Exploiting Hollywood 1980

   Chapter 219 Movie Withdrawn Release

"Raging Bull" was released, Martin Scorsese asked the teaching assistant to give everyone movie tickets in class, "I'm sorry I missed a lot of classes this year because of this movie, please tell me how you feel after you watch it. how?"

  In order to catch up with this year's Oscar selection and make up the screening time needed to participate in the awards, "Raging Bull" was released in art theaters nationwide in the last two weeks of 1980.

   "Does it look good?" Ronald asked Li Ang and Spike Li, who had gone to see it. The three students surnamed Li hit it off and always sat together to discuss the movie.

   "Art classic, this is probably the best Scorsese and Bobby De Niro movie ever made," Spike said.

"Yes, it tells about the life of Italian-born boxing champion Jack LaMotta. The boxing scenes are very exciting, and the camera scheduling is unparalleled. It may be the best boxing scene in history." Li Ang said about the movie, and his spoken English also It got better a little and said a longer sentence.

   "Oh?" Ronald raised his eyebrows, that's not to be missed. "I want to take my cousin to see what you said."

   "That's probably not suitable."

   "Why? Because it's an R-rated film?"

   "Not only is the boxing scene a bit gory, but it's black and white, which kids don't like."

   Black and white? Ronald thought, Scorsese can really play.

"Ronald, this may really be the voice of my swan. After that, it will be difficult for me to make movies in Hollywood. I plan to go to Italy with Isabella later. Some people in Europe like my movies, maybe I You can also apply for government funding and make some art films.”

   Scorsese saw Ronald, who came to express his gratitude, and he felt emotional and said a few more words to him.

   "I've been writing the script for the last six weeks and haven't seen your work, Marty. Why so pessimistic? But I've heard quite a few film critics in New York swearing good things about your new film."

"United Art isn't spending any money on the marketing of the movie, Ronald. They're going through a change at the top, with president Andy Albeck being fired from the parent company and replaced by an accountant from the parent company Pan Am, who would only settle accounts.

   The Angry Bull can only be screened in 180 art theaters this time, and if it can't make some gains at the Oscars, the total box office will not be very good.

   And there are rumors in the circle that the parent company of United Arts, Pan American, intends to sell United Arts as a whole. Hollywood's last major artist-led studio is about to... ugh. "

   "Why, because Paradise Tickets failed?

   "The production cost of 44 million yuan, and the box office after more than a month of release is less than 1 million yuan.

Pan Am has long been dissatisfied with the management of United Arts, especially the two films "Midnight Cowboy" and "Last Tango in Paris". Despite Pan Am's objection, United Arts insisted not to cut out the controversial scenes, and was rated X by MPAA. .

   After that, Pan Am removed the words of Pan Am Corporation under the title of United Arts, and fired several executives who insisted on artistic principles, and they went to establish a new company, Orion Pictures.

Although President Andy Albeck was ridiculed for being a salesman, Lianmei under his rule had four films last year, Rocky 2,007: The Iron King's Breakthrough Space City, Manhattan, and The Black Horse, all of which achieved box office success. , but who knew Cimino could overspend the original budget of 6 million 'Heaven's Gate' so much?

  Pan American has long lost the idea of ​​using United Arts for publicity, and the failure of Heaven's Gate has completely lost their patience..."

"If Hollywood has taught me anything? It's that you have to keep making money to stay in this business. I've had two films in a row without making money, and it's hard to convince producers to invest in my films." Scorsese concluded. arrive.

   "Hey, it's all made by Heaven's Gate..." Ronald sighed.

The three-hour-and-forty-minute "Heaven's Gate" was met with rave reviews, especially by veteran New York Times film critic Vincent Camby, who likened it to "being forced to walk around your living room four times in a circle." hours", even viciously said that the fat boy Michael Cimino sold his soul to the devil Mephisto in "The Deer Hunter", and now Mephisto is coming to collect the bill.

   Of course, Ronald doesn't think the critics are right. Heaven's Gate is bad, but Deer Hunter is not so good.

   "Yeah, you know? United Arts is going to withdraw the release of 'Heaven's Gate' and edit it again."

   "Huh? What is this operation?"

   "Michael Cimino signed a letter in the newspaper, asking United Arts to let him withdraw the three-hour and forty-minute version, re-edit it into two and a half hours, and re-release it next year."

   "So United Art agreed?" Ronald thought for a while and felt that United Art's agreement to withdraw the released movie was a bit stupid. The new president may be unfamiliar with the film, which will only lead to more fierce criticism from film critics, "Look, we were right, the director admitted that he was wrong, and has to redo the cut. Then they will pounce more fiercely."

   "Or else? If you don't agree, Michael Cimino has more reason to say that United Artists ruined his movie, after all, he is the Oscar winner for best director."

  Ronald remembered Martin Scorsese in front of him, who hadn't been nominated for an Oscar for best director yet. His "Taxi Driver" was critically acclaimed, earning a Golden Globe and a Directors Guild nomination for best director, but no Oscar nomination.

   "But Cimino's films are hard to edit, aren't they?" Ronald said.

  Michael Cimino is the kind of director who is good at creating atmosphere. It is difficult for his films to cut out the excess film, it seems that it is wrong to cut no matter which section, and can only keep the long narrative.

