Versatile Superstar: Rise In Hollywood
chapter-106

Kai August

He was the character that Aiden played in [Black Saints] but he now felt like the name had gotten attached to him and became a sort of a nickname. Whenever he would go, people would call him that and ask for autographs.

With the popularity of [Blank Saints] surging day by day, Kai August got more and more popular. To the point that Wade's phone started ringing day and night with requests of interviews and appearances by reporters.

It didn't even seem like it was going to stop anytime soon.

Everyday, the bearded gangster looking agent would smile from too much happiness. The actor under him was finally getting the recognition he deserves. There was no way he wouldn't be happy.

As for Aiden himself, he wasn't even able to think of anything as the work had increased too much. Everyday, he would wake up to do a morning interview and then his afternoons would go to photoshoots and events. In the evenings, he would be doing live shows.

It was said that in Hollywood having too much work was never a bad thing as you don't know when you would be out of work. Aiden knew that the statement was very true for a rookie like him who just had his first impactful role.

So, he didn't complain even if he was only sleeping 4 hours everyday.

Aside from that, he only did the auditions for [The Summer of Boys] and [Death on my Fingers].

Surprisingly, even with his newfound popularity, both the auditions were unsuccessful. In the first one, another actor was chosen because he had abs and Aiden didn't. The director told him that the role required it and they would save time if they already got an actor with abs.

In the director's words, "Acting is also about looks in this age".

In the second one, Aiden was simply rejected because the producer of the movie felt like he didn't suit the innocent look of the character that was offered to him because in people's mind, Aiden was Kai, a crazy villain.

Aiden wanted to tell the producer that people's perception will change with time and the role was small enough for the movie to not have a lot of impact, but he chose not to say as he felt like the producer had already made his decision.

Like that, he lost both the roles.

But Aiden wasn't down because of it. Both of the roles weren't something he had liked a lot and only auditioned because he wanted to move on to his next movie.

In the past, he had been rejected a lot of times already, so this rejection didn't come as a surprise either.

"So, you lost out on both the roles. I think it's a positive thing as I don't see any of those movies working a lot and a teen romance without actual substance can actually hinder your career as people think you can't do better roles. See what happened to the actors working in [The Last Wolf]."

Omar said, laughing as he looked at Aiden. Both of them were meeting after a long time as Aiden had last met him before the shooting of [Black Saints] and after that, a lot of time had gone by.

Currently, both of them were sitting in a small lounge area in a theatre room. Due to the success of [Black Saints], Granite films had hosted a special screening of the movie with fans and reporters.

They have called everyone involved with the project, so naturally Omar was also here.

"I know that. But I need to try for any roles I get." Aiden explained, shaking his head a bit.

"I thought you are getting a lot of offers now that the character you played got so popular."

"These roles are from before the movie release. And yeah, I did get some offers." Aiden nodded his head. Wade had shown him some new scripts, but he never got time to check them out. "But most of the roles are negative characters."

Aiden said the last part of his sentence with a frown. He was happy about the scripts but it was important to select very carefully now.

He had decided to participate in auditions for [The Summer of Boys] and [Death on my Fingers] because Kai had not become a sensation.

There was no pressure on him.

Now, with his popularity on the high, he naturally felt like people had expectations on him. Because of that, he didn't want to choose a project that he didn't believe in fully.

Wade had the same thoughts in his head. Their mentality had changed a bit due to the response that [Black Saints] got.

"Every film industry is known to typecast. Studios would now try to get you in, thinking that they will get a similar response. There's a lot of chances it will work." Omar said, knowing full well of the mentality of studios.

"Well, Kai was someone with a lot of substance, so I had a lot of points as to how to act as him. It won't be the same with every character."

"True. You can try to look through those projects and just do a few of them for money." Omar said, even if he knew well that Aiden wasn't that type. "But you won't do it, right?"

"Nope." Aiden smiled. "If those projects fail, my career is as good as done."

Omar nodded his head before thinking of something. Hesitating a bit, he suggested, "I actually get a lot of projects, asking for investments and you made me a big profit by working in [Black Saints]. I don't even know what would happen if Tyler was in it."

He laughed at the end and Aiden raised an eyebrow.

"So?"

"So, I will send you projects that I like and are going to invest in. If you like any of them, I will try to get you a good role in them."

***

"The movie was so exciting. I now understand why people are talking so much about it."

"I have not had so much fun for a long time."

"That climax blew my mind off. Is Kai alive? Is he dead?"

Audience excitedly talked about the movie as it ended and the credits rolled. These were the people who had won an online contest held on Granite films social media handle.

A lot of them had taken cameras with them to shoot the event. Videos of it were going to be on the internet as soon as the event ended.

Aside from them, there were also a few reports that were called in for the screening.

"I hope you all have liked the movie." A host came on stage with a mic in his hand as soon as the movie ended. "But the event hadn't ended yet. Next, we are going to hold a Q/A with the director and the cast of the movie. Give a round of applause for them."

The audience clapped as the host said that. The very next second, the cast and the director climbed the stage and as soon as people saw them, the cheers doubled.

"Then, we would start one by one. Let's try to be civil and ask questions one by one."

The host said and reporters and some people in the audience started asking questions. For a lot of them, they were seeing celebs for the first time and were very excited.

Most of the questions were asked to Ray Hardy as he was the most popular out of them but unsurprisingly, the second person who was asked a lot of questions was Aiden.

If it was before the screening, maybe the questions wouldn't be this much but as it was after, Kai had already become a fan favourite.

"Is it really true that during the interrogation scene, you asked Ray Hardy to actually punch you because you wanted the scene to be as realistic as possible?"

One of the reporters asked Aiden. Although Ray had confirmed it on a show, a lot of rumours were still saying that it was exaggerated.

"Yeah, it's true. I did get punched and actually, no one in the crew knew about it, so they quickly got me to the hospital as Ray punched pretty hard."

"Why did you take such a risk?"

"It was mainly to make sure that the scene could look as good as it could be. Also, because I wanted to really feel what Kai would feel in that moment. It worked out well in the end, so I think it's a risk worth taking."

At Aiden's answers, a few journalists who had come with laptops started typing it right away. Every answer from here was going to come in articles.

The event moved as the journalists, reports and even the common people asked a lot of questions from the celebrities. There was one instance where an audience member asked a question from Aiden that made everyone laugh out loud.

"How does it feel like to go from getting stabbed to stabbing people?"

The question was truly aimed for Aiden and the guy who asked it had surely followed Aiden before. Smiling, Aiden thought for a bit before replying.

"Now that you mention it, my name has been related to stabbing a day for the last few months." That made everyone chuckle. "Anyway, the movie's shooting took place before the incident where I got stabbed, so it's pretty opposite and getting stabbed was not really as fun as actually stabbing people while shooting but in the end, I'm just hoping that my name won't get associated with stabbing for a while."

...