From Flower Vase to Film Emperor in Hollywood

The air was somewhat quiet, and the three strangers were all frozen, their brains temporarily shutting down, unable to make any effective response.

—Anson's birthday is in November. From a biological perspective, he is still three months away from being an adult. This is a fact. Lucas was not fabricating.

The problem is, when Anson appeared in "Friends," young as he was, he was Elizabeth's brother, meaning he was in his mid-twenties. In the eyes of the audience, Paul was a man, undoubtedly a man, charming and capable of imagining indescribable things.

The result?

Clang.

A roar in the brain, the picture completely freezes.

The corners of Lucas's mouth continued to curve upwards slightly, "Cheese."

Click.

Then, Lucas pressed the shutter, freezing this scene forever.

The middle-aged woman and her companion quickly left, and the young woman also left in a panic. Clearly, they hadn't done anything wrong, yet they acted as if they were criminals, secretly hiding their guilt and nervousness, afraid of being discovered by others. What kind of experience was this?

The development of the story was also something Anson had not anticipated.

Looking at Lucas, Anson showed a helpless smile, "Lucas, are you protecting a minor?"

Lucas shrugged lightly, without changing his expression, "I'm preventing them from committing a crime."

Seeing Anson's speechless expression, the corners of Lucas's mouth twitched slightly, but he managed to control his smile and looked around the hotel lobby.

"Have you finished all your work for today? Shouldn't this be free time now?"

Although the ending of the matter was somewhat unexpected, Anson's mood was very pleasant. Now, there were actually people who could recognize him, which was progress.

Anson's expression became light again, "What, are you going to treat me to a big meal?"

Lucas just smiled without saying a word.

Anson's eyes lit up slightly, "Really?"

Lucas had already stood up, "You finally left the culinary desert that is Los Angeles, so naturally, I have to let you experience some of San Francisco's happiness."

"Ha, that's the funniest joke I've heard all year. San Francisco has no right to laugh at Los Angeles, okay? The two cities are on par."

"Very fair. So, what's the best food in Los Angeles, In-N-Out?"

"Haha, what, are you envious that Los Angeles has something that San Francisco doesn't?"

"No, I'm planning to show you a crab, oyster, and shrimp seafood platter. Note, not the kind used to deceive tourists at Fisherman's Wharf, but authentic Bay Area seafood, all freshly caught."

"…"

"Oh, Anson, why are you swallowing your saliva?"

"…Tonight, I will eat up a week of your salary."

"Then you might need to work very, very hard. Very."

Seafood!

Anson's favorite.

If the price of enjoying a freshly caught seafood feast was only admitting that "Los Angeles is a culinary desert," he could enjoy it completely without any psychological burden.

Moreover, paired with wine from Napa Valley, everything was perfect.

In the evening, Lucas took Anson out for a feast, bleeding heavily, and then sent Anson back to the hotel. Without lingering, he returned to Silicon Valley—

The tech stock bubble had a huge impact on Silicon Valley, and venture capital firms were also caught in the storm. No one could completely stay out of it.

And Anson stayed in San Francisco to continue filming "The Princess Diaries."

That day's little interlude was well-received in the "Princess Diaries" crew, but daily filming work continued as usual. Before Julie Andrews arrived at the crew, they still had a lot of work to complete.

However, a small accident was that Anson, the protagonist of the mobile cafeteria, did not go to the filming set.

Of course, Anson's absence would not affect the crew's filming progress, because Michael's next appearance—according to the filming schedule—was in a week. During this period, Anson had no scenes.

In other words, it didn't matter if he didn't go to the crew.

The strange thing was that even if Michael didn't have any scenes before, Anson would go to the crew to watch the filming. Even if it was just to observe the crew's operation, he could still learn. Anson was close to the lighting crew, the photography crew, and the sound crew, and often chatted with them.

In Anson's words—

A movie is a whole.

Actors not only need to perform, but also need to learn how to face the camera, how to capture the light, how to become part of the picture, how to perform opposite plays, and how to interact with the script and the role.

Acting is actually just the final presentation, but before reaching the presentation step, there is a series of work to be done, so he hopes to understand the actors and each scene in the eyes of other departments of the crew.

Some things, Anson understood, were clear and logical; and some things, Anson didn't understand, but he was willing to learn and willing to open his mind to accept new things.

In places invisible outside the camera, Anson had always existed in his own way.

However, during this time, Anson was absent.

At first, the crew members joked that Anson was shy, because he had become the core of the crew's discussion because of the mobile cafeteria, but his skin was too thin to withstand praise, so he secretly hid.

But Anson always smiled mysteriously without answering or changing the subject.

Later, the crew leaked the news that Anson had rented a professional band practice room at his own expense and was starting to practice.

The news spread like wildfire—

Garry added a scene for Michael, which wasn't strictly adding, but just slightly adjusted on the basis of an existing scene, and gave Anson a chance to actually perform a song with the band.

This was not the original plan.

But Garry was very serious, and Anson was also very serious.

Although Garry said that a middle school student's garage band didn't need to be too strict, even if the performance was a mess, it was excusable, and it didn't matter if the band didn't match, anyway, the content of that scene was the band practicing.

Being a little chuuni was completely in line with the temperament of middle school students.

However, Anson disagreed.

With Garry's authorization, Anson selected three members from the extras and supporting actors playing middle school students to form a temporary band, and then the four of them mysteriously started band practice.

Actually…

Everything was too sudden. It was only five days before and after. Anyone who knows a little about bands should know that five days is not enough, especially for a temporary, pieced-together amateur middle school student band.

No wonder Garry repeatedly emphasized that there was no need to care too much.

In fact, Garry didn't pay much attention after saying this, and turned around and threw it behind his head, wholeheartedly busy with the real filming work.

Perhaps, only Anson and his temporary band members were full of energy.

Fifth update.