HWI 328

Hollywood What If Chapter 328

It was Natalie Portman... Kazir was actually surprised to hear that the young actress was on the list of actresses auditioning for Pirates of the Caribbean. He hadn't expected Natalie to be interested in the film.

Also, Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge Of The Sith was still in production, so Kazir thought Natalie would be too busy to work on another project.

Unexpectedly, the woman actually did well in the audition. Kazir witnessed her performance. This caused Kazir and the others to give it serious consideration. The three actresses fit the role, with Julia Roberts taking the top spot because of her box office appeal. Second was Keira and third was Natalie.

In the end, the decision rested with Kazir, since he was the director of the film. Even Renner and Harold couldn't compete with him in this situation.

Kazir decided to take the audition tapes back to his house to watch them again.

"Babe, have you made a decision?" Angelina appeared and handed Kazir a bowl of sliced apples.

"No, I'm still not sure."

Julia Roberts was out of the list for financial reasons, but Kazir was still torn between Keira Knightley and Natalie Portman.

"Let's see... Didn't you see that Natalie stealing glances at you?" Angelina frowned slightly at the TV. On the screen, Natalie was glancing at a certain direction once in a while.

"No, I don't think so." Kazir shook his head.

"Sheesh, you are too dense. Anyway, Keira Knightley is the best choice. I don't like that Natalie Portman."

"You think so?"

"Yeah. Now that I think about it, why didn't you invite me for this role, Elizabeth Swann? With my age and beauty, I can easily pass the audition." She asked Kazir curiously.

"Well... This project has kissing scenes--"

"Pfft--!"

Suddenly, Angelina almost choked on her food when she heard Kazir's answer. She hadn't expected Kazir to care about that!

"Kazir, ahem, ahem. You're famous for being a heartless guy who didn't care about your girlfriend's partner in a movie. The news that you watched your ex-girlfriend Cameron Diaz kiss Matt Damon on the set of The Bourne Identity is all over Hollywood. People said you didn't mind Cameron kissing Matt! Oh, I also remember you made me walk naked on the set of Wanted! You even took a shot of my naked ass and showed it to the audience! And now you're suddenly conscious of my kissing scenes?"

Angelina went on a long tirade and Kazir had only one answer.

"Yes."

"Yes?"

"I just realized that I'm uncomfortable with you doing that... I'm sorry."

"Aww, don't be, babe." She hugged Kazir and began to kiss his cheek.

"Anyway, I don't like this Natalie, so you should hire Keira Knightley instead."

"... Alright."

Kazir finally nodded. Keira Knightley's salary was affordable and it was no problem for Kazir.

...

...

...

Goldman Sachs, represented by Vance Goodhood, and someone from Morgan Stanley finish their negotiations.

Morgan Stanley was the firm hired by 20th Century Fox to acquire Grey Pictures.

Both Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley were famous investment firms on Wall Street, and they had their commission when this deal was done.

After thinking about it and talking to the executives at Grey Pictures, Kazir decided to work with 20th Century Fox instead.

After much tug-of-war, Grey Pictures would sell 30% of its stock for $3.5 billion in stock and cash. $1 billion in cash and $2.5 billion in stock, the equivalent of 3.5% of 20th Century Fox.

Now Kazir was the second largest individual shareholder of 20th Century Fox, after Rupert Murdoch, who owned the majority of the shares.

Most of the company's shares were spread among companies and investment firms. Only two individuals have their own piece of the percentage.

The negotiations were already finished and both sides signed the contract. Now Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley began to perfect the transactions.

Kazir and many of his acquaintances kept quiet about the acquisition. None of the Big Five knew about it... Yet.

A few hours later that day, a piece of news suddenly broke that shook Hollywood, no, the whole country.

20th Century Fox and Grey Pictures decided to work together to promise a better future in filmmaking and to create wonderful movies.

No figures were given, but it was confirmed that 20th Century Fox had acquired part of Grey Pictures.

The news made a lot of noise.

Suddenly, the stock price of 20th Century Fox, which was $21.72, went up to $25.19 in just one day. The stock market then closed. The stock went up more than 15% in just one day. And that was because of the news about Grey Pictures and 20th Century Fox.

People in Hollywood realized that the value of Grey Pictures was enough for people to invest in 20th Century Fox. They knew that the movies Grey Pictures was producing were profitable!

"What's going on?"

Chairman Michael Eisner slammed down the newspaper and nearly overturned the table in anger. His face was red with rage as he read the news of 20th Century Fox's acquisition of Grey Pictures.

He realized that his last chance for survival was vanishing into thin air. He clenched his fists.

Last year, Walt Disney basically didn't make a dime at the box office because their biggest movie was a terrible flop. Even though they released dozens of movies, the loss they suffered from John Carter was irreparable.

If not for the DVDs, toys and merchandise that Walt Disney sold, the company might have to take out a loan from the bank. They stayed afloat, but their situation was not good. John Carter was a bad investment and the board wanted to blame Michael Eisner.

He tried to regain their trust by trying to buy Grey Pictures, no matter how much they spent, but the result didn't work out for him.

Now Michael Eisner knew that his time as chairman of one of the largest media companies in the world was over.

Walt Disney, Paramount, Sony-Columbia and Warner Brothers weren't expecting this outcome. They were trying to make plans on how to increase their chips to get Kazir's interest, yet they were slapped by the news.

As for the other news, Grey Pictures' upcoming projects such as The Equalizer, Wanted 2 and Pirates Of The Caribbean would be distributed by 20th Century Fox.

The TV show Game of Thrones would also be released exclusively by Fox. This project got a lot of people excited because they knew that Grey Pictures never did boring projects.

One of the reasons why many people invested in 20th Century Fox stock.

+++++

[Sorry if I'm absent lately, stuff happens. Regarding numbers and math, just don't ask me why they are wrong or overprice... I also don't know the answer.]