Crown Of Dreams

# Chapter 9: Breakfast with America

*November 18, 1992 - ABC Studios, Times Square, New York City*

*7:00 AM EST*

The green room of Good Morning America hummed with pre-dawn electricity. Outside, Times Square's neon heartbeat pulsed against windows still dark with winter morning. Jake Morris stood at the edge of it all, watching his reflection fragment across a wall of TV monitors, each one showing a different angle of his transformation from punchline to power player.

On CNN, a grave-faced market analyst dissected Crown Studios' meteoric stock rise. Entertainment Tonight replayed his Tonight Show verbal jiu-jitsu with Jay Leno for the hundredth time. MTV News had somehow dug up his first modeling shoot – a Calvin Klein spread that had launched a thousand careers, none of them in acting.

"Four minutes, Mr. Morris!" A PA clutched her clipboard like a shield. "Charlie Gibson wants to focus on—"

"The Harvey situation," Jake finished, adjusting his Armani tie. "Of course he does."

In the corner, Robin Williams entertained the makeup team with his impression of Ross Perot explaining Disney animation to Barbara Bush. But Jake's attention was fixed on the Wall Street Journal tucked under his arm: "Hollywood's New Economics: How Crown Studios Disrupted the System."

The article painted a picture of an industry in flux. Crown's stock had tripled since Aladdin's first screening. Harvey Weinstein's Miramax was hemorrhaging market share. Michael Eisner had personally called five times since the Tonight Show, each conversation more enthusiastic than the last.

"Three minutes!" The PA's voice cracked with tension. "And... Mr. Morris? Harvey Weinstein's people are in the building."

Of course they were. The spider never missed a chance to poison the well.

"Kid." Robin appeared at his elbow, suddenly serious. "You know they're going to come at you hard about the 'sudden talent' thing. Every trade paper in town's running stories about your acting school disasters. The Hollywood Reporter even dug up that Three's Company audition tape."

Jake winced. That particular catastrophe had made Entertainment Tonight's "Worst Auditions of the Decade" special. But that was before. Before everything changed. Before he became...

"Mr. Morris?" The PA again. "Joan Lunden wants to ask about your mother."

The makeup room fell silent. Even Robin's manic energy dimmed. Jake's mother was Hollywood's favorite tragedy – the socialite who'd fallen into Harvey Weinstein's orbit and never escaped. Her absence at Aladdin's premiere had sparked a week of tabloid speculation.

"Two minutes!"

Through the monitor, Jake watched Charlie Gibson reviewing his notes. The veteran journalist's "friendly uncle" persona masked a steel trap mind that had eviscerated countless Hollywood power players. Today's segment was officially about Aladdin's unprecedented success. Unofficially? It was about how a failed actor with a pretty face had suddenly become Disney's golden boy.

"You ready for this?" Robin squeezed his shoulder. "Because once those cameras roll..."

"Everything changes," Jake finished. 

The monitors flickered with breaking entertainment news: Madonna's "Erotica" controversy, Michael Jackson's latest album launch, Donald Trump's casino troubles. The old guard was fading. A new Hollywood was emerging. And somehow, Jake Morris – former punchline, former failure, former pretty face – had become its unlikely prince.

"One minute!"

Jake straightened his tie one last time. Through the studio windows, Times Square blazed with possibility. Somewhere in those canyons of neon and dreams, Harvey Weinstein was watching. Planning. Plotting.

Let him.

The game was changing. The rules were being rewritten. And Jake Morris wasn't just playing anymore – he was changing the board itself.

"Thirty seconds!"

Robin launched into his warm-up routine – a rapid-fire series of impressions that had the crew stifling laughter. Jack Nicholson reviewing Disney movies. Robert De Niro as Aladdin. William F. Buckley Jr. explaining hip-hop to Barbara Walters.

"Ten seconds!"

Jake took a final breath, channeling the same presence that had transformed him from magazine cover boy to entertainment revolutionary. The lights brightened. The cameras pivoted.

"Live from Times Square, this is Good Morning America..."

Show time.