Exploiting Hollywood 1980

   A few days later, on New Year's Day in 1987, the second filming of the "Moonlight" crew officially started in the Toronto studio.

  All indoor scenes are shot here. After a day of adjustment, Ronald began to regain his rhythm without being interrupted by union representatives.

   The most troublesome thing about union representatives is that some representatives really hold the rules and strictly enforce them.

   For example, the scheduled shooting time is up, and it’s time for lunch, but the crew still has a scene that hasn’t been filmed, and needs to work overtime before eating. This is a very normal requirement.

  The state of the actors is also gradually adjusted in place during the filming. If you encounter difficult shots, it is normal for actors to shoot a dozen or so. If at this time, it is interrupted because of lunch, after one hour of eating and resting, the actor's state will not know where to go.

The union also has a way to deal with this kind of thing. It is not as rigid as its counterparts in Britain. When it comes to afternoon tea, it is time to put down the equipment and leave, and you will not stay for a second. Even if you are George Lucas, Same treatment.

  The two actors' unions in the United States stipulate that when they have to work overtime to shoot a film, the director can propose to work overtime for 15 minutes. This is a hard and fast rule, and the crew and actors must also obey unconditionally.

   The problem is that fifteen minutes is enough for one and a half shots. If the protagonist needs to touch up makeup, or re-brew emotions, even one piece of time may not be enough.

  If you didn’t finish the first fifteen minutes of overtime, then I’m sorry, but for the second fifteen minutes, you need the consent of the union representatives and the main actors before you can continue.

   Moreover, you must pay double overtime wages to continue to shoot down.

  If the second fifteen minutes have not been filmed, then there is a third, which is the last extension. This extension will pay three times the wages of all staff on that day.

  As soon as the three extension periods arrive, no matter if your actors are being taken care of by the God of Movies or not, you will soon be filming the film and television clips that you will remember. Sorry, today is the end of the day, and you can’t continue filming.

  Film making is a highly uncertain artistic creation process. Many wonderful scenes were created by actors and staff members who collided, discussed, and even abused each other, and found a solution in a flash.

   Forcing a rigid creation time like office secretary work, just like stipulating that Michelangelo could only paint the dome frescoes of the Sistine Chapel within the prescribed time every day. You may be able to get a good example of supporting union work, but almost all the luster in the movie is lost by the rigid rules.

  So, when we got to Toronto, there was no interruption from the annoying union representatives, and the creative inspiration of the crew began to flow again.

  Toronto is historically not a traditional filming location. So MGM's set crew, on Leslie Street in Toronto, found a vacant warehouse and built it to look like the home where Loretta Castorini and her parents lived.

  The ground floor is a living room with half of the walls removed, and a place to eat in the kitchen. The stairs on the second floor were also restored with wood, and the carpets and wallpapers that are common in Brooklyn, New York, were made. There are two rooms above, which were copied as they were according to the photos of the old house in Brooklyn.

  Ronald placed a lot of Italian and Greek-style snacks, as well as traditional Canadian barbecue slices, where the camera could not see it. Serve with some low-alcohol and carbonated drinks.

  Try to let the actors eat their favorite snacks and relax with a drink if necessary.

   This arrangement, similar to the Broadway rehearsal venue, allowed all the actors to relax a lot compared to the five-week shooting in New York.

   And the effect of relaxation is a better grasp of the character, and the live impromptu lines that flash from time to time.

   Ronald was particularly satisfied with Fedor Chaliapin, who played Loretta's grandfather. Although he is deaf, he never loses his rhythm when shooting opposite scenes.

   Loretta came home for dinner on this day. The old man likes to go out and walk the dog when he doesn't do anything every day. Several large dogs are not pure breeds, much like stray dogs picked by the old man from the street.

   But the old man was very kind to them, not only taking them out to play twice a day, morning and evening, but also giving them the best meat to eat.

   His daughter-in-law, Rose, is in charge of three meals for the whole family. Rose's brother and sister-in-law came to dinner this evening, and she made delicious minced beef for everyone.

  The old man saw the beef on the plate in front of him, and while his daughter-in-law was not paying attention, he stood up, walked to the dog cage by the fireplace, and stuffed the plate under the cage. The big dogs began to eat happily.

