Exploiting Hollywood 1980

  Chapter 1011 Everyone Loves Ronald

   "Ronald, it's great to have a communication expert like you helping me at this time..."

   George Jr. called later to discuss with Ronald about his father’s lagging behind in the election. The campaign team was divided into a communication faction headed by campaign adviser Roger Ailes, and a smear faction headed by another campaign adviser, Lee Evert.

   Roger Ailes believes that the reason for falling behind is because George Sr. had poor communication some time ago. We should learn from the strategy of the current president who won the election eight years ago, and strengthen the propaganda to potential voters, focusing on issues they care about, such as tax cuts, dealing with illegal immigration, focusing on the economy, etc...

  The young and excessive Lee Evert believes that the current backwardness is due to insufficient attacks on the donkey party candidate Dukakis. Efforts should be stepped up to dig deep into the other party's black material, and distort it, take it out of context, and set a target. Voters are more interested in these gossips than serious issues. As long as the attack is strong, the dirt on Dukakis will become real, and it will never be shaken off...

   George Jr.’s mother, Barbara, is the de facto campaign manager. She asks all her children to contribute to her father’s unfavorable status quo, and continues to attend various fundraising activities in various places to fight for funds for advertising.

  Now is the critical moment, George Jr. and his younger brother Jeb are also facing the problem of standing in their own teams. The political arena in America is very realistic. Although you are the former deputy commander, the election situation is worrisome. Except for those action committees with advanced ideas, general campaign sponsors have lowered their donations or suspended support for George’s campaign. donate.

  With a limited campaign budget, we can only focus on supporting one direction, either attacking the opponent Dukaski, or strengthening communication with voters in the middle. In front of Barbara, who has always been rewarded on merit, which son's judgment is correct, then the family's resources will undoubtedly be in that direction in the future.

   Little George couldn't think of the answer to such a complicated question by himself, so he thought of Ronald. During the primary election of my father's party, I got a great advantage by relying on Ronald's advertisement. Now I just need to ask him, isn't it all right?

"George, you think so highly of me. Elections are obviously a very complicated business, and I can only do some creative work. And now that your father is a candidate for the Elephant Party, there is no shortage of advertising ideas." Talents."

  Ronald looked at Douglas Jr. who was beside him. This was the strategy the two of them discussed.

"Comeon, Ronald, this is very important to me... my father, I hope to get your help. My mother is a very fair person, as long as I... you can help the campaign, you will be the most popular in the White House in the future one of our guests."

   "It's not that I don't want to help you, but I really don't understand the situation. If I give the wrong advice, wouldn't it help Dukakis instead?" Ronald continued to evade.

"No, I don't know anything about elections, but I have good taste. I know what is good. Both Laura and I saw that it was good in your last ad... I know that voters will like it. , enlist their support..."

  Little George said this very sincerely. He is not a particularly smart person, but as an ordinary person, he is more able to empathize with voters who are also ordinary people. "Ronald, I know you are not a member of our team and cannot give opinions. Let me ask you this. If it were you, seeing an advertisement attacking Dukaski or directly communicating with voters, which one would you vote for more? Where's my father's ticket?"

"Aside from my respect for your father's philosophy of governing the country, my love for your mother's approach to the people, and more importantly, is there any reason other than that we are buddies who drink beer and eat barbecue together?" Ronald saw that there was no way to avoid it, so he opened the door first. Just a joke, relax little George's mood.

   "Yeah, that's what it means, buddy." Little George was also amused by Ronald.

"To be honest, I'm not interested in Dukaski at all (because Dukaski strongly hinted that he would raise taxes and strengthen regulation of industries such as Hollywood and Wall Street), and your father promised to continue the current economic policy and continue to tax In this way, more entrepreneurs can be cultivated, and with more entrepreneurs, there will be more jobs and stable families.”

   "Fuck, you are so right... Ronald, I really like you." Little George on the other end of the phone strongly agreed. Spending every day in the campaign team, I was dazed by the voter numbers, analysis reports, and all kinds of Dukaski's black materials that Lee Evert put up. Discrediting an opponent can only make voters who would have preferred the other side not to vote, but cannot increase the potential number of votes on one's own side. And obviously, the predicament of old George now is the rapid reduction of his own ticket base.

"I have to come and have an interview with you. What you said is so reasonable. I think what you said is more useful than Lee Evert's 100 investigation reports." Little George still feels this way, which is easier to understand .

