Strumming Up Interest

"... Anyway, this movie is as big a deal now as it was when it first came out. And it has truly earned its 92% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and all the academy awards it garnered when first released. It's not often that I get to talk about a movie that I actually like on this show. I'll have to do this again sometime…" The Cinema Snob finished his review of the movie Sunshine, a masterpiece of a movie from director Johnathan Ester that had hit the big screens three years ago. The movie was so good and such a big hit with critics and audiences that it had swept the Oscars that year, an unprecedented twelve awards, including Best actress, best actor, best supporting actor, best visual effects, and best picture, and a number of others. Considering the hype of the movie, and the success of the movie itself, Snob had to wonder where the actors were now. Particularly the lead actress. Lorraine Rutherford had played her role as Rashida Freedman, an everyday African-American working woman masterfully. But she'd dropped off the acting scene completely upon release of the film. No one knew where she'd gone; she certainly never made another film, something that the world had been eagerly anticipating after getting a taste of her acting. She seemed like the next big thing, but she'd simply melted away from the spotlight, the film the only evidence that this amazing woman had ever existed. No interviews, no photos, no Tweets… Where the hell had she disappeared to all those years ago?

Brad shrugged to himself and asked the question that had been on everyone's mind since that disappearance. "Whatever happened to the lead actress of 'Sunshine' anyway?" he asked Laura as she walked by the living room. His wife thought about it for a moment, then shrugged.

"Maybe she was a computer-generated actress, like that chick from 'The Spirits Within'. The two laughed at such a ridiculous concept as Brad started editing his video. The review had the desired effect in his mind. People were soon talking about the movie again, reopening the old controversy; where had Lorraine Rutherford disappeared after releasing her movie?

… …

Doug Walker, known to many on the internet as 'The Nostalgia Critic', wasn't about to let the controversy lay. He researched and used all of his investigation skills to try and find out as much as he could about the mysterious woman. There was nothing on her IMDb page about her past or where she might be. He sent out the call for information on most of his bi-weekly reviews, asking for the elusive woman to come forward and share her story. And after six straight months of this, he received an audio file telling him to stop looking. This caught his attention as all of the attention-hungry women that had contacted him claiming to be the one he was looking for had always sent videos and such as proof that they were her. But not this woman. Intrigued, Doug reached out to her.

"Why don't you want to be found?" he asked his audience after playing the scrambled audio file for his audience during one of his reviews. It took another month of this to get a response. It was also encrypted, with no video and with the voice scrambled.

"No one cares about some nobody actress from some random movie four years ago. You should focus on more interesting things." This got the internet in a tizzy. Suddenly all anyone seemed to be talking about was the idea of finally getting some answers from the frustratingly elusive woman. People tried to find the woman based on the recordings, but it was clear that the woman had covered her tracks well. She apparently used an extremely reliable VPN and the recordings themselves had no other sounds or extraneous noise on them. Unscrambling the files only revealed her sweet voice. The Nostalgia Critic kept reaching out to the woman in his videos, refusing to give up. Again, lots of people attempted to step into her limelight, but Doug was still refusing to speak to or acknowledge anyone that wasn't this girl. When it became clear that he wasn't going to give up after another six months, Lorraine Rutherford finally broke her silence. In a way.

She filled out her IMDb profile, providing an age, parents, siblings, and where she grew up. This caught the attention of a lot of people and gave them a starting point to search for her. Suddenly the Rutherford family was under a lot of scrutiny. Much like the girl herself, the parents refused to speak of their child and neither did the brothers, uncles, aunts, or cousins.

"It seems a little weird to me that you would call attention to your family and not yourself, Lorraine. Why is that? Wouldn't it have been easier to just speak out? Wouldn't you like this to end? Wouldn't you like to end the speculation about what happened to you?" Doug asked at the end of his latest review. This had become an obsession for him. After thirteen months of absolutely no luck tracking this woman, even using the director and other actors from the movie, he was frustrated. He hadn't expected it to be easy to track down the woman; people went into hiding for a reason. But he'd thought it would be possible at least!

"What do you want from me, Mr. Critic?" the girl finally asked after another month of him reaching out to her.

"I want to know what happened to you!" he answered her soundbite in his next video. "And I'm not the only one that does, judging from the continued interest in this topic on the internet. Look, why don't we do an interview or something and settle this once and for all? We're approaching the five-year anniversary of the film's release. We could do our own review of the movie and then talk about why you disappeared into the ether as you did."

A week later, another soundbite showed up in his inbox. How do we do this?

Doug actually roared with triumph. Finally! Finally, he was going to get the answers he'd been looking for. At first, he'd been just looking for a way to increase his popularity on the internet - everyone needed an angle in the entertainment business. But now… After all this time, he genuinely wanted to know what had become of the talented woman. The fact that she'd evaporated from the limelight so completely made him think that whatever had happened had been painful, but… "Doesn't her loyal fanbase deserve to know?"

"What do you mean?" Malcolm asked.

"Nothing. I was just thinking about Lorraine."

"Oh," both of his co-stars smirked at each other knowingly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" His two co-stars laughed at the confused look on his face.

"Doug, you've been obsessed with that girl for almost two years now. You find a way to work her in every single review we do. And that's not even getting into your little shoutouts you do every two weeks. Hell, I'd be surprised if you weren't thinking about your little infatuation," Tamara laughed. "You're worse than Hyper Fangirl was!"

"I agree," Malcolm grinned. "I'd almost suggest that the poor girl get a restraining order, but luckily for her, you can't find her!"

"Hey! It's not like I'm in love with her," the Critic protested. "It's just… Don't you want to know what happened to her? Why did she walk away from her fame? Why has no one heard from her since she made that film? Why won't any of the cast or crew of Sunshine talk about her? Where did she go? Where is she now? Don't any of these questions interest you?"

"Not as much as they interest you," Malcolm shrugged. "Look, I won't pretend that I'm not interested in getting answers to at least some of those questions. But she went away for a reason. I don't think you're going to get the answers you're looking for by badgering her the way you are."

"Ha HA, shows what you know! Here's her latest response!" With that, he showed them the email.

"Well… I'll be damned," Tamara blinked. "So, what are you thinking about doing?"

"I'm actually thinking about putting together an interview. One where she can explain herself."

Malcolm and Tamara looked at each other skeptically. "Do you really think she will agree to that?" Tamara finally asked.

"I don't know. Let's ask." Doug sent back to her immediately, asking her if she was willing to do an interview with him about her movie. The reply came back a few minutes later. I am off work next Friday. How about then?

The Nostalgia Critic blinked at the response. You work?

What's life without work? Came the immediate response. Doug giggled like a schoolgirl before remembering his audience. She was online right now! Clearing his throat, the man addressed his crew. "Well, you saw the message. Next Friday we have an interview. Maybe we'll finally get some damn answers to where the hell she disappeared to." The crew and his co-stars nodded, excited despite themselves.