Exploiting Hollywood 1980

  Chapter 904 Keep improving to make big money

"I, Bruce Willis, accept you, Demi Moore, as my lawful wife, to own and hold from this day, in good and bad, in rich and poor, in sickness and in health, till death makes we separate...

  I, Demi Moore…”

   "Amen, now the groom can kiss the bride.

  In a small church in Los Angeles, Bruce Willis, who is still filming "Die Hard", and Demi Moore, who is two months pregnant, officially became husband and wife.

   Ronald is below, as a relative and friend on the bride's side, witnessing the wedding. Demi Moore didn't have a good relationship with her biological mother, who abandoned them when she was just a few months old. Only stepfather Gaines treated little Demi as his own, but unfortunately he has already passed away.

  As Demi Moore's few friends in the circle, Ronald came to the wedding, adding an important person to Demi's family and friends.

   "I have to tell you the truth, if it wasn't for the filming, I would be flying to Europe with Demi for our honeymoon right now." Bruce Willis came to say hello to Ronald. Filming continues on his "Die Hard," with the action scenes moving at a slower pace than other genre films.

   "The bride's wedding, Sina's honeymoon, hahaha" Ronald stepped forward and embraced the two couples.

"You have to look at the dailies we shot. I told you, this movie is really exciting. Every time I watch the dailies, I'm so excited that I can't believe I made them." Bruce Willis said to himself The heroics in the film were delightful, and he had a hunch that this one would be different.

   "Honey..." Demi Moore, wearing a white wedding dress, came up and hugged her new husband.

"You have to go drive..." Ronald laughed loudly, and sent the two of them out of the church. Outside was a convertible car with the words "Just Married" written on the license plate at the rear, and a few people were dragged by a rope underneath. A Coke can, waiting for the newlyweds to arrive.

  This is a wedding custom in America. They think that the honeymoon is very precious. The newlyweds should not waste time on gatherings with their relatives and friends. They should start their sweet days immediately.

  Although Willis still has shots to finish filming, the crew allocated a weekend for him, allowing him to spend a little honeymoon with his wife first.

"Well, this is a good wedding. When my husband and I got married, it was not so enthusiastic." Standing on the bride's side were Sigourney Weaver and her good friend Jamie Lee Cole Tees, was talking about wedding experiences with Ronald's personal attorney, Lindsay Dole.

  Sigourney Weaver came to Los Angeles to meet Ronald, and Ronald wanted to check her readiness. Jamie Lee Curtis was on vacation in Los Angeles with husband Guest and happened to bump into longtime friend Sigourney Weaver. There happened to be a wedding, and they all came as guests of the bride's party to save face for Demi Moore.

  They are all Hollywood actresses. They know that the bigger the guest cards appearing in this kind of wedding, the more important the bride's status is. Although the newlyweds may not care, relatives and friends of both parties like to talk about this kind of gossip.

   "How was the shoot in Toronto? Is it over?" Ronald asked Jamie Lee Curtis's husband, British actor Christopher Guest. This man is still the eldest son of the Baron Geist family with a serious title. He likes acting by nature, so he plays supporting roles in Hollywood, and often writes his own screenplays.

"My role is over. This director is very good. I feel a bit like filming with Bob Renner." Geist is a good friend of Robert Renner that Ronald knew. He and Curtis are Ray Introduced by Na.

  Last year, I finished filming the box-office success "The Princess Bride" directed by my friend Reina, and there is no filming this year. Fortunately, Geist was also very satisfied with supporting roles. By chance, he was spotted by Catherine Bigelow and starred in Helen Slater's "Sticky Fingers".

   "We are discussing the wedding, Ronald, where do you want to hold the wedding in the future? Is it also a church?" Weaver, Curtis, and the lawyer lady came to greet Ronald.

"I haven't thought about it..." Ronald didn't plan to get married, "I think maybe it will be in the church that my aunt often goes to, the one on Staten Island." Ronald looked at Lin Seeing her smiling, Sy Dole seemed to be planning to marry her partner in the law firm.

   "Staten Island? If you get married there, I'm afraid the entertainment reporter will go crazy and go to the countryside." Several actresses laughed together.

