Exploiting Hollywood 1980

   Chapter 240 "Endless Love" is a blessing in disguise

   "Isn't this an Ingrid Bergman-style witch hunt? Why are you still doing this now?" After listening to Brooke's mother Terry's description, Ronald was also a little surprised.

   It turned out that the public service advertisement of the smoking ban for teenagers shot by Bo Ji Xiaosi was banned by the US Department of Public Health some time ago. The reason is that Bo Ji's previous films are indecent, and as a teen idol, it has no positive impact on young people, and it is not appropriate to appear in public service advertisements for smoking ban.

   This incident caused some waves in the media, both for and against the Ministry of Health. However, some conservatives have long been dissatisfied with the controversial plots of Bo Ji Xiaosi in the two films "The Legend of Yanwa" and "Blue Coral Reef".

   Now I found the handle, and finally started a full-scale attack to ban all her movies in America.

  Conservative members of some southern states on Capitol Hill also took the opportunity to investigate whether Brooke Shields violated the law during the filming and whether she filmed inappropriate footage of her age.

   Fortunately, it is now 1981, not 1951.

  The public has been educated by Hollywood for many years and knows that the pictures on the screen are not necessarily real. It's almost impossible to get a majority in a congressional vote now, like the resolution that Congress condemned Ingrid Bergman's moral turpitude once again.

  Rao is so, Brooke Shields was also called to testify before Congress. He was grilled on Capitol Hill by members of both houses of Congress about whether there was any wrongdoing while filming the film.

   They have a hard time finding CK jeans ads, technically anything illegal. Because this ad is a pun intended to stimulate the hidden desires of teenagers. Not easy to grab the handle.

   So several conservative lawmakers focused their investigations on Brooke's first two films, and the unreleased "Endless Love", especially since the latter has been rated X by the MPAA four times.

Terry hired a lawyer and tried every means to get "The Legend of Yanwa" and the two crews of "Blue Coral Reef" to testify in writing, and also asked the director to testify for "Endless Love". Ronald was also asked to provide this time. Testimony.

   "I, Ronald Lee, swear in the name of God that the following written statement is true and is the whole truth, and there is no lie beyond the truth.

  As a temporary assistant on the 'Endless Love' crew, assisting director Mr. Frank Zeffirelli to shoot... During this period, Miss Brooke Shields played the role of Jed, and all her **** scenes were done by a stand-in..."

   Ronald signed the testimony, then asked Attorney Lindsay, "Is that all right?"

   "That's ok. There's nothing wrong with Brooke, the open-mindedness of today's teenagers, and the innocence of high school students has become a psychological burden. It seems that she is not attractive enough.

  Except for a few particularly conservative states, most legislators are just doing it routinely. Maybe they just want to meet the hottest girl idol in person and ask for an autographed photo for their granddaughter. "

   It seems that Brooke was just crying on the phone because she was scared for a while. After her mother found a famous lawyer, she should not be so panicked.

   "What's this?" Lindsay found the outline of the "Golden Jade Alliance" written by Ronald on the table.

   "That's the synopsis of an old movie I wrote, Jin Yumeng."

   "Oh, it was on CBS two days ago. I liked watching it the most. Every time I saw Cary Grant on top of the Empire State Building and didn't wait for Deborah Kerr, I cried with Helen."

   "Why do you lawyer elites also like to watch this kind of romantic drama?" Ronald didn't expect it, "I thought only housewives like to watch it."

   "Who doesn't like to watch Cary Grant, he just got married for the fifth time, this time is a hotel PR who is 47 years younger than him."

   "Actually, I also like to watch his movies." It's just those suspense movies made by Hitchcock, Ronald added in his heart.

  Thanks to the lady lawyer who stopped by to help read the written testimony, Ronald began to prepare his sales speech again.

"I wanted to make 'Fast-Paced' a film about teenage growing up that reflects the life of high school students in California. When the audience sees it, they feel that these high school students are so real, it's like they're in the high school next door. go to school.

   Therefore, the background of the film is realistic, with a light comedy with a slightly exaggerated tone, and the five main student characters represent the typical six types of students now...

  This will be a group portrait of modern high school students..."

   A few days later, after practicing in front of the mirror, Ronald specifically called his agent Nisita to do some phone rehearsal, and asked the experienced Nisita for advice.

   "No no, don't talk about group portraits." Hearing Ronald's self-report on the phone, Nisita was still very satisfied, but this group portrait was a bit taboo.

   "Don't talk about group portraits. In the ears of studio executives, group portraits are equivalent to box office failures. There is only one person in Hollywood who can auction group portraits, and that is Robert Altman"

   Altman is the director of the low-budget films "Merry Medic Pretty Nurse," and "Nashville." Both are group dramas, and they not only sold well at the box office, but also received Oscar nominations for best director.

