Versatile Superstar: Rise In Hollywood

[Action Hero|17 March-2018|Act 6|Scene 2|Take 3]

“You again got into a fight? You are coming here everyday now? This place ain’t an infirmary. Do you see me as a doctor?”

The janitor looked at Ray who was standing in front of him, his face was bruised again.

The same kid who was beaten up two months ago had started going against the big gangs in the school. As a result, it was rare to see his face without bruises. 

At the same time, everyday, Ray would come to his room to get himself fixed. 

“I just like this place. It’s calming.”

Ray said, sitting down and frowning, the janitor shook his head. 

“You have started a war in the school and it’s getting dangerous. You do know that someone could die. It’s not small things anymore.”

“They are going to die if these gangs keep being the dominant forces anyway. Their members, all of them bully the people who can’t fight. Do you really think no one would feel like they can’t take it anymore? Do you think no one had felt like that in the past?”

Something flashed in Ray’s eyes as he said that. The only way he saw out of this problem was to stand on top of the gangs. 

To eradicate something, you need to get to the core of it. 

“It doesn’t mean you are trying to do something. You are going to regret it if you go too far. If karma really existed, then we wouldn’t have rich people controlling the lives of others. You trying to be heroic means nothing. You are going to regret it.”

The janitor said, advising again despite knowing that Ray wasn’t going to listen to him. 

“I’m going to regret it if I don’t do anything. I have done so in the past.”

Ray said, thinking back to the reason why he was here. In the god forsaken school. 

Looking at the janitor, he again opened his mouth. 

“I used to have a friend. I didn’t know back then but he was being bullied. One day, I got to know about it but I didn’t do anything. I thought it’s not my place. I was already getting in too much trouble due to my temper. That guy… wasn’t able to take it one day and jumped off a bridge.”

The room’s temperature seemed to have cooled down suddenly as the janitor didn’t know what to say. 

“I regret it every day. Every single day. The people who bullied him… there was no proof against them. It was a small group and the leader of it was the son of the sheriff. He got saved because a father ignored a dead body to save his son but I wasn’t able to stay silent.”

The janitor suddenly remembered why Ray was sent here. He had beaten up a person so badly that people were scared and ran away from the scene. 

Sighing, the old man put a hand on his forehead. 

“Just remember, every fight has its end. Know when to end it.”

***

“Okay, that was a good shot, Ned and Aiden. Let’s take a small break.”

Asano said as Aiden and Ned walked out of the camera’s field vision. The old actor gave him a few words of encouragement before going down to sit with his assistant. 

Everyone on the set looked busy. 

A few crew members were getting instructed by Asano on the next shot. There was excitement and tiredness on the faces of everyone. 

People say that a crew member was the best person to ask if a movie would be a hit or not as no one liked working on a movie that they think won’t do well. 

By their faces, it seemed like they were enjoying the process. 

‘Now, a few other fight scenes for today and then, tomorrow, there’s the classroom brawler scene.’

Aiden thought, flipping through his script and sitting on a chair. His back felt a bit sore as he had fallen down during an action scene but it was a small injury. 

Something like this was very common on the set of an action movie. 

“Aiden.”

As he was flipping through the script, Wade’s voice made him look his way. Tom was following him. 

‘Something is wrong.’

Aiden thought looking at their faces. It was like they had heard bad news. Their faces were dropped and something they had feared had turned true. 

“What happened?”

“Check this article. Vanity Magazine posted it an hour ago and the internet is riled up about it.”

Wade showed him his phone and just by reading the first half of the article, Aiden was able to understand what was going on. 

<Breaking news! It is rumoured that Liam Wilde, the star singer who had a big scandal just a while back is going to play Agnas in his biopic.>

The article went on to quote an anonymous person who’s working on Agnas and he said, “Liam was one of the best actors among everyone we auditioned. He surprised everyone and fit right in what we were looking for. His career as a singer would help him get in the skin of Agnas and show the side of himself that hasn’t been revealed to the public yet.”

Aiden didn’t know who this anonymous source was but he hasn’t mentioned anything about the scandal that had happened. 

Further reading, he realised that the article was praising the producers decision and calling it ‘A brave move that no one saw coming’. It also states how the decision was also taken because the director wanted a complete fresh face. 

The article was treating what it called a rumour as a fact. 

It also talked about how the internet had taken this news and the reaction was pretty mixed. 

After completing the article, he looked at Wade and Tom. 

“What is this news? Is Zero International really going to get embroiled in a controversy?”

If he was being honest, he didn’t know if Liam was a good actor as he never bothered to check his stats. Even if he was good, this decision seemed pretty weird. 

Agnas’s biopic wasn’t something that required controversy to be in the news. 

“I can’t say. I got no news about it until I saw the article.” Wade muttered before clicking his tongue. “But it seems like Intra Entertainment is behind it.”

For the record, Intra Entertainment was the UK’s top agency and the one that Liam was contracted with. 

“It’s a type of force tactic. They leaked this and probably used their contacts in Vanity Magazine to make the news sound as positive as possible.”

Wade explained and Tom was quick to ask a question. 

“Then, isn’t it something we don’t have to worry about? It’s a rumour being passed as the real deal but it’s still a rumour. Zero International hasn’t said anything about it.”

“No.” Aiden shook his head. “Intra Entertainment won’t do something like this until Liam actually is close to getting the role. These types of things are done at the very end. With so many people talking about it online, they are trying to show Zero International that this move would be enough to gain attention. Negative or positive don’t matter here.”

One more thing was that Intra Entertainment wouldn’t do this until they are actually confident about Liam’s acting skills. 

It seemed like they wanted him to be the next big thing. A true global star. 

“Yeah, a lot of people are bashing for obvious reasons. One just doesn’t associate with someone who had a huge scandal a couple months ago but a lot of his fangirls are defending it and saying that it’s the best decision ever.”

“Over obsession with someone is a very fatal thing.”

Tom muttered. Even his obsession with Hollywood was not on the level where he would defend people who have done wrong things in the past. 

But Hollywood has a history of giving work to people with criminal cases going on. Some top stars are even accused of being in cults. 

But they still get work until it’s something super serious. The rule ‘No one minds if you do it, just keep it a secret’ applies to the industry. 

“I still don’t understand. I thought Liam wouldn’t make it past the first round just because of his scandal. Not like it’s even been a year.”

Aiden said, feeling like something was still missing in the puzzle. Every actor in the audition didn’t treat Liam as a competition because of the scandal. 

“Let me answer that for you. My friend who works in Zero International gave me a hint of why this is happening.”

Wade said, checking up his phone. It seemed like a message had arrived from someone. 

“Why?” Tom raised an eyebrow. 

“Well, Intra Entertainment had dealings with Zero International in the past. They probably pushed for him. Most rich people know each other after all. So, he wasn’t rejected in the first round itself. They are told to treat it like the scandal never existed, probably thinking that Agnas is too big to get affected by such things.”

Wade shook his head and the question of what next lingered in everyone’s mind. 

Aiden didn’t wanted to lose the role because of stupid politics. But he didn’t know what to do to make a case where he would be seen as the perfect candidate to play Agnas. 

As he was wondering about it and asking Wade for a solution, his phone vibrated and he got a message. 

[Cameron: Are you free? My grandpa wanted to meet you. We are currently in New York.]