HWI 483

Hollywood What If Chapter 483

While Kazir was busy with the editing of Pirates Of The Caribbean, even going to Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) to check the special effects, Everest put his focus on the pre-production of the project.

Most of the crew members expected that this year was sort of a rest for them since Kazir had no projects. Oh boy, they were wrong.

Some of the crew members signed up while others decided to take a rest for the year.

Because of this, the production crew had missing positions to fill up.

Everest talked to Kazir and the director agreed to go talk to the CAA to fill up the missing positions.

Since the project was unexpected, the crew couldn't help but be messy. Thankfully, CAA sent them a producer that would help them manage the project.

When everything was in line, the crew asked CAA to provide them with actors and actresses for the movie. At this point, Grey Pictures hired CAA for a package deal.

In this ordeal, Grey Pictures already spent $9 million of its budget. It was more than half of their production.

Kazir has never experienced overspending in his movies, and this might be the first time.

Because the movie would be directed by Kazir Grey, it was impossible to keep it a secret. The news quickly spread and other agencies also heard about it.

Some actors and actresses applied and even sent their resumes and audition tapes.

Unfortunately, the production crew already signed a contract with CAA for a package deal. CAA already had a cast for the movie. When the news came out, many actors and actresses in CAA talked to their agents and hoped that they would have a chance to get cast in Kazir's new project. No one believed that Kazir's movie would fail.

Working with Director Grey meant instant success. He had proven himself many times and many actors and actresses became celebrities after working with him.

Because the budget of the movie was limited, CAA had to match the salaries rightfully. They also sent small actors and actresses for the roles.

Despite being unknown, it didn't mean that these actors and actresses were not talented. They were just people who failed to achieve opportunities.

And this time, they received an opportunity that they couldn't let go.

Before hiring these small actors and actresses, the production crew had to test them first by auditioning them.

The actors and actresses accepted that fact. It was a norm that they had to go to the audition before getting the roles.

However, there was a massive problem... The script was missing!

Yeah, the actors and actresses had no idea what scene to act on because they didn't have the script. They only knew that Kazir's small project was a horror movie.

Only Everest had a copy of the whole script. He read and he could say that it was promising. The plot twist was pretty cliche but Hollywood was full of cliche movies anyway. Hollywood is never innovative; they just keep recycling stuff to make it look new.

Kazir specifically said that no one should get the complete script, not even the actors and actresses. He also said that the actors and actresses could only get 1/3 of the scripts in the audition room.

As for why Kazir said these complicated orders, Everest had no idea. He just followed it.

Everest didn't know that the reason why Kazir didn't want to share the script was that he was embarrassed. This was an original script he wrote by himself, he was embarrassed that the cast might think it was mediocre.

Because of this complicated stuff, the actors and actresses attended the audition with no clue what to do. Before the audition, they practiced their acting. They acted with frightened expressions; actresses even practiced their screams.

When the audition was done, most of the cast passed the audition and signed the contract. As for those who failed, CAA sent more people to fill the spot.

It was tough for Everest because this project was announced unexpectedly. Most of the old crew members were absent because they were on vacation or working on other projects. This caused a bit of slow movement for the production.

The props preparation, the costume designs, the filming locations, they had to make sure everything was ready once Director Grey joined the project.

Everest realized that being an assistant director was never easy. He had a lot of things to do. Sometimes he wondered how his seniors, Fremont and Palenque, survived this kind of job.

.........

......

...

March was the third of the year. Just like the previous months, new movies were also released in March.

Movies like Deep Sea 3D(Documentary), Failure To Launch(Romantic Comedy), The Shaggy Dog(Comedy), V for Vendetta(Action), Inside Man(Thriller/Suspense), and Ice Age: The Meltdown(Adventure) were released in March. These movies were the ones that surpassed $100 million at the box office that were released in March 2006.

Ice Age: The Meltdown was created by Blue Sky Studio. After the success of Kung Fu Panda last year, Blue Sky Studio received a better treatment from 20th Century Fox. Everyone believed that another animation studio could rival Pixar/Disney aside from DreamWorks.

The competition for the month was tough despite not being a popular schedule. Out of all of the movies, Ice Age: The Meltdown and V For Vendetta made the most money.

After March, April arrived, and another batch of movies was going to be released.

First on the list was none other than The Bourne Ultimatum. It was obvious that 20th Century Fox couldn't release the movie in a more popular schedule so Grey Pictures had to settle with April, the month before summer.

Yet despite the fact that The Bourne Ultimatum was released on a less popular schedule, it was amazing that the movie theaters were packed with people who wanted to watch the movie.

This was the effect of Taken 3 on the people. Because of the massive success of Taken 3, grossing over $1 billion, the next movie of CCU also became a box office hit. The excitement still didn't die down.