36. Casting Call and a Unique Skill.

Disclaimer: The story that I have written here takes on the names of real people, but it is not intended to represent them or make any commentary on them whatsoever. This story is entirely fiction, and it should be viewed entirely as such.

I own nothing but my original characters and works. If you recognize it from somewhere else, surprise, it isn't mine.

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Recap of the previous chapter -

Sophia has a conversation with her dad about Mark. She tells him how Mark helped her realize a true goal and even offered to help her. Mr. Coppola is happy with Sophia becoming friends with Mark.

He then recommends CalArts as a prospective university to join. Next day morning we see Mark and Eva do their morning and have some "fun" together.

Then, Eva meets Sam, who is an undercover O.W. observer. She has been planted in Eva's life as her secretary to protect her at the behest of Mark. Sam suggests Mr. Kim for Mark's bodyguard/driver detail.

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~ Mark's POV ~

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Date: April 19th, 1990, the same day.

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Location: At the meeting room in his estate.

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Time: 9:18 am.

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He had asked for all the newspapers that would feature an article about Eidolon, and they had finally arrived. He wanted to see the kind of image the media would try to form about him in the public's eyes.

Until now, they have been very courteous and professional. Always praising him for his creative genius, his ability to explore different genres and bring to life stories, which shine a light upon society's problems.

He was at the peak of this journey as an author, at least according to them. However, he had now restarted his journey as a director. At the party, they asked him, if he would be giving on being a writer and solely focus on his career as a director.

He strongly denied their allegations and said that he had a huge surprise in store for his fans. That they shouldn't skip on reading the preface of his upcoming novel, which will be released very soon.

They had asked him what his new novel was going to be about, he simply answered that it would be a High-Fantasy genre novel series with over 15 books to come.

He declined to answer which of his books was being made into his first debut movie. Overall, the interview had gone quite well, but one can't really tell for sure with reporters involved.

He opened up the New York Times first, the most prestigious and professional out of the group. The headline read -

EIDOLON: Marc Spector's new adventure in Hollywood. Will this be the decline of the God of Stories?

Marc Spector, America's most beloved yet elusive author, has finally made his public appearance. Though he did it with his own personal touch, with a mask covering over half of his face.

The only thing he gave out to the public was that he was making huge changes in his career, or rather he was adding a new to one to his already burgeoning list of professions - Marc Spector is now a director. Yes, it's the genius director whom we covered just a week back.

At that time we just these are just two people who share the same name and are camera shy so they hide their faces. But surprisingly they are the same, as reported by us before, Marc has recently graduated from the New York Film Academy with multiple degrees in the art of filmmaking. Tested to have an IQ of around 167, qualifying him officially to be considered a genius.

He has..

And it went on, mostly reinforcing the positive things about him, but still remaining skeptical about his prospects as a director. He was glad that the New York Times didn't try to hinder him in creating a positive reputation.

As he went through the rest, he found most were positive and encouraging. But a few straight out called him out, saying that what he was doing is a career suicide.

Thankfully, his message regarding the new book and surprise hidden in the preface was spread by most of the newspapers. He couldn't wait to show the "Legends" of Runeterra to the world.

Mark had arranged a short meeting to introduce Kevin and Wendell to each other. He worked on the finishing touches for the first volume while he waited for their arrival. The file with all his requirements was already placed on the table.

He was drawing the rough concept art for the cover of the book, which he would then send to his artist. This was supposed to be the first, so its symbolism is important yet with a hidden depth to be found in the future volumes.

So he decided to go with something he hadn't written about yet. The World Runes. The World Runes are powerful runes that were used by a group of unknown Celestials to shape Runeterra.

The very reason why this world of fantasy is called "Rune" Terra. He drew four pillars above a pool of water upon which floated the four world runes - the rune for Domination coloured with a reddish hue, Precision glowed golden, Sorcery let out Bluish Indigo light and Resolve thrummed with power of nature in greenish tint.

