I'm in Hollywood

Chapter 195: Cameo

Eric stopped and turned around as he asked, "Did you need something else, Miss Anwar?"

Right as the words left her mouth, the young woman began regretting it. She felt that she was being a little too forward, but since she had already spoken, she gathered her courage and said, "Mr. Williams, can I invite you to a dance later?"

Eric looked at the young woman’s petite figure wrapped in a red dress with a deep v neck and the short-heeled shoes under her slender legs. He naturally thought of her amazing tango dance scene in Scent of a Woman with Al Pacino as he smiled and asked, "Is it Tango?"

Gabrielle nodded, her lips curled up into a smile with a hint of naughtiness, "If you want."

"Alright, wait a moment," Eric pointed to the end of the corridor.

The girl nodded understandingly and watched Eric walk away and turn the corner. Right as he walked inside the door, she quickly raised her hand and patted her chest a few times. At the same time, she quickly began considering the words she should use to attract more attention from the young man.

After being lucky enough to get the role of the tango girl in Scent of a Woman, Gabrielle has been in the United States for several months. As she continues to learn more about Hollywood, she has become more determined to stay.

Although the tango dance segment in Scent of a Woman is only a few minutes long, because of Al Pacino's strict requirements, it was filmed in a New York hotel for more than a week, during which time she stayed in the crew. There, she was shocked to find that everyone from the director to the film’s entire cast were kind to her. Due to being a newcomer, she often made mistakes during the week-long filming, some mistakes were even foolishly annoying. However, neither Director Martin Brest nor lead actor Al Pacino ever became angry with her, at most they only frowned to express their dissatisfaction, but then patiently explained her mistakes.

At the beginning, Gabrielle simply thought that the two of them were well-natured, but her thoughts changed on the third day of filming. Due to the mistake of an extra, a complicated shot that took a lot of time to set had to be repeated several times. As a result, Al Pacino lost his temper and threw a glass at the floor in rage and angrily berated the extra who took the initiative to leave the crew due to being embarrassed. Moreover, she later discovered that director Martin Brest was also not a mild-tempered person. As a result, she began to wonder why she received special treatment.

An event a few days later, however, allowed her to solve that mystery. The cause of the incident was the young man named Matt Damon whom she had become acquainted with during the filming. She had a good impression of him, so she didn’t mind whenever he tried to talk to her, however, one day, Al Pacino saw them together. She saw Al Pacino call the young man in his room to talk. Afterwards, Matt Damon never took the initiative to speak to her again.

After that incident, she finally became sure that the reason behind the special treatment she received was because she was recommended by Eric Williams. In fact, the crew may regard her as Eric's lover, so they treat her with courtesy. Thanks to that, despite being a newcomer actress, she never encountered any form of harassment which could be considered a miracle. Even when she was in the UK, although both her father and mother were part of the TV circle and could shield her from many things that newcomers went through, she still encountered harassment when she was in a TV show.

Due to the misunderstanding, she obtained a lot of benefits, so she no longer wished to clarify the misunderstanding. Even when chatting with others, she occasionally mentioned Eric's name casually to give them some hints.

Most people who know her well, including her agent, Kapoor Sid, the President of UTA, thought of her as Eric’s lover. However, they didn't look down on her because of this since Eric Williams is currently single. Maybe when she will be lucky enough to become his official girlfriend, or even his wife.

However she knew that there was nothing between the two of them. In fact, she had only ever spoken a few words to him and had only met him once before.

However, recently, she had begun to worry about other people realizing the truth behind her relationship with Eric, or lack of it. Once this fact is discovered, how would those people who realized that they had been deceived, especially Kapoor Sid, react?

"Hey, what are you thinking?" A voice suddenly sounded in her ear, interrupting Gabrielle's thoughts.

She turned around and saw Eric in front of her. She quickly shook her head and said, "Nothing."

"Let's go in," Eric said casually without much paying attention to her unusual reaction.

"Sure," she said and took a bold step forward, stretching her arm around Eric's.

