"Great, Theo, you're definitely better than this handsome little guy Mills!" Maggie's excited and proud voice brought Theolod's immersion in the film back to life.

"Grandma, people don't call Mills, his name is Brad Pitt, don't confuse movie roles with actors, and I think he plays quite well, whether it's line skills or detail handling skills. Theorod said helplessly.

Now that the movie has long ended, there are not many people like them who stay to watch the trailer, only a few people, and most of them are also because the end of the film is so shocking that they sit in place like Theolod and reminisce for a long time. They weren't aiming for the trailer.

Because of this, it wasn't long before almost all studios brought forward the trailer before the film was played, rather than after everyone was gone at the end of the movie.

"Okay, okay, don't talk about these professional things, I don't understand, but I think our Theo is the best. Maggie said, helping Theolod to leave the theater.

Theorod smiled wordlessly. In fact, all the elders in this world are the same, in their eyes, only their children are the best, just like Maggie, even if there are not many Allen shots in the trailer just now, Maggie still feels that Theolod, who only shows a few faces, is even better than Brad Pitt as the protagonist.

“…… Mills is so pathetic......" As he walked out of the theater, Theolod overheard a few young people talking about it, who, like Theorod and Maggie, sat in the theater until all the trailers were over before leaving.

"It's not so much that Mills is too pitiful, but that this villain is too powerful. Another man said, "He's like he's done a good job, and what's worse is that he thinks what he's doing is noble!"

"Well, I think this movie ...... It's a bit dull, and I can't say why, except that one of the leading actors, Mills, is pretty handsome, and I don't have much to attract about this movie. The only woman among the three shrugged her shoulders, "There is no rhythm that is so nervous that you don't want to divert your gaze, and there is no exciting hot scene." If it weren't for that little bit of gold at the end, I'm afraid I'd have fallen asleep. But the handsome little guy in the trailer woke me up again, what kind of movie is that? "First Degree Fear"? or starring Richard Gere, he's still so charming!"

"Come on, Millie, as long as there's a handsome guy, you think the movie is good, Frank, and you don't care about your girlfriend. The second man who spoke said with a smile, several of them seemed to be movie enthusiasts, a little more well-informed about this aspect than ordinary people, and they also paid more attention to the film and television entertainment sector, "The newspaper said that the male supporting actor was just a pure newcomer." I don't know if the critics were right or wrong about the film, but at least I knew that what a newcomer who hadn't acted in before was an insult to the eye. ”

"But Jerry, this trailer looks pretty good, and the suspense is stacked, so it shouldn't be that bad. Millie frowned a little disapprovingly.

"Maybe the director cut all the wonderful clips into it, maybe the trailer is enough to attract people to watch it, and besides, the unmanly sissy in the trailer is probably his best play. Frank was a little surprised to see that his girlfriend was interested in the man who didn't even know his name and only showed his face.

"Oh, Frank, are you jealous?" Millie smiled and put her arm around the other.

"No, I'm just telling you the truth; If you want me to say, the trailer cut by this rookie director is too trivial, not compact at all, you see, tomorrow the film critics in the newspaper will agree with me. ”

"Yes, yes, you're going to be a famous film critic. Millie stood on tiptoe and kissed Frank, laughing and walking out of the movie theater.

Theolod saw that the three of them were finally gone, and then let go of the hand that had been holding Maggie in his way. Maggie snorted dissatisfiedly, looked at Theorod, and complained: "Theo, why didn't you stand up and reason with them just now? I can hear their disdain for you, they think you are a useless vase! Even if you are embarrassed to go, you should let me go, what are you stopping me from doing? They don't know how powerful you are." ”

"They'll know. Theorod smiled soothingly, "When the movie comes out next year, they'll know, you wait, grandma." ”

"It's good to be confident, it's good to be confident. Maggie said, patting the back of Theorod's hand, she seemed to take Theorod's attitude as his pretense of confidence, "Listen to grandma, don't pay attention to what those people say, you have to believe that you are the best." ”

…… But he's the best. Theolod thought so shamelessly.

But it was really said by the movie enthusiast. Maggie bought a newspaper early the next morning and looked at the entertainment section, but when she returned, Theolod found her face very ugly. At first, Theolod thought Maggie was unwell, but later he learned that the reason was due to the critic's evaluation.

“…… Judging from the short one-minute and twenty-second trailer, Richard Gere's performance is still decent, and the newcomer seems to be just a character who pretends to be innocent, and it is hard to imagine that he is the best person to choose one in a thousand. It's not hard to pretend to be innocent, but from Hobberlett's overly messy editing, that flashing of face-changing shots seems to prove that this Alan is not simple - but maybe it's simple, cats can be vicious sometimes. So what the hell is this movie about? The lines imply that we all seem to have a dual personality, so this is a psychotic crime movie? No one knows, at least it's not a horror movie, and audiences who want to watch horror movies don't be fooled by the name!" -- film critic Sean Thorpe.

