Hollywood Domination

Chapter 3 “Golden Finger”

In her past life, Chen Zhen could be described as idle and without any real purpose. During her free time, she read a lot of web novels and was familiar with the concept of a “golden finger,” a special ability that often helped the protagonist in the story. However, at that time, she would not have even dreamt of this situation happening to her. As a reader, she often complained about authors giving their protagonists too much of a golden finger, which made them too overpowered and took away from the enjoyment of the story.

Now, of course, she would not complain about a golden finger being too powerful. At the very least, bestow upon her unlimited cash that can never be completely spent. If this mysterious power were bold enough, Chen Zhen would not even mind engaging in interspatial trade. If she had a system, it would be even better. With each step closer to her goal, more and more functions would be unlocked…

Unfortunately, her golden finger was incredibly meager compared to many other main characters in the books she had read. It basically only had one function.

The conditions for activating it were very simple. All she had to do was close her eyes and concentrate. Chen Zhen named it the “Performing Arts Space,” and as long as she thought about entering it, she would find herself in a pitch-black space, surrounded by numerous flying DVD discs that she could easily select with her thoughts.

The disc collection was not abundant, as Chen Zhen did not have access to all film and televisions available globally for the next ten or twenty years. Most of the discs came from movies, TV shows, and stage productions she had watched before, with a small portion being those she had heard of but had never watched. In short, the library consisted of movies that she had seen or heard of, based on her memory.

The first function of Chen Zhen’s golden finger: is to re-watch classic movies to her heart’s content.

She randomly selected a disc, and chose the classic 1998 film “Titanic.” Immediately, a giant IMAX-sized screen appeared before her eyes, skipping past the production company’s information at the beginning and beginning to play the movie from the start.

The flow of time in the performing arts space was about three times faster than in the outside world, meaning Chen Zhen had about 4 to 5 hours to watch the movie at her leisure. However, she didn’t watch it from the beginning; instead, she fast-forwarded to the scene where Jack and Rose are floating in the ocean and re-watched their heart-wrenching confession.

Then she muttered, “Begin simulation.”

With a splash, Chen Zhen suddenly fell into the water.

The heavy Edwardian costume became even more cumbersome after soaking in water. Although the water temperature was not low, the huge studio had to have a fan to help circulate the air. A gust of wind blew, and she still shivered with cold, unable to even muster the strength to stand up from the wooden plank.

“It’s cold, isn’t it?” A young Leonardo DiCaprio – “Leo” – leaned over the edge of the plank and spoke to her. His extraordinarily handsome face was only a few inches away from Chen Zhen’s. “Damn, I’m almost freezing to death. Thank God James ultimately decided to let us shoot in warm water, or else we would have gotten pneumonia for sure.”

Beside them was a large group of actors, each floating and sinking in the warm water. Seven or eight cameras of various sizes were pointed at the large water tank, and there were also tracks on the side of the tank, underwater cameras at the bottom, and staff moving back and forth outside the tank. Vividly — or according to Chen Zhen’s suspicion, with 100% accuracy — reproducing the filming scene of the Titanic, in the distance, you could even see the “King of the World” James Cameron, and another man discussing something with a serious expression.

This is the second function of her golden finger: to reproduce the filming scene.

Chen Zhen, of course, took the place of Kate Winslet here. She gave Leonardo DiCaprio a quick smile but didn’t answer anything. In the distance, a loud voice came through, “Attention, Scene 6 of the 293rd take, second shoot, action!”

“I’m so cold,” she urged herself to quickly get into character, tears streaming down her face as she recited her lines, “I’m so cold, Jack.”

“Listen to me, Rose,” Leonardo’s acting was just as it was in the movie, “you will definitely survive…”

The five-minute dialogue scene was quickly shot, and the director didn’t call out “Cut.” When the timer that Chen Zhen had set rang, she returned to the performing arts space, where a sofa and some basic furniture had already been placed. She sat down on the sofa and played back the scene she had just acted in.

On the big screen, the classic scene appeared again, but this time, Rose’s face had been replaced by Chen Zhen’s.

The third function of the “golden finger”: is to turn the scene that had been shot into a film.

This is not just a simple rewatch of the original footage, but the final product that has been edited, with post-production effects, dubbing, and retouching. There is no difference from the public release version. In other words, what Chen Zhen saw was the “What if Jenny acted in Titanic” version of the film. If she wanted to, she could perform the entire film from start to finish and then watch the public release version.

Jenny was a German beauty, and at this time, her figure was even more slender than Kate Winslet, who was called “Fat Winslet” (of course, this nickname is unfair, as Winslet’s figure was actually quite standard when she played in Titanic, but “the camera adds ten pounds”). She looks even more beautiful on screen, but as Chen Zhen watches her own performance, her eyebrows furrowed.

“My performance is exaggerated, stiff, and unnatural. My lines are also not good enough,” she criticized her own performance. “It’s a fail.”

Of course, this is also fairly normal. No one can play the lead in a big movie right off the bat. For most actors, this is a step-by-step process. Although some naturally gifted talents can shine and rise to fame, actors are ultimately just skilled workers who need to go through a certain amount of practice to achieve proficiency and advance in their profession. Without enough practice, one will not be able to act the part— one will not resemble a crown prince simply by wearing the robe of a crown prince.