The last rune, the rune of Inspiration, looked like an orb of nebulous energy shifting colors surrounded by four rings. He drew a hooded figure holding the final rune above the platform at the center of the room.

The rune of inspiration floated on the palm of his hand. This rune will be lost in time, hidden from existence, never to be found ever again. This figure was actually the representation of Mark in the universe of Runeterra.

Like the One Above All is the creator god of Marvel, this hooded character taking hold of the rune of inspiration is Mark the creator god Runeterra. For now, he shall remain unnamed, his features obscure, giving off a sense of mystery, yet power like he is above all.

He was so lost in the creative process that he didn't even realize the passage of time. His reverie was broken by a knock, he heard Kevin ask permission to enter. He just put on his mask and called them in but didn't turn around as he kept adding colors to the drawing.

He briefly turned around to greet them and told them to take a seat. Mark asked them if they had gotten to know each other. Wendell nodded and said they had talked with each other on the way.

Mark nodded his head, but before he returned to his canvas. He told them there were two copies of the list in front of them. They were to review it now and see if there were any issues or changes that needed to be made.

The duo quietly took the list and skimmed through it. Wendell found almost no mistakes, except for 2 small yet crucial details Mark had forgotten or missed taking into consideration.

Animal Wranglers and a Dialect Coach. He had gotten to read the finished script before, so he remembered that there were two important scenes where dogs helped in moving the plot forward.

So having well-trained dogs in their employ for those scenes was a necessity. Also, finding an actor for Ransom's character won't be easy, especially with a southern accent.

He felt like it would be much easier to just hire a good actor according to Mark's requirements and then just have them trained by a dialect coach to pull off a slightly exaggerated yet believable southern drawl.

When Wendell brought this to his attention, Mark agreed with his analysis and told him to add these new crew roles to the list of support crew to be hired for Knives Out.

He then asked Kevin if he found any problems with the list. Kevin told him it's all good but asked which role they should be giving most importance while casting except for Blanc.

He replied that this story is all about Marta, the focus would on her. They need a woman with a quiet and shy demeanor yet someone with a distinct look. Someone who would want to help others because it's the right thing to do.

Mark asked if they had any more questions, to which they just shook their heads and took their leave, while taking the casting list with them.

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~ Evelyn's POV ~

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Date: April 19th, the same day.

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Location: At a CAA meeting room.

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Time: 11:26 am.

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She had already contacted Mr. Kim, to meet Mark at the estate for the bodyguard cum driver detail. It seemed like he was expecting the call, as he just replied "yes" and said that he would be there on time.

Now she was waiting for Kevin and Wendell for a meeting about the casting call. Mark had already introduced them to each, and Kevin had called, letting her know that they will be there by 11 am.

She had already contacted Mr. Lourd and took care of the paperwork for the casting. She had also discussed the hiring of the support crew, Mr. Lourd would ensure that the hires are seasoned professionals.

There was a knock on the door and the expected duo entered, with Wendell in the lead. They exchanged greetings and got to work, Kevin handed her a fresh copy of the casting list he had printed.

She asks them about the Wrangler and the Dialect coach, as they were new additions. After some explanations and forming a proper plan of approach, mostly formulated by Wendell as it was his specialty.

They had decided on using audition tape and live audition as well to have a better chance of finding the best actors. Evelyn got onto contacting some dog handlers and finding the dialect coach.

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~ Time skip: 6 days later ~

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~ 3rd Person POV ~

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Kevin and Wendell are sitting together, sifting through audition tapes to find actors good to send through to the second stage that will be the live auditions. They have been doing this for over 3 days and Kevin was already bored out of his mind.

After a certain point his mind had gone numb as he mechanically kept watching the tapes, taking them out and moving on to the next one. Suddenly his eyes got focus back, he didn't take the tape out this time.

Instead, he rewound it and watched it again, and again. He nudged Wendell, who was sitting next to him, watching tapes on another screen.

