Ch-105

Silence. Dead silence was what I faced when my first commercial was finally seen by my family. I would have accepted shouting, berating, hell, even physical violence over this.

Evan, the smartest one of all, had the presence of mind to get up, walk over to me, pat my back sympathetically (while barely concealing his laughter from me), and then go to his room.

Still, my parents didn't say anything for a few minutes, making me utterly uncomfortable.

"So?" I prodded when the silence became too uncomfortable for me. "How was it?"

Dad's disappointed stare was a little too much for me so I turned to Mum for support and the one I got was quite unexpected.

"I like it actually," She said neutrally. "It wasn't obscene, just a little… how shall I put it… unexpected. They could have used a better script though."

I heaved a sigh of relief that I wasn't aware I was holding.

"How can you say that?" Dad argued back. "He just started a charity to stop child sex abuse, and now he is doing this?" Then he turned to me. "Did you conveniently forget that you are underage yourself? Or how this can adversely affect your career?"

"Grow up, Steve," Mum visibly rolled her eyes. "You Americans are so uptight about these things. He wasn't naked in it. And I consider him mature enough now to decide for himself what is and isn't right for his career." Then she turned to me. "Although I would still suggest you not to do any real nudity or sex scenes until you are 18. As for the charity, it can be a little concerning, but I'm sure people will forget all about it in a few months."

I hadn't realized that Mum had gotten so cool. I think it all started in February when I came back after shooting [Brick] and Mum sat me down and gave me my belated birthday gift, which was a DVD of [Sex Education], my first film ever. Surprisingly, Mum had tried to have an awkward version of talk with me where essentially she said that I could have sex or do whatever I wanted, as long as I was careful about it.

It was a little strange and very uncomfortable that Mum had given me the talk instead of Dad, but I appreciated her candidness a lot. I had seen her behavior change a lot over the years. The woman who was extremely protective of me and wouldn't even let me curse freely had come so far as to side with me over Dad.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Mum," I smiled at her, though I carefully chose to ignore her second comment. She may be trying to get more frank with me, but I cannot forget that she's still my mother which made it a little awkward.

Dad didn't like my answer, so he asked, "Do you wanna go down the Brooke Shields route?"

I had no idea what he was referring to, so I asked hesitantly, "What is the Brooke Shields route?"

"She did a commercial for Calvin Klein Jeans in the 80s. It had a tagline that went something like, 'Nothing comes between me and my Calvins'. She was also 15 back then when it was shot."

"What happened to her then?" I asked.

"She became a sex symbol," He replied. "Whatever film or project she was offered was done for her sex appeal alone. She got so frustrated with this that she left Hollywood for a few years, and focussed on pursuing a college degree."

While that was unfortunate, I was mostly safe here for one big reason—my gender. It sounds bad and a little misogynistic, but this is the truth of our society. If I were a girl and had I done such a commercial, it would have created a much bigger controversy. But since I'm a guy, no one will care about it that much after some time.

"I'll produce my own content then," I said as a matter of fact. "If I stop getting good projects, which I highly doubt, by the way, I will produce more films like [Brick] and [Perks]."

Dad seemed to be running out of arguments, so he said, "Warner won't like it. I'm sure I'll receive a call within a day or two about it."

I had the perfect rebuttal to that. "Then kindly remind them whose bright idea it was that forced me to spend more than a month underwater, wearing only a pair of shorts. How is this any different than that?"

When Dad didn't say anything for a few moments, I continued confidently, "Also, I need to leave my Harry Potter image behind. I don't want people to come across me in the streets ten years later and yell out 'Harry' like they do today. For that, I need to establish an image of myself that is as far away from Harry Potter as possible. This ad will also tell filmmakers that I'm ready to do all types of roles. Not just nerdy teenagers."

And I knew the argument was won when Dad sat back down and heaved a sigh of defeat.

"Now that that is out of the way," Mum said, "when are you starting the shoot of [Perks]?"

I smiled at her for successfully changing the topic, "I'll fly to Pittsburgh next week to start the pre-production. Chbosky has completed the script finally, and we need to do some location scouting, casting, and other necessary stuff. The shooting will begin in hopefully a month."

Meanwhile on the internet

LunaBliss: Holy Shit! I had no idea Troy was packing. Did anyone else see that new ad?

