Starting up

Looking at Hugo's confused expression, Rob and Nora, two people whose ages combined were almost a hundred, burst into laughter, clearly delighted with having fooled Hugo. This made all the other actors who were watching unable to help but laugh and cry at the same time.

Rob and Hugo were more familiar with each other, so Rob was the first to suppress his smile and turned to his companion standing beside him, saying, "Nora, we should give him the script; otherwise, he won't be able to act in this state." Then he turned his head to Hugo and said, "Did you forget? This is a story that connects two people through a radio station, so the male and female leads have never met."

Hugo finally realized what he had overlooked. He hadn't thought about it from that perspective before, but now, with Rob's reminder, he understood.

"Sleepless in Seattle" is a very special story. It is told through two main storylines: one follows the male protagonist, Sam, and the other follows the female protagonist, Annie. Sam originally lived in Chicago in the Midwest of the United States but moved to Seattle on the West Coast after his wife's death. Sam has his own storyline, and the actors Hugo saw today are clearly peripheral characters in Sam's storyline. On the other side, Annie lives in Baltimore on the East Coast of the United States. She also has her own circle of life that has no intersection with the West Coast. The group of actors that Hugo saw has no connection with Annie.

Therefore, during the filming, Nora planned to divide it into two parts. First, they would shoot Hugo's part independently, then the part where Hugo and Meg collaborate, and finally, they would shoot Meg's part separately. After all the shooting was done, they would integrate the entire film through post-production.

Ideally, if circumstances allow, it would be best for the male and female leads to personally act opposite each other, such as the scenes involving the radio in "Sleepless in Seattle". Sam and Annie have scenes where they talk to the radio, mumbling to themselves, and their voices overlap through the radio waves. Having the actors personally perform these scenes would be very helpful for their emotional expression. Otherwise, involving other crew members would always affect the actors' immersion in the role.

However, due to Meg's special situation, Nora had to give up this idea and shoot the two storylines of Hugo and Meg completely independently.

The casting process for "Sleepless in Seattle" was unusually difficult. In short, no one was willing to take on this hot potato. Michelle Pfeiffer, Kim Basinger, Jodie Foster, Julia Roberts, and others were all considered, but unfortunately, they were all rejected. It was only at the last minute that Meg agreed to take on the role. However, the problem was that Meg was currently filming another project and couldn't immediately join the "Sleepless in Seattle" crew.

Meg was shooting "Flesh and Bone", directed by Steve Kloves, along with her husband, Dennis Quaid. This film was originally scheduled to wrap up in early February. If it had gone according to plan, Meg could have joined the "Sleepless in Seattle" crew immediately. However, there were some issues with the filming of the movie, leading to delays, and director Stephen couldn't determine the wrap-up time. It was very likely to be extended until the end of February.

But the problem was that "Sleepless in Seattle" started on Christmas night and ended on Valentine's Day. Therefore, starting production before March was the most suitable. Reluctantly, Nora had to let the crew start filming, shooting Hugo's part while waiting for Meg. In other words, Hugo had to start filming without the female lead. Luckily, the unique nature of "Sleepless in Seattle" made this idea possible; otherwise, the crew would have had to continue waiting for the female lead.

After understanding the cause and effect, Hugo didn't have any particular thoughts. Regardless of whether Meg appeared on set or not, his filming had to proceed. On the contrary, it was the interaction with the child actor that made Hugo more worried.

"So, this is your scene partner," Nora said with a smile, gently patting the child standing beside her, speaking to Hugo.

Although Hugo had known that Sam's character was a widower with an eight-year-old child, he still felt a bit anxious about acting opposite a child when he actually saw the child actor. In Hollywood, there is a saying, "Never work with animals or children", because both animals and children are difficult to control. Once a film involves animals or children, it increases the burden on the crew exponentially, including not just the budget but also manpower and shooting time.

Hugo looked at the small child in front of him, who had a calm expression despite his young age. He squatted down, aligning his line of sight with the child's, which was the basic respect adults show to children. "Nice to meet you. I'm Hugo Lancaster," Hugo smiled and extended his right hand.

The child carefully examined Hugo, appearing cautious and assessing, as if wanting to see the sincerity in Hugo's eyes. This reminded Hugo of a folk saying about children, "Children are the most sensitive; they can sensitively feel others' goodwill or malice toward them."