Sean Thorpe uses his best satirical technique to clearly show all readers that Theorod's appearance, as a newcomer, is not worthy of the complicated selection process at all, and uses the cat's fried hair to satirize Theorod's flashing face change shot that takes less than a second, directly picking out his role is not difficult at all, and the incomprehension of this movie.

However, in the eighty-second teaser, Theorod's footage does not add up to more than ten seconds, which is too early to define and too hasty. Only readers who are not rational enough or have not seen the trailer will be deceived by his words as if they were referring to something else.

Obviously, this film critic just wants to make a gimmick, but his words are too glaring for some people to read in black and white in the newspaper.

So much so that Maggie was very angry and sad after watching it, she didn't want to see her grandson being ridiculed and denied by others just starting out in the film and television industry, but this kind of thing is common in the entertainment industry.

Seeing that Maggie seemed to have the urge to rush to Thorpe's house to find other people's theories, Theorod had to pull her to sit by the window, hold her hands comfortably, look into her eyes, and say: "Grandma, I don't really care what those people say, really, maybe their comments can indeed have some impact on the public, but the movie hasn't been released yet, isn't it? Reasonable viewers will understand this, and film critics are not only famous for their excellent film reviews, they need some gimmicks and topics just like artists." ”

"In the future, there will be a lot of such cases, about my movies, about my life, about my scandals, etc. I don't want to know what they think of my performance, how they think of me as a person, the only thing that can affect me is my relatives and my best friends, grandma, do you believe me?"

"Dear God, of course I believe in you, Theo, that you are my good boy, the best child at all times. ”

"That's fine, why bother with the media that listen to the wind and rain? It's just their way of working. ”

"But, Theo, they denigrated your abilities, my precious grandson's abilities, you can not care, but I can't. ”

"Maggie, they're going to denigrate more things about me in the future, and as I get more and more famous, it's not possible for all people to like me in this free speech country. It's not that I don't care, I just know that even if I do, it's useless. Of course, don't worry, grandma, it doesn't matter what they say about me, but I can't let the guy who affects the love and life of the person I care about the most continue to arrogantly wear the hat of the uncrowned king...... If you really care. ”

Maggie's eyes widened slightly, she always felt that the grandson she knew at that moment was gone.

"Theo, you don't mean to ......" Suddenly, Maggie grabbed Theorod's hands a little nervously.

Seeing her nervous and cautious appearance, Theorod knew that Maggie wanted to be crooked, he couldn't help but be a little amused, and immediately whispered in a soothing tone: "Grandma, what do you think, don't you still know who I am? Although your grandson used to be a bad teenager who was addicted to drugs, how could I do something that threatened others with my fists now that I have reformed, do I seem to be such an uncivilized person?"

Looking at the young man who was now smiling gently, Maggie still felt that something was wrong, but seeing that what Theolod said was true, she couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief: "Okay, what did I say before? ”

"Yes, yes, I'm quick to talk. ”

"By the way, Theo......" A look of embarrassment suddenly appeared on Maggie's face at the mention of those things, "Those people in the news media seem to be very powerful, if they dig up those things about you by then......"

That's why I said that there will be more news smearing me in the future. Theolod shrugged indifferently, "It's okay, grandma, it's not that complicated to deal with...... Okay, are we going to talk about all those heavy topics here until Christmas, or should we have a good lunch now and go out and get our Christmas stuff ready?"

"Eat, eat, eat, you know how to eat, I like to eat so much, I didn't see you raise yourself into a big fat man, but you lost weight in a few months in Los Angeles. ”

"It's just because I just finished my second film, and the role required me to weigh no more than 120 pounds, and now I'm not gaining weight. ”

"120 pounds! Look at you, you're six feet now! No, I've got to get you back quickly. Maggie said, clapping her legs and standing up, and went into the kitchen to pull out a pile of frozen meat and ham.

Looking at the high-calorie foods, Theolod said he might be able to weigh up to 160 pounds after staying here until Christmas.

Christmas is quietly approaching before you know it. Theolod knew that maybe after this year, he wouldn't have much time to spend Christmas with Maggie, so he stayed with Maggie all these days.

In a neighborhood where most people would know about what had happened the next day, word spread fast. Although Maggie didn't tell anyone that Theolod was going to Los Angeles to be an actor, nor did she tell anyone that Theorod had returned home, soon, the delinquent teenagers and street gangsters in the neighborhood knew that their outliers who had gone out to work had returned home.

Therefore, whenever Theorod went out on the street, he could always see groups of people staring at him in the dark corner of the street. In their eyes, Theolod is an outlier, according to the normal situation, he should have been maliciously found fault with three or five thugs or directly came up and punched and kicked without saying anything, but strangely, no one did this.

