Chapter 192 - Screen Test
Mark and Chad were surprised.
"You recognise me?" Chad asked, shaking Kyle's hand.
"Of course," Kyle answered, "American stuntman and director, known mainly for the three John Wick movies."
Chad smiled, nodding his head, "I can see that you're more than just a pretty face."
Kyle raised an eyebrow but didn't respond to that. Instead, he turned towards Sam and Agent Oreo and introduced them, "This is Samuel, my PA, and Dan, my agent."
Sam and Agent Oreo shook hands with both Mark and Chad.
"So young and you already have a PA?" queried Chad.
Kyle smirked, "So old and you don't?"
Both Chad and Kyle sized each other up. Chad gave Kyle what he thought was the 'evil eye' to intimidate Kyle while Kyle simply looked at him like he was a kid trying to play 'bad guy'.
Which, to Kyle, Chad was. Like, seriously? Big Bro Nitocris's sneeze was more intimidating than Chad's supposed 'glare'.
Kyle rolled his eyes, sighed and said, "Look, you called me here. Obviously, there was something you saw from my pic that you felt was suitable. Just tell me what you want me to do and we'll take it from there. Fair enough?"
Chad looked at Kyle seriously.
Ever since the John Wick movies came out and made him an international name, people had been fawning over him. Sucking up to him, hoping to get him to put them in his movies. Even playing a dead person was okay with them.
This one, however, was completely new.
When Mark told him that he wasn't interested initially, Chad had scoffed at that. He was sure, that once Kyle knew who he was, he would practically begging to be in the movie. Yet, not only did he appear disinterested, he wasn't even intimidated at all.
Not only was his identity as the director of the John Wick movies not impress him, Mansion BMX was also nothing in his eyes. Chad frowned. There was more to this boy than meets the eye. He's going to have a very long talk with his assistant about this.
Chad still remembered the information the assistant had handed to him just a few hours ago. Top student at Sakura Academy. Rock climbing expert and youngest champion. Has an Insta account with over a million followers.
When Chad had seen the picture of Kyle, he felt that Kyle was perfect for the role he had envisioned. Learning that he was only 14 years old was an added bonus for that was exactly the age range he wanted. Of course, he could always get an actor that just looked young - like Tom Holland. However, there was this sort of edge that he could even tell from a black-and-white photo.
What more the person in real life?
Yet, when he saw the young boy in front of him, he couldn't help but feel that his judgment had been off. Perhaps the picture had been photoshopped? This young boy looked more like a pretty toy-boy rather than that 'sexy-dark' sort of look he had hoped for. He needed someone that could stand together with the main actor, Keanu, rather than look like a mismatched 'couple'.
Still, Kyle was here. Might as well do the screen test.
Not expecting much, Chad called over the stunt team and told them, "This is the one for the test. Run scenario 3."
The guy's eyes widened a bit but he quickly got it back under control. He simply nodded and ran off to start preparing the scene.
Chad hid a smile as he turned towards Kyle.
"Can you ride a horse?" he asked.
"Yes," Kyle replied.
"Good, then this scene would be easy for you," Chad answered, "It's simple, really. Just ride the horse from one end to the other while avoiding the ping pong balls that the crew will be shooting at you along the way."
Kyle nodded.
The screen test sounded easy enough but he had caught that slight apprehension from the stunt team and the smirk on Chad's face before he turned to face him. There was more to this than meets the eye.
"Kyle," Agent Oreo began, his voice low.
"I know," Kyle said, smiling, "What do you think is the danger level?"
"For you?" Agent Oreo said with a smile, "Non-existent. The only question is whether you're going to really show your skill or not."
Kyle rubbed his chin and turned to Sam, asking, "What do you think? Should I go all the way, just enough or do badly?"
Sam looked at Chad and smirked, "All the way. Looking down at you? Hah."
Kyle laughed a bit at that, "You're beginning to sound like Kay. She would have been jumping around angrily, demanding that I 'wipe off his face' or something."
Sam smiled, "She has the right idea. I should use that term now. 'Wipe off his face'."
