Exploiting Hollywood 1980

   Chapter 351 Chapter 302 Crazy Legs

   "Gloria, you're always running away now

   chase someone, you have to catch him somehow

   I think you need to slow down before you start bragging

   I think you're heading for a breakdown, so be careful not to show it"

  In Pittsburgh's ice rink, Laura Branigan's hit "Gloria" is playing. The song was a hit and is now at number two on the charts, behind only black singer Lionel Richie's new song "Truly."

  Sunny Johnson plays Alex's friend Jenny, who is participating in a figure skating competition in Pittsburgh in an attempt to advance to a higher level of competition.

   A beam of spotlights came down from the ceiling, illuminating Sonny Johnson as she slid across the ice.

   "Swipe...Swipe..." The skates rubbed against the ice surface of the rink making a pleasant sound, "Swipe..." After a double jump, Sunny's skating double landed steadily.

   "Cut!"

   "Ronald, here they are." Producer Don Simpson walked into the ice rink and called Ronald out during a break between shots.

   "The experts in breakdancing have arrived, they are the New York dance group RockSteadyCrew, a breakdancing group in the Bronx. I heard that there are white crew members who will dance their dances and want to see."

   "Hahaha, they are the professionals."

   Ronald walked out of the ice rink, and in the open space in front stood three emaciated dancers.

   "CrazyLegs, Prince KenSwift, FrostyFreeze."

  Don Simpson introduced the "nicknames" of three dancers. The first two were Latino whites, and the latter was a black person. It was difficult for him to remember such a cunning and eccentric nickname.

Ronald greeted them, and it turned out to be a dance boy from the Bronx, just like the boys who were breaking dance on the street when he went to find the son of his uncle's comrade-in-arms, Bud Jr. , the same unruly.

   "I heard you can dance our dance?"

   "Yeah, I learned from my black brothers, they danced a lot in the Bronx, New York," Ronald said, doing a few "window cleaning," "rope pulling," and "spacewalking."

   "Oh yeah, Baby." The three dancers saw that Ronald could also break dance, so they were excited and began to do more professional dance steps.

  The three of them started chatting with Ronald, and the Bronx's identification with white friends is as simple as that, as long as you show respect for their culture, they will accept you.

   "Hey, are you Hollywood finally bringing our dance and music to the screen?" The trio was led by a white Latino named CrazyLegs.

   "At least from here, you'll have a demonstration of you dancing on the street, and then the heroine will see your dance, learn it, and finally incorporate breakdance into ballet and get admitted to the Pittsburgh Ballet Academy."

   "Oh, that's not bad."

   "Crazy Legs" for approval. The dance of America is still traditionally based on the ballet of the European continent, coupled with the jazz dance developed by itself. Street dances like breakdancing are unremarkable.

  Although the "New York Times" interviewed the Manhattan branch of the "Rock Steady Crew" dance company led by "Crazy Legs", the mainstream American people still rarely know their reputation.

   introduced the three dancers to the choreographer, and Ronald was also left to come up with ideas with them.

In addition to choreographing their own street dances, the heroine Alex finally auditioned for the dance of the Ballet Academy. The dance steps of breakdance should be woven into the ballet-style dance, and the style should be unified and not separated. .

   Their own street dance is simple, all three are masters, and the show is mainly two broad categories of breakdancing:

   "Lockin' (Robot Dance, that is, the joints of the whole body are locked, and different parts dance independently. Jumping feels like a robot.

   "Breakin' (floor dance, on the smooth ground, with the back, hands, etc. as the center, make various rotations. Or land on the ground with both hands and feet, and do gymnastic pommel horse-like movements.

  Alex's final audition dance moves were a bit troublesome. Finally, the choreographer and them choreographed a set of dances that started with basic ballet moves and gradually incorporated more and more breakdance elements.

First some classic ballet spins, jumps, and then a sudden change of tempo, with the "What a Wonderful Feeling" singing, from the soothing ballet rhythm of the verse, through a wide-span jump, to the intense chorus of the chorus. , a disco-like rhythm.

   It ends with a floor dance in breakdance, ending with a "helicopter" spin on its back.

"awesome!"

   In the evening, director Adrian Lane and producer Don Simpson watched the choreography together and applauded loudly.

   Novel dance and clever choreography made Adrian Lane very excited.

"Ronald, we've got to get this final climactic scene right, and I've already picked a location, it's in the Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. There's a room with four big French windows, and we Shooting in the morning when the sun is up, the sun is shining through the floor-to-ceiling windows, it becomes very beautiful…”

"Adrian, have you ever thought about it? Jennifer Beers doesn't have any dance ability, and this time it was shot in daylight, and it's hard for the dance double Marlene to stay undressed. You can't just give her medium and long shots, and not the slightest Won't you explain?"

   Ronald raises a practical question. If the dance moves do not include the actors' facial shots at all, the audience will always look at the panoramic shots, and there will be a little bit of inability to blend in. If a close-up of Jennifer Beals is interspersed in the dance sequence, the audience will feel awkward jumping back and forth.

   "What do you think?" Adrian Lane asked Ronald again, this time he really didn't think about it.

