Life # 143 That time Tom and Harry were A-list actors
London, UK, 2014
They met at the premiere of a movie Harry had a small, supporting part in. Tom had worked with the director in his breakout role some years prior, so naturally he was invited to the premiere of the director's latest project. They literally bumped into each other during the party after everyone had seen the movie.
"Hi," Harry said, mind still reeling as he stared at Tom with wide eyes. This wasn't the first time they were celebrities by any means, but this was the first time that Tom was wearing the body of a very talented and desirable A-list actor who just about the whole planet seemed to lust after in some capacity or another.
"Nice to meet you," Tom said, quickly recovering from the shock of getting his memories back and acutely aware they were surrounded by hundreds of people and thus had to keep up appearances at least for a while. "Sorry, mate, but I didn't catch your name."
"Tim," Harry said with a sheepish smile. "Or Timmy, whatever you want."
"It was a great movie," Tom said as he sipped his drink. "Your performance was more than solid."
Snorting, Harry gave a careless shrug. "Sure, for all three minutes that I was in it."
"It was at least five minutes," Tom said with a grin and then nodded knowingly. "Small parts like that can get you noticed, though, so don't discount them."
"Oh no," Harry said quickly with a vigorous shake of his head. "That's not how I meant it. This is my first part in a big production and being a part of it felt so… epic that I hadn't realized how small my part actually was."
While they were chatting they had slowly but surely manoeuvred through the crowd to a more secluded corner of the room for a bit more privacy. "How old are you?" Harry asked urgently when they were no longer surrounded by people on all sides.
"I'm 37," Tom whispered. "You?"
Harry swallowed. "I'm 19."
"Bugger." Tom pursed his lips and stared down at his shoes. "We're going to have to play this very carefully if we don't want to mess up our careers."
"Yeah," Harry said in complete agreement. Not only were they both men, but there was also a significant age difference. Marrying someone your own gender was still not fully accepted for A-list stars like Tom was at that moment, especially not if his spouse was still a teenager. "I suggest we hold off any official relationship for at least a few years. Perhaps start with a friendship that's slowly made public and which can then evolve into a romantic relationship."
"We could easily make something like that work. I've got a couple of big projects lined up, so I don't have time for a relationship anyway." Tom gave Harry a curious look. "You've got anything interesting coming up?"
Harry heaved a deep sigh. "Yeah, maybe. A starring role in a small project but they're having trouble getting financing. Other than that, nothing, but I'm hoping I'll get some good publicity from this movie."
"It really is a good movie so you're bound to get offered something new," Tom said optimistically, but unfortunately, for once he was wrong.
For months nothing happened for Harry and his blossoming acting career. He got so bored doing nothing he ended up writing a few scripts. One a dark comedy about a dysfunctional family, one a psychological thriller about a serial killer and one a straight up horror story about a demonic possession.
Harry's agent gave him a very peculiar look when Harry handed her three completed scripts during their next meeting.
"You've got hidden talents," his agent said as she paged through the first script. "I don't usually sell scripts but I'll see what I can do."
"Thanks. Any parts I can play coming up?" Harry asked with a hopeful smile.
"They're casting Spider-man," his agent said with feigned nonchalance. "You interested?"
Harry bounced in his seat. "Fuck yeah!"
"Did you get Spidey?" Tom asked two months later during their daily telephone call. They both had bought additional phones specifically to keep in touch with each other. No one else had that number since tabloid journalists were known to hack known phone numbers from celebrities like Tom and they couldn't risk their conversations and chat logs becoming public.
Harry dropped himself down on his bed and released a deep sigh. "I made it to the last four I believe but the kid they eventually cast is really athletic and apparently did a whole bunch of backflips during his audition. Fucking hell, I can't do a backflip to save my life. I'm just not athletic in this body. Like at all. "
Tom chuckled, his hoarse voice sending shivers down Harry's back. "But you are ridiculously handsome, though, so there's that."
