Chapter 112: Acting Powerhouse

The audience watched with an air of clear anticipation as the opening credits came and went.

Then the first scene naturally phased in.

It was in slow motion, and it had that vintage, 90’s-styled feel, the commentator’s audio a bit choppy as a young Elias’ hard breathing pounded in his ears whilst gliding on the ice.

And though the local theatre didn’t have particularly good surround systems, the speakers in the theatre were good enough to relay the sense of urgency as a young Elias glanced over to the judges.

By now, Brendan and Cameron, alongside several individuals in the theatre had shifted in their respective seats, adjusting properly as they were all immediately hooked.

Then, they watched as young Elias moved, his lithe form pushing of the ice and gaining more and more speed.

In sync, the slow motion began fading off, and the choppy audio gradually leveled into a clear commentary and a rousing crowd of cheers as the scene returned to its normal speed by the time Elias had gained full momentum.

It was such a beautiful piece of directorial work, the likes only Murray could conceive and execute perfectly to set the stage right from the first scene and it delivered perfectly on what it was supposed to do.

Heighten the audiences’ tensions and anticipations.

Young Elias began with a blitzingly fast left lutz, that connected it straight into a clean right lutz a moment after.

Then, in practically what could’ve been the snapping of one’s finger thrice, he leapt into the air his form spinning like a carousel as he executed a triple axel.

"Oh no..." Brendan muttered whilst leaning forward slightly, already aware that his form wouldn’t net him a clean, stable landing.

Just as he’d predicted, young Elias landed to not just an unstable landing, but a terrible crash that had several spectators in the movie equal parts shocked and genuinely worried.

The audience watching the movie had similar reactions, Cameron’s hand frozen as she held onto the popcorn she was just about to toss into her mouth.

Brendan would’ve almost stood up from the chair in genuine concern if he wasn’t subconsciously aware somewhere at the back of his mind that he was in a theatre and not in the rink stands.

But then again, as someone whom had failed to land multiple jumps since he began his pursuit to be a fantastic figure skater, he could intimately feel the hopeless, almost hollow look on young Elias’s face as he rose back to the ice with a noticeable limp to his movements.

Still, he rounded up his program, and the crowd managed to cheer him on.

However, it was clear to everyone, both in the stands of the movie and the audience in the theatre watching that things would probably never be the same again for Elias.

True to that realization, the movie cut to years later, the young, lively man they’d been introduced to now looking notably jaded as he shelved a couple documents on his table, then grabbed a walking cane and headed out.

The next few scenes simply gave the audience inner workings to the current Elias’ mind by showing how he went through the rest of his day.

He was circumspect, blunt, self-deprecative and emotionally unavailable, all of which were shown in the way he interacted with people and the things in his life, especially when he branched at a nearby convenience store to get some groceries.

As the audience kept watching, their attention solely on the movie despite the general mundanity, the natural flow to the dialogue hooked them just as much.

Yet again, everyone was subconsciously reminded that this was a Murray Goldberg movie, as it was one of the hallmarks of his movies.

Great dialogue, and great exposition that established the story without ever being hand-holdy or trying to spoon-feed the audience.

The movie naturally progressed from there, leading up to the scene where Elias finds out that even though he failed the jump from all those years ago, he should’ve still won by a 0.1 margin.

Yet he hadn’t, all because a corrupt official whom had placed a heavy bet on his rival, Titus Burn, didn’t want to lose said bet.

That said, a lot of individuals in the audience weren’t surprised to see that Elias wasn’t interested in stepping onto the ice again, despite being invited to perform at an exhibition championship that could potentially put his name on the grid again.

Afterall, what was the point in trying to restore something that was already a done deal from several years back.

It wasn’t as if it would bring back the gold medal he lost, or reverse the bad injury he’d sustained.

However, when a scene with Titus Burn came around, his former rival essentially blasting him on air, they saw every reason as to why Elias immediately changed his mind.

This wasn’t about medals anymore.

It was about the pride of man who refused to be reduced to something he was not, and worse still, have the golden years of his career be trampled upon by a two-bit hypocrite who hadn’t even won fair and square.

By now, almost everyone in the audience had rightfully turned into backers of Elias and haters of Titus.

