The following days were calm; the encounter with Tracy that night truly didn't lead to anything, at least nothing that would affect the "scent of a woman" crew.However, the set visit report that Nicholas published in the "Los Angeles Times" did stir up some discussion.In this report, Nicholas slightly exaggerated Hugo's comments about the Golden Raspberry Awards, suggesting that Hugo was "standing up" for them.This way of twisting concepts by Nicholas easily sparked heated discussions across major media outlets and brought pleasing sales figures to the "Los Angeles Times," but it also turned everyone's spearheads back toward Hugo.Actually, strictly speaking, Nicholas expressed quite a bit of appreciation for Hugo in this report; he only highlighted the focus to manufacture a topic.But in the current atmosphere of 1992—in other words, at a time when the Golden Raspberry Awards were not yet fully accepted by the public—this topic appeared extremely sensitive; the establishment was certainly not willing to see the "Worst Actor" being praised as a role model.Therefore, the discussion this time clearly split into two factions: one side supported Hugo's view, believing that the Golden Raspberry Awards were simply for entertaining the public and there was no need to be too serious; furthermore, they argued that events like the Golden Globe Awards and the Oscar were also entertainment galas, as this was, after all, the entertainment industry.The other faction believed that Hugo was blurring the focus, arguing that the Golden Raspberry Awards' method of entertaining the public was by selecting the worst works of the year, so the focus on "worst" could not be ignored; the winners were indeed the worst, and this point should not be overlooked just because of its entertainment nature, just as people would not deny the authority of the Oscar even though it was an entertainment gala; it was the same principle.Regardless of whether Nicholas had good or bad intentions, it was undeniable that Hugo had become hot again.Consequently, the attention received by "scent of a woman" also rose sharply, which made the crew very happy, and Martin even specifically praised Hugo once, leaving Hugo feeling somewhat amused yet helpless.The filming process of "scent of a woman" was very smooth, and the New York scenes were quickly coming to an end; this particular scene was the most explosive one in the entire movie, and also the most difficult one among the New York filming scenes.After Charlie and Colonel Slade arrived in New York, Charlie, anxious and uneasy because of school matters, was eager to go back on one hand, while on the other, he began to notice that something was wrong with the Colonel, and then Charlie discovered the fact that the Colonel intended to commit suicide.It turned out the Colonel believed that there was no meaning left in his life, so he planned to squander all his savings, then meet his older brother, and finally commit suicide.This made Charlie panic, but he had no way to persuade the Colonel to change his mind, so he could only try to find ways to make the Colonel happy.This scene was the part where the Colonel decided to carry out his suicide; he sent Charlie away from the hotel suite, put on his military uniform, and prepared to shoot himself.But when Charlie walked to the hotel lobby, he sensed the Colonel's intention and returned; Charlie tried to persuade the Colonel to hand over the pistol to him, but the stubborn Colonel was unwilling and even threatened to kill Charlie before committing suicide.With no other choice, Charlie had to risk using force, attempting to snatch the gun from the Colonel, which caused the two to get into a physical altercation, and all emotions reached their peak at this moment.For the first half, the persuasion scene, Hugo and Al Pacino spent an entire morning filming; but for the subsequent long segment involving the physical altercation and emotional release, filming encountered difficulties, and Hugo was slow to get into the zone.At this moment, the gap between Hugo and Al Pacino became apparent.If Hugo's scene partner at this moment were an Actor of equal caliber, then Hugo's performance would not have had major issues, but unfortunately, the two of them were unable to spark enough chemistry to support the brilliance of this scene.Now, Al Pacino's acting level was clearly several notches higher than Hugo's; throughout the scene, Al Pacino was in control of the initiative, and the weakness of Hugo's performance was immediately exposed; his performance, lacking thickness and depth, appeared pale and powerless in the face of Al Pacino's explosive performance, which caused this climax scene to suddenly become dull and uninteresting."Cut!" Martin's originally energetic voice had now become extremely dejected, and one could even hear the impatience hidden beneath his expression.Facing Martin's shout, Hugo looked blank; besides saying "Sorry," he didn't know what he should do. Even he himself could feel that the performance just now was truly terrible, and he estimated that he would feel ashamed when he walked behind the monitor to watch it."Hugo, you need to release all the emotions inside you, you know? It's like your whole person is a bomb that completely explodes."It wasn't just Martin; even Al Pacino was getting anxious. He spoke directly to explain the scene to Hugo. Before this, they had filmed it seven times back and forth; two times were because of Al Pacino's own issues, while the other five were because Hugo's performance couldn't satisfy them.Most importantly, Hugo's mistakes