Junior Year Box Set

“Why don’t you just tell him I’ll commit in the spring of my senior year.”

“Fine, be like everyone else.”

“Hey, thanks for the help with Todd and the news. I have to get going,” I said.

After telling my parents and Caryn what Bo had had to say, I reminded Caryn that we had to leave for Rita’s house. I guess I wasn’t surprised when my parents joined us.

◊◊◊

Fritz greeted us at the front door.

“What are you bringing us for lunch tomorrow?” I asked.

“You really are a pain in the butt, aren’t you?”

“Don’t get me started,” Dad said. “How you doing, Fritz?”

“Good. Who do we have here?” Fritz asked.

“This is Caryn Buckley, my new manager,” I said.

“Welcome. Ms. James is in the solarium,” Fritz announced and led the way.

Rita, Halle, and Trip were all seated in comfortable chairs facing the beautiful forested area of their farm. The fall colors were the perfect backdrop. I introduced Caryn to everyone, and we took seats at the table so we could eat. Some smart comments were made about feeding a teenage boy, but I was above all that.

After dinner, I pulled out the stack of scripts Saul had sent me.

Rita sorted through the stack.

“So, what did you want to know?” she asked.

“What am I supposed to do with all this?” I said, waving my hand in the general direction of the papers.

“Read them and see if you’d want to do the movie.”

“I only have one problem: how can I tell if it would be a good movie for me?” I asked.

She pulled out two of them and dropped them in front of me.

“Let me ask you something: would you be interested in James Bond and Star Wars?”

“What?” I asked in disbelief.

“Okay, this one,” she said, holding it up, “is the next James Bond movie. In it, they introduce a new character who is James’ son. It’s a huge action movie with Chubby Feldman directing. They’re supposed to be auditioning for the role soon.

“If you get it, you might be working with me. I played Victoria Queen in Die and Die Again

,” Rita shared and caught my smirk. “You forgot I was a Bond Girl?”

I just nodded. The film came out before I was born. Rita had to be in her late teens when she shot it.

“I heard that they were worried that Daniel Craig might not do the next Bond movie,” Trip said.

Daniel Craig was the current James Bond.

“That’s just negotiation talk. They’ll throw a ton of money at him, and he’ll be in. The upside is that if you get this movie and do well, you could do spinoff projects. The truth is that James Bond is starting to get a bit long in the tooth. Don’t get me wrong, but Daniel Craig’s almost fifty. James Bond is supposed to be cool, sophisticated, and make young girls drop their panties. I suspect that’s why they want to introduce a more youthful version.

“Don’t get too excited, though, David. The odds of you landing this role are slim. They’ll want someone more established to take this on. If—and that’s a big if—you get this role, you might be set for the next twenty years or more. The only problem with it is you might end up typecast.”

I think all I heard was ‘make young girls drop their panties.’

“This one is the young Han Solo movie in the Star Wars franchise. Disney has taken it over, and they plan on doing several spinoffs. The one getting some buzz is Rogue One

. Disney realizes that all the stars of the original movie are getting old, and Disney does films targeted at younger audiences. The Star Wars franchise will allow them to expand their demographic, but they need to stay loyal to who they are. It makes good business sense for them.

“With this movie, you’ll be up against a lot of ‘big name’ actors that have been doing stuff for years. This was the role that made Harrison Ford a star. I’m a little surprised Saul was able to get his foot in the door for you. I don’t mean that in a bad way, but your film hasn’t even been released yet,” she said to dampen my excitement.

“So, you don’t think I have a shot?” I asked.

“I believe you have a better shot at getting the James Bond movie. They’ll need someone who’s both athletic and good-looking to play James’ son. Have you ever seen Harrison Ford run? He has this weird shoulder roll and always looks awkward. You’d have to really act to pull that off,” Rita explained.

“So, if he has such a slim chance to get these roles, why would Saul send them to David?” Caryn asked.

There was my new manager, asking the question that was on the tip of my tongue.

“Imagine the press that will surround the process. Being considered for these two huge franchises will open doors all over Hollywood for you. They’re always looking for the next big thing, and there aren’t many young action stars who are go-to guys. Look at Shia LaBeouf from Transformers. He’s nearly thirty now and considered hard to work with. Daniel Radcliffe from Harry Potter doesn’t scream sex appeal. Andrew Garfield, who played Spider-Man, is over thirty.