“Next fall you’ll go to the UK a couple of times for about a week each so they can map your body for CGI. They also want you to do some voice work for a cartoon based in the Star Wars universe,” he said, and then found what he was looking for. “Here it is. You would be needed in the UK starting the last week of the year … and … you would be done August fifteenth,” he said, pointing to a line in the contract.
Saul looked up and smiled.
“That would give you about a week before you had to fly to New Zealand to do the two Star Academy movies.”
“They want him to lose the rest of his school year this year and be gone for eight months. That means he wouldn’t graduate,” Caryn said.
That had my mom’s full attention.
“We would get him tutors, and we might look into him graduating early or getting his GED,” Saul suggested, and then he noticed the looks on my parents’ faces. “I know this is sudden. Part of the reason I flew in was that I want to stress what this could potentially mean for your son. I also want to be clear what turning it down might mean.”
“What about the James Bond movie?” I asked.
“We only have a letter of commitment because of the problems with Daniel Craig. The tentative shoot schedule is for next summer. All we have to do is give them notice, and they’ll let you out of the agreement. Star Wars is a sure thing,” Saul said, then he laid out the fee schedule.
Star Wars was one of the very few franchises where they could guarantee a profit. They’d offered a payout schedule when different milestones were met, and an eighth of a point. Star Wars: The Force Awakens was the third movie to break the two-billion-dollar mark. No one knew what these spin-off movies would do, but if it hit two billion, I would dance all the way to the bank.
I felt the enormity of the situation for the first time. I could actually retire before I hit 20 if I did this. It would also mean that I might never play football or baseball. This was happening too fast. I’d planned to have at least a year before I needed to firm up what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.
I leaned forward and cupped my face in both of my hands with my elbows on the table. It felt like my heart was about to jump out of my chest.
“David,” my mom said tentatively.
I let my hands slide up as my palms pressed into my eyes. What was I supposed to do? How could I walk away from an opportunity like this? Saul had alluded to the fact that there could be consequences if I did that. Joyce Heart, the president of Lucasfilm, had told me she had a long memory. When she said that, it was in the context of keeping me in mind for other roles if I didn’t get this movie. I imagine that was a double-edged sword. If I disappointed her … well, that wasn’t something I wanted to find out.
“David, are you okay?” Mom asked as she touched my arm.
I pulled my hands away from my face and blinked. Was I okay? Not really. I wasn’t ready to give up on my dreams. The real question was, could I still make it work if I did this? I realized that this was too big for me to decide without help. I looked at my dad.
“This is too big to decide on my own or even on our own. We need to get some help with this,” I said.
“That’s why I’m here,” Saul said.
“We know that, and we want your advice. In fact, we’re counting on it,” Dad said.
“It’s not just the movies. I have to consider football and baseball,” I said.
“Don’t forget what comes after,” Caryn added.
I looked around the table.
“What do we need to do?” I asked.
Caryn smiled and launched into manager mode.
“We should make lists of who we should talk to, create plans for different options, and then reach a decision as to what is best,” she said. She then turned to Saul. “How long do we have to respond?”
“They’d like an answer tonight. I can probably get it delayed a day or two. They want to get David on set in the UK for the Rogue One cameo.”
Caryn helped us make a list of who all we should talk to. For football, I wanted to speak with Bud Mason and Bo Harrington. I would call Lucas Kite for baseball. Caryn made a list of Hollywood people from Rita James to Chubby Feldman. We added Ms. Dixon because she would have to look at the contract, and she was a sharp woman. I added Governor Higgins, and of course the rest of my family.
It was decided I would take tomorrow off from school so we could cover all our bases. I wanted to be in the discussions with the key players with Mom and Dad there as well. I was happy when Saul volunteered to make some calls for us.
We went back and forth about one name in particular: Joyce Heart. Dad was for it because he felt she would be more forgiving if she were a part of the process. Saul didn’t want us to show our hand until we decided. Caryn, Mom, and I all were on the fence, and the decision was put on hold until we got more input.
◊◊◊
We finally called it a night, and I took my hound up to my apartment. He’d come home from his weekend at Peggy’s parents’ house and was all wiggles when he saw me. I needed some unconditional love. I also wanted something I hadn’t sought in a long time: advice from my best friend, Tami.
Tami jumped onto video chat, and I talked for nearly forty-five minutes. I explained everything as I saw it and what we had planned to do to help me decide. I was surprised when she just listened. Finally, I asked for her opinion.
“What do you think?” I asked.
“I think you have a big decision and you’re working to figure it out,” she said.
“Come on, Tami. You must have an opinion.”
“My opinion is you have a big decision to make,” she said and then held up her hands because she knew that I was frustrated with her nonanswer. “I honestly don’t think I have the right to do more than give you moral support. If I thought you were about to do something rash, I might have a different opinion. You’ve decided to get advice from people in the know, and I can’t see how I would be able to give you anything better.
“I do think you might want to talk to the lady in charge who made the offer, once you’ve got an idea what you want to do. And I wouldn’t just give her an ultimatum or tell her your final decision. From what you’ve told me, you like and respect her, and she seems to feel the same way about you. I wouldn’t want to damage that relationship. Personally, I would want to talk to her directly, face to face,” Tami concluded.
I leaned back in my chair and blinked a few times. I took a moment to wrap my head around the new Tami. Had she just indirectly said that I knew best? When had she decided that she didn’t have all the answers? Not that I felt she was a know-it-all; it was just that she knew me better than anyone else and how I made questionable decisions at times. I believe the best advice she ever gave me was that my first instinct was usually wrong. It stopped me and made me think before I decided something instead of just doing.
Tami wasn’t one who liked silence.
“If you want to call and tell me what you’ve decided, or what your options are after you’ve talked to these people, then do so. You’ll figure this out.”
She could tell I didn’t know what to say, so she changed the topic.
“Want to hear about Cue Ball?”
“You make him sound like an evil villain in an Austin Powers or James Bond movie.”
“Well, he is an evil villain, isn’t he?” she asked with a hint of a grin.
I just shrugged.
“He was pissed, as you might have guessed. I heard Damion calmed him down and told him you had nothing to do with it. I’m not sure he believed that, but his brother confirmed you never even came into the apartment, and that Jim was the one who had planned it all.
“Jim left Luke a bottle of rubbing alcohol to give Mike once they’d had their fun with him. I saw him in the cafeteria at lunch, and he’d gotten the permanent marker off his skin. He looks a little goofy bald, though,” Tami said.