Admiration

The other actors in the meeting room were practicing the script with full concentration, but the actors without lines gradually noticed something unusual in the atmosphere: everyone's attention was focused on Hugo.

It wasn't because Hugo, as a lawyer, held the questioning power, nor was it because he was the male lead, or even because his voice was louder at this moment. Rather, during the confrontation between Hugo and Kiefer, everyone's hearing and vision were influenced by Hugo. Before others reacted, all their energy, heartbeat, and breathing were following the frequency and volume of Hugo's voice, creating a feeling of being constrained and addicted.

After all, the other actors were just observers, like jurors sitting in a courtroom. Unknowingly, they were led by Hugo. Even bystanders were like this, so one can imagine how Kiefer, being in Hugo's shoes, must have felt extremely uneasy.

Kiefer felt that his rhythm had been completely disrupted. He didn't even realize his loss of control. He just felt that his mind was tangled when reciting lines, making it difficult to organize his thoughts. This feeling was not pleasant.

Hugo was immersed in the process of pondering his character. He felt that he had grasped some key points of the character, but still needed to constantly adjust. At this moment, Hugo experienced a special feeling. Actually, when an actor is portraying a character, it's impossible to be 100% acting. There must be a part that belongs to oneself. However, how to perfectly integrate one's own part with the character varies from person to person.

Some actors act naturally, and most likely more than 80% of the character belongs to them. Some actors break through their performance by showing their unknown inner selves. Some actors may portray the character based on their own experiences, and the result depends on how accurately the actor understands the character. Truly excellent actors consider the character's experiences and story, combined with their own thinking, to find a point of harmony and then integrate the two.

Al told Hugo not to ponder acting skills but to ponder the character. In fact, this is the whole point. Only by truly understanding the meaning of the character and treating the character as a person can the character be portrayed vividly. Although the character exists based on the movie's story, it still has a complete personality. Its growth backstory, psychological activities, and character causes are not imaginary. The process of shaping the character is actually the process of the actor's understanding of the character.

So why is it said that every character must have a part that belongs to oneself? This is because the actor is also an independent individual with different appearances, expressions, actions, backgrounds, and personalities. In short, if Hugo were to play Daniel and Tom, and Brad were to play the same character, the effect presented would definitely be different. Even if three people used the same method to perform, the effect seen on the big screen would still be different. Moreover, if different actors use the same method to perform, it's like seeing countless masks, with no new ideas.

Therefore, actors must give characters vivid life based on their own characteristics, while also leaving their own unique stamp on the role. This is what truly belongs to their acting skills.

Hugo now vaguely realized this, but how could he do it? He was currently trying to showcase Daniel's personality through speaking. Speaking can be divided into multiple aspects, such as voice, tone, and volume, and each detail can create different effects. Even the simplest greeting "hello" can present vastly different results due to different speaking styles.

Although Hugo was still not proficient, he was working hard to master it. Even if it was just the tip of the iceberg, he had already touched the bottleneck of his first breakthrough in acting. Therefore, what was presented in front of other actors was a stunning performance that elicited admiration.

The script practice was still ongoing, and Hugo and Kiefer were immersed in the performance, unaware of the abnormalities in the meeting room, and were still professionally continuing the practice.

Hugo's hypothetical questioning was quickly interrupted by Kevin, and this time the judge again agreed with Kevin's protest. This made Hugo pause for a moment, then he resumed, "Lieutenant, was Dawson given a rating of Below Average on this last fitness report because you learned he'd been sneaking food to Private Barnes?"

This time, Kevin objected again but was overruled by the judge. Kiefer had to look at Hugo, "Corporal Dawson was found to be Below Average because he committed a crime."

"Committed a crime?" Hugo raised his voice slightly, but not in a serious tone. Instead, he sounded a bit lively, as if he was very curious about this issue, "What crime did he commit?" But facing Hugo's question, Kiefer couldn't answer. Hugo didn't intend to give him more time to think, and continued, "Lieutenant Kendrick, what crime did Dawson commit by giving food to a hungry person?"

