Hollywood Whiz Kid
Galaxy Pictures was nowhere near the size of MGM, Universal, Warner Bros. or Paramount. Its films never won an Oscar or Golden Globe. It had no major stars under contract. Nevertheless, the studio made a modest profit every year, thanks to the low-budget horror movies it turned out with assembly-line regularity. By the end of the 1970s, however, young moviegoers, who were the major contributors to the studio's box office numbers, grew tired of the old-fashioned B-movies Galaxy routinely produced. They wanted Star Wars, not another poorly made version of Frankenstein. They flocked to see Close Encounters of the Third Kind and stayed away from Galaxy's Dracula Reborn. It was now Alien that frightened them, while Son of the Wolfman bored them.
"Teenagers today want to see science fiction movies," Cliff Frisell, Galaxy's most successful producer, told Maury Sandler, grandson of Galaxy's founder and the current head of the studio.
"We've put out several science fiction movies," Maury argued. "Last year, we released The Creature from Planet Seven, and it bombed."
"What did you expect? It wasn't exactly 2001: A Space Odyssey. The sets were awful, the costumes were atrocious and the acting .... Good God! My five-year-old son could give a more believable performance. On top of that, the screenplay was appalling."
Rather than lose money by continuing to serve up cheesy horror movies and science fiction films with lackluster plots and outdated special effects, Galaxy began making pictures that its teenage audiences could relate to. Young romances, high school classroom dramas and cautionary tales about teenage pregnancy, juvenile delinquency and drug use kept the studio profitable throughout the Eighties and Nineties.
The advent of the new millennium brought technological advances to movie-making. Computer-generated images replaced the time-consuming stop-motion special effects that were used to make King Kong, Jason and the Argonauts, Clash of the Titans and many other animated feature films and television holiday specials such as Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Santa Claus is Coming to Town. Movies like The Matrix, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Jurassic Park and Avatar raised the bar for visual effects and cashed in at the box office.
Knowing these advances in filmmaking spelled doom for Galaxy Pictures, Maury Sandler walked out of the quarterly stockholders' meeting with a forced smile on his face. His show of optimism fooled no one. His studio had reported a loss in its fifth straight quarter. It would not last much longer if its finances remained in the red.
"What's that old saying?" he griped to his wife, Bernice, when she phoned him after the meeting ended. "You need money to make money. I never really believed it until now."
"The first Star Wars didn't have a big budget, and look at how much money that made," Bernice pointed out.
"True, it cost only eleven million to make. But The Empire Strikes Back cost thirty million, and Return of the Jedi cost over forty-two. And each new movie in the franchise becomes more expensive. Disney admits it cost them almost six hundred million to make The Rise of Skywalker. Galaxy Pictures hasn't got that kind of money. We don't have theme parks and tons of merchandise to help offset the expense. Enough of my troubles. I'm sure you didn't call to hear me moan and groan. What's up?"
"I almost hate to mention it."
"Why? Is something wrong?"
"No. I'm calling about my nephew, Dalton."
"What about him?"
"He needs a job."
Maury closed his eyes and shook his head.
Just what I need! Another one of my wife's relatives on the payroll.
"He graduated in June but hasn't had any luck finding a position. You must have something he could do."
"I suppose I could put him in the mailroom or use him to run errands. Stars always want someone waiting on them hand and foot."
When Maury referred to his "stars," they were not in the same category as the actors at the major studios. No Leonardo DiCaprio, Denzel Washington, Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep or Jack Nicholson ever appeared in a Galaxy Pictures film.
"Thank you, dear. He's going to be arriving at LAX this afternoon. I'll have him go directly to your office."
Maury tried to recall what his wife's nephew looked like. He hadn't seen the boy since before he started high school. All he could remember about him was a skinny kid with shaggy hair and pimples who sat glued to his brother-in-law's television, playing a game on Xbox.
That was what? Eight or nine years ago. I doubt I'd recognize him now.
Three hours later, a well-groomed young man, dressed in casual business attire, showed up at Galaxy Pictures, wanting to speak to his Uncle Maury.
"Your nephew is here to see you," Serita, the studio head's secretary, informed him.
"Send him in."
"So, you're looking for a job?"
"Yes. My mother called Aunt Bernice, and she said you were sure to have something for me. I realize it will be an entry-level position. That's fine. I don't expect you to make me a vice-president or anything like that."
