"What article?"
"How could it happen just one and a half hours before our movie is released?"
"These things are just going to bring in more negative publicity."
"Do you think one of the rivals did it? I an there's tons of movies releasing this month and everyone is trying to one up each other even if they have to resort to cheap things."
"Nah, it can be a coincidence too."
Whispers rang among the Marketing departnt office as a few people looked up the interview online while others discussed whether it was so sort of a conspiracy.
Theodore, the producer who just entered the room also looked around with confusion and after hearing about everything, his face went a bit pale before he sighed.
"So, what is exactly written in the article?"
He looked towards the employee who had broken the news. Aiden and everyone else also looked at him.
"Is it soone from Agnas's family?"
Aiden asked. He recalled hearing about how so of Agnas's family mbers were against the biopic for various reasons. To be fair, it was just most of his relatives who were worried about their portrayals in the movie.
But Baz has left them out from most of the movie and focused more on a mother-son relationship.
"No, it isn't. I think it's one of the won who he had a relationship with. I researched a bit and the dia used to write articles about them. At least she's listed down as one of the won that he dated. She seems… full of venom."
The employee said and Aiden walked up to check the article on his computer. Everyone else got behind him too.
'It really seems like she holds a grudge against Agnas.'
Aiden thought in his mind.
The article was an interview with the LA Tis, a famous publication that answered why it was getting so much traction.
In the interview, the woman nad Anna Bathes had talked about how Agnas was an extrely awful person who used to pay reporters to write articles about her and how she was worried that the movie was going to white wash him just like a lot of other biopics.
She ended the interviews by saying, "Agnas might be a superstar but he wasn't a good human being. He was a scum and I wouldn't like to see if he's portrayed in a good light. At least when I'm alive. Yes, I'm going to sue them if they use as a character without permission."
After finishing the whole article, Aiden frowned.
"Sounds like one of my exes." Wade remarked and Aiden looked at him. "Hey, so are crazy. She scratched 'I hate you' with a key on my car after we broke up. Very crazy."
"Feel like you are the type to attract those."
Tom joked but Theodere was not amused. He looked at the marketing head who was already sweating with a stern face.
"Handle this with priority. LA tis probably wanted to fuck us over so close to release for so attention." Saying that, he turned to Aiden. "I'm asking to confirm but there was no character called Anna Bathes in the movie, right?"
"No, she isn't. I don't rember it but you can confirm. Moreover, you know Baz handled it as he wasn't able to get permissions from everyone."
In biopics, it was not easy to get permission from everyone to use them as characters, especially in biopics based in the past. So, a lot of people would use different characters in scenes that actually didn't happen.
Or just make up fictional versions of these people.
Baz chose the second option as Joseph also wanted to go with this as the important thing was to keep the essence of the life of Agnas which they managed to achieve.
"Okay. Let's get a press release out about our stance. Then, try to ignore it. We could also use statents from Joseph and others in the industry who actually knew Agnas to counter it."
The marketing head said and everyone around him nodded. They quickly got to work as he walked close to Aiden.
"We will try to control it but it's going to make so noise online. People on Sparrow love to do that and from there, it will spread."
"I understand. I will just focus on the promotions."
"Yeah, thank you for working hard."
"You too."
Aiden said and wondered if it was just bad luck that such an article had sprang at this point.
***
"Ladies and gentlen, give a round of applause to Aiden who perford one of Agnas's most famous songs 'I don't want to lose you' today. If you want to see more, go buy tickets for the biopic [Agnas]. The story of Arica's first pop superstar. Directed by Baz McCarthy, it's a must watch!"
The host said as a round of applause went off. Aiden waved at the crowd and thanked them before walking backstage.
He had just finished a short interview and song on a late night talk show. His act as Agnas was very well received and he even said so of his iconic lines and sang in the way he used to.
'Let's hope it gets so people in the theatres.'
He thought, feeling his shoulders being a bit heavy. He was tired from constant promotion but it was only for a few days.
Rather than this, so other stuff was bothering him.
"That was a good performance. Your practice really bears fruit."
"I acted as him for months. It's very shaful for as an actor if I can't even emulate it on a talk show. Though, his charisma is really off the charts. I struggle with that a lot."
Aiden said when he entered the room that was allocated to him. Wade and his stylist were already there. Clothes that he was going to change into were laid down on a sofa with a few other things.
"I don't think people realise that. At least all the comnts I'm hearing are very positive. They are calling you a chaleon."
Wade laughed. One thing that had stayed true no matter what was Aiden's acting ability and the praise of it after each of his movies.
"People are going to think I pay critics as they constantly praise ."
"They already do." Wade said before showing him so comnts saying how critics are always lenient on Aiden.
Though, only he knew that the case was very different.
As he started with small but good roles, his acting skills were hidden by them but as his level rose, he beca more confident in them.
It was luck and a lot of effort.
"Anyway, are the articles still coming out?"
Aiden suddenly asked as the atmosphere grew a bit more serious.
The stylist standing in the back also frowned.
"Yeah, I think I read two from different publications today." The stylist said as she looked at Aiden.
Wade also nodded.
"It's a case of a lot of mosquitoes hovering around you to drink your blood. In this case, it's news agencies hovering around an old, bitter woman to clench their thirst for a controversy."
After one article, several have co up. So were just copy paste from the original interviews while others were original. It seems like whoever Anna Bathes was, she had a lot of free ti to give out interviews.
Aiden had even seen a reporter with 400k followers posting an article on the 'dark things' that Agnas did.
Obviously, it was nothing much as Agnas just had a troubled life and never really did anything too controversial.
But the current generation didn't know him and it was easy to change his image like that with just a few clicks.
"I wonder when it will stop."
Aiden said and Wade shook his head with a smile that said that it was not going to stop.
"If [Agnas] opened up to expectations, they are going to die down with better articles praising the movie but if it fails, then these types of articles are going to extend their expiry. We have [Judgnt] releasing one week after and compared to us, they are really without any controversies."
"Yeah, their ship seems like it would reach the dock smoothly."
Aiden replied. [Judgnt] dia tour was very successful and anyway, the interest was rarely dwindled for a superhero movie. So, [Agnas] might have only one week to do good business.
In so cases, that was more than enough but he didn't know if it was going to be the case this ti too.
'Anna Bathes. What's with this woman?'
Aiden thought in his mind.
For so reason, she felt familiar to him. Maybe because he had brushed upon her during his research to prepare for Agnas. Or maybe because he had seen her during 'Connect'.
'Things were going too fast at that ti anyway. Maybe I saw her there. Can't really say but I don't know why she hates Agnas so much.'
He took a deep breath thinking that. Maybe it was ti to et her.
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