Like a Star, page 13
Suray was happy as well, something that confused her a little bit. She hadn’t yet made up her mind about what to think of her yet.
Lionel looked at Summer and wished her a good first day. “Thank you very, very much, Lionel!” she said with a bright smile and Lionel’s world lit up.
What was this warm feeling spreading across his body? Was he sick? Because it felt as if something incurable had brutally hit him. The world went into a slow-motion trance and he memorized all the details of Summer’s honest smile until it was carved deep into his brain.
“You’re welcome,” he finally replied, and with unprecedented confidence he handed her his business card. “Text me later and tell me about your day, ’kay?” he said seriously. She accepted the card, thanked him again, and left the room with Suray.
Suray was totally sure Summer didn’t understand how important the guy handing his personal card to her was. This girl must definitely be gifted with unnatural talent to deserve all that attention. But was she really?
Suray valiantly held onto her thought for half the movement class until she couldn’t deny reality anymore. That girl was a total failure. She didn’t have a center! She didn’t even know what a center was. An actor who couldn’t use their body properly cannot be an actor at all. The body was the actor’s tool!
Suray was an elite dancer from the dance department and she had cried blood in order to get there. Summer was in the acting faculty, but they shared some classes like movement and ballet.
Most aspiring actors already have a basis in ballet. Summer didn’t even know ballet existed.
Jonas and Layla, her first two teachers, couldn’t hide their obvious disappointment. They were expecting much more from Frank’s choice. At least Layla did offer her some guidance; she wasn’t used to having a complete beginner in her ballet class, though. Jonas, on the other hand, gave up on her in the middle of his movement class. He decided to ignore her. He wasn’t the type to give any special treatment, not even to a star’s protégé who had proved herself to have zero coordination skills. He was especially ruthless with the Alexander Technique, something Summer had never heard of or seen before.
They were sitting in one of the school’s many cafeterias. The one with less people, for rumors about Summer’s walk with Lionel were already in everyone’s mouths. The less people looking at her as a strange animal, the better.
Suray didn’t know what exactly to say to her. As awful as her day had been, Summer didn’t seem down at all. On the contrary, Summer was unaffected by bullying. She had proven herself against all the bloodlust in her audition, so rather than looking down, she was actually looking quite excited. Unfortunately, Suray wouldn’t be there for her next class, as Summer was going into voice and they only had body classes together.
“Oh no, so we won’t be together anymore,” lamented Summer. “The art department is divided into four: body, voice, soul and mind,” explained Suray. “Because I want to be a professional dancer, I take all the body classes, like jazz, tap, and stage combat. Some of them, like Alexander Technique, I share with actors and singers,” she explained in a know-it-all-way. “Because you are an aspiring actress,” she continued, “you’ll have to take all the soul classes and some electives. Although some classes, like movement, speech and history, are a must for all actors.”
Summer took her time in absorbing all this new information.
“So, essentially, body classes are for dancers, voice classes are for singers, and soul classes are for actors.”
“Yes. Mind classes are common knowledge all artists must have, so they are basically all electives.”
“And what classes do you have, Suray?” asked Summer. “Well,” replied Suray. She was actually quite happy to talk about her classes. “I have almost every class in the body type, I love them. Hip hop, Bollywood, K-pop, yoga, gymnastics, salsa. Modern dance is my fave, though.” She giggled. “I have no electives from voice. I wanted to take singing lessons, but the singers there are way out of my league. There are no beginners in this school. Everybody has some knowledge and most of them are definitely talented.”
Summer listened with great interest, so Suray continued. “But I have two electives from soul. Musical Theater and Improv. It’s my dream to be in a Broadway show, hopefully later I’ll be able to take acting technique as well,” she confessed with dreamy eyes. “From the mind classes, I take arts, audition techniques, and personal development. That one I truly recommend if you wanna make it in this business.”
Suray was in a good mood as she headed to her Modern Dance class with Antonio Rossi, her favorite teacher. But she was worried about Summer, who was going to her Speech and Voice class with Madame Marie. She was quite a strict teacher and her reputation preceded her. Suray hoped Summer did better in the voice classes than she did in Body classes. She’d done a magnificent job with all the voices and songs when she performed Feline, the Musical. But, now that she thought about it, Summer did move like a cat as well. And she did dance some of the choreographies of the play. How come she’d been so terrible at ballet and movement, then?
