“Secret UFO base in the mountains.”
“Oh, yeah. That one was heavy sci-fi. What did you think of it?” he asked, almost sounding hopeful.
I pursed my lips and sneered.
“What’s that reaction about?” he countered.
“Aliens?” I think I rolled my eyes. “That would be a huge diversion from the roles you have been taking. Is that something that interests you?”
He shrugged. He seemed unsure of his direction.
“Ryan, what’s your goal here? I mean when you dreamt of being an actor, what kind of actor did you want to be?”
“Brando!” he stated with admiration. “I wanted to be Marlon Brando. The Godfather, you know! I can’t tell you how many times I looked at myself in the mirror while trying to imitate him. He was the reason I wanted to get up on stage and act.”
Ryan sat down at the table with me. “When I did the first Seaside, I was thinking about Gary Cooper – how he would have delivered it. I can only hope to be in that league as an actor one day. That would be the ultimate!”
“Well then, there’s your direction. If that’s the perception you want people to have when they think of you as an actor, then you need to position yourself correctly in the right roles. Isn’t that something your agent and manager should be helping you with? I mean some of these scripts… well, they aren’t going to get you there.”
“They’re just trying to get me jobs so I make a name for myself. It’s tough. You’ve got to take what you can get sometimes,” he responded.
“I don’t know about that. By the looks of it I think you could afford to be a little more choosey.” I patted the nine scripts under my hand. “Perhaps if you needed a paycheck you could consider some of these, but I think that if you want your dreams to come true then you need to point yourself in their direction.” I held up the script for The Isletin Solution.
He smirked. “Yeah, you’re right. Hey, after dinner we need to run lines for Slipknot again.”
I smiled from the thought. I really enjoyed helping and watching him get into character.
I tried to “act” when I read the lines instead of just reading from the script, to the point that Ryan started coaching me when we rehearsed together. We rehearsed so often that I was starting to memorize the lines of dialogue of the other characters and the feelings they were intending to portray in each scene.
Ryan did have a cool job. It was oddly liberating “pretending” and feeling permitted to have different emotions and reactions from your own. I could see why he loves what he does for a living.
The lead female role had a lot of dialogue. She was a medical student and avid rock climber who rescues Ryan’s character out on a mountain.
What I liked most about her was that she didn’t take a lot of crap from anyone.
It was very eye opening, making me acutely aware of my own personality.
Chapter 25 - Thanks
“You two wait in here. Give me a minute. Let me get your bags out first, then I’ll get you into the terminal,” Mike said, leaning over the front seat to speak to us.
There must have been almost fifty photographers, fans, and people gawking out on the sidewalk by the doors for departing flights.
“This is fucking crazy,” Ryan muttered. He had his back turned to the car door but the photographers ran to the other side of the car trying to get shots of him. It was hard to see in through the dark tinted windows.
“I hate airports,” he whispered. “Are you ready for this?”
I nodded, despite the fact that I was feeling like a nervous wreck.
Airport security was waiting outside now; they were trying to move people away from the doors to the terminal. Mike opened the car door and Ryan slipped out. His foot wasn’t even on the ground yet when the frenzy began.
“Ryan! Ryan! Can you sign this?” People were yelling at him repeatedly.
“Ryan, over here.” The cameras flashed non-stop.
“Can I take my picture with you?” some young girl asked sweetly.
My poor Ryan didn’t know which way to turn. Mike and our driver flanked Ryan on both sides while he signed a few autographs. Some of these people had glossy photos of his movie character in hand and it amazed me that they were so prepared for our arrival.
Ryan scribbled his signature quickly with a borrowed pen while Mike used his arm and hands to block people from getting too close. I noticed he avoided the men with professional prints and signed his autograph for the fans instead. He posed and smiled for almost twenty photos.