Chapter 110: She Is Mine
Chapter 110: She Is Mine
In Firefly’s audition room, after an entire morning of auditions, there were indeed a few actresses who had left a fairly good impression, but none of them had given Eric that instant feeling of being dazzled. Therefore, the few actresses selected could only be kept as backup candidates. If no more suitable actress was found in the end, these backup candidates would undergo a third round of auditions.
Running Out of Time was originally not a Hollywood film, so there were no reference points in terms of casting. Eric could only choose according to the image in his own mind. Aside from the roles played by Cruise, Hanks, and Joe Pesci, the role Eric cared about most was the woman from the chance encounter. That was why he had placed this role after most of the leading and supporting roles had already been decided, only then beginning auditions so he could take his time choosing.
This role had also received the most applications after Running Out of Time publicly announced its audition roles. Although it had very little screen time, it was still the female lead. Because of that, it had even drawn the interest of several A-list actresses. Since the role did not have many scenes, several A-list actresses who expressed interest in participating all agreed to appear with no salary, only wanting to gain some presence in this highly anticipated film.
Unfortunately, after Eric looked through their information, he rejected them. None of them were candidates he favored. Running Out of Time’s current cast lineup was already powerful enough, and there was no need to accommodate A-list actresses whose images did not fit just to make things look even better.
He believed the woman from the chance encounter had to give people a stunning feeling at first sight. Only then could she leave a deep impression on the audience during her brief appearance. The actress in his previous life had not achieved that. She had only made the audience remember that Running Out of Time had such a warm bus encounter scene, but the actress herself had not been remembered. Although in the year after Running Out of Time, that actress had acted in a large number of films to desperately raise her presence, she still remained lukewarm.
The afternoon auditions also remained lukewarm. There were merely a few more names added to the backup list.
After a busy day, Eric returned to the Beverly Hills mansion. In the spacious villa, the television in the living room was idly playing a news program. He busied himself alone in the kitchen for a while, prepared a simple dinner, then went to the living room and slowly enjoyed it.
Eric did not like loneliness. In his previous life, he had been someone who loved lively surroundings very much. Unfortunately, after arriving in this world, Eric had inexplicably come to like this atmosphere of being alone. This situation made his entire heart calm down, allowing him to think about many things at ease and confirm that everything now was not a dream, but truly existed. That was why Eric had refused Drew’s suggestion last time to hire a few servants. Of course, it was also possible that some primitive, instinctive territorial awareness was truly hidden deep within his personality.
After dinner, just as he was clearing the dishes, he heard the phone ring in the living room. When he picked it up, the owner’s voice did not immediately come from the other end. Instead, there was the sound of a group of girls laughing and playing. Eric vaguely heard Drew’s voice mixed among them, so he smiled and patiently waited for a while.
In the dormitory of the girls’ school, Drew was already full of energy at this moment, displaying the standard habits of a night owl. Since she had no plan to sneak out and play tonight, Drew was still wearing pajamas. After learning that Drew was calling Eric, the girls from her dorm immediately gathered around curiously. They had always been extremely curious about Drew’s relationship with Eric.
After laughing and kicking and punching the gossiping girls around her out of the room, Drew locked the dormitory door from inside before returning and picking up the receiver again. “Eric, it’s me. I wanted to ask how Gwyneth Paltrow’s audition went today.”
Eric told the truth. “Her performance wasn’t very good. Drew, did Gwyneth ask you to ask me?”
“Yeah.” Hearing Eric’s evaluation, the girl on the other end showed no change in expression at all. “No wonder she called me in such a hurry after today’s audition and wanted me to ask you for another audition opportunity. So that was why.”
“I think the result would be the same even if she tried again. Besides, her image is too far from the role setting. Otherwise, I could let her try again. This role doesn’t need much acting skill anyway. Drew, are you very close to Gwyneth? If that’s really the case, I can help keep an eye out for roles for her in future films. But forget about Running Out of Time.”
“No, no, no, of course there’s no need,” Drew quickly refused. “My relationship with her is very ordinary.”
Eric asked doubtfully, “Aren’t both of you Spielberg’s goddaughters?”
“That’s also the only thing we have in common,” Drew’s tone became somewhat listless. “Gwyneth’s father is a film producer, and her mother is a big star. She grew up carefree. I occasionally saw her at Godfather’s house before, and Gwyneth was always proud like a princess, surrounded by a group of little brats. Unlike me, I was carried off by my mother to shoot commercials and earn money for the family when I was only a few months old. Actually, Gwyneth looks down on me very much in her heart. If she hadn’t happened to need my help this time, she would never have contacted me on her own.”
Drew’s few ordinary sentences somehow sounded a little heartbreaking. Leaning against the sofa back beside the phone, Eric sighed softly and comforted her. “Girl, things are different now. You don’t need to accommodate anyone anymore. You’re the real princess now. Next time you meet someone you dislike, just roll your eyes at them. Don’t worry. If anything happens, I’ll back you up.”
In the dormitory on the other end, Drew giggled foolishly several times, hugged the entire phone, and jumped onto the bed, rolling around excitedly several times. She only stopped when the phone cord was nearly pulled loose. “Eric, that’s the most beautiful love confession I’ve ever heard. I love you.”
“…”
“Alright, alright, I know you don’t love me. You don’t need to say it out loud and hurt me again.” Drew’s voice quickly sounded again. “Has that female role been chosen yet?”
“Not yet. It’ll take another day and a half to go through all the auditioning actresses. If we still haven’t decided by then, there’ll be a third round of auditions.”
“Oh, then if there’s a third round, give Gwyneth another chance.”
Eric frowned. “Didn’t I just say…”
Drew interrupted Eric with a wicked laugh. “I just want Gwyneth to owe me another favor. Although with her narcissistic and self-righteous personality, there’s definitely no hope of her ever repaying this favor, I can still enjoy the feeling of being a creditor.”
Eric laughed along. “Alright. If there’s a third round of auditions, I’ll notify her.”
…
“Miss Lopez, thank you for your audition. If there are results, we’ll notify you as soon as possible.” After another round of formulaic words, Eric drew another cross beside the name of the woman who had just auditioned once she left.
Nickel leaned over, looked at the red cross Eric had drawn, and said regretfully, “Eric, I think that one just now wasn’t bad. Especially… especially…”
Eric rolled his eyes at Nickel. “Don’t tell me you have a butt fetish. Your eyes light up whenever you see this kind of woman.”
Laughter immediately filled the audition room. Nickel awkwardly glared at the laughing colleagues around him and retorted, “I’m a cinematographer. Appreciating beauty and recording it is my profession.”
Royce, the assistant director who had been mocked by Nickel the day before, finally seized the chance to ridicule him. “More like appreciating asses. You people don’t know, that night at Brady’s Bar, Nickel was just like this. He…”
“Royce, shut up. I’ll kill you.” Nickel immediately pounced over and covered Royce’s mouth. The two tangled together until Royce was almost unable to breathe from Nickel’s chokehold before everyone separated them.
Eric laughed and patted the table. “Alright, hurry up and let the next auditionee come in. The sooner we finish the auditions, the sooner we can prepare for the next work.”
After Eric finished speaking, he opened the next actress’s file. Before he had time to look at the other party’s name, a girl followed the staff member inside. Eric clearly felt all the men around him lightly inhale and looked up.
Stunning.
That was Eric’s first feeling.
She is mine.
That was Eric’s second thought.