After a whole month of relentless dance rehearsals and dialect lessons, it was finally time for the table read.

  As soon as I sat down, I saw that most of the people had already arrived. I immediately reized Stephen Daldry from my audition, and of course, Peter Darling, my daeacher. Then there were Greg and Jon, the producers I met while signing the tract. Jon was an okay guy, but Greg seemed a bit stiff whe met.

  Among the cast members present, I instantly reized the most famous one, Julie Walters. In my old life, most people knew her as the actress who pyed Molly Weasley in Harry Potter. Here, she would be pying my daeacher who ences Billy to go to the Royal Ballet School.

  , I saw a man in his 40s who pys my father, Gary Lewis. I hadn't watched any of his other works iher of my lives, but he did an amazing job in Billy Elliot.

  Gary was talking to a young man around 19 or 20. I didn't recall his the time, but he pyed Billy's brother in the film. Looking around, I alsnized a few other characters: Debbie, Billy's ballet teacher's daughter who had a crush on him; Billy's grandma; Debbie's father; and Billy's boxing coach.

  A few other actors were present whom I didn't reize, but they must have had smaller roles in the film.

  At that moment, the person who ehe room made me feel anxious. I reized him immediately—how could I not? Standing in the doorway was her than Jamie Bell himself, the boy who pyed Billy in the inal movie in my past life. His other notable performances include Jumper, Tintin, Snowpiercer, and Rocketman, to name just a few.

  He was an amazing actor, carrying the role of Billy Elliot on his young, capable shoulders and even winning a BAFTA. His Osomination was a near miss. Seeing him standing there with a robably his mother, made me nervous. He took the only avaible seat, which was right o mine.

  Why is he here? Did the director ge his mind about my casting at the very st sed? I'd heard stories about this happening but hought it would happen to me! And such btant humiliation on top of that!

  I felt a hand in mine and looked down to see Mum giving me a reassuring smile while squeezing my hand slowly but firmly.

  Immediately, some of the tensio my body and I posed myself.

  "Good, everyone's here," Stephen took trol. "Let's begin with the introdus. Troy, why don't you start first?"

  "Sure," I answered in my newly learned Durham at, "My name is Troy Armitage, and I'll be pying Billy Elliot."

  Stephen oward the persoo me, who happeo be Jamie. Jamie smiled slightly. "I'm Jamie Bell, and I'll py Michael Caffrey."

  Immediately, all my previous worries turo guilt. I had robbed Jamie of his role—his big break. The discreet evil eye he gave me didn't help matters. The boy who almost got cast as the lead was relegated to pying the gay best friend instead, despite probably beier tha dang.

  Then again, Billy was supposed to be a novice dancer in the movie, so he wasn't meant to dance like Michael Ja. It was the ag that mattered more. At least, that's what I told myself to assuage some of the guilt gnawing at me.

  I gave Jamie my best smile, hoping it didn't e across as smug, and tinued listening to the introdus.

  "Good," Stephen tinued once everyone had introduced themselves. "Let's begin with the themes present in the movie. The first and foremost is the issue of toxic masity being forced on kids from a young age."

  Seeing the fused look from Jamie Bell and Nico, who pyed Debbie Wilkinson, Stephen simplified his words, "That is the idea that boys should do stuff like boxing while girls should do ballet. The sed is internalized homophobia. Billy didn't want to be sidered a 'poof' by anyone and could easily be triggered by someone acg him of that. In the end, he beats up the kid for the same reason. Then there are themes of css divide between families like the Elliots and the Wilkinsons, poverty, and how it forces people to act desperately or even give up their dreams. The love of a father for his son. And finally, it is the story of a young man who remairue to himself till the end and overcame adversities with persistence."

  Stephen finished his impassioned spee a high note. I couldn't help but feel awe at how he broke down every major theme of the movie so suctly in just a few minutes.

