DISCLAIMER & AUTHOR'S NOTE: The following story is a complete work of fiction. any resemblance to actual people, places or bussinesses is purely coincidental and should be viewed as such. This story is written and published for entertainment purposes only. copyrights exclusively owned by me.
This story is the culmination of 15 years of trying, refining and starting again. Certain parts of this story might seem familiar to avid readers of the site. I did resurect certain themes and characters from previous stories published on this site years ago. No stealing or copying going on...if anything seems familiar to an older story on this site, it's because i wrote that one too!
Hope you enjoy this story! Kevin Thylacine
En Algun Lugar. Chapter 1/1:
Paul let out an annoyed sigh as he counted the seconds passing by, one after the other. His fingers tapping a beat of frustration on the worn out binder he was holding. Even though he knew its content blindly he flipped through the pages and pictures inside in an attempt to escape the boredom so inherent to the audition process. As his eyes casually scanned the fragments and clippings of his professional life, carefully arranged in his portfolio, he felt like a merchant. A salesman about to make a pitch, offering his life's story at discount bargain. Strange eyes would offer it a courteous look but nothing more. They knew who he was. His name had become one of his biggest assets in this stage of his career. Chances were they had already made up their minds about him. Yet the door stayed closed and the waiting continued. Always the waiting. Another second, another heartbeat, another breath.
The pictures he was now shuffling like a familiar deck of cards told his story. At least parts of it. The early stage performances with a company up North that gave him his first break into the acting business, now more than a few years ago. "My boy, you are the spirit incarnate of Thybalt!" the director had flamboyantly congratulated him after opening night. "Boy, this shall not excuse the injuries that thou hast done me; therefore draw." He murmured as he continued to trace back through the steps of his vocation. "I still know the lines by hard" he thought. The strange, but critically acclaimed, art house films; the Sundance film festival; his various stints in Hollywood scoring a few supporting roles in various mainstream blockbusters; what a weird winding road it had been. All those unrelated, yet interlocking, moments that had brought him to wherever he was in life. All in the past now. He smirked at the idea of having a past at age 24, only 24. It seemed to him like the notion of having a past somehow ran contrary to the promise of having a future. "Structure boys! Always structure! Introduction...conflict...climax and resolution. That's how we create drama!" Another shimmer of memory. Mr. Syphean, the drama teacher who treated life like a math problem. Paul had never liked him back then but now wondered whatever became of him.
Still the door was closed and remained closed. Why did he even bother to be punctual? These things always ran over schedule. He counted it a blessing he was at a point in his career where he would be invited to selected auditions rather than spending half a day waiting in a room full of every second grade drama student and their mother. Unrealistic expectations on parade. Dreams ready to be crushed or resolve only to be hardened, depending on the character of those characters. The binder in his hands a silent testament to his hardened resolve. Those years in the grinding mill had turned sand into rock.
At long last the door opened. A scruffy young man with a disappointed composure walked out of the room, a binder casually held with one hand. Paul recognized his face but didn't remember when or where. The youth headed straight to the large glass front door of the building and out into the street. Shattered dreams or hardened resolve? Paul wondered. The young man was followed by a slightly older looking man. Perfect haircut, designer glasses, stylish blazer over blue jeans...no tie though. Definitely the one responsible for the boy's demeanor. Paul was an observer. "You can't read people, but the cover might give you some clues to the content of the book" someone told him once. "Your eyes can serve you well, if you know how to use them."
He stood up as the man approached him extending his hand. "Thank you for coming, Paul" the man said as they shook hands."I'm Peter; we spoke on the phone several times." "Nice to meet you in person" Paul replied. They had spoken on the phone a few times discussing the project and Paul's possible involvement in it. The mental picture he had constructed during those conversations in no way resembled the man standing before him. He had imagined somebody much older, someone more stern looking. Peter had a flair of casual nonchalance in his mannerisms that made him instantly likeable to Paul. "Looks like the kind of guy I'd want to make a movie with" he though.
