The following days were calm and peaceful. The encounter with Tracey that night didn't result in anything that could affect the "Scent of a Woman" film crew, at least not anything major. However, Nicholas' report on the crew's visit, published in the Los Angeles Times, sparked some discussion.
In the article, Nicholas magnified Hugo's evaluation of the Golden Raspberry Award, suggesting that Hugo was trying to defend the award. Nicholas' way of twisting the facts easily stirred up intense debate among major media outlets, and boosted the sales of the Los Angeles Times. However, it once again turned everyone's attention towards Hugo.
Strictly speaking, in his report, Nicholas actually gave quite a bit of praise to Hugo. He only highlighted the issue to generate interest. However, the topic was sensitive in the current atmosphere of 1992 - in other words, at a time when the Golden Raspberry Award had not yet been fully accepted by the public. The academy did not want to see the "Worst Actor" award being treated as typical praise.
As a result, the debate was clearly divided into two factions. One supported Hugo's point of view, arguing that the Golden Raspberry Award was meant for entertaining the public, and there was no need to take it too seriously. Furthermore, the Golden Globe Awards, the Oscars, and others were all part of the entertainment industry. The other faction believed that Hugo was blurring the focus. The Golden Raspberry Award was a means of entertaining the public by selecting the worst works of the year. The focus on "worst" could not be ignored, and the final winner was the worst. The fact that it was meant to be entertainment shouldn't lead others into overlooking the point above, just as the Oscars, despite being an entertainment spectacle, still had authority. This was a principle.
Regardless of whether Nicholas had good or bad intentions, Hugo once again became a hot topic. As a result, the attention on "Scent of a Woman" rose sharply, and the film crew was very happy about it. Martin even praised Hugo once, leaving him somewhat bemused.
The filming process for "Scent of a Woman" went very smoothly, and the New York scenes were soon coming to an end. This scene was the most explosive and difficult scene in the whole movie, and it was also the most challenging scene to shoot in New York.
After arriving in New York, Charlie and Lt. Colonel Slade were both restless due to school matters. On the one hand, Charlie was anxious to return, while on the other hand, he began to notice that something was wrong with the Lt. Colonel. Charlie then discovered that the Lt. Colonel was planning to commit suicide. It turned out that the Lt. Colonel believed that he no longer had any meaning in life, so he planned to spend all his savings, see his brother, and then commit suicide. This made Charlie very anxious, but he had no way to persuade the Colonel to change his mind, so he could only try to make him happy.
This scene is where the Colonel decides to commit suicide. He sends Charlie away from the hotel suite, changes into his military uniform, and prepares to shoot himself. However, when Charlie returns to the hotel lobby, he realizes the Colonel's intentions and tries to persuade him to give him the gun. The stubborn Colonel refuses and even threatens to kill Charlie before committing suicide. Desperate, Charlie tries to take the gun from Frank, resulting in a physical altercation and the climax of the scene.
The first part of the scene, where Charlie tries to persuade the Colonel, was shot in a morning session with Hugo and Al. However, the later part of the scene, with the physical altercation and emotional release, proved difficult to shoot as Hugo was struggling to get into character. This was where the gap in acting ability between Hugo and Al became apparent.
If Hugo had been paired with an actor of similar caliber at that time, his performance would not have been an issue. However, unfortunately, neither of them was able to create enough chemistry to support the scene's intensity. Al's explosive performance overshadowed Hugo's lack of depth and broadness, making the climax of the scene bland and uninteresting.
"Cut!" Martin's once lively voice was now filled with disappointment, and the frustration hidden in his expression was evident.
Faced with Martin's shout, Hugo looked bewildered and at a loss for what to do. He apologized, aware of how poorly he performed and not really looking forward to the shame he would feel when he would watch the footage later.
"Hugo, you need to release all the emotions inside you, do you understand? You need to explode like a bomb." Martin said, not only to Hugo but also to Al, who was also becoming impatient. They had already shot the scene seven times, with two takes wasted due to Al's issues and the other five due to Hugo's unsatisfactory performance.
The most crucial point was that Hugo's mistakes were not due to any unforeseeable factors but solely because of his poor acting skills and inability to get into character. This is what frustrated Martin the most.
