Dreams of Stardom (Hollywood SI)

I didn't have the words to describe the feeling of winning my second Oscar before turning 18. On one hand, it felt unimaginably good holding the trophy; on the other, I knew I hadn't created these songs on my own. In a way, this Oscar didn't feel like it was fully mine. With these conflicting emotions swirling in my mind, I waited backstage for the next award.

Usually, winners are ushered off to give interviews, but since I was nominated in another category immediately following this one, I had been told to wait backstage for the announcement. A huge plasma TV was set up there, showing the live telecast of the show so everyone backstage could follow what was happening on stage. The telecast for home viewers is typically delayed by a few minutes, but this one was played in real-time.

On the screen, Jamie opened the envelope containing the name of the winner. He examined it carefully and then, without revealing the name outright, shared it with Emma. Once they both saw it, Emma was the one to read it out loud, "The Oscar for Best Original Score goes to Troy Armitage for [Echoes of You]."

"Come back here, Troy," Jamie called out playfully.

I stood frozen in place for a few moments, stunned. This wasn't supposed to happen. All the bets in Las Vegas had been placed against me; I was the least likely to win. Even Dad had told me outright that, because I had already won once tonight, I wouldn't win again. The Academy rarely votes for the same person twice in one night.

Before I could continue standing there like a statue, someone shook my shoulder.

"Troy, you have to go on stage."

I turned to see the woman who had accompanied me backstage. "Thank you," I whispered, fixing a grin on my face before heading to the stage.

"This is Troy Armitage's third Oscar, and his second tonight," a female announcer's voice provided some trivia as I walked. "He is also nominated in the acting and producing categories. He is the youngest person ever to win more than one Oscar."

Applause erupted as soon as I became visible. I walked up to my two friends, Jamie and Emma, and accepted the trophy from them. Since we had already hugged earlier, I decided to skip repeating it.

"I wasn't expecting this win," I began my speech. "It means so much more to me than the first because the people in this category are all incredible." I paused for a moment before continuing. "I want to thank my school teacher, Mr. Paul Tanner, who taught me music when I was just a kid and ignited my passion for it. Lastly, thank you to the members of the Academy for this wonderful recognition."

I raised both of my Oscars in the air before stepping back from the mic.

I didn't want to give a long speech—I had already thanked most of the people I wanted to. Besides, I hadn't even prepared for this award because it was so unexpected. I made sure to mention Mr. Tanner because I genuinely believed I owed part of this award to him. Unlike my songs, which weren't entirely original, the background score was. I had only started working on composing because Mr. Tanner had taught me the basics of music all those years ago.

As Jamie, Emma, and I walked backstage together, Jamie immediately stole one of my Oscars from me.

"Woah," he said, feeling the weight of it in his grip. "I didn't expect it to be this heavy."

"Why didn't you guys tell me you were doing this?" I asked, handing my second trophy to Emma so she could get a feel of it as well.

"And miss your reaction?" Emma asked back. "No way. The shooting was halted anyway since Rian is also here. So Warner decided to spring this up because us giving you the award will be good promotion for the next [Harry Potter]."

I nodded in understanding. Studios love to do that to promote their upcoming movies, especially those big blockbuster films that were bound to earn hundreds of millions.

"Troy," the woman from earlier called me out. "Time for your interviews. And please carry both your Oscars for it."

Jamie and Emma handed me back my trophies as I was led to the interview room, which was packed with reporters sitting everywhere I looked. As soon as I walked in, they all started clapping. I bowed in gratitude at that reaction.

"Number 51," the media organizer called out when the applause died down a bit.

A woman in the middle got up from her seat and said, "Congrats on the win, Troy."

"Thank you," I said reflexively. Winning any major award usually results in constant congratulations for a few days, at least. Since I had already kind of won when the nominations were announced, I had gotten used to it by now.

"Did you know Emma and Jamie would be the ones presenting you with this award?" she asked.

"No," I said honestly. "I knew they were coming here tonight, but had no idea they would be presenting anything. It always feels good getting an award, but it feels even better getting it from your friends."

As the reporter sat down, the next number was called. "182."

I turned towards the next man who stood up.

"Troy, I couldn't help but notice that you changed your outfits quite a few times during the show. Can you tell us about them?"

So he was one of those. Usually, someone from the fashion police is always present at these types of events.