   "But this is a group drama? It's almost like being famous all over the world." Of course Ronald couldn't be compared with Ultraman, but he didn't understand why he couldn't mention this term.

   "Yes, Ronald. He's a groupie. But don't call him a groupie, you can call it a teen neurocomedy, it can be a romantic comedy, but it can't be a groupie."

"I don't know……"

"It's easy to understand, Ronald. Studio executives are super busy people, and they're shooting 15-20 theatrical films a year and negotiating the same number of potential scripts for next year. In order to achieve this Numbers, the same number of scripts must also be put into the circulation warehouse, and three times the number of non-shooting scripts must be thrown away.

   So they can't remember the specific plot of each movie at all. They can only label each movie, this is a copycat Star Wars, this is the new Wizard of Oz, this is a group portrait - not making money.

If the film you are fighting for as a director is labeled as a group movie, and your name is not Robert Altman, there is only one result, you will find your script in the trash, and then find a producer business talk. "

   "Okay, I get it, this is a youth romantic comedy..."

   Brooke Shields' hearing was held as scheduled. Sure enough, several conservative lawmakers asked questions about whether there was **** during the filming of the movie.

  Borgy and Terry, who were already prepared, told them a lot about the protection measures during the shooting. For example, during the shooting of the blue coral reef, Brooke will wear a long wig and use glue to fasten the wig to the chest, so there is no suspicion of being exposed.

   And during the filming of the passion scene of endless love, all **** scenes were shot with a stand-in. Pieced together using post-editing methods, Brooke actually only shot a few reaction shots. Ronald was present as a temporary filming assistant, and his written testimony was also presented as evidence in court.

The stills and schematics of the shooting scene left the conservative congressman speechless and could only publish a scene denouncing the increasing number of morally corrupt scenes in American movies, and called for stricter grading standards, and movie theaters Censorship for teenage audiences, young people watching R-rated movies, must show identification.

  The media reported the result with another raucous report. The New York Times mainly called for better industry self-discipline, and the New York Daily News did an in-depth analysis of the situation of teenage actors. Of course, the best seller is the New York Post, who republished the stills of Brooke Shields at the Blue Coral Reef.

  The one who was happiest with the congressional findings was "Endless Love" director Zeffirelli.

  Borgy Xiaosi suddenly became the focus of the media again. Guber, the president of the producer Poly Gold, saw the potential of the movie and could take the news of Borgy.

   He immediately approved another million-dollar marketing budget. Taking advantage of the opportunity of Congress to return Bo Ji's innocence, the revised film was sent to MPAA for grading for the fifth time, and finally got the R grade as wished.

   "When they're together, it's as if the outside world doesn't exist." Zeffirelli read Ronald the title of the poster prepared by Polygram over the phone, "Listen, how Shakespeare that line is."

   "So you decided to use love words between couples for marketing?"

   "Yes, we are mainly targeting teen couples, and PolyGram has also made an agreement with the distributor Universal. At the movie theater box office, there will be watching 'Endless Love' and enjoying the discount on the couple's popcorn package."

   Ronald felt as though something was wrong, and quickly said, "Franco, during the last test screening, I clearly saw that teenage couples had no better impression of the movie than the junior high school girls who came with their best friends.

   High school students laughed a lot, but a few junior high school girls cried. "

   "No no, Ronald. I underestimated the literary and artistic accomplishments of the younger generation of ordinary people in America. They can really feel the lingering love in the endless love, and they are not disgusted with Shakespeare..."

   Ronald felt that Zeffirelli was full of fighting spirit again, and he might not hear some of his own observations.

   But when this movie was tested, the little girl who had never been in love really liked it more. But this has nothing to do with me, maybe the preview may not accurately reflect the audience's preferences.

   Ronald is more concerned about the establishment of the "fast-paced Richmond High School". It has been a few weeks since the Oscars, and there is still no firm news from Universal, whether it will replace David Lynch and find another suitable director.

  This afternoon, Ronald is helping Spike Lee, who has received funding from a black human rights organization, shoot his graduation project. It's been two years since the filming stopped, and the filming of the barbershop in the black neighborhood has not been finished.

  Ronald also brought Li Ang over, and the Diese Academy encouraged students to help each other in filming, work in other people's crews, and can also be counted as credits for professional courses.

  After shooting a scene, Ronald went to check the pager in the bag. In order to prevent it from interfering with the live radio, Ronald put it in the bag and turned it to silent mode.

   has a page.

   took the coin, Ronald found the phone booth, called the paging station and asked Nisita to call.

   Ronald then stuffed coins one by one and made a long-distance call to Los Angeles.

   "Ronald, you can leave for Los Angeles. We will find time to meet Tom Mount, the president of Universal Pictures."

   "Why, he finally fired David Lynch?" Ronald said happily, while continuing to stuff coins.

   "No, Lynch fired Universal."

   (end of this chapter)