Page 144 of A Lucky Shot

Josh shrugged.

The interviewer turned to Cass. “You and Mr. Graham have worked together on every project since Sirius Darker erupted into the zeitgeist almost twenty-six years ago, having famously met on set.”

Cass pressed her lips together to stifle another giggle, and Josh shot her a wicked smile, running his tongue over his incisors. “Something like that,” he said.

“You’re up for Best Costume Design for Sonnets, your fifth nomination. Every film you costume has been drastically different. Your last film had bright palettes and a high-concept approach to design, while this film is muted.”

“At least until the midpoint,” Cass agreed.

The interviewer steeled herself. The film’s dramatic shift had been criticized as reductive by some; lauded as evocative by others. “At the midpoint, the film overblows into colour, almost hypersaturated. Why did you make that choice?”

The couple exchanged another look. “We debated this a long time,” Cass said. “It’s not the most subtle choice we could’ve made …”

“But we decided we didn’t want subtle,” he finished. “I spent the first half of my life asleep. Then I met Cass, and she made the world come alive for me. The colour, the brightness. It’s all her.”

If the interviewer had known she’d get teary today, she would have worn waterproof mascara.

Josh brushed his silver hair back from his eyes. “I was an unknown hack when I submitted my first film to a festival?—”

“Oblivion was great!” Cass insisted and turned to the interviewer. “If you can find a copy anywhere, you should watch?—”

“The remake, when I finally got my hands on a decent costume designer,” he cut back in, and Cass clicked her tongue. “As I was saying, if I hadn’t submitted that film, we never would have met. Taking that chance was the luckiest moment of my life. This film captures what that time felt like.”

The interviewer cleared her throat, muting the PA’s sniffling in her earpiece. “And what made this the right time to make this film?”

Cass smiled as he squeezed her hand. “A long time ago, he promised me sonnets.”