Hollywood What If Chapter 306
It was obvious that The Revenant would win the Toronto International Film Festival People's Choice Award because Hollywood movies are made to please the audience.
Even though The Revenant was made for the Oscars, Kazir made sure that the audience would like the movie as well.
This movie was actually different from the usual subjects Kazir filmed. His filmography was mostly about comedies, action and horror. His first three movies were horror movies that he already forgot.
The Revenant was more about adventure and drama, where a man tried to survive in a harsh environment.
Fortunately, Kazir knew what he had to do and he produced a great movie, he believed. The fact that the film won the People's Choice Award was enough to satisfy his ego.
Besides, the protagonist of his movie was none other than Tom Cruise, the man himself. Their tag team was enough to secure the victory.
Their victory at the Toronto International Film Festival found its way into the newspapers and people realized that the great director Grey had actually made another movie for the year.
The guy had fans all over North America and they were excited to see his movie. All of Kazir's movies were interesting and they knew the director wouldn't disappoint them.
Well, Kazir has never had a flop movie since 1995. All his movies have been successful and profitable.
After winning the People's Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival, the team wanted to fight and make sure that the movie would also win awards at the Golden Globes.
Too bad, because the Berlin International Film Festival, Cannes Film Festival and Venice International Film Festival had already ended, and their movie could only participate in the Toronto International Film Festival.
Well, the crew was breathing a sigh of relief because their movie had won an award at this film festival. Winning an award was a requirement to be nominated for the Oscars.
Requirements to be nominated for the Oscars (source: Google)
1) The film must have won an award at a qualifying film festival.
OR
2) The film must have completed a one-week theatrical run in a commercial theater in a qualifying metro area (LA County, New York City, the Bay Area, Chicago, Miami or Atlanta).
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In addition, the film must have been released to the public between January 1 and December 31 of the previous year.
The Revenant was already eligible, and all that is left is for the members of the Academy to vote for it to be nominated.
And for that, Salvatore Barlowe and Pat Kingsley had already prepared a PR plan.
Both Kazir and Tom were willing to spend money just to get their respective awards. Because honestly, the only way to get nominated for an Oscar was to use money and connections.
And yes, the members of the Academy could be bribed, but people don't usually give them money. They gave them gifts instead.
The Academy had to keep the image that they were partial and fair. They want to keep the 'artistry' of Hollywood, even though they cannot help but be biased sometimes.
Another fact was that Tom Cruise and Kazir Grey were actually members of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences(AMPAS).
Membership in the Academy is by sponsorship, not application. Nominees must be sponsored by two Academy members from the branch in which the nominee seeks membership. In addition, Academy Award nominees are automatically considered for membership and do not require sponsorship. (Google)
Since they were both nominated for Awards a few years ago, they were automatically members of the Academy. Obviously, they could vote for themselves and their film.
However, their two votes were not enough to secure nominations. In the first place, there were more than 9000 Academy members, so two votes didn't matter at all.
So yeah... Your vote doesn't matter at all, so stop voting, ahem... Nah, I'm just joking.
Anyway, they passed the first hurdle and their movie met the requirements to be nominated.
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September and October were relaxing months for Kazir. What he did in September was to attend the 12-day movie Toronto International Film Festival, but after that everything was relaxing.
He was not busy as he had already finished most of his work. Sometimes he visited the company, but most of the time he spent his days with Angelina, who was not as busy as he was.
Of course, the Big Six still found a way to annoy him. Most of them wanted to talk to him about Grey Pictures and whether he would agree to their proposals.
He was being courted by the giant studios and Kazir was waiting for the best option. He knew that the right moment would come and he just had to wait.
So far, after valuation, the net worth of Grey Pictures has risen to 7.5 billion dollars.
So 30% of his shares in the company was worth $2.25 billion. The giant studios could afford it, but it was also something that could hurt them.
In a way, it was a gamble for them as well. The difference was that once they acquired Grey Pictures, the chances of them winning were very high.
Just like that, October 31, 2002 came and The Revenant premiered. The premiere night took place at the TCL Chinese Theatre, colloquially known as Grauman's Theatre.
Since it was Halloween, some of the audience were wearing costumes, which made the event interesting.
The cast of the movie waved their hands as they stood on the red carpet. The cast of the movie was very small, it didn't even reach 20 actors.
Despite the small cast, many celebrities attended the premiere to support the movie. People like Liam Neeson, Pedro Pascal and Matt Damon showed up as guests.
In addition, many critics and some members of the Academy came to see the movie. They were invited, of course.
In fact, the critics didn't just get invitations, they got money. Obviously to promote the movie and make sure that The Revenant would have a positive reputation.