Chp 11 : Casted Away?

After Ari has left the orphanage, life goes on. Al lived his life peacefully, writing short stories, made a few manuscripts for his new novel, and interacted with fellow orphan and their two caretakers.

Al also didn't forget his promise to his friends. Because of some dispute about which puppies they wanted to adopt. Everyone agreed to go to the shelter together. Their kiddies instinct turned on fiercely after they saw a bunch of puppies and cute dogs.

After some discussion, they all agreed to adopt 2 puppies. First was a yellow Labrador, a symbol of American rich communities. They named her Bella, and the other is a German Shepherd puppy who they named Lola.

Well far from his imagination, at first Al wanted Shiba Inu or Siberian Husky, but unfortunately in the 80s, this breed was not yet popular and hard to find. He could only find it only in a few states, LA is not really suitable for rising that breed.

Then another surprise came from new tenants, a little girl named Alice who was just turned 6 this January. She has brown hair, pale white skin, and a bit skinny from her peers but had a small cute face. What surprised Al is how she used a stick when she walked.

She was diagnosed with blindness since she was a baby because of premature birth, then she was left in front of the orphanage door when she was a few days old.

Until now, because she was the only child left in the previous orphanage, they decided to transfer Alice to this orphanage. The other kids on her old orphanage either have been adopted or already a teenager, they went to boarding high school until they were graduated.

Although she was experiencing those kinds of life, she still looked so strong behind those frail body. As soon as they introduce each other, Al immediately hugged her and pampered her. "Uwu Alice, as long as you are with me, you will have the best life forever!!"

Alice who never has person care for her like this began tearing up, then she smiled and said, "Thank you, big brother."

'Whoa, cuteness overload!!' Al said to himself.

Al then said to all residents of the orphanage, "From now on, we have to make Alice have the best life she ever has! Who's with me!"

""Me me me"" every kid was screaming.

While they were going inside and began their "ritual", Mary and Mrs. K just saw them helplessly

Months passed, some things happened. The actor turned president Ronald Reagan shot by a teenager on 30 March, proclaiming his love for Jodie Foster.

Also, the 53rd Academy Award was held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles. Robert Redford's directorial debut in <Ordinary People> wins Best Picture and Best Director.

His investment plan has been done as per discussion with Mary and James Norman. from $3.9 million, all invested in buying Apple Inc., Berkshire Hathaway, and Coca-Cola shares. He created an investment company called Nidavellir Investment Co. which was also registered in Delaware.

April passed and soon May comes. Two more days before the audition of <E.T.> or <Extra Terrestrial> film which becomes official name announced by Universal.

Al is ready and finally, this day has come, he will be officially entering the sight of Hollywood from this audition alone. He prepared for everything, you know E.T. is one of his favorite childhood movies and he almost watched it 10 times.

7th May 1982, Universal Studio

This day was a bit rare, almost a long line appeared in one of this studio. All of them were a kid around 7 to 12 years old accompanied by their parents.

Al was also one of this crowd, the audition for this morning is to determine the male lead named Elliot. Nobody was given detailed information about his characters, only you need to act as you told to. Even the ones who got the CEO Universal recommendation wasn't spared.

One of those participators, a 10-year-old boy accompanied by his mother, also got a recommendation from Melissa Mathison, one of the producers. His name is Henry Thomas and he had been shoot some advertisements beginning of this year, he never auditioned before and he's very nervous. In the future, he would become one of the rising child stars but because he needs a harder time to transform from child stars, his popularity declined but he begins to gain popularity in the late 90s. But that "was" going to happen.

"Alphonse Brandt!"

Alphonse heard the casting assistant calling his name. Then he turned to Ari, who accompanied him today, and said "Wish me luck." Ari made a fist bump and Al returned it.

When he came inside, he saw 4 people sitting behind the table. He knew one of them, he is Steven Spielberg, one of his favorites directors. At this time, he still in his mid-30s, the last time he saw him was when he became a lecturer at USC in 2019 but then he is so old and tired.

See him look younger give different feelings to Al. Spielberg opened his file, smiled, and said, "Good morning, you can introduce yourself first."

"Good morning to Mr. Spielberg, I'm your fans, by the way, I really love your <Jaws> and <Close Encounter>! and I can't wait <Indiana Jones> to be released next month! Uh ah, I'm sorry I forgot to introduce myself haha... My name is Alphonse Brandt Mr. Spielberg, 10 years old and soon 11 next month. I live in Hope Institute Orphanage at present time, but I enjoyed it very much, I have 2 caretakers that really love me also a lot of friends there. I really love movies and I hope I can be part of it and my dream is to become a director!" Al said excitedly, he also doesn't know how he became this excited. Probably some nervousness or just meeting his idol excited him.

Spielberg saw the excitement of the kid in front of him give a positive feeling, he really likes this kind of kid who matured but has a lot of playfulness and childishness in him. But heard that he was an orphan also sadden him, he maintained his professionalism and continues the interviews.

"Really you like movies and also want to become a director? Maybe once you were chosen, I can teach you some things about directing haha. But first, I want to know how good your acting." Spielberg said.

"Go ahead, Mr. Spielberg!" The other three guys who seemed to become air after their talk began giving Al some instruction.

All of them are amazed by Al's acting talent and write Al's name on their note. Then the final test has come, Spielberg himself told him to act sad.

Al began wrecking his mind, thinking about his saddest past. How he has unfulfilled dreams, his cancer eaten his body piece by piece, about how he will leave his loved ones in his previous life.

This brought Al into a new realm of acting, not only that, there is excitement deep within his soul and he guessed it must be also his predecessor who also had a dream to become an actor! This surprised the current Al and he will take care of this later.

But now, because deep sadness also infected all of the people in the studio. Spielberg's eyes also began to tear up and immediately tell Al to stop.

Al immediately stopped but still has tears in his eyes, nobody in the studio said anything, total silence. So Spielberg take initiative and said, "Amazing performance Mr. Brandt, it moved me. We have finished here and we will soon tell you if you passed the audition. Thank you for your participation, Mr. Brandt." Spielberg said hurriedly, afraid that this kid will bring him tears again.

"Thank you, everyone, Thanks Mr. Spielberg, I really hope I can join your film and we can work together." Then he exited the studio and met with Ari outside.

The audition for protagonist Elliot is going on without a disturbance. Only a few kids could impress them after seeing Al's performance. But it also brings negative news, Al's performance is too strong and they afraid that his sadness will bring down the film.

Every casting director said that, except Spielberg who has been silent since last kid's performance, Henry Thomas. His performance made him sad, but not close to tears as Al's did. Henry's sad performance also in line with the film's tone, but why he thinks that he would choose Al rather than him.

They still waiting for Spielberg to say anything, even Mike Fenton, one of the casting directors who have close with Melissa Mathison, began promoting Henry Thomas and bad-mouthing Alphonse.

As you know, Spielberg is not only a director, but also a producer, so they need to bow down if Spielberg said so.

Then with a determined stare, he said, "I will choose....."

To Be Continued.....