(A/N):
Drop a here that you find funny. Or reflects your mood.
Guys I hope you put more comnts and power stones... Which will encourage ...
....
The evening crowd at the barbecue restaurant was thinner than usual.
Soft country music played from an old speaker near the counter while the sll of grilled at and smoke drifted through the air.
Most custors were busy with their own conversations, paying little attention to the two n seated in a corner booth.
One of them was enjoying his al.
The other was staring into a glass of whiskey.
Guillermo del Toro sighed.
"You're doing it again."
Across from him, Jas Caron glanced up.
"Doing what?"
Guillermo pointed at the half-empty bottle sitting between them.
"Staring into the glass like it contains answers."
Jas looked at the drink.
"...."
Then at his friend.
"Maybe it does."
"Trust ."
Guillermo stabbed a piece of barbecue with his fork.
"It doesn't."
A small smile appeared on Jas face before disappearing just as quickly.
The smile had beco rare over the years.
Guillermo noticed.
"...."
He always noticed.
They had known each other for too long.
Long enough to recognize when the other was lying.
Long enough to recognize when the other was hurting.
For a few minutes neither spoke.
The restaurant's noise filled the silence.
Plates clinked.
People laughed.
Soone celebrated a birthday near the opposite side of the room.
anwhile Jas sat quietly. Looking exhausted.
Not physically.
ntally.
Finally Guillermo put down his fork.
"Alright."
Jas imdiately recognized that tone.
"What?"
"The truth."
"What truth?"
"The thing you've been avoiding."
Jas let out a long sigh.
"Not tonight."
"Especially tonight."
Guillermo replied.
The older director leaned back against his chair.
"How long?"
Jas remained silent.
"...."
"How long are you planning to carry Titanic on your shoulders?"
The question hung in the air.
Heavy.
Uncomfortable.
Jas looked away.
Toward the restaurant window.
Toward the street outside.
Anywhere except at his friend.
Titanic.
Even after all these years the word still hurt.
The greatest project of his life.
The movie he had poured everything into.
His reputation. His energy. His relationships.
His future.
Then the project collapsed.
Funding issues.
Studio panic.
Production delays.
Mounting debts.
Eventually the ship never sailed.
The irony wasn't lost on him.
A movie about a sinking ship had sunk his own career.
Guillermo watched his friend's expression carefully.
"You know."
Jas laughed bitterly.
"-Haha!"
"Everybody says move on."
"Because you should."
"You make it sound easy."
"It isn't."
The answer ca imdiately.
No hesitation. No judgnt.
Guillermo took a sip from his drink.
"I know exactly how difficult it is."
That made Jas pause.
"...."
Because if there was one person who understood the struggle of filmmaking, it was Guillermo del Toro.
The man had spent years fighting for projects.
Watching studios reject ideas.
Watching executives interfere with stories.
Watching dreams get cancelled.
The difference was that Guillermo had eventually climbed out.
Recently, Hellboy II had been a success.
His reputation was growing.
His future looked bright.
anwhile Jas still felt trapped in a ghost.
A project that no longer existed.
"You know what's funny?"
Jas suddenly asked.
"What?"
"A few years ago I thought Titanic would change everything."
Guillermo chuckled as he spoke.
"It did."
Jas frowned hearing his friend's words.
"Not the way I wanted."
"Still changed everything."
The statent earned a reluctant laugh.
For several monts they returned to their food.
The conversation seed over.
At least until Guillermo spoke again.
"What have you been doing lately?"
Jas shrugged his shoulder.
"Reading."
"Anything good?"
A strange expression crossed Jas's face.
"Maybe."
That caught Guillermo's attention.
"Maybe?"
Jas leaned back.
A mory surfaced.
A bench.
A cheeseburger.
An Indian actor.
Karuppu.
Guillermo noticed the change imdiately.
"What's that look?"
"What look?"
"The one you get when you're thinking."
Jas stared at his drink.
Then slowly smiled.
"I t sobody."
Guillermo imdiately pointed his fork.
"There it is."
Jas rolled his eyes.
"Not like that."
"Pity."
The xican director grinned.
"Continue."
Jas shook his head.
"An actor."
"Oh."
"Indian."
Guillermo raised an eyebrow.