Harry's cheeks heated before he even knew what was happening. Lots of people had told him he was handsome during his current life, but that usually didn't have such an effect on him. "Ugh, your voice does things to me."
Tom purposefully deepened his voice even more. "Really? Do tell."
"I'm not having phone sex with you right now," Harry grumbled though his body certainly seemed interested in that prospect. "I'm still mentally recovering from getting rejected for Spidey." Harry shot up once he remembered something important. "Oh, I did get word that I've got a supporting part in an independent movie that starts shooting soon."
"Nice. I'm happy for you," Tom said with obvious warmth in his voice. "I'm also pretty sure you've got ADHD coming out of your ears."
"Huh?" Harry blinked as he stared across his empty bedroom. That was not at all what he'd expected Tom to say to him anytime soon.
"Think about it," Tom insisted. "You wrote three complete scripts in three months because you were bored. You fall over your own feet more often than not. You are incapable of sitting still. You constantly complain you cannot plan anything. And once you start talking it's impossible to shut you up."
"You know," Harry said after a few moments of silence as he thought back to his entire life so far. "That would explain a lot."
Because Tom was usually right about such things, Harry sought out a psychologist who specialized in neurodiversity and three months later he had a shiny new ADHD diagnosis, just in time for his supporting role in a small, independent movie. While the movie didn't attract much attention from the general public, Harry's performance got exceptional praise from most critics.
And then Tom got an Oscar nomination.
"It's just for supporting actor," Tom said over the phone when Harry spent at least ten minutes gushing about it. "Not to mention I fucking earned that. I spent months in the mud and the snow during that shoot."
"That was so worth it," Harry all but yelled. "That was one of the most beautiful movies I've ever seen. Seriously. Every shot in that movie gave me a cinematic boner."
"You're a teenager," Tom said with a loud snort. "Everything gives you a boner."
"Hey!" Harry was tempted to give his phone an affronted look. "I'm 21 now, I'll have you know."
"So you're finally able to legally buy alcohol in your country of origin. Congrats," Tom said with no small amount of sarcasm colouring his voice.
Harry decided to ignore his soulmate because he just remembered something rather important. "Oh! I got news. That independent movie got its financing sorted out and the director still wants me for the lead role!" Harry bounced on the couch, unable to contain his enthusiasm. "I'm going to Italy this summer for the shoot."
Tom's voice noticeably softened. "That's awesome. You'll do great."
Unfortunately, Tom didn't win the Oscar that year, but his movie did receive a bunch of them, including one for lead actor and cinematography. "Just the nomination does wonders for your career," Tom said when Harry called him to offer his condolences on his loss. "My agent can now ask significantly more for my work."
"Really?" Harry wondered how one went about getting an Oscar nomination for acting if it was that lucrative of an event in the long run. Apparently the answer to that question was to fuck a peach on screen.
No, really.
Harry got an Oscar nomination for doing just that. And for actor in a leading role, too. The youngest to receive it in 80 or so years.
"You were so fucking good in that movie," Tom told him for the umpteenth time during their daily phone chat. "Not a false moment while you were on screen. It's been a long time since I saw an actor give such an honest performance."
"Well, I do like peaches," Harry said with a snicker as he lay on his bed, glowing inside and out from Tom's many compliments. "I'm just not sure what I'll do with myself if I lose." Harry blinked up at the ceiling. "Or what I'll do if I actually win the fucking thing. I'm still so young and I've barely got any movies under my belt."
Tom remained quiet for a few moments. "You're already familiar with the whole circus. You know how it goes." Tom was referring to life number 85, when Harry had been a script writer and Tom a director. They had both won Oscars that life.
"Yeah, I remember," Harry said with a sigh. "But somehow it's different when you're an actor. Like they're not just judging your work, but they're also judging you."
"I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels that way," Tom replied quietly. "It is different when you work on screen instead of behind the camera."
