Dreams of Stardom (Hollywood SI)

Seeing the Box Office results of [A.I. Artificial Intelligence], I was cursing myself. Why the fuck didn’t I accept WB’s deal of profit sharing instead of a fixed salary? With my salary of $5m, which was 5% of the budget, I could have easily netted $23m from the theatrical rights alone. Not to mention, the DVD and VHS sales. I’m still not fully sure what the reason for [A.I.]’s success was, but one thing was given, it was all because of me. Till now, all the films I had done were already hit films in the original timeline, so I didn’t think I had anything to do with any of those films’ successes. But in [A.I.], everything was practically the same. I wouldn’t even call my performance superior to Haley Joel Osment’s. Yet, it was a success this time.

It filled me with a lot of pride that I had developed ‘star power’ at my age. The only bad part was that, unlike me, no one else knew how much my presence had changed my films’ Box Office. Anyone could successfully debate that [A.I.] did so well because of Spielberg, or maybe even Kubrick. And to some extent, it was true. The film wouldn’t have been a hit if it wasn’t good. But that didn’t change the fact that had they made the film using some other actor, Warner Bros, and DreamWorks would have made a small loss compared to the huge profit they were rolling in at the moment.

“Why are you so grumpy today?” Dad asked pointedly. “Did your exams not go well?”

“They were fine,” I waved off his concern. “No way I’ll flunk them. With no intention to continue my studies, I’ll be glad with just a passing grade. It’s just…” I sighed before telling him exactly what was worrying me, except the part he wasn’t meant to know.

“So you’re sad that you lost more than 18 million in profits?” he asked rhetorically. “It is a huge sum, especially for someone our age. But tell me honestly, do you really care that much about it?”

I looked at him in confusion, “What are you on about?”

“I mean,” he said slowly. “You earned $5m from that film, which is already more than what most people would earn in a lifetime. And wasn’t it just last year when you were arguing for a lesser salary for [Billy Elliot]?”

“Hey! I wasn’t arguing for a lesser salary!” I protested. “I just didn’t want them to go with someone else because I was expensive, that’s all.”

“Whatever you say,” Dad grinned mischievously before adopting a serious look. “How’re your rehearsals going? Everything good?”

I grinned at that reminder, “It’s going great. I had no idea theater could be so fun. Stephen Daldry and Peter Darling are so good together. It is the most fun I have had on a set of any kind.”

 

(Flashback)

 

“Troy!” Stephen called out excitedly as I walked over to the practice studio with my bodyguard Roger in tow. “So glad you’re here early.” He shook my hand excitedly before lowering his voice, “Thank you so much for letting me do this. I would have felt bad if someone else was doing this show.”

“I wouldn’t even dream of letting someone else do this, Stephen,” I reassured him before looking around the studio, which was a large, spacious place rented by Dad for rehearsals. The floor was smooth but had a wooden finish, the walls had mirrors that went up to the ceiling, and one section of the wall had a bar attached to it to practice ballet moves. All in all, it was perfect for our requirements. There was just one thing that I found odd, which was that the majority of the people were yet to come, so I turned to Stephen again and made some idle talk, “By the way, what is our goal for the production?”

Stephen straightened up with a confused face, “Your Dad didn’t tell you? Anyway, it’s simple: we will practice for three months straight, six days a week, for eight to nine hours. Since now you have finished your schooling, you can work as many hours as you want, so that won’t be an issue legally. After that, we will open previews in September, here in London, and you will perform till the end of the year. Mid-January, you will move to New York, and perform for another three to four months. Your father has estimated that the next [Harry Potter] film will begin shooting by then, so everything is falling into place perfectly.”

I nodded in understanding, as I noticed that there were still very few people present in the studio.

“Am I very early?” I asked in confusion. “Or is everyone else late?”

Stephen chuckled, “Who are you expecting to be here?”

I opened my mouth to make a snarky remark before I suddenly closed it. Who was I really expecting? Usually on film sets, we would have crew members, but here, it would be just dancers, actors, and the director/choreographer.