"The horror movie guy?"
This ti it was Jas who looked surprised.
"You've heard of him?"
"Jas."
Guillermo gave him a flat look.
"I make movies."
"Watching movies is part of the job for inspiration."
Fair point.
Jas found himself telling the story.
eting Karuppu outside McDonald's.
Their conversation.
His studies.
The visual effects course.
The discussion about storytelling and technology.
The more he spoke, the more thoughtful he beca.
Eventually Guillermo noticed sothing unusual.
For the first ti in years, Jas sounded interested in sothing.
Actually interested.
Not bitter. Not angry.
Not regretful.
Interested.
When the story ended, Guillermo slowly nodded.
"And?"
"And what?"
"What are you not telling ?"
Jas frowned for a second.
"I told you everything."
"No."
Guillermo pointed at him.
"I know that face."
"What face?"
"The face you get when a new idea enters your head."
Jas opened his mouth.
Then closed it.
"...."
Because annoyingly... His friend was right.
Ever since that conversation, sothing had been bothering him.
Not in a bad way.
A question.
What if he had been looking backward for too long?
What if the next great project wasn't Titanic?
What if the mistake wasn't failing?
What if the mistake was refusing to move forward?
Guillermo smiled.
"There it is."
Jas laughed seeing his friend seen threw him.
"I hate you sotis."
"I know."
"And you're usually right."
"I know that too."
The two friends laughed.
"...."
"...."
For the first ti that evening, the weight on Jas' shoulders seed slightly lighter.
Not gone.
Titanic would always be part of him.
Always.
But perhaps it didn't have to be the only part.
Outside the restaurant, the city lights stretched into the night.
Inside, two filmmakers continued talking about movies, failures, dreams, and stories.
And for the first ti in many years, Jas Caron wasn't thinking about the ship that sank.
He was thinking about what he might build next.
The conversation had been moving comfortably until Jas casually ntioned the thought that had been lingering in his mind ever since his encounter with Karuppu.
Guillermo was in the middle of cutting another piece of barbecue when Jas spoke.
Almost absentmindedly.
As if he were talking about the weather.
"You know..."
Jas swirled the drink in his glass.
"I think that Indian kid could pull off Titanic."
The fork stopped halfway to Guillermo's mouth.
"What?"
Jas shrugged her shoulder.
"Titanic."
Silence.
"...."
Then Guillermo slowly put the fork down.
Very carefully and asked the na repeatedly.
"Jas."
"Hm?"
"Tell you don't an Titanic Titanic."
Jas looked at him.
"I an Titanic."
Guillermo stared at him for several seconds.
Trying to determine whether his friend was drunk.
Unfortunately, Jas was not drunk enough for that explanation to work.
"You've lost your mind."
Jas laughed seeing how shocked his friend was.
"-Haha!!!"
"No, seriously."
"That is exactly what a crazy person says before explaining sothing crazy."
Jas leaned back in his seat.
For the first ti all evening, genuine excitent appeared in his eyes.
The kind Guillermo hadn't seen in years so he hurriedly searched through his laptop to see the inormation.
"I watched that kid."
"Karuppu? Right?"
"Yeah."
Jas nodded.
"Not just the horror film."
"I went and watched so clips afterward."
"Interviews."
"Cricket matches."
"Movie scenes."
The more he spoke, the more animated he beca.
"He's got presence."
"Natural charisma."
"He doesn't look like he's acting."
"He just exists in front of the cara."
Guillermo sighed seeing his friend was still carrying the dream of Titanic.
"Jas."
"No, listen."
The older filmmaker leaned forward.
"That's hard to teach."
"You can teach technique."
"You can teach timing."
"You can teach movent."
"But presence?"
He shook his head.
"Either sobody has it or they don't."
Guillermo had to admit there was so truth to that.
Still...
"Even if I agree with you."
Jas waited.
"What exactly are you planning to do?"
That question caused the excitent to fade slightly.
Because both of them knew reality was far less inspiring than imagination.
Jas fell silent.
"...."
Guillermo took advantage of the mont.
"Let's co back to Earth for a second."
The Canadian director rolled his eyes.
"Here we go."
"Yes."
Guillermo pointed his fork directly at him.
"Here we go."
