Unlike
I’d thought I was the only one auditioning this weekend, but Aden Reich was there with Tilly Abbott. Aden had been acting for the past ten years, and his most recent movie,
Tonight was intended to be strictly a social event. Business would be talked about tomorrow when I auditioned.
Mark and Art had Aden cornered and were plying him with alcohol. Joyce joined our group.
“Saul,” she said with disdain and then turned to me. “You must be David. I’m Joyce Heart.”
I introduced her to everyone, and then Saul explained who I was talking to. Joyce wasn’t just the producer, she was the president of Lucasfilm. In the early ’80s, she’d co-founded a company with none other than Stephen Spielberg. Their first movie had been
Joyce had recently become involved in the
“I saw your impersonation of Harrison Ford and about peed myself laughing. You were spot on,” Joyce told me.
“I didn’t do it to make fun of him, it was only to show that I could do his mannerisms,” I defended myself.
“I was actually against having you make the final cut. My feeling was you were too tall and didn’t have the breadth of work experience this role deserves,” she said.
Saul tried to jump in, but I could tell he irritated her, so I held up my hand and smiled at Joyce.
“Harrison Ford is six-one. I’m only three inches taller, while Aden is only five-ten. Mr. Ford did three movies over twelve years before he did
She smiled.
“Yes, I found all that out and have become a convert. I don’t waste people’s time; hence, you are here. More than anything else, I wanted to see what you’re made of. I’m impressed you didn’t hide behind your agent and let him fight your battles.”
“I agree, let’s not waste time. Saul came along so we could sign contracts,” I stated.
That made Joyce laugh and Saul cringe. Mom always said you had to ask for the sale.
“I like you. While I can’t tell you the odds of you getting this role, you’ll find I have a long memory. For you, that’s a good thing, because if you hadn’t noticed, our group likes to use the same actors for our movies. Even if you do well tomorrow, you might not get the role, but that doesn’t mean things won’t come up later that you will get. Just make sure you keep a smile on my face,” she said.
She had to be in her sixties, and I blushed as I took her comment straight to the gutter.
“I think that’s Saul’s job,” I said.
She gave Saul a look, and I think he suddenly had a migraine. Joyce began to laugh, and we all joined in.
◊◊◊
Dinner was enjoyable if a bit too formal for my taste. There was a waitperson for each of us; you couldn’t set a glass down without it being refilled. I lost count of the number of courses and liked that not everything we ate was fancy. With so many courses, if there was something you didn’t like, there was always something new coming out shortly.
There were several dishes I’d never had before. Scotch Eggs with a curry mayo was a surprise. It’s a boiled egg wrapped in sausage and breading. Another was pork pie. It was similar to a potpie in that it was in a crust, but it didn’t have any gravy. The pork and bacon mixture had apples and onions mixed in it with seasonings. I liked the dessert called Eton Mess. It was served in a glass bowl so you could see it was layered. The layers were strawberries and raspberries, followed with meringue and then toasted almonds. It wasn’t overly sweet.
We ‘retired’ to a sitting room for after-dinner drinks or coffee.
It seemed that Aden had continued to drink throughout dinner. Everyone who’d had the wine or alcohol that was offered with each course looked to be feeling no pain. My dad had a persistent smile on his face. Aubrey cuddled up to me on the couch and kept letting her hand wander up my thigh.
