HWI 290

Hollywood What If Chapter 290

Kazir kept drawing on his storyboard. He was not super great in terms of drawing but his sketches were very recognizable. 

If he failed to become a director, perhaps he might start working in comics or other hand-drawn related jobs. Too bad because Walt Disney stopped their hand-drawn animation while the other animation studios were not that good. 

Anyway, Kazir was good at drawing... Simply as that. After working in this position for his lifetime, Kazir learned a lot. 

He stopped drawing when he realized that most of the crew members arrived. Their flight number would be announced a few minutes later. 

Kazir saw a stand selling newspaper and Kazir decided to buy one so that he won't be bored in flight. 

He saw something interesting and recalled a certain future. 

'... John Carter, huh.'

Kazir bought the newspaper with the front cover of John Carter. 

This project was heavily invested by Walt Disney, the budget of this movie was a whopping $250 million. Yes, this news came from someone working in Walt Disney. The budget was really huge, but this kind of thing would become the norm a few years later. 

Movies would become super expensive, especially those big movies invested by the Big Six. 

Kazir read the article. It seemed that Walt Disney was very serious about this project, promoting the movie in almost everywhere. 

Last February, John Carter showed its first trailer for Super Bowl XXXVI. Millions of people saw the trailer and in terms of advertising expenses, it was worth it. 

Kazir also watched the trailer and confirmed one thing... It was basically the same as his past life. Even the cast was almost the same. Kazir had premonition regarding this. 

The premiere of John Carter would happen on the first Thursday of May which was two weeks from now. At that time, Kazir and the crew of The Revenant were already filming the movie. 

.........

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...

In a gloomy deep forest with few greeneries and tall trees, a man walked quietly, conscious of his surroundings. 

The forest was almost silent as if there was no life existing. 

In his thick fur clothing, Hugh Glass felt that something was amiss. He raised his old long as if the danger was coming towards him. 

He had unkempt hair around his face, showing how haggard he was. His thick beard quite greasy. 

Breathing slowly yet deeply, Hugh Glass slowly turned around to see his surroundings. 

He saw two bear cubs walking... He lowered his gun and turned around, only to find a huge grizzly bear fastly approaching him. 

The bear pounced on him and slammed him to the ground. Hugh Glass grunted and fought back. 

The beat started attacking him on the ground with no mercy. 

"Okay cut!"

Suddenly, the bear stopped moving and Tom also stood up, with a bit of dirt on his face. He wiped his face and looked at the bear. 

"I'm sorry about that, Tom." The beat said. Someone was inside the bear(props), a real person. Kazir knew that the beat didn't look realistic but they intend to use Motion Capture Technology for that. 

The technology was expensive but Kazir was ready to spend money just for it. The beat should look realistic and frightening. They need that wow factor. 

"No, it's fine," Tom replied to the man in the costume. He knew that this scene would be dirty. He didn't like dirt but there was nothing to do about it. Thankfully, the clothes he was wearing were clean and smelled good despite their dirty appearance. The costume design team should be thanked for that. 

"Let's take a rest." He said. He didn't have a problem with what happened. 

In the first place, he liked his current facing. He could feel that he was deep into acting and felt like he was really Hugh Glass for a few seconds. 

Perhaps the atmosphere in the crew affected him, in a good way. 

He saw a strong camaraderie among them. They all worked together flawlessly. The trust they have in Kazir Grey might be the reason. 

This was trust and confidence that slowly built up over the years. They followed his orders without hesitation because they knew that Kazir could provide them with another masterpiece. Furthermore... The bonus they received once the filming was done and once the movie had a successful release at the box office gave them the motivation to work hard. 

It seemed that Grey Pictures was quite good to its crew. 

"Kazir, what do you think?"

"Amazing, Tom. Your immersion in your role is getting better and your performance is perfect. I have nothing bad to say."

Kazir was being serious. As expected, Tom Cruise was a great and devoted actor. He just decided to keep going with almost the same roles in his entire career because he was afraid of losing his status. 

Most of Tom's filmography was about him being handsome and cool... That was basically it.

But now, the person in front of Kazir looked exhausted but alert, like a real warrior. 

"This is just the first take and I feel like I can perform better if we have another take?"

"Take 2?"

"Take 2." Tom nodded. 

The shooting restarted after that and the filming of The Revenant kept happening. 

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...

Meanwhile, Hollywood which was only over a thousand miles from Canada had started their usual summer releases. 

On May 2, 2002, more than five movies were released at the same time. However, only one movie was promising. 

Walt Disney already announced that they would release John Carter on the first week of May and the others studios decided to give this schedule to them. 

There was no reason to fight Walt Disney when they could look for another week to release their movies. 

The result of John Carter on its first weekend was quite... Meh. 

The movie was not bad, but it was not that good either. It didn't have much of appeal to the audience despite the strong promotion that Walt Disney did. 

+++++

[I like to apologize for being gone for two days. Depression just hit like crazy, so here are two chapters. Tomorrow might also be two chapters, it all depends on my mentality.]