Chapter 56: HWI 56
Hollywood What If Chapter 56
"Sir. The filming of The Hangover has started today."
"Thank you, Nancy."
Tom Rothman nodded after Nancy Utley told him about the news.
Because Napoleon Dynamite was distributed by Fox Searchlight Pictures, Tom Rothman wanted to know the related news about Kazir's next movie.
Warner Bros and 20th Century Fox received the script of The Hangover at the same time. Unfortunately, Warner Bros acquired the movie because of obvious circumstances.
"Nancy, do you know the reason why we didn't fight for The Hangover?"
"Isn't it because of the vulgar theme of the movie? The Hangover has a strong chance to be rated R-Rated and it might not be profitable."
"That's right. Unlike Napoleon Dynamite which has a simple and lighthearted theme, The Hangover has so many profanities. A group of friends went to Las Vegas. After taking drugs, they forgot what they did and one of them was missing."
It was the short summary of The Hangover.
"To be honest, I have this feeling that Kazir can make it successful. Unfortunately, our offer didn't attract his attention."
Kazir was asking for more and they could not negotiate. It was a natural reaction to stop the negotiation.
So Tom Rothman hoped that Kazir's movie would be a disappointment. He hoped that The Hangover would have a bad reception.
Because if the movie became successful...
"How's the script for Napoleon Dynamite II?"
The success of Napoleon Dynamite was still ongoing. So far, the worldwide box office already surpassed $300 million.
The movie would be dropped from the North American cinemas but its global screening would last for another three to four months.
Tom Rothman sighed after remembering that Kazir would receive a 5% North American box office share.
'I should have settled with revenue share instead. At least it's much smaller than 7 million dollars.'
The North American box office of Napoleon Dynamite was $140 million. Naturally, 5% of that amount would go to Kazir.
In fact, Salvatore kept urging Fox Searchlight Pictures to settle the account.
"The creation of the script is halfway done."
After Kazir sold the copyrights of Napoleon Dynamite to Fox Searchlight Pictures, the company sent two writers to oversee the creation of the script.
Kazir already gave the general plot of the movie and he let the writers turn it into a complete script.
Of course, Kazir attended the script writing to make sure that the script would turn out great. Napoleon Dynamite had a very important part in his heart.
"That's good to hear... Since Ed Helms is still filming the movie, don't contact him about the sequel of Napoleon Dynamite for now. No, I advise you to wait for The Hangover's release week before contacting them."
Ed Helms' salary in Napoleon Dynamite was very small.
But his salary in The Hangover was a whopping $1.7 million.
For a small-time actor to a millionaire actor. That was the effect of starring in a successful movie.
'As a businessman, I don't want to give Ed Helms more than a million. If The Hangover flops, then Ed Helms' salary would naturally decrease, and so is Kazir's.'
That was one of the reasons why Tom Rothman hoped that The Hangover would be a disaster.
'I can invite Kazir to direct Napoleon Dynamite II once that happened.'
Everything depends on the result of The Hangover.
If The Hangover turned well, then Fox Searchlight Pictures had to adjust its budget for Napoleon Dynamite II.
But if The Hangover turned bad, then Fox Searchlight Pictures would squeeze Kazir and Ed for all their worth.
"Hm, keep your eyes on The Hangover. Make sure to contact Kazir regarding Napoleon Dynamite II... And settle the account. We don't want Kazir to be angry at us."
Unlike the actors, Kazir's position as a director was far heavy. As long as he had strong profitability, 20th Century Fox would cooperate with him.
"Yes sir."
Tom Rothman was left alone in his office. He was actually having migraine these days because of a certain project.
"Damn that James Cameron, I can't believe that he is asking for something outrageous! He wants to make a real ship!"
The investors in James Cameron's project were 20th Century Fox and Paramount. The two film companies were currently gritting their teeth because of James Cameron's wasteful idea.
However, Tom Rothman couldn't deny that James Cameron was a talented director.
Three of his movies were distributed by 20th Century Fox and they were all successful.
Aliens.
The Abyss.
True Lies.
Unfortunately, the copyrights of The Terminator were held by Orion Pictures. This movie franchise was very profitable.
"Kazir Grey... Please make your movie bad so that we can cooperate again. I believe your talent is in making wholesome comedies, not vulgar ones."
Tom Rothman sighed. His job as a CEO of a film company was exhausting. But the rewards were satisfying as well.
His boss, Rupert Murdoch, contacted him and gave him rewards after the success of Napoleon Dynamite.
......
...
...
"What do you mean that I can't get money from Kazir? I'm his wife!"
Cassandra glared at her lawyer after learning that it was impossible to get money from her now rich ex-husband.
"Cassandra, you are not his wife. You're his ex-wife. Please remember that."
Her lawyer sighed.
"You had an agreement that you will stop festering him once you acquired the house. He gave you half of his savings too. The court already deemed that the case is over. Unless you want to open the case again, but it cost money."
"... Tch."
Cassandra clicked her tongue in annoyance.
'Who would have thought that my depressed husband will actually become a successful director? Millions! He sold the copyright of his movie for millions but I can't get half of it? That's fucking unfair!'
