Ch-107

"I'm so sorry, Troy," Emily sobbed on the phone.

"Stop that already, Emily," I tried reassuring my friend. Tried being the keyword here. "How is this your fault? If it's anyone's fault, it's the driver of that car who was driving drunk in broad daylight."

"I wanted to do this film so bad!" Emily moaned. "I read the book, like, ten times. Same with the script. And now… I'm restrained to my bed for the next two months."

Her voice sounded so hollow and devoid of hope that I wanted to fly all the way to Arizona to give her a big hug. The only good thing about the whole mess was that her injury was a relatively minor one considering the severity of the accident. They didn't even have to operate, and a simple cast was able to fix it. The bad thing was that there were hairline fractures in both her legs, not just one. That left her unable to put any pressure on her legs for some time.

As her friend, I wanted to reassure her that everything would be fine and she still had the role, but that was not a practical decision from a business point of view. What big studio productions would do in such a situation was to postpone her scenes to be shot at the last. The problem with that decision was that her character, Sam, had the most screen time after me. If we shot her scenes at last, that would mean halting production on at least half the movie. That would balloon up the costs entirely too much. As a producer, I couldn't allow that to happen.

So my two real options were to either postpone the entire movie until she was good enough to walk on her feet or replace her with someone else. If we go with the first one, it's possible that some other actor may become unavailable and that would be another issue. God, this is a difficult situation to be in!

It didn't take me long to decide what had to be done. I didn't like it one bit. But I had to.

"Emily," I began softly. "I wanted to tell you that—"

"You are replacing me with someone else," she said resignedly as if she had known that all along.

"I have invested $10m on this film," I explained weakly.

"I understand that," she said. "You don't have to justify it to me. You don't owe me anything. In fact, I owe you a big deal for everything you have done for me till now."

Now she was just making me feel bad.

"I'm sorry, Emily," I whispered.

"Go make a damn good film," she said with a brave voice, but I knew she must not be feeling all that inside. "That will be enough apology for me."

After a quick goodbye, I disconnected the call and rubbed my forehead in worry. We had less than two weeks to begin shooting, and we didn't even have a female lead now. Right when I thought everything would go perfectly with the film, life had to throw this problem my way. The worst thing about this situation is that because Emily had been finalized pretty early on, we hadn't even auditioned other girls for the role of Sam. Because of this, we didn't have a solid replacement for her.

Now I know why some movies are sometimes stuck in developmental hell for years. It is a pain to bring everyone together at the right time. If even one key actor backs out for any reason, a situation like this occurs.

(Break)

"No, no, no," Troy shook his head frantically. "All of them are bad. Not one of these girls is good enough to be considered for this role. They are not even good enough for a cameo. Let alone to play Sam!"

Stephen Chbosky was not having a good time making [The Perks of Being a Wallflower]. He had made other films before, but they were short, small-budget films. If anything went even slightly wrong with the film, it could jeopardize his future directing career. Not to mention, the pressure to not waste away $10m was enormous. Then there was the fact that they didn't have a love interest anymore.

"I think we should wait for Emily to get better," Stephen offered. "She was excellent in her second audition of Sam. I still can't believe I didn't like her the first time."

"We can't do that, Stephen," Troy said tiredly. "We have already postponed the filming by two weeks to find the right girl. Seeing how [Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban] did the lowest business in the series, Warner plans to start a massive global publicity campaign surrounding me for [Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire], which will start in October. As soon as that is over, we will begin working on the fifth and sixth films in the series. They liked the dual production of the third and fourth films because it saved them a ton of money. Once we start production of the fifth film, it will take more than a year before I'll be free to shoot anything else."

"That sucks," Stephen summed up the situation eloquently.

"It does," Troy agreed.

Before Stephen could say anything else, Troy's phone started ringing. Not wasting any time, Troy promptly put the phone to his ear. Stephen wanted to excuse himself, but for some reason, he didn't. They had not finished their talk, after all, and if Troy wanted some privacy, he should have excused himself.

"Yes, babe?... Yeah, both of her legs are fractured… I know, but I'm so swamped right now with this film… How about next year? After we finish the sixth film?... That sounds great… You too."

Stephen's brain was working overtime right now. He didn't know all the details, but he highly suspected that Troy and Emma Watson were dating. He didn't like following rumors about celebrities, but his girlfriend did, and there was this article in some shady tabloid about how Emma and Troy were getting so close to each other on the sets of [Harry Potter].

