The Legendary Actor - Chapter 50

While the experts watch for the show, the laymen watch for the fun.

The much-anticipated debut of “The Pacific” not only attracted tens of thousands of viewers to watch the live broadcast, but also critics, journalists, actors, directors and other industry insiders, as it became the primary hotspot on the night of March 21, including, of course, agents.

During the previous period, the news that “The Pacific” was using a newcomer with no acting experience as one of the three main characters had already spread all over Hollywood, especially after last night’s premiere, “Renly Hall” immediately entered the public’s attention.

However, this did not cause a chain reaction after all. The same reasons the media was reluctant to focus too much on Renly are also applicable, but in the end, it’s because “The Pacific” as a mini-series doesn’t carry enough weight. In the industry’s view, the purpose of Tom’s pursuit at the premiere could not have been clearer: to generate news and divert pressure.

A new actor in a miniseries, no matter how shocking, has a limited influence.

Tonight, the situation is changing subtly after the appearance of “The Pacific”. The new actor has shown a subtle performance and a great sense of camera, which is a real eye-opener, but if that were all, it wouldn’t be enough to make a move; but last night at the premiere, the humor, the poise, and the calmness in dealing with the press is a rare gift, and when you add good looks to that, the potential goes up exponentially.

Frances Parker dialed Tom Hanks’ cell phone, “Tom, tell me honestly, where the hell did you dig up such a gem? His acting skills are all natural, and he has a rare quality even when he just raises his hands and feet; in time, he will surely be among the top.”

Tom laughed heatedly, “I thought you were so knowledgeable, you’d never be amazed at the newcomers after all you’ve seen.” Francis is a senior agent at Endeavour, a top five agency in Hollywood, and their biggest asset is the TV series, “Heroes” and “Prison Break”, “It’s all packaged and produced by the clients.”

Francis showed some eagerness in response to Tom’s detour, “You know I don’t like jokes. He’s new, but he’s already showing star potential.” Tom’s chuckle could be heard on the other end of the phone. “The Pacific” had only aired its first episode, and Renly’s scene was only three minutes long, so to say “superstar potential” now, Francis was exaggerating a little.

However, Francis didn’t mind, “Didn’t you and Steven rave about him too? Give me five years, no, three years, and he’s definitely capable of being in the top tier. Does he have an agent now? Was there really no other work at all before this? What else can you tell me about him? If you give his contact information now, I’ll finish the contract with him right away, and maybe, soon, he’ll be able to appear in your production again. By the way, how old is he?”

“If I remember correctly, it would have been under twenty-one.” Tom’s answer nearly dislocated Francis’ jaw.

In the meantime, not only Francis, but at least four other agents were contacting the crew in various ways, trying to find out more about Renly, and those who were using other contacts and methods to find out more – it was just impossible to count.

The anticipation, curiosity, excitement, and inquisitiveness … and that it all converged on a rookie actor, it was extraordinary. It’s no exaggeration to say that the name “Renly Hall” was making waves in Hollywood, and on the night of the premiere of “The Pacific” Renly was already stealing the limelight.

However, they were doomed to be disappointed.

“No, nothing?” William searched the IMDB actor database, and then searched Wikipedia, and came up with nothing. There was no information, no trace of him, and to be precise, Renly didn’t even have an IMDB actor page, as if he had popped out of a rock at some Spittown.

Even if he was a newcomer, he shouldn’t be so much so. There wasn’t even basic information such as his date of birth, which was ridiculous. On the current IMDB profile page for “The Pacific”, the “Eugene Sledge” character is listed as “Renly Hall”, but when you click on it, it shows a blank page likes this.

Renly Hall. Work’s list, “The Pacific”.

That’s all the information they’ve been able to search for so far, and it’s as clean as a blank sheet of paper.

William couldn’t help but feel a little discouraged, his deep impression of Renly originated from the fact that he was the only unlucky one who didn’t get to go to war in the first episode, but what really touched him was that amazing performance, which seemed to have no power but became clearer as time went on.