  The old man pretended to be okay again and went back to the dining table.

   His son Cosmo said to his wife Ross, "I think my father needs a new plate."

   At this moment, Ross looked at him at a glance, while Fyodor Chaliapin quickly lowered his head, avoiding the eyes of his daughter-in-law.

  Ross blamed the old man for giving the dog the food he made, but he still took a new plate from the corner of the long dining table and handed it to his sister-in-law Rita.

  Rita was very surprised by what the old man did, but seeing that Ross didn't complain, she had to make some money, added some beef and vegetables to the old man, and handed it over.

  “Cut”

Ronald is very happy with the tacit performances of several main actors in this article. The closeness and distance between members of this big family are caused by this episode of feeding the dog, under the interpretation of several outstanding Broadway actors. , as natural as a real family.

After    called the stop, the actors went to rest. Ronald specifically asked his assistant to help 81-year-old Fedor Chaliapin to sit on a sofa specially set up for him.

   Fedor Chaliapin gave Ronald a smug smile as he passed by. Ronald responded with two high thumbs up, and the old man was delighted.

   Looking back, Ronald said to DP David Watkin:

"Do you know how he played? I feel that he is very deaf, and sometimes he doesn't respond when I call A. But in this scene, Olympia Dukakis, who plays Ross, looks at him, and he immediately responds. Can catch it. The rhythm and intensity are right, what secret does he have?"

   "Why don't you ask himself?" David Watkin smiled and joked with Ronald, "Maybe he will teach you his acting secrets when he is happy."

   "It's really difficult to communicate with him." Ronald also smiled, Fedor Chaliapin was really deaf. Sometimes you have to speak to him very loudly.

"You pay attention to his eyes in the next shot, and you'll know. It's years of acting experience, giving him the benefit." David Watkin didn't say it directly, but let Ronald observe for himself, he I found a reclining chair myself and fell asleep.

   Waiting for the camera to be repositioned and the lighting set up, Ronald asked his assistant to wake up David Watkin and resume shooting.

  Roth's brother, Raymond, is also played by a Broadway actor, Louis Gus. They are character actors.

   This is an old term used to describe actors who play supporting roles of different personalities. For stars with similar characters in opposite roles, the supporting roles often have different personalities, and the playing time is limited. In a limited time, the audience must feel the different personalities of the supporting roles.

  Luis Gus did a great job. Ross's brother Raymond was very happy to hear that Loretta went out and didn't come back to finish the meal to prepare for the wedding. He was worried about his niece, who had been without a home since her husband died unexpectedly.

  The interest came, and Raymond told a story.

  When Cosmo was still in love with his sister Rose, one day in the middle of the night, Raymond was woken up by something. He looked out the window and saw that it was Cosmo standing in the moonlight, trying to date his sister.

   The moon was very bright that day. It seemed that the moon was bigger than the house, as if it would crush Raymond's house.

   Under the moonlight, standing is Cosmo.

Ross enjoyed this story very much. He was very happy to watch his brother recall the past of his love, and then glanced at her husband Cosmo from time to time. They hadn't had the same room for a long time. The husband becomes romantic again.

  But Cosmo didn't appreciate it. He didn't want to talk about his love for Ross when he was young. He found a lover outside himself, and was a little ashamed of this past, and a little dissatisfied with his shy self in the past.

   So he said to his wife's brother Raymond, there must be no such thing, and Raymond must have dreamed it when he was dreaming.

"No, it's not a dream, I'm very awake. No one told me when I was young, I was so impressed that you stood in the white moonlight that night. It was you who brought that big, round moon to my house, and the moonlight was so bright that it shone through the window and woke me up."

"You must be dreaming, and you sleep like a dead pig." Cosmo knew that as he continued talking, Ross would definitely remember his youthful past, so he asked his sister-in-law Rita to take a glass of red wine and pour it for herself I took a big cup and took a big sip.

   "It's not a dream, you're clearly in the moonlight under the window." Raymond, like all older people, is particularly stubborn about the memories of his youth.

   "I don't want to talk about it." Cosmo took another gulp of red wine.

