Exploiting Hollywood 1980

   Chapter 287 The beautification filter is invalid

   Francis Coppola's evaluation of Ronald was passed from Tanin to CAA's agent, and from the agent to Ronald's ears.

   "What does he mean? What does it mean to get rid of the **** as soon as possible?" Ronald was restless. He thought that "fast pace" was an excellent shot. Why did Coppola say that? Ronald advised to get out of this commercial film mode as soon as possible.

   "I don't know either, it's just what Tanin said." Nisita replied, "If you care about his evaluation, I can help you find out."

   "Okay, thanks. Hey, how, can you get in touch with Coppola?" Ronald looked at Nisita.

"Coppola is looking for a distributor for his new film, and all the agents in Hollywood are playing a game called 'Guess who finds Francis first?' his economic contract."

   Ronald looked at Nisita's smile, "You want to sign him? You helped him find Universal's Ned Tanin?"

   "No, both Simberg and Tanin refused." Nisita did not reveal more information, "Me and Francis are both Italians, and now I and WMA's Ed Limato are temporarily ahead in this game.

"Then I wish you success." Ronald felt that his agent was close to signing one of America's most successful directors. If successful, he would have more resources, but the allocation to himself is whether to increase or not It's hard to say it's down.

"Come with me to the premiere of Coppola's new film. He knows you and wants to thank you in person for giving his nephew Nicholas a chance." to Ronald.

   "Okay, thanks. I'll go." Ronald took the invitation, and he was about to ask Coppola what Coppola meant by that.

The next afternoon, Ronald was wearing a formal suit in the hotel, and the news came from the TV, "Yesterday evening, the famous actor, acting coach, and founder of the Actors Studio, Lee Strasbourg, died of a heart attack. His third wife, Anna, accompanied by his two sons at the bedside..."

  Ronald took a look at the TV. He was famous among the people because he became Marilyn Monroe's acting teacher, but the circle knew that his average old man was dead.

   He looked back at himself in front of the full-length mirror, the high-spirited young man, the trimmed beard, and added a bit of maturity to the young face.

  Ronald found there was a reason the director loved to have a beard. On the one hand, it can appear mature and make the actor more convinced of his own guidance. On the other hand, when working on the set, the director often has the least rest time, and the beard can be left unattended for a long time.

   "Francis, I'll introduce you to Ronald." Nisita saw Ronald at the premiere and immediately introduced him to Coppola.

Not many people came to the premiere of    "Old Love, New Love", perhaps because Coppola had a falling out with the original publisher Paramount and rushed to find a relationship with Columbia. "

   "Ronald, I saw your new film, it was great, thank you for giving Nick a chance."

"Thank you, Mr. Coppola. It's not the first time we've met, I was in Roger Coleman's company a few years ago and went to the preview of your 'Apocalypse Now'. I loved that one Movie."

   "Ah, that was years ago. Thank you for coming to the premiere."

  Coppola was busy, Nisita gave him a wink, and Ronald hugged and shook hands with the other guests at the premiere.

   "Hello, Natasha." I saw Natasha Kinski in full costume again. Kinsky's hair has grown considerably since last year's Golden Globes.

"Hi, Ronald, it's been a long time since I saw you. I heard that your director's new film is coming out too?" Natasha Kinski stared at Ronald for a long time and heard some words between him and Coppola . The new film is estimated to be bad at the box office, and its debut in Hollywood was unsuccessful, so I have to find another opportunity.

   "Yes, a youth comedy."

   "I wish you success." Kinski lost interest when she heard that it was a youth comedy. She has always worked with big directors on "author movies", and did not want to participate in such fast-food movies that don't pay attention to acting skills.

The    screening began shortly after Coppola's brief speech.

   "Old Love and New Love" tells the story of a pair of lovers in Las Vegas. They separated due to an hour-long quarrel on the anniversary. The two sides met new men and women and were ready to start a new life.

   But at the last moment when the woman was about to leave the country, the two sides still felt that the old lovers were good, and finally came together again.

   Ronald feels conflicted about the film. On the one hand, this film does have many innovative techniques, which are worthy of repeated and careful study by a professional director like Ronald, especially the use of color.

  For example, the film used the accumulated water on the ground for the first time to reflect the neon lights of Las Vegas, making the ground also glow with colorful lights.

   Another example is the use of color to imply the mood of the protagonist. When the mood is bad, the whole screen is covered with blue, when the mood is good, it is a cheerful orange, even the faces of the actors are no exception, all covered with color.

  This method Ronald has never seen on other films, and as an insider he understands what Coppola is trying to convey. Use color to imply the mood of the audience character, and directly convey an emotion without using lines and expressions.

   This technique is very powerful, but this is where Ronald contradicts.

