Crossover Dreams From Script to Reality Chapter 4

Owen Travis couldn't remember the last time someone called him a brother. He stopped and looked back again. He confirmed: "What did you say?"

To show his sincerity and to make up for the face he lost at the airport, Liam Harris took the initiative to say, "There's no need to keep it secret when we're filming together. My name is Liam Harris, and I play the leading male role."

Owen Travis was about to speak when his cell phone suddenly rang. The caller ID showed "Teacher Zeng Zhen". He took a look and frowned slightly.

Owen Travis immediately swiped his card to open the door and walked into the room.

"Hey," Liam Harris said, "you haven't answered me yet."

Bang, the door of room 6206 closed.

The tail end of Liam Harris's voice was isolated and dissipated in the corridor. He stood there in a daze. The atmosphere and feeling were very similar to that of being stuck in the exhaust of a Porsche during the day.

"Whether you are mistaken or not," he tried to save face, "We will know at the script reading tomorrow."

Inside the door, Owen Travis did not turn on the lights, and the flickering light of the mobile phone screen seemed dazzling. He walked towards the living room in the dark, sat down on the sofa, and let the phone ring.

He calculated the time and delayed until the last second before the call was automatically disconnected before sliding the call button.

It was dark and quiet all around. Zeng Zhen's voice was exceptionally clear from his phone. His voice was mellow and his tone was gentle and intimate: "Xiao Ting, it's the teacher. It took you so long to answer the phone. Are you resting?"

Owen Travis leaned against the sofa, holding the phone in his left hand, and drawing circles on the armrest of the sofa with the fingertips of his right hand, saying, "Sorry, teacher, the phone is in the bedroom, I didn't hear it."

Zeng Zhen smiled and said, "It's okay. I asked you to come to my house for dinner at the beginning of the month, but you never came. What have you been busy with recently?"

Owen Travis replied: "I'm busy with the web drama."

Zeng Zhen sighed helplessly: "He is asking for trouble. He can make a movie, but he insists on making a web series. Once he makes up his mind and becomes stubborn, he won't listen to anyone."

"Teacher, I'm sorry to bother you." Owen Travis said, "Thank you for your willingness to guide me, but I want to try more."

Zeng Zhen asked: "Do you feel that teachers are too controlling and annoying?"

There was a rustling sound, and Owen Travis drew circles faster, his fingertips rubbing against the fabric until they became hot. He explained, "Teacher, please don't worry. I was very tired writing this book, and it's not ideal. I invested and took the responsibility myself, just treat it as a hobby."

Zeng Zhen laughed again: "The teacher is just teasing you. You can do it for fun or try it out, I am just nagging you."

"Thank you, teacher." Owen Travis said.

Zeng Zhen said: "I was playing basketball with Team Leader Zhang today, and he mentioned that you were filming a web series, and he also said that you asked him to review the script."

Owen Travis said: "Yes, there are some places that need to be changed, but it's not a big problem."

"I heard what he said." Zeng Zhen said, "I guess you want to follow the group, so I called you and asked you to come back before you leave."

Owen Travis said: "Sorry, teacher, I'm already in Chongqing."

"Really?" Zeng Zhen asked, "Why are you in such a hurry?"

Owen Travis replied: "It will have less impact on the filming if it is handled early. The filming will start in the next two days, so I decided to come here early."

The phone was silent for ten seconds, and Zeng Zhen said, "Then take good care of yourself and don't get too tired."

Owen Travis's fingers finally settled down, his fingertips felt numb, and he stretched them out little by little until his palms were flat. He replied, "You and Master should take care of yourselves, too."

After hanging up the phone, Owen Travis sat in the dark for a long time before getting up. His steps were light and neat, like an emotionless nocturnal cat.

As he walked, he unbuttoned his clothes, then his belt and zipper, and stepped into the bathroom. He threw the clothes stained with the smell of hot pot into the laundry basket, and turned on the light after he came out of the shower.

Wearing a set of silk pajamas, Owen Travis curled up in bed. He didn't drink black coffee, but he wasn't sleepy. He held the laptop on his knees and opened it, typing out the six words "Script Revision Outline".

The sound of typing on the keyboard and the ticking of the clock are indistinguishable from each other; neither stops.

There are five rooms in the suite. There are no curtains in the bedroom, and outside the entire glass window is a view of the distant sky and the surging Jialing River.

The night was like an inverted ink painting, fading from pure black to light gray, and dawn was approaching.

Owen Travis's limbs, which had been frozen all night, felt numb and sore. He didn't even have the strength to stretch. He closed his computer and placed it next to his pillow, then slid into the quilt and went to sleep.

He was thin and well-proportioned, occupying half of the bed properly, lying on his side with his chin tucked into the quilt.

In the corridor, Lucas Bennett rang the doorbell frantically. The police cracking down on P*rnography and illegal publications didn't have this much momentum. The door suddenly opened, and Liam Harris, wrapped in a nightgown, said sleepily and fiercely: "It's only half past five, are you going to the People's Park to practice Tai Chi?"

Liam Harris was grumpy when he woke up, sometimes he would complain, sometimes he would kick his feet. When he was in primary school, the symptoms were already quite obvious. The nanny at home never dared to wake him up, and it was common for him to miss the first class, which resulted in a poor foundation for learning.

Lucas Bennett walked into the room calmly, without saying anything more, rolled up his sleeves and dragged the three suitcases into the cloakroom.

After hanging up three robes in a row, he couldn't help but stick his head out: "Superstar, including the one you're wearing, you brought four robes?"

Liam Harris lay on the bed, chanting: "The grey morning robe is for waking up, the black night robe is for night time, the white bathrobe is for after bathing, and this one is the nightgown."

"You are worthy of being a superstar." Lucas Bennett said, "You made such a fuss about something that can be done with a pair of shorts."