   "Then what do you want to talk about?" Ross was a little dissatisfied with Cosmo's impolite attitude towards his brother, and even more dissatisfied that Cosmo was pretending to be a liar. The sweet and romantic memories of the two of them when they were young, Cosmo seems afraid to bring up.

   I tried my best to drink to cover up, then I went to bed, and I could just fall asleep on the excuse of being drunk, and I had no interest at all...

   "Why are you drinking so much?" Rose was annoyed when she saw that Cosmo went to get red wine and poured it into her glass, far more than the amount of table wine that should be drunk for dinner.

   Ronald turned his head behind the camera and stared at Fyodor Chaliapin who played the old man, his eyes fixed at this time.

  David Watkin reminded him to watch the old man's eyes.

   Fedor Chaliapin saw that Olympia Dukakis, who played Ross, gestured to her husband to stop drinking, and knew that it was her turn.

   He stood up immediately, took the second pot of beef, and stood up secretly to feed the dog.

   "Old man, if you feed the dog the beef I made for you, I'll kick you to death!"

Fedor Chaliapin walked to the kennel, counted the time and felt that Dukakis's lines were almost finished. Turning around, pay attention to distinguish Dukakis's lips, and wait for her lips to stop moving. , immediately started taking the plates back to the table.

   Fyodor Chaliapin looked wronged and didn't dare to look at his daughter-in-law's face, and he slowly ate the beef with a spoon with his mouth open.

  Ross had a very embarrassed expression on his face. Her brother and sister-in-law looked at her. It was impolite to say such things to the old man, but she didn't dare to say anything about her husband's complaints in her heart, so she just found a punching bag.

"Cut!" Ronald laughed out loud. It turned out that Fyodor Chaliapin relied on the lips of the opponent's actors. With decades of stage performance experience, he couldn't hear other people's lines. From the response of his lips and body, he found the position of the sentence. His experience made his rhythm never go wrong, but it was very precise.

"Bravo!" Ronald took the lead in applauding, this scene is a multi-person dinner scene, the scheduling is complicated, and the expressions and reactions of many people must be taken into account. Although it is not as complicated as the last scene, it also costs myself and David. Watkin's countless brain cells.

   Fortunately, I gave these Broadway character actors enough time to rehearse, and let them play to their fullest without limiting their performance methods.

   Today, they improvised very well. This kind of subtle emotions between many people, layer by layer, really allowed these old actors to give full play to their lifetime skills.

   "Oh..." Several actors were also excited. They have both been supporting roles on Broadway for decades, and today Ronald gave them the treatment that only the lead characters have, and it was also the most enjoyable scene in many years.

Olympia Dukakis, Vincent Gardenia who played Cosmo, Luis Guth who played brother, Julie Boiseau who played sister-in-law and accent coach, came up in turn with Ronald. hug tightly.

They were all surprised that this script was written by an Irish playwright in his thirties, and the director was an unusually young Ronald. How could he understand the delicate and restrained emotions of middle-aged people so well? Transparent.

   And Ronald doesn't have any Hollywood directors domineering, like Hitchcock, who treats actors like animals. On the contrary, he has great respect for his supporting roles on Broadway. During the intense shooting process, he also gave a few people enough time to rehearse and allowed himself room to improvise.

   As long as it does not violate the original intention of the script, Ronald does not demand that he follow the script strictly and make no mistakes at all, but respect the improvisation of each performance, which is the most moving moment in theatrical performance.

   "I have to say, it was a real pleasure filming with you. I hope that on Broadway, there are directors who respect actors like you."

   Dukakis was very excited. She originally came to the crew to pay for her child's college tuition. Unexpectedly, I got the most satisfying shooting experience in recent years.

   "Oh yeah? I heard Hollywood directors aren't welcome on Broadway." Ronald joked.

"No, you can. You think you are a very good director. You are the kind of actor that our actors are most satisfied with. According to legends, everyone knows that, but few people have good luck. The so-called 'director of actors'. "

Vincent Gardenia, who plays Cosmo, is very sure. He won a Tony Award on Broadway and has worked with many Broadway directors and screenwriters. Like Ronald, he understands the ability of actors and can be trusted. A director who can also make them perform well is the dream of every actor.

