Because he was among the earliest arrivals, he didn’t have to wait long before a staff member came over to notify him. Henry picked up his document bag and followed the staff to the door of an office, gently knocked, and only pushed the door open after hearing a “Yes” from inside.

There weren’t many people in the office, only two: one was a middle-aged man with chestnut short hair, who, judging by his voice, was the one who had just spoken; the other was a large, overweight man with graying hair, sitting behind the middle-aged man, whose small eyes looked quite spirited.

“This way.”

The middle-aged man pointed to the chair opposite him. Henry responded with a polite smile, sat down, and courteously said, “Thank you.”

After speaking, his eyes inadvertently glanced behind the middle-aged man. That large, gray-haired man clearly held a higher position than the middle-aged man.

“I am Chris Miller, the production manager in charge of art and props for the crew.”

As if following standard procedure, the middle-aged man introduced himself, then very politely gestured to the back and said, “This is the producer of the crew, Mr. Bruce Berman.”

“Hello, Mr. Miller.” Henry greeted politely. “Hello, Mr. Berman.”

Both men simply nodded. Chris Miller then said, “Let’s begin. Please give a brief introduction of yourself.”

“I am Henry Stanton, from Los Angeles…”

Having done quite a bit of preparation over the past two days, Henry recited his carefully prepared personal resume, embellishing the few noteworthy experiences from his previous jobs with a touch of flair. “Mr. Miller, although I was a freelancer before, I taught myself film art direction…”

At this point, Henry opened his document bag and placed a stack of sketches on the desk in front of him. “These are some drawings I created, inspired by ‘The Matrix.’”

Chris Miller took the sketches and looked through them. While the drawing skills weren’t particularly outstanding, the style was eye-catching—a classic dark cyberpunk look. Whether it was the backgrounds or the characters, everything highlighted one word—cool!

Neither of the other two noticed that Henry had been discreetly observing Chris Miller’s expression. When the moment was right, he said at just the right time, “Personally, I believe philosophical reflection is the core of this series, and the extremely cool visual style is its main selling point.”

Why did “The Matrix” succeed? Bruce Berman knew very well that it had little to do with the philosophical musings so praised by critics; the biggest factor was that the film was just incredibly cool—cool to the extreme…

Hearing the young applicant say this, he couldn’t help but look over. This young man had a tall, strong build; even sitting here, one could sense the power hidden within his body. Especially on that sharply contoured face, there were a few faint scars, and with the short brown stubble on his head, he didn’t exactly look like a “good guy.”

Whether he was a good guy or not, Bruce Berman didn’t care at all. Hollywood was never a place for good people to survive.

Bruce Berman kept his gaze on Henry, not only because what Henry said fit perfectly with the production philosophy of the next two films, but also because he found Henry somewhat familiar, as if he’d seen him in some media a long time ago.

“I think I need this job…”

Sitting in the chair, Henry was still doing his utmost to seize this rare opportunity. “This is a career where I can learn and grow. I work hard, have big ambitions, and everyone around me thinks I’m persistent and honest.”

These words came from Henry’s mouth without even a blink. “I was influenced by the self-esteem movement from a young age and was a favorite at school. I used to focus only on having my own needs met, but I know today’s workplace culture is no longer about catering to job loyalty like the previous generation…”

Prison is also a complex circle; being tough all the time doesn’t yield good results. A year was enough for Henry to understand what to say and when. “My creed is: as long as you work hard, you’ll get good rewards.”

He looked at the interviewers and said very seriously, “People like you, people who are so successful, definitely didn’t get there for nothing—it must have come from hard work.”

Chris Miller nodded lightly. If it weren’t for the applicant’s rather weak qualifications, he would have easily passed this initial interview and moved on to the more rigorous assessments to follow.

This young man was polite, confident, and knew how to be appropriately humble. Chris Miller was willing to give him a chance.

Just as he was about to speak, Bruce Berman’s voice sounded from behind, “Young man, you said you were a freelancer before—what kind of work did you do?”

Henry could tell that the interviewer had a good impression of him, but the man behind could absolutely change that impression. At this moment, he didn’t hesitate at all—those things couldn’t be hidden anyway.

“Freelance journalist, mainly shooting news about current social events,” he replied.

Bruce Berman seemed to recall something and stared over again, asking, “What did you say your name was just now?”