HWI 22

Hollywood What If Chapter 22

Kazir checked his appearance and he was quite good-looking, especially now that he had burned his belly fat. Signing a gym membership helped him a lot. 

Now, Kazir was much compared to last time. He was fit, although the eye bags under his eyes were still there. After, he didn't have any sleep these three days. 

If not for Rector begging him to rest, Kazir would never leave the editing room. 

Kazir was wearing a suit as he entered the building of New Line Cinema. He asked the receptionist and the woman led him to the screening room. 

There, he found David Fincher talking to Arnold Kopelson. 

"Kazir! I haven't for months! I heard you're filming."

David approached him with a smile. Both of them were quite having the best day of their lives considering that they both had eye bags. 

"Yeah, I just finished shooting. I rented a studio to edit my film."

"That's good to hear. If you need help, you can ask me." 

"I won't be polite then."

"Kazir."

Arnold Kopelson shook his hand. They were not strangers and they have a good relationship. 

"How's your day Arnold?"

"Everything's going well. David is working hard."

A few minutes later, the people from the New Line Cinema showed up. Robert Shaye glanced at Kazir and nodded. 

Se7en started playing on the screen and they watched it seriously. All that Kazir could say was that David Fincher's filmography will prosper from now on. 

His movies would be classic. 

Se7en, a great murder mystery detective genre. 

Fight Club, amazing, the plot twist was 'wtf'.

Zodiac, another murder mystery. 

The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo, erm, another murder mystery. 

Gone Girl, a quite ironic movie, but this movie earned more than 300 million dollars at the global box office. 

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, deep, a masterpiece in my opinion. 

Kazir believed that except for Christopher Nolan, David Fincher was the best Noir Film Maker of the current era. 

'Noir Films...'

Back in the past, Kazir dreamed of becoming the best director of that genre. However, he failed miserably. 

So from now on, Kazir would change his style. As much as he could, he would never touch a rated-R movie. He would settle with PG-13 instead.

'Action films, I will make action films for the sake of action films. For the sake of audiences, not for the film critics.'

Artistic Films can go to hell. Kazir would film commercial movies instead. 

However, as of now, the best that Kazir could do was use Napoleon Dynamite as a stepping stone. 

His budget was only half a million so he decided to film the possible movie that he could film. Once he had enough status and money, Kazir would definitely choose action movies. 

"Congratulations David, the movie is great." Kazir hugged David. He was happy to see that the script had been written became a movie. 

"Don't congratulate me yet, we still haven't shown it to the market."

"Don't worry, I'm confident that this movie will have a strong reception."

Suddenly, another person approached them. 

"David, the movie is great. I'm happy to work with you."

"Me too, Mister Shaye. I hope we will have another cooperation."

"Hm," Then, Robert Shaye turned to Kazir. He looked haggard. 

"I heard that you're filming a movie."

"Yes, I already finished the shooting. I'm currently editing it."

"If you're interested, you can contact New Line Cinema."

Robert Shaye would be happy to buy a movie that had strong profitability. If Kazir's movie was worth it, he would buy it of course. 

"That should be good."

Kazir's first choice was actually Fox Searchlight Pictures but he didn't have to be picky. 

Robert Shaye left the two. The New Line Cinema had to form a marketing plan for Se7en. 

"Hey, have you heard? There's a rumor that Time Warner is going to buy Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. Perhaps that's the reason why Robert Shaye looked tired."

New Line Cinema was under Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. If Time Warner bought the company, then New Line Cinema would naturally fall into Warner Bros.'s hands. 

Kazir just kept his smile. 

'It's not a rumor, New Line Cinema will be under Warner Bros. in the near future.'

He just hoped that Se7en would not be affected by this. 

David invited Kazir to dinner and had a conversation. Now that David's job was almost over, he wanted to take a bottle of beer and chug it all. 

"So you filmed a comedy? Strange, I thought you prefer horror movies?"

Kazir's first three movies were B-Grade horror movies so David thought his current project was a horror movie too. 

"No David, I want to change."

In a way, shooting a comedy movie was like shedding a new skin for Kazir. 

"Changing for the better is a good thing."

Send me a ticket once it's released in the theaters.

"You don't have to worry."

"Where do you want to show it first? Will you register it for Berlin International Film Festival?"

"If I don't have a choice. But Berlin International Film Festival will be held in February. My movie is surely completed at that time, joining a film festival is my last choice."

"Once Se7en became popular, I'm sure many companies will approach you."

"That's right."

The two started chugging beer as if there was no tomorrow. They wanted to let go of their job and have fun. 

When Kazir woke up the next, his head was aching, almost as if his skull was getting drilled.