OscarGate A novel by Martin Kaynan Also: Predators In The Workplace Hell's Blessing The Blessed and the Damned |
Prologue
March, 2000 Freddy Clarkson had assembled all the extras, arranged the scenery and prepared to film the scene. He had worked with Film Editing to show Moira Boyer with just a backdrop of the boat. “Hiram, you’re ingenious in the way you suggested that we set this up. All you extras remember we'll be showing only the top part of your body and that means close-ups. Makeup, are they all set?” “Yes, Mr. Clarkson.” “Moira are you ready?” “I WAS until HE walked in,” she shrieked, pointing her finger at Ichiro Nomo, when she saw him walk onto the set. “Get that pervert out of here!” Freddy walked over to her. “Moira, he has to be here. He’s the top man in the studio now.” She started to get very angry, “Get that pervert out of my sight or I’m off this set and this whole freakin’ movie right now. I MEAN it! GET HIM THE HELL OUT OF HERE!” Nomo roared, “Listen and listen good, all of you. No one, no one tells me what to do. I represent Mr. Ito here and, you, Ms. Boyer, will do as you are told. You are under contract, and you WILL fulfill that contract.” Freddy was confused. He had no idea what was going on. He had been the target of his star’s temperament, but he had never seen her furiously trembling like that, fighting off tears. He knew, from personal experience that if she were crying, she was extremely angry. She took off her waterproof hat and jacket, threw them in Nomo’s face and ran out, yelling, “There you pervert, you wanted a piece of me. That’s all you’ll ever get. Now that you’ve got it, you know where you can shove it!” Nomo strode over to Freddy Clarkson. “Clarkson, you are the Director. Get her back here and finish this scene, now!” “I’ll do what I can but it may take a while. I’ve never seen her like that. I don’t know what happened. O.K. folks, take a ten-minute break.” He began to walk to Moira’s trailer. By the time he got there, she was gone. He called Security and was told that Moira, in costume, had run to her car and left. “Shit. What the hell do I tell Nomo now?” He went back to the set to a very upset Ichiro Nomo. “She left the studio. I don’t know if she went home. Maybe she’s just having a case of PMS.” “PMS? What is that?” “Pre-Menstrual Syndrome. Some women get very emotional when it hits them, and I don’t know why she took it out on you.” “Contact her and tell her that we will sue her for Breach of Contract and all actor replacement costs if she is not back at work tomorrow morning.” “With all due respect, Mr. Nomo, I’ll do what I can and I’ll ask Bob Kinsdy to do what he can. She’s his protégé. I’ll even call her agent but again, with all due respect, maybe it would be better if we redid the scene without your presence?” Grudgingly, Nomo agreed and walked away. “I want to see the scene as soon as it is done.” He gave Freddy his card and told him to call him when the scene is released from Film Editing. Freddy took the card and promised him he would do just that. He then went back to the set and told everyone to be ready to redo the scene the next morning, but to wait until he called them. Shaking his head, he went off into a corner alone and called Bob Kinsdy, Executive Producer, of Maxima Studios. He recounted the whole incident, and Bob suggested that they meet at the Deli in 30 minutes. After leaving his office later that day, Nomo had his keys in his hand, about to get into his car when he felt something sticking in his back. “Yeah, it's a gun. Get in the passenger side. Give Vinny the keys. I'll be in the back seat. Joey, follow us in the Lincoln. Vinny, make sure that Joey stays in sight.” Nomo, shaken, got in, moved to the passenger seat and gave a very burly bald man the keys and was suddenly blindfolded. He was too frightened to talk. After many hours that seemed like days to Nomo, the car pulled into a deserted area. Nomo was ordered to get out of the car and walk, with Vinny guiding him. Once inside a huge warehouse, his blindfold was removed and he was greeted by an older, Mephistophelian looking man, with a demeanor that almost had Nomo wetting his pants. “Mr. Nomo, you don’t know me but I know ALL about you. Today, you are going to school. You’re going to get an education. You see, there’s an old Bible rule, ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you’. Get down on your knees, NOW!” Nomo balked, and the large man who drove the car, kicked him behind his knees and shoved him flat on his face. He then got on top of him, all 345 pounds. Nomo gasped in pain as all the air left his body. “Please stop; what do you want from me? Money? I’ll give you money.” “You just don’t learn do you? You seemed to have blotted out of your mind what you did the other day, haven’t you? Didn’t you invade a young woman's home, push her down, get on top of her and try to rape her?” Nomo sensed where this was heading and panic shook his whole body. “She seduced me!” The older man nodded to the driver, who got up and then threw his full weight on top of Nomo again. Nomo shrieked in pain as he thought his ribs might have been broken. “Listen animal, you just had your first lesson in manners in this country. Lesson number three is even better. Do you know that Vinny likes men a lot more than he likes women? I hope that you understand what you’re facing you if you don’t confess and give no further thought to molesting young women. Understand?” Nomo