HWI 517

Hollywood What If Chapter 517

While Alexa Nguyen was busy fixing the Iron Man suit, she heard that there was a small commotion happening. She left the dressing room and saw some people murmuring.

"God, I hope I will get his autograph this time! I heard that his autograph can be sold for $10 thousand. I even heard that the spoon he used at the cafeteria was sold for $50 thousand! Can you imagine that!?"

Alexa furrowed her brows and she listened. She wondered which celebrity would show up. She read the cast line and she already met most of them.

She saw Terrence Howard. The actor was a celebrity through and through, and Alexa didn't dare to talk to him; he was unapproachable.

As for Gwyneth Paltrow... Alexa was scared of her.

Aside from Tony Stark and Jeff Bridges(the antagonist of Iron Man), Alexa didn't have any interaction with the cast. Her job was about designing the armor suits of Iron Man and Iron Monger. Yeah, she was a costume designer.

"Gosh, I want to meet him. I heard he's so super handsome even though he is in his late 30s. I'll ride that hot body despite the age gap--!"

Alexa heard one of their young female make-up artists squeal I'm excited. She became interested in the person they were talking about.

Suddenly, the conversation stopped and a tall man walked into their view. It was Director Kazir Grey.

Kazir and his four bodyguards, Erica included, showed up at the studio of Iron Man.

Alexa was surprised. She was a big fan of Director Grey! Just like the others, she admitted that Director Grey exuded strong sex appeal to the opposite gender. It didn't help that he was tall, handsome, and fucking rich.

Kazir walked into the hallway and saw people greeting him. He had no idea who they were since this crew was mostly under Jon Favraeu's team. Jon Favreau was the director of Iron Man; he was also part of the cast. He was Happy Hogan, Tony Stark's bodyguard.

Kazir stopped walking when he recognized an Asian woman.

"... Are you Alexa Nguyen?"

"Yes? Ah, yes! Yes, that's right!" Alexa was surprised when she realized that Kazir recognized her.

"If I remember right, we met at the dinner party at the premiere of John Wick: Chapter 2 a few years ago."

"That's right! I was one of the lucky fans who got the chance to meet you after the premiere."

Alexa was so excited that she smiled.

"So you're also working on movie production."

"I'm the costume designer of Iron Man."

"Wow, that's amazing."

Alexa slightly blushed.

"Well, since I also work at the MCU, perhaps we will meet again." Kazir excused himself and his entourage followed him.

Once Kazir was gone, people around Alexa started interrogating her about how she met the director.

"Autograph? Yes, I have an autograph from Director Grey from a few years ago. No, I'm not going to sell it." She answered their questions the best she could.

.........

......

...

Kazir was sipping tea... He decided to stop drinking tea and go with a healthy lifestyle. He was influenced by Scarlett and Stella Willow.

He was reading some documents related to Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk. He glanced at Stan Lee, who was across the table.

"At first, I was skeptical of your decision, but based on what I can see, Robert Jr. fits the role of Tony Stark perfectly. I'm glad we followed your decision."

"Stan, just like you, I want the MCU to be successful."

"Or course."

Robert Downey Jr. went to prison because of drug-related crimes. He was arrested in his career quite a few times. After that depressing arc, Robert had a hard time finding jobs in Hollywood.

His role in Iron Man was his first biggest role and he didn't want to mess it up. He signed a contract that he wouldn't touch drugs while working on Iron Man which would last for a year. Also, if he did a scandal that could affect Iron Man negatively, he had to pay damages. It was a tough contract, but Robert signed nonetheless.

"What about the other cast?"

"Well, Gwyneth Paltrow is nice. She's acting in her role right. As for Terrence Howard, he is also a great actor, no, he's a great actor... But I have a feeling that he'll ask for a higher salary in the next movie." Stan Lee sighed.

Kazir was just silent.

He was against the idea of casting Terrence Howard. He knew what happened in the original timeline, Terrence didn't appear in the second movie because of some dispute, and Don Cheadle was recast instead.

However, because of some management disagreement and connections and social networking, Terrence Howard was cast... It didn't help that Kazir was quite busy with The Dark Knight when the decision happened.

20th Century Fox and Marvel Studio held a grudge because they didn't like that Kazir was working with DC so perhaps this was an act of treason as a protest... Now the production would suffer because of this decision.

Kazir looked at the documents and found that for being the protagonist of Iron Man, Robert Downey Jr. only got a salary of $500 thousand.

Terrence Howard got $3.5 million.

Gwyneth Paltrow got $750 thousand.

Jeff Bridges got $2 million.

See the difference? Despite being the face of Iron Man, Robert Downey Jr. had the lowest salary among the four.

Since Kazir knew that Iron Man would be successful, Robert Downey Jr.'s salary would probably quadruple at the least... As for Terrence Howard, the actor would also not settle for less.

Kazir had an idea of what would happen. He bitterly smiled.

'If there's good news, I know that this problem can be fixed since Marvel Studio fixed it in the original timeline.'

Still, it was painful to see Kazir fail to prevent this problem. He did his best, but at the end of the day, some decision-makers were against him. Not everyone likes Kazir.

++++

[Thanks to Wilder for spotting a plot hole, now I decided to give it some sort of explanation in this chapter. I'm going to be honest, I didn't think of this plot hole so I appreciate the correction.]

[Also, I'm going to be busy tomorrow, and the next day since it's a Holiday; I'm not sure if I can post. I'll try to post though. Anyway, Happy Holidays!]