"It really is," Harry sighed in agreement. "I'm starting to get recognized on the street. I never had that problem when I only wrote scripts."
"I got recognized back then as a director from time to time but nobody really cared beyond quickly saying hello and that they loved this or that movie." Tom fell quiet for a minute but Harry could tell he was contemplating something important to him. Harry knew Tom so well by then that he had no problems deciphering the man's silences. "I think I figured out why we're both so good at acting this life," Tom finally said and then fell silent again to await Harry's response.
"Besides winning some genetic lottery?" Harry asked while he raised his eyebrows. "You believe it's more than some natural talent we're both born with?"
"Think about it," Tom said in a quiet tone which piqued Harry's curiosity even more. "We've been acting for well over a hundred lives now. In every bloody life we lead, we have to act to conceal our real identities. To basically everyone around us at all times, except to each other."
"Huh." Harry blinked a few times in astonishment. "You might be on to something there, babe. We have been playing the grown-up version of pretend since the moment we started reincarnating."
"Exactly."
Harry's lips tugged up in a cheeky smile. "So what you're really saying is that I might actually have a chance of winning the Oscar for actor in a leading role. I've been acting in leading roles my whole ridiculously long existence."
Tom chuckled in clear amusement. "Who knows. You certainly deserve to win, darling."
Harry was unable to stop himself from gnawing on his own thumb. "Oh my god, I think I'd have an actual anxiety attack if they call out my name."
"You've won Oscars before," Tom pointed out without a hint of sympathy.
"And I almost started hyperventilating then, too," Harry was quick to counter. The only reason he'd been able to say a bloody thing during his acceptance speech was because Tom had urged him to practice an acceptance speech in the first place, just in case he won. Harry would have created a note to bring with him but he'd been a woman that life and evening gowns rarely came with pockets to conveniently hide an acceptance speech in.
In the end Harry's worries about actually winning were a moot point because he didn't win the Oscar.
"I am disappointed," Harry confessed to Tom the next day over the phone. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't. But at the same time the publicity around that movie and my nomination has definitely put my name on the map because I've got so many great parts lined up. And I'm going to an audition for a leading role in a new sci-fi movie. The director asked for me personally."
"There you go," Tom said with pride in his voice. "So the whole disappointing circus was worth it after all."
"Yeah, it was." Harry shook himself out of his slightly depressed mood. "How's the shoot going?"
Tom had been cast as the leading man in a superhero movie. Well, anti-hero, to be more exact. "It's going great. The script is so-so, but the shoot's fine and I'm getting a generous amount of points, so there's that."
Points meant that an actor got a cut of the profits of the movie and they were usually the reason really talented actors ended up doing mediocre, big-budget movies.
"Fair enough," Harry said with a grin. "You make those millions so you can buy us a nice big house once we go public with our relationship."
"Yeah, talking about that," Tom said, suddenly sounding utterly serious. "I'll be in LA around the same time you'll be there next month. We can officially get our relationship started then."
"Right," Harry said, sitting up at once now that they were talking about their future. "Nothing official yet, but we can get the timeline started." They had come up with a scenario to release to the public once they were ready to take their relationship public and this would be the first step in it. Be seen in pubic together as friends.
"Exactly." Tom cleared his throat once, twice. "Even if this whole thing blows up in our faces and no major studio wants to hire us ever again, we'll always be able to keep acting. Especially with all the projects the streaming services are pumping out."
"I know," Harry agreed at once. "I've got a Netflix movie lined up this fall." Sighing, Harry contemplated their future for a moment. "I just like being in these big projects, you know?"
"I know," Tom said with utter conviction. "I don't want to give this all up either if we can help it. But we won't end up unemployed is what I'm saying."
Over the next two years, Tom and Harry carefully created a public friendship. The internet took notice because they were such an odd couple. The older British bad boy, known for his gruff manners during interviews, his many tattoos and his ridiculously charismatic screen presence, and the younger American, humble, enthusiastic, goofy and oh so talented as an actor.
