Henry is standing up at the center of a stage
He's currently training in an intensive one on one acting course
"I want you try the to be or not to be speech from Hamlet but change your emotion with very few lines, ok?" Leon says to Henry
He is the acting coach hired by Jeff to improve Henry's acting abilities, he's currently in his 70's and has been trained in most of the mainstream acting methods and schools
"Here's the lines" Leon hands Henry a script
"Thanks, give me five minutes" Henry receives the script
"Take all the time you need my boy" Leon says
Henry reads the lines over and over again carefully trying to grasp the emotional significance of each line.
"Alright" Henry nods to Leon signaling his readiness
"To be, or not to be, that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" he says in questioning, his speech, expression, body movements all showing curiosity
"Or to take arms against a sea of troubles
And by opposing end them. To die—to sleep,
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks" he says with the emotion of someone in heartbreak, his eyes slightly fills with tears and chin shaking slightly
"That flesh is heir to: 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep, perchance to dream—ay, there's the rub" he says with the emotions and thoughts of a suicidal man, tired of the life he's lived
"For in that sleep of death what dreams may come When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause—there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life.
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time" he sits suddenly against the wall and shifts slightly trying to find the most comfortable position, he portrays this part of the speech with a content man, someone who's every wish is fulfilled
"Stop!" Leon says loudly to cut Henry off his emotional roller coaster
Henry's eyes snaps up to Leon, he sees him nodding his head in approval
"Very good, you have a very good foundation" Leon moves to the front of Henry and squats in front of him
"Now make try to be funny with it"
"Funny?" Henry asks with skepticism
"A good actor is someone who has ability to portray the character, to play them with soul and to convince the audience that they are that character and no one else, the script or line doesn't matter" Leon says meaningfully
The door suddenly creaks, and both men look at the door, they saw a fat man in a suit
"Sorry for the interruption" Jeff says apologetically
"Let's take a five minute break" Leon says to Henry and then he walks towards Jeff, and they both leave the room
"So how is he?" Jeff asks Leon
"Exceptional, truly—he has great emphathy and is quick on his feet, and most importantly he has charisma I have never seen before" Leon says with great admiration
"I've seen talent like his many times before but that stage presence and charisma not at all, he has the makings of the Golden Age Hollywood star" Leon continues
Jeff is happy with the evaluation made by Leon
"This may be your biggest one yet" Leon says
Jeff shakes his head dismissively, but in his heart he knows what Leon said is true, in his entire career he's never been able to raise a true star of his own, he holds a few top stars in his rosters like Shia Lebouff who he has high hopes for, but there's a good chance that after the transformers series he may experience a downturn, Shia rose too fast and too much with the Transformers.
And after seeing Henry's performance in the West End he was captivated, and he knew he had to have him, but he wanted to be cautious with his selection of work, so as to not copy Shia Lebouff's rise of heavily relying on one role for his stardom
"How's the practice for Zombieland?" Jeff asks Leon
"Quick and easy, the role is not too challenging to begin with—you should try to have him find more interesting roles" Leon emphatically says
"He's too young, I can at most convince producers to audition him for mid 20s roles, and you know those don't have a lot of room for exploration, and the ones that do have complex characters are made by students or amateur filmmakers I can't trust them with him" Jeff exasperates, and rubs his temples
"Zombieland is already a gamble in itself, the director is new and green, and the character is not exactly flattering, but since Henry wanted to do it I can't stop him, and the audition is today"
"It will be fine and if it fails, it's not the end of his career just a setback, and besides he hasn't even auditioned yet, now leave us be there's still 30 minutes left" Leon shoos him away
Leon reenters the room, and sees Henry sitting on the stage and is listening on his Ipod
"Alright now let's continue" Leon says
To be continued