"We start shooting a new film with Jessica Dean tomorrow. Being the star of the film, she will need an assistant. If you want the job, be here at five in the morning."
"Excuse me, but what exactly does being her assistant entail? What is it I have to do?"
The smile on Maury's face did not instill confidence in his wife's nephew.
"Anything she wants you to do."
* * *
If Dalton Winstone were to look up the word diva in the dictionary, he was certain the young, glamorous Jessica Dean's picture would accompany the definition. Within minutes of reporting to the sound stage for his first day on the job, the recent college grad from New England was subjected to all sorts of demands from the so-called star, whose only claim to fame was playing an adulterous nurse for eight months on General Hospital.
"Get me a coffee," she ordered immediately after he introduced himself.
"Sure. How do you take it? Cream? Sugar?"
"I don't want the crap they serve here in the cafeteria. Run down to Starbucks and get me a Venti Caffé Americano with vanilla sweet cream cold foam."
"Anything else?"
"If I wanted something else, I'd have said so."
Despite Jessica's attitude, Dalton smiled and quickly ran off to do her bidding. This was his first job, and he did not want to risk getting fired by telling her what she could do with that cup of coffee. The coffee was but the first of Miss Dean's demands. It seemed that whenever she was not in front of the camera, she sent her assistant on an errand. Somehow, he made it through the first day.
Because he had yet to find a place to live in Los Angeles, he was staying in his aunt's guesthouse. To celebrate his new job, Bernice had invited him to dinner that night. He was relaxing in the living room, enjoying a glass of wine before sitting down to a gourmet meal, when his uncle walked through the door.
"How did your day go?" the studio head asked, mixing himself a drink.
"It was okay, I guess," Dalton reluctantly answered.
"Is Jessica hard to work with?"
"It's not that. It's ... well, she sent me out to get her a cup of coffee, the newspaper, lunch, more coffee and ...."
"What?" his uncle prompted.
"She didn't offer to pay for any of it. I not only spent all the money I had on me, but I also had to charge her last coffee on my Visa card."
Maury reached into his wall and took out several twenty-dollar bills.
"Here. This ought to cover it. Tomorrow and every day thereafter, fill out an expense report. Make sure to get receipts. Give them all to Serita, and she'll refund your money out of petty cash."
"Thanks. I appreciate it."
During dinner, conversation centered on the various movies that Galaxy had in pre-production.
"A few people on the set were talking about the Pompeii picture," Dalton said, cutting into his filet mignon. "They were wondering when filming would start."
Maury grunted with derision.
"When hell freezes over!"
"Why is that?"
"Pompeii was meant to be an epic movie. As such, it would cost a fortune to make. We don't have the money to build those elaborate sets or to create a volcano of that magnitude."
"You don't need to," Dalton argued. "You can shoot the movie right here on the backlot. Both the Roman background and the eruption of Vesuvius can be created using AI."
"AI?"
"Artificial Intelligence. You can use a computer to recreate the explosion and devastation."
"Are you kidding? I have difficulty downloading apps on my phone."
"I don't mean you personally. I mean someone who knows computer programming. Someone like me."
"You know a lot about AI?"
"Didn't Aunt Bernice tell you that I graduated from MIT with honors?"
"No kidding?"
"I don't like to brag, but I'm a whiz with computers. I hope someday to work for Pixar, Disney or Industrial Light and Magic. That's why I left Massachusetts and came to Hollywood. You see, like you, I love movies."
"Tell you what, kid," Maury said, refilling his drink. "Tomorrow, you find a computer at Galaxy and get to work on a few backgrounds for Pompeii. If I like what I see, you get to be our new head of visual arts."
"What about Jessica Dean?"
"Let her get her own damn coffee!"
* * *
Pompeii, like Star Wars, was a low-budget production that went on to become a phenomenal box office success. It put Galaxy Pictures back in the black and saved the studio from bankruptcy. It was both a critical and commercial success and garnered both Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations. Maury Sandler credited the film's success to Dalton Winstone's visual effects. His skill at creating AI content went on to become the keystone of the studio's future endeavors.
"I see great things in store for us," the studio head promised his nephew. "We don't need to use Jell-O to part the Red Sea. You can do it with your computer."
