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denimbex1986 · 3 months

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'For All of Us Strangers—Andrew Haigh’s second ﬁlm about lonely gays in high-rises—the director tells George Fenwick about urban isolation, what queer people share between generations, and how to write a good sex scene.

When Adam (Andrew Scott) first sees Harry (Paul Mescal) in Andrew Haigh’s All of Us Strangers, he’s a literal beacon of light: a lone figure staring out from the darkness of the near-empty apartment building in which they both live. Adam, a screenwriter, lives a solitary life of writing, eating takeout and watching home renovation shows, but when Harry appears at his door with a bottle of whiskey, a cautious romance begins between these two lonely souls, adrift in the sprawl of London.

Loneliness has long been a fascination of Haigh’s—specifically, since 2011, lonely gays in tower blocks. Scott and Mescal perform isolation with painful precision, and I tell them this on a call to collect their four favorites, before I connect with their director for a longer conversation. Both actors demur, redirecting their praise towards Haigh and Jamie D. Ramsay, his director of photography. Ramsay shot Oliver Hermanus’s Moffie and Living, which also feature grappling, secluded protagonists reaching out for connection with gentle, dreamlike textures. “Playing loneliness, as much as you want to think about it, you’re actually really reliant on the DP,” Scott tells me. “In a very subtle way, it’s allowing the audience to just see a person in a room. The visual picture is very important.”

Haigh’s script, adapted from Taichi Yamada’s 1987 novel Strangers, also sends Adam into his past; while writing about his upbringing, the character takes the train to the suburb he grew up in and finds his parents (played by Claire Foy and Jamie Bell) in his childhood home—filmed in Haigh’s own boyhood home—the same age as the day they died more than 30 years earlier. Adam’s loneliness is countered by an innate desire to connect; as he bonds with Harry over their respective isolation from their families, he is also suddenly able to speak truthfully about his sexuality to the ghosts of his parents.

It’s in these impossible conversations that Haigh’s script finds its greatest catharsis. “I find the scene on the bed so upsetting,” says Mescal, “where Harry tries to make light of [his loneliness]. He tries to describe it as an inevitable thing, and you see true love between Adam and Harry, because Adam doesn’t let Harry off the hook—not in an unkind way. He’s like, ‘Why do you think that that’s okay? It’s totally not.’ He invites a very difficult conversation. [Adam and Harry] both serve as warnings to how dangerous conversations can be in a family setting. Adam has the privilege to go back and reinvestigate that parental relationship, where Harry doesn’t have that opportunity.”

Haigh, grateful for his actors, dives deeper with us to explore how he set about analyzing the relationship between romantic and parental love through Adam’s journey, the strangeness of filming All of Us Strangers in his own childhood home, and the slippery allure of clubbing.

Gay men from slightly different generations share a lot in this film—could you talk about why that distance was important, and what unites them? Andrew Haigh: I knew that I wanted them to be different generations. The whole film is about generations, and how we see the world, and how we love. I am really obsessed with what makes us different from each other, and also what makes us the same. It’s about what we share.

There is a younger generation of queer people that have had a very, very different experience than my generation, just like mine is different from the generation above. Sometimes you can get entrenched in what makes you individual, rather than seeing [that] we are sharing so much along the lines. Even though the world has changed so much, if you are any kind of outsider, you’re definitely not in the center of the mainstream. You’re on the edges of things, and it’s very easy to find yourself drifting further and further away. For some people, that’s fantastic, and they love being in that place. For other people, it can be very painful. Within queer life, sometimes that is drifting away from your family.

I love the way you depict urban isolation in the film. Why did you want to place Adam in this empty high-rise, and what does it say about 21st-century living? Urban alienation and loneliness is a real thing. We often come to cities hoping it’s going to be the answer. Lots of us grew up in the suburbs, and then we come to the city because that’s where it’s at, and when you’re a queer person, that’s where you feel like you have to go. But when you get to the city, it can be a very isolating place. It’s not easy to meet people, to communicate, there’s people everywhere, and you can get locked into your world.

For me, this is a film about someone trying to escape loneliness. I wanted, in the beginning of the film, to really sense in every frame his aloneness in the world and his need to reach out: he’s looking out at London through the windows, he’s going on the train back to his parents’, he’s always reaching out for something. That can be a difficult thing when you live in a city. You can get trapped.

How long did it take to find the perfect high-rise? It was a nightmare. The inside is actually a set. Very few apartment blocks would let us film in them, and most wouldn’t even let us photograph the outside of them, because they’re all run by huge multinational corporations. I knew I wanted it to be a part of London that is sort of new, so we tried to shoot in Vauxhall for a while, where all these new buildings have gone up. But no one would let us film, so this is in Stratford [a suburb of east London]. I like that, because it feels like it’s on the edge of something. It’s trying to be a new community, but it’s not quite bedded in yet to the surrounding world of that area. It was kind of perfect in the end: there is London, the city itself, somewhere out there on the horizon.

I went to the Westfield in Stratford to get my outfit for the BIFAs, and it does feel like the end of the world. That Westfield center, I mean, oh, my god. If we’re going to get to the end of the world, it’s that.

The way you shot the building reminded me of the monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey—the way it felt not human, and unknowable. It’s so grand and ugly, and you feel like it’s never going to move. It’s a really unpleasant building—I mean, I’d never live there, but for people that live there, I apologize. I’m sure it’s very nice if you live there for real.

You filmed Adam’s family scenes in your own childhood home. When did you decide that would be your location? How did it then feel once you were actually standing on set with the actors in it? As I was writing, it just kept coming into my mind. I was trying to write about someone going back home, so, of course, when I’m writing, I’m so in my own head, and all I could imagine was the memories of that place where I used to live. I left there when I was eight, and I’ve never been back before the film. As we were thinking of locations, I was like, ‘Why don’t I just go there?’

I quite foolishly thought it’d be fun, but then being there was a strange experience. It felt like it was haunted somehow, which is perfect for the film. But it was haunted by my memories of being there. It’s very strange how 45 years can go by, and you can still remember everything. I could remember what the banister felt like, I could remember what the doors were like, I could just picture everything once I got in there.

I think it helped the film enormously. Because [everybody] knew it was my house, they felt like they could be more open about their own memories of childhood. So much of it, when we were there, was us all sharing stories of when we were young, and that created a magical tone, not just from me and the actors but the crew as well. When you’re trying to capture something special on screen, it’s not just about what’s on the camera—it’s everything around it. It’s the tone of the set that you create. It’s the conversations you have with everybody that can help that appear on screen.

That’s clear in the scene when Adam comes out to his mother, which is so beautifully done. It has this humor to it—for queer viewers, a lot of the clumsy things that Claire Foy’s character is saying are so familiar. It took me a long time to write [the scene], and we were all quite nervous shooting it. I’m trying to do lots of different things. I don’t want to vilify the mother necessarily in this; she’s a product of her time. She clearly loves her son, she just doesn’t understand. The idea of her son has suddenly shifted. Also, you’re telling a story about an adult who’s got over all of this, you hope, and suddenly he’s been dragged back to exactly how he used to feel in the ’80s, when all of those things that the mother says are exactly what everybody said to us all of the time. It’s almost like the emotion builds up in Adam without him even knowing it’s building up.

I like the idea that the humor comes in at the beginning, and you’re like, ‘Oh, this is so funny, and I can’t believe they say that,’ until you realize, oh, yeah, that is what people said, and it’s actually affecting Adam. I’ve been very intrigued, as some people stop laughing earlier than other people in that scene. That’s interesting, because there’s a moment when you don’t laugh anymore in that scene, and you’re like, ‘Oh, no, this is painful for Adam.’ But I quite like what that makes the audience feel, because somehow they’ve become like an accomplice in it. For a lot of people, that must be like, ‘Oh, yeah, that is also how we used to speak, and how we used to feel.’

Let’s talk about sex. The way you portray sex throughout your work is so brilliant—it’s real and tender, and 45 Years is one of the few films I can think of that allows older people a sex life on screen. Could you talk about why sex is important to you as a writer, and why those scenes are important for your characters? It’s just what you said—it’s important for the characters. I’ve always tried to think, if I’m going to do a sex scene, what is it saying? What are we showing about the character? In 45 Years, it’s a scene when they almost reconnect in a very important moment in the film, and they can’t have sex, they don’t have sex in that moment. It doesn’t really work, and it has ramifications going forward. So it’s a fundamentally important scene.

It’s the same in [All of Us Strangers]. It’s about two people understanding what the other person needs in that moment. It’s really tender, intimate, and sexy—all of the things you want sex to be. It means something. They’re also having fun, and that’s really important for this moment in the movie. I know there are people now that feel like we don’t need sex scenes in film anymore. What I think people mean is—not to put words in their mouths—they don’t want sex scenes that don’t have any other purpose other than showing sex. There’s no reason for that. But lots of us do have sex, lots of us want to have sex as part of our emotional lives.

I have to read you a review from our Letterboxd community. Kristen writes, “You can’t have a Blur’s ‘Death of a Party’ needle drop followed by Pet Shop Boys’ ‘Always on My Mind’ and not expect me to cry.” How does music inform your writing and direction? With this one, hugely. It’s almost like a musical to me, this film. At one point, Claire’s character is even singing along to a Pet Shop Boys song. All of these songs were very, very integral, [and] most of them are there in the script stage. They’re chosen to have an emotional effect, and to comment on what’s happening: ‘Death of a Party’, for example, is a strange song to have in a club during that scene, but I remember being in that club back in the ’90s, and they did play it. But it somehow speaks to what’s happening in the film—this euphoria, but also a darkness that is overlapping.

The Pet Shop Boys song was very much in there from the [start]. I love this idea that a romantic ballad can also act as an apology from a mother to a son. I think that song weirdly defines that thing I’m trying to say, which is that parental love and romantic love are so wrapped up together. Our understanding of what we want romantically comes from how we experience love in a familial setting.

I want to talk about the club scene—in a lot of films this year, club scenes have provided such pivotal moments for characters. Can you talk about why you wanted to send your characters to an iconic queer venue, the Royal Vauxhall Tavern in London, and why that was an important turning point for Adam’s story? If you look at my own queer life, when I started feeling comfortable about things, I was going out clubbing a lot. In some weird sense, because time is very slippery in this film, their decision to go clubbing, which comes directly after Adam having that conversation with his dad, made sense to me. But the thing about clubbing and going out a lot, it is both incredibly euphoric—you’re in a collective place with other people like you—and there can be an edge to it that you can slip off. You can lose your moorings a little bit.

Queer clubbing is so fundamental to that community, and has been for a very, very long time, so I wanted to make sure there was a scene that felt like it was talking about both the highs and lows of what that can be. Plus, it’s a way for me—I don’t go out that much anymore—to go back and remember how I used to feel when I was out in those places.

You’ll have to have a UK opening party at the RVT. That’s what I thought! It’s definitely where there should be [one]—I spent a lot of the late ’90s in that place.'

#Andrew Haigh #All of Us Strangers #Always on My Mind #Pet Shop Boys #Andrew Scott #Claire Foy #Paul Mescal #Jamie D. Ramsay #Taichi Yamada #Strangers #Moffie #Living #Jamie Bell #45 Years #Blur #Death of a Party #Royal Vauxhall Tavern

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lesbianwithchainsaws · 9 months

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What's your thoughts/opinions on each saw movie?

Oh no, this is a dangerous question to ask me because I cant shut up about Saw. If this ends up super long, I am so so sorry.

So the first one - amazing, fantastic, one of the best ever. I absolutely love this movie. I've seen it a bunch of times, can probably quote a good amount of it and it's easily one of my favourite movies. Leigh Whannel (screenwriter) and James Wan (director) really do a great job of showing characters that are well written and intriguing to watch. Same with the story itself. Also Adam makes me absolutely insane in this movie. Not only does he have hilarious lines, but also if I think too much about the tragedy that is him, I will scream. I absolutely love this movie so damn much!

The second one - imo also pretty good. It's not as great as the first one, but the story is still interesting to watch and I like the traps. Especially the needle pit! (Fun fact: they had to use over 100k needles for it to make it look full and I saw this behind the scenes video where it turned out that still wasn't enough and they added extra padding to make it look fuller). I like the return of Amanda and the twist. Though John saying "Your son's in a safe place" and him being in a safe makes me laugh. It's so silly.

The third one is like simultaneously great and not great. I love the Amanda/Lynn/John stuff but Jeff is a frustrating character to watch. Though Saw III does have some great traps too. The freezer one and especially the rack (the one where the character gets his limbs twisted one by one). It's not my favourite Saw but I do quite like it. Also Lynn and Amanda would've hate fucked if they had survived. Also also the third one has several deleted scenes and, if you haven't checked them out, I highly recommend it. They're all on youtube and they're so good. I wish they didn't cut all of them out. The one with Amanda and Adam makes me scream!

Saw IV honestly kind of makes me laugh. Mainly some of the transitions. I've watched it twice with a friend and we laugh so much at the mirror transition from the trap to the police station. It looks so ridiculous. Saw IV overall is not that great imo, but I still enjoy it. Character-wise and story-wise it's a bit more forgettable though. It's not the worst Saw, but it's kind of in the middle for me.

Saw V is uh, not very good. I love the concept of it and the idea that they all could've escaped (it was quite predictable and not a good twist but whatever). I do think it wasn't executed that well though. I think if the characters were better and maybe the link between them was better, it could've worked. But imo Saw V is one of the weakest of the franchise. Also the first time I watched Strahm and Hoffman do anything, I straight up couldn't tell them apart. I wish they would've done at least something to make them look different because following that plot wasn't easy. But the ending is still pretty cool, I'll give it that.

Saw VI my beloved. I love this movie. I'd say it's more or less on the same level as Saw II. I love the traps and the idea of the whole thing being commentary about American health care. The shotgun carousel? One of the best traps in the franchise. At this point the non-trap plot is a bit ridiculous and Hoffman is like the most obvious jigsaw ever and it's kinda baffling how no one seems to know its him despite how obvious he makes it. But still, overall a great movie and I love it so much!

Saw VII/Saw 3D on the other hand is bad. Originally the idea of Saw 3D was supposed to be split into two different movies. But Saw VI didn't do as well as the studio wanted so they made the filmmakers put it into one movie instead of two. And I feel like it kinda shows. The plot is a bit all over the place at times and I also don't like the way this movie looks. Something about the colours look so off. The traps are okay. There's some cool ones, though why did the dudes wife had to die? She was innocent in the whole thing.

Anyway, it's cool to have Lawrence back but Saw 3D is not great. Also the therapy group plot is kinda funny to me.

Jigsaw... hate this movie. Worst movie in the franchise to me. It sucks so much. The traps are, as always, fine. But the plot? The twist that it's all before the first one? Stupid. Bullshit. I hate it. I also am an avid Logan hater. I'm an even bigger hater for whoever wrote "John didn't think I should die because of an honest mistake". Putting that person in a Saw trap. Because like what franchise did they watch? When has John Kramer ever done anything like that? Logan should be dead.

Even besides my Logan hate, this movie just isn't good. The characters aren't particularly memorable. I don't think the look of it works at all. It's all so yellow. None of it really works in my opinion. I don't like this movie at all. Fuck Jigsaw (2017), all my homies hate Jigsaw (2017).

Now Spiral I think is better than Jigsaw and is okay in general. I'd put it in the middle when it comes to all the movies. I know some people dislike it, but I think it's fine overall. The traps are pretty cool and I dont mind the change in voice/design of the copycat killer. The twist was very predictable honestly and I can't say the characters were like super well written. But the movie was alright imo. Love that they said acab as they should.

