My Hollywood System

Chapter 128:

“Bribery? Screw bribery! I’ll show you how to make ’em scared! I’ll be back here in five minutes…” Leo repeated his dialogue for the fifteenth time. He was holding a small window wiper, that he was substituting for a gun, in his left hand. He had been practicing his lines throughout the week, and he had gotten them memorized almost entirely. His Italian American accent was perfect, and he had started to attend the martial arts classes that Amanda Garcia had arranged for him. There was already a significant improvement in his grappling and judo throws, and he had learnt how to properly throw a punch, though he was still a long way off from making himself look believable while beating down any more than three people, but he was getting there.

“I run this town now! ME!” He said, as he pretended that he was on top of a burnt car, shooting his fake pistol in the air. If anyone had walked into the small office he had occupied, they would probably think that he had gone crazy.

But for him, this was all a blast. He was finally doing what he loved, and despite the immense amount of hard work, he enjoyed every second of the things he did to prepare himself for his first big role. He even enjoyed the beatdown his trainer gave him the first time they had sparred. He thought he was slowly turning into a masochist.

“Who are these pricks anyway? Lawyer pricks, rug-wearing pricks! I’m surrounded by pricks!” He screamed in his room again, as he started to rehearse another scene.

He again shifted to another scene “un cappuccino, per favore” as he pretended to walk to a table, where there should be a member of the Jury drinking his coffee. Sitting opposite the non-existent Jury member, Leo placed his window wiper on the table and quickly covered it with a magazine, his hand staying nearby, he looked at where the Jury member’s head is supposed to be and whispered “Giorgio sends his regards. Remember, guilty is a dirty word. Innocent until I say otherwise. You know he’s not guilty. You remember Giorgio? You remember he’s innocent. Not guilty, understand? Good.” He elucidated each sentence while tapping the gun, underneath the magazine repeatedly.

Leo kept practising his lines for the rest of the evening, and he was sure he was labelled as touched in the head by at least three different interns, who came to give him his food.

***

The Premiere of [500 days of Summer] was taking place at the Chinese Theatre, and most executives from OP Studios and ICM had lined up to watch the film, with them being the distributors of the movie. Selected members of the general public were also invited to the event, the tickets to the event were sold as a fundraiser to a charity being donated to the Make A Wish foundation. Doing so, provided Dream Vision real time feedback for their movie, enabling them to build a better picture for the projections that the movie may hit, in the box office.

[500 Days of Summer] is a film based on the relationship between a man and a woman in their mid-twenties. In the opening scene, the omniscient narrator warns the audience of the outcome of the story by stating, it is not a love story. The main characters, Tom, played by Clark Reed and Summer, played by Natalie Bergmann, both work at a Greeting Card Company. Summer is a new employee, and Tom begins to fall in love with her quirky personality and physical attractiveness. Summer only wants to be Tom’s friend with no commitments, but she treats him as if she has more intentions. Tom and Summer become the best of friends, but they also act as if they are lovers.

Because of this, Tom begins to fall even more in love with Summer. Summer tells Tom that they should have distance after a while but throws in the phrase, “But you are still my best friend.” This breaks Tom’s heart. After some time, Tom meets with her again, and he still has hope that they will end up together. To his disappointment, he finds that she is engaged to another man. Towards the end of the film, Summer finds Tom at the park, and she tells him that she is now married. At the very end, Tom is attending a job interview, and he asks a girl on a date whose name (coincidently) happens to be “Autumn”.

The whole movie is based on what is going on in Tom’s mind.

Christopher Orr observes in Atlantic magazine says, “We see the central relationship through Tom’s eyes exclusively, with Summer ultimately remaining as unknowable to us as she is to him.” Tom never gives up on believing that he and Summer were meant to have a fantasy kind of love until he finally encounters Summer as an engaged woman. He only rides on the highs of the relationship, and this leads to his own downfall.

Tom won’t accept Summer’s lack of commitment and desire to be in a true romantic relationship. Or summarizes this by saying, “We leap from Day 28 to Day 303 to Day 167 to Day 408, oscillating between early hope and ultimate despair, the sudden, unbidden revelation of love and the slow, crushing realization that it is not requited.”

Despite the film having two main characters, the cinematography only correlates with the emotions of Tom. The relationship between Tom and Summer is very confusing and uncertain, and Tom’s emotions were a dizzying roller coaster.

The cinematography displays all of Tom’s conflicts with the different styles of images within the flashbacks, drawings, music, and picture. When Tom is high on the idea of love, the colors of the film are brighter. Summer’s wardrobe always consists of blue, like the color of her eyes, until the end when she is married and she is wearing gray. The blue clothing is a reference to the way that Tom is caught up in the appearance and beauty in the idea of Summer. In his mind he is under the illusion that she is “the one.” There are many ways to interpret the whole psychological theme of the film, but the general theme is that loving someone doesn’t necessarily mean that it is “meant to be” between you and that person.

The film is directed towards the complications and inconsistency of a relationship. It shies away from the typical Hollywood theme that “love is a fantasy,” and directs itself towards the reality that a relationship doesn’t always turn out the way a person intends it to.

***

Clap! Clap! Clap!

After the movie finished screening, everyone woke up to give a standing ovation. There were a lot of speculations about how the movie would turn out to be but it was one of the best rom coms in recent times.

As the premier finished, everyone swarmed Natalie – the female lead, Clark Reed – the main actor who had played Tom and Will – The mind behind this project.

The executives of OP studios were very happy with the project and were sure that this movie would cross 100 million dollars at the box office. At the same time, Carson couldn’t help but let out a tear.

His years of work were finally becoming something big and he was sure that he would be seen as a big director after this movie was released.

‘I should let them enjoy this.’

Will thought seeing the expressions of Natalie and Carson.

Both of them looked like it was the happiest day of their life. They have always wished to be here but now, it was finally a reality.

It was their night and he should not stay in the limelight for long.

So, after talking a bit with ICM and OP executives, he left the theatre.

…

//DreamNote//

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