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“Cut! Cut!” the director yelled out. “This isn’t hard at all, Song!”
The scene being shot consisted of Hana standing on a fake pile of rubble in front of a green screen, wearing a lab coat over a skintight jumpsuit not too dissimilar from the one she normally wears when gaming and fighting. Hana Song was shooting part of one of the pivotal scenes of her debut movie role, Hero of My Storm. Her character was supposed to finally take action in helping stop the cataclysmic disaster threatening the Pacific Ocean. But for some reason, she was not bringing her best today. This was the sixteenth take.
“This is the part where you rise above being a damsel and take action in stopping the apocalypse! I don’t understand how hard that is to convey.”
“You know I don’t have any formal acting experience,” Hana bited back at the director.
“All that time as a happy gamer girl and she says she can’t act,” the director muttered under his breath.
“What did you say?” Hana sniped.
“Just thinking about what to do now.”
“Can I at least come down from this thing?”
“No, you’ll mess up the lighting.”
While the director walked in circles trying how to best approach this, Hana sat down on fake rubble pile. She’d only taken this role because her agent somehow convinced her gamer movie stars were the next big thing. Plus, she figured the pay would go towards something of use. Gaming paid for her lifestyle. This would be for something special.
“Let’s try something different,” the director said, coming up with a plan of attack. “What are you usually involved in when you feel a sense of determination?”
“Planning a major offensive in Starcraft.”
“What about when you’re in your Meka?”
“I’m usually in the middle of blasting some giant Omnics up.”
The director’s thoughts were confirmed. He knew exactly how to get the scene now.
“Okay, here’s what I want you to do. As you’re giving your monologue, I want you to think that you’re out in the battlefield, planning what to do against those Omnics making landfall in Korea. I want you to have that vengeance in your voice. That determination. Can you do that?”
“I’ll try.”
“Okay. Places everyone. And, . . action!”
Hana tried steadying her mind, taking the director’s thoughts into consideration. Think about planning an attack on the Omnics. The ones that destroyed countless lives back in Korea.
“I may not know where these aliens come from, but I sure as hell know I’ll make sure they don’t come back.” She looked upward, towards the lights shining above. “Mom, I know you’re up there somewhere, and I’ll do this all for you. Look out aliens, I’m going to cancel the end of the world!”
“Cut! That was the best take yet, Song! I think we’re done here. You can come down now.”
The director may have been happy with the outcome, but Hana wasn’t. Something about how she said the lines with how she felt, it wasn’t right for her.
“I’m sorry,” Hana asked once she climbed down from the prop rubble. “Can I just speak to the scriptwriter please?”
“The scriptwriter? What for? We got the take, we can move on.”
“I just think this sounds too cheesy. Come on, ‘I’m going to cancel the end of the world?’ Can I have something more serious than that?”
“This is a dumb popcorn movie. People will pay good money just to hear stupid lines like that.”
“So you think it’s stupid too!”
“This whole movie is stupid, but it’s supposed to be fun. I’m having a blast making this.”
“I want that one line changed, or removed. Or else I won’t do anymore today.”
“Looks like we’ll have to find an actual actress then.”
Something inside of Hana snapped. She was one of the most popular gamers in the world. And yet she still felt plenty of disrespect there. She didn’t need anymore from being in a movie.
“I don’t need to deal with this shit!” Hana shouted. “I’ll be in my trailer!”
“You don’t have a trailer.”
“Well I’ll walk into someone else’s then!”
Hana, still in costume, stormed out of the soundstage with her belongings into the unforgiving Southern California sun. It wasn’t summer, yet it still felt blistering hot. She didn’t pay attention to the people shuffling about around her and almost got hit by one of the passing tour trams. She really needed to calm down, sort everything out. And she knew who just to help.
Her boyfriend, the famous Brazilian DJ Lucio Correia Dos Santos, was in town playing shows at various Los Angeles venues. But with Hana spending such long days at shoots, they hardly had any time together. This was as good a time as any. So she pulled out her phone and gave him a call.
“Hey babe, what’re you up to right now?”
Lucio’s voice sounded drowsy for his standards, which was still plenty cheerful for everyone else. “Just getting up. Man, last night’s show was crazy. The Staples Center was rockin’!”
“I just stormed off the set.”
“Really? I suppose that makes you a real movie star now.”
“When you get dressed, wanna meet somewhere to eat?”
“You got it. I know just the place.”
Hana and Lucio ended up at an upscale Mexican place a block off of Rodeo Drive. It wasn’t particularly busy since it was so expensive, so the two got a table quickly and had fast service. Hana told Lucio
“So you just stormed out because you didn’t like one line?”
“It wasn’t just the line. It was how the director wanted me to say it. Like I was preparing to fight off those giant Omnics again.”
“Oh, but isn’t that supposed to feed into your character? That sort of thing?”
“It wasn’t that, it’s the whole setup. It reminded me too much of myself. How I got involved with the Meka’s in the first place. And to end it with something as stupid as ‘I’m cancelling the end of the world,’ it rubs me the wrong way. Feels disrespectful.”
“Wow, where’s the fun-loving girl I know? When did she get serious?”
Hana didn’t respond. She was more focused on eating her plate of enchiladas. Lucio noticed she was eating rather fast, trying to avoid talking that way.
“Hana, Hana,” Lucio tried reassuring her. “I’m sure this movie will be successful either way. And after that, if you want to do more, I’m sure you can work on whatever serious project you set your mind to.”
“So you’re telling me to give in?”
“I’m at least saying be reasonable. Or at the least your gaming could go towards some noble cause. Like what I do with my music.”
Hana had been to some of Lucio’s benefits before, combining his friendly, upbeat music with socially conscious messages. She had a blast at those. Along with her plans to give a significant portion of her movie payments away, it was something she wanted to try on her own. Plus, she was famous. Famous people do things like that all the time. How hard could it be? “I’ll give it a thought.”
“Hey, I got something that we can do later,” Lucio said as he pulled two tickets out of his pocket. “Tickets for the LA Kings game against Vancouver.”
“I’m not feeling up for it.”
“They’re box seats. Complete with a mini-bar and full-food service.”
The thought of a mini-bar convinced Hana otherwise. “Aren’t those really expensive?”
“They’re complimentary. As a thank you for last night’s show.”
“I can’t promise I’ll pay attention to the game, but I’ll go.”
Lucio was convinced his girlfriend had calmed down enough. “I imagine you’re going back to set tomorrow? You can’t be mad forever.”
“I suppose. Thespion 4.0 already has us a week behind schedule with his malfunctions.”
“When you do, how’s about putting the good word in for me? Maybe a song for the soundtrack?”
“I’ll see what I can do.”