Exploiting Hollywood 1980

   Chapter 576 Chapter 206 Pros and Cons

  Tom Cruise is very concerned about being able to sit on a real fighter jet. He insisted on adding two safeguards to the contract.

   First, you must have a real shot of a fighter jet sitting in the Navy. The second is that these shots must appear in the final film.

  Ronald has only editing rights, and Paramount has the final right to decide the length of the film. So Ronald's promise was not enough, and the two producers sent Tom Cruise's request to Paramount for approval.

   Soon, Paramount agreed to Cruise's request and signed a film contract with him.

  Ronald felt that the reason why Paramount agreed so bluntly was because they did not agree on how many seconds of Tom Cruise's actual shooting in the fighter would ultimately be guaranteed.

   And the original intention of Tom Cruise adding this clause, maybe he wanted to take the opportunity to satisfy himself more and be addicted to the fighter.

   Soon, on The Hollywood Reporter, Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer were featured in the new Upcoming Project Preview section. They mentioned vaguely that new projects were in the pipeline. Ronald Lee is expected to direct.

   Ronald did not respond to the newspaper's request for an interview or to comment. The preparatory work has only just begun. The first problem is to solve the script review, and the shooting method of the aerial combat.

  The producers hired two screenwriters, Jim Cash and Jack Epps, to flesh out the script.

   Ronald went to "Long Legs" Christy Fox to discuss how to shoot fighter planes and fights in the air.

   "Long Legs" Fox is a true aerodynamic expert. She is a researcher at Naval Air Station Miramar, providing technical analysis support to the Navy.

  Every Wednesday and Saturday, the bar in the base is full of people, full of pilots who come to drink and have fun.

   Ronald met "Long Legs" Fox here, and the two could barely communicate in the noise. Longlegs took him to his apartment.

   "Long Legs" also has a handsome boyfriend. Today's young people are really trash. "An older pilot drank beer and hated the younger ones.

   "Don't pay attention to them, the boys rely on these to vent their excess energy." Long-legged is a little manly, and immediately pointed to the pilot who was about to come up, warning them not to be too busy.

   "It seems that you are very popular here." Ronald laughed.

   "I will rate their flight performance." Long-legs opened the door of his apartment.

"Here are two models of Navy fighter jets in service. This is a Grumman F-14 Tomcat, this is a McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet." She took two large aircraft model, handed to Ronald.

   Ronald really didn't know much about fighter jets, so he started playing with two models.

"This wing can move." Ronald took a delta-wing aircraft, found a switch, pulled it back, and the front half of the delta wing, like a big bird, unfolded forward and became open wing.

   "That's the Tomcat. It opens up when taking off and landing at low speeds to get more lift, and when it breaks the sound barrier, it swept back into a delta wing to reduce drag."

   "Oh, that's right." Ronald fell in love with this plane at first sight, it was better looking than the other rigid Hornet.

   "The vision is very good, and the pilot also likes the Tomcat. It can mount multiple Sidewinder air-to-air combat missiles, and the Vulcan 20mm cannon. The improved model can also mount bombs to attack the ground."

   "So, what kind of opponent will the F-14 Tomcat encounter in the ocean?"

   "Mainly two, the first is their MiG-21 fighter", Christie Longfoot took two more models from the cabinet, which were not products of a toy company, like her own models made of wood.

  Long feet held up a small plane with a nose and a cone and said,

   "MiG-21 supersonic fighter. Most of the fighters of the alliance take off from shore bases and come to our aircraft carrier formation to harass and scout. There is a 30mm cannon, which can also be mounted with radar or infrared guided missiles."

   "What about this?" Ronald pointed to the big plane.

   "This is a Tu-22M backfire supersonic bomber, which can be equipped with anti-ship missiles. Our F-14 Tomcat has the task of fighting him and defending the aircraft carrier formation."

   "How do you fight such a big plane?" Ronald looked at the size of the bomber, it was so big.

   "This is a military secret, I can't tell you. If you want to know, you can join the Navy."

   "Hahaha..." Ronald didn't ask any more questions when he saw that military secrets were involved.

   He took a fancy to the F-14 Tomcat fighter jet, which is very beautiful in appearance and has variable wings, which is more likely to take wonderful shots in aerial combat.

   As for his two main opponents, Ronald still prefers the MiG 21. The Backfire is too big, and it is estimated that it is difficult to find a plane to take a real shot.

  It's just the two of them, who happen to be the real pros and cons in the movie.

   "By the way, our American Navy has MiG-21s, right?" Ronald wanted to ask the Navy how many planes they borrowed to serve as enemy planes.

   "Who told you that?" The long-legged expression suddenly became tense.

   "No one? If not, we have to build models and use other aircraft to simulate MiG 21? What kind of aircraft do you think is closer to MiG?"

   "The MiG-21 is a single-seat, single-engine light fighter. Our Navy's F-5 Freedom Fighter is relatively close to him." Long-legged Ronald didn't bother with the top secret Pentagon, the MiG-21 imaginary enemy squadron. I thought that even a film director might not know this, maybe he just said it casually.

  "Well, good", Ronald wrote down the aircraft model in his notebook, "This F-14 Tomcat, why are there two seats in the cockpit?"

   "This is a two-seat twin-engine heavy fighter. The pilot's seat is in the front, and the radar weapons officer is in the back, who is responsible for spotting and identifying enemy aircraft and issuing attack orders."

