My Hollywood System

Chapter 169:

The director [500 days of summer] Carson Duckstein, and Marcus were talking over an evening drink about some plans regarding the near future.

“So, Marcus, will you be taking the role Will offered?” Carson questioned.

“Yeah, man. Of course, I would,”

The meeting started off by talking about their pasts and how they were doing now in the industry. Carson Duckstein had hit the peak in Hollywood when compared to where he was before he directed [500 days of summer]. Now that he had become a huge hit, Carson’s name would often be heard here and there.

In fact, he was now counted as a dependable director. Since he and Will had quite a past together, Will had understood how nice it was working with Carson. Due to that and so many other work ethical reasons, Will gave Carson the power to direct [Hitch].

Since, [Hitch], [Catch me if you can], [Spiderman] and [Friends] were going to start pre-production quickly, Will wanted someone else to take over [Hitch]. Someone who was compatible, capable, confident, responsible, creative, and especially, someone who Will can trust. In a situation like that, the first person who proved all the qualities during previous projects was Carson Duckstein.

The day Will met Carson, they had a little talk about how Carson liked the script. Carson had explained that the script was nicely done and even the story was funny for his liking.

He liked Will’s script right away knowing the good script, funny story and the brand Will would be more than enough to create a nice movie out of it. Further, they had discussed a bit about the cast and Will mentioned Marcus, saying that it would be great if Marcus did the role of Alex Hitchens.

[Hitch] was basically about how Alex Hitchens, better known as Hitch, was a date doctor. He is also a kind of sentimental advisor, teaching each client how to date the woman of his dreams. His latest project, Albert Brenneman, is a nerdy financial consultant who fell in love with the famous Allegra Cole.

While Hitch helps Albert with his love life, he struggles with his own. He starts falling for work-a-holic, Sarah Melas. She was a gossip columnist. After some boyfriend problems with her best friend, Sarah labels Hitch with a reputation that he didn’t deserve. Hitch proves his love & goes to great lengths to win a love of his own.

Which happens when the best friend of Sara has a love disillusionment with a man that Sara thinks is a client of Hitch, she plots revenge against Hitch and the misunderstanding leads the two couples to a conflictive situation.

Marcus’s character was what Will Smith in Will’s previous world acted. The role of Hitch.

–

[Catch me if you Can] was already in the pre-production stage and Will was involved in it. The shooting for [Catch me if you can] was supposed to start next month along with [Hitch]. Will was trying to release two movies at the same time. That was the intention behind starting all the pre-production and shootings at the same time.

The character of Alex Hitchens was the core of [Hitch], Which was why Carson himself came to meet Marcus so he can get to know the idea of Marcus regarding Alex Hitchens. The last thing Carson wanted was to disappoint Will, and that was something he wouldn’t dare to do as long as he live.

“So, Let me tell you a bit about our lead, Alex Hitchens, before anything, I mean, if you agree to the role, you would get it. Anyway, Think as if you are a stranger going to meet Hitch. You would notice that he is smooth, perceptive, and dedicated.

Hitch is someone who goes to extraordinary lengths to make sure that the success of his clients is achieved. Not to mention, he is great at staging and analysing romantic situations, which is his profession; something you know now.

But if we get back to the scenario of a stranger, the main advice would be that do not go looking for him if all you’re interested in is sex. Because a part of Hitch is that he would only take on men who respect women,”

Carson explained every fact that he had analysed about Hitchens. As the director, a part of his job description was to understand, relate and know every role to the core. By Carson’s words, Marcus understood who Hitchen really is.

“So, as far as I gathered from the script, he is not that much of someone who would follow his words, right?” Marcus asked with a smirk.

“What exactly do you mean?

“Well, his personal life; a life full of casual hook-ups. You know, when I read the script I felt as if Hitch has a reputation among his friends for being all about the short game. Like, professionally he talks about finding something meaningful, but so far he doesn’t seem to walk that path in his own life,”

“Ahaha… Yeah, you are right with that one. “No guile, no game… no girl.”, right?” Carson quoted Alex.

Alex was someone who grew up slowly. He describes himself as a “late bloomer; someone who is eager to make up for lost time” during college.

Then the picture is occupied by Cressida Bailey, his first girlfriend. What they had was beautiful. But, he came on too strong and she hooked up with someone else. Then he spells out the moral of the story, in his words which was, “No guile, no game… no girl.”

“Yeah, Carson. Tell me, do you think you would want someone like Hitch to give you dating advice on your single days? I mean… It doesn’t sound like a bad idea to me, not that I’m bad with girls-”

“Ahaha… What kind of a question is that? I mean, in all honesty, my dating life is not THAT miserable to seek advice for. But as a man with honour and someone who always seeks knowledge, I wouldn’t mind someone analysing my dating life and giving me advice,”

“Yeah, you are seriously spitting facts. Maybe this might be my last question of the day, why do you think that this might become a success? Don’t tell me this is all because of Will Evans, that’ll be one of the reasons, obviously. But as a director, I think you might have your own view too, isn’t that right?” He questioned further.

“Well, first of all, if I’m being honest, I trust in Will’s scripts. Like that dude just came right to the top with his creativity; and his scripts, I trust them. Uh, take it this way. Out of all the romantic comedies that hit the shelf of blockbusters, don’t you agree if I said more than half of them are awful romantic comedies?” Marcus nodded as if he was approving of Carson’s whole point of view on the genre.

“The whole point is to try and not be one of those movies but to join those ranks. This can be said as something that made me believe in this project, I truly think it is possible. Like, the script is not too romantic or soft, Will had tried to go funny and I guess he had succeeded. But you know, only time would tell,” Carson explained.

In the industry, romantic comedies were pretty popular, and cliche. The same old concept had bored almost all the fans of romantic comedy, but Will Evans thought this would be a different concept with a different meaning.

“This chance is huge actually. The room for popularity with the script is vast. And seriously, do we get room to improvise? Like, in any situation… Not that I dislike any scene, I just wanna know,” Marcus had a valid question ringing in his head.

“If I’m being really honest for the millionth time in our little chit-chat, as a director you kind of become a control freak. That’s the nature of the job and to let actors run wild wasn’t… it doesn’t help production. I know where that question came from, but yeah, it is better if we leave it to time. Improvisations can always be made when they’re needed, you know?” Carson cleared his thoughts a bit. “Does that mean it is settled?” He asked.

“It was settled ever since Will chose me, Carson,”

“Haha… Of course of course. Well, as I saw and heard already, you have a good understanding of Alex Hitchen,” Carson said and paused before continuing, “You truly are a very talented actor, Marcus,”

“Thank you, Carson. I just don’t want to mess up my second chance. Honestly, that would be the last thing I want right now. I’ll do my best to the best of my abilities, and I hope I meet up with your expectations too. I won’t waste my potential this time,” Marcus said. He shook his head remembering something and said, “I don’t want anything to go wrong this time,”

There was a massive difference in Marcus’s personality ever since he got out of drugs. He was feeling grateful to Will from the bottom of his soul. It was mainly because, thinking back, the challenge he overcame was because of Will and was something he regretted.

But the more he gave thoughts to it, the more the respect for Will Evans increased. Who would even offer someone to do a lead and join a huge company like DTA, especially someone who was on the verge of ruining their career and life both? Will was a living God in the eyes of Marcus.

“Yeah, Marcus. We know that you would do well and not disappoint our expectations. Now then, are you ready to be Alex?” Carson asked in a joyful tone.

“Yeah, I am,” Marcus smiled after the words left his lips.

…

//DreamNote//

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