"Don't, I'm going to Chicago to film soon, and I won't be here when you come." Ronald felt that it was not suitable for him to give any advice. Wouldn't that be bad?

   "Never mind, I'll go to Chicago then, and as Jeb and I have to go to fundraisers all over the place, I'll go to Chicago with Laura."

  …

   "Attention all departments, camera? Recording? Action!"

  A few days later, on the South Side of Chicago, on the campus of the University of Chicago near Hyde Park, a film crew was shooting beautiful pictures of autumn.

"I love you…"

"I love you…"

  Billy Crystal plays Harry, who is kissing a brown-haired beauty sweetly and passionately. The director of photography, Barry Sonnenfeld, directed the camera to quickly circle around the two people, filling the audience with ice cream in all directions and 360 degrees.

  The close-up shot focuses on the kiss between the two of them. The two actors are very involved in the performance, and the audience's attention is focused here.

   Ronald raised his hand to signal, and a yellow SUV behind him quietly drove into the camera. The large trunk of the SUV is still empty, but there is a box firmly on top.

   This was a very common carpooling arrangement in America in the late seventies. When two college graduates are looking for opportunities in other cities, they often carpool and take turns driving to their destinations.

   "Hmm...ahem...", the focus of the camera shifted to the car's cab glass. Sitting is Meg Ryan's Sally. She waited for a long time, but Harry and his girlfriend still hadn't finished kissing. Sally couldn't stand it, so she could only remind her.

   "Cut!"

   Ronald stopped in satisfaction. The smoothness of the shooting exceeded expectations. Billy Crystal played this young man very smoothly. Harry, who had just graduated from college and was defiant and moaning without illness, was played by him very similarly.

   It's just that he is a little older and his hair volume is not enough. The makeup artist gave him a messy hairstyle that he didn't pay much attention to. Coupled with a pullover, the image of a graduate who just entered the society is considered complete.

And Meg Ryan is credited to the casting. She herself is such a simple, sensitive, and even naive female college student who believes in various social "rules" and is well protected by her family (before she became an actress. , Meg Ryan was months away from graduating from college).

   "Very well, keep this one, let's do it again...".

Ronald called again, the most important thing in this kind of romantic drama is that the hero and heroine have a chemical reaction, and taking a few more shots will help you try a variety of methods when editing later, which is better than other films shot by Ronald. The number of movies is obviously more.

   "What flavor do you want this time? Banana? Okay, here you are..."

  Billy Crystal is a gentleman. Before the kiss scene, he offered to provide chewing gum to the actress, and he also bought one himself. He is a comedian, he writes his own scripts, and he speaks very skillfully. Instead of asking the other party if he wants it, he asks the other party what taste he likes.

  Many celebrities don’t have good personal hygiene, so it’s a relief for both parties to prepare some chewing gum, especially for this kind of kiss scene that lasts for tens of seconds. If one of them has bad breath, it will be sour.

  After the kiss scene is finished, Harry's girlfriend introduces to both parties. One is Harry Burns and the other is Sally Albright. Both are graduates of the University of Chicago, going to New York to start a new chapter in their lives.

   This is also what makes this romantic comedy different. The hero and heroine do not avoid suspicion and have other objects. This is a fairy tale about the real world, two men and women who are looking for true love in the city. So it is normal to have other objects.

   "Action!"

  The crew then set up the camera inside the Gothic architectural gate of the University of Chicago.

  The camera filmed the yellow SUV slowly driving out of the gate of the University of Chicago, and then the elevator gradually rose, giving a meaningful cinematic shot.

  At the beginning of the movie, such a shot is given. In addition to giving the audience some visual enjoyment, it also implies a metaphor, which is branded in the audience's subconscious. This implies that the two embarked on the journey of life.

  The two drove out from the gate of the university, from the university campus of the ivory tower, into the real arena of life.

   "Cut!"

After shooting a few more scenes, Ronald felt very smooth, with good actors in hand, and the scenes he was familiar with. Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan seemed to have performed Shakespeare hundreds of times. Like the famous Broadway actors, there is no stagnation in the slightest.

  Looking at his watch, the shooting ended more than an hour earlier. Ronald took out the light meter and measured the sky a few times. Today's cloudy weather is very face-saving. Under the same lighting conditions, he can also take a few shots of the car interior.

