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| ...... Never quite enough time to be brilliant |
Creating the 'Linx' effect
THE MONEY SHOT
'Linx' Bohdrun leaned back in his chair and puffed on a Marlboro lite. He stared at the smoke for a while then looked at the girl sitting across the desk from him. Negotiations had reached that tricky phase where nonchalance and feigned disinterest came into their own. He appraised her once more through his self-made haze. She had exactly what it took. What he needed. Good figure, lithe to the point of taut. Long legs, tiny waist. Full melony tits. The whole package all nicely topped off by a glorious face that had just the right amounts of siren and ingenue in it - yes this was the girl. Now here came the problem. But problems were there to be solved - right? And that was his job - right? Linx weighed up his words with care. He was a great believer in words. The right words in the right situation made all the difference. Words were the tip of that iceberg called personality sure, but they carried their own currency, their own momentum. You couldn't say just anything, shouldn't say just anything on the back of a winning smile or an expensive suit and expect it to pay off. Not if you were good. Not if you were very good. Like Linx. 'Lisa.' He began letting the 's' slide soothingly on the syllable. 'It was you. It was you from the moment you walked in. If it was only up to me well …' 'But you're the producer.' The girl cut in. 'if it isn't up to you, then who is it up to?' 'The studio. I raise the money sure, I see that it is properly spent. I see that the picture we wanted is the picture we get. But when it comes to genre specifics…' 'Genre specifics? The girl cut in again. Linx admired her spirit, or foolhardyness, whatever it was. but felt that little tightness in the muscles of his jaw that told him he wouldn't be admiring it too much longer. 'It's a love story - right?' The girl nodded. 'So the hero and heroine, however long it takes, however many trials and tribulations befall them along the way, get naked in the all-consuming, all-consummating love scene.' 'It doesn't have to be that way.' 'In Bohdrun pictures that the law.' 'So it is up to you.' 'No it's not up to me. The studio is buying my product. That's part of the product. Would you buy a coffee machine without a jug or a car without tyres?' 'It's not the same.' 'Whoever told you that, Honey? Whoever told you that is doing you no favours at all.' 'Perhaps it's best I don't do this picture.' She picked up her bag from beside the chair, took out her mobile phone and began to check her messages. 'Lisa, Lisa. This is not a good idea.' The girl carried on pressing buttons. 'Look at me. Look at me please.' She stopped pressing and looked up. 'Have you any idea how big this picture is going to be?' 'I don't do nudity. I'm a serious actress. People say I'm going to be the next Meryl Streep. I like that idea. The next Pamela Anderson. That doesn't fill me with the same warm feeling.' 'Streep did topless.' 'When?' 'Silkwood, 1983.' 'She was established by then. That's different.' 'The whole system is different now. Name me one up and coming actress who keeps her clothes on.' 'Winona Ryder' 'I said up and coming, please.' The girl thought for a moment, wrinkling her delightful retrousse nose. Linx imagined capturing it on camera. The thought made him feel good. It was good. Imperceptibly he gathered up his resolve. 'Then I'll be the first.' She said brightly, giving up the chase. Linx stubbed out his cigarette, he needed his hands free to express himself. To keep their amiable antagonism from becoming hostile. She was still on the line. All he had to do was reel her in. 'These scenes. Why do you think we put them in? Why do you think they're always there?' The girl put her phone back in her bag and zipped it up. Was she finished with the phone or finished with him? 'Because it gets sad men into the theatres.' 'Whilst not wanting to enter into a discussion regarding the level of lugubriousness exhibited by these male patrons, yes that's right. Lots of them, lots of men.' 'So that makes it right?' 'In this business? Absolutely. That's as right as it can possibly get.' 'Then why don't we just show films of strip clubs and forget all this acting stuff?' 'Now that would be sad.' 'What's the difference? I don't see it.' 'Let's approach this from another angle.' 'Why can't you make that one stick?' 'Not in the time I have available. Humour me. Lisa. I want you to understand. Really I do. Even if in the end you walk away, don't take the part.' 'My available time is white water rafting through the hourglass too. Go on, make your pitch.' She settled back in her chair, legs crossed, hands resting lightly in her lap, empty, upturned in fake supplication. He noticed that she bit her nails. 'I assume you love the movies?' 'I love acting, it's not necessarily the same thing.' 'Maybe not, let's go one back from that then. What do you love about movies, about being in movies?' She wrinkled her nose again and he just wanted to kiss it. They'd be salivating in the popcorn from Seattle to Sarasota. 'They way they make you look so good. Larger than life. With all your blemishes and weak points eradicated, leaving only the perfect you.' 'I'm sure the movies had hardly any work to do in your case.' 'Flattery won't work with me you know. I've been flattered all my life. Now I'm immune.' 'In this case it wasn't flattery, merely stating a fact. But you're right about the perfection thing. That's what the movies are about. You might say it's the only thing they are about. The perfection of good, of evil, of beauty.' 'And?' She smiled, a little ugly, self-satisfied smile that let her down. Like a little flash of another her. A spoilt child adrift inside a goddess. 'If we can't bring that perfection to the screen, we cheat ourselves as well as the public. Worse, we cheat posterity.' 'I don't see what this has to do with me taking my clothes off.' 'If you do this part, you'll move up into another star bracket, whether the film's good or bad, that won't matter. Our publicity people will see that your face is everywhere, that you are everywhere. When we've finished people will think they've known you all their lives. You'll get so many offers of new parts you'll have to re-enforce your mail box. 'You won't just be making a handful of forgettable films, you'll be on the map, like Roberts, like Sarandon.' He watched her face as he spoke, watched for any little movement that might give her thoughts away, but aside for a slight narrowing of her eyes that showed she was thinking furiously he couldn't call it. 'But can't I have all this and a clinch with my lingerie on?' Linx smiled to himself, she was on the move. Now all he had to do was match her. 'Offer me your left breast, shotwise that is, and we've got a deal.' She smiled. 'In half-light?' 'You got it.' She held out her hand across the desk. 'Deal. By the way what's wrong with my right breast.' .... To be continued