by Tim Miller
Chapter 15
Fourteen months after auditions
Chloe stood in front of the mirror adjusting her dress. She wanted to be excited; this was her first ever red carpet event after all. Except they still hadn’t made the movie yet. They were screening the promo that no one had seen so far. This is what Clarence would be taking to Los Angeles to show a group of investors. Lisa had already told her that they had a budget, so she wasn’t sure what this other meeting was about.
Clarence was determined to have this event. He’d rented a local theatre, limos, and the whole nine yards. Once Chloe was ready, Liz stood at the doorway.
“Hey, you ready to go?” Liz asked.
“I think so. You look really amazing in that dress!”
Liz had on a strapless blue dress that hugged her curves, while Chloe had on a similar dress, but red.
“I feel like a cow,” Liz said with her hand on her stomach.
“Oh shut up,” Chloe said as they walked to the car.
They arrived at the staging area that was a couple of miles away from the theatre where the promo would be screening. The rest of the cast and their families were standing around. Some of the men had actually rented tuxedos. The women were all in expensive dresses and all dolled up. There were no limos in sight. Neither Clarence nor Lisa were anywhere to be found either. Carl Carlisle was walking around, still wearing his leather jacket and carrying a cane with a silver handle.
“Hey Carl, where are the limos? It’s supposed to start in a half hour,” Chloe asked.
“Hey there pretty lady! I’m not sure. Clarence called me about an hour ago and said he and the limos were on the way.”
“An hour? What could be taking so long? Lisa was so adamant to be here at exactly five thirty. Yet they were way late.
“I don’t know darlin’. You’ll just have to stick it out like the rest of us” he said as he hobbled off.
She stood around with Liz while chatting up some of the other cast. It was hot, causing her to sweat after just a few minutes. After thirty minutes, her makeup was running and her hair was no longer up and neat, but was becoming sweaty and frizzy.
“Jesus, what is taking them so long?” Liz asked.
“I don’t know. These heels are killing my feet.”
“Mine too. This is ridiculous.”
Another hour went by as the cast became increasingly irritable. People there with children were trying to keep the kids from getting bored or in some cases, throwing fits. Chloe didn’t blame them. She was about to throw a fit herself. Hearing some of the cast talking about the event was rather bizarre.
“I am so excited for this! I don’t care how long we have to wait! This is the night all our lives will change!” one girl said.
“Yeah, I told my former co-workers, eat your heart out. I finally made it,” one older guy was saying to a woman.
“This is the moment we’ve been dreaming about guys,” another person was saying. “Tonight is our big night.”
“What are these people talking about?” Chloe asked Liz. “We haven’t even done anything yet.”
“I know I was thinking that too.”
“Some of these people need to get a grip.”
“No shit. They’re new though so this is a big deal to them I guess,” Chloe said.
“We’re new too. We’ve only done little shit. I heard someone earlier talking like he’s fucking DeNiro or some shit. Another said he just bought a new Corvette after he got his contract.”
“Are you kidding me? Did he get paid? I haven’t even gotten my contract yet.”
“No, he said he knows the money is coming soon and showed the bank his contract and they signed off on the loan.”
“God. That is insane. You know who it was?”
“I don’t know his name. It’s one of the older guys.”
“God. I don’t even know if I’ll buy shit once I have the money. I might just save it for a while.”
“Good idea. I should, but I know I won’t,” Liz said.
Two more hours went by before the first limo finally pulled up. Chloe felt some relief when she saw that Clarence was in the limo.
“What the fuck?” she said. “He’s been sitting in that limo the whole time while we’re out here melting?”
A short while before the limo arrived, an older man had to be walked back to his car due to heat exhaustion.
“Chloe! There you are. Come on over here!” he said through the rolled down window. She walked over, trying not to limp as her feet, knees, and ankles were killing her. “You look great. What’s wrong with your makeup? Were you crying?”
“No. It’s sweat. We’ve been out here for three hours.”
“Oh yeah. Sorry about that. Hop on in. You’ll ride in with me.”
“I can just wait,” she said.
“No. You’re our star. Climb on in.”
She opened the door and climbed inside. The cool blast of the air conditioning felt so good. For a while she felt as if she’d never feel the inside of an air conditioned car again. Liz started to climb in behind her.
“Umm, miss? What is your name again? Sorry, I only have room for her,” Clarence said as Liz stopped.
“It’s Liz. I’m in your cast, and there’s no one else in here.” Liz said, pointing at the empty limo.
“There will be later. This is just for the main cast.
“We drove here together,” Chloe said. “Or I can just wait and go later.”
“No, you stay Chloe, but your friend has to wait for the other limos. They’ll be here shortly.”
“No, I—,’ Chloe protested.
“It’s ok, Chloe, just have fun. I’ll be fine,” Liz said.
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure. It won’t be much longer anyway.”
She closed the door as the limo pulled away. Once away from the crowd, it parked beneath the overpass in an empty parking lot.
“What are we doing here?” Chloe asked.
“Well, we’ll be the last ones to walk the red carpet. You’ll walk it with me, so it will be the leading man and leading lady together.”
“What about Lisa?”
