Chapter 23
Not much to say here. Questions at the bottom of the page that I need some help with.
Oh, and a quick fyi, I have started to rewrite all my earlier chapters. Cleaning them up a bit and adding a few things here and there. Nothing that will change the overall story, but in case things get a bit confusing down the line, it's because I added some things here and there.
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"Welcome back, everyone, to the CBS Good Morning. I am your host, Gayle King, and with me today is David Boreanaz from the hit TV shows Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and, of course, his newest hit, Bones. David, it is wonderful to have you here today." Gayle says to the man across from her.
David, who currently has a not-so-small smug smile on his face, says, "Thank you, Gayle. I am happy to be here today."
"So," Gayle says and pauses for a moment, "let's get right into it. In 1998, you and Sarah Michelle Gellar were both nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor and Actress in a Drama Series. Something that has never happened before in a supernatural drama/ teen show."
"Or sense." David points out.
"Or sense," Gayle repeats.
It really was an unbelievable event, David thought to himself, remembering those times as if they were yesterday. The high he was riding back then was huge, and he had honestly become more than a bit of an asshole, but it was brought back down to earth by the same man who had made it all possible.
"What was that like. I mean to get an Emmy nomination for a genre that never got that type of attention before?" Gayle asks.
"It was wild. I mean, the entire thing was crazy. The first season of Buffy was successful, and that was a wonderful thing. But then, all of a sudden, our ratings for season two just skyrocketed. Till they pecked with the two episodes that Caesar Espinar directed himself." David says.
"That was his first time directing, right?" Gayle asks.
"It was, and the fact that both episodes cleared 10 million in viewership was out of this world," David answers.
"That is amazing. Were there any doubts on set when you were filming those episodes?" Gayle asks.
And David laughs, "Oh hell yes. I mean, people don't realize this at the time because, you know, we can look back and say, 'Oh, there was no doubt at all.' However, on that day, everyone on set was worried. People often forget Caesar never went to school for this. He had been an Assistant Director twice before that, I think, and suddenly, he is jumping into the ring. It was crazy."
"Wow, there must have been a lot of pressure on set then, right?" Gayle asks.
Thinking about it for a moment. Like he was trying to remember the feeling he had that day, David answers, "You know something there was, but there wasn't. I mean, yes, we all knew this was his first time directing, but we were all more focused than anything because Caesar has this way of getting you to focus on the moment."
"What do you mean?"
"What I mean is, he has this unbelievable confidence in not himself but in the people he works with. When he talks to you, he instills in you this belief that you're going to be great, and the result is that you are great. You give your best, and your best is a reward. I mean, there is a reason why he is known for making stars." David says with absolute confidence.
"Did you think you would win an Emmy for your role in Buffy?" Gayle asks.
Letting out a small groan, David answers, "Ah, that is a tricky question to answer. I was a good bit older than most of my co-stars, so when I was nominated, I was, of course, both surprised and ecstatic. Yet at the same time, I knew we wouldn't win. However, I didn't say that out loud, of course."
"So you weren't disappointed when you didn't win?" Gayle asks.
"Oh, I was disappointed, alright. It's one thing to know you most likely wouldn't win it; it's a whole other thing not to win." David says.
"Do you think you should have won?" Gayle asks.
"Yes, and to be honest, I was a bit sore that neither I nor Sarah won, but I got over it. Mainly because, as Caesar said years later, it doesn't matter if you win an award or not. At the end of the day, we left our mark on TV history, and I am proud of the work we did." David says with a smile.
-1998-
You know, I had mixed feelings about doing the Howard Stern Show. Don't get me wrong, I like the guy's body of work and thought he was a genius of our time. The original shock jock. The prototype that every radio host aspires to mirror themselves after. Even if they didn't wish to admit to it. But being on his show. I was unsure if I wanted to come on because people seem to forget that, behind all his outrageous antics, Howard was a tough interviewer. He knew how to ask the hard questions and didn't shy from pissing people off.
Still, when I got the call that he wanted me on his show, I said yes, even though I was trying to take a step back from the spotlight. With two movies coming out and Buffy season two just starting to air, I had to do some legwork. Get people interested, so to speak, so that I could move on to my next project, and God knows that was going to be a headache. Luckily enough, Howard wasn't being different today.
He kept things mostly chill. He asked a few questions, made a few jokes, but overall, we were having a good time. Taking a few shots of whiskey as we talked about this and that. I was having a good time with my fellow guest, Fairuza Balk, who was going to be in Fight Club.
