Versatile Superstar: Rise In Hollywood

[ Black Saints| October 15-2015 | Act 4 | Scene 6 | Take 1 ]

"Please don't kill me… please… I beg you!"

A man begged as he struggled on the ground. He was held captive in an old warehouse and even if he screamed, no one was going to come help him here.

Both his hands were tied up and he could only beg with his mouth, hoping the group of people before him would spare him.

They were all led by one of the most notorious gangsters in the city.

"Give me one reason I should spare you? What is your value for the city?"

Kai asked, glaring down at the man while holding a gun that aimed at the latter.

This man was someone who had refused to pay him money. Normally, Kai would not have gone after him but the former had insulted him in his face, something that he didn't like.

"My wife and my daughter… for them, please! I don't want to die… I beg you."

The man begged, pushing his body towards the feet of Kai but he just kicked him in the gut and laughed like he was mocking the man.

"I don't think you know the reality. Your wife is a whore, has fucked a lot of people. Your daughter… well, children grow tougher if one of their parents is dead." He smiled. "I'm speaking from personal experience." 

"My wife is not a whore—"

-Bang!

A gunshot was heard as the man's body went limp in the middle of his sentence. He stopped moving and blood started flowing out from his stomach.

One of the subordinates of Kai crouched to check if the man was really dead and gave a nod to Kai.

"He's dead."

"He died funny. Imagine 'My wife is not a whore' being your last words. That's the comedy in this business."

Saying that, Kai gave the gun to another subordinate as two others started cleaning the body. Sighing, Kai looked up at a broken window from where a ray of light was coming from.

"Cut!"

It was then that the scene ended. Zavier gave a thumbs up to the actors and the actor who was playing the role of the man who Kai shot, stood up, trying to get the dust off his body.

His clothes were red, as the blood bag that he was wearing under his clothes had exploded. It was generally used to show blood in the movie.

"Good job there. Sorry for the kick." Aiden said, walking up to him.

"No problem. Your acting is pretty good, rookie. Keep it up." After saying that, the actor went back to the makeup room to get changed.

His scenes were finished now, so he could leave the set.

'With this, the introductory scenes for Kai are over.'

Aiden thought, walking up to sit on one of the chairs as the crew tried to finish up everything and move on to the next scene.

The scenes he had shot till now were more or less going to come in the opening part of the movie where the character of Charles is given a brief about the blank saints in the city.

This would focus more on the kind of character Kai was.

'He's going to die halfway through the movie. Though, his impact will be most seen in the last part of the movie.'

His mind traced back to the climax of the movie. Maybe, because of that kind of a climax, the script was given a high score by the system. Though, it was a little over the top but it really served as something that the audience won't expect.

"Aiden."

As he was thinking about that, Wade suddenly walked up to him. 

"Where were you?" Aiden asked as Wade sat down next to him. By the smile on his face, he felt like he had something nice for him.

"Was talking to one of the assistant directors. Anyway, have you heard of Hollywood Weekly?"

"Isn't it a magazine? It's pretty famous." 

From what Aiden knew, Hollywood Weekly was a pretty famous magazine, especially in LA and New York. They would have a unique story of different actors, actresses and even filmmakers.

"Yeah, I just got a call from a reporter from that magazine. They want to interview you for one of their columns. Apparently, they are going for the theme of 'Star Rookies' and would feature your interview due to the popularity of [Shadows of War]."

Aiden looked at Wade with widened eyes. He hadn't expected to have an interview like this.

Especially from a famous newspaper.

"I thought they would get someone from a big agency? You know they always have rookies that might become the next big sensation."

Aiden asked after calming down a bit. 

"It's probably because you are in a hit movie that's still running in the theatres. Your role was impactful too, so people are curious about you for a while. It will die down but they probably want to profit from it in the meantime."

In Hollywood, an actor who was trending was easily replaced with another in a couple of days. That's why, it takes years to become a dependable actor that people won't forget.

Knowing that well, Aiden already got an idea as to why he was suddenly asked to do an interview.

"Anyway, it's a good enough opportunity for us. After wrapping up, we will go to the interview. The reporter said he could meet you at the hotel we are staying at."

"Okay."

***

"My name is Henry Johnson. I'm a reporter from Hollywood Weekly. It's nice to meet you."

"Aiden Silvereye. Likewise, it's good to see you."

A tall man, wearing a suit and a professional smile shook his hand as they sat down in the hotel lobby. Wade had left them alone, saying he would go smoke outside.

Although it was his first official interview, Aiden wasn't too nervous as he had these kinds of interviews in X-Star a lot. That had prepared him somehow to not say weird or even slightly confusing things that could be misinterpreted.

He had learned this lesson the hard way.

"So, Aiden, the last few months seem to have gone pretty drastically for you. You have improved in both of your fields a lot. How do you feel about it?"

Henry started the interview with a pretty simple question after setting up the recording device.

The least he could do before interviewing Aiden was to study up on his background a bit, and even he, a veteran reporter, was a bit surprised to see that Aiden had made jumps in his career in a short time.

"I go to sleep every night feeling excited for the next day, so I would say things have improved a lot. I worked hard to get an opportunity for a long time and somehow, after X-Star, I got very lucky to have come across opportunities that I was fortunately able to grab."

"Do you regret getting eliminated on X-Star?"

He asked, making Aiden think of X-Star after a long time. But he didn't take long to answer the question.

"No, I don't regret anything. My loss was because Rachel was better than me and I accepted it a long time ago."

"Wasn't it nice for you when your song crossed her in the music charts not too long ago? I saw comments saying you took revenge."

Henry tried to get him to give a controversial answer by asking that. If he really said it was revenge, people would just think that he was someone who held grudges.

"I don't think it was revenge. It was pretty much a coincidence if you think about it. Her song was just released at the same time as me and Grey's, so people started talking about how it was a revenge or rematch scenario."

"Though, you did feel nice when your song crossed hers, right?"

"I was happy when the song did well on the charts and streaming platforms."

Aiden refused to say anything other than that and Henry, dejectedly moved to the next topic. 

"Your movie [Shadows of War] has been doing great business at the box office and people are calling it one of the best war movies in recent times. Your role was appreciated a lot too. Do you always believe the movie would do good? What made you choose this as your first script?"

The major reason Henry was even doing an interview with Aiden was because of [Shadows of War] popularity, so he focused more on that rather than his singing career.

"I didn't choose this script. I was actually doing every audition I came across and [Shadows of War] was one of them. Someone I knew was able to help me get the audition as they were looking for someone who is from South Asia and that's how I got the role. So, it was more because of desperation to get some work than anything else."

Henry liked the last line Aiden said. Like many strugglers like him, he was an actor who was doing roles to get money to keep living in America rather than someone who could choose scripts at his leisure.

An actor born straight out of desperation to not be unemployed.

"I heard you are shooting for your next movie currently. Can you tell me a bit about it and your character?"

Henry asked and Aiden nodded before giving him a brief synopsis.

"The movie name was announced a few months back, it's called [Black Saints]. It's a gangster drama mixed with other interesting and unique elements. The story focuses on the crime bosses of the city. As for my character, I play a guy called Kai who's one of the crime bosses."

"Are you playing a major role? The main villain?" Henry asked, curious but Aiden shook his head.

"No, he's a small character who has a big impact, so it's not the major villain. Though, I'm pretty sure he will stay in the minds of people who would go watch the movie."

...

//DreamNote//

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