บท 319: HWI 319
Hollywood What If Chapter 319
"What do you think? It looks cool, right?"
Harold Witsend was a bit enthusiastic as he showed Kazir the pirate ship. The two of them were in a huge warehouse that Grey Pictures rented for large props like a 100-foot-long ship.
Before he was a producer, Harold was the head of the props crew. He has a strong artistic sense, so he fell in love with the pirate ship the first time he saw it.
Harold found a company that made wooden boats and wooden ships. Some of their products were for art galleries.
Harold hired them to build a real and working pirate ship and they didn't disappoint Harold. Seeing the beautiful ship, Harold realized that returning to the props team might not be bad...
Although he was mature enough to understand that his current position and salary were far more important to his current life. After all, he had a family to support. He sighed, then got surprised, then sad, then became happy after looking at the ship.
"What do you think, it's great, isn't it? We haven't used it at sea yet, but the company assures us that it works well."
Kazir touched his chin and inspected the ship. It was large, but not super large compared to modern ships. Kazir admitted that it looked amazing, but he wanted something old.
"... Make it old, I want it to look like it's been floating in the sea for hundreds of years. I want a pirate ship, no, a ghost ship might be a better term."
"What? How much more should we spend?"
Having been a producer for so many years, Harold had become sensitive about spending.
"As long as it looks good, I have no problem spending money. Oh, I told you, I need about 10 of these ships. I want them before April."
"... Fine."
The company had already built some of the ships, and their production speed could catch up before filming. Harold just felt that it was painful to turn these brand new ships into old, greasy pirate ships. But a few months later when he saw the finished products, he realized that ghost ships were not so bad. Old ships had something unique about them.
"How are the negotiations going with Johnny Depp?"
The topic changed to the cast.
"Their side is asking for quite a bit more. Although I can see that Johnny Depp is interested in the role of Jack Sparrow."
"What about Orlando Bloom? Did WMA do anything?"
"As far as I know, no."
Kazir Grey was once a client of WMA, but things happened and he was kicked out. Since then, the relationship between the two has never been good.
WMA regretted that Kazir had changed agency and they couldn't work with him anymore. Kazir was no longer just a director, he was a superstar.
CAA became the strongest agency in the industry and Kazir influenced this outcome. Now more actors/actresses want to end their contracts just to join CAA. At least CAA had someone like Kazir who could make blockbusters year after year. Perhaps that was Kazir's greatest talent. He made movies every year and they all did well at the box office.
"Orlando Bloom seems excited. We haven't reached an agreement yet, but the negotiations are already down to $4 million... Orlando Bloom? Wasn't that the actor who auditioned for Wesley Gibson? Damn, I just remembered that." Harold realized it just now.
Kazir chuckled. In fact, when Kazir saw Orlando Bloom's name when he was auditioning for Wanted, he suddenly remembered Pirates of the Caribbean. Orlando Bloom was the catalyst for Kazir's obsession with the pirate movie. He remembered that Pirates Of The Caribbean was worth billions of dollars.
"As for Keira Knightley, her team had no problem with our offer. First of all, they are happy to get an invitation from Grey Pictures."
Keira Knightley was not new to the industry. She had been acting since 1993 and was slowly gaining a foothold. The woman had steady jobs over the years, but Pirates of the Caribbean was no easy film.
Kazir intends to invest at least $100 million in the film. That alone was enough to get a lot of actors/actresses interested.
In fact, Kazir wanted Angelina to star in this movie since Pirates Of The Caribbean was not part of the CCU. However, Angelina had Lara Croft: Tomb Raider — The Cradle of Life and Beyond Borders to film. She didn't have enough time to join Kazir's project. Besides, Angelina also had to promote How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days this year.
"That's good to hear. Lower their salaries as much as possible, we both know that if this movie is a success-"
"I know, I know. You're going to turn it into a franchise with multiple sequels. So it will be better if they have lower salaries as a starting point."
"I'm glad you understand."
"Of course..."
Ring Ring--!
Suddenly Harold Witsend received a phone call. He opened the phone and his expression turned cold when he saw the caller's name.
"Harold, are you all right?"
"Ah, yes, let me take this call for a few minutes."
Harold excused himself and Kazir was left alone. He studied the pirate ship. He admitted that the design was cool, but they looked brand new. It was still a prototype and the company had plenty of time to make adjustments.
"Too bad, because some of these ships will have to be destroyed. One was eaten by an octopus, the others were destroyed in battle with the Flying Dutchman...".
Kazir admitted that they might have to waste a lot of props for this project.
A few minutes later, Harold showed up, but his expression was no better. Kazir tried to ask the man about it, but Harold said it was a private matter.
The two continued to inspect the props for the project. Although Kazir sensed that something was wrong with Harold.
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