Hollywood What If Chapter 270
Kazir was born on September 9, 1968. He was named Kazir by his mother, something that he knew. Even though he and his mother were never close, he was indeed thankful that she gave birth to him.
Or else Kazir would never experience this happiness. Sure, some of his life was filled with tragedies, but that was part of life. He knew that he would experience hardship on the way but he was truly happy that he experienced living a life.
His birthday celebration was fun and a lot of people from the industry attended. His family realized that Kazir's status in Hollywood was quite high. Aaron and Victor were happy to receive autographs from Liam Neeson and the others.
Kazir asked his family if they wanted to stay at least in his house to spend some time with him. He already talked to them a few months ago and they agreed.
Actually, if they didn't agree, Kazir would do everything to make them agree. He has to beg them if they have to.
Aaron's apartment and most of their properties were in Brooklyn but it was better to be sure. What if Aaron decided to bring his family to Manhattan on that certain day? Kazir would never forgive himself if he didn't prevent that from happening.
Kazir understood that he was just a man. Just like how he could not prevent what happened to Princess Diana, he could not stop 9/11 either. This was a terrorist group we were talking about.
September 11, 2001.
Kazir invited his father and brother to play some golf while Aaron's wife was with Angelina, pampering baby Alissa, Kazir's niece.
Kazir admitted that he was not that good at golfing, unlike Victor and Aaron. The two loved spending their weekends golfing or fishing. They even knew so many types of golf clubs that Kazir had never heard of in his entire life.
'I did the right thing by choosing golf to attract their attention. Apparently, they want to play golf with me as well. Taking a week of vacation is a good excuse.'
Kazir let the time pass. However, he knew that the tragedy had struck when Kazir saw Aaron's wife running to them.
Aaron was confused but when she looked at the seriousness in his wife's eyes, Aaron knew that something happened.
"Honey, you need to go back to the clubhouse."
She had red eyes and trying to stop herself from crying.
The three men returned to the clubhouse and the atmosphere was very cold. A lot of people were quiet, all of them looking at the television broadcasting the event.
"Huh? What is happening?"
Aaron frowned, he recognized the building that had a huge hole and belching smoke. It was one of the buildings of the Twin Towers.
Even Victor could not fathom the situation. The oldest Grey decided to contact his friends and ask them about the situation.
Suddenly, people screamed and gasped as they witnessed another plane hitting the second tower.
Some panicked, some turned silent, and some were shocked.
Aaron hugged his wife and the crying baby.
As for Angelina, she held Kazir's hand very tightly.
...
...
...
Kazir's family thanked him. If not for him, perhaps they would have died. Apparently, Victor and Aaron had a business meeting near the Twin Towers today but they moved the meeting since both of them would take a week's vacation.
Unfortunately, they decided to cut the vacation earlier since they had to return to New York and check the aftermath of the damage. If the building they were using was affected, they had to move their business to another place or perhaps another state.
Their business was an Advertising Agency, they focused more on physical promotion such as creating and printing flyers although they had recently done radio and television commercials. They were trying to expand their business in online service as well. Their company was doing well and they have a lot of clients in New York... From the looks of it, their business might be affected by this incident.
However, they were happy and blessed that they were alive and well.
Victor and Aaron thanked Kazir sincerely. If not for him, they might be dead.
Kazir knew that that wouldn't be the case since Aaron and Victor were alive in his past life. Victor died in a heart attack and that was a few years later after 9/11. Kazir talked to his father about living and eating healthy. Victor was now visiting a gym twice a week because of Kazir's perseverance.
Still, it was better to be sure. So he planned his birthday and a week's vacation for his family. In the end, it seemed that it worked.
Victor booked a flight for them but another obvious outcome happened. The airport was banned from booking flights. A few hours after the incident, there were almost no airplanes in the airspace of the USA except for military jets. They sometimes saw the jets circling Los Angeles.
Victor and the others decided to stay in Kazir's place for another day. If the airport was still not allowed to book flights, then they didn't have a choice but to do a road trip. But New York was on another side of the country. It might take days, Alissa was still a baby and it might take a toll on her if they travel that long.
So in the end, the family decided to spend the week in Kazir's place. Of course, Victor and Aaron contacted their partners to ask for information regarding the incident. The building they were using was intact but they had to close their business for a while.
Apparently, the Pentagon was attacked by the terrorists as well. Four planes were hijacked.
Two planes hit the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York. The third plane crashed into the Pentagon, just outside Washington, DC. The fourth plane crashed in rural Pennsylvania after the passengers fought the hijackers, preventing the plane from reaching the White House.
After a long time, everyone in the United States of America helped each other to overcome this tragedy. The time when everyone supported their country.