They were photographed together at premieres and parties, and candidly as they spent time together during their sparse days off shooting movies. One time a paparazzi caught Harry walking Tom's beloved dog.
"I'm puppysitting for a friend!" Harry told the photographer with his usual amount of enthusiasm. "He's being a very good boy, just like his owner."
That clip went viral in no time and elevated Tom and Harry almost to cult status amongst their many fans. Not to mention the dozens of memes it sprouted that were shared on every social media platform imaginable. Surprisingly there were very few people online who speculated that their relationship could be anything more than a friendship. Those few who did were generally ignored and called creepy or crazy or both.
Tom and Harry had agreed to come out as a couple by the time they got married. They had quietly informed their closest family members of their relationship as well as their agents. They'd met with a small army of publicists to see to it that their public announcement would be received as well as could be expected. They were booked in advance for interviews with Oprah, appearances on Ellen and a whole bunch of other TV shows.
And then two weeks before they were getting married the world shut down.
"Why is it always a fucking pandemic?" Harry moaned as he and Tom were stuck in their apartment in London. Their wedding, which would have taken place in a small castle in Scotland was obviously off the table. They had planned to buy a nice house somewhere in the English countryside after the wave of publicity was over but that was also obviously not happening anytime soon.
"Be glad it's just a corona virus and not airborne ebola or something equally terrifying," Tom mumbled before sipping his cup of coffee as he read the news on his phone.
"Yeah, okay, I'll give you that," Harry sighed while he picked up his own cup of coffee. "It's just that I have so many amazing projects lined up and now I'm stuck inside bored out of my mind."
"So write something," Tom said without looking up from his phone. "You've been complaining for two years that you haven't got time to write since your acting career really took off."
"Nobody wants to buy my scripts anyway," Harry mumbled dejectedly. The three scripts he'd handed to his agent years ago remained unsold. Harry frowned for a moment as his mind slowly stopped spinning and focussed on an idea that popped in his mind. "I could write something we could act together while we're stuck here for the foreseeable future."
That caught Tom's attention and he looked up at Harry with a quirk of his eyebrow.
Harry's thoughts lined up a story before he even knew what was happening. "Just us in a room with a table and two chairs. You as a cop, me as a murder suspect. I'll call it The Interrogation. We can put it up on YouTube or something, you know, just for fun."
"That's not a bad idea at all," Tom said with an approving nod before he turned his attention back to his phone. "Go write that."
And Harry did and he was glad that finishing the short script kept him busy and entertained for a while at least.
"Fuck," Tom said one morning during breakfast as he was scrolling through his phone again. "The cat's out of the bag."
"What?" Harry said between bites of scrambled egg. "What cat?"
"There's a lot of rumours about us going around online right now," Tom explained while he kept scrolling through his phone. "Apparently some anonymous source has confirmed to Buzzfeed that we were booked with Oprah to come out as a couple. All the news agencies are picking up on that, especially because people have seen us walking the dog together recently so they know we're in lockdown together here in my flat."
"Fuck," Harry said while he stared at Tom in shock. There went their carefully scripted coming out story. "What sort of response are we getting?"
"Mostly positive, though there are lots of questions about how we met and whether or not I've groomed you," Tom said without much emotion in his voice.
"What the fuck," Harry said, anger igniting in his chest. "Yeah, we're not putting up with that kind of shit."
"What do you suggest we do?" Tom asked while he narrowed his eyes at Harry. "Have a public Zoom call with Oprah and post it on the internet?"
"Actually," Harry said as he leaned back in his seat. "That's not a bad idea. Well, some of it's not a bad idea. I'm not talking to Oprah over Zoom."
And that is how Tom and Harry ended up sitting on their couch with a small camera on a tripod aimed at themselves.
"Hi," Harry said with a bright smile as he waved at the camera. "I'm Tim and this is my fiancé Tom."
