Chapter 134: PR Nightmare

It didn’t take long before the news reached the general public.

With it, was a backlash so vicious, one had to wonder if Adrian had personally offended the internet.

But then again, attempted murder, whatever the circumstances may have been--case in point ’method acting’--was not the sort of stuff any sane person would’ve taken lightly.

But when the video clip of Adrian’s prior bullshit began flooding everywhere within the same time frame as that of his attempted murder on Niall, that was when the outrage boomeranged to high heavens.

In less than an hour, the internet had pieced together everything without leaving any crumbs on the table.

TweetTalk as usual became the central hub for cancel culture following all these, and it happened to be one of the few times where everyone seemed to be of unequivocal agreement.

On a post made by Starlight Magazine with the caption...

When Method Acting Goes Too Far: Niall Parker Survives an Attempt on His Life from Former Acting Colleague, Adrian Manchester.

...was an attached link to an article, and equally a 1080p video complete with a clear enough audio of the incident at the photoshoot session.

Having garnered a staggering 150M+ million views and counting in under twenty-four hours, complete with likes, retweets and comments in the high 100Ks, the post continuously kept blowing up as more and more denizens engaged with it.

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Bluntbellina: ’B-b-but I was just method acting!’. Yeah, right?! Tell that to the freaking loaded GUNand the very real BULLETS in it! My God! How does someone go from method acting to methodically ruining their entire life?!

Brendan Biellman: Straight to jail and life imprisonment! And they better not pull some bullshit like ’He was method acting so it’s not actually a premeditated attempted murder!’ and reduce his sentence to a couple years because of it. Dude deserves to be jailed for life.

TheatreKidFromHell: The craziest part of this entire story is that this started with a freaking photoshoot, and somehow, ended with attempted murder and an arrest. Hollywood is not real, peeps.

Danny Boi: Every now and then, a celebrity does something they’ll never ever recover from for the rest of their lives. This, ladies and gents, ranks at the top of that fucking list! The fuck do you mean method acting?! This was clearly targeted and I refuse to believe otherwise!

AsmonSilver: So, let me get this straight, yeah? One, you try to ruin your fellow actor’s career when he was still up and coming. Two, you hide behind method acting to be an asshole and said actor puts you in your place like a father warning his toddler. Three, your pride gets the better of you and you attempt to kill him because of it? Folks, you can’t make this shit up! You just fucking can’t! What are you, exactly? A fucking retard???

DogShocker Piker: @AsmonSilver; I know right?! Like I’m not condoning it, but aren’t there fixers for shit like this? Why be so stupid and dirty your own hands when you can have someone else do it for you? But alas... ’method acting’.

MayaTheWitch: It’s like Goldleaf Talent Agency just produces the absolute scums of the earth every now and then and Niall just ended up getting the shortest end of the stick by having to deal with them, not once, but twice... long after he’d left their agency at that!

Robert Pattycake: All of this could’ve been avoided if Adrian, just, you know, actually ACTED?! Niall was right. Most actors do only try to method act when they want to be absolute jerks, but this... this is just disturbing.

Mikkelsen The GOAT: @Robert Pattycake;You know, I’m quite glad that this happened. For a while, you won’t hear the slightest pip about method acting from any actor in Hollywood lest they want the same outrage directed their way. But most of all, I’m glad that Niall survived to tell the tale. This could’ve gone, so, horribly wrong.

InternetNeverForgets: I don’t even think the shooting is what finished him as that could’ve been somewhat manipulated into whatever Adrian may have wanted it to be without prior context, perhaps even get off scot-free with a hefty fine. But now that the entire internet has the receipts for everything that came before it... bro better lawyer the fuck up!

Heavenly Critic: The irony of Adrian trying to play a terrifying psychopath while Niall accidentally being more intimidating than him without even raising his voice is sending me, I won’t lie. But man, the PR nightmare this is going to be, not just for Adrian, but Big Boon Studios as well... it’s definitely going to affect their production of [Syndicate: Reckoning].