"Were you planning on doing a remake of The Ten Commandments?"
"No. That was merely an example. I was thinking about doing a movie about Medusa. You can use your computer to create a snake-haired Gorgon, can't you?"
"Just say the word."
Another unexpected outcome of the success of Pompeii was the revival of the career of former leading lady Alexis Shire. An Oscar-winning child star in the Eighties, she made a smooth transition to adult roles, but her career died a slow death when she reached middle age. She was only cast in the lead female role of Pompeii because, not having appeared in a major motion picture for nearly a decade, she was willing to work for the established minimum wage for actors.
Given the media attention the actress was getting after the release of the film, Maury was eager to have her appear in another Galaxy film.
"I want you to star in Medusa," he said, promising her a modest salary increase.
"As long as you don't expect me to wear live snakes on my head."
"There won't be a single snake on set. My wife's nephew, Dalton Winstone, will create them all with his computer."
Alexis had no faith in the studio head's relative, a young man dubbed the Hollywood Whiz Kid in the press. In her opinion, the best movies feature well-written screenplays and great performances by the actors.
"Today's films rely too much on visual effects," she complained in a televised interview on E! network. "Great movies like Casablanca, Citizen Kane and Gone with the Wind didn't need special effects. Now everything is superheroes, fantasies and science fiction. Honestly! What his town needs are more filmmakers like Orson Welles and Lawrence Olivier and fewer people banging away on computer keyboards."
When the actress saw the completed film for the first time at the star-studded premiere, she immediately revised her opinion.
"My hair looks like actual snakes!" she exclaimed.
What surprised her most was that the serpent coiffure aside, she looked more alluring and attractive than she had in more than a decade.
I look twenty years younger! Maybe there's something to be said for this AI stuff after all!
* * *
Medusa went on to become the biggest box office success of the year and Galaxy Pictures' greatest cash cow of all time. With money being no object, Maury Sandler elected to make more epics.
"For our next film, I want you to use your skills to digitally recreate eighteenth-century Paris," the studio head informed his head of visual effects.
"Why? Are you planning to do a movie about the French Revolution?" Dalton wondered.
"Yes. Specifically, about the life of Marie Antoinette."
"And who are you going to cast as the doomed queen?"
"Why, Alexis Shire. Naturally. After her last two pictures, she's one of the hottest stars in Hollywood."
"Isn't she too old for the part? Marie Antoinette was only fourteen when she married Louis, eighteen when she became queen and thirty-seven when she was executed."
"I'm counting on you to make Alexis look younger," Maury admitted. "She looked pretty damn good in Medusa."
"Using AI to make a fifty-two-year-old woman look fourteen is tricky. The result often looks fake and sometimes downright comical. And we'd have to rely on an age regression program throughout the movie. Wouldn't you be better off casting someone younger, like Jessica Dean?"
"Hell no! You know what a prima donna she is! You remember the day you worked for her?"
Remember? Dalton thought. How can I forget?
Neither his aunt nor her husband knew that the MIT grad was secretly having an affair with the B-list diva. He hoped to convince his uncle to cast her in a leading role in a quality film. Jessica had the talent and the looks to be a major star.
"Yes, but I'm not a lowly assistant anymore. I'm the head of visual effects."
"And I'm the head of the studio. As such, I decide what goes on around here, and I say Alexis Shire gets the role of Marie Antoinette."
There being no point in further debating the matter with the stubborn uncle, Dalton retreated to his office to begin the monumental task of turning an aging actress into a teenage dauphine. Anticipating a lot of long days at the keyboard ahead of him, he started to type.
"Maybe you should have accepted that job at Disney," Jessica grumbled when he called her to cancel their weekend getaway.
"You forget. Should something happen to my uncle, I'd be the logical choice to fill his shoes. Wouldn't you like to be Mrs. Studio Head someday and get to pick and choose your roles?"
"Yes, but I hope your work on this picture doesn't spoil our plans of going to Hawaii next month."
"I suppose I can bring my laptop along."
"Don't you dare!"
To the couple's disappointment, Dalton was forced to cancel the trip to the islands. It was not the age regression program that necessitated the change of plans, though. Halfway through shooting the picture, Alexis Shire suffered a major heart attack on set and died.
