M. Night Shyaman took the stage after a few minutes and cleared his throat to gain everyone's attention, "Thank you for watg our movie, hopefully, you liked it. Now we are opening the floor for any questions from you guys for any of the cast members."

  Immediately, a myriad of hands rose in the air after all the actors took their seats on the chairs pced oage.

  "Yes, you, the dy in blue," Night pointed out to the said dy.

  "Thank you," she said into the mic that was hao her, "My question is for Troy. How difficult was filming the song? I noticed it as a single long take with no cuts."

  Troy was hahe mic. "Hi," he waved to the dy enthusiastically like a child his age would do but spoke fidently in a thick British at, "to be frank, it was really difficult shooting that se. We shot it for a full day, multiple times, only to use the first take."

  Night took over at that point, "Believe me when I say, this i-looking kid is a perfeist. I reassured him many times that we could make a cut or two in the se, but he insisted on doing it like this. Troy sang the whole song live o, iake; and there was no dubbing at all. So all credit goes to him."

  It was live singing? Rod was amazed at the skill dispyed by the kid. And that just solidified his Osomination.

  Another journalist stood up and asked, "Troy, how did you prepare for su emotional role at such a young age?"

  Troy smiled, "I had a lot of help from my parents, who are also filmmakers. They helped me uand the emotions and the depth of the character. Also, Mr. Shyaman and the entire cast were very supportive, making it easier t out those emotions on s."

  "Troy, my question to you: your at seems to be British, but in the film, it was Ameri. Did you take csses?" the reporter asked.

  "Yes," Troy nodded, "My dialect coach helped me in perfeg the Ameri tone and voice modution."

  "Night, my question to you: how was Troy's audition? How did you select him?"

  Night pondered over the question and finally answered, "Of all the kids who auditioroy was the only one who sang for his audition. To check the kids' improv skills, I told them to do anything they waroy sang a very beautiful song, and that gave me the idea to incorporate a song into the movie. He also read his lines perfectly, as if he khe character despite only getting his character a minute earlier. It was the most amazing impromptu audition I've ever seen anyone give."

  Troy, who was sitting beside Night, blushed at all the praise heaped upon him but didn't ent any further.

  "Night," someone else asked, "Did Cole know that Mal was a ghost from the beginning, or did he find out ter on? From the song, it's clear he found out about it sometime during the movie."

  Night smiled brightly and shook his head before saying, "I'm afraid, for that, you'll have to see the movie again. The answer is right there. question."

  After a few more questions, it was Rod's turn, and he didn't waste it, "Troy, to begin with, I loved your performan the film and I strongly believe you should get an Oscar for it."

  "Thank you," Troy smiled back at Rod.

  "My question is, how was your experien the set? Any iing stories?"

  Rod wasn't satisfied with the question; he could've asked so much more, but most of the questions were either already asked by others or were too plex for a 10-year-old to answer without embarrassing himself.

  "Hmm. The shooting experience was really great. I learned a lot from all my co-stars and the crew. I…" Troy grew pensive as he put on a thinking face, "Only ohing es to mind. So it happened like this: the crew decided to prank me by sg me while we were shooting the toilet se. They knew how tense I was about getting the se right, so they set up this spooky atmosphere. I was fag the toilet and was asked to turn slowly. When I did, Bruce here had donned a wolf e and scared the daylights out of me."

  The room erupted in ughter, and even Rod couldn't help but chuckle at the image of a young Troy getting pranked o.

  Bruce Willis chimed in, "We had to break Troy out of his zone. He rarely made any mistakes, and most of his ses were cleared in the first take. He even spoke in his fake at iween takes. So we all came up with this idea, and that helped everyo loose a little."

  And just like that, Bruce Willis reminded everyohat he was in the room as well, and shouldn't be ignored so easily. From then on, the rest of the questions turowards Bruce Willis, but Rod had lost i. Troy Armitage had made a sting impression on everyone in the room with his performance because all the initial questions were shot at him, not at any other actor. And the initial questions tell exactly what the audience is feeling about the film.

  Hit or flop, Rod wasn't sure, but he khat this young man would go far.

  (Break)

  I was very happy with the response my performance was getting from the reviewers. I khe film would be received well, but it was my performance I was worried about. Everything was so surreal, it was dht unbelievable. Especially when that reporter said that I could get an Osomination.

  The days following the press sing of the movie were crazy. Seeing the response of critics, Disney ma decided to increase their marketing budget from 15 million to 25 million.

  That's why here I am in Chicago, promoting our movie.

  "We have a special guest for everyone here. He is the you Golden Globe winner in a Leading Actor category. His film, [The Sixth Sense], will be released ter this week iers. Please wele, Troy Armitage!"

  I came out to the studio with a big smile pstered on my face, wearing super expensive designer clothes, to see one of the most iial Afri-Ameri dies in the world standing there with her arms wide open for me. My smile widened if that was even possible at this point, and I hugged her lightly.

  The dy was her than Oprah Winfrey.

