Total pages in book: 61
Estimated words: 57423 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 287(@200wpm)___ 230(@250wpm)___ 191(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57423 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 287(@200wpm)___ 230(@250wpm)___ 191(@300wpm)
She grabbed her coffee and made her way to the small rooms where the principal cast had hair and makeup done.
And there was the last person she wanted to see. Well, not the last. It was sad that there were so many people she didn’t want to see. This one was Reid. She should have studied the call sheet. She would have been better prepared.
He glanced over from his seat, looking up from his phone. “Hey.”
At least he hadn’t added a bitch in there. That was practically polite for Reid. She set her bag down. It looked like the makeup artists were prepping in the back, leaving her semi alone with the man who was playing her sibling. “Hey.”
He turned the phone her way. “The Vanity Fair article came out.”
She sighed. “I’m sure I’m the bad guy.”
“I don’t think any of us comes out great,” he admitted. “I mean with the exception of our grand leader.”
Naturally Jay would be seen as the adult in the room. She sat down in the chair with a huff. “Of course he is. He’s Hollywood’s golden boy. No one’s going to say a bad word about him.”
“At least they didn’t call me a cocaine bear,” Reid said with a sigh.
Maybe it wasn’t nice of her to make fun of a dude’s drug problem. “I’m sorry. I’ll be nicer. Though you should probably lay off it.”
He was quiet for a moment. “You’re different than I thought you would be. You’re not as awful as we all feared.”
“I take it you’ve seen my show then.” She should ignore him, but she was making an effort today.
“I don’t think you come off all that bad on the show. It can be quite entertaining. I do think you show fairly accurately what it’s like to be in this business. I particularly liked when you drove around with that weird guy in the golf cart.”
“My Guber. I miss Greg.” Greg would like West.
“Anyway, I was hoping we could start over. Reading that article… I don’t want to be this guy. It’s not how I like to work. This has been one of the hardest shoots of my life, and I’ve played some nasty characters. I genuinely hate the guy I’m playing.”
It was the most he’d talked to her the entire time. Well, at least in a friendly way. Would he understand what she was going through, or would this get her in more trouble? She found she couldn’t not respond. Once she started genuinely trying to fit in, she couldn’t stop. Damn, West. That man was going to kill her.
Or lead her to an actual happy, balanced life.
“I don’t think Jay and I are going to agree on how I should play Delia. He wants me to go full-on lunatic, but that isn’t who she was.”
“That was the real tragedy of it all. Delia was tormented by this asshole and she survived it, and he still managed to get her committed. She had to live her life in misery, and she was sane when she went in,” Reid agreed. “I think that’s way worse. But then I don’t think Jay would say he’s making a true crime drama. He’s using a true story to make a point about how capitalistic greed has corrupted the American family or something. At least that’s what he said during one of our private sessions.” Reid sighed. “I thought those would be cooler. It’s mostly the two of us talking about how awful you are.”
She didn’t like the sound of that. “My character?”
Reid turned her way, his voice going low, and there was an almost apologetic look on his face. “No. You. He thinks I need to hate you in order to play this character. At first, I thought it was some dumb thing I had to get through. It’s not the first time I’ve had a director think he can mold me into what he wants. I’m pretty good at agreeing with everything and still doing what I want. But he brought in this therapist, and I think he’s fucking with my head. I don’t hate you, Ally. I mean, I don’t like you or anything, but you’re okay. The therapist told me it was okay to do whatever I needed to get in touch with this character. Jay said the same thing. I hadn’t done coke in years.”
A chill went through Ally. One of the things Jay wanted her to do was talk with a therapist about getting in touch with the character. By using her own history and background. “Reid, did he supply the coke?”
Reid turned in his seat, sitting back and staring at the mirror again. “He thought it wouldn’t be a terrible idea to remind myself how it feels. Look, it’s not like I’m sober or anything. I do a lot of weed. I drink. He didn’t force me.”