Hollywood Dilemma

During Disney’s role auditions, a quick interview took place between a teenager and a talent specialist. The talent specialist started the audition by asking the boy some basic questions to get to know him. 

The talent specialist asked, “What is your name, and could you give me a brief introduction to yourself?” The boy replied, “My name is Jack, and I am from California. I live in the bay area with my stepfather, Anthony, and my mother Vanessa. I take acting classes after school, and I grew up watching Hollywood films that first sparked my interest in acting. Specifically, I enjoy watching films that star Leonardo DiCaprio because he is really good at acting, and I want to be like him in the future.”

The talent specialist continues the interview with Jack, and the specialist gives him a prompt to act out. Jack acts out the prompt to the best of his ability. Ten minutes later, Jack leaves the room gleeful as he felt like nailed the audition.

Jack leaves the building and heads back to his stepfather’s car. His stepfather, Anthony, asks him if he did well during the audition. Jack replies to his father and tells him that he thought he did great.

While driving back home, Jack reminds his father about wanting to watch a new movie tomorrow. He says, “I know that you are busy tomorrow, but I was wondering if you could give me twenty dollars tomorrow to watch the new movie that is going to be released? Anthony replies and says, “What movie, and is it rated R?” 

Jack replies, “The movie is called The Aviator, and it is a biopic movie about the life of Howard Hughes, an actor, and aviator during the 1920s. It has a huge cast of notable people starring Kate Beckinsale, Alec Baldwin, and even Gwen Stefani. But, in particular, the film stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Howard Hughes.” Anthony gives a shocked look after hearing his knowledge about the movie. Jack replies, “By the way, the movie is PG-13.”

After some consideration and talks between Vanessa and Anthony, they give Jack permission to watch the movie tomorrow with some of his friends. Anthony reassured Vanessa that he would be safe with his friends and that they should allow him some freedom. 

Tomorrow morning, Jack woke up and got ready. He called his friends together, and they all took a cab to Hollywood Boulevard to watch the movie. Jack watched the movie intently where he picked up on a lot of the background knowledge between Howards Hughes’ life and how Leonardo DiCaprio acted upon it. He knew that Howard Hughes suffered from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and that DiCaprio showed symptoms in the movie of the condition. He liked how he played Howard Hughes to match how he actually was during the time.

After they had watched the movie, Jack and his friends decided that they would go their separate ways back home. Jack chose to stay a little longer on Hollywood Boulevard because he did not go to the Boulevard often. Jack walked along the streets where he saw bright lights on signs and stars on the floor with famous people etched onto them. While walking around, he came across a man who was wearing sunglasses. He found it very strange that someone would be wearing sunglasses when the sun was out. 

Jack saw some resemblance between the man to Leonardo DiCaprio. While walking past him, Jack looked back again and believed his intuition. It was Leonardo DiCaprio. He wondered why he was wandering around Hollywood Boulevard right after the movie was released. 

Jack approached the man, and asked him, “Hey, are you Leonardo DiCaprio”, the man said, “No, I am not.” Jack was visibly confused because he knew that the man he was looking at was Leonardo DiCaprio, but he kept trying to deny that he was him. Jack repeats, “I know you are Leonardo DiCaprio, and I just want to say that I am a huge fan. You are the reason why I love Hollywood films and acting.” Leonardo grew frustrated, yelling at the kid, “I do not have time for you. I do not care about what you have to say.” Leonardo DiCaprio started walking away from the teenager, Jack yelled back, “I just watched your new movie today, it was great!” Leonardo DiCaprio replied, “Oh yeah, I only took the role because they offered me twenty million dollars. To be honest with you, I do not even like the movie, it was a real pain watching the movie let alone acting for it.”

DiCaprio started to jog away from Jack, and Jack finally stopped walking toward him. Jack stood still taking everything in. Jack finally took a cab back home and spoke to his parents. His parents asked him how the movie went, and Jack said, “It was interesting, to say the least.”