"How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days" is a romantic comedy film released in 2003, starring Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey. The plot revolves around a magazine columnist who bets she can make a man fall in love with her and then break up with him in 10 days, while the man simultaneously tries to make her fall in love with him to win a bet of his own. It's a hilarious and heartwarming story filled with comedic situations and romantic moments. (Chat GPT)
That was the plot of How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days back in Kazir's original timeline. The movie had a great box office performance.
Because of this, Kazir recommended the script to Angelina instead.
Kate Hudson lost the role against Angelina because Angelina had a stronger box office appeal. Of course, the production studio had to pay Angelina a higher salary compared to Kate Hudson who just recently started her career in 1998.
Paramount Pictures paid Angelina $12 million for her role alone. Her team actually wanted a box office share but Paramount instead gave them a high salary.
The production cost of How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days was $50 million yet Angelina already took more than 20% of the budget.
Furthermore, Matthew McConaughey was also a famous actor and his salary was not that small.
The reason why the production cost kept increasing was because of the actors/actresses. Their agents would face the studio and ask for huge salaries and the studio couldn't help but say no. After all, actors and actresses were the faces of the movies. Studios could not hire unknown actors on the street even if they wanted to, or else their movies wouldn't sell.
Angelina and Kazir entered the theater together. Usually, the male lead and female lead would show up together to hype the movie.
But Angelina was not comfortable with that. She and Matthew were nothing but coworkers and they didn't have any relationship. Paramount didn't have a choice but to agree. The company didn't want to anger Angelina and Kazir.
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider — The Cradle Of Life was still in the process of filming and it would be detrimental for Paramount if Angelina decided to stop cooperating.
So they decided to let the couple attend the premiere together.
"It's nice to meet you, director Grey."
"Nice to meet you too."
Matthew McConaughey greeted the couple. He was more interested in Kazir than Angelina, to be honest. Rumours said that Kazir wanted to film a pirate movie and Matthew was a bit interested.
All of Kazir's movies since 1995 have been successful. Despite being a pirate movie, as long as Kazir was the director, the chances of the movie having a successful run were higher.
The Revenant already lost its gas and just had a few countries screening it. The movie grossed more than $512 million at the worldwide box office.
Even though it was lower than his last two movies Wanted and Spider-Man, it didn't change the fact that The Revenant was a success. Grossing more than $500 million at the box was a success no matter how many angles you look at it.
So obviously, Matthew McConaughey was interested in Kazir's next project. It didn't have to be $1 billion. As long as Kazir's next project grossed more than $500 million, then that would be enough for Matthew to take it seriously.
Matthew decided to hide the awkwardness as he greeted the director. Matthew and Angelina had kissing scenes in the movie so of course it would be awkward to meet the real boyfriend.
Thankfully, Kazir was a professional. He knew how to separate work and relationships.
"I know it sounds like I'm overstepping boundaries, but can I get a copy of the script of your pirate movie, director?"
The title of the project was still not known, only a few people knew about it.
"I'm sorry, Matthew. I'm going to be honest with you, I have a role that was suitable for you but someone already got the role."
"I see... Is that so?"
Matthew McConaughey excused himself after that. It seemed that he was rejected. He was a bit disappointed.
"Did you reject him because of that reason?"
Angelina whispered once Matthew was gone.
"What do you think? I rejected him because I'm jealous?"
"I haven't even said anything." Angelina laughed.
"Well... That's one of the reasons."
He admitted. No matter how professional Kazir was, it was still uncomfortable to talk to Matthew because he knew that Matthew and Angelina had kissing scenes... And yes, he was jealous.
As for other reasons, Kazir preferred Johnny Depp to be Jack Sparrow. Johnny Depp and Jack Sparrow were meant to be and he didn't want to destroy that if possible.
Kazir knew that Matthew McConaughey was a great actor and he could probably pull off an amazing version of Jack Sparrow but Kazir didn't need any of that.
A few minutes later, the premiere of How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days started as the lights turned off and the screen lit up.
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The next day, the result of the movie was tallied. On the first day, the movie grossed $7.96 million. February was not a good month to release movies so it was already amazing to see How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days earning that much.
On the second day(February 8, 2003), the movie grossed another $10.05 million.
On Sunday, February 9, the movie grossed $5.75 million.
Combining the box office of the first weekend, How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days made $23.77 million. A success for both Paramount Pictures and Angelina Jolie.
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[Yeah, this chapter doesn't have much. I'm just giving some lee way before the Academy Awards because that's the major plot before the filming of Pirates Of The Caribbean. The next chapter would be the announcement of nominations... Will Kazir get a nomination for Best Director? Nah, I'm not that heartless to deny him that, right?]