Tom gave a lazy salute at the camera.
"Yeah, you heard that correctly," Harry said with a laugh. "In fact, if it wasn't for this horrible pandemic we would have been married by now." Schooling his features into something more serious, Harry leaned a little closer to the camera. "We hadn't planned on coming out like this, since the world is going through a global disaster right now. People are losing their livelihoods and even their lives. A couple of privileged actors moaning about their non-problems is the last thing people need to see right now."
"Except then rumours popped up about us," Tom said as he tilted his head and gave the camera an almost challenging look. "Some which even suggest that our relationship isn't exactly consensual."
"And we're having none of that," Harry said as he gave the camera an equally intense look. "So this is us coming out as a couple by telling you how we met and how we got into a relationship."
They had come up with a story about their relationship that emphasized friendship and that put Harry in the place of the instigator, to hopefully convince the majority of the public that their relationship was worth supporting.
The simple fact was that it was still unheard of for A-list actors to come out of the closet and announce they were in a same-sex relationship. There were plenty of actors who were publicly part of the LGBTQ community, but they were never given starring roles in big budget studio movies. They mostly worked in TV or smaller movies and perhaps got supporting roles in the big blockbusters. There were plenty of LGBTQ A-listers in Hollywood, but they remained firmly in the closet. For some their sexuality was a bit of an open secret that everyone politely ignored in public, but there were others that kept their relationships with the same sex so well hidden that barely anyone even suspected it of them.
What Harry and Tom were doing was unprecedented and they desperately needed the public's support if they were to keep acting in blockbusters. The problem wasn't so much the Americas and Europe where same-sex relationships were accepted by the majority of the population. The problem was that big blockbusters also had to be released in countries like Russia and China and most of the Middle-East, which all weren't keen on promoting any kind of same-sex relationships. If they refused to show a movie because the main actors were openly in a same-sex relationship it could end up costing the studio a lot of money. And studios hated losing lots of money.
But if they could get the public on their hand in most parts of the world, the studios would still make plenty of profit while hiring them and they'd be able to keep working as they had.
Once upon a time Harry might have felt uncomfortable playing the public like they were doing now, but he was old and pragmatic enough to understand the need to control their own narrative. And the public loved celebrities being honest, keeping it real and sharing a few secrets.
Hence why Tom and Harry were now giving a couple of Oscar-worthy performances in their own living room.
"We first met at a premiere way back when I was just nineteen," Harry said with a big grin. "Nothing happened then, we just talked and exchanged numbers."
"I knew back then that Timmy was going places with how talented he is. He even talked about writing and I wanted to keep an eye on him, see if he didn't come up with a good part for me at some point in the future," Tom said utterly without shame.
Harry shot his soulmate an amused smile. "At first we barely talked. We sent some texts now and then, exchanged some memes, that sort of thing."
Tom nodded in agreement. "It wasn't until we realized that we were both struggling with some mental health issues that we really started talking."
"I got diagnosed with ADHD a couple of years ago," Harry explained. He'd waited to share that about himself until their coming out. The public loved celebrities being honest about their mental health. "Because I got diagnosed so late in life I'd developed some anxiety and depression that I was still learning to deal with."
"I've been struggling with depression and addiction for years," Tom added with a sombre expression. "So that really gave us something to talk about."
"Yeah, and once we really started opening up to each other, we never stopped." Harry got a bit of a dreamy look on his face, as if remembering some very good moments. "Before I knew it, Tom had become my best friend. And the funny thing is that we never saw each other in person during that time."
"For two and a half years we talked almost daily and never met," Tom said with a chuckle. "Until Timmy here couldn't find an Airbnb and had to crash in my spare bedroom."
"Oh, fuck off," Harry grumbled, unable to hold back a grin while giving Tom a playful shove. "I was so sick and tired of hotels at that point. It felt like I'd been living in them for years. I had to work in LA for six weeks or so, some last minute thing, and I couldn't find a rental space on such short notice."