“She’s fine,” he said as he reached into a cabinet and pulled out a bottle of champagne and some glasses. “Now, let’s get this party started.”
Chapter 16
Brody was happy to finally be inside the theatre. He’d been less than impressed with the limo ride. The car smelled like sweat and cheap booze while the seats had various rips in them. What was worse was the little cooler inside was out of water. By the time he reached the red carpet his mouth was so dry he could hardly stand it. His sort of girlfriend, Ellen, had gone with him. He called her his sort of girlfriend because they spent what free time they could together, and had fun together. But with her schedule as an oncology nurse and his, they decided to keep things simple for now.
The chauffer opened the door to the limo as they stepped outside. People were milling about outside the theatre as they lined up to see whatever movies were playing. There was literally no one near the red carpet. No fans, no media or anyone else. Brody wasn’t sure what to expect to be honest, as they hadn’t actually made a film yet, but he had hoped at least someone would be there. Ellen looked at Brody slightly confused.
“Where is everyone?” She asked.
“I don’t know. We’re some of the first ones here. I think some of the cast are inside already.”
“I mean, there’s no media or anyone. Didn’t you say there’d be media here?”
“That’s what Clarence told me. He said local news would be here as well as several zombie and horror websites.”
“Well there is absolutely no one here,” she said as they stepped out of the car and walked toward the entrance where the red carpet began. People in flip flops and board shorts stared at them as they headed inside. Brody couldn’t help but feel a bit out of place as they walked across the red carpet. They paused at the large backdrop, but didn’t bother
posing for pictures since there was no one there taking pictures. Before they walked away one guy with a camera did run up. It was Peter, the production’s photographer. He snapped a few photos as they walked into the reception area.
“Well that was disappointing,” Ellen said.
“Yeah, not what I was expecting.”
They got to the reception area where there were several empty trays along one of the counters.
“I guess that’s where the food was,” Brody said.
“I hope they bring out more.”
They walked toward the server’s counter and each ordered a water. Brody was so thirsty from standing in the heat for three hours, he slammed his as if it were a shot of whiskey. He ordered several more in a row before he finally felt like the inside of his mouth no longer wanted to crack open. The server appeared annoyed each time he’d ask for a refill. Maybe if they used regular sized glasses instead of oversized shot glasses he wouldn’t need to drink ten of them. There were more cast members filing in when Lisa began shouting.
“Hey everyone! Zombie!” she shouted.
“Reign!” everyone replied. Brody always found that a stupid thing. They weren’t a bunch of twelve year olds, but there it was. Lisa seemed to think that in order for her to appear in charge she had to yell and scream as loudly and as often as possible.
“Ok! Clarence is about to arrive! Everyone head out to the red carpet to greet him! This is our director and tonight is his night! He is the father of this vision! Once he comes in, we’ll see the trailer! Now let’s get going!”
They all filed out to the red carpet and lined up. Brody hung back as everyone else lined up. With the whole cast there, it actually looked like a huge crowd. Lisa grabbed several people with their cell phones out for photos and brought them over to the photo area. After several minutes, Clarence’s limo finally pulled up. Some of the cast were literally jumping up and down as Clarence arrived. Brody tried to keep his composure at the strange sight. Clarence had yet to actually make anything, but some of these people were acting like Steven Spielberg himself was about to walk by.
Clarence stepped out of the car with Chloe on his arm. Brody found it strange he was walking the carpet with her instead of his own girlfriend. They walked slowly as if they were walking down the aisle at a wedding. They paused in front of the backdrop as camera flashes went off all around them. Once the photos were done, they walked the length of the carpet as the rest of the cast clapped and cheered.
“Jesus,” Ellen said. “Is all this a big show so he can feel like some big shot?”
“I’m starting to think so,” Brody said. Chloe looked extremely uncomfortable. She was smiling, but it looked forced, and her face was flush. Once the spectacle was over, they headed back to the reception area. Finally they had brought more food out. Brody was now starving. He ran over and grabbed some of the small sandwiches and took a bite, only to discover they were stale, as if they’d been sitting out all day. At this point he no longer gave a shit. He scarfed them down and chased them with another glass of water.
“Ok everyone!” Lisa screamed again. He liked Lisa, but he was really getting tired of hearing her screaming and yelling constantly. “Everyone start heading into the theatre to watch the promo! This is the moment we’ve all been waiting for!”
“Will everyone fit?” someone asked.
“Yes! Every single person needs to get in there! We need to vacate this area soon for a movie they are about to show! Let’s go!”
Brody sighed as Ellen squeezed his arm while they filed into the theatre. While the rest of the cast was buzzing with excitement to see this thing, Brody prayed it didn’t look like the complete disaster it had been when they filmed.
Chapter 17
Jerry did his best to squeeze in to the packed theatre. He wasn’t sure how many people the theatre could hold, but he was pretty sure they had gone over it. He saw Chloe walking in with some other actresses. Clarence was sniffing along behind her. He thought Clarence had a girlfriend, but every time he looked, the guy was all up in Chloe’s ass. She seemed to be tolerating him, but he could tell Clarence was getting on her nerves.
