HWI 148

[Shout out to Seth P and Jofrey V!]

Hollywood What If Chapter 148

"Are you okay?

Reese put a worried hand on Kazir's forehead. The man looked tired, the dark circles around his eyes were obvious.

"I'm fine. I can't miss this event. It's the first movie where you're the protagonist."

"... Okay." She smiled and kissed him on the forehead.

"Now let's contact Jane to hide your haggard face."

"I hope so."

The two chuckled.

John Wick wrapped in the second week of June. After that, Kazir Grey put all his time into post-production.

Of course, he hired his trusted editor, Rector Richman. The two have a good relationship and can talk without barriers. Other than that, Kazir had an editing team to take care of other editing jobs such as cutting useless scenes.

The movie was slowly coming together. The dubbing, the sound, the music, the editing, the transitions, everything was going well.

Then, after spending three weeks in the editing room, Kazir Grey was invited to the premiere of There's Something About Mary.

It was a publicity stunt to get attention. He would go to the theater with Reese Witherspoon.

In fact, 20th Century Fox, the investor in the movie, asked Kazir Grey to be one of their promotional methods.

People love to gossip, and 20th Century Fox would use Kazir and Reese's relationship to create hype. They would use this news to their advantage and promote the movie. That way, more people would see the movie.

Kazir was hesitant at first, but decided to agree. He wanted to make sure that Reese's movie would be successful.

However, Reese was the one who was against it. She felt like she was using Kazir and she didn't like it.

In the end, the two agreed to attend the premiere together. When reporters asked them about their relationship, they gave ambiguous answers.

"Alright. Looks like you can go."

Reese was pleased with Kazir's makeover. The bags under his eyes were gone and he looked fresh.

"We can go to the premiere!"

The two entered the limousine holding hands.

The main cast of There's Something About Mary was Matt Dillon, Ben Stiller, Lee Evans and Chris Elliott.

In the movie, these men were obsessed with Mary (Reese Witherspoon). They did their best just to get Mary's attention.

Some famous actors also attended the premiere. Ed Helms and Pedro Pascal were at the premiere to support Reese. Another reason why they were at the premiere was to promote Napoleon Dynamite III, which will be released in December.

Even Hugo Lameire was there. He was the director of Napoleon Dynamite II. He was smiling and letting the press take pictures of him. The attention he got was so-so.

The limousine arrived and Kazir Grey was the first to get out. He was wearing a neat gray tuxedo. He held out his hand to a beautiful woman.

Reese smiled and took his hand. The two walked down the red carpet, looking nice together.

Reporters bombarded them with pictures and questions, but the two just posed and smiled.

Most of the reporters were from News Corporation, maybe 2/3 of the reporters.

Of course, the interview from a major TV network would ask them before they went to the theater.

"Wow, you look good together." The reporter said.

The two giggled. Showing their affection for each other.

"Ahem, I know I'm crossing the line, but I have to ask this question. Are you two dating?"

Reese and Kazir were expecting this question. They looked at each other before answering.

"Reese is very important to me."

"I feel the same way about Kazir."

"Aww..."

After that, the reporter let them slide into the theater. Their answer was enough to make a topic.

"I must apologize." Reese smiled bitterly.

"They made you dirty." She added.

"What are you talking about? It doesn't concern me. Besides, it's good for John Wick as well, another method to promote my movie."

"I see. So only John Wick is all in your head." She pouted and tightened her grip on his arm.

"Honestly, yes."

"What did you say?"

"Haha, of course I'm joking."

"Humph!"

The two found their seats, which were in the front row with the cast.

Before the movie started, the higher-ups of 20th Century Fox greeted them. Kazir Grey met Tom Rothman again... As always, they talked about scripts and whether Kazir was interested in working with 20th Century Fox.

The two of them had a good relationship, so there was no need to play hard to get. In the end, Kazir didn't promise anything.

'Our contract with Paramount expires next year. Maybe working with 20th Century Fox is not bad... Let's think about it when we get there.'

...

...

...

The premiere of There's Something About Mary did well. It grossed $4 million on the first day. That was a good result back in the 90s. Only abnormal movies like Taken could get $17 million on the first day.

After that, the first weekend got a result of $17 million.

Unfortunately, The Mask Of Zorro was released in the same week, so There's Something About Mary didn't get the box office champion for that week.

The next weekdays also had a good result. From July 20 to 25, the movie earned another $23 million. All in all, the movie grossed $40 million.

The budget of There's Something About Mary was only $23 million. It was obvious that the box office already exceeded the investment, which was a good thing.

It seemed that Reese Witherspoon's career would be better after this. From a second-rate actress to a first-rate actress who could easily get a million-dollar contract.

However, while others were celebrating the movie's success, one person was gritting her teeth in regret.

+++++

[I would like to apologize if I made grammatical mistakes or misspelled people's names and movie titles. I have no excuse except my own stupidity... As for correcting the grammar mistakes, names and movies, I'll say that I'm too lazy to correct them. I publish this story in four platforms and I'm lazy to edit them. That's the truth... I really apologize].