  Unsciously, I cpped for the speech itself. I felt a little weird when no one joined me for a moment, but thankfully, Julie Walters did a moment ter. Soon, every member of the cast and creping for Stephen.

  "Thank you, Troy," Stephen smiled at me. "Now let's tih the script, eh?"

  After getting agreement from most people, Stephen began. "The story takes p Durham, Engnd, in 1984. Billy picks up a vinyl record and puts it in a record pyer. As the music starts pying, we see Billy jumping in the background. The camera zooms in on a pce above Billy's head. He jumps up into the camera view, totally free from all worries…"

  Stephen's narration of the script was much different from Night's. Night more or less just read the script while giviails of some ses that required precision, like the open et se. Stephen, oher hand, delved into the script. Each se, each emotiohing was discussed ih.

  "Draven, you go ," Stephen anded as we came to the dialogue of the script.

  "Fuck!" Jamie Draven, who pyed Billy's brother, hissed in annoyance. "You been pying my records, you little twat?"

  "I never pyed naught!" I answered incredulously.

  "Nob head!" He picked up the script and made a motion to chuck it in my dire.

  "If Dad knew you smoked that stuff, he'd go mental," I accused him like any good sibling would.

  "What? Fuck off, will you?" Draven groused, then whispered in a lower voice, "Twat."

  You must be w why there's so much cursing in just one se. Didn't Dad promise to make this film PG-13? Well, newsfsh—he was unsuccessful. Stephen very elegantly told Dad to fuck off ahe film stay as it was.

  So here it is, my first R-rated feature film. Though only because of the nguage, mind you. There's no sex or disturbing violeo warrant that rating.

  "Good job, Draven, Troy. Troy, just remember to tone down your performance a little. We're not showing Billy as an overly immature kid."

  I nodded, uanding what he was trying to vey. Just now, I had acted more like a five-year-old throwing a tantrum, threatening to rat out his brother to Daddy. I o double the age to show a more helpless kid being slightly bullied by his brother.

  We tinued going over all the ses, from the first page to the st, discussing everything iail.

  "For the se, we o do a little daroy, you up for it?" Stephen challenged.

  "Right now?" I asked incredulously. I had never danced in front of such a rge crowd. Sure, there were many children around when I took on dance lessons, but they were fellow dancers, so it didn't t.

  "Oh, e on," Peter Darling enced me. "It is a dance movie. If you 't dance right now, how will you do it ohere will be even more people present there."

  Peter had accurately grasped my reason for hesitation. I sighed out loud but stood up for the dance.

  The se we were doing was the one where I had to dah Mrs. Wilkinson, Julie's character. But since she hadn't taken any dance lessons with us yet due to her busy schedule, Peter decided to fill in for her.

  We took our positions in the opening stance when someone pyed the song we were dang to in the background. We began our dance, and within a few moments, I pletely fot ectators. I danced like there was no tomorrow. We jumped, twirled, did air kicks, and everything iween. By the time the song ended, I had a huge grin on my face, and so did Peter.

  Immediately, there was a chorus of appuse from all around the room. I couldn't help but feel a little shy at the attention I was receiving.

  "Yes, that's exactly what I wanted from you!" Stephen excimed as he stood up iement. "Well doroy. Keep performances like these up, and our editors won't have too much of a job left." He cracked a smile at the end.

  "Thank you, Stephen," I said, dipping my head in aowledgment of his praise.

  "Let's tih the se."

  (Break)

  After the table read, the days passed in a blur. I juggled my time between various academid extracurricur csses. My dialect coach, Rita, was very impressed with my progress and insisted I didn't need many lessons. But the studio insisted we tinue, so we struck a deal. She taught me different versions of English dialects from all over the world—like Frenglish, Russian English, and Scottish English. It was fun while it sted.

  A week before the movie was set to begin, we went back to the Durham at so it would be easier for me to get into character quickly without mixing up different ats while shooting. Luckily for me, Rita was tracted to be oo ensure I didn't fumble my words while filming.

