Chapter 46 The Star Road Begins

 Not to mention Brantley, even when Jenny came out of the back door, she was completely startled by the battle in front of her.

 Although she went to film school, Chen Zhen can't say that she is a person who is very ambitious in her acting career. The reason why she went to film school in her previous life was only because her grades were not very good since she was a child, she looked good, and she also thought that she had a little acting talent, at least she was a literary backbone in school.

 In Chen Zhen's view, people with good minds are engaged in industry, commerce or scientific research, people with good physical strength go to sports, or work on construction sites, and people with good looks go to acting and singing. Rather than working tirelessly and tiringly to go to a third-rate college (in two thousand years of college, it is not so widespread, if Chen Zhen wants to go to college, she must study hard for a few years with the spirit of the title, her family environment does not allow it at all), and then come out to find a job and become a clerk or something, it is better to try to go to a film school, so that being an actor sounds very promising.

 Chen Zhen is a native of Hangzhou, and she has never been in contact with the entertainment industry before, until she was lucky enough to be admitted to the film academy, and she slowly learned that it is not so easy to be an actor. Of course, there are many outstanding students who have graduated from film schools, and they have already become popular in school, but these people are all talented and lucky, and it is difficult for ordinary people to match them. Chen Zhen was a school flower in high school, but when she got to college, she was only middle and upper-middle, her temperament was mediocre, and her acting skills were mediocre, she couldn't achieve anything on her own, if she didn't have a way, then she had to give flesh and body to many people, in order to find someone who was willing to promote her, even if there was a way, she had to get some important people under the arrangement of the doorway, so that they were willing to invest in her, so that she could get some better opportunities.

 Although the inside story is much darker than Hollywood, in the final analysis, the basic rules of the market remain the same, that is, survival of the fittest, talent, acting skills, and good-looking actors can stand out in the fierce competition. After figuring this out in a few years, Chen Zhen's desire to develop in the entertainment industry is very light. At that time, she was thinking about trying to enter the National Repertory Theatre, first getting a dead salary, and then training her abilities, and then thinking about other things.

 Her luck is good, probably not long after the idea of entering the showbiz faded, her ex-husband appeared, young, golden, handsome, tall, and interested in her, even if Chen Zhen has no feelings for him, just in terms of the transaction relationship between beauty and money, it is much more suitable to trade with her ex-husband alone than with many people, not to mention that the return is even greater. Therefore, after the fire attack, the ex-husband was killed, and the two received the marriage certificate, Chen Zhen never had the idea of becoming an actor. Acting is definitely not her ideal, it is just a means of livelihood that she considered and later gave up.

 After being reborn, everything she did was of course to develop in the entertainment industry, but the motive had nothing to do with 'I want to act', in addition to wanting to go back, the biggest reason was that she had a gold finger related to acting, and it was a great waste to have a cheat. Including the crazy efforts in the performing arts space, it has nothing to do with the love of acting work, it is entirely because she has a crazy and bold overseer, Cesare Vijeri, who always gives her some unrealistic but well-paid jobs, and Chen Zhen herself knows that if she wants to make more profits with the golden finger, then she has to move forward quickly in the 14 years from 2001 to 2014, when the golden finger is the most effective. The one she uses to encourage herself is never 'how many fans will I have after this drama is staged, how much popularity will rise, how many people will appreciate and love', or 'this movie will be a masterpiece', but 'I will do my best now, and even if I fail in the future, I have nothing to regret'. - Chen Zhen never thought that she would get any satisfaction and pleasure in acting, just like a coolie who would never like the process of carrying a big bag.

 But tonight, when she saw so many people waiting for her outside the door, Chen Zhen understood for the first time why so many Beipiao and Hengdian drifters rushed to the two major film and television centers in the country, and so many people were willing to wait for her for more than two hours in the cold wind on the night of New York in February, just because they watched her performance- Although there are dozens of fans on IMDB, after all, it is a virtual world, and it has not brought any impact to Chen Zhen, and tonight's whole incident made Chen Zhen feel an indescribable sense of authority, making her feel that what she just did was very important, great, and meaningful.

 This strange sense of accomplishment even made her a little fluttery. This feeling had never been felt when she was a wealthy young woman, even though she was countless times richer than Jenny is now.

 "Hey, Jenny!" Although she didn't wear much makeup and was dressed in a low-key manner, sharp-eyed fans recognized her, and some people at the door had already started to greet her loudly.

 Jenny was already very tired, yesterday she did spend some effort on the Cesare-James game, today she rehearsed, performed, went to parties, and is now completely in prostration after being excited, but even so, Jenny did not plan to leave, she looked down the alley, there were not many fans waiting, only a few dozen, and she decided to try to meet their autograph, group photo request.