Almost three hours and two more classes later, she finally reunited with Summer. The rumors about Summer’s disastrous vocal lessons with Madame Marie and her non-existent ability in the Dialects and Accents class with Phelix reached her ears when she was still in her K-pop class.
There was a real beginner in the school. One with no previous experience at all. For most of the students, that was a capital sin. When Summer met Suray again, she was still smiling but the bloodlust around her was bigger than ever. Artists sure were competitive beings. They were merciless against those they considered a threat. They feared talented people and they envied those with good connections. Summer was still a mystery to everybody, but the rumor that she was personally chosen by Frank Hills was unforgivable for almost every artist in the school. Chosen people are supposed to be as amazing as Joe Starlex. Only at his level would people change their attitude from abhorrence to admiration. And Summer was nowhere near his radiance.
Suray was intrigued by this girl. She understood that Summer was by no means immune to hatred. It did affect her, but it seemed as if she had learned to live with those emotions pointed at her.
It made her remember her first day at Constellations. Suray was an immigrant, one of the few Latinas in the school. She came from Peru, had a Spanish accent and no white rich family nor connections. She wasn’t welcomed with open arms, but Tony acknowledged her hard work. He accepted her and she was encouraged to go beyond every expectation. She was about to take Summer’s hand and invite her to hang out when Carol Marie came running to her.
Carol Marie was Suray’s friend from the Voice division. She was a soprano who dreamed of being an opera singer. Suray believed Carol came to say hello to her, but in her hands she was carrying a bouquet. Summer’s eyes lit up when she saw the flowers.
Carol Marie stopped in front of them. She took a big breath. “Summer, right? We were together in Voice earlier,” she said with agitation.
Summer nodded. “Yeah, I remember you.”
“Principal Adler told me this was sent for you.” She handed her the white flowers and Summer’s face changed completely. Suray had seen different sides of Summer all day. Summer being bullied by her classmates, Summer being scolded by a teacher, Summer being made fun of by the rumors about her “otherworldly” audition and all those made-up stories about her must-have connections in order to be here right now. And in all those situations, she had seen Summer looking undisturbed, always with a brave smile on her face.
But the way her face shone when she held those flowers, the way her eyes sparkled, making her seem so vulnerable and beautiful at the same time; that was a first for Suray. She hadn’t met that side of Summer yet.
“Woo, who are these from?” She poked her in the arm. Summer blushed with naivety. It was probably in that moment that Suray decided to be her friend.
“Neverland,” she said. “These flowers are called Neverland and they are from my benefactor.”
Before today, neither Suray nor Carol Marie had ever heard anything about someone having a star benefactor in the school. But she wasn’t surprised anymore. She was pretty sure it was Frank’s eccentric way of giving her a scholarship. What really interested her was how Summer’s face mellowed when she said Neverland.
That was juicy.
Suray introduced Carol Marie to her, and the three girls went for an ice cream. Time for a nice girl talk.
ACT 17
How was your first day? Joe texted Summer. He didn’t expect to be that interested, but after chatting all night he had been thinking about his protégé all morning. He even sent her flowers. And by that I mean he called the delivery guy Tom always used. He could be trusted, but it was his first time dealing with Joe personally. The delivery guy was very happy to finally meet the Sun in person. He brought the Neverland Flowers to the Constellation School as fast as he could. Joe has been in a particularly good mood all morning. Something that hadn’t gone unnoticed by his manager. But there hadn’t been a “thank you” reply yet and she was supposed to be home already. Her last class finished more than two hours ago. Where was she?
Joe didn’t have time to worry, though. He had a meeting with Steven Kubrick about his next film. The first epic war movie of his career, something that got him very excited. Joe had requested the reunion himself, so he couldn’t afford to be distracted. Call him a workaholic, he loved his job.
The Sun had an affinity with Steven. It was under his direction that he won his first Oscar when he was fourteen. The movie was called Domenico and Joe portrayed the young Saint until his early death. The movie was a critical and commercial success, and it brought Kubrick his second Sun award. He was definitely on Joe’s list of incredible people.
They met and they connected immediately. Steven had written the movie with Joe in mind for the lead. And he was delighted to see that Joe had already grasped the essence of Private Bryan. Nothing less could be expected from him, though. They talked for almost two hours before Tom interrupted them. Joe was having such a great time that he forgot he had another important appointment today. After their meeting, the actor was so immersed in his character that he completely forgot about Summer. He just wanted to go back to his mansion and lock himself in his private theater. But the agenda wasn’t over, as Tom had reminded him previously.
