Exploiting Hollywood 1980

  Chapter 294 Gladiator Audition

   "Didn't you say Diane Lane was already cast? Why do you need other actresses to audition?"

   Ronald returned to the studio, heard what Coppola had said about Diane, and thought the audition for the actress was over.

   But Coppola still asked him to continue shooting audition videos for the remaining actresses tomorrow, which made him a little strange and blurted out.

"Looking like doesn't always fit. Don't you want to know how to solve the actor's performance consistency problem? Start by filming my casting video. You know when Roger Coleman asked me to wash his car, I could Didn't ask why the car wash helped to be a director."

   "Uh, okay." Ronald knew that Coppola wanted the right person to help him with the audition chores.

  Perhaps the actors cooperate with each other tacitly, and the performance can be more consistent. Coppola's casting is known for the actors who fit the role, and "The Godfather" has been praised as the best casting of any movie ever, Ronald decided to talk less and listen more.

   "Go ahead, one more audition day. We'll move on to the next mixed audition session tomorrow."

"No problem, director." Ronald made an OK gesture. "But Mr. Coppola, did Mr. Coleman let you wash your car back then. Did it have anything to do with being a director?" This approach is very consistent with Roger Coppola. Mann's character.

   "Of course, then he asked me to drive his car to a drag racing scene. How can I film it without cleaning it?"

   The next day Ronald saw many familiar faces again. He also saw Katherine Marie Stewart, the heroine of Minahan Golan's maiden hit "The Apple."

   In the evening Ronald and the other audition assistants brought all the audition footage for Coppola to look over. Ronald and Coppola, the casting director, sit together and watch the audition tape.

   "This is C. Thomas Hall." The casting director pointed to a boy with big glasses on the TV.

   Coppola ticked off his note, "Who do you think you look like?"

   "Like Johnny, the boy who was bullied, the friend of the protagonist Ma Zai." The girl who got the trainee director replied.

   "What about you? Ronald?"

   "Ma Zi, Johnny has a strong heart and a strong opinion. This actor Howl's innocent eyes are more like Ma Zai." Ronald replied, and now Coppola doesn't ask, he doesn't take the initiative to speak.

  Coppola nodded, signaling to continue.

   "This is Matt Dillon."

   "For whom?" Coppola asked again.

   "Dali, that foreigner who came from a good background but hangs with the Oil Head Gang. This actor has a gangster temperament at first glance, but the girl doesn't hate him," the girl replied quickly.

   "Ronald?"

"I agree."

  …

   After several rounds, Coppola had to wait for Ronald's opinion before proceeding further.

   "This is Tom Cruise."

   "Johnny, this one looks like Johnny. He's very assertive." The trainee girl answered quickly.

  Coppola looked at Ronald.

   "I'm not sure, several characters are possible."

"Very well, I hope you can give me your opinion, don't take my opinion as the final answer. George Lucas used to argue with me on the set, but he also had a lot of good ideas. Each of you can come up with a good idea every day. , then pay your wages and earn."

   Ronald nodded, he thought Coppola was sincere, maybe he really needed some young people's opinions.

   "Rob Lowe?" This is a very beautiful boy, not dashing, but beautiful. But it's not feminine and beautiful, it's very masculine.

   "Second brother soda?"

   "Dennis Quaid?" PJ Sols' husband, very masculine.

   "Big Brother?"

  …

  The male actors were taken out one by one, and several young people gave the roles they thought were suitable. According to Coppola's secret code, the casting director filled in the appropriate role names for these actors in the casting notes.

   After a long time, it was the actress's turn. Coppola also watched every audition video.

   "Kate Capshaw? Twenty-eight years old, still young." Ronald briefly introduced the actor's situation.

   "The mind is a little mature, and Cherry is a little innocent girl." The trainee girl was commenting.

   "Katherine Mary Stewart?"

   "How about this?" Coppola asked the trainee girl again.

   "A little soft, probably more suitable for Cherry's friend character."

   "Bo Ji Xiaosi?"

