Dreams of Stardom (Hollywood SI)

M. Night Shyamalan took the stage after a few minutes and cleared his throat to gain everyone's attention, "Thank you for watching our movie, hopefully, you liked it. Now we are opening the floor for any questions from you guys for any of the cast members."

Immediately, a myriad of hands rose in the air after all the actors took their seats on the chairs placed on the stage.

"Yes, you, the lady in blue," Night pointed out to the said lady.

"Thank you," she said into the mic that was handed to her, "My question is for Troy. How difficult was filming the song? I noticed it as a single long take with no cuts."

Troy was handed the mic. "Hi," he waved to the lady enthusiastically like a child his age would do but spoke confidently in a thick British accent, "to be frank, it was really difficult shooting that scene. We shot it for a full day, multiple times, only to use the first take."

Night took over at that point, "Believe me when I say, this innocent-looking kid is a perfectionist. I reassured him many times that we could make a cut or two in the scene, but he insisted on doing it like this. Troy sang the whole song live on set, in one take; and there was no dubbing at all. So all credit goes to him."

It was live singing? Rod was amazed at the skill displayed by the kid. And that just solidified his Oscar nomination.

Another journalist stood up and asked, "Troy, how did you prepare for such an emotional role at such a young age?"

Troy smiled, "I had a lot of help from my parents, who are also filmmakers. They helped me understand the emotions and the depth of the character. Also, Mr. Shyamalan and the entire cast were very supportive, making it easier to bring out those emotions on screen."

"Troy, my question to you: your accent seems to be British, but in the film, it was American. Did you take classes?" the next reporter asked.

"Yes," Troy nodded, "My dialect coach helped me in perfecting the American tone and voice modulation."

"Night, my question to you: how was Troy's audition? How did you select him?"

Night pondered over the question and finally answered, "Of all the kids who auditioned, Troy was the only one who sang for his audition. To check the kids' improv skills, I told them to do anything they wanted. Troy sang a very beautiful song, and that gave me the idea to incorporate a song into the movie. He also read his lines perfectly, as if he knew the character despite only getting his character a minute earlier. It was the most amazing impromptu audition I've ever seen anyone give."

Troy, who was sitting beside Night, blushed at all the praise heaped upon him but didn't comment any further.

"Night," someone else asked, "Did Cole know that Malcolm was a ghost from the beginning, or did he find out later on? From the song, it's clear he found out about it sometime during the movie."

Night smiled brightly and shook his head before saying, "I'm afraid, for that, you'll have to see the movie again. The answer is right there. Next question."

After a few more questions, it was Rod's turn, and he didn't waste it, "Troy, to begin with, I loved your performance in the film and I strongly believe you should get an Oscar for it."

"Thank you," Troy smiled back at Rod.

"My question is, how was your experience on the set? Any interesting stories?"

Rod wasn't satisfied with the question; he could've asked so much more, but most of the questions were either already asked by others or were too complex for a 10-year-old to answer without embarrassing himself.

"Hmm. The shooting experience was really great. I learned a lot from all my co-stars and the crew. Incident…" Troy grew pensive as he put on a thinking face, "Only one thing comes to mind. So it happened like this: the crew decided to prank me by scaring me while we were shooting the toilet scene. They knew how tense I was about getting the scene right, so they set up this spooky atmosphere. I was facing the toilet and was asked to turn slowly. When I did, Bruce here had donned a wolf costume and scared the daylights out of me."

The room erupted in laughter, and even Rod couldn't help but chuckle at the image of a young Troy getting pranked on set.

Bruce Willis chimed in, "We had to break Troy out of his zone. He rarely made any mistakes, and most of his scenes were cleared in the first take. He even spoke in his fake accent in between takes. So we all came up with this idea, and that helped everyone let loose a little."

And just like that, Bruce Willis reminded everyone that he was in the room as well, and shouldn't be ignored so easily. From then on, the rest of the questions turned towards Bruce Willis, but Rod had lost interest. Troy Armitage had made a lasting impression on everyone in the room with his performance because all the initial questions were shot at him, not at any other actor. And the initial questions tell exactly what the audience is feeling about the film.

Hit or flop, Rod wasn't sure, but he knew that this young man would go far.

(Break)

I was very happy with the response my performance was getting from the reviewers. I knew the film would be received well, but it was my performance I was worried about. Everything was so surreal, it was downright unbelievable. Especially when that reporter said that I could get an Oscar nomination.

The days following the press screening of the movie were crazy. Seeing the response of critics, Disney management decided to increase their marketing budget from $15 million to $25 million.

That's why here I am in Chicago, promoting our movie.

"We have a special guest for everyone here. He is the youngest Golden Globe winner in a Leading Actor category. His next film, [The Sixth Sense], will be released later this week in theaters. Please welcome, Troy Armitage!"

I came out to the studio with a big smile plastered on my face, wearing super expensive designer clothes, to see one of the most influential African-American ladies in the world standing there with her arms wide open for me. My smile widened if that was even possible at this point, and I hugged her lightly.

