Part 33 (1/2)

Mich.e.l.le got up, grabbed a script, and walked over to Avika. ”I'll tell you what, Avika,” Mich.e.l.le said. ”I'll admit I could be wrong about you being a b.i.t.c.h. I'm entirely convinced you are, but it is within the realm of possibility that I'm wrong. But the only way you can prove it is to admit you might be wrong about me not being able to do the part.”

Mich.e.l.le slapped the script on Avika's chest. ”The only way you're going to do that is to let me read. Come on, Avika. It can't hurt.”

”I don't have to prove anything to you,” Avika said, grabbing the script.

”Sure you do,” Mich.e.l.le said, turning around and heading back to her seat. ”Because there's one difference between you and me, Avika. You see, I couldn't give a s.h.i.+t that you think I can't act. But it's clear that it bothers you that I think you're a b.i.t.c.h.”

”Hardly,” Avika said.

”Really?” Mich.e.l.le said, sitting down. ”Then why are you still here?”

Avika's mouth dropped open. Roland, a strapping man, looked like he wanted to curl up into a fetal ball.

”Come on, people,” Mich.e.l.le said. ”Let's s.h.i.+t or get off the pot. Read me or don't, but let's make a decision.”

Roland snapped out of it before Avika could utter another word. ”What scene would you like, Miss Beck?”

”Your choice,” Mich.e.l.le said. ”I really did memorize the script this time.”

”The whole script?” Roland said.

”Sure, why not?” Mich.e.l.le said, and glanced over to me mischievously. ”Elvis did it.”

Avika flipped the script open and read. ”'How dare you tell me what I can and cannot do,'” Avika said. ”'You are my wife, not my master.'”

”'I am your master's instrument, Josef,'” Mich.e.l.le said, the words ripping out of her with an intensity that took us all by surprise. ”'Go on the Judenrat and you turn your back on your people and your G.o.d. And you turn your back on me. For I am your wife, Josef. But cooperate with the Germans and we are not married. You will be as dead to me now as you will be soon enough by the hands of the Germans.'”

There was dead silence. We all stared in disbelief. Even me.

Mich.e.l.le smiled sweetly. ”Got your attention, didn't I?” she said.

Avika opened the script at random and quoted line after line. Line after line was responded to with the sort of stunning display of acting that you get to see one or twice in a lifetime. It was flabbergasting. It was impossible. It was the most incredible acting experience I'd ever seen. And it was just a line reading. We were all beginning to wonder what was going to happen once Mich.e.l.le actually started acting for the record.

After an hour and a half, Avika dropped the script at her feet. ”I wouldn't have believed it,” she said, simply.

”I know you wouldn't,” Mich.e.l.le said, as simply. ”And I thank you, Avika, my friend, for finally letting me show you.”

Avika burst into tears and headed towards Mich.e.l.le. Mich.e.l.le burst into her own tears and met Avika halfway. They stood in the middle of the room, crying hysterically. Roland and I looked over at each other. Both of us had these incredibly smug smiles on our face.

We were in business.

Chapter Twenty-One.

A montage of the next year, as told through headlines: Daily Variety, March 5th.

MICh.e.l.lE BECK VOWS ”HARD MEMORIES”

Mich.e.l.le Beck, wasting no time after her near-death experience during the pre-production of Earth Resurrected, signed today to star in Hard Memories, a biopic of civil right activist and Holocaust survivor Rachel Spiegelman. Spiegelman became famous for her a.s.sociation with Martin Luther King during the late 50s and early 60s. Hard Memories is to be directed by Roland Lanois, and produced by Lanois in a.s.sociation with the Spiegelman family. Compensation package was not discussed, though with a total budget of less than $18 million, Beck is undoubtedly taking much less than the $12.5 million she scored for the ill-fated Earth Resurrected. Filming in the Czech Republic and Alabama is expected to begin in April for an Oscar-look release date of December 19th in New York and Los Angeles.

Beck is repped by Tom Stein of Lupo a.s.sociates.

Los Angeles Times Calendar Section, March 11th.

Jewish Groups Protest Casting of ”Promises.”

Decry casting of Mich.e.l.le Beck as ”stunt”; producers, family stand firm behind their star.

BEVERLY HILLS -- Mich.e.l.le Beck is 25. Blonde. Blue eyed. Gentile. Rachel Spiegelman was brown haired. Brown eyed. Jewish. And at the height of her notoriety, she was well into her fifties.

So how did Mich.e.l.le Beck get the call to play Spiegelman, noted civil-rights lawyer and Holocaust survivor, in the upcoming Roland Lanois-directed biographical film Hard Memories? It's a question that several Hollywood Jewish groups would like to have answered.

One of these groups, the Jewish Actors a.s.sociation, went so far as to place a full-page ad in film industry trade magazine Variety on Friday, decrying the movie as ”stunt casting” and calling upon director Lanois and the Spiegelman family to drop Beck for a more suitable actress.

”It's not about Miss Beck being Jewish or not,” said Avi Linden, communications director for the JAA. ”What bothers us is the fact that here is someone who is so clearly cast for box office purposes. She's made $300 million in her last two films, and that's what the producers are looking at -- not how truthful the casting is to reality. The fact is, there are dozens of actresses, Jew and gentile, who are more suited to the role.”

Roland Lanois, the Oscar-nominated director and producer, acknowledges that his selection of Beck was bound to be controversial.

”We understand that this casting is not intuitive at first blush,” he said, noting that Beck was not the first choice, landing the role only after actress Ellen Merlow dropped the role to take on a television series. ”We ourselves were hesitant at first. All we can say at this point is that it was Mich.e.l.le's performance, not any other consideration, that got her the role.”

Avika Spiegelman, spokesperson for the Spiegelman family, which had unusual veto rights on the casting of the role, issued a terse press release. ”Mich.e.l.le Beck is the best person for the role, period,” The release said. ”She has the full support of the Spiegelman family.”

Entertainment Weekly, March 17.

Jim Mullen's Hot List.

3. Jim Carrey's Poodle: They say you shouldn't work with dogs or children. Well, the poodle was warned.

4. Mich.e.l.le Beck: 25-year-old beach babe cast as serious, 50ish civil rights crusader. Next up for Beck -- playing Jim Carrey's poodle.

5. Roseanne's Country Alb.u.m: Stop her before she sings the Star-Spangled Banner!

Variety, March 24.