“I know,” Alfonso agreed with me patiently. “But we o show your fear. Think that you’re w on a horror film. Like that tent se you did in [The Sixth Sense]. I want the same rea from you in this se.”

  It felt like such a distant thing. We had shot [The Sixth Sense] more than three years ago.

  Meanwhile, David Thewlis, who pyed Remus Lupin, took off the jacket he had draped over himself and said, “Everything okay, kids?”

  “Yeah,” I reassured him before taking a deep breath. I’m a professional actor, and I do this. Despite how funny that dementure was, I ’t half-ass this se. I remember watg the inal film series and thinking that this was the defining se that turhe series from a happy kids’ film into the serious, dark film series it became.

  Time to show everyohat all my awards weren’t just for show.

  “A!”

  This time when the figure of the dementor ehe , I fot that this was a toy figure at all. For me, this was my worst nightmare. The worst creature there could be that was here to snuff the light out of me. I bent forward, just as Alfonso had coached me earlier, as if my soul was being sucked right out of my body. I heaved my chest out and arched my back. I felt good about this se. I felt this would e out to be one of my best ses in the series so far, only for Alfonso to shout, “Cut!”

  I stopped and came down to my normal posture before looking at Alfonsuidance, who didn’t look that happy.

  “Troy,” he said slowly. “This is ly what I had in mind. you perhaps to down a little?”

  “To down?” I asked incredulously. In my opinion, I was doing a great job with this se.

  “Yes,” he said emphatically. “You look like you were being tortured. Like that ‘Crucio’ curse from the fourth book. Keep your face as bnk as you .”

  “Okay,” I said relutly.

  “Cut! Let’s do it one more time.”

  “Cut! Troy, let’s calm down a little, yeah?”

  “Cut! That’s too little, Troy. I need some real passion from you.”

  In the end, I was so frustrated with Alfonso that before he could say “A” one more time, I got up and walked over to my trailer. The entire crew stood in silence as I ighem all. I closed the door behih a loud bang and plopped down on the sofa in anguish.

  Why was this happening to me? Why was I uo get such a simple shot passed by one of the most accimed directors of all time? There must be something wrong with me.

  Before I could agonize any further, the door to my trailer opened, and in walked my brother, who looked hesitant.

  “Are you okay, Troy?” he asked.

  “’t you see? Of course, I’m okay!” I s him and then immediately regretted my words. He didn’t deserve this from me. “I’m sorry, Evan. It’s just that… I’m having a bad ag day. Alfonso isn’t making it any easier for me.”

  He stepped in front of me and put both his hands on my shoulders before saying, “It’s okay. You are doing fine. Some directors just need more takes than your usual directors. You ’t bme Alfonso f to get your best performa.”

  I hated that Evan was being so logical.

  “Everyone o is relying on you, Troy,” he tinued uerred. “If a makeup person is missing, someone else take their spot. Simirly, fhts, cameras, heck, even the director be ged temporarily. But you are absolute. You are the face of the film, and so many people rely on you to make a living. Don’t let them down like this.”

  Evan knew just the words to say to make me guilty as hell.

  I looked towards the door of my trailer before saying, “How will I go ba set now? Everyone will think I’m a spoiled brat.”

  “Don’t worry about that,” Evan smiled. “I made an excuse for you and told Alfonso that you will be out in 10 minutes.”

  I smiled back at him in gratitude, “Thanks, Evan. Now I know for sure that one day you will bee a great director.”

  He waved off my praise befetting up. “Are you ing?”

  “Sure,” I got up after him and followed him back to the set.

  I saw Alfonso talking to a crew member. I knew I had made a mistake by ag like a child, so I walked up to him and apologized, “I’m so sorry, Alfonso.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” he reassured me. “I had a bad case of diarrhea myself just st month, so I know it be agonizing. It’s good that you came o despite that. Don’t worry, we’ll take it slow for today.”

  I shot a withering gre at my brother for making such a me excuse, whed helplessly. I turned back to Alfonso with a resigned sigh, “Thank you for uanding. Do we o redo the dementor se?”

  “No,” Alfonso shook his head. “I rewatched all your takes while you were gone, and I found one which was just perfect. It didn’t seem so when I watched it live, but it looks good on a s. Let’s do the se when you wake up after passing out."

  I wish I could say that everything was smooth sailing from that point on, but it took some time to get to that point. While Alfonso was a visionary director and a genius filmmaker with an astute sense of camera pt, all his movies till now were small to mid-budget, so it was uandable for him to adjust t on [Harry Pradually.

  And adjust he did.

  Within a week, everyone had formed a tacit uanding of sorts. From cameramen to the souo VFX, everyo to know how Alfonso worked. His way might be a little different than Chris bus’, but he was good. While Chris liked to use traditional camera angles held by cameramen for shooting a se, Alfonso many times took the camera in his own hands and followed us actors while shooting the se as if he was making a small indie film, not a big-budget Hollywood film, and that ged the ee of shooting and for the better.

  (Bonus Se)

  “This is Troy Armitage’s first Tony nomination and win. At the age of 13, he is the you persoo win a Tony award in a leading category,” a female voinounced in the background as I took the stage and was handed my award by Anne Heche.

  “Thank you so much to the Broadway League and the Ameri Theater Wing for this tremendous honor,” I said in the mic while holding on to my test trophy. “I wish I could say that this was all me, but that would be the biggest lie. First and foremost, I’d like to thank my first vocal teacher Paul Tanner, who inspired me to sing and do musical songs. Toni Collette, thank you for inspirio be a ballet dancer. You are responsible for this.” I poi the trophy before tinuing. “My parents, who stood beside me every step of the way a behind their life in London just so I could perform here. My brother Evan, Stephen Daldry, Peter Darlion John, Lee Hall, our producers of the inal movie, and all the crew behind the ses who worked on the show to make it the success it has been. Thank you so much. Last but not least, thank you to the audience who came to see our show after the shit year that had been 2001.”

  Huge appuse erupted from the audience as I was escorted backstage for media interviews.