Versatile Superstar: Rise In Hollywood-Novel

“There’s nothing interesting going on in Sparrow currently.”

Sheldon Price lifted his head from his phone and looked at the people sitting in front of him. He was currently on a bus going towards his college. 

In the bus, he was able to see all sorts of people. From couples to friends talking about something while waiting for their destination. As for Sheldon, he liked to use his time lurking around in social media sites, during the bus journey.

Sparrow was his favourite as he was able to see people cancelling others for random things and political parties using it for propaganda.

Sheldon didn’t like to engage in these things but he loved to lurk around and just check on people’s reaction. Seeing teenagers thinking that tweeting about something would solve the problem was very funny for him.

But these days, Sparrow was pretty peaceful with no one cancelling someone or any fighting going on, So Sheldon was usually very bored in his bus rides.

He would scroll random things until his college came.

‘Let’s hope there’s something good in the trending section.’

He thought and opened up the trending section. As he was scrolling, his fingers stopped at the tag #Black Saints. He opened it thinking that another priest or godman had done a scam or was flying around in jets. 

But he soon realised that it was the trailer of a movie which was released.

A lot of people were apparently going crazy over it as the tweets about it were just increasing every second. Curious and with nothing better to do, he clicked on the link and started watching the trailer._.

The trailer started with a man who Sheldon recognised as Ray Hardy sitting in a car and talking about the city he lived in. Night city, he called it and how it was as black as it could be.

Then the trailer moves to show him getting a suicidal mission to go after the gangsters that rule the city as the common people have started to protest about them more and more as the crime rates have began to go above the roof.

After that, there were several shots of Ray chasing someone, punching people and just driving his car, trying to chase gangsters. The trailer then shows Ray call the big gangsters in the city ‘Black Saints’ as they were treated as such.

One of the saints which Sheldon assumed to be the main villain was introduced next.

An old man with a moustache and in just the first scene he appeared, he kills a man by smashing his head into the table in a room filled with people who were shocked to see the gruesome sight in front of them.

Then, there was a background voice of Ray Hardy talking about how humans want power even if it’s corrupt them and how black saints are humans who want power just to feel corrupted and powerful.

A fight scene comes straight after that with Ray Hardy smashing a pole in a guy’s head. The trailer was at the end there and then it shows the title and release date.

But as soon as Sheldon thought that the trailer was going to end, the background score suddenly changed and someone’s whistling sound came out. A guy was shown walking a corridor with just the view of his back visible.

There were dead bodies on the ground but the guy was just casually whistling and walking. The trailer ended there and Sheldon only had one question in his mind.

‘Who was that guy?’

Like him, a lot of people were thinking the same question. Who was the guy that they saw in the last scene of the trailer? His face wasn’t shown, so people were only left to speculate.

Many even searched the cast list to see if they knew the actor but there’s no definite answer. Many critics who watched it even called the last scene the defining moment as without it, the whole movie looked like another cop vs gangster drama.

But now, it seemed like the movie had a lot more to offer to the audience.

***

“The trailer response is very good.”

“We got 1.5 million views in just a day and the trailer got a lot of traction slowly. People are really curious about it and many are saying that finally an interesting cop movie is coming but I also find people saying that they have watched enough of this.”

“We deliberately focused less on the saints in the trailer, so people like that. They don’t know that half the screen time is about the black saints.”

“Most comments are highly positive too and people are extremely curious about Kai’s look that we showed.”

In the marketing room of Granite films, a lot of employees were actively discussing [Black Saints] and it’s trailer that was released yesterday. 

Many people online were praising the trailer. Though, there were also people who had gotten bored of cop movies and wanted something else. The marketing team could only smirk at them as the trailer was designed to make people misunderstand.

It was then that the door to the room opened and Anthony McCarthy, the CEO of Granite films walked in.

“How’s the response? A lot of investors are very tense at the moment.” Anthony asked and one of the employees quickly replied.

“Most of it is going according to our estimates. We could get a good amount of people to watch the movie on the first day but after that, it’s all word of mouth.”

Their marketing strategy for [Black Saints] depended a lot on word of mouth. The marketing team was practically taking a gamble as it could backfire very easily, but they were very confident on the finished product.

“Okay. Good word of mouth is not easy to get.” Anthony mumbled as he sat down on a chair. He was in a very bad shape these days because of the investors.

If an investor was worried, they would call him and then make him more worried. It can’t be helped as it was Granite films most expensive movie till now.

“What about Ray and Kai’s looks? They are the most important character for us if we want a positive word of mouth.” Anthony said and a female employee replied.

“Ray’s fans are going crazy over his middle aged cop look. He suits that type of character a lot, so people are very excited about it. I’m pretty sure a lot of his fans would turn up. As for Kai, he’s the most talked about.”

“The last scene we showed in the movie made a lot of people speculate about who he is and there are even people who say that his one scene was better than any other scene as he gives a very mysterious vibe.”

Another employee added. Having watched the final version of the movie already, the employee was a fan of Kai and there were a lot of others like him too.

The climax of the movie really made Kai a fan favourite in his eyes and he felt like others will more or less think the same.

“We want Kai to be exactly like that. Cold and mysterious, someone who makes people remember what an unexpected character is.”

“Sir, a lot of people are asking for a reveal of him or a poster of Kai. Even some media reporters called to ask about him. What should we do?”

Another employee asked suddenly and Anthony frantically shook his head.

“No, don’t reveal anything to anyone. Let people experience it in theatre itself. I want people to know that you can make a great action and gangster flick without using superheroes in it.”

Everyone in the room knew that Anthony wasn’t a fan of how most people would only go watch a superhero flick in theatres and won’t give a lot of chances to other mid budget movies because they don’t have a lot of cgi or people flying around or jumping through the buildings.

It was a very sad state that the movie industry has reached that only certain types of movies would work.

Hopefully, [Black Saints] would be able to change it.

***

“I would miss you a lot. I’m really glad that you have achieved so much in your career.” 

Valerie said as she looked at him with tender eyes. When she had first met Aiden, he was just a guy from another country, having a weird accent and now, he was finally successful enough to get a better place for himself.

He had a successful music career and even won an award and now, was coming in movies. Valerie could only wish that he could just continue like this.

“I’m very grateful to you too. Without you, I would have to sleep in the streets.”

Aiden smiled and Valerie shook her head.

“I just thought that you looked like the type that would succeed in Hollywood and you are succeeding too.”

“I don’t know how to thank you for that.”

“Just get famous enough that people would pay a lot of money to just live in the room that Aiden Silvereye lived in at the start of his career.”

Both of them chuckled at that and after a final hug, Aiden was on its way to reach his new apartment. He had spent a lot of good moments in this one and it was also the place where he had gotten his system, so it would always be special for him.

Though, in his heart, he prayed that his new apartment would become special for him in the future too.