Saw X isn't out yet, but I'm so excited for it! The trailer came out really recently and augh I can't wait. It looks really cool!!!!! I already want to talk about it for hours

#i have like a billion Saw thoughts at any given moment #ty for asking!!!!!#saw

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straightfacedstrangeness · 8 months

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Watching Frozen for literally the first time since it came out and boy it still SLAYS me that Olaf says “True love is putting someone else's needs before yours” SECONDS BEFORE “Some people are worth melting for.” Dude is literally DYING in order to stay with Anna in her time of need and both of them are like “obviously the most important act of love here would be a kiss from the SECOND dude I literally just met but am pretty sure is my One True Love.” Anna doesn’t even decide she’s in love with him, she just decides HE must be in love with HER. And cus she’s in a Disney movie, she turns out to be right

Okay, so, obviously if you’re given a choice between “kiss a dude like in all the fairytales” and “watch the cute side character slowly die in front of you” you’re not going to choose #2, but still…SLAYS me

Plus Anna being like “By the way, love melts the ice” and Elsa just goes “Wow, okay! *waves hands* Awesome, I don’t have Mental Illness anymore! :D ” Gimme some of that pls

Like, it is what it is, and it’s nice that a musical and a girl-centric story with a female screenwriter and co-director was The Biggest Thing Ever—but my main frustration is that it could’ve been one of my all-time favorite movies if Elsa’s obvious anxiety disorder had been a front-and-center complex emotional Hero’s Journey. But nope it’s Wacky Princess Romcom Adventure: The Musical, And Also Her Sister Is There Too. And the wacky princess doesn’t even end up with the obvious best choice of her many suitors, the snowman :/

#and I almost spat when Alan Tudyk said his first line. is he literally in EVERY Disney Animation Studio movie from the past 10 years??#didn’t even have a second of ‘why do I know that voice’ during the Wish trailer. just mentally leapt up and yelled ‘RESIDENT ALIEN DONKEY’#desperate to know if he’s got a contract or if he’s besties with someone or has dirt on someone #the fact that most of his roles have been nonverbal animal noises just deepens the mystery #rambling #frozen #crackpot what are you doing

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fallindomino · 3 years

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how i would have changed s2 of hsmtmts

obvious disclaimer but im not a screenwriter or anyth so im not claiming what i want is best, this is just for fun lololol

okay so first of all nini would still have dropped out of yac but she wouldn’t have gone back to east, she would have transferred to north bc she was too ashamed to tell anyone she left at first and maybe she still wants to explore who she is away from ricky and the others

nini could join north’s batb and this way maybe we could have some playful rivalry with lily and nini and more scenes with antoine shdhdjdj also it could have been a great opportunity to flesh out lily’s character so those scenes where she reaches out to ricky and her confession at the end of the season actually make sense lol

speaking of ricky ,,, i think he should have left the play at some point hear me out. he only joined in the first place because of nini and barely wanted to do it at all once he realized he wasn’t gonna be able to perform with her. he could have joined crew and been a manager with natalie or smth considering he rlly does see the theater gang as a second family. also this would leave so much room for ej and ricky development and bants since ej joined the av club and began to pursue film. they could have some convos where idk ricky asks ej how he figured out what he wanted to do after duke didn’t work out and ricky could actually develop some interests that arent the play or nini ,,, maybe fucking art club i mean he did p good on that centerpiece for carlos’ quinceañera.

with ricky not being the beast anymore i think seb should take his place that would be soooo good. and since seb isn’t chip anymore carlos won’t make those snide comments about chip being a small unimportant role and we can just cut that whole fight bc it was dumb and bad. we could still have seb being insecure that carlos is only dating him bc there aren’t really any other gay guys at school. in a heartbeat is great and i did like ricky being supportive in the background it was kinda funny too idk dhdjdjfj

ooh i almost forgot abt rini ahshdj okay so i still think they should break up. but in my version there’s no ricky pulling an ej 1.0 and deleting comments off of nini’s insta, cause with ricky in art club and nini at north trying to figure out what she wants i think one of them would realize that they’re going in different directions and only got back tgt because they made each other feel safe cause what they had was familiar. this could be triggered by ricky mentioning smth abt nini at yac and then nini breaks down and tells him that she dropped out and is at north and doesn’t know where she’s going. and then they can both realize they aren’t good for each other rn and have a less tragic mutual break up.

honestly i really liked the scene of nini taking charge after miss jenn freaked out cause with the character detail of nini giving every person in the cast of productions she’s in a thank you note she just seems really like someone who is suited to lifting others up. this could still be explored at north, maybe she could help lily through her issues that were briefly implied in ep 11 and nini realizes she wants to be a drama teacher and encourage kids to go off book and put themselves into their acting, something she couldn’t have at yac.

okay now ej ,,, so like i said in ricky’s section, more bants between them cause i feel like friendships kinda fell by the wayside due to all the relationships so more friendship !!!! also the scene where ej tells his dad he’s not going to duke shouldn’t have been an ending scene, it should have been fleshed out with his dad pushing back saying how he pulled all these strings to get him in and ej saying he doesn’t wanna go if his own hard work couldn’t get him there. and also more scenes of ej doing av club things !!! and realizing he rlly likes film and wants to do it OMG IT WOULD BE SO COOL IF HE BROKE THE FOURTH WALL AND ASKED THE DOCUMENTARY CREW ABT THE FILM INDUSTRY god i would love that. the only scene we rlly got of ej doing film things was at the quinceañera which made me kinda sad. uhhh also i just wanted to specifically mention how ej got mr mazzara that job at cal tech bc it really showed how he wanted to be there for people not just for gina, who he had a crush on, but for mr mazzara who supported him outside of romance, so i wanna keep that for sure.

gina !!! okay so i mostly liked her arc in this season, the only changes i would make would be to flesh it out a teeny bit (god this hypothetical s2 would have to be like 22 eps at least shdjdjdjfj) anyways besides ashlyn singing home to get gina to stay i think there should be a scene where they actually talk in her room abt how gina feels safer when shes on the run (second chance reference ilysm) hhhh and also a scene of her and carlos actually working out compromises for their choreo cause i liked that bit of development too and fleshing that out would make gina an even better foil for lily, who felt a need to hog the spotlight like gina used to. with gina’s own arc fleshed out her character would feel more whole independently from romance and portwell would be even more rewarding than it is in the current s2. the only thing i would really change abt portwell is that they would kiss !!! in the finale but thats bc im biased.

ashlyn should have gotten a more fleshed out storyline about being insecure about not being a good enough belle or the typical belle. there were some throwaway lines when north did their typical dramatics but the only two real scenes that showed it were when ash talked to big red about it and when she was telling nini she wanted to do a run in “home” bc lily did it. ashlyn should get more screen time where she has to grapple with the reasons she doesn’t feel good enough and big red can still support her but also gina too bc i would like more roommate besties interaction.

kourtney could still date howie, that harry potter shit was cute but there needs to be smth else for kourtney’s arc. idk she’s still into fashion so maybe she could be out here trying to create her own line or smth? this doesn’t have to be resolved in s2 like making a wholeass line takes time and she could work on it into a potential s3. kourtney just didnt get much outside of howie and the stuff at the beginning of the season where she said nini inspired her to be independent and that's why she got a job was just dropped?? so i think that fashion could fill that for her if she’s still dating howie cause like having her whole arc just be the pizza place kinda overlaps w big red’s mini arc abt how he wasn’t settling for hospitality, its what he wants to do with his life.

ik what ur thinking. anna, even if you added more episodes, where would u find the room to add all these plotlines?? well first we cut (most of) the seblos fight, so thats some time saved. honestly most of the time that we r going to gain is going to be from cutting ms jenn’s time. things like ms jenn’s and nini’s car ride would get cut, but mostly all of ms jenn’s romances would get cut down. considering she’s the teacher and isn’t actually a character with an arc how does she have THREE love interests this season?? like all of the weird tension between her and zack can be cut, like just some short scenes of them being competitive can stay. all of the stuff with ricky’s dad can go bye bye we don’t need it. i did like her w mr mazzara so most of that can stay i just didn’t like how he said he would give up cal tech for her, ew no that would be gone.

the MENKIES !!!! this is the last thing im gonna address cause in a perfect world every character would get a long fleshed out arc but then the season would be waaay too long and also im mostly trying to work within material the show gave so this is mostly made up of “realistic” deviations from what actually happened. lol idk what that even means it just makes sense to me. but anyways!! uhhh bro idk i thought them dropping the menkies was funny but it also made the finale really BAD lmao. in this finale, seb is the beast, east still had to deal w the fact that they’re underfunded compared to north but no one is injured, lily is less of a poorly written character and maybe ppl are even rooting for her, and wow i just realized i never actually said what role i think nini should have in north’s show. OOH she could be student director instead of lily cause lily both being in the play while also directing was weird considering omg i just checked and according to her wiki page shes a FRESHMAN?? and they let her be student director? lol hell nah. okay so with all that in mind ,,, the menkies should have been the season cliffhanger instead of portwell. east and north should both be nominated, both schools perform at the menkies, and then the award winner is about to be announced and THATS when it cuts to natalie and the end of the season.

one, this actually gives more tension for a summer s3 as we would be waiting to see the consequences of whichever school won. also i bet people would be wondering if nini’s gonna be transferring back to east or staying at north. people would also prob wonder if ej would be getting the scholarship if east won and what that would mean for his interest in film.

lmao that got longggg and idk if anyone’s even gonna read this but it was fun to do :D

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astrovian · 3 years

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Richard Armitage interviews Harlan Coben for the Win audiobook (released 18/03/21)

Full transcript under cut

RA: Hi, I’m Richard Armitage. I played Adam Price in the Netflix series The Stranger, which was adapted from Harlan Coben’s novel of the same name. With me is the man himself, Harlan Coben, number one New York Times bestseller, the author of over thirty novels, including the one you’ve just listened to. I’m delighted to be talking to Harlan about his book, Win.

Okay Harlan, thanks for taking the time to chat about your audiobook and thanks for sending me a copy of the book. Um, it was so nice I ended up wrapping it up and giving it to my brother for Christmas.

HC: *laugh* You’re supposed to read it first, but okay, thanks Richard.

RA: No, I got the electronic version so uh, so I’ve had a good read. Congratulations, a great story. Brilliant, brilliant central character. I mean the first question I’m gonna ask is – because people listening to this have just been listening to the audiobook – are you, um, a big audiobook listener yourself?

HC: I – I go through stages, um, because my mind wanders, I sometimes have trouble focusing. But when I’m in a car, um, that’s most of the time that I’m- that I really love to use the audiobooks because it does make the ride just fly by. However, I’ve set up my life that I don’t have to commute to work every day, so I don’t have it steadily – it’s usually when I’m doing a nice long ride, I get a really good audiobook and time just flies by.

RA: And have you- have you got any favourite audiobooks that you’ve listened to recently, or any podcasts or what is it that floats your boat?

HC: You know, it’s funny. I still remember when I was a working man, way back when, when audiobooks were really first starting out and we had them on cassette tapes, I listened to the entire Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe, um, it was about thirty hours long, going back and forth to work for almost a month. And I still have memories of that experience, and it’s probably, well god, it’s probably 1990 I did that, 1989, something like that.

RA: Mm-hmm. Yeah, I mean I’ve got a- I’ve got a few journeys up and back from Manchester this year, we’re about to start working on Stay Close, so I’ll happily – I’m happy to take any recommendations of any good books, so maybe I’ll listen to Bonfire of the Vanitites.

HC: Well I tell ya, a lot of people – first of all, it’s a brilliant book, it’s maybe a bit dated, but I doubt that, um. I think Richard, I get more people telling me to listen to any book that you read.

RA: *laugh*

HC: I said, “Hey, I spend a lot of time with this guy, I’m about to do my second television show that stars Richard Armitage. No one I think has starred in two shows that I’ve done ever, so I get a lot of him anyway.” *laugh*

RA: You don’t need my voice in your head when you’re driving, that’s – that’s torture.

HC: That’s right, I’ll be hearing notes on, on scripts in my head if I hear you going. For those who don’t know who are listening, y’know, Richard starred in The Stranger, um, and now is going to be starring in Stay Close, uh, based off two of my novels which I’m sure you can get on audiobook.

RA: And on that note, what um, you’ve had so many adaptations now that have moved from page to screen – what is it like when you go through that process? When you’re – ‘cause you’re very hands on in the way that you kind of collaborate with not just the actors, but with the producers and y’know, the writers. I mean, you’re – you’re writing it yourself. Um, what is it like through, through that whole process, from starting to developing to seeing it kind of realised on screen?

HC: I think the key for me is not to be slavishly devoted to the novel. I think that’s a mistake that a lot of people who are trying to make an adaptation make. So, I go into it, ‘what is the best TV series we can make?’, if it’s true to the book, great. If it’s not true to the book, also great. Um, so I move my stories to various countries, we’ve changed characters around, we’ve changed motivations. Because they’re two very different mediums – a book is a book, and a TV series is a TV series. They should not be the same. One is a visual medium, one is not. Even, even um, audiobooks are slightly different um, than what you read. And they should be. Um, y’know, there’s a performance involved.

Also, because I’ve spent most of my life alone in a room coming up with writing a book, um, where I am just everything – I’m writer, director, actor, key grip. I don’t even know what a key grip is, but I’m that. Um, it’s really nice to collaborate. So um, you’ve worked with me, I hope you agree – I like to collaborate, I like to hear the opinions of other people and um, I really enjoy that aspect of it. I look at it like I’m – like I get to be captain of a World Cup football team, rather than being a tennis player where I’m standing there on my own, which is what happens with a novel.

RA: Yeah, and actually it’s the same when I get to narrate an audiobook, like you say – you get to be director, you get to be the cinematographer to an extent ‘cause you’re setting the scene, but one thing that I’ve – I really appreciated about working with you was having read your, your books and sometimes you’ll pass by a character that is useful to the, to the narrative that you’re telling, but when that comes to developed for TV or film you’ll take a bit more time to investigate that character, and you’re very open to treading those paths, which makes for a very kind of dense narrative with the screenwriter.

HC: Well that’s what I think we’re trying to do. If you think about The Stranger, um, y’know in the book the Stranger is a sort of nerdy teenage male.

RA: Mm-hmm.

HC: And that just – we even tried out some people, and that just didn’t work. And it was really my idea – and I don’t say it in a bragging way, I say it as a way to show how open we all are – to change the character from being male to being female. And once I saw Hannah John-Kamen do it, then I pictured her in a room with you in that first great scene in the bar, um, or at the club when she tells you the big secret, it just worked. Um, you have to be willing to, to sort of stretch your imagination all over again and re-think your story. Which is also fun.

RA: Yeah, and also I suppose because y’know, as much as we love a faithful adaptation of a novel, um what you don’t wanna do is just deliver the novel in screenplay. You want to, for everyone that has read it it’s a new and exciting surprise, and for everyone that hasn’t it’s, y’know, it’s gonna be the same. So, um, it’s nice to kind of have a, to have your audience ready for people who have read a lot of your work, and there were, y’know, a guaranteed audience of people that had, had looked at The Stranger but what you gave them was something really surprising.

HC: Yeah, it was a lot of fun. A lot of fun. And Stay Close, there’s a change in the ending to that which will hopefully shock everybody but especially the people who have already read the book, who will smugly think they know exactly what’s going on.

RA: *laugh* And me, probably. I haven’t read it yet. Um, so when you’re writing – I’m gonna double up on this question now, so when you’re writing, do you write in silence? Do you have any music playing in the background or are you – do you have like a, a kind of sacred writing space?

HC: Um, my routine is not to have a routine. Uh I, I do whatever works until it stops working and then I change up. It’s like I’m riding a horse really fast, and then the horse dies so I gotta find a new horse. So most writers will tell you ‘yes, I use this space, I do it at this time’. Um in the days before Covid, I would go to different coffee shops all the time, I would try out different… any place. Y’know, my favourite example is the end of – when I was writing The Stranger, um with about three weeks left to finish it, I had to take an Uber for the first time. This was a number of years ago. I had to take an Uber in New York City, and I felt really guilty about spending the money on an Uber and trying to justify it, so I was sitting in the back of the Uber and I was writing down notes, and I start writing really well. So for three weeks, I took Ubers wherever I went just so I could finish the book *laugh*

RA: ‘Cause that was the magic formula.

HC: Yeah, that worked! Then that stops working and then I have to find the new, a new place. So my routine is not to have a routine. If you’re trying to write out there, the key to anything is ‘does it make me write more?’ – if the answer is yes, it’s good. If the answer is no, it’s bad. It really is that simple.

RA: I’m gonna make a note of that for when I start writing myself. Um, do you – do you speak any of your characters out loud, your dialogue or your prose passages, do you say it out loud?

HC: The very last stage um, of editing. Okay first of all, no writer gets it right the first time. I know a million writers, I don’t know any writer who doesn’t re-write and re-write a lot. Well, I know one but he’s the guy none of us wanna hang out with, you know what I mean?

RA: *laugh*

HC: So um, the last stage that I do, and it’s usually after I’ve done all the editing with my editor and everything like that, we’re ready to go. I will sit in a room and I read the entire novel out loud to myself. Um, because what happens is, it’s a little bit like a musical score. Where you can – if you read it out loud, I can detect false notes that I may have missed along the way. Um, I can hear them. So the last step is that. I rarely y’know, I’m not – I’m not crazy, I’m not sitting there maybe talking out loud to myself, I’m maybe testing out lines by doing that, and I do that a lot when I’m helping with the screenplays on our shows. But um, for the most part that’s how I do it.

RA: So, in that case, would you ever narrate one of your own audiobooks?

HC: I did narrate one, uh, many years ago called Promise Me. What had happened is we had - my Myron Bolitar series we did seven with the same reader and he retired. I hadn’t written um, I didn’t write Myron for about five or six years it was. And so they said, ‘hey, why don’t you do it?’ which was a huge mistake in many ways. One, I’m not a professional. But two, the people who were fans of Myron Bolitar liked the first guy, and it felt to them liked they had tuned into their favourite TV show and every actor had changed.

RA: *laugh*

HC: It’s really difficult to re-do or start a series, uh, when people know the- the old reader. So um, I also figure- it was also, Richard you know this of course, so for people who don’t know, it’s a lot of work. I’m a guy from New Jersey. I speak very quickly, which does not go over well in audio. I don’t do voices. I would have to sit with a pillow on my stomach because uh, my stomach would sometimes grumble and that would be picked up- *laugh*

RA: Oh, yeah!

HC: By the microphone. And it took me um, a week to record it because – and I don’t know if this is still the case – but back then, the abridged version wasn’t just a cut up version of the unabridged, I had to do a whole different reading for it. So um, it was – it was a lot of work. Um, and it’s a skill that I’m not sure I’m best to do.

RA: Yeah, it does take a lot of stamina. I mean what’s interesting is, having gotten to know you, and when I, when I now read your work, I can hear your delivery, I can hear your voice. And there’s humour in the dialogue, and there’s humour in the as well, and I – it’s an instant ‘in’ for me, so I – ‘cause, ‘cause often I read and I speak aloud when I’m reading alone in the dark, I say things out loud but I think people approach it differently. But I definitely hear your voice in, in these characters. And I think particularly in Windsor Horne Lockwood.

HC: That’s so interesting because Win, I think of my heroes that I’ve had, Win is probably the least like me. I mean um, when you think about Adam-

RA: *laughing* You have to say that! You have to say that because he’s such a badly behaved person, isn’t he?

HC: *laughing* Yeah! ‘Cause I usually like to think of myself as more of like Adam in The Stranger, who you played, or some of the other characters that – the ‘I’m a father or four’ or those kind of guys. What I love about getting into Win of course is that Win is something of an anti-hero. Um, he sort of says and does things that are not necessarily prudent or appropriate, and he can get away with that. Um, so I really loved – I loved getting in his head, it was really an interesting experience. But on the surface anyway, he’s probably the least like me of any uh, main character that I’ve ever written.

RA: Yeah, I mean I- I relate to that totally. It’s a little bit like- it’s probably a side of you, you daren’t investigate, but- but when you get the chance to do it in a fiction um, you can tap into those things that we’re not allowed to do or say in your, in your regular day. But um, where did that character spring from? What was the seed that germinated into his story do you think?