"I was in LA, too, and I did have a house for a couple of months, so I told Timmy to come stay with me."
Harry leaned towards the camera and gave it an exaggerated wink. "So, Tumblr, now you know. They were roommates." Harry was sure that remark was going to get some interesting responses. "Anyway, until we met again at your house I hadn't even realized I'd developed feelings for you," Harry said while glancing at Tom with an adoring smile.
"Yeah?" Tom replied with a downright sappy look on his face.
"Yeah." Harry conjured the biggest grin he could manage on his face. "When you gave me a hug as I got out of the car, that's when I realized something had changed." Harry shifted in his seat as though he couldn't contain his enthusiasm. "It was your scent, I think. I just remember hugging you and smelling you and thinking, 'fuck me, I'm in trouble'."
Tom threw his head back and laughed outright.
"What did you think then?" Harry poked Tom in the side with his elbow.
"When I hugged you?" Tom cleared his throat and shook his head. "I wondered in a slight panic if I was suddenly having a midlife crisis or something. I had not seen this coming."
Harry doubled over with laughter while sagging against Tom. "Yeah, this whole thing caught us completely by surprise. Both of us. I didn't sleep a wink that night, just kept tossing and turning as I tried to tell myself this was a very bad idea and to just leave you alone."
"But you didn't," Tom said, staring down at Harry with hooded eyes.
"It took a few weeks of inner turmoil to realize that my feelings for you were genuine and that I at the very least wanted to give us a try." Harry gave a helpless shrug while grinning at the camera. "I knew if I didn't I'd regret it for the rest of my life. Of course, I had no clue how to go about declaring my feelings to Tom."
"I think your distinct lack of planning helped you in the end," Tom said with humour in his voice.
"Yeah, I just went for it. We were in the kitchen, cooking dinner after we'd both just come home from work," Harry said, looking from Tom to the camera and back. "And as I was stirring the mushroom cream sauce while you were telling me about your day I had this very clear thought that said, 'God, I love this man'. And since I have ADHD and I lack a fair amount of impulse control I just stepped up to Tom and kissed him mid-sentence. Just laid one on him."
"Took me completely by surprise," Tom admitted with a crooked grin while he briefly ducked his head.
"Yeah, instead of kissing me back he just stood there like a statue." Harry briefly buried his face in his hands and shook his head. "Oh my god, I about died there. I pulled back and started apologizing in every way I knew how."
"I never thought Timmy would just kiss me like that," Tom said while staring at Harry in obvious affection. "I'd been telling myself for weeks that this wouldn't work, that I was much too old, that I shouldn't expect someone as amazing as him to return my feelings."
"But you changed your mind in the end." Harry looked straight into the camera while he spoke next. "Tom grabbed my shirt, reeled me back in and gave me a good snogging. We didn't come up for so long that the chicken was a little dry and the pasta kinda soggy."
"Worth it," Tom mumbled.
"Yeah, it really was," Harry agreed with a happy sigh. "And that was all it took, really. We both pretty much confessed quickly that this wasn't just some fling but that there were real feelings involved. We've been together ever since."
"It's a surprise no one else figured it out until now," Tom mused.
"Well, we did keep it to ourselves at first." Harry sat up a little and gave the camera an even look. "Sadly, it's still a risk to come out like this in our profession. But neither one of us wanted to live a lie once we realized our relationship was serious."
"Yeah, keeping this a secret while we settled into the relationship wasn't a problem," Tom agreed while giving a few knowing nods. "But we just didn't want to have to look over our shoulders for the rest of our lives while walking the dog together, wondering if there's paparazzies hiding in the bushes."
"I couldn't live like that," Harry said in a small voice, shoulders slumped. "I can't keep this kind of real love to myself for very long, no matter if it costs me my career."
"I doubt it will come to that." Tom leaned closer and brushed a soft kiss against the corner of Harry's mouth. "You're far too talented. They'd be crazy not to want you in their movies."
