HWI 104

Hollywood What If Chapter 104

Kazir received a message that he had to use a limousine to enter the red carpet. It seemed that 20th Century Fox wanted to make everything grand. Kazir had to agree then.

"Napoleon Dynamite didn't have a red carpet last time, so they are probably trying to make up for it."

Well, no one expected that a $500 thousand movie could generate over $250 million. 

When Kazir's moment to show up, he exited the limousine and waved his hands. 

The reporters started taking pictures of him. He paused for a few seconds and stay still. Then, before he could enter the theater, he was interviewed by a reporter from Fox TV. 

"Director Grey, you are the first director of Napoleon Dynamite and you created the script of the sequel. How can confident are you that the movie will be successful?"

"It all depends on the fans."

He smiled and then ended the interview... He didn't like interviews very much. He knew some reporters who step out of the boundary just to cause discomfort. They would ask controversial questions just to stir the actors. 

They were quite brutal. They didn't have respect for privacy. 

"Kazir, I miss you."

Reese Witherspoon approached him and kissed his cheek. 

"Yeah, I was gone for a few months. How's your work?"

"The director is quite a tyrant. Hugo Lameire is scary, I prefer working with you."

She smiled and coiled her arms around his. 

"We can talk about it later."

"Geez, you are really serious in the public. That's the thing I like about you, I want to monopolize your private side."

Kazir shrugged and walked ahead. Then, he found Tom Rothman and director Hugo Lameire. The two were talking.

'If I'm not wrong, Hugo Lameire wanted to film his own movie. He has to make sure that Napoleon Dynamite will be a box office hit first.'

Napoleon Dynamite never had a sequel in the past. It had a tv show but it quickly ended with no success. 

Yet now, Kazir reached the point where he wrote the sequel. Honestly, he had no idea how this sequel would fare. 

This was the reason why Kazir didn't want to direct the sequel because he was scared. It was normal to be scared, humans had these emotions for survival. 

Instead, he made another comedy movie to increase his chips which was The Hangover. It was a global success.

'I'm not going to lie, I'm a coward. I'm not going to film a movie that I'm not confident.'

He decided to give full authority to 20th Century Fox and let them decide. He was just responsible for the script... Even the script was made by the minds of five people. He hired writers just to make sure that it would not fail. 

50-50 chance. That was what he deduced. 

Tom Rothman found him and nodded. The CEO of 20th Century Fox approached him and shook his hand.

"Let's hope that this movie is successful."

"Tom, you should be confident of your movie," Kazir replied. 

"That's right. However, I will be more confident if you are the one who directed it."

"..."

Kazir didn't know how to respond because he could see that Hugo Lameire had an ugly face a few meters away.

It seemed that Hugo Lameire tried to talk to Tom Rothman about something but Tom Rothman didn't agree. 

He was clearly angry. As if he was taken advantage of. 

'... Not my problem.'

This thing didn't have any connection to him. In the first place, Fox Searchlight Pictures chose Hugo Lameire as the director. He didn't have authority over that. So this kind of thing was not his problem. 

'Although I'm not sure if he is glaring at me or Tom Rothman.'

Looking around, Kazir found that most of the cast attended the premiere. 

Ed Helms and Pedro Pascal greeted him too. The two were trying to probe if Kazir was interested in filming The Hangover 2. Apparently, Warner Bros was still looking for someone to take over the film. 

Ed Helms and Pedro Pascal knew that Kazir was a great director. At least their experience with him was much better than Hugo Lameire who kept shouting like a bitch. 

"I'll think about it."

That was the only answer that Kazir gave. To be honest, he was not sure too. If Taken was no good, then Kazir didn't have a choice but to continue filming comedy movies. 

'The Hangover 2 is going to start filming at the end of the year. I still have enough time to decide.'

He was actually grateful that he had another way of preserving himself if Taken was a box office flop. He could return to filming The Hangover 2 once he hit rock bottom. 

Still, he only have to do the Plan B if he had no choice. He won't let Taken be a flop. The movie was successful in his past life, he just have to make sure that it would have the result this time. 

Once the lights turned off, everyone became quiet and sat down. They knew that the start of the movie was close. 

The front of the audience was filled with people related to the movie such as the cast and the production crew. Behind them, the fourth and fifth seats were filled with fans and critics who received premier tickets. 

"I heard that Director Lameire signed a three-movie contract with the 20th Century Fox."

Reese Witherspoon, who was sitting next to Kazir, whispered and informed him. 

"Hm." Kazir just nodded. He didn't have any idea why Reese was telling him this. Was it related to the reason why Hugo was fuming? 

"I heard that Warner Bros are inviting him to direct The Hangover."

Suddenly, everything was clear. Napoleon Dynamite and The Hangover were both comedies but The Hangover had much better audience response. It had a better box office too. 

If the sequel of The Hangover was taken over by Hugo Lameire, then he had a higher chance of making a success. The Hangover was part of the top 5 movies last year. Its influence was much better than Napoleon Dynamite. 

But because of the contract, Hugo Lameire was shackled by the 20th Century Fox. 

That might be the reason why Hugo Lameire was glaring earlier.