Steve felt a little nervous that Barry viewed him so highly. All his major business decisions i few years had been influenced by Troy either directly or ily, so it felt a little bad taking all the credit for it.

  “I have,” he said after a few moments. “Alfonso Cuaron. Of everyone you reended, I liked his filming style the best. I have talked to him about the film, and he has agreed to shoot parts 3 and 4 back to back, but he has a request to allow him suffit time for post-produ to give us the best film. I don’t have a problem with that.”

  Steve didn’t tell Barry that Alfonso was Troy’s choice, but that was the biggest reason for him to select the Mexi over Mike Newell, one of his favorite directors of all time.

  “her do I,” Barry agreed easily. “I want the best films to e out of Warner under my care. I’ll happily wait a few extra months for them if the quality be increased that way. We all saeter Ja did with [Lord of the Rings].”

  That was true. Warner Bros was having some of the best years retly, thanks to [Harry Potter] and [Lord of the Rings]. While [LOTR] roduced by New Line ema, it was an indepe subsidiary of Warner.

  “How are you settling in NYC?” Barry asked versationally, ging the topic away from their business. “Is Broadway back to before 9/11?”

  “We’re settling fine, but Broadway is not so good,” Steve grimaced. “Unfortunately, I had booked the theater for three months before the attacks happened. And now we’re stuck with it. New York’s tourism is at an all-time low. People are scared to e here, despite reassurances from gover agehis is the worst time to begin any new show here.”

  “I’m sure it will do fine,” Barry reassured, but it didn’t assuage Steve’s worries.

  (Break)

  After perf on the West End for so long, Broadway wasn’t that different for me. The only noticeable ge here was that I had to tweak my speech a little to dial down the Northern British at to a more universal one. While I wao maintain the inal at [Billy Elliot] was ceived in, the creative team sat down and cluded that it was better to have a general at so that Ameris would accept it more easily. The ten preview shows we held were received positively enough by the audiehat we po go forth with using a general at in the normal shows as well.

  It didn’t take me long to get engrossed in the produy schedule was quite the same, with Sunday evenings and Mondays free, and I had to perform eight shows a week. I felt a little bad that my whole family had to move to New York for my career ambitions. It didn’t help that it hadn’t been even half a year since 9/11 happehe city had ged drastically after that date. The property prices fell sharply in the New York area, a fact that my father used to purchase a vish penthouse duplex in Lower Manhattan—the pce we were staying at for the moment. I also vinced Dad to i long-term in some stocks that reached their lowest points after the attacks, but that’s a story for some other time.

  A loud bark broke me out of my reverie as my new loyal dog rubbed his fur against my leg. I bent down and scooped him in my arms.

  “Hey Loki,” I rubbed his head right between his ears, just as he likes. He closed his bright blue eyes in bliss a out a moan. I melted right then and there seeing him act like a kitten in my hands. Suddenly, I looked up and saw that Loki and I weren’t alone in the living room as I had expected. Evan was standing in a er of the room, trying to hide himself from us. All the while, Dad’s video camera was in his hands, and he was rec me.

  “What are you doing, Evan?” I asked him, a little bit of irritation leaking out in my voice. “Are y to bee a paparazzi?”

  “You saw me, huh?” he said sheepishly as he walked towards me, still holding the camera. “I talked to Steve the other day, and he asked me if I wanted a dog of my own as well so I wouldn’t feel alone when you have Loki.”

  “What does that have to do with anything?” I asked in fusion.

  “I said no,” he replied. “I don’t want a dog. Instead, I asked him to help me be a filmmaker as a gift.”

  I sat there surprised food few moments. It was only the barking of Loki that made me realize that I had stopped stroking his fur, and my hand must be putting a lot of weight on his tiny head. I removed my hand from him and dropped him to the floor before turning to my adoptive brother.

  “Why?” I asked him. “I mean, you old me this before. I thought you wao be a painter or something.”

  “I did,” he agreed. “I still do. It’s just that… I like movies. Steve told me a few days ago that today if you want to be a good filmmaker, you don’t o go to a film school. Rather, you go to a good art or design school to help you learn color and shot position. Then I remembered when you told me how you asked him for ag lessons, so I thought I could ask him for direg lessons as well. He gave me this camcorder and said that I o use it to show him that I take some good videos. Based on that, he’ll decide how to proceed with my education.”

  “So you decided to film me without my permission?”

  Evan shook his head and presented me with the camcorder. “See for yourself.”

  I gingerly took the camera from him and pyed the st video that he had recorded from the beginning. In the video, it was quite evident that the cameraman was trying to stay hidden while following the object of his desire: Loki oerrace adjoining our apartment. I saw Loki eating his meal, drinking water, then running around in circles chasing his tail, before running ihe apartment proper and approag me. The video showed me thinking about something before petting my dog and then finally notig Evan.

  “See?” he said smugly. “Just because you’re a big film star doesn’t mean every person out there wants to take just your photo. Loki is a bigger star for me. Aren’t you, boy?” He bent down while addressing Loki, who barked happily at receiving the attention and ran a circle around Evan before sitting beside him.

  I felt a little guilty for assuming the worst about Evan, but it made sense in a way. Although he never ht said it, he implied that his parents had tried to influence him to bee a wyer, just like them. But he always wao bee an artist. Now that he lives with a family of artists, he would naturally gravitate towards the art that the majority of them are practig.

  The only part about this situation that I didn’t like was that he never oold me that he wao try filmmaking.

  But now that I know about it, I ’t remain passive any longer. I o myself with determination before turning to Evan. “Okay,” I said. “I’ll help you bee a director.”

  Evan’s eyes widened marginally as he asked, “What do you mean by that?”

  “We’ll help each other,” I said fidently. “Just like Dad and I used to practice ag. We’ll take a se from a film that we both love. You’ll dired shoot the se, while I’ll act. You have to tell me how to do it and where I fumbled. What do you say?”

  Evan’s grin was sht it could light up a Christmas tree. “Let’s do it!”