Chen Zhen’s performance is still acceptable. She only attended a four-year acting school in her previous life and had some training during that time, but after graduation, she completely abandoned acting for ten years and did not consider it at all. Now, after only about a month of practice, her acting skills are lacking, but at least her aura as the female lead and the emotion of sadness are there. If a passerby were to replace her, they would probably be able to turn it into a comedy film, unable to deliver a single line properly.

After watching the completed film twice, Chen Zhen couldn’t bear to watch it anymore. She threw the remote control and said, “Simulate the scene.” She returned to the set of Titanic, and Leo smiled at her. “It’s cold, isn’t it?”

“Whatever,” she replied ungraciously, and then lowered her head to prepare herself. In any case, no matter how many times she repeats the simulation, Leo’s lines are always the same.

This time, when she heard the familiar “Action,” Chen Zhen murmured, “Memory injection.”

With a loud boom, many blurry and complex memories appeared in her mind, as if Rose’s life was being replayed in her dreams: a young man from a declining family, a suppressed and tense environment for growth, a mother’s concern for money and power, and the brilliant love affair between her and Jack, like a beautiful firework display…

She’s so cold, she can’t stop shaking, both from the cold and fear. She musters all her strength to gaze at her lover. ‘Oh Jack, Jack, I’m so cold…’

“Listen to me, Rose,” Leonardo holds her hand, his eyes still shining. “You will definitely survive…”

The fourth function of the golden finger: simulate the memory and emotions of a character. — In Chen Zhen’s view, this is also the core function of the golden finger.

Actors’ styles can be roughly divided into “method acting” and “classical acting.” There is no consensus on which style is superior. The most commonly taught in schools are classical acting techniques because method acting requires higher talent and cannot be taught through demonstration. However, this golden finger can allow her to completely and thoroughly immerse herself in the role and naturally express the character’s emotions in the scene. In other words, it can transform Chen Zhen into the world’s most pure and most versatile method actor. Of course, in the world of acting, she is the only one who possesses this cheating ability.

She tried to summon this golden finger in reality but was unsuccessful. Chen Zhen cannot read the script and then simultaneously simulate the character’s memory and emotions in real life. However, this golden finger can affect reality in some way. After simulating in the performing arts space, the trace of emotions will remain in her heart and only gradually fade away after a while. Therefore, as long as she selects suitable films, such as those she watched in her past life, she can still use method acting techniques to perform most scenes. This is the strongest card Chen Zhen has in her attempt to dominate Hollywood. Otherwise, she would not even try to work in this direction but would immediately work on improving her appearance, find ways to save money to study a college course, and marry a future lawyer to ensure financial stability, at worst she could find another job after graduation.

So far, she has only explored these four functions of the performing arts space, all of which revolve around one thing — to help her act well. Therefore, for Chen Zhen, her “golden finger” is only applicable to acting, and there are many limitations.

After rewatching her performance with added emotions, she still wasn’t satisfied with herself — even if she wasn’t the director, she could feel that her performance with added emotions was a bit too “loose”. It didn’t quite match Leonardo DiCaprio’s performance. If before, she couldn’t let loose and get into character, this time, her emotions were overflowing, causing a mismatch in tempo with Leonardo DiCaprio.

Therefore, even though this fourth function is crucial, it cannot instantly turn Chen Zhen into an expert in method acting. It may turn her acting pure, but being outstanding is another.

After trying four times, she finally felt satisfied with her performance in this crucial scene. She waved her hand and activated the combination of functions three and one, “Playback.”

Two frames appeared on the screen, one of the original Rose and the other of the space version of Jenny. They were saying the same lines, “Oh, Jack…”

Although “Titanic” is a classic movie, the acting requirements for the male and female leads are not very high. In other words, acting skills aren’t the only thing that matters to the box office success of the movie. As long as the acting is above average, it’s sufficient. Therefore, Chen Zhen believed that Jenny Jane’s performance was comparable to that of Kate Winslet. Even though Rose’s character was played by an Oscar-winning actress, Kate’s performance in “Titanic” was not very demanding, as the movie didn’t leave much room for her to showcase her acting skills.

…However, she still felt a hint of slight dissonance in the Jenny version, and it was precisely this dissonance that made her unable to help but feel that the original version was slightly natural and better.

What caused the problem?

After watching the comparison three or four times, Chen Zhen finally concluded that the problem lay in ancestry and temperament.

Jenny was a German beauty, but Kate Winslet was an English rose. In the role of Rose, an English aristocrat, the latter naturally had a higher degree of fit. Her pure aristocratic English and classical temperament added a lot of charm to Rose. Although Jenny had excellent makeup skills, she came from the United States and naturally had a metropolitan temperament that was somewhat incompatible with the character of Rose at its root.

Even with the golden finger, it was impossible to break through one’s own limitations… Chen Zhen couldn’t help but sigh: How difficult is it to make a name for oneself in the entertainment industry? Very.

Chen Zhen could also hear the outside world’s sounds, such as phone calls and ringtones, in the performing arts space. After reviewing her performance a few more times and hearing the alarm clock ringing, she exited the performing arts space, drank the strong iced coffee from last night, tidied up, and rode her bike to work.