Dead Stars by Bruce Wagner Page A

know if it was meant to save his life, or save his death.
    In those perilous, ghoulish dog days when malignant thoughts of recurrence stuttered on the tip of his insulted tongue, his jazzy desire coalesced; such was his cancer’s sequelae. It gave him something to shoot for, a
major
pursuit
.
He knew if he trained very hard he might just be able to pull off—with merit—a personification of that swagged-out Fosse Swagger of derbied, softshoe’d nomadic royalty. Fosse wrote the book to
Chicago
as well, which gave Michael the encouraging nod to begin a 1st draft of
Jazz
, a potentially radical reimagining. He would show it to friends—Aaron (Sorkin) & Tom (Stoppard) & Steve (Kloves) for feedback, suggestions & general help.
What was there to lose? If the cancer don’t kill me, I’ll be 80-years-old in the blink of a wet macular degenerated eye
————————
    It came to him out of the blue (where the best ideas always seemed to live) (that mysterious, excavated out of the blue place), from irradiated sleep (Week 7 of radiation, & after the three chemo seshes):
    Â 
    Michael Douglas       Catherine Zeta-Jones
    Â 
    All That Jazz
    Â 
    Heather Morris
    . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Heather Morris AKA Brittany Pierce,
Glee
’s drop-dead funny deadpan surrealspeak gal. (Cat & the kids were gaga for all things Brittany.) A fresh face with no feature experience to speak of, a working dancer turned improbable, show-stealing comedienne, she was an inspired choice (and one helluva dancer) to play the Reinking-mistress.
    Maybe deliriousness in the wake of the cytotoxic campaign the doctors waged had beckoned him manically knit together the karmic thread that weirdly sewed it all together: 1) his wife won an Oscar for her performance as Velma in the movie based on
Chicago
* ; 2) when Beyoncé came across an old curiosity on YouTube—three dancers (including Fosse’s wife Gwen Verdon) doing one of the master’s signature, flirty, muscularly jaunty, thrown-away routines—she liked it so much she copped it for the famous “Single Ladies” video; 3) Beyoncé hired pre-
Glee
Heather Morris to go on tour & be one of the back-up dancers replicating the dance clip; and 4) the karmic circle was complete when the
Glee
people asked Heather to teach the cast the “Single Ladies” moves, a road that eventually led to Brittany S. Pierce. Lately, Michael found himself making connections like that, big and little, whimsical and not, as if something alien had given him a tune-up. How extraordinary was the world! Not too long ago, he was certain he would die before his father, unthinkable, but now he felt more alive than he’d ever been.
    The critics would have a field day, they always did.
    Let them eat cancer.
    How could he care?
    . . .
    He dozed into cancer dreams.
    Steve Jobs approached him on the street, asking for money. He had huge tits.
    â€œIt’s for Aaron Sorkin,” he said. “He needs the money for his mastectomy.”
    Jobs’ smile was vulpine, his beard sickly, his breath rotten and prodromal.
    â€œWhat’s the matter, Michael? Aren’t you going to help Aaron?”

EXPLICIT
    [Jerzy]
    DikiLeaks
    â€œI
    already
got
her sis, & now I want
Elle
, I want to see her
cunt
, know what I’m saying? Dakota’s cunt we
have
. But her
sister . . .
I see her in
Vogue
with her slutfriends Hailee & Chloë, I watch her goo-goo giggly on Leno in her Chanel & I pray to
God
those parents are hiding
sixteen
more lil orphan Fannings in Sleepy Hollow! Cause let me tell you something straight up: Harry Middleton
WILL NOT SLEEP
until he sees
every hair
on their chinny-chin-
chins.
And
you’re
the one who’s gunna make sure that I do!
You’re the one
who’s gunna show it to the
world.
As the song goes,
Baby,
it’s
you!
”
    He took a deep breath and focused.
    â€œYou are the