   "That's right, let them squeeze the ferry..."

   "How is your German?" At the wedding party, everyone was looking for drinks. Ronald asked about Sigourney Weaver's homework.

   "Hastduihnengesagt, werichbin?", Sigourney Weaver opened her mouth and said, "Did you tell them who I am?"

   "Natürlichbist du Sigourney Weaver (Of course, you are Sigourney Weaver, Lindsay Doll, educated at Harvard, answered Weaver immediately in German.

   "What are you talking about?" Ronald couldn't understand German at all, so he had to ask Weaver.

"The line, the sentence in the line. Catherine was going to Europe for skiing, but Tess didn't book a suite for her, so she called the hotel in Island Europe to ask if they knew who she was and why they didn't give the big room to her. live alone."

   "Hmm..." Ronald recalled Weaver's pronunciation. Although he couldn't understand her pronunciation, it could be heard that the aristocratic taste was not so strong from her pronunciation. Here, Ronald hopes that the audience can perceive from the pronunciation, accent, and intonation that Catherine played by Weaver is a rich lady who was born with a golden spoon in her mouth. There is a fluent taste unique to the upper class in speaking.

   "Where did you learn your German?" Ronald asked Weaver.

  “My father, he is very good at French and German, and we can also talk in German at home since we were young.”

Ronald nodded, Sigourney Weaver's German could be heard as childlike, but, "I still have to find you a German coach, I need a smooth, smart, high-society language."

   "Okay, you can help me find an accent coach." Sigourney Weaver was actually very happy to see that Ronald was so detailed about this small accent. Actors are not afraid of the director directing how to act, but they are afraid of the director fooling things.

   "Do you have to pay attention to these small details when making movies? The audience can't see it, right?" Miss Lawyer was very puzzled.

"Honey, this is a special request only for great directors. They pay great attention to every supporting role, every prop, actor's expression, movement, and accent. Although not all audiences will notice, but there is always some understanding The audience with the background of the story will be moved by this creative attitude.”

"Yes, Lindsay. Filmmaking is like this. Movies are a dream machine. You definitely don't want your boyfriend who is a partner lawyer in a New York law firm to speak with a Texas accent..." Ronald explained said a few words.

   This is actually a detail that Ronald has only recently begun to pay attention to. In the first few films, he didn't have the energy or the budget to pull off these things. From the start of shooting a big production of 20 million yuan, Ronald can mobilize resources to try to do the best.

  This time "Working Girl", Ronald was determined not to let the most basic sets and props show any flaws that could be seen at a glance.

  He rented a large office in the World Trade Center and prepared to shoot on-site. In the World Trade Center after the stock market crash, many offices lost their tenants, so it was possible for Ronald to use short-term rent at a cheap price to make movies.

  Sigourney Weaver plays Catherine, who live in mansions. Art director Polly Pratt found an old two-story mansion built with stones before World War I on Morton Street in Manhattan. As Catherine's residence in the movie. The landlord is a low-key rich man who promised to lend the house to the crew.

  In order to bring out the wealthy background of Catherine's family, Polly Pratt also bought a large crystal chandelier and replaced it with the homeowner. On the stairs from the first floor to the second floor, Ronald also sold the Andy Warhol paintings that David Geffen, the owner of the record company, sold to him, and selected the group that was not based on Monroe, and lent them to The crew hangs at the corner of the corridor.

  In addition, the protagonist Tess's house is in the pier area in the northern part of Staten Island. I found an old house built of old wood, the kind that creaks when walking.

  In short, with a budget of more than 20 million yuan, and probably the most powerful art director in Hollywood, Polly Pratt, it was the first time that Ronald enjoyed the treatment of a big director.

  The best team brings the director's peace of mind. In many cases, professionals in art direction, photography direction, hairstyle, makeup, etc. are the top candidates in the industry. The opinions they gave were already excellent, and Ronald didn't have to lead a group of inexperienced teams to do everything by himself as before.

"Thank you, director. I'm going to make up shots this time. Thank you very much for allowing me to let you go." Sigourney Weaver made an appointment with the German accent coach, made an appointment for practice on the phone, and turned around to find Ronald. grateful.

