It was not Christian Bale, but someone else, who he was not expecting. It was Steve Carell.

Ian knew that Steve Carell existed in this life because when he had searched for actors and actresses he had come across Steve Carell. What made his eyebrows go up in surprise was the fact that Steve Carell joined the audition for the role.

The Steve Carell Ian knew was an American actor and comedian. He was someone who got popular for being in a popular series for years but was also occasionally a producer, writer, and director. In fact he was recognized as ‘America’s funniest man’ by a magazine called Life. He acted in famous movies and series like, ‘The 40 year old Virgin’, ‘Bruce almighty’, ‘crazy stupid love’, and the most famous ‘The office’.

But the man in front of Ian was none of that. Yes, he was an A-grade actor, but other than that, he had no glorious details like the ones Ian knew from his world.

“Hello, Steve,”

“Hey, Martin. Ian.” Steve said and gave a brief nod.

“Let’s start with a scene of Bruce, are you ready?” Ian questioned.

[...] The audition started with one of the opening scenes of the movie with Bruce meeting Ra’s Al Ghul. Steve performed it well but Ian felt like Steve was not Bruce. Steve Carell looked too old to be Batman. Ian in fact compared Steve to Ben Affleck. In the initial trilogy, Ben Affleck who was an American actor had played Batman in the last Batman movie. But, many fans had declared that he looked too old for the role.

Ian thought that if he was given the role, it would cause the same kind of result. So he scratched the name out from the list.

As soon as Steve muttered a thank you, Ian excused himself from the other people and walked out to have a little chit-chat with Steve Carell.

“Hey, wait up,” Ian said and jogged a bit to catch up with Steve.

“Oh hello, Ian Renner,” Steve acknowledged him by his full name.

“Yes, Steve, can I have a minute?” Ian asked.

Looking at Steve, he realized how much the face, nose, mouth, eyes resemble the Steve Carell he knew. The closer Ian was, the more he realized this dude was a legend in the alternate universe.

“Yeah, sure.” He said.

“Great, follow me,”

Ian said and walked towards the nearest office room and closed the door behind him.

“Do you have something to say, director?” Steve asked. Ian couldn’t decipher if he was just being sarcastic or was he being real. He stood tall and leaned against the wall waiting to listen to what Ian had to say.

“Did I get the role?” He questioned without waiting a second more.

“About that, well, no,” Hesitant was clearly laced on his words and written on Ian’s face. The reason why he wanted to talk to him privately was mainly because of the regret; it was a part of the reason.

“Oh? Can I know why?” Steve questioned. “I mean, there must be a reason right? Also, do you always look this hesitant after saying no to an actor?” Steve asked.

He was feeling bad for the director because of how hesitant he looked at the moment. In fact, he believed Ian should not be like that.

“You can know, yes. And no, I don’t normally do this. As for the reason why you didn’t get the role, don’t take any offense, it’s just you look too old for the role,” Before Steve could argue, Ian tried to explain the whole reasoning behind his choice, “Well, the script follows Batman's journey before he was the caped crusader. I’m planning a trilogy with Batman, and no one knows other than some people. It’s kind of a secret for now. And it is more about a matter of looks. You will even look out of place for the role when the third part comes out. Moreover, you would need lots of exercise throughout the time to keep fit,”

Hearing his words, Steve's face visibly relaxed. He nodded in understanding.

“Yeah, I understand, and it is totally fine. To be honest, I didn't have high hopes when I first got the script, but my manager insisted that I should at least give it a try,” Steve said and chuckled a bit.

“Oh, it’s fine. As to why I wanted to meet you here; well this is the real deal, I have another movie that is in the process of being made. It will be a romantic comedy. And I think that you might like the script, it would be great if you could give it a try,” Ian said while a smile formed on Steve’s face.

“Sounds good, but I never really get offers to act in many romantic comedies. Even if I get any, there’s just one movie I acted in for the last two years. So you can imagine how many movies I get offered in that genre,” Steve said.

It was true. Steve Carell was in fact a famous American actor in this life in the genres of Horror and Comedy. But never in Romantic-Comedy as a main lead. It was mainly because of his age.

“Well, I still am not done with the script, but I really think that you should give it a try. The character that I think is suitable for you to play is something… you could say was written for you. It won’t take too many days before the script reaches you, and I’m telling you, that you should give it a try,”

“Hahaha… Of course, of course I will give it a read,”

Steve Carell looked extremely satisfied with the words that Ian said. He looked pleased and had a smile plastered on his face with wrinkles.

“I have to go back in, hope to meet you again,” Ian said.

“Looking forward to it, Ian,” Steve said and patted Ian on his shoulder “Before you go, I gotta say you did an amazing job with La La Land and Home Alone,”

“Thank you, Steve. You will be a part of the greatest very soon,” Ian walked out of the office after Steve and went back in to continue auditioning the actors who thought they had the potential to be Batman.

Walking in, the people including Martin, Gemma and Niko looked at Ian.

“What happened?” Niko asked, knowing Ian was up to something from the way he left after Steve.

“Nothing, I had a role to offer Steve in my next movie. Just that,” Ian said and smirked, noticing the shocking look on Niko's face.

‘Just like that’ Niko thought silently. It was quick because Ian literally scratched his name off for Batman and went and gave him a role in another movie that didn't even have a finished script.

“It happens, Niko. Don’t look so surprised,”

Niko let out a chuckle and knew it might be true; especially with directors.

After a while, A-grade actor Curtis George came in the door. He was greeted with hi’s and hello’s by the people beside Ian and he politely greeted them back. He had a slightly smug smile visible on his face.

“You read the part we sent?” Ian questioned.

“Yes,” He replied.

“Okay, start now?”

Curtis stood tall and strong to appear in camera. The first scene was one of Bruce Wayne’s, and after that Ian would ask for one of Batman’s if necessary.

“Why the design, Master Wayne?” Gemma said the lines of Alfred.

“A man, however strong, however skilled, is just flesh and blood. I need to be more than a man. I need to be a symbol.”

Curtis’s eyes squinted in seriousness and a slight smirk appeared on his face. Getting onto the role, Ian knew that he would not be able to pull off Bruce which would be a huge NO for Batman.

“And why the symbol of the bat?” Gemma questioned.

“That’s enough,” Ian said.

“Bats frighten me,” Curtis continued as if he did not hear the command, and slightly smiled looking at the camera, “And it’s time my enemies shared my dread,”

“Alright. That’s fine, we will let you know,” Ian said, trying not to sound rude because the person in front of him was a star.

“What? What about Batman? I heard I had to act as the superhero as well?” Curtis said in disbelief. “Urgh! Thank you,” He said while shaking his head and walking out.

“I can’t believe you did that to him, the dude is popular as heck!” Niko said in a whisper.

“Didn’t you see the dude’s acting? It is not what we are looking for. Even if he's a star, if he can’t even pull off Bruce, how can he be Batman? It's not like we can make two people play the two roles, if he wants he can be a side character, but trust me, no one would want that,” Ian said, unable to wipe off the smirk that appeared on his face.

“That makes total sense, Ian. What you did was great, no one should get roles based on fame or familiarity.”

After a few seconds, all the eyes focused on the door as Christian Bale came in.