and Bo Goldman, along with Martin Brest—the director of Midnight Run—at the helm, was still something to look forward to. Especially for the actors, the opportunity to play the student Charlie in the movie and have scenes opposite Al Pacino was undoubtedly a rare chance.
The role of Charlie required someone between twenty and twenty-five years old, with a humble and polite demeanor and a gentle, scholarly temperament. This was undoubtedly appealing to young actors. Hugo did not expect that Joseph would actually secure him an audition for Scent of a Woman. It was a tremendous surprise.
Although the news media remained conservative for now and Universal Pictures was acting cautiously, Hugo—this soul who had transmigrated—was well aware of what a precious opportunity Scent of a Woman truly was.
The most praised aspect of Scent of a Woman later on was naturally Al Pacino's brilliant performance. After six consecutive losses, he finally won the Oscar for Best Actor. Moreover, the film itself was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay at the Oscars—praise was endless. More importantly, the film's box office performance was also quite impressive. It was definitely a rare classic masterpiece.
In Scent of a Woman, although Charlie was only a supporting role, his screen time was actually not minor—almost equal to that of Lieutenant Colonel Slade. It was just that the narrative focus was on the colonel, which made the distinction between lead and supporting roles. Charlie's role was naturally not as difficult as that of the colonel, but the inner struggles and transformation of the character still offered a lot of room for performance.
If Hugo could land a role in Scent of a Woman, it would not only be a breakthrough in his acting career, but more importantly, he would get to act opposite Al and learn more from this great actor. The film's allure alone was enough to make Hugo's blood boil.
When Hugo received the script for Scent of a Woman from Joseph, he was so excited that he nearly lost control. He almost gave himself away in front of Joseph. At that moment, he deeply felt how rare and precious this transmigration opportunity was—not only had he transmigrated, but he had brought with him knowledge, vision, experience, and so on up to the year 2014. This meant that all the "opportunities" and "luck" that were hard to come by for other actors could be easily achieved by Hugo.
What Hugo needed to do was not wait for a pie to fall from the sky and hit him, but to aim for the right opportunities and seize them with all his strength. Now, for Hugo, opportunities were no longer a problem. His talent, hard work, and perseverance were the true keys to success.
After receiving the script, Hugo began preparing for the audition for Scent of a Woman. Joseph had already done his job as an agent and was tirelessly seeking more audition opportunities. Now it was up to Hugo's own efforts.
About a ten-minute walk from Joseph's home, at the corner of Santa Monica Boulevard, there was a Starbucks nestled in the shade of the tree-lined avenue. Hugo would walk there every day to read the script.
Two bachelors' homes were naturally a mess, and on top of that, Joseph's place wasn't in good condition. So Hugo simply chose the open and relaxed outdoor seating at Starbucks to read the script, enjoying the sunshine and relaxing his mood. It really was a nice choice.
Today, as planned, Hugo arrived early at Starbucks and secured a two-person table outside before starting to read the script. Compared to the rush with A River Runs Through It, this time Hugo had ample time to prepare. So he hoped to read the script carefully—not like watching a movie as an audience member, but from the actor's perspective, truly experiencing the plot, lines, and connections between characters.
Hugo wanted the role of Charlie more than ever before, so he was absolutely going to give it his all!
After getting tired of reading the script, Hugo stretched big, loosening his stiff back. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a young man wearing sunglasses chasing after a young girl by the roadside. The young girl's expression, hidden behind her hair, looked quite impatient. She kept waving him off, but the young man wouldn't give up and kept following her.
Was this sexual harassment in broad daylight?
....
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