The successful director leaned back.
"You don't have a studio."
Jas remained silent.
"You don't have investors."
Silence.
"You don't have your original cast."
More silence.
"You don't even have active negotiations."
Jas rubbed his forehead.
"And?"
"And?"
Guillermo repeated.
"Jas."
His voice beca serious.
"The project is dead."
The words hung heavily between them.
Titanic.
Dead.
No matter how many years passed, those words still hurt.
Guillermo continued anyway.
Because sobody had to.
"According to what I've heard..."
He lowered his voice slightly.
"The studios are trying to offload the remaining assets."
Jas looked up.
"I heard that too."
The xican director nodded.
"The sets."
"The research."
"The models."
"The production materials."
"Everything."
Jas looked away.
Because he knew exactly how much of himself was buried inside those materials.
Years of work.
Years of preparation.
Years of dreaming.
"They've reduced the valuation."
Guillermo continued.
"Again."
Jas already knew where this was going.
"They spent nearly one hundred eighty-five million dollars."
The number still sounded absurd.
Especially for the era.
"And now?"
Guillermo sighed.
"They're reportedly willing to let everything go for around one hundred fifty million."
A bitter laugh escaped Jas.
Even hearing it spoken aloud felt surreal.
Millions had vanished.
Not on screen. Not in theaters.
Just gone.
Guillermo watched his reaction carefully.
"And nobody's buying."
Jas nodded slowly.
That part didn't surprise him.
Not anymore.
The Titanic project had developed a reputation.
A dangerous one. A money pit.
A cursed production.
A cautionary tale taught in studio boardrooms.
Executives ntioned it whenever directors requested larger budgets.
"Don't turn this into another Titanic."
Jas had heard that phrase more than once.
Guillermo continued.
"The problem isn't the project anymore."
That statent made Jas look at him.
"The problem is trust."
The words landed harder than expected.
Because they were true.
"The studios are scared."
Guillermo spoke gently.
Not cruelly. Not mockingly.
"They watched Fox and Paramount bleed money."
"They watched delays."
"They watched costs explode."
"They watched the production collapse."
He paused.
"And now they're wondering..."
Jas already knew the question.
Would it happen again?
Guillermo didn't need to say it.
Both n understood.
Investors weren't afraid of Titanic.
They were afraid of Jas Caron's Titanic.
That was the painful reality.
Even worse, the original cast had moved on.
Several actors who had initially committed had signed other projects years ago.
Their schedules no longer aligned.
So had aged out of their roles.
Others simply didn't want to return to a project many considered dead.
The montum was gone.
The excitent was gone.
The industry had moved on.
For several minutes neither spoke.
The noise of the restaurant returned.
Conversations.
Laughter.
The sound of glasses clinking together.
anwhile, Jas sat staring at his drink.
Eventually he spoke.
Quietly.
"You know the worst part?"
Guillermo waited for his friend to pour his heart out.
"It's not the money."
Not the failed production.
Not the headlines. Not the criticism.
"It's knowing the movie would've been good."
For a mont Guillermo saw not the filmmaker.
Not the visionary.
Not the stubborn perfectionist.
Just a man mourning a story he never got to tell.
The xican director sighed.
"I know."
And he truly did.
Every filmmaker had at least one project like that.
A story that never reached the screen.
A dream left unfinished.
Jas looked out the restaurant window.
Lost in thought.
Then unexpectedly, he smiled.
A small smile.
The first genuine one all evening.
Guillermo noticed imdiately.
"What?"
Jas tapped the table thoughtfully.
"Maybe you're right."
That surprised him.
"About Titanic?"
"No."
Jas laughed.
"About moving on."
The answer caught Guillermo off guard.
For years, every conversation sohow led back to Titanic.
Yet now...
There was sothing different in his friend's eyes.
Not obsession. Not regret.
Curiosity.
The kind of curiosity filmmakers possessed when a new story began whispering in their ear.
And for the first ti in a very long ti, Jas Caron wasn't looking backward at the ship that never sailed.
He was looking ahead, wondering whether another voyage might still be waiting for him.
*******************************
(Author note:)
I hope you guys give your opinion and idea's.
-->
Don't forget to review guys...
User Comments
0 comments from readers