Versatile Superstar: Rise In Hollywood

“Alberto was a big pain in the ass but Benny decided to take a risk in the end. I enjoyed Alberto’s fuming expression at the end. He was surely going to yell at someone these days. I like his expressions a lot.”

Ava’s voice came through the phone in a ridiculing tone and Aiden asked a question that was in his mind since he had first seen Alberto. 

“Why is he so against you?”

“He’s an executive too and has a lot of power. He’s against me due to politics and other stuff. He’s smart but in the end, he’s another rich egoistic guy.”

Aiden nodded his head hearing that. Now that he was finalised, he didn’t feel Alberto could do anything. 

At most, he would sit back and hope that the movie flopped. 

“Anyway, we are going to release it in the first week of June. We have a window open there with a marketing period of a month.”

“That’s good enough.” Aiden said. “What are Titan studios’s estimates about the project?”

“I can’t say a lot but they are treating it as a risk. It’s not an in-house production and we normally don’t deal with independent studios. So, everything is fine until we get back the cost. Though, I’m hoping it’s a hit as I have pushed for it.”

The last sentence made Aiden think of the help Ava has given him. 

If the movie didn’t work well, it was surely going to affect her in some way. But he can’t think of that. 

As an actor, he needed to have faith in his project and [Action Hero] was something that he believed would be a hit. Maybe it won’t be taken well by the critics and some sections of society, but it’s surely going to give young people great entertainment. 

“I feel like it would be a big hit. Anyway, our budget ain’t much. With the right amount of marketing and trailers, we could make it work.”

“We need to, now that we are working together.”

After talking for a few seconds, Aiden cut the call. He breathed in as a voice called out to him. 

“Aiden, we are ready.”

He raised his head to look at Baz and Theodore who were standing with a few other people. One of them was a middle aged woman who was the costume designer for [Agnas]. 

Today they were testing out the costumes that would be used in the movie. 

As the time period of the movie was 70 and 80s for the most part, the costumes needed to look right. At the same, makeup was very essential for Aiden to look as close to Agnas as possible. 

So, the production team had hired very experienced makeup artists and costume designers. 

“How are you feeling in these clothes?” Baz asked, looking at the white shirt and blue pants that Aiden was wearing. 

It was something that was very staple in the 70s. 

“It’s kinda loose but it fits well. I was more worried about my hair. I was going through photos of Agnas’ childhood and he didn’t have this long of a hair.”

Aiden touched his hair. It was the same hairstyle he had in [Action Hero] and he hadn’t bothered to change it after the shooting. 

“Don’t worry, we are going to cut it shorter. Agnas was known for his free flowing hair back in the day. We just want to see if the clothes look good right now.”

“Okay.”

Aiden nodded and stood in front of the green screen. A photographer clicked his photos and told him to pose according to his direction after every click. 

He changed shirts every five minutes and even tried on suits and a few jackets that Agnas was known to wear. To be appropriate, they were using the same brands that were popular back in the day. 

Some brands have ended as a lot of time has gone by since then but the production team was going to use the help of designers to make costumes as accurate as possible. 

During the testing, Baz kept talking with Aiden. 

“How’s your lessons with Joseph going on?” 

“Pretty hard. Agnas was too much of a beast when it came to singing. He was a great tenor and always had those high notes in his songs. His style of singing is a bit different from mine too, so I’m trying to adapt.”

[Agnas] was not just a biopic. It was also a musical with quite a lot of scenes having songs in them. In some scenes, the movie uses music to display Agnas’ emotions. 

That’s why the soundtrack was probably the most important part of the movie. To sing like Agnas, Aiden was working hard with Joseph. 

At the same time, they were also talking a lot about ‘Joker’ and Joseph was helping him in making it better and recording it. 

“You will be able to do it. I believe in your abilities. With ‘Joker’, you have already proved that you understand Agnas music a lot.”

Baz said and patted his back. 

The testing continued for a while and after a while, Theodore asked for a break. Everyone scattered after that and Aiden looked around for Wade. 

‘It had been a while since I saw him and Tom.’

He found both of them outside the studio room, near a coffee machine. Both of them were looking at something on their phones with serious expression. 

“What happened?”

Aiden asked, walking up to them. Wade looked at him with a frowning expression and shoved his phone in front of his face. 

“See this.”

An article was displayed on the screen. 

“Florence. What’s she on about? Her movie wasn’t shelved.”

Those were the first words that he spoke after going through the article. Yes, Florence Levine, the ex wife of Zavier and the director of [Stars on the Ground] which Aiden was about to do. 

The article was an interview from her controversy that had happened, her relationship with Liam Wilde and her new movie [Stars on the Ground] which for some reason wasn’t shelved. 

It also mentioned that Liam and Florence were suing the media company that had leaked their images. 

“Titan studios backed out right?”

Aiden looked at Wade who nodded. 

“Yeah, they did. Apparently, there were a lot of small investors and they were going to back out too but somehow, Florence got new investors from London. A new distribution company from there came up too and the project was back on.”

Tom made an ugly expression thinking how ridiculous it was. 

“They probably just want to cash in on the negativity around Florence and Liam. Even that is a kind of publicity.”

“Well, not everything went Florence’s way. The budget of the movie is now just 30 million dollars. Apparently, she made the investors believe that she could do a great movie on such a budget too.”

“Isn’t that half of the previous budget?”

Aiden asked and Wade nodded. Knowing the script and just the sets and costumes that Florence had talked about, he wondered if it would even be the same movie with a reduced budget. 

At the same time, he recalled what Liam had been like the last time they had met. He looked angry but it was internalised. He wasn’t showing it on his face and had only told him good luck while showing. 

‘He was probably because he was shooting [Stars on the Ground] at that time.’

Thinking of that, he shook his head. 

Something like this shouldn’t bother him as even if their movies clash, he felt like he would have an advantage. 

But Wade’s face was saying something else. 

“The movie isn’t a problem but…”

“But?” Aiden looked at him strangely. 

“Florence is supposedly using the movie to throw shade on you.”

“What type of freshly baked nonsense is that?”

Aiden asked. In the article he just read, there was no mention of this. 

“It is nonsense but it’s true.” Tom said. “You remember the character you were going to play? It was a negative role right?”

“Yeah, it was a good supporting role as one of the second antagonists.”

“Well, Florence apparently changed it to the main antagonist and even changed the first name of the character ‘Aiden’. I’m pretty sure she will get some Indian connection too although a white actor is playing the character.”

For a second, Aiden took in the news wondering if someone was really so petty to do something like this. But again, this was Hollywood. 

Brains came second to ego. Thinking from Florence’s perspective, she must have already made Aiden the most hated character in her biography. 

“Why is she even coming after me like this? Is she dumb? No, I know she’s dumb.”

Aiden frowned, thinking what kind of situation it was. He had never thought he would deal with idiots in Hollywood five years ago. 

“She probably thought you wouldn’t like it and did it just to spite you. She’s clearly someone who holds grudges.” Wade frowned, rubbing his forehead. “Anyway, we need to do something about it.”

“Can’t we ignore it?”

Aiden asked and suddenly realised his mistake. 

Florence won’t do something like this until it’s for people to talk about it. A media article was soon going to come about the issue and then, people were going to talk about it. 

One way to sell the movie was to have people talk about it. No matter in a negative or a positive way. 

The question was what Aiden’s reaction to this will be. 

‘What am I going to do?’