Exploiting Hollywood 1980

   Chapter 532 Ronald is a big man

   "Daniel continued to learn karate with Miyagi-sensei. The second year...it's the annual All-Fernando Valley Karate Championship. This time, as the defending champion, he has to accept the challenges of various masters..."

  Ronald read Weintraub's outline.

   "How about it? Is such a story okay? You are an expert, how about we design another trick to defend his title in the tournament?"

Ronald endured it, didn't hold back, but told the truth, "Jerry, the first one has written Daniel's story to the end. If you want to make a sequel, the protagonist must focus on other characters, otherwise It's like re-shooting the first movie with a facelift. The audience won't buy it."

   "Hey? What do you say?" Weintraub was deeply impressed by Ronald's self-confidence on the first day of the show. What he said must have some truth.

"Um... For example, like Lucas' 'Star Wars', if you blow up the Death Star in A New Hope, the Empire will get a bigger Death Star in the sequel, and then let Luke go to the He blew up. Even if the force is several times stronger than before, and the ultimate trick is stronger than before, the core of the story remains the same, and the audience won't like it."

   "What you said makes sense," Weintraub put away the outline he wrote, "Then whose story do you think we should shoot?"

"It's better to play the role of Ali, she has a lot to discover. She is not the kind of passive heroine, dating Daniel, playing football, taking the initiative to conflict with Johnny, encouraging Daniel to persevere through injury, I think it can make She is the second apprentice of Teacher Miyagi. She talks about women practicing martial arts to protect themselves.

   And Elizabeth Shue is a sports girl, she has a foundation in gymnastics and football, and she is also very good at karate, so she can perform action scenes without a stand-in. After she finishes some of her schooling, we take a summer vacation and have her come back for the sequel. "

   "Is that so, that means it will take at least two years for the sequel to be released?"

   "Yes, we have to wait a year to start filming, so as to give the audience a time to reminisce and look forward to. Even if it is Star Wars, it is impossible to make one a year."

   "Any other candidates?" Weintraub was actually a little annoyed at Elizabeth Shue's refusal to participate in the marketing campaign.

"Well..." Ronald thought for a while, "Then there is another option, which is to shoot the story of Master Miyagi, how he went from a fisherman in Ryukyu to America, from a hero in war to become The humble repairman in the apartment."

   "A story of immigrants? Like 'The Godfather Part II'?"

   "Yes, to unravel the mystery of Master Miyagi. I think he must have some stories when he left Ryukyu. We can also let him return to Ryukyu again in the story to end the previous stories."

   "Well...I like your idea better. Is it possible to film the story of the villain coach Chris?" Weintraub made inferences.

  "This?" Ronald didn't expect Weintraub to like fighting scenes so much, and all his thoughts revolved around more and more exciting fights.

   "But he's the villain. Will the audience be interested in the villain? I actually didn't give him much in the movie."

   "We can discuss it slowly, so you are still very interested in the sequel?" Weintraub laughed.

   "Hahaha, maybe", Ronald is not disgusted by Weintraub's communication method, but whether he will continue to serve as a screenwriter and director will be discussed later.

   "How's the box office going this week?" Ronald asked about the topic they were most concerned about. If the box office can be a big hit, then the filming of the sequel will be guaranteed. The investment in the second part will definitely exceed the first part.

   In the current movie, all the actors have signed a single contract. If a sequel is filmed, the salary from the director to the actor will increase. Only with big box office hits will studios and distributors spend more of their budgets on sequels.

   "Very good momentum, feedback from Colombia, the box office of the single hall even surpassed the "Legend of the Magic Palace", and was comparable to the "Little Monster"."

   "The trend is really good", Ronald couldn't help but look forward to the second week's box office statistics, it is estimated that the decline will be very small.

  …

   "We need a director who is good at teen exploitation films." In the producer's office of Twentieth Century Fox, a middle-aged man lamented to his subordinates, think about it, who can take on this important task?

   "This?" The subordinates looked at each other. The script for this film was written by Noel Black, who held a high-level position in Fox's production department, and then passed the green light.

   However, I kept looking for a lot of directors, either expressing no interest or being rejected by Black.

  The current 20th Century Fox is very chaotic. After the female president Shirley Lansing was expelled by the new boss, the oil tycoon, the top executives went their separate ways and used this short happy time without the president to start various performances.

   Relatively speaking, this Mr. Black just used his power to film the script he wrote, which is considered very moral, except that the script is a bit outdated.

