Move Along

1.

As Anne Hathaway's character walked towards the makeshift camp on the alien planet, River sniffed and wiped her nose and eyes that had begun to drip when Cooper, played by Matthew McConnaughay, had said goodbye to his daughter after not seeing her for 80 years.

The movie playing on the screen was Interstellar, and River had been aching to see it ever since she watched the first trailers come out for it over a year ago. The wait had been worth it, and Christopher Nolan would surely get a Best Director Oscar nomination for this, she thought grinning even with tears running down her face.

As the screen went black and the end credits began to roll, River stayed still in her seat even as the other theatergoers began getting up, stretching, and walking towards the exit of the theater.

River always stayed behind for the end credits. It felt wrong to her to leave while they rolled. There were easily hundreds of names listed for every movie, many of them names that would never be honored or recognized for their work in any way other than having their names appear briefly in the credits. To not respect those who had worked hard on the movie, and yet would never be recognized like the main actors, felt innately wrong to her.

She knew it was silly, and had been teased for it endlessly over the years by her friends as she explained why she wanted to stay behind for a bit after every movie to watch them. What's the point? They asked. There's too many names, you'll never remember them or what they even did.

" I know," she would reply softly. "It just feels right though."

Besides, it was also a time for her to gather her thoughts about the movie and settle down her emotions. It was hard for her to watch movies and not get emotionally attached to the characters. She cried for them, felt their happiness, anger and indignation at the events that happened to them throughout their movies.

It was such a beautiful thing to her, how actors could portray their characters and become such real people. How they did it so skillfully she'd never understand. But you didn't have to understand something to respect it.

And that's probably why she had to stay behind and watch the credits roll.

Sometimes, she liked to say their names out loud, and feel the way they sounded.

"Mackenzie Foy," she whispered.
She played Murph, Cooper's daughter in the film, but when she was younger. It amazed her to see someone only a couple years younger than her, starring in a role as this one. She looked somewhat familiar too, and a half second later River realized where she had seen her before. She was in the last twilight movie, and had played Bella and Edward's daughter.

John Lithgow was next. He was somebody she was already aware of, being an established actor, musician, and author. His role in Interstellar was subtle, only appearing in a couple scenes as the grandfather of Murph, but he was an important character serving as Murph's guardian as her father, Cooper, went on his mission.

Timothee Chalamet was next. He played Murph's older brother Tom, but the 15 year old version. "Timothy Chalamet.. Timothee Chalamet," she corrected herself. She laughed after hearing her horrible French pronunciation.

She hadn't recognized the actor, and figured this was probably his first big role. How exciting it must be for him, especially at our age.

She continued to say as many names out loud that she didn't recognize. It was always difficult because often the lettering was so small and the names rolled so fast.

Towards the end where only crewmembers were listed she usually stopped saying them out loud, for there were simply too many. She always tried to commit as many of them for memory though, if not just for fun.

Even though she adored films, River didn't have any dreams of getting into the entertainment industry. She knew she just wasn't nearly as passionate or hardworking as others in the world who were. She just liked admiring them. It was easier that way, rather than to have actual dreams or hopes. Life was always more disappointing that way, when you had tangible dreams. Inevitably some would be broken, and that was a heartbreak she just could not bear.

~

Timothee opened the door to his bedroom, and sat down on his bed. He glanced at his bed stand, and read the time on the clock. 10:02 pm it said. It was a little late, he thought to himself. I guess the movie is almost three hours long.

He still couldn't believe it was real and that he had starred in his first blockbuster movie. Sitting in the same room as Matthew McConnaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, and Christopher Nolan was something he honestly never thought would ever happen to him.

His role was small though, he thought a bit sadly. A part of him had always hoped his big break would be as the main lead.

As embarrassing as it was, today was his 12th time watching the movie. He didn't really intend it to be that many times originally, but after each screening he had always felt so... melancholic is it? He wondered.

When they were in the process of filming it had all felt so big, so real, and absolutely wonderful. Every day he walked onto set he would scream internally, I can't fucking believe this is my life. But after watching it for the first time, all compiled together... The role was so small. He was hardly even a part of the movie, playing a 15 year old version of a minor character for like two scenes.

But he wanted to be sure, he needed to really see how people reacted and how his character made a real impact in the movie. He was Murph's older brother, and he was a part of the movie too. And so somehow that turned into him seeing the movie a total of 12 times, including today.

It had been a small private screening that Christopher Nolan had invited him too, along with all the other big names, cast and crew. He felt like such a fraud sitting in the theater. Next to all the other actors. Even Mackenzie Foy, had a more credible name than him, and she was five years younger than him, barely 14.

He shifted to lay down on his bed, eyes staring at his ceiling. For some reason, it felt like the end.
What if this was all his career would amount to? His eyes felt heavy, and tears began gathering and slowly falling down his cheeks.

This is so stupid, I can't believe I'm actually crying over this. I just came back from the biggest break of my life and I'm thinking about how small it was. I should honestly be grateful I even got this far.