 "You really need a manager, dear. PR Judy's assistant Nissa had a bit of a drink tonight, so she talked a lot, but even so, she did her duty, stayed by Jenny's side, and now gave her own professional advice. "You're still in the beginning, I'd suggest you be friendly to your fans, my dear, sure, I know you're tired, but at least set aside ten minutes to interact with them, okay?"

 Cesare and she didn't act together, Jenny was the only one with her right now, and she was more sober than Nissa, because Jenny was still in the PTSD of the Dietrich incident, and she didn't eat or drink anything during the whole party, so she quickly came up with a solution, "Of course, it's a pity I can't take a group photo tonight, but the autograph is fine." So, Nissa, you go and talk to the security guards and tell him to stand at the end of the line, don't let people continue to queue up, and these spectators who are waiting now can line up to get autographs. "

 "Good idea. Nissa was just slightly drunk, the execution was still there, and soon, the security guards went to the alley to guard the end of the line, and now the fans who stayed in the alley merged into a team, and came over to shake hands with Jenny one after another, sign autographs, and the request for a group photo could only be regrettably rejected because Jenny did not wear makeup.

 "You're really beautiful!"

 "I support you, and I'll come back to see your show. "

 "Jennifer, I'm a fan of yours, you're so amazing, I wonder how long you'll be in Chicago?"

 "Jennifer, do you have a profile? Did you just star in CSI? Please tell me how old you are and what school you graduated from. "

 In addition to complimenting her beauty, acting skills, and singing, her new fans asked two questions the most, 'who is she' and 'what has she played'. Several enthusiastic fans told her a lot of discussion versions of the war in just a short time signing autographs, and told her that she would never believe that Jennifer was a hostess, and that she had only had one work before, "CSI".

 It was clear that they were eager to hear more from her, but Nissa, noticing the trend in the conversation, immediately came over and stopped the conversation with a lack of time. Jenny sensed that something was wrong, and then she used the excuse of limited time to avoid topics related to her life experience.

 It didn't take long for more than fifty people to sign their names and say a few words of greetings, and soon, the taxi that the security guard called for Jenny arrived, and the two of them sat in the car together, escorted by Nissa. Nissa then explained to Jenny, "We didn't expect you to be such a genius, my dear, and Judy expected that it would take at least two or three months for you to attract some attention, so there are some things we haven't had time to discuss yet." Anyway, now Judy should want you not to discuss your resume with the fans. I'll call Judy early tomorrow morning and ask her to discuss this with you. "

 Jenny was actually quite tired, she knew that she and Nissa were both strong crossbows, "No problem, you will find out that I am a cooperative partner, now let's go back to the hotel and rest." "

 Despite this, when Jenny returned to the hotel, she found herself unable to sleep. After tossing and turning on the bed for a long time, she finally couldn't resist running to the hotel's Internet center, finding a computer, and going to IMDB to check out her cast page.

 It's only been a few hours since the show, and the review feedback is definitely not coming out so quickly, even if Brantley and they are writing now, the column will be published in a day or two, and she can't see any reviews from anywhere else in the short term, but now IMDB's cast page is quite lively, at least forty more threaded posts than the last time Jenny came to check.

 Many of these threads are asking for Jennifer's profile, and users are new to IMDB at first glance, most likely through Yahoo search - there are not many pages related to Jenny on Yahoo now, and IMDB is the most relevant and ranked first. There are also some theme posts that are the thoughts of old fans watching the drama, Jenny is like drinking coffee, although the body is extremely tired, but the spirit is still very high, she is full of interest to open these feelings one by one to view.

 For the short nymphomaniac feelings, Jenny just laughed at it, for some long drama reviews, and quite literary praise - or obscure nymphomaniac, Jenny couldn't help but rewatch it repeatedly, if it was itchy and coincided with her feelings when she looked at her own video, it made her feel an indescribable sense of pleasure, and even browsed the ID and remembered this person in her heart. Even if her personality is so rational, at this moment, it is indeed difficult to avoid vulgarity.

 Of course, what makes her particularly satisfied is that some fans on the page also said that they were waiting for Jenny after the After Party, and they were unanimously praised for her affinity, only praise and no dissatisfaction. Only a few people said, 'She's not the same as she looks on stage, she's not so radiant, it's a completely different kind of charm'...

 This is a euphemism for her that seems inconspicuous, and Jenny can't help but feel a little ashamed: in order to avoid unnecessary trouble, she is usually unkempt, and she deliberately wears no makeup at tonight's party, so she can't even provide fans with group photo benefits. Now it seems that this is also a sign of disrespect, and from tomorrow, after removing the stage makeup, at least some base makeup will be put on.

