10 The Chosen Leading Actress (1/2)

”Actually, I'm here for the audition of your movie. May I take the audition now?”

This blonde girl was in her early twenties. Because of the height difference, she needed to slightly raise her head when looking at Wang Yang. She cracked a smile, and two lovely dimples on her cheeks made her uniquely charming.

”Technically speaking, yes.” Wang Yang smiled warmly at the girl when he found out she was here for the audition. This girl gave him a very special feeling, and she looked familiar to him. He knew this feeling must mean something. It was highly possible that this blonde girl was to be a movie star in the future.

He pointed backward with his thumb and said, ”But we are going to get some lunch at the diner over there. Come on, let's discuss it on the way.”

”Okay.” The beautiful blonde nodded and then glanced at Jessica in question. Jessica explained to her, ”No, I'm not the leading actress, nor have I come here for the audition. I'm Yang's friend, and my name is Jessica.” The blonde nodded and said, ”Got it.”

Sunset Boulevard was an extremely prosperous commercial street. On the two sides of the road, there were various kinds of shopping malls, restaurants, and cafes. The three of them were walking down the street with Wang Yang in the middle. Many people couldn't help turning their heads toward them and looking at these two star-like girls in order to make sure they didn't miss any chance to meet a real star.

”So, do you have a resume?” While walking, Wang Yang looked at the blonde girl on his left side and asked.

The blonde shrugged and said, ”Actually, I just found out the hiring notice of your movie on the notice board. I'm very interested in a movie shot by DV camcorder, so I decided to take a shot.”

The notice board? Oh, right! Wang Yang remembered that, after he had left SAG, he had also printed a few posters for the audition and posted them on several notice boards. After all, there were still many actors who had not enrolled in SAG or had joined other guilds, instead. Just in case, he looked at the girl and asked, ”So, you're saying you are not with SAG?”

”No, I'm from Toronto, Canada and studying drama at York University.” The girl smiled and continued, ”Actually, I'm here in LA in order to write a paper. It's a part of my field study. And then I saw the hiring poster of yours, so here I am.” She briefly introduced some information about herself and said, ”Oh, by the way, my name is Rachel McAdams.”

Rachel McAdams? Wang Yang couldn't help frowning in confusion. This girl had a tall nose, relatively thick lips, and two dimples when she smiled. She was a typical ”girl next door”. But who was she? Why did she look so familiar? Then he started to search his head quickly. Rachel McAdams, Rachel… and, finally, a poster popped out from his head.

On the poster of the movie ”Sherlock Holmes” in 2009, there was a picture of the leading actress of this movie. She had a curly hairstyle in a piece of luxurious purple garment, smiling confidently. The name of the character was Irene Adler, and the actress who played this role was Rachel McAdams!

Finally, he remembered who this girl was. She was the leading actress of ”Sherlock Holmes”! Wang Yang suddenly got very excited. Because he knew her as a famous movie star, she must have an outstanding performance technique and a special personality. Rachel McAdams was able to play the leading role in a 90-million-dollar movie, which meant that her future career must be rather promising.

As expected, Wang Yang further went through her profile in his database, and his speculation had been proven right.

On November 17th, 1979, Rachel was born to an average family in Ontario, Canada. Her father was a truck diver, and her mother was a nurse. Rachel loved acting ever since she was a little girl, and she participated in many musicals in school. After graduating from high school, she was accepted by York University, majoring in drama. Until now, she hadn't made her name or even played any role in a movie.

However, in the field of figure skating, she was quite famous. Since she was four years old, she had shown great potential in this sport, and she kept training her skills and participating in the contests for many years.

In 2002, Rachel played a campus comedy in the movie ”The Hot Chick”, and then got her roles in ”Mean Girls” and ”The Notebook”, and that was when she really shined to the world and became a popular idol among American youth.

However, even though Rachel would be famous in the future, and her performance was proven professional, it didn't mean that she was a good actress now. The future was still in the future. Now, she was just a student at York University. Nobody could vouch for her acting. Moreover, in the future, the movies that made her name were all comedies and romance movies. Therefore, it still remained a question whether or not she could successfully perform the role in a horror movie.

”So? Is there a problem?” Rachel saw Wang Yang frowning and staring at her, so she asked questioningly.

Wang Yang was then dragged back to reality, and he cut off the information in his head. He shook his head and said, ”Nothing. Everything is fine. Rachel, why did you come to the audition with such short notice? What's the reason that makes you wanna take the role?”

'It's actually quite simple. The role aroused my interest, so I decided to come,” said Rachel, walking and talking. Then, she smiled. ”Although horror movies aren't my favorite genre, the DV camcorder technique is rather intriguing to me. In fact, the history of the home video camera was very short. The first home, domestic, DV camcorder had just launched in the market this year, so using the domestic DV camcorder for shooting a movie? Wow, that's a really pioneering idea. So, in my opinion, whoever dares to do it must be a very talented and brave person.”

Rachel continued her analysis in excitement. ”I also think the rise of the DV camcorder movie will become a trend in the future. More and more young people could make their own movies but not be frustrated by the limited budget. All of them could get the chance to show their talent. Wow, I don't know why, but it makes me feel so romantic.”

At last, she added playfully, ”Well, of course… The 4,000 dollars is also one of the reasons to join the audition.”

This girl was talking in a very rational style—confirmative, but not aggressive. No wonder she got accepted by York University. Her sincere tone had a certain magic to immediately leave people with a very positive impression of her.