This conversation that he had overheard more or less confirmed it for him. Who else would do the sixth film with Troy? Usually, he is a very polite man and would act as if he hadn't overheard what he had. But in this situation, it could be beneficial for him.

"Sorry about that," Troy said while putting his phone down. "I had made vacation plans for September that I had to cancel because of this fiasco. So, where were we?"

"Troy," Stephen said slowly. "I didn't mean to overhear, but you were just sitting here, so I have to ask, was that Emma Watson on the phone?"

"Oh God," Troy sighed dramatically. "Don't tell me you are one of those rumor-type guys. Emma is just a good friend. She, Jamie, and I have been going on vacation every year ever since we were little."

"Of course," Stephen nodded, accepting the lie for what it was. "I didn't mean to imply anything else. It's just that… have you perhaps considered her for the role of Sam?"

Troy went abnormally quiet for a few moments before nodding slowly. "I have. In fact, she loved the book so much that she wanted to play Sam from the beginning. But when we started discussions with you about the film, she was very young, so I told her the role wouldn't suit her."

"And what about now?" Stephen asked. "How old is she now? 15?"

"14."

"Hmmm," Stephen hummed audibly. "I have not seen a recent photo of hers, so you would know that better. Do you think she will be able to play Sam convincingly?"

Troy thought it over for a few seconds before nodding, "Yes. She can pass off for a young-looking 18-year-old. But…" Troy hesitated for a few moments. "I don't know if she would want to do this at such short notice. Her accent can also be a little problem."

Those were valid concerns.

"We can hire an on-set accent coach for her who can guide her before every scene," Stephen suggested. "It will be a little expensive, but better than shelving the film for more than a year. And will she still say no, if you personally requested it as a favor?"

"That I… don't know," Troy pondered over it before turning to Stephen. "But that's a secondary matter. If Emma were to do this film, we would have to remove any scene that even remotely sexualizes her. Remember, she's 14. Kissing is fine as long as it's innocent and doesn't change into anything more."

That could be a problem because some scenes will have to be rewritten, but it was not a deal breaker.

"Okay," Stephen agreed after some thought. "I will rewrite some scenes. Why don't you talk to her about it first? Then we'll know for sure. The sooner we know, the sooner we can begin her accent training. We have limited time after all."

(Break)

Jonathan Groff sat behind the steering wheel, while I was sitting on the far right. Emma was sandwiched between the two of us, but her arm rested casually against Jonathan's shoulder. If I didn't know that Jonathan was as gay as they came, I'd be a little jealous of him.

"Action!"

Jonathan turned on the ignition of the truck and started moving it slowly. It would be a little difficult to shoot everything at high speeds, so it was decided to keep the speed slow. The road we were driving on had been barricaded, so that it was safe for us to talk while driving. Cameras were placed everywhere to record our conversation.

Suddenly, David Bowie's Heroes started playing on the cassette player in the car.

"Oh my God!" Emma exclaimed excitedly. "What is that song?"

"Right?" Jonathan agreed. "I have no idea."

She turned to me, "Have you ever heard this before?"

I smiled but shook my head, "Never."

She turned back to Jonathan, "Patrick, we've gotta go through the tunnel."

"Sam, it's freezing," Jonathan argued with a grin on his face.

"It's the perfect song!" Emma argued back hotly.

"Cut!" Their banter was interrupted by Chbosky's voice over a speaker. "Emma, your British accent is coming out. Let's try it again from the start, shall we? This time without music."

Because of the setting of the scene, Chbosky couldn't be here in person to shoot this, so a small speaker had been placed in the car, such that Chbosky would be able to give instructions to us even from afar while keeping a check on the footage on a screen. The music had been cut off to maintain the continuity of the scene. It will be added later in the post-production.

"Okay," Emma said before taking a deep breath and starting again, "Oh my God! What is that song?"

"Cut! Let's start again."

"Oh my God!"

"Cut!"

I felt a little bad for Emma. I had more or less pleaded with her to do this film. This was her first project outside of [Harry Potter], so it made sense that it would take her some time to adjust to the parameters of shooting something new. Filming in a car was always hectic because of the closed space. You couldn't even walk or stretch between retakes. I had done these types of scenes a lot, starting with the climax of [The Sixth Sense] and going all the way over to the flying car sequence in [Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets], (which we shot for a whole month). This was a first for Emma, so it wasn't surprising that she was struggling with it.

