Versatile Superstar: Rise In Hollywood

‘What an awful way to start the day with.’

Aiden thought in his mind as he moved along the hallway of US Weekly with Wade. They were moving to the room where the shooting of the interview would take place. 

For some reason, Aiden had become more sensitive after constantly being in Hollywood for three years now. 

It was like his senses had become trained. 

People like Tyler Reed and Aaron Hart would give him a very similar feeling — One of disgust. Probably because he knew that if he made one mistake, they would pounce on him. No, even if he didn’t do anything, they would do the same. 

Leona Mane gave him a bit of the same feeling but it was mild compared to someone like Tyler. 

‘I really hope the fourth actor participating in the round table isn’t like that or I might lose my mind.’

He walked in the room thinking that. Five minutes later, Aiden took a sigh of relief. 

“I’m a huge fan of your work. These days, it’s hard to find someone who could juggle between professions like you and Kai became one of my favourite villains just because of your chilling performance.”

A blonde haired man said as he shook hands with Aiden. Rather than a man, it was better to call him a kid as he was only 16 year old. 

A prodigy actor that people are already terming as the future of Hollywood. 

Micah Madison. 

“Thanks. I actually watched one of your theatre performances once with my uncle. It was a few years before but you were brilliant.”

“Is that so?” Micah widened his eyes hearing that. “I have actually missed theatre since I came to movies. My parents wanted me to always do movies, so I took the Zetflix project when it came.”

Aiden nodded hearing that. 

He had some knowledge of his family. Unlike him, Micah was similar to Tyler as his roots were in Hollywood with a lot of people in his family working here in the film business. Even the reason he got into theater was because his grandfather had ties to it. 

‘It’s pretty strange how even if both Tyler and Micah are from Hollywood backgrounds, they both are very different. Well, I don’t know a lot of Micah yet but the kid seems like a good enough person.’

As he thought that, a middle aged man wearing a suit approached them. He had an articulate air about him.

He was Robert Locke, the senior reporter that was going to oversee the interview. 

“We are starting in five minutes. I was hoping you two could take your seats.”

“Sure.” Both of them said at the same time. 

“And don’t be nervous of the others even if they seem more experienced than you.” Robert said that, looking at Miach. “We have a younger cast today because we wanted to show the side of how the younger generation of actors approach their roles. And please, don’t look at the cameras.”

He pointed at the camera crew with all their equipment that were standing on the side. In front of them, a big table was laid where they were going to sit. 

Aiden could see Wade talking to a few people in the crew. 

All of them sat down after a while and for some reason, Aiden was sitting next to Tyler and in front of him, Leona was sitting, giving him a sinister glare. 

Aiden was sure that it would change after the cameras rolled but he didn’t like the seating arrangement. 

***

The interview started pretty quickly after that and Aiden was glad that Robert knew how to handle celebrities and only ask the questions that were important. 

US Weekly had thought a lot before selecting him for the interview it seemed. 

They weren’t any gossip questions that celebrities are often asked about. It was mostly about acting and their respective movies. 

“You all have started your career in the last five years. Your first major role. How hard was it to get it? How did you approach the audition and after getting the role, do you have any thoughts of whether you should do this role or not as it’s going to be your first role? After all, first impressions are a big thing.”

Robert asked and pointed at Micah who looked a bit nervous but after thinking for a bit, he replied. 

“I did not think it was hard for me actually. A friend of my father offered me the role as he thought I suited the atmosphere of the character.” Micah tried hard to remember how it all had happened. “There was a small audition and I was selected. I think the major problem came during the shooting because I needed to be taught the camera movements and how to act in front of one. I don’t think you will get a good enough answer from me.”

Micah said, scratching his head. It was an honest answer from him without trying to act like he had gone through a lot. An honest approach was always better.

Robert appreciated it and moved on to Leona. 

Surprisingly, she had the complete opposite story to Micah where she needed to meet a director in a party and he liked her, so after a few meetings, she got an audition and even after that, she needed to do 3 of them before she was finalised in a supporting role. 

Aiden didn’t feel like she was lying. He also knew what ‘few meetings’ entailed in this industry but it was also disguised as something normal even if it wasn’t. 

Ambitious people and those who want to prey on them — Hollywood didn’t have any completely white people for a reason. Even the good ones are grey. 

‘Maybe the reason she is chummy with Tyler is to get ahead in her career. Not a bad strategy because he does meet a lot of top brass people on a daily basis.’

Aiden thought in his mind. 

Robert moved to Tyler after that and as Aiden expected, he tried to exaggerate his struggles. 

“What about you Tyler? Like Micah, you have Hollywood connections too. Was it easy for you?”

“No, actually, I feel like being the godson of someone like Owen Wilson just backfired on me because people got a lot of expectations. I won’t say it helped me in getting any roles. If it was that easy, I would be the lead of the next big blockbuster right now.”

He blabbered on for quite a while about it and Aiden barely stopped himself from laughing out loud. 

He needed to learn how to lie so effortlessly from Tyler. 

‘He doesn’t give as much time to his acting but he has perfected his two faced nature. I can’t even tell if he’s a genius who doesn’t want to work or just a sociopath.’

Aiden shook his head thinking that as the conversation moved to him. 

“What about you, Aiden? Did you go through a lot of projects before signing your first movie? Did you want it to be the perfect debut for you?”

“No, I didn’t have that sort of privilege.” Aiden said straightforwardly. “I didn’t have audition offers from a lot of projects. There was only one and if I had not been selected in it, I would maybe still be struggling out there.”

“I think that’s the same for most of us.”

Tyler suddenly interjected into the conversation and Aiden looked towards him with curious eyes. 

“What do you mean?”

“I didn’t have any more than one audition offer either and I’m what you might call ‘privilege’.”

Hearing that, Aiden could only smile to himself. Thinking of something, he quickly asked.

“How was your audition process exactly?”

Micah and Leona just looked on as Tyler composed his words in his mind. Robert kept a blank face but was smiling inwardly. 

This is what he was looking for. Some good spicy material!

“I met with the director in his house. We went through the script together and then the audition happened. I impressed him and got the role.”

“Thank you for explaining it yourself. You saved me the trouble.”

Aiden smirked but Tyler just looked in confusion. 

“What?”

“Didn’t you hear your own words? ‘You went through the script with the director in his home,’ I didn’t even know who the director was or what the movie was about before reaching the audition place. I wasn’t given any information to prepare for a role because I didn’t know what role I was doing until I got the role. Rules were pretty different from both of us and that’s a privilege.”

Aiden didn’t stop there as he continued his words while the others looked dumbstruck. 

“One more thing is that Owen Wilson was one of the producers for your debut movie.”

“That don’t mean—”

“It does.” Aiden sharply said. “Maybe you went through the audition process in the right way but everyone working on the movie knows who you are. No one wants to offend the godson of the producer. You may not like it but that’s just human nature. The name and who you associate yourself with follows you everywhere.”

Aiden finished his words there and as expected, Tyler didn’t have any words to say in objection. 

What could he even say? Aiden’s words were borderline disrespectful but extremely truthful. 

With the logic before everyone’s eyes, Tyler’s words would only look meaningless.

Recognising that the atmosphere was turning weird, Robert quickly moved the topic forward. 

But from now, Tyler was certainly not going to say anything towards Aiden during the interview.