"So let me get this right, you wrote the script for the upcoming movie Fight Club, which you're going to be in, Fairuza, but you didn't work on set." Howard starts to say, and I interrupt him by saying.
"Ah, here we go."
"I am just trying to understand this. You, Caesar Espinar, the macho man of Hollywood. The unquestionable bad ass of Hollywood. You gave up working on what, from what I can tell from the previews, is a badass dark movie, to do what?" Howard asks with a wide smile.
"I am not answering that. I am not," I say to him.
"To do a ron-con with Gwyneth Paltrow," Fairuza says in playful disgust.
"Really, wow?" Howard asks in fake disbelief as well.
"Yes, yes, go ahead, get it out of your system. Crack your joke, you bunch of assholes." I say in a deadpan voice as they start laying into me. But I smile and laugh it off.
"But, jokes aside, Caesar, why did you pass up working on Fight Club?" Howard asks.
"Well…. I didn't pass up on it, Howard, you know. I mean, I started working on Shakespeare in Love back in 1995." I say to him.
"This was back when you had written your first script, right? Se7en, great movie by the way, huge fan." Howard says.
"That is right, and thank you," I answer.
"Was this before Scream or after?" Howard asks.
"It was after, and you know, really it started more as a joke than anything," I tell him.
"What do you mean?" Howard asks.
"Well, after the filming of Se7en was done, Gwyneth and I got to talking. Well, more like joking around, and she commented that while I did well on portraying a married couple in Se7en, she bet I couldn't do an actual romantic movie. Now I am sure she meant that as a joke, but I took it as a challenge." I tell Howard.
"And you just decided fuck it, I am going to show this bitch that I could write a romantic comedy," Howard says with a smile.
"Pretty much, but like I said, it started as a joke. I never had any intention of writing a full script, but as I kept writing, I realized. Shit, I may have something here. So I showed it to Salma, whom I was dating at the time." I tell him.
"What did she think of it?" Howard asks.
Taking a moment to think back on that day, I answer, "Well, at first she couldn't believe I could write something like this. I mean, at that point, I had written Se7en, and Scream had just come out. So I was pretty much set as a horror and suspense writer. She had no idea that back in juvie, I had read all of Shakespeare's works and could, in fact, write something halfway decent. Of course, she ripped right into me afterwards."
"Is that where she and Gwyneth come in as co-writers?" Howard asks.
"Yep, I mean, they made it very clear, while a lot of the script was good, the romantic parts were…" I start to say, but struggle to find the words.
"Complete shit." Fairuza finishes, and everyone starts to laugh.
Looking at her with a smile on my lips, I say, "I was going to say not very good, but okay, yes, complete shit works."
Everyone laughs again till Howard says, "Was it really that bad?"
"Let's just say it will be a long ass time before I do shit like this again. In fact, the only reason I was on set was that Steven Spielberg was directing it. Otherwise, you wouldn't have gotten me within a hundred yards of it." I say to him.
"Do you think it's a good movie? I mean, I've seen the trailers, and it's coming out next week, but I assume you've already seen the finished product." Howard asks.
"Let's just say Steven is a fucking genius and leave it at that," I say to Howard before we move back to Fight Club.
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"Premier night was just another night for me," I thought as I walked the red carpet with my girlfriend, Tiffani, on my arm. She and I looked like a million bucks. Well, she did anyway in her pink Chinese dress with white flowers. A Cheongsam, I think she said it was called. I wasn't sure, to be honest, never being that much into fashion myself, I didn't care enough to remember. All I knew was that the high slit up to her hip gave a glimpse that she was not wearing any panties underneath it. She was, honestly, a combination of both sexy and elegant, but also cheerful.
A striking contrast to me in my dark gray and black three-piece suit with a gold chain and fedora hat. If I were being honest, I looked like a 1920s gangster, but not in the Halloween fun way, more like I was about to kill someone or beat the shit out of them. We actually complement each other well. Her being warmer and welcoming, and I am the asshole. Magazines would later describe us as a good representation of how opposites attract.
Personally, I think it was more Tiff than me that everyone was looking at. I was just the background, so to speak. Highlighting and enhancing what she already had. Which was fine by me, seeing as Tiff was going to be in one of my upcoming movies. Filming on The Strangers was already on its way. The cast was set, and Joss was hopeful. Especially now that I was free to work on other projects, he was hoping I would work on the set with him. Sadly, I had other things going on.