I knew before I even invited her that there would be problems while shooting this film. The biggest one was, of course, our relationship. I don't feel ready yet to come out and announce it to the world, and it is very difficult to maintain the status quo if we keep doing films together.

"Emma," I said to my girlfriend after the tenth wrong take. I chose my words carefully, aware that both of us were fitted with mics. "It's alright. You just need to take a deep breath and calm down. It will come out good soon enough. It doesn't matter if we have to do a hundred retakes. Okay?"

Emma heaved a sigh of what I presumed to be relief before nodding, "Yeah, it's just so different from what I'm used to."

"I think you're doing a good job," Jonathan chimed in. "But then again, I have no idea how these things work, so I could be wrong."

Emma nodded at Jonathan appreciatively before taking a deep breath. Then she said in her American accent, "Alright, let's do this again."

That take passed on the next try. But it had been hours since we started it. Now was the difficult part. Or easy, depending upon how you see it.

"Action!"

Emma slid open the rear windshield of the truck and got out.

"What is she doing?" I asked Jonathan.

"Don't worry, she does it all the time," he reassured me casually.

Emma, meanwhile, was unaware of our talk and had spread her arms out, enjoying the wind against her body. She looked absolutely beautiful in her black dress. A crew member was sitting behind her, holding her tightly so that she didn't fall off, but the car was moving at a relatively slow speed, so there was no real danger to the scene.

I didn't have to fake my expression as I saw her freely spread her arms out. I also wanted freedom like that.

"What?" Jonathan asked me.

"I feel infinite," I replied giddily. This was the best moment of my life.

"Cut!" Chbosky's voice came out of the speaker. "Perfect, guys! Absolutely perfect. Now you can come back and change so that we can shoot the climax as well."

Not needing to be told twice, Jonathan turned the car around and we drove to our starting position where a trailer had been parked for us to change our costumes. As happened with most film productions, this film was also not being shot in order. Since we had to go through the tunnel twice, we planned to shoot both scenes in one day.

(Break)

Alfie just knew that this would be his lucky week. He knew it as soon as he got to know that Troy Armitage and Emma Watson were starring in a small-budget movie together in his hometown. Pittsburgh is a relatively quiet place for amateur photographers because there are no big celebrities here. That's why Alfie only clicks photos in his free time. Most of his earnings come from being a janitor at the public school in his district.

He knew that he could have moved to New York or LA to make a lot more money, but his family was here, and he didn't want to leave them. So he worked with what he had and clicked photos whenever he could. And today would be one such day.

He had arrived at the scene early, which was 8:00 PM. They had barricaded the road for the scene they were shooting, so Alfie had to run on his feet with a heavy camera around his neck to record everything. All this while making sure he remained unseen. Legally, no one could stop him from capturing anything that happened on a road, but if he were seen, they may try to stop him. His personal experience told him that the best photos come out only when the target doesn't know they're being photographed.

And he did that successfully. From his hiding spot, he clicked Emma Watson shooting a scene where she was standing at the back of a truck, with her arms outstretched. The photos and the videos he had taken during the multiple takes came our very well. He also took photos of Troy doing the same sometime later, with a different pair of clothes. And then came the best shot that would ensure he would be earning more than enough to make this worthwhile—Troy bent down on the rear window of the truck and kissed Emma.

Sure, it was a staged kiss, but Alfie had recorded it all. This was bound to get him some good money. Fans were already shipping Harry and Hermione, and this photo would be the perfect fuel to that fire.

It had been hours since he had been there. Almost the entire night had passed, and dawn was breaking soon on the horizon. The shooting had also come to an end for the day, and everyone was packing up their stuff.

Alfie wanted to follow in their footsteps to go home and sleep, but he had a feeling that he would miss something crucial if he went right now. Usually, his feeling was correct, so he didn't move from his hiding spot, his eyes fixed on Troy and Emma. The two were talking to a third guy, who must be a small-time actor. Alfie kept his camera trained on them all this time.

Then Troy shook hands with that other actor before walking with Emma over to a car. He opened the door for her before leaning in. He looked around carefully to see if anyone was seeing this, before pecking Emma on the lips.

Alfie was shocked to see this. Yet, he didn't stop clicking photos. Emma was apparently not satisfied with the peck and pulled Troy in for a deeper kiss. This time, Alfie recorded the whole scene in an HD video.

Troy waved goodbye to Emma and the car she was in was driven away, while Troy sat in his own car before leaving the set.

"Holy shit!" Alfie said out loud. "I think I just made a fortune that will set me up for life."

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