Bab 264: Chapitre 264: Excusez-moi, monsieur.
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[Edward POV]
Standing in front of a Victorian-Era royalty type tea room, with an oil painting– actually printed, of Robert Downey Jr. in the background, posing with his cane, top hat, and twirly mustaches, I gently placed the painting into an old era frame as I prepare myself to place it on the wall.
The tea room was elaborately decorated, with plush, velvet-upholstered furniture arranged around a large wooden table. Delicate china teacups and saucers were set out, along with a silver tea service.
The walls were painted in dark, carved wood, and a large, ornate fireplace dominated one end of the room, with a fake fire made of paper dancing from the wind hose placed beneath them. Its mantle was adorned with intricate, gilt-framed mirrors and porcelain figurines.
An extra actor was standing by in his butler suit, seemingly blending into the set setting. The old gentleman wore a monocle, looking charismatic as he practiced his routine.
However, there were also a few things that were out of sorts from the setting on the set next door, like a full size superhero costume– an original design, with the name 'Kid-Vengence' plastered on the podium the costume was standing on, inside a dim lit BatCave rip off set.
All of it was part of the music video I had planned on a whim, but managed to cost the company around 200,000 dollars in production cost, and a full assemble of production staff working together to bring my vision to life.
Rewind a few minutes back, when I was getting ready to pick the image– which I previously decided on an older version of myself, using AI to age myself into a 50-year-old man rich man. RDJ called me before I could proceed to ask if I had some free time to meet with Kevin Feige and Jon Favreau for an important discussion.
I told him about the music video production and mentioned my aged self as a joke, which made him insist on getting him to be on there instead. He already had the picture ready– for whatever reason, and he even signed a release form for me to use his image in the video. Since he was so excited about it, I just gave in and let him do that.
Biting a nail in my mouth, I hammered the painting to the wall gently as the set was made from plywood basically. "Are all the cast here yet?" I asked after finishing the set preparation for the music video
Renaldo said, "The two main leads are here. They are getting fitted into the suit. But the 'Princesses' aren't yet."
"EDDDDDDDD~~~~" A familiar voice shouted, interrupting Renaldo's words. I didn't even have to turn back to know whose voice that was. That kind of excitement and energy could only come from one person– the little wolf fanatic.
Enid, Jenna and Elsa visited the set together. Enid rushed towards me and tackled me from behind– which in its own way, was my own fault for not turning back fast enough as I was making sure that the frame was level. I was pushed forward and hit my forehead on the painting's wooden frame.
Enid was shocked and released me immediately, "Oh my god! I'm so sorry!"
Rubbing my sore head, I replied, "It's fine. I wasn't hit hard."
Renaldo grabbed my head and scrutinized my forehead in detail before finally breathing in relief. He turned to Enid and scolded her, "You need to be careful! He's a precious asset! We cannot have anything happen to his face!"
"Got it! I'll make sure to do it again only when it's safe!" Enid nodded and agreed to Renaldo obediently.
"Oi." I retorted as I heard her sentence. Jenna giggled as she approached us together with Elsa.
"Why do you call us here?" Elsa asked.
"Wow, directly to the topic huh?" I teased before explaining, "I need a few more actresses for my music video. You guys in?"
Enid and Elsa were excited. "Totally!" Both of them replied at the same time. Jenna acted a bit hesitant and asked, "I can keep my clothes on, right?"
I looked at her weirdly, "Of course you're keeping your clothes on. What kind of music video do you think I want to do?"
She teased, "I don't know what kind of things you are into nowadays~ Are– Um, you know we're not actresses, right?"
Enid slapped Jenna's arm and said, "Who cares? He's pretty desperate. We can ask anything we want if we do this as a favor to him."
Flabbergasted, I said, "I've never said that–"
Elsa added to Enid's sentence, ignoring my retort, "He could pay us a lot! I want a million dollars!"