HC: Rarely is this the case, but um, Win is actually – y’know, he’s the sidekick in my Myron Bolitar series but um, when I first created him I based him off my best friend in college roommate, who has a name equally obnoxious as Windsor Horne Lockwood the Third-

RA: *laugh*

HC: Very good looking, blonde guy who used to say before he would go out to parties when we were in college, he would look in the mirror and say, “It must suck to be ugly”. And so I took him and I tweaked him and made him more dangerous, uh and that’s how I, I kind of came up with Win.

RA: And does this person know that you’ve based this character on him?

HC: Oh yes! In fact, some people know who he is, he uses it. He’s still a-

RA: Oh, really?

HC: Owner of all these fancy golf clubs, he’s president of one of the most famous golf clubs, um, in the world right now. He looks the part. In fact, he one time came to one of my books signings years ago and um, he’s sitting in the back, and I tell people the story of how I created Win, and I say, “I’m not gonna tell you who, but Win is actually in this room right now”. It took the crowd about four seconds to figure out who he was, and he had a longer line to sign books that I did *laugh*

RA: Amazing. I mean I have to say, it’s- you, you start reading the story and thinking, ‘I don’t know if I’m gonna like this guy’ but he really grows on you, warts and all. I wonder how many people are gonna go into Saks on Fifth Avenue and go looking for the vault.

HC: *laugh* Yeah, no, I made that up. But there is place in Saks-

RA: I know, so brilliant!

HC: -but the rest of it is completely made up, this involves an app that you’ll read about when you- hopefully when you, when you read book. But yeah, it was fun to do an anti-hero where he makes decisions and does things that you don’t like, and yet you still wanna hang around with him. I always think the key to a fascinating character is not um, that he’s likeable necessarily, but that you wanna spend time with him. Not that he’s a nice guy, but if you were at a bar and you could sit with somebody and have a conversation with them and learn about their life, would this be a person you’d wanna do that with? And that’s sort of the test whenever I do a character. And Win, I think, passes that with flying colours. There are people who love Win and wanna be just like him and there are people who loathe him! But everybody, or I hope many people, are fascinated by him and his life.

RA: Well, also you’ve given him such an incredible kind of tool kit, like a skill set. I mean, I think everybody would look at that character and wish they could do the things he does, maybe not in the way that he does them, but I mean he’s- he’s exactly the kind of character that you’d hone in on, certainly from an acting point of view. I look at that and if I was, y’know, like fifteen years younger, I’d be leaping on that character to play. Which is, it means – it means he’s sort of relatable or aspirational in a kind of anti-hero way.

HC: I’ve heard this a lot, and I think it’s one of the most flattering things that I hear from my actor friends – I think everybody would want to play Win. I mean, I think the- it’s an interesting challenge, um, for a lot of actors. More so than even Myron Bolitar who is my lead series character. Um, everybody kind of wants to play win and kind of wonders who would play Win. Uh, and I take that as a – as a compliment.

RA: Are we gonna see more of him? Is he ge- are you writing more stories for him?

HC: My guess is the answer’s yes. I plan each book as it comes, so I never know until I’ve started. Is it gonna be a stand alone? Is it going to be a Myron Bolitar? Is it gonna be a young adult? Mickey Bolitar is now going to be a Win, and I don’t know until I – each book, y’know when I finish a book, I’m like a boxer who’s just gone fifteen rounds and can’t even lift my, my arms anymore, I gave it everything I had, I can’t even imagine fighting again or writing another novel. So I don’t know is the answer. Probably? I do wanna see Win again, separately or at least back with Myron, so I do think we will see Win again. But the book I’m writing right now is a sequel to The Boy From the Woods, which is the book that came out in 2020, so that’s what I’m writing now. Will I return to Win? Maybe. Maybe. We’ll see how- we’ll also see how people react. Not that I would work necessarily off of commercial interest, but it people really love this book, y’know, we don’t live in vacuum, that would probably somewhat influence what I do.

RA: Right. I mean, because so many of your- your books are being developed and being snapped up to be turned into film or television – I mean, Myron Bolitar is, is a recurring series waiting to happen, and then you’ve got your spin off of Win – I, I- I wonder if, y’know when your first ever, uh novel, did you write with kind of cinema television in your head? Is that something that as modern storytellers we can even avoid? Um, did you ever dream that these would ever turn into sort of film and TV?

HC: Well, everybody dreams, but there’s sort of two answers to it. The first answer is when I’m writing a book, I never ever, ever, not for one second do I think ‘Ooh, this would make a really good movie’ or ‘Ooh, this would make a really good TV series’ because that’s the kiss of death for a book. It really is. It’s, it’s- it’s just a disastrous thought, and if you’re out there writing really don’t try it, because it’s, it’s a big mistake. At the same time, to be realistic and honest, I grew up watching TV. Who didn’t? That’s my – I mean this is what we grew up with. To pretend you’re only influences – y’know you ask a writer ‘What’s your influences?’ “Oh, Shakespeare and Proust and Yeats” – come on. You watched TV growing up. And so that’s an influence on how you tell a story. To deny that is silly. So writers today do think in terms of cinema more just because they grew up with it. Where writers of a different generation did not, so they wouldn’t have that influence.

RA: Yeah, I mean I- I think this all the time – it’s impossible to even de-program your brain not to imagine scenarios in terms of cinema. I mean I- I often think about sort of Victorian novelists that didn’t have y’know TV, and their trying to describe something that they’ve never seen or experienced. And we have references for so many things – I mean it’s almost impossible not to, we’re- we are and will always be influenced by one or the other, especially in the written word. But I- I find that it means that you can kind of uh, put aside the investigation and just get on with the storytelling. And maybe go even a little bit further. It’s like instant access. Y’know, I know exactly the world that you’re talking about when you’re y’know at the beginning of Win, but- but y’know at the same time I felt there was something very Agatha Christie like about the um, the backstory of uh, of this book, I really liked the fact that there was a historic event that was really informing what was happening right now.

HC: Well, y’know when I start a book, there’s- I’m always- I have a bunch of ideas and I’m trying to think which ones are going to go in the story, and it ends up being several. So for example, in this book, I wanted – I’ve always wanted to do an art heist. Y’know, like the Gardner Museum Heist, where they still haven’t found the paintings that were stolen, the Vermeers and the Picassos that were stolen in that particular – I can’t remember if it’s Picasso now, I know it was a Vermeer – um, stolen in that- that, heist in Boston years ago, I wanted to write a book about 60’s radicals – the Weather Underground and what would happen to people who were involved in that so many years later. I also wanted to write something about a kind of Patty Hearst-type character who was a famous kidnapping here in the 70s. So those were like three of the things that I wanted to like – to delve into. And I ended up delving into all three *laugh* which sometimes happens.

Oh, and the last one I wanted to do – I always wanted to do um, a hoarder that was actually someone famous. There was actually um, something of a case of this in New York City where somebody died who was living in a top floor of an Upper West Side building, and it ended up being the missing son – not really missing, but had just kind of gone off the rails – of a very famous American war hero. And so, I took all of these aspects, which would seem to make three or four different novels, and I make it into one novel if I can. It’s not that different from – again, I’m referencing um, um – The Stranger y’know, because you’re here and provably a number of the people listening to us have seen The Stranger on Netflix, but it’s the same thing with The Stranger a little bit, where I had a lot of ideas for secrets that could be revealed by the Stranger, and each one could have been a separate novel. And instead, the challenge is put them all in one story and find a way to hook them together.

RA: Yeah. I mean, it’s rich in a way that when I- I’m reading it and the producer head in me is saying ‘gosh, this is gonna be a great TV show’ ‘cause you know, you’ve got the present day, you’ve got the near-past and the um, the heist story, which uh, is kind of crying out for – you just want more of it, which is brilliant in a book. When you’re – you’re leaving the reader wanting to know more and wanting to, to know more about that family and what happens to them. It’s – it’s the perfect recipe, really.

HC: And so much of it does come from your life in ways that you don’t expect – right now, maybe a lot of people are watching this uh, the Aaron Sorkin movie about the Chicago Trials from the 70s, Abbie Hoffman, who is played by uh, I think Sacha Baron Cohen played him in, in the movie. When I was in college at Amherst, Abbie Hoffman was on the run, um, but he still showed up one day at our college and gave a speech, then disappeared again. And boy, that stuck in my head always. Man, I’d love to write a character that’s kind of like Abbie Hoffman. ‘Cause he had that charisma even then, y’know on stage he was funny as heck, I must have been eighteen or nineteen um, when I – when I heard him speak. And so that – I never consciously back then, I didn’t think that, but every once in a while those experiences come to head and you wanna write about it.

RA: Mm-hmm. You’ve been writing for quite a few years now-

HC: *Laugh*

RA: -you’re – I don’t know if you can even remember what it was like when you first stated your very first book. Um, and some people have said that books are like children in a way, you sort of rear them and then the more you do, the more familiar you are with that process. But would you – I mean, it’s difficult for you to answer this, but would you say you have a favourite book that you’ve written?

HC: I don’t have a favourite book that I’ve written. Um, this – this sounds self-serving, but it’s usually the book, the most recent book, that I like the best. Um, it’s a little bit like – and the way I try to explain this is – maybe you wrote a paper, an essay when you were in college which you thought was brilliant. You remember that moment in school and you wrote a paper and you thought it was brilliant and you find it now and you re-read it and you go, ‘wow, this wasn’t good after all’. It’s not that it’s not very good, it’s just that you have sort of moved on and you’re not that sort of person and so you see all the flaws. So in the older books, which I don’t re-read, I see all of the flaws. I always think, y’know even if you think of yourself, what you thought ten or fifteen years ago – you sort of go ‘ugh, what did I know back then, I’m so much smarter now’. So the same thing a little bit with books, where I think I’m learning more and the current book is better. One of the interesting experiences of working on these adaptation is having to go back and read a book – in some cases we’re doing one, the next one I think uh comes out in France for example, is Gone for Good, which I think was released in 2002! Or 2003. So I wrote it twenty years ago. And to have to go back and read it now, I’m always kind of cringing at some of the stuff-

RA: Mm-hmm.

HC: -some of the stuff I’m kind of thrilled with, like ‘wow, that’s an interesting twist. You don’t have that kind of ending anymore’ and some of it I’m like, ‘wow, why’d you go there?’ so it’s an interesting experience.

RA: Yeah, I feel the same. I very – I, uh, very early on in my career I would watch my work back in quite a lot of detail, thinking ‘I’m gonna learn something’ and then as I got older it was – it was almost unbearable to just do that. And I actually haven’t been able to do that, but it’s because when you’re – when you’re first starting out you throw everything you’ve got into that first breakout role that you do, and then your realise that you’re always in danger of repeating yourself and you think – ‘gosh, people are gonna suss me out that I’m only capable of doing one or two things’, but you live in hope that you can, y’know, find that one thing that you can completely reinvent. Y’know I still hope for that.

HC: I still think that everyone who I’ve ever met who is successful at what they do has imposter syndrome. If you don’t um, you’re prob- you have a false bravado and you’re in trouble. I always say, “only bad writers think they’re good”. The rest of us really suffer with that, and really questioning and always think we’re gonna be sussed out. And I can tell you, um, Stephen King sent me a book not that long ago because he’d nicely put my name in it and wanted my reaction. But even Steve, after all his success and whatever else, he still worries about the reaction, that he’s as good as he used to be, that people will still like it, he’s – I know him. He still worries about it. And when you stop, that’s when you’re in trouble I think as an artist, when you’re starting to doubt what it- when you don’t have the doubts, you start having an overconfidence that you sort of got this. It’s a little bit like my golf game, frankly.

RA: *laugh*

HC: There’s moment’s when I’m about to swing, y’know, I’m gonna be okay and then you get out there and you stink all over again. So-

RA: Yep

HC: -you’re constantly trying to get better and so I imagine it must be difficult to look at your old roles and you – you’re kinda cringing, right? You see all the mistakes you’re making. You see through you so to speak, right?

RA: Yep. Absolutely.

HC: And then someone will come up to you, right, and they’ll say, “Oh, my favourite thing you ever did was-“ and then they’ll list something you did twenty years ago, and you want them to pay attention to what you’re doing now *laugh*

RA: Yep. Yep. Seeing through you is, is one of the things that is quite haunting because I do, I see through me. I can’t shake myself off, if you know what I mean.

HC: Well, you are very cool, you don’t watch any of it until it’s all over. Uh, that’s correct right? You never watched any of our rushes or I remember trying to tell you that you’re doing great and all that-

RA: No, I watched, I watched the first shot-

HC: -and you had not seen any of it and I watch you every day when you’re on set working on our shows and I’ll comment if I see something or whatever, to either you directly or the director, uh, and most of the time I’m – I’m complimenting you, but you don’t – you don’t know either, because you’re not watching, you’re not getting lost in that.

RA: Yeah, I don’t like to watch or be somebody that studies myself to much, I don’t think that’s my job. I think my job is to be inside the character looking out, rather than the other way around. I leave that to the experts like you and the director.

HC: Also, I think it’s- I think if you start worrying about what – you’re right – and also you don’t have the distance. This is always an issue when I – I first start watching the cuts of the first episodes, and I read the book while I’m editing it, while I try to take time between my writing it and then seeing it, I have to sort of put myself in the position of being somebody who knows nothing about this, and doesn’t come in knowing the story already that I’ve already read or seen a thousand time. How do I keep it fresh in my head when I’m trying to be objective and watching it so we can make edits. Uh, both on the screen or on the page.

RA: Mm-hmm. What draws you to crime/thriller? What – I mean is that – I, I can’t often imagine you writing a romantic novel, but what is it that draws you to this particular genre?

HC: Well, y’know to me it’s uh, not really a genre. It’s more like – it’s a form. It’s more like saying it’s a haiku or a sonata.

RA: Mm-hmm.

HC: And within that form I can, and hopefully have, done everything. Um, I think The Stranger for example is more a story about family, uh, and the secrets we try to hide, rather than it is about who killed who – y’know, the mystery angle of it.

RA: Yeah.

HC: One of my most, uh well-known books, my first bestseller, was a book called Tell No One which was made into a French film starring François Cluze, and that’s really a love story, it’s about a man who’s madly in love with his wife and eight years earlier, she was murdered. And then eight years passed, he gets an email, he clicks the hyperlink, he sees a webcam and his dead wife walks by, still alive., And the pursuit, the wanting to get back, the hope for full redemption is really what drives the story more than ‘who killed who’.

RA: Mmm-hmm.

HC: So different stories do different things. But the great thing about the form of crime fiction is that it compels me to tell a story. I’m not getting lost in the beauty of my own genius, my own kind of navel-gazing. I have to continue to tell a story and entertain you. So any of the themes that I wanna tell, any of the things I wanna discuss, has to be slave to that story. And I think that’s probably a rich tradition. If you think about Dumas really, wasn’t that all crime fiction? Even Shakespeare is mostly crime fiction.

RA: Yeah.

HC: Most great stories, if I ask you to name a favourite novel that’s over a hundred years old, Dostoevsky, whoever, you will find that there’s almost always a crime in it. There’s almost always a crime story.

RA: I mean it’s one of the things that I get very excited about, um, I mean obviously I haven’t read your entire canon but I – there’s a signature, or a theme that you love to play on which is this idea that – that um, the people you know aren’t telling you everything about themselves, or that there’s something to hide and that in our modern world, with technology, we have this sort of ability to – to sort of lead multiple lives of truths or lies. And it’s something which I think we immediately recognise. ‘Cause I think we – we’re living that, that reality, and it’s a theme that I really enjoy about your writing.

HC: Well, first of all, thanks. Second, um, there’s a lot of things we’ve heard about the human condition. One of my favourites about the human condition that I used to write, is that we all believe that we are uniquely complex and no one knows the inside of us. And yet we think we read everybody else pretty well. We all think we are uniquely complex and the person across from us, we can kind of figure out. They’re not quite like us. Um, and that’s something I love to play with when I write. Because you’ve gotta remember that everybody is uniquely complex and on a humanity level, and on an empathy level, I raise my kids and I’m always teaching them that every person you see, the richest, the poorest, the happiest, the saddest – everybody has hopes and dreams. Just think that, when you see a stranger on the street, when you’re going to interact with somebody, when you’re getting angry at somebody, whatever it is – just remember, they have hope and dreams. Um, small little thought, but it helps me create a character as well.

RA: There’s also a- a kind of very strong level of self-deception involved, which I think can be quite surprising. Because you always read a character and go, ‘I’m not like that’ or ‘I would never do that’ and then if you really think about it, we – there’s a truth we tell ourselves about ourselves which isn’t always honest.

HC: Well, exactly. It’s really come to fruition in the world the last few years, where I kind of joked that I’ve been working too hard on making my villains sympathetic, the villains in today’s world don’t seem to be very – very complex at all.

RA: *laugh*

HC: But for the most part, people don’t think they’re bad guys. Even the bad guys don’t think they’re bad guys.

RA: Yeah.

HC: They have some way of, of justifying. It’s one of the great things about human beings, or one of the most prevailing thing about a human being, is we all have the ability to self-rationalise, to self-justify. Um, and so I’ve always tried with my villains, and I hope that I did it in everything that we’ve done together, to try to make even the villain – you may not like the villain, but you get them. I don’t really write books – I don’t write books where the serial killer is hacking up people for no reason, that doesn’t really interest me. I prefer the crimes where you can say, ‘Yeah, I wouldn’t have done it maybe, but I can see why that happened. I can see if I was put in that position, um, where I may have done something similar’. That to me is a much more interesting villain than somebody who’s just cruel and evil.

RA: Yeah. Um, final question actually, is – I mean, as a listener/reader yourself – are there any other authors whose books you love and just go back – I mean, you’ve mentioned Stephen King, um I’m with you on that one – but are there any other authors who really kind of inspire you and, and y’know, like a little guilty pleasure reading for yourself and not for work?

HC: Yeah, well the problem always is that I start listing authors, and then someone will say, ‘well, what about so-and-so who’s a friend of mine’, and then I say ‘oh shoot, I forgot – I forgot that one’.

