Versatile Superstar: Rise In Hollywood

'Let's get Arthur to have a motivation other than Claire to make him go on the journey with her. Maybe he's in the middle of writing a song and has some kind of artistic block? We could get that as the motivation and soul for the movie.'

'But it isn't a musical?'

'It doesn't have to be, you know. These days, coming of age rom coms lack a lot in the emotional depth of the movie, and a song could definitely help. Music touches the soul more than anything. So let's make the motivation for Arthur to go for the trip a song.'

Leo couldn't help but smile, thinking of his conversation with Aiden.

It had opened up a lot of creativity that was blocked in his mind and given him a new, fresh perception of how he wanted the story to be.

After Aiden's audition, Leo came home and read the script many times and found out that whatever Aiden pointed out was more or less true.

The traits Aiden wanted to expand on regarding Arthur were taken very well by him as he felt they suited the story.

So, he worked hard for the next two days to modify the script.

Giving Arthur more exposure as a musician also meant that Aiden, who was a singer and songwriter, could connect way better with Arthur.

"It's hard for me to see anyone other than him as Arthur now."

Leo thought as he looked at the video playing on his computer. He was currently sitting in his home, reviewing Aiden's audition tape again.

On the computer screen, Aiden was reading a book, with his eyes peeking over to look at the person sitting in front of him. A staff member who was acting as Claire.

[What book are you reading?]

The staff member asked, and Aiden, focusing half-heartedly on the book, couldn't help but fumble and hesitate.

[It's a coming-of-age romance novel about two teenagers who have cancer. It's a pretty good story.]

[Sounds heavy.]

[Not really. It will make you cry, and it will make you laugh. That's what a story does, and as the book fulfils it, it's a good book.]

Aiden said with a shy smile covering his face. That was the character of Arthur, who was a lot shy and insecure but had an innate love for stories.

[You love novels, right? Even in class, you would always be in some kind of book. Do you want to be an author?]

[No, I'm not good enough to be an author, and I just don't love novels. I love any kind of story, and I want to make stories and express them, but writing is not the way I can do it. I tried, tried very hard on it, but it's not for me…]

Leo paused the video as Aiden was in the middle of his sentence. It was because these lines weren't in the scene given to him, and he was improvising a lot on the last sentence to show more of the character of Arthur.

To show the storyteller inside of him. A guy who wants to read and tell stories to the world regardless of form or shape.

'He has improved a lot in the past half-year.'

Leo couldn't help but think about when Aiden first came on the [Shadows of War] set. But, aside from his last scene, none of them particularly stood out.

Even the critics have praised that scene only in the whole role. It was not like his other scenes were bad. They just never stood out compared to the actors he was working with.

The only reason Leo even told him that he would make him the lead in his next was that that one scene kept playing in his mind over and over again.

It was a very impulsive decision back then, but now, he knew it was one of the best decisions of his life.

For him, Arthur Reeves was Aiden Silvereye!

[Do… do… do… do… do… do… do…]

Suddenly, his phone that was plugged into the charger rang. Leo quickly took it in and saw that Rodrigo was calling him.

"Hello, Rodrigo. What happened?"

He picked the phone up and asked, going straight to the point.

"Leo, can you come to my office? I have someone here who wants to meet you."

"Right now?"

"Yeah."

Leo quickly checked the time and saw that it was just evening. He quickly agreed and left his apartment.

'I wonder what Rodrigo wants to talk about. Well, a thousand things going on with a film's production.'

He thought, getting in his car.

***

When Leo reached Rodrigo's office, he saw that there was already someone there talking with Rodrigo happily. Leo recognised the guy that was with him.

He was Harold Wood.

"Mr Wood, I'm a big fan of yours."

Leo said, shaking their head with the blonde-haired, charming guy in front of him. Harold smiled and opened his mouth.

"Thank you, and just call me Harold. I was just talking with Rodrigo about you. I read the script of [30 days of Happiness], and I loved it. I think the story has a lot of potential."

"Thank you. I'm actually in the middle of modifying it a bit."

"Oh, then I would love to read the modified version."

He said, and both of them sat down on the sofa to join Rodrigo. Leo felt things were strange as Rodrigo had suddenly called him to meet with Harold.

It was not like Leo didn't like it. In his time as an assistant director, Rodrigo had talked to many A-listers, but Harold was unfortunately not one of them. But he nevertheless loved the latter's movies and knew he was still one of the young actors firmly established in Hollywood.

Though Harold was in his early 30s, he was considered young by Hollywood standards.

'I don't think he called me just to chat.'

Leo thought, and the next moment, he finally got to know why Harold was here as Rodrigo explained it to him.

"Actually, Harold and I met at a party, and he was looking for a script these days for his next movie. He feels like romantic comedy is the genre where he has a forte, so he wants to get back to it and then, I told him about [30 days of Happiness]."

"Oh." Leo understood what Rodrigo was trying to hint at. "And he liked the script."

Both Harold and Rodrigo nodded at that.

"I liked it more than I thought I would. The idea of a journey all over Europe with fun situations popping here and there is very great. And the reason to go on the journey is very old school but emotional, making it easy for the audience to connect with the story. It's probably the best romantic comedy I have read in a while, and I genuinely want to be a part of it and try out the audition for Arthur Reeves."

Harold said very sincerely. It was strange for an A-lister to act like this, so Leo was clearly able to see that he had loved the script a lot and wanted to be a part of the project.

"I actually wanted to meet you, so I came running to Rodrigo even without telling my agent."

"Yeah, I think Harold would suit Arthur a lot. What do you think, Leo?"

Rodrigo looked at Leo, who hesitated a bit before remembering Aiden's face.

"I'm sorry, but I already have a guy for Arthur in my mind."

As soon as he said that, both the faces of Rodrigo and Harold froze. Rodrigo wasn't able to believe that Leo had said that in front of Harold.

"Is that so? Well, that's disappointing…"

Harold muttered with a deep frown on his face. He was really looking forward to the role, but it seemed like it was not going to work out.

"Wait. Wait, I think it's a misunderstanding." Harold raised an eyebrow at Rodrigo's words. "We just had an audition, and we have not signed any actors yet, so I'm pretty sure we can take your audition, Harold."

At the end of the sentence, Rodrigo gave a hard look at Leo like he was telling him not to ruin a perfect casting. Leo himself didn't know how to make the right decision at the moment.

'Harold means the movie will get great exposure. But I can't get the image of Aiden as Arthur out of my mind.'

He thought, frowning inwardly.

It was a big decision for him here. But, if he was honest, it was the dream of every direction to make his debut with an A-lister and make it a hit. With Harold, there will be a lot of visibility, and the movie could easily earn twice or thrice its budget if it connected with the audience.

But what about Aiden?

He was the lead in his heart, but now he needed to go the other way. Was it right or wrong? Those things were roaming in his mind.

"If it's possible, can I give an audition too? I have actually prepared for the role already."

Harold suddenly said, making Leo get out of his thoughts. Rodrigo was the first to nod his head, and then he looked at Leo.

In the end, Leo sighed.

"Okay. Let's do an audition."

...