Watching the palm trees and old record stores recede outside the window, with colorful billboards shining brilliantly under the sunlight, the movie poster for "Wayne's World" brought the 1990s Hollywood vividly into view. The houses on Sunset Boulevard, painted golden by the morning sun, formed a breathtakingly beautiful scene. This boulevard, stretching from downtown all the way to Hollywood, told Hugo in the simplest way: this is Los Angeles, a city that attracts the world's attention because of movies and music.Hugo took a deep breath, reluctantly pulling his gaze away from the stunning scenery and back to the script on his lap. Last night, he hadn't had enough energy to read the script, and his memory contained no fragments regarding it, so he had to seize the limited time to finish this task. Otherwise, today's audition would likely be a disaster.Hugo hadn't watched the movie "a river runs through it" before, though he had heard of its reputation. After deciding to become an Actor, Hugo didn't have enough funds to receive professional acting training, so he chose to watch classic movies to learn acting. Before he transmigrated, Hugo had watched nearly a thousand movies, so he had some personal insights into the position of an Actor.Actually, Hugo had once wanted to watch "a river runs through it," but later watched the thematically similar but conceptually superior "legends of the fall." Both movies were poetic and picturesque nostalgic works, and Brad Pitt had appeared in both, delivering brilliant performances. It could be said that Brad Pitt achieved career breakthroughs relying on these two movies."a river runs through it" tells the story of the family of Reverend Maclean by the Blackfoot River in Montana before a war. The entire story is calm and without many ups and downs, flowing quietly like a river, naturally and smoothly recounting the tale, blending family affection, love, and friendship into the beautiful nature, quietly permeating every frame. It is like a moving oil painting, and also like a touching lyrical essay, heartbreakingly beautiful.There are two main male characters in the story, the two children of the Maclean family: the elder son Norman and the younger son Paul. Joseph had told Hugo yesterday that the role he was auditioning for was the first male lead, Paul. Paul is the youngest son in the family, free, uninhibited, and dashing, living life to the fullest. It is as if he were an epiphyllum, gathering infinite power to bloom in its most magnificent form for a short time, and then quickly withering away.Hugo could understand why Joseph had found the role of Paul for him, or perhaps it was the role of Paul that had found him. Hugo's appearance vaguely carried such a free and easygoing temperament. Although not a perfect fit for the character, the melancholic and classical temperament between his brows could certainly add a lot of points. Therefore, Hugo playing Paul could barely be considered a performance of his true self.After the disastrous failure of "hudson hawk," playing such a role was definitely a safe bet. Additionally, although the investment for "a river runs through it" was less than ten million, making it an absolute low-budget independent production, the reputation of the director, Robert Redford, was enough to make people flock to it.As an Actor, Robert Redford had appeared in works like "Out of Africa," "The Sting," and "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid." As a director, his debut work "Ordinary People" won him the Oscar for best director and best picture. Moreover, he founded the currently most influential independent film festival in the world, the "Sundance Film Festival," and could absolutely be said to be one of the most influential top figures in Hollywood."a river runs through it" was Robert Redford's third directorial work after "Ordinary People" and "The Milagro Beanfield War," and there were definitely plenty of Actors who wanted to be in it. Joseph had won an audition opportunity for Hugo, and for the role of Paul at that; it was clear that he must be an excellent agent.But in Hugo's view, playing Paul was not necessarily a performance of his true self, because the uninhibited and dashing temperament was not actually obvious in him. Furthermore, after the soul within his body had changed, this temperament had changed even more. Therefore, to land the role of Paul, Hugo had to demonstrate truly solid strength, and on this point, Hugo did not have absolute confidence.After all, before he transmigrated, although Hugo had acting experience, he had always just been an extra or a supporting Actor, and all his acting skills were just armchair theory. Now, with the time to put his training to use, Hugo deeply understood that the opportunity was right in front of him, and whether he could seize it depended on his own efforts. Therefore, Hugo was reading the script very seriously and conceiving in his mind how he should interpret this character; he did not want to miss this opportunity.Joseph drove the car at a steady speed, bumping along the way toward the Four Seasons Hotel located at the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and Rodeo Drive. Watching Hugo, who was sitting in the passenger seat reading the script intently, he felt a bit surprised.Joseph had taken over the job as