HWI 277

Hollywood What If Chapter 277

Jimmy Kimmel Live! A show that started on ABC last year and slowly gained fans all over the US.

It was a talk show with good ratings.

This time, New Line Cinema and Warner Brothers decided to work with the show to promote the movie The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.

The audience in the studio clapped when Viggo Mortensen appeared.

Jimmy Kimmel and Viggo Mortensen began to talk, focusing on The Lord of the Rings. Viggo talked about his experience in New Zealand and how director Peter Jackson was a good director.

"By the way, I want to congratulate you on your other movie. John Wick Chapter 2 is a great movie, I love it. You look good in a suit with guns in your hands."

"Thanks," Viggo smiled modestly. His career was flourishing and he was now a certified superstar. Two of his movies last year did very well.

John Wick Chapter 2 grossed over $600 million worldwide. While Lord of the Rings is currently at $245 million at the North American box office. With that, his status in the industry has risen.

"Of course you also look good with a sword."

"Holding a sword is quite hard because it is real metal. Not sharp, but really heavy."

"Tell me, did you practice swordsmanship for this movie?" Jimmy Kimmel Live! and New Line Cinema had a partnership tonight and the talk show received money to promote the movie.

"Ah, yes, I trained for six months. Fortunately, I have a lot of experience with training before Lord of the Rings. I trained for my role as John Wick."

"Tell me, what was it like working with someone like Kazir Grey? Everyone is curious about him."

"He's a serious guy. Strict and always calm. He's an amazing director. Most of the time he just knew what scene to shoot and there was no time wasted on positioning the cameras and stuff like that. It was like he had already imagined everything about the movie."

"Yeah, I heard about that. Apparently he's very professional and never takes a vacation. Is that true?"

"I guess so. I mean, I have never seen the guy having fun, or rather working is fun for him. He spent most of his time at work."

Viggo explained.

The news regarding Spider-Man was quite positive for Sony-Columbia and Kazir. The film was close to $900 million after three weeks in January. The movie had already finished its run in the U.S., but it was doing well overseas.

The Spider-Man hype was still going strong. Merchandise related to the movie was selling like hotcakes. The factories had to work overtime just to keep up with the demand.

You see, Spider-Man was for all ages. Even 50 year old men like the movie. The character of Spider-Man was created in the 1960s and slowly gained fans. And now that Spider-Man is in theaters, the hype around the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man has just exploded.

Jimmy Kimmel and Viggo Mortensen chatted a few minutes before the end of the show.

"You're friends with Matt Damon, right?" Jimmy Kimmel asked.

"Ah, yes, we are friends. We worked together in Wanted two years ago." Viggo replied, knowing where this was going.

"Then can you please tell him that we are sorry and that the show is over, we ran out of time and he have to come back next time."

Viggo chuckled and nodded.

"Okay, I'll tell him about it."

The fake beef between Jimmy Kimmel and Matt Damon may have been the longest running gag in the history of television. It started with Jimmy Kimmel calling out Matt Damon as a joke, until Matt Damon himself decided to play along.

......

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Kazir stopped directing CCU movies, but that didn't mean he abandoned the project. Hell no, he is usually involved in the production when he has time.

He was the executive producer... Actually, his position was not so simple. After all, Kazir was the sole owner of Grey Pictures and he was the boss. Even Harold Witsend, the current producer of CCU, worked under him.

As executive producer, Kazir naturally attended the third round of auditions for the female lead of Mr. And Mrs. Smith.

This time, the crew had a list of actresses with strong box office appeal who were vying for the role.

It was 2002 and Hollywood continued to grow. People all over the world now recognize many superstars from the USA.

'Charlize Theron, Naomi Watts, Cate Blanchett and Jennifer Connelly... Wow, so you're saying that these actresses are interested in being a part of CCU?' Kazir thought to himself.

Honestly, yes. Continental Cinematic Universe was no small project, not anymore. After the huge success of Wanted two years ago, so many actresses/actors in Hollywood became interested in this particular Cinematic Universe.

On top of that, The Fast and The Furious and John Wick Chapter 2 also made a lot of money at the box office. This showed that the influence of the Continental Cinematic Universe was getting stronger. At least a lot of fans were waiting for the next movie.

After so many movies that had mostly male protagonists, Mr. and Mrs. Smith was the only movie in the CCU that had an obvious female lead. Well, one of the leads was female, so they might as well take the opportunity.

Kazir didn't specify a look for Mrs. Smith. He just wanted the woman to be sexy and beautiful and know how to fight.

So it seemed that the role caught the attention of many actresses. The actresses who auditioned for the role are already well established in the industry. They could easily get a job every year.

Charlize Theron and Cate Blanchett have already auditioned and their performances were not bad. They seem healthy and it looks like they have already trained for the role.

Kazir loved the commitment, no lie.

He turned to Doug Liman, the current director of Mr. and Mrs. Smith. The man nodded and invited the next actress.

"Hi, I'm Naomi Watts. I worked on Mulholland Drive last year. I'm here for the part of Jane Smith."

As expected, Naomi Watts looked great. Beautiful and sexy, she already passed the appearance requirements.

The woman glanced at Kazir and smiled, they had known each other for a long time. Kazir nodded but kept his expression.

Naomi and Kazir first met at Tom Cruise's party in 1995. And yes, they almost had an affair if Carl Morin had not interrupted them. Since then, Kazir and Naomi have known each other, but they were not friends.