Exploiting Hollywood 1980

   Chapter 458 Best Choice

Sure enough, Weintraub suggested that Bruce Lee's former friend, Chuck Norris, who played the final villain of the Colosseum battle in "Dragon Fight", be the action director, and invited him to play the "Cobra" karate hall The character of the pavilion owner Chris.

   But Chuck Norris is not a good choice. The owner of the museum, Chris, has his own fighting philosophy. As a veteran of the Vietnam War, he believes in not leaving prisoners and striking first. This is the exact opposite of Miyagi-sensei's philosophy of not bullying the weak, and attacking the weak. These two philosophies are also the essence of the struggle between the protagonist Daniel and the enemy Johnny.

  The problem is that Chuck Norris has no acting skills. He has a poker face and no expression in the dragon fight. He has a big beard on his face. Even when he speaks, he can hardly see any movement of his facial muscles. It is impossible for such a person to play any philosophical coaching role, only a warrior.

  Weintraub has always had all kinds of whimsical ideas recently. Ronald has already figured out that this producer is essentially just a movie fancier, and often wants to gather stars in one movie and become a collector.

   But sometimes, he has some reliable opinions. Such professional and amateur thoughts make Ronald suspect that he has one or several people in the industry as his advisers, and exchange them every few days.

Of course, Ronald has more important things to deal with now, that is, the choice of the heroine, so he did not discuss with Weintraub about the choice of this important supporting role for the time being, but only introduced Daryl Vidal to him as an action drama. Assistant joins the crew.

   Two days later, bad news came. Two leading actress candidates, Leigh Thompson and Jennifer Gray, were both selected by director John Milius to play the female partisans in "Red Dawn."

  When Ronald heard the news, he immediately booked a plane ticket to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he was going to meet Elizabeth Shue and persuade her to delay her studies at Harvard as much as possible to star in "Longwei Kid". This is not the best option in Ronald's existing casting range, but the only option.

Elizabeth Sue was very excited when she heard that Ronald wanted to confirm her as the heroine of "Longwei Kid", although she was already a twenty-year-old college student. A side glance.

"I'm so happy." Elizabeth Sue was still a baby face, and the baby fat had not completely subsided. She smiled and apologized to everyone. Seeing her lovely face, several Harvard students seemed to recognize her as "Burger King" girl", trying to strike up a conversation.

   Now Ronald feels that her appearance is also very good, and she will be recognized by the audience as a middle school student.

   "Okay, I'll let the producer contact your agent. A total of two months of filming, and two weeks of rehearsal before that, will be paid according to the standard."

  Ronald came to see Elizabeth Sue first based on his personal relationship with Elizabeth Sue, so as to prevent the agent from interfering with it and taking the opportunity to threaten more remuneration and on-set treatment. As long as Su is willing, and the agent does not know that they have no more options, it is not difficult to sign this contract.

   "Well, but I have to ask my parents for permission." After Elizabeth Su was happy, she looked a little worried. She is the child of a wealthy family, and some things take into account the demands of her parents.

   "I thought you were an independent girl." Ronald aimed at her psychology, trying to arouse Su's sense of independence.

"I know, um... it's just my tuition, my parents pay a lot. You know Wesleyan and Harvard are very expensive. I don't get paid enough for the commercials." After a year of college, I am not the naive high school student who shot a chewing gum commercial.

   "I'll let the producer talk to your agent, I think it's enough for your next college tuition."

   "Well, I have another idea. I have a younger brother, Andrew, who is also interested in acting. Can I give him a small role? That way my father and mother will also tend to agree."

"how old is he?"

"fifteen."

   "I can put him on the scene, just as a student in the Cobra Dojo," Ronald replied.

   "Okay, I have prepared the materials for applying for deferment of admission." Elizabeth Su showed a smile of "Haha, I succeeded".

   did not have time to visit the old Harvard campus, Ronald hurried back to Los Angeles. There are more auditions and preparations waiting for him here.