"The basic pay for extras is just around 500 bucks. I can do a thousand for each of you." I negotiated.
"1 thousand dollars, and we can keep some props." Enid offered.
"Sure. Just don't take my used underwear and sell it to Ebay." I joked as I patted Enid's head.
Elsa rolled her eyes and said, "Isn't he desperate? We can demand a lot more Enid! Don't get weak hearted now!"
"But look at his face! I can't bear to turn that smile upside down!" Enid said as she touched my chin.
Both Jenna and I looked at her with disbelief before Jenna turned towards me and asked, "Then, if Enid got a prop, can I ask for something else?"
"Depends on what you're asking." I smirked as I looked into her eyes, which made her flustered. "I'll think about what I want to ask first before telling you." She said with a mischievous grin.
…
The recording started quickly. Luke, wearing a retro baroque wig– white hair with curls and a long ponytail, sat in front of Manny who wore a monocle and a top hat, both wearing a classy tuxedo, trying to one up each other about how rich they are in their conversation.
"Last week I was so bored, I bought 200 Lego sets. It didn't help, so I called the Lego company itself, and made them build me a giant Lego Castle in Norway." Manny said as he smoked his fake pipe.
Luke nodded before he said, "Last week, I was so bored, I bought the LEGO company."
On the side of the set, Enid and I burst into laughter hearing that. I checked the script and whispered to Renaldo, "He improvised that. That's good."
Luke scratched his wig, which was tickling him, adding to the authenticity of the skit.
The butler walked in carrying a luxurious bottle of wine. "Pardon me, gentlemen. May I present the most exquisite vintage from the family's private cellar?"
"Why, we most certainly do!" Luke replied poshly.
The butler poured the dark purple liquid into an exquisite glass. "This 1982 offering has been meticulously aged to perfection, developing rich, complex flavors over the decades. The bouquet is simply divine - notes of blackberry, leather, and just a hint of vanilla oak."
Both Manny and Luke sipped on the drink, and then Manny burped the gas out. "This is grape soda." Manny asked with confusion. A real reaction, not an act from him since we didn't tell him anything about the drink.
Luke exclaimed in satisfaction, "Ahh~ I don't know how you do it James. It hits the spot every time."
"My pleasure sir." The butler smiled before leaving the room.
Using a plastic megaphone, I shouted, "CUT! That was great!"
"Really? I thought that I had ruined the scene!" Manny stood up from his seat and rushed towards me with Luke– who didn't break his character yet. "Don't run Sir Manuel Delgado the third! Mind your manners!" Luke scolded Manny.
"Is he going to keep talking like that?" Manny pointed his fighter at Luke, who took it as an insult and took off his gloves, "You've…um…my honor! Take this and duel me!"
" 'Insulted my honor!' You can use that." I helped him.
"Yeah, that." Luke nodded towards me before turning to Manny, "What he said."
He gave Manny his white glove politely, which made me chuckle and said, "Luke, for a duel, you need to slap his face with the glove."
"Oh– Manny give it back!" Luke and Manny fought for the glove to be the one asking for the duel.
While they were fighting, Renaldo whispered to me to ask, "By the way, did their parents know they were filming in this? Without their permission…this entire thing is illegal…you know that, right?"
"I know… They gave their permission, but they still haven't signed the contract yet. Can you ask Harvey to send someone there to do it– Wait, no…Let me do it myself after the shoot."
Enid heard it and giggled, "Hmm, so you can go see her right? Now you have a legal excuse to do so."
"I'm not answering that. Why don't you girls change into your outfit and shoot your scene, then we can move on to another set." I smirked before giving them the orders.
In the next scene being filmed, Enid becomes Luke's date for the fancy dance party. Manny went with Elsa, and Jenna became the big villain being broadcasted in the news, robbing a bank. Then, Luke sneaked away to wear his suit to go and fight the crime being committed.