  An old-fashioned story about an old lover was made into an artistic musical. Will the average audience really like it? Some viewers may not feel the deep meaning of Coppola, but will feel that the lighting is wrong.

   Ronald himself quite liked it, because Coppola had a magic power that made the sound and the picture cooperate, and he could feel the emotions of the actors, like a fountain, surging towards him.

  After watching the movie, Ronald waited for a while and found Coppola with Nisita.

  Coppola also seemed to understand that "Old Love and New Love" was not very popular with ordinary audiences.

   "Mr. Coppola, I like this movie very much, he made me feel the turbulent emotions, surging like an undercurrent, erupting."

"Ah, Ronald, thank you for liking my movies..." Coppola came over and put his arms around him, and said to Nisita, "This good boy, is we Italian too? No? Italians rarely have such tall blonde hair. Yes, there are some in Sicily..."

   Coppola opened a bottle of red wine from his own estate in the lounge and gave Ronald and Nisita two glasses.

"Rick told me what you thought of my movie, Mr. Coppola. Can I ask you a question, what do you mean by saying I want to get out of the old model and make a movie as soon as possible?" Pull to ask.

   "Have a chocolate and drink it, my boy. This is our Italian product."

  Ronald took a piece of chocolate from the table and drank it with red wine. It also had a special taste.

"I can see that you know what Roger Coleman does. I also worked as an assistant for him, washed the car, picked up the kids, edited the film, made the soundtrack, received all kinds of training... Only then did I get my first directorship. Opportunity." Coppola also brought a piece of chocolate and said slowly to Ronald.

"The advantage of learning to make a film in this way is that you can quickly become familiar with the knowledge of all aspects of the film. But this knowledge does not require long training. Command the technical experts of these departments to achieve the purpose you want to express. It's the director's job."

   Ronald knew what Coppola meant, but he didn't quite understand what he meant.

   "Mr. Coppola, what do you mean?"

   "After your movie was cut, how long has it been since you watched it yourself?"

   "I haven't watched it for almost two weeks. The last time was a test screening with an audience."

   "You see it again tomorrow, paying attention to the actors' performances and emotional intensity between shots."

   Ronald wanted to ask again, but Nisita shook his head slightly at him.

   "Rick, is there any progress with my new film? You also saw today's situation." Coppola began to chat with Nisita about the release contract of the new film.

"Universal got Steven's ET, Columbia is in turmoil, and our most likely right now is Warner Bros. Their president, Robert Daly, just went to Warner from CBS, just when a big production from a big director is needed... "

   Ronald went to Universal the next day and asked to see "Fast-Paced Richmond High School" again.

   After two weeks of cooling down, the perfect "cross-era masterpiece" turned into "loopholes everywhere" in Ronald's eyes.

  The biggest problem with the film is that the actors' performances depend on everyone's live performance. There was no problem watching it live, but when the clips were put together, there was a mismatch in emotional intensity.

  For example, Jennifer Jason Lee was very emotional when she chatted up with a handsome guy at a pizza shop, but she was not strong enough on a date, and the level of happiness on the first date was not as strong as when she chatted up.

   When Phoebe Cates cried to her friends at the prom about being dumped by her "boyfriend", she should have included the panic of being exposed, but Phoebe's performance was not as strong as when she was bragging to her friends before.

  Ronald covered his face from time to time. Why didn’t he find these problems when shooting and editing?

  Perhaps there is indeed a filter when viewing my own works, which tends to beautify my own creations.

   And if there are honest friends around to point out, only after cooling down for a while, and then looking again, can you get rid of the influence of the beautifying filter.

"Why didn't you tell me when you saw the test screening?" Ronald finally caught Nisita the next day and complained on the phone, "Reshoot now, or it's too late to recut, Universal won't do it again. Investing in money to improve yourself.”

   "Relax, the audience won't necessarily notice these issues. It's just a youth comedy, the audience won't care about these performance issues, they like the whole story," Nisitari replied.

   "I hope so. You're right, this is just an exploitative film. I can understand what Coppola means. Exploitation films have a short shooting cycle and don't have time to polish the actors' acting skills.

   I am now curious about how he handles his performances. Although his 'old love and new love' is not very good-looking, he is really top-notch in handling acting skills and guiding the audience's emotions. "

   "Hahaha... Don't tell him that. The old love and the new love did not get good results. The box office was less than 400,000 yuan on Valentine's Day weekend, and the theaters will soon remove his movie."

   "Okay, Rick. I remember you said that Coppola's new film has an apprentice director project, and I want to see how he does it. Can you help me get it?"

   "This is a director's union project. Francis will also compete according to the rules. He will interview several candidates. I will put your name in the final round of interviews."

   "What's the story of his new film?"

   "SE Hinton's debut novel, based on 'The Worldly Urchin' she wrote at the age of seventeen".

   (end of this chapter)