   "Okay, the touts are almost done, let's move on to the bed scene."

  Ronald asked the camera crew to start transitioning to the other two rooms in the studio where two bed scenes were to be filmed.

   A **** scene between Cosmo and Ross.

  Olympia Dukakis walked in from the bedroom door in white pajamas.

   She looked at her husband Cosmo, who was already asleep on the bed, walked to the head of the bed, and called him a few times.

   Maybe it was too much, maybe it was intentional, but Cosmo didn't react at all.

   "Hey, you drank too much. Don't sleep when you should sleep, don't sleep when you shouldn't..."

  Ross was a little regretful, she turned around and went to sleep on the other side of the bed. When he turned his head, he was attracted by the moonlight shining in through the window.

  Tonight's moonlight, as my brother Raymond said, is big, round, and bright. The light-transmitting white curtains brightened the room.

  Ross walked towards the window slowly, every step was so gentle, as if he was afraid that the moonlight would find him and escaped.

   But the moonlight didn't mean anything to her, she just shone on Rose's body so gently, the white pajama dress had a hint of sacredness.

   This light arrangement is the unique skill of photography director David Watkin. He placed a Wendy's lamp of his own invention behind the window. The advantage of the Wendy's lamp is that it is parallel light like sunlight and moonlight, so it is not as easy to change as the electric light source when it shines on the face.

  Ross, played by Dukakis, stared blankly at the moonlight, she opened the curtain slightly with her fingers, the white moonlight fell on her face, and the close-up was aimed at her from the side.

   A wave of grievance, sadness, welled up in my heart. Husband Cosmo is definitely out there, and the intuition of an Italian woman can never be wrong.

   But the moonlight still comforted her like that, and the tears that were about to burst out of her eyes were healed by the moonlight.

  Life is like this, what about the family without some emotional problems? Italians are like this, as long as the harmony of the big family, some things can still be invisible.

   "Cut!"

  Ronald was amazed, these beginnings and turns, the rhythm changes, the old actors have mastered it very well, and their familiarity with the script is amazing. Every action, the rhythm of the lines, is just right. You don't have to bother to guide yourself at all.

  Dukakis hadn't completely come out of her emotions. She came over to hug Ronald and thanked the director softly, "Thank you, thank you, I think it's too fun to play Ross."

"Hold on, we still have a restaurant scene, and I have to rely on your normal performance." Ronald asked the actors to rest and walked to a house next to him. There was also a bed scene here. It was Ross's brother Ray. Mond and sister-in-law Rita's.

   "Rita, Rita" as Raymond's Louis Gus, who kept patting his wife Rita's body on the bed.

   "What's the matter?" Rita was sleeping in Mi Mi Lake, and actress Julie Boiseau looked like she wanted to sleep and was woken up.

   "Get up, look at this moon, the one I said Cosmo brought to my house."

  Raymond lifted the quilt and walked to the window. It was the same Wendy lamp, which was placed outside the window of this room this time.

   "Is he down there?" Louis Gus made a look downstairs.

   "Sleeping down there?" Rita's sleepiness disappeared, and she lifted the quilt and asked Raymond.

   "Cosmo."

   "What is he doing here?"

"I have no idea."

   "Hey..." Rita suddenly laughed happily, "Raymond, do you know? The expression you had in front of the window just now seemed to be only 25 years old."

  Raymond heard his wife's words, turned around, and slowly emerged a smile of recalling the past.

   He smiled sweetly and walked slowly, step by step, towards the bed.

   "Hehe, hehehe..." Wife Rita knew that Raymond remembered the past when he was young, "What are you doing? What are you doing?"

  Rita rolled the quilt and turned her head away.

  Raymond insisted on pulling his wife over.

   "Don't, don't, hahaha, get out..."

   "Cut!"

   is another perfect performance, these old actors are very skilled. Character actors can play different roles, so they have accumulated many years of experience in how to use the least actions and lines to present a character that the audience can remember.

   "For a moment, I thought you two were husband and wife." Ronald hugged the two veteran actors, congratulating them, "Those details are great, how did you perform."

