Versatile Superstar: Rise In Hollywood

“What article?”

“How could it happen just one and a half hours before our movie is released?”

“These things are just going to bring in more negative publicity.”

“Do you think one of the rivals did it? I mean there’s tons of movies releasing this month and everyone is trying to one up each other even if they have to resort to cheap things.”

“Nah, it can be a coincidence too.”

Whispers rang among the Marketing department office as a few people looked up the interview online while others discussed whether it was some sort of a conspiracy. 

Theodore, the producer who just entered the room also looked around with confusion and after hearing about everything, his face went a bit pale before he sighed. 

“So, what is exactly written in the article?”

He looked towards the employee who had broken the news. Aiden and everyone else also looked at him. 

“Is it someone from Agnas’s family?”

Aiden asked. He recalled hearing about how some of Agnas’s family members were against the biopic for various reasons. To be fair, it was just most of his relatives who were worried about their portrayals in the movie.

But Baz has left them out from most of the movie and focused more on a mother-son relationship. 

“No, it isn’t. I think it’s one of the women who he had a relationship with. I researched a bit and the media used to write articles about them. At least she’s listed down as one of the women that he dated. She seems… full of venom.”

The employee said and Aiden walked up to check the article on his computer. Everyone else got behind him too. 

‘It really seems like she holds a grudge against Agnas.’

Aiden thought in his mind. 

The article was an interview with the LA Times, a famous publication that answered why it was getting so much traction. 

In the interview, the woman named Anna Bathes had talked about how Agnas was an extremely awful person who used to pay reporters to write articles about her and how she was worried that the movie was going to white wash him just like a lot of other biopics. 

She ended the interviews by saying, “Agnas might be a superstar but he wasn’t a good human being. He was a scum and I wouldn’t like to see if he’s portrayed in a good light. At least when I’m alive. Yes, I’m going to sue them if they use me as a character without permission.”

After finishing the whole article, Aiden frowned. 

“Sounds like one of my exes.” Wade remarked and Aiden looked at him. “Hey, some are crazy. She scratched ‘I hate you’ with a key on my car after we broke up. Very crazy.”

“Feel like you are the type to attract those.”

Tom joked but Theodere was not amused. He looked at the marketing head who was already sweating with a stern face. 

“Handle this with priority. LA times probably wanted to fuck us over so close to release for some attention.” Saying that, he turned to Aiden. “I’m asking to confirm but there was no character called Anna Bathes in the movie, right?”

“No, she isn’t. I don’t remember it but you can confirm. Moreover, you know Baz handled it as he wasn’t able to get permissions from everyone.”

In biopics, it was not easy to get permission from everyone to use them as characters, especially in biopics based in the past. So, a lot of people would use different characters in scenes that actually didn’t happen. 

Or just make up fictional versions of these people.

Baz chose the second option as Joseph also wanted to go with this as the important thing was to keep the essence of the life of Agnas which they managed to achieve. 

“Okay. Let’s get a press release out about our stance. Then, try to ignore it. We could also use statements from Joseph and others in the industry who actually knew Agnas to counter it.”

The marketing head said and everyone around him nodded. They quickly got to work as he walked close to Aiden. 

“We will try to control it but it’s going to make some noise online. People on Sparrow love to do that and from there, it will spread.”

“I understand. I will just focus on the promotions.”

“Yeah, thank you for working hard.”

“You too.”

Aiden said and wondered if it was just bad luck that such an article had sprang at this point. 

***

“Ladies and gentlemen, give a round of applause to Aiden who performed one of Agnas’s most famous songs ‘I don’t want to lose you’ today. If you want to see more, go buy tickets for the biopic [Agnas]. The story of America’s first pop superstar. Directed by Baz McCarthy, it’s a must watch!”

The host said as a round of applause went off. Aiden waved at the crowd and thanked them before walking backstage. 

He had just finished a short interview and song on a late night talk show. His act as Agnas was very well received and he even said some of his iconic lines and sang in the way he used to. 

‘Let’s hope it gets some people in the theatres.’

He thought, feeling his shoulders being a bit heavy. He was tired from constant promotion but it was only for a few days. 

Rather than this, some other stuff was bothering him. 

“That was a good performance. Your practice really bears fruit.”

“I acted as him for months. It’s very shameful for me as an actor if I can’t even emulate it on a talk show. Though, his charisma is really off the charts. I struggle with that a lot.”

Aiden said when he entered the room that was allocated to him. Wade and his stylist were already there. Clothes that he was going to change into were laid down on a sofa with a few other things. 

“I don’t think people realise that. At least all the comments I’m hearing are very positive. They are calling you a chameleon.”

Wade laughed. One thing that had stayed true no matter what was Aiden’s acting ability and the praise of it after each of his movies.

“People are going to think I pay critics as they constantly praise me.”

“They already do.” Wade said before showing him some comments saying how critics are always lenient on Aiden. 

Though, only he knew that the case was very different. 

As he started with small but good roles, his acting skills were hidden by them but as his level rose, he became more confident in them. 

It was luck and a lot of effort. 

“Anyway, are the articles still coming out?”

Aiden suddenly asked as the atmosphere grew a bit more serious. 

The stylist standing in the back also frowned. 

“Yeah, I think I read two from different publications today.” The stylist said as she looked at Aiden. 

Wade also nodded.

“It’s a case of a lot of mosquitoes hovering around you to drink your blood. In this case, it’s news agencies hovering around an old, bitter woman to clench their thirst for a controversy.”

After one article, several have come up. Some were just copy paste from the original interviews while others were original. It seems like whoever Anna Bathes was, she had a lot of free time to give out interviews. 

Aiden had even seen a reporter with 400k followers posting an article on the ‘dark things’ that Agnas did.

Obviously, it was nothing much as Agnas just had a troubled life and never really did anything too controversial. 

But the current generation didn’t know him and it was easy to change his image like that with just a few clicks. 

“I wonder when it will stop.”

Aiden said and Wade shook his head with a smile that said that it was not going to stop. 

“If [Agnas] opened up to expectations, they are going to die down with better articles praising the movie but if it fails, then these types of articles are going to extend their expiry. We have [Judgment] releasing one week after and compared to us, they are really without any controversies.”

“Yeah, their ship seems like it would reach the dock smoothly.”

Aiden replied. [Judgment] media tour was very successful and anyway, the interest was rarely dwindled for a superhero movie. So, [Agnas] might have only one week to do good business. 

In some cases, that was more than enough but he didn’t know if it was going to be the case this time too. 

‘Anna Bathes. What’s with this woman?’

Aiden thought in his mind. 

For some reason, she felt familiar to him. Maybe because he had brushed upon her during his research to prepare for Agnas. Or maybe because he had seen her during ‘Connect’. 

‘Things were going too fast at that time anyway. Maybe I saw her there. Can’t really say but I don’t know why she hates Agnas so much.’

He took a deep breath thinking that. Maybe it was time to meet her.