The lady was none other than Oprah Winfrey.

"Wowsie! You look much cuter in person." Oprah poked my cheek lightly.

"Hey! I resent that! I am handsome; girls are cute!" I protested. I only have a limited time to use my cuteness, after all, before I outgrow it. She laughed in tandem with the audience on set in that melodic sound of hers and motioned for me to take a seat, which I did.

"So Troy, I attended your film premiere on the insistence of a friend of mine who was at the press screening. And by God, was that a fantastic movie. Would you like to tell our audience more about it?"

"Oh yes. This movie is about Malcolm, a child psychologist played by Bruce Willis, who is treating a kid, Cole," I pointed at myself, "who has some major issues, including but not limited to hallucinations and paranoia. Malcolm has to deal with his worsening relationship with his wife while Cole has to deal with being an outsider because no one understands him."

"I understand it is a thriller story with some scary twists and turns?" Oprah asked conversationally.

"Maybe for others. I was laughing most of the time when something scary happened because I know how we shot those scenes," I answered confidently.

Oprah laughed. "Isn't that a relief to hear? Anyway, here is a trailer from [The Sixth Sense] for our audience."

Then on a TV screen set up behind the camera, we saw the clip with all the scenes. The part that amazed me was the inclusion of the phrase, 'I see dead people.' Wasn't that a big giveaway? I just shrugged my shoulders and let it be.

"So Troy," Oprah continued when the clip was over, "I have a question for you about a very particular scene." Here she opened the part of the trailer where I was standing in front of the toilet.

I laughed out loud. "I know where you're going with this."

"Oh? Then, by all means, tell me about the shooting of this scene," Oprah pressed on with a smile.

"So we were done with the scene, but M. Night Shyamalan, who's our amazing director, said that he wasn't satisfied with the camera angle and wanted to redo the whole thing. We all agreed, and as soon as I turned, as you see in that clip, Bruce Willis was standing there in a full-body suit of a wolf-like creature behind me. So I did what any sane person would do." I gave a dramatic pause. "I fell back onto the toilet with a shriek."

Everyone around laughed, including Oprah and me.

"But that's not all!" I interrupted the laughter and took over again. "I ran back to my trailer and ignored the shouts of everyone behind me. Then I came back a few minutes later only to announce that I was quitting the movie."

Oprah instantly quieted at that and gave me a weird look. I hadn't told this part of the story to any other reporter until now. I wanted to save it for a big talk show like Oprah's.

"Then Bruce Willis and M. Night Shyamalan apologized and begged me not to do it on a whim. Even my mother was in the same boat as them," I explained with a somber face.

"What happened then?" Oprah asked quietly.

I grinned. "I told them, if they can prank a kid, they should always expect a prank back!"

Oprah finally loosened her expression and gave out a genuine smile while the audience around laughed freely. Now that I think about it, I can understand Oprah's plight. If I had spoken negatively about the studio, my co-actors, or the director, they'd have to cut it out of the show to avoid bad PR. No one would blame a kid for speaking out about something bad, but it could've damaged the reputation of the studio and even affected the movie sales.

"I loved your singing voice in the film. Can you tell us how the director came up with the idea of that scene?"

"Oh yes! It goes back to my audition," I said with what I hoped would be a charming smile. "I was given a part of the script and I read out my part. But Night wanted to see something else as well. He told me to do something new. What he meant was improv or something similar. What I inferred was singing a song. So I sang a song from Les Misérables. Night liked my song and after confirming my selection, he modified the script and added a song in it."

"That's great. So can you play any instruments as well?" Oprah asked curiously.

"Oh yes, I love to play the guitar and the piano," I answered jovially.

Seeing her grin gave me the chills.

"We have all the instruments here in the studio. Would you play a song for us?" she asked with what could only be described as Oprah's version of Puppy Dog Eyes.

"How could I refuse that beautiful face?" I grinned back at her.

"Are you flirting with me, Mister?" she asked indignantly.

"Oh yes, I am," I replied to her visible shock. "If only I was a little older, I would've proposed marriage by now."

She laughed. "You will be one heck of a ladies' man in the future, mister. Now onto the instruments: which one would you like to play?" She pointed towards a corner where I could see various instruments, including a white marble grand piano.

Damn, she's rich.

I walked over and picked up the guitar, checking the tuning by playing some practice chords. "This will do," I said as I sat down on a stool that a set assistant brought for me.

As they were setting up the mics, I started doing a few vocal exercises to prepare myself. I took a deep breath as I thought back to my impromptu decision to allow this to go on. Oprah's team had asked beforehand if I'd be comfortable singing a part of the song "Bring Him Home," the same one from the film, to serve a dual purpose: to promote the film and showcase my singing talent to a nationwide audience. I had agreed to the song, but now that I'm sitting here, I don't want to do the same song again. People will associate me with this song for years to come, and I wanted to show some of my singing range as well. 

So before coming in, I made up my mind that I would play an "original song." Original for this timeline, at least. I made sure to select a song that didn't have too complicated lyrics, or no one would believe that I wrote it.

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