The Legendary Actor - Chapter 76

Renly repeatedly read the two-page script three times, then put it down and slowly pieced the entire blueprint together in his mind.

Here’s an excerpt from the middle of the movie, where Paul has contacted the FBI via cell phone and is waiting for help. The kidnappers call and ask Paul to record a video demanding a ransom of one million dollars from the U.S. government and send it to the kidnappers, according to the note they left in the coffin. But the FBI agent dissuaded Paul from recording the video because it would only make things worse, and in the end Paul did not record the video.

The excerpt in the next paragraph is. The kidnappers are delayed in receiving the video, so they send over a video of one of Paul’s female co-workers, who has also been kidnapped, but in a warehouse-like room. The kidnappers threaten to kill the co-worker, and in an emergency, Paul is forced to agree to record the video.

He had no way of knowing what it was like to be trapped in a coffin, but he knew that Paul’s emotions were very complicated at the moment. On the one hand, he was waiting for the FBI to rescue him; on the other hand, he was worried that he would not be able to escape, so he called his mother, who was living in a nursing home, and the video of the kidnapper was sent at such an emotional moment.

Originally, Paul had a glimmer of hope that he could escape, but then the crisis struck again, and not only was his life on the line, but the lives of his colleagues were also at stake; what was even more infuriating was that he was trapped in a small coffin, unable to resist even if he wanted to, and could only be beaten passively, with no outlet for his frustration.

The crowd gathered in the lobby of the youth hostel was dispersing as the weather cleared up again, but there were still seven or eight people scattered in the lobby chatting, and the atmosphere was peaceful and quiet.

“I’m ready,” Renly gestured to Rodrigo with an “OK” sign, “Will you help me with this scene?”

Rodriguez, who hadn’t caught up with the reaction for a moment, was stunned, then nodded, “No problem.” In this scene, Renly needed a role opposite the kidnapper, with few lines, but still a dialogue between the two parties.

This scene was chosen for the simple reason that Paul was in a dramatic moment of temporary relaxation and then was pushed off a cliff, an extreme change that would test the actor’s emotional control and fit into the first part of Renly’s description; also, Paul’s inner change would be even more extraordinary as he witnessed his colleague in crisis and had to consider the FBI’s dissuasion.

Of course, Rodrigo knew that there was only so much to examine in a few minutes, but he was curious to see how the confident Renly would play out. Watching, Rodrigo saw Renly lay down … actually lay down just like that!

Renly adjusted his position, straightened his legs on the couch, then closed his eyes and let his breathing slow down, conjuring up in his mind the feeling of being trapped in a confined space, as darkness slowly fell and surrounded him, beginning to contract little by little.

He didn’t think about the probability of War Ryan Reynolds getting the role, or the possibility of breaking the shackles of age and winning the role, or the noise of being in a public place, and focused his mind wholeheartedly on the role itself, allowing his mind to concentrate.

In the darkness, the noises in his ears began to get louder and louder, as the darkness shrank, as if the whole world outside the darkness was experiencing a New Year’s Eve party, further compressing the dark space, almost surrounding Renly, and making it impenetrable; after the darkness was compressed to the extreme, it began to bounce back out again, like a tidal wave, quickly engulfing the noises, as if the darkness was swallowing the light. In the blink of an eye, all the surrounding sounds disappeared.

Rodrigo just stared. He took a closer look, but found that Renly did not move at all, as if he was completely asleep. Rodrigo didn’t even know what to do for a moment – should he wake Renly up?

But at that moment, Renly’s breathing began to accelerate, and his chest rose and fell as violently as bellows, a movement so violent that Rodrigo almost thought Renly was having a seizure, which was truly appalling. Then Renly’s eyes opened.

Those deep eyes were hidden behind a haze of water, the slight clenching of teeth tightened the lines of his face, a hint of hidden pain and struggle appeared between his brows, and his heavy breathing was muffled in his chest, as if each breath was consuming a great deal of energy.

Even without the help of makeup, even if the face still looked young, even if there were no words to set the stage, the emotions came through clearly and accurately, and Rodrigo understood almost immediately that Paul’s emotions had risen and fallen violently after the phone call with his mother, and that the fracture of affection was slowly spreading between his teeth with a gut-wrenching pain.