RA: *laugh*

HC: Y’know I saw recently that it’s the eleventh anniversary of the death of Robert B. Parker, who wrote the Spencer novels, if by any chance you haven’t found the Spencer novels, and I don’t know how popular they are overseas – they’re fantastic, wonderful detective series. Um, so that’s one guy I would go back in time and try to find for audio. But I actually like Philip Roth a lot on audio, even though he doesn’t do crime fiction. I’m a big Michael Connelly fan and I like Lee Child, um and Laura Lippman. Y’know, I could sit here just naming um, people all day. I’m always curious also – who is reading – who does it because of the reader and who does it because of the writer. I know there’s a number of people who will listen to anything you read, Richard, because it’s you. Um, which is really quite nice, but it’s interesting the combination of the audio reader. I have Steven Weber, he’s been reading most of my novels, though I’ve had a female lead – a woman named January LaVoy who’s fantastic – and I think Weber captures my voice. He sounds a little bit like me, we both have a similar background, similar sense of humour, so part of it with the audio is also the match you end up making.

RA: Yeah. It’s interesting, isn’t it? Because I certainly find I don’t often get to read something which is purely my choice, I have a stack of things that are work-related, or that I’m about to record. So I don’t think I’ve – I’ve chosen a book recently which is just been- I don’t know how I would pick something, it’s usually a recommendation, so I’ll certainly have a look at the Spencer novels, they sound – they sound brilliant.

HC: Yeah, and they’re fun – there was a TV series in America for a while called ‘Spencer for Hire’ – this is s or going back to the, I guess the 70s or 80s I think. Um, those were not great, but the novels themselves were sort of – Raymond Chandler to Robert B. Parker to the guys who are working now. So he’s a huge – he was a tremendous influence on most of your favourite crime writers. I said in his obituary eleven years ago, I said, “90% of writers admit that Robert B. Parker was an influence and 10% lie about it”. So um, if you can find Robert B. Parker Spencer novels that would be a good clue for everybody out there.

RA: Brilliant. Well, that just about wraps it up. And uh, thanks for talking to me. I really enjoyed the book and no doubt it will be another best-seller and fingers crossed it ends up as a TV series.

HC: Well, thanks Richard, and I look forward to seeing you work on uh, Stay Close. I know that uh, Armitage Army out there *laugh* that – your, your loud uh supporters and fans who just adore you are going to go gaga cause you get to play somebody quite different from Adam in The Stranger. Um, it’s-

RA: Yeah. Looking forward to it.

HC: Yeah, it’ll be a lot of fun. Thanks very much.

#this was actually more interesting that I thought it would be #sorry the audio ain't great I had to compress it a lot #it is longgg #richard armitage #harlan coben #win

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lucysometimeswrites · 3 years

Text

Awards Season

sup! this is an idea i had that i just had to write. it’s more of the reader’s experience and her thought and her moment than tom, but i still hope you like it. feedback accepted and have a good day :)

Y/N is playing ciara bravo’s role in this, and yeah, enjoy! also lmk if u want a latina version of this or tom winning the award cuz i have it

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“And here to present the award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role we have previous winner of the very same award: Anne Hathaway!” the host announced. Anne appeared from the left side of the stage, expertly walking and smiling towards the microphone while everyone clapped and cheered for her.

“Thank you! Thank you, you are too kind” she said cheekily, earning a laugh from the audience. “Tonight, we are honoured with the presence of many talented and passionate actresses, and by that I mean me, of course,” she continued, the audience loving her humour more and more. Anne started her small speech about the characters the actresses nominated in the category portrayed, commenting that I portrayed a troubled character who becomes a drug addict for love. I felt a warmth touch my hand, and I turned to Tom, who was sitting right beside me. He gave me a reassuring smile and squeezed my hand, knowing that I felt a little anxious about this award. It was my first Oscar nomination, and after working my ass off for Cherry where I co-starred with Tom, even I thought I deserved it. I didn’t care much about winning, though, because I felt I won the moment I got nominated. Yes, it is very cliche and almost everyone says that, but now I can see how true it is. This is probably the biggest moment of my career yet, and I was loving every second of it.

Tom and I stared at each other with a smile for a bit longer, until we heard Anne say, “Here are the nominees for Best Actress in a Supporting Role”:

“Emma Stone, Him and Her,” Ooo I loved that film.

“Anya-Taylor Joy - Emma,” Her range is insane.

“Y/N Y/L - Cherry,” I gave a big smile and a wave to the camera as it focused on me, simultaneously squeezing Tom’s hand again because he knew how the cameras made me a little awkward and uncomfortable. “You did great.” he whispered in my ear, and I gave him a small smile back.

“Jennifer Lawrence - Don’t Look Up,” My literal idol.

“Taraji P. Henson - At 38th Street,” She’s so talented.

“And the Oscar goes to...”

Those five seconds she took to open the envelope were the shortest and longest of my life. I felt as if the world had stopped, along with my breathing, and Tom and I were squeezing each other’s hands to the point where I was sure we’d cut each others circulation off. I loved how excited and nervous he was for me, and he’d made sure to tell me plenty of times before the show that he’d be there for me whether I won or not and that we would celebrate until we couldn’t feel our feet anymore. He had been my literal rock through--

“Y/N Y/L, Cherry!” Anne exclaimed.

...What?!

I looked up astonished to Anne, and even mouthed Me? to her. She happily nodded, and that’s when it clicked that the entire theatre was clapping for me. Shock and confusion and amazement ran through me, making me lose sense as to what to do next. I slowly rose from my seat, looking around and my eyes landed on Tom, who sported the biggest smile ever and helped pull me up. We stood in front of each other for a millisecond before he engulfed me in a big, strong hug and I, still in shock, slowly put my arms around his neck and reciprocated the affection.

“You did it, darling! You did it!” he proudly said in my ear.

“I did it...I can’t believe I did it. I’m so freaking shocked and confused I don’t know what to do” I answered and pulled back to look at him. He cupped my face in his hands and pressed a big kiss on my forehead. “Go get your award!” he laughed, giving me small push as a start.

I laughed, still in disbelief, and looked around again, spotting the Russo’s who went to give me a big hug.

“You did it Y/N! You deserve this so much” they each said, and I whispered a Thank you back.

I finally turned back and slowly made my way up the stage, constantly looking towards the audience so that I could really take the moment in and never forget it. Turning to Anne, she held the Oscar in her hands and gave my a big smile, hugging me and saying, “Ugh you did amazing Y/N, you deserve this so much honey, congratulations!”

“Thank you so much, oh my gosh, you’ve literally been one of my idols ever since I was a kid.” I told her breathless.

“Aw you’re so sweet,” she laughed, “Go! You have about a minute to thank everyone.”

I went to the microphone and looked across the audience, spotting many celebrities who were still standing up and clapping for me, even when we hadn’t worked together. My eyes dashed to Tom, who was also wooing and cheering for me, and gave me a thumbs up, silently saying You got this, as had said to me many times before.

“Oh my God, I can’t believe it” I laughed in disbelief again, everyone still clapping for me. Soon, they settled and I continued “I can’t even-- let me catch my breath for second.” I stepped back a little and put my hands on my knees as if I’d just finished running a marathon, making the audience laugh a little.

I went back up, “You guys have absolutely no idea how much this means to me,” holding the Oscar a little higher, “I dreamt of this ever since I started to really get into acting and to actually have it in my hands is a dream come true. I wanna thank the Academy for this incredible honor. I honestly felt I won the moment I got nominated alongside these amazing and talented women,” I gestured to my fellow nominees who I could spot in the front rows. “When I say that you all deserve this award just as much as I do, I’m not kidding. Jennifer you have been such an icon to me ever since The Hunger Games and ohmygoshicantbelievethisisreal,” I quickly said with my hand near my mouth, earning a laugh from her and the audience, me joining them. “Emma and Anya your performances were ridiculously good and Taraji P. Henson I absolutely adore you.” They laughed once again, sending me kisses and smiles.

“A minute is not nearly enough to be able to thank everyone I wanna thank but I’ll do my best. Thank you to my amazing and incomparable directors Joe and Anthony Russo,” a wave of cheering ensued for them, “Thank you for trusting me with bringing this story to life, for guiding me along the way and never giving up on me even on the days when I was unbearable” I said with a small laugh. “Thank you to the screenwriters Angela and Jessica for writing this beautiful piece of work and to Nico Walker for telling his story and allowing us to bring it to the cinemas--cinemas? Wow, sorry I’ve been spending a lot of time with Tom so I’m starting to turn a little British” I chuckled and turned to look at him to find him laughing as well.

“Tom,” here it goes, “I have no words to express how grateful I am for you. You have been my rock and my best friend throughout this entire journey and for that I love you so much. Thanks for putting up with me and my craziness and sharing the good and bad days with me. There is no one I would rather have shared the screen with and I love you so so so much.” I said, from the bottom of my heart, and saw him tearing up while sending me a million kisses with his hands and mouthing I love you more. The audience awed and clapped once more.

“I also wanna thank Victoria- you beautiful woman- for taking me in and always believing in me even when I didn’t believe in myself- aw you’re crying! Oop, sorry I’ll shut up, um-” I said as she waved her hand for me not to expose that she was crying, the theatre laughing at our banter, “Thank you Lizzie, Monica and all of my team, thank you to all of the cast and crew who made this happen.” I continued, moving to thank my family and more emotions hitting me like a truck again, feeling tears pool in my eyes. I shook my head and looked up so as to prevent them from falling.

“I- I’m not gonna cry, that’s stupid.” I said into the microphone but mostly to myself, everyone laughing and clapping once again in a comforting manner. “Sorry,” I laughed, “I’m gonna thank my family, but they unfortunately couldn’t make it here tonight so--” everyone awed in sadness, and I jokingly waved them off, “Oh shut up, whatever.” Another chorus of laughter, “I wanna thank my family all the way back home. You guys, you’re the best thing this life has given me and I’m eternally grateful for your support. Although, I did say that if I ever won an Oscar I wouldn’t thank you because you didn’t believe I could do this, l would not be able to forgive myself if I didn’t. Thank you for always being there for me and teaching me everything I know. For the unconditional love” my lip trembled, “and for showing me that you can do anything with hard work and passion. I love you--Please wrap up--sorry! Okay I’m going.” I nervously said. “I also wanna thank all of my friends for their support and finally I dedicate this award to all the girls out there with big dreams that scare you. Follow them, don’t let anyone stop you or tell you you’re not worthy because you sure as hell are destined for great things. Um, thank you so much!” I finished. The audience clapped and cheered and wooed once more and I gave them one final smile and amazed look, catching Tom’s eye and receiving a wink, then following Anne backstage where I would be taking pictures and answering questions.

I wonder how we’ll celebrate now that I’ve actually won...

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disclaimer: these are all fake names and fake movie titles i made up for the purpose of the fic

#tom holland imagine #tom holland #tom holland x reader #tom holland blurb #tom holland oneshot #tom holland fanfic #tom holland x actress!reader #actress!reader #oscars #tom holland fluff

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acklesforlife · 3 years

Text

Happy Birthday Danneel Ackles!

It’s Danneel Ackles’ birthday, so we thought for our continuing celebration of Supernatural Spring Break week, this was a good time to both wish her a happy birthday and share the rather amusing story of one of our first times meeting her.

There have been a few memorable times since, including the party celebrating ‘Supernatural Day’ in Austin with Mayor Adler, which was just plain fun and an opportunity for some real conversation.

And I’ll be forever touched that Danneel wanted a copy of Family Don’t End With Blood (and how incredulous she was that Jensen actually had a chapter in it!) and that she has read our other books too.

The actual first time we met Danneel was a long time ago – at the after party following the premiere of indie movie Ten Inch Hero, which was at a club in LA back in, I think 2008. We all left the premiere and walked over to the club, invited by director David Mackay – the cast and the audience all together.

We had a lovely little chat with Danneel there about the film, met screenwriter Betsy Morris who’s still a friend today, and asked actor Matt Barr (now of Walker) to watch the rest room door while I in desperation used the men’s room because there was a huge line at the women’s. (He was lovely about it and it makes me laugh now every time I see him as Hoyt).

It was a momentous party, what can I say? After that, my co-author Kathy and I interviewed David over a three hour brunch in Vancouver for the first book we were working on, and mentioned that we’d love to chat with Danneel too. To be honest, we didn’t really think that would happen. But a few months later, while we were in LA for the Supernatural convention, we got a call from David.

I’ll let some excerpts from our second book, Fangasm! Supernatural Fangirls, take it from here…

… he let us know that Danneel Harris had actually agreed to an interview too. This prompted some hyperventilating and a rush of euphoria that left us grinning like fools. Jensen Ackles’s girlfriend was going to meet with us? Really? David had given Lynn’s cell phone number to Danneel so that she could call us tomorrow, the same day the boys came back to town. SWEET.

Given the pattern of the weekend so far—great things happening and then going horribly wrong—we should have known what was coming.

[On the Sunday of the convention, while everyone was in a fever pitch of excitement over Jared and Jensen being there] Lynn was obsessively checking her phone. “Noooo!!” she gasped. It was the plaintive moan of a beast in distress.

Kathy assumed that Lynn was passing a gallstone from the sound of it.

“No reception!” Lynn said, wide-eyed.

For Kathy, who hates phones (really, what doesn’t Kathy hate?) this didn’t seem like a big deal. The world really is too connected anyway. An hour out of cell phone reception seemed like a welcome respite, an opportunity just to enjoy the moment.

Lynn wasn’t as philosophical. “What if Danneel calls?”

Kathy honestly didn’t hold out much hope that this would actually happen—a yellow on the threat scale at most—so she wasn’t concerned.

Lynn was taking up her slack by flailing around, banging buttons on her phone as if somehow this would jolt it into action. “How can there be no cell phone reception in LA??”

Lynn had a point. We’re reasonably certain that there is cell phone reception in the Arctic Circle, but there was not a bar to be had in a hotel in LA. LA!! The town where everyone’s people are calling everyone else’s people, where iPhones are accessorized to coordinate with the day’s outfits, where a missed call can ruin a career. Jared and Jensen distracted Lynn for the duration of their time onstage, but as soon as it was over Lynn made a bee line for Jared’s girlfriend, Sandy (the woman sitting in front, wearing a hoodie so no one would recognize her—except Lynn apparently). Lynn wildly explained our dilemma to the stunned and probably scared actress. It was a good thing the Men With No Necks (MWNN) were only being paid to guard “the boys” or Lynn would have been face down on the carpet.

While Lynn was doing this, Kathy was pretending that she did not know Lynn.

Sandy was sympathetic, but didn’t know if she’d even see Danneel. Lynn thanked her for the sympathy and moved on to the next person who might be able to help. She attempted to enlist convention photographer Lizz, to no avail, and finally Creation owner Adam.

“I’ll try Lynn,” he said, sounding slightly exasperated. “But I’m kinda running an entire convention here.”

Thwarted again, Lynn pulled out all the stops. During her Jensen photo op, she stopped everything to explain the situation to Jensen himself.

“Hi, Jensen,” Lynn said, hoping that her voice wasn’t sounding too shaky. “We have an interview set up with Danneel today for the book we’re writing on fandom, and she’s supposed to call us, but I don’t have any reception on my phone, so I’m afraid she won’t be able to.”

The photo-op process screeched to a halt, and the room fell silent. Photo ops, you see, are not a place for conversation. They are highly valued by fans, who pay top dollar for the privilege of standing next to a celebrity, and they are relentlessly organized. The entire experience lasts about twenty seconds, and during that time you’re expected to say hello to the celebrity, smile, perhaps get an arm around your back or lean into said celebrity’s very firm bicep, and then move the hell out of the way and let the next person crowd in for the next picture. The photo ops allow no room for deviation. So when deviation happens, no one is very happy. The photographer wasn’t happy. The other fans weren’t happy. And the MWNN looked ready to move into swift and potentially lethal action.

Not that any of this stopped Lynn. “Can you put us in touch with her?” she continued, oblivious to the threatening stares all around her.

“Oh right, the interview,” Jensen said.

Lynn just nodded, though inside she was stuck on “OMG Jensen knows about our interview and our book, ohmygodohmygod.”

“Maybe she can email you,” Jensen continued. Then the conversation abruptly ended as Lynn was grabbed unceremoniously by the back of the neck and “escorted” from the photo-op room. Uh oh. She hadn’t experienced that feeling since being a two-year-old caught trying to get away with her baby brother’s coveted teddy bear. Lynn was most definitely in trouble—and even worse, she’d made no progress in getting in touch with Danneel, who didn’t even have our email address!

Lynn, ever the intrepid researcher, was not deterred. She thanked the Man with No Neck for his assistance and got right back in line for her next photo op, the “sandwich” photo (as in sandwiched between Jared and Jensen, which is vaguely dirty and thus very popular). As Lynn walked up, Jensen immediately tried to continue their conversation.

“So do you want to . . .” he began, while Jared looked confused. After all, the celebrities know the no talking rule as well as the fans.

Lynn held up a hand defensively. “Shh, I’m not talking to you. I totally got in trouble for it before,” she added, as the MWNN hovered threateningly.

Jensen laughed. “I got in trouble too,” he protested.

We doubt the MWNN were involved.

“Can Danneel get us her email?” Lynn managed as she was once again “encouraged” to leave the room as quickly as possible.

There was no time for an answer. Damn. Thwarted again. We were disappointed, but Lynn was relieved that she wasn’t escorted out of the entire con (the specter of the Flying Fangirl from Asylum still looms large at these events after all). We were still feeling like an interview with Danneel had been too good to be true anyway, so we tried to swallow our sadness and settled in to watch some of the other guests. Midway through the next panel, Lizz the photographer came out into the audience and passed us a note—from Danneel. It just said, “Send me an email, love danneel” and included her email address. Being a bit clueless about the popularity of smartphones in 2008, we figured this meant that she wanted us to get in touch with her later for an email interview. We were disappointed that we wouldn’t get to talk to her in person but incredibly excited that she’d given us her email address. We wandered back outside after the panel and tried not to be too miserable about the Danneel interview not happening that day. We were hanging out in the hallway chatting when photographer Lizz suddenly appeared and yanked us away in the middle of a sentence with an exasperated, “Come with me!” She led us down a small side hall.