Hugo's agent from Ron Meyer last year. Since Joseph was still a novice and everything was just getting started, his control over Hugo's situation was very limited. Joseph had believed there was no need for Hugo to attend the Golden Raspberry Awards this time, but Hugo had asked for Ron's opinion and ultimately followed it. In the less than a year that had passed, Joseph had seen all sorts of ugly behavior from Hugo; he was completely a male version of Drew Barrymore.Born into the famous Hollywood acting family, the Barrymore family, Drew Barrymore reached the pinnacle of her career after starring in "e.t. the extra-terrestrial," "Firestarter," and "Irreconcilable Differences." Fame came quickly, causing the then-nine-year-old Drew Barrymore to completely lose herself. Drinking, smoking, marijuana, then cocaine, alcoholism, and nightlife—she fell straight to the bottom.Hugo Lancaster was the same. In 1989, he emerged with the role of the student Neil Perry in the movie "dead poets society," which won four major Oscar nominations, gaining the attention of major film studios. Subsequently, his career reached a small peak. First, he starred in Michael Cimino's big production "fatal moment" with Anthony Hopkins and Mimi Rogers; immediately after, he starred in the forty-million-dollar big-budget movie "rock," thereby instantly ranking among the most watched male Actors in Hollywood. Lights, flowers, and praise came rushing toward him.However, it was a pity that "fatal moment" suffered a disastrous failure in both box office and critical reception, and this work won Hugo his first Golden Raspberry Award nomination for Worst Actor; "rock" also had no highlights whatsoever, and his first Golden Raspberry Award nomination for Worst Supporting Actor came from there. This caused Hugo's acting career, which had just started to improve, to plummet to the bottom.After Joseph took over the job as Hugo's agent, he saw Hugo immersed in a world of alcohol and drugs all day long; even a serious car accident after a drinking binge could not wake Hugo up. The subsequent "hudson hawk" showed that Hollywood producers still held out hope for Hugo, but unfortunately, this work failed as well.However, after experiencing the struggle on the edge of life and death last night, Hugo seemed to have undergone a complete transformation. Joseph couldn't say exactly what the reason was, but he could just feel that Hugo was different. Just like how Hugo was reading the script right now; in the past, Hugo would definitely have read the script too, but today Joseph could feel Hugo's serious dedication in this moment—this kind of focus had never been seen before. And then there was... the fact that Hugo's restless temperament seemed to be settling down, and the aura of debauchery was gradually dissipating from those eyes.This was a good thing, right? Joseph was a bit unsure. In the nearly one year he had served as Hugo's agent, there really hadn't been many fond memories. However, he was currently just a fledgling rookie agent and had to gain experience bit by bit. Ron Meyer's willingness to hand Hugo over to Joseph was under the guise of "training a newcomer"—the fundamental reason was probably that Ron no longer looked favorably on Hugo's prospects. Regardless, Joseph still hoped that Hugo's career could improve.However, thinking of the headline in the "Los Angeles Times" this morning, "'Crying Tears While Receiving the Golden Raspberry Award, 'Thank You, Dream Come True' — Hugo Lancaster'," Joseph couldn't help but sigh involuntarily. Having flopped three movies in a row and making such a huge fool of himself at the Golden Raspberry Awards ceremony, Hugo's situation now couldn't be worse."We're here, get out." In the midst of his thoughts, they had already arrived at their destination, and Joseph woke Hugo, who was reading the script. Hugo turned his head to look and saw the vintage sign of the Four Seasons Hotel outlined by the sunlight with a faint golden edge, beautiful and dazzling.The valet at the hotel entrance quickly ran over and opened the car door for Hugo. Hugo left the passenger seat and stood at the hotel entrance, nervously tapping his feet on the spot. Watching the people coming and going at the main entrance, he couldn't take a step forward. Only twelve hours had passed since the accident yesterday, and Hugo still couldn't fully adapt to his brand-new identity.At this moment, a figure walked toward him from the side. Hugo's first reaction was to think it was Joseph, but when he turned his head, he saw a figure who was both strange and familiar: short blonde hair, sexy facial features, and a brilliant smile. This was none other than Brad Pitt.A person he had previously only seen on the big movie screen suddenly appeared right in front of him. This was the first time Hugo had seen a "real person" appear since waking up, and for a moment, he didn't react. Distinguishing whether it was a dream or reality was becoming increasingly difficult.Brad flashed a brilliant smile at Hugo. Hugo thought the other party was signaling friendliness and was just about to respond with a smile when he heard the words that followed from Brad, "Dream come true!" Then Brad gave Hugo a thumbs up and walked quickly up the steps of the Four Seasons Hotel with a beaming smile.This, was this a provocation or a joke?