PixelWarrior77: A good question would be, who didn't see it? Little Harry is all grown up now. *wipes proud tears*

SereneDreamer: I knew it! I saw him at the premiere of PoA and got lucky enough to hug him. He was rock solid everywhere. And I mean everywhere.

DarkMatter69: Setting aside @SereneDreamer's creepy message, didn't you all find it a little weird? I remember him as the little child from all his films. Now it feels like my childhood is over.

FireStarter12: Grow up @DarkMater69. Troy apparently has. By the way, how tall is he? He looked a good 6ft to me.

SereneDreamer: He is somewhere around that. I hugged him recently so I know.

PixelWarrior77: Stop flexing @SereneDreamer about hugging Troy, and get a life.

SereneDreamer: Says the dumbo talking about a celebrity on an online forum.

LunaBliss: Guys! You forgot the main point, Troy was hot af in that ad. I'm officially adding him to my list.

FireStarter12: What list?

LunaBliss: Celebs you're allowed to sleep with even if you're in a relationship with someone.

PixelWarrior77: Why do I have a feeling @LunaBliss is a pedo?

LunaBliss: Hey! I'm the same age as him!

SereneDreamer: I'm not. But I'd happily wait for him to grow up before jumping his bones.

DarkMatter69: You guys are crazy. He's just 15 for God's sake!

SereneDreamer: Won't be forever. Plus, chill out, will ya? You sound like one of those broken-record news channels going on about how this is so wrong.

NovaKnight: Did anyone try those slippers he was advertising? Crocs was it?

FireStarter12: I did! They are super comfy. Troy was correct. I wore them while staying naked all day long, and now I'm thinking of turning into a nudist.

NovaKnight: TMI @Firestarter12. Just wanted to know about the slippers because they don't look good.

FireStarter12: What's more important for you? Looks or comfort?

LunaBliss: I'm definitely buying them. Do you think they will sell me a few posters of that ad as well? Especially that money shot, if you know what I mean ;)

SereneDreamer: Holy shit! I hadn't even thought of that! I don't care who I have to kill. That poster is coming to my bedroom.

DarkMatter69: Horny girls, smh.

(Break)

Everyone everywhere was talking about that commercial and Troy Armitage, one of the biggest superstars and recently turned teen idol. That Crocs commercial was the biggest boost to Troy's popularity since [Harry Potter] began. While he had mostly been seen in serious roles until now, this one small clip told everyone that Troy had the sex appeal and confidence to pull off anything he wanted. He went from being a specky, nerdy git to a handsome bad boy within days.

The biggest boost to Troy's popularity was among teenage girls and gay guys. While officially no one sold Troy's poster from the Crocs ad, there's always supply where there's demand. Troy's last shot from the commercial, called the "money shot" by his online followers, became the most illegally sold poster of the month in both North America and the UK.

Crocs sales skyrocketed, with more than 500,000 units sold within a month—depleting their entire inventory. Bulk orders were placed in China, where the factory was set up, so production could be rushed to meet the increasing demand as quickly as possible.

Priced at an average of $25 per pair for distributors, Crocs had already sold more than $12.5 million worth of footwear within a month of the new ad campaign—more than double what they had sold in the entire year of 2003.

But, as they say, each coin has two sides. While young girls might have been thrilled with that visual of Troy, not everyone was.

(Break)

"What?" I said unconsciously while on my flight to Pittsburgh.

"Yes," Tobias nodded sagely. "People are lobbying in the US and UK parliaments to take down your ad. It probably won't go anywhere, but it ruffled many feathers and created a lot of noise. You know how these bureaucrats are. They want to be seen doing things, so they take up any issue, like this one, and make a mountain out of a molehill."

"Hmm," I nodded, taking it in. "Alright. Time to release the second version of the ads we shot."

"Will do, boss!" He saluted me mockingly while jotting it down.

I chuckled at his antics, thinking back to how this wasn't the only ad we had shot for Crocs. A total of five ads had been filmed, and this was only the first. The others were planned to be released slowly over the year, but given how intensely the media was behaving right now, we could drop the second one—where I was fully clothed. That would probably lessen the controversy somewhat. Then, we could gradually phase out the first one that popularized the product.

Over time, everyone would forget why Crocs became so famous overnight. They'd only remember the later ads and the top-notch product quality.

The flight was long, but much better than a commercial one. I still think that my private jet was the second-best gift I've ever received. The best one is Loki, obviously, who, as usual, had come along with me.

