The audition for "scent of a woman" began quickly. The interview room was the conference room next door; it wasn't a makeshift setup but a proper, fully enclosed room that could block out the noise from the studio.Several people had already gone in, and none stayed for long. The shortest one seemed to come out as soon as they went in, and the longest was no more than three minutes.You have to understand, everyone currently in the waiting room was an Actor with actual work to show for themselves. Yet, the auditions were ending so quickly that it was impossible to have a good feeling about it. Could it be that the production team was looking for newcomers without much experience today?Soon, the man who had just told Hugo and Leonardo to be quiet stood up. Hugo and Leonardo immediately straightened their backs and sat upright, staring at the man with wide eyes. There was no particular malice or specific intent, just a casual observation, except their eyes were opened exceptionally wide. This left the man feeling helpless; he wanted to say something but found no words, so he just quickened his pace and entered the conference room.Seeing the man's flustered back, Hugo and Leonardo almost couldn't hold it in and nearly burst out laughing, but considering they still had a mission to complete, they forced themselves to hold it back.Sure enough, the man came out after a short while; he had only lasted about two minutes. As soon as he exited, he saw Hugo and Leonardo still sitting prim and proper, as well-behaved as children on their first day of school, staring at him with curious, wide eyes.The man felt creeped out by Hugo and Leonardo's gaze, but since they clearly meant no harm, he couldn't say anything and eventually just fled in a panic.This time, Hugo and Leonardo burst into loud laughter. However, no one else complained; instead, everyone else in the waiting room couldn't help but chuckle as well, which immediately eased the tense atmosphere in the room.When Ellen Lewis came out, she saw this cheerful atmosphere in the waiting room. Among the group of Actors, Hugo and Leonardo, sitting in the center, were so dazzling that they easily attracted everyone's attention.Among them, Hugo's sunny smile was particularly attractive; that warm, radiant, and brilliant aura made the corners of the observers' mouths curl up involuntarily.However, thinking of Hugo's dark history of three consecutive box office flops, not to mention the negative impact of the Golden Raspberry Awards, Ellen's smile faded slightly. She pulled her focus back to her work, "Leonardo DiCaprio, you're next.""Buddy, good luck." Leonardo stood up. Hugo said with a smile, which made the smile on Leonardo's face relax a little. Then, he followed behind Ellen and entered the conference room next door.Without his chat partner, Hugo immediately felt a wave of nervousness wash over him. Because his attention had shifted entirely to the upcoming audition, the tension involuntarily wound his nerves tight, and the muscle tightness made him feel his breathing becoming rapid.Hugo took the script back into his hands, but he couldn't take in a single word. To be precise, his brain was in a completely blank state, and Hugo couldn't even remember his original plan.Hugo knew he was too nervous. During the audition for "a river runs through it", Hugo was still in a state of having just transmigrated, confused and unclear about the situation, and the interview ended in a daze. Today's audition was clearly completely different.Take a deep breath, deep breath. Hugo kept forcing himself to adjust his breathing rhythm. Although he hadn't seen many big scenes, his Band's performances were basically in very small venues—the Midi Music Festival stage was the biggest venue their Band had played in ten years—but Hugo still had his own methods for dealing with nervousness.After a few consecutive deep breaths, Hugo's anxiety finally subsided, though his brain still hadn't fully recovered. Hugo knew he would just have to improvise during the audition.At this moment, Leonardo walked out of the conference room. Hugo looked up and cast an inquiring glance. Leonardo hadn't spent much time inside, only about three minutes.Leonardo showed a helpless smile and shook his head; it seemed the audition process hadn't gone very smoothly. Afterward, Leonardo didn't walk over; he just said "Good luck," waved goodbye to Hugo, and walked outside to find his agent."Hugo Lancaster." Ellen stood at the doorway of the conference room again and called out to the waiting room.Hugo took another deep breath, stood up, hesitated for a moment, but still picked up the script he had left on the sofa before walking toward the conference room.Whispering a "Thank you" to Ellen, who opened the door for him, Hugo walked into the conference room and immediately saw the layout of the room. It was called a conference room, but it was actually a small room of about 300 square feet (30 square meters), with a round conference table inside, where three people were sitting.Hugo walked up and placed his resume on the