Holt McLaren

Infobox character
colour = Lightgreen
name = Holt McLaren


caption =
first = Pilot
last =
cause =
nickname =
alias =
age = 30s
born =
death =
occupation = Actor
title =
family =
spouse = Lucy Spiller (Lover), Julia Mallory (ex-girlfriend)
children =
relatives =
episode = 11
portrayer = Josh Stewart
creator =

Holt McLaren is a fictional character on the FX television series "Dirt", played by Josh Stewart.

History

Holt McLaren was a has-been actor whose only claim to fame was his long past blockbusters, and his girlfriend, Julia Mallory. He first met Don Konkey at the premier of one of his girlfriend's movies. There he was reminded by Konkey about his failing career, and he attacked the photographer after Konkey offered to help pull McLaren's career out of the toilet for a little dirt.

Later, McLaren tells Lucy about Kira Klay's pregnancy - a useful bit of dirt he overheard the actress telling his girlfriend. In return for the scoop, Lucy agreed to do a profile about him in her magazine "Now" (still a single entity at the time). After that, he received multiple offerings from movie studios and was chosen to star in a series of big-budget action films. Almost immediately McLaren regretted disclosing Kira's secret. She died from a drug overdose shortly after the issue of Dirt with her as the cover story hit the newsstands.

Holt tried to tell Lucy that he would not be a source any longer, but after seeing a tape of his girlfriend having sex with a friend and former co-star, he agreed to continue gathering dirt as long as Lucy would keep the tape a secret. Upset over the loss of her friend and in pain from an injury suffered when Holt crashed his car, Julia stepped up her drug use. While his starlet girlfriend's career started failing, Holt's took off again - this came between Holt and Julia in many ways. He seemed to blame himself for Kira's death and felt a lot of guilt over Julia's emotional instability, which he attributed to the loss of Kira.

Following a party, Holt had sex with Lucy in her limo. They had several sexual encounters afterward which he seemed to resent himself for, but he made no attempt to put a stop to the relationship. In fact, he grew closer to Lucy even as Julia drifted away - it was Lucy that suggested the drug treatment center that he eventually checked Julia into, and before that Lucy did a favorable story on Julia as a favor to Holt. Later in the series, Holt told Lucy that he was the only man that she could have an orgasm with because he was the only one that hated her as much as she hated herself. Lucy suggested that he didn't hate her at all, and it was that he hated that she was the only one he could really be himself with. After Julia got out of rehab, Holt asked Lucy for the sex-tape. She gave him the original footage as well as her only copies; as they watched that video, Lucy let Holt bend her over a coffee table in her locked office for yet another of their brief orgasms. Holt and Julia destroyed the tapes to symbolize their new start.

Shortly after, the sex-tape was leaked to several internet sites. From there, the footage was picked up by several celebrity-news television shows and broadcast nationally. Julia claimed that the actor she was seen having sex with had drugged and raped her. As a result, she appeared on several television shows and became a spokesperson for a rape crisis center. Believing her, and perhaps feeling guilty that he'd let the tape exist for so long in Lucy's hands, Holt stood by his girlfriend. However when DirtNow uncovered that it was Julia herself that had leaked the tape in a play to bolster her failing career, Holt packed his bags and left her.

Despite the fact that he said he was through with Lucy Spiller when he retrieved the sex-tape, he met with Lucy in her car to discuss the possibility of her doing a profile on him. They kissed, but Lucy said she'd only called him for the article - his publicist refused to talk to her magazine, maybe because of Lucy's involvement in the sex-tape scandal. Holt insisted that she'd called for more, and was halfway through confessing his feelings for her when Lucy noticed that he'd been followed by paparazzi. They evaded the cameramen (although they did not escape having a few compromising photos taken), and Lucy put him out of the car with only a kiss goodbye.

Holt McLaren was last seen at the premiere of his blockbuster, surrounded by photographers and with an unknown brunette beauty on his arm. Probably as his cover story for the paparazzi incident.