Not even “Band of Brothers” was able to do that.

“Billy, how about a Google search? Or maybe … Facebook?” Graham gave his opinion.

William’s eyes lit up, “Yes, Facebook!”

As of now in 2010, Google has the distinction of being the largest website in the United States, with a reach of over 80 percent, followed by Yahoo, Microsoft, and Facebook. Facebook has reached 53% of the US population. In addition, Facebook has surpassed Google as the number one most visited website in the U.S., followed by Yahoo and YouTube.

However, after opening Facebook, William tried the name combination several times to search, but still did not find any information, which was really shocking.

“Impossible, right? Wasn’t Renly a young man? Why didn’t he sign up for Facebook?” After a quick Google search, they found that most of the news was from last night’s premiere, but there was only one additional message from some actor’s Facebook page.

He is an unknown actor, mainly active in Broadway, New York City. He also has a regular job and is apparently one of those people who had no choice but to compromise his life when his career came to an end. He mentioned on Facebook that they are currently rehearsing an original Broadway play, and one of the actors in it really stood out in the entire cast and crew.

“Hailing from London’s West End, having appeared in at least three plays, with solid fundamentals and a spiritual performance, Jesus Christ, we’ve literally scooped up a treasure! Renly Hall, with this guy, our theater could definitely hit the ground running.”

“He’s British!” William stared, “He was a theater actor cast in “The Pacific”, but his Texas accent was unmistakable. God, do you think we could find his name if we searched those professional drama schools in England?”

Unlike in the United States, the UK still follows the same harsh steps for actors to get their start, with professional academies, West End polish, and challenging uncomfortable roles, and only those who follow these steps are recognized by their peers. In recent years, along with the power of Hollywood, this tradition has loosened somewhat, and some overnight successes have been achieved by grassroot actors; but deep down, this tradition and this pride of the British actors remains unchanged.

So, for the most of the British actors, you can basically find their names in those drama schools.

“Billy, Billy, look!” Graham bumped William’s shoulder hard and pointed to the computer screen, which was a link from the YouTube with a caption that read, “”Cleopatra”, performer, Renly Hall.”

“… That’s the same name, right?” William said questioningly.

Graham, however, thought differently, “We just searched “Renly Hall” and we couldn’t find one with the same name. Besides, why can’t an actor just sing? Everyone can sing, the difference is just that it’s out of tune. Maybe it’s just that he’s playing and singing at home and uploading it to the YouTube in passing?”

William could not argue, he was suddenly excited as he busied himself by clicking on the link. Actually, he was excited too much, so he clicked three times before succeeding. After entering the familiar page of YouTube, William looked up and down. This video was actually uploaded in August last year, eight months past already, but the number of views is only a mere less than two thousand. The number of likes is only a pitiful thirty-nine.

If there was no special gimmick or professional publicity, it would have been flooded out with countless new videos in less than an hour after it was uploaded, and no one would have noticed it at all.

William believed Graham’s story. Perhaps this was just a video that Renly recorded for his own amusement, so it didn’t attract any attention from netizens.

After clicking on the video, the figure of a man holding a guitar appeared on the screen, a milky yellow spotlight spilled down on his broad shoulders, and his short, curly, ombre hair seemed to add a touch of vicissitude and silence, “It’s him! It’s him!” William cried out as he couldn’t control it, shaking Graham hard.

Graham almost felt like he was going to fall apart, “Look, look!” It was the only way to calm William down.

It was only then that the two noticed that this was a bar, not just a random bedroom concert, but a formal performance, with a large audience under the bar. From the angle of the recording, it appeared that the person recording was standing in the bar.

As soon as the strings struck the first note, William’s heart and mind were drawn in, and the sadness that overflowed from the joyous melody was touching. At the end of the gig, the raging emotions just couln’t be contained, as they poured non-stop, as if stabbing at the heart, squezing it and stabbing at it again.

“My God!” This was the only response William could make.