Rise To Stardom - Chapter 43

Chapter 43: Auditioning For [Grow Up]
“Thank you for your time. We’ll contact you later if you got the role. You may take your leave now” a sharp-faced looking man said to the young man who had just auditioned for the role of Harry Callagher in [Grow Up].

Bowing a bit, the young man walked off the stage, anxiously wondering to himself if he would be getting the role he auditioned for.

Massaging his temples, Director Shawn Piper with his sharp-looking black eyes, black hair, bushy brow and beard, along with his fairly-stressed face which had a few wrinkles on it, glanced over to Gary Coleman, producer of the show and long-time partner.

“So how was he?” Gary, a man with a messy brown haircut on the much thinner side of a fairly average build asked the director.

“Well, he wasn’t bad for starters…”

“But at the end of the day, I didn’t feel any sort of chemistry between he and Zack” Shawn sighed and said.

No sooner had he uttered those words, both of them turned their gaze over to the stage to watch 18-year old Zack Mendez, frowning a bit after the last person who had just auditioned for the role left.

“I was not convinced” the actor whom had been playing the role of Matthew Callagher since he was thirteen years of age, stated with an even deeper frown.

A fairly handsome lad in his own right, Zack had light-brown irises and a curtain-styled dark-brown hair along with a sharp jaw.

Due to the fact that he had been playing the character from such a young age, Zack knew exactly how Matthew’s brain worked and as a result, did not feel like the guy who had just auditioned for the role really understood Matthew himself or really convinced him to confess his feelings to Layla.

Due to the Director also requesting for him to be around for all the auditions so they could find the best person to play the role of Harry, his fictional brother, the young chap was not planning to take it easy on any of the people who came to audition for the role.

It was either he found the perfect person to play the role or he didn’t. There was no in-between.

“You too huh?” Shawn scratched his beard as he replied to Zack while Gary whose dark-brown eyes displayed a hint of tiredness, just rolled his eyes and said in exasperation;

“But you know we don’t have all week to find the so-called ‘best person’ to play the role of Harry, Shawn”

“We’ve been screening people all month and we still haven’t found someone that ‘fits’ as you and Zack seem so adamant on getting” he continued, a bit of frustration in his tone.

“The season finale will also be filming in just a week from now so we better hurry up and choose someone good enough and just get on with it” the producer vented out.

“And risk upsetting the fans again?” Shawn replied with a casual tone but it pierced Gary right where it hurt.

Sighing to himself, Gary dialed his frustration down and then calmly said;

“Look I know you’re still mad at Ava, Lincoln and the Executives for butchering your show but we have to find someone to play Harry’s role so they can get acquainted with the crew and the cast”

“And you more than anyone should know that we don’t have all the time in the world to find the best person to play his role. So please, let’s just make do with whoever’s good at least”

“You know we still have the numbers of some really good people who auditioned for the role. Just give the order and we’ll get one of them back as soon as possible” Gary explained.

Listening to his solid reasoning, Shawn and Zack knew there was a lot of merit to their producer’s words.

Rubbing his nose, Shawn then said;

“Alright Gary. We’ll do it your way”

Hearing that, Gary heaved a sigh of relief while replying;

“Thank you”

“But first, let’s finish the auditions for today” the director added and the tired producer agreed;

“Alright Shawn. That won’t be an issue”

No sooner had they finished having their conversation though, Zack who was onstage watched as a handsome young man with glasses framing his sapphire blue eyes, walked in onstage.

He had a pretty calm demeanor about him and was dressed casually, not really going all out to impress from his attire.

And yet, that choice of his, seemed to have being right decision as Zack immediately felt that Matthew would really feel at ease around someone like him.

At the same time too, Zack also felt like he had seen that face somewhere before but he couldn’t quite place where exactly it had been.

‘He’s a bit too good-looking though…’ the young actor thought to himself, already feeling like the young man wouldn’t really have good acting skills.

It was usually, very rare, to find a really good-looking young actor who also had really good acting chops to back it up so Zack’s thoughts weren’t completely unfounded.

Noticing the new person who had also come to audition for the role, Shawn and Gary casually turned their attention to him.