Sure enough, the child looked at Hugo's warm smile and nodded, his small but mature face. "You are a kind man. Nice to meet you. My name is Ross Malinger."

His pretentiously mature smile made Hugo burst into laughter. "I can tell that you are already familiar with acting." He could tell this from the child's boldness and directness when facing strangers.

"Of course. This is my fourth film, and I have also acted in two TV series," Ross said, placing his hands on his waist, looking experienced and puffing up his chest.

"That puts my mind at ease. I haven't worked with children before, so I'm always worried about not performing well. Now it seems that maybe you can help me a lot," Hugo's honesty surprised the others around him.

In fact, in Hugo's opinion, lying to children was unnecessary and unwise. Perhaps they couldn't see through your lies, but they could sense that something was amiss, which would make them feel repelled by you. As for Hugo, he had to portray a father-son relationship with Ross in the film. Hugo had never truly become a father, and his understanding of father-son relationships was terrible. Therefore, if he couldn't get cooperation from Ross, the performance would lack persuasiveness. Thus, Hugo chose to be honest.

Amidst the surprised gazes of the crowd, Hugo leaned in close to Ross's ear and quietly said, "And, I have never been a father in real life either. I have no experience in how to be a father. Can you help me?"

Ross waited for those innocent eyes to look at Hugo, seemingly not quite understanding why Hugo was saying these things to him. But Hugo wore a gentle smile and looked at Ross firmly. Then Hugo saw Ross break into a big smile and hug Hugo's neck, whispering softly in his ear, "Don't worry, leave it to me."

Listening to Ross's earnest voice, despite his uneven teeth causing him to lisp, it added a lot of amusement. But Hugo didn't laugh because it was funny. He looked at Ross seriously and said softly, "Thank you!"

Then Hugo stood up and extended his right hand to Ross, saying, "So, partner, can we go upstairs now?" Ross looked up at the tall Hugo and then turned to look at a woman with a smile on her face, presumably his mother. After receiving permission, Ross placed his little hand in Hugo's large palm.

Nora looked at this scene and gently patted Hugo's shoulder. "It seems like you've made good progress on your first day on set." Hugo responded with a smile and then held Ross's hand, walking towards the elevator.

After arriving in Seattle, the production team didn't start working immediately because Hugo hadn't read the script yet. He received the script on that day and started reading it, but he also spent most of his time playing with Ross. Hugo seemed to have a natural affinity with children. In less than two days, he was already chatting and laughing with Ross, getting along harmoniously. One night, Ross even fell asleep on Hugo's bed, so Hugo carefully carried Ross back to his mother's room and gently placed him on the bed.

After this incident, people on the set jokingly called Hugo a good dad. It's just unknown whether it was only limited to Ross or if it applied to all children. But evidently, the warm and inviting aura radiating from Hugo was genuinely attractive to children. Most importantly, Hugo himself was willing to play with children, and he followed through on his words, quickly becoming good friends with Ross.

Initially, Hugo thought he would need time to groom his hairstyle and establish his appearance. However, Nora directly said, "Just go with your imagined style of a father. Your own conception of a father's style should be your guide. The production team hasn't prepared any costumes, and there's no need for makeup."

Hugo looked at Nora, who seemed nonchalant about it, and couldn't help but cry and laugh. "Is it because the production budget is insufficient? Otherwise, we can't just do nothing." Of course, this was just Hugo's joke, and he understood Nora's intention.

Sam was originally a widower who had lost direction after his wife's death, so his hair and life were left unplanned and unkempt, in a somewhat chaotic state. This was normal. Hugo had done the same during his first audition, and now Nora faithfully brought Hugo's idea to the big screen.

"The only requirement is that you don't cut your hair," Nora pointed to Hugo's hair, which was almost touching his eyebrows.

To this, Hugo could only force a wry smile.

Hugo's current hairstyle wouldn't be noticeable if it were cut short, but in fact, it had a slight natural curl. Although it wasn't very prominent, when left long, the strands of hair would naturally form curves, and with a slight negligence, it would turn into a messy nest. This easily reminded Hugo of Robert Pattinson's disheveled hairstyle. Hugo shrugged helplessly, but at the same time, he couldn't help but feel relieved that his hairstyle wasn't the "Justin Timberlake" type of small frosted curls.