"This is where he is smart. The directors and artists in the film industry are always suppressed by the producers, forcing them to cut short films. Cimino took advantage of this, and now there are people in the film industry talking about whether it is a joint venture or not. Art's new president forced Cimino to cut the film by a third."

   "Obviously he asked for it himself, this fat guy is very cunning." Ronald thought to himself.

   "I think you've also been nominated for Best Director at the Golden Globes, Marty, will you go to the awards dinner?"

   "I'm not going, Bobby De Niro is chasing the Best Actor award this awards season and I don't have much chance, United Arts' financial situation is not going to make it possible for me to do anything in awards season.

  You know the tradition of the Golden Globes, they like the presence of stars, this year there is a big star Robert Redford's directorial debut, he will definitely go, so I don't need to go..."

   "By the way, why did you say that? Ronald. Has your script been nominated too?" Scorsese reacted and asked if Ronald was nominated too.

   "No, it's the best original song. I wrote the lyrics. I want to gain some insight." Ronald smiled.

   "Good luck, young man."

   The next day, Ronald went to the cinema to see "Raging Bull". Sure enough, this black and white film is very powerful, and the use of black and white light and shadow is wonderful. Especially in the final ring, Jack LaMotta's last fight.

   Scorsese used the magic of light and shadow to make the boxing champion's opponent strong and very powerful. When the opponent was approaching, the light and shadow suddenly shrouded up, giving people a great sense of oppression. The audience seemed to be there, just like the black fighter with exploding muscles in the ring.

   This kind of scene also fully expresses the old feeling of the old boxing champion Jack LaMotta.

  The entire film is in black and white, except that Jack LaMotta himself shot in color with his family camera. This part of the family is warm and has a very documentary-like quality.

   Contrary to the usual treatment, parts of the film’s narrative are in black and white, while the referenced “pseudo-documentary” style footage is in color.

  Ronald doesn't know why Scorsese did it this way, maybe it was because Scorsese wanted to make a classic black and white movie like old Hollywood?

   The cinematography level of this film is not below those of old Hollywood classics. Ronald himself is a photographer. He knows that black and white photography and color photography are almost two kinds of art. Black and white photography has only one variable of grayscale. It relies entirely on light and shadow to create image effects and convey emotions to the audience.

  In this generation of directors, only Scorsese and Peter Bogdanovich, who was involved in the murder of female model Stratten some time ago, can also direct black and white films.

   Coincidentally, these two are also loyal fans of old Hollywood movies. Scorsese teaches classic film appreciation at New York University, and Bogdanovich has interviewed a series of older Hollywood directors, earning royalties for publishing books.

   Only fans can make black and white films, which is a lost art in Hollywood.

  The entertainment media keeps attacking the gates of heaven while giving the angry bull a lot of praise.

   Ronald turned on the TV and watched the entertainment news. There are interviews with passers-by viewers.

   "The music is good and the photography is top notch, but the story is just awful."

   "I don't understand what the director is telling a story, terrible movie."

   "I think the movie needs some good editing, to be honest."

   In the end, a beautiful woman was interviewed, "I think the movie is too long and boring. I think I'm going to fall asleep halfway through watching it."

   "Look, it has nothing to do with me at all, it's just that Cimino's filming is so bad, people are dozing off." Ronald shouted at Donna and Diane Lane when he saw this.

   The two little girls giggled and fell on the sofa. They had all heard of the origin of the nickname "Sleep Lo", because they yawned during an interview while watching a Michael Cimino movie.

   "Raging Bull, this weekend's box office is 649,000, ranking fourth, with a single-house box office average of 3,600 US dollars, and the total box office so far is 1.51 million..."

   "Hey, have TV stations started broadcasting the box office rankings of movies now?" Ronald found two newspapers, The Hollywood Reporter and Daily Variety, from the table. Sure enough, the newspaper also opened a column, listing the film's weekly box office and total box office.

   "Is this putting the director on the boxing ring and making them fight each other?" Ronald didn't really like this way.

   "I think it's good. Film critics don't always tell the truth. I still look at the box office numbers before deciding which movie to watch. It's not easy to be deceived." Aunt Karen said. She was tidying up the living room, and it was almost New Year's Day.

  The movie review column in the New York media gave Marty a high rating for "Raging Bull". Ronald browsed through several newspapers.

  The New York Film Critics Circle Awards gave the Angry Bull a high rating, the vane of the Oscars.

  The upcoming New York Film Critics Circle Film Awards, Martin Cicoseth was nominated for Best Director, Robert De Niro was nominated for Best Actor, and Joe Pesci was nominated for Best Supporting Actor.

   These awards in the film critic circle, as well as the Directors Guild Awards and Actors Guild Awards, will be awarded one after another from now until the Oscar nominations are announced.

   The judges of these awards are highly overlapped with the judges of the Oscars, so they have the meaning of a weather vane. It looks like "Raging Bull" has a good chance of being nominated for an Oscar, or even winning.

   And Scorsese and both actors are of Italian descent, and now Italians are very influential in the film industry. Thanks to Francis Coppola's The Godfather's first and second films, the films reflecting the life of Italian-Americans sold well, and the influence of Italians in the film industry is also growing.

   Chapter 164, R-rated films and teenage actors, can already be watched. Refresh if not needed.

   (end of this chapter)