He had a secret screening of his upcoming movie. Usually, in this business run almost entirely by producers, actors didn’t have any say in post-production decisions. But the director wanted to hear the Sun’s opinion about the final cut. Frank had also pressured him to go, for this movie wasn’t a Constellations production.
This was Joe’s first Milky Way production, with James Warner as the main producer. This had probably been the most challenging and extraordinary film he’d ever done. But it didn’t have anything to do with being a Milky Way production. The entire reason was that, for the first time, the youngest Sun worked together with the Eternal Moon, Shonny Faith.
Last year, Joe won the Oscar for Best Actor with Sicily, in which he performed with unbelievable accuracy a Sicilian man with ties to the Italian Mafia in his fight to be the next capo. For that movie, produced by Frank, he stayed in Italy for two months. He then flew to Morocco where he filmed the romantic movie Marrakesh, along with Jane Foster and other talented actors from Constellations. The movie was still doing well in theaters. But the movie that was expected to give him the Oscar this year and secure his Sun position was undoubtedly Logic.
Logic, the movie he was going to see now, was due to release in two months. It told the story of a genius scientist who invented a lethal weapon to end the war that killed his mother, played by the Moon. His character, Theo, was a schizophrenic prodigy with two different personalities that were always competing against each other. He was fighting on each side of the war without the other personality knowing. It was the most complex character Joe had played so far and it was also like having two different roles, for each personality had their own personal story.
His performance was beyond extraordinary. The critics would go crazy, for Joe had surpassed all his previous work. And the reason was because this time he was supported by Shonny’s incredible acting, something that elevated his interpretation to the highest level he’d ever reached. Sun Director Harvey Lynch wanted both Shonny and Joe to see the final cut before distribution. He was absolutely pleased with them. How couldn’t he be? The current Sun and Moon acting together in the same film was something that hadn’t happened in 30 years.
Joe was always a little nervous in the presence of the Moon. He arrived first with Tom to the private screening and was talking to Harvey when Shonny and her husband, the King of Starland, entered the room. Everybody, including Joe, immediately stood up. And it wasn’t because of James Warner, it was definitely because of the queen aura emanating from the Moon.
Shonny Faith was the best actress the world had seen since Stella Clarke, the first Moon. She was a prodigy among prodigies, even more talented than Joe (in his own opinion). At the same time, she was an amazing soprano singer and had starred even in operas. She was also a very capable dancer; one of her Oscar-winning movies was about a prima ballerina, in which she did all the dancing herself. After that movie, she got offers to star in the Ballet of NLA. And she did.
Of course, it was a complete success.
Unlike Joe, who began his career as a child actor, Shonny made her Broadway debut with the acclaimed play Ave Maria when she was twenty years old. Nothing was known about her before that. Her past was a blank page jealously guarded by the most powerful man in the industry, her husband.
But just like Joe, she won her first Moon title after eight years, when she was twenty-eight. Ten years later, she still held on to that title, tying her as the longest running Moon (or Sun) of all time with Stella Clarke.
At thirty-eight, Shonny was still in her prime. Looking better than ever and with awards and accolades everywhere in the world, she was the driving force of women empowerment in the film industry. She was one of the highest paid actors of all time and a mother of three children. She married James Warner four years ago, and even with all the glory and pedigree of the Warner name, James couldn’t compare to Shonny’s radiance.
In the past, Shonny had always been a little distant and cold toward Joe. Maybe because he was closely linked to Frank Hills. And it was public knowledge that Shonny and Frank didn’t get along. A mystery to Joe, for he knew quite well that Frank adored her. The first time Joe went to the theater, it was Shonny’s otherworldly performance in Ave Maria that made him fall utterly and completely in love with acting. She had always been his role model. She was the reason he agreed to work with Milky Way in Logic, because he would finally act alongside her.
Just as he imagined, it was a dream come true and he would always feel that he became a better actor after this movie. They complemented each other, pushing each other to the maximum level of truth. He was used to working with A class actors that made it easy to live inside the make-believe world he created for his characters to exist. But what he wasn’t used to was going ever further than that.