As we talked with the media for a bit, I thought about Buffy and the episodes I had directed. The rating had come in, and they were frankly off the charts. Doing far better than WB or I had any right to hope for. This forced WB to acknowledge I had some skill in directing and green-lighted The Sixth Sense with me as the director. Something they were not too happy about, but didn't have much of a choice in when it was announced that Buffy was also being nominated for an Emmy. A surprise that took me even off guard, as that wasn't supposed to happen.
At this point, however, it was just one more thing that happened that wasn't supposed to. So I paid it no mind. Looking forward instead of back. There was no point, after all, in worrying about it. I had other things on my mind right now. This premier, it didn't matter either, only what came next.
I was already in talks with several groups around the world about adapting X-Men into a movie. The major studios had, at this point, made it pretty clear that they didn't want any part of this project. Well, they did, but they wanted complete control of it. To dictate what movies were made and how. So I dismissed them out of hand. Essentially, they wanted to buy me out in exchange for the rights to write for them and possibly direct one, depending on how The Sixth Sense turned out. Something that was already getting some buzz from the upper echelons of Hollywood, who were saying I was still too young to attempt directing a major motion picture.
That was honestly the nicest thing they were saying, and WB was already ready to write The Sixth Sense off as a loss. They would change their tune soon enough. As for Project MCU, as I was calling it. I moved on and called up Joss Whedon, who I knew would write Marvel's The Avengers. After I told him my plan, he quickly jumped on board, and we started planning how to do this without the major studios, who only knew I wanted to make an X-Men movie, not an entire universe where one movie fed into the next.
Together, we quickly realized we were not going to get any help from inside the US. Sure, we had some interested parties, but they could only cover so much. So we turned to outside sources. Already, we were receiving some interest from places like Germany, France, India, and, surprisingly, the United Arab Emirates. All of them wanted to break into the movie business here in America. There was even some discussion emerging from Japan and Hong Kong. Mainly because at this point, my name was becoming well-known as someone who had yet to fail. While young, dollar signs mattered more than age, and the amount I was making at WB was impressive to many outsiders looking in, who saw me as an opportunity to break into Hollywood.
Once Tiff and I make it inside, I spot Gwyneth. Walking over, I greet the star of the movie, "Good evening, Gwyneth."
Turning and facing me, Gwyneth smiles and greets back, "Ceaser, Tiff. It's good, you could join us tonight."
Tiff and Gwyneth lean in for a hug, but you can feel the tension between them. I wasn't sure when it started to happen, but relations between the two of them began to deteriorate shortly after the group acquired the rights to Marvel's characters. I blame myself because while I didn't know when it had started, I knew why. About a month after we bought the rights, Gwyneth and Brad broke up. Not a surprise, as it was one of those little things everyone knew was coming, but no one talked about. Even a blind man could see they had started to drift apart slowly months before they finally broke up. Luckily, it had ended peacefully and caused no damage to the group as a whole.
Now, I know some may wonder what this has to do with me and why it caused Gwyneth and Tiff to be at odds with each other. Well, it was simple: while Gwyneth was an actress, she was first and foremost a businesswoman. Or she wanted to be one, as she was already the group's spokeswoman on the Apple Board and doing a damn good job. So we all thought it was natural that she would play a significant part in Product MCU. That meant Joss, Gwyneth, and I spent a lot of time together. Well, Gwyneth and I, anyway. Which was a problem for Tiff.
I wasn't even sure Tiff fully noticed that she was acting jealous, but I did, and if I did, you could bet Gwyneth did as well. And she was not exactly happy about that. Gwyneth had her pride, and while Tiff never came out and said it. Maybe because she didn't think anything was really going on between us, the implications of cheating were there.
Honestly, a wise man at that point would have backed off. Spend less time with Gwyneth if only to keep his then-girlfriend happy, but I was smart, not wise. When it came down to it, Gwyneth was too good at what she was doing to tell her to fuck off. If that meant I would have to deal with a very pissed off Tiff down the line. Well, so be it. I was no longer trying to be successful just for myself after all. There were two others in my life now that I had to give the world to, and their well-being came before anyone else's.
Getting straight to business in hopes of proving nothing was going on between Gwyneth and me, I ask, "So any word yet from Hong Kong?"
Hearing this question and knowing what I am asking, Gwyneth puts on her business face and says, "Nothing yet. They seemed interested over the phone, but I think we will have to rule them out as a possibility."
I say nothing for a moment as I think this over, "That leaves us with only the Germans and the Arabs."