"Watch this one," he said, and rewound the tape to play from the beginning. We see a woman walk into the camera, she bows slightly and introduces herself.

Then starts reciting the lines of Marta from the part of script that they had given out to the public. Her expressions felt believable, watching her perform the scene of Harlan's death was simply brilliant, her panicking and almost crying out, her shuddering and flinching.

Kevin couldn't wait for Mark to see this, so he called the assistant, Eva had provided them. He asked her to gather all the information she could about this entrant.

Kevin had gotten a really raw feeling from them, he asked about this to Wendell, and even he admitted that this woman had a lot of potential. Kevin nodded and said that the image of Marta, he had in his head, perfectly fit with that actress.

Even though he was pretty sure they had already found their Marta, he still had to keep looking through the rest of the tapes. Wendell called it professional courtesy, saying that it's always possible to find a more suitable actor/actress. So one should always complete the entire list.

They had already found Mr. Harlan Thrombey, Mark had put an express order on him. As they needed the extra time in pre-production to make props with his face on them, like paintings, book covers, etc.

They had gone through some tapes, when Mark had made a personal suggestion. They had contacted Mr. Christopher Plummer to play the role of the brilliant and wealthy mystery fiction author and the patriarch of the Thrombey family.

With some make up, they could easily age him up to his late 70s and would fit perfectly as the head of the Thrombey family. They worked hard and cut down the hundreds of hopeful applicants to only a few dozens per role.

Hopefully, on the day of the live auditions, they don't get too many new applicants. Learning the practical experience of the casting call from Wendell had really been an eye-opening experience for Kevin. He had learned a lot.

What traits to look out for, what can and can't be overlooked, how to quickly judge an actor's skills, etc. His powers of observation had really helped him pick up all the skills Wendell had been teaching him.

Because that's what this was, Mark giving him an opportunity to learn from the best. He knew from Mark's future expansion plans, he will be in-charge of casting for a film solo in the near future. He wanted to be ready for when that day arrives.

Now they only had to go through the tapes to see if they had any luck with finding Benoit Blanc. He was supposed to be the main protagonist who would be shown in the sequels as well.

So they needed to find someone who wouldn't charge a high salary and be open to future cooperation. They didn't really have any luck yet, but they kept searching.

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~ Mark's POV ~

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Date: April 25th, 6 days later.

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Location: At his office in Eidolon HQ.

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Time: 9:18 am.

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He had finally finished moving out of his estate and into his office apartment. His personal effects had been properly squared away, he had even gotten enough time to have a high security private safe hidden built into his private library.

He had already completed the first volume and sent it for publishing; it should be available on the shelves of the L.A. bookstores in a week and another week after that to all of America.

With this, he knew he would be kicking things up into high gear, so he needed to up his security. Today he was meeting with Mr. Kim regarding his security detail. David had informed him about the man through a secured channel.

He was impressed with the man's credentials, he was a man who was dedicated to his job, didn't ask unnecessary questions, could keep a secret, was loyal and trustworthy.

David had vouched for the man, but he would be testing the man himself with his CE skill to check his character sheet and Karmic score. After a few more minutes, Mr. Kim arrived at sharp 9:30 am, which was already a point in his favor, as he really liked people who were always on time.

Mark gestured for him to take a seat and make himself comfortable. He didn't want to waste time, so he directly asked the generic recruitment questions. Obviously with some changes here and there, after all, he didn't think it's normal to ask a person's kill count on their job interview.

He certainly had been surprised by the question, but not more than when Mark started talking with him in fluent Korean. It had been a reward for a hidden mission Mark had completed by being responsible for the capture and detainment of 20 major criminals in Hollywood or its related industries, courtesy of Overwatch.

His reward hadn't been just being able to speak fluent Korean, though. It had been this -

[Congratulations, Mark, a hidden achievement has been unlocked.