“I thought I could do a fast-paced choreography with Alex taking a close-up shot in front of the four judges for the breakdancing part. Keeping Marlene’s face on the camera for a very short time, then the audience actually doesn’t have time to tell the difference. Is the actor Jennifer Beals?

   The previous ballet movements were mainly shot in medium shots, so that Ma Lin's face could not be worn. "

  "In addition, you can change the referee's chair to a high-back seat, and the camera seat is behind the chair, and you can follow Ma Lin on the rails from left to right.

   When shooting close-up shots like this, every time Ma Lin reached out to the referee to make an action, the camera would be blocked by the back of the high chair, covering the most easily worn places. "

  Ronald studied the filming clips in his dreams many times, and finally gave him the method of continuously filming dance without dressing.

  Adrian gestured a few times at the referee's seat, "Very good, you are right. Ronald will help me design this dance scene."

"what……"

Unexpectedly, Ronald had hired the choreographer, "Crazy Legs" and other three breakdance experts, as well as Marlene, who served as a dance double for Jennifer Beals. Director Ann Lane performed their choreography.

Marlene donned the same black bouffant wig as Jennifer Beals, put on a black ballet suit, black leg warmers on her feet, and danced from beginning to end to the music of "What a Wonderful Feeling" again.

  Director Ryan was behind the referee's seat, watching Marlene's dance with the director's viewfinder.

   "Well, this rhythm-turned big jump doesn't have enough height and distance in the air." Director Ryan said to make a mistake, "And the last floor dance move, the rotation is not fast enough. Not only is the strength not enough, but it may also break through."

   "Director, I'm a ballet and jazz dancer, that jumping action is already my limit. And this spinning 'helicopter', I need to practice."

   "I don't have time for you to practice. The weather forecast is sunny the next morning, so we're going to shoot."

   Adrian Lane looked over and asked him what to do.

   "Then I had to use other stuntmen to do those two actions instead of Marlene." Ronald replied.

  Sometimes on the screen, the audience thinks it is a dance performed by one person, and two or three people may dance during the shooting. Finally, the clips are spliced ​​together so that the audience can't see the flaws.

  Ronald sometimes feels that the director's job is like a magician, misdirecting the audience's attention elsewhere, and then quickly stuffing a rabbit in the top hat.

   "That jumping action may require gymnasts to complete, and you have to find a high level." Ronald looked at producer Don Simpson.

   "Okay, let's go find the champion of the NCAA college gymnastics championship."

   "As for that 'helicopter'", Ronald looked at the three RockSteadyCrew dancers, "Or CrazyLegs, are you here? Only your height is close to that of Bills."

The break dancers are generally short in height, two of the three are small, only the height of "crazy legs" is similar to that of Beers, and the dancers are thin, wearing ballet suits and leg warmers, Even pretending to be a girl can't be seen.

   "Don't want me to play a girl." Crazy legs protested the most!

   "I'll offer you an extra salary for the stunt dancer, and let all three of you have end credits." Don Simpson showed the most attractive conditions for them.

   "Crazy Legs" was persuaded by his companions and signed a stand-in contract.

  In the morning two days later, the four actors put on the same black leg warmers and black ballet leotards, and started shooting the last dance scene of the movie.

   First up was Jennifer Beals, who did some dialogue with the judges.

   Then came her dance double, Marlene Jahan, who did most of the dance moves in place of Bills.

   The third is the four individual gymnastics champion of the NCAA National Collegiate Gymnastics Championships, and the all-around champion Sharon Shapiro, who completed a high and floating jump in place of Beers.

  Shapiro Shapiro won all the women's gymnastics championships today, and she is also a strong contender for the American delegation of the Los Angeles Olympic Games in the following year.

   "Shxt! This is impossible, you want me to shave my legs?"

   "CrazyLegs" shouted in the dressing room, and the makeup artist wanted to shave his legs so he could pretend to be a girl and do a "helicopter" spin.

   "Don't do this, you signed the contract. Besides, the leg hair will grow back if it is shaved." Don Simpson half threatened and half persuaded, let him shave his legs.

"Legs can be shaved," Crazy Legs discussed with the two members for a long time, and could only agree, "but the beard is impossible to shave. I also want to shoot a PBS documentary, and a documentary film, shave off the beard, and grow into This will take at least half a year.”

   "Then...with a beard?" Ronald stepped forward and looked at his mustache, it was really hard to keep it.

"The helicopter action was a quick spin on his back, and if the camera was right, the audience wouldn't be able to see his beard. And who would somehow notice if Alex had a beard? At that time, the audience's attention was all about this. A spin like never before."

   "Crazy Legs" that shaved off their legs, put on a black curled wig, and then performed a floor dance movement, transitioning to landing on his back, he folded his hands and feet, spinning faster and faster..."

   "Cut!"

   The director called to stop, "Very well, this one is printed."

   "Did you see the beard?" One day later, while watching the demo, Director Ryan asked Ronald softly.

   "I searched carefully, and there should be none." Ronald stared at the daily samples on the screen and watched it several times, but he did not find the stuntman's beard.

   "That's it, we don't have to reshoot." Director Ryan was satisfied and patted Ronald on the shoulder.

   "Okay, Adrian. Everything is on track here, and it's time for me to go back to Los Angeles with Don and Jerry as producers."

   (end of this chapter)