Analysing

The joy of winning the Best Actor award for "A Few Good Men" over Tom Cruise lasted less than two days before Hugo was brought back to reality. The reality was that Hugo was two levels lower than Tom, and the influence of the Golden Raspberry Award had not completely dissipated. The upcoming filming would be truly challenging.

"Are you okay, Hugo?" Joseph looked at Hugo sitting in his seat with concern. Although Hugo had been positive and upbeat since the Golden Raspberry Award, as if he had become a different person, Joseph was still worried that the previously mentally fragile Hugo would be crushed again in a single moment.

However, before Hugo could turn his head, Kevin walked over to him with a familiar smile and gave him a big hug. "I didn't expect to see you again in this kind of situation."

Hugo stood up, his face beaming with a bright smile. "I was hoping for a friendlier scene than before." In fact, Hugo only had a few scattered memories of the scenes his previous self had filmed with Kevin Bacon, but personally, he still liked the actor very much.

Although Kevin was not the most outstanding actor in Hollywood, he had always occupied a special place in the hearts of many professional movie fans. Kevin had never been nominated for an Oscar, at least not before Hugo's time-travel in 2014, but this did not affect his status in the hearts of movie fans. His outstanding performances could be seen in movies like "The River Wild", "Apollo 13", "Mystic River", "Frost/Nixon", "X-Men: First Class", and many other great works. Without a doubt, he was a very outstanding actor.

Hugo first saw Kevin in a TV series called "The Following". In this series, Hugo truly experienced Kevin's unique, eerie, yet cold, and charming acting. Awards are the best recognition of an actor's work, but not winning an award does not mean that an actor is not good. Kevin was exactly a good actor without too many accolades.

Therefore, when he saw Kevin, Hugo felt very happy, not to mention that Kevin had already shown goodwill towards him during the script rehearsal earlier. Hugo suspected that Kevin might be the only actor in the crew who welcomed him.

In fact, there were many actors in "A Few Good Men" who would become familiar names in the future, such as Kiefer Sutherland who would later become famous for "24", was playing Colonel Jessep's subordinate, 2nd Lt. Kendrick, and Cuba Gooding Jr. who would later win an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in "Jerry Maguire", was playing a witness, Cpl. Hammaker, in the movie.

Among these actors, Kevin was the only one who showed a smile to Hugo. It was evident that Kevin and Hugo had a good relationship, at least Kevin's smile was very genuine at the moment.

"I believe you can handle this situation," Kevin gave Hugo's arm a punch while smiling. "You have this talent, it depends on whether you are willing to work hard."

Hugo's debut work was a collaboration with Kevin when Hugo was only fifteen years old, while Kevin, who was twenty-four years old, had already starred in several films. He gave Hugo a lot of guidance and watched him shine in the film "Diner". Kevin also admired Hugo's several works afterward, including the 1986 film "Quicksilver" in which Kevin and Hugo were competitors. However, Hugo relied on his own strength to win the role over Kevin, who was more impressed than jealous.

In Kevin's opinion, Hugo's downturn in the past two years was just a waste of his talent. As long as Hugo was willing to adjust his attitude and work hard, returning to the public eye was just a matter of time. Therefore, when Kevin heard that Hugo had become the male lead in "A Few Good Men", his first reaction was: Hugo was making a comeback!

So Kevin was not stingy with his goodwill, and he began to look forward to Hugo's future achievements.

Hugo picked up the script on the table and waved it in front of Kevin. "I'm ready." Hugo's biggest disadvantage now was time. He needed enough time to read the script, let alone understand the role and the plot. He had to at least read the script briefly and slowly integrate into the story.

The reason Jack said he would take a half-hour break was to give Hugo enough time to read the script. Whether Jack's intentions were good or bad, his goal was to ensure that Hugo had enough time. To ensure that the quality of today's script practice was not affected, it was necessary to give Hugo enough time.

Kevin quickly understood Hugo's meaning, and he took the script from Hugo with a smile. "This morning's rehearsal mainly focuses on Jack. We will practice scenes with Jack first." Then Kevin made notes on the script for Hugo.

In the movie, Kevin played the government prosecutor Capt. Jack Ross. In short, he was an actor who was responsible for counter-plays to Daniel. However, Jack was secretly friends with Daniel, and in court, they were opponents.