   "She is very suitable, the dream lover of boys all over America." Isn't Cherry a very beautiful girl? The willingness to cause the war between the two gangs was that Ma Zai and Johnny talked to her a few more words, which caused her boyfriend's jealousy.

   "What do you think? Ronald?" Coppola asked.

   "I think... she's really pretty, and her beauty and popularity seem to make up for the possible lack of acting skills."

   "Helen Slater is next." The casting director pressed play.

   Ronald couldn't help but smile when he looked at the blue-eyed girl.

"It's also a bit beautiful, but the temperament is not quite like a beautiful girl in the country, it's an Uptown Girl." The trainee girl's evaluation of the actress is more sharp, unlike the part of the actor, she still has some reservations, for a few An actor speaks well.

   "Is it alright? The big city is not too heavy. Her mother is an environmental lawyer and usually wears second-hand clothes." Ronald said good things for Helen Slater.

   "Next is Diane Lane." The casting director found a videotape of Diane auditioning alone.

   Ronald also saw Diane's audition video for the first time.

   "Diane fell in love in high school?" Ronald watched Diane shyly and cheerfully talk about his first love on the TV screen, which seemed to be a true performance.

   "Why didn't you hear about Donna? Which lucky bastard? Stole a girl's heart?"

   "This doesn't seem pretty enough." The trainee girl commented.

   It is true that Diane looks a little darker and thinner than Helen Slater and Brooke Shields, but she looks good.

   "After makeup, she is very beautiful. I recently filmed her MV. Playing the lead singer of a rock punk band is very photogenic."

   "Borgy, Helen, Diane, and those... Ronald, which one should you choose?" Coppola patted Ronald on the back.

   "I don't know..." Ronald was stunned for a moment, how did Coppola ask himself. Maybe you want to test yourself, or maybe you want to hear how young men feel?

  Looking alike is not necessarily suitable, Ronald remembered what Coppola had said earlier.

   "Maybe let them pair up with an actor?" Ronald squeezed out.

   "Well said, let them all come tomorrow, let the boys come too, we will mix and audition live."

  …

   When it was time for the mixed audition, Ronald set up the camera on one side, and there were three rows of chairs scattered in the middle of the studio, just to try the scene that Ronald dreamed of, where Dali molested Cherry in the drive-in movie theater.

   All the actors, male and female, sit in a circle along the corner of the wall. Ronald greeted Matt Dillon, Tom Cruise, Helen, Brooke, and Diane who he knew.

   "Helen Slater as Cherry, C. Thomas Hall as Horseboy, Tom Cruise, Rob Lowe, you guys Johnny and Dalí."

   "Wow..." The actor suddenly became noisy. Where is there such a play?

  In general auditions, everyone waits outside, and when they are called, the actors who audition go in, so if they audition in front of everyone, they will be seen by others. And with so many competitors watching from below, how much psychological pressure is there?

   "Quiet." Ronald called, "I heard the name." Then he gave Helen a "reassuring" look.

   "Look, there's a red-haired beauty here." Rob Laura pulled Helen's hair and sniffed it under his nose.

   "Sorry, I can't play it, wait for me to think about it." Rob Lowe was also a little rude. How to play the scene of molesting a girl in public? Can't let go. The scene is not staff, but competitors.

   "It's okay, you and Tom Cruise switch roles."

   "Look, there's a red-haired beauty here." Tom Cruise put the script down, and he was still memorizing his lines. And then acted this scene with the usual serious attitude.

   "It's not flirting, it's like a confession." Ronald touched his nose secretly and looked at Helen in the front row.

  Helen felt his gaze and smiled, indicating that she was fine.

   "Tom Cruise, you come down and replace Dennis Quaid." Coppola said.

   "Am I acting badly?" Tom pulled Ronald to speak after he got down.

   "Actors who haven't auditioned, please step back to the wall and do well, and don't interfere with other actors." Coppola said to this side.

   "It's okay, you did a good job." Ronald said softly, pointing to the vacant seat in the corner.

   "Helen comes down, and Brooke comes on."

