Austin Nichols and the World of False Impressions and Hidden Realities

In one degree or another, we all have experienced the tendency found in human nature to accept what is being spun, rather than challenge or question easy answers and pre-planned narratives. The hard reality is that even when a well-known charlatan tries to persuade others about a topic, entrenched biases and the natural resistance to question authority figures, inevitably favors the con man.  

This careless, almost passive tendency not to question those in power goes a long way toward explaining a certain White House resident's ability to maintain a consistent level of polling success (40-45% approval) even while brazenly gaslighting the American public, and approaching a  mind-boggling 9,500 documented lies.

“Just remember, what you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not  what’s happening,” Donald Trump, 2018

Is it any wonder, that the entertainment industry doesn't need to expend too much effort into selling a story, regardless of the plot errors, the absurdity of the pitch, or the visual "evidence" used to persuade and confuse. Instagram filters and manufactured storytelling, channel mixing and magic wand photographic adjustments, misdating older pics, step and repeat backdrops, well-placed trade magazine articles, the list is truly limitless when the industry is already built on closeting celebrities, and rewarding enablers while punishing truth-tellers.

Now normally, Narnia likes to focus on Jake Gyllenhaal's neverending three-ring circus act, if simply for no other reason than knowing that Jakers is just so darn side-splitting, and also because of the sheer volume of the low hanging fruit available to anyone with half a brain. Today, however, we feel that it's time that Mr. Austin Nichols deserves a little love on this leisurely spring day. After all, sharing a closet with Jake Gyllenhaal means that the Big Texan has much in common with his "What you're seeing is not what is happening" thespian sidekick.

Jake in NY, July 2013 with his one-arm beard/model

For the purposes of this particular post, however, Narnia had to apply a little patience. Mostly, because the subject matter at hand did not truly unveil itself fully until three days ago on April 4, 2019. A twelve-month gestation period before the "birth" of all of Endeavor's coordinating efforts could be revealed. In this instance, we believe the wait was well worth a little delayed gratification on Narnia's part. 

By the way, we are aware that UTA "officially" represents Austin Nichols but, as we also know, when it comes to the closet, there is no way that UTA is not collaborating with Endeavor...for obvious reasons. In fact, this "social" engineering has been taking place since Jake and Austin began secretly dating back in 2002, and includes Austin coincidentally being selected for Jake's then fake girlfriend's (Kirsten Dunst) next movie, Wimbledon. Which, by the way, immediately followed Jake and Austin's co-starring roles in, The Day After Tomorrow.  A few years later, Austin was cast in John From Cincinnati so that he could openly stay in LA while their first child was born in October 2007. To further rollback the gossip chatter about their closeted relationship and surrogacy ambitions, Austin was paired up that summer with Bradley Cooper's former "wife" and fellow UTA client, Jennifer Esposito. Of course, once JFC was cancelled unexpectedly, Esposito was dropped like a hot potato after only one photo op "date" at pap-friendly Madeos Restaurant. Oh, and let's not forget the very coordinated TV role Austin just coincidentally landed on One Tree Hill from 2008-2012. This "opportunity" provided him with an on set beard, Sophia Bush (who also attended USC with him until she landed the role of Brooke Davis on OTH in 2003). Because of this manufactured relationship, Austin was allowed to continue to live in LA (Jake's home base) because the public narrative maintained that Sophia Bush lived there with him.

Now, with that stipulation and background in mind, what we are calling the In the Dark subterfuge actually began on March 12, 2018 with an eye-catching headline from Deadline.com., which included a twitter link to help spread the word to those on social media.

‘In The Dark’: Austin Nichols To Star In the CW Drama Pilot

 The Walking Dead alum Austin Nichols is set for a lead role opposite Perry Mattfeld in the CW pilot In the Dark, from CBS TV Studios and Ben Stiller’s Red Hour Films. Brooke Markham and Keston John co-star.