Some good actors had told him that their best performances had been when they shared a scene with him. That they were able to forget they were acting because they were affected by Joe’s natural impersonation. But he had never felt that way. For he always forgot he was acting and totally embraced the new life he was portraying. So, when he lived the life of Theo, and Shonny was acting as his mother, it was Theo who was affected by her character. Shonny’s overwhelming portrayal of Theo’s mom allowed Theo the joy of real interaction. Something only achievable when two actors are on the same level. Shonny couldn’t outshine him—but neither could Joe, and that is why they outdid themselves.
They saw the movie together and when it was over, they applauded. This movie was definitely going to be considered a masterpiece. Shonny smiled at him, and again he felt proud. They’d become close in the filming period. They truly enjoyed working together. The Moon acknowledged his Sun status once again after the screening. Joe blushed. If it weren’t for their seventeen-year age gap and the fact that she was married to one of the most powerful men in the country, Tom would have teased him about her. She was the only woman on earth who could make him blush so easily.
Shonny was considered one of the most beautiful women in the world. The sex symbol of this generation. And her talent had already left its mark on history. She was also a wonderful human being, helping young pregnant women and orphaned children around the world. Her three adopted children came from countries where she’d made movies: Uganda, Peru, and Thailand.
But the main reason Tom could tease Joe about her was because around her, he behaved like a normal human being. Not like the perfect persona he’d built for the press and coworkers. With her, he was real. He was vulnerable.
“It seems we have made a great movie,” said the Moon to Harvey and Joe.
“I knew that with you,” said Harvey, looking at his two main characters, “I would complete my vision.” He smiled. “But after seeing the movie, I realize it’s better than anything I could have hoped for and it is because of the characters you’ve built. Thank you. You are the movie.”
A director’s praise was always a wonderful thing to an actor. It made them feel that they did what actors are expected to do. Joe and Shonny looked at each other with satisfaction.
“It has been a pleasure working with you, Mr. Lynch,” confessed Joe. “And with you, Miss Faith. It’s been an honor. Thank you very much.” He smiled.
“I have to thank you too, Joe Starlex.” She smiled and it made every cell inside Joe explode. “It’s been a long time since I had so much fun.” Her smile turned the whole place into heaven. Joe blushed.
Lionel looked at Summer and wished her a good first day. “Thank you very, very much, Lionel!” she said with a bright smile and Lionel’s world lit up.
What was this warm feeling spreading across his body? Was he sick? Because it felt as if something incurable had brutally hit him. The world went into a slow-motion trance and he memorized all the details of Summer’s honest smile until it was carved deep into his brain.
“You’re welcome,” he finally replied, and with unprecedented confidence he handed her his business card. “Text me later and tell me about your day, ’kay?” he said seriously. She accepted the card, thanked him again, and left the room with Suray.
Suray was totally sure Summer didn’t understand how important the guy handing his personal card to her was. This girl must definitely be gifted with unnatural talent to deserve all that attention. But was she really?
Suray valiantly held onto her thought for half the movement class until she couldn’t deny reality anymore. That girl was a total failure. She didn’t have a center! She didn’t even know what a center was. An actor who couldn’t use their body properly cannot be an actor at all. The body was the actor’s tool!
Suray was an elite dancer from the dance department and she had cried blood in order to get there. Summer was in the acting faculty, but they shared some classes like movement and ballet.
Most aspiring actors already have a basis in ballet. Summer didn’t even know ballet existed.
Jonas and Layla, her first two teachers, couldn’t hide their obvious disappointment. They were expecting much more from Frank’s choice. At least Layla did offer her some guidance; she wasn’t used to having a complete beginner in her ballet class, though. Jonas, on the other hand, gave up on her in the middle of his movement class. He decided to ignore her. He wasn’t the type to give any special treatment, not even to a star’s protégé who had proved herself to have zero coordination skills. He was especially ruthless with the Alexander Technique, something Summer had never heard of or seen before.
They were sitting in one of the school’s many cafeterias. The one with less people, for rumors about Summer’s walk with Lionel were already in everyone’s mouths. The less people looking at her as a strange animal, the better.
Suray didn’t know what exactly to say to her. As awful as her day had been, Summer didn’t seem down at all. On the contrary, Summer was unaffected by bullying. She had proven herself against all the bloodlust in her audition, so rather than looking down, she was actually looking quite excited. Unfortunately, Suray wouldn’t be there for her next class, as Summer was going into voice and they only had body classes together.
