NOVEL FROG Chapter 74.2
Steve felt a little nervous that Barry viewed him so highly. All his major business decisions in the last few years had been influenced by Troy either directly or indirectly, so it felt a little bad taking all the credit for it.
“I have,” he said after a few moments. “Alfonso Cuaron. Of everyone you recommended, I liked his filming style the best. I have talked to him about the film, and he has agreed to shoot parts 3 and 4 back to back, but he has a request to allow him sufficient time for post-production to give us the best film. I don’t have a problem with that.”
Steve didn’t tell Barry that Alfonso was Troy’s choice, but that was the biggest reason for him to select the Mexican over Mike Newell, one of his favorite directors of all time.
“Neither do I,” Barry agreed easily. “I want the best films to come out of Warner under my care. I’ll happily wait a few extra months for them if the quality can be increased that way. We all saw what Peter Jackson did with [Lord of the Rings].”
That was true. Warner Bros was having some of the best years recently, thanks to [Harry Potter] and [Lord of the Rings]. While [LOTR] was produced by New Line Cinema, it was an independent subsidiary of Warner.
“How are you settling in NYC?” Barry asked conversationally, changing the topic away from their business. “Is Broadway back to before 9/11?”
“We’re settling fine, but Broadway is not so good,” Steve grimaced. “Unfortunately, I had booked the theater for three months before the attacks happened. And now we’re stuck with it. New York’s tourism is at an all-time low. People are scared to come here, despite reassurances from government agencies. This is the worst time to begin any new show here.”
“I’m sure it will do fine,” Barry reassured, but it didn’t assuage Steve’s worries.
(Break)
After performing on the West End for so long, Broadway wasn’t that different for me. The only noticeable change here was that I had to tweak my speech a little to dial down the Northern British accent to a more universal one. While I wanted to maintain the original accent [Billy Elliot] was conceived in, the creative team sat down and concluded that it was better to have a general accent so that Americans would accept it more easily. The ten preview shows we held were received positively enough by the audience that we planned to go forth with using a general accent in the normal shows as well.
It didn’t take me long to get engrossed in the production. My schedule was quite the same, with Sunday evenings and Mondays free, and I had to perform eight shows a week. I felt a little bad that my whole family had to move to New York for my career ambitions. It didn’t help that it hadn’t been even half a year since 9/11 happened. The city had changed drastically after that date. The property prices fell sharply in the New York area, a fact that my father used to purchase a lavish penthouse duplex in Lower Manhattan—the place we were staying at for the moment. I also convinced Dad to invest long-term in some stocks that reached their lowest points after the attacks, but that’s a story for some other time.
A loud bark broke me out of my reverie as my new loyal dog rubbed his fur against my leg. I bent down and scooped him in my arms.
“Hey Loki,” I rubbed his head right between his ears, just as he likes. He closed his bright blue eyes in bliss and let out a moan. I melted right then and there seeing him act like a kitten in my hands. Suddenly, I looked up and saw that Loki and I weren’t alone in the living room as I had expected. Evan was standing in a corner of the room, trying to hide himself from us. All the while, Dad’s video camera was in his hands, and he was recording me.
“What are you doing, Evan?” I asked him, a little bit of irritation leaking out in my voice. “Are you trying to become a paparazzi?”
“You saw me, huh?” he said sheepishly as he walked towards me, still holding the camera. “I talked to Steve the other day, and he asked me if I wanted a dog of my own as well so I wouldn’t feel alone when you have Loki.”
“What does that have to do with anything?” I asked in confusion.
“I said no,” he replied. “I don’t want a dog. Instead, I asked him to help me be a filmmaker as a gift.”
I sat there surprised for a good few moments. It was only the barking of Loki that made me realize that I had stopped stroking his fur, and my hand must be putting a lot of weight on his tiny head. I removed my hand from him and dropped him to the floor before turning to my adoptive brother.
“Why?” I asked him. “I mean, you never told me this before. I thought you wanted to be a painter or something.”
“I did,” he agreed. “I still do. It’s just that… I like movies. Steve told me a few days ago that today if you want to be a good filmmaker, you don’t need to go to a film school. Rather, you can go to a good art or design school to help you learn color and shot composition. Then I remembered when you told me how you asked him for acting lessons, so I thought I could ask him for directing lessons as well. He gave me this camcorder and said that I need to use it to show him that I can take some good videos. Based on that, he’ll decide how to proceed with my education.”
“So you decided to film me without my permission?”
Evan shook his head and presented me with the camcorder. “See for yourself.”
I gingerly took the camera from him and played the last video that he had recorded from the beginning. In the video, it was quite evident that the cameraman was trying to stay hidden while following the object of his desire: Loki on the terrace adjoining our apartment. I saw Loki eating his meal, drinking water, then running around in circles chasing his tail, before running inside the apartment proper and approaching me. The video showed me thinking about something before petting my dog and then finally noticing Evan.
“See?” he said smugly. “Just because you’re a big film star doesn’t mean every person out there wants to take just your photo. Loki is a bigger star for me. Aren’t you, boy?” He bent down while addressing Loki, who barked happily at receiving the attention and ran a circle around Evan before sitting beside him.
I felt a little guilty for assuming the worst about Evan, but it made sense in a way. Although he never outright said it, he implied that his parents had tried to influence him to become a lawyer, just like them. But he always wanted to become an artist. Now that he lives with a family of artists, he would naturally gravitate towards the art that the majority of them are practicing.
The only part about this situation that I didn’t like was that he never once told me that he wanted to try filmmaking.
But now that I know about it, I can’t remain passive any longer. I nodded to myself with determination before turning to Evan. “Okay,” I said. “I’ll help you become a director.”
Evan’s eyes widened marginally as he asked, “What do you mean by that?”
“We’ll help each other,” I said confidently. “Just like Dad and I used to practice acting. We’ll take a scene from a film that we both love. You’ll direct and shoot the scene, while I’ll act. You have to tell me how to do it and where I fumbled. What do you say?”
Evan’s grin was so bright it could light up a Christmas tree. “Let’s do it!”