   "Driving the big monster..."

   Ronald waved his hand and asked the people below to drive a car over. At first glance, this car looks very similar to the yellow SUV that Meg Ryan drove just now.

   Except for the front and sides of the car, extended steel shelves are installed, which is convenient for the camera crew to squat on it to take shots inside the car. Ronald named it a big monster because it looked like the kind of monster trucks that could run over each other in a race track.

   "Action!"

  This time, the film crew moved to the gate of the University of Chicago, and the photographer team squatted on the steel frame in front of the big monster, and started shooting against the cab.

  Because the camera in this kind of car needs to vaguely see the steeple gate of the University of Chicago behind through the rear window of the SUV, it must be shot at the gate of Hyde Park in the South Side of Chicago.

  Ronald's crew applied to the Chicago City Hall for filming in advance. However, the area where Hyde Park is located is the South City where the law and order is the most chaotic in Chicago. The Chicago side specially reminded not to leave too far away from the University of Chicago campus, otherwise it will be dangerous.

   Sure enough, after leaving the short road of a few hundred meters in front of the school gate and crossing a cross road, you will arrive at a dangerous area where black people live together. There are many black people wearing all kinds of old clothes donated by charity organizations, watching the excitement across the road.

  A tall black man wearing a US military M65 jacket, and a few short and thick black men were whistling over there, looking at the beauties in the crew here.

   "Shh..." Ronald gestured to them not to make a sound.

   As a result, these people whistled even more recklessly.

Ronald also wanted to give them some benefits in the past, so that they would not interfere with the simultaneous sound recording of the crew, but he was grabbed by Little Bud who was holding Ronald's thermos next to him, and said to Ronald, "Look at the sound over there. On the pole..."

   Ronald looked up and saw a pair of sneakers hanging on the wire.

   "It's a black gang signal that someone died in a fight. It's not a good place like Harlem in New York."

   "Okay, it's a big deal for post-dubbing", Ronald no longer insisted, and asked the assistant director to negotiate with the police officer who came to maintain order.

  The other party said that as long as the filming does not exceed the range of the cross road, there is no danger. The gangs here are very particular about the division of power. They know that the University of Chicago belongs to the most respectable area in the South City. If they cross the line and harass the crew, it will become a national scandal, and they may be purged with iron fists by the Mayor Daly's family.

  Ronald told the driver of the "big monster" to slow down. The car started slowly.

   Meg Ryan pretends to stretch her hands forward, as if she is driving a vehicle, but it is actually a kind of performance. The real driver is a professional driver, who is in the driver's seat installed in front.

  Actors must concentrate on their performances and receive signals from their counterparts at any time. If they are distracted while driving, it will affect the performance and even cause safety problems.

   "Action!"

   Ronald called to turn on the phone, and Meg Ryan pretended to be holding the steering wheel, shaking it by herself, and talking to Billy Crystal.

   "We have to drive for 18 hours along the way. I have made a plan to change six shifts, and each person will drive for three hours. Or we can also change shifts according to the equivalent mileage...huh?"

  Sally, played by Meg Ryan, is explaining about carpooling. Harry, played by Billy Crystal, got up and turned 180 degrees, and squeezed a big **** to Sally's side.

   Meg Ryan's disgusted eyes are very real, and it seems that Billy is also very real.

   "Do you want to eat grapes?" It turned out that Harry turned around and went to the back seat to get the fruit he had prepared.

   "No, I don't like to eat between meals." Meg Ryan raised her chin when she spoke. The female posture with good self-esteem and good living habits is fully displayed. It seems that Sally's not eating snacks is an attitude that is more responsible for her own life than Harry's.

   "Hmm..." Billy Crystal's Harry, a "don't eat your own loss" look.

   "Pfft...", Harry was more than that, he chewed the remaining grape seeds, and he spit it out, and it stuck on the glass of the car window.

  This vulgar and careless behavior stunned Sally all of a sudden. She didn't expect such vulgar men to exist in this world.

   Meg Ryan's performance is very layered. She looks away at first, as if avoiding a vomited glass window. Then his eyes flicked from side to side, not knowing what to say. Good upbringing makes the character of Sally speechless at this time, not knowing how to condemn this behavior.

   "I'll roll down the windows..." Harry rolled down the windows nonchalantly.

   "Pfft..." Another mouthful, he spit out the grape seeds out of the car window.