“Oh no, so we won’t be together anymore,” lamented Summer. “The art department is divided into four: body, voice, soul and mind,” explained Suray. “Because I want to be a professional dancer, I take all the body classes, like jazz, tap, and stage combat. Some of them, like Alexander Technique, I share with actors and singers,” she explained in a know-it-all-way. “Because you are an aspiring actress,” she continued, “you’ll have to take all the soul classes and some electives. Although some classes, like movement, speech and history, are a must for all actors.”
Summer took her time in absorbing all this new information.
“So, essentially, body classes are for dancers, voice classes are for singers, and soul classes are for actors.”
“Yes. Mind classes are common knowledge all artists must have, so they are basically all electives.”
“And what classes do you have, Suray?” asked Summer. “Well,” replied Suray. She was actually quite happy to talk about her classes. “I have almost every class in the body type, I love them. Hip hop, Bollywood, K-pop, yoga, gymnastics, salsa. Modern dance is my fave, though.” She giggled. “I have no electives from voice. I wanted to take singing lessons, but the singers there are way out of my league. There are no beginners in this school. Everybody has some knowledge and most of them are definitely talented.”
Summer listened with great interest, so Suray continued. “But I have two electives from soul. Musical Theater and Improv. It’s my dream to be in a Broadway show, hopefully later I’ll be able to take acting technique as well,” she confessed with dreamy eyes. “From the mind classes, I take arts, audition techniques, and personal development. That one I truly recommend if you wanna make it in this business.”
Suray was in a good mood as she headed to her Modern Dance class with Antonio Rossi, her favorite teacher. But she was worried about Summer, who was going to her Speech and Voice class with Madame Marie. She was quite a strict teacher and her reputation preceded her. Suray hoped Summer did better in the voice classes than she did in Body classes. She’d done a magnificent job with all the voices and songs when she performed Feline, the Musical. But, now that she thought about it, Summer did move like a cat as well. And she did dance some of the choreographies of the play. How come she’d been so terrible at ballet and movement, then?
Almost three hours and two more classes later, she finally reunited with Summer. The rumors about Summer’s disastrous vocal lessons with Madame Marie and her non-existent ability in the Dialects and Accents class with Phelix reached her ears when she was still in her K-pop class.
There was a real beginner in the school. One with no previous experience at all. For most of the students, that was a capital sin. When Summer met Suray again, she was still smiling but the bloodlust around her was bigger than ever. Artists sure were competitive beings. They were merciless against those they considered a threat. They feared talented people and they envied those with good connections. Summer was still a mystery to everybody, but the rumor that she was personally chosen by Frank Hills was unforgivable for almost every artist in the school. Chosen people are supposed to be as amazing as Joe Starlex. Only at his level would people change their attitude from abhorrence to admiration. And Summer was nowhere near his radiance.
Suray was intrigued by this girl. She understood that Summer was by no means immune to hatred. It did affect her, but it seemed as if she had learned to live with those emotions pointed at her.
It made her remember her first day at Constellations. Suray was an immigrant, one of the few Latinas in the school. She came from Peru, had a Spanish accent and no white rich family nor connections. She wasn’t welcomed with open arms, but Tony acknowledged her hard work. He accepted her and she was encouraged to go beyond every expectation. She was about to take Summer’s hand and invite her to hang out when Carol Marie came running to her.
Carol Marie was Suray’s friend from the Voice division. She was a soprano who dreamed of being an opera singer. Suray believed Carol came to say hello to her, but in her hands she was carrying a bouquet. Summer’s eyes lit up when she saw the flowers.
Carol Marie stopped in front of them. She took a big breath. “Summer, right? We were together in Voice earlier,” she said with agitation.
Summer nodded. “Yeah, I remember you.”
“Principal Adler told me this was sent for you.” She handed her the white flowers and Summer’s face changed completely. Suray had seen different sides of Summer all day. Summer being bullied by her classmates, Summer being scolded by a teacher, Summer being made fun of by the rumors about her “otherworldly” audition and all those made-up stories about her must-have connections in order to be here right now. And in all those situations, she had seen Summer looking undisturbed, always with a brave smile on her face.