Martin stood beside them, wearing a bitter smile. He had already repeated himself to Hugo countless times, but it seemed that they were not making much progress. "Hugo, you have to cry, not tears of pain or sadness, but a release of emotions," Martin repeats himself. He was usually a mild and friendly person, but at this moment, even he couldn't help but become impatient.
Actually, Martin believed in Hugo's acting ability. Putting aside his excellent performance during the audition, after filming for a period of time, Martin also knew that Hugo's potential was not something to scoff at. However, Hugo didn't know how to present himself now, and that was the biggest problem. Martin always felt that Hugo was missing something, not talent or effort, but rather an opportunity or inspiration. This was the most frustrating thing for Martin: he didn't have time to wait for Hugo to slowly brew inspiration.
Facing the bombardment from Al and Martin, Hugo himself was also helpless. When the director called "cut" three times in a row, Hugo felt very nervous. The more frequent the pauses, the more tension accumulated inside him. At this moment, Hugo truly understood the hardship of being an actor.
It was not difficult to become a vase, nor was it too hard to become a qualified actor. However, becoming an excellent actor was a long and difficult process. Hugo was now walking on this thorny path, which was just the first level and had already made him sweat profusely.
At this time, the on-site staff more or less showed absent-minded expressions. For them, a delay in the progress of filming meant they have to work longer hours today, which was not good news. Nobody liked that. However, everyone here was an experienced hand who had been working on the set for many years, and they were used to these things. It was just that when the person in question was Hugo, it became more ridiculous.
Who was Hugo? Recently, everyone must have mentioned him as the "worst actor" of the Golden Raspberry Award, and even added a sarcastic "tearful gratitude" as a prefix to express their contempt for him. As such an actor, without acting skills or box office appeal, not only the production company did not welcome him, but also the film crew: because this would seriously affect the quality of the film, as well as the progress of filming.
When Hugo joined the set of "Scent of a Woman", as the media said: no one was optimistic about his prospects. Because Hugo had already disappointed people three times in a row, and the fourth time seemed to be not far away. Moreover, this time Hugo was facing Al Pacino, whose excellent acting skills would only make Hugo look even more embarrassed.
The result of this scene now also proved that the media's concerns were correct. Hugo was indeed no match for Al, which seriously affected the progress of filming. Although this scene had only been shot seven times so far, it had wasted a full three hours. The entire morning the crew had almost no progress, just staying in the luxurious suite of the Waldorf Astoria hotel, watching Hugo collapse in front of the camera over and over again.
Actually, the crew of "Scent of a Woman" didn't have any rejection towards Hugo, because he wasn't the male lead, Al was. As a supporting role, Hugo had very little influence on the crew, and the crew members weren't necessarily dissatisfied with him, at most just gossiping. Moreover, after entering the crew, Hugo's optimism and cheerfulness quickly blended in with the crew, making his days on the set very pleasant.
However, today was different. Hugo was not an ordinary person, but a working actor, and he did not do his job well, causing a delay in the progress of the entire crew. In such a situation, even among friends, there were inevitably some complaints, let alone work partners who had a cooperative relationship.
The staff couldn't help but think of Hugo's previous bad behavior, not to mention ruining three movies one after another, and even making a big fool of himself at the Golden Raspberry Awards. "Oh, it seems that this bad performance is not a coincidence."
"It's okay to get used to it. I estimate that we will be stuck here all day."
"He's not bad as an ordinary person, but as an actor..."
"God knows how Martin and Ellen chose him. Is there any insider information?"
"Ah, it's really annoying, being stuck in this room all the time, watching him make stupid mistakes... I think Martin will have to scold him for a while. I'm going out for a smoke."
"I'm going too." "Me too"...
The murmurs between the staff members intermittently drifted into Hugo's ears. Although the staff didn't blame him, there was no doubt that they questioned his work ability and acting skills. However, at this moment, Hugo didn't have the mind to react to the staff's words, because in front of him, Al and Martin were completely impatient, trying to guide Hugo and hoping to lead him down the right path and complete the scene smoothly. Hugo had to focus his attention and concentrate on understanding the scene.
However, he really had no inspiration... His brain was almost blank.