Written by Corinne Kingsbury and directed by The Big Sick helmer Michael Showalter, In the Dark centers on Murphy (Mattfeld), a flawed and irreverent young woman who just happens to be blind and is the only “witness” to the murder of her drug-dealing friend, Tyson. When the police dismiss her story, she sets out with her dog, Pretzel, to find the killer while also managing her colorful dating life and the job she hates at Breaking Blind — the guide-dog school owned by her overprotective parents.

Nichols will play Dean, a salt-of-the-earth cop, he’s called in to investigate when Murphy claims she has discovered Tyson’s dead body in an alley. He’s put on the case because he has a blind daughter, and it’s thought that he may be sensitive to Murphy’s situation. He also initially thinks that Murphy’s claim was the result of a drunken delusion. But as Murphy cleans up her act and presses the police to investigate, Dean begins to lend credence to her claims.

Nichols is known for his roles as Julian Baker on One Tree Hill and Spencer Monroe on The Walking Dead. He recently recurred on Bates Motel and Ray Donovan, among other credits. On the film side, Nichols will next be seen in the Ty Roberts-directed period drama The Iron Orchard. He’s repped by UTA and Silver Lining Entertainment.

Wow! A lead role. With this kind of rollout, one would think that Austin was being given a momentous career opportunity. With a timeline of two full-weeks, and an on location shoot in Toronto, Canada this starring role must have been a once in a lifetime chance. A write up in Deadline is no mean feat either. That is until this surprising headline appeared four months later in Deadline on July 13, 2019.

‘In the Dark’: Rich Sommer To Co-Star On The CW Drama Series In Recasting

Mad Men alum Rich Sommer has been cast in a lead role opposite Perry Mattfeld on the new CW midseason drama series In the Dark, from CBS TV Studios and Ben Stiller’s Red Hour Films. He will play Dean, replacing Austin Nichols, who played the role in the pilot.

Really? Now, we here at Narnia naturally wondered why Austin would step away from a lead role in a new CW television series, especially since he had been...well, let's be blunt for a moment, unemployed for awhile. Moreover, there was no reason given for his departure, which any competent agent would at least attempt to provide. Otherwise, people might think it was because of some failing or inadequacy on Austin's part. Not even an obligatory "scheduling conflict."

From the beginning, there were many odd facts and occurrences surrounding his attachment to the In the Dark project that already sparked mounting skepticism from anyone paying attention. First, the show's Wiki page indicated that Austin was cast in the role on March 12 and then started filming on March 13. Huh? Who is hired and then starts filming the very next day? I mean, usually there are contracts, agents, wardrobe, lines to learn, and the need to fly to the location of another country that needs to be arranged before an actor actually walks in front of the camera.

source - In The Dark (U.S. TV series) - Wikipedia Cast and Characters

On March 12, 2018, Austin Nichols was cast as the final series regular role as Dean, who is described as a salt-of-the-earth cop who is called in to investigate Murphy's claims because he has a blind daughter.^[14]

 

Filming

Filming for the series took place in Toronto, Ontario.^[16] Production on the pilot started on March 12, 2018, and wrapped on March 28.<sup>[17]

Then there was the flood of photos that placed Austin in Toronto "on the set" or posing with fans as if he were some A-list Hollywood actor. There were so many fan pics, one began to wonder how much Austin was actually working.</sup>

 ^{Don't be shy, people}

^{Adding to these proof of life photographs that just kept coming for the entire two weeks, it was odd that Austin was suddenly all over the place after basically not doing much of anything professionally-related for some time.  First, he flew to London to be at the Walker Stalker Convention on March 10, 2018.}

