With neither inspiring the other, the acting came out hackneyed.
Caspian and Stella just stood there like robots once they’d said all their lines. They were both at a loss
of what to do.
Bradley kept the camera rolling while he stared coldly at the monitor. Stella kept pinching herself out of
nervousness. Her face was gradually turning red. She knew that her performance was nothing less
than terrible, yet Bradley just wouldn’t stop filming, inexplicably prolonging this scene. Each passing
second felt like fresh torture to her.
After what felt like forever to Stella, Bradley massaged his temples and finally yelled, “Cut!”
Stella’s shoulders relaxed instantly, as if a weight had been lifted off of her. She looked at the camera
and saw Bradley sternly gesturing for them to go to him.
“Get over here!” he shouted.
It was obvious at a glance that they were about to be upbraided. Stella and Caspian slowly walked
toward the director. Just as expected, the moment they both stopped in front of him, Bradley
immediately started bellowing “Are you both corpses?! What were you doing just standing there? Even
school children show more emotions while reciting texts than your stiff masquerade! You!”
He pointed at Stella.
“Didn’t you tell me that you’ve memorized all your lines?! You’ve been doing pretty well off camera, so
why did you stutter so much during filming?”
He paused and turned to Caspian. “And you! You’re supposed to be the more experienced actor here!
You’ve been in so many films now! Why were you so off with your positioning?! I didn’t even see you on
camera at all! How could you still be making such a rookie mistake?!” “Sorry, Director Yates…” “I’m so
sorry, Director…” Both Caspian and Stella admitted their mistakes humbly, but Bradley was so angry
that he couldn’t even look at them.
“D*mn it all to hell! We’ll shoot the next scene for now! As for you both, just get out of my sight! Come
back once I’m done shooting these scenes. If you’re still as lousy as you were back there, then just
pack up your things and leave before I beat your *ss!”
Caspian was used to Bradley’s explosive temper. He knew that Bradley liked to threaten to fire people
when he got angry, but he would never really come through with it. Stella did not know any of this,
though. Her face turned frighteningly pale at the thought of
getting fired. She simply couldn’t allow this hard-earned opportunity to just slip through her fingers!
Caspian sighed and walked toward his manager. Stella stared at him and summoned up all her
courage to call out to him.
“Caspian! Hello! Would you mind rehearsing this scene with me please?” The moment she finished her
sentence, Caspian’s manager rushed over and blocked Stella from approaching Caspian. “Where’s
your manager?” he asked, glaring at Stella. “I, uh…” Stella was thrown off by the question. “I haven’t
got a manager yet…” “Which scene do you want to rehearse?” the manager asked again in a
particularly accusing tone.
The manager couldn’t help but be cautious. The entertainment industry is a particularly treacherous
one. There was no telling if this woman’s intentions were pure. She could be attempting a free ride to
stardom on Caspian’s coattails and that would be troublesome. Everyone in the industry had their own
way of making it in this field. For Caspian, what worked best for him was to dedicate all his energy on
the work itself while keeping a low profile. Ever since his debut many years ago, he had yet to be
involved in any scandals, especially not with any other actresses. This had been possible because he’d
always kept a healthy distance from his co-stars. But Stella knew nothing of this industry’s twists and
turns. She was stunned by the manager’s reaction. She assumed that her performance earlier must’ve
been so terrible that it affected Caspian
“I’m sorry,” she quickly said. “I didn’t mean to disturb you. I’ll just go rehearse on my own.”
She then turned and left.
The manager snickered.
“Don’t think that you can fool me with that pure and innocent look!” he sneered. “I’ve seen enough
women like you to know what you really want!”
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