Dreams of Stardom (Hollywood SI)

Most people didn’t care about a number on some obscure site like Rotten Tomatoes back in 2000 when the reviews were directly read in the newspapers. And almost all the reviews were glowing with high praise.

‘Lovers of the book will find most of their favorite moments beautifully realized, perhaps even bigger and more wondrous than they imagined them.’

–Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle

‘Two and a half hours of pure, uninterrupted enchantment.’

–Rex Reed, Observer

‘[Harry Potter] makes a satisfactory and spectacular, celluloid debut.’

–Adrian Hennigan, BBC.com

‘An imaginative and remarkably faithful adaptation.’

–Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times

‘During [Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone], I was pretty sure I was watching a classic, one that would be around for a long time, and make many generations of fans. The cast is led by an excellent Troy Armitage, who shows in every frame why he deserved that Oscar. His screen presence is very magnetic, rendering you unable to look away from him. Performances from other child actors, Emma Watson, Jamie Bell, and Tom Felton are phenomenal. Adult performers like Maggie Smith, Alan Rickman, and Michael Gambon make you forget that they ever played anything beyond the characters of [Harry Potter]. Robbie Coltrane steals the show among the adults as Hagrid.’

Rating: 4 stars and a thumbs up.

–Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

That was the best rating the film had received, that too from the most celebrated film critic in the US.

The positive response from the critics and the buzz around the movie was converted into massive success when the film defeated all sorts of estimates by analysts around the world and went on to debut at a staggering $37m on the first day itself in the US. On Saturday, owing to strong word of mouth, its collection increased to $40m, before slipping a little on Sunday to $31m, closing the opening weekend collection at a record-breaking $108m. The highest amount collected by any movie ever at the North American Box Office. It also became the first movie in history to earn $100m in the first weekend itself. In the UK also, it broke all sorts of records, earning $27m in the opening weekend (£18.8m), more than any other film ever.

And just like that, within three days of its release, [Harry Potter 1] was declared a Blockbuster, earning more than its budget of $125m. Not that that makes it profitable, but with such a massive opening and glowing reviews, the film was bound to make a profit from the cinema run itself. Not to mention the DVD market and merchandise to be sold later on.

Not just in the English-speaking nations, [Harry Potter] rocked the world cinema with its dominance. Even non-English speaking countries saw massive collections from countries like Japan, Brazil, Germany, Spain, France, and Italy, the film was a huge success unanimously. Within a month of its release, it had collected $272m in North America and $566m internationally for a worldwide collection of $838m, making it the fourth highest-grossing film in the history of cinema, only behind [Titanic], [Jurassic Park], and [Star Wars: The Phantom Menace]. And with the speed with which it is going, it would likely overtake the latter two to emerge as the second-highest-grossing film at the very least.

Meanwhile, I stopped reading about the performance of the film after that initial time. All my time was focused on the second Harry Potter film, [The Chamber of Secrets]. Just like with the first film, CGI-heavy scenes like the Ford Anglia flying across the UK, only to crash into the Whomping Willow, Acromantulas attacking Ron and Harry in the Forbidden Forest, and of course, some more quidditch scenes, this time with Tom Felton, were shot before any other scenes.

By the time we were done with those VFX scenes, the year 2000 had ended. And as happens with the end of any year in the film business, comes the award season for the best films of the year 2000. As far as the year goes, 2000 was a letdown. In the original timeline, the highest-grossing film was [Mission: Impossible 2], followed by [Gladiator] and [Castaway], and none of them even broke past $500m except [MI2], which also was the lowest top movie of the year since 1995. There were some good classic films as well like [Almost Famous], [Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon], [American Psycho], [Memento], but not as many as in the year 1999. You know it is a bad year for films when a mediocre forgettable film like [Chocolat] was nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars.

Because of my presence here, the highest-grossing movie was obviously [Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone] with a worldwide collection of $1.133 billion, officially making it the second-highest-grossing movie ever behind [Titanic]. I like to think we did better than the original timeline because there was no competition from [The Fellowship of the Ring], which would be released in 2001, and as discussed earlier, the year 2000 was very bland for filmgoers.