Paul picked up the phone, closed his eyes, and tried his best to bear the great pain, then put the phone to his ear, but his thumb was reluctant to press the call button, and his eyebrows were slightly raised. Bitterness rippled out, and his breath stagnated, as if all the emotions inside him had stopped at this moment, but the ripples spread out in circles uncontrollably. He pressed the call button.

There was no sound on the other end of the line, so Paul brought the phone to his eyes, glanced at it, and saw that someone had sent a video. Paul’s held breath suddenly went slack, his tangled eyebrows couldn’t hold back the panic, his pupils vibrated uneasily, his teeth clenched death but still to no avail, his thumb lifted again and paused slightly for less than half a second, but you could see the gently trembling fingertips, then his thumb pressed the OK button.

“No.” There was silence in the air, and without any other assistance, Rodrigo watched the monologue before him, but his heart immediately tangled, knowing that Paul had seen the video of his colleague – the rapidly vibrating pupils with a hint of dazedness and panic, the nightmarish despair beginning to creep all the way up from his fingertips. “No, no, no, no, no!”

The denial began to tremble softly and his voice began to break down as he stared incredulously at the phone screen, dead, his heart paralyzed with death passed through his eyes, “No no no!”

Breathing heavily, the glow in his eyes fading away as he quickly pressed the number, the phone was answered almost immediately, and Rodrigo said in a low voice, “Did you videotape it?” God, his own performance is just poo-poo, too artificial, and he can’t even deliver a single line of dialogue, he’s so unfit to be an actor.

“Please! No… don’t hurt her!” Paul’s voice was so fractured that you could even hear the clash of teeth in a fight, “Don’t hurt her! Let her go!”

The panicked voice revealed the death throes of despair, as if even the darkness had become insignificant, and Rodrigo’s emotions were driven to the point where he said fiercely, “If you don’t make the video, I’ll shoot!”

“No no no! Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot!” Paul’s earnest voice lost control and burst like a bubble – a fierce noise that could only find nothingness, a rapid descent into the bottomless abyss.

For a moment, the eyes of the entire hostel lobby were focused, people’s eyes showed concern, as the noise vanished, their muscles tensed, their bodies were on guard. Then they heard Paul’s desperate plea, “I will, I will! I promise!” The fragility in the voice seems to fall apart with a breeze, “I promise! Please, she’s a mother, and she has two children.”

“Two children? I have five children, and now I only have one left!” Rodrigo couldn’t help but grind his teeth so hard that even he didn’t know why he was doing it, and his cruel voice was like a snake spitting out letters, “You do the video right now!”

“Wait! Wait!” Paul, however, was losing his ground. He can’t even fight, let alone fight back. The bitter plea did not work at all, “I don’t know what you want me to say …” though in panic, he is still trying to mediate, as if he fell off the cliff and held on for dear life at the end. A rope, unwilling to give up, but the other guy is clearly not giving him a chance anymore, “I’ll give you three seconds, three, two …”

Paul’s muscles tensed all over his body, but his whole body was immobilized, pinned firmly in place, as if his limbs were immobilized, and only his voice was free. So the hoarse shouts began to release the frustration, anger, helplessness, and despair inside, “Yes! Yes!” The pupils began to dilate outward, and it was clear to see that the life of the soul was disappearing, and deadly despair had begun to invade the brain, “I’ll make the video! I’ll do it! I’ll do it!”

The words came faster and more painfully, the only weapon he had, but it seemed to be to no avail, “Please! Please! Please!” The exhausted shriek let all the energy out, and he let go of his hands, falling slowly into the abyss of darkness, his ears finally quiet, the countdown finally gone, “I’m going to hang up now and do the video, is that okay?”

“You have three minutes!” Rodrigo’s voice came up from hell.

Paul hung up the phone, immediately rolled over, and then pointed the camera behind the phone at himself, he had even forgotten to breathe, his pale lips had no color, his soulless eyes were numb and empty, and his clenched teeth revealed a hint of determination – he knew that after making the video, it would be like strangling his life with his own hands, but he had to do it, because he had no choice because he was a human being on the chopping block.

He took a deep breath, and without any pause, he pressed the record button.