43 Celebrity in Death

Author:J. D. Robb
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Later in her office, her board set up, her computer on the hum, she studied the faces, the facts, the evidence, the time line.

And felt as if she studied a blank brick wall.

"I don't understand them. Maybe that's why I can't get a good hold on this. Acting, producing, directing—and all that goes into it. It's a business, an industry, but it's based on pretending."

"You're equating pretending with pretense," Roarke responded. "They're not the same. Imagination's essential to the healthy human condition, for progress, for art, even for police work."

She started to disagree about the police work, then reconsidered. She had to imagine, to some extent, the victim, the killer, the events in order to find the reality.

Still.

"These people—the actors. They have to become someone else. They have to want to become someone else. Playacting, isn't that a term for it? Play. But they have to make a living at it. So you get agents and managers, directors, producers."

She circled the board. "The director. He has to see the big picture, right? The whole of it even while he separates it into sections, into scenes. He calls the shots, but he's dependent on the actors taking his direction, and being able to..."

"Become," Roarke finished. "As you said."

"Yeah. The producer, he's got the financial investment and the power. He's the one who says yeah, he can have that, or no, you can't. He has to see the big picture, too, but with dollars and cents attached. So he needs more than what the actors and director put on-screen. He needs them to cultivate image and generate media so the public can imagine the real lives—the glamour, the sex, the scandals—of the actors who make their living being someone else."

She circled again. "So specifically, you've got Steinburger as producer—and I imagine the suits that line up with him, because suits always line up—seeing to it the public are fed Julian and Marlo as an item. Because they consider the public largely made up of morons—and I don't disagree—who'll buy into the fantasy. More, who want that fantasy and will fork over the ready for more tickets, more home discs. Because, back to business, everybody wants a return on their investment."

"What does that tell you?"

"For one thing, Julian, Marlo, and everyone involved went along with that angle. Most of their interviews are playful, flirtatious, without actual confirmation or denial. If one or both of them is asked if they're involved romantically, they give clever varieties of the old 'we're just good friends'—with little teases about chemistry and heat. The same goes for Matthew and Harris."

Eve stopped her pacing in front of the board. "That's more low-key, as the investment in their fantasy isn't as important. K.T. did more playing that up—chemistry again, how much she enjoys her scenes with Matthew. He talks more about the project as a whole, or the cast as a group. He's careful, even in the interviews, not to connect himself too solidly with Harris. He doesn't want that fantasy in his head, or the public's.

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