weren't due to any accidental factors, but entirely because his acting wasn't up to par; he simply hadn't gotten into character, which was the most headache-inducing part.Martin stood to the side with a bitter smile on his face; he had already talked until his mouth was dry for Hugo, but it seemed there wasn't much progress. "Hugo, you must cry—not tears of pain or sadness, but a catharsis of emotion."Martin repeated again; actually, he was a very peaceful and friendly person, but at this moment, Martin couldn't help but become impatient.In fact, Martin believed in Hugo's ability; setting aside his excellence during the audition, after filming for this period, Martin also knew that Hugo's potential was very rich, but right now, Hugo didn't know how to present it, which was the biggest problem. He always felt that Hugo was still lacking something—not talent, and not effort, but perhaps a turning point, or a bit of inspiration.This was the most frustrating part for Martin: he didn't have time to wait for Hugo to slowly brew inspiration.Facing the barrage from both Al Pacino and Martin, Hugo himself felt very helpless. When the director called "Cut" three times in a row, Hugo felt very guilty, and the more the pauses were called, the more tension would pile up inside him.At this moment, Hugo truly understood the hardship of the profession of an Actor.It is actually not difficult to become a vase; it is also not that hard to become a qualified Actor, but to become an excellent Actor is a long and difficult process. Hugo was now walking on this thorny road, and this was merely the first hurdle, yet it had already left Hugo covered in sweat.At this time, the Staff Members on site were more or less revealing distracted expressions; for them, filming progress being stalled meant that they would have to extend their working hours today, which was not good news, and no one wanted that.However, everyone was an old hand who had been rolling around in film crews for years, so they were already accustomed to such things; it was just that when the object was Hugo, it seemed even more ridiculous.Who was Hugo? Presumably, when everyone mentioned him recently, they would inevitably attach the title of "Golden Raspberry Awards Worst Actor," and even add a "grateful and tearful" filled with teasing and sarcasm as a prefix to express their disdain for Hugo.Such an Actor had no acting skills and also no box office appeal; not only were they unwelcome by production companies, but film crews also didn't welcome them, because this would seriously affect the quality of the film—as well as the filming progress.When Hugo entered the "scent of a woman" crew, just as the media said: no one was optimistic about his prospects.Because Hugo had already disappointed people three times in a row, and this fourth time seemed to be not far off; what's more, this time, what Hugo had to face was Al Pacino, and Al Pacino's excellent acting would only make Hugo appear even more wretched.Now, the result of this scene also proved that the media's concerns were correct; Hugo was indeed vulnerable in front of Al Pacino, seriously affecting the filming progress. Although this scene had only been filmed seven times so far, it had wasted a full three hours; the entire morning, the crew had almost no progress, just staying in the luxury suite of the Waldorf Hotel, repeatedly watching Hugo fall apart in front of the camera.Actually, the "scent of a woman" crew didn't really have any exclusionary feelings toward Hugo, because Hugo was not the male lead; Al Pacino was.As a supporting role, Hugo's influence on the crew was very weak; the Staff Members were not necessarily dissatisfied with Hugo, at most just gossiping about him.Moreover, after entering the crew, Hugo's optimism and cheerfulness quickly helped him blend in with the crew, which also made Hugo's time in the crew quite good.But today was different; Hugo was not an ordinary person, but an Actor at work, yet he hadn't done his job well, affecting the progress of the entire crew because of his own mistake.Under such circumstances, even between friends, there would inevitably be some complaints, let alone that they were originally working partners in a collaborative relationship.The Staff Members couldn't help but recall Hugo's previous bad track record, not only ruining three films in succession but also making a big fool of himself at the Golden Raspberry Awards. "Sigh, it seems this terrible performance is no coincidence.""Just get used to it; I estimate we'll be spending the whole day here.""He's not bad as an ordinary person, but as an Actor, well...""Heaven knows how Martin and Allen chose him; could there be some insider story?""Sigh, it's really annoying, being trapped in this room all the time, just watching him make stupid mistakes there... I think Martin will be lecturing for a while; I'm going out to smoke a cigarette.""I'm going too," "And me"...The whispering voices among the Staff Members drifted into Hugo's ears intermittently. Although the Staff Members didn't scold him, their doubts about his working ability and acting strength were unquestionable.However, Hugo had no mind to react to the Staff Members' words at this moment, because Al Pacino and Martin in front of him were completely in a state of "wishing he would live up to expectations," earnestly guiding Hugo, hoping to lead Hugo onto the right path and finish filming this scene smoothly. Hugo had to pull his attention back and focus on contemplating this scene.But, he really was not in the zone... his mind was almost a complete blank.
