Wonder Man

This is Simon Williams.

You're an actor. Do you think you can get close to him?

When Simon was little, he fell off his bike.

He always insisted on riding his father's bike,

even though he was too small for it.

It was a few years after Sanford passed.

Someone's actually remaking Wonder Man?

Not someone. Von Kovak.

This movie? Everything. It's too much.

I should be in bed or at the gym

or runnin' lines or...

Simon, we've got no lines to run.

Listen to me, Simon. Von Kovak is leaving town tomorrow.

- The callback has been moved up. - What?

The callback is happening now.

Get your ass to Von Kovak's house as fast as you can.

We gotta go!

- -

Oh, my God! Oh, my God!

Let's go, let's go.

- -

I'm usually... usually better dressed.

Are you kidding? You look great.

All right, my friend, if you're sure.

Sure, I'm sure.

All right. Let me... Let me set the mood.

You're... You're at the bar. The music is pumping.

You feel the beat.

- Mmm-hmm. - Now you want a shot.

You approach the bartender. You make eye contact, and...

Make mine a mayberlab... Oh.

I'm sorry.

Make mine a Jägermeister.

Sorry, I'm not my best.

Are you kidding? That was great.

- That was great. - Oh.

I could really use the gig, mate.

- Really? - Yeah. I'm pretty desperate, to be honest.

Can we try another one?

Yeah. Yeah, actually

that wasn't the real audition.

Oh, I see.

You're making something a little more adult, are you?

No. It's not like that.

Here.

- I might need a minute. - No, no, no, no.

- Have you seen this? - You don't have to memorize.

You don't have to memorize. I just want to get a sense of your tone.

- Tone? Oh. - Tone. Just the tone.

You got it.

Some people call me a terrorist...

Yeah. Try to sound scary.

Some people call me a terrorist...

Good, good.

Hold on one second.

Some people call me...

Here. Try one with these on.

Right. Right. Right, thank you.

Mmm-hmm.

Some people call me a terrorist.

- Shit! I fell asleep. - What's that?

I said I fell asleep, Trevor, because I'm exhausted.

Oh, well, I'm sure the adrenaline will kick in.

I hope so.

I've had plenty of all-nighters.

Trust me, the second wind will come. You just have to open your sails to it.

Well, whatever that means.

Hey, um, which one of these do you think sounds, uh, better?

"We only get one shot at this, Barnaby. It's not the time for games and riddles."

Or "We only get one shot at this, Barnaby. It's not the time for games and riddles."

Well, they both feel a bit...

- Terrible? - No. I was gonna say a bit forced.

They feel a bit forced.

Hey, Von Kovak doesn't know that we're coming together, right?

He doesn't even know that we're friends.

We could plan something and make it seem spontaneous.

- Like you can cut me off halfway... - Simon, listen to yourself.

- No. - If... If we plan something,

it won't be spontaneous, it will just feel inauthentic.

- I can't believe this shit. - Steady on.

No, I said... I said it last night, I'm supposed to be rested.

I should have went home or to the gym.

- I'm supposed to be on my game. - You're gonna be great.

Yeah, or... or I'm gonna blow the biggest opportunity of my life

because I got caught up in all your bullshit last night.

Well, you got one hell of a story out of it.

And what about Jayden? Because he almost got shot.

No, I had a feeling it would all sort itself out.

You say that about a lot of stuff, don't you?

Well, look at me.

I mean, here I am on my way to meet Von Kovak

for the role of a lifetime.

Slattery, Williams.

Would you look at that?

This is intense.

Ooh.

- One pair of shoes. That's weird. - How so?

If it's a shoes-off house, there'd be a whole line of shoes.

If it's a shoes-on house, there'd be none.

But one pair of shoes...

- What does that mean? - Someone forgot their shoes.

What? No. Trevor, this... this is a test.

Von Kovak is judging us based on every little thing that we do or say.

So, let's not give him any strange energy to pick up on.

We both have a lot riding on this, Simon.

Why would you say that?

Take it easy. Come on, try your box breathing.

Come on. Let's both stay loose and relaxed.

What? No. You know I can't do either one of those things.

Come in.

Mr. Kovak will meet you in the living room.

Amazing!

Is she wearing shoes?

I don't know.

Oh, shit. He's seeing us all at the same time.

That's a bit offside.

Everybody's wearing shoes. They probably all slept last night.

Hey. Manuel Maria José de Los Remedios.

Simon Williams. Goddamn.

- And you must be a fellow Barnaby, eh? - Yeah.

Trevor Slattery. Shall we fight it to the death?

- Bang-bang. -

So you all here for the callback?

- Mmm-hmm. - Claro.

I studied at Juilliard, mostly done theater.

But, I just wrapped up a Chris Nolan project.

Yeah, no formal training for me. I'm a student of life.

Also, I'm Paul Thomas Anderson's surfing instructor

and, yeah, one day he was like, "You should be in my movie."

Turns out, I'm a natural. Phone hasn't stopped ringing.

That sounds like a pretty rough journey.

Oh, it wasn't.

Nah, I was being sarcastic.

Oh, cool.

Not really into comedy.

Hello, everyone.

Thanks so much for coming to my little retreat.

I call it my "prison of opulence."

I wanted a home that represented

everything I both love and detest about Hollywood all at once.

Yeah, yeah. I... I can see that.

Follow me.

Wow.

Well... cheers, mate.

"We only get one shot at this, Barnaby. It's not the time for games and riddles."

"no time for games and riddles. I can't give up on this.

I can't do that. I can't..."

This is where I've been living with the project.

It's been taking shape in my head.

I wanted to bring you all inside my brain

so we can explore it together.

Jolines, eh... but, this is me!

- - Oh, oh, oh, oh.

You seem to have snuck into my subconscious, eh?

So, the Spaniard pulls ahead.

This is the song for the start of the picture.

["The Midnight Special" by Creedence Clearwater Revival plays]

Can you see it?

We're in space.

All alone. It's cold.

What is this strange, haunting song?

We're getting closer to an alien planet.

Closer, closer, closer.

Wait! This is no alien planet.

It's Earth.

We are flying alongside Wonder Man as he returns home.

Interesting. Interesting.

- - Okay, why don't we get started?

Let's split you up in pairs.

Uh, Trevor, Olly?

- - Oh, um...

- Actually, Trevor and I were kind of... - No, it's... it's okay, Simon.

Let's just roll with it.

Simon and Manuel.

And Jake and Richard. Okay?

- Let's do this. - Follow me.

General Broulard doesn't give a damn about the human costs.

How can one find a vulnerability in a monster without shame?

We only get one shot at this, Barnaby. It's not the time for games or riddles.

Damn it! He is a natural.

No. This isn't working.

No, you are fine. It's not you.

It's the words. They're getting in the way.

Let's throw away the scene.

- What? - Throw it away. We don't need it.

- I love it. -

I don't care what you think about this character

or whatever choices you have made about the script.

Our ideas about heroes and gods,