But the way her face shone when she held those flowers, the way her eyes sparkled, making her seem so vulnerable and beautiful at the same time; that was a first for Suray. She hadn’t met that side of Summer yet.
“Woo, who are these from?” She poked her in the arm. Summer blushed with naivety. It was probably in that moment that Suray decided to be her friend.
“Neverland,” she said. “These flowers are called Neverland and they are from my benefactor.”
Before today, neither Suray nor Carol Marie had ever heard anything about someone having a star benefactor in the school. But she wasn’t surprised anymore. She was pretty sure it was Frank’s eccentric way of giving her a scholarship. What really interested her was how Summer’s face mellowed when she said Neverland.
That was juicy.
Suray introduced Carol Marie to her, and the three girls went for an ice cream. Time for a nice girl talk.
ACT 17
How was your first day? Joe texted Summer. He didn’t expect to be that interested, but after chatting all night he had been thinking about his protégé all morning. He even sent her flowers. And by that I mean he called the delivery guy Tom always used. He could be trusted, but it was his first time dealing with Joe personally. The delivery guy was very happy to finally meet the Sun in person. He brought the Neverland Flowers to the Constellation School as fast as he could. Joe has been in a particularly good mood all morning. Something that hadn’t gone unnoticed by his manager. But there hadn’t been a “thank you” reply yet and she was supposed to be home already. Her last class finished more than two hours ago. Where was she?
Joe didn’t have time to worry, though. He had a meeting with Steven Kubrick about his next film. The first epic war movie of his career, something that got him very excited. Joe had requested the reunion himself, so he couldn’t afford to be distracted. Call him a workaholic, he loved his job.
The Sun had an affinity with Steven. It was under his direction that he won his first Oscar when he was fourteen. The movie was called Domenico and Joe portrayed the young Saint until his early death. The movie was a critical and commercial success, and it brought Kubrick his second Sun award. He was definitely on Joe’s list of incredible people.
They met and they connected immediately. Steven had written the movie with Joe in mind for the lead. And he was delighted to see that Joe had already grasped the essence of Private Bryan. Nothing less could be expected from him, though. They talked for almost two hours before Tom interrupted them. Joe was having such a great time that he forgot he had another important appointment today. After their meeting, the actor was so immersed in his character that he completely forgot about Summer. He just wanted to go back to his mansion and lock himself in his private theater. But the agenda wasn’t over, as Tom had reminded him previously.
He had a secret screening of his upcoming movie. Usually, in this business run almost entirely by producers, actors didn’t have any say in post-production decisions. But the director wanted to hear the Sun’s opinion about the final cut. Frank had also pressured him to go, for this movie wasn’t a Constellations production.
This was Joe’s first Milky Way production, with James Warner as the main producer. This had probably been the most challenging and extraordinary film he’d ever done. But it didn’t have anything to do with being a Milky Way production. The entire reason was that, for the first time, the youngest Sun worked together with the Eternal Moon, Shonny Faith.
Last year, Joe won the Oscar for Best Actor with Sicily, in which he performed with unbelievable accuracy a Sicilian man with ties to the Italian Mafia in his fight to be the next capo. For that movie, produced by Frank, he stayed in Italy for two months. He then flew to Morocco where he filmed the romantic movie Marrakesh, along with Jane Foster and other talented actors from Constellations. The movie was still doing well in theaters. But the movie that was expected to give him the Oscar this year and secure his Sun position was undoubtedly Logic.
Logic, the movie he was going to see now, was due to release in two months. It told the story of a genius scientist who invented a lethal weapon to end the war that killed his mother, played by the Moon. His character, Theo, was a schizophrenic prodigy with two different personalities that were always competing against each other. He was fighting on each side of the war without the other personality knowing. It was the most complex character Joe had played so far and it was also like having two different roles, for each personality had their own personal story.
His performance was beyond extraordinary. The critics would go crazy, for Joe had surpassed all his previous work. And the reason was because this time he was supported by Shonny’s incredible acting, something that elevated his interpretation to the highest level he’d ever reached. Sun Director Harvey Lynch wanted both Shonny and Joe to see the final cut before distribution. He was absolutely pleased with them. How couldn’t he be? The current Sun and Moon acting together in the same film was something that hadn’t happened in 30 years.