We still weren’t entirely sure what was going on. Were we in trouble again? Had the MWNN decided to kick us out after all? Moments later, Danneel emerged from the side door, introducing herself with a smile. Somehow we managed to compose ourselves and smile back. Apparently Jensen had facilitated the interview after all! Danneel suggested that we all grab some coffee, so we headed upstairs to the hotel’s Starbucks, where Danneel insisted on treating.

Coffee in hand, we went back downstairs to start the interview. Danneel suggested that we go backstage to talk, and then came a weirdly symbolic moment. The very same Man with No Neck who had tossed Lynn unceremoniously out of the photo op for daring to speak to the talent now held back the curtain to the backstage area, solicitously helped Danneel and us step over the various wires and cables snaking across the floor, then closed the curtain behind us to seal our crossover. The irony wasn’t lost on us.

Kathy whipped out her trusty voice recorder just as she had done for every other interview we’ve conducted, turned it on, and . . . nothing. We were interviewing Jensen Ackles’s girlfriend and there was NOTHING. It wasn’t the batteries, which had been checked and rechecked. Kathy tried to maintain some semblance of professionalism. She would quietly figure out what was wrong and then she would just as quietly fix it. Deep breaths. Okay, the recorder was FULL. Not to worry. She excused herself, leaving a confused Lynn to entertain Danneel.

First the cell phone, now the voice recorder. Sunday turned out to be the day technology failed us. This, for Lynn, is an everyday occurrence. For Kathy not so much. She loves technology. She embraced the Internet years before it got pretty, she used a “portable” PC to write her doctoral dissertation (portability is of course a relative designation—relative to muscle mass and stamina), and she gets gleeful over the prospect of using every new toy her university has to offer. So yes, technology was her friend. Until it wasn’t.

While Kathy dashed upstairs to grab her laptop (wishing that she could grab a shot of tequila), Lynn attempted to keep up a conversation with Danneel without actually asking any of our carefully prepared interview questions. Without a recorder, there was no way she’d remember a damn thing that was said—so that left small talk as the only option. Luckily, Danneel and Lynn connected over their mutual love of writing, swapped college stories, and then Lynn (as always) managed to talk about her children. Danneel proved herself a great listener. Minutes went by—lots of them—and Lynn realized to her horror that Jensen and Jared were almost done with their autographs. After that, it was off to the airport—and we would lose our interviewee to her boyfriend as she left with Ackles. Where was Kathy???

Finally, shortly before Lynn had moved on to telling Danneel about her daughter’s first steps, Kathy returned and hurriedly tried to download everything onto the laptop while time quickly ran out. Come on!! All Kathy could focus on was how long it was taking for everything to download. That and the rising nausea that threatened to overtake her. Lynn, in desperation, started asking the interview questions (which, since they weren’t recorded, are lost to posterity—and to this book).

Suddenly Jared Padalecki walked by, meaning that autographs were over and people were getting ready to leave. We despaired of a recorded interview, heartbroken over the squandered opportunity. And then, quite unexpectedly, Jensen Ackles was standing there, smiling and saying hello. Even more improbably, he held a fluffy white dog in his arms. For a moment, Kathy was sure this was all part of the nightmare, because fandom at the time had no clue that Jensen even owned a dog. Icarus, however, was quite real—and quite fluffy. Icarus was almost as excited to see Jensen as we were—he’d apparently been whining backstage every time he heard his owner’s voice during the Q&A. We hugged Icarus while Jensen hugged Danneel and tried to talk her into riding with him to the airport. All Kathy heard in those words were that it was too late—she’d blown it.

Danneel, however, had other ideas. She blew Jensen off. No wait. This part can’t really be happening either. More of that dream? Kathy was contemplating poking herself with a sharp object, sticking her finger in a wall socket, anything to jar herself back into reality. This was surely just her own anxiety-ridden psyche toying with her. Must be. Who says goodbye to Jensen Ackles so that she can talk to US?? But Danneel really was excusing herself to say good-bye to Jensen, Icarus happily following, with assurances to us that she’d be right back to finish the interview. Kathy gathered together the few shreds of sanity she still had, sorted the problem, and figured out how to record directly onto the laptop.

Danneel returned, true to her word, and the interview finally began. We relocated to the “green room,” the cloistered room where the guests are confined between stage appearances. The green room, as we were well aware, is a private space—more or less a “No Fans Allowed” clubhouse for the celebrities. We immediately felt like imposters, occupying a space where we clearly shouldn’t be. The room offered a small banquet of food, a bit of which we gratefully sampled, and a table stacked full of fans’ gifts for “the boys.” The coolest of these was a hairdryer that looked exactly like Dean Winchester’s favorite gun—and yes, it actually worked!

Danneel, of course, was quite comfortable in the green room and turned out to be very good at making us comfortable as well. Lynn asked questions. Danneel answered. Kathy breathed. Everything was going to work out just fine. Somewhere the unicorns of fandom were neighing happily.

And then the laptop went dead.

Kathy again tried to be unobtrusive as she flailed around trying to find an outlet. No point in making a bigger fool of herself, right? Sooner or later, though, it became apparent that she was in need of assistance and everyone, including Danneel, was up and scouting for an outlet, crawling under tables and moving furniture to do so. Danneel, we decided, had the patience of a saint. She never lost her sense of humor either, shrugging off our apology for keeping her from accompanying Jensen to the airport by wryly noting that “Jared would have been in the limo anyway, it’s not like we could have made out on the way to the airport” and jumping up to knock on wood when we asked her about the possibility of marriage.

In the midst of all the sitcom mishaps we did manage to carry on an interview…

You can read the rest of our misadventures (and the interview itself) with Danneel in the book, but Kathy and I left that day with a respect and affection for Danneel that has never faded.

Jensen posted a photo of her plunging a clogged toilet today for her birthday, and I laughed because it makes it clear that she’s still as genuine as she was that day she got down on the floor and crawled around looking for an outlet right along with us.

I’ve had the opportunity to chat with Danneel several times since our hilarious interview, and I think most people who have run into her at the brewery would say this too – she’s not afraid to be real.

I’m so glad Danneel was able to be part of Supernatural as a cast member before it ended, but really she’s always been part of the SPN Family. Happy birthday, Danneel – thanks for keeping it real!

–Lynn

Source: [x]

#THIS IS SUCH A SWEET STORY 🥺#danneel ackles #jensen ackles #the ackles #Fangasm #danneel:with fans #real life angel #ackles:stories #ackles:encounters #sandra mccoy #danneel:with jared #j2:cons #ackles:cons #ackles:with fans #jensen:with fans #j2:with fans #cute lil dork #danneel:cons

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clockworkgraystairs · 4 years

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Beg for me || Jurdan Dom-Sub One Shot

Jurdan Smut Week 2020 • DAY 1

@jurdannet @jurdannetrevels

Rating: M

Summary: “I need you.”

“Then say it. Beg for me.”

Masterlist • AO3

Thank you so much @slightlyrebelliouswriter23 for helping me betaing this, even when you’re sleep deprived, I have no words! 🧡

“Look at me, love”

Kneeled before him, Jude lifted her head slowly, her breath coming out in faltering huffs. A prickling sensation ran over her swollen lips. Surely a reaction to the punishing kisses he’d given her just seconds before. The moment their eyes connected, the intensity she saw there sent an anticipatory pulse down to her stomach.

“Do you know why I am doing this?” He said, cocking his head to the side and arms crossed over his chest. His words were low and honeyed.

Oh she definitely did. Yet, she tugged her lip between her teeth.

Arching an eyebrow he hauled the little chain that connected with the leather band around her neck, his movement soft but firm. Answer me, it said.

The corner of her lips quirked up a bit. The only sign of defiance she’d allow her body to show, or at least that’s what she tried. “Because I misbehaved… sir.” She quickly added at the change in his gaze.

He chuckled. “I might not be your boss at this moment, but I would appreciate it if you still minded your manners.” With another tug to the chain he signaled her to stand. “On the bed, dear.”

Heat creeped up her cheeks at the appreciative hum that left his mouth at the full sight of her. Black lace that barely covered part of her body, combined with high stockings framing her long legs. She’d bought it knowing he’d like it, but couldn’t get used to how much skin it showed.

It was almost unfair that he could keep his clothes on. However, she couldn’t really decide if she liked her boss better when he was completely naked, or just like he looked in that moment: bare feet, black trousers and loose white shirt, sleeves rolled up his arms. More than ready to play with her for hours.

The soft mattress sunk under her. Jude lay down, her pulse rose as he walked towards her.

“Hands up.” He commanded. A familiar clang reached her ears from the drawer he was rummaging in, sending a shiver down her back.

She swallowed before obeying. He had plenty of punishments in his repertoire, but only few include that artifact in particular. That narrowed the options.

Cold metal kissed her wrists and Jude gasped. With a small movement she felt the chain of the handcuffs firmly secured to the bed’s headboard. Her chest rose and fell with elaborated breaths.

She was officially at his mercy.

Turning her head back, she watched him loosen his tie and take it off. Popping the first buttons from his shirt open. His carefree movements, along with those mischievous eyes of his always took Jude off guard.

“Enjoying the view?” He asked.

“You know I do, sir.”

“Hmm.” Her boss purred. “Too bad it has to end.” At that he gently coiled his tie around her head, covering her eyes. He tied it tightly to keep it from falling but not enough for it to hurt.

Pulling away, he left her there, aroused and disoriented. Jude tried to sense where he’d gone. Focusing all she could on-

Jude yelped when something soft caressed her torso. A low chuckle came from the left.

The thing about being sight-deprived was that her other senses intensified in a terrible yet exhilarating way. And he knew it very damn well.

Whatever object it was, probably a feather, he used it to roam over every piece of uncovered skin. He trailed it down her arms, her neck, between her shuddering breasts. Dropped kisses here and there, nibbling at her sensitive spots. The sensation was too much and yet not enough, Jude was quickly losing all coherent thoughts. Every time he sucked low moans escaped from her throat.

She breathed his name as his mouth moved down to her hips. He continued his ministrations, carefully avoiding that hot and needy spot between her legs.

“Are you going to defy my decisions in front of my coworkers again?”

Of course she would, they were both aware of that. Especially if it lent to more sessions of this. It was all part of their game. She was brilliant at work, with her intelligence and sharp temper she had everyone around her finger in no time. And he, a promising talent on the rise, did everything on his power to conquer her. Even when it implied hiding it from the whole company.

It felt so good to quarrel in meetings. But it was better when he gave her that look, the one that signaled he would use that same argument against her later. Alone, and naked.

Jude opened her mouth to answer but felt as if her mind had forgotten how to form words. Fuck, she should be doing better than this, she scolded herself. Focus.

He sucked down on her inner thigh, really close to where she desperately wanted him and she cried out, arching her back. The handcuffs rattled against the board. That damned sound always remained to haunt her in her deepest dreams.

Hot breath caressed her core as he spoke again. “I asked you a question.”

She licked her lips. “No sir, I won’t.” He hummed, using his thumb to play with the lace of her panties and pulled them down just a fraction. Then he seemed to change his mind and dragged his hands up her sides earning a protest from her.

Jude felt the mattress shift under his weight, then hot bare skin pressed flush against her as he stretched on top of her. He still wore his pants and even with them, his hardness was evident. She tilted her hips up seeking some friction, but a strong hand held her hips still. She whined one more time and his fingers now grabbed her with enough force to leave bruises.

“What was that again?” His gruff voice was now against her ear.

She moved to put her arms around his neck but a metallic sound and a yank to her wrists reminded Jude of her position. She almost said the word she knew he wanted. But held back, huffing in frustration. “I need you.”

“Then say it.” He groaned, nipping her earlobe. The hand holding her down moved once more, soft fingers positioning on the edge of her underwear. Please, the word was there on the tip of her tongue. With a torturing pace, he slid them under the thin fabric. “Beg for me, Ember.”

“CUT! Excellent, I think we got it. Good work everyone!”

Voices burst around them.

Jude sighed, the air wavering. Seconds later cold air hit her skin as he moved away from her.

The tie was taken from her eyes and the bright light blinded her a moment. The handcuffs shackled again and were off a heartbeat later.

“Hey.” She turned to find Cardan, stripped down to only his trousers, with the offending artifact on his hand. “Are you okay?”

She blinked and sat up, taking in her surroundings. Filming set, not suite room. And Cardan, her co-star, not her boss. Sometimes she really envied Ember, her character. Getting the chance to live the excitement of a forbidden romance. A hot, forbidden romance.

At her lack of answer, he sat next to her and cupped her face. Worry filled his voice. “Jude? Did I overstep?”

“No, no.” Shaking her head, Jude grinned. “You were perfect, I’m just recovering my breath. I tried to put myself more into it this time.”

“I noticed,” Cardan chuckled. “If I’m honest, for a moment I almost forgot we were acting.”

Her heart skipped a beat at his words. Me too, she almost said. Instead she just looked at him. Even out of character there was something in his eyes that captured her in a way she didn’t believe was possible. He was kind, funny and incredibly respectful on and off of the set.

Jude couldn’t help the real fluttering in her stomach in every scene they shot together.

She knew romances weren’t unusual in their line of work, but since she was relatively new, this tv series her first leading role, she was still terrified to ruin it. Most of all, to ruin the friendship she’d built with Cardan in all those months.

Coats were given to them, observations from the director and the screenwriters too and at last, they could leave for the day.

Cardan walked her to her trailer, telling another of his weird experiences he’d had while filming. Tears fell from her eyes from all the laughing.

“I trust you’re laughing at the situation and not actually at me.” He teased.

“Oh I’m definitely laughing at you, no need to ask.”

Making an offended sound he ruffled her hair, Jude shrieking and pulling away.

“Jude,” He said, his tone more serious than before made her stop her mocking too. “Are you sure everything was okay with the scene?”

A blush covered her cheeks. “It was. You know I’m relatively new to this. I guess I’m just getting used to all of it.”

He nodded.

“But, thank you.” She added. “For making sure I’m ok, and...for all of your fun stories that make me relax after. It is...really nice from you.”

Cardan’s wide smile almost left her breathless again.

“It’s nothing.” He hesitated for a second. “I have more stories though… We could... go buy some coffee and I could tell you all of it. If you want to, of course.”

She stared at him, not quite believing his words.

He bit her lip and gave her an apologetic smile. “Think about it, will you? I’d really like to...go out with you someday.”

Jude smiled gradually, feeling her heart nearly jumping out from her chest. “I’ll think about it.” She said softly.

“Let me know.” He walked backwards and winked at her. “And Jude… just for the record, I enjoy being tied up too.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tags: @slightlyrebelliouswriter23 @sweetlyvillainous @aesthetics-11 @thesirenwashere @jurdanhell @nightbringer @b00kworm @mysweetvillain @thefolkofthefic @yafandomsdotnet @vanessa172003 @tessas-herondales

If you wish to be tagged/untagged (or if I forgot to tag you) please let me know!

#jurdan smut week 2020 #jurdan smut week #jurdannet #jurdan #jude duarte #cardan greenbriar #tfota #holly black #tcp #twk #tqon #qon #the folk of the air #the cruel prince #judecardan #jude x cardan #tess writes

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lilaclias · 3 years

Text

day 2: festival (sasusaku month 2021)

title: everyday with you ( ao3 ☆ ffn ) prompt: day 2: festival (ssm21) @ssskmonth fandom: naruto (sasuke/sakura) info: pg / 844 words / romance, angst (?) summary: They’ve made it to stages they never expected to stand on, but it’s still not enough. [Director/Actor AU.]

AN AN MAGAZINE

Haruno Sakura: A Blossoming Spectacle By: Yamanaka Ino Photography By: Nara Shikamaru

Nobody in Japan’s film industry is thriving like Haruno Sakura. Having gone head to head with Baby, Box, Broker by Director Koreeda Hirokazu, acclaimed industry senior and Palme d’Or Winner, for a spot at the illustrious international film festival—she surprised everyone as the young director’s The Promise of a Lifetime was chosen. We’ve sat down to catch up with the rising director right before her film premieres at Cannes.

An An: Congratulations on your success, Director! Did you expect to make it to the Cannes Film Festival? How has it been?” Haruno Sakura: It’s been a very new experience! As a child, I used to wish I could visit just to be part of the audience, so to come here as a director really is a dream come true.

An An: It’s the first time here for everyone in The Promise of a Lifetime, from you to the cast. You’re all fresh faces on the festival circuit, but it seems you already know them pretty well! This is the second film you co-wrote with Screenwriter Uzumaki Naruto, and the third film where you directed Uchiha Sasuke. What is that dynamic like?

Haruno Sakura: Working with Naruto. Well—we’re kind of like a well-oiled machine at this point! I’ve known him since we were children, and he always had big dreams for the kinds of stories he wanted to tell. It was our goal to get to a place where we could work together. With Sasuke, it’s nice to work with a thoughtful actor.

An An: Of course, we all know the Uchiha family are a legendary dynasty in the film industry. Sasuke shocked insiders when he stuck to the independent scene as he worked with you.

[“He...Well. Actually, Ino, is it okay if we skip this question?”

“Of course, Sakura. Are you okay?”

“I’m okay, Ino.”

“No. This is off the record; I’m asking as your best friend. Are you okay?”

“Let’s continue the interview. Shikamaru, please make sure to get a good shot of my shoes. They’re sponsoring The Promise.”]

An An: Your Instagram story of Director Tsunade’s congratulatory bouquet to you was heartwarming! How was it starting off your career on the film sets of the most feared and one of the most respected directors in the industry?

