I had a small hand in changing some of the Black Widow script.
Now, as I watched a very early screening of the movie with Scarlett, Kevin Feige, other Marvel and Disney execs, and the director, Cate Shortland, I realized how much those changes had shaped the final product.
I had been invited by Scarlett herself, and my presence was welcomed by the Disney execs and Kevin as well. Well, I was working with Disney now. Rogue One's development was going well, though my relationship with Lucasfilm was still... frosty. Yes, that was how I'd describe it.
Honestly, there were moments when I felt I shouldn't have gotten involved in Star Wars at all because of them. After learning about and experiencing the internal workings of Lucasfilm, I understood why Star Wars had begun to decline so badly. Well, from another point of view, it had begun declining with The Phantom Menace. Yeah, I didn't want to think about that. Considering this was the year The Last Jedi was going to come out and basically wreck the fandom harder than The Phantom Menace ever did, the only thing I was looking forward to this year that was related to Star Wars was meeting Mark Hamill next month.
I always regretted not meeting Carrie Fisher before she died last year.
Kevin spoke beside me, breaking me away from my thoughts.
"Your idea for changing the beginning of the movie was a good one," he said.
I looked at him. "My idea? What do you mean?"
Kevin smiled. "I know Scarlett has a good mind for filmmaking, but I can guess the big changes she made to the script came from you."
"I don't know what you're talking about, man," I said, keeping my expression neutral.
Kevin only laughed.
Soon, the movie began.
It opened with young Antonia visiting Dreykov's office, then cut immediately to Natasha outside as the building exploded. It was much shorter and more focused, one of my changes. The childhood flashback from the original was broken up and scattered throughout the film during quieter character moments, allowing the story to breathe without front-loading too much exposition.
The movie continued mostly the same after that. The other big change came when Dreykov was given a much bigger role. He appeared in Act Two with Taskmaster. The audience saw the dynamic between him and Natasha play out in person earlier in the film, raising the stakes.
Red Guardian's intro remained the same.
The other big change was moving Taskmaster's second major appearance to the prison jailbreak sequence, making it more impactful.
Other than that, there were no major changes. The movie was better with my ideas and the other adjustments made by the creatives. It was also shot better. This version didn't have the issues the original Black Widow movie had in my old timeline, the one that got fucked because of COVID.
Oh, fuck.
COVID.
Something I really hoped wouldn't happen in this world. That would fuck a lot of things up. I tried not to think about it, but it was starting to occupy my mind more and more as 2020 approached. Was it inevitable? Could it be prevented?
The movie ended, and it got a very positive response from everyone. Many looked at me, asking for my opinion as well.
Scarlett and I left together afterward.
"So, better than the Wonder Woman sequel?" she asked, smirking. Her movie and Wonder Woman were going to be released close to each other.
I looked at her. "No comment."
Scarlett held my hand to stop me as I continued walking toward the car. "It's a very easy question to answer."
"I haven't seen the Wonder Woman movie yet, so no, I can't answer," I said. "Are we going to eat or what?"
Scarlett laughed. "I still need an answer."
I sighed as we got into the car.
Strangely, I saw some paparazzi around as well. Usually, they weren't here. I wondered who had tipped them off.
"Looks like someone tipped them off," Scarlett said, glancing at them through the window.
I shrugged. "Where did you want to go again?"
"Oh, this place is great..."
The car pulled away.