HWI 200

[Congratulations to myself for writing 200 chapters. It's not easy to write a story so this is basically an achievement in my opinion.]

Hollywood What If Chapter 200

November 4th, 1999.

The Paramount Theatre is an art deco concert hall located at 2025 Broadway in downtown Oakland. When it was built in 1931, it was the largest multi-purpose theater on the West Coast with 3,476 seats.

It was used for many purposes, including Broadway shows and movie premieres.

Today, the Paramount Theatre would be used for the premiere of Taken 2.

The cameras flashes all over the red carpet. People would scream when an actor arrived.

Matt Damon attended the premiere of this movie and was very interested in the performance of the movie.

The Bourne Identity had already finished its North American run and the final box office was $162 million.

As for the overseas box office, some countries have already finished the screening while others are still in progress. As of now, the overseas box office was around $197 million.

Combining the North American and international box office, The Bourne Identity has grossed more than $359 million.

Grey Pictures already got some of the money from the international box office and they were quite generous. Grey Pictures gave Matt Damon a bonus of $1.6 million after the settlement.

This was Matt Damon's best movie and this was his biggest bonus. Even Miramax was too tight to give him a million dollars for Good Will Hunting.

Matt Damon stepped onto the red carpet and welcomed by deafening screams. It seemed that the effect of The Bourne Identity on many people was obvious.

He was not super famous then, but now he realizes that his appearance is recognized by many people. Even though they usually call him Jason Bourne instead of his real name. Well, that was a common occurrence in the industry.

Matt Damon was actually with Ben Affleck, but the guy didn't use the red carpet to enter the theater. Ben Affleck used the back entrance to enter the theater.

Ben Affleck expressed his jealousy that Matt Damon got a big role and his movie was successful. Since they were best friends, Matt Damon took the opportunity to introduce Ben Affleck to director Kazir Grey.

He guessed that Grey Pictures would expand their projects and Ben Affleck had a chance to work with Kazir Grey.

While being interviewed and asked for his opinion on Taken 2, another deafening scream hit Matt Damon and the reporter.

They both stopped and looked at the person stepping out of the limo. It was none other than award-winning actor Liam Neeson.

Liam Neeson had so many projects these past few years and they were successful.

Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace. This iconic franchise produced a $1 billion ($1.027 billion) movie this year.

The Haunting was another movie starring Liam Neeson. The Haunting grossed $180 million.

Perhaps this was the effect of the Best Actor award on Liam Neeson's career.

Liam Neeson was the star of the night, so Matt Damon ended the interview and entered the theater. Before he left the red carpet, people were still screaming and calling out Liam Neeson's name.

Matt Damon chuckled and shook his head. For a moment, he imagined what would happen if he were the one to win the Best Actor award. Maybe the future would change. Well, the what-ifs were always there to fuel his imagination.

Still, he understood the present. His situation was not that bad. Just like Liam Neeson, Matt Damon was getting recognition and his status was better compared to last year.

One thing was for sure, working with a talented director was the best move he made in recent years. Working with Steven Spielberg and Kazir Grey made him open his mind. An actor was only there to play the character, but a great director could make great movies with a bad actor.

Using different editing, cutting, and transition techniques, as long as the footage was complete, a director could make a movie.

Someone like Kazir Grey was a very rare talent. His films were all successful... Aside from his first three horror movies. People already forgot about those.

Even Steven Spielberg and James Cameron had bad movies, and so does Kazir Grey.

Maybe Kazir was still in his prime.

After all, no one was perfect, and Kazir would reach the point where he would have a bad movie. The question was, when would it happen?

Matt Damon was in the theater and found Ben Affleck talking to the people he knew.

This was a very small industry and most people knew each other.

Ben Affleck saw his friend and excused himself.

"Kazir is here. Let me introduce you."

"Thanks, man."

Armageddon was released last year and Ben Affleck was one of the stars of the movie. Of course, the protagonist of the movie was Bruce Willis.

The recognition he got from Armageddon was not bad, but not good either. At least nothing compared to "Jason Bourne".

More people were into realistic action movies these days and The Bourne Identity had a good run at the North American box office.

Compared to A.J. Frost from Armageddon, Jason Bourne was more popular.

Ben Affleck and his agent wanted to find good projects that would give Ben Affleck the lead role.

He was tired of being a supporting actor, he wanted to be the protagonist this time.

There was a rumor that Grey Pictures would produce two movies next year. The first one was John Wick Chapter 2 while the second one was still a secret.

In this secret project, Ben Affleck was interested in getting the main role. If possible, he wanted to talk to Kazir Grey and hoped that he would have a chance to see the script.

However, Ben Affleck looked around and realized that some renounced actors were also in the theater!

Unlike Ben Affleck, most of these actors entered the theater on the red carpet!

He saw Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Johnny Depp!

Hell, even Bruce Willis was in the theater! The star of Die Hard, The Sixth Sense, and Armageddon!

Bruce Willis saw that Ben Affleck was at the premiere and nodded. Ben Affleck nodded back.

'As expected, I'm not the only one interested in Kazir's next project.' Ben Affleck sighed.

Kazir Grey didn't like parties and he stayed in his office most of the time.

He was very difficult to meet. This was the rare moment when Kazir was out in public.