Page 23 of Second Act
“Because you need to be part of the process. Cast auditions. Meetings with the director. I want you on set when they shoot the movie. This is our project. I want us to do it together,” he said, and looked at her proudly. “And you need to meet Dash. We’re in business together now. Why don’t you want to go?” He could easily sense her resistance, she looked terrified every time he mentioned London to her.
“Because at some point someone is going to remember something or recognize me, and Gabriel’s whole nightmarish mess will be all over the press again and it will be an embarrassment to both of us. And I don’t want you to be ashamed of me.” She had tears in her eyes, and he put his arms around her. He could feel her trembling.
“I’m proud of you, Vi. Nothing could make me ashamed of you. And that’s his mess, not ours. You were married to a terrible guy, a criminal. He hurt a lot of people, including you. You had nothing to do with it. And if it winds up all over the press again, I don’t care. Look at what you’re facing with me, someone is going to say that I’m a has-been, I’m all washed up and unemployed.”
“That’s crazy, you just wrote a fantastic movie.”
“So did you. And Dash already knows about Gabe. I told him. I thought it was better, in case he heard about it later. He felt bad for you. He didn’t think less of you for it.”
“It was such a nightmare in the press when it was happening. I don’t want you to have to live through that.”
“It wasn’t so pretty when I got fired either. The press and the tabloids love writing about bad news and making it sound even worse.Most people know that. We’re together now, and we’re going to make a spectacular movie. I’ll be with you. It’ll do you good to get out of here. When was the last time you left this place?”
“Three years ago, for the trial. I didn’t testify. But I was there, in a private room.”
“Let’s go have some fun.” He smiled at her. “And we have to sign our contracts with Dash.”
Violet reluctantly agreed, and a week later they went to London to sign their contracts and watch some of the auditions. His contract and the dates were carefully worded so as to respect the noncompete clause in his exit package with Global. Andy liked the entire list of actors and actresses that Dash had put together, with the exception of one British actor who had given them problems at Global, and Andy didn’t want to risk it again. The actor was known to be litigious and had broken a contract with Global. The other actors all had good reputations and were fine performers, and the director was pleased with them. Andy had had several of them in his films at Global, and he knew of all of them. And once she was there, Violet was excited to meet them, and had definite preferences once she saw the auditions. There were roles for both British and American actors, and for actors who could adapt to the accents of their parts.
Andy and Dash signed their contracts with each other as coproducers, and financial agreements to share the cost of the film equally. Violet signed a contract for providing the original story. And Andy signed an additional one as screenwriter. Legally, everything was in order, and Violet was delighted with the amount they paid her. Everyone was happy, and Dash couldn’t believe his good fortune to have talked Andy into it.
“You watch. You’ll be begging to do the next one. I won’t be able to get you off my back. You’re going to want to be an indie producer from now on. Fuck the studios.” But there were no jobs available to Andy as the head of a studio anyway. Those jobs opened up very rarely, and Andy knew all the players in Hollywood. None of the other studio heads was going anywhere. He couldn’t imagine a place opening up for him ever again. His options seemed very limited. He could produce another indie film or retire, which didn’t appeal to him at all at fifty-seven. But he wasn’t sure yet if he wanted to make another movie. He wanted to see how this one did first. He didn’t want to add another failure to his record now, although he couldn’t imagine the movie doing badly, the way they were putting it together, with an exceptionally strong cast, and his good script, and Henry Mason as their director.
Andy and Violet stayed in London for two weeks, until the final cast choices were made and all the actors they’d chosen had accepted their roles. They were all willing to start shooting at the end of August. Andy and Violet had lunch with Marilyn Gray, which was a thrill for Violet. Andy had worked with her before, and Dash knew her well. Violet was enormously impressed by her. Andy thought Violet was infinitely more beautiful. And Henry Mason was bowled over by Violet’s story and Andy’s script. They had a strong rapport.
Andy and Violet went out to dinner every night to trendy restaurants with delicious food, and had dinner at Dash’s favorite pub with him twice. They stayed at Claridge’s, and got Andy’s favorite suite after the fuss he made before. People didn’t fawn over him as they used to, but he found it was easier not to have to deal with that, and he liked it better this way. The service they provided was goodenough without excess. And he took Violet to Paris for a day of shopping, which she loved. She spent a little of the money she’d just made, and let Andy buy her a pair of shoes at Chanel, and a bag at Dior, but nothing else. She was an entirely different breed of woman from the ones he was used to since his divorce.
