Aiden hadn't seen Harley in a long time but he knew that he was working extremely hard on his craft, especially because now he was getting more and more roles.
No matter how small or lacking they seem, they were still roles.
Like how only rich people could say 'Money doesn't matter', only established actors could stay without active work. For people like Harley, they need to take whatever comes in their way.
Quality was the best for him right now and maybe because of that, he wasn't really confident that Aiden would like the movie when it began.
The movie was about a chef who was getting out of a toxic marriage and trying to juggle between her career and personal life. While doing that, she meets the male lead who tells her to use her adversity as a way to change things and start his own restaurant.
The long haired guy was playing the male lead. Harley was actually playing the role of her abusive husband.
He had gotten the role because the director thought he looked scary but not too overbearing. A perfect mix of ugly and handsome.
After the movie ended, Harley looked at Aiden, wondering what his expression would be and to his surprise, he looked impressed.
"You like it?"
"The movie is very much a slow burn but it's good. It's rare to see good simple movies in this age. Though, did they just give you a blank script for your role?"
Aiden asked and Harley smiled.
"They didn't but what was given was not much."
"The character looks very one dimensional because of that. Your acting was pretty great as usual but it could be way better if they have made the character more than just a guy who's always angry and violent without any reason."
"Well, the director wanted to focus on the leads only."
Harley shrugged his shoulders and they discussed a bit more till more and more started to approach him. Especially the director and the main actors.
They seemed eager to impress Aiden and although he was able to see through them, he still tried to talk to them nicely.
After all, it was way better to leave a good impression than a bad one. He had also liked the movie.
Knowing that it would be difficult to leave the longer he stayed, Aiden excused himself and left with Harley in his car who also didn't want to be there.
The production team for the movie didn't need him for the marketing, so he doubted he would wear them again anyway. Both of them decided to head to a restaurant to talk in peace.
Aiden had noticed that Harley was progressing extremely fast in his acting skill and he was curious as to how he was doing it. Was it just talent? Or something else? Aiden wanted more insight about it.
But when they were in the car, Harley suddenly saw the scripts that were in the backseat of the car.
"Are they screenplays for movies? Why are they here?"
"Well, I am reading a lot of them right now and I keep a copy in a car, so I can go through them when stuck in traffic."
"Can I read them?"
Aiden nodded as he took a turn.
Harley picked out one of the scripts randomly and took a deep breath, like he was trying to smell their scent. People would often do that for novels but it was the first time Aiden had seen someone do it for a script.
"It's fresh."
He muttered and turned a page of it. Silence hung in the car after that as Harley just focused on the script, reading each page with too much focus.
It was akin to a warrior focusing on his sword training. At least Aiden got that image in his mind seeing him like this.
"Are you going to do this movie?"
"No, I won't."
"That's a bummer. It's very interesting."
Harley said and Aiden looked at him with a bit of confusion. His eyes turned towards the title that was written on the front of the script.
It was called [Sword Ghosts], an action movie about an American finding himself in the ancient period of Japan. It was a pretty, fun premise and the Japanese history in it was on point as the writer had lived there for a long time.
But Aiden had rejected it because the director's previous movies had not worked. Even though he was an action director, the action in his movies always seemed lacking.
"The premise is interesting but the director isn't really great. I rejected it because of that. I don't think he would have great ideas to add and implement in the script."
Aiden said as a matter of fact.
"The meeting with the director didn't satisfy you."
"I didn't have a meeting with him."
"Then, how do you know if his ideas won't satisfy you?"
Harley asked a very simple question. A genuine question that came in his mind and Aiden wasn't able to answer it.
He stopped the car on the side of the road and looked at him.
"Why did you stop the car? Did I say anything wrong?"
"No, it's just that your words reminded me of someone."
Harley's question had immediately reminded him of what Wade had told him. That he was being too critical of everything.
At that time, Aiden had just ignored it but now that Harley had said something along the same wavelength, he wondered if that was really the case.
"Tell me one thing." Aiden asked after thinking for a bit.
"Would you do that movie if someone offered you the lead role?"
"Obviously. I will be an idiot if I don't. I will even do it for free."
"Now, let me add to that question. What if you became an A-lister and someone offered you this movie? Then, will you do it?"
Harley just thought about the question for a moment. He could guess that Aiden was trying to achieve something by asking him these questions but he didn't know what.
Still, he kept going.
"I probably will." He said after a while. "I mean I don't know how it is to feel like an A-lister but this is a good script. I like the idea. I will probably do it."
"Even if the movie fails at the box office."
Aiden asked and Harley looked at him strangely before laughing.
"I don't think it's my job to worry about that. My job is acting and making sure the movie is in its best possible shape. Yes, there's a responsibility as movies need to work because producers sell it on actors and directors. But I feel like there's just too many factors that make a movie successful. There's no fixed formula in the industry for a reason."
Aiden took in all those words and blinked his eyes.
"So it's fine even if a movie flopped?"
"Well, it's never fine." He smiled. "As an actor, you want every movie of yours to work no matter what role you are doing. There's a connection with the movie but it's just not realistic enough. I feel like we should not think about the box office. At least I won't even if I become an A-lister."
Aiden gulped his saliva hearing that. Every second, he felt like a layer inside of him was breaking. It was hard to explain but he felt like he was going to make a grave mistake and Harley's words were just making him realise that.
"One last question."
"Ask."
"Your movie flopped and you again slid down from the A-list. Will you accept something like that?"
This was a major fear of Aiden when he was going through projects for his next work. The fear of failing.
"That would be very unfortunate." Harley muttered. "But I sincerely believe that if I did something once, I can do it again and this time, I can do it better. So, I made it to the A-list once, I will do it again if I fall down."
Silence hung in the car for a few minutes as Harley said.
'If I can do it once, I can do it again.'
Aiden repeated those lines in his head several times before he took a deep breath and leaned against his seat.
He felt like something heavy had just been lifted from his heart.
"Thanks."
He said, looking at Harley.
"Why?"
"You kind of helped me out. I was going in a wrong path that would have made me a coward. You helped pull me away from it."
Harley was confused hearing that but he didn't ask further about it. He just made a few guesses in his mind and felt like it was not his place to ask.
Aiden started the car again, a new excitement in his heart. He felt like he should read the scripts in the back of his car again.
This time, with the eyes of an actor and not an A-lister.