   After changing actors for several rounds, Coppola called Brooke Shields onto the stage.

   "How do I know if this red hair is natural? Is she the same color as your eyebrows?" Dennis Quaid, who played Dali, said the line.

   is still the wrong age, and can't act like a little ruffian. Ronald shook his head secretly, PJ Sowers' husband had little chance this time.

   "Get your feet off my back and shut up!"

   Bo Ji Xiaosi's serious color rebuked him.

   Bo Ji also doesn't act like a beautiful girl in the country, which is a bit like a good girl in the city. Bo Ji's acting skills are not good enough as always.

   "Dennis Quaid, you guys come down and replace Matt Dillon and Emilio Estevez."

   This is another actor that Ronald is familiar with. In the abandoned film of "Apocalypse Now", he once saw the image of Emilio Estevez, but he did not edit it into the film.

   "This is the 'Apocalypse Now' starring, Martin Sheen's eldest son," the trainee girl said in Ronald's ear, "He looks so handsome."

   "Is there?" The aesthetics of American girls are sometimes very strange. This Latino boy with a hunchback, some girls think he is very handsome.

   "How do I know if this red hair is natural? Is she the same color as your eyebrows?"

  Ronald thinks Emilio's performance is okay, but it's still a little worse than the Matt Dillon in his dream.

   "Emilio, you go to Johnny, Matt, you go to play Dali. Brooke, you and Diane change."

   "How do I know if this red hair is natural? Is she the same color as yours... ah... ah... eyebrows?"

   "Put your feet off my back, shut up!" Diane Lane hid for a long time, then scolded.

   "Tsk." Ronald sighed in admiration secretly, is this the chemistry between the actors?

  Some actors are especially in harmony in the camera, and the audience loves to watch them play together. Emotions, strength, how to act are all in place, the consistency between the front and back is also very good, and it is no problem to start any drama at any time.

   Ronald began to gradually understand that Coppola was able to achieve the emotional consistency of the drama before and after. The first key point was the casting, not whether the individual actors were similar to the characters, but more importantly, the cooperation between the actors.

  Sometimes it is not necessarily the most suitable actor who resembles the role, but several actors can match the appropriate emotions together. This is the so-called chemical reaction.

   "Emilio, come down and put Ralph Mazio in."

  Coppola called another black and skinny actor to play with Matt Dillon. Ralph Mazio is Latino, and although he is twenty years old, he doesn't seem to have grown up yet.

  …

   After a long time, Ronald also saw a clue. No matter how he changed it, C Thomas Hall, who played the horse boy, did not change it. It seems that Coppola has gradually had a favorite candidate in his heart.

   "Okay, Matt Dillon, you can go." After trying this one, Coppola let Matt Dillon go.

   "Let's change the scene of the horse and the two brothers. You can change the way of the chairs."

  Matt Dillon was stunned on the spot, and the other actors looked at him pitifully.

   "Fxck!" Dillon scolded in a low voice, turned and walked towards the door.

   "Don't be discouraged, it may be a good thing." Ronald gently pulled him and instructed as he passed by.

   "Stop comforting me." Dillon patted Ronald's arm and walked away.

   "Van Kilmer, Mickey Rourke, the eldest and second brother to play the horse boy."

   "You two change."

   "Dennis Quaid, Patrick Swayze, you two are the eldest and second brother."

  Just like this, this gladiator-style audition made all the actors nervous, and many of them played out of order and their voices trembled. But there are also actors who perform better under pressure.

   After several days of high-intensity gladiator auditions, we finally finished all the audition shots.

   "Clap", Coppola clapped twice, smiled and said to everyone, "Today you all stay for dinner, I will cook it myself, and give you a taste of the Italian chef's craftsmanship."

  The crowd returned to Coppola's temporary apartment in Los Angeles. He cooked by himself, prepared some Italian dishes, opened two bottles of red wine from his own estate, and filled the crowd.

   "Thank you for your hard work, let's settle on the main characters."

