"If your story checks out, I'll buy you another." During the second take, Kurtis delivered his line just like the first time.
Wu Xiaoming stepped forward. But maybe thanks to something on his shoes, he slipped a little and had to take a few steps to balance himself, then ended up banging on the bar table next to the detective. He had to adjust his posture and lean his back on the table, as if he was a seductive saleswoman: "Hey, my dear friends. I heard you're lookin' for a drink - "
The director did not say "cut", so the scene did not stop. The only change was the detective had to turn her head the other way to refuse: "No - we're good."
"You're sure?" Wu Xiaoming deliberately took a long hard sniff at the lid of the jar, then improvised a move he remembered from the previous Wu Xiaoming's memory - he sniffled a few times and squeezed his own nose, rolled his eyes and shook his head, as if he just inhaled something highly stimulating: "Aye, hot damn! You're sure?"
"Yeah - yeah I'm sure." Detective Lee responded after pausing for a short moment, the corners of her mouth twitching.
"Cut!" Timothy Manchester raised his hand again.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Shelly West shook her head and let her laugh out, nodding at Wu Xiaoming: "I'm sorry, but that was good."
"I agree." Thomas Lundt smiled at Wu Xiaoming.
"Alright, Xiaoming, just do that again, if you can. Let's do another take!" The director announced as Shelly West collected herself.: "Action!"
"Aye, hot damn! You're sure?" Wu Xiaoming delivered his line just like last time.
"I'm sure, thank you." Detective Lee rolled her eyes.
Wu Xiaoming backed out of the scene, crouching and holding the jar.
"Now, what do you know about what happened to that dead singer?" Kurtis asked the informant, his fingers fiddling with a string of beads.
"What's in it for me?" The informant asked: "I mean, I MAY know something, but it depends on how much you're willing to pay."
"We can make your parking tickets and distribution charges go away." Kurtis answered.
"Cheap asses. No deal." The informant shook his head.
"TWO separate distribution charges. Plus a gift card as an additional incentive." Kurtis dangled a plastic card on a string in front of the informant.
Detective Lee was about to deny this offer, but the informant had already snatched the gift card: "Deal."
"Now what? Spill it." Detective Lee almost growled.
"It's connected to a gang - a new gang in the city." The informant swallowed, as if he was afraid to utter the name: "The Anacondas."
"Did someone say - anaconda!?" Wu Xiaoming emerged by Kurtis and the informant's side, waving a new jar: "My friends, even the best men can be off some time. And what I have here with me is my family's secret viper brew. It may sound scary, but it will help you never worry about your anaconda - "
"Dude, we told you no!" Detective Lee barked.
"Oh, of course YOU don't need it, lady. " Wu Xiaoming turned to Kurtis with an insinuating look on his face, winking and grinning: "But our handsome gentlemen, here, huh? You must be busy! Why not have some extra juice and spice? Want some extra boom boom for your poom poom?"
"Stop, stop!" Kurtis rubbed his temples and raised his voice: "Who the hell even are you dude? We don't want wine. Go bother someone else!"
"You're sure?! I can do buy one get one half off - "
"NO! SCRAM!" Kurtis and Detective Lee almost screamed at the same time.
"Alrighty, guess you enjoy melted gummy worms instead of popsicles." Wu Xiaoming backed away with a regretful look, but still smiling.
"Why haven't we heard anything about this Anacondas gang? How new are they?" Detective Lee asked.
"They are still laying low, but they've got more men and more weapons than possibly half the players on the street." The informant finished his drink: "I wouldn't piss them off. The girl is just kinda - favored by the wrong guy and caught in an unfortunate situation."
"Rumor has it, she's the side piece of the head of the Black Rings." Detective Lee sighed and nodded at Kurtis. She then turned to the informant: "Does this mean they're trying to take out the Black Rings?"
"Hey, I ain't heard nothing 'bout that." The informant raised his arms and shook his head: "I'm just a small fry in a big-ass pond, you know what I'm sayin'? I ain't heard nothing."
"Speaking of hearing nothing." Wu Xiaoming emerged behind them again.
"NO! " This time, all three of them yelled at the same time.
"I'm not selling wine - unless you want some." Wu Xiaoming put the jar under his left arm and pointed at the entrance of the bar with his right hand: "Some people are here, asking for you."
Detective Lee fixed her eyes at where Wu Xiaoming was pointing. Her eyes opened wide, as she pulled her gun from her waist: "Crap, look out!"
Wu Xiaoming's jar exploded from supposedly being hit by a bullet. Then more shots fired. Blood packs on Wu Xiaoming's back exploded. He twitched and collapsed. Even in his final moments, he still tried to lick and sip the spilled wine on the ground.
The gun fight lasted around half a minute. Both Detective Lee and Kurtis fired at least two magazines worth of bullets before the gunmen trying to assassinate them retreated.
"Everyone alright?!" Detective Lee stood up and looked around, finally seeing Wu Xiaoming lying on the ground: "Ah - crap! Call an ambulance!"
"This is only - a flesh wound." Wu Xiaoming choked and slurped the wine at the corner of his mouth: "Can't let some good wine go to waste - "
"Cut!" Timothy Manchester stood up from his chair: "Alright, alright. That's a good take! Let's do another take, just to see how it goes, now that we kinda found the rhythm."
They ended up doing three more takes. Two of them were acceptable, with only slight variations of dialogue pacing, tone and wording of lines from different characters. All three other actors in the scene were real professionals, and technically as a "newbie", it was safe to say he learned a lot. Maybe, just maybe, his skill point assignments had something to do with it as well.
"Hey." When they finally wrapped this scene, Timothy Manchester pulled Wu Xiaoming aside: "Maybe stay here for a while, can you? I think - there's a little bit of ambiguity of where the story in this episode will go. And I think we might use another scene from you."
"Oh - oh!" Wu Xiaoming was pleasantly surprised, yet he still needed some clarification: "Thank you! That's a great honor - but I thought my character's dead already?"
"You're dead when I say you're dead." Timothy Manchester patted Wu Xiaoming on the left shoulder: "Don't worry. I'll have the PA arrange accommodation for you. Keep that character in mind, will ya? That was good work."
"Thank you, sir." Wu Xiaoming bowed gently, leaving the director both slightly baffled and amused.
"That's good news!" When Wu Xiaoming texted Douglass Kirkland about the news, Kirkland responded almost immediately: "That's really good, Xiaoming. Just stay there, I'll follow up with their people and get things officialized. In the meantime - do good, alright? I'll check in with you tomorrow. Call me if you need anything. "
"This is a great opportunity, don't fuck it up." Douglass Kirkland emphasized in a separate text.
The "accommodation" was simply an empty trailer parked on the side of the set. "We will bring you the hotel room key afterwards." The PA said as she was about to leave Wu Xiaoming to his slightly smelly trailer.
"Alright then." Wu Xiaoming cracked open a can of orange soda, and took a look around his trailer and the other trailers parked nearby. This was it, his first time on a Hollywood, or to be precise, Haoliwood TV set.