An hour after Nathaniel and Maggie leave the studio, a bunch of people gather in a meeting room. The director of the movie, Louis Leterrier was there with two of his assistant directors and one producer. The other five people were Morgan Freeman, Woody Harrelson, Mark Ruffalo, Jesse Eisenberg and Isla Fisher who assisted at the audition earlier that day. They were all currently sitting around a table, looking at the screen put at the end of it.
The screen was showing the performance of all the four actors auditioned for the role this morning. The scene that they were playing was rather short so in little less than five minutes, they had already watched the four individual performances. The producer was the first one to talk after that.
"Well, this is a no brainer, number two it is."
"I agree, he is the best that has come today." The director says, his two assistants nodding even if one of the two appears to nod begrudgingly. She was the assistant who gave the prop to the actor before.
Hearing everybody on the other side, the five actors looked at each other a little bothered. If that conversation had taken place just after the audition, they would have voted for the number two guy without problem but now everything changes. Since talking to Nathaniel, they had a change of heart. Even Jesse, who was very much opposed to him, could not argue that this guy was gifted. Once Nathaniel had left, they had all listened to his music and they all loved it.
"What about number four?" Ask Isla finally.
"What about him?" Inquired the producer. "I don't even know who he is. I have the files of all three of the actors auditioned today except number four. I'm really curious to know who the hell fucked up." He said while pointing at the three files in front of him.
The producer was the one who represented the studio. His job was to make sure that the budget did not get spent on useless things. He was also there to see if a movie could or could not be bankable. If it was not he had the power to shut everything up. He had a good amount of power here but he was still overshadowed by the director who had complete power.
"No one messed up. You don't have a file on him because he never played in a movie before." The director said. "He was especially recommended by our casting director."
"Since when a nobody can randomly take an audition here?" The producer started to get angry.
"That nobody has almost one and a half millions followers on twitter." Supplying Isla with a smirk, she had checked it out earlier today and followed soon after that.
"Really? I never saw him before. What does he do?"
"He's a new singer/musician, his first song got viral already." Mark says.
"Okay, what's going on there? Why are you defending him? We clearly saw the level of his acting skill so why are we even talking about the guy?" The producer asked.
"We talked about it among the five of us and we believe that he could contribute a lot to the movie. He has impressive magic skills, huge presence on screen and once we talked with him we realized he's immensely smart." Woody says.
"Are you all crazy!? The problem is not that he does not have enough experience, he has no experience whatsoever! Do I need to remind you this is a huge production movie, we can't have beginners running around on the set." The producer added forcefully.
"We know that. The movie is going to start filming again next week. We are going to teach everything that he can learn in that time. He would be up to standar when the movie is going to start." Morgan says for the first time.
The producer heard that shut up immediately. Coming from anybody else he would have shot that person down but coming from Morgan Freeman, he couldn't say anything. Even he who was an important person could not go against certain people and Morgan was one of them.
"Are you sure about it? I don't have a problem giving him a chance and I have a good impression of that kid too but what if he can't learn?" The director voiced his opinion on the matter for the first time.
"Do I need to remind you that he was recommended by Jillian Brown?" Woody says, smiling.
"Jillian Brown? Why did you not say it earlier?" The producer asked angrily.
If he was indeed recommended by Jillian, that means the kid had indeed talent. The reputation of Jillian in LA was almost legendary and for good reason. A myriad of famous actors today owe their career to Jillian who noticed their potential and talent and gave them a chance. Her opinion was respected by everyone in Hollywood today, the studio included.
"I was going to, I would not have taken anybody on an audition if it was not for someone who I respect." The director says. "Are you sure of your choice?" He asks the last part to the five actors.
"Yes we are." Morgan says, acting as a spokesperson for the group who nod.
"Well, at least he will be cheap." The producer said with a bitter smile, knowing with the entire cast support and without the director on his side, the battle was over.
Saying that, every actor laughs and even the director smiles a little. That laugh seems ominous to the producer who frowns.
"His agent is Maggie Silver." Mark answered before the guy could ask.
Looking at every face in front of him as a sign of confirmation, he sighed visibly, his shoulder slumping a little.
"F**k me." He finally said.
*****
"You were right Maggie. This burger is really one of the best I have ever eaten." Nathaniel said, after swallowing the first bite of his burger.
After visiting the Hollywood studio they had come here as promised. The entire studio was like a giant city with the decor changing each time you passed a door. It was like a mystical world with magic and fantastic creatures at every corner. Nathaniel loved it and even Maggie who worked in this universe for twenty years was having fun too, taking him everywhere. He understood how well known Maggie truly was when they were stopped a dozen times by director and actors saying hello. She then hastily introduced him, labeling him as a singer/actor, both titles he thought he did not deserve as of now.
He knew better than to try to correct her in front of people and he knew very well that she was just paving a way for the future so he let her say what she wanted. Thanks to her, he did meet Ryan Reynolds, which he found was extremely funny.
"I'm always right, you should know that by now." She said, sounding smug.
"Of course I do." He said, laughing. He was impervious of her arrogance by now and he did admit that she had skill to back that arrogance up.
At that moment they were interrupted by her phone who started ringing. Fishing it out of her purse and looking at the caller ID, she appears surprised for a second before accepting the call.
"Maggie Silver, speaking." She said with her professional, detached voice.
She then starts to respond to the phone with a few 'yes' and 'I understand'. Nathaniel lifted an eyebrow when she said before hanging up 'We will be at the studio in two hours to talk about it' had him really confused.
"Who was that?" Nathaniel asks, curious.
"It was the studio, you got the role." She looked like she did not believe it when saying it.
"What!?" Nathaniel asks, astonished.
"Yeah, the cast fought for you, I've been told. We need to be there in one hour to discuss it. I can't believe it." She said smiling, looking happy.
Nathaniel needed a few seconds to come back from his surprise.
"Glad to see that you are indeed always right." He said. The smile plastered on Maggie's face suddenly fell.