turned white as he looked up and begged the large man to get off him. He nodded his head. “I was wrong. It will never happen again. I promise.” The driver got off him and looked at the older man for instructions. Shaking his head and laughing out loud, Victor Nunzio spoke to Vinny, “Time for Lesson number two. Drag this garbage out of my sight and put him where he belongs. I’m sorry for taking you out of the closet, man.” Vinny looked at Victor Nunzio, annoyed, but laughing as well, and grabbed Nomo’s ankles and actually dragged him, face down, across the concrete floor and out of the building. Nomo felt his bowels lose control as Vinny picked him up, and violently threw him into a dumpster and closed the container He then warned him to stay in there for another ten minutes until he heard cars pull away. Nomo was afraid to open the cover and almost prayed that they had left his car for him. Stinking from the garbage and his soiled pants, he nevertheless, stayed in the dumpster until he could hear no sounds at all. As he was about to climb out, he heard a truck approaching and waited. He then felt the dumpster being picked up and, to his horror, it turned over and he fell into the back of a filled to near capacity garbage truck, with all the dumpster rubbish burying him. He began to dig his way out. The truck started and rapidly accelerated to a speed that prevented him from jumping off. The truck rumbled on for many hours and Nomo looked over the railing and realized that they were in a rural area, approaching a landfill. The truck came to a sudden halt, brakes screeching, and Nomo was thrown off his feet. As soon as the truck stopped, he began to get up, but before he could jump out, the whole back of the truck tilted upwards and he was again buried under even more trash than before. He could barely breathe, and the stench was unbearable. It took an endless amount of time for him to dig his way out of what seemed to be a mountain of garbage, fighting off huge rats and crying as he struggled for breathable air. By the time he reached the top and was able to breathe, it was dark. He climbed down from the garbage mountain, bent over and puked his guts out. When he looked up, he saw a car, which he hoped was somehow his. He finally crawled to it and was thrilled to recognize it. The keys were in the ignition and using the car's GPS system, he finally made it to his condo, and opened the garage door. Once inside, he closed the garage door, stripped completely and forlornly put a tattered and reeking $1000 Armani suit, into the trash and then actually ran, crying and shaking, to his bathroom to shower. |
ONE
March, 1996 As the Academy Awards Master of Ceremonies began to make an announcement, Della Martin and her husband suddenly ended their conversation and listened: “Ladies and Gentlemen, the final nomination for the best song of 1995 is ‘HEAT’, by Curt Barrow and Mark Kane, from the film’ Last Chance’. And now, as the song is sung by Travis Akins, who else can perform that unforgettable dance in the movie that rocketed her to stardom, but the movie industry’s newest Sex Goddess, the fiery Moira Boyer?” “Della...” “Hold it, I want to hear that song as she dances because I love Travis Akins' deep baritone. Oh, they’re starting:” I was at a bar in Texas…called the Last Chance When she blew in, in a strapless top…n’ glued on pants Everyone there just stared…n’ stopped breathin’ air When they saw HEAT I said, “Mr. Bartender…how do I meet her?” He said, “You’d better beware Or you will get burned Cuz you’re playing with fire…and you’ll be quick to learn Why they call her…HEAT” Well I paid him no mind and moved to hit on her Said, “Girl, I know we’re a fit” She turned and her green eyes…burned through me Lord…I felt my fuse was lit. Then, she just walked away from me n ‘started in her dancin’ And body heat was risin’ high the way she danced It just wasn’t fair…she just plain dared, Dared you to take her…HEAT Then she jumped up on the bar n’ started rollin’ her hips And soon began to bump and grind Then she wriggled like a snake and turned everyone on Enough to make you lose your mind. That night she cast a spell on me. I’m still in a trance Those blazing green eyes and that dance Branded my soul… Till my dyin’ day I know… I’ll always be feelin’ her HEAT “Della, look at the way she moves - like a snake. Honey, you’re a movie critic but have you ever seen anything like this girl?” “NEVER, Mike. NEVER! Just look at the audience. The women are every bit as turned on as you are. Look at those cat-shaped emerald eyes; in the close-ups, and the way she moves that body of hers. This scene reminds me of Rita Hayworth doing that dance in Gilda! I tell you, Moira Boyer has the exotic sensuality of Hayworth, the blatant eroticism of Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct and Marilyn Monroe’s sex-kitten sexuality all rolled into one and a LOT more. Believe me, that's saying one hell of a lot. She somehow just reeks sex without it being brazenly tawdry. That’s why her nickname, HEAT, has stuck. I’ve never seen anything like it!” “I heard that the movie broke all box office records with hardly any promotion.” “True. Word of mouth did it, just like Ghost did a few years ago, but in this case, SHE did it! Just look at her! My God, she’s just stunning. She’s already a tremendous box office draw after only one movie. Now hush up, the instrumental is over, so let me hear Travis sing the next chorus.” |