This made Theorod feel that things were a little strange, because in his memory, to be exact, the memories of the boy before he was reborn, the people here were not so friendly.

But soon, he knew why, because Theolod, who had been here safely for five weeks, finally met the first person who came to find fault.

At that time, he was shopping for Maggie's dinner ingredients at the supermarket, and while he was picking pork, one man knocked over the basket he had placed on the ground, and the other two surrounded his path.

"Hey, did you know that this is a public place, and you put your shopping basket here to occupy it?" said the black man who kicked over his basket and was dressed in hip-hop said.

Theolod did put the basket beside him in order to prevent the occupation of the road, leaving a large passage, and this guy didn't leave such a big place, intent on kicking over his shopping basket, Theorod didn't even want to know that he had met someone who found fault, and it seemed that the residents here finally couldn't stand his daily leisurely life.

Theorod looked at them without saying a word, and the black man who took the lead smiled as if he had just recognized him: "Yo, isn't this the German who has reformed his ways?

"Excuse me, what's your relationship with the mayor of North Las Vegas?" said Theorod with a sudden and irrelevant question.

“…… What does it matter?" the three of them didn't expect Theolod to react like this.

"If you don't have anything to do with him, then I don't think you're qualified to ban me from North Las Vegas. But then again, even if you're the mayor, you don't have the right to prohibit any free person from entering or leaving the city. ”

"You kid!" the man finally reacted, he grabbed Theorod by the collar and said with a fierce expression, "I'm not qualified? Would you like to show you if my fist is qualified?"

…… If you fight in the supermarket, you may lose a lot of money. Theolod glanced at the shelves around him and mentally calculated the amount. And I'm afraid that this incident will bring trouble to "First Degree Fear", which is not the behavior of a dedicated actor.

Just as Theorod was thinking about what to do, the black man's little brother called out in a low voice, "Hey, Blake, I think we should leave, for your own good......"

"What?" the man glared angrily at his little brother, but seeing that he was constantly glaring at him, he turned his head hesitantly, and just a short distance behind him, stood a tall white man, surrounded by three people. They also seemed to be shopping, but their eyes always drifted to them from time to time.

"Cut, Horn's lackey. The man cursed, let go of the hand that grabbed Theorod's collar, pointed at his nose, and lowered his voice and threatened, "Listen to me, German, you'd better hurry up and get out of the United States with your grandmother, and go back to your Nazi country, the whiteskins here may be afraid of Horn, but we Rice gang people are not afraid, you are so lucky this time, you will not be in the future." ”

As he spoke, he pushed Theolod's body away and walked out of the supermarket with his little brother.

Theorod, who had always been vigilant, did not stumble a few steps because of this force, he glanced at the backs of the three black men with his spare eyes, and then raised his head to look at the four people walking towards him not far away, and a warm smile like sunshine gradually appeared on his face.

But then he realized that the focus of the visitor's gaze was not on him.

So he lowered his eyes with a smile, turned around, took out a box of pork from the freezer, leaned down / leaned over and put the scattered things on the ground into the basket, and dragged the basket to pass by the other party.

It's like none of them know anyone.

When Theolod was checking out, he happened to run into Maggie who was taking him on the way home from work.

"Theo, you'd never think of who I just bumped into, I just entered the supermarket when I saw Nattle, and he and a few of his friends were leaving the supermarket. Although he is still doing some unserious things, I know that he is a good boy, and he often comes to help me when you are away, and it is not easy for a child to support a family. Maggie drove the car and said to Theorod, "Did you just run into him in the supermarket?"

"Nope. Theorod shook his head naturally.

“…… Honestly, I haven't seen Natter come to your door these days. ”

"Really, Grandma, the supermarket is so big, maybe we just passed by?" Theolod said in a tone that seemed to mean something else, "and maybe Natel has been busy lately, so he didn't come over." ”

"That's right, Christmas is coming. Perhaps Theorod's tone was too natural, Maggie believed him, and then began to babble about how little was left to prepare for Christmas.

In the only memory of Theolod, the black man said that Horn was the boss of the white and Latino forces in the entire neighborhood, and the Rice Gang was an all-black gang, not as large as Horn, but it was also a force to be reckoned with. And before, Theorod and Natel didn't join any gang at all, they were just two depraved teenagers who did nothing all day in obscurity. Natel also told Theorod that as long as he joined Horn's forces, there would be no turning back, so he didn't explicitly state that he wanted to join the gang, and he didn't push Theorod into that sea of fire.

And now, for unknown reasons, Natel has joined a gang that he didn't want to get close to before. Although Theorod didn't know what the specific reason for him was doing this, seeing that no one came to find fault these days, including no one to harass him after he had quit drugs, Theorod, who had been a bad old man for a long time, didn't even want to know that there must be Nattel's credit for this.

