Chapter 109: Perks
Chapter 109: Perks
After hearing her answer, Eric gave no reaction. He lowered his head and made a note on the file. That reaction made Gwyneth somewhat uneasy. She felt her answer should have been very appropriate. But the people opposite her did not give her time to think. After asking several more questions, they finally began the performance.
A staff member brought over a bench that could seat two people. An assistant explained, “Miss Paltrow, the scene you’ll perform is this: on a bus, a strange man suddenly sits down beside you. He is very handsome, the kind of man who makes a woman’s heart stir at first glance. But inside his open collar, you see a handgun. The man holds you hostage and makes you pretend to be a couple with him so he can get past the police inspection. You don’t dare resist and can only let him do as he pleases. Miss Paltrow, you have no lines. You can only rely on facial expressions and body language to express your emotions. You have one minute to prepare.”
Not a single line? This… was too difficult, wasn’t it? That thought immediately appeared in Gwyneth’s mind. However, she knew she had no other choice, so she quickly adjusted her state and prepared to perform.
One minute later, Gwyneth sat on the bench and indicated that she was ready. After the assistant reminded her, “When the music stops, the performance ends,” the clapperboard was snapped.
At the same time, another staff member pressed play, and a light piano melody sounded.
The piece was the same instrumental music that repeatedly appeared during the bus encounter in the original version, titled “Speechless Love.” In his previous life, because this soundtrack was suspected of plagiarizing a 1995 instrumental work by Greek musician Vangelis, it had not been released on the original soundtrack album. Eric had copied the piece down now, so it naturally would no longer involve any copyright issues. In the future, he could also publish the soundtrack album with a clear conscience.
Gwyneth sat there quietly. A moment later, a staff member sat down beside her. Gwyneth gently frowned and turned to size up the man beside her. Her gaze landed inside his open collar, where a gun was tucked. A frightened look immediately appeared on Gwyneth’s face, and her body made an obvious movement of shrinking backward.
Behind the audition table, Eric frowned slightly. Gwyneth’s expression was too exaggerated, but he did not interrupt.
The two people performing continued. As the music played, the staff member acting as a temporary actor reached out and wrapped an arm around Gwyneth’s shoulder, saying, “Don’t make a sound and you’ll be fine.”
Gwyneth’s body stiffened. Her eyes stared straight ahead. From Eric’s angle, he could see the hands she placed on her knees trembling lightly. The staff member took off his own glasses and put them on Gwyneth. The girl still had no reaction at all, like a puppet.
There should originally have been an action of taking out earphones here, but because this was an improvised performance, it was omitted.
“Lean over,” the staff member said again. Gwyneth leaned against the man’s shoulder with a wronged expression.
A moment later, Eric made a gesture, and someone immediately stopped the music.
Gwyneth knew the performance was over, so she quickly straightened up and smiled as she took off the sunglasses and returned them to him.
“Miss Paltrow, thank you very much for your audition. You may leave now. We’ll inform you of the audition result as soon as possible.”
“Ah, it’s… over just like that?” Gwyneth could not help asking.
Eric nodded and made a gesture of invitation. Gwyneth could only pick up her handbag and walk out of the audition room. After closing the door, the girl immediately restrained her expression and coldly walked through the crowd waiting for auditions.
Inside the audition room, several people quickly began discussing.
Alan Fiseman, who was sitting beside Eric, asked, “Eric, what do you think?”
Eric drew a cross beside Gwyneth’s name. He had never felt anything for a beauty of Gwyneth’s type to begin with, and moreover, her acting really was not very good. He casually explained, “No. Her emotions were one-note, her expressions stayed on the surface, and she was very affected. Kurt, call the next one.”
Beside them, Nickel Frank reached out and stopped Kurt, who was about to call someone in. “Eric, let me go next?”
“Hey, I’ve clearly only done three, alright? We agreed to rotate every ten.” The man who had just acted as the temporary performer immediately objected.
Nickel showed an expression of deep grief. “Royce, I think you’d better stop acting. You look so shabby that all three girls just now were affected by you and completely failed to perform properly. This is practically murder against other people’s careers.”
“If Audrey Hepburn came to audition, she could still perform even if a gorilla sat beside her.”
“Royce, you finally admit your looks are worse than a gorilla’s.”
