HWI 289
Hollywood What If Chapter 289
April came and went, and people in Hollywood began to feel the change in the atmosphere. People started seeing billboards with pictures of movies being promoted. Advertisements were everywhere, taxis had pictures of movies on them. Especially the TV networks, the big ones, were putting so much money into making sure that people knew about the summer movies.
Jane Kendall got out of her boyfriend's car and thanked him.
"Thanks, Wallace, I'm going to miss you."
"Babe, you're only going to Canada. It's not that far. We can call each other too."
"So you're saying you're not sad that I'm going, huh?" Jane narrowed her eyes and looked at her boyfriend.
"Of course not. You know I'm going to miss you, so much. So much!" He spread his arms to show how much he would miss her.
Jane pouted. After 9/11, airport security was tighter and airline travel was not easy. Jane wanted to go back to California every Sunday to spend time with Wallace, but airlines have different rules now. She might spend more time in the terminal than with Wallace.
Jane Kendall was the head of Grey Pictures' make-up team. Her position in the crew was quite good, especially when she was part of the original crew along with Renner Hector and Harold Witsend. The three were part of Kazir's crew long before the director became famous.
'When was that again? Ah, I think it was around 1989.'
She was well respected in the crew. Because she was part of the original team.
Jane and Wallace met two years ago in the premiere of Wanted. Wallace was the co-leader of Grey Fans and he was one of the guests who got tickets to the premiere. The two hit it off and decided to start a serious relationship.
Now they were 1 year and 4 months into the relationship.
The two knew that distance could affect their relationship, but they promised each other that they would remain stronger.
The two shared a light kiss before Jane entered the terminal. Grey Pictures never had their own private plane, so they used business flights instead. Maintaining a plane was very expensive and Kazir didn't find the novelty of having one... Even though he was making a lot of money.
Jane had heard that Tom Cruise flew to Canada in a private plane, but that was only natural since the actor was a true superstar.
The crew had to go to a snowy part of Canada to shoot the movie. Kazir first sent Renner Hector to check out the possible locations, and Renner already found suitable spots. He also talked to the communities and got permission to shoot.
Most of the scenes would be shot in Sudbury, Ontario. Renner already confirmed that even though summer was coming, the place was still cold and snowy white, an important aspect of their choice.
"I'll miss you."
"Me too."
Jane said goodbye to her lover, she would miss him. She went to the terminal area and found most of the crew. They greeted each other. Then Jane approached Kazir, who seemed busy as usual.
The man had always been like that since the first time they met, when Kazir was still a rookie director and had trouble doing his job, which made him busier. But now, the rookie director was nowhere to be seen.
Just a mature man who seemed to be engrossed in his reading.
"Good morning, Kazir."
"Oh, good morning, Jane. Wallace brought you here to the terminal?"
"That's right."
"Is he still here?"
"No, he has a job. So he left after he sent me here."
"Is that so? Too bad, I want him to contact some members of Grey Fans to visit our movie set to promote the movie. I think some of the members of Grey Fans are amateur movie bloggers."
Movie critics might be the right term, but movie bloggers were more focused on the Internet. Different from movie critics who mostly published their stuff in tabloids and newspapers.
"If you're talking about work, you can call him instead... Wait, so you're saying you want Wallace and the others to visit the crew?"
"Yeah, that's right? Is there anything wrong with what I said? Of course we have to set up a schedule for their visit."
"I'll call Wallace later."
Jane left the director excitedly.
It seems that Jane regained some of her energy after knowing that her boyfriend would be able to visit the filming set. Most of the time, visiting the set was off-limits to keep the content of the movies secret. Especially now that technology was improving and people could hide small cameras in their pockets.
In order to visit the set, you usually have to sign a non-disclosure agreement so that the movie doesn't leak.
In that sense, Kazir had no problem letting some fans visit the crew. This could give them positive impressions.
Kazir was feeling the pressure from the success of Spider-Man and Wanted. His last two films have grossed over $1 billion each. He wanted to work hard to make sure The Revenant got the same treatment, but Kazir knew that was impossible. He was not God, after all.
'Well, my name means God in another language, but that probably has nothing to do with my current predicament.'
... Or maybe his name was the reason why he returned to the past? Was this foreshadowing? Probably not. The author will not cook.
Kazir did not dream to much. Having another $1 billion movie at the box office would not be amazing. Instead, people might think he was a robot/alien or something.
If he remembered correctly, The Revenant exceeded $500 million at the worldwide box office, which was amazing by the way. Only a few select films could do that.
For this movie, Grey Pictures was willing to spend $100 million. Of course, Kazir knew how to spend the money, so there was probably some money left over for PR after the shoot.