Hidden Achievement: The Eminence in the Shadows (I).

Requirements -

1. Create an underground organization.

2. Influence Hollywood through this organization for the better or worse.

3. Remain anonymous to the public and everyone in the organization, except for one person.

Rewards:

1. Multilingualism Package (A Tier Item) - Allows its user to speak, read and write 10 different languages of their choice with the fluency of a native speaker. The user won't suffer from any funny/weird accent or mispronounce words that many people do because they are trying to speak a foreign language.

2. Cloak & Dagger (I), (A Tier Skill) - Reduces the chances of success when someone tries to spy on the user or gather information about them. The user becomes aware if someone is tracking or spying on them, alerting them to things like hidden mics or cameras in any setting.]

As a person who loves their privacy, this was the perfect reward. When he asked Vani about the (1) besides the achievement title and his reward, she told him that this is just level 1 and that the skill wasn't all powerful yet, as a very good spy could still spy on him without him being aware.

She told him that if he continues bringing more criminals to justice he could also progress into unlocking more levels of the achievement and his skill.

She incentivized him, by telling him about some features he could unlock in the future like a danger sense, greater protection against spying, tracking or hacking, etc.

Mark wasn't sure about whether he would get an achievement like this, but his intuition and reasoning were proven correct once again. It was the reason why he had specifically told the "Watch" to target criminals in Hollywood and its related industries.

He had already ordered David to lie low for a while and mostly do surveillance, as they had made too many waves recently. He knew the alphabet spy organizations like CIA, FBI, NSA, etc. in America already knew about the existence of a secret organization.

How could they not, after all they were taking down high profile figures while collecting hard evidence on them and dragging the skeletons, these scum had hidden in their closets into the light.

Yet they could do nothing because they didn't know who was pulling off these ops. It was partially due to the Watch's competence and partially because they didn't investigate too hard on the Overwatch because they weren't considered a priority yet.

So Mark had told them to just focus on gathering evidence through surveillance. He knew he wasn't a righteous man, but if it doesn't hurt him, then why not do some good for the world. Especially when he could earn such huge rewards in return.

Mark was really satisfied with all the progress he had made, everything was coming together just as he has planned. Except for one thing, "Universal Studios", there were just being a pain in the ass.

They knew that he was on a time crunch, so they were delaying the deal and holding off so that Mark would have to give up his IP (Jurassic Park) in return for getting Universal's backing to release Knives Out in the best way possible.

Two meetings had already broken down, and he didn't know how much longer will Universal be dragging this out. But one thing was for sure, Mark won't be forgetting this transgression.

His time would definitely come and when it did, he would be taking a pound of their flesh for trying to bully him when he was in a position of weakness. Mark already had a plan in the works, but he wasn't sure if it would be worth it to target Universal in such a manner, so he was holding back.

Mark had this internal monologue while he was evaluating his prospective bodyguard. He was left completely satisfied with the answers he received, David had sent him an excellent man.

He let the guy know that he will be hired immediately with a $10K starting bonus, with proper medical insurance, life insurance and a trust fund for his children's education. After all, student loan debts were a big problem in America, and he wanted to help out his employees wherever he could.

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{Author's Note: This chapter was such a pain to get through because I didn't want to exactly mess with the timeline of events or the pacing of the story. The growing pains of a newbie writer i guess ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯ well I made it through and I am quite happy with how it turned.

As some of you might have noticed I HAVEN'T MENTIONED the name of the actress who will be playing Marta Cabrera. If anyone can guess her name correctly, before I release the next chapter. I promise to release an ADDITIONAL CHAPTER this week. Good luck my fellow readers.

Once again, thanks for reading my work. I am entirely motivated by interaction, suggestions and feedback. So please leave a comment or review and I will probably write faster.

If you like my work please throw a power stone my way so my book can climb the rankings. Slurp some nice ramen and I hope you all have a beautiful day

Update schedule for this book: 1 chapter every 2 days.}