“Terrific! Let me know when you’ve arranged it!”

Ian said loudly for Murphy to hear. Murphy responded with a stiff nod, as he continued to take notes on his notepad.

They were all sitting in the conference room. Ian, Martin, Murphy, Niko, Raelynn, and two other directors who were working for Renner Studios.

The main problem for the movie was who they were going to select as the main character. Since Ian didn’t like his previously finalised star, he had to search more, and people who worked under him had the full responsibility of finding someone who’d fit the character.

“Let’s talk about Keanu’s script. Raelynn, you’re going to take it, right? You can direct the movie.”

Raelynn smiled. “I’d love to.”

“U-Uh, I can help her with that,” Martin said.

“Yes, sure.”

“Thanks, we’ll do a great job.”

“I’ve some notes about the script. We’ve to go over the locations and the characters again, but not right now. With Keanu, and arrange a meeting for it, tomorrow, Murphy,”

“On it.”

“Okay, apart from that… Let me talk more about Inception.”

Ian said and stood up from his chair. The rest of the directors who sat around the conference room showed that they were fully focused on what Ian was saying now.

“So, I believe that this movie is going to be a change to the industry based on several facts. As we all know, there’s something unsaid about the movies I decide to direct, mainly for how smoothly they go with my ideas. I’m not trying to brag, but I’m pretty sure once we’re locked in with the main character, things are going to be fine.”

Ian said and adjusted the collar of his shirt. The latter statement was something even he couldn’t get himself to believe.

It’s been weeks, and during all of his movies before, he had the privilege of getting the actors easily, and sometimes his expectations exceeded the reality when the exact movie stars from his previous world showed up—either as an actor or not... Nevertheless, to fit the role.

But this time, someone to fill in Leonardo DiCaprio in his mind wasn’t possible. He had too many expectations, with looks, acting, and everything else.

“Anyway, where was I? Oh yes. Inception—as a movie, uses the basic premise of a heist movie and then bends it to pursue an exploration of the lies we tell together to create something bigger than ourselves and seek the catharsis we can’t achieve on our own. does this not just in the heist genre, but making a movie about movies? I’m telling a story using a preferred mode of storytelling that allows me to bend time through the edit and find acceptance in the fiction we tell ourselves to live.

So, Inception is not a complicated movie; it is merely a different movie. No one has ever made a movie about dream levels where a heist crew goes into someone’s mind to implant an idea, so a large portion of the film is given over to explanations, but Inception does not need to be solved even with its ambiguous ending. I’m planning to patiently walk our audience through the mechanics of dreams and the trauma of our protagonist, Cobb. No, I’m not trying to trip up our audience or fool them. Instead, Inception wants the audience to share in this “half-remembered dream” where the audience, like Cobb, starts to lose the thread of what’s a dream and what’s not through surrealism or dream logic, but because they’d have come to accept the shared dream. The lie is now the truth because they’ve found catharsis in the outcome.”

Everyone had their mouths formed into an ‘O’ while listening to what Ian was saying.

“The only way to work through this trauma is through a shared dream, which is where Inception functions like a movie about movies. In the movie, there are these characters right? Cobb, Arthur, Ariadne, Eames, Saito… Think like this— Cobb is the director, Arthur is the producer, Ariadne is the writer, Eames is the actor, Saito is the studio, and Fischer is the audience role is a bit more nebulous, but he represents the work of the craftspeople to make the dream possible even if it’s not glamorous or easy to describe. For me, personally and Inception, lies are what we tell each other and tell ourselves to move forward. So basically I’m a firm believer that a lie can tell the truth when it’s presented at the right angle.”

As Ian’s voice came down while discussing the latter.

“Wow…”

“Ian, now I’m starting to think that you already gave all the hidden eggs for us about the movie.”

“That's the beauty of a great movie. There’s a lot and a lot to identify and you are not allowed to take your eyes away even for a second… You’ll miss something great. So, as I said, there’s a lot more I want to interpret in the movie. But everything will come together once we’re in it. Let’s talk about the schedules and the budget. What did we settle on?”

“150 million.”

“Make it two hundred.”

“What?”