Cassandra regretted the fact that he divorced Kazir. She should have waited for another year so that she could steal more from him.
"Damn it!"
She slammed her fists against the table out of frustration.
Life was fucking unfair!
'As a beautiful woman, my job should be marrying rich people and stealing half of their property! Instead of focusing on my career and being a good person, I rather step on people!'
Chapter 57: HWI 57
Hollywood What If Chapter 57
Cassandra Hoecrap. She was Kazir's ex-wife. She dreamed of becoming a famous actress.
With her beautiful appearance, she believed that achieving her dream was extremely possible.
But when she entered Hollywood, her dreams completely shattered. She realized that there were many beautiful women like her in Hollywood. To make the matter worst, they were more talented than her.
Cassandra didn't know how to act. Her facial expressions were terrible. She didn't know how to cry, smile, and get angry in front of the camera.
Her face was always stiff. As if being an actress was not meant for her.
In the year 1988, Cassandra Hoecrap entered the filming crew of Rain Man as an extra vase(a beautiful background character).
While filming the movie, she met Kazir for the first time. She was attracted to his seriousness and confidence. Cassandra was two years older than Kazir but it didn't block their relationship from blossoming.
Then, they decided to marry. At that time, she really loved him.
But time passed and Kazir started to become serious about his job. He was so busy that he only returned to the house every other day.
Furthermore, Kazir's appearance started to change. From a fit young man to a depressing fat guy. Cassandra realized that she started to lose attraction to her husband.
Because of this loneliness, she cheated on him by having sex with his agent... Then her cheating arc expanded until she found a rich old man.
He was a producer/investor. He owned a production company too. After her divorce with Kazir, she started living with her lover.
Since then, Cassandra realized that she could use her beauty to attract people, rich people.
She got half of Kazir's savings and owned his house. She thought she won the battle in life.
Cassandra thought that she could use this method to scam people. So she did her best to convince his old lover to marry.
But who would have thought that the old man didn't treat her seriously? He decided to kick her out after having her way with her.
"... Tch. It doesn't matter, I believe you have some methods to squeeze some money from Kazir. I bought a Chanel bag using my credit card and I still haven't paid the balance."
Cassandra looked at her lawyer. Hoping that the lawyer could answer her problem.
"Of course," the lawyer nodded.
He knew how to get money from Kazir. However, he was not sure if the outcome would be good for Cassandra and him.
"... We can contact the other film companies. Maybe some of them are interested to listen to your story."
Money. As long as money is related, people would throw their humanity to acquire it.
All wrongdoing can be traced to an excessive attachment to material wealth. So yeah, perhaps money is the root of evil. Or was it greed?
"Thank you, lawyer... I promise to reward you for hard work."
Cassandra playfully lowered her chest to show her cleavage.
'Fufu. As expected, I can get what I want as long as I use my beauty. It's really good to be born pretty.'
......
...
...
Children's Association.
The purpose of this association was the protect the rights of children under the legal age.
In Hollywood, underage actors had a history of being maltreated. Perhaps the best example was Macaulay Culkin, a famous child star from Home Alone. Macaulay Culkin's parents squeezed all of the penny from him. His father was abusive and forced him to take many roles without respect for his mental health. When he turned adult, he became depressed and almost killed himself.
'I'm asking... Where's the Children Association at that time?'
Kazir massaged his forehead.
It was the third day of the filming. So far, he had filmed five scenes. All of the scenes were related to the baby.
'The reason why we can't film so many scenes is because of the Children's Association... That's right, someone called the Children Association.'
To be honest, Kazir understood the reason why the Children Association visited his crew. As long as an underage actor would join a project, the Children's Association would try its best to respond by sending some of its members.
Children's Association was a nonprofit organization so the company could not prevent them from doing what they wanted.
'As a person from a broken family, I want to support the Children's Association. Their purpose is novel... But there's something I don't like about them, they usually have bad motives when they enter the crew. They will ask for something outrageous. They will request something outrageous... Just like now.'
"What's this? This is bad for the kid! You must kick this thing out of the set!"
The woman who had short hair and thick glasses roared. She was from the Children Association.
She was berating one of his crew members.
Kazir sighed and stepped in.
"Ma'am. This is a humidifier. It's a device that adds moisture to the air to prevent dryness that can cause irritation in many parts of the body."
"Humidifier? Never heard of it! All I can see is a cloud of smoke coming out of the machine! I want this thing out of the crew. It's bad for the kid."
Kazir glanced at Producer Enrico Pusi. The Producer sighed and nodded his head. It was tiring to explain it to a woman who had her ears closed.
"I understand."
Kazir signaled the crew to put the humidifier out of the set.
"Mister Grey. I want to remind you that the baby can only work for three hours a day!"
Child actors are only allowed to work between the hours of 5:00 am and 10:00 pm on school days. But the woman's proposal was much worst.
"What are you, his mother?"
"What did you say?"
"I said you don't have the right to talk about it. We have a contract and I will abide by the contract. Of course, everything that is written in the contract is legal. You can ask the mother about that."
Kazir was getting tired of this farce. This was the main reason why the shooting was slow.
'Someone wants to disturb our filming. They sent a troublesome person to cause a problem.'
He gritted his teeth.
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