Which was impressive considering they were only twenty-five minutes into a two-hour movie.

Yet again, it went to show the prowess of not just Murray himself as the director, but also the proficiency that made Matthew and Louis renowned actors in Hollywood.

Even for fans of Niall--a fair number of whom were in the theatre--they were honestly starting to wonder if their favorite actor would be able to shine amidst such acting powerhouses.

Camille who wasn’t even a movie buff, was also of the same thought, as was Brendan whom was tapping his fingers on the arm rest in anticipation as he inwardly remarked;

’Anytime soon, I’m sure.’

He honestly couldn’t wait for Niall’s entrance in the movie.

As someone who’d watched him go from noob to a bona fide competitive figure skater in just a few months, he was really curious to see the role he would portray in the movie.

Especially since a clear protagonist and ’antagonist’ role had been taken.

Thankfully, neither did he or anyone else have to wait longer as the next scene came around.

-

"I was wondering how long you’d stand off there in the corner pretending not to notice me,"

"Well, I wanted to see if you’d run away first."

"...Tempting."

-

Though several individuals in the room had been aware of Colonel’s involvement in the movie, a good chunk of the crowd whom were more movie-goers than they were internet denizens, were genuinely surprised to see him in the movie.

Afterall, the major demographic that watched Murray’s movies, were usually in the late thirties to mid-fifties, many of whom had grown up on several of the director’s movies.

For them, they simply came without knowledge of whatever the movie might entail, but were always of strong belief that they’d leave the theatres completely satisfied.

And satisfied they were as they watched Elias and his former coach’s back and forth.

-

"Another landing on it could be the last roll of the dice, Elias."

"That’s a creative way to put it."

"You’ve already given this sport everything, son. You don’t owe it another piece of yourself."

"Maybe. But I’m going to do it anyway."

-

Just as the audience watched the duo eventually came to a compromise a few seconds later, they much like Elias and Howard, were jolted into surprise when a couple shouts followed.

-

"NOAH!"

"C’mon, Noah!"

"Do the flying camel!"

"No, no! The Biellmann!"

"You nailed that combo yesterday!"

-

The grins mixed with stunned expressions that spread across several faces couldn’t be understated as they watched Niall’s character--Noah--laugh with such mirth as he replied.

-

"You’re all trying to get me killed!"

"Triple Axel!"

"Yeah!"

"Do it! Do it! Do it!"

-

The cause for several fan’s surprise was rather simple.

Most of them had only managed to watch [The Promised Queen] and [Silver Comets], both of which were vastly different movies with where Niall had played to vastly different characters.

But in both cases, neither had been overly as exuberant as Noah... which was a testament to how great of an actor he was as he immediately commanded the entire scene and blitzed across the ice.

As for the rest of the individuals whom were not in the know of who he was, a genuine intrigue had flashed across their features as Elias and Howard remarked in concern.

-

"He’s not actually--"

"He’s got nowhere near enough setup--"

-

Brendan would’ve repeated the exact same thing as Elias if he hadn’t actually seen Niall in action, his heart thumping in excitement as he watched Noah execute three flawless rotations.

And even when he spectacularly failed to land the fall, a quiet slew of grimaced ’oohs!’ rippling through the room, he happened to lean forwards slightlier, his eyes glinting with assuredness.

An assuredness that was proven right when Noah’s infectious laughter suddenly rippled through the speakers in the theatre, completely catching everyone except Brendan off-guard.

-

"Hahaha!"

"Oh...! So close!"

-

In reaction to that scene, and in that very moment, an instinctive realization seemed to wash through Cameron alongside everyone else.

Niall Parker, was just as much of an acting powerhouse as all the other renowned actors cast in the movie.

Watching as he rose from the ice, an exuberantly wide grin on his features that completely made them forget that this was the same Niall Parker, the audience watched with a genuine sense of intrigue as Elias and Howard spoke.

-

"Who is that?"

"A prodigy in the making,"

"Noah Bennett."

-

At the same time, when they’d heard Elias’ reply...

-

"That’s no prodigy."

"That’s a reckless fool."

-

...they’d assumed that the normal order of things would be that Noah would become Elias’ protégé.

Naturally, they were all about to find out just how wrong that very assumption was.

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/Caer07