HWI 425

Hollywood What If Chapter 425

Kazir knew that most of the people in the audition room knew that Christian Bale's body lost a huge weight and would take extreme training to pass the criteria of being Batman. As for the remaining people who didn't know about Christian's situation, they just didn't have the time to watch The Machinist or research about the actor.

Most people were not updated on every movie that was released every year. They didn't have the time to watch every one of them. Most of them just knew about blockbusters.

Even the members of the Academy(AMPAS) rarely watched all of the nominated movies for the Academy Awards. They just voted for the movies and actors they like... They also voted for the movies and actors that gave them money.

A lot of things happened in Hollywood every day, and people didn't have time to know all of it.

In this case, Christian's status as an actor was not that important for these people. They were from the management of Warner Brothers, responsible for the casting. The actors should respect them instead, because they were the ones who gave actors jobs.

It was not surprising if some actors did under-the-table negotiations. Probably some of these people had sex with the cast. Kazir was sure about that.

Suddenly, the people outside announced that a new actor would enter.

"I'm Christian Bale."

He introduced himself in his British accent. It brought a frown upon the management.

But it was different for Kazir. He almost wanted to stand up and applaud. He already knew that Christian Bale would show buff, but his appearance was better than what he expected. Christian Bale looked tough and strong. He was really prepared.

This showed his dedication and Kazir was impressed. Kazir controlled his emotions and just smiled instead.

The interview went on and Christian Bale also performed.

The management was surprised when he switched to American accent.

After that, Christian Bale ended his audition... He was actually hoping that they would ask him more. But his audition didn't last more than 15 minutes.

He was disappointed when they called the next actor and asked for him to leave. He spent months just to achieve this physique. He also read all of the Batman Comics, he was prepared. He was confident that if they asked him about Batman and Bruce Wayne, he could answer them without any pause.

When the door closed and Christian Bale was gone, Kazir clapped his hands and all of the people looked at him.

"That's it, he's the one."

Kazir announced.

Most of them agreed. Christian fit the role. His handsome appearance also checked the criteria. Furthermore, the aura around him was intimidating. He probably trained some mixed martial arts or something.

"Although I agree with you. We shouldn't close our doors to other opportunities. Maybe we can find another actor that can impress us."

One of the people from DC Comics gave his opinion. He looked nervous and it seemed that he was against Kazir's opinion.

In this project, Kazir was given the full authority to control the artistic sense of the movie. Choosing the actor was also part of that artistic sense. Kazir was a director who bagged billions, no one would question his artistic sense regarding casting an actor.

Kazir nodded. He had an idea why this person asked him to let more actors audition. One of the actors probably had sex with him and promised him the role.

Too bad, Kazir didn't give a fuck.

Still, out of respect for the actors who spent their time auditioning, Kazir decided to let the audition continue. But in his mind, he already found Batman.

The audition ended close to 6 pm. They compiled the documents and also watched audition tapes of each actor.

Each actor had their own way of portraying Batman and Bruce Wayne. But one was above the others.

"Looks like all of us made a choice."

Kazir glanced at the person from DC Comics who was wiping his sweat. Since earlier, this guy kept promoting an actor and Kazir was slowly losing his nerves.

Kazir turned to Enrico Pusi who was quiet since earlier. The producer nodded and understood his intention.

Enrico had worked with Kazir once. That cooperation brought him the position of Head of Production Management. And for that, Enrico was thankful. If not for Kazir, perhaps his career in this industry might never flourish.

His job this time was simple. To make sure that Kazir would never be affected by any outside interference and give the director full control over how he would create the movie.

Even DC Comics, the owner of Batman, had to agree to this condition. After the consecutive successes of Marvel movies, DC Comics felt threatened for the first time.

Their position as the number one comic company in the United States was being threatened by Marvel Comics, which suffered bankruptcy a few years ago.

DC Comics understood that they also had to release their own movies to retaliate... But their first movie this century, which was Catwoman was an absolute disaster. They even reprimanded the director for making rubbish. Even Warner Brothers stated that they would never work with Halle Berry anymore.

That was the moment DC Comics and Warner Brothers realized that creating superhero movies was not simple. They were also reminded of what happened in the mid-90s when they released Batman and Robin, where Batman had a nipple armor. That was a disgrace that they didn't want to experience again.

They hated to admit it, but they needed a director who had a clear vision of how to make Batman popular again.

Warner Brothers were not delusional; they knew that making $1 billion with Batman Begins was impossible. They were happy if the movie surpassed $500 million...

However, it would be a different thing if the director was Kazir Grey. The idea of surpassing $1 billion would be hard but not impossible anymore.

So far, they have two franchises that were worth billions, which were Lord Of The Rings and Harry Potter. It would be amazing if they had another $1 billion worth of movie franchise.

And for that, Enrico didn't care if one person from DC Comics was offended.

"Let's choose Christian Bale. He passed all of the criteria, and he had already trained in martial arts before even the audition. His dedication is amazing. Besides, we can afford his salary."

"..." The guy from DC Comics gritted his teeth but kept his mouth shut.

Two of the big shots already said their opinions. Kazir and Enrico were the bosses in this project.