 She didn't fall asleep until about three o'clock that night, and the next day the alarm clock rang for at least three minutes to wake her up, and she obviously felt low in energy and unable to be fully awake. Jenny weighed the schedule, simply canceled this morning's morning run, and went directly to the entertainment space to rest for three more hours, which was a little full of energy, but even so, a faint layer of blue gray could be seen under the eyes, which was ironclad evidence of the lack of physical sleep time.

 No wonder female celebrities inevitably use knives in their faces, and Jenny is also secretly vigilant in her heart: Caucasian people are easy to age, if they have to go to parties every night and can't control smoking and drinking, two to three years is enough to make her older.

 - She also found out why people like to act in movies, after last night's premiere, today Jenny fell into a state of laziness, as if things have been done, now is to recuperate, waiting for the harvest, if she is acting in a movie, then it is true, but unfortunately although she has paid no less than the amount of labor for this musical to star in a movie, but the time to recuperate is far from coming, last night is just the beginning, and there is a show waiting for her tonight.

 "I don't know if the drama reviews have been published. Jenny thought that after washing up she would go downstairs to buy breakfast, and to go to the newsstand to buy The New Yorker and The New York Times.

 Before she left the hotel, her mobile phone rang, and Chen Zhen picked it up, "yes?"

 "Are you awake?" asked Cesare, his voice already in good spirits, and at first hearing it was clear that the man had been awake for at least an hour, and had probably done his morning workout. "Look for me on the Upper East Side. "

 Chen Zhen had been exposed to the culture of American high society before, and after crossing over to become Jenny, she learned that there is such a 'natural elitist theory' in American society, that is, the entire American society is led by the elite of 1% and 99% of the civilians to develop forward, this theory was later extended to the 'Occupy Wall Street' movement, but this leadership structure is actually very solid. According to the common concept, this 1% elite is equivalent to China's 'born knowers', in short, there is a great difference between those who are mediocre in terms of talent, willpower, and even physical fitness. They can get high marks on their final exams at Harvard and Yale levels after endless all-night parties, go home late at night and sleep for three hours, then get up and do two hours of exercise to continue the day's work. Cesare was clearly the top of the 1%, he hadn't left when Jenny left last night, he didn't get more than five hours of sleep, and he had just flown from Los Angeles to New York yesterday, so the flight should have been around six hours.

 If it weren't for this physique, it should be difficult to succeed in the entertainment industry, Jenny judged through last night's experience that if a person has to sleep more than seven hours a day to be full of energy, then he will not be able to maintain social interaction when he is working, and his work energy must be low when socializing, and everyone knows that connections in the circle are more important than anything else, and there are many audition opportunities that are talked about at parties, dinners, and golf dates.

 The more she learned about showbiz, the more Jenny discovered her decision at the time, and how much she took Cesare's rhetoric for granted—if not naïve, that she felt that the life of a movie star would be no more miserable than that of a restaurant hostess, that she could maintain a diet and exercise after a long period of physical labor, that 'the old lady lost even weight', and that what else could not be done? The amount of labor is not simply an addition or subtraction, but even an exponent in addition to multiplication.

 But she didn't lose confidence, she didn't know how to do it at the time, but Cesare understood, since he thought she had the potential to achieve her goal, then she had the possibility to achieve it, all she had to do was trust Cesare a little more - it must be said that he also had a way of winning people's hearts, at least now Jenny no longer questioned his intention to let her act in musicals, she could believe from the bottom of her heart that everything Cesare did was for the good of her career.

 "Good morning. Cesare greeted as he opened the door, having changed into a shirt and trousers, but no tie or suit. "We're going to have a video conference with Judy this morning. "

 "Good morning. Jenny and Lillian's mother raised their hands and said hello, "Did you buy the newspaper?

 "That's what we're going to talk about. Cesare led Jenny into the study, and after some manipulation, Judy's face appeared on the LCD screen, but the movement sometimes jammed, "Judy, I'm sure Nissa has faxed you this morning's review." "

 The New Yorker, The New York Times, and The New York Post all published reviews of last night's plays. Judy Yang shook the fax file in her hand, "2 well-known drama review blogs released comments, I looked at last night's invitation list, and optimistically estimated that 8 bloggers who came to see the premiere will comment. So we have a guaranteed 5 reviews, 11 reviews, judging from the 5 published reviews, the praise rate should reach more than 90%, congratulations, dear, last night's performance was a great success. "

 Judy smiled at her with a delayed smile, she had a much warmer attitude towards Jenny today, but the direct object of the report was Cesare, "Starting at nine o'clock this morning, the troupe office forwarded me three interview requests for magazines, all of which are local magazines in New York, and the influence is not too great, and I haven't replied yet." What do you think, Chesa?"