table; today was an open audition, so submitting a resume was a necessary procedure. Ellen then walked to the side of the table and sat down. She smiled and pointed to the woman sitting on the far side, saying, "I am casting director Ellen Lewis, and this is the Screen Actors Guild representative, Lily St. Camp."Hugo and Lily exchanged a polite smile. "Alright, you may begin. You have thirty seconds."Hugo was stunned for a moment. The two men in the middle hadn't introduced themselves at all—who were they? And they had started right away as soon as he walked in, without even looking at his resume.Recalling that the people who had auditioned before had only stayed for at most three minutes, Hugo understood."Thirty seconds? I don't know what I can do." Hugo pursed his lips, raised the script in his right hand, and said honestly."What do you mean?" Ellen asked, frowning in confusion. The two men in the middle, who had been looking at Hugo's resume, couldn't help but look up as well.Hugo was no longer nervous at this point, and he spoke very fluently. "My point is, Charlie is a student. He doesn't have a single concentrated highlight that can erupt in a short period. If you give me thirty seconds, no matter what content I perform, I won't be able to showcase the character of Charlie."A look of inquiry appeared on Ellen's face, though the two men in the middle still had no expression, only exchanging a glance. "You haven't read the script, have you? Charlie and the Lieutenant Colonel have several confrontations; Charlie has plenty of room for performance."Hugo opened his mouth, originally wanting to say "This is a scene with a partner; it requires mutual stimulation for the performance," but Ellen seemed to know his excuse, raising her hand to stop him, and continued, "Do you think the role of a student has no challenges and can be played by just being yourself?""It's not like that." Hugo wasn't discouraged. In the process of auditioning, one naturally encounters all kinds of situations, and there's no way to prepare for them in advance. Even if he had worn out the edges of the "scent of a woman" script, it wouldn't help.So he didn't panic and continued methodically, "I mean, something like'student-ness' can't be acted out, just like you can't deceive others about how much you've read. Even if Al Pacino were to play the role of Charlie, he wouldn't be able to showcase it. Otherwise, you wouldn't be holding an open audition today, would you?"Ellen looked at the two men on her right this time. A thoughtful smile appeared on all three of their faces. "Even if everything you said is correct, it doesn't mean your behavior is correct. Do you think you can walk in here, perform nothing in the thirty seconds we gave you, and still get the role? That's impossible."Ellen hit back at Hugo mercilessly, but she didn't see any sign of frustration on his face; it was still that same warm smile. "If we follow your current logic, then how did you get your role in 'dead poets society'?"In fact, objectively speaking, Hugo was very suitable for student roles; his classical scholarly temperament was very eye-catching. He played a student in "dead poets society".Hearing this question, Hugo was immediately put in a difficult spot because he really didn't know the situation of the "dead poets society" audition, and he couldn't exactly say it was because Tracy pulled strings. So, Hugo raised his right hand, waved it gently, and said, "Say... 'Hello'?"This childlike humor immediately made Ellen laugh, and smiles appeared on the faces of the other three people, which made Hugo feel slightly more at ease."Since you think it's impossible to express the essence of the character Charlie within thirty seconds, then clearly you have your own understanding of the role. Can you talk to us about it?" Ellen glanced at the watch on the table; the thirty seconds had already passed, but she had no intention of letting Hugo leave, and the two men beside her clearly didn't have that intention either.The two men sitting in the center were director and producer Martin Brest and Screenwriter Bo Goldman. Although, on the surface, the person holding the power of life and death today was casting director Ellen, the fact that both the director and the Screenwriter had come to the audition site in person showed that they attached great importance to the role of Charlie. They definitely didn't want to find a terrible partner for Al Pacino, as that could ruin a movie. Although they hadn't revealed their identities, it didn't mean they would remain silent forever; it was just that no Actor worth speaking to had appeared yet.Although the previous audition process had exceeded Hugo's expectations, this question wasn't difficult for him. The benefits of reading the script over and over again were now highlighted; his previously blank brain now had a continuous stream of ideas. Almost without thinking, Hugo could speak directly."Of course, as long as you aren't in a hurry to chase me away." Hugo's first sentence once again made Ellen and the others reveal a smile.
