Chapter 30: Threshold

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"The opportunity only matters if you can hold on to it." Nolan pointed upward. "Do you know what’s in that building?"

Charlize looked up.

All she saw at first was the brutal afternoon sun.

"Not the sky. The office tower. ICM. One of the major talent agencies. I happen to know someone there. If she likes you, maybe she signs you."

Charlize studied him.

He was handsome. Painfully handsome, if she was being honest. That was why she had trusted the check to him for half a second in the bank.

Unfortunately, he was also slick, impossible, and clearly trouble.

Still, this was a public building, not a dark alley. And someone who knew ICM probably moved somewhere near the industry. Maybe he was a young actor himself.

She did not have many options left.

"So you’ll need to show some effort," Nolan said. "Understand?"

Charlize’s face changed.

"I can spend tonight with you," she said, glaring as if she hated herself for offering. "Is that what you want?"

Hollywood had already taught her to expect the worst.

Nolan stared at her.

"No. I mean dinner. Show up clean, focused, and ready to talk like you want a career."

"Oh."

Color rose in her face.

"A girl I met at auditions told me things," Charlize muttered. "She’s two years older. She said this is how it works."

"Did she mention the casting couch?"

"I never even got that far. I haven’t made it past open calls."

She shook her head.

Even Nolan could see the raw potential: height, posture, a model’s frame, and features that needed the right hair, light, and training before they became cinematic. Charlize Theron did not yet have the screen presence history would remember, but she had won a pageant back home, spent a year trying to model in Milan, and carried herself like someone who had learned to make clothes matter even when she could barely afford food.

Nolan knew embarrassingly little about her actual path to fame. Her name, her later face, a few remembered roles. That was enough.

In the ICM lobby, an office door opened.

A blond, fair-skinned young man with a beautiful round face left with his mother. As he passed, he glanced at Nolan.

Nolan watched him go.

Then he leaned toward Charlize.

"Was that guy handsome?"

Charlize was too nervous to appreciate the question. Minutes ago, she had been shouting at a bank teller. Now she was inside ICM, surrounded by assistants, agents, ringing phones, suits, scripts, and a pressure in the air that smelled like ambition.

"Do you want the truth?"

"Always."

"Too handsome," she said. "Like an angel in a church painting. A woman could probably fall apart if he looked at her long enough."

"You don’t look like you fell apart."

"This is a job interview. I need this."

The young man was not her type anyway. Beautiful, yes. Almost too polished.

Compared with him, she preferred the hard, square-jawed look of the young man sitting beside her.

The secretary soon called them in.

Lisa looked up from her desk.

When she saw Nolan, her face warmed at once.

"Skipping training again?" she said quietly.

She was pleased he had come.

Then she saw the plain, badly dressed blond girl behind him, and the warmth cooled.

Nolan had brought someone.

"This is Charlize Theron," Nolan began. "I met her downstairs today and thought..."

Before he could finish, Charlize launched into a self-introduction in heavily accented English.

Nolan almost winced.

Bad teammate.

Lisa listened for a few seconds, then nodded.

"I understand. Wait outside for a moment. I need to speak with Nolan."

Charlize said, "Oh," and left the office.

The door closed.

"What is your relationship with her?" Lisa asked immediately.

"I met her twenty minutes ago. Downstairs at the bank." Nolan sat. "I wanted to understand something. How long are Hollywood agency contracts? Ten years?"

"There is no long-term talent agency contract like you’re imagining." Lisa sighed. "SAG and AFTRA use separate agency agreements. A franchised agent finds the work, negotiates the deal, and normally takes ten percent. A manager is different: broader career guidance, fewer union restrictions, and usually a separate commission. Sometimes I can be attached as a producer, but that’s a different arrangement and not something you advertise too loudly."

She studied him and seemed to realize how little he actually knew about the business behind the door he wanted to open.

"Look at her," Lisa said. "Her clothes, her hair, that accent. Aside from height, what do you think she has? If anyone else brought her in, I wouldn’t let her finish a sentence. Actors may look glamorous under the lights, but not everyone can hold the camera’s attention."

Nolan noticed her coffee was empty. He picked up the cup, refilled it from the machine, and set it back in front of her.

"Did you see the young actor who just left?" Lisa asked.

"Yes."

"He’s only a little older than you. A few months ago, he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Do you know how long he worked for that? He started doing toy commercials at fourteen. He auditioned constantly through high school and dropped out before finishing. He was lucky enough to meet me, and I helped get him roles in Santa Barbara and Growing Pains. He had enough talent to beat out hundreds of young actors and work opposite Robert De Niro. Even after What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, he’s still only at the beginning."

Lisa leaned back.

"He is outstanding for his age. In this business, he is still a newcomer. Every real star pays more than outsiders can imagine."

"And Charlize?"

"Right now, I don’t see enough."

Lisa almost laughed.

"But I do have a different idea. Have you heard of a manager?"

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