"Sorry for the delay but you know how these things go...schedules and planning go pretty much out the window after the first few people come and go." Peter apologized "No problem" Paul responded before commenting on the obvious disappointed boy who had just left. "Great guy, but not what I was looking for for this picture." Peter explained. "What are you looking for?" "You're not the man for wasting time" Peter smiled, "I like that. What did you think of the script?" "Very powerful, I must say. It's going to be quite challenging for everyone involved to bring that to life visually" "A challenge you would be up to?" Peter asked with a sly grin on his face, obviously finding some pleasure in the verbal chess game that was developing between them. "Since I'm here, I'm sure you've seen my work. You've seen what I can do...Yes I'm up to it." Paul answered. He had been through the process enough to know false modesty was seldom rewarded, nor boastfulness for that matter. People, he had found, generally preferred direct answers to direct questions when important decisions needed to be made. He was not in the habit of regularly complementing himself but these situations were not advanced by being shy about one's own accomplishments. "Selling life at a bargain" he thought.
"So, are we going to get this show on the road?" Paul asked, referring to his actual audition. "If you don't mind I would like to wait a bit longer. Since we're already so far behind schedule I would like to wait for the next actor to arrive. Shouldn't be too long now. Since he's auditioning for the opposite lead in the movie I think it might be interesting to audition you guys together." Peter reasoned. "Cool, I have no problem with that" "Since you liked the script, might I take it you have no reservations about playing the character you're auditioning for?" Peter asked him, his tone a bit more serious than before. "None whatsoever, how so?" "Well we had a few candidates who were somewhat uncomfortable with certain scenes and dialogues." "I've played Alan Strang... after that I don't think any role is going to make me uncomfortable." Paul laughed jokingly. "That's right, I'd forgotten you did that. I bet your levels of tolerance rose after that. Man, that play was brutalized in the comment sections." "Yeah, it was great" Paul smiled as he remembered the good times. "How so?" Peter asked a bit confused. "All those people who hated it never realized that was the entire point." he clarified, "They were supposed to hate it. The more they criticized it, the more we loved it. They may not have understood, but we touched a nerve. We got an emotional reaction from them... mission accomplished. The fact that it played for 9 months proves we produced something worthwhile." "I see... but just for the record, for this movie, we want people to like it. Not to hate it." Peter smiled. "Right, no confusion there." Paul responded, "So tell me, how did this whole thing come about?"
"Well, you probably know we are a rather small production company. We struck lucky a few years ago with a few of my independent movies gaining somewhat of a cult following on the internet. We expanded our business by distributing foreign movies to the US market till we got to a point where we were financially and logistically able to make our own pictures from scratch. This will be our second major picture after 'en un grand pais..." "I loved that one" Paul interrupted. "Thank you..." peter smiled as he continued "This movie is a story I have been mulling over for about ten years. I've been trying to write out the script many times but it never crystallized the way I wanted it. I had all the pieces but the puzzle didn't fit right so I let it rest for a while. When I started writing it again two years ago it suddenly did come together as I thought it should. From there on we were off to the races. I knew I had to make this movie...tell this story." "So it's very much a personal project for you." Paul summarized. "All my projects are." "So I noticed you're still using ' pequeño Salvador' as a working title...you haven't made up your mind about the actual title of the movie yet?" "No not really, there are several ideas I like but I feel that there's a better one out there... somewhere. I'll find it before the picture comes out. Don't worry."
A cool breath of wind interrupted their conversation. A handsome young man came in through the front door. His ink black hair looked a bit ruffled by the wind outside, but with a quick motion of his hand so casual and at the same time quite disarming, he moved it back in place. The little hair gel reflected the outside sunlight. His face had a certain soft sharpness to it, giving his cheek bones just the perfect nuance of accentuation. He was somewhat taller than Paul making him look a little more slender. The black leather jacket he was wearing complemented his dark hair yet contrasted perfectly with the white t-shirt he was wearing underneath, tight enough to give a hint of his muscular physique. Paul observed the newcomer with a blend of surprise and intrigue. His good looks were not lost on him. The dark haired youth looked as if he hadn't spent two seconds putting his outfit together yet looked perfect at the same time. His demeanor betrayed the same kind of directed frivolity. Paul knew the face and he knew the actor it belonged to.