Eric felt the girl's sudden act of intimacy and looked at her with interest. Gabrielle lowered her head with embarrassment. She didn't dare look at Eric's piercing gaze, but continued to maintain a tight grip around Eric’s arm.

Eric chuckled lightly, but didn't reveal that he knew what was going through her mind. In fact, he was slightly disappointed by the lack of soft and squishy feeling on his arm. Even Nicole had two bumps on her chest that could barely be grasped when she was lying on her back, but the girl currently holding his arm was fully flat-chested.

Just as the two walked into the hall, the sharp-eyed Al Pacino immediately noticed Eric and walked over with a smile. He saw Gabrielle leaning against him and unscrupulously winked at Eric before he said, "Eric, I have decided. Scent of a Woman should be released by Firefly itself. I think what Bob said makes sense."

Eric had actually anticipated this result. Bob Shaye had a way with words. What's more, the more eager Al Pacino was to win an Oscar, the easier it was for Bob Shaye to influence him.

"I believe this will be a good choice," Eric nodded and smiled before he asked, "By the way, Al, do you have plans for your next movie?"

Al Pacino shook his head, "I plan to take a break; Kapoor also suggested that. It is more than enough for me to shoot two movies this year. Kapoor said that I'd better wait until the Oscars before considering my next film.” After speaking, Al Pacino paused, looked at Eric’s expression, and immediately said, “However, Eric, if it’s your movie, I can do it anytime.”

"No, Al, I don’t have any movies suitable for you currently," Eric explained, "It’s actually like this. You should have heard that I made a TV show..."

Al immediately laughed, " Of course, I heard that. I also know that you went to direct two episodes by yourself. Eric, you're really...different. Among all the directors I know, unless they really have to, no one wants to direct an episode of a TV series. By the way, you were saying..."

Eric said, "It's actually like this. I'm making a sitcom and I wanted to invite you for a cameo in an episode."

"This..." Al Pacino suddenly hesitated.

It wasn’t a big deal to do a cameo on a TV series, but he was worried about the reputation of the TV series produced by Eric. If the ratings of that TV series ended up being bad and he did a cameo, it wouldn’t be much different from acting in a bad movie. He still has a lingering fear towards the bad movies that caused him to lose his box office appeal, so he dared not agree to Eric’s offer immediately.

Eric also knew that this matter could not be forced, and said, "Al, this TV series will be broadcast while filming. It just so happens that the first episode will air on September 3 on Fox TV. I know what you are apprehensive about its reception. Let’s do this: if the show’s average viewership is less than 15 million then forget what I just said, but if it is higher than that, I hope you can at least consider it."

"Alright, that’s fair," Al Pacino heard Eric’s suggestion and immediately agreed. He has a decent understanding of TV shows. A show with more than 15 million views is, without a doubt, a hit. If he does a cameo on that show, it will also help enhance his own popularity.

"You should watch the show when you have time."

Al Pacino laughed and said, "The first two episodes were directed by the great Director Williams himself. I will definitely watch it when it airs. By the way, have you thought about what kind of cameo I will play?"

"Of course, I intend to let you play yourself."

"Myself?"

“Yes," Eric said, "The plot is roughly like this: one of the six fixed protagonists on the show works as an extra in movies. One day, he received a job to play your nude substitute..."

In the original episode, although Joey played Al Pacino's nude substitute, and it was quite funny, Al Pacino never showed up. Now, it's different. Since Eric has a good relationship with Al Pacino, he doesn’t mind making use of it to have him really appear during that scene.

"Wow," After hearing Eric's narration, Al Pacino laughed, "Actually, I don't mind being naked if you need me to."

Eric shrugged, "The plot requires Joey to be nude."

“Of course, I think this scene will be very interesting. Oh, Miss Anwar must be getting impatient, sorry I took up so much of Eric's time. You two should go dance, Eric, Miss Anwar’s tango is very good."

"Thank you for your compliment, Mr. Pacino," Gabrielle didn't show any impatience. How could she? She was, instead, grateful for his words.

"Alright, enjoy the party, I'll go and talk to others for a while, goodbye."

"See you later," Eric nodded and walked to the dance floor with Gabrielle.