"I went to a local tailor in London to get my suit for the event," I began. "I don't like too fancy clothes if I can avoid it. My clothes for the performance were also custom-made by him. I kept the same denims but changed the top part with a jacket, t-shirt, and a casual shirt to show the three genres of songs."

"And the Crocs?" He made a slightly disgusted face.

I shrugged. "I wanted to stay comfortable while performing. I added the Crocs because for me, foot comfort is always the number one priority. Even my dress shoes are customized by Crocs for comfort with extra padding inside."

I know it was a shameless plug for my brand, but I didn't care. They asked the question, not me.

"Number 145," the next number was called.

"Do you think, with these two wins, your chances of winning a Grammy and completing the EGOT are almost sure?" another woman asked.

"Why are you talking about the Grammys at the Oscars?" I asked back. "Even if I'm nominated, it won't happen for another year. I like to focus on the present."

The thought had crossed my mind, obviously, but some things are not meant to be shared with the media. There is this simple unsaid rule of award shows that even if you desperately want an award, don't tell anyone about it or you'll become a joke of sorts if you lose. It didn't help that the Grammys were the worst sort of awards there ever were, with shady behind-the-scenes politics dictating award wins instead of talent. Artists like Eminem were snubbed openly despite releasing some of the best music out there.

The rest of the questions were quite generic and continued for a couple of more minutes before I was let go. As luck would have it, it was an ad break at the moment, and I was easily able to grab my seat back beside Rihanna.

"Hi," I said with a smile.

"Hi," she said back and pecked me on the lips. "I wanted to kiss you before your win, but you weren't here. So take one now. Congrats."

"Thank you," I nodded back before handing one trophy to her. "Why don't you hold one for me right now? It's heavy."

She took it from my hands reverently and held it close to her. Usually, they engrave your name and category on the award afterward. I would have gotten it out of the way right now, but I had things to do. There were two more awards tonight where I was nominated. The two awards that were very less likely to go in our favor, but still, I had to be present for them.

As the awards continued, the award for Best Adapted Screenplay went to [Brokeback Mountain], as expected. A small part of me was hoping that [The Perks of Being a Wallflower] would get it, but it didn't. Similarly, the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay went to Noah Baumbach for [The Squid and the Whale]. A deserved win for a wonderful movie, but that left Rian Johnson empty-handed for his solo nomination.

Rachel Weisz won Best Supporting Actress, while Reese Witherspoon won Best Actress and Ang Lee won Best Director. Now only two awards remained for the night, both of which I was nominated in.

To present the award for Best Actor, last year's winner, Hilary Swank, came on stage, holding an envelope closely.

I kept an easygoing smile on my face, fully assured I wouldn't win this one. The cameraman was close by and ready to focus on me any moment to get my live reaction.

"The nominees for Best Actor are:

Philip Seymour Hoffman – [Capote] as Truman Capote

Terrence Howard – [Hustle & Flow] as DJay

Heath Ledger – [Brokeback Mountain] as Ennis Del Mar

Joaquin Phoenix – [Walk the Line] as Johnny Cash

Troy Armitage – [The Perks of Being a Wallflower] as Charlie Kelmeckis."

Hilary Swank opened the envelope and without building any suspense, called out the winner. "The Oscar goes to Heath Ledger for [Brokeback Mountain]."

I was confused. Philip Seymour Hoffman dominated this year's award season. Heath Ledger winning was a major upset, not that he didn't deserve it. He was an excellent actor and his performance in [Brokeback Mountain] was out of the world.

Heath, who was sitting just beside me, kissed his lady love before giving me a brief hug as well. Probably as a way of consolation, although I didn't need it because I had already gotten two Oscars tonight. Nonetheless, I said, "Congrats, man. You deserve it."

He smiled at me with a nod before walking up to the stage.

"This is Heath Ledger's first Oscar nomination and win. At the age of 26, he is the youngest winner ever of this award," a female voice announced.

As he began his speech, I couldn't help but feel the weight of my presence in this timeline. Heath Ledger never got to give a speech for his win for his most acclaimed role of the Joker because of his untimely death. And now he got that award a few years early, making him the youngest Best Actor winner. As a long-time fan of his, I loved the fact that he got to witness his win in person. Let's just hope that my presence would somehow disrupt his untimely death as well.