Not just that, my second film of the year, [Billy Elliot], was also released in a limited release in the US and a wide release in the UK on the Christmas weekend. The critics came out with their reviews and the results were mind-boggling for me.

“This is a film with a lot of charm, a lot of humor, and a lot of heart. Daldry's direction and the screenplay by Lee Hall distinguish themselves further in a discreet, intelligent way ... [Billy Elliot] has a freshness that makes it a pleasure to watch; it's a very emphatic success. Troy Armitage charms everyone once more with effortless ease and shows that he can dance as well as he can sing and act. The cinematography of the dance sequences is breathtaking. Hardly any eye was dry at the heartwarming climax of the movie, which is elevated further by three of the year’s best performances in a single film: Armitage, Julie Walters, and Gary Lewis.”

–Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

“Julie Walters is spirited and colorful as the ballet teacher, and Gary Lewis is somehow convincing as the dad even when the screenplay requires him to make big offscreen swings of position. Troy Armitage is excellent as Billy, earnest and high-spirited, and a pretty good dancer, too. He would make you forget about all his other roles with his unique new coal miner accent and perfect acting.”

–Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

“It's a simple tale but one that is extremely well told and acted. Fittingly for a story about dance, it doesn't put a foot wrong and is engrossing, funny, very sad, very moving, and very uplifting. Troy Armitage as the young Billy Elliot is especially impressive as he manages the complex emotions his character goes through when his secret is discovered and his hopes are blocked. He's also outstanding at the dancing—managing not just to be great at it but also to show us a progression as he struggles to become that great and the effort it takes to keep it up.”

–William Gallagher, BBC

On the website of Rotten Tomatoes, the film had a score of 95% with a score of 8.1/10. It will gradually come down with time as people have the luxury of hindsight, but for the moment, this was as good a score as possible for an indie film that was entertaining as well. The film opened exceedingly well in the UK at £6m ($8.5m) in the first weekend, which was amazing considering that the budget of the film was just £3.5m ($5m).

While on paper, it may seem like a very good career progression, I was bone tired going from one set to another to a film premiere, to a press junket, to an award season promotion. It was all just driving me out of my mind. I barely had any time to spend with my family. While I may be an adult mentally, my body wasn’t and it desperately needed a break. Yet I didn’t complain. I didn’t want to come off as a whiny brat anymore. I had to act like the adult I was meant to be.

The object of my attention at the moment was my latest financial records. The numbers still boggled my mind but it was what it was. My foresight in Yahoo had paid off big time. Its stock had a free fall after the Dot-com bubble burst, and the stock which was above $400 pre-split, had come down to an eighth of its value. My investment of half a million dollars had turned into $9.5m pre-tax. Taxes further reduced the amount to $6.8m, but even that was significant enough money for a kid my age. This, when combined with my salary from  the first Harry Potter film of a staggering $18m pre-tax, gave me a pretty hefty paycheck. Not to mention, I haven’t received my salary from [Billy Elliot] yet.

 The best part of the [Harry Potter] and [Billy Elliot] deals was that because the agreements were executed in the UK, I didn’t have to deposit anything in the Coogan account. After setting up a company in name and paying off my taxes, I had around $14m on me. That, when added to my salary from [AI], and stock market investments, left me with around $22.3m. 

[The Chamber of Secrets] had a budget of $100m, with my salary set at $5m. As per my agreement with Warner, I could invest all of that $5m in the film production, which I did. A significant portion of my remaining net worth of $22.3m would be used in the production of [Billy Elliot: The Musical]. I knew that I could invest all this money in the stock market further, to make hundreds of millions, perhaps even a billion by the time I reached adulthood, but I didn’t see the point. For me, my career came first and foremost, and I’d still earn a handsome amount from the remaining Harry Potter movies to live the rest of my life without worrying about my finances.