 
^{More pictures here:}

^{Austin Nichols at Walker Stalker London}

^{Then by March 12, 2018 we were led to believe that Austin flew out to Toronto, without a lot of preparation, and just hit the ground running, camera ready. Not one apparently to let the grass grow under his feet, just five days later, he takes another flight down to Wilmington, North Carolina. This time for an OTH Convention on March 17-18. Afterwards, he supposedly flies back to Toronto until March 28, the last day of filming.  Come to think of it, there was another peculiar piece of information that didn't quite pass the smell test either. Later we found that the pilot was only sixty-minutes. That's right only sixty-minutes.  That's the length of a regular weekly television show. With that kind of time frame, the shoot should have lasted no longer than 6 days, at most 8. Not the extravagant 15 days advertised. Moreover, the show finally aired on April 4, 2019, over one year later, and the pilot was the first episode scheduled. This, of course, means that the role Rich Sommers stepped into to replace Austin, used the same script Austin had allegedly shot in March. Drum roll please. And guess how much camera time Austin would have had for this "leading" role?  A grand total of...}

^{Six-minutes and 18 seconds!!!}

^{Even better, if you look at the episode list on the show's IMDb page, the character Austin was to play, Dean, will only appear in three episodes, one being the pilot. This, of course, means that Dean was not a leading character after all.}

^{In addition, Austin is known for selecting dramatic parts that are quirky with  interesting story lines related to his character. John From Cincinnati, Deadwood, The Walking Dead, Ray Donovan. This role was about as boring and disposable as only a cookie cutter script can create, with the kind of mundane lines one might hear in an eighth grade school production.} 

^{So why was it so important to make the public think that Austin was filming in Toronto for several weeks in March? Well, Jake was advertised as filming Velvet Buzzsaw in March as well.  In fact, true to form, when it comes to the secrecy that surrounds Jake's movie shoots, the filming dates listed on the project's IMDb page is ambiguous as ever.   Evidently, Jake only filmed for one-day, according to this insider's resource. LOL! While when it came to Austin's CW television pilot shoot, we not only knew where, but the precise beginning and ending dates of his work "commitment".} 

We here at Narnia suspect that Jake probably finished shooting Velvet Buzzsaw much earlier than March 19, and headed over to England, since he was seen there in late February. We also know that Austin appeared at the Walker Stalker Convention in London on March 10. In other words, where Jake and the family are is where Austin will likely be as well. But publicly, a splashy headline placing Austin in Toronto makes it seem like he is nowhere near Jake. Sandwiching the Toronto story in between his scheduled appearance at the OTH Convention on March 17 means Austin could easily have taken a flight from London to Wilmington and back again.  

Oh, and let's not forget that when Austin was interviewed at the Walker Stalker Con in London, he tried to low-key the current narrative that his life had gotten a bit busier when it came to working. Really? Do tell, Austie? Because it seems like the off camera assistant, who somehow couldn't help but chuckle at his assertion, thought otherwise. Like maybe that busy-ness was less about work, and a little more about something else he was not quite at liberty to divulge.  *wink wink*  It's these kind of inconspicuous, unscripted moments that reveal far more than words can ever say.

Breaking News:  After pointing out the obvious wink wink moment in this YouTube video from the Walker Stalker Convention (2018), looks like Austin and Jake's people just deleted the evidence today that pointed to the tall Texan trying to cover up that he was really not in Toronto filming, "In the Dark".  That video has been up for over a year with no problem. Looks like our speculation that Austin and Jake were in London with the family is spot on. Thanks for the shout out! Evidently,  no one told Management that the coverup is worse than the crime (in this case, the Big Lie).

All in all, just another example of how the closet is full of falsehoods and deceptions, self-inflicted wounds, absurdist narratives, internet scrubbing, and outright gaslighting that, to the casual observer, seem to ring true. Another reason why, upon closer inspection, it is important to never forget that time and time again what you're often hearing,“...what you’re seeing, and what you’re reading" is not what’s really happening at all.


Blindly following the official version of events put out by the powers that be, will never lead to true understanding about really what's going on behind the scenes in any walk of life. Particularly, in today's world where the consolidation of social and corporate media, technology, spin, and a craven disregard for facts overwhelm the public at every turn.

 

 

pic sources: giphy, YouTube, IMDb, Twitter, Just Jared, Deadline

our playlist: Nowhere Man – The Beatles

                    Wolves – One Direction 

                    Sounds of Silence – Simon and Garfunkel 

                    Any Major Dude Will Tell You – Steely Dan