"And that's that," I muttered, making sure that my involvement with the Dark Universe and Top Gun was finished.
I wrote the script for both. Frankenstein had just finished this week. Del Toro and I had begun months ago, and finally it was done. He was going to begin filming the movie at the beginning of 2018. Probably one of my best works. No future knowledge required there. Just me and Del Toro working together.
Top Gun had been finished long ago, but Tom kept wanting changes. I'd finally just assigned it to a writer at Midas. The changes were very small and did not change much from what I wrote, but it was annoying and taking too much of my time.
Delegation of basically everything I was involved with was now done.
DC. The game studios. Games Workshop. For example, Event Horizon was being written by a team I'd assembled. I made sure every week that it was to my liking. So far, great. Everything was on schedule.
The World's Finest script would be done by December. And since the only movie I planned to do after that was Justice League 2, and I had a good idea of what direction it needed to go, plus writers to help, that part of my life had slowed down as well.
Even the DC TV shows had a new department. While still under my creative oversight, I had someone I trusted and knew was good leading it. Greg Berlanti had taken over after I brought him on earlier this year.
Now I could focus on directing and writing.
The Usual Suspects.
Rogue One.
Yes, I was going to direct Rogue One. Disney and I were in the final stages of putting it on paper.
Finishing Percy Jackson.
And also figuring out an ending to A Song of Ice and Fire.
That was the most daunting one.
But I felt more at ease now. More in control. Less stretched thin across a dozen different projects at once.
I walked out of my office and down the stairs, where I could hear a very excited Alice and an equally excited Margot talking.
They were standing in front of a mirror in the living room. Alice was putting on exaggerated expressions, wide eyes, furrowed brows, mock surprise, while Margot stood behind her, coaching.
"Good! Now try… suspicious. Like you know something no one else does."
Alice narrowed her eyes and tilted her head.
"Perfect!" Margot said, clapping.
I laughed, getting their attention.
"Al, you don't even get to speak," I said. "Your role just has you walking through some tunnels and meeting Varys."
Margot protested immediately. "And all those things need preparation too! Expression, body language, presence—"
"Yeah… what do you know? You're not an actor," Alice said, turning to me with a mischievous grin.
I stuck out my tongue.
She did the same.
"We have to go," I said.
"Why can't Margot come?" Alice asked, pouting.
Margot crouched down to Alice's level. "Because I have to work as well, sweetie. Just like you."
Alice nodded solemnly.
Margot pulled her into a hug. "But you're going to show off for everyone on set, okay? Make them remember you."
"As if she's not a diva enough already," I muttered.
Margot stood up and put her hands on her hips, backing Alice up. "She knows her worth."
"Yeah!" Alice said, crossing her arms. Then she pointed at me. "Let's go. We're going to be late."
I shook my head, smiling.
I walked over to Margot and gave her a kiss. She wrapped her arms around my neck.
"Sad I'm going to miss your birthday," she said softly.
"You can make up for it when we leave for our trip," I said.
"Oh, I will," she said with a grin.
We said our goodbyes.
"Daniel! Come on!" Alice called from the hallway, already dragging her little suitcase toward the door.
I sighed, shook my head, and followed.
We were being driven to the airport.
Alice sat next to me in the back, her face pressed against the window, watching LA roll by.
And LA was covered in Justice League.
Everywhere.
Billboards towered over Sunset Boulevard, massive images of the team standing together. Batman in the center, flanked by Superman and Wonder Woman, with Flash, Aquaman, Martian Manhunter, and Green Lantern positioned around them. The tagline read: "UNITE THE LEAGUE – DECEMBER 2017."
We passed another billboard near Beverly Hills. This one featured just Wonder Woman, her lasso glowing gold against a dark background. "WONDER WOMAN – JUSTICE LEAGUE – DECEMBER 2017."
Bus stops had posters. Buildings had banners.
"Look!" Alice pointed excitedly at a massive digital billboard cycling through each member of the League. "There's Flash!"
The Flash image lit up the screen, lightning crackling around him.
"I want the Wonder Woman soda," Alice said suddenly, turning to me. "And the Flash one too."
Ah, she must have seen the ads on TV where Coca-Cola had limited-edition cans and bottles, each with a member of the League on it.
"They have all the different ones," she continued. "Wonder Woman is strawberry, and Flash is cherry-lime. I want both."
Eh, strawberry, I thought in disgust.
"I can't believe you like strawberry. You know Mom and I hate it."
"Daddy loves it."
"Oh, don't remind me."
She giggled.
"We'll get you some before we leave," I said, smiling.
She went back to looking out the window.
We passed another ad, this one on the side of a bus. "AQUAMAN – JUSTICE LEAGUE – DECEMBER 2017."
$250 million spent, and it showed.
We arrived at the airport about twenty minutes later.
LAX was its usual chaos, crowds of travelers, security lines, announcements echoing over intercoms.
But we bypassed most of it.
We checked in quickly and were led to the private jet that belonged to Henry, which I always borrowed.
And soon we were on our way.
The flight to England was long, but Alice kept herself entertained. She watched a movie, colored in a book I'd brought for her, and eventually fell asleep against my shoulder.
I, well… I wrote, and finally reached the last chapter of The Lost Hero. Yes, it was finally going to be done, and if Lucy had her way, it would be released by Christmas..
============
"Looks good," I said as I watched the half-done dragon CGI.