"So that's who we've been waiting for." Paul turned to Peter "Joshua, over here" Peter signaled to the new arrival. A smile flashed across his face as he saw the two men awaiting him. As he approached them his eyes crossed Paul's for the first time. The flash of recognition in his eyes did not escape Paul nor the fact Josh's smile widened just a bit as he recognized him. Even though they had never met Paul knew who Josh was. He had seen a substantial part his work and had been generally rather impressed by it. He estimated their careers where on a similar level, even though Josh frequented the independent circuit more regularly than he did. He had seen most of his movies, even owned a few on DVD...usually pictures leaning more to the film noir side of the spectrum but also a few ventures into the horror genre that Paul had found quite entertaining. He had heard nothing but positives about Josh's talent and professionalism. Since they had run in the same circles for some years he had expected to cross paths with him sooner or later. Now there was a chance of working with the guy whose name the trade press always mentioned in the same breath as his when talking about 'the new generation'. The creative possibilities began to dawn on him and they intrigued him, to no end.
"Hey Peter, nice to see you again" Josh greeted the director as they shook hands. "...and I told you before its Josh. Nobody calls me Joshua' anymore." "Sorry Josh...Good to see you again. Glad you could make it." "Hey Paul" he said as he turned to Paul extending his hand, "so great to finally meet you. I had a hunch our paths would cross sooner or later." He continued with a subtle smile on his face. "Nice to meet you too..." Paul returned the greeting "and funny you should say that. I was just thinking the same thing." "Great minds think alike they say" Josh laugher, flashing his smile again. "So what have you been up to, last thing I heard you were filming up north?" Paul asked. "Yeah, that's in post now so my work there is done. Lot of fun nevertheless... those independent things always are. And now I'm here... and so are you. Where have you been lately? I knew you did catcher in the Reye' last summer. I was meaning to come see that but my schedule never allowed the travel."
Paul felt a bit flattered one of his peers would have actually travelled god knows what distance to see his work on stage. Respect was a rare commodity in their line of work so that statement carried more weight than might be expected at first glance. People like them didn't travel randomly looking for a play or movie to catch. When they took time out of their busy lives for something like that professional reasons were always involved. In the arts you're part artist part talent scout, always keeping an eye on who's doing what around you. "Yeah, that ended in the fall." Paul answered Josh's question "I did photography on a short film during the winter... should be coming out any time now." "I didn't know your talents extended to beyond the on camera work." Josh noticed with a bit of surprise. "I wouldn't go that far" Paul tried to temper the praise "I just like to get a feel for all aspects of the process."
Josh observed Paul while their conversation went on. He had wondered on more than one occasion what the guy would be like in person. He was happy Paul turned out to be a rather pleasant down to earth guy, unlike some other actors he had met over the years. This was obviously a man who shared the same passion for his craft as he did. Josh could tell by the way enthusiasm would glimmer in Paul's blue eyes as he spoke. Paul was a bit shorter than he was, but not much. His sandy blond hair, slightly curled somehow matched his fading summer tan. "Obviously spends a lot of time outdoors" he thought. Paul's face was a book unto itself. Definitely not the boyish type, it showed all the hallmarks of adolescence but already starting to be framed by the signs of experience and learning. Paul's handsome appearance was derived from the character in his face and expression, not just by his natural good looks.
Peter had been watching the conversation for a while with contentment. He knew he had two professional talents in front of him so these spontaneous exchanges told him more than the actual audition process could. Filming a movie was a labor that involved many people who all needed to be able to work together. If a crew didn't become a team over time the end result would undoubtedly suffer. The instant chemistry between the two young men was exactly what he had hoped for when he booked their auditions. The fact they had run into each other today was by no means a coincidence but the result of his careful planning,... and a bit of wishful thinking. It had played out better than he could have hoped. His job as a director did involve putting the right people in the right place at the right time. From what he could see there was a chance he might have just done that.
Now he felt the time had come to interrupt the informal conversation and get down to business. He motioned the two guys to follow him into the office, closing the door behind them.
that's it for the first instalment. I hope you liked what you've read so far. I would appreciate any comments or feedback you might wish to share.
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