"This could ruin us!" Maury cried when he learned of her passing. "We can't afford to lose all the money we put into this picture!"
"There is a way we can salvage the film," his nephew claimed.
"Forget about bringing in Jessica at this point. If we replace the star now, we'd have to reshoot all the scenes with Alexis Shire. It'll cost a fortune."
Dalton smiled, resembling the proverbial cat that ate the canary.
"You don't need to reshoot anything. I can create an AI version of Alexis for the remaining scenes."
"Have you done anything like that before?"
"Not exactly, but I don't imagine it will be any more difficult than making her look fourteen. Come on, give me a chance. What have you got to lose?"
"Several million dollars," the studio head grumbled.
* * *
"I don't believe it!" Maury exclaimed as he watched the AI version of Marie Antoinette face the guillotine in the studio's screening room. "I know it's only a computer image you created, but—damn it!—she looks so real!"
Dalton couldn't help saying, "I told you so. This could change biopics forever. Who needs actors to portray famous people when AI can practically bring them back to life?"
"Imagine the legal problems that would cause! Making a movie about Marie Antoinette is one thing. Making one about someone more current is entirely different. Many performers' names and images are protected. You'd have to clear everything through their estates. And if you want to create a movie about a long-dead person—say, King Tut, for instance—there are no existing paintings or pictures of him."
"I don't have to use photographs to create AI images. I can create characters by giving them a detailed description—similar to what authors do when they write books."
"Just the same," Maury sighed, returning his attention to the screen, "I'll stick with live actors. Besides, I don't want to limit myself to making nothing but biographical films."
The studio's head of special effects was not too disappointed by his uncle's insistence on choosing humans over computer-generated images since he was still hoping to advance Jessica Dean's career.
"Speaking of live actors," Dalton began once the credits rolled over the image of the blood-stained guillotine blade. "Who are you going to cast in the role of Lauralee in the Civil War drama you're planning to make?
"I hadn't given it much thought."
"Why not Jessica Dean?"
"I was wondering when you would get around to bringing her name up," Maury chuckled. "Look, there's no need for you two to sneak around. I've known about your relationship for some time now. Do you think I care if you've got a thing for one of our actresses?"
"I was afraid it might be construed as a conflict of interest. With all the #MeToo accusations going around, we can't be too careful."
"Why? You're the head of visual effects, not the casting director or studio head. You have no say over who gets a role."
His uncle's reminding Dalton of his limited function in Galaxy Pictures stung. Nevertheless, he kept his cool and did not counter that his computer skills had saved the studio from probable bankruptcy and made it profitable. Given his contributions to the recent blockbusters, he felt Maury owed him something more than a simple salary.
As though he could read his nephew's mind, the studio head capitulated.
"As a favor to you, I'll arrange a screen test for Jessica Dean. If it's good, I'll give her a try."
"Thanks, Uncle Maury," the Hollywood Whiz Kid beamed, one of the few times he had referred to the movie mogul in such familiar terms.
"You're welcome, but don't get your hopes up. If she's not right for the role, she won't get it. I'm not one for nepotism."
"You hired me. Doesn't that count?"
"I gave you a low-paying, dead-end job as an assistant to a demanding actress," Maury laughed, "hoping you would quit once you had enough of Jessica's bullshit. You earned the job you have now. You're being Bernice's nephew had nothing to do with it."
* * *
As Dalton had hoped, Jessica's screen test was an overwhelming triumph for the B-list actress. Not since Vivien Leigh had auditioned for the role of Scarlett O'Hara had such a test so impressed the director and producers. When Maury Sandler viewed it, he immediately cast her as the rebellious Southern Belle in his movie adaptation of the bestselling novel, Dixie's Tears. Not only was the movie a commercial and critical success, but it also did well during the awards season. Miss Dean walked away with a SAG award, a Golden Globe and an Oscar for her portrayal.
"And, unlike Alexis Shire, I didn't need you and your computer to make me look younger or prettier," she bragged when she and Dalton returned to their Malibu home after attending an Academy Awards afterparty.
"How could I improve on perfection?" her fiancé laughed.
Dust did not yet have a chance to collect on her awards before Jessica was signed to appear in Galaxy's next blockbuster, Guinevere and Lancelot. Naturally, she was cast as the Arthurian queen, and British heartthrob Logan Sackville was to play Sir Lancelot du Lac, knight of the Round Table. During filming, as so often happens in Hollywood, the two actors engaged in a romance on and off the screen.