   "Hahaha, Ronald, when you get married, you will know. There are many details that only married couples understand." Julie Boiseau said to Ronald with a sharp edge.

   Immediately afterwards, the crew moved to another room where the scene was set.

  This is the bedroom on the second floor of Ronnie's bakery, where he and Loretta first met on the same night in the script.

   "Hi Cher, is everything okay?"

  Cher is a big star. She comes to Toronto the latest, has the most luggage, and has the most people with her. Ronald has to find many assistants to help her, so she can settle down.

   "Not bad, there is no good hair stylist here, I have to bring me personally, you have to reimburse him for his room, board and airfare."

   "Of course, I've arranged everything." Ronald knew that the star had a lot of style and had already arranged everything.

   This is a play under the moonlight. Loretta frys a steak for Ronnie in order to persuade him to go to his wedding with Johnny. Ronnie enjoyed it and thought she was the perfect woman.

  The two drank some whiskey, Loretta told his unfortunate past, but Ronnie was still obsessed with losing his hands and his fiancee.

  Loretta wanted to tell Johnny that everyone has their own misfortunes and advised him not to be too persistent.

  The two frustrated people had impulses and emotions under the big and round moonlight.

  Ronnie is jealous of his brother, being able to get such a considerate, beautiful, and temperamental woman. Such a woman is still chattering to herself that she should not give up on herself.

  Ronnie was educated by Loretta, and he was so angry that he flipped the table over, and Loretta shook all over and was shocked. Loretta actually had no love for Johnny. The wolf-like male charm she longed for was found in this younger brother.

   The two looked at each other the same, suddenly hugged and kissed.

  Nicholas Cage picked up Cher, went inside, and put her on the bed.

   "I don't care, I don't care anymore, come on." Cher still held her fingers together and made gestures. She had longed for this kind of pure desire for a long time, and she had never felt it in Johnny. Besides, the moonlight was so beautiful.

   "What about Johnny?" Ronnie kissed Loretta, still asking.

   "Don't you hate him? Just get revenge on me, get my heart, and let Johnny get only my body."

   "My heart was dead before I met you." Ronnie said looking at Loretta in his arms.

"Me too…"

   "Cut!"

   Ronald took the lead and led everyone to applaud.

  Cage also bowed to the crowd.

   "Bravo, Bravo!" Ronald exclaimed.

   Then he turned to DP David Watkin and whispered, "It's still a lot worse than those Broadway character actors."

   "Ronald, the audience can watch Meng Nan and Cher kiss, what more do you ask for?"

"Yeah yeah…"

   After filming the three **** scenes, I still have to deal with the bright moon that I saw in all three scenes, and then edit them together.

  David Watkin has long prepared, using paper material, a large moon on the lake, and a small yellow light behind it to create the effect of parallel lighting.

  In a dark room, the props have prepared different background versions, respectively, with the Brooklyn Bridge, and Manhattan's World Trade Center Twin Towers, background painting boards.

   This old-fashioned shooting method, which was mostly seen in Hollywood before the 1950s, is rare now.

   But the script says that this moon is the kind of moonlight that is occasionally seen, bigger than a building. Ronald asked the second group to shoot a few real scenes and they were not satisfied, so he had to use props to shoot the big moon.

  Although it looks fake at first glance, in this romantic scene, the audience does not find it abrupt.

  "A!", Ronald let the prop set off smoke, simulating the fast-moving clouds next to the moon.

  The background is also lit with tandem lights, looking from behind the camera, it has the artistic conception of the beautiful moon shining under the Manhattan seaside skyline.

   "Cut! Change the background of the Brooklyn Bridge"

   Ronald looked at the busy props and was changing the background. The big moon, still shining bright yellow, shone on Ronald's face.

   In this movie, the moonlight implies the love and passion between men and women, and is the catalyst for the hero and heroine to come together. This moon can put people into that romantic mood so that viewers don't feel that Loretta and Ronnie's union is too abrupt.

   So it is very important whether the moonlight is romantic or not.

   Ronald looked at the prop Moon, and was still very satisfied with Watkin's level.

   "It's really a big, round, and romantic moon."