"That is just so grammatically wrong," Kyle said.
"Who cares? It sounds good," Sam replied.
"I thought having one die-hard fan was bad," Kyle said with a small laugh.
"Ah, you forget Xing Han," Sam pointed out.
Kyle grimaced a bit. Not because he had forgotten about Xing Han being his BFF / #1 fan / etc (he hadn't) but he had been feeling a bit guilty lately. Ever since he told Sam about MIB, there was this little bird tweeting at the back of his mind about how Xing Han was going to be rather hurt by the fact that Sam was the first.
Even though it was only logical that Sam is the first, and that there was no reason to drag Xing Han into this world of his at this point - it did not make him feel any better. Kyle sighed, running his hand through his hair to get the fringe out of his eyes as he thought about Xing Han.
That boy had so many things he bottled up inside that Kyle was worried he might explode one day. So far, things are just simmering below the surface but as they grew older, Kyle was well aware of the fact that the cover may just pop.
Anything could trigger it, and the fact that Sam knew of MIB first could actually be it. Kyle hoped it wasn't but he couldn't help but fear it.
Kyle took a deep breath, knowing that there was nothing he could do about it right now. When the time came, he'll deal with it the best that he can. Hopefully, Xing Han would be able to handle it - or that Kyle could find a way to cushion the blow.
For now, he has this stupid screen test to do.
?? ??
"Hey, Larry," one crew member hissed, "Are you sure Chad said Scenario 3?"
"For the millionth time Jack, yes," Larry hissed back as he held on the reins of a beautiful black horse, named Midnight.
Jack shook his head, "Just what is going on in Chad's mind anyway. If that kid gets hurt doing this, it's on his head."
Larry snorted, "You think he's going to take the fall? It's most likely one of us will be the scapegoats."
Jack sighed, "Let's just hope the kid doesn't get hurt then. Better get the medics ready."
Larry gently stroked Midnight's mane, and the horse neighed while butting her snout on Larry's face, "Sorry girl. I hope you'll be able to handle this."
He led the horse out with a huge regret in his heart but there was nothing he could do about it.
Midnight was a sleek, powerful and strong-looking horse but in reality, she was really gentle. She gave the imagery of a tough horse that is used to difficult action scenes. However, that was far from the truth.
When she is calm, she is a wonder to ride. When she's in a panicked state, she can run out of control and seriously injure herself - and her rider. Thing is, any little thing can be the trigger. Usually, it would be loud noises but even if one was to hit her at the back, she would jolt and run away like crazy.
The scene that Chad had insisted on had two triggers for Midnight: one, the equipment that was used to shoot the ping pong balls had a snapping sound, and two, there was a high chance that the ping-pong ball will hit Midnight in one way or another.
The sound is not extraordinarily loud but for the highly strung Midnight, the snap is like thunder. Even getting hit by the ping-pong ball will not hurt but even then, it would still startle Midnight.
Larry felt that Chad was being unfair to the young kid but there was nothing he could do about it. Here, the word of the director was Law. Anyone who dared challenge him would result in their immediate termination - and extreme difficulty in getting another job.
Still, as Larry handed over the reins to the kid, he couldn't help but say under his breath, "Be careful. The horse is easily spooked."
As Kyle took the reins, he gave Larry a grateful look and replied softly as well, "Thanks."
Kyle studied the horse, holding onto the reins firmly as he made the horse's head go down to face him. He gently stroked her head, starting from the top of its forehead down to the bridge of its nose, then its cheeks and smiled.
"There, there," Kyle was talking gently to the horse, "Who is a beautiful lady now?"
The horse neighed, bobbing its head up and down and Kyle laughed. The mesmerizing sound even caught the attention of the people around, let alone the horse that then bobbed its muzzle onto Kyle's face.
Kyle smiled gently at her, looking at her in the eye as he continued talking, "We're going to get along great, aren't we? Just trust in me and we'll be just fine."
Midnight nodded again, and Kyle swung around to get on the horse. Once he was on, he continued to gently pat the magnificent horse and smiled as he turned to look at Chad.
Screen test with an easily spooked horse, huh?