   Daniel LaRusso's opponent, Ali's ex-boyfriend Johnny's audition also began. This is the biggest villain in the movie, the opponent Daniel beats in the final to win the karate championship.

  Emilio Estevez auditioned again. He's been out of luck lately, and his younger brother, Charlie Sheen, was picked by Milius to film "Red Dawn," but he wasn't seen.

   "Anyway, if you can't play the protagonist, it's not bad to play the first villain." With this idea in mind, Emilio read a passage of Johnny's lines.

   "What do you think?" Weintraub finished reading the lines in Emilio and asked Ronald and the casting director as soon as he walked out.

   "He's a hunchback," said casting director DuPont. "His resume says he has wrestling experience, but I can't tell."

"I'm a little fatter, and I don't look like a middle school student." Ronald clearly objected, "Emilio Estevez's figure is completely adult. He and Ralph Ma Zio played Daniel sparring, and the audience won't believe that Daniel, who is like a chicken, has the possibility of winning."

   Ronald doesn't like Emilio Estevez anyway. On the set of "Urchin Out of the World", he felt that he was competing with young men everywhere, and he was a little bit sloppy because of his father's position in the industry.

   And he also wanted to get Diane several times, and when he had a fixed girlfriend, he was completely "scumbag".

"I agree with you guys", Weintraub didn't expect them to like Emilio either, "I think Johnny should find a new person to play, so that the audience won't be disturbed by the role before the famous actor, but from the plot Judge them as bad people."

   "The new idea is here again", Ronald thought, this judgment actually makes sense, and Weintraub asked him about the "high ginseng" again.

"I think this principle is very good. Even Chris, the owner of the Cobra Dojo, we'd better find a new person to play. Emilio has played the 'cheesy' in 'The Outer Boy', and the audience will unconsciously think that He's a cheap character, and will interfere with their impression of Johnny as a character." Ronald took the opportunity to sell his idea, and it was better not to play Chuck Norris.

"What you said makes a lot of sense, um." Weintraub looked at the role list, "Fortunately, the other players in the Cobra Gym, we use all the juniors of movie stars, they haven't acted in any movies, so Exactly."

   "Okay, let's try the next one. Robert Downey Jr."

   Outside the door, the assistant called in another audition actor to read the lines. Emilio Estevez hadn't left yet, he was chatting with his acquaintance Chad McQueen. Chad and his classmates who played Johnny and trained in karate at the Cobra Dojo came to see Weintraub and asked for treatment on the set.

   Both are the sons of Hollywood male stars, Chad's father, the late Steve McQueen, a bigger star than Emilio's father, Martin Sheen. So Chad's temper is even worse than Emilio.

"Yo, Emilio...why are you here again? You look downcast. Did Red Dawn miss you?" Chad McQueen confronted Emilio Esteve defiantly when he came up. Z said.

Next to   , Ron Thomas and Rob Garrison, none of their parents had McQueen, so they also respected Chad in their daily play. Seeing Emilio deflated, they also came up to laugh at him.

   "Pfft, you are not even qualified to be the protagonist, you can only play supporting roles." Emilio was also unforgiving.

  "Hey", Chad was about to explode, "Didn't you be cast on both sides? We can still play a supporting role, and it's an important supporting role. This is our first movie."

   "Hey, Lao Tzu played a supporting role in 'Apocalypse Now' in his first movie."

   "Really?" Chad McQueen asked the two valet in disbelief, "Did you **** see him when you watched 'Apocalypse Now'?"

   "No, you are not bragging."

   "It was just cut off later." Emilio has a foothold in Hollywood and has a lot of invitations. He doesn't want to talk to these ignorant second-generation stars.

   "Don't be too happy, it's just a silly exploitative film, to coax children. Do you still want to be famous for this kind of film?"

   said that, Emilio Estevez walked out of the audition office.

  The three stars and the second generation looked at each other in dismay, wondering if the exploitative film he was talking about coaxing children was bragging.

   "Don't listen to him, Chad, the whine of the loser."

