Hollywood What If Chapter 527
"Man, you should take care of yourself. Taking those pills, even if they're prescribed by your doctors, is unhealthy if you consume them too much. Look at you now! You look like a fucking dead person."
Two people were talking in front of a 7-Eleven at night, each holding a can of beer.
"Shut the fuck up. I didn't invite you here to talk about my circumstances. You said you had a cameo scene for me, so here I am. Is there a line I should remember or something? Where's the script?"
"You're the one who asked for a cameo, not me. I just gave you one to keep you entertained."
"Thanks, I guess."
Suddenly, a group of shadows passed by, and a strong gust of wind almost knocked the two of them over.
"Holy shit—!!"
"What was that!?"
The two were shocked as they stared at the dark street. The shadows were moving like people.
"Cut—!"
Everest announced it, and the crew members started clapping their hands. They were praising their boss, Kazir. The director had started this tradition of making a cameo in every CCU movie.
This time, his cameo scene was with Heath Ledger. The two had become friends after filming The Dark Knight. Heath had once asked for a cameo in the CCU, though he said it as a joke. But Kazir took it seriously and wrote a short conversation about Heath dependent on pills...
This was actually the first time Kazir directly brought up Heath Ledger's health and addiction to pills. Most of the time, they talked about other things and rarely touched on the subject of addiction.
This was Kazir's subtle way of reminding the actor to avoid overdosing. By framing it as part of an act, Heath wouldn't be offended. Though Heath actually sensed something deeper in the script, he went along with it. It wasn't an invasion of privacy if the purpose was to help someone.
With that, Kazir and Heath finished their scene. Funny enough, Tom Cruise had also asked for a cameo in the CCU, but Heath Ledger got one first. In Tom's case, Grey Pictures was hesitant because they feared the audience would be confused if he appeared in the CCU. The audience might think Mission: Impossible was now part of the CCU.
Now, that might be an interesting idea, but it would be extremely hard to pull off. First of all, the relationship between Paramount and Grey Pictures had soured last year. Furthermore, Paramount would have to be desperate or insane to give up a profitable franchise like Mission: Impossible. God knows how much money Paramount made from that series.
'Sorry, Tom. I'll play golf with you next time to make up for that,' Kazir thought to himself.
He glanced at Heath Ledger, who was currently signing autographs for the crew members.
When you work on a movie production, there are many chances to ask for autographs. However, some actors and actresses have clauses in their contracts prohibiting autograph requests on set, which is understandable. It seemed Heath was comfortable signing autographs.
'I did my part. At the end of the day, Heath is the only one who can save himself. If he doesn't stop using pills, the outcome won't change... But it's the last week of January now and Heath is still alive. That should be good news.'
Heath Ledger died on January 22 in the original timeline, which was five days ago. But now, Heath Ledger was standing a few meters away from Kazir, smiling at the crew.
Kazir couldn't help but smile too. Not going to lie, he was proud of what he'd accomplished. Perhaps his intervention had changed the outcome.
Heath Ledger wasn't paid for his cameo, it was just a 30-second scene anyway. It was all in good fun. Kazir had even promised they'd play Guitar Hero together when both were free.
......
...
...
January ended and February began. Some notable things were happening around this time. Barack Obama was still going strong in his presidential campaign and seemed to have a lot of support.
Barack had filed his candidacy last year and had been busy ever since. His main political opponent for the presidency was John McCain, a Vietnam War veteran and former prisoner of war.
Since Kazir was from the future, he already knew that Barack Obama would win the 2008 election. Obviously, Kazir and Grey Pictures took advantage of this knowledge. Kazir openly supported Barack, even accepting interviews to show his support.
As for his real opinion about Barack, well, only Kazir knew the answer.
And when it came to what he experienced during Barack's presidency, again, only Kazir knew the answer.
Did the economy improve? Was there peace? Did the people love Barack? Only the citizens of the United States could answer that.
Using politics to your advantage was never a bad thing. Tons of CEOs and millionaires did it for their own benefit; Kazir was just ahead of the curve.
Some people opposed Kazir's political stance, but it didn't go deep enough to destroy any meaningful relationships... Not when Kazir had such a high status in Hollywood that no one could touch him anymore, except for that one time when he was almost assassinated.
Days passed, and Kazir continued filming Ninja Assassin. He didn't care much about politics.
However, one day, breaking news shook everything and Kazir realized that life wasn't so simple. He was stunned as he witnessed how...