---

The day of the Cannes premiere is a blur as they get swept up into the whirlwind of the event. Their buzzing newbie energy is devoured by the press who only craves more, unable to let Sasuke escape their camera flashes as they fall in love with him through the other side of the lens. Arms linked beside him, his co-star Hyuga Hinata blushes from the attention she is getting in her tailored lilac silk dress. The contrast between them only assists Sasuke in playing the role of the handsome, confident, golden boy film star.

When the press urges their Director to join them in the pictures, Sasuke’s expression finally falters but after another flash from a camera, followed by shouts for him to look straight, he straightens his face and it passes. Sakura moves to stand beside Hinata, who smoothly moves out of the way, forcing Sakura to stand in between her lead actors. Sasuke reluctantly puts his arm around Sakura’s waist. His hand lands on bare skin and even though she stiffens, neither of them pull away.

Sakura and Sasuke are assigned to sit beside each other for the premiere. He realizes he is far too aware of the way she’s rubbing her fingers together as she nervously shakes her left leg, and he resists the urge that rises in him to place a hand on her thigh to calm her.

He feels the same nervous energy ring through him but the weight that sits on his chest and smothers his throat is stronger. They hadn’t touched at all apart from their little show in front of the camera. He had taken it for granted, the chance to give her a light touch on her shoulders, to secretly thread their fingers together as she rubbed her thumb over his, to have her gently lean against his side, to bump the knees together when they sat just like this.

Now they sit shrouded in the dark of the theatre, a hum of excitement murmurs through the air as the audience anticipates the feature film that they all poured their soul into—and for the first time, Sasuke put his heart into. He sits with his back achingly straight against the chair, his face turned to the screen as he experiences his wildest dreams coming true before him, but his mind rests on the girl beside him, wishing he could hold her hand.

The film opens with his voice, as the title sequence lights up the screen and his eyes gloss over The Promise of a Lifetime to zero in on the smaller letters written underneath: Directed by Haruno Sakura.

It wasn’t supposed to happen like this.

notes: Currently, Director Koreeda Hirokazu's Baby, Box, Broker is still in film production and I really want it to make it to Cannes, so of course I wrote exactly the opposite of that.

#ssm21 #sasusaku #naruto #ss fanfiction #ss fic #my writing #my fic #ficlet #everyday with you

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jiminrings · 4 years

Note

could you maybe do something where it’s yoongi in rich boy!jimin’s au and he meets his y/n or a peak into how their relationship would work ? i love you 🥺💚

contact: you

pairing: yoongi x y/n

glimpse: the water’s cold but yoongi makes it warmer; or that piece in which model!yoongi meets his y/n!!

wordcount: 4k

notes: i love you too!!! :D

also, this yoongi comes from insufferable, that rich boy!jimin au!! in this fic we’re all just gonna pretend that yoongi’s PA goes by another name and not y/n :)) yoongi’s y/n is not jimin’s y/n!! pls don’t be confused that’s all hehe // gif isn’t mine!!

there’s a fine line in between compliments and insults

hENCE backhanded compliments

but in a way it’s still a compliment, right???

would it still be a backhanded compliment if you give it to yourself though,,,,, that’s the question

tHREE YEARS IN FILM SCHOOL

you just can’t seem to know whether graduating a year early than intended from film school is a cOMPLIMENT OR AN INSULT

is it an achievement or is it a curse??

ok initially, you were proud from graduating a year early because that meant one less year dedicating yoursef to studies, right???

big wrong :D

that meant you choosing the most cramped schedule with more units than you think is humanely possible

you just cAN’T help wanting to go on with life faster and easier!!! you went with this track anyway so you could become closer to the diRECTOR you’ve always wanted to be

it’s a pretty simple analogy

and u don’t get why people who took the same course as you did, didn’t think as the same way as you do

because like for example

there’s two options to go to your destination

hmmm let’s say it’s to go to the park!!! a rEALLY famous and beautiful park and if you aren’t early enough, then there’d be no place for you to lay a blanket out and properly enjoy it

the first route is a nicely-paved, nicely-leveled and cemented road, but it’s gonna take about twenty minutes because there’s traffic

the second route is a much shorter trip that would take only ten minutes, but the road may be a lil rocky and not all postlamps are lit and there mAY be a crossing chicken or not

of course you’d go for the second route :D

and now you know why much more people wanted to go with the first route aHA

no disrespect to your alma mater or something but that shit sUCKED

sURE they had decent dorms and it was your decision to take the more hectic schedule that meant much less time for you to do basically anything that’s outside of your film degree

it was having instant noodles atleast four out of the seven days in a week and sometimes even skipping that processed goodie because it always felt like you’d have to be hustling

hustling is a very icky word in ur humble opinion but you like saying that now ironically in your quarter-life crisis

it was the “why would i wait to cook this for ten minutes wHEN i could be doing something else more productive iNSTEAD of eating aka delecting food that helps give what i need to atleast enact my motor functions???” thinking

which is unhealthy ok

beyond unhealthy lmao that’s what you’re sure of

and then you graduated film school!!!

the opportunities you were promised of when you were still studying?? aha zero :D

the idea that once you graduate film school and you iMMEDIATELY have the job of whatever you majored such as directing or screenwriting and etc.,,,,, that is a whole load of bull-

it’s a hierarchy

you’ve graduated with LATIN HONORS and u persevered for three years with your major in directing and u wore a really nice dress for your ceremony :))))

and now you’re fetching coffee and making twenty calls in a half hour and running around to set things up :)))))

an intern :)))))

the only ones who immediately become what they’ve studied for has sOME sort of tie and pull to the industry

you may have made a thesis film that’s ranked the highest in the history of all thesis films in your university :)) and you may have had submitted it to film competitions and got approved and got some plaques :)))

but no that doesn’t mean a sINGLE bit once you’re out in the real world

you’re just taking whatever you get

i mean you dID want to work your way up in the film industry

like as in the movie industry??? the one you went to film school for?????

but what you are doing now :)) is working as an intern for this huge company that handles tv commercials and adverts and shoots :))

aHA not exactly the film industry but atleast it’s still within the media industry, right??

right???

pls say right

anyways

the agenda for today is this watch shoot!!

there’s a tv commercial to be produced out of it and there would also be multiple shoots for the models who’d be here

you dressed up extra good today :D

it wouldn’t matter but atleast it’s the thought that counts somehow

your company’s official lanyard kinda sucks and you can’t change the lace for it nO matter what but it’s no pressure!! your outfit’s gonna make up for it

there’s not exactly a dress code for interns,, it just goes for the terms as long as:

a) it’s still work-appropriate

b) this is a simultaneously unspoken yet obvious rule bUt you just need some boundaries,,,, you can’t stroll up into the set looking like the executive producer or the director who looks a lil bit fancy

c) you shouldn’t attract attention so much because you’re an intern :)) even if that iS the sole purpose of the intern because otherwise how would you land a more secure and higher-ranking job???? are they thinking or-

it’s a black shirt!!!

groundbreaking

but it’s a nice black shirt with embroidery in the front!!!

it’s just n i c e embroidered in the front and uH right on the middle of your chest area that’s clothed obviously but that’s cool

simple, casual, effortless, tINY bit fun

you also aren’t an intern with black pants

but no this is a nICER pair of pants

they’re like slacks!! like fitted slacks but not too fitted and not too formal

you wanted to wear it in tan but that’s not exactly optimized for your job because you are literally always in the go

it’s always just ease of movement in your clothes

and if you could dash in them in getting coffee or whatever the fuck the production team wants or look for duct tape and print lacking scripts like a madman, then you’re good to go :D

you caved in buying those nurse shoes that are raved about because you’re on your feet almost 24/7 and slip-on vans would not always save ur life

ur always wearing ankle support socks too because you’d rather look like an athlete misplaced in a commercial shoot rather than crying at home with how sore your body and most eSPECIALLY your legs are

that can’t stop you either

so now,,, you’re wearing cute socks on top of the support

it’s barely noticeable but it’s the effort you put in ok

and to be extra presentable, you traded your digital watch for the day with your watch that looks a little bit more classy with the silver!!!

it’s an analog watch with a really nice and shiny silver watch strap and although normally ur mind takes tWO seconds to buffer and read it as opposed to instantly knowing the exact time with a digital one, it’s worth it :D

it better be

you can get atleast one glance from park jimin and your life would be forever fulfilled

you signed a non-disclosure agreement once it was presented because after all

wHO WOULDN’T GUSH WHEN THEY KNEW THE LINE-UP FOR THIS SHOOT????

park jimin!!!

kim taehyung!!!

jung hoseok!!!

that’s the only three you knew so far

because they said that you’d know the other ones who are participating for the shoot once it actually happens

and that could mean two things

either you don’t know them at all oR they’d be really really famous and this ensures that you wouldn’t breach the nda you signed

hmmmm jimin’s kinda cute you’re not gonna lie :))

you can’t laze around in the job though because your walkie-talkie’s already bearing your name again and you’re being summoned now

this may be a blessing in disguise tho

you’re one of the interns who get called and noticed frequently and although that means mORE WORK, that also means you’re more trusted and more likely to secure the job you’re aspiring for!!!

“Y/N. There’s some extra copies of the shoot schedule by one of the makeup tables. Bring it over to me in the brief room.”

“of course!!! :D”

that’s one of your favorite producers specifically calling for you in the radio

he also talks very formally

you’ve always been a little bit close to mr. hyun bin because you were a bit of the teacher’s pet back in uni!!! he served as a professor while also being a producer and HE’S the reason you got accepted immediately as an intern here anyway!!

they’re always in the blue folders and that’s what you’re looking for very eagerly right now

because uHHHH there seems to be about a hundred makeup tables right now and mr. hyun didn’t exactly specify where

ok now where could that be

okay no it’s not on the table

lmao you find them sitting by a chair in front of the makeup table and you need to get it before someone sITS and dents the folder because mr. hyun gets a bit cranky when the folder isn’t smooth

“But the folder’s job is to keep the documents inside it smooth. If the folder’s damaged, then that also means that the contents inside it, is also damaged to a degree.”

no he said that

he literally said that once

if you could read thoughts in the air then mr. hyun probably speaks in proper punctuation AND capitalization

you found the schedule

and you also found this guy dressed in a really nice suit who looks very breathtaking

.... and is frustrated?

NOW HE LOOKS VERY FAMILIAR!!! you just can’t remember the name right now

he must be a talent because no one else is wearing the same suit that he is and his visuals are just beyond gorgeous so that must be it

he’s hunched on his makeup chair alone???

and there’s something on his hand and he keeps dipping his finger to his cupped hand and keeps squinting to the mirror in front of him and

“do you need help, sir?”

yoongi almost jumps out from his chair because oh my god are you-

oh huh.,., you’re not his personal assistant

you see

contact lens would be the absolute BANE of yoongi’s whole existence

he just can’t put it in

he’s said that sO many times to people who find him frustrating over it and whenever they make a “that’s what she said” joke it just makes him want to poke his eyeballs

“no, no. uh it’s okay!! i just can’t aGH shit i just need to learn how to put these cursed contacts in.”

oh he’s cute

like real cute

“name?”

wait wHAT

he’s a bit perplexed because why are you asking for his name

and uh quick question wHY don’t you know his name

not to brag but yoongi,,,, he knows to himself that he’s a world-renowned model!!! he’s done countless shoots!!! he’s appeared in so many things!!!!! why don’t you-

ok he’s being a little bit boastful in his head now

“min yoongi.”

he just states his name and he doesn’t get how would that help with his problem right now

you’ve asked because you’re searching for his name by the schedule and you’re just absent-mindedly muttering his name as you search for it

“min yoongi min yoongi min yOU OH!!! oh!!!! min yoongi!!!!!”

lmao alright that’s it

you remember him immediately and it clicks with you that oh my god this is min yoongi!!!!

that’s the reaction he was initially looking for but it’s okay he’s just gonna be humble about it

“okay well first of all, it says here that you’re about to be called in nine minutes from now so hOW about i just give you a hand, hmm??”

that is not exactly a request

because even before yoongi could like half-heartedly agree (he wants to do it so badly but he can’t) and thank you, you’re already pulling his palm towards yours

“the solution’s drying out,,, how long have you been trying to get it in?”

he hears you ask him in a teasing voice and he kinda frowns at that because well NOW he’s too embarrassed to answer :((

you’re wordlessly grabbing the solution that’s on his desk before you squirt some on your curved palm and plucking out the lens that used to be on his palm

“you have to clean it first.”

“mhmm....,., yes.,.,.., i know that.”

a little bit

jUST a little bit

“you clean it first in these motions, see?? don’t rub it clockwise or anything like that”

ooh so that’s how it goes

he doesn’t want to be rude but he thinks that you’re not the director of this shoot

and there’s nothing bad about that!!!! he just wouldn’t know how to feel if the director were to see him frustrated over contact lens and they’d be the one to do it for him

“pick it up like a bowl!! make sure that the ends of it turn iNWARDS, okay?? inwards!!! if the ends poke out then it would literally hurt so much and maybe you’d be blind”

YOONGI DIDN’T EVEN KNOW THAT UNTIL NOW

so that’s where he went wrong for like five times,,,,,

“never put it in dry, okay? otherwise it would hurt too.”

that’s it yoongi’s taking this girl’s words down

he doesn’t know wHO you are but he appreciates you

“now tilt your head down a little bit for me :))”

yoongi bows his head and it kinda makes you snort because he was serious with that one

“nO NO just a little bit, mr. min.”

you have your thumb on his chin just to get it to the right position

he will d-word right now oh my god is he a dummy

how could you pOSSIBLY put the contacts on him if his head was hung that low

in any angle though, he looks so nice

he has long eyelashes too and they’re pointing downwards so that may add on to his problem

“now look up”

whew oh god you need to avert your eyes a little bit because you’re just realizing now that this is mIN YOONGI you’re dealing with right now

“or at me!! yeah that would work too :))”

yoongi’s just killing it with his social cues huh :)))))))))

you’re placing delicately the lens by his sclera and yoongi kinda panics and is at the same excited because this is dEFINITELY HAPPENING

“ok calm dOWN and now move your eye until the contact clings and keep moving it still even if you’ve got it already for like eight seconds!!!”

he did it

well technically yOU DID IT

BUT STILL!!!!!

“oh my god that is the qUICKEST thing ever omg now the other eye!! do the other eye!!! :D”

he’s so giddy over you putting on his contact lens and he doesn’t even know you and you just feel so familiar to him!!

yoongi trusts you with his contact lens and that’s enough trust you’d ever need

“aaaaand we’re done!! :D”

“thank you!! what’s your n-“

alright that is mr. hyun asking for a follow-up in the walkie-talkie by asking where’s the schedules and that means you immediately have to dash to the briefing room :))

yoongi didn’t even catch your name :((

you didn’t even get to say goodbye to him :((

you didn’t get to see yoongi for the rest of the shoot because after you’ve delivered the papers, you were then summoned to take care of the catering company that’s gonna do it’s second rounds and to facilitate whatever they needed to do :((((

it’s a bummer though

you dIDN’T even get to see the actual shoot get done because you were too busy verifying the payments if those fish fingers are really priced like that in the receipt you were given :((

you’re probably never gonna see him again

there’s another shoot you’ve been called for again the next week and this time, it was for a luxury brand that’s releasing it’s summer line and the settings for it were a beach AND a swimming pool

they couldn’t have just become satisfied with a beach and had to add on a fancy pool filled with chlorine and then more chlorine for the sets

“Y/N, do you know how to swim?”

mr. hyun asks you so casually as your only task as of now is to stand beside him as he lists things and you check it off in your clipboard

“hmm. i do know how to swim, mr. hyun, but not professionally, y’know?? they don’t exactly teach dives in film school”

he laughs at that and you smile at that because good for you :))

“Good. Because we’re gonna need someone to keep these floaties still, and the lifeguard’s out, and here’s a rashguard.”

what

what in the actual fUCK

you see

although this is for a summer line and a summer shoot

yOU’RE SHOOTING IN JANUARY

and you came into work today not thinking that you’re gonna be in a frEEZING pool wearing a rashguard underneath your shirt to keep these floaties still!!!!

you love your job you love your job you love your job!!!!!

maybe if you say it enough, it’s gonna come true!!!!!

“oH ITS YOU AGAIN!!!”

hold up

that’s

“yoongi????”

“cONTACT GIRL!!!!!”

the both of you are genuinely surprised to see each other ok

at this point, you should automatically assume that yoongi would always be the undisclosed model in your shoots

you’re looking up at him and he’s looking down on you because CLEARLY he is not in the freezing pool as you are

“i’d let you put in my contacts right now, but it doesn’t exactly make a good addition to chlorine :]”

the water’s freezing but yoongi just makes it warmer :))

mr. hyun’s saying the directions to you as to where in the pool you should place yoongi and the floatie’s slippery and you dON’T want to risk getting the clothes wet because it’s not intended.,..,. even if this is a summer shoot

he has a tough crowd (you) and you’re just kinda deadpanning because you now feel you aRE a little bit embarrassed even if this is your job and u shouldn’t be

“i’m kidding!! jus kidding :D”

humor doesn’t exactly click when you’re about waist-deep and aBOUT to be shoulder-deep into freezing cold water

and now since you look a fool, you’re just gonna deal with the slippery floatie and yoongi notices so he’s the one who takes your hand instead as he nudges you to move

:] i was just joking pls don’t hate me :]

you stop the moment mr. hyun says sTOP that’s perfect and before you could awkwardly waddle yourself away from the camera’s view-

“is your face just good and the sunscreen you used is matte, or do you just not have any sunscreen on??”

yoongi asks with much concern as if it’s the most important thing in the world and he doesn’t have a shoot to do

“i don’t have-...”

