Chapter 68: Chapter 66.

After a week of preparation and deciding what to do with what part of the movie, which included long meetings with the crew, they started the auditioning process. 

For the time being when they started the auditioning process, the crew had divided their tasks and were in the mindset of ‘The biggest movie of the year’. Having recruited engineers to make the Batmobiles, and all the necessary workers to create other stuff, they started working on all the props and background necessities for the movie. 

On the other hand, Ian did not forget about the background music. He had given the project to the SS Studio once again to do some matching theme music for the movie. Just like Sebastian, Henry Renner’s friend said, after editing the movie, the music, and everything else can be edited and well provided to give out a nice execution for the movie. Ian did agree but also told him to start working on the theme that he thought would fit the movie. 

Ian Renner himself was busy with hiring the cast. He would often get video calls from managers and workers who already started working on things. 

“Oh and Murphy, at 10, ask everyone to be there,” Ian was arranging dates for the audition. 

“Okay, sir. Anything else?”

“Hm, nothing for now, can you-” Ian got another video call. This was the fifth one of the day. 

“Check the A-grade actors we sent the script to, I mean, don’t force or anything, just check if they received the message or not, thanks,” Ian said to Murphy and focused on the guy on the screen.

“Sir, the color of this material?”

Since Ian wanted perfect props, he had asked everyone to make sure they got permission from him before buying anything. It was because creating something then throwing it out due to it not being the suitable color or something simple like that could lead to massive losses for him.

“Yes, maybe something darker?” 

“One second please,” The guy with short hair was searching for a color to suit the clothes of Batman’s kit had been busy since the first day of Ian and his meeting. Since the project was huge, the commission he was supposed to get was huge as well. Due to that, he knew he had to do his job perfectly. 

“How about this one?” 

“Looks perfect,” Ian said and hung up instantly. 

He then focused on the list of the cast that he wanted on the sheet in front of him. The list had a lot of roles including, 

Bruce Wayne/Batman
Alfred
Ducard
Rachel Dawes
Jim Gordan
Dr. Jonathan Crane
Carmine Falcone
Earle
Ra’s Al Ghul... and many more. 

Looking at each of the names, in his mind he imagined how they were. Different scenes where they showed their personas. Different moments Ian felt that if only this was taken a bit better, and different actors acted as those characters. Their fame and talents. Ian had his moment as a director remembering all the good and bad things about Batman and the cast.

The next day, at around 10 am, the potential actors in the industry who Ian thought might fit the role of Batman were present in Renner Studios to audition Since there wouldn’t be many actors, they decided to set up the camera with lights for the screentest in the studio itself. 

“I swear to God, I have not seen this many top actors in one place ever except for in two or three parties, but this… I already feel the depth of the movie to the core of my nerves,” Niko, the cinematographer, said to Ian while he was getting ready in his personal office. 

“Haha… You will meet many more in the near future, and everyone who gets the chance to act in Batman will go to the top, I bet on my life, Niko,” Ian said. 

After being together in the whole journey of Ian, they had kind of got closer to the point of sharing those details. But in Niko's heart, he still had a lot of respect for the young director. It was all because of how professional and kind Ian was, in the eyes of him.

There were 4 top actors, who were A-grade and ready to audition for the role of Batman. They were from different top agencies and although the script was sent to several more actors, only those who were interested had come to the audition. 

Other than top A-grade actors, there were also several B-grade actors who were invited to the studio by Ian because he thought they might suit the role. 

The audition started after a while and Ian decided to go with the B-grade actors first. 

Mark Hyde was a 34-year-old man who was tall and muscular. He had a pointy nose and green eyes. He looked like someone who would commit murder and get away with it quickly, not because of how his face was, but because of his personality. 

When Ian first saw Mark, he thought that his looks suited the role. But this audition made him realize that with his personality, there’s no way Mark could be Batman. But to give him a chance, he decided to start the audition. 

He first introduced himself and Ian asked Mark to act out a certain scene. With a polite, ‘yes sir’ he got ready to face the camera. Niko had made arrangements with the auditioning process. Mark looked straight into the camera while Ian took it as a sign that he was ready.

“Okay, go ahead, Mark,” 

Mark looked at the camera and smiled. 

“Sorry to barge in, but I was in the area –” 

Gemma who sat some steps away from Ian, Martin, Niko and others read the lines. 

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“My boy! We thought you were gone for good,”

“What can I say? Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated," Mark said.

“Can I ask where you’ve been?” Gemma questioned.

“Wait, Mark. Can you redo it with a smile, somewhat nervously? And your eyes should focus on Earle and the camera from time to time, one more?” Ian asked.

“Yes, sir. Sure,”

“What can I say? Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated," Mark said and chuckled nervously, playing the role perfectly this time. 

“You can ask –” Mark, who was acting as Bruce said mischievously. 

“Well, perhaps you’ll tell us your plans. Are you back to finish college?” 

“Actually, I thought I’d get to grips with what we actually do around here. From the ground up, one division at a time.”

“Okay, that would be enough, thank you. Can we try a Batman part?” Ian questioned.

The auditions were taken in two parts for the role of Batman, as Batman and Bruce. Because even Ian felt that they were two different people. With different personalities, and due to this, Ian wanted someone who could play both sides to perfection because both of them were important. 

The scene he was asked to practice was perfect to check if he would be able to do it. Ian gave him a few minutes to prepare so that he could get into the role. At that moment, Ian gave Mark a prototype costume of Batman, which he had asked the costume designer to make. The mask looked something similar to what Batman would wear, but it was not perfect, just a prototype. 

In a few minutes, they were ready and Mark was in front of the camera once again. 

“Off you go,” Ian said. It reminded him of Simon Cowell as soon as the words came out of his mouth, but he reminded to be calm because no one would understand if he asked, ‘See what I did there?’.

The scene that was given for him to act was from when Batman was in Rachel’s apartment. It was the moment when Batman drops a folder of photos onto Rachel’s bed and when Rachel glanced down, there were photos of Phelan and the girl in the limo.

“What the hell is this?” Gemma questioned, reading Rachel’s lines of the role,.

“Leverage,” Mark said in a deep tone. Trying to imitate the Batman in his head.

“What do I need leverage for?” Gemma questioned.

“To get things moving,” Mark looked at the floor like he was imagining things in his head, his eyes were a bit far and his body faced the camera.

“Who are you?”

“Someone like you. Someone who will stand against the corruption,”

“Okay, thank you, Mark. We will let you know,” Ian said.

Josephine a stage helper, helped Mark to remove the fake batman clothes. After it was done, Mark shook hands with Ian and walked outside. 

“He did a great job as Bruce, but not Batman. As I said, we need a person who can be both, with no accidental such as a mix of personalities, because in my view, they are different and that’s the fun of watching Bruce change into Batman and back to Bruce,”

“Yeah,” Martin nodded and agreed. 

Just like that, Mark was off the list. 

[...] After Mark, two to three more actors auditioned but Ian felt as if they wouldn't fit the role. 

“He won’t be Batman,” Ian said and crossed in front of the name James. 

After a second, someone came in which made Ian’s eyebrows raise in surprise. It was not Christian Bale, but someone else, who he did not expect. 

||__A word from me__||
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