After deciding to make the comic book free for everyone, the marketing team for the movie worked fast and had internal meetings about the decision.
Realising that the decision would actually result in a better interest towards the movie, they went ahead with it.
The reception towards it was as expected — Overwhelmingly Positive.
No one disliked free things, especially a free comic that they could read at their leisure. So, the free comic spreaded fast among fans and even the audience that had no idea of the original novel and the hype around it back in the day.
It also did its work. A lot of people liked the comics. Although there were still people who didn't enjoy it, they couldn't complain as it was free.
The idea of making the hardcopies something that people could get in a fan event also worked extremely well with the collectors and people who were die hard fans of the original novel.
They all wanted to get their hands on it.
While all this was going on, Aiden was still busy in his interviews.
"Olio Fermen is known to be extremely strict on their actors. Do you face anything similar to it during the shoot? It was a very long shoot, so I'm sure you came across a few things."
The reporter asked and Aiden had to think before replying.
This time, he can't even say everything was great on the set and how they were all like a family. Actually, they were like a family but a dysfunctional and toxic family.
Olio was one of the best directors but it was extremely tough to work with him. He wasn't as nice as the person in charge and expected everyone to do everything perfectly.
"I believe every director has a work style of his own. You can't compare one with the other as all of them are different. With Olio, he tries to bring out your best as an actor, so he pushes you a lot. As shooting went on, I got more used to it and my performance actually improved."
Aiden said, giving a very ambiguous answer to the question.
"Can you elaborate?" The reporter pushed on but Aiden simply smiled.
"I think I have said enough."
No matter what the reporter said, Aiden didn't look like he would budge. In the end, the reporter sighed and moved on to the next question.
The whole interview lasted an hour and after that, Aiden was finally able to take a sigh of relief.
It was over and going by the frowning expression of the reporter, Aiden had not given him anything good as a headline.
He would probably get angry at a few interns today just because of that.
"You survived."
Wade came in through the door right after the interview ended.
"Yeah, it was pretty tiring. Do we have better interviews in line?"
"Anything is better than this." Wade said. "Well, I already talked to that guy's superior when you were in the interview. He would make sure everything goes right and there's no trouble. He was scared when I told him that you might not come back for an interview if the guy caused a controversy and even Titan studios might ban them."
He nodded hearing that.
With the scale of [Hex - Part 1], it was normal for a studio to be very protective about any controversy, especially if it comes because of a fake headline. In that case, the studio might even try to take legal action.
No publication wanted something like that.
Although media and studios work together in a cordial partnership, celebrities have filed lawsuits against them in the past.
Studios have done it too.
So, it wasn't unimaginable.
'Well, I doubt there's going to be any major controversy related to me. It's fairly calm these days from what I have seen.'
Aiden thought and stretched his body a bit.
In recent weeks, the only negative thing that ever happened would be Emilia Lander PR, trying to spread rumours about how bad he was to work with and other bad things. Not necessarily about the movie but him.
That was the reason why there were so many negative rumours related to the project.
Sarah and her team have obviously countered it and it was much better now.
But other than that, there was nothing and Aiden was happy about it.
***
The reporter who had just taken Aiden's interview was not pleased with how it had gone. It was one of the rare cases where a celebrity had hardly said anything that could be used to make up a spicy headline.
It was not like he could make up things from his mind either.
He needed to use something from the interview but there was just nothing.
Aiden had been extremely patient during the interview. That's why it had taken so long to conduct it. For each answer, he had taken a while to think of the answer and the reporter couldn't even do anything about it.
Not like he could tell him to say his answer quickly. He didn't want to face a celebrity's temper.
It looked like he had just had to put out a normal article this time related to the interview but he knew that he wouldn't get much views. No one would bother reading a simple article.
People needed spice in their lives after all. They aren't able to leave without it.
The worst thing out of this was that after the interview, his editor had called him in his office.
"Don't write any provocative article about Aiden Silvereye no matter what. We can't take risks this time and he's a rising star, not someone we should be on bad terms with. If you do something that he doesn't like, then you will be in trouble with me."
With that, his fate was sealed.
There was nothing the reporter could do. Or else he would be in trouble. Trouble that he would rather avoid.
Sitting in his office, he just decided to get on with his work and not think about it a lot. After all, it was only going to depress him more.
It was then that his phone suddenly rang.
He picked it up and a sharp voice came out from the other side.
"Hello, I'm speaking from SGA, I'm the assistant of Franco Li."
"Yes? What do you need?"
The man sat up straight and asked. SGA and Franco Li weren't ordinary names in the industry. If his assistant was calling him, there was definitely something important.
"We were hoping that you could come to our office for an interview."
"With who."
"You will know when you get here."
"Ah, I need to know more about it before conducting an interview. It's not as easy as you think."
Hearing that, the voice on the other side of the phone clicked his tongue.
"You don't have to conduct a normal interview. It's an interview to break out a scandal."
"A scandal?" The reporter raised an eyebrow, becoming more interested in it suddenly.
"Yes, a scandal that would probably become the most heated topic in Hollywood. Something that will make you famous if you help break this news."
"Can you tell me who is involved in this scandal?"
That was the only question the man had now. Depending on who was involved and what the scandal was about, the interest from the common public will vary.
"Aiden Silvereye."
Hearing that, the reporter widened his eyes and a grin appeared on his face instantly.
"I'm coming right away!"
***
Two days later.
"The shooting is finally done."
Aiden said as he sipped from his coffee tea. He was currently standing in the lounge area on the sets of a talk show. It was a small Zetflix talk show that airs every week and it was quite popular and unique in its style of news reporting.
He had been shooting it since the day and it had all ended well. After the shoot, he was now sipping tea with Tom.
"You did well today. The host seemed impressed."
"I think he's impressed by everyone. He gives off that professional diplomatic vibe."
Aiden said and just talked like that with Tom. He was done with today's work and there was nothing else to do.
It was then that he noticed something weird.
Someone was staring at him. He looked around and found that a guy was glancing at him while looking at his phone. Aiden found it weird as the guy was a staff member who won't be surprised with him here today.
But then, the gazes in the lounge area increased. From one to two to four and like that, Aiden felt like everyone was looking at him.
"What's going on?"
He muttered and even Tom noticed that there was something wrong.
It was then that a staff member came forward with his phone in his hand. He looked shocked like he had seen a ghost.
"You should see this."
"What happened?"
"You are accused of harassment!"
The man said as he shoved his phone's screen towards Aiden's face.
