HWI 112

Hollywood What If Chapter 112

"I'm just wondering, where's Erica?"

Scarlett asked the question after swallowing a chicken teriyaki. This was the first time she ate a unique chicken dish filled with sweet sauce. Completely different from fried chicken that she likes eating. 

"I gave her a day off. Her children want to go Disneyland."

"Wow, I can't believe that Mister serious Grey is so generous to give someone a day off. I remember that you're so strict with me that I can't hold my tears."

"I never did. You are the one who kept crying because you need to cry at that time."

The scene was about the time when Kim Mills was about to kidnap. 

"Are you sure you're okay being generous? I mean, Miss Erica Mendez looks like a hardworking person but you can't be too soft to people. They might take advantage of you."

"I know what I'm doing. I'm not a kid like you."

"I am not a kid!"

"Alright alright. Erica has twins so I understand why she needs to work hard. I'm not a brutal person, especially if it's not related to filming."

"Yeah, right~," Scarlett said sarcastically. 

Kazir shrugged and let the little girl make fun of him. 

"Having an assistant indeed eased my work but I'm still not used to people following me around. I'm the type of person who wants to be alone and let my brain work with any disturbance."

"That's depressing. Are you sure you want to be lonely like that?"

"Scarlett, I'm lonely for a long time. I can say that my brain works faster when I'm alone. So sending Erica on a vacation once in a while is not a problem."

Kazir started eating sushi using chopsticks. 

Scarlett narrowed her eyes and looked into Kazir's eyes. 

'He is not lying... I can't believe that there are people who like to be alone. Is this normal?'

She felt like the man across the table witnessed so many things. As if he was an old man who knew the purpose of life. To be honest, Scarlett was interested to hear his opinion on life. 

"Kazir, what do you think is the purpose of life?"

"There are many ways to live a good life. It all depends on people."

"What about you then?" 

She frowned when Kazir added wasabi to his sushi. Scarlett never likes sushi because they taste raw. Yet Kazir was adding another abomination of condiments to the food. 

"As for me, I like making films. I longed for so many years of making an action movie. I understand that I'm not a talented director but I'm hoping to make a name. Once people hear a movie, they will immediately think of my name."

Kazir looked ahead as if he was looking from afar. 

"Scarlett, what do you think when you hear Jurrasic Park."

"Dinosaurs."

"I think of Steven Spielberg."

"Meh, I don't think of old guys."

"What about Star Wars then?"

"I think of Light Sabers. Don't tell me you're going to say George Lucas?" 

"That's right." Kazir nodded. 

"Damn it, you are too predictable!"

She clicked her tongue. But that didn't stop her from eating the chicken teriyaki. Scarlett Johansson never like rice but the combination of chicken teriyaki and rice was immaculate. 

"Well, now that you finished filming Taken, I guess your dreams already came true."

"No, I still have to watch it in theaters. Furthermore, I hope that the movie exceeded $200 million worldwide."

The Hangover most successful movie, with over $500 million at the worldwide box office.

Kazir was not stupid to believe that his first action movie would have that kind of achievement. 

'Besides, the box office of Taken in my past life was over $200 million too. As long as the movie reached that amount, I'm already satisfied.'

Too many expectations might cause heartbreak. Kazir was too old to think that everything would revolve around him. 

'... Sigh, I have to find a distributor too.'

He took a long sigh. These problems were bothering him all the time even though he had to focus all of his attention on editing the movie. He could not help it, he understood the importance of film distribution. 

"Hey, why are you sighing like that? Don't sigh in front of the food, that's disrespectful. You're an adult, be tough."

"You're right Scarlett. I apologize."

"Geez! I said don't mess my hair."

.........

......

...

Just like that, the post-production of Taken ended. The $25 million investment of Grey Pictures was already used. Now, it all depends on the result. 

Because of Kazir's status, some big shots from the big six showed up. Terry Semel postponed the board meeting just to watch this small screening. Only a few selected were invited to watch the movie. CAA personally contacted them. 

"Looks like CAA is serious about Kazir Grey."

Even Tom Rothman showed up. He was in a good mood right now because Napoleon Dynamite II was doing well. Tom Rothman was the one who founded Fox Searchlight Pictures. He was the one who bought Napoleon Dynamite too. 

The credits were all on him. Because of this, Rupert Murdoch met him in person and praised his achievement. He promised a good bonus for this year. 

For that, Tom Rothman decided to give up some time to watch Kazir's new movie. 

However, the two CEOs of big film companies didn't expect that another big shot would show up. 

"It's nice to meet you, President Ovitz."

"Are you Salvatore, you have a good eye in looking for talented people. Keep up the good work."

President Michael Ovitz showed up just to watch the movie. 

Because of his presence, the other film companies realized that Walt Disney was interested in Kazir.

[I give you a chance to choose with Film Company should Kazir sign for Taken. Don't worry, the copyrights of Taken will remain in Grey Pictures so feel free to choose. Let's vote for the North American distribution first. You only have one day to choose since I'm going to write another two chapters tomorrow.]

[I have nine companies to choose:]

Walt Disney

20th Century Fox

Warner Bros

Paramount

Universal

Sony-Columbia

MGM(Metro Goldwyn Mayer, the Lion Logo one)

Orion Pictures

DreamWorks(they already distributed movies back in 1997 although their advertising is not that strong at the current moment)