While Dalton was counting down the weeks until their wedding and honeymoon in Paris, his fiancée was secretly meeting her co-star in the couple's beach house. He might never have known of her betrayal had not the studio experienced a freak power outage. Unable to work in his office, he headed home where he could connect to the studio's network via his laptop.
What's he doing here? he wondered when he saw Logan Sackville's car driving away from the beach house.
"Did you forget something, sweetheart?" Jessica called from the living room when Dalton opened the front door. "Let me guess. You couldn't stand to be apart from me and came back for one more kiss."
It is difficult to know who was more upset by the awkward situation: the cheating actress or the unsuspecting fiancé.
"It appears you were expecting someone else," Dalton said between clenched teeth.
"I don't suppose there's any point in denying it. You must have seen Logan leave here."
What began as a civilized confrontation that might have been taken from the screenplay for a 1940s melodrama soon escalated into a heated verbal skirmish that ultimately resulted in physical violence. It was only when Jessica lay on the floor dead, the blood from her head wound seeping into the living room carpet, that her fiancé realized what he had done and began comprehend the danger he was in.
"My God! I've killed her!"
He dropped the Oscar that he had used to bludgeon her with onto the floor and stared at it with horror. Not only had the coveted Best Actress award become the cause of its recipient's demise, but it had ended his livelihood as well.
"I'm looking at a life sentence. If I'm lucky, this will be considered a crime of passion. I might be convicted of voluntary manslaughter and get a reduced sentence. Either way, my career is over."
Briefly, he considered phoning the police. It would probably be better for him to report the murder and turn himself in rather than have the director send someone to the house to check on her when she failed to show up for work the next day. As he reached into his pocket for his phone, he spied the security camera on the ceiling, facing the front door.
"Why should I take the blame for her death?" he cried. "She and Logan are the guilty parties, not me."
Jessica was dead and would thus escape punishment. Her lover, on the other hand, would get away scot-free.
"Not if I have anything to say about it, he won't!"
Dalton put his phone away, went into his den and booted his laptop. Taking images of Jessica and Logan from the dailies of Guinevere and Lancelot, he used AI to construct a short film in which Logan struck his costar over the head with her Oscar before running out of the beach house and making his escape. Only after the Hollywood Whiz Kid was satisfied with the quality of his handiwork did he wipe his fingerprints off the award and phone the police.
* * *
When Logan Sackville was arrested, he confessed to having had an affair with the victim but vehemently denied killing her.
"Save your breath," Detective Lou Moranis told him. "We've got you on tape committing the murder."
"That's not possible. I didn't do it!" the actor insisted. "When I left her, Jessica was very much alive."
"The security footage from the beach house says differently."
"Security footage?"
"The fiancé gave it to us."
"Of course!" Logan exclaimed, the truth of what had happened dawning on him. "Do you know who the fiancé is, Detective?"
"Yeah. A man named Dalton Winstone. His uncle owns Galaxy Pictures. So?"
"He's known as the Hollywood Whiz Kid because he creates amazing visual effects using artificial intelligence. He made fifty-two-year-old Alexis Shire look fourteen in Marie Antoinette. And after she died, he finished the movie by creating scenes using computer images of her."
"Your point is?"
"Dalton Winstone had plenty of images of Jessica and me from the movie we're shooting. He could easily have used those to create a short film to make it appear as though I was the killer."
"We got a dead body. We got your DNA on the scene, and you admit to being at the beach house that night. That's not AI. That's real life."
"I didn't kill her, but maybe Winstone did."
"And you think he made a fake security film to frame you?"
"It's possible."
In spite of Logan's protestations of innocence, he was arrested for his costar's murder and sent to the county lock-up to await arraignment. Lou Moranis, proud of the quick resolution of the case, went home in a good mood. He ate the meatloaf and mashed potatoes his wife had kept warm in the oven and then went into the family room, where his son was streaming a movie on Netflix.
"What's that you're watching?"
"Medusa," Jamie Moranis answered. "Have you ever seen it?"
"No. I'm not one for those fantasy movies."
