Hollywood King

For the fourth time, John ignored Ian's question. They started to talk about their schoolmates and how things ended with each other.

Although their talks were flowing nicely, Ian certainly knew why he was here. Without making his plan a success, he had no intention to go back.

"You ignored my question again. Who is handling the studio?" He asked.

"It's being handled by my assistant mostly." He replied with a sigh.

"So you do have a say in it, right?"

"I do, but I've different shit to look after with dad and his business. It's almost as if I never interfere with the studio." He tried his best to compose himself and said this.

"Hmm... I see." Ian was silent for a moment.

It was as if something snapped in John, his facial expressions were unreadable to Ian.

"Fuck, you do remember how eager I was whenever I went to hang out with my uncle, right?" He asked suddenly.

"Yeah, I do. Good old days."

"When he died, he left the studio for me to take care of. I mean, I'd literally die before letting the studio have a downfall." He sighed. "I still can't believe dad didn't allow me to continue."

Sadness was evident in his voice.

"You were so good at skipping management classes and focusing on your film classes. What happened now? Couldn't you do it with the studio anymore?" Ian let out a low chuckle, remembering the old days.

"Don't even remind me. Not gonna lie, I so badly want to continue the studio by saying no to dad."

"Huh- they didn't even consider?"

"As if… But there is still something in my heart, a bitter feeling about letting go of the studio completely."

It was at that moment that John started ranting about everything that had happened to him. How his dad forcefully made him join the business and kept pushing him more and more into what he wanted him to do.

Waking up every day with no motivation to do business and knowing his cinematography passion was long gone, wasn't easy for John. Those long and hard days of frustration… John finally let it out.

Ian felt blank, yet kept listening to him. Knowing that what John needed right now was for someone to listen to him. After a while of cussing at everything, John sighed loudly and shook his head.

"Times have changed a lot…. Uh, thanks for listening to my rant," he said after a pause.

"No problem, I seriously came to you to find a crew. You're the guy that came to my mind when I started thinking about  getting a crew."

"Hmm… I don't really know what you're looking for exactly. But I'll tell my assistant to contact you. He'll arrange what you need." John said while looking at his watch.

"Thanks, man. It'd be a huge help."

Ian thanked him humbly and was satisfied knowing he found his crew and will be able to start things as quickly as possible. They talked for some more time, then John had to be somewhere, so they promised to meet up later.

-

Ian brought the good news to Mason the very next day. They started talking about actors for the film, very well knowing there is still a little more to do before they start shooting.

Mason was looking for the actors including the two thieves, who pretty much run the whole film.

But the main role, Kevin Mccallister remained empty. Ian was keen on finding a kid who exactly fits the traits of Kevin in this alternate world.

Kevin McCallister was a young boy who was mistakenly separated from his family and forced to defend himself against bumbling burglars Marv and Harry. He was the youngest child of Peter McCallister and Kate McCallister and the youngest sibling of Buzz, Megan, Linnie, and Jeff.

Later on in his movie, he took revenge upon all those who tried to do evil on him, primarily upon the home invaders.

Kelvin's role actor was someone who had a lot of charm and after the release of Home Alone in his world, Kevin had become the hero of many children. They were often kids imitating him. Kevin was normally argumentative, stubborn, and even aggressive which are the traits one would find in an eight-year-old boy. They would need a pretty smart boy for this role.

Ian noted all this in the character traits he wanted in Kevin, which Mason had a copy of.

"We'd need a super-smart kid for the role, an ordinary one won't fit it." Mason told Ian.

"Yeah, do you've anyone in mind?"

"I'll search around a bit. It would be kinda hard to find."

Ian nodded in return.

-

It had been two days. They've been searching for a kid for over a while, who would suit the role. Although they did many auditions, Ian didn't like any of them.

"I don't know what you're saying, mom!" The kid shouted in the studio at his mother.

It was a quite good 45-minute session with an eight-year-old whose mom kept telling him to act like a certain role they had practiced before, or so his mom said.

Every time the kid tried, his mom would interfere by saying, "That's not it." "I'm sorry, can we try one more time?" "I told you to show more emotions!" "Try one more time."

"Last. Time. Do it!" She said it almost above a whisper, yet everybody heard her.

"Hello, man! I thought we were going to hang-"

"What are you even doing?" She stepped in for the millionth time.

It irritated both the producer and director equally. Perks of having moms as young people's managers, Ian thought to himself.

After not being able to handle anymore, he dismissed them by saying, "I'm sorry, but he is not the Kevin we're looking for. Well done little buddy! Don't give up!" He went closer and patted the frustrated-looking kid.

Mason sighed in grief, praying silently to find the 'one' as quickly as possible.

The day was long for both of them. Almost every other kid was not suited for the role. Either he would sound fake, not have enough potential, doesn't sound like Kevin, or doesn't look smart… the list went on and on for Ian.

Meanwhile, Mason was already in talks with many actors and had to go from one actor to another talking about the role and showing them the script.

More than half of them completely agreed after seeing the script. The few who denied it were entire because of how young the director is, and though inexperienced, and not to mention the current state of their studio affected their reputation a lot.

The majority accepted because the shooting will go on for just one month, and they thought this is an experimental film.

The D- grade and E- grade actors were more than used to acting in these types of experimental movies, so they accepted without further doubts.

It was two busy days for Ian and Mason. They would come to the studio in the morning, talk, talk, talk, write a bit and talk more, go home exhausted, eat then sleep and repeat.

The most annoying part of it all was finding Kevin. It was way easier for his mom to find Kevin during the hyped-up Christmas in the original movie rather than finding a kid to act the role of Kevin, Ian thought to himself.

-

They found all the necessary actors except Kevin. Hunting for the role went on for one more week. They were pretty exhausted and were almost on the verge of taking a lifetime break. That was just how tiring it was after seeing so many 'shitty' auditions.

They all started doubting the future of their Acting career. If they're not going to find a kid to suit just one main role, how would young actors grow up and make fitting and more important roles?

One day, Ian was talking with John's assistant in the studio about how they will plan things in the future. John made Ben, the assistant guy, help with things around the studio for Ian.

Ben was a young guy with average experience around the stuff related to the studio. Ben and Ian clicked right in when they first met.

He was truly grateful for it, as Ben was so helpful in everything he needed help with. He was polite, humble, and pretty open-minded which made him easy to work with.

"So, how long do you think it will take?" They were talking about starting the shooting when Ben decided to ask this question.

Ian sighed, "I don't know. We are trying to find a kid who suits Kevin's role. As he's the main character, it'd be weird to start without-"

Both of their focus went to the door, when it suddenly opened with a thud, revealing a grinning Mason. Ian couldn't even complete his sentence.

"I found Kevin!" Mason shouted in happiness.

"Who?" Ian and Ben both asked in unison.