“no? oh come on, contact girl!! come here for a second!!!”

you look to mr. hyun because Sir is it really and he’s just screaming back with his eyes going gO COME TO MIN YOONGI

you’re confused and before you know it, yoongi’s reaching for you and digging into his pocket and-

“sunscreen stick!! the sun’s always there even if it’s freezing, y’know?”

this time, it’s yoongi tilting your chin up and very delicately swipes the stick on your face and even taps it in

:))

“all done!! let’s start the shoot!!”

he claps up and everybody gets into position and you have to waddle back to your spot awkwardly with your cheeks heating up

you don’t know if it’s yoongi’s power move to swipe his own sunscreen sticks on people but it fEELS LIKE IT IS

he’s very well-aware of what he’s done and he now has every intention to ask you what’s your name after this

although tHAT doesn’t happen again because now mr. hyun’s telling you to come up and get all dried down because after this, he’s gonna need you to ask the front desk if you could access more of their amenities for the sudden changes in the shoot :(((

yoongi almost doesn’t want to leave the set because you’re out again :((( and he still hasn’t had the chance to ask you your name

uGH it’s just so unfair :(((

you feel the same way and you just wanna see him!!! even if he’s only gonna tease you for most of the time and you’re gonna be a blushing mess throughout!!!

you’re cranky ok

you’re more cranky than how mr. hyun gets with dented folders

you’ve had two back-to-back shoots this week and you’ve only had ONE hour of sleep for the whole time

seriously

not to mention that you thought you’d also see yoongi in atleast one of those projects :(( but it was a no-go either

your job is just sO demanding

it starts earlier and ends later than how the printed schedules say and is much more different than the talent’s

speaking of talents, these artists are just pure out LATE and not only are they setting a bad impression on the director!!!!

but they are also the reason for the bane of your existence!!!you call their drivers non-stop to ask for the whereabouts and to adjust the catering’s schedule and the amends that you need to make for people

they make your job harder and your hours longer and your fatigue greater

you actually feel like you’re gonna pASS OUT

mr. hyun’s the one who’s assigning you to these projects and as MUCH as you’re thankful because that means better pay and more exposure and more experience,,, he’s really not seeing the fatigue he’s putting you thru right now

you forgot your ankle support,,,, you have nOT eaten three meals today,,,, you haven’t drank water for hours,,,,, you fEEL like you’re gonna pass out

and someone’s just called you over again to deliver these hair pins to this specific trailer asap and oh god your ankles are just gonna fall off at this point

ok quick knock and you enter and-

“hmm?? oh, it’s okay!! we don’t need it anymore. someone else already brought in new ones :))”

fu-

“cONTACT GIRL!!!!!!”

if you took a moment to read the name that’s by the front of the trailer, you’d know that this is yoongi’s trailer and the makeup artists just went straight to his,, instead of him coming to them because he just can’t be damned to stand and walk over there :D

the makeup artist you were talking to moved out of the way so the both of you could see each other and sO yoongi could also stop stretching his neck out to the max

they’re finishing up anyway

his contact lens case was held by this makeup artist and she was about to put em in and yoongi snatched back the case :))

“here!!! put them on me!!!”

okay that’s a bit awkward for the other girl yikes.,.,. she’s just uh gonna exit the trailer with the other makeup artists now

“hi.”

you only greet back now as you get the case for him and yoongi frowns at that

why aren’t you cheery???? he’s used to you being more enthusiastic than him so wHY is he the one carrying the conversation (that hasn’t been even started) that’s already dwindling out

you’re getting really really sluggish and this sudden heavy wave of sleepiness is really hitting you

you dO look kinda hazy

“are you okay??”

yoongi’s holding you by the sides of your arms and your eyes are blinking so slowly as you try to nod but that just won’t cut it for him

“well i think yOU need to rest”

he’s standing up and is about to put you onto his sofa so you could like perhaps nap a minute or two since he knows fatigue when he sees it

but by the looks of it, he can’t even make you lie down because you’re already sitting down

sitting down

on his lap

oN HIS LAP

this is really.,.,...nice

yoongi’s a bit shocked and there aren’t any sentences forming in his head besides “what’s your name, contact girl???” as if that is the mOST pressing issue right now

“ᶦ’ᵐ ʸ/ⁿ” is what you could only practically mumble because this pillow is really soft and warm and heavenly and u want nothing more at the moment than to be buried in it

yoongi has never felt this soft

ever

there’s you accidentally falling asleep on him

literally ON him

and his hands are still hovering but he decides to relocate them on your back, rubbing small circles and even patting softly

your hair smells really good too

he must’ve been to engrossed in it as you burst awake some minutes later and you almost bump his jaw on your way up

“oh my gOD did i just pass out on your lap???”

well you’re still sat on his lap and you’re scrambling away while you’re still groggy and he has to reach for you before you could topple over

“no problem!! it’s cool i sWEAR!!!”

he quickly explains what’s happened and how he’s close with hyun bin and how he literally conversed for like two seconds and your producer immediately agreed

yoongi just said “hEY mr. hyun!!! y/n works for you, right?? i’m SO sorry if this isn’t in my position to ask but y’know she did just kinda pass out and i was wondering if she could just lay down in my trailer for awhile??”

within two minutes mr. hyun apparently went to the trailer and delivered your backpack and he keeps in mind to apologize to you later on and hmmmmm is there anything going on between you and yoongi???

“are there any pillows?”

underneath the cushion the both of you are sitting at, there is a shit tON of pillows he just keeps there

there’s memory foam!! cotton!! feather!! a hybird of those two!!!

yoongi decides to answer and he delivers it with the straightest answer possible

“... no.”

he quickly clears his throat as he looks to his lap and taps on it so you could lie down on him!!

you think you like yoongi :)))

yoongi is positive that he likes you :)))

you stand up for a moment and he panics because nO where are you going??? but it was just for you to retrieve your phone and grab your earphones!!

you kind of have an irrational fear of buying airpods and that shit just falling every two seconds and then you could nEVER find it

and so here you are :)) offering yoongi an earphone as you lay your head on his lap

there’s just something so familiar with the melody

the lyrics

the vOICE

so familiar to the point that yoongi’s heart practically drops because oh god

tHAT’S HIM

THAT’S HIM IN HIS OTHER JOB THAT ONLY HE KNOWS ABOUT

“this suga guy.,, i like him.”

“o-oH???”

yoongi doesn’t know whether he should feel jealous because you like this suga guy

but he doesn’t know shit because he IS that suga guy!!!

and so his mind’s fuzzy and all-conflicted as you babble on, about to be lulled to sleep again

“once i get to make a film, like an actual full-length film and jUST not a thesis film,,,, i’m hiring him,,,, i don’t care if he consumes like 80% of my budget for that film iM HIRING HIM!!!”

yoongi’s about to practically combust right now

he’s grinning from ear-to-ear, looking down on you who he’s grown fond of so much so fast and is lying down on his lap, his thumb pressing down on your cheek softly as he tilts his head

“do you wanna know a secret?”

#tHANK U SO MUCH BABIE THIS WAS SO HEARTWARMING AND FUN TO WRITE!!!#feedback pls and thank u :D #requested drabbles #yoongi #min yoongi #yoongi imagine #yoongi imagines #min yoongi imagine #min yoongi imagines #yoongi blurb #yoongi blurbs #yoongi oneshot #yoongi oneshots #min yoongi oneshot #yoongi headcanon #yoongi headcanons #yoongi fic rec #yoongi fic recs #insufferable

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toxicfunkylittlecrazy · 3 years

Text

The Mandalorian: Chapter 16

Okay here goes because I CANNOT FUCKING CONTAIN MY EMOTIONS RIGHT NOW. tHIS FINAL EPISODE OF THE SEASON WAS EVERYTHING AND I AM STILL SCREAMING.

Screaming spoilers beyond the line.

Okay so it’s going to be just about the last 10 minutes because honestly this is why I am screaming about. The whole fucking episode was aMAZING and omg how did they do it in just 40 minutes wTF it felt like one of the original movies like it does feel like it takes place there but with better vfx if that’s even possible because the original trilogy was aces for being in the late 70s and 80s but that’s another subject.

This is not at all an objective review or post because I cannot stop thinking about how fucking gOOD THIS IS

AN ALL GIRL TEAM LEADING THE CHARGE AND TAKING THE WHOLE SHIP BY THEMSELVES?! OMFG BRILLIANT!!!!! THE WHOLE THING WITH THE SABER??? Haven’t caught up with Rebels or Clone Wars but I saw enough seasons to understand what Bo-Katan’s mission was and why her obsession with it and poor Din just being like “Take it” and not understanding a thing about how it works and Moff just taunting her, it surprises me how she didn’t kill him right there and then and omg it has so many potential for the next season I get so excited just thinking about it.

But what really started this whole post is the last 10 minutes... The structure of that moment was so fucking spectacular *chef’s kiss* it’s so overdone but it gets me everytime because that is motherfuckin good storytelling. I know I give Jon Favreau a lot of shit but that man has it nail down. He’s slowly but surely becoming one of my favorite screenwriters (And director even tho he didn’t directed this one that was all the brilliance of Peyton Reed which wOW! ant man anyone????) The overdone beautiful perfect storytelling im talking about is the “All seems lost” or “The Darkest Hour” memory serves me so bad right now but I’ve studied it in film school and I’ve seen it in enough films to know what’s coming. Now it may seem that what happens next its an ex-machina but it isn’t at least this doesn’t feel like this to me!

We’ve made theories since the episode with Ahsoka when she says “There aren’t many Jedi left” we knew, we felt, we prayed and we hoped. Every indication was pointing towards him and still the minute it as announced the ship approaching was an X-Wing I knew. I’ve been let down so many times with endings of tv-shows and movies that I no longer held hope that he would show up but they said X-Wing and I knew it!!!

Then the black cape, the green lightsaber! (though the first time the light saber appeared on screen it was white I knew that once the shot followed him it was going to be green) the black glove on the right hand, and the skills!! I never doubted for a second that it was Luke the one that came to save them.

bUT THE WHOLE SEQUENCE OF LUKE DESTROYING THE DARK TROOPERS!! Was it just me or did it look like Darth Vader killing off every rebel in that last shot in Rogue One? Because it fucking looked like that, black cape and all and oh mY FUCKING GOD IT WAS BRILLIANT!! I can’t wait to see the gifs and the comparisons.

AND THE WHOLE ENDING FUCKING DESTROYED ME! GROGU ASKING PERMISSION FROM HIS DAD!!! SOFT DIN TAKING OFF HIS HELMET AND FUCKING CRYING!!!!! THE BEBE BEING SO FUCKING CUTE WHEN HE FINALLY SAW HIS DAD’S FACE AND CARESSED IT SO SOFTLY??? MAN!! And just to make sure I was dead they show R2!!! COME ONN!!!! YOU KNOW HOW SOFT THAT LOOKED?!?!?!?! Luke (and Moff) recognizing the bond Grogu and Din have towards each other gives me feelings that I cannot write comprehensibly. It was just so goddamn beautiful.

Now here comes a controversial opinion...

I wouldn’t mind if the child doesn’t appear anymore... I LOVE HIM, I started watching because of the bebe but hear me out. I know it’s not going to be the last we see of him but I wouldn’t be bothered if we don’t see him again, because their story has been told. DIN FUCKING FULFILLED HIS PROMISE! He was charged with returning the child with his own kind and Luke is that, Luke can train him and we know how that can go. (And how it ended unfortunately) I might change my mind later and I am sad to see them apart of course I am sad, but right now, half an hour after I stopped crying watching the last episode I can tell you, I wouldn’t mind if the child never shows up in an episode again. Now, you take Din out of the show then that’s a big fucking mistake buddy. We saw Din changing so much through these last two seasons and it was because of Grogu. He’ll be forever thankful for that and like the absolute best father that he is he won’t let anyone stand in the way of him visiting his son, alright? Not even Luke Skywalker. akjsdfa

Okay I’m soft, I feel like I’ve got a lot to say still but this is all I can write right now. For me, I doubt anyone would read this lol but I’ve got no one to talk about this brilliant A+ show, it was just perfect!

#the mandalorian spoilers #the mandalorian #star wars #i'm still crying #spoilers #din djarin #the child #grogu #pedro pascal #long review #i think it's a review #its more like a shouting of words about one of the best episodes i've seen #is this long enough tags so you won't see the spoiler tag? i hope so #luke skywalker #i'm so glad i waited for the tv to be free to watch i would have died watching that scene in a small screen lol

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companionjones · 4 years

Text

Such As Life

Fandom: Henry Cavill

Pairing: Henry Cavill x 18yo!Reader

Summary: Because he’s friends with your father, Henry comes to stay at your house. The two of you know each other very well, and things escalate.

Warnings: READER IS 18 YEARS OLD

Author’s Note: The Reader’s 18. I know. But this is loosely based on a dream that I had, and the dream wouldn’t leave my head until I wrote this. Mr. Cavill, if by some unfortunate circumstance you’re reading this, I’m sorry.

*******

The life you lived was normal. You were 18. You were due to start college in the fall. Until then, you were stuck at home with your parents. Henry Cavill was coming over for dinner.

Okay, that last part might’ve seemed a little out of place. The truth was, that was normal for you. Your father was a well-known director. He had directed Henry very early in Henry’s career, and the two became good friends. Their friendship was still going strong a couple years later. That was why Henry was coming over for dinner.

It wasn’t going to be the first time you would meet the actor. Because he was such good friends with your father, Henry and yourself had gotten to know each other pretty well, too.

You’d met him when you were 16, and since then, you could’ve been considered even closer to the actor than your father. The two of you would play different video games together, you would help Henry run lines, and you wouldn’t interrupt Cavill even once if he went on about football for hours.

Henry had planned to surprise you by sneaking up behind you; however, you turned around before he could get too close.

“Wow,” he immediately breathed out.

Upon seeing him, a huge smile broke out across your face. “Oh my God! Henry! I missed you!” You charged forward and hugged the man.

He accepted you with open arms. “I, uh...Hey, Y/n. You look great.” He was telling the truth. You’d always been good-looking in the eyes of Henry, but something had changed. He couldn’t put his finger on it.

“Thanks,” you accepted the compliment with a bit of a blush. “I decided in January to get a new wardrobe and haircut. You know: New year, new me.”

Henry smiled, reluctantly letting you go. “It definitely suites you.”

Beaming, you pulled Henry by his hand to your living room where you had your PlayStation.

The next hour was spent playing Uncharted 4, but the two of you didn’t get very far. You planned Henry. You weren’t being serious, but every time the two of you failed a level, you would complain that Henry was distracted.

He was. Henry hadn’t gotten over your new look. He was trying to stop himself, but Henry was suddenly remembering just how close the two of you were. When together, Henry wouldn’t leave your side; and when apart, there wasn’t a day that went by that he wasn’t texting or calling you. Had Henry had feelings for you all that time?

Well, you were 18. He could finally do something about his feelings.

NO. No. Sure, you were 18, but you were only 18. And you were the kid of one of his best friends. And what would the public think about the two of you being together? They surely wouldn’t be accepting of the age difference. And all of that didn’t even matter if you didn’t feel the same way--

“Henry? Henry. Hey!” You were trying to get his attention again.

The actor shook himself out of his thoughts. “Huh? Oh, did we lose again? I’m sorry, Y/n.”

“Eh, it’s okay. Maybe today’s not the day for Uncharted.” You saved and turned the game off without a second thought. “Now, would you please tell me what you’re thinking about?”

That took him off guard. “What do you--”

“Oh, come on.” You crawled closer to him on the couch. Your mind’s been on something since you got here. Tell me!”

“No way,” you refused. “It’s something. I know it’s something, and you always tell me when something is bothering you like this.” All that time, you were getting closer and closer to Henry. You meant it as a tactic to get him to share his thoughts with you. “What is it?”

Suddenly, the climate between the two of you changed. Henry’s eyes flicked down to your lips. He looked at you in the eyes again less than a second later, but it was too late. You definitely already noticed.

Neither of you moved. The only sound that was heard was the two of your breaths. Then, you were leaning in. Then, you were both leaning in.

“Dinner’s ready!” Out of no where, your mother called from the kitchen.

At that point, you were practically on top of Henry. You scrambled away from him at the sound of your mother’s voice.

You and Henry took a second more to look at each other before you yelled back, “Coming, Mom!”

You looked back to Henry. Biting your lip, you took his hand in yours again and pulled him with you to the dining room table.

Dinner was awkward, as far as you and Henry were concerned. Neither of your parents noticed. You had Henry to thank for that. He kept pleasant conversation with your parents while you drowned in your thoughts.

For you, what had just happened with Henry had come out of no where. You had never thought about Henry in that way before. Now that you were, you couldn’t stop. He was more than attractive, and you loved when he came to visit. The conversations the two of you shared had always been invaluable to you.

What if the two of you were together? The last things you’d ever want to do would be to hurt Henry or his career, so no one could know. At least, not until you were older. Would the two of you even last that long? You zoned back into the conversation.

“Sorry to leave so early, but I got called in by the screenwriters. I’ll probably be gone until late tomorrow. I’ll just finish here and get some blankets for the two of you. Y/n, you’re sleeping down here with Henry again, right?”

You forgot about that. Every time Henry stayed at the house, you would sleep downstairs with him. You’d done it enough times that your parents didn’t question it. You were definitely questioning it then.

Not knowing how to respond, you looked to Henry. He was looking for your opinion on the matter just as much as you were looking for his. “Yeah. Yes, I am,” you responded before it was too long of a wait. “And you don’t need to worry about the blankets, Dad. I’ll get them.”

“Thank you,” your father smiled before taking the final bit of his meal. He got up and kissed your mother. “Goodbye. See you guys tomorrow. Henry.” He nodded to the actor.

Henry returned the sentiment, and your father left.

Two hours later, it was dark in your living room. You and Henry were on separate couches. The two of you had avoided each other since dinner ended. Henry went back on your PlayStation, and you scrubbed each dirty dish clean twice to pass the time.

After staring up at the ceiling for what felt like forever, you broke the silence. “So, are we not going to talk about it? Or...”

He was quiet. For a second, you thought he was already asleep. Then, he chuckled, “I was hoping you didn’t notice.”

“Didn’t notice?!” you laughed, and sat up to look at him. “How could I not have noticed?!”

“I was being optimistic!” Henry’s rebuttal was light. He sat up, too.

The two of you laughed for a few seconds, quietly. Your mother was asleep upstairs.