   "Inform Matt Dillon that Dalí is his and let him start reading the script ahead of time."

   "Why? Didn't you let him leave early?" The trainee girl was surprised.

   "You tell her why." Coppola pointed to Ronald.

   "Because he doesn't have to try again, the later auditions have little to do with Dalí's role, and he doesn't need to stay and play. It's different from C. Thomas Hall in the role of Horse Boy."

   "Oh." The trainee girl nodded, and she found that Ronald still understood Director Coppola's mind very well.

   "So, it's the second time that Matt has played the leading role in a film adaptation of a novel I wrote." The author of the novel, Hinton, laughed beside him.

   "He's really good for your novel." Ronald toasted. Dillon has a natural squeamishness that suits Hinton's genre of juvenile fiction.

"Patrick Swayze as Big Brother, Rob Lowe as Second Brother Soda. Diane Lane as Cherry. Emilio Estevez as 'Bitch.'" Coppola assigned the roles , casting director Fred was recording.

   "Ralph Mazio as Johnny..." Coppola continued to assign.

  Ronald sees that Tom Cruise's name has not been called yet, so he has some ideas. Paula Wagner called him several times for help.

   "Where's Steve from the Oil Head Gang?" The casting director clicked on the role. There are many male characters in this movie, and Coppola, the supporting role of the Oil Head Gang, was not named.

   "How about Tom? Tom Cruise, the blond boy who always pushes a little too hard, has a similar character to Steve."

   "Just him." Coppola nodded, then took the hand of the teenage girl next to him and made her play.

   "Bell bell bell..." The doorbell rang at this time.

   "Sophia, go open the door, it's your cousin Nick."

  The little girl went to open the door, and it was Nicholas Coppola who came in.

  No, now the stage name should be Nicolas Cage.

   "Nick, come here." Coppola asked Nick to sit beside him. "This time I've reserved a supporting role for you. You can play it well. If you play it well, you will have a chance to play a more important role in the next movie."

   "Thank you for the last thing, giving Nick a Screen Actors Guild card." Coppola turned around and thanked Ronald.

   "It's nothing, Nick will always succeed with your support."

   "But you're always the one who gave him the first chance, Ronald. We Italians are grateful."

  After drinking and eating enough, Ronald bid farewell, he still has an appointment.

   "Which girl? Oh heh..." Coppola smiled and sent him out the door.

   "Helen, have you been waiting for me for a long time?" Ronald came to the mall where "Fast-Paced" was filmed and found Helen Slater in the cinema here.

   "It's okay, I know it was Director Coppola looking for you. I don't know..."

   Ronald shook his head, "I'm sorry, Coppola chose Diane Lane."

   "It's okay, I know he's a famous studio dictator. I still have a chance for 'Once Upon a Time in America'."

   "Didn't you say 'Once Upon a Time in America' has already been chosen?" Ronald handed over a glass of Coke and caramel popcorn.

  Ronald bought two movie tickets, which was the old film "Carriers of Fire" released last year, and director Hugh Hudson also competed with himself for the directorship of the chewing gum commercial. The story of a group of Britons who won gold medals at the Olympics actually earned 50 million at the box office in America.

   "You don't know. John Belushi, who was supposed to play the second male lead, suddenly died at home. Director Leon is considering re-revising the heroine's age to match the new male lead. So he has to re-cast."

   "How did he die?"

   "I heard it was drug abuse."

   "So you have another chance?" Ronald and Helen walked into the screening room together.

  This time he wanted to take his time with Helen Slater and walk through the dating process of American men and women.

  The lights in the screening hall have been turned off, and pre-screening advertisements have begun. This is a new promotion model that some cinemas have come up with since last year. The box office is insufficient, and various incomes are needed to subsidize the theaters.

  Helen took Ronald's arm, "Yes, I have another chance." She will go back to New York to audition for the heroine of the ABC TV series arranged by her father, and she will stay with Ronald for a while if she has a chance.

   I went to get vaccinated this afternoon. I was queuing up and it was a bit late.

   (end of this chapter)