"This is one of the best. It used what was state-of-the-art AI at the time. That's what I'd like to study when I go to college. Maybe someday I can work for one of the major studios or perhaps for Dalton Winstone himself, if I'm good enough."
Mention of the Hollywood Whiz Kid's name reminded the detective of the recent murder.
"What do you know about this Dalton Winstone fellow?"
"He's a genius!" the teenager exclaimed.
"So I've heard," the detective admitted. "Didn't he make a movie using AI images of a dead actress?"
"Yeah. Alexis Shire died halfway through filming Marie Antoinette, and, thanks to him, the studio was able to complete the picture."
"Is that available for streaming?"
"I think so."
After Medusa was slain by Perseus, the film came to an end. Jamie searched Netflix and found Marie Antoinette.
"I can't tell which scenes the actress appeared in and which were created by Winstone," the baffled detective admitted.
Logan Sackville might be right, he mused. If the security footage from the Malibu beach house was another example of Winstone's AI creations, he could be innocent of killing his costar.
"I don't suppose there's any way you could determine if a film clip is of an actual human being as opposed to a computer image?"
"I couldn't," his son laughed. "I'm only a freshman in high school, but I bet my computer science teacher could. I heard he sometimes does freelance work for Pixar."
* * *
Lou Moranis met with Braden Pilford, his son's teacher, in the school's computer lab after the dismissal bell.
"Thanks for taking the time to see me," the detective said.
"No problem. You said on the phone that you had a film clip you'd like me to analyze."
"Yes. I was told it was taken from a home security camera, but I have my doubts."
"You think it might be a product of AI?"
"I have no idea, but a man was charged with murder. If this film is a fake, he could very well be innocent."
The detective handed the teacher a flash drive containing the footage Dalton Winstone had given him. After subjecting the file to visual, content and systematic analysis, Braden confirmed that the film had been created using a sophisticated AI process.
Lou Moranis thanked the teacher and, after phoning the station to request Logan Sackville's release, he drove to Galaxy studios. When confronted with evidence of his duplicity, Dalton confessed to killing Jessica Dean.
Because he had attempted to frame someone else for his crime, he was charged with second-degree murder as opposed to voluntary manslaughter. No plea bargain was offered; however, in exchange for his confession, his fifteen-year-to-life sentence would be served in a minimum-security prison. Thanks to his uncle's largesse, he would be accorded amenities not extended to most other inmates. He was given a private cell and would be allowed unlimited use of the prison's computer lab and internet access.
Although no longer the Galaxy Pictures' head of visual effects, Dalton did not curse his lot in life. He slept in a comfortable bed, ate three meals a day, faced no danger from the other inmates and was free to engage in his favorite hobby. After a short shift working in the prison library every day, he retreated to the computer lab where he used his AI genius to create movies for his own entertainment. His first "Behind Bars Production" was a remake of Casablanca in which Ilsa Lund was portrayed by an AI version of Jessica Dean. His subsequent films cast his dead fiancée in the roles of Scarlett O'Hara, Dorothy Gale, Maria von Trapp, Princess Leia, Clarice Starling and Rose DeWitt Bukater (in a remake of Titanic for which he made an AI version of himself as Jack Dawson).
Dalton had little doubt that, with good behavior, he would not have to serve his full fifteen years. Once he was out, providing his uncle was still alive and the head of the studio, he could regain his title of Hollywood Whiz Kid.
"After all, people need to be entertained," he reasoned. "And my being a murderer aside, I can give them what they want."
He had served only two months of his sentence when one night, as he lay on his bunk deep in slumber, one of the monitors in the prison's computer lab came to life. One of Dalton's Behind Bars Production AI movies was playing. Jessica Dean was portraying Frances "Baby" Houseman in a remake of Dirty Dancing. Dalton's AI image was cast as dancer Johnny Castle. At a pivotal scene in which Johnny performs at Kellerman's talent show, Baby runs into his arms. Here, the action took an unexpected turn. Rather than the climactic lift of the original movie, the female lead plunges a knife into her dance partner's chest. The revised movie ends with a close-up of Jessica Dean smiling in triumph at having gotten her revenge.
Meanwhile, in his private cell, Hollywood Whiz Kid Dalton Winstone breathed his last.
Salem wanted to be Medusa for Halloween one year, but he couldn't bear to have the snakes touch his fur.
