The scandal with the press association stayed at the top of entertainment and even overall news for quite a lot. All the people that were accused were bigshots and with all the public against them, even politicians asked for strict action to take place.
A lot of people in the industry always felt like the press association held too much power for no reason. It was not like they were The Academy of Motion pictures.
This incident was bound to dilute a lot of their powers, especially with the resignation of Philips Fraser.
With cases of sexual assault against him, he was truly done for. And nothing could change it.
When the scandal had first started, everyone had thought that Aiden was done for. For a while, even Aiden felt like getting out of this situation would be hard.
But in troublesome situations, his brain would usually run very fast.
Though, it was true that he was one step away from blacklisting himself. If he hadn't hurried off to create an all out attack on the press association, then he would have just gotten the short end of the stick.
The reality was that after the resignation of Philips Fraser, The American Press association had publicly asked him to take back the award and promised him that they would do their best to change the organisation.
This was no doubt them pushing forward a friendly hand. Although Aiden knew that it was more because they wanted to do everything to build their image back from dirt, he still decided to take up the offer.
After all, he was still a part of the industry and didn't want any problems from the association in the future.
He knew very well that the association wasn't going to disband as they are a part of tradition in regards to the golden period of Hollywood.
So, it was better to accept in the long term.
Aside from that, Aiden didn't get nominated for Oscars. Although he did got nominated for a few other awards and even won a few of them.
Actors guild awards, Los Angeles movie awards and even Saturn awards — All of them chose him as the best actor of the year.
It really filled up his trophy cabinet and when he was not busy attending an award ceremony, he was busy in the magazine photoshoots and other interviews.
"What was in your mind when you were going up on the stage on that day?"
A beautiful reporter asked as she crossed her legs in front of him. She was the one that had come from Time magazine to take his interview.
They were currently sitting in a studio and a photo session was going to be held next.
"A lot wasn't on my mind. To be honest, it was Pretty blank. If I could have, I wanted to not come to the ceremony as I just felt like the award was something I should not take. If I hadn't come, what happened would have been avoided."
"That would be unfortunate, don't you think?" The reporter asked and Aiden smiled.
"Well, going by how things turned out, yes. It would have been unfortunate but at that moment, I really felt like it was my last day in Hollywood."
"Are actors normally that scared of Hollywood bigshots?"
A trick question!
Aiden knew that as soon as he heard the first line of the sentence. The woman also made a smile like she was holding his neck with one of her hands.
After all, depending on how he answers it, the context could be anything.
Fortunately, Aiden was already very strong when it came to dealing with those sorts of questions.
"It's not about being scared. Think of it as working in a company, now you aren't going to talk against the company you are working for. The industry is kind of like that. A very big, multinational company. And you only have work in it if people like you. Doing something like what I did could be taken as me going against the industry. It's very simple."
After saying that, he added.
"Moreover, I wouldn't have done what I did if I was really scared. It was more about the consequences that could have been anything."
The reporter noted down a few words and continued on. The interview was pretty long and Aiden really wondered which parts of it would be edited and which ones would make it to the magazine.
After the interview was done, he moved over to the next room where the cameraman was already waiting for him.
For the next two hours, he was asked to make a lot of poses.
Click! Click! Click!
"Can you hold your hand a bit higher?"
"Stand a bit on the back and with a straight face. Don't smile. Just look like you are thinking of something profound."
"Yeah, that pose. Make it again and we're good to go."
After getting barraged by countless white flashes, Aiden was finally able to move out of the studio.
"It's finally done."
He said, getting inside of the car after the photoshoot was over. They were going to send him a copy of the magazine as soon as it got published.
From what the reporter told him, they were expecting quite a nice response due to how popular Aiden had been in the recent past.
"You have 'tired' written all over your face yet you seem like the guy all the girls would be hoping to go home with in a club."
Wade said as he looked at him. Both of them were sitting in the backseat and Tom was driving the car.
"Makeup is a pretty good invention. It makes even a skeleton look good. And I have been feeling it since the week began. It's just not about the whole interview and photoshoot."
"Because of award ceremonies and appearing on magazine covers?" Wade raised an eyebrow.
He was under the impression that those were the easiest things for a celebrity. Award ceremonies are pretty relaxing and depending on your popularity, photoshoot crews treat you like a king.
"Yeah but it's not like I don't like them. They are fine but it's more like I miss the feeling of being on the set. It's been a long time since I was on a set. [The Black Saint] ended almost six months ago."
"True. A lot of time has gone by since then. You have been busy with the release of the movie and then troubles of being an A-lister."
Wade said and thought about it. For some reason, in this business, time goes by too fast if you are sought after. He just realised that he was in his 40s now.
Getting old too fast.
"You are going to take part in the script reading session next week, right? Maybe you will get better then."
Tom said as he looked back from the corner of his eyes. They were currently stuck in traffic.
"Yeah, Olio was excited about it. We have been having constant online conversations these days. It will be nice to meet the cast and crew too."
[Hex] was finally about to start. It was probably the best news for Aiden as he was itching to feel the sensation of immersion again. The feeling of becoming something else. Another person all together.
"Heh, I am going to come with you too that day."
Wade suddenly said and it threw Aiden off for a second. He had mostly been absent from the reading sessions of his past few projects since Tom had taken over.
"Why suddenly?"
"I want to meet Alberto. Producers are mostly there at reading sessions. I want to see his expression."
"Did he do anything?"
Aiden asked and Wade just took out his phone and showed him a few messages.
All of them were from the night the Golden Globes ceremony had taken place.
He read them and it seemed like Alberto was quite happy when Aiden had called out the press association. He had probably thought that he had gotten a reason to get Aiden out of the movie.
[Alberto Dundley: Aiden is out of the movie! Just wait till the press association bans him. He was too arrogant for his own good.]
He read the last message and couldn't help but feel like Alberto had drank expensive wine in happiness that night.
"He's very reactionary."
"That he is." Wade nodded. "He didn't even wait for the whole scandal to die down after all. I'm pretty sure he was already talking with the legal team and Olio about kicking you out. I heard Ava handled him to stay silent but he probably expected you to eventually get banned anyway. It was the opposite in the end."
Hearing that, Aiden nodded.
'He must be fuming right now. I should probably send him the issue of Time and Forbes magazine as a gift when it comes out. He will appreciate it.'
He thought in his mind sarcastically.
"I'm pretty sure he will have an interesting expression on his face next week then."