Hollywood What If Chapter 271
The effect of 9/11 on the country was tremendous. The incident resulted in a massive level-up in airport security. The idea that the strongest country could suffer an act of terrorism this massive struck the heart of so many people.
Hollywood announced their deepest condolences to the people who lost their loved ones over this tragedy. The President stood up on the podium and delivered an address on 9/11 from Sarasota School.
-- Terrorism against our nation will not stand.
This statement stirred the hearts of many people. Many young men joined the military, not because of the tuition assistance and other benefits, but because they wholeheartedly wanted to protect their country.
The effect of 9/11 strengthened the security of the other countries as well. Making it more difficult to travel overseas.
In Hollywood, releasing movies continued but the September and October were very cold months for the theaters. People were still grieving.
Spider-Man was already in its last month and it would end its screening before November. However, the movie grossed $403.70 million at the North American box office.
The overseas box office was still climbing up, currently grossing more than $372 million. Making the worldwide box office $775 million. Spider-Man was currently the highest-grossing movie of this year.
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider ended much earlier, even before September. Grossing $131.16 million at the North American box office.
Fast and The Furious only had 150 theaters screening the movie. Currently grossing more than $215 million.
Legally Blonde grossed $95.23 million. The movie still had a month or two before the end of screening.
John Wick Chapter 2 was slightly affected by 9/11 because, after the tragedy, the box office of the movie dipped down, just like the other movies at that time. However, the movie already grossed $137 million at that time.
Before November, John Wick Chapter 2 garnered more than $176 million after two months of screening.
Overall, all of the movies that were related to Kazir were doing well. Kazir recommended Lara Croft to Angelina Jolie because she was the right one for the role. Her career blossomed after this movie and it seemed that his decision was right.
Gossip regarding Kazir being a God in terms of choosing scripts was all around. After Kazir recommended his friends to audition for a role, each of them got a better career.
Suddenly, a lot of new actors and actresses were trying to befriend the guy. Unfortunately for them, they would never locate the guy at parties and bars.
Even the bar that Kazir usually visited became famous because so many actors hoped to meet Kazir in the bar. They persevered in the calm atmosphere of jazz. Too bad, Kazir didn't have the mood to visit the bar lately.
He was thinking about which of the two scripts should he adapt. Next year, he intends to film a movie that could compete at the Academy Awards.
His first choice was The Revenant. He already acquired the movie adaptation rights of this novel/autobiography. The life of American frontiersman Hugh Glass in 1823 Missouri Territory.
His second choice was Black Hawk Down. Right at the moment the journalist published this book, Kazir immediately bought the adaptation rights. The book was based on real life.
Both movies were based on real life. Something that the Academy Awards loved to see. The members of the Academy had a strong bias against fiction and blockbusters.
Both movies had a strong chance to win the Best Director and Best Picture if done right. Kazir was confident in his filmography so that was not much of a problem. Furthermore, even if he wanted to deny it, his race was another reassurance to win the Best Director. Most of the old members of the Academy were Jewish.
Kazir already made the best formula to make sure that he would win the Best Director.
However, since Kazir was already going for the Oscars, why not fight for more?
One of the reasons why he invited Tom Cruise. Because he wanted his friend to win his long dream of Best Actor Award.
He helped Liam Neeson win the Best Actor Award, perhaps he could do it again.
Kazir planned to blend perfect emotional scenes in his movies so that Tom Cruise had a chance to get nominations. Regarding winning the golden statue, both of them have to do a lot of PR to acquire that.
So yeah, the two might attend a lot of parties next year and in 2003. Such was the life of people in this industry, forming connections.
Looking at two scripts in his hands, Kazir decided to go with the best bet. He decided to sell Black Hawk Down to Ridley Scott. Ridley Scott had been trying to buy the script but Kazir prevented him. So the outcome was obvious, the release of Black Hawk Down would be postponed for a year or two.
The Revenant won the Best Director and Best Actor Awards in the past life. In the first place, these two awards were the only things that Kazir was looking for. He might as well go for the safest bet.
After making a decision, Kazir decided to call Tom Cruise. He had been giving signals to the actor and Tom Cruise had an idea about it. So both of them were currently not making decisions regarding their next jobs, because both of them were doing the waiting game.
Now that the cold events of September and October ended, Hollywood returned to their usual schedule.
On November 2, Pixar released Monster, Inc. One of the famous franchises that Pixar had. The first three days of Monster, Inc. grossed $62.58 million.
The Big Six realized and understood that the animation industry was another sector that they could profit from. So far, only Pixar and DreamWorks were doing well, but 20th Century Fox and Universal Pictures were creating their own animation studios.
While stuff was happening, Tom and Kazir decided to meet and settle their intentions.