In the morning, a car took Nikhil to his first talk show appearance—a daytime show hosted by a former pop star. The interview went fine. The bubbly host seemed genuinely kind and positive, and Nikhil couldn’t imagine anyone thinking he was grumpy when talking to her. She didn’t ask about those pictures with Serena but did mention the lip-licking video. She even presented him with a wrapped gift, which ended up being a multipack of lip balms from her celebrity skin-care line.
He was taken to tape another talk show afterward thatwould air late at night. Then he was brought to a hotel for a press junket.
It was about the same as the Canadian junket a couple of weeks ago, except this time he was joined by Serena for the interviews. He had a few seconds with her in the room before the reporters came through.
Serena Vox was, of course, stunningly beautiful. In person, she seemed both bigger and smaller than she was onscreen. Taller but thinner. And she looked older. Or rather, her in-person mannerisms were more mature than her typical screen presence. She had a round face; sparkling brown eyes; pale, milky skin; and shiny dark-brown hair. He’d always found Serena a little cold in person. Not in the same way that Marley seemed cold, though. Marley was just… reserved. She held her emotions close to her. Although lately she cried at the drop of a hat, but that wasn’t normal.
Serena’s coldness seemed more… targeted. Like he was always left wondering if he’d offended her. But when a camera was on her, her smile changed instantly to the warmest girl-next-door glow.
After a publicist gave them a briefing on what kind of questions to expect and what was off-limits, someone came to retouch their hair and makeup. Finally, they were ready for the first interview. It was all straightforward—clearly, Serena would be doing all the heavy lifting as most of the questions were for her. Nikhil was the sidekick, which was fine.
Serena was a pro. Nikhil didn’t need media training; he just needed to watch her navigate a busy junket. She answered every question like it was the first time she’d heard it. She laughed, she grinned, she patted Nikhil’s arm. She even flirted a bit. But only when the camera was rolling.
“Did you have any input on the casting for the Bronze Shadow?” asked Chrissy Snyder, a popular entertainment reporter.
Serena turned to Nikhil and put her hands on his arm briefly. “None at all! I leave casting to the pros, but I couldn’t be happier with their choice. One read with him, and I knew… there is no other possible Simon DeSouza. Wait until you see him in the Bronze Shadow costume!”
There was no way that Serena had seen him in the final costume sincehehadn’t even seen it, but okay.
“Nik, what about you? How does it feel to step into a role that is so beloved? Do you think you can do the Shadow justice?”
“I’m certainly going to try my best.” Nikhil gave his practiced smolder to the camera. “This role is a dream come true for me. I used to spend my allowance on a new Ironis comic each week.” That wasn’t true, but he’d been coached to say it. He turned to Serena. “I have it easy since I’m stepping into an existing franchise. Serena and the Ironis team have already done the heavy lifting. I’m the new kid. I hear the Ironis cast have the best hazing rituals!”
Serena laughed. “No comment on that one!”
The next interview went as well as the first. Light teasing. Friendly. But the third was from some sci-fi fan site, and Nikhil could tell immediately that the interviewer wasn’t going to play as nice as the others.
It started when he directed the questions at Nikhil instead of Serena. And after the softball ones, he asked how Nikhil felt about stepping into a role that was favored to go to an experienced actor. Then the guy cut him off before he was two words into an answer. “Have any actors sent you steaming poop in the mail? This was thecovetedrole of the year.”
Nikhil frowned. How was he supposed to answer that? “Of course not. I’ve had nothing but well-wishes from colleagues.”
Serena flashed a charming smile. “I wouldn’t let anyone do something like that to anyone in the Ironis family. Nik earned this role fair and square.”
“Did he, though?” the man asked. “May I ask, Nik, are you at all worried about viewers connecting with you in this role when they’ve been picturing someone different as the Bronze Shadow?”
“You mean someone white?” Nikhil asked, even though he knew he shouldn’t.
Kaelyn, who had flown in from Toronto with him, shut it down immediately. “You’ve been warned,” she said, pointing at the interviewer.
“Okay, I’ll rephrase,” the guy said. He smiled at Nikhil. “Are you going to bring this”—he waved his hand at Nikhil’s blue silk shirt and wide pants—“flair to the role? People are expecting to see the Simon DeSouza from the comic books. Are they going to see an ethnic Harry Styles instead?”
Kaelyn looked at Nikhil. “Don’t answer that.” She pointed at the interviewer. “That’s your final warning. I’ll see that your outlet loses press privileges at any Ironis event for life.”
Thankfully, the guy behaved after that. Sort of. He asked about Nikhil’s experience in action roles and about his training, but there was a clear subtext that he didn’t think Nikhil could hack it. Nikhil frowned through the whole thing. The next interview was as rough as that one. Or maybe the interview wasn’t as bad, but Nikhil’s mood had soured so much that he felt like it was.
“Why would how I dress makeherlook bad?” Nikhil asked after the interviewer questioned Serena if she thought Nikhil’s style was upstaging her.
When someone asked him about how important it was for him to represent his community to all the young children who wanted to look like the Bronze Shadow, Nikhil shook his head. “I don’t know. I’m only one person and can’t be expected to represent all South Asian actors. Do you expect Serena to be the voice of all white brunettes?”
“Okay, let’s take five,” Kaelyn said, waving away the next interviewer. She handed Nikhil and Serena bottles of water. “There are four more after this one. Can I get you anything?”
He exhaled. “Honestly, I’d kill for a whiskey.”
Kaelyn nodded. “Yeah, I can make that happen.”
She started to walk away, when Serena called after her, “Make that two.”
Nikhil knew he was bombing the interviews. He was annoyed. He wasn’t able to brush off all this crap and put on the fake charm. It was probably pointless, anyway. No matter how charming he was, no matter how hard he worked, he would never be good enough for people who thought he was just here for the studio to fulfill some agenda.
