PART ONE: The Audition.
"OK, Eddy. They're ready for you now. Break a leg!" the smiling and petite P.A. with cute bangs said.
Exhaling and gripping his rolled up script in one hand, Eddy got up and walked through two sets of doors and onto the temporary studio space and offices of Third Act Films, the production company that had been hired by The Studio to salvage the (very troubled and very over-budget) film adaptation of Widow's Journey.
What had once been a hangar for air-shows in Sierra Diabla, was now a huge stage-set. The room was full of film crew and assistants all doing their thing and in the center of the room was a simple table and sitting at that simple table were the five people who could change his life. Really it was just the person sitting at the center of the table, Marigold Whitney.
Marigold Whitney (Mari to her friends, which consisted of other successful actors and her personal makeup crew) was descended from stage royalty and with her family's connections to the entertainment business as well as her own charm, drive and talent (all considerable), she was one of the few members of the EGOT club; entertainers who had won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar & Tony. Everything she had ever been even involved with, had been a commercial AND critical success.She had never failed.
Marigold was also the owner of Third Act Films.
Unconventionally attractive (5'11, a prominent nose and perhaps a figure that was a tad too slim by current movie star standards) and her blonde hair currently styled in a frizzy-curly fashion, even in her late 40's,Marigold was an impressive figure in her fashionable light, caramel-colored leather jacket and matching pants (which were very tight), completing the ensemble were pumps and a white shirt. Eddy didn't think she was wearing a bra.
"Hi Eddy." Marigold said with an energetic smile. All the busy assistants and crew stopped working. The room was silent.
This is weird
Eddy thought and replied in the way his agent/manager, Myra had specifically instructed, "Hi. Thanks for meeting with me, I'm a big fan of yours."
Marigold smiled and Eddy thought that she might introduce the other people at the table. But she didn't.
"OK Eddy, here's the 'deets'." Marigold said and then looked at the person sitting next to her, an older guy with horn-rimmed glasses (Eddy would later find out his name was Vince and that he was the film editor) and asked, "Do people still say, 'deets'?" but then moved on before Vince could answer.
"Widow's Journey is a shitty book that has, through the diligent work of many, many, many teams of screenwriters and script-doctors and script-doctor doctors, been adapted into a marginally less-shitty script."
"And, in addition to starring, directing and executive-producing this piece of crap, I'll also be fixing the script to get
something
filmable, but leaving us room to improv and try different things. Oh and I'm also in charge of the soundtrack." and then made a comedic show of acting exhausted from all her responsibilities.
Everyone laughed politely.
"All that said, let me get to the point; this film is in the genre of erotic thriller and it calls for us to do nude scenes. Explicit nude scenes. I'm cool with that, are you cool with that?"
Eddy was and said, "Yeah, I'm cool with that." This had all been worked out with Myra in advance. Preliminary contracts had already been signed by all parties.
Smiling, Marigold said "Fantastic!" and then staring him directly in the eyes, said something that Myra had not prepared him for.
"Strip."
"I'm sorry, wh---?"
"Strip naked. I want you completely nude." Marigold interrupted.
"Right now? Here?" Eddy asked, in shock and confused.
It was at this point that Vince started to speak up. "Hey, I don't think we---" is what he started to say before Marigold shut him down with just a glance.
Marigold returned her attention back to Eddy. "Look Eddy, again, your part involves a LOT of nudity, so we need to see your body. We need to know if you have problematic or excessive tattooing or blemishes that might require complicated make-up or CGI solutions. And everyone here is going to eventually see you nude, so we might as well get over the camera shyness now..."
"So let's go; show us what you've got." Marigold said, with a slight edge of impatience in her voice.
Reluctantly, slowly, Eddy started to unbutton his shirt.
"No, take off the shoes and socks first, that'll be less awkward." Marigold said, as if anything could make this situation less awkward.
"You can hand your clothes to Laura, she'll hold on to them."
Laura, a young attractive woman with auburn-hair in a ponytail and wearing a miniskirt walked over and smiled sheepishly as she stood next to him, waiting for Eddy to hand her his clothes.
Eddy realized that there had already been some tension in the room, but that tension increased exponentially as he started to undress in front of about 300 people.
It was quiet. Very quiet, except someone in the crew was chewing gum and making chewing gum noises, like popping it and blowing bubbles.
Once naked, Eddy handed his clothes to Laura, who took them and stepped back.
Marigold stared at his body for about a minute and then broke the silence. "Wow, you have a great body. How much time do you spend in the gym?"
"I try for about 26 hours."
Marigold had been staring directly at Eddy's cock, but his answer seemed to distract and mildly-annoy her.
"26 hours? That number seems so random...You know what, I don't care. Could you turn around please?"
Eddy hesitated until Marigold raised an eyebrow and twirled her finger, instructing him to turn around and he did so.
"A little slower please, let everyone get a good look at you." Marigold said. She was smiling and clearly enjoying this.
