Hollywood What If Chapter 501
Hollywood had a lot of gays and lesbians, so they were not that much against the idea of same-sex relationships between two men. However, Hollywood also had a lot of straight people.
When Kazir first invited Heath Ledger to become the Joker, some people in the management of Warner Brothers were against the idea. They were afraid that the controversies surrounding Brokeback Mountain would affect the performance of The Dark Knight.
Despite being an award-winning film, some people still criticized the movie because they couldn't let go of their ideologies while watching it.
Some LGBTQ+ activists didn't like that the two gay roles were performed by two straight men. They wanted gay actors to take gay roles. But acting is a profession where a person acts as someone else or portrays a character. For a straight actor to play a gay man was not wrong, because that was his job.
Another criticism that Brokeback Mountain faced was the backlash from conservative and religious organizations.
In a way, Brokeback Mountain was fucked from both sides… Ahem.
Yet despite the criticism, the movie won Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Original Score at the 78th Academy Awards (Oscars).
The management tried to talk to Kazir, trying to convince him that Heath Ledger's current reputation was a bit tricky for the role of the Joker.
Kazir stood by his opinion. He said it didn't matter since Heath Ledger would always be in clown makeup, and no one would recognize him as the cowboy from Brokeback Mountain. The two roles were vastly different anyway.
He also knew that even the audience would be surprised when they realized that Heath Ledger was the Joker. The usual roles Heath Ledger took were nothing like the Joker.
The Joker was a psychotic and dangerous character.
Just like that, Kazir proved he was right.
The interrogation room was dimly lit, the crew had built an interrogation room in the studio just for this scene… It cost a few dozen thousand dollars.
The camera operators were ready. They had already checked every angle.
Kazir was sitting a couple of meters away, staring at the monitor that showed every angle of the interrogation room.
Heath Ledger was in full makeup as he sat at the metal table. The crew members felt a dark vibe around the actor, and they kept their mouths shut.
The dim room suddenly lit up.
Christian Bale, in his Batman suit, appeared and slammed Heath Ledger's head onto the table… His head didn't actually touch the table, but the camera angle made it look like the Joker's face slammed against it.
"Never start with the head, the victim gets fuzzy…"
"You wanted me, here I am."
Batman and Joker started the conversation.
The confrontation between the hero and the villain.
Kazir liked where this was going. He could see that the two were performing excellently.
"I don't wanna kill you. What would I do without you? Go back to ripping off mob dealers? No, no, no. You complete me."
The Joker started giggling.
Batman grabbed the Joker's collar and asked,
"Where's Dent?"
"Okay, cut—!"
Kazir had to cut the scene even though he wanted to continue it. The next scene was about Batman slamming the Joker against the wall, and they needed a stunt double for that. They couldn't afford to hurt any of their cast, so they obviously needed a stunt double for physically demanding scenes.
When the scene was done, some of the crew members stared at Heath Ledger in amazement. They got goosebumps just watching him. They felt like they were looking at the real Joker.
Kazir looked around and saw the management from Warner Brothers and DC Comics. They were also impressed by Heath Ledger's performance. Some of them were the very people who were against casting the actor.
When the management saw Kazir, they avoided his gaze and walked away.
Kazir smirked. In his mind, he gave them a double invisible "fuck you." These people had been on his nerves for a while. They were trying to interfere with his project.
'If I'm right, they didn't want to cast Heath because they had another actor in mind to play the Joker… Probably one of their buttlickers or something,' Kazir thought.
Another reason why the management was irritating was that they were bitter. They didn't like that Kazir's last two movies were performing amazingly while Batman Begins had an average $500 million box office. By the way, $500 million was not average. Only a few movies in the history of cinema had reached that amount in ticket sales.
But compared to Kazir's filmography, Batman Begins was indeed on the average side. Especially when Shadows Beneath was getting close to $800 million.
Some people from the management were holding a grudge against him. Nothing new.
......
...
...
While Kazir was busy with The Dark Knight, Grey Pictures announced their movies for 2007, which were John Wick: Chapter 3 and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.
After the success of La La Land, Fremont Smith decided to film the third movie of the John Wick franchise. In fact, he had been filming it since last year.
Grey Pictures only had two projects this year, as the third season of Game of Thrones had a buffer of two years because the production cost of that TV show was almost comparable to a movie. As for how to solve the financial trouble, Grey Pictures either had to use their own money or take out a loan from the bank. Well, Stella was a great leader, so she probably had an idea of what to do.