From Flower Vase to Film Emperor in Hollywood

The movie ended—

Smooth as flowing water, a seamless finish.

Steven Spielberg possesses a magic touch when directing commercial films, making you completely unaware of the passage of time, resulting in a relaxed and enjoyable viewing experience, fully immersed in the story.

No wonder "Catch Me If You Can" received unanimous praise from the media.

For a brief moment, Anne Hathaway wanted to stand up and applaud, a pure sense of entertainment, a pure relaxation and enjoyment, giving the time spent in the screening room a different hue of memories.

Until the very last moment, Anne slammed on the brakes and controlled herself:

Don't stand out, avoid attracting any attention as much as possible.

Biting her lip tightly, Anne realized that the other audience members weren't preparing to applaud, although she could hear rustling sounds of joy and admiration in the air; but it wasn't to the point of standing ovations.

However, somewhat surprisingly, no one was leaving either.

Anne was a little surprised.

In North America, watching movies isn't as particular as in Europe. When the story ends, it ends, and almost no one patiently waits for all the credits to finish rolling.

Besides, this wasn't a premiere.

So, what's going on? Has the sun risen in the west?

Just a brief moment of astonishment, and she could faintly catch rustling sounds in her ears.

"...Will Anson make a surprise appearance?"

"Isn't the flash mob event over?"

"Who knows? The news I saw said no."

"I heard Anson is in Toronto now, preparing to continue the flash mob in Canada next."

"Maybe it's all a smokescreen, and Anson will launch a surprise attack?"

"Ah, if only I could see Anson in person."

"Don't you think Anson is especially charming?"

At this time, the story had ended. Although the audience hadn't left, it didn't seem necessary to observe movie-watching etiquette anymore, and the voices were a little louder.

A beat behind, Anne realized: Anson, "Catch Me If You Can," flash mob event.

Wait, where's Anson?

Suddenly, turning her head to look, the spot where Anson had been was already empty.

She didn't know when Anson left the screening room. The audience, including Anne, was completely absorbed by the story, immersed in Frank Jr.'s choices, and didn't notice any other movements at all.

But now it seemed that Anson was wise; otherwise, continuing to stay in the screening room would have caused the risk of exposing his whereabouts to skyrocket.

However—

Anne withdrew her gaze and quietly scanned her surroundings. If they knew that the person they were eagerly waiting for was actually hiding in the crowd, watching the entire movie with them, she didn't know what would happen.

At least, Anne herself had a strange feeling, the fourth wall of the movie was quietly broken, truth and falsehood, reality and illusion, completely indistinguishable.

"Ah, shoot."

Only now did Anne realize that she had been too focused, too immersed, that she forgot to leave early. Now, leaving now seemed too conspicuous and might expose herself instead.

What to do?

She could only continue to wait. Might as well go all the way, simply wait until the entire audience had left before getting up.

Thinking of this, Anne slowly leaned back in her seat, her whole body curled into a small ball, hiding in the seat like a Persian cat, her thoughts once again immersed in the world of light and shadow constructed by the big screen.

Anson strongly suspected that the temperature in the screening room must have exceeded thirty degrees. His whole body was wrapped in a ball of warm air. Coupled with the recent period of running around and fatigue, Anson was drowsy and almost fell asleep—

So, is this a failure of the movie?

Involuntarily, Anson thought of a cold joke among movie fans:

Do you know how difficult it is for a movie to make the audience sleep soundly? If the sound is too noisy, the editing is strange, and the photography is terrible, the eyes and ears are suffering, how can you fall asleep? Only a truly good movie, from reality to illusion, where reality and illusion are indistinguishable, creating a perfect immersive atmosphere, can allow the audience to fall asleep in a stable environment.

“On the Difficulty of Getting a Good Night's Sleep at a Film Festival”.

Of course, this was a joke; but it must be said that a movie that can make people sleep soundly is not necessarily a super bad movie.

"Catch Me If You Can," shouldn't be a bad movie… right?

Fortunately, Lucas remained awake.

Lucas didn't forget that staying until the lights came back on after the movie might expose Anson again. They needed to leave before the audience's attention was drawn away from the big screen. Waking up Anson, the two of them left quietly early, nipping the dangerous spark in the bud.

Now, Anson went to the restroom to wake himself up, while Lucas stayed at the door to guard.

Huff.

Letting out a long breath, Anson looked at the face in the mirror covered with water droplets. His head gradually cleared up, and at the same time, fatigue and tension disappeared quietly.

Anson knew that if it was still the "flash mob event" in progress, he wouldn't be able to fall asleep completely soundly. He needed to stay alert at all times, stay awake at all times, only briefly closing his eyes during the gaps in the moving process but not daring to sleep soundly, and needing to maintain his state at all times.

So, from this point of view, sleeping so sweetly just now was a good thing. The heavy feeling pressing on his chest had been completely shaken off.

Anson was a little surprised. He thought it would take at least a week or two, but he didn't expect to recover in one night—

That's good.

Wiping his face, Anson turned and left the restroom. Lucas walked over to meet him, lowering his voice, "It's over."

Anson: ???

The end credits of "Catch Me If You Can" shouldn't be that short, right?

Lucas immediately understood, "Another showing of 'The Lord of the Rings'."

So that's how it is.

Lucas lowered his voice, "You go inside the stall and wait for a while, then we'll leave. The parking lot should be full of people now."

Anson spread his hands, "Superstar life."

A joke that made Lucas smile wryly, "Just a moment, just a moment. I'll go to the front and see what's happening. It seems like there aren't many people at the cinema tonight."

Anson didn't protest, just throwing out a sentence, "Superstar!" and then turned and returned to the restroom.

The wait exceeded expectations.

Anson waited in the restroom stall for at least twenty minutes. The restroom was also crowded, with people constantly going in and out. You could see how busy it was tonight. The number of moviegoers might be beyond imagination—

For the film market, this was a good thing.

But for Anson, it might not be.

The restroom finally quieted down. Anson decided not to wait any longer. He put on his baseball cap, pulled down the brim, pushed open the stall door, and walked straight out.

However.

Just as he walked out, a group of three or five friends walked towards him.

Crap!

Anson quickly turned slightly to the side, lowered the brim of his cap, and passed quickly. He heard excited discussions in his ears, vaguely catching his name. This made Anson quicken his pace, and with a glance from the corner of his eye, he could see other figures scattered in the hall. He quickly changed his route and walked towards the fish tank.

Using the fish tank to block the line of sight and hide his figure, he was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief.

Temporarily safe.