he will now kill for max's approval. looking through his filmography thus far i think that would've also actually been one of the few "truly serious" relationship depictions he'd done, and to have that be the ENTIRE BASIS of the film would've pushed him over the edge but in like a fun creative way aside from those fun hints of mental breakdown, something that is a rite of passage for most actors anyway! all this to say that max's tactics would've completely worked on him to the point where i imagine this is a film where dean really, completely exhausted himself in all ways For The Art and is now dying to work with max as a director for more of that effective torture that very clearly paid off! plus yes to them bonding in not artistically torturous ways too, he'd have been a yes man and would've happily hung around for all hijinks on top of starting some of his own