  That's the professionalism you get when a big Hollywood studio gets involved in the produ. inally being made solely by BBC Films, the movie received iment from Universal. With the involvement of such a big studio, the budget increased, refleg better produ values. Thus, Rita's full-time presen the set for my dialect.

  With the o of June, Mum and I found ourselves making our way to Easington Colliery in ty Durham, the primary location for shooting, with most of the ses set here.

  Billy's house was the initial location where we would begin shooting the first se.

  "Troy, you're here! Great!" A voice called out from the old, abandoned neighborhood where we were set to shoot. I looked up, uo hide my surprise at seeing Jon Finn, one of the producers, standing there to wele us.

  "Jon," Mum greeted him with a nod, "didn't expect you to e here personally."

  Jon shook his head with a smile. "I'm the line producer. Of course, I'd e to show you the way. e, I'll show you your trailer and practice area. Careful with your step, by the way; it rained yesterday, and the ground is still muddy. Poor Jamie had a little act."

  The line producer is the main producer on the film set. It's his responsibility to keep a tight lid on the budget and ehe director doesn't overspend. Jon led us around the set that was still being, well, set up. "As you know, we don't have much moo spare, so you'll be sharing your trailer with Jamie Bell, who pys Billy's friend Michael. It's basically one big trailer cut in half, one side for Jamie, and one side for you. You won't mind, right?"

  "Of course, we don't mind," Mum answered nontly. "We do have separate bathrooms, right?"

  "Yes, yes. Separate entrances, bathrooms, everything. That building over there is your practice studio for dance." Jon expined as we reached the area where the trailer was located. "Here we are. Why don't you settle in? I'll send makeup and es in a few. Ask for me if you need anything."

  As Jon walked off, I stood there looking at the two entrao the trailer, unsure where to enter. I turo Mum with a curious gaze, and she just shrugged. Jon must have fotten to tell us which part of the trailer was ours.

  While shooting [The Sixth Sense], I didn't have to share a trailer, and it had a pcard with my name printed on it, making it easier for hair and makeup to find me. Here, there were no such distins, just a number: 5C.

  Deg to just go with it, I opened one of the doors at random a right in. What's the worst that could happen?

  As I stepped in and took ierior of the trailer, I thought it to be okay-ish. It had a small coffee table with three chairs, a small refrigerator, a makeup se, a small sofa, a door that probably led to the bathroom, muddy clothes, a kitette... Wait. Muddy clothes?

  Right then the door to the bathroom opened and out came a 12-year-old boy. Now it wouldn't have been so bad if the boy was wearing any clothes, or even had a towel around him, or wasn't soppi from head to toe.

  "Aaahhhh!!" The boy, whom I nnize as Jamie Bell, shrieked and ducked bato the bathroom after c his crotch with his hands.

  "We're sorry," Mum called out, "We thought it was our trailer. We'll be going out so you ge." She then dragged me out to lead us towards the other side.

  "Jon is very careless," Mum muttered angrily, "Who shows them to their trailer and not go in with them?"

  Meanwhile, all I could think was that poor Jamie had probably received mental trauma from our intrusion in his trailer.

  "Rex Mum," I soothed as we ehe correct trailer this time, "It was an ho mistake. happen to anyone…"

  I stopped speaking as I looked around my trailer. It was much rger in space than the one allotted to Jamie. More couches, chairs, a bigger kit area, and even a single bed for me to use between takes. It wasn't better than the one I got during the Sixth Sense, but the differences were astounding.

  "Is it just me, or is this one bigger thaher side?" I finally asked Mum after a minute or so.

  "You're the lead actor," She said as if that answered everything.

  And it did in some way. It hadn't even occurred to me till now. While I'm a great propo of equal treatment for everyone on paper, I also khat it was impossible in the society we live in for us to follow the same principle in practice as well.

  _____________________________

  AN: Visit my Pat reon to read ahead, or participate in free polls about the story.

  Link: (dot)pat reon(dot)/fableweaver