Versatile Superstar: Rise In Hollywood

“Are you crazy or something?”

“Well, a bit. But this time, it wasn’t even my fault. They were supposed to catch me but they didn’t and I hurt my arm a bit. Thankfully, no severe injuries to the head.”

“What happened to those extras?”

“Baz was angry and wanted to fire them straight. I sent Tom to appease him. They already lack work. No use making their life more difficult when these types of things happen.”

Wade opened and closed his mouth like he wanted to say something but didn’t know how to word it out. 

During the shooting of a montage scene where Agnas’s sudden rise to stardom would be shown, Aiden had jumped off the stage and fell down. 

Originally, it was supposed to be the extras catching him. Musicians sometimes do things like this and Baz wanted it because there were photos of Agnas doing it. But the extras had misjudged and Aiden had gotten minor injuries. 

As it wasn’t Aiden’s first injury on the set, he looked much more calm. 

“Anyway, you were supposed to have a meeting with a producer today, right? How did that go?”

Aiden asked, trying to change the topic. 

“It was bad. I could see dollar signs in his eyes and the plot was very simple and I didn’t feel like the execution would be any good either. It was about a man whose dog suddenly started talking.”

“So, you rejected him?”

“Not directly. I would tell him after a week or so that you took some other project. After that, I went…”

Wade stopped his words, thinking about the meeting with Franco Li. He wondered whether he should tell Aiden about it. 

But a part of it wanted to avoid it. Though, he knew that Franco Li was undoubtedly going to talk to Aiden sooner or later no matter if he liked it or not. 

That man was influential and there was no denying that. 

“Aiden, I need to—”

“I talked to the director and he didn’t fire extras since you were fine. But he still looked like it would take a while for him to finally cool down.”

Tom suddenly barged right in and interrupted Wade. Aiden looked at his assistant and smiled. 

“I think he’s angry because he felt like the shooting would stop for a while but the doctor said my arm would be fine in two days. They could shoot other’s scenes at that time easily.”

Hearing that, Wade clicked his tongue. 

“You are too soft. Any other celebrity won’t save those people’s jobs.”

“Agnas would have.”

Aiden said, looking at Wade. Since taking up on the role of Agnas, Aiden had read and thought a lot about him. 

He had realised one thing — Agnas wasn’t a superstar just because of his stage persona. It was also because of how he treated people.

Maybe because during his interactions with people, he was his real self. 

“I think that it’s better to be a bit kind. Helps in the long term because people remember you as a good person. Even if you become big, rather than being jealous, people are going to think that you deserve that position. Even if Agnas was hyped by the media and his record label in a playboy type persona, the stories of his interactions with fans stayed and made him what he was.”

Aiden said and for a second, Wade thought about the words that Franco had said and what Aiden was saying. 

The philosophy of both of them were very different. 

He kept pondering over it for a while. 

***

“Get that camera position extremely right. We need to give it a unique shot.”

“Is everything okay with the set?”

“Get the lightning director to wake up. We are fucking shooting. He’s not focusing at all.”

After Aiden had healed, he quickly returned to the set. As he was in the middle of a movie, he was entirely focusing on it without any other schedules. Normally, there would be some other stuff on the side. 

But Baz has warned him not to do it because the eccentric director would sometimes call him up to meet, even in the middle of the night to discuss a scene or another. He wanted Aiden to solely focus on [Agnas]. 

He had agreed to it because of how special the movie was to him. One more reason for it to be special was because he was working with Cameron. 

Although Cameron was someone who liked to be left alone, he was talking to Aiden a lot on the set. Just because he was scared that Baz was going to scold him in front of the entire set if he made a big mistake.

The director was very brutal when it comes to that. 

So, he was taking all the information about acting he could. He had gotten training in the recent months but Aiden’s advice was still valuable. 

“How do you even know if you have done it right? Sometimes, I feel like the shot wasn’t good enough even if Baz was okay with it.”

“A lot of actors feel like they could do better in every shot. Established actors directly go and ask for another take if they are confident in giving a better take. Though, don’t ask if you aren’t confident to give a better shot. As for your question, I think you can rely on Baz to know if you have done a good job or not. Sometimes, you just have the feeling that you have done well from within you. It’s different for different actors.”

Some actors after getting established and famous would even become lazy and not put much effort into acting. A lot of them also start playing themselves in different movies. 

It was good enough with Cameron wondering about how he could be better. 

“Sometimes, I feel like the scene is going well and then, I forget a line. Then, it gets ruined in an instant.”

Cameron frowned. It was hard for him to play a younger version of his grandfather as he was very different from him. 

“Dialogues are one thing. Don’t focus on them a lot until they are really important. If you forget a line, just innovate and continue. Even if it’s not good, you give a bad take and can redo. If it’s good, then it’s a better line than what was written.”

“You do that?” Cameron raised an eyebrow. 

“It’s a bit different for me.”

Aiden scratched his head. These types of things were already hard for him to answer. Dialogues have never been a problem for him because of the immersion. 

Even if he forgets a line, he feels like he’s the character completely, so whatever he says looks pretty good. Sometimes, it’s even better than the intended dialogue. 

“How?”

“I lose myself in the character, so it doesn’t seem like I’m intentionally saying a line. It becomes natural.”

“Natural, umm…”

As Cameron thought about Aiden’s words, one of the assistant directors walked up to them, telling them that the shot was ready. 

Today, they were shooting the scene in which Joseph and Agnas would meet for the first time. 

***

[Agnas|23 June-2018|Act 3|Scene 5|Take 1]

“So, you are the one who’s going to make my first song?”

“Name’s Joseph Bryce.”

A young man in clothes that looked a bit too big for him said as he studied Agnas’s eyes. After the performance that had made Gregory Jefferson believe that the young man was someone special, he had immediately signed him for an album. 

Currently, Agnas was in the studio of Phoenix Records, the company owned by Gregory. The old man has left him alone with Joseph to discuss music. 

They sat down together and the discussion started. 

“I listened to your singing before. Mr. Jefferson sent me samples. You have a unique voice. I have rarely heard something like that.”

“So, is that a good thing or bad?” Agnas asked and Joseph smiled. 

“That’s the best thing. You know different individuals have different voices but yours is particularly unique. It sticks out a lot and is very melodious. I am quite excited to work on it.”

Joseph said, tapping his ears. Actually, he was one of the rare musicians who had perfect pitch, so his excitement was valid. 

“Do you have any samples?” Agnas asked, excited to start on it. 

“I do but you need to first show me a live performance. I’m very excited to hear it.”

Joseph passed him the guitar and Agnas nodded. Holding the guitar, his fingers landed on the strings. 

As he began to strum them, a voice appeared. 

“Cut! I feel like it could be a bit better. We need more chemistry between the two of you.”

Aiden looked at Baz as the immersion broke. The director was looking at the screen in which the scene they had just recorded was playing. 

By his expression, it was clear that he needed more from the two actors. Cameron looked a bit worried about the mistakes he had made. 

Aiden turned around and was going to say something to him when he noticed a strange thing. 

‘What’s going on with Wade?’

Standing in some distance, Wade was looking at the scene with eyes that Aiden had never seen before. It was like he was deliberating on a decision.