“He mentioned something about pills?”
“What?”
“Yeah, there was a bottle of pills you made an assistant get, that with the coming unhinged thing, well. It’s bad.”
“I forgot to take my estrogen, which I’m on thanks to my hysterectomy. Estrogen!”
“Ah, female stuff.”
No one outside of her closest circle knew about Goldie’s hysterectomy. While the P.R. machine in this town loved to talk about the disease of the week, menopause and “female stuff” did not make for great copy. In fact, she’d stayed quiet, especially so the bro dude directors didn’t mistake her for their mothers. Any chance at lead roles were history if she became the poster girl for getting a hysterectomy.
Her agent wanted her to keep quiet about it. And she had. She did what was required to stay at the top of the heap in Hollywood.
She needed Scott Ozock’s father, not Scott. He’d have squished this director like a bug.
Goldie clenched her jaw and continued to pace. She needed a plan. She needed to look like she had something better to do than this stupid superhero movie.
Mitchell Ozock had been Goldie’s agent since her second year in Hollywood. He ruled this town in the early nineties. He got her the role inBeautiful Girlthat turned her into a household name. The blockbuster receipts of that film turned Mitchell Ozock, talent agent, into Mitchell Ozock, studio head.
Mitchell Ozock, in her corner, was a key to her rise. He had seen her small role inThe Sandwich Shop, a low-budget but well-reviewed indie picture.
He’d championed her to play Oberlin Banks’ daughter inDark Homecoming.Banks won her second Oscar for that picture.
Mitchell then pushed to get Goldie the lead inBeautiful Girl.All of it unfolded in less than four years after she showed up in L.A. with one shampoo commercial and a bit part in a television movie on her resume.
Her face was on billboards all over town, thanks toBeautiful Girl.
That was how much she owed Mitchell Ozock. She owed him enough to let Ozock the lesser continue on as her agent. Scott Ozock had a lot of power now, too, which he owed to his deal with the Victor Superhero Universe. But what he didn’t have was loyalty to Goldie. They didn’t have the bond like Goldie had with his dad.
All those movies that made her career felt like they were filmed a million years ago. They could be silent pictures for all the Trevor Sundays of the world knew.
She’d made a powerful ally in Mitchell Ozock, but he was gone now. He’d died of a heart attack eight years ago. And it was downhill ever since for Goldie.
His son, Scott Ozock, was her age. They’d known each other forever. But that didn’t mean he was doing anything in her best interest. That, and Goldie’s age, meant she was in the worst position of her career.
“That’s not all. I have other, uh, news.”
“I’ve been essentially booted from the most powerful movie franchise on the planet. Worse? What could be worse?”
Scott hesitated. He looked down at her marble flooring. He stalled further by gazing at the infinity pool over Goldie’s shoulder.
He then looked down at his shoes.
“I have to drop you.”
“You must be joking. You’redropping me? You’re the one who put me in that picture, told me to get that line. Fight.”
This was impossible to process. Goldie had carried this guy! She’d stayed with him out of loyalty to his father, and he was dropping her?
“The thing is, we’re a part of the whole talent package for the movie and for the next three. The director wants you gone, or if not, we lose the sequel and the prequel.”
“Now I wish Ihadscratched someone’s eyes out.”
Scott got up and started to make his way out of Goldie’s house.
To call it a house was an understatement. Goldie had a mansion, a mid-century masterpiece. It was in the tony neighborhood of the Trousdale Estates.
It was gorgeous. It was the perfect setting for the status she’d acquired. She lived here with Myrna, her Bichon. But despite its size, there was no husband, no kids filling the massive square footage.
