Face rules

Joseph saw Hugo's expression when he came out, and he knew that things were not going well. He actually expected it because that woman was not so easy to deal with. Nevertheless, he still held a little hope, which was why he insisted on letting Hugo participate in the "A River Runs Through It" interview. After all, with Hugo's situation, they weren't qualified to be picky now, but he still ended up returning empty-handed.

Originally, Joseph wanted to greet him, as Hugo looked like he was in a bad state, but he soon stopped because of the appearance of two provocateurs. The Hugo in front of him was indeed different from before, more precisely, from the night before. Now, Hugo looked more cheerful and his spirit had improved a lot. And now, Hugo looked like a handsome young man, but he was a little less impulsive and had a bit more sense of humor. Hearing Hugo's sarcastic words to those two people, Joseph couldn't help but laugh.

This, must be a good thing, right? Joseph was not very sure.

Watching Hugo pass by him, Joseph quickly followed him into the elevator, leaving the noise in the corridor on the third floor. Joseph carefully looked at Hugo, as if he wanted to see through Hugo's handsome exterior and explore his soul.

Joseph's gaze made Hugo nervous. He furrowed his eyebrows and looked back. His first reaction was to directly ask "What are you looking at", but Joseph's ice blue eyes as if almost saw through his disguise to look at the real Hugo. This made Hugo startled and unconsciously avoided his gaze, foolishly putting his focus on the numbers above the elevator.

"Ding" the elevator arrived at the first floor from the third floor. Hugo pretended to be calm and looked at Joseph, "What, you're not going to ask about today's audition process?" Hugo had no idea what a talent agent's job was. In addition to makeup artists, nutritionists, and fitness coaches for top stars, there was also a complicated setup of necessary talent agents, managers, assistants, and public relations managers.

Joseph became increasingly aware of Hugo's awkwardness. Although he had only taken over Hugo's talent agent work for a year, the two of them could never have been like this.

Joseph didn't deliberately hide his gaze, and Hugo's heart suddenly thumped. He didn't know what the Hugo Lancaster from before his time travel looked like, but they could never have been carved from the same mold. It was natural for others to notice the abnormality. Hugo thought of the future when he would have to face the Lancaster couple, and now at least dealing with Joseph might be a good start.

Hugo looked at Joseph and said straightforwardly, "What's wrong? Is there anything wrong?"

The elevator finally arrived and the two people walked out. The elevator closed again and went up even though no one had pressed the floor, probably because someone upstairs had pressed the call button.

Joseph seriously looked at Hugo in front of him and raised his eyebrows slightly. He didn't show much expression and simply said, "No. I just feel that you've changed a lot and are different from before."

Hugo was about to refute by saying that he had experienced a struggle for life and death last night, but suddenly realized that Joseph had not mentioned when he started to be different. If he had mentioned it, it would have indicated that there was something wrong with him. So he swallowed his words and asked, "Which aspects do you mean?"

Joseph hesitated and then continued, "Almost all aspects, except for this face. Your whole mental state has changed." He saw Hugo's warm smile and paused, "I mean since last night."

Hugo's smile still warms like the sun at 9 AM on a winter morning, dispelling all the cold, "Joseph, if you were to see Jesus or an angel, I think you would have a different outlook on life."

"Are you saying you saw heaven and were summoned by the Lord yesterday?" Joseph immediately followed up, clearly not wanting to give Hugo too much time to think.

At this moment, the elevator door "dinged" and opened, interrupting Hugo's words. This was the eighth floor, and a hotel staff member stood at the door, bowing politely after seeing the guests in the elevator. The staff member noticed that there was no special floor number pressed in the elevator, so he asked, "What floor do you want to go to?"

"First floor." Joseph answered casually, and after the staff member pressed the floor number for them, he stood aside without speaking anymore.

Joseph originally thought that Hugo would take the opportunity to escape the topic when there was someone else around, but Hugo continued to say, "No, I just walked along the edge of life and death and wanted to cherish my life now. At least, I don't want to lose pass out from being high." Hugo didn't say anything ambitious or heart-wrenching, just self-deprecating with a tone of infinite regret, but it was this simple statement that made Joseph quiet down as well.

Indeed, a lot happened last night, and if Hugo's change caused these changes, it was not surprising. Furthermore, Hugo was much more lovable now than before, which was a positive sign, right? Thinking of this, Joseph no longer initiated the topic and instead hoped that Hugo's change would last so that the poor guy would not return to his old ways.

On the way to the first floor, leaving the elevator, and parking, Joseph and Hugo didn't speak again until they left the Four Seasons Hotel, both lost in their own thoughts.

"So, you haven't asked about the audition just now. Do you already know the result, or is there something I don't know?" Hugo broke the silence first. He didn't know if Joseph believed his words from before, but at least from the surface, Joseph didn't have any more questions. So, Hugo had to keep calm, act like nothing had happened, and not be overly excited or scared, which would minimize Joseph's suspicion.

Hugo carefully analyzed the recent audition process and felt that his failure seemed predetermined. Joseph came out of the conference room without saying a word, which was really abnormal.

Joseph was driving. The Four Seasons Hotel where the audition happened was located in the city center. At this time, it was also the morning rush hour, so the roads were very congested. Joseph glanced at Hugo and sighed softly. Joseph knew that this was something that he couldn't hide from Hugo, which also confirmed that his unusual suspicion of Hugo was unnecessary, he was still the same wise young man.

"Tracey was one of the producers of "A River Runs Through It". She was specially invited into the crew by Robert Redford after the project was confirmed," Joseph evaded his gaze and didn't dare to look at Hugo, then added, "so I didn't receive any messages before."

Tracey? Hugo searched his memory, and a light bulb went off, "You're talking about Tracey Jacobs?"

Hugo's face showed a surprised expression, he was surprised because he unexpectedly remembered the name and the secret behind it. But Joseph's eyes saw anger and shock, so Joseph tightened his lips slightly and said, "Hugo, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have insisted that you audition today." Unfortunately, Joseph didn't get a response from Hugo because he was lost in his thoughts.

Every industry had the existence of unwritten rules, which was a fact and also unavoidable. Hugo was very clear about this. In the US, due to the existence of the actor's union, protective measures for actors were well established, and the era of rampant scandals had been greatly controlled.

In order to avoid behind the scene operations in the casting process, every audition required the presence of the director, producer, and agent. The so-called producer was the investor of the film or the person who could bring in sponsorship; the commercial nature of the film also determined that the producer was an important part of filmmaking and had the right to participate in all aspects of filming. The so-called agents included two types, one was the actor's own agent, and the other was for actors without an agent. The latter is sent by the actor's union as a public agent to protect the actor's rights.

Casting decisions require the agreement of three parties and this is the biggest restriction against behind-the-scenes maneuvering. Even if the actor is willing to comply with unwritten rules and bribes all three parties, they still may not be able to secure the role. Because no one can afford to take responsibility for the failure of a movie, the director cannot, as it affects their own career development; the producer cannot, as independent producers invest their own money, and affiliated producers are overseen by companies, failure means their job failure; the agent cannot either, as their commission comes from the actor's salary, and a failed project brings no benefits to them.

So, under this system, so-called behind-the-scenes operations are indeed minimized.

However, if one can secure many performance opportunities by playing along, how many people will refuse it? Simply put, sleeping with the director or producer can get you a performance chance, a fast track to fame indeed, which is an attractive deal for many actors.

In other words, behind-the-scenes maneuvering is no longer in the dark and is now openly discussed, with actors exchanging favors. Among these Hollywood "favors", Hugo Lancaster was one of them.