"He disobeyed an order." Kiefer was forced to say. But immediately after, Hugo took over, "And because he did, because he exercised his own set of values," Hugo's speech speed became faster and the corresponding volume also slightly increased, quickly and clearly conveying his views to everyone's ears, "Because he made a decision about the welfare of a marine that was in conflict with an order of yours, he was punished, is that right?"

Hugo was not shouting, he didn't even raise his voice, but that kind of compelling pressure made Kiefer very uncomfortable. He instead shouted back, "Corporal Dawson disobeyed an order!"

"Yeah, but it wasn't an order, was it?" Hugo still pursued relentlessly, but this time he made his tone a little easier, and there was a hint of sarcasm and irony in contrast to the tension just now. "After all, it's peacetime. He wasn't being asked to secure a hill... or advance on a beachhead. I mean, surely a marine of Dawson's intelligence can be trusted to determine on his own, which are the really important orders, and which orders might, say, be morally questionable."

Hugo's rhetorical question left Kiefer speechless again. "Lieutenant Kendrick?" But Hugo obviously didn't intend to let Kiefer go, "Can he? Can Corporal Dawson determine on his own which orders he's gonna follow?"

"No, he can not." Kiefer was forced to give a negative answer.

"A lesson he learned after the Curtis Barnes incident, am I right?" Hugo's voice was calm but tense, and he immediately got Kiefer's teeth-clenched affirmative answer, "You know so, don't you, Lieutenant?"

"Objection!", "Sustained!" Kevin and the judge interrupted Hugo's relentless pressure again.

"Lieutenant Kendrick, one final question." Suddenly, Hugo showed a smile at Kiefer, provoking him to the point that Kiefer almost burst out in anger. But Hugo quickly restrained his smile, spoke in a heavier tone, and enunciated clearly, "if you ordered Dawson to give Santiago a code red..."

As expected, Kiefer couldn't help it. He interrupted Hugo's words in anger, "I told those men not to touch Sa...." But Hugo remained unmoved as he raised his voice and suppressed Kiefer, and continued to say his words with a weighty tone, "Is it reasonable to think that he would've disobeyed you again??"

"Lieutenant, don't answer that." Kevin spoke again.

Hugo glared fiercely at Kevin, "You don't have to, I'm through."

"Lieutenant Kendrick, did you..." This was the beginning of a conversation between Kevin and Keefer, but Kevin was interrupted by applause in the rehearsal room. This sudden disruption made everyone angry: this was a rehearsal, not a Broadway performance, and applause was not allowed in the practice.

So everyone was angry and looking for the culprit, but when they looked up, they found that Jack Nicholson had been applauding all the time. He had a faint smile on his face and didn't care about interrupting the rehearsal. Instead, he looked at Hugo with approving eyes. Everyone immediately stopped and quieted down.

Jack's move was very clear. He was very satisfied with Hugo's performance just now, and Hugo won his respect with his excellent performance. Other actors in the conference room had nothing to say. Although Hugo was late this morning and his popularity was not as good as Tom's, in today's script rehearsal, Hugo proved himself with his diligent and serious attitude and outstanding practice effect.

It has to be said that everyone looked at Hugo with admiration. The current Golden Raspberry Award winner for Worst Actor was obviously not just a handsome vase. His strength was enough to make people take notice.

Jack's applause was only a few times, and after he finished, he looked at Rob, who was also smiling. In fact, the reason why Jack interrupted the rehearsal was that Hugo's part had already ended, and he had to express his satisfaction with Hugo as soon as possible.

But when everyone quieted down and focused on Hugo, Jack just said, "Sorry for interrupting the rehearsal. Let's continue now." It seemed that he did not intend to directly praise Hugo, but only expressed his recognition of him.

At first, Hugo was a little surprised, and then the joy in his heart surged up, but it was soon extinguished by Jack. Hugo quickly calmed down and looked back at the script. Although Jack did not say anything, at least Hugo knew that his effort was in the right direction. So Hugo had enough confidence that he could learn more in the filming process of "A Few Good Men".