“Theater is different from film,” Stephen answered his own question before I could. “Here we don’t have people dedicated to lights, cameras, sounds, and so on. At least not in the initial practice sessions. You won’t even have costumes this early on. Your current focus is to learn all the songs, dialogues, and choreography to perfection. We haven’t called a lot of side characters today because we are focusing on preparing the main actors first and foremost, and if you look around carefully, you’ll find that they are already here.”

And suddenly I realized how true that was. There were 7-8 people who were talking with Peter Darling in a group. Given their demographics, I could easily guess what role they would be playing, like Billy’s father, brother, grandmother, mother, Mrs. Wilkinson, Michael, and so on.

I turned to Stephen, “No one from the movie reprised their roles?”

“No,” Stephen shook his head. “Everyone has moved on after the success of the film.”

I already knew that Jamie wouldn’t be reprising his role as Michael. Initially, he had taken the role out of desperation. And now, even if he were willing to play the gay best friend again, he was already too old to play an 11-12-year-old kid. We somehow made him look good enough for [The Chamber of Secrets], but it wouldn’t be possible on a live stage. Then there was this little fact that if the cast members were to reprise their roles, they would ask for higher salaries than normal actors. Stephen didn’t tell that to me, but I knew it was a decision made by Dad to not ask them back.

“Shall we begin?” Stephen cut my inner monologue short.

I nodded in acceptance, “Sure.”

He beckoned me over to the group of my co-actors who were talking to Peter, the choreographer.

“... is the basic move in ballet, even for the non-dancers. Just stand on your toes and stretch your body as much as you can.”

From what I could gather, Peter was teaching them some moves. Not every actor that had joined was a trained ballet dancer, and the finale of the musical had this big number where everyone did a little ballet. So it made sense that he would teach some basic ballet moves to everyone.

Noticing me, Peter addressed everyone, “And now that our lead actor has arrived, let’s begin with some exercises. The first half an hour is all about stretching and basic moves, followed by an hour and a half of dedicated dance practice as per your respective song, then two hours of dialogue practice session, and finally, the last one to two hours for singing. Not everyone would be called every day, except maybe Troy and his understudies. You will get a schedule of your days, and we will practice accordingly. When we feel that all of you have practiced significantly, then we’ll put everyone together for serious rehearsals. Did I miss anything, Stephen?”

“No,” Stephen shook his head. “That about covered it all.”

“Alright,” Peter said. “Now take positions, everyone, and copy me.”

 

(Flashback End)

 

“It is a very close-knit group of people,” I said to Dad. “Movie-making is more on the… shallower side of things, where people care more about making money than art. Here, it’s always the art that comes first. No one has treated me unkindly because of my fame, or that I’m the producer of the show.”

Dad chuckled, “Don’t tell me you’re planning to abandon movies for theater?”

“Not right now, no,” I shook my head. “Who knows what will happen in the future? If people didn’t like my films when I grew up, I could always do theater full time.”

 

(Break)

 

Theater practice was some of the best times I have ever had in my life. Loads better than shooting for a movie. All because of one reason: wait time. When we are shooting a film, the wait between two takes can sometimes go even beyond an hour. There were even times when I would shoot a scene in the morning, and then the next in the evening, while being on the set in between. But this was not the case in theater. You keep on practicing as long as you can. When you need a breather, only then do you pause. If you’re tired of dance practice, sing. If your vocal cords need rest, run your lines with someone. If you’re fed up with that, go back to dancing. There is always something to do as long as you’re willing to. And that is what makes theater so much better than movies.

After the first day, the cast members were divided into different groups according to their scenes and were made to practice within their group. This was done to save as much time as possible, and have the most number of practice sessions for everyone. I had to give the credit for that meticulous planning to Stephen Daldry, who planned all this. He and Peter Darling would alternate their time with me most of the time because I had the most scenes out of everyone in the cast. They had gotten so bad that my vocal coach, Jean, had to fight with them to get some time for my singing practice as well.

But it was all worth it in the end. I was learning a lot, but at the end of each day, I was bone tired. It was my first full-time job since finishing my schooling, and I was enjoying every moment of it. There was just one problem with this arrangement. I didn’t have time to enjoy the summer as most kids my age would at this time of the year. Personally, I didn’t have a problem with that, but that was not the case with my parents.