Usually, a stage musical costs $5-10 million for producing one show, be it on the West End, or Broadway. But I’d have to shell more than $15m for Billy Elliot. It seemed too steep a price for a musical, but it had to be, given what I had planned. I had discussed this with Dad, and he had looked at me as if I had grown a second head.

“You are crazy,” Mum agreed with Dad’s silent assessment. “This is too much, Troy. I haven’t ever heard of someone planning two productions of the same play in London as well as New York without at least one of them being successful already.”

“Exactly,” I grinned. “I’ll be the first one.” And that was the reason why the production was costing so damn much. I had planned to open a London production next year, and within 2-3 months of the debut, open a production on Broadway as well.

“Not everything you do is genius,” she disagreed with me. “What if it fails to be popular? What if it turns out to be bad? You’ll lose most of your investments and go broke.”

“I’m a kid,” I pointed out helpfully. “I can’t legally go broke. And even if I do, we have the second Potter movie to rely on. Moreover, I have limited time to do this before we start with the third Potter film, and I want to perform on Broadway as well as West End. It will be a little tight, but I’ll make it work somehow.”

My parents shared a look between them before turning to me in unison. Their determined faces told me that they had talked about this before, but I was missing something.

“Okay,” Dad agreed to my plan. “I’ll begin productions for West End and Broadway simultaneously. But we have a condition. Non-negotiable.”

I inclined my head for him to continue.

“You will not take up any other project for the foreseeable future,” Dad stated clearly.

“What?” I asked in surprise. “Why?”

“Do you even have to ask, Troy?” Mum asked rhetorically. “You barely have time for anything. We hardly see you at home nowadays. It was bad enough that you were doing these Potter films, but between [Billy Elliot] and [Artificial Intelligence], you are stretched far too thin. And now you want to spend months in New York next year. Did you even think about me or your father when you planned that all on your own? We will have to drop everything from our lives and move to an unknown city, thousands of miles away from London. Making a career is one thing, but doing it at the cost of your family’s comfort is not what I expected from you.”

Instant guilt crept up inside me. It hadn’t even slightly occurred to me what impact this may have on my parents. I don’t want to do it in this way at all. If doing Broadway uproots my family, its better to—

“No,” Dad interrupted my thoughts. “I know what you’re thinking, but we are not telling you to drop this after you have put so much thought into this. Your mother and I have agreed to let you do this, but only this show. When your run at [Billy Elliot:The Musical] is over, you won’t even look at the scripts of other projects, be they for TV, films, or anything else, until you are done with the fourth Harry Potter movie. Do you agree to our condition?”

How can I say no to that after everything they had said? “Okay,” I agreed without needing to think too much about it.

“Good,” Dad smiled at me. “Enough of this serious talk for now. We are here in Los Angeles for the Golden Globes. Let’s enjoy that peacefully.”

And just like that, Dad deftly changed to topic. The nominations for the 58th Golden Globes had been announced in December 2000, while the awards were being held on January 21, 2001. Like last year, I had no intention to attend a phony and corrupt award ceremony, but Dad got a call from Universal, the distributor. And they literally begged for me to attend. Then again, the film was opening in wide release in the US on the same day, so it made sense for me to be there in person to promote the film. For me, this was only that: promotion.

[Billy Elliot] was the most nominated film of the night with six nominations. They were: Best Picture–Drama, Best Actor–Drama (for me), Best Supporting Actress (Julie Walters), Best Supporting Actor (Gary Lewis), Best Director (Stephen Daldry), and Best Screenplay (Lee Hall). Not to mention that Dad (Steve Kloves) had also received a nomination for Best Screenplay for a film he had written a while back called [Wonder Boys].

It goes on to show how much my presence had changed the timeline. As far as I remember, Jamie Bell hadn’t scored any nominations in a major award show with the sole exception of the BAFTAs, which he had won. Same for Gary Lewis, as he was mostly ignored by the American voters despite giving (in my opinion) the best performance in the film. This generated a lot of buzz for the film as getting the most nominations made it one of the most anticipated films of the night.

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