"Thank you, thanks for your help," Renly patted Elliot's shoulder, wearing a radiant smile. "In fact, you're a kind guy." With that, Renly opened the car door, stepped out, and walked towards the nearby mansion.
Elliot sat dumbfounded in his seat. His brain struggled to comprehend: kind? What the f**k does she mean by kind? He wasn't a kind guy! He was... he was here for news, for the party. Yes, he was here for the party, and he had to get out of the car now. He needed to ride on Renly's coattails and infiltrate the party!
Once inside the party, Pandora's box would be wide open before him, with nothing hidden.
Elliot immediately sprung into action. He was about to get out of the car, but his movements paused as someone came out to welcome Renly. It was... Andy Rogers? Harrison Ford's agent?
The entrance of the private villa was heavily guarded, with at least twelve black-suited guards within sight. To gain entry, one had to pass through multiple layers of scrutiny. Andy led Renly, nodding to the security personnel. The two walked up the steps under the welcoming arch and quickly disappeared through the deep brown side door.
Elliot leaned back in his seat, feeling annoyed and restless.
"Hey, are you getting out of the car? Or are you leaving?" the driver's voice interrupted Elliot's thoughts. "Getting out, getting out," Elliot reflexively responded, directly opening the car door and swiftly stepping out. However, the taxi still hadn't left. He walked over to the passenger seat and glanced down, only to see the driver rolling his eyes. "Fare, aren't you going to pay?"
Damn.
Elliot nearly cursed. Renly hadn't paid the fare just now. He hurriedly took out his wallet, paid the fare and tip, and the taxi finally left cleanly.
Elliot looked up at the mansion before him. The gaze of all the guards converged on him, creating immense pressure. Elliot cleared his throat involuntarily, realizing that a direct approach was out of the question. He needed to find another way.
Attention, turn around. Elliot moved away from the entrance. After taking a dozen steps, he looked back cautiously, only to find all the guards still fixated on him. He even locked eyes with one of them, startling him. He quickly turned away, proceeding down the small hill, running away. When he saw a fork in the road, he didn't hesitate and sprinted past the bend. Finally, the scorching gazes behind him vanished.
Leaning against the wall, breathing heavily, Elliot's mind was still filled with question marks: how did he end up in this situation?
Unfortunately, throughout the entire night, Elliot didn't find an answer. Due to the tight security, he couldn't make his way into the party. After wandering around for two hours, nearly getting caught four times, he still couldn't find a breakthrough. In the end, he gave up in frustration and decided to call it quits. What's worse, his car was parked in the underground parking lot near the Nokia Theatre. To make matters worse, his phone had run out of battery, both of them.
Thus, Elliot relied on his feet and walked for a full hour and ten minutes before returning to the foot of Beverly Hills. He luckily hailed a taxi, marking the end of this disastrous night.
However, tonight wasn't entirely fruitless. He did manage to capture an exclusive video of Renly's street performance. Thinking about this, Elliot finally found some solace. Although Renly wasn't a big star, an exclusive could still fetch a decent price.
Three hours later, the official website of Us Weekly released a breaking news article: "New Emmy Award Winner's Unique Celebration: Street Performance".
"As tonight's most eye-catching newcomer, Renly Hall has undoubtedly achieved an incredible feat, triumphing over Al Pacino and Jeff Bridges. He secured his first Emmy Award for Outstanding Leading Actor, and this 20-year-old actor's future in Hollywood shines bright.
However, while everyone was engulfed in the embrace of flashbulbs, receiving congratulatory flowers and applause, Hall chose a different way to celebrate his remarkable debut.
In a street district far from the spotlight's center, Hall joined the ranks of street performers, delivering an astonishingly brilliant performance."
Us Weekly's reporter promptly uploaded the video and offered a brief assessment, praising the dazzling rendition of "Ophelia"; the exuberant audience reaction further attested to this. The reporter expressed admiration for the talent Renly displayed. Just as everyone was focused on the newcomer's remarkable achievement tonight, he showcased his musical talent.