Now only the last award remained—Best Picture. Just like Best Actor, I was confident that we would not win this award. [The Perks of Being a Wallflower] was a good film, but it can't be ignored that it was a teen film. Ever since the inception of the Oscars, not a single teen movie has won an Oscar. So it was highly unlikely that we will win.

Jack Nicholson walked over to the stage with the envelope containing the name of the winner.

"It all comes down to these five movies," he began. "Here are the nominees for Best Picture:

[Brokeback Mountain] – Diana Ossana and James Schamus, producers

[Capote] – Caroline Baron, William Vince, and Michael Ohoven, producers

[Good Night, and Good Luck] – Grant Heslov, producer

[The Perks of Being a Wallflower] – Steve Kloves and Troy Armitage, producers

[Munich] – Kathleen Kennedy, Steven Spielberg, and Barry Mendel, producers."

Then Nicholson opened the envelope and read out the winner to himself for a moment. He looked up, as if confused before saying, "And the Oscar goes to [The Perks of Being a Wallflower]."

I was surprised by the announcement, which seemed to be a common theme for me tonight. But apparently, Rihanna wasn't, because immediately she hugged me tightly, all the while screaming at the top of her lungs. She kissed me right then and there, in full view of the cameras.

That did the job of bringing me back to the present. I looked around and found my family's seat nearby. I immediately ran over and hugged my mother first, followed by Dad and Evan. Dad walked over with me to the stage, as cast and crew from the film started joining us there one by one. Emma Watson, Jonathan Groff, Lea Michele, and a few more cast members joined us. Stephen Chbosky was also present there along with all other nominees for the film. Every Best Picture contender gets at least fifteen seats reserved for the cast and the crew, and all of them joined us onstage.

Jack Nicholson handed me and Dad our respective trophies before stepping back. Because it was getting too much to hold all of them, I handed two of my music ones to Emma and Jonathan for the moment, who were standing just behind me.

"Thank you to the academy," Dad began his speech. "We made this film with great love and passion for teenagers who go through difficulties growing up. All credit for this award goes to Stephen Chbosky, who shared such a personal story with us all, and Troy, who put his all in this film. It wouldn't have been nearly as good if he wasn't so committed to his role. All our other cast and crew members, Emma, Jonathan, Lea, and Michael. Our partners at Warner Bros, including Barry Meyer and Alan Horn. And my wife Kathy for being such an awesome woman and the love of my life. Thank you."

He passed on the mic to me. I had thanked everyone that I wanted to already, except one person.

"Besides everyone Dad thanked, and all those who are standing on the stage, I want to thank Tobias O'Brien, without whom this project would not have been possible," I said earnestly before turning back to the group where Tobias was standing with the rest of the gang.

Tobias looked visibly uncomfortable with all the attention heaped on him. Warner didn't want him to come here tonight. Rather, they wanted to fill the slots with other cast members. I used one of my own personal slots to have him here tonight because I knew how hard he had worked on this movie. He deserved this praise and more for his dedication.

I turned back to the audience. "I chose to do this film, because I am very passionate about saving kids from abuse, and this film tells us about the life of someone just like that. For any kids watching this, if you or any of your friends are going through something like that, go to Troy(dot)com and you'll find out a lot of free resources about the foundation I have started for children."

The audience applauded thunderously hearing my words. Hollywood may be full of predators, but they all like to act noble and good on the surface.

We didn't dawdle any longer, and soon Dad and I were escorted backstage for some questions, while the rest of the group went back to their seats.

"That's all for the night folks," Jon Stewart said while I was exiting. "Let's meet at the Governor's ball."

And that was it. The 78th Academy Awards were over with astounding results for me. Yesterday, I had just one Oscar, now I had four. This all felt unreal. From our 11 nominations, we won 5, which was a very good haul considering we got the top prize as well.

Now, we had a lot of parties to attend to celebrate tonight. There was just one thing that didn't sit well with me—our win over [Brokeback Mountain]. In the original timeline, there was this huge controversy over [Crash] winning Best Picture. People said that it happened because the members of the Academy are homophobic and didn't vote for the gay cowboy movie despite it being hailed as a groundbreaking piece of cinema. Over the years, [Crash] had aged like milk while [Brokeback Mountain] like a fine wine. I just hope [Perks] doesn't become embroiled in similar controversy in the years to come.

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