“Yeah, how about the schedules and the locations?”

“They’re done. We’re starting in two weeks. We just need to find the~”

“Lead. I know. We will.”

Everyone nodded.

“Ian, have you thought about taking Fixel Studio under you?”

Ian raised his eyebrows at the sudden question Martin aimed at him.

“Animation studio? Why would I?”

“They are taking a big hit from Ice Queen, the movie… A massive flop! Just like that! 9 million just in the drain!”

Ian had a single question in his mind, ‘why is Martin bringing this up now?’

Martin immediately realised what he was thinking from his expression. From how they’d worked together for so long, it was obvious that Martin knew what Ian was thinking about.

“Ian, I know how you’ve been wanting to get into the field for quite some time. And honestly, this could be too good for the expansion of the Renner name. I have got a friend who’s on the board, and he keeps talking about how Milan Fernandez needs to resign from the position asap. And if you offer something that he can’t say no to, I’m sure the studio will be yours.”

‘Pixel also had two or three hits for the past year. Especially different kid-themed movies, yet they hit it big as Ian remembers properly.

“I’ll think about it. Back to work!”

-

[Renner’s mansion - Beverly Hills]

Ian and Raelynn sat in front of the television.

The Renner mansion had become the second home of Raelynn—literally. Often when work is done, and she was feeling tired, Ian and she, both would find themselves getting under covers in the mansion.

And Ian on the other hand had his feelings growing deeper and deeper with every day, passing by.

There were many things that he had been feeling lately concerning Rae. Ian personally never had someone who had always been there for him, through thick and thin. When Ian had his account of good and bad days, when he got home, there was Rae, distracting him and helping him focus more on the good.

As bad as it sounds, they both were reliant on each other.

“What do you think if I cook something for dinner?”

She asked out of the blue, taking Ian by surprise.

“A dinner? You? Babe, do you even know how to cook?”

Raelynn chuckled and swatted Ian as he shrugged. He looked deadly serious, and Raelynn fake-gasped.

“Huh? Sir, you’re underestimating my abilities. Trust me on this, you’re going to have one of the best meals this weekend!”

She said and turned on her couch so she could face the kitchen.

“Valerine! Valerine!”

She yelled across the hall.

Valerine walked outside of the kitchen quickly and had ‘what was going on’ face written all over hers.

“You’re off of kitchen duties for three nights in a row, starting from today!”

“Woah Woah! Calm your horses down!” He whispered into her ear and looked at Valerine who was equally confused.

There hadn’t been a day where she gotta not cook dinner. Even if she was the only person who was about to eat dinner in the mansion, especially when Ian was out or when he was busy with something, she’d still cook for herself.

“Master Ian?”

Ian thought for a quick second before kissing Rae’s neck.

“Let her cook dinner for the weekend!”

“Neat! What do we have here?” Raelynn stood up and immediately jogged to the kitchen.

‘Making movies is easier than cooking a meal’ Ian thought. ‘Why not stick to it, Rae?’

-

[At the grocery]

“I can’t believe you’ve never done your grocery shopping,” Raelynn whispered to Ian.

She shook her head, unbelievably as she said the words.

“Perks of living in a mansion huh?”

“Right,” she rolled her eyes. It was around 7 pm, and the couple was already stuffed with what they wanted to take home in their grocery cart.

“And, I’ve been meaning to ask you, do you maybe wanna move-”

Ian started to ask if she could move in with him, at the mansion. It had been quite some time since they had the conversation about the moving arrangements, nevertheless, he was about to do it.

This time, he was sure that she would say yes.

“Excuse me, sir, you’re holding the line to lettuce!”

A manly voice came from behind him and interrupted his question.

‘The fuck?’ Ian thought as he turned around wanting to see who it was.

His jaw almost dropped seeing who it was. He stopped in his tracks and his expressions were something that a regular person would laugh at or be confused about.

Which was what exactly the man in front of Ian did.

“Are you mad? Get out of my way.”

“Ian-” Raelynn whispered.

‘This is fucking surreal!’ Ian thought.

-

A/N; POWERSTONES! POWERSTONES! POWERSTONES!!

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