While the mood was light, you got up and moved over to Henry’s couch. He pulled his legs up give you more room.

“Is this okay?” you wondered. Boundaries hadn’t exactly been set.

Henry smiled at you. “Of course it is.” He moved closer to you. “Is this?” He gently cupped your chin to angle your face up to his.

You just nodded before leaning up to kiss him.

The kiss was slow. Both of you were exploring new territory. It must’ve lasted longer than you thought, because when you separated, you had your hands tangled in his hair and were somehow straddling Henry’s lap.

He chuckled when he noticed your position. “Someone’s eager.”

“You started it,” you smiled before leaning back in.

It could’ve been hours or minutes until the two of you finally pulled away from each other.

“I wish you could sleep in my arms,” Henry quietly admitted.

His words caused a smile to form on your lips. “Well, my dad doesn’t get home til late tomorrow, and my mom doesn’t usually come downstairs until the afternoon. Does that work for you?”

Henry barely let you finish. He kissed you one last time before pulling you closer to him and re-situating the two of you so you were laying on top of him. His comfortable body and semi-frequent forehead kisses helped lull you to sleep.

Yes, the life you lived was normal.

*******

Author’s Note: Thank you for reading! Fill up that heart and reblog if you liked it! If you would like to read more, I have more fics over on my page. You should go check it out. Have a nice day, night, or whatever time it is for you! <3 <3 <3

#henry cavill #henry cavill x reader #such as life #companion jones #literally my dream was nothing like this except henry cavill was in it

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lowkeysebastianstan · 4 years

Text

let’s talk about basic screenwriting rules and a little thing called chekov’s gun, or planting and payoff.

let me begin by saying that i do not object to sam being captain america, i do think he was the better choice, it’s a big step for representation and both sam and mackie deserve both that and more (crossing my fingers they actually do him justice, but whatever.) with that out of the way, let’s talk screenwriting.

okay. so christopher markus and stephen mcfeely have graced us with the scripts for all the movies which feature bucky, and sam for that matter. if we disregard post-credit scenes and cameos, those films are ca: tfa, ca: tws, ca: cw, a: iw and a: eg. (in addition does sam feature in a: ou, but tbh i’ve not seen that in so long i cannot really remember how much he’s in it. it doesn’t really matter, let’s move on.)

now, when telling a coherent story, it’s important to keep track of all plot threads, to make them weave in and out, and to focus on what helps you tell the story

there are many ways to do this, but cinema, as an extremely contained type of media is particularly dependant on using every prop or setpiece consciously, and there are some guidelines or rules that make it easier

that helps the screenwriters and the directors to decide what to include in any given scene, what to emphasise, what to steer the audience’s attention towards

this specific rule is called chekov’s gun, or planting and payoff

it’s named for anton chekov, a russian playwright and short-story writer, who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short fiction in history

who said: “If, in the first chapter, you say there is a gun hanging on the wall, you should make quite sure that it is going to be used further on in the story."

so it’s a rule where information, in form of clues or objects, are given early on, then brought back later. this is also known as foreshadowing

the way it works is that you introduce an object, a word, an image, something that later in the story will be of significance

then, depending on the amount of time that passes, you either need a reminder

or you don’t

but either way it will give the story a thread that can be followed, sometimes discreetly, sometimes obvious, but that (almost) always results in a natural and rewarding conclusion

it’s the most common way to avoid a “deus ex machina”, aka, a contrived plot device, where the outcome seems unearned and to come out of nowhere (yes, i know sam becomes cap in the comics, that will be addressed further down)

now, again, i have to repeat, i totally agree with the decision to make sam captain america, that is not the point

the point is neither that “ooohhh some of those are from a trailer and a deleted scene, and besides it doesn’t matter bc bucky didn’t pick up the shield in endgame anyway, so”

the point is, however, that the mcu is a contained story that culminated with avengers endgame in 2019. the part of this story that involves captain america, is 100% written, and 80% directed by the same creators, markus and mcfeely, and the russo brothers.

and so one might ask then, when the same people have been in complete control of a cohesive franchise, when they apparently are experienced and celebrated in their field, when they have proven, on occasion, that they are capable in their craft, or, at the very least, not likely to make such a basic mistake as to plant and remind again and again, that one character will pick up the mantle and then at the last second give it to the other.

when they write a character to be tortured and abused, that have never done anything villainous when in control of their own mind, and then claim

“Both of them have picked up [the shield] in the comics; Bucky and Sam. But, when you look back at “The First Avenger” and realize why he was chosen to be the first super soldier, it’s about a certain purity at heart and a certain inner heroism. It’s pretty hard to give it to Bucky. As much as we love him, he is on the dark path and is recovering from that. Sam really is a truly stand up guy. It wasn’t a wildly difficult choice, certainly. I think Bucky has a lot more story as Bucky and as someone headed on a path of atonement. And Sam has ascended into this new role.“

so yeah. it was never about whether or not sam deserves it, that he’s in any way the lesser choice. it’s about how the creators of this franchise had an outlined story, had character arcs decided and then saw that they had, inadvertently or not, created a story with connotations they didn’t dare pursue. so instead of actually following through on their own premise, they pulled away at the end to avert attention from their mistake and seemingly forgot what story they had begun to tell.

to plant an idea so blatantly as they did when it came to bucky and the shield, knowing that, even if not all, a lot of fans would know about bucky taking the mantle in the comics and then give it to sam, who, even though he also gets it in the comics, hasn’t been set up in that way at all in the mcu.

again, and i cannot stress this enough lest y’all pull out your pitchforks and have at me, this is not about sam. this is only about markus, mcfeely and joe and anthony russo being bad storytellers that cannot keep to one of the most basic principles in movie making 101 and because of that delivered a crap product. in many more ways than this, but since i felt like wasting a couple of hours, this is what i used as an example.

as a last note, not only does sam deserve it and is the better choice both in-universe and out, mackie deserves it, no doubt about that. it’s comic canon, just as much as bucky, (although bucky gets it first, just sayin), and it’s a very important stride towards more diversity and representation in the mcu. i support it 100%.

even so, i have to admit, that not only did sebastian also deserve it, but that he’s been kinda screwed over by marvel, the plants weren’t only for bucky, but also for him.

“They sure like to dangle a cheese in front of my nose a lot,” Sebastian Stan said during the Winter Soldier press tour. “They're like 'Oh yeah, that's where you pick up the shield,' and I'm like, 'Yeah, I've heard that one before. There it is again.'”

In 2016, Stan told Nerdist: “You know, I was sitting there in a room with [Marvel] and basically they were saying to me that this is what’s gonna happen: He’s gonna be the Winter Soldier, and then eventually he’s gonna become Captain America.

imsebastianstan "Excuse me...where's the restroom?" A big thank you and shout out to Casey McBroom shield_labs for making this for me. Will come in handy... #wintersoldier #marvel

Nov. 28 2016.

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samreviewsmovies · 3 years

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Ladybird

Year: November 3, 2017 (US release)

Director: Greta Gerwig

Screenwriter: Greta Gerwig

Actors: Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, Tracy Letts, Lucas Hedges, Timothée Chalamet, Beanie Feldstein, Lois Smith, Odeya Rush, Stephen McKinley Henderson

Production Company: IAC Films, Scott Rudin Productions, Management 360

Synopsis: Marion McPherson, a nurse, works tirelessly to keep her family afloat after her husband loses his job. She also maintains a turbulent bond with a teenage daughter who is just like her: loving, strong-willed and deeply opinionated. (Interesting the the first synopsis that pops up on google puts it about the mother, and not so much Ladybird, who is the film’s main character)

Ratings:

IMDb 7.4/ 10

Rotten Tomatoes 99%

Metacritic 94%

My Rating: 9/10

Platform: Netflix

My Thoughts: This is the second time I watched this film. I first saw it not long after it came out. I remember liking it, that I felt that I could relate to it, and that the feelings of Ladybird were true to me too. I wonder if a lot of people felt the ways I did watching the movie. Did they analyze their own personal relationships with their mothers. The movie did receive several Oscar nominations: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Original Screenplay. It didn’t win, but it still says something that it was nominated.

Watching the movie a second time, I still enjoyed it. I still felt strongly for it. This time watching it, though, I realized how ordinary the events that happened in the film were. Tropes and clichés you can find in dozens of teenage coming of age films. For example: you find the best friends, drifting apart as one tries to impress people that by the end of the film they realize they don’t actually like and then go back to the best friend. Or girls giggling and discovering their sexuality. Or family hit by hard times when a parent loses their job. Or when the protagonist is ashamed of where they live and who they are so they lie about it and get caught in the lie.

So what makes Ladybird such a good movie that it’s nominated for several Oscars? It makes the audience feel. You feel for the relationship of Ladybird and her mother. They’re at odds for most of the film. They’re two independent women who constantly clash. They’re each other’s greatest enemies, and each other’s greatest loves. You feel for the best friend who’s in love with her teacher, because someone finally notices her. You feel for the gay first love who’s so terrified for others to find out the truth. And it’s done in such a subtle, realistic way.

I love the scenes where the mother stays up all night to sew Ladybird’s dress and hang it in her room. Right before that moment they were at each other’s throats in the thrift store over a small thing about picking up your feet while you walk, which is totally a realistic way to start an argument, it really is, I’m not trying to be sarcastic here. I’ve gotten in fights with my own mother for less.

I also love the scene when they’re in the dressing room and Ladybird asks if her mother likes her, and her mother replies that of course she loves her. To which Ladybird replies “but you don’t like me” (paraphrasing here don’t quote me).

Hell, I even enjoy the scene where a Ladybird is swimming in a pool with the “new best friend” and Ladybird wants so much to move away, and the girl who would from all appearances seem to agree, just doesn’t. She’s happy to stay in Sacramento and settle down and have a family. She’s content. And the movie makes it feel like it’s totally okay that she wants that, just as it’s totally okay that Ladybird doesn’t want to stay.

I could go on, but I won’t. I want to wrap this up by saying that this feels like real life. It’s messy, it’s contradictory, it can be embarrassing at times, it can almost be bland at times, but it’s true. It’s true to life. It’s a small love story of being in love with home, even when it sucks.

Also I’m a sucker for Saoirse Ronan’s work.

Extras: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Bird_(film)

#ladybird #greta gerwig #Saoirse Ronan #Laurie metcalf #Tracy Letts #Lucas Hedges #timothee chalamet #beanie feldstein #lois smith #odeya rush #stephen mckinley henderson #IAC Films #Scott Rudin Productions #Management 360

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letterboxd · 4 years

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Greater Lovers: The Céline Sciamma Q&A.

“It’s a new narrative of love.” On the eve of its Valentine’s Day wide release, Dominic Corry puts your questions to the writer and director of our highest-rated romance film of the decade, Portrait of a Lady on Fire.

Few films have more hearts beating on Letterboxd lately than Céline Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire, which has a 4.4 average rating, was second only to Parasite as the highest-rated feature film of 2019, and holds the number one position on our official Top 100 Narrative Feature Films by Women Directors.

“This is one of the most emotionally intense viewing experiences I’ve had in a while, so I’m not ready to sum it up with a neat and tidy star rating,” wrote Trudie. “My body is still visibly shaken… yearning personified,” said Lucy. “I’m going to think about those last fifteen minutes for the rest of my life,” swooned Stephanie, speaking for us all.

Starring Noémie Merlant and Adèle Haenel, the film had a short Oscar-qualifying run in American theaters at the end of last year, and although it was criminally overlooked by the Academy (it was not France’s submission for International Feature, though it is up for ten Césars), it’s finally going wide on American screens on Valentine’s Day.

As a giant fan, it was a huge honor to personally convey all the Letterboxd love for Portrait of a Lady on Fire to Sciamma, and to take with me several of your questions. (Lucy, we read your entire comment to her: “I just wanted to thank Céline for Portrait of a Lady on Fire. It holds a very special place in my heart now and is my favorite film of the decade. I’m truly, eternally grateful.”)

Spoiler warning: several questions reference the nature of the film’s ending, without getting into specifics. And a warning for easy fainters: Kristen Stewart may have been brought up during this interview; and Céline has been reading your Letterboxd reviews.

Adèle Haenel (left) and Noémie Merlant in ‘Portrait of a Lady on Fire’.

What would you like to say to your Letterboxd fans who have fallen so completely in love with your film? Céline Sciamma: Well thank you! No, but really. Because what touched me the most is the fact that people will write about films. And that’s the beauty of this digital era. I’m paying a lot of attention about what’s going on around the film, what is being said. I’m really looking at things, so I’ve seen a lot of Letterboxd [reviews]. And I’ve seen that Letterboxd, at some point, used the emoji thing, which was really, really beautiful and fun [Sciamma is referring to the fire and picture frame emoji we added to our Twitter name at the time of the film’s release last year].

And the fact that people who were touched by the film would take the time to write about it, I think it’s something really beautiful, especially with this film, which is about how love is an education to art. Because art consoles from love, or makes us greater lovers. I find it beautiful that people would express their feelings and put their heart and their mind into cinema. As a young cinephile there was no internet, and I remember writing, just only for myself in little diaries, about film. And so I found it really, really important.

There’s one question we like to ask every filmmaker we speak to: what is the film that made you want to become a filmmaker? Well, the film that made me understand filmmaking, mise-en-scène, was The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. Jacques Demy, as a director, his films in France, we see them when we are very young; he made Peau d’âne, which is a film that is shown to kids. He is such a great director. Definitely as a young kid—I was twelve years old—I found out that, okay, there’s somebody behind this with a vision. Somebody would paint a city like in Les Demoiselles de Rochefort. Somebody would paint a wall to make it sing the vision of somebody.

And when discovering mise-en-scène—the fact that there was a director, a vision of somebody—it really blew my mind. I remember I fell in love with the idea of cinema. So, you know, it’s not one film that makes you want to be a director. There are some films that connect you to the idea of cinema and vision and just make you crave for this idea.

Before this interview, we asked our community to submit questions for you. The first is from Letterboxd member ‘I’, who wants to know if you were inspired by any movie in the process of making Portrait of a Lady on Fire. When I’m writing a film, or just even just going with the idea of starting to dream about a film, I don’t watch films anymore, because it’s a very fragile moment. I’m trying to be candid and I’m trying to create this prototype and not to begin being in dialogue with the history of cinema.

But then when the script is done, and especially when we are talking with the team, with the DP, there are some films that can come up in the discussion. “Okay, we should we should take a look at that,” regarding one specific issue. For instance, with Portrait of a Lady on Fire, regarding the lighting, there was this idea, I mean you could definitely look at all the period-piece films and be like, “What about the candles? Are they in the frame? Are there a lot of candles? Are they on chandeliers? Or are they held?”

So, I’m thinking about that, this issue of the light in the candles. Night. Day. So me and [cinematographer] Claire Mathon, we had that discussion. So Kubrick, Barry Lyndon, we watched obviously.

And also at that moment I’m trying to watch, not specifically films that seem to be related, but films that give me faith in cinema. For instance, Jeanne Dielman by Chantal Akerman, which is such a radical film. I’m trying to get radical positions that have nothing to do with the film, subject-wise, but of people who firmly believed in the language of cinema, and were radical about it. I’m trying to watch radical films that renew your faith in cinema. I mean, they’re major pieces of art, but just give this feeling that you can be radical, you can be bold, and to get this excitement about, really, the language of cinema.

Many of our members are writing that Portrait of a Lady on Fire is the most romantic film ever made, and one of the best expressions of female desire ever put on screen. What’s the most romantic film you’ve ever seen? You know, it’s weird because when I think about it… film is emotional right? A lot of the things that come to my mind are films that are not necessarily pure love stories. This is gonna sound stupid, but E.T., for instance, is a great love story. This is a great love story for me, and one of the greatest endings in terms of how a relationship ends: E.T. has this idea that the breakup between the two characters is… they want the same thing. And that’s why they’re breaking up, because one is saying “come” and one is saying “stay”, which I think is the most heartbreaking breakup, not being a breakup.

I think there might be a new contender for most heartbreaking breakup. The ending of it is really climaxing. Because when we watch love stories, it’s harder, the frozen image of two people leaving in a car, you know, marriage, whatever. Like the romantic-comedy ending where they end up together, then that’s the end. Eternal possession as a promise of fulfilment. Or, it’s the tragic ending, where they will never [be together]. And I really tried to find another way [in Portrait of a Lady on Fire], like in E.T. you know, it’s two people saying “I love you” but not being together. It’s a new narrative of love.

So I’m always trying also to think about forms. Mulholland Drive is a film that definitely was also an inspiration, because it’s a film that creates its storytelling around an idea of love. Everybody said: “Oh this film is so hard to get”. [But] it’s really simple. It’s like the first part is a dream of a story that has already happened. And so Lynch created this, screenwriting-wise, he created this idea that those two women, they meet and suddenly they’re in bed together and one says “I think I’m in love with you”, which means that Lynch is telling us that “I love you” is always something you say in the past. And with Portrait of a Lady on Fire, I was thinking I have to create a form where “I love you” is something that always has a future. So that’s the kind of dialogue I have with films that inspire me.

And also Titanic. It has kind of the same structure as Portrait of a Lady on Fire: the presence of a love story but the memory of a love story. And also, not being together even though there’s a tragic death. It’s a love story about emancipation. And that’s so much what we’re trying to tell: it’s not about whether you end up together, or you don’t. A good love story isn’t about that, it’s about: did it give you emancipation?

This last question is from Pauline: “How much do I need to pay you to hire Kristen Stewart—who has just said Portrait was her favorite movie of 2019 and that she has seen all of your movies—in your next project? I’m ready to write the check, just say a number.” Well no, it’s not about the money. But I met Kristen Stewart a few months ago. So I mean, it’s already a start. We talked about cinema, and, and I really enjoyed talking about cinema with her, so…

‘Portrait of a Lady on Fire’ is in select US theaters now, and on wide release from 14 February. This interview took place in the English language and has had minor edits for clarity. With thanks to NEON, Cinetic Media and Ginsberg/Libby.