After packing his luggage, Lucas Bennett went into the bathroom to run some hot water and squeeze some toothpaste. The scripts were scattered on the stool at the end of the bed. He walked over to tidy them up and fanned Liam Harris's feet.

Liam Harris's script is full of traces of being flipped through. When you open it, you will find that there are cartoon characters drawn in the blank spaces, a footnote "the most handsome in the whole play" added after the name of the male lead, and one page even has all the periods blacked out.

Lucas Bennett was worried: "It would be embarrassing if the director saw the script reading today."

Liam Harris sat up, his robe slightly opened, revealing the ravine of his abdomen, and said, "Then I'll sit at the back."

"I came to call you at 5:30, is it so that you can sit at the back?" Lucas Bennett said like a mother trying hard to get her son into Tsinghua University, "You are the legitimate male lead, you should show yourself more so that Director Ren can remember you in the next movie, understand?"

Liam Harris sneered. He hadn't seen his father for two months and hadn't even called him. Even his own father couldn't remember him, so how could he expect the director to remember him?

He remembered one thing, and he was no longer sleepy. He said, "I met the guest who lives next door in the corridor last night. Guess who it was?"

Lucas Bennett guessed: "A beautiful lady."

Liam Harris rolled his eyes: "It was the person that Director Henry Adams picked up at the airport yesterday."

Lucas Bennett was shocked and said, "Isn't this too much of a coincidence?"

Liam Harris got up and washed up. Lucas Bennett followed him and asked, "What does he look like? Does he know who you are? What's his name? Is he a star? Who does he play in the drama?"

It was like a math problem, and Liam Harris only knew the first question, answering: "Looks... definitely not an amateur."

"No more?" Lucas Bennett asked, "Didn't you say hello?"

Mentioning this makes Liam Harris angry. He said, "I took the initiative to talk to him, but he pretended not to hear me."

Lucas Bennett asked again: "You didn't tell him that you were the male lead?"

"Of course he did," Liam Harris said, "and then he went straight back to his room."

Lucas Bennett has a strong ability to empathize with others. He said indignantly, "Don't pay attention to him. He is probably a relative with some background. He is easy to show off because he brought money into the group. You are the leading man, who is afraid of who?"

Liam Harris held a toothbrush in his mouth and said worriedly, "He won't add drama to himself, right?"

"Don't worry." Lucas Bennett said, "The chief screenwriter is the biggest investor and will not allow him to add more scenes."

Liam Harrissong said, "The chief screenwriter is really good."

The script reading was held in the hotel booked by the crew. Liam Harris left early, and when he arrived, the other actors had not arrived yet. Only the stage manager was placing seat cards and mineral water in the conference room.

The read-along is not a one-time thing, it may be done many times during the shooting. Sometimes the whole content is read out, and sometimes a single important scene is read out. It all depends on the director's arrangement.

Liam Harris's seat was very close to the director. When he was in school, he always sat at the end and could lie down whenever he wanted. Now he could only sit there obediently.

The actors arrived one after another, and simply greeted each other. After all, there were plenty of opportunities to exchange pleasantries at the opening banquet. Several directors and the camera crew also arrived, and the conference room was filled with people. Ryan Foster sat in the front.

Liam Harris looked at everyone three times and confirmed that the man who lived in room 6206 was not there. Unless there was a force majeure reason, the crew required him to attend and it was impossible for him to sleep in the hotel.

Unless, there is no need to participate in the other party's role.

Liam Harris thought, so I just brought money into the group and just played a supporting role?

Ryan Foster said, "Let's hurry up and get started."

Liam Harris withdrew his gaze, lowered his head and opened the script - the title was "The First Night".

He plays two roles in the play, a pair of twin brothers with very different personalities. The elder brother is Ye Shan, who is calm and introverted, while the younger brother is Ye Xiaowu, who is reckless and naughty. The two brothers are active and quiet, contradictory and complementary.

After their father passed away, their mother brought Ye Shan and Ye Xiaowu to Chongqing to live. Although their life was not rich, the three of them depended on each other and supported each other. The background begins in the third year of high school and spreads to college.

Liam Harris is a poor student, restless and impatient, but he read the script in one breath.

He felt that he was very similar to Ye Xiaowu, including his personality, behavior, and even his dreams.

Liam Harris recalled the two scenes on the day of the audition: one was when Ye Xiaowu was caught skipping school and made a long speech about nonsense, which tested his lines; the other was when Ye Shan looked at a photo of his father, which did not have a single line and tested his pure acting.

In the first part, he played himself. In the second part, he pretended to look at a photo while holding a piece of white paper, thinking about his deceased mother, and then he finished playing Ye Shan's part in a daze.

The reading lasted a whole day and everyone was gradually getting tired. Liam Harris recited two lines and his voice became hoarse before noon.

During the break, Liam Harris closed the script and lay on it, his eyes downcast, his gaze fixed on the cover of the script. Below the title "The First Night" was the name of the chief screenwriter - Owen Travis - at first glance, the name seemed to have too many strokes.

The garden is filled with falling swallows, but as you read this, a picture unfolds.

Liam Harris couldn't help but draw a little swallow behind "Owen Travis".

In the bedroom of Suite 6206, the cell phone kept ringing. After being woken up, Owen Travis slowly turned over, opened his eyes, and first saw a hint of dimness in the sky outside the window.

The ringing continued, and he frowned in resistance and reached for his phone from the pillow.

The caller ID showed only one word: Ruan.

After seeing clearly, Owen Travis's brows relaxed, he leaned against the head of the bed, answered the phone and heard the voice, then curled up the corners of his mouth and smiled gently.

Wait until the chatter on the phone is finished.

He responded: "I miss you too, see you tomorrow."