Theorod also knew why in the supermarket before, Natel would ignore him, maybe he was still making trouble, or maybe because of Theorod's status and situation in this neighborhood at the moment, he was an outlier, out of place here, Nateltonguòhorn let the whites and Mexicans in the neighborhood stop troublesome him may be the limit, if he gets close to him, he will get into trouble.

He also has a younger sister and a single mother at home, and he always has to think about his family.

Fortunately, he is doing well now, his body is stronger, not to mention, and he looks much more energetic.

This was Theorod's first and last sight of Natel after returning home. In the next few days, in order to keep a low profile, Theorod did not continue to help Maggie run errands, and Maggie seemed to know from other places that the current black forces were hostile to Theorod, and she didn't say anything, but there was a hint of sadness between her eyebrows. And in one of the few outings that Theorod had, he did not see any trace of Nattel.

Maybe he deliberately avoided himself and staggered the time with him, maybe he was really busy, in short, the time gradually moved to Christmas Eve. Because Theolod would be back in Los Angeles after Christmas, Maggie was so focused on preparing a big dinner, and even though there were only two people in the family, she still prepared a large table of dishes and brought back a small Christmas tree.

After lunch, Theolod helped Maggie prepare dinner until seven o'clock, when the phone rang.

"Theo, help me answer the phone, if it's Maggie next door, you're saying I can't leave the oven right now;!"

Theolod answered, dropped his work, and picked up the phone. There was no sound on the other end of the phone, Theolod "hey", still no response, only the sound of gentle breathing, proving that there was still someone on the other end.

In the next second, Theorod knew who the other party was, and he was silent for two seconds, and the other party didn't speak.

At the end, he burst out laughing and whispered, "Merry Christmas, Nattel." ”

The other man's breath stagnated, and after three seconds, he hung up.

Theolod sighed helplessly, said Merry Christmas again in his heart, hung up the microphone, and before he could go away, the phone rang again, this time, it was Marshall, whom he had been avoiding for a long time.

'Theo!, my Theo, do you know that without you, my wallet is so much fatter without having to invite me to dinner!' came Marshall's hearty laugh on the other end, and he seemed to be in a good mood.

"Don't worry, I'll go back after Christmas to help you lose weight on your wallet. Theolod quickly adjusted his tone and said slowly, "So, on this important day, you called me because your wallet missed me?"

'No, he doesn't want you, and neither does my Benjamin Franklin (the profile picture on the $100),' Marshall raised his voice, 'I called to say Merry Christmas to you and apologize, of course.' Really, Theo, I'm sorry, but I don't seem to have done anything in the past few months as your agent...... So I definitely don't charge commissions for these months. ’

"It's okay, I'm not going to give it anyway. ”

‘…… You stinky boy, I knew you would say that. But don't worry, your agent is back, and you have to give the money as usual, by the way, I have to tell you that as soon as the Christmas holiday is over, you will hurry back for me, how long do you want to spend time outside? Don't forget that you are an actor! As soon as you come back, the publicity of "First Degree Fear" is about to begin, and you have to cooperate with their work, appear on talk shows and magazines, and take some photo shoots. The movie is scheduled for April 3 next year, remember to save some money to buy some clothes to wear for the premiere, and don't waste your face too shabby when the time comes, understand?'

"Okay, okay, is there anything else you can do? I can already smell Maggie's food!"

'Don't worry, Hungry Hell, and Richard, Gray, Frances, Linny, Steve, Hamm, and his girlfriend Chloe, and Susan, want me to say Merry Christmas to you for them...... Hell, can you buy me a mobile phone when you come back? With tens of thousands of dollars, I can't even afford to buy a mobile phone, do you know how many calls I received today, and how many names I wrote down in my notebook?"

Marshall roared, and it seemed that he was very irritated by the harassment. Theolod was about to laugh at the situation, but heard a woman's voice on the other end of the phone - 'Marcy, it's time to eat, how long do you want your girlfriend to wait?'

'Well dear right away!' Marshall cried, then went on to Theorod, 'and that's the rough picture, you go and eat, I've got to go, Merry Christmas!'

Theolod opened his mouth, and before he could say a word of Merry Christmas, the other party had already hung up the phone, leaving only the sound of a beep.

Theolod took a deep breath, re-entered the kitchen, and smiled at Maggie: "Two phone calls, one is from Nattel, who came to say Merry Christmas, and the other is my agent, Marshall, whom I mentioned to you, and that guy didn't forget to tell me to work at Christmas to get back quickly and cooperate with the film promotion work." ”

"Haha, that proves that Marshall is very dedicated. ”

"That's right, he's a competent and dedicated agent. ”