"I want to shoot that kind of fighting in the air, like the X-wing vs. Tie fighter in Star Wars. Is there any way to think?" with various actions.

   "You have three options." Long-legs picked up another plane and signaled.

   "First, you put a camera on the F-14, so you can simulate the pilot's point of view, and shoot all kinds of first-person views from the cabin and out.

  Second, you can install a camera on his wingman, which can simulate aircraft approaching, aerial combat, dogfights, and more. The audience is like watching planes fighting up close.

   Third, you can use another plane to shoot next to the two fighting planes, which can reflect the relative positions of several planes and attack tactics. "

   "Wow, you have a very deep understanding of photography." Ronald couldn't help but sigh, Longlegs is not only an official researcher of the Navy, how can he know so much about photography?

   "In that issue of California magazine, it was written about me. The lead photographer was my partner, and we discussed a lot of ways to shoot." Christy Fox laughed.

  "I'm so lucky", Ronald looked at Long Legs, who turned out to be the prototype of the heroine who was in love with the hero played by Tom Cruise in the script.

   "Then, I don't know if I have the honor to invite Miss Long Legs to dinner?" Ronald also wanted to talk more about photography with the female expert.

   "My pleasure." Long-legged Christie supported the old-fashioned black-rimmed glasses and agreed to Ronald.

  The two found a Japanese restaurant, Ronald ordered all the most expensive items on the menu, and then asked Longlegs what to drink.

   "Their sake is good."

  Sushi and sashimi, served with yellow wasabi and sake, and the two had a great time. Ronald deliberately flattered her and asked her to serve as a technical consultant for the film. Long-legged also thought that making a film was a very interesting thing, so he agreed.

   "Does the F-14 have any special skills? We want to make the movie an '80s Western, but instead of revolvers, the cowboys duel with advanced fighter jets."

   "In that case, the F-14 can actually do a very interesting move." The long legs stretched out two hands, simulating two fighter jets fighting in a dogfight.

   "The front is an F-14 and the back is a MiG-21. The dogfight means that the two sides compete to get behind each other, like two dogs biting each other on the ground."

   Ronald took out his notebook again and wrote it down.

   "The aircraft's cannons fire forward, and air-to-air missiles can only be fired at targets at a certain angle in front. So whoever occupies the six o'clock position behind the opponent can shoot down the opponent."

   Ronald thought that the name of this dogfight was really appropriate. He wanted to come from his ancestors, who drove fighter jets with only machine guns. It must be like this dogfight in the air.

   "Now the F-14 in front can suddenly pull up the nose and reduce the output of the engine", the hand in front of the long leg suddenly raised its head and flew towards this high altitude.

   "In this case, the speed of the F-14 will decrease, and then maintain a fighting stance with a large angle of attack." The long-footed hand lifted up, as if a fighter had exposed its belly.

"And the speed of the MiG-21 at the back remains at the speed of the original tracking front plane, and it will rush..." The other hand with the long leg quickly moved forward, rushed over the head, and reached the front of the other hand. .

   "Will it rush to the front of the F-14 Tomcat?" Ronald showed an expression of sudden realization. In this way, the F-14 Tomcat that was originally in the front, one action became the tail of the MiG 21, and it became a predator at the moment of being hunted.

   "Yes, you realized it quickly, so that the Tomcat can appear in the attacking position." Long Feet withdrew both hands.

   "What if the MiG-21 also came here?" Ronald had doubts again.

"That's impossible," Longfoot Christie laughed. "This kind of fighting action with a large angle of attack, like sudden braking in the air, can only be done by a twin-engine heavy fighter. The MiG-21 was caught by the Tomcat like this, I'm afraid There is no escape."

   "Hmm," Ronald wrote it down again. This meal is very cost-effective. This kind of detail can be put into the script, the audience can enjoy it, and the technology is basically in line with the capabilities of the F-14.

   "However, not everyone can do this kind of action. Only those ace pilots with years of flying experience can do it."

   "Why? Isn't this very simple?" Ronald made a motion of pulling the handbrake on the car with his hand, "Isn't this the air brake?"

   "First of all, your action is very correct. The throttle valve of the aircraft's engine decreases backwards and increases forwards. But this action is very dangerous." The long feet stretched out their hands to simulate a fighter jet.

   "When the nose is pulled up, the engine output is reduced at the same time, so that as long as the nose swings a little, it is easy to cause stalls and horizontal spirals."

   "Horizontal Spiral?" Ronald asked.

   "Stall is when the plane doesn't have forward speed, it stops flying forward, the nose starts to rotate in one direction, the whole plane is like a top, it rotates on the horizontal plane, and soon you will crash."

   "So scary?"

   "Yes, in fact, the early models of the F-14 had similar accidents." Long-legs picked out something that could be said publicly to Ronald.

   "Fantastic, these are all good material to use in a movie story." Ronald asked the boss to serve hot soup and settled the bill.

   "By the way, if we need to install cameras on the plane, which department of the Navy should we contact?"

   "You shouldn't go to the Navy, but to the manufacturer of the F-14, Grumman. They'll be interested."

   "Really? Will they help me install a camera on the plane and test it?"

   "Yes, trust me, they will definitely help, maybe for free." Longlegs finished drinking the hot soup, stood up with Ronald, and prepared to return to the base.

  Grumman's expensive new order was questioned by the Navy. As long as this film can be made to show the elegance and lethality of the Tomcat in front of the American people, it will definitely get the follow-up order.

   (end of this chapter)