When Wade heard about the movie that Omar was producing, he had a thoughtful expression on his face. The movie seemed interesting enough for him to not outright tell Aiden to focus more on acquiring the Agnas bipoc.
For the time being, Wade told Aiden to go through the script to see if the storyline was good enough. And Aiden did just that.
He went through the whole script and he had to say that the movie was certainly very unique in the stances that it tries to take.
At a glance, it was about a teenage guy, entering a school that is meant to educate children to fit into society. Certainly not a nice place and it's ruled by characters that you won't find in the outer world.
Then, a conquest for the top position in school starts with one fight after another. In the script, there was every type of action scene that would be possible in such a setting.
There was even one particular scene which was just a brawler in a classroom.
By just this, the script looked like something that you found on top of the pile of rejected scripts that aren't good enough to become movies.
But the subtle themes were very clear when Aiden read it a second time.
One of them was about how society expects people to fill in a role when the true nature of a man was much different, making one oppressed by just living in the man made jungle.
This was made clear just in the opening of the script where the main character enters the school and another character tells him that the rules of the outside world don't apply here and he won't survive if he tries to fit in.
Like that, there were several subtle themes throughout the script, all in between fights that you would rarely see in the market of oversaturated action movies where nothing was original and everything looked repetitive.
'I like it. I want to do it.'
That was the first thought in Aiden's mind after going through the script. It felt like the script was perfect for his next movie, the story that he was looking to do.
Something different. Something fresh. Something that no one has tried before.
He did understand the risk but Aiden knew how to play with fire after constantly being on the edge in Hollywood. One might even call him an adrenaline junkie.
After finally getting a stable place in Hollywood, he was taking a risk, ignoring so many projects that were right up in his comfort zone.
But that was the way forward for Aiden.
A career that has something different at every step until he achieves his goal. Cinema was known to have big boundaries but there would always be people who would try to push on those boundaries to make it even bigger.
So, just on the next day, Wade talked to Omar and scheduled a meeting with the director and other important people related to the project.
***
'He looks very shabby.'
That was the first impression of Aiden when he saw Asano Mercer, a Japanese American director. He had seen his photos in a few events before and compared to that, he looked like he hadn't even taken a bath before coming here.
Wade was also surprised but he didn't show anything on his face.
Long, messy hair and glasses — Those attributes were sticking out.
"Asano Mercer, I have heard a lot about you, young man."
Asano said in an American accent, his eyes scanning Aiden from top to bottom.
"Aiden Silvereye. I'm a big fan of your work."
"You should be." Asano smiled in an arrogant tone but Aiden didn't mind. Directors lived and died with ego.
Omar introduced him to other people. A few of them were employees of his production company, Green movies. General manager, production assistant and people like that.
There were also people from the crew that had worked in every movie that Asano had directed.
After getting a hang of everyone's name, the meeting started and just the first statement by Asano was something that stupefied Aiden.
"You do know that starring in a movie like this might mean a lot of outage? It's a movie that would get a lot of hate for a lot of reasons. People would call it toxic, would say that it's glorifying delinquents and it's something that would create a lot of conversations around it. You know that, right?"
"I'm aware." Aiden said and Asano couldn't keep the smile away from his face.
"Then I'm curious. Why did you select it? Actors are always conscious about what type of movie they are into. This movie was actually rejected by two actors that are very well known just because they didn't want to get into any controversy."
Why did he select it?
There was no complicated answer to it. Aiden knew about the chance of a controversy. This was a movie better made in the 2000s when there was less internet.
Back then, people weren't able to be too vocal about anything until it was something big. Now, everything was just blown out of proportion because a lot of people didn't have anything better to do.
"I selected it because I felt like it's a good movie. People would enjoy it when they watch it."
"Just because of that?"
"I don't think it's trying to show something that's not true."
Asano seemed satisfied by that answer as he nodded his head. But the discussion hadn't ended yet.
Aiden expected that Asano was going to ask him more about the character and his analysis of it.
But every question about him was very different.
Rather than asking about Aiden's analysis of the character and the plot, Asano focused more on asking about whether he smoked or whether he knew any martial arts. At the same time, he also asked if Aiden was comfortable in action scenes.
It seemed like he was expecting the main lead to do every action scene himself.
As the talk went on, there were various things that were discussed but the topic of Aiden's character or the plot never came up.
It was certain by this point that Asano had an unique way of working.
"By the way, we have a request."
Wade looked for an opportunity when everything was going well. Omar looked at him and asked.
"If it's possible, we were hoping that the shooting could end as soon as possible. Probably in a month and a half. We have our reasons."
He was saying that due to the movie on Agnas. The audition for it was already locked and Aiden had been given a small part of the script to prepare.
It was going to happen in three weeks as the crew was looking through other actors and also casting for the supporting roles.
Omar was about to agree when Asano suddenly opened his mouth.
"Are you already assuming that Aiden has gotten the role?"
The atmosphere cooled in an instant.
Employees started glancing at each other and Wade blinked his eyes, realising that he was too early to ask something like this. He had just taken his chance as with Omar, it was mostly confirmed that Aiden would get the role.
Even Asano seemed to like Aiden but he had messed up.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that." He quickly said but Asano waved his hand around as a calm smile appeared on his face.
"No need to be so stiff. I am not angry." Wade took a sigh of relief. Omar looked a bit more relaxed too. Asano turned to Aiden. "Though, Aiden still hasn't gotten the role and that's true."
"I am ready to give an audition."
Aiden tried to say but Asano shook his head.
"The role doesn't need an audition. At least not the main role. Moreover, I have seen your works. You are good. One gets an eye for a good actor after several years in the industry and my eye tells you that you are good."
"Then, how do I get the role?" Aiden raised an eyebrow. Asano words were very confusing. Even others in the room didn't know what to expect from him anymore.
"In my eyes, the main characteristic of Ray isn't his emotions but his attitude. He's the guy who everyone would look at when he enters the room. He's someone who doesn't mind taking on 50 people at the same time. He's reckless but he has an attitude." Asano said. "Let's have another meeting in three days. If you show me that attitude that I envision in Ray, then you get the role."
Saying that, he glanced at Aiden's hair and opened his mouth again.
"One piece of advice for you. Don't cut your hair. Ray has long hair that he puts in a ponytail from time to time. Oh yes!"
He turned towards Wade.
"Yeah?" He asked.
"If Aiden gets the role, I don't mind finishing up the movie in a month. I like finishing up my movies on time."
The meeting ended after that.
Asano hadn't really asked for an audition but he had given Aiden a challenge.
A challenge to see whether he had that factor that would attract people to look towards him. That inbuilt charisma and can he really project it like the main character Ray.
It was something new for Aiden.
But when the meeting ended, he didn't seem to be in a dilemma. Contrary to that, he was smiling.
Aiden was someone who loved challenges.
...