(Break)

The best part about being in a city like Pittsburgh was the lack of paparazzi and reporters. New York and Los Angeles are the worst, closely followed by London, but a city like Pittsburgh was as disconnected from Hollywood as possible, and for that reason alone, I couldn't help but love being here.

We were mostly shooting in the suburbs because that's where our film was set, so it was quite far away from the hustle of the city proper.

It was a little expensive to fly everyone to Pittsburgh for auditions, but since we had a good budget for the film, we weren't exactly strapped for cash. Location scouting was largely done by Chbosky and Tobias before I got involved, and now the only major thing left was casting.

"What about Mila Kunis?" Chbosky offered me a headshot of hers. "For the role of Mary Elizabeth? She's very popular in [That '70s Show]."

I shrugged. "I'm not too sure if this role would suit her, but we can get an audition for her if you like her acting."

"Good," Chbosky nodded, writing down Mila Kunis's name on a sheet of paper. "How about Olivia Wilde?"

"No," I declined immediately. "She's too beautiful for this role."

He looked at her headshot again before nodding, "You're right."

While we were discussing casting for the role of Mary Elizabeth—candidates for which would be called in next week—we were also holding auditions for the role of Patrick today. Just then, someone knocked on the door, and a very handsome teenager walked in.

"Hi," he greeted us politely with an infectious grin on his face. "I'm Colton Haynes. Here for the audition for the role of Patrick. By the way, huge fan, Troy."

"Thanks, Colton," I greeted him genially. "Walk us through your résumé and the roles you've played before."

As the young man started his introduction, I remembered him from a few future TV shows. One was [Teen Wolf], while the other was [Arrow]. I had high expectations for him.

What followed was quite an average audition. A total letdown. Then again, this guy had no experience at all. The fact that he had made it this far in the audition process was big in itself. The whole procedure was very comprehensive. First, our casting director would select a few actors based on our requirements. Then, they'd ask the actors to record an audition tape and send it over to us. The best among those tapes would then be reviewed by Chbosky and me, and we'd invite the ones we liked to audition in person—just like we had called a full twenty people to audition for the role of Patrick.

"Alright, Colton," Chbosky said with a smile. "We'll let you know the result by next week."

"Thank you," he smiled before exiting.

As soon as he left, our casting director, Venus, turned to me. "I don't know what happened to him. He was so good in his tapes."

I had a feeling this was going to be a very long day.

What followed was a grueling process of auditions for Patrick, but none seemed to click perfectly with Chbosky or me. The worst part was that Colton Haynes, despite being quite average, was still the best actor of the lot so far. I guess we'd have to hire him and train him up to snuff.

"Is that all the guys you had for us?" I asked Venus.

She gave me a helpless look. "There was one more guy, but it seems he didn't come. Can't do anything about it."

I sighed and turned to Chbosky. "I guess we'll have to move forward with the first guy."

"You're right," he agreed. "Let's finalize Colton. He'll need some work, but I'll make do with him."

The two of us got up while discussing auditions for the other roles. I was using the back exit to leave the premises because I didn't want any wannabe actors trying to persuade me. Stephen left before me. Just as I was about to exit as well, the front door to our audition room opened, and in walked a boy and a girl. I was curious enough to wait for a moment. The back door was in a corner, so I wasn't visible from the front door.

"I'm so sorry we're late!" the girl said, panting for breath. "I hope the auditions are still going on. We missed our flight and had to drive all the way here. Your assistant let us in." She continued chattering non-stop.

"I'm sorry, miss," Venus cut her off. "Auditions are over."

"Please try and understand," the boy spoke this time. "We drove here directly from New York without any stops."

"It's not in my hands," Venus said apologetically. "The director and the producer made the final decision and left."

Usually, I would have left because I was tired after so many auditions. But I knew these two people who had just walked in. Jonathan Groff and Lea Michele. [Glee] was a show that made Lea a household name, while Jonathan did another great show called [Mindhunter]. I knew the two teens would be auditioning because I had already seen and approved both of their taped auditions for the roles of Patrick and Mary Elizabeth.

"Wait," I raised my voice before Venus could show the two out. "I'm still here and would love to audition… Jonathan and Lea, right? Although Mary Elizabeth auditions aren't for another week, I can make an exception for you."

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