“Come on, Mum,” I protested. “I don’t need a vacation. I prefer working rather than chilling on some distant beach, away from everyone, doing nothing all day long.”

“That’s what vacations are for,” she argued back. “To unwind, relax, and spend some quality time with your family.”

I took a deep breath to calm myself down. I didn’t want to say something I would regret later.

“Didn’t we have this conversation already?” I asked. “I have a lot of money at stake here. I can’t half-arse my job and lose tens of millions. It’s not a small amount.”

That was true. Initially, we had estimated that it would take around $5-6m to finance one musical, and $10-12m for both Broadway and West End. But things got a little out of control and the budget had exceeded $9m for just the West End version. Given we were planning to launch the Broadway version within a few months, any goof-up on my end could lose me a lot of money.

Mum looked hesitant for a moment before glancing behind me. Sensing her gaze on something behind me, I turned around on the sofa I was sitting on and found the surprise that was supposedly meant for me.

“Evan!” Instantly I got up and rushed over to my best friend to give him the biggest of hugs. “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?” I separated from him and took in his grinning visage. He had grown up quite a lot since the last time I saw him, and now was standing taller than me. (I hate him for that.) His blonde hair was untamed, and his blue eyes were barely visible behind his thick glasses.

“And since when did you get glasses?” I asked impatiently.

“Calm down, son,” Dad walked in behind Evan, dragging a suitcase, probably Evan’s. “At least let the boy talk.”

I could only nod sheepishly.

“Mom and Dad are busy this summer,” Evan explained. “They have this huge merger deal coming, for which they have to go to Boston. My options were to either go with them, which would be so boring when they would be working all the time, or to go live with my cousin Jimmy and his parents. I asked to come here instead.”

“You made the right decision,” I announced loudly.

“Did he?” Mum asked pointedly, cutting in our conversation. “You barely have time for us. How will you make time for Evan?”

And that’s when the reality dawned on me. I really didn’t have time. If I could go back in time, I would think twice about taking up this musical so soon. Except for a month-long holiday last year, I have been working non-stop for the last two years. It seemed like forever ago when all I had to worry about was a class assignment or something else mundane like that, and strangely, I missed some of that.

“Don’t worry, Kathy,” Dad said. “We ARE going on a vacation.” Before I could argue, he raised a hand to silence me, “No arguments. I’m the producer of the show legally. You’re just the indirect financier. If I pull the plug right now, you won’t be able to do anything.”

I hated being a kid sometimes.

“What do you have in mind then?” I asked reluctantly.

“We are going to the Bahamas,” He announced jovially. “Just for 10 or so days. I have already talked to Daldry about it.”

That made some things click in my mind suddenly.

“That’s why he and Peter have been pushing me so hard these past few weeks!?” I asked incredulously. “Assholes.”

“Hey, language!” Mum rebuked me gently which surprised me for a moment until I saw her giving a pointed look in Evan’s direction.

“Fine,” I relented. “Since you have everything planned already, when do we depart?”

“In two days,” Dad announced. “I have booked a private jet for us, so we won’t have any trouble from your fans while getting there. Now why don’t you take Evan to his room and get settled?”

And that brought me back to my friend who awkwardly listened to our conversation as an outsider.

“Come on, Evan,” I took his luggage from Dad and dragged it towards my room. “You can take the room opposite mine.”

“Woah,” Evan said in amazement. “You have a separate room for me?” I could see him taking in the interiors of the extravagant house my parents had bought. I would have preferred something simpler if I could, but I understood their reasons as well. What’s the point of all this money if you’re reluctant to spend it?

As we reached the said room, I said, “All we have in this house are rooms and more rooms. Keeps the cleaning staff quite busy all day long. Don’t think too much about it. Just put your stuff in some corner, and let’s go to my room. I have all the latest video games, and we can talk about things while playing. I bet I could beat you in Super Smash Bros.”

“You’re on!” He grinned as we raced to our destination.

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