 "Let's refuse. "At the moment I think we can continue with hunger marketing and keep her mystical, and the only way to get exposure is through musicals, which will be a great boost at the box office." The troupe called me this morning, and since last night, people have been booking tickets through the Internet and the booking hotline, and the box office has been sold out within a month from now, and the theater is considering adding standing tickets. "

 "Very well," Judy flipped through the list, "and there are about 20 drama critics we can invite in the future, can we start offering Los Angeles drama critics the opportunity to watch the play?" If you agree, I will contact Schubert to get tickets, and of course you will have to decide on the entertainment specifications." "

 "We issue tickets," Cesare replied immediately, "but the accommodation is only offering discounts on reservations, maintaining their review independence, and can start inviting people from LA in two weeks, by which time the word-of-mouth effect should have fermented in Los Angeles." "

 "No problem, I agree with you. Judy drew back and forth on the paper a few times, then looked up and turned her attention to Jenny, "Jenny dear, Nissa and I reported last night's incident, and you did very well, but since Chesa and I have decided to keep some of your specific information a secret until the publicity needs to be released, we don't say anything but your age, okay? You know that people are always used to overestimating things they don't understand, and that's very helpful for your personal image." "

 Jenny said obediently, "No problem. "

 "Very good, last night's autograph-only no-photo policy was very good. "We don't want your group photos and candid photos to be circulating all over the internet at the moment, but even if it's just as a precaution, we recommend that you go out with base makeup – at least base makeup." "

 If in the hands of unqualified photographers, the chance of taking ugly photos with makeup photography is 40%, and the probability of ugly photos in no-makeup photography is at least 80%, even the most beautiful women can't escape this law. The reason why the black and white photo era feels that every photo looks good is because the star photos of that era can directly retouch the negative, and because of the low precision, others can't see the clue at all, that is, they don't retouch the film, and the low precision and black and white colors are also easy to form a beautification effect, and moreover, the camera was expensive at that time, and the people who could fiddle with it at least had a certain degree of professionalism.

 Nowadays, photography technology is advancing with each passing day, PS traces are becoming more and more difficult to hide, and cameras are becoming cheaper and cheaper, passers-by can take pictures by copying them, and the direct result is that there are more and more ugly photos of celebrities, making many viewers think that today is not as good as in ancient times, and there are more beautiful women in the stars 20 years ago. In fact, with the rapid development of plastic surgery technology, theoretically speaking, the overall level of the industry should rise rather than fall.

 Jenny knew that it was all a work need, and she nodded her head without resistance. Judy didn't say anything more and ended the call — her phone rang at least five times during the call.

 After the call, Cesare picked up a couple of newspapers from his desk and handed them to Jenny, "Brantley of the New York Times thinks you're a monster. "

 "Am I a monster?" Jenny found amused, "is this a compliment?"

 "It should be a compliment with a high specification. "He said you're the best talent Broadway has produced in a decade, but you're completely misplaced, and your strength is on the big screen, not in singing and dancing — it's unfair to work with you and play against other actors." "

 Jenny laughed, "That's too much. "

 "The New York Post's Patrick thinks you're doing it perfectly, turning an 80-point performance into a 110-point performance, and he ranks Chicago as the No. 1 must-see musical this spring. Cesare flipped through a few printed files, "These are the contents of the blog, you can read them slowly on the way home, and I won't waste any time." "

 Jeanne usually tried to remain calm in Cesare's presence, but today she had some difficulty controlling herself, and almost immediately began to flip through the newspapers.

 "There's also good news for you, I didn't ask about the box office good, but James took the initiative to tell me, he called on his way to JFK Airport this morning. "

 "Where is he going?" Jenny was completely bewildered by the news that followed, "Didn't you get up late at the party last night?" I thought he should be sleeping at home right now. "

 "He can sleep on the plane, and it's a more than 10-hour flight from here to London. Cesare's words seemed to have a mystery.

 Due to last night's exhaustion, Jenny was a little sluggish today, and it took a second to react, "Ahh

 "Congratulations. Cesare concluded, "Jenny, by all indications, you're becoming a star now." "

 Jenny couldn't help but smile, but Cesare said, "I think that means you're going to be poorer for a while. "

 The author has something to say: Note: In fact, the cultural traces of this 1% elite appear in many film and television works, generally speaking, the rich family, the captain of the rugby team, the students of famous schools, all A grades, blonde, tall, handsome. This kind of character appears in many works, and they are the most standard reserve of the ruling class, and they are also the ideal image of the elite. So film and television works do a lot of things to this kind of person, you can try to think about what similar symbols XD are in the works you have seen