”You make me so surprised!” Wang Yang said excitedly. Rachel had completely spoken out his vision. As a matter of fact, seldomly could people have the vision to see the bright future of DV movies. Usually, people couldn't even understand the beauty of it. The majority of people would take a dismissive attitude toward DV movies or not even have heard about it. But, finally, here came a person who shared his vision, which made him feel so thrilled and grateful. He said, over the moon, ”You are such an interesting person. You are great, just great! I love what you've just said. You are absolutely right! That is very romantic!”

Rachel grinned, showing the two lovely dimples of hers. Then, she shrugged. ”I thought you would like the sentence 'whoever dares to do it must be a very talented and brave person'.”

”That one, too!” Wang Yang burst out laughing so delightfully.

Wang Yang and Rachel were laughing and talking wholeheartedly; they must have hoped that they could have met each other sooner. Jessica, walking beside them, wasn't able to join their conversation. She sensed a strange feeling growing in her heart. The feeling was something close to ”worry”, but she couldn't tell clearly. All she could do was walk with them and look down. But, sometimes, she couldn't help taking a glimpse at Wang Yang and Rachel…

She remembered that when she had first heard that Wang Yang wanted to make a movie with a ten grand budget, her reaction was a total shock. She couldn't believe that was possible. Doubts and incomprehension were filling her heart. To be honest, even until now, she still had thought such a shooting technique was not serious enough. What she did was believe in Wang Yang. But Yang had never said ”you are great” to her.

”So you don't have to go back to Toronto for now? The shooting process will at least take one week,” Wang Yang said in a big smile. He finally met someone who understood the potential of the DV movie, and he was in a very good mood.

Rachel said light-heartedly, ”Well, one or two weeks are okay with me. My college fully encourages and supports us to participate in real performances, plus my paper will benefit from this opportunity as well.” She giggled and said teasingly, ”Of course, 4,000 dollars would be sufficient for me to live in LA for a week.”

”Well, as long as you don't live in a presidential suite.” Wang Yang shrugged smilingly.

While chatting, the three of them arrived at the diner by the street. Wang Yang asked Jessica, ”Jessica, do you want a burger? What kind?” Jessica replied absent-mindedly, ”Whatever you want. I don't really care.” Then, Wang Yang asked Rachel, ”Do you want anything to eat?” Rachel nodded and said, ”Okay, I'm hungry. Just get me a burger, please.”

”Okay, but I must apologize. I'm not paying for it!” Wang Yang chuckled and entered the diner.

The two ladies were outside, waiting. They sat on the long bench by the street. Rachel spread her arms and stretched. Later, she turned her eyes to Jessica, smiling. ”Nice to meet you, Jessica.”

Jessica smiled at her too and said, ”Nice to meet you too, Rachel.”

”Hollywood is really a beautiful place!” Rachel looked around, took a deep breath, and then continued. ”I've been wandering around for days now, but there are still so many attractions. Wherever I am, as long as I raise my head, I can always see that giant Hollywood sign. The view is just amazing.” She giggled and said, ”And all of the gorgeous clothes in the shopping malls… I don't want to leave now. But also because of all these, I feel like everything is so unreal, which makes me feel like an illusion. So I guess several days would be enough for me.”

She stared at the sky, her crystal-clear eyes moving with the floating clouds, and said, ”I do prefer the serene life in Toronto. I can ride a bike to work every day. Everyone living in the neighborhood knows you, and they would always greet you warm-heartedly. You would know which family has gotten some newly born puppies, or who in the street has just mowed the lawn… Well, that kind of life is so comfortable and good for the long term.”

Then she added, ”Of course, it's just my personal preference.”

Jessica looked at Rachel and felt her intellectual and elegant temperament. It was women's nature that urged her to compare Rachel and herself, but she realized that she lost the competition thoroughly. She never went to college, she didn't understand the DV movies, and sometimes she couldn't even understand what Wang Yang was talking about…

”Oh, by the way. There must be a lot of people being interviewed this morning, right?” Rachel naughtily blinked her eyes at Jessica and shushed. ”Jessica, come on, give me some hints, please. I don't wanna get eliminated by this young director.”

”Well…” Jessica woke up from her sadness. Actually, the negative mood was piling up in her heart uncontrollably. However, she tried to pull herself together and recalled the audition this morning. She thought of the girl named Annie Dalen and many other girls. Wang Yang ruled them out for the same reason. So she said, ”The feeling of acting the role was too obvious. Many people failed because of it. Yang always says that the performance should be natural—as natural as real, daily life.”

”As natural as real, daily life?” Rachel frowned, thinking, and immediately cracked a smile. ”I got it. That's true, I totally agree with his opinion! In the DV movie, if the point of view is the first-person narrative, then the acting must be very close to the real daily life. In order to make the atmosphere in the movie more authentic, the actor should act like they are indeed interacting with the DV camcorder.”

”Great! Well said!” While Rachel was expressing her opinion, Wang Yang walked out of the diner with three burgers in his hands. Upon listening to Rachel, he handed over the burgers to the two ladies and complimented again. ”That's exactly what I think!”

”Thank you,” said Rachel. Listening to Wang Yang complimenting Rachel, Jessica felt her heart twitch. Then, she took the burger from Wang Yang and took a bite of it. A big chunk of the burger was bitten off.

Rachel took the burger, too. Wang Yang sat down on the bench, eating his burger, and asked Rachel, ”So let's begin the audition now. Rachel, if you encountered a ghost in your home at night, what would be your first reaction?” This question was exactly the same one he had asked Annie Dalen this morning, and it was not changed a bit.