"Go away," Chad McQueen pushed away the attendant who came to persuade him. "It's nothing special, the movie is to make yourself handsome, no matter what movie or role he plays." Chad took a sip. Nose, his late father, Steve McQueen, once said to him that male stars don't have to think about plot and dialogue, just show their temperament.

   He looked towards the audition room, as if thinking of the scene where he showed off his might in the movie and beat up the hero Daniel.

  In the audition room, three people are interviewing for this actor named Robert Downey Jr. His father was a director who made low-budget films in New York.

   "Have you practiced karate?" Weintraub asked.

   "No, but I can act like it."

   "Have you practiced any other martial arts?" Ronald added.

   "No, but I played a supporting role in the Broadway musical 'Grease', and I have a foundation in dance." Robert Downey Jr. did a few dance moves, but they didn't look very flexible.

  …

   "What do you think? The acting seems to be a little more feminine." Weintraub wrote his own evaluation.

   "The lines are read very well, but he can't handle the action scenes." Ronald thought of his dance moves just now, if it was a crane kick, he wouldn't be able to do it. That shot is the ultimate trick to defeat the opponent, and it is very troublesome to shoot with a double.

   The "Next, Eric Stoltz" audition director ticks down the list.

   "Good afternoon, everyone. Hi Ronald, see you again."

   "Hello Eric, please read this line for us." Ronald saw the actor who played Sean Penn's sidekick in "Fast Tempo."

   "What do you think?" Weintraub didn't know if it was suitable, so he only asked Ronald and DuPont.

   Ronald also looked at the audition director. He and Eric Stoltz were the actors he chose for the film industry. Eric also greeted him, and in order to avoid suspicion, he asked DuPont to speak first.

   "The appearance and movements are okay, but he is too quiet when he reads the lines, and the lines are not powerful enough."

   "Look at it then," Weintraub said.

Ronald wanted to laugh, this Eric Stoltz worshipped Sean Penn's method performance when he was on the "fast" set, and ended up imitating the method master, Marlon Brando kind "Hum" type of lines method, regardless of his identity or a fledgling boy.

   "The next one is William Zaba...No, Ziba...No, Key..." Ronald came across a surname he couldn't read again.

   "William Zabka." It was Dupont, the casting director who saved his life.

   Ronald got a headache when he saw the name with two consonants stacked together, and heard that the name was of Eastern European descent.

   "Good afternoon, my name is William Zebka."

   An actor who looked tall and fit appeared in front of the three of them.

   "Have you practiced any martial arts?" Ronald could see at a glance that the other party was a bit of a trainer's body.

   "I was on the high school wrestling team, and I was a top three in intercollegiate wrestling in Los Angeles."

   "It turned out to be a colleague." Ronald's feelings for Zebka improved.

   "Have you practiced karate?" Weintraub asked.

   "No, but I have the foundation, so I shouldn't be slow to learn." Zebka is very confident.

   "Please read this line," said casting director DuPont.

   "Okay, we'll have news for your agent," Dupont said after he finished reading the lines. Then he looked at Ronald and received a positive look.

   "Do you have anything else to do?" Dupont asked curiously, seeing that he was not leaving.

  "I, I wrote a biography for Johnny", Zebka took out a piece of paper.

   "Oh, you talk about it." Ronald was interested, it seems that the actor has done extra homework.

   "I came up with a loose backstory to better 'feel' the character. I imagine Johnny doesn't have a father, and Chris of Cobra Gym is the closest thing he's ever been to a father in his life."

   "That's right." Ronald didn't write Johnny's background story after Zebka left. Zebka handled it like this, which made the competition between Johnny and Daniel even more fateful and a sense of the times. The divorce rate in America is now very high, and the children of single-parent families also account for a considerable proportion of the audience.

   In such a competition between the two, in addition to honor and Ali, there is also a subconscious longing for a normal family life.

   "I think he is the best choice." Weintraub was also satisfied.

   (end of this chapter)