In 1996, Charlize Theron already had two films scheduled for release.
One was That Thing You Do!, a musical comedy directed for the first time by Tom Hanks, set for an October release.
The other was a Jerry Bruckheimer production, The Rock, scheduled for June.
In another universe, Charlize had never appeared in The Rock. That counted as one of the butterfly effects brought about by Henry.
However, The Rock was very much a male-led film. Charlize played Sean Connery's daughter—few scenes, but with speaking lines.
By comparison, she had more screen time in That Thing You Do!, though still in a supporting role. But in terms of production scale and box office potential, the two films weren't remotely comparable.
Yet in early 1996, before either film had premiered, everything was still uncertain.
Who knew whether a producer might take a pair of scissors and cut someone's scenes entirely? That sort of thing was commonplace in Hollywood.
Or the box office could flip expectations upside down—flops becoming hits, hits becoming flops.
After all, this was a world with mutants and superheroes. Real-life explosions and superhuman battles already provided plenty of spectacle. Would audiences still flock to theaters seeking thrills?
There was no precise mathematical formula to predict box office results. No one knew how this universe would play out.
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Charlize didn't let the fact that she had two speaking supporting roles go to her head.
The production budgets of her two films were $26 million and $75 million respectively—solid big-budget projects.
Compared to Henry's own acting past, she had already surpassed him by far. He had only ever appeared in one major production—the $10-million Universal Soldier.
That said, Hollywood inflation in recent years had been climbing fast. Film budgets were skyrocketing like fireworks.
Charlize's opportunities owed a great deal to her agent, J.J. Harris. Without her information network, even with Henry as CEO of Stark Pictures, they wouldn't have known where to apply pressure.
During the filming of The Rock, the production coincided with Henry's troubles—when he was framed by the Skrulls.
The crew had reportedly considered cutting Charlize's role.
In the end, it was Sean Connery himself who intervened, ensuring she remained in the film despite her limited screen time.
After Henry cleared his name, he and Charlize treated Connery to dinner in gratitude. That was when they learned why the veteran actor had looked after her.
Connery had worked with Audrey Hepburn in 1976's Robin and Marian. And when he learned Charlize was in the same cast, Katharine Hepburn had personally called him, asking him to take care of the girl.
Connections among the older generation of film legends often bore fruit in unexpected ways.
Connery, a former Royal Navy serviceman who had once served aboard an aircraft carrier before retiring due to health issues, was the sort of man who honored his word.
And once Henry's "crime" was proven to be a misunderstanding, Connery's defense not only saved Charlize's role but also spared the production from potentially offending Stark Pictures.
In a way, he earned goodwill on both sides.
As for Bruckheimer, a producer of his stature certainly had the standing to ignore Stark Pictures' opinions.
But filmmaking is a collaborative art. No one deliberately seeks enemies. If one can gain a friend without commercial conflict, why choose to make an adversary?
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This little episode became a surprising advantage.
When J.J. Harris pitched Charlize for new roles, she now had more to talk about.
For newcomers, having no buzz is the worst fate—whether good or bad buzz hardly matters.
Though the spotlight during the incident was on Henry Brown, Charlize benefited indirectly. And since it ended positively, it became a win-win story.
Of course, she couldn't go around name-dropping Sean Connery recklessly.
With J.J. Harris guiding her, she handled the balance perfectly—memorable without being obnoxious.
Armed with that slight edge, Charlize continued attending auditions with her agent, pursuing the next opportunity.
On a practical note, she had already received her salary payments, easing her financial pressure considerably.
As a minor supporting actress without box-office bonuses, her compensation was straightforward—thanks to guild protections.
She was still an employee in the grand scheme of things, but no longer suffocating under financial strain.
---
Henry wanted to help her land stronger projects.
But the truth was that most prime opportunities were controlled by the major studios. Only what they passed on trickled down to smaller companies.
Stark Pictures, at this point, was a second-tier studio in Hollywood.
Even though Henry demanded that every proposal and script first pass across his desk for secondary review, he still couldn't rely on his pre-transmigration memories to "pick up bargains."
Even with a superbrain to sift through memories of past blockbusters, he had to admit he wasn't a walking Hollywood encyclopedia.
Sometimes project titles bore no resemblance to their eventual release names. Scripts were revised beyond recognition. Trying to predict future success from early drafts was about as reliable as consulting a temple oracle.
At this point in the mid-1990s, the only truly reliable piece of foreknowledge he possessed was the iceberg-destroying juggernaut:
Titanic.
But although filming hadn't officially begun, pre-production had already started the previous year.
And the film's success was inseparable from its tyrannical director, James Cameron. Interfering with that production was nearly impossible.
The only real opportunity might arise if the production ran out of funds—if 20th Century Fox hesitated to keep pouring money into the bottomless pit, and Cameron was forced to seek outside investors.
At Stark Pictures' Christmas party, Henry had already used the digital imaging showcase as an opportunity to chat with Cameron, subtly implying that if funding ever fell short, he could come knocking.
But how things would ultimately unfold—
That wasn't something even a Kryptonian could decide.
The human heart was never something that could be forced.
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