On screen, the scene showed footage filmed three months ago in which Daenerys was trying to get Drogon to breathe fire. The dragon, still relatively small but growing, reared back, and you could see the markers where the flames would be added in post. Another scene showed Daenerys trying to get her little dragons to eat, holding out chunks of charred meat while they hissed and snapped at each other.
"It's going to get more expensive when they grow up," Cal said, arms crossed as he watched the monitor. "But damn, it's going to look amazing."
"Well, good thing we have the money for it," I said.
Cal laughed. "With the news coming out yesterday about how much you're worth, Daniel, I expect you to throw money at this."
I laughed and continued to watch.
What was even more spectacular about the scenes was the planned grandeur of Qarth. It would show, after all effects were finished, just how much the Daenerys scenes in this season cost. And it was all worth it. It really made one think she was the one and only protagonist in the show.
Season 2, like Season 1, was quite accurate to the book.
As I remembered correctly, Season 2 was nearly as accurate to the books in my old world as well. There were massive changes, but it had the spirit of A Clash of Kings down, one could say.
Mine, of course, was completely accurate.
Jeyne Westerling would appear instead of Talisa, and she was going to be played by Hannah Mangan Lawrence. Her scenes were finished, her and Robb in the Crag.
Jojen and Meera Reed would be prominently featured, their characters more explored. Both were played by the same actors from my original casting notes, Thomas Brodie-Sangster as Jojen and Ellie Kendrick as Meera.
The Tywin-Arya scenes, which I had written into the books instead of Roose and Arya from the GRRM version, looked great as well. I was sure they were going to be a standout for the audience. I think it was one of my better changes in the books, along with others.
Another change, of course, that I had written into the books and now would be on screen was Theon's taking of Winterfell, which never made sense to me in the original version. I wrote it so that Theon knew of a way into Winterfell that he, Robb, and Jon had found one day as kids, a hidden waterway leading into the godswood. Theon used it to infiltrate Winterfell with his men, emerging in the godswood at night and opening the gates from the inside.
The show's Winterfell was book-accurate in scale, so the scene was massive. There was a huge battle set piece where Theon's men took on the Winterfell guards. It included over 200 extras, one of the many highlights of Season 2.
Edmure was also given more focus, with a more complex character arc. Stannis was shown with more nuance, depicting his reluctance toward Melisandre and the moral compromises he was making.
The Brotherhood Without Banners would also have a big spotlight, since Catelyn's transformation into Lady Stoneheart had a huge part to play in the later seasons. That storyline was being seeded carefully.
And finally, Daenerys's scenes would have major differences, like her time in Qarth and the House of the Undying, which would be far more elaborate and faithful to the books.
Meeting Strong Belwas, who was played by Taylor Wily, was another major addition. Barristan would also play a big role and not be killed off in future seasons like he was before. Both characters were essential to Daenerys's arc, and I wasn't going to waste them.
So overall, it was going to be bigger and better than Season 1.
After Cal finished showing me some of the footage and I gave some pointers on what I wanted changed, especially the Jon Snow scenes, which were shooting in Iceland, it was time to do Alice's scene, where she played one of Varys's little birds.
I found Alice with Lena Headey. Alice was in costume, a simple, tattered brown dress with dirt smudged on her face and hands, looking every bit like a street urchin from King's Landing. She was talking animatedly with Lena, who was also in costume, her Cersei gown immaculate and regal. Lena was in her final week of shooting for this season.
"Hello, Lena," I said, walking over.
"Daniel," she said warmly, giving me a smile.
I looked down at Alice. "You look great, Al."
Alice beamed. "I can't wait to see myself on TV!"
Lena looked at me with an amused expression.
"Yeah, only your scene though," I said to Alice.
Alice frowned. "Why? I want to watch Lena too."
Lena laughed and crouched down to Alice's level. "Sweetie, this show is for grown-ups to watch. You can watch it in a few years when you're older."
"That's not fair," Alice protested.
"That's how it is," I said, ruffling her hair.
After talking with Lena about her upcoming scene, it was finally time for Alice to do hers.
Alice found Conleth Hill hilarious. She kept giggling at his bald head and his elaborate costume, especially the long flowing robes.
"You look like a wizard!" she said.
Conleth played along, doing a mock-serious voice about how he was going to turn her into a chicken.
Alice giggled again.
They set up the scene.
The tunnels beneath the Red Keep had been meticulously recreated on set, stone walls, flickering torchlight, shadows dancing across the narrow passageways.
Alice stood at one end of the corridor, clutching a rolled-up piece of parchment. Conleth, as Varys, entered from the other side, his hands folded into his sleeves.
"Action," Cal called.
Alice walked forward, her footsteps soft and hesitant. She looked up at Varys, her expression wary but obedient.
She did not need to speak, as the little birds were mute, their tongues cut off.
Varys took the parchment from her gently, unrolling it and reading. His eyes scanned the words, and a small, calculating smile appeared on his face.
"Interesting," he murmured.
Alice stayed perfectly still, watching him.
Varys looked down at her. "You've done well. Go now."
Alice nodded and turned, disappearing back into the shadows.
"Cut!" Cal called.
Everyone clapped.
Maybe the applause was a little longer because Alice was the boss's sister, but hey, she was enjoying it.
Alice ran over and hugged me. "Did I do good?"
"You did great," I said, squeezing her tight.
Cal came over, grinning. "And only one take too. That's impressive."
Alice beamed.
"We can do the next two scenes of her spying and wrap it up," Cal said.
"Yes! Let's do it!" Alice said eagerly.
I looked at Cal. "Well, she's ready. Let's do it."