Hollywood What If Chapter 519
Truth be told, despite being one of the protagonists of the Continental Cinematic Universe, Viggo Mortensen didn't have a strong box-office appeal. His best roles were John Wick and Aragorn. His role in The Lord of the Rings was well-loved, but the franchise ended in a trilogy, and Viggo couldn't take advantage of that opportunity. His salary was also average at best when he took the role of Aragorn.
John Wick and The Lord of the Rings were well-known franchises, but they didn't catapult Viggo into stardom.
He heard that Peter Jackson was interested in starting J.R.R. Tolkien's series called The Hobbit. It was the prequel to The Lord of the Rings. Viggo was not sure if he would have a role in that franchise.
Despite being recognized as an action star because of John Wick and Aragorn, Viggo only had an average salary of $4.5 million per movie... which was not bad, no matter how people looked at it. Still, it was smaller compared to his salary in John Wick: Chapter 3, which was $17 million. He was the star of this franchise, so obviously, he made a lot of money.
Honestly, Viggo had no problem with that amount. But if he could earn more, why not?
So, in the next installment of John Wick, Viggo wanted a box office share. Was it a bad decision or not? Did he deserve it?
The answers depended on the parties involved. Grey Pictures wouldn't like it, but Viggo and his agency would absolutely love it.
'For now, I should look for scripts that interest me. I heard that some directors want to compete for the Academy Awards. Maybe I can work with them.'
Being an actor, Viggo obviously wanted to win the Best Actor Award. Every actor in Hollywood dreamed of that at least once in their lives. For that, actors had to star in artistic films... He might have to go for the role of a mentally unstable person to win the Best Actor Award. After all, the members of the Academy Awards loved that kind of character.
While he was contemplating and reading the newspaper, the assistant next to him handed him a phone that was ringing.
"Sir, it's Martin."
Martin was Viggo's agent. After Viggo's success, many agents were interested in representing him, and Martin got the part. Martin was from the United Talent Agency (UTA).
-- Viggo, I have interesting news. Maybe you want to hear it.
"Is it a script?"
The actor curiously asked as he heard his agent chuckling on the phone.
-- Yeah. Have you heard of Thor?
"Of course, he's from Norse mythology, right?"
-- No, haha, I'm not talking about that Thor... Well, yeah, I'm also talking about Norse mythology Thor. Anyway, the Thor I'm talking about is Thor from Marvel Comics.
Martin was not surprised that Viggo knew the Norse mythology Thor instead of Marvel Comics' Thor. After all, Marvel Comics' Thor was not that famous.
"You want me to audition for a superhero role?" Viggo immediately understood the agent's intention.
Viggo slightly frowned. To be honest, his opinion regarding superhero movies was not that great. Besides, he heard that Marvel Studios was making a Cinematic Universe. This superhero Thor was probably part of that. Viggo was already part of a Cinematic Universe, and he felt like working with another one would be troublesome.
-- I got a spot for the audition for you. I also have a copy of the script, it's not finalized, though. I'll fax it to you. If you're interested, call me. If not, then it's fine. If you get the role, we can easily make a contract of $15 million from the studio. They know your capabilities.
"Thanks, Martin."
Viggo just nodded. He was not sure about it... But we are talking about 8-digits here. Viggo had no problem starring in a "shitty" movie as long as the salary was worth it. A lot of actors could relate to that.
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Actually, Tom Cruise was the first choice that Marvel Studios wanted for the role of Tony Stark. They tried to pitch the role to Tom, and the actor was interested. The actor knew that his friend, Kazir, was one of the leaders of this project, and he knew that Kazir wouldn't screw up his own creation.
Unfortunately, the deal immediately fell apart when conversations about salary started. Iron Man was an important character for the MCU, and he would appear in many movies. Also, the Iron Man franchise would have at least a trilogy.
Marvel Studios couldn't afford Tom Cruise's salary, which was usually around $20 million. It was undeniable that Tom Cruise had a strong box office appeal. Furthermore, Tom had won the Best Actor Award a few years ago, so he was not that simple anymore. So yeah, no Tom Cruise as Iron Man.
Because of that, Marvel Studios listened to Kazir's recommendation. They cast Robert Downey Jr... In a few years, they would thank God for listening to Kazir's advice. Furthermore, they hired Robert for just a mere salary of $500 thousand.
Of course, if Iron Man performed well at the box office, Robert would receive a bonus. The bonus depended on how much the movie grossed.
Based on Kazir's memory, in Iron Man, Robert Downey Jr. earned around $2.5 million overall. The $2 million was the bonus he received.