Then in the afternoon, we have to practice the courtroom debate scenes because those scenes are where the conflicts are the most intense, the lines are the longest, and the demands for character outbursts are the highest. After Kevin finished pointing out the details to Hugo, he patted Hugo's shoulder and left without any more formalities. Half an hour was not enough time, so it was better to leave more time for Hugo to work hard.

Hugo said to Kevin's departing back, "Thanks." Kevin waved his right hand and left the conference room directly.

Hugo turned his head and glanced at Joseph, showing a helpless smile. Then he took a deep breath and said, "It's time to work hard."

Although Hugo knew that filming "A Few Good Men" would be much more difficult than "Scent of a Woman", since he was able to rely on his own efforts to get the role of Daniel, he must do his best. He even hoped to make a breakthrough in his acting skills, not just for the crew but also for himself. Even if there were obstacles in front of him, he would break them one by one and regain the respect he deserved with his outstanding performance. That was the way to go!

Joseph originally wanted to comfort Hugo, but seeing that Hugo had recovered so quickly, his hanging heart slowly settled down. Hugo was obviously trustworthy now.

After sitting down, Hugo quickly began to read the script.

In fact, Hugo had seen "A Few Good Men", and although he didn't remember the details of the movie, he had an impression of the general storyline. Daniel's character was a typical American hero who achieved a reversal and defeated evil forces to achieve justice when everyone else had given up hope. Of course, the so-called "evil forces" in "A Few Good Men" were not entirely clear-cut. This was a story involving the traditions of the American military, and it would have different meanings when interpreted from different angles. It was only based on the law and human rights. In terms of position, Daniel's insistence was correct.

During the process of reading the script, Hugo's memories of the movie were gradually awakened. The most exciting part of the whole movie was the confrontation between Daniel and Colonel Jessep in court. The two men were at each other's throats, vying for the upper hand and finally, Daniel seized on a mistake and a loophole of Colonel Jessep, completing an impossible task. That courtroom showdown was truly thrilling, and it even aroused Hugo's strong interest in legal drama.

At the same time, Hugo also remembered the original performance of the two actors in that scene. Jack Nicholson was still as sharp as ever, depicting Colonel Jessep, a stubborn, conservative, arrogant, and dominant military figure, to perfection, truly deserving of the title of a film emperor. And Tom Cruise also delivered a rare and brilliant performance in his career.

There had always been controversy over Tom's acting skills. Tom had been nominated for three Academy Awards, two for Best Actor and one for Best Supporting Actor. He was indeed a very outstanding actor. But in Hugo's personal preference, Tom's acting skills were not remarkable. It was not that Tom's acting was bad, but his control was not enough with many slip-ups. As for "A Few Good Men", the most impressive thing about Tom's acting for Hugo was his loss of control in the court scene. Tom tried to show Daniel's control as a lawyer through changes in intonation but unfortunately failed.

First, Tom did not have enough changes in intonation. His tone remained basically the same, making it impossible to distinguish the emphasis of his words. Secondly, the strength of the intonation, the soft parts were too soft, often making people think that Daniel was talking to himself, and it was not allowed in court; while the intensified parts became shouting, Tom equated "loud voice" with "strong momentum", and only used shouting to strengthen his momentum, which ended up sounding somewhat hoarse.

This situation not only appeared in "A Few Good Men" but could also be felt in almost all of Tom's characters. Either lacking or excessive, his control was always lacking some crucial pieces. Hugo had always believed that Tom's best performance was in "Magnolia" in 1999, but unfortunately, such precise control had only given birth to one impressive character.

Of course, this was only Hugo's personal opinion. In fact, Tom's acting in "A Few Good Men" received many good reviews. At least, Tom's control and grasp of the character could be seen, although the rhythm and strength were somewhat out of it, the exploration and understanding of the character were still worthy of recognition.

So what about Hugo? How should he interpret the role of Daniel? It didn't hurt to stand up and talk when commenting on others but when it was his turn to play the role, well... let alone whether Hugo could retract and grasp it freely, just saying that he could interpret the essence of the role at the level of Tom, would be a great achievement. It was obviously very difficult.