My Hollywood Life Is Not That Easy!

[Warning: This work is a purely fictional representation set in an alternate reality. While the world, events, and characters may appear similar to real life, they belong to a different world entirely.]

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DCPI STUDIOS,

LOS ANGELES, MAY 1990.

The atmosphere inside the large casting studio of Digital Casting Profile Inc. was electric today, louder than usual, and even hotter than the sun-scorched city outside.

Hollywood was, after all, a place of dreams and despair, and for most rookie actors hoping for their big break, it was a terrifying game.

A shot at fame could feel like a needle in a haystack, one in a million.

And most of them knew they weren't guaranteed to walk out with anything but a missed opportunity.

"You sure you have no experience? I mean, your facial expressions, and the way you talk, I swear it feels like you've done this before," a voice spoke up.

Billy Campbell, an equally anxious man, glanced over. If you considered experience as enough to qualify him, then Billy was what you might call seasoned.

He'd appeared in supporting roles in TV shows like Dynasty and Moon Over Miami, and in the film Enough Rope, but none of it had brought him major success.

Still, this was his chance, this role could make him the name he was desperately trying to be.

But what took Billy by surprise was the guy sitting next to him. A new face in the audition room, and, boy, he was a stunner.

"Haha! Don't worry, Billy," the man said, flashing him a confident grin. "I know I won't succeed. Just being a pretty face isn't enough."

The man in question was undeniably beautiful, almost unreal. Platinum blonde hair falling with careless perfection, blue eyes that held depth, and a physique that didn't scream "muscle-bound" but instead radiated a graceful elegance.

If Arnold Schwarzenegger was the embodiment of masculinity and brute force, this man was the opposite, effortlessly charming, with a grace that made him appear like he walked from a painting, completely at ease in his own skin.

"Let's see how it plays out,"

Billy muttered, giving a half-smile. A little wary. This wasn't going to be an easy audition for either of them.

The man's name was Vincent Valentine, a strange anomaly in Hollywood.

What made him stand out, however, wasn't just his impossibly good looks, it was the truth no one else could guess.

He didn't belong here not in this world.

In his previous life, he had been a theater artist, a good one, too.

But no matter how skilled he was, his ordinary face never opened any doors.

Talent only got you so far when you looked like someone destined for the background.

One night, exhausted from another fruitless day, he'd gone to bed, just like any other.

But when he woke up, he wasn't in his cramped apartment anymore.

Reincarnation. Soul Transmigration. Whatevere it was!

It sounded ridiculous, but what other explanation was there?

This wasn't his life, but now it was his reality.

The first clue was geography: Vatican City was an island here, for some unfathomable reason.

Everything else, though, felt shockingly familiar, albeit seen through the slightly grainy lens of an earlier era.

And therein lay his biggest obstacle: Vincent wasn't a product of the 1990s. His parents had manufactured him in 2005, making this unfamiliar era even more disorienting to navigate.

Phones with cords. CDs instead of Spotify. Yellowed pages of Variety instead of instant updates from Twitter-X. Every piece of technology felt cumbersome, frustrating, and terribly slow.

But worse than the tech was the anxious question that sat heavy in his chest would this new life end early, before he even reached the age he remembered?

The reincarnation was a gift, sure. But one laced with unrelenting pressure.

Nonetheless...How could he waste a single moment when time itself might betray him?

It took a week of desperation and secondhand Hollywood wisdom to figure out the situation.

The original owner of this body was a struggling actor and singer, poor and unknown but undeniably driven.

What little luck he had wasn't nothing, though: a contract with Creative Artists Agency, the golden goose of talent agencies.

Today, that faint glimmer of hope brought him here, to an audition that could define everything.

In 1990, Hollywood was on the cusp of change.

The '80s had been an era of larger-than-life action heroes and sprawling sci-fi epics, thanks to franchises like Indiana Jones and Star Wars.

Now, filmmakers were grappling with how to make stories even bigger and more vibrant, balancing nostalgia with the advent of CGI.

People were talking about pushing boundaries, both in style and storytelling, but for every vision of the future, there were countless hungry dreamers fighting to stand in its spotlight.

One of those dreamers was Vincent. And this audition for

The Rocketeer of Walt Disney? This was his shot.

Of course, he knew the movie wouldn't make waves at the box office.

But that didn't matter. Getting cast in a leading role, even in a film destined for middling success, was still leagues ahead of where he stood now.

And if nothing else, the woman whose clips he had seen countless times on YouTube Shorts, Tik tok, and even Instagram, Jennifer Connelly, was said to have had her first on-screen kiss in this film.

Yes, in this world, certain things were undeniably strange.

Jennifer Connelly had never starred in Some Girls or The Hot Spot, and rumors swirled about her strict "no-kiss" policy.

This was said to be the reason she lost out on a number of romantic comedy roles.

To make things even odder, whispers suggested that any kissing scenes involving the main antagonist, protagnist in this movie also have been cut entirely.

It seemed there was even a possibility that the film might skip such moments altogether.

This was baffling to him because, in his previous life, Hollywood had been different.

Actresses could have many quirks, but a sense of naivety like this was practically unheard of. Still, it wasn't something he dwelled on for long.

After all, it didn't really change the bigger picture.

So, if nothing else, he'd give his best effort for those cherry-cherry lips.

And so, he adjusted his jacket and waited for his name to be called, Vincent took in the murmurs around him. Billy Campbell clutched his sides, reciting lines under his breath, trying to will his nerves away.

After a long, tense silence, someone inside the room finally shouted,

"Next!"

Billy Campbell stood up, pausing briefly as his eyes met Vincent's, but without a word, he walked inside the room.

Vincent, left sitting in the waiting area, tapped his fingers on the chair's armrest, impatience building. Half an hour passed, and the tension thickened with each minute.

Finally, Billy emerged. Without glancing Vincent's way, he quickly left the area, practically ignoring him.

Vincent raised an eyebrow, muttering under his breath,

"What's up with this dude? Feels like he's avoiding me. Oh well, focus, Vincent. Focus."

His icy blue eyes narrowed in thought for a moment, but he quickly dismissed the doubt. There was no point in overthinking. He had come this far; he couldn't let anything distract him now.

Suddenly, a voice rang out from the room, this time with more urgency.

"Next, Vincent Valentine!"

Vincent's lips twitched into a determined grin as he stood up, brushing off nonexistent dust from his jacket with an exaggerated flourish. With a single deep breath, he walked toward the door.

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(End Of The Chapter)