Premonition of failure

Hugo must admit that Elisabeth's flirtation was too obvious. If the other party was a young woman it could turn into something beautiful, but it was not so beautiful if she was a housewife who could be his mother. Hugo looked at Elisabeth's peacock blue eye shadow flashing to him and felt powerless for a while.

Elisabeth slid her finger with a shallow touch on Hugo's abs. The emotional gesture startled Hugo and he felt a shallow layer of goosebumps float on his abdomen. This made Hugo a bit flustered, he had never encountered such a situation and naturally didn't know how to handle it. In a state of emergency, Hugo's mind flashed with a solution, and in the end, he decided to retreat.

Hugo raised his right hand and grabbed Elisabeth's that was gently rubbing his abdominal muscles, slightly separated it from his body, and then lightly pressed Elisabeth's palm with the tip of his fingernail. Despite this, his face still wore a warm smile. A sudden current made Elisabeth's muscles stiffen for a moment, then she withdrew her hand.

This time it was Elisabeth's turn to be startled, but her face didn't reveal it. Still, she threw a look at Hugo. If it was a beautiful woman who made this expression it would've had an amorous effect to it. Unfortunately, Elisabeth was not suitable, especially so when her peacock blue eye shadows made the image of Susan Boyle surface in Hugo's head. This made the scene look awkward.

Elisabeth whispered to Hugo, "As expected, you're experienced. Are you teasing me?" What did "experienced" mean? Hugo didn't think deeply about it and just chuckled. The clear and sunny smile at the corners of his mouth fully bloomed, causing Elisabeth's already jumping heartbeat to become even more irregular. "I thought this was part of the audition."

Elisabeth was stunned by Hugo's frank words, and then she saw that Hugo looked at Jon, who had been sitting beside him watching the play. "Is that right, Jon?"

When Jon heard Hugo's call, he could not help coughing awkwardly. As a representative of the actors' union, he witnessed the whole process just now. Although everything just happened in the dark and there was nothing visible on the surface, Jon had been rolling in the industry for so long. Naturally, he knew that this was the rule on the surface, so he had no need to stop it. But a rule was a rule, and Jon's position easily became delicate when Hugo poked at it so clearly.

Jon quickly drew back his eyes as he switched to Elisabeth, and said seriously, "Can the audition begin?"

Elisabeth took a deep look at Hugo and scanned his sturdy physique. Her gaze made Hugo feel uncomfortable. Elisabeth quickly withdrew her gaze, her lips curled into a smile as she said, "Next, try reading this piece of dialogue."

Hugo knew that the main event was about to begin. He organized his thoughts, looked at the script that Elisabeth handed over, picked it up with his right hand, and put it back on the desk. Then, in the surprised gaze of both Joe and Elisabeth, he lowered his head and buttoned up his shirt one by one, with a stern look.

Watching Hugo's orderly actions, Jon obviously struggled to suppress his laughter. He had never thought Hugo was such a humorous person before, especially in light of Elizabeth's previous statement. Now, the way Hugo buttoned his shirt was even more comical, but Jon's smile subsided a lot when he thought of the woman's command. Meanwhile, the confusion in Elisabeth's eyes was still undisguisable, or perhaps she didn't even try to conceal it and simply looked at Hugo with a touch of playfulness.

Actually for Hugo, speaking the lines with an open shirt exposing his chest would give him a feeling of acting, so he decided to either take off all his clothes or button up his shirt. After reading the script indicated by Elisabeth, he considered the content and finally decided to button up his shirt as a better choice.

After tidying up his shirt, Hugo picked up the script again and looked it over with his eyes. Hugo wasn't an actor from a drama school. He learned everything he knew about acting out of interest. He didn't know any acting methods and just imitated classic movie characters to understand acting. He had been "studying" acting for five years, but he didn't know if he'd learned anything special. Anyway, playing extras and supporting roles mostly didn't require much acting skills.

Today was Hugo's first official audition. He didn't know how to respond and finally decided to imitate someone else. Hugo hadn't seen "A River Runs Through It", but he had seen "Legends of the Fall" in which Brad Pitt played a role similar to that of the former. Today, Hugo wanted to imitate Brad Pitt's performance in "Legends of the Fall". Imitating Brad's performance was like confronting the real Brad Pitt, which was the root cause of Hugo's lack of confidence today. Nevertheless, one must try it to know, besides, Hugo was not completely copying it. Even if it's the same role and performance method, the results presented by different actors would not be the same.

