HWI 183

[Shout out to Abdulwahab A!]

Hollywood What If Chapter 183

"I have some scripts that we can negotiate. If you don't have a problem, you can send someone to talk to me."

Kazir had a good experience working with Big Three. He hadn't worked with Universal Pictures and Walt Disney, so he wasn't sure if they would protect Grey Pictures. Maybe they would join in the fun and tear the company apart.

'Besides, I don't like Universal Pictures and Walt Disney. They tried to cancel me...'

He was holding a grudge. Well, Kazir Grey was only human.

As for Sony-Columbia, he was on their side for the time being. They won't do anything bad.

"If they are not convinced. Remind them of the danger of DreamWorks. I'm sure they'll think about it."

"It's quite possible." Stella agreed with his decision.

Compared to Grey Pictures, DreamWorks was more dangerous. It had the trio of Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen. They are good at what they do.

Together with the connections they had made in their careers, they had successfully acquired a distribution channel in North America. Now they were free to release their films in North America without having to deal with the Big Six.

Unfortunately, their international distribution was still in its infancy, and it could take at least five to ten years to get a full international distribution that spans the globe.

With this information, Stella and Kazir knew that the Big Six would focus more on DreamWorks.

Last year, 1998, Saving Private Ryan was a massive worldwide success. Its impact was just beginning. In fact, last March's Academy Awards were dominated by Saving Private Ryan. The film won 11 awards. And even Steven Spielberg got his second Oscar statues for Best Director.

'Hm, Matt Damon is part of the cast of Saving Private Ryan and he said that working with Steven Spielberg gave him a good experience.'

For a director like Kazir Grey, someone like Steven Spielberg and James Cameron were the blockbuster directors, someone he would never reach in his entire life with his talent alone.

That is one of the reasons why the Big Six have to be aware of DreamWorks. Steven Spielberg can make good movies and he knows how the business works.

Not only that, but DreamWorks Animation did well with Antz and The Prince of Egypt. Antz was DreamWorks' first 3D animated feature, and the company slowly gained a foothold in computer animation.

'In my opinion, MGM (Metro Goldwyn Mayer) has already lost its status and DreamWorks can take its place in the top 7 of Hollywood.'

MGM was slowly going downhill in these days, with bankruptcy. They were only alive because of James Bond: 007.

After their conversation, Kazir decided to give the woman some time to rest. The only purpose of this meeting was to talk to Stella Willow before she started work.

She could leave tomorrow if she wished.

As Kazir stayed in the tent and watched the footage they shot today, he could not help but think of Star Wars and The Matrix.

'I know it sounds like I'm being arrogant, but I want to direct Star Wars and The Matrix...'

Unfortunately, all rights to Star Wars were owned by George Lucas and Lucasfilm. Also, Kazir was not close enough to George Lucas to work with him.

Kazir didn't like to leave the office, and his relationship with people in Hollywood was tenuous at best. He rarely attended parties and was usually quiet.

As for The Matrix, the Wachowski sisters registered the script before he could make his own version. Moreover, the Wachowski sisters were determined to direct the film.

'Well, I'm busy too, I have to say no even if they try to pitch the script to me.'

Maybe he would have a chance to direct Star Wars in the next decade...

He knew that Star Wars would expand its universe, from movies to comics to animation. However, his opinion of the franchise was complicated.

He felt that Disney was making the heroes of the past super depressed.

'Luke Skywalker died after fighting Kylo Ren and then became a ghost... I know it sounds stupid. '

His memories of the movie were pretty jumbled because he was a little old at the time.

'Oh, one more thing, Han Solo died too. He was killed by his son. Seriously, Disney really loves to make the heroes of the first Star Wars trilogy suffer.'

Well, the fans didn't like it. But who cares? As long as Disney wanted to, they would never listen to their audience.

'Hell, they can make Snow White Latina, the seven dwarfs would be normal people too. They can cast a black woman as the Little Mermaid and call it "innovation". Disney got too much Woked. Like, bro, I just want to watch movies and have some fun. Don't shove your ideologies down my throat.'

There was even a rumor that the founder of Disney, Walt Disney, was an anti-Semitic guy. People say he was a racist.

Shaking his head, Kazir decided to forget about these things. Star Wars had nothing to do with him anyway. He has to concentrate on his own projects.

Filming resumed, and this time they would shoot the scene where Jason Bourne slowly climbed down the building.

The crew hired a professional climber to do the stunt. The climber was protected and safely tethered to a rope.

They would film the scene at an angle where the rope could not be seen.

While filming, Kazir saw out of the corner of his eye that Cameron Diaz was sulking at him, unhappy about something.