By the end of March, [Black Saints] had already crossed the 110 million dollar mark and although it had slowed down at the box office as a lot of people had already watched it, the numbers daily were still really good.
As for Aiden, everyday, there was a lot of work for him to do, but he had also started thinking of his next project.
Everyday, Wade and him were discussing a lot of plans. One of them was even Aiden starting to work on his album but in the end, both of them thought that it was too soon for him and he should get a bit more popularity first.
In the end, they decided to go for another acting project.
"So, we don't really have a lot of choices. I don't really think you should do another villain role but most of the scripts we got are like that. Either a very serious role or just straight out bad guy."
Wade said, sipping down on his coffee with a frowning face. It was getting more and more difficult for them to pin down a movie to audition for.
But it was also a sign of success.
Before Aiden was going for any movie he could get his hands on, trying to not be out of work, but now he could take his time and only do projects that he's confident in and would actually help his career.
In Wade's words, he had grown from a golden worm to a golden worm with wings.
"So, what plan do you have?"
Aiden asked. There was no other reason for Wade to call him here early in the morning if he just wanted to say that he didn't have a plan.
"Well, I got a script for you yesterday." Wade smiled.
"Genre?"
"Romantic comedy."
Aiden felt a bit surprised hearing that. A studio was crazy enough to offer the guy who just played a crazy villain a romantic comedy? He felt like it was very interesting.
"How's the script and which studio is it from?"
"I read it a bit last night. The first 20 pages are pretty great. Funny at parts and obviously very emotional." Wade said, then paused for a bit. "And it's from someone you actually know."
"Who?"
"Leo Shaw. I think you worked with him in [Shadows of War]."
Aiden's eyes widened hearing that. He hadn't heard from Leo in a while but he still remembered what he said during the car ride when he was leaving Australia.
'I'm writing a script. A romantic comedy. I think you will fit very well as the male lead.'
Back then, Aiden hadn't thought that Leo would actually cast him in his movie as these types of promises are made on a daily basis in Hollywood but rarely, people stay true to their words.
"The role? Is it the male lead?" Aiden raised an eyebrow and asked.
"How do you know? Don't tell me Leo called you already about it?"
"No, he just told me once that he would cast me in his romantic comedy as a lead. Anyway, a romantic comedy sounds like a change of pace finally."
Aiden said with a smile.
If he kept doing serious roles, people would surely start taking him as that type of actor and no fun, commercial roles would be offered to him. He would become an actor with movies that would only work in award shows and film festivals.
Kai was someone with subtle seriousness to him but he was also a character that would resonate with the masses.
Now that Aiden was over him, he truly wanted to try out a comedy or romance movie.
"Yeah, it is. The movie's picked up by Night Hawk studios. You probably know about them. Their movie [A day in the Life of Jonathan] clashed with [Shadow of Wars] at the box office. It failed but it seems like they are still trying to go the romantic comedy route. They must be very confident in the script as there are a lot of rumours that they are desperate for success."
Aiden nodded his head, thinking of the headlines he had seen on tabloids some months ago.
Night Hawk studios used to be a very big studio, capable of even competing with something like Zero International. They had everything right going for them, even getting subsidiaries like a talent agency and animation studio.
But a few years ago, the chairman of the studio had died and the management had shifted completely. His sons weren't able to properly manage the whole studio and a lot of producers made their own cliques.
Because of all this, the internal management of the studio was a mess and the studio was in desperate need for stability.
'They have a couple of flops this year already. But even if they are down, they have a great control of the distribution channels in America and even overseas. Doing a movie with them is largely thought to be a safe choice still as at least the movie would be promoted enough to be in everyone's eyes.'
Aiden made an assessment in his mind and looked at Wade.
"I think it's a pretty good choice. Not a lot of risk and if the movie is good, it might become a sleeper hit."
"That's what I'm hoping for. Though you can't guarantee anything in this industry. And as you are offered the lead and the director is also new, the whole movie would be on your shoulders. If it does well, it's fine but…"
Wade trailed off in his sentence and it was very evident what he was trying to say. Aiden's career was currently on a straight road but if the movie failed, it was as good as falling in a hole that was on the road.
It would take a long time for him to get out of the hole.
"Everything has risk in this industry." Aiden said and Wade smiled.
"It's good that you know it. Anyway, let's not get ahead of ourselves. First thing would be to get the role and sign the contract. The director already likes you, so you have a high chance of securing the role."
"Have you gotten the script yet?"
Aiden raised an eyebrow and without saying anything, Wade pulled out a script from a bag. He passed it to Aiden who read out the name of the movie.
[30 days of Happiness.]
Reading out the name, he decided to check the script score.
[Name: 30 days of Happiness
Script score: 45/100
-The story has a lot of right things going for him in the genre. A solid theme, good plot twist but it fails to make the main character someone flawed. Moreover, It doesn't leave anything for the viewers to comprehend.
-The script score doesn't reflect if the movie would be popular or not.]
As he read out the words written on the system prompt in front of him, Aiden gulped down his saliva. A score of 45 wasn't giving him much hope for the movie.
He even read it out twice just to be sure.
'What should I do now?'
He thought, looking at the script on the table.
***
"Leo, are you really going to be hell bent on casting a rookie actor for the male lead. This is one of the major decisions and it could potentially make it or break it for the movie."
Rodrigo Burke, one of the executive producers working in Night Hawk studios sighed. He and Leo Shaw were currently talking about the casting for [30 days of Happiness] in his office.
Rodrigo's office was filled with awards and posters of movies that he was a part of. It was an indicator of how long he had been working in the industry for.
"I think the movie could benefit from having a fresh face as the lead and Aiden had just done really well as Kai August. You know the movie is still going very well at the box office."
Leo said, being very clear about his ideas. He was wearing a suit with short hair and a clean shaved face, looking very calm and composed.
"I know but [Black Saints] has a whole ensemble cast. No one focused on him before the movie release. Are you really confident that he could carry a whole movie? How about giving him a supporting role. Even I won't object to that."
"I promised him that he would be the lead and I have seen his acting at a close range. He has the ability to give out performances that would stun people and I think he could carry the whole movie. There would be other actors in the movie too and anyway, it's not like the budget is too high that we can't afford a gamble."
Leo gave out his thoughts and Rodrigo stayed silent. He had watched [Black Saints] himself and he knew that Aiden Silvereye has potential.
He was now touted to be a rookie who could make a name for himself going forward.
But Night Hawk studios were planning to make [30 days of Happiness] a packaged deal, which means that they were going to take most of the actors from their talent agency and make more deals with another studio to distribute it.
That way, they would be able to promote their actors and even the risk won't be a lot. With failed projects, Rodrigo was very sensitive about risks.
'It doesn't look like Leo is going to agree with me. Damn these stubborn directors!'
He thought in his mind and couldn't help but frown.
The rights to the script were still in Leo's hand and only a verbal agreement was made. So, he didn't have the level of control that he wanted.
"Okay, let's do an audition first and then decide."
...