He was squished against the wall with a few other cast members squeezing in from each side. One was an older guy and his wife; Allen, he’d heard the man say. He was a tall and burly guy and a bit loud. Dude apparently had no inside voice. Once everyone was finally smashed into the theatre, Clarence stood up in front of everyone and was greeted with a round of applause.
“I want to thank you all for coming tonight. It’s so exciting to finally see our dream realized,” Clarence began. “Tonight is proof that if you believe it, you can achieve it. For the last seven years, I did not give up and I did not quit. I pressed on no matter what obstacles I faced so I could keep my Zombie Reign family together! Zombie!”
“Reign!” the crowd shouted back. Allen screamed it right into his ear. Jerry found the whole cheer thing rather odd.
“That’s what I like to hear! So the time has come to see what you all have been working so hard at for so long. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the official Zombie Reign promo!”
He stepped down as the theatre erupted in applause and the lights went down. Jerry wasn’t sure what hard work they were talking about. So far he had only been to a few acting workshops. Even those consisted of Carl telling everyone how great of an actor he was.
Once the lights were off, the film began rolling. Music started to play as the San Antonio skyline appeared. What was strange was that he recognized the song. It was a musical score from another movie, “Ecstasy of Gold” from The Good, the Bad, and the UglyJerry wasn’t an expert on copyright law, but he was pretty sure you had to pay to use copyrighted music like that.
As the music played, there was some additional stock footage of fighter jets taking off from an aircraft carrier, tanks rolling through a desert, and police dispersing a riot. After a few more minutes there was more stock footage. Finally there was Clarence dressed as a Marine pointing a gun. Some zombies approached behind him as he turned and fired. CGI blood sprayed onto the screen as the zombie fell to the ground.
More zombies appeared as more CGI blood flashed onto the screen. It wasn’t even good CGI. The blood looked like they took a stock photo of blood splatter and pasted it into the shots. After a few zombies were killed, it cut to a scene of a little girl with braces crying as she hugged an older woman. A few scenes later there was the same little girl, but was taller and had no braces. Was she playing two different characters? Those scenes looked like they were filmed a year apart.
There was more military stock footage and more shots of Clarence shooting zombies and the promo ended. There was no dialogue in the promo at all. Just action shots and stock footage. If he were just a random person watching, he’d have no idea what the film was about. Hell, he was part of the cast and still wasn’t sure what it was about other than zombies were in it and apparently they reign.
The theatre erupted in applause as Allen hooted and hollered. Others joined him and a few whistled. Clarence stood at the front of the theatre again as people continued clapping, and people began standing as they cheered until the entire theatre as on its feet. Jerry wasn’t sure why everyone was so excited. He was a bit disappointed in the promo. He’d expected something better than this. They’d mentioned having several shoots in different locations, but there was maybe two minutes of original footage and some of that looked old. Not to mention the whole film looked grainy. He tried to push the concerns to the back of his mind. He was no film expert and sure as hell never tried to direct anything. It just seemed odd that such a large and big budget production would use this as their promo.
Everyone began filing out of the theatre as Jerry waited. Allen turned to Jerry and smiled.
“You see that? Was that bad ass or what?” Allen said as he slapped Jerry on the shoulder.
“Yeah. Pretty cool. Hardly any of us were in it though. Maybe three or four people.”
“Well
yeah. They haven’t started filming yet. Next month though, man. Next month it all starts! Be ready!” Allen said as he headed out of the theatre.
Filming next month. Jerry had only been with the production maybe six months and since the day he auditioned they’d been saying, “next month.” He realized these things take time, but he couldn’t figure out why they’d set deadlines just a few weeks away and keep moving them. Why not just say you’re filming in six months and if it’s sooner, then they can move it up. Jerry hadn’t even seen a contract or paycheck yet, so he wasn’t sure how they’d film so soon without those things.
As he stepped out of the theatre, he saw there was a crowd around Clarence and people lined up to take pictures with him. It seemed it was all other cast members. He walked to the bar and ordered a rum and Coke. He decided to play a drinking game with himself and take a drink anytime someone yelled, “Reign!” Within an hour he could hardly see straight.
Chapter 18
Clarence couldn’t stop smiling. The promo kicked serious ass. He’d watched it over and over after his guys had finished editing it. The music, the action, everything just made it the best thing he’d ever seen. The cast loved it too. When they gave him a standing ovation, he almost broke into tears. Chloe was angry with him again. He tried to loosen her up in the limo before the party started, but she kept shutting him down.
At one point she threatened to get out of the car and leave all together, so he backed off. He couldn’t have the leading lady not showing up. He was glad most of the cast had made it, although he knew they would. Everyone liked to be the center of attention. After the promo screened, it became a whirlwind of madness. Everyone was coming at him to talk to him, take pictures, or whatever else.
A couple people wanted him to read their scripts. He gave them his email address and told them to send it his way, but he couldn’t make any promises. Speaking of scripts, he should probably get started on the “Zombie Reign” script. He would though, real soon. This was going to be amazing. One thing he was disappointed about was the lack of media people in attendance. Lisa had sent out press releases to the local news and several horror and zombie websites.