(I swear I have somewhere to go with this)
"By the way, why did you hire Luke as the main lead?" Manny asked as we watched Luke having fun pretending to slay the bad guys.
"Well he has a certain cuteness to him." I replied to Manny. "And before you say, 'I'm cute too', I meant it like a kid-style cuteness. You're still cute, but you are too mature to react in the way I want." I teased.
Manny said, "I already know that. I'm just asking to know why you hired him instead of an actual actor."
"Ah, I just did that because I have so little time. And Luke is basically born for the stage. It's just that his character sheet was never explored." I replied casually, which made Manny, Renaldo, my dad, Pepper, Harvey, Randall, Staff #1, Staff #2, Staff #3, Elsa and Enid– all confused.
"What the hell is he talking about?" Pepper asked Renaldo in a concerned tone. "I have absolutely no idea about it." Renaldo shook his head in reply.
Manny read the script– or rather, a short music video direction jotted down, and said, "I don't know where you're going to put the fight sequence in the music video."
"After he watched a superhero movie on TV." I replied.
"Won't it be better to do that after he got bullied. It'll show his wish to become a superhero clearer.
Thinking for a bit, it does make sense. "Yes…, who am I to argue with a future big movie director?" I shook my head in defeat, which lifted Manny's mood of not getting picked as the main lead. Even though he acted like it didn't bother him, I knew he had a desire to stand out– even though he has stage fright.
In less than 2 hours of shooting, which included 3 studio set scenes, 2 real life scenes, and one green screen scene, I have all the footage I needed to make the 4 minutes long music video.
"It's done!" I said as I finished editing the video.
"That's fast." Jenna muttered with confusion. Enid and Elsa were excited and couldn't wait for me to play it.
However before I could do that, Luke suddenly asked, "So, the music video is done. Right?"
"Yeah." I replied casually, not thinking much about it, but was surprised when Luke suddenly said, "But I haven't signed anything yet."
"Your mom will be the one to sign– Where are you going with this?" I asked carefully.
Luke suddenly dropped a bomb, "What if, I don't want to act in the music video?"
"What–" Enid froze in shock, as she knew Luke played a major part in the music video. Without him, we would have to reshoot almost the entire video. Jenna grabbed Luke by the collar and threatened him, "What are you talking about you little shit!"
"IF! I SAID IF!" Luke hurriedly defended himself. I chuckled and told everyone else, "Can you leave us alone for a second?"
Despite their unwillingness, all of my friends and the staff members moved away, leaving me to have a private conversation with Luke.
"So, can you explain to me, what do you want to do exactly?" I asked, feeling intrigued by Luke's motives
Luke said, "I don't want you and Haley to fight anymore."
Taken aback, I replied, "We're not fighting–"
"It doesn't matter. I want it to stop and things can go back to normal. Alex and Haley fought all the time! They don't fight when you are around. But now, they fight with each other every day!" Luke expressed his frustration.
"And dad also is pretty sad! Mom can meet with you here, so she doesn't care." Luke added. "So just make up with her!"
"Actually, I haven't met your mom in quite a while." I replied honestly.
Luke's angry face turned confused, "Really?"
I nodded, "Yeah." Leaning in, I patted Luke's head and smiled, "It's nice of you to think about your family. And, can I tell you a secret?"
"What is it?" Luke asked curiously.
I whispered after checking around to see no one was eavesdropping, "I kinda hired you, so that I have an excuse to go see your sister later tonight."
Luke widened his eyes and said, "Wait! We're on the same side?!"
"It seems that way." I chuckled as I leaned back into the chair. Luke's face brightened up and he threw punches into the air to celebrate it. "Woo-Hoo!"
While laughing, I said, "You surprised me Luke. I thought that you were going to demand me a thousand cakes or something."
Luke froze for a bit before he slowly put his arms down, "Wait–"
"But you're actually a pretty nice kid. It made me admire your selflessness a bit."