   But finding someone to direct his script is not an easy job. A director who is too good has no interest in such an outdated script, and a director who is too bad will be dissatisfied with the result of the filming.

   "Can't any of you think of a suitable candidate?" Noel Blake began to speak loudly, "We have to seize this time and shoot as soon as possible."

   "If it's too slow, as soon as the new president arrives, maybe the movie will be reconsidered." All the subordinates scolded.

   A subordinate in the corner, a fat man named Ben, raised his hand tremblingly.

"Say!"

   "How about we get Ronald Lee? He's been directing exploitative films, and every one of them is a hit."

   "The kid who directed breakdance?" Noel Black asked.

   "Yes, he also directed 'Fast-paced Richmond High School', and his debut was a youth comedy for teenagers on campus."

   "Pfft..." Another subordinate couldn't help laughing.

   "Do you have any opinion?" Noel Black glared at him, "I think Ronald is a good candidate."

"I don't have any opinion on Ronald, I just think that Ben may have been busy with work recently and didn't watch movies. I don't know that Ronald Lee is the most popular director now. He has become a big man and won't go back to directing this. It's a low-cost exploit."

   "What movie did he direct recently, didn't breakdance just come out?" Noel Black continued to ask.

"This week's top-grossing new film 'Long Wei Kid' is his handwriting, Columbia release, production budget of 8 million, film critics praised him, Roger Albert in Chicago even gave him the best The review is four stars.

   In addition, the box office results are also very good. With this success, he basically jumped out of the low-cost quagmire. "

   "Eight million?" Noel Black thought for a while, "We can also give him an investment of eight million, plus the director's salary to fifty, no, one million."

  The subordinates were stunned by Noel Black's arrogance below. "Heart and Soul" looks like a script from the 1960s. He actually had to invest 8 million to shoot it. Is this for his own dream? Or use power for personal gain and take advantage of Fox's messy form to turn his script into film?

   "What are you still doing? Go to Ronald Lee's agent, I want to interview him at Fox."

  Everyone went out of the office in a chaotic manner and split up to make phone calls.

  Noel Black searched on his desk, got the latest "Chicago Sun", and found the latest Roger Ebert film review.

   Sure enough, it happened to comment on "Longwei Kid".

   "I didn't want to see this movie. Glancing at the title and thinking it was either (a) an outdated martial arts fight or (b) a botched adaptation of DC Comics.

   I was totally wrong. "Long Wei Kid" was the biggest surprise of 1984 - an exciting and heartwarming story of two long-time friends, the funniest friendship we've seen on screen in a long time one.

   Two friends from different worlds. A kid named Daniel (Ralph Mazio) is a New Jersey teenager who moves to Los Angeles with his mother. An old guy named Miyagi (Pat Morita Noriyuki) is the Japanese janitor in their apartment building...  

   Then began the best part of "Longwei Kid", the old man befriended the kid from Jersey and started teaching him authentic Ryukyu Karate. Miyagi's karate teaching system is offbeat, to say the least. He sent Daniel to wax the car, paint the fence, and scrub the floor.

  Daniel complained that he was not learning karate, but acting as free labor. But Miyagi-sensei's training is systematic.

   "Longwei Kid" is written and directed by someone I can't think of, Ronald Lee. I've downplayed his directing ability before. I think he can only shoot some good-looking scenes, and lacks the ability to describe the characters and the ability to tell a wonderful story.

   This movie totally broke my prejudice. It's not about fight scenes at its core, it's about relationships. In addition to Daniel's friendship with Miyagi, there's also a sweet romance with Ali (Elizabeth Shue), your standard girl from the right side of town with usually snobbish parents.

  Ralph Mazio was an unusual and interesting choice for Daniel. He's not your typical handsome Hollywood teenager, but a tall, energetic kid whose expressions always sound natural, without any sense of reading lines.

He's a good, sound, funny lead character, but this movie really belongs to Pat Morita (Noriyuki), an actor who's been in the business for a long time (he played Arnold in "Happy Days" ), but never had such a good character.

   Morita made Miyagi a model of accumulation. He played Miyagi, a completely original character, which was refreshing.

   "Longwei Kid" is a SleeperHit. Maybe his title gives you the wrong idea: it was one of the best movies of 1984.

  Four stars!

   "Well..." Noel Black put down the newspaper with satisfaction, "Only a director like this can make my semi-autobiographical script work well."

   (end of this chapter)