He had told Wendy about the film, and he wanted to visit her sometime before shooting started, but her children were enrolled in camps in July and August and they were busy in June until then, so it didn’t work. He had mentioned Violet to her, in discreet terms, and Wendy wasn’t surprised that he was involved with someone. He always was, but he told her that Violet was different. Wendy wasn’t sure she believed him. Serious, admirable women were not his style. And she thought it was much more likely that he’d have an affair with one of the actresses in the movie. Wendy was surprised that he had actually written the screenplay for an indie film, even if Dash Hemming was a respected producer, but she was relieved to hear her father sounding happy, and not as crushed as he had been three months before. His time in England had been good for him, and she assumed the movie and the new woman were part of it.
Andy had heard from Frances too. She had just taken a job with a famous novelist, and she loved it.
After almost three weeks in London, settling all the details and legal aspects of the film, Violet was almost sorry to leave. She had forgotten how much she loved London. There was so much to do there, and being in the big city was exciting.
Before they left, Andy made her look for an apartment with him. They needed a place to stay during the filming, and Andy didn’twant to live in a hotel for three months, or longer. He wanted something homier, and he and Violet looked at furnished apartments and found one in Notting Hill. The current tenant was leaving on the first of August, so they rented it for four months. They both liked the area, and Andy thought it would be fun to be somewhere livelier, instead of Knightsbridge or Claridge’s. Dash lived near the apartment they rented. Andy could predict many long drunken nights with Dash at his favorite pubs. They were the mainstay of his social life.
Violet enjoyed everything they did, and they even went to a few museums and got to play tourist between meetings, and when all the business was wrapped up, they went back to Winchelsea Beach. The trip to London had been a big success, and they couldn’t wait to start the movie. She was going to live with him in the apartment in Notting Hill during the filming. Andy hadn’t lived with a woman since he was married, a dozen years now. He wanted Violet to stay with him at the beach now too. That had been a bigger decision for Violet, given her memories there, but she gratefully agreed. She was going to move some clothes in that weekend. Violet had loved traveling with Andy and couldn’t wait to do it again.
“You saved me,” Andy said to her quietly on the drive home. “I probably would have been in rehab by now, or seriously depressed. I was heading there when I met you.” He still shuddered at the memory of his final minutes at Global, Tony coming to his office to fire him, and being escorted out by security. It was a vision he couldn’t get out of his head. And how desolate and destroyed he had felt afterward.
“And I had twenty pounds left in my purse and nothing in the bank when you hired me. We saved each other,” she said gently. “And the movie saved us. I want to do another one.”
“You haven’t even done the first one yet.” He laughed at her. “You greedy girl. Wait a while. Let’s see how the first one does at the box office.”
“I don’t care. I want to do another one,” she said, sounding like a child. “I love working with you.”
“Well, you can still do my correspondence if you want.”
“I was expecting to.” She looked surprised.
“With frequent breaks upstairs, I hope,” Andy said sternly. They were moving into the guest bedroom they had used before. Violet had said she could never stay in the master bedroom again, and he understood why.
He wanted to take her to Capri, Venice, and Portofino in August before they started shooting. He wasn’t worried about meeting Hollywood people there. He wouldn’t suggest the Hotel du Cap to her, where the Hollywood set went regularly. They would be there in force, and he didn’t feel ready to face them yet, no matter how happy he was with their little indie movie. None of them would understand that and would think he had lost his mind. In their opinion, it was far beneath him after being studio head.
They wouldn’t see it as an opportunity to be creative, just pathetic, and an object of pity. They wouldn’t value the artistic and entrepreneurial benefits. Andy saw all the merits of it, and the fun of working with Violet on new projects. It had brought him out of his slump after being fired and had used skills he had once thoroughly enjoyed that had lain dormant for twenty years. He hadloved the challenge of reviving his screenwriting skills, and the results had been rewarding, even before they made the movie. Working on it had already turned his life around, and he felt he owed that to both Dash and Violet and was grateful to both of them. The best was yet to come when they made the movie. But he had loved the work so far.
—
Violet and Andy went back to their previous habits in Winchelsea in July, working together in the morning, walking on the beach in the afternoon. The town was a little livelier with the arrival of summer renters, but barely. The place was so long forgotten and unpopular that Andy and Violet hardly noticed the summer visitors. Andy had come to love the peace, and the lack of anything Hollywood-related. Neither of them was at any risk of running into the press or being discovered, which was what had drawn Andy there in the first place. It had served its purpose.
