The shooting was about to end.

Although the final scenes were shots that Ian was sure the actors could pull off perfectly,

“People used to say to me that you were too selfish to be a great artist. I used to defend you. But they’re right!” Ian said, looking at Mark.

“All your best acting is behind you. You’re back to being a HACK.” Mark replied with the same tone pitching up to Ian’s.

“You gaslighted me. You’re a fucking villain!” Ian replied to Mark again.

“You want to present yourself as a victim because it’s a good legal strategy, FINE. But you and I both know you CHOSE this life. You wanted it until you didn’t!” Mark replied.

The dialogues between the two men continued further. Raelynn who held the camera in his hand was muffling his laughter at how funny and serious they both looked.

Ian’s facial expressions were dead set and he was being Nicole’s character. Mark, who was already in his character, hadn't moved an inch of muscle out of the character of Charlie.

“Life with you was JOYLESS!” Mark said.

“So you had to fuck someone else? How could you?” Ian said with anger slightly layered in his voice.

Niko, who held back the whole time, burst out laughing.

“Now is the good part, Niko. Only if you held it in a little longer,” Ian said and rolled his eyes.

“Fuck… That looked so real!” Niko laughed harder. “P-Please, continue. Scarlett, take notes,” he said and laughed a bit more.

“Alright… Action!” Niko said, yet a smile still lingering on his lips.

“You shouldn’t be upset that I fucked her, you should be upset that I laughed with her!” Mark said, looking into Ian’s eyes.

“Do you love her?”

“No! But she didn’t hate me. You hated me!”

The situation was getting intense.

“You hated ME. You fucked someone we worked with!”

“You stopped having sex with me in the last year. I never cheated on you.”

“That was cheating on me!”

“But there’s so much I could have done. I was a director in my 20s who came from nothing and was suddenly on the cover of fucking Time Out New York….”

Luckily, Raelynn recorded Ian’s expressions and Mark’s seriousness on the camera.

Ian had mentioned that bloopers as such would trend higher when put into the credits of the movie.

“Scarlett, you got what I truly meant with the character right? The expressions, the posture, and all… Will you be able to pull it off?” Ian asked, looking at Scarlett.

Her beautiful big eyes were looking up at him, and she nodded. “Yep, I got this!” she replied.

The tension among the two people was noticeable to Niko as he cleared his throat. Raelynn quickly glanced at Niko and focused on the camera that was in her hand.

In between the little break that they got, after the acting of Ian, which everyone was pretty amused at, they focused on one thing or another.

Some people held the lightning equipment and focused on getting a good picture for the cameras. Some people had done the coordinating on the technical side.

“Let’s take five and shoot the scene!” Ian said as everyone nodded and cheered.

One thing the set hadn’t lacked from day one was enthusiasm. From every actor to every person in charge of one thing or another, they were all equally enthusiastic about the shooting.

Which made things much easier for Ian.

-

“... And, action!”

“Well, out here he has basketball on Saturday at 12, 11, I’m sorry and so we go there.” Charlie swallowed and continued, “And then afterward, maybe we’ll get lunch somewhere, and then if there’s a movie to see…”

“Does he like basketball?”

“He does. His coach, um, Rick says he’s a good dribbler and I’ve seen that…” Charlie replied.

Charlie was acted by Mark Hamill, and so far into the story, Ian got nothing but perfect shots he had in his mind with his role.

The way that the young actor portrayed a character of a not-so-young man was something to truly appreciate.

“Uh-huh-”

“Ron. I’m sorry. His coach’s name is Ron. Rick’s his dentist in New York,” As Charlie said the words, the evaluator scribbled something on her book.

“Well, you know our home was...is in New York. That’s where we live and–” Charlie muttered.

“New York is a long way from here…”

The entire scenario was being acted so well in front of Ian’s eyes.

After watching it for a while from the monitor screen, he felt as if something was not right.

The slight tingles of doubt rose in the back of his head and he yelled, “Cut! Oh, shoot! The camera isn’t rolling? Raelynn?” He asked.

“What in the world?!”

“Oh hell!”

“Ahahhaa!”

“One more it is then!” Everyone said one thing or another.

“That was such a good shot though! It would be awesome if you could keep up with the same emotions while portraying the character… Just like you did before!” Ian yelled through the microphone he had in hand.

“I think people are going to love the friggin bloopers more than they’re going to love the movie!” Niko said from behind, while he was on his phone.

Everyone laughed at Niko’s words! The bloopers were being taken since day one, and they truly were funny as hell!

Just like what they hadn’t expected to happen during the nighttime.

-

It was past seven, and it had been a pretty hectic day for the entire cast.

From four in the morning, people were focusing on one character or another. Many had their own goals to achieve but some simply had to follow Ian’s lead.

Nevertheless, for all of them, it was quite stressful and tiring.

“I can’t believe we were able to create all the sets as Ian wanted to. It was a great achievement in my opinion,” one of the employees talked to another.

“Well, it was easy and essential.”

“Essential? Making amendments with plans and planning the set is normally what happens everywhere.”

“Not here, Liya. Ian has the specific idea of a set in his mind which also makes things kind of hard and easy. But for this set, it was easy because he knew exactly what he wanted.” The employee who started the conversation said with a serious look.

There were specific things that Ian had taken the original inspiration from.

One thing Ian knew was how in the original movie that the theme of theatre is reflected in the film's production design and architecture.

Charlie and Nicole had a proscenium arch in their apartment. In Nicole's mother's house, characters move in and out of rooms that interconnect to the kitchen like backstage to the main stage. During Nicole's monologue she walks in and out of rooms and similarly, Nicole and Charlie walk between rooms during the fight scene, these moments echo how actors move in plays.

And the other thing that he knew was how Charlie's LA apartment is an actual apartment, rather than a constructed set.

The production had rented it as a film location, along with the apartment directly upstairs, which they used for lodging. The next-door neighbors had to be asked to leave during the filming of the argument scene.

Since every single step wasn’t practical and theoretical in Ian’s opinion, he completed the target of sets in his way.

“Look at that!” The employee said in a hushed tone and pointed toward the couch.

“Oh, my sky! Oh, my sky! Hahaha!” The other employee smiled as well.

“Shhh… Guys, don’t wake him up, we still have an hour's worth of break,” Ian who walked behind the two ladies said and smiled looking at the couch.

“Where’s Rae? This should go to the bloopers! Man, I can’t honestly wait to see them together,” Niko said in a hushed tone to Ian and walked away to find Raelynn, the essential person of the house.

After being able to find her in the nearest kitchen, she walked towards where Ian was with her camera in her hand.

From afar, she took a picture of how Ian stared at the young man who slept on the couch.

“I’m pretty sure that wouldn’t make it to the final cut, but thanks,” Ian whispered and walked away.

Raelynn who smiled to herself took pictures of Mark Hamill who had drool on the side of his mouth and was in a deep, peaceful sleep; which was shown clearly from how his eyes rested.

-

After an entire day worth of troublesome shooting, Ian walked inside his mansion with a deep sigh leaving his lips, that too, right when he stepped into his room.

He closed the door of his room behind him and jumped onto the bed.

*knock knock*

“Eh?” Ian groaned and stood up.

“Master Ian, this letter came around afternoon, and it looked pretty important so thought of giving it before you go off tomorrow morning?” Valerine said while extending her hand.

In her hand, there was a court subpoena.

“What the fuck is it now?” Ian mouthed out as his sleepiness shrugged away completely from his mind and body.