  "Wowsie! You look much cuter in person." Oprah poked my cheek lightly.

  "Hey! I resent that! I am handsome; girls are cute!" I protested. I only have a limited time to use my ess, after all, before I outgrow it. She ughed in tandem with the audien set in that melodic sound of hers and motioned for me to take a seat, which I did.

  "So Troy, I attended your film premiere on the insistence of a friend of mine who was at the press sing. And by God, was that a fantastic movie. Would you like to tell our audience more about it?"

  "Oh yes. This movie is about Mal, a child psychologist pyed by Bruce Willis, who is treating a kid, Cole," I poi myself, "who has some major issues, including but not limited to halluations and paranoia. Mal has to deal with his worseniionship with his wife while Cole has to deal with being an outsider because no one uands him."

  "I uand it is a thriller story with some scary twists and turns?" Oprah asked versationally.

  "Maybe for others. I was ughing most of the time when something scary happened because I knoe shot those ses," I answered fidently.

  Oprah ughed. "Isn't that a relief to hear? Anyway, here is a trailer from [The Sixth Sense] for our audience."

  Then on a TV s set up behind the camera, we saw the clip with all the ses. The part that amazed me was the inclusion of the phrase, 'I see dead people.' Wasn't that a big giveaway? I just shrugged my shoulders a be.

  "So Troy," Oprah tinued when the clip was over, "I have a question for you about a very particur se." Here she opehe part of the trailer where I was standing in front of the toilet.

  I ughed out loud. "I know where yoing with this."

  "Oh? Then, by all means, tell me about the shooting of this se," Oprah pressed on with a smile.

  "So we were doh the se, but M. Night Shyaman, who's our amazing director, said that he wasn't satisfied with the camera angle and wao redo the whole thing. We all agreed, and as soon as I turned, as you see in that clip, Bruce Willis was standing there in a full-body suit of a wolf-like creature behind me. So I did what any sane person would do." I gave a dramatic pause. "I fell bato the toilet with a shriek."

  Everyone around ughed, including Oprah and me.

  "But that's not all!" I interrupted the ughter and took ain. "I ran bay trailer and ighe shouts of everyone behihen I came back a few mier only to annouhat I was quitting the movie."

  Oprah instantly quieted at that and gave me a weird look. I hadn't told this part of the story to any other reporter until now. I wao save it for a big talk show like Oprah's.

  "Then Bruce Willis and M. Night Shyaman apologized and begged me not to do it on a whim. Even my mother was in the same boat as them," I expined with a somber face.

  "What happehen?" Oprah asked quietly.

  I grinned. "I told them, if they prank a kid, they should always expect a prank back!"

  Oprah finally loosened her expression and gave out a genuine smile while the audience around ughed freely. Now that I think about it, I uand Oprah's plight. If I had spokeively about the studio, my co-actors, or the director, they'd have to cut it out of the show to avoid bad PR. No one would bme a kid for speaking out about something bad, but it could've damaged the reputation of the studio and even affected the movie sales.

  "I loved your singing voi the film. you tell us how the director came up with the idea of that se?"

  "Oh yes! It goes bay audition," I said with what I hoped would be a charming smile. "I was given a part of the script and I read out my part. But Night wao see something else as well. He told me to do something new. What he meant was improv or something simir. What I inferred was singing a song. So I sang a song from Les Misérables. Night liked my song and after firming my sele, he modified the script and added a song in it."

  "That's great. So you py any instruments as well?" Oprah asked curiously.

  "Oh yes, I love to py the guitar and the piano," I answered jovially.

  Seeing her grin gave me the chills.

  "We have all the instruments here iudio. Would you py a song for us?" she asked with what could only be described as Oprah's version of Puppy Dog Eyes.

  "How could I refuse that beautiful face?" I grinned back at her.

  "Are you flirting with me, Mister?" she asked indignantly.

  "Oh yes, I am," I replied to her visible shock. "If only I was a little older, I would've proposed marriage by now."

  She ughed. "You will be one heck of a dies' man iure, mister. Now onto the instruments: whie would you like to py?" She poiowards a er where I could see various instruments, including a white marble grand piano.

  Damn, she's rich.

  I walked over and picked up the guitar, cheg the tuning by pying some practice chords. "This will do," I said as I sat down on a stool that a set assistant brought for me.

  As they were setting up the mics, I started doing a few vocal exercises to prepare myself. I took a deep breath as I thought bay impromptu decision to allow this to go on. Oprah's team had asked beforehand if I'd be fortable singing a part of the song "Bring Him Home," the same one from the film, to serve a dual purpose: to promote the film and showcase my singing talent to a nationwide audience. I had agreed to the song, but now that I'm sitting here, I don't want to do the same song again. People will associate me with this song for years to e, and I wao show some of my singing range as well.

  So before ing in, I made up my mind that I would py an "inal song." inal for this timeli least. I made sure to select a song that didn't have too plicated lyrics, or no one would believe that I wrote it.

  ______________________________

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