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True to the last two recent comments, that was exactly what was happening.

Adrian was currently in jail, staring at the ground with a true hollowness to his visage. Even behind bars, the news had already gotten to him.

Ever since the incident at the photoshoot session, he’d been so obsessed with getting back at Niall for humiliating him, he’d wanted to be the one to terrify him with his very own hands.

As a result, he’d been keeping tabs on him with the help of several informants, biding his time till an opportunity so perfect, landed right in front of him, he couldn’t help but take it.

Afterall, what were the odds that the hotel he was staying at, just happened to be close-by as well?

In truth though, Adrian originally didn’t have any plans to murder Niall.

All he had wanted, was to give the young star the illusion that he was not safe by shooting at his vehicle’s tires a couple times once he’d gotten in then bolt from the area as quickly as he could.

However, Niall’s impossible reaction to his presence had sent him into a panic, hence why he’d tried erasing the evidence in the heat of the moment, all of which ultimately led to him being caught.

Even then, things would’ve been relatively kept under wraps given the connections his father had, one that would’ve at least gotten him out on bail once he defaulted to his best lie at the moment.

Method acting.

Unfortunately for him, someone just had to have recorded his entire interaction on the day of the photoshoot, one that proved that he wasn’t so immersed in his character that he couldn’t snap out of it.

That alone, coupled with the sequence of events that had happened that day, had given everyone an unequivocal proof that he had in fact, planned it all out, hence barring whatever plans he had prior and rendering them useless.

Even when he tried contacting his already furious father, the old man simply told him there was nothing he could do for him asides get him a good lawyer and hope for the best...

...which in translation, meant that he was going to be locked up for a very long time.

Safe to say, Adrian had dug his own grave and had no other choice but to lie in a coffin of his own making.

Unfortunately, his ’stunt’ hadn’t only affected him.

It had practically ricocheted off to Big Boon Studios as well, and they were doing all they can to cut themselves off from Adrian as promptly as they could with one press release after the other.

At the moment though, there was a rather heated argument between the director of the movie and the executives in charge, one of whom happened to be Louis Hoffman himself.

In fact, he was the one whom was earning the fury of the director the most.

One for pushing forward with a movie he’d told him would be quite hard to make as the story already rounded up cleanly with the first three movies and two, for heavily pushing for the casting of a rather terrible actor just because his old man was one of the bigger investors in the movie.

It also didn’t take long before said director called it quits with the movie and refused to continue directing it as he’d finally reached his tipping point with all the controversy on ground.

And despite all the clauses he’d break and the hefty fines he knew he’d pay, he remained adamant on not producing a movie that was bound to be a disservice to his prior work on the last three movies.

Safe to say, if [Syndicate: Reckoning] had been frequently going through a few hiccups since filming began, now it had found itself in quite the quagmire as they had to pause production mid-way and begin searching for not just a new director, but a new supporting actor as well.

Yet, as all this was happening, Niall was once again on set, the young man stretching adjusting his coat in preparation for another scene as he and Mary-Beth stood before the massive LED screens.

Despite his manager’s and his agent’s attempts to halt filming so he could give himself the time to process things, he remained adamant on continuing, assuring them all that he was fine.

Even when his parents and Camille had equally called once the news go to them, he’d done the same as well.

Not because he was putting up a brave front, but honestly because he really was dandy.

A bit shaken, yes. But dandy, nonetheless.

Besides, given their planned budget, Niall knew better than to halt filming lest it hiked past it and derailed the flow of things.

Afterall, they had to finish most of the green room performances and finally move on to on-set locations towards the middle of next month.

In any case...

"You guys ready?" Mark gestured from the corner whilst standing next to the cinematographers.

"As I’ll ever be." Niall replied, and Mary-Beth simply nodded in response.

Without further ado, the director bobbed his head once, then gave the order a moment after;

"Action."

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/Caer07