Royce, whose features were indeed somewhat rough but could not be called ugly, nearly went mad. “Nickel, if you keep mocking me like this, watch out or I’ll tell everyone about the embarrassing thing you did at Brady’s Bar that night.”
“You dare!”
Eric gloomily slapped the table and stopped their argument. Nickel was Eric’s cinematographer, while Royce’s current position was assistant director. The two had originally belonged to Jeffrey’s wife’s team and were very good friends. This kind of petty squabbling happened every few days, so Eric was not worried that the two would truly come into conflict. But letting them continue arguing was too annoying.
The cause of the argument was still this audition. Today’s auditionees were all beautiful women. Eric had not hired temporary actors. Instead, all the men present were taking turns playing the robber Andy. It counted as a small perk for the crew members who had accompanied him through several days of dull audition work.
Unexpectedly, he had underestimated the hormonal restlessness of this group of animals. At the beginning of the auditions, there was a particularly sexy Latin girl with a full, curvy figure. When it was time for someone to act opposite her, it should originally have been Eric’s assistant Alan Fiseman’s turn, but Nickel had directly rushed up instead. Since outsiders were present, Alan could only glare helplessly.
“Stop arguing. You’re giving me a headache. Royce continues. The rules stay the same. If you argue again, I’ll find a temporary actor, and none of you will act anymore.”
Eric still had authority. Or perhaps the final threat worked. Nickel and Royce immediately shut their mouths, only giving each other the middle finger. After receiving Eric’s signal, Kurt went out and called in the next auditionee.
…
Only after walking out of Firefly’s office building did Gwyneth suddenly react.
“Ah, I should have thought of that earlier!” Gwyneth frantically waved both hands and kicked the nearby trash can in frustration, making a muffled bang.
She finally understood why Eric had asked that question about love at first sight. Combined with the performance just now, it was clearly a scene where two strangers met and fell in love at first sight.
Yet she had actually tried to be clever and said she did not believe in love at first sight. That was so stupid. Also, during the performance just now, she had only focused on showing fear and had not revealed the slightest emotion of love at first sight.
Right. The staff member seemed to have reminded her that the strange man was very handsome, the kind of man who would make a woman’s heart stir at first glance.
It was all that staff member’s fault. He clearly looked ugly, yet insisted on playing some handsome man. If Eric Williams had been sitting beside her, she definitely would have felt her heart stir.
Gwyneth gritted her teeth as she thought this. As if possessed, she shifted her disappointed anger onto Drew again. It was all that little bitch’s fault. She lived in Eric Williams’s house, so she must have seen the script for Running Out of Time. Back then, Gwyneth had even specifically asked her about the script’s contents. If that little bitch had revealed even a little bit, she would not have been so completely unprepared. After venting her anger for a while, Gwyneth happened to pass a phone booth.
Right. Perhaps she could contact Drew Barrymore and see whether the other girl could help her obtain another audition opportunity. Next time… next time, she would definitely prepare thoroughly and would not perform as terribly as she had this time.
Gwyneth did not consider the time at all. Under normal circumstances, Drew should have been in class. She searched through the address book in her bag, inserted a coin into the pay phone, and dialed Drew’s dorm room number.
After several beeps, the call actually connected.
“Hello…” A dazed girl’s voice sounded from the other end, as if she had not fully woken up yet.
Gwyneth changed her expression as if putting on a new face and switched to an affectionate tone. “Hi, Drew, it’s me, Gwyneth… Hehe, it’s already ten now, and you’re still sleeping? I’m so jealous… It’s like this. Today, I attended that audition, but I don’t think I brought out my true ability. Could you help me talk to Mr. Williams and ask him to give me another audition opportunity… Okay… alright… I’ll wait for your good news. Let’s have dinner together this weekend. I know a great Italian restaurant on Sunset Boulevard… That works too… Okay, that’s it. Bye-bye.”
She kept smiling until she heard the busy tone after the other side hung up. Only then did Gwyneth slam the receiver back into place, her tone carrying faint contempt and jealousy. “Sleeping in the middle of the day. She definitely went out fooling around last night. I hope one day Eric Williams catches you in bed with someone and sells you to an African mining brothel. Let’s see whether you can still keep that baby face you use to seduce men.”