"Thanks," Harry whispered and gave Tom a small smile. Then he turned back to the camera. "Just for the record, because I knew people will want to know which box we fit in. I'm pretty sure I'm bi."
"Me, too," Tom agreed at once. "Or maybe pan. Something like that."
Harry frowned for a moment before staring at Tom. "I met an amazing person that I honestly, deeply and sincerely fell in love with. That's my sexuality."
Tom cupped the back of Harry's head with his hand. "Well said." And with that, Tom pressed a kiss against Harry's lips.
"Let's end the video here," Harry said and he got up to shut the camera off.
Tom did some minimal editing since they wanted to footage to appear raw and real. Harry posted it to a brand new YouTube channel that he named 'Tim and Tom' and linked to it on his Instagram. And then they waited.
The video about broke the internet. It got over a million views in the first 24 hours alone. They trended on every social media platform and basically every media platform in the world reported on their coming out story. What Tom and Harry had done was a first. Actors of their stature never revealed something like this publicly and the fact that they did gained them a lot of support from all over the world.
People praised their honesty and their humour, talked about Tom and Harry being relationship goals and that they needed to be protected at all cost.
Understanding that they needed to keep this momentum going, Harry and Tom recorded themselves watching a few classic movies and reacting to it. They stuck with movies like The Fly and The Thing and The Goonies. Classics from the eighties that were fun to watch and that allowed them to talk about acting. People loved Harry's enthusiasm and Tom's gruff criticisms and those videos easily got a million views each.
People kept asking them to review more modern movies, especially ones they starred in themselves, but they refused that on account that they had to work with the people that made those movies and that wouldn't allow them to really be critical.
They also recorded the short film Harry had written about the police interrogation in their spare bedroom during the last parts of the lockdown and posted it on their YouTube channel right when the world started opening up again. It got a lot of praise for their performances, and especially for Harry's writing, and suddenly the scripts that had been collecting dust in his agent's office sold within days.
They thankfully weren't blacklisted in Hollywood but kept working on the kind of projects they wanted. Tom starred in a successful sequel to his anti-hero movie and Harry's sci-fi movie got rave reviews.
While staying in San Francisco for some press event Harry got an idea for a movie and he wrote the script in two weeks. It had a starring role for himself and a supporting role for Tom. Since they were still so popular they had no problem finding financing for it, though they also put some of their own money into it. The budget was only 20 million, but that was still a chunk of money. Tom acted as a full producer on it while Harry managed to get a female director he'd worked with twice before to direct it.
The movie was titled 'Tenderloin' and told the story of a young man, played by Harry, who through no fault of his own ended up living on the streets of San Francisco where he developed an unlikely friendship with a fentanyl addict played by Tom. The movie portrayed a realistic and unrelenting picture of the homelessness crisis in the US. And while the story did have a hopeful ending, Tom's character died of an overdoses at one point, which gave Harry plenty of chances to show off his acting skills during his character's reaction to losing his only friend.
The movie got positive reviews almost across the board and was a financial success, netting more than 100 million in profit, part of which went into Harry and Tom's bank account. It was then that they started their own production company so they could make more of such movies in the future.
Tenderloin was nominated for ten Oscars the following year and won seven, including best original screenplay, best supporting actor, best actor, best director and best movie.
Harry had rarely felt as elated as he did that evening. The cherry on the cake was that he got to kiss Tom on live television more than once. The Oscars hadn't had so many viewers in years.
"This life is going in the top five of best lives ever," Harry murmured to Tom as he held on to two Oscars while cameras flashed around them while they got ready to talk to the press.
Tom had two Oscars of his own in his hands. "The top three, easily," he said while giving Harry a quick smile before turning back to the cameras.
Yeah, all right. The top three. Harry wondered how many more Oscars they could win for future movies. He couldn't wait to find out during the rest of their life together.