I Want To Make You A Star: The Ambitious Auteur

Name: Chase Mortimer

Nickname: Morty

Occupations: Screenwriter, director, producer

Born: May 19, 1928, in San Jose, CA, US

Died: September 4, 1973, in Los Angeles, CA, US

Spouse: None

Children: None

Favorite Foods: Mixed vegetables, grilled cheese sandwich, buttered popcorn

Hobby: Sightseeing

…

"Oh, yes—I see all the makings of a star! And not just any star—a leading man!"

…

Chase Mortimer, known to friends, family members and colleagues as Morty, was born on May 19, 1928, in a modest house in San Jose, California. Talent seemed to run in the family, as his dad was a playwright and his mom voice-acted in radio dramas.

In 1931, Morty's dad began transitioning from writing plays to writing film scripts, as he saw the growing film industry as more lucrative. As for Morty, watching his dad at work helped him discover his own love for films, although his first creative foray was a play he wrote when he was six years old. Morty received frequent encouragement from his parents, both telling him that whether he landed a career in film or in theater, he should never let his creativity die. He promised that he wouldn't, living up to that promise by writing more plays during his teen years. In addition, his parents would take him to the cinema as a reward for good grades.

Between 1942 and 1945, Morty helped his dad make patriotic films to boost morale during World War II. After the war ended, Morty attended UCLA, pursuing a Film major. He graduated in 1950, and then he attended drama school, from which he graduated in 1954. Armed with his degrees and his creative talent, Morty made Los Angeles, California his permanent home and searched for a career in film directing.

Morty landed his first job in 1955, directing television commercials. Remembering his promise and his parents' advice, he began writing short films on the side, using his free time to pitch them to various studios. Initially, only independent studios were willing to take a chance on him, but as Morty persisted, he slowly but surely began catching Hollywood's eye.

In 1959, Morty was approached by Paramount Pictures with a script for a feature film, which they offered him to direct. Morty accepted on the condition that he be given some creative control. The film, A Really Big World, was a comedy about a man shrunk down to bite size, and it was Morty's official directorial debut. It performed relatively well at the box office, but Morty felt that greater successes were ahead of him.

He was right.

During the first half of the 1960s, Morty worked closely with two studios, Paramount and Universal, directing films spanning multiple genres. In turn, he revamped his earlier screenplays and pitched them to the execs, offering to direct them himself. However, since the studios were reluctant to let him retain creative control, Morty started feeling constrained by working with a studio production, so in 1965, the director struck out on his own, forming his own studio and production company, Red Megaphone Pictures.

At Red Megaphone, Morty really hit his stride, amassing a team of editors, designers, actors, stunt performers and makeup artists ready and willing to bring his stories to life. The films he penned and directed were original and diverse. One film could be a gut-busting comedy, and the next could be a tearjerking melodrama. He also made horror films, epic period films and gripping action films. The mood was always lively on Morty's sets, and he was rarely seen without the red megaphone which gave his studio its name. A black beret, a black turtleneck and blue jeans also became one of his frequent outfits.

As the 1970s dawned, Morty planned to craft an epic swan song to his film career—a "monster vs. monster" film the likes of which nobody had ever seen before. He would have released this film in the late 80s or early 90s, but he was still writing the first draft of his swan song when tragedy struck. On September 4, 1973, Morty was involved in a ghastly on-set accident which resulted not only in his death but also the deaths of several actors and crew. He was 53 years old. An investigation posthumously cleared him of any wrongdoing.

Morty was distraught that he never got to finish his movie. As a result, he was quite a restless ghost, spending the next 40 years roaming studios all over California. In 2018, he came across Hellen Gravely, who was vacationing in Los Angeles, and she told him that she knew of a film studio where he could peacefully complete his work. That "studio" turned out to be the eighth floor of The Last Report, and Hellen didn't bring him there so that he could make his "monster vs. monster" film. She gave him a year to settle in, and then she arranged for his iconic red megaphone to disappear, giving him an elevator button to "babysit" for a while.

Hellen later told Morty that if he came across a certain mustached man in green wearing a red backpack, then he was to immediately turn him over to her, counting on Luigi coming upon the ghostly director in a distressed state and offering to help. In exchange, she'd give his megaphone back. Reluctantly, Morty agreed, but when Luigi arrived, he couldn't bring himself to harm the kindly ghost-wrangler. Instead, when Luigi returned Morty's red megaphone, the director cast him in his "monster vs. monster" project—as one of the monsters! With Gooigi as an unlikely co-star (Morty referred to him as a "supporting actor"), Luigi battled the other monster, merely a Goob wearing a monster suit, on a set resembling a large city. The "monster" fired several large energy balls at Luigi, but he used the Poltergust's exhaust function to blast them back into his opponent, requiring Gooigi's help with the final two.

When Luigi knocked over the "monster" and captured the Goob actor, Morty's epic swan song was finally complete. In gratitude, Morty gave Luigi the elevator button, and the two exchanged contact information after viewing the finished film. Luigi visited Morty several more times throughout his adventure, and on his last visit, he instructed Morty to film a special message to his imperiled loved ones which would've been shown had he not survived the final battle against King Boo.

During the aforementioned final battle, as King Boo attempted to trap the entire hotel in a giant portrait, Morty personally evacuated all of the ghosts from the building. After King Boo's defeat, he snatched Gooigi out of thin air when the Last Resort collapsed. In the following days, Morty helped rebuild the hotel, and upon its completion, he rebranded Red Megaphone Pictures as Red Megaphone Studios, with its flagship studio located on the new hotel's 14th floor.

Today, Morty spends his days sightseeing, giving hotel guests studio tours and brainstorming ideas for future projects with his favorite leading man, Luigi, by his side.