Chapter 12: The Interview (Edited

Walter Cronkite, who has been presenting the televised journal of CBS news since 1962, said: "Hello, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to today's evening news. Without wasting time, let's begin with our correspondent who is live at the Columbia Pictures press conference." After the picture switched, he said: "Hello, Samy, how are you at the press conference?"

Samy replied: "Hello, Walter, as you can see, I am here waiting for the representative of Columbia Pictures as the conference is about to begin." Just after finishing speaking, he saw something surprising, so he added: "Oh, you see, Frank is coming. It seems something important will happen since the CEO of Columbia Pictures is attending the press conference himself." Then, after Frank passed, he saw a woman and a cute child walking behind Frank. He immediately recognized who the woman was, so he added: "It seems it really is something important because the woman behind Frank is Alice Walton from the Walton family and her adopted son. Are they acquiring Columbia Pictures?"

At this moment, the people watching the evening news heard a surprised voice, and on TV, they saw Walter Cronkite stand up.

Realizing his mistake, Walter gave an apologetic smile and said: "Sorry, I am really surprised." At the same time, the citizens watching the news were surprised because, in their view, such a hardened, battle-tested journalist like Walter should not be surprised to the point of exclaiming if the Walton family acquired Columbia Pictures.

In fact, although Walter was surprised by Samy's speculation, he was more surprised because, after hearing the mention of the Walton family, he recalled an interview he recorded two years ago.

When he saw the boy accompanying the woman, he was surprised and, recalling something, he exclaimed. As an insider, he had more news than Sam, so he knew that today was about Columbia signing with the author of the recent popular book, *The Story of Caligula*. Seeing Alan and recalling his investigation about the little boy's past, he concluded that Alan was the writer of the book, and that's why he exclaimed.

No one knew the turmoil inside Walter, and they just thought he was really surprised.

After arriving, Frank, Alice, and Alan sat, facing the camera. Then Frank said: "Hello, journalist friends and spectators. Today, Columbia Pictures is here to announce good news as I have the honor to inform you that we have reached an accord with the author of The Story of Caligula and will have the right to adapt the second part of the book.

We will start filming in about one month, with the author as the producer, and it will be released next year during the Christmas break.

Along with the second part of the book, we also took this opportunity to announce that the inscription for auditions is open for children between 7 and 11 years old." After that, he handed the contract to Alan, who signed it.

The journalists were in an uproar because, if they understood everything correctly, Alan, whom they recognized as a ten-year-old boy, was the author of the bestselling book.

Then, it was the media's turn to ask questions. After pointing at a random journalist, the journalist asked: "Excuse me, Mr. Alan, are you the author of *The Story of Caligula*?"

Alan smiled and replied: "Yes, I wrote the book," deliberately giving the impression of a boy who is happy to be recognized.

After that, the media knew that there would definitely be big news tomorrow. A journalist who was not designated couldn't help but exclaim: "Are you sure you are the author of the book, kid?"

Alan frowned, seeming a little displeased and then did not respond as if he were angry. In fact, he was deliberately doing it because he didn't want to give the impression that he was a mature boy. If he did, people would always try to find some error in his work.

However, if he gave the impression that he was just a child but overly intelligent, people would not find problems. After all, even if he made some mistakes, they would still think he was just a child.

Then another designated journalist asked: "Mr. Frank, are you sure you want a child about ten years old to be the producer of a film? It will be irresponsible for the audience, and I think you should raise the age for the audition because children don't know how to act.

It would be more reasonable to audition adolescents for the role in the book. You should let a good producer like Robert Evans handle it; you are ruining the book." The designated journalist thought about his adolescent son and planned to put some pressure on Columbia Pictures to change the producer to Robert Evans, who would then owe him a favor and let his 16-year-old son play an important role.

Aware that the journalist was planning to cause trouble, Alan pretended to be an angry boy and exploded: "What? When I was a child, I was abandoned at the door of the orphanage. The dean took me in, but when I was four years old, I realized that I didn't like playing with other children my age and always liked watching TV in the orphanage."

"When I was six years old, I was adopted by my mother, but I still didn't like playing with other children. It wasn't until my mother took me to school that I still felt uneasy. I met my first friend when I was eight years old, and we would prepare and meet every weekend and start some challenges."

"I started writing the book setting the background of Caligula like mine, and then I had the idea that when I turned ten, maybe something would happen to me, so I came up with the idea of receiving grim news when you turn ten."

"Now that I want to continue the adventure in my book, I will also soon turn eleven. I wanted Caligula to also be eleven, and you want to change everything." After Alan finished speaking, he deliberately let tears fall down his cheek and then ran like a child who was bullied by an adult.

Alice was surprised by Alan running and exclaimed: "Alan!" Then she went after him. Frank also said: "Ok, I think the interview is finished," then ran after Alan as well.

All of this was filmed by various journalists and was transmitted live on CBS.