Chicago is a city in Illinois, and the third-largest metropolitan city in the United States, known for its jaw-dropping architecture, vibrant music scene, amazing food — including deep-dish pizza — and iconic neighbourhoods. When Aiden first landed in the city, he couldn't help but look forward to going sightseeing after finishing the shoot of [Black Saints].
He felt like the background of this city complimented the movie a lot.
When he had first read the script of [Black Saints], Aiden felt quite impressed by it and was excited to work on a movie like this. On the surface level, it seemed like a gangster movie with the main character going through his journey as a character.
But the movie was actually a mixture of genres with action, black comedy and drama mixed in it.
In the first place, the movie wasn't about any one character but the city itself and the crime lords who ruled it and called themselves the Saints. Hence, the name was [Black Saints].
The city in the movie will be a fictional city called Night City, trapped in the inescapable web of corruption. From the big politicians to the cops, everyone was one way or another a part of the corrupt landscape of the city.
The story mainly follows Charlie Morgan, a middle-aged cop who is always seen as a below-average cop, having blown away opportunities one after another, primarily due to bad luck.
His wife was cheating on him, his son didn't respect him, and his life literally didn't have any purpose until he decided to go after the Saints who ruled the city.
Aiden's system had given the script an overall score of 72, which seemed pretty high to him. Though sadly, it didn't guarantee the success of the movie.
The story focused on an unconventional plot line. Rather than being about Charlie, it focused more on the side of the Saints. Aiden's role, Kai, was one of these saints, the youngest of them actually, helming a powerful mafia family.
'It's a difficult job to play him.'
To play Kai, Aiden needed to express a certain aura of coldness and do his best to present a class. Kai wasn't someone who liked being dirty, though he didn't mind getting blood on his suit.
There was even one line where he said, "I don't know why but I like blood on my clothes. It makes me feel more alive."
He had said this line to one of his subordinates, just after killing a person with a knife, as per the script. This was enough to show that he was truly a psychopath.
But Aiden still had a few questions about him.
"Rookie, what are you thinking with that serious look?"
Aiden raised his head to look at a bearded guy with sharp features and a smile on his face. He was wearing a cheap jacket which looked a little rugged.
"Just about Kai. Your scene ended, Ray?" Aiden asked as the bearded man sat down beside him, glancing at the suit he was wearing.
Aiden was sporting a suit every day after landing in Chicago to feel more like Kai.
"Yeah, it just ended. Zavier is still discussing it with the crew though, so I might have to give it another shot."
His name was Ray Hardy, the main lead of [Black Saints] who was playing the role of Charlie Morgan. He was a British actor who Aiden had met for the first time during the read-through session.
Not only him, but he had also introduced himself to the whole cast there, and fortunately, this time, Aiden felt like he was a part of the cast as Ray and the other supporting actors were pretty nice to him.
They even started calling him rookie because he was the youngest in the cast aside from the teen actor who was playing Charlie Morgan's son.
"What are you thinking about Kai, Aiden?"
Ray took a look around the set before asking. They were currently shooting inside a studio, and then there would be a few outdoor shoots tomorrow.
"Just about his character. He seems like a maniac with twisted ideals. Someone who wants to become eternal by making himself a symbol of fear for the city. Even if he dies, he wants the city to think he's still ruling over it. That's kinda psychopathic."
Ray nodded. There were other gangsters in [Black Saints], but Kai was truly the most unpredictable one of them. So much so that even the top gangsters avoided him.
"I think that's the general idea of Kai. A psychopath somehow inspired by symbols of justice from comic books, ambitioning to become a symbol of anarchy."
Aiden continued. This was where his confusion began. In one of the scenes, Kai talks about his love for comic books and how they inspired him.
"What don't you understand?"
"I think the subtle idea of Kai is not that of a psychopath." Ray raised an eyebrow at that. "More of someone who knows people will fear him more if he acts like a psychopath, but slowly his personality turned into that."
"That's very interesting."
Ray said, putting a hand on his chin. Since he had read the full script, he did know that Kai was a pretty complex character.
A character that was very hard to understand as he would say one thing and do another.
"I think you are going in the right direction. Psychopaths generally do what they want, but Kai has a structure in how he does things. It's very planned out, and he even emphasises it, so it's hard to really say if he's acting or if it's real."
As Ray said that, one of the assistant directors walked toward them and called him to do another shot. Patting Aiden's shoulder, Ray left, leaving him alone to ponder more about his character.
'What are the motives of Kai anyway?'
He thought, flipping the page of his script to read through some of its lines of Kai. There was one scene in which he talked about his childhood.
Though, it was just a bit of info on his background.
The only information Zavier had given him was that Kai was born in the city. Suddenly, he got some insight into Kai's character as his brain started working.
'If Kai was born in the city, then he must have seen the corruption of the city. Maybe even from a close distance and his love for comic books…'
Aiden tried to correlate both the things and found out that Kai's character was pretty much born due to the city in an attempt to start something big to overturn it.
He thought about one of the lines that Kai would often say, "I'm the symbolisation of what you call anarchy".
At that moment, some system notifications suddenly sprang up in front of him.
[Your understanding of the character 'Kai August' has increased. Your affinity towards him has increased.]
[There's a chance of gaining a new skill.]
Aiden just stared at the second notification in disbelief. He was happy for the first one as it just proved that he was going in the right direction in relation to Kai, but the second notification truly surprised him.
'What skill will I get now? And how?'
He thought. He didn't believe that the skill would spring up on its own. After all, he always needed to do certain actions to get skills.
During the band mission in X-Star, he had an instrumental skill after acting as the band leader. It was given to him because he proved himself as a good planner.
But here, he didn't know what he would need to do.
***
While Aiden was busy the shooting for [Black Saints], his fan page was bustling with new members. It had now crossed over 3500 members thanks to [Shadows of War] being a great hit at the box office.
Currently, the group was excitedly chatting because one of the members had posted a photo of Aiden in Chicago wearing a suit.
[SkyNeves: What's Aiden doing in Chicago? A music video? I've been waiting for his new song for a while. Or is it something else?]
[April on Roof: I'm betting on a new music video! He's probably trying to increase his popularity after [Shadows of War]. His role is getting appreciated a lot.]
[Yo, I'm your dad: Many critics are just calling him the Indian guy or Indian soldier. It's kinda funny because his name ain't even sound Indian.]
[herpes_free_since_03: Yeah, but I think the critics are just lazy, or it's because he's not very famous.]
[Bitchy bae: He looks terrific in a suit. I hope he plays a secret agent one day. He would look super cool in it.]
[Hollywood Insider: He would look good in any role. And I heard he's shooting for his next movie. #Aiden fan]
[Aiden's wife: I watched [Shadows of War] three times just because of him. I hope it's a bigger role this time though, and he doesn't die in the end. I cried in that scene.]
[how_you_doing: If it's a movie, let's hope he doesn't die in it.]
[Hitler was a cultivator: @Hollywood Insider, are you sure it's another movie? Are you his agent? Why do you know so much?]
—[Hollywood Insider: Yes, my sources said it is. And no, for personal reasons, I can't disclose my identity. I'm just a fan. # Aiden's fan.]
[Skyneves: If it's really a movie, I'm all up for it. Maybe it's a business drama or something. Imagine him being a CEO of a company in the movie or a stockbroker.]
[Every hole is a goal: That would be pretty cool. [Shadows of War] has grossed over 80 million dollars till now, so Aiden's value will rise significantly in the Hollywood circle.]
...
//DreamNote//
I have internet access, and things here have calmed down. :)
...
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