Although he was not from a drama school, Hugo knew the importance of understanding the lines because he found that many actors had special rhythms and tones when playing roles, specifically, each person spoke differently, and capturing the character's voice was a great help for playing the role.

After reading the script in detail, Hugo regulated his breathing and then said, "Even so, the fishing training and theological teachings that Paul and I have received are equally as much." Hugo's voice was naturally rich and warm, with a touch of melancholy, like velvet, making it intoxicating. Now, Hugo deliberately slowed down the speed of his speech, making this line of dialogue have a deep rhythmic feeling.

"As a faithful presbyterian, my father believes that human nature is inherently evil and that only by following God's will can one regain strength and beauty." This was a complete sentence composed of three clauses. Hugo regulated his breathing slower, making the whole sentence not rushed, but rather more wise and profound. "For him, salmon and eternal redemption are like God's grace, which comes from art, and art is not easily obtained."

Hugo was actually a musician, so when he recited his lines, he had a special approach to his control of the rhythm. He presented a wise line in the form of a fourteen-line poem, with surprisingly wonderful results. It could be said that Hugo had his own understanding of the lines, and did his best to combine the role and lines. If this line was performed with an open shirt, it would be very funny. Hugo considered the content of the lines, that's why he buttoned up his shirt. Now it proved to be a wise choice.

After reciting the lines, Hugo still felt unsatisfied, as the lines left too little room for him to play. However, he was still very satisfied and enjoyed the process of performing. Before today, the most lines he had in a performance were of this magnitude, but today he got the opportunity to perform such a heavy role in an audition. This was really a wonderful thing.

After the script reading performance, Hugo looked at Elisabeth with expectation. He was still very satisfied with his performance, but he didn't know what the others thought of it. In addition to the lines, there was also his expression, gaze, and actions, and the whole performance was in what state really. This must be judged by Elisabeth.

Jon, who is sitting next to him, may only be the representative of the actors' union and a talent agent, but he had seen countless auditions. Though a bit rough, Hugo's audition performance was absolutely stunning. It was Hugo's control of the rhythm of the lines and the emotions of the character that clearly showed his talent. The three terrible films "Hudson Hawk", "Desperate Hours", and "The Adventures Of Ford Fairlane" did not completely consume his talent.

It should be noted that before these three works, Hugo was known for his acting talent and his outstanding performance in "Dead Poets Society" which made him famous. However, after that, Hugo's choice of works had a serious deviation, which led to the consecutive "spotlight" of the Golden Raspberry Award.

In fact, this was a good thing. After polishing and precipitation, Hugo could still become an outstanding actor, not just a vase that depends on his appearance. However, Jon knew that the decision of the audition was not in his hands, and after insider information, he was not optimistic, so Jon looked toward Elisabeth.

Elisabeth's expression appeared calm and not overly expressive, but in fact, she highly appreciated Hugo's performance earlier. Although Hugo just received the worst male lead award at the Golden Raspberry Awards and not to mention his other two nominations in the past two years, Elisabeth wouldn't forget Hugo's breakthrough role in "Dead Poets Society".

In "Dead Poets Society", Hugo portrayed Neil Perry flawlessly with seamless integration of demeanor, gaze, body language, and dialogue. It was comparable to Robin Williams' lead performance and yet, Hugo did not receive a nomination for best supporting actor that year, which caused dissatisfaction among critics.

The performance just now reminded Elisabeth of Hugo's performance in "Dead Poets Society" and once again showed Hugo's stunning talent that captured the attention of countless people. Unfortunately, many things were already predetermined before Hugo auditioned and Elisabeth had no intention of changing those arrangements.

"Hugo, do you have any special views on this script?" Elisabeth failed to live up to Hugo's ardent hopes and did not intend to comment on his performance, but changed the topic instead.

Hugo didn't know how the audition process worked in Hollywood, but Elisabeth didn't give any opinion on his performance and even changed the topic, which was clearly abnormal. Hugo refocused his attention on the script in his hand and realized that the previous lines of dialogue were not from Paul, the second son in "A River Runs Through It", but from Norman, the eldest son. This kind of thing wasn't uncommon during Hugo's past auditions for supporting roles, but it's worth noting in a lead audition.

Could it be said that his audition had happened before it began, or even was doomed to fail? This was too strange!