"They are the ones with the best offer. We could try to renegotiate with the French again, but that still leaves us having to cover at least 40 percent of the budget." Gwyneth says.
Gwyneth was honestly excited about this project when she realized the sheer scope of what Ceaser was trying to do. While most in their little group still thought that Ceaser's ambition was to make a single superhero movie, she never did. If Ceaser's only ambition was to make a few superhero movies, and that was all, he didn't have to convince them to buy the rights to all the Marvel characters. They just needed to purchase the rights to the ones he was planning to use.
Knowing his plans were not all what they seemed, she had confronted him and asked plainly what he was planning. That was when he laid it all out for her. Notebooks after notebooks of ideas and plans for what he called the Marvel Cinematic Universe, or MCU, as they were calling it. It was, in a few words, a stupid, foolish, and hugely ambitious project that would require a tremendous amount of money to make happen; if even one movie failed, it was over. Yet even so, Gwyneth couldn't hide the excitement she was feeling when he told her all this.. Acting was a job to her, but running a business was not. That was a passion, and she so wanted to see this come to life on the business end. She won't lie, she had thought about jumping Ceaser if only momentarily at that moment. Not that she would ever tell him that.
"We can't afford that," I say as I think things over.
Between the two, the Arabs were offering the best deal. They were willing to cover 100 percent of the budget in exchange for relatively small demands. Of course, one of those was being paid back with interest and casting one of their picks for the role of Storm. It was a good deal, honestly, a great deal. Hands down, the best, but I was hesitant to say yes to them for the same reason Gwyneth was. I may not have been the most educated man in the world, but I wasn't ignorant of the outside world.
The United Arab Emirates was, in a word, not a good place. Their actions and suppression of human rights were not seen favorably by the Western world, and while most Americans were indeed ignorant of the outside world, the media wasn't. If we, or in this case, I, were seen getting into bed with them, the media would have a field day. Perhaps I could play it off, but was it worth the chance? Honestly, most likely yes.
On the other hand, the Germans were also offering a good deal. Not as good as the Arabs, but they were willing to cover up to 80 percent of the budget plug tax write-offs and incentives. All they wanted in turn was a guaranteed first pick if they wanted to fund another movie, as well as assurances that we would both film and hire a mostly German crew. They wouldn't interfere with either casting or the hiring of top-level people, but yes, most of the crew had to be German. It was a good deal, but that still left 20 percent that we needed to cover. It was not an easy pick.
Letting out a sigh, I look at Gwyneth and say, "I think the Germans at this point are our best bet."
"Agreed, that is why I have already taken the liberty of starting to reach out to other possible investors. Nothing yet, but I think after tonight we may have more luck." Gwyneth says.
"That confident in your movie, huh?" I ask her.
"Very," Is all she says as we hear the bell ring, and we all start to enter the screening room.
I was just as confident, to be honest. Not only because I knew in my head it would be a success, but because I was there to see the final cut. While Shakespeare in Love was not to my taste as a movie, I could not deny that what I saw on the screen compared to what was in my head was a far superior product. Steven had taken my ideas and refined them. Taking care of a few problem scenes and, in my opinion, harmful cuts. They were, in retrospect, small changes, but they made all the difference and showed the difference in skill level between Steven and the original director, John Philip Madden.
By the time the movie was over, and I looked around at everyone, I knew I had another hit. How big remained to be seen. Maybe it would only do what it did, according to the information I had in my head. Maybe a bit more like all the others. Whatever the case, it would help negotiations with my MCU project. That said, now it was time to turn my attention to The Sixth Sense, which would be the most challenging project I had done yet. It may have been greenlighted, but WB was still not too happy having me as its director. I would have to be careful, or else I would be forced out, deal or no deal.
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So just to cover a few things, yes, I made it so Buff got nominated for an Emmy, primarily for shits and giggles. And to show that things are really going in a direction the MC can't predict anymore.
As for my questions, First, who do you all think he should make a deal with, Germany or the United Arab Emirates? On one hand, Germany is the safe bet, but the Arabs, especially with 9/11 coming up, could land him in hot water, which could be fun to write about—especially seeing as I am playing it as the MC doesn't know about the attack. Sure, he could find out by watching a few movies, but he is not paying too much attention to that. I mean, Hollywood likes to blow shit up all the time, so he probably doesn't think something like that would ever really happen.
Second question: while I have the MC switching between Salma and Tiff for the next few years, how do you all feel about Gwyneth hooking up with him at some point? I am personally on the fence.