From Flower Vase to Film Emperor in Hollywood

Something felt off.

Gus knew his words were hard to understand, but that was the truth —

Everything was correct; but something just felt wrong.

As he spoke, Gus's brain started working. Compared to thinking alone, the collision of ideas could indeed drive the mind.

"I, uh, I don't know."

"How should I put it? I'm looking for a naturally revealed feeling."

"I'm not sure, maybe — I mean, maybe, there's too much acting in your performance?"

"I want to see you, I want to see Anson-Wood without the acting, without the embellishments, the real Anson, speaking in your own voice."

What kind of nonsense was that?

Anson couldn't help but laugh, "This is my voice."

Gus himself chuckled, "A metaphor, it's just a metaphor. What I mean is, your performance seems perfect in every way, but it's acting, understand?"

"The other kids are being themselves, their real selves, with just a bit of acting mixed in, but their underlying color is still themselves; while you are acting out a self, a character constructed in your mind, a fictional, fabricated, non-existent character, detached from reality, with a mask as its underlying color."

"I need you to take off that mask."

Anson was stunned —

What kind of gibberish was that?

"Director, I'm an actor, if I don't act, what am I supposed to do?"

Gus, "Uh…"

Anson, "Director, you say I'm not real enough, but you don't even understand my reality, so how can you know that the image presented on camera isn't my reality?"

Gus, "You haven't convinced me."

Anson: …

This time, Anson finally understood.

Acting needs to be convincing. No matter what actor plays what role, and no matter if the appearance matches or is completely different, the actor's ultimate task is to convince the audience that they are that character.

Why is the acting in commercial genre films relatively easier?

The reason is that those explosions, those edits, those climactic rhythms become smokescreens, firmly grabbing the audience's attention, leaving them no time to see through the actor.

But drama films are different. Stripping away those flashy smoke bombs, the character completely exposes themselves, and the audience's attention falls entirely on the actor.

In essence, the principle of film and magic is the same, everything is a smokescreen. Once the smokescreen fails, the magic also loses its effect.

The situation now is the same.

The other students are just students. Even if they bring some acting into the role, they benefit from Gus's plots tailored to the characters themselves, ensuring that the students can enter their own scenarios. Even without smoke bombs, the underlying color they display is still that of a student.

But Anson is not.

Inside this nineteen-year-old skin resides a soul that has experienced the vicissitudes of life. Without the flashy smokescreens of "The Princess Diaries" and "Spider-Man", exposed nakedly in front of the camera, Anson can only use acting to disguise himself, but to no avail.

Perhaps, Gus couldn't say why, but his intuition sensed it.

So, what is reality?

Over time, the most real self is quietly hidden in a corner. Even oneself has forgotten that vulnerable, lonely, and tired self still sitting quietly in the darkness waiting for the wounds to heal.

Perhaps, only children are the exception, as crystal clear as crystal. They will not hide and cannot hide, revealing their reality without reservation, so they are easily hurt, and a light touch can severely hurt them.

Reality.

It's already very, very far away from Anson.

Involuntarily, Anson thought of Leonardo DiCaprio.

Not because the media put them on the same level for discussion, but because of a predicament Leonardo encountered in his career —

He couldn't be himself.

Expressing it this way is too artistic. To be more specific, he needs a crutch, a mask, to be able to perform.

Once, Leonardo was hailed as a genius acting teenager. As early as 1993, he won an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for "What's Eating Gilbert Grape"; but later, Leonardo lost the ability to capture the characteristics of the role.

The reason is that he became accustomed to relying on the characteristics of the role —

The domestic violence of "This Boy's Life", the mental disability of "What's Eating Gilbert Grape", the rebellion of "The Basketball Diaries", the mental defects of "Marvin's Room", the schizophrenia of "The Aviator", and so on.

Leonardo needs a premise, a setting, to explore the space for development, a dramatic point of explosion to let the emotions of the role erupt.

Once the crutch is gone, Leonardo will fall into a state of confusion.

Later, Leonardo himself realized this and tried to change his acting method, but he fell into another predicament, embarking on the path of pursed lips, furrowed brows, and a bitter and resentful three-piece set, and never looked back.

Although Anson doesn't have much acting experience now, is he also facing such a predicament?

Or, looking at it from another perspective, precisely because Anson doesn't have much acting experience, encountering such a predicament early on gives Anson a chance to solve the problem?

Anson looked up at Gus, "What if I just need an absurd premise to be able to perform?"

Gus was stunned, "What do you mean?"

Anson shrugged lightly, "What I mean is, all along, people have been telling me, hey, your acting is good, you are a charming actor. But what if all those charms come from the role? Do I have to be a pre-set heartthrob, an inconspicuous but talented nerd, a middle school student hiding his superhero identity?"

"These dramatically charged roles become a protective color, helping me complete the performance."

"Once these protective colors are gone, I start to feel lost, standing in front of the camera like a stupid idiot?"

"Just like just now. I'm acting, but obviously, my acting isn't convincing. Maybe I'm just a fraud, an artificial pretender?"

This time, it was Anson's turn to talk on and on without stopping.

Gus fell into deep thought. He looked at Anson quietly. He also realized that his communication method was not quite correct, leading to misleading Anson.

But to some extent, Anson was also right. Gus really didn't like Anson's overly "forceful" performance —

It's not that Anson is really too forceful, but this kind of performance seems too prominent in this movie.

So, what should they do?

Gus thought seriously, "Hey, Anson, we need to pay attention, you are playing one of the few survivors of a school shooting violence incident."

"If that's not dramatically charged enough, honestly, I don't think there's any Hollywood movie that's dramatic enough now."

"Don't forget, our project was rejected because it was too sensitive and could cause a lot of controversy."

A self-deprecating remark made the corners of Anson's mouth turn up slightly, and he didn't refute it after all.