If it weren't for Elliot's multiple confirmations and the absence of any rumors within the industry, strictly speaking, no one would know that Renly had actually signed with a manager. Us Weekly almost suspected it to be a staged setup.
"It's worth noting that this isn't Hall's first time showcasing his musical talent. In March of this year, Hall independently composed and sang the debut single "Cleopatra", which was officially released on iTunes. Without any record label or agency backing, this single gained immense popularity. Four months after its release, it secured a place on Billboard's singles chart in the first week of July, becoming the sole independent single unsupported by any record label or agency on the entire chart."
Even now, the song still resides on the chart.
Last night, Hall once again gifted us with a new song, "Ophelia". It compels us to wonder, what other talents does this new Emmy-winning actor have waiting for us to unearth?"
This news was released at 2 a.m. in a race to secure an exclusive. Us Weekly had gone all out. However, considering the Emmy Awards ceremony took place on Saturday night, many teenagers weren't in bed so early. Therefore, after the news was released, it garnered 160,000 hits in just two hours. Such figures in the early hours of the morning were indeed astonishing.
In glitzy Hollywood, for actors who had just secured an Emmy Award, they were usually surrounded by dazzling spotlights, basking in praise and approval amidst a fragrance of perfume and elegance. However, this newly crowned Best Actor chose to perform on the street. This was almost inconceivable.
Even without "The Pacific", even without the Emmy trophy, even without these additional circumstances, and even if it were a publicity stunt, curiosity was inevitably ignited. People wondered what was going on, if there were any flaws in the stunt, what this actor was up to, and what kind of performance he had delivered...
In comparison to Jim's heartfelt confession, Bryan's three-time Emmy win, the five losses of actors Hugh and Steven, or even Renly's unexpected victory over Al and Jeff, such gossip news undeniably attracted more attention. It was an attempt to break the Hollywood facade in a heretical manner; how could people not be excited?
Sixteen thousand hits in two hours was merely the beginning. With the passage of time, instead of diminishing, the click rate began to rise.
Simultaneously, a series of additional effects emerged. Discussions about "The Pacific", discussions about the Emmy Award winners' list, and so on. However, the most immediate impact was that the YouTube video of "Cleopatra" heated up again.
Lately, the view count of "Cleopatra" on YouTube averaged around a hundred thousand per day. Although it couldn't be classified as a top-tier hot video, there had been a noticeable decline compared to June and July. Still, for an inactive YouTube account, this steady and vigorous growth was truly astonishing.
Following the release of the news by Us Weekly, the real-time click records of "Cleopatra" directly surpassed 30,000, and the views within 24 hours soared back to 500,000. This was the peak reached when it was most popular. Furthermore, the trend was upward. However, when people searched "Renly Hall" on YouTube, they were startled to find not only the song "Cleopatra" but also a song named "Ophelia"!
At this point, everyone became excited.
In the video posted by Us Weekly, Renly and Ed's performance was only about sixty seconds long, and many shots were obstructed by the dancing crowd, making it impossible to get a clear view, let alone enjoy it thoroughly. But now, a complete version of the video had emerged on YouTube, which was incredibly exhilarating.
The updated video was posted by a private account, belonging to an ordinary person. The video was a full three minutes long and thoroughly captured the entire performance. Not only did it feature a complete rendition of "Ophelia", but it also included twenty seconds of "Cleopatra".
The video's quality wasn't great, even worse than Us Weekly's, as it was shot with a smartphone. The pixel grains were affected by the night scene. Not only was the lighting poor, but the focus was also off. However, the entire performance was presented clearly and completely before every viewer.
In less than eight hours, the view count of the "Ophelia" video reached an astonishing 800,000, and the number of likes surpassed 50,000. Moreover, they were still on the rise. The comments below were overwhelming, almost all expressing the same sentiment:
"This song is really great, but why can't we find it for download on iTunes? Why isn't there a listening link on Spotify?"
It wasn't until someone disclosed the truth that people found out, "The Us Weekly article made it clear: this song was a live, impromptu creation by Renly Hall, so naturally, there isn't any recorded version." A chorus of lamentations from the netizens followed.