   "Cut!"

   Sitting on a chair on the steel frame outside the "big monster", Ronald watched the entire performance. He was very satisfied with the scene. The performance of the two was natural and layered. In the script, the slovenliness of a college graduate like Harry, who is a fledgling, and the delicate attitude of a college girl like Sally, are both very well expressed in the script.

   "Let's switch sides, go to Harry's side outside the window, and take another shot." Ronald directed everyone to switch to the steel frame on the other side and continue shooting.

"Director, how is my performance? Why don't you tell me about the play?" Billy Crystal was quite surprised. Since the filming started today, Ronald has not spoken a word with him, or discussed a problem with the performance. .

   "Why are you talking about drama?" Ronald replied with a smile.

   "You know, the director always wants to talk to the actors, how are they performing, where do you expect me to be more powerful, where to be less, what problems do I have... blah blah blah..."

  Billy Crystal has never worked with Ronald, so why doesn’t Ronald do these things?

   "You are an actor, this is your job. My job is to remind you when there is a deviation in the performance, now you have no deviation, let's continue..."

Ronald is a director who likes to shoot the first one. He thinks that the first one is when everyone has the greatest curiosity about the performance, and it is also the time when they are most unfamiliar with the show. The performance at this time is the closest to the reaction of normal people. .

  Especially in this kind of love drama, the chemical reaction in the first line is always the best.

   "Is there really no room for improvement in my performance?" It was the first time Billy Crystal saw a director who trusted him so much, and he was a little disbelieving.

   "Of course, I'll let you know if necessary..." Ronald took off his baseball cap and scratched his head. It looked like Billy Crystal was still wondering if his last one was that good.

   "If you want to say that there is room for improvement, it is not without..."

   "Huh?" Billy Crystal gave me an expression of all ears.

   "Let's go to the bracket on your side, the big monster, and take the over-the-shoulder shot on the other side. When you spit grape skin seeds, remember to move forward a little, and don't spit on me..."

   "Puff...hahahaha..."

  Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan were both amused by Ronald. This kind of shooting scene is close-up and close-up, and the nervousness of the two has been relieved a lot.

   "You know what? I like you, Ronald." Billy Crystal smiled and gave Ronald a high five.

  …

   "Ronald..." At night, George Jr. and his wife, Laura, specially rushed over from Highland Park, a high-end residential area in the north, to ask Ronald in person. It is a very wealthy satellite city adjacent to Lake Michigan, and it is also a site for supporters of the Elephant Party.

   "George, Laura..." Ronald welcomed them in, "I'm busy with filming, so I didn't pick you up."

   "Don't mention that, we are buddies." Little George waved his hand to indicate that the two should not use these red tapes. "I just came to ask you, how to communicate with voters to get good results?"

   "I don't know...", Ronald shook his head, he didn't want to get too involved in the election campaign.

   "I just think that the current Grand Commander always makes us very happy to listen to him. It seems that he is a wise elder for us. With him, we don't have to worry about anything."

   "What do you mean?" Little George heard some subtext.

"It's good to be like you, I think you run for office and we trust you. Being with you feels like a good friend we all have, or relatives in the family, we can drink beer and barbecue together , I feel that when I am with you, I also feel that you are trustworthy."

  The deputy commander, old George, lacks personal charm very much, and he likes to say some writer-like rhetorical techniques. What a thousand glimmers, it is really possible that the white people who voted for him are small-town whites, and they don't understand these things at all.

  In those big cities, the rich, military, and other interest groups who may vote for him will not vote for him because of his literary talent.

   To be honest, it is not as refreshing as his sentence "Look at my mouth, no tax increase". In the final analysis, Ronald voted for him because of this sentence.

"I like you, Ronald." Little George smiled happily and took Laura's hand. "Ronald is like this. He can always explain very complicated things to me in very simple words. Whether it is Roger Ailes, or Lee Everett, I don't always understand what they say, but when Ronald says it, I understand what it means."

"Look at what you said about George, Ronald is a great director. His talent is to make people understand what he expresses in movies. I enjoy watching his movies. I won't think about what the director wants to express here. We all love Dirty Dancing," Laura kind of blames her husband for talking like that.

   "It's okay, we are good buddies...", George Jr. laughed as he said. Laura was right, Ronald didn't answer him directly, but he explained clearly with an example, he had already got the answer he wanted.

  (end of this chapter)