Hollywood What If Chapter 521
The meeting room was silent for a while. Some people glanced at each other, while others kept their heads low, not joining the conversation.
Avi Arad bitterly smiled as he sat up straight and fixed his posture. He decided to change the topic.
"Captain America is still in the approval process, so let's not make any final decisions for now."
Avi Arad sensed that some people had their own motives regarding the casting... Well, everyone had their own motives. But they shouldn't prioritize personal interests over the success of the movie.
He suddenly recalled one of the higher-ups who promoted Terrence Howard to be part of the movie. Sure, Terrence Howard had box office appeal, but his salary was tough to take. Especially when Marvel Studios intended to create a trilogy out of Iron Man.
Avi's left eye slightly twitched as he remembered the conversation. The higher-up had said that as long as Kazir was working on the MCU, the projects would always succeed no matter what.
Let's remember that Kazir was the one who pushed for casting Don Cheadle because he believed the franchise would be safer with Don as War Machine... But those arrogant old farts believed the movie would still be a success even if they changed the cast.
Here's the deal: casting an actor for a certain role could determine whether the movie would be successful or not.
Casting Heath Ledger as the Joker in The Dark Knight was a perfect choice.
Casting Joaquin Phoenix as the Joker was also a great choice... (Note: We don't talk about Joker 2 because that movie doesn't exist. People erased the memories that they watched that musical.)
Casting Jared Leto as the Joker in Suicide Squad was a bad move. His portrayal didn't sit well with the audience.
See the difference? Casting was an important part of a successful movie. If the audience felt unimpressed with the actor and their performance, that could lead to failure.
In Terrence Howard's case, he performed his role greatly, but the salary was the biggest problem.
"Yeah, I just remembered, I'm interested in casting Viggo Mortensen as Thor. You're close with Viggo, right, Kazir? Why don't you talk to him and convince him?"
Kazir, who had kept silent for most of the time, frowned when he heard that.
He looked at Leo Roy, the Studio President.
In huge media conglomerates like 20th Century Fox, Walt Disney, and other production studios, there were multiple Studio Presidents who managed different divisions.
20th Century Fox currently had three Studio Presidents who handled departments, Live Action, Animation, and TV Networks.
The person Kazir was looking at was Leo Roy, the Studio President of 20th Century Fox's Live Action movies. For a movie to be approved, his signature must be acquired, as long as he was in the position.
Kazir's relationship with this guy was nonexistent. But lately, Leo had been showing disapproval toward his opinions. Kazir also heard that Leo was one of the people who hired Terrence Howard.
Kazir sighed. He could see the picture where Viggo was holding Mjolnir. It didn't look bad. Viggo could definitely act in the role.
However, the problem wasn't whether Viggo could act or not. It was all about money.
"Even if Viggo agreed, we would have to pay him at least $10 million. Furthermore, it's very hard to convince him to sign a trilogy contract. I'm sure none of us here want to give a box office share to the actors."
Box office shares meant less money. They didn't want that.
Leo kept his smile and nodded.
"Thor is still not approved, so let's talk about that later," Kazir added.
However, Kazir felt like he had to work harder on the MCU or else this Cinematic Universe might not happen. He would promote Chris Hemsworth and Chris Evans to take the roles.
Thankfully, Kazir had worked with Chris Hemsworth in Shadows Beneath, so he could easily contact the actor. He had to make sure that both Chrises would get the roles. This was the safest method to ensure the Marvel Cinematic Universe would happen.
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...
Months passed, and now it was December again. This year was probably the most death-defying one that Kazir had ever experienced, quite literally.
What happened in May was something that Kazir and his relatives would never forget. Probably most Americans would also remember that incident. The news regarding the assassination attempt spread all over the world, making Kazir famous again... in a sad way.
Still, he admitted that he felt blessed to have survived another year.
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End had already ended its screening in North America, and the worldwide box office was now over $1 billion... Funny how that franchise almost killed Kazir.
As for John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum, after four months of screening, the movie had already grossed $700 million worldwide. Unfortunately, this was probably the best that this action movie could reach. Well, $700 million was still huge, so definitely not bad for Grey Pictures and 20th Century Fox.
Kazir also finished the post-production of The Dark Knight. He met Heath Ledger many times and saw that the actor was getting better.
It seemed that the psychology of the Joker was vanishing from Heath's mind, which was a good thing. Kazir and Heath became close enough that Kazir recommended he stop using pills... Heath accepted his concern, but he still kept using them.