Chapter 21: A Blessing in Heavy Disguise

During the next four days, both David and Melanie were busy catching up with their classes. The American opening of Lockout was scheduled for Friday evening, but Melanie had to be on the set of a popular late night show in Burbank for the 3 p.m. taping. They showed a clip from Lockout after which she was interviewed. You look great, great movie, how was it shooting in France, will you go to the next Clippers game?

She answered the benevolent questioning, smiled a lot, showed a bit of leg in her knee-length dress, and generally presented herself as the quintessential girl next door which of course she never was. Even when the host asked about her legal status, she stayed cool, explaining that she would soon get her license back while her probation would continue for almost another year. Then the host surprised her.

"Hey, I wanted to ask you about David Olsen too. He's in your movie, and he's actually playing ball there. Is he really okay again?"

Melanie nodded seriously. "He made a great recovery. He can jog and walk normally now. He'll be fine."

"But he won't turn pro?"

"No, that's over. It's a shame, but he says he's over it. He even cracks jokes about the accident, saying he was head over heels over me the second we met."

"Wow, that's black humor."

"He does it to make me feel less guilty," Melanie stated. "Which will not work, but I love him for it."

"He's quite a guy. So he popped the question, huh?"

"Yep," Melanie smiled again, holding up her hand. "He sure did. I didn't even let him finish before I said yes!"

"Well, it's time for our break. You take care, Mel, and come back any time!"

For the opening of the movie at the El Capitan, David and Melanie dressed formally. Melanie was wearing a long, light blue dress and David was decked out in a black tuxedo. The theatre was filled to capacity when they arrived, and Melanie met quite a few people she knew from her earlier career. Strangely, at least to her, most of them greeted her friendly, genuinely happy to see her.

Inside, in the foyer, they met Josh and Judy, both in evening clothes, and a fidgeting Danielle who was wearing a dress for the first time in David's recollection.

Walking towards their seats, Melanie suddenly stopped. Looking into the same direction, David saw Hugh Dumont. The man looked just a bit disheveled, sporting more than an afternoon shadow and bloodshot eyes. He was advancing on them.

"There she is, our Oscar-winning star, the ultimate princess of the House of Renault!"

"What do you want, Hugh?" Melanie asked him.

"I wanna tell them how you got me kicked out and how you finagled your boy toy into my role!"

"Hugh, this is not the right..."

"You bitch!" Dumont snarled moving forward. He was stopped abruptly when he bumped into David who had moved in front of Melanie. "Get out of my way, you cripple!"

"I don't think so," David gave back. "Get lost!"

He towered over Dumont by five inches forcing the man to look up.

"Fuck you!" he spat, but he stepped back.

A burly rent-a-cop showed at their side.

"Is there a problem?"

"He's trying to accost Miss Renault," David answered.

"I see. May I see your pass, Sir?" the man asked Dumont.

Dumont presented a pass and the security man shook his head.

"Sir, you need to go back into the audience. Your pass does not cover the foyer during arrival of the cast members."

"I was on the fucking cast!" Dumont claimed loudly.

Melanie shook her head. "He was let go by the producer after three weeks for gross misconduct. He is most definitely not a cast member."

"Fuckin' bitch got me fired!" Dumont shouted.

Two more uniformed security guards appeared, taking Dumont in their middle.

"I'm going to ask you to leave, Mister," the first guard said. "You are causing a disturbance."

"Fuck you!"

"Boys? Have him picked up by the LAPD. He's making a scene and he may be intoxicated."

The two guards marched Dumont away towards the rear and Melanie chuckled.

"Now he won't even get his face in the newspapers," she commented.

"Yeah, well, the management doesn't like publicity of this sort. I'm sorry we let this man slip through. I imagine he'll be busy for the rest of the evening."

Behind them, Judy spoke up. "Officer, to my knowledge Mr. Dumont is on parole for a DUI, reckless endangerment and resisting arrest in Montana. I happen to know this because I used to be a Deputy Sheriff in the jurisdiction where he was sentenced."

The guard nodded and spoke into his radio. "Herb? Be advised that the gentleman is on parole. He's got a DUI conviction in Montana, among other stuff."

"Copy that! We'll let the cops know."

The guard turned back to them. "Sorry again. Have a good evening."

"Thank you for your assistance, officer," Melanie smiled. "I'll let the producers know about your able help."

An usher opened the doors to the audience and David led Melanie down the central aisle towards the first row of seats. People applauded them politely and David had a rare giggle attack.

"Jeez. This is good practice for when we'll marry," he whispered into Melanie's ear.

She smiled widely. "I was thinking the same. Only we'll have far less people around."

Here in Hollywood, they were only window dressing. A bigwig from the distribution company did the honors welcoming the audience, but a camera operator was aiming his hand camera at them as they sat in their seats feigning rapt attention.

This was the fourth time for David to see the movie, and his self-consciousness was not as bad anymore. Watching it with a bit of distance made him notice a few things. He and Melanie were actually projecting a genuine chemistry and his own crummy French was very much fitting for the character. Watching the game scenes he also noticed that the director had used the best scenes for his final cut. He looked positively fit and on top of his game. Okay, make-believe was the principle of the movie business.

Watching the movie intently, he was almost surprised when the closing credits rolled and he had to refocus his attention on the people around him. The applause started a little hesitantly as the viewers were still following the closing narrative, but once Melanie's voice faded, it became deafening. Hoots and whistles were heard and Melanie pulled David up to the stage where they bowed to the audience. A microphone was provided and Melanie addressed the audience.

"Thank you! David and I had a wonderful time shooting Lockout and we are very happy that you people had a good time watching it! For me it was an opportunity to play alongside my grandmother whom I had rarely seen since my childhood. It was also an opportunity to get closer to David. Being with him took away many of the anxieties that I usually feel when I'm on a set and it made me a far more agreeable person than how people used to perceive me in past productions."