[Lincoln Studio]

“I knew! I knew! I fucking knew this would happen! I knew it! And now you’re asking whose fault is that?! What the fuck is wrong with you?” Will yelled across the office.

It was six in the evening, and there was nothing but Will and Gar.

The week had been rough on Will, considering as the CEO of the studio he had failed to achieve so many things he expected his team to do. More than anything, he had expected the studio to flood with profits when Darkness is Alive was released to theatres.

“Don’t shout at me, Will. The profits keep going down for so many reasons and you know all of them. You know why they are happening! It’s the industry of creativity. You can’t always expect something to bloom like our hits. Downs are normal too!” Gar tried his best to explain the situation they were in.

Darkness is Alive was a thriller-horror movie set back in the early ’20s. The theme faded from the industry (niche) which was also why Will and the other directors who worked on it had so much hope.

The movie was about a young girl, with the backstory of getting abused by their own parents—living a miserable life and finally gaining power over her and her situation, but with a ghost by her side. Her name was Ivon and she was around fifteen when the movie was taking place. She was a lonely kid ever since she had known to spell out her name, and ever since then, all she tried was to not get on the toes of her own family. But once she realised how much power the little doll she’s been playing with has, her thought patterns to her behaviour changed abruptly.

Finally, the movie ended with her killing her own parents and dying in the process. Some had called the movie an emotional roller coaster after watching it.

“This is not the first time that something I said came out to be true! I told my entire plan to keep working on it. It has been two weeks, and we’re no closer to closing the budget money.”

“Look, Will. Are you worried about the board? If you’re, don’t be. This is just a single movie, and with what’s yet to come in the future, I’m sure we can adjust everything for its own good,” Gar said as he felt sweat running down his eyes.

The man Will was scary. It wasn’t because of the power he held over the studio, but because of how ruthless he was when he got agitated.

Gar gained his attention by taking a step towards him. Will looked him in the eyes and nodded.

“Exactly. The board. I talked to the team in the afternoon, right in front of you, and did you see what they think about profits?! Does that somehow make any sense to you at all?” he asked loudly.

“I’m going to leave you for a bit, and when you’re ready, we can talk.”

“It’s not about the board. Ian. Ian Renner. The Dark Knight is fucking shining in theatres. The billboards, articles, social media–It’s fucking shining everywhere even though we released the movie before them!”

Gar immediately noticed what his friend was trying to say. And suddenly, it all made sense to him.

-

[Shin Wu Studio - LA]

Christian Bale’s life had never been the same ever since he became Batman. The same thing was talked about once when the movie was first released–and it’s there again. The entire world was shaken by how Christian Bale took over the entire superhero movie with Batman and continued to do so with the sequel.

Although the fans of Hollywood and fans of Batman claim that Christian Bale gave rise and life to Bruce Wayne and Batman, in reality, for the actor; Christian, it was a whole nother story.

The hero Batman gave an entirely new meaning to his life.

This was also why Christian had spent day after day trying to portray his character perfectly and even went into depth to help people in need.

Everything happened when the first movie became a hit, and the perks of being the main character flooded his bank balance. The profits from the movie, the interviews, show-ups, media conferences, and many things made his appearance in every small thing worth the wait.

Then when Ian called him back to talk about the second movie, the share he was getting—was very generous.

Which was then he decided where more than fifty percent of his income should go.

“The orphanages are requesting your arrival next Tuesday. But we have got the social event with Mr. Hadge, the director. I’ll postpone one of them and let you know,” Christian’s manager said with a serious tone.

They were on their way to a photo shoot, and public interview. The car was speeding among the other cars on the road, and Christian was surprisingly on his phone.

“Sir, is everything okay?” James, his manager, asked, noticing the silence that spread.

The first clue that his mood wasn’t positive was that Christian using the phone while in his car, and the second was how dull his face looked.

Christian sighed loudly and tossed the phone to the seat nearest to him.

“Yeah, nothing’s wrong. It’s just the media that is overwhelming me. But in a good way.-”

“You’re worried, because?”

“I’m not worried, James. I’m just tired. I wouldn’t ever be worried because this is what I’ve always wanted. Not just me, but every actor’s dream. To make it big, so big that you won’t ever need to think twice before meeting a director.”

James nodded in understanding.

“Ah, traffic!” James sighed and kept looking forward, on the road.

Christian who was in the backseat was feeling the exact emotions he explained. He was never a man to lie nor to hide.

With everything that had been happening, he sometimes felt the urge that it would have been better if things slowed down a bit, but considering how his entire career, for now, is attached to Ian Renner, it was not an option; not now, not ever.

But, he was grateful.

“Not going to lie, the flight to New York wore me out the most. And the AC is suffocating me right now! Would you mind if I just-”

Before he was able to stop talking, he opened the shutter of the car making James yell, “No!”

‘Oh wow!’ Christian thought to himself as a sudden rush of adrenaline took over his mind.

There were already people covering his entire car. Young, old, middle-aged, women, men, and kids were showering the outline of his car.

Different sentences, questions, and requests were in the air.

“IT REALLY IS CHRISTIAN BALE! CAN WE PLEASE TAKE A SELFIE WITH YOU, SIR?!”

“BATMAN! BATMAN! LOOK! IT’S BATMAN! I WANT A PICTURE!”

“CAN I GET A SELFIE PLEASE!”

“AUTOGRAPH! CHRISTIAN LOOK!”

“CHRISTIAN! I WATCHED BATMAN YESTERDAY AND YOU WERE WONDERFUL!”

“CAN I PLEASE-”

“I WONDER WHAT IT’S-”

“OH MY GOD-!”

The words from people were overheard by one another, and flashes started going off making Christian squint his eyes.

“Here,” James quickly handed over his shades while Bale waved at the crowd.

The driver took around two minutes to realise what was happening, but before anything started, he closed the shutter making him wave again.

Luckily soon enough, the traffic lights went green and the car sped through.

“Alright, James! You can stop giving me the look, ‘should’ve fucking waited’! I just wanted some air!” he said and shook his head.

-

The lights that were going off made Christian’s heart beat twice the regular speed. In front of him were twenty-something altogether reporters, and behind the reporters, there were an uncountable number of fans.

Everyone had their cameras and focused on the celebrities who sat in front of them.

Christian had a smile plastered on his face, and thus, the interview began.

“Ian, how have you been?” one of the reporters asked the scriptwriter of the movie, who sat beside Christian, with the director, Raelynn Sawyer.

“Never been better!”

“Yeah! And once again the Renner Studio strikes a marvellous hit in Hollywood! Raelynn, the character Batman is much deeper and the theme is darker and more meaningful in The Dark Knight than in Batman Begins. The movie kind of shifted its direction, but in a great way. Is that something you’ve wanted to do with the movie… Or?”

“Yes… Yes, of course, it is. Actually, there have been a- a lot of things that I noticed in Batman Begins, and going through thorough observations… With Ian, and associating Christian in the process… I just f-felt like, I had to do something to make it worth the movie-”

The interview started, and with time, the anxious feeling in Christian turned to excitement as the conversations flowed.