“Go on. Introduce yourself” the director requested and the young man obliged.

“Hello. My name’s Kyle Kestis and this is going to be my very first acting audition. I hope I can impress you” Kyle went straight to business with a polite and confident smile.

Arching their eyebrows a bit in mild surprise, Shawn and Zack shared a curious expression but Gary just watched on dully, believing that Kyle was just another typical pretty face.

Add that to the fact that he had already lowered his expectations by stating that this was his very first acting audition and Gary immediately relegated the young man to the list of poor actors in his mind.

“Alright Kyle. I’ll give you a basic rundown of what you need to do and you’ll have to act it out with Matthew there” Shawn pointed to Zack with his pen and added;

“So there’s a part in the script where Harry helps Matthew out with confessing his feelings to Layla. It has no dialogue but that was purposefully omitted.”

“Now, I want you to naturally act out a scene that convinces Matthew to take his chance with her. Alright?” Shawn gestured, his tone a bit authoritative.

“Alright sir” Kyle nodded and then, took in a deep breath while closing his eyes.

Truth be told, Kyle was a bit nervous, but, because he had been in this kind of atmosphere before, it wasn’t anything he couldn’t manage.

Considering he had also expected that peculiar part to be used in the audition, especially when it was so obvious that it was a scene with its dialogue interaction amiss, the young man had prepared very well for it.

And also, maybe due to the fact that Kyle was far more mentally mature than his age, the young man knew he could pull off a convincing act as a big brother who understood his weirder younger brother.

That was also why the young man was opting not to use [Deep Dive] this time; because he knew he could handle it all on his own without his system aiding him.

Opening his eyes, Harry turned to face Zack whom had also gotten into Matthew’s state of mind, his entire aura changing from confident to insecure in an instant.

– – –

Staring in curiosity, Harry tilted his head at Matthew who had just pretended to awkwardly speak to an imaginary Layla as she left their house.

Matthew who turned around after closing the door, soon faced his elder brother who had a really mischievous glint in his eyes as they both stared at each other, a certain silence descending between both of them.

It was almost as if they were speaking with their minds alone and instantly, Harry understood what was going on here judging by the look in his brother’s eyes who was trying to hide something.

‘Ah~. I see how it is…’ Harry seemed to say as he playfully flexed his eyebrows and Matt couldn’t help but be taken aback by his brother’s actions as he instantly tried to defend himself.

“W-W-What?”

“I didn’t say anything” Harry casually shrugged and said.

“But your eyes did!” Matthew pointed at his elder brother with his hands.

“What do you mean my eyes did?” Harry squinted and Matthew immediately countered;

“Don’t play dumb with me Harry”

“Dumb? Me? Seriously Matts, who’s playing dumb here?” Harry folded his arms as he scrutinized his brother with a raised eyebrow.

At those words, Matthew stayed silent but Harry just continued;

“Unless you’re just pretending at this point, no matter how socially inept you are a lot of the time man, I think it’s obvious that you clearly like her. And she clearly likes you too” he nudged his head towards the imaginary door.

Staring at his brother who seemed so sure of what he had just said, Matthew nervously questioned.

“You think so?”

“I don’t think so Matts. I know so” Harry sighed while staring at his younger brother.

“S-So, what do you think I should do?” Matthew finally questioned after a short while.

– – –

At this point, both Shawn and Gary could not believe the strong and sudden chemistry that was instantly present between the two individuals, especially when considering that this was all improv.

It was almost as if both had known themselves for a very long time but more than that, there was a certain flow that Kyle had already created from the very first moment their acting began;

Bringing a sense of curiosity to both Zack who was acting and they themselves who were watching by not suddenly trying to cajole Matthew into just confessing his feelings straight out of the box.

This was something most of the people who auditioned today had done and it didn’t really feel right.

‘This Kyle guy is really good for a newbie actor!’

‘That being said though, here’s the real test…’

‘How does he convince someone who’s never even been sure of himself all this while that he should confess his feelings to someone he’s been friends with for a very long time without making it seem awkward or hard for him…’

Those were Director Shawn’s thoughts as he watched on but Kyle’s next answer shocked both he, Gary and Zack himself who almost broke character.