Joe was always a little nervous in the presence of the Moon. He arrived first with Tom to the private screening and was talking to Harvey when Shonny and her husband, the King of Starland, entered the room. Everybody, including Joe, immediately stood up. And it wasn’t because of James Warner, it was definitely because of the queen aura emanating from the Moon.
Shonny Faith was the best actress the world had seen since Stella Clarke, the first Moon. She was a prodigy among prodigies, even more talented than Joe (in his own opinion). At the same time, she was an amazing soprano singer and had starred even in operas. She was also a very capable dancer; one of her Oscar-winning movies was about a prima ballerina, in which she did all the dancing herself. After that movie, she got offers to star in the Ballet of NLA. And she did.
Of course, it was a complete success.
Unlike Joe, who began his career as a child actor, Shonny made her Broadway debut with the acclaimed play Ave Maria when she was twenty years old. Nothing was known about her before that. Her past was a blank page jealously guarded by the most powerful man in the industry, her husband.
But just like Joe, she won her first Moon title after eight years, when she was twenty-eight. Ten years later, she still held on to that title, tying her as the longest running Moon (or Sun) of all time with Stella Clarke.
At thirty-eight, Shonny was still in her prime. Looking better than ever and with awards and accolades everywhere in the world, she was the driving force of women empowerment in the film industry. She was one of the highest paid actors of all time and a mother of three children. She married James Warner four years ago, and even with all the glory and pedigree of the Warner name, James couldn’t compare to Shonny’s radiance.
In the past, Shonny had always been a little distant and cold toward Joe. Maybe because he was closely linked to Frank Hills. And it was public knowledge that Shonny and Frank didn’t get along. A mystery to Joe, for he knew quite well that Frank adored her. The first time Joe went to the theater, it was Shonny’s otherworldly performance in Ave Maria that made him fall utterly and completely in love with acting. She had always been his role model. She was the reason he agreed to work with Milky Way in Logic, because he would finally act alongside her.
Just as he imagined, it was a dream come true and he would always feel that he became a better actor after this movie. They complemented each other, pushing each other to the maximum level of truth. He was used to working with A class actors that made it easy to live inside the make-believe world he created for his characters to exist. But what he wasn’t used to was going ever further than that.
Some good actors had told him that their best performances had been when they shared a scene with him. That they were able to forget they were acting because they were affected by Joe’s natural impersonation. But he had never felt that way. For he always forgot he was acting and totally embraced the new life he was portraying. So, when he lived the life of Theo, and Shonny was acting as his mother, it was Theo who was affected by her character. Shonny’s overwhelming portrayal of Theo’s mom allowed Theo the joy of real interaction. Something only achievable when two actors are on the same level. Shonny couldn’t outshine him—but neither could Joe, and that is why they outdid themselves.
They saw the movie together and when it was over, they applauded. This movie was definitely going to be considered a masterpiece. Shonny smiled at him, and again he felt proud. They’d become close in the filming period. They truly enjoyed working together. The Moon acknowledged his Sun status once again after the screening. Joe blushed. If it weren’t for their seventeen-year age gap and the fact that she was married to one of the most powerful men in the country, Tom would have teased him about her. She was the only woman on earth who could make him blush so easily.
Shonny was considered one of the most beautiful women in the world. The sex symbol of this generation. And her talent had already left its mark on history. She was also a wonderful human being, helping young pregnant women and orphaned children around the world. Her three adopted children came from countries where she’d made movies: Uganda, Peru, and Thailand.
But the main reason Tom could tease Joe about her was because around her, he behaved like a normal human being. Not like the perfect persona he’d built for the press and coworkers. With her, he was real. He was vulnerable.
“It seems we have made a great movie,” said the Moon to Harvey and Joe.
“I knew that with you,” said Harvey, looking at his two main characters, “I would complete my vision.” He smiled. “But after seeing the movie, I realize it’s better than anything I could have hoped for and it is because of the characters you’ve built. Thank you. You are the movie.”
A director’s praise was always a wonderful thing to an actor. It made them feel that they did what actors are expected to do. Joe and Shonny looked at each other with satisfaction.
“It has been a pleasure working with you, Mr. Lynch,” confessed Joe. “And with you, Miss Faith. It’s been an honor. Thank you very much.” He smiled.
“I have to thank you too, Joe Starlex.” She smiled and it made every cell inside Joe explode. “It’s been a long time since I had so much fun.” Her smile turned the whole place into heaven. Joe blushed.