"Damn it, let me talk!" Luke tried to interject, but I continued, "When things go back to normal, I'll let everyone know about the story." I sat up and walked away after patting him on the shoulder.
"NO! I want cakes! I don't care about Haley anymore! EDWARD!!!" Luke shouted, but I turned a deaf ear to him.
Luke and I were on the same page about ending the current situation, and we have a pretty solid start to that too, until…
"Hey Ed! See here, Claire signed the paper, so we can proceed with it if you want to upload the music video tonight." Pepper said as he waved the contract sheet to my face.
Claire, who was lurking behind the staff members around the set, felt proud of herself for her actions. After all, as a parental figure, she had come to watch over her child, just as the other parents were doing. This was not the set of a Nickelodeon show in that matter.
Jenna's mom, Enid's mom, and Elsa's uncle were all present, discreetly monitoring their children without the kids' knowledge. Even Gloria was there, dressed like a mistress with a scarf on her head and sunglasses, blending in with the surroundings. Although, she also seemed quite like an assassin.
I realized that they were here from the moment the shooting started. Pepper must've brought them here to watch over them– and to avoid legal troubles by making sure of their attendance.
So when Pepper showed me the contract, I grabbed the papers and slowly confirmed that there was indeed a signature on it. "God damn it." I cursed whisperingly.
…
[General POV]
While Judd was watching the music video production from behind the scenes, he texted his wife– Leslie Mann about the plot of the movie, and how he was excited for the project…which was then spread to her close friends… which was then spread to acting agencies, and even the media.
The decision to cast Bryan Cranston, a comedic actor well known for his role as Hal Jordan in Malcolm in the Middle sitcom, as the lead actor in the serious series Breaking Bad, was met with skepticism by the media who were invested in following the growth of Entertain company. But they were still looking forward to seeing how he would play the role.
The same type of support was now being thrown into the company's direction after a renowned actor spoke up positively about their upcoming movie.
A few articles came out in just a short time period. It even came out before Edward finished shooting his music video on the same day. The 'unnamed' movie generated a lot of buzz even before the script was finished.
The casting agents of the company received several calls from talent agencies, trying to get an audition for their actors. Their phones were ringing non-stop for a while, until the potential male lead of the movie received a call from the director himself.
Ryan Gosling, unaware about the buzz generated around the movie, picked up his personal phone to answer the call. "Hello?"
After a thorough convincing by the director, the actor finally responded, "Yeah sure. I'll do it– Wait, I'll take a look at the script with my agent first. Then, I'll do it. But all in all, I'm probably going to do it."
The call arrived at great timing for Ryan as he had no project in line for himself right now. The last project he considered was 'The Lovely Bones', but he has since dropped out from the production because of 'creative differences' with the director.
Before the shooting started, Ryan showed up with an extra 60 pounds, looking really different in his 210 pound body weight (95 kg) due to a misunderstanding about what the character should look like. He had since lost his fats and returned to his fit body shape again.
"Great. You can come to the company tomorrow." The director said.
Ryan was confused, "Tomorrow? You're starting the movie tomorrow?"
"Oh, right. I should've explained it. No, the shoot is going to start soon, but not tomorrow– After Thanksgiving. We'll start recording after Thanksgiving." Judd said, unaware that he made a mistake in the timeline for the shoots.
He continued, "The movie is the company's first movie to be released on the big screen. So they are doing a documentary."
"Ah. I get it. Alright, I'll come tomorrow. Wait– Tell me again what you said in the beginning. I kinda glossed over that, but I want to hear it properly."
"What? Which part?" The director asked, confused.
"You know, the one where you said he asked for me by name?" Ryan said with a chuckle. "Is he a fan of mine?"
"I think so. Yes." Judd replied, even though he wasn't sure about it. It was better for him to appease the actor and make him sign the contract first. If he thought Edward being a fan would help him pick up the pen, the director wouldn't try to correct the assumption.
"I can't wait to meet him." Ryan said with a smile before they ended the call.
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