This Must Be the Place by Anna Winger Read Free Book Online

California?”
    Walter looked into his beer for support.
    “In December, Tom Cruise is coming to Berlin for the premiere of the film I start next week, so I’m going to talk to him about getting started in Hollywood.” The plan solidified in his mind as he spoke of it aloud. “He’s a producer now. Maybe he can use me for something. Otherwise he can introduce me around. He has connections to the right people.”
    “I’m sure he’s only coming here now to lend his celebrity to the cause.”
    “What cause?”
    “Scientology isn’t recognized as a religion here. They’ve been lobbying to receive church tax status.”
    “I’m not interested in religion. You know that. That’s his private business.”
    “Then why?”
    “Why what?”
    “Why should he help you?”
    “Sixteen percent of his box office comes from the German-language screenings. Do you know how much that is, total, since 1986?”
    “No.”
    “Three hundred and twenty-eight million dollars, give or take.”
    “You’ve already been paid for your work.”
    “It’s not about the money. I want to work again as a real actor. Somewhere else, somewhere I don’t have to deal with everyone remembering me from before. Look, I’m still talented. I just need the right project.” He realized that this last statement sounded particularly pathetic, but strained to keep his confidence afloat. “I’m not some crazy, delusional fan. Tom and I have a professional relationship. I feel like I know him. I’m sure he’ll help me out.”
    Bodo motioned to the bartender for a cigarette.
    “Everybody feels like they know Tom Cruise. It’s his job to make us feel that way, isn’t it? It isn’t real. He isn’t real.”
    Only recently Walter had been thinking the same thing.
    “Of course he’s real,” he said now. “Look beyond the celebrity thing. He’s just a guy like you or me.”
    “People that famous are not regular guys.”
    “I know a thing or two about celebrity, Bodo. I’ve been there, you know. I never stopped being myself.”
    “What, during Schönes Wochenende ?” Bodo smoked, considering Walter’s head as if it were a piece of fruit whose edibility was in question.
    “I realize that you’re going through a tough time,” he said after a while.
    “That’s really not the point.”
    “Okay, then: I respect that you have a professional relationship with him. But owing to that relationship, he cannot take you to California, because he needs you to stay here and do his German voice, right?”
    Walter’s hamburger arrived.
    “But even if that weren’t the case,” said Bodo, “what makes you think you’re going to meet him when he comes to the premiere? What makes you think he’s even aware of you at all?”
    Walter silently fished bits of bun from his teeth with his tongue. In sixteen years this thought had never crossed his mind. Of course Tom Cruise was aware of him, of course he knew his films were regularly dubbed into German, right? Bodo dropped his voice now to a much lower register.
    “Dubbing is behind-the-scenes work, man,” he said. “In Germany it’s a big deal to be doing the voice for a box office star. Around those moles at Deutsche Synchron you get credit for that sixteen percent. I won’t argue with that, it’s an impressive statistic. But when Tom Cruise comes to town, it’s his show. No one is going to say, ‘Hey Tom, here’s the man responsible for all those hits in Germany.’ They’re going to keep you as far away from him as possible. Remember that story you told me about Disneyland? About that guy you worked with there, the one that played the suited character. Goofy?”
    Walter put down the burger. He wished he had never told Bodo that he’d worked at Disneyland when he lived in California. His year as Prince Charming, a face character in the Cinderella Panorama, was something he tried to forget. Given the chance, he’d happily erase everything that happened that year from memory, but because he’d