  The "Gorilla in the Mist" she filmed last year, some of the actual shots in Kenya had problems and needed to be re-shot. It was a film about gorilla researcher Dianne Fossey. Director Michael Apter personally called, hoping that Ronald would let Weaver go to Kenya for another week of filming.

   Ronald and Sigourney Weaver met with her agent to discuss. This movie is one that Sigourney Weaver values ​​very much, and she hopes to win an award with this movie. Her agent has repeatedly promised that she will not extend the time for reshoots, and will return to New York on time to participate in the shooting of the working girl.

  Ronald asked the lawyer and Fox's legal department to sign an agreement with many terms and buy enough insurance before agreeing to release it. He also specifically added the clause that Sigourney Weaver couldn't get too tan. Otherwise, the skin tone of an expert who camped in the wild in Kenya to study gorillas and a pampered Wall Street career woman would not feel right at all.

  …

   Coming out of the wedding, Ronald went to the Fox Building again. Filming of "Die Hard" is still in progress, and the last two days were filmed without Bruce Willis.

  Ronald found the producer Joel Silver, who was behind the screen, watching the director and conductor Alan Rickman, and a bunch of hunks playing supporting roles, were filming the kidnapper scene.

"Are they Germans? Where did you find a bunch of 'Germanic'-looking gangsters?" Ronald didn't look at the black and white flashing screen, and stood directly behind the camera, looking at the actor opposite .

  The actors playing gangsters are all blond and tall. It looks a lot like the "German bad guy" image in the minds of American audiences. The group were all muscular men, and eight or nine of the twelve gangsters were over six feet tall.

"No, in fact, many of them are Europeans. Their faces are a bit different from ours. The audience can tell them apart, but they can't tell which country they are from. So only three or four are Germans, and the rest are Dutch, Swiss, and Some Nordic actors," explains Joel Silver. It is hard to find so many Germans in Hollywood at once, as there are not many Germans working in this industry. But everyone else is the image of the blonde German, and the audience will recognize it.

  They stood together, holding a walkie-talkie, talking to the bandit leader played by Alan Rickman on the other side. Alan Rickman's height is not outstanding, but his acting skills are really good, and he still has a feeling of a university professor while watching the show. The image of the bandit leader who is a gentle and scumbag is played very well.

   Ronald heard the live radio, and Alan Rickman's line skills are very good. When the audience heard it, they felt like a well-educated villain who had gone on a bad path. The tone of voice is extremely smooth, but it will not be too Shakespearean to cause the audience to play. This kind of scale is undoubtedly the result of hard work on the theater stage.

"It's great, it's great, Ronald, the big villain you introduced is simply the biggest surprise." After the director stopped, Joel Silver began to praise Ronald. Rickman's casting decision.

   "This one is over, let's continue." Director John McTiernan called the next one.

   "Wowerdenwirspielen? (Where are you going to play later? A blond gangster said into the walkie-talkie.

   "Hiergibtesgutes Eis (the ice cream provided by the crew is really good Hans, played by Alan Rickman, answered in German to the camera.

   "It's really good, really good." Ronald felt that Alan Rickman spoke German in the style he wanted Sigourney Weaver to speak in "Working Girl." Evidently highly educated, he speaks eloquently, with a smooth tone and an aristocratic accent.

  The director stopped the shooting, and changed the angle of the next scene to turn on the lights and shoot the front and back. The crew rested in place for two hours.

Ronald went up and hugged Alan Rickman, "Very good, very good, your German is admirable, it seems to be the tone spoken by a German nobleman. If you still have filming, I would like to invite you Go teach my heroine."

"Actually, I only studied German for one semester in middle school. I just asked the actor who played my younger brother to copy down the lines I wanted to say, and I said them by heart." Alan Rickman was very happy to share with Ronald chat. This movie looks very interesting, maybe I can really break into Hollywood.

   "Huh? That's even more surprising." Ronald didn't expect Rickman to learn on the spot, and he could speak so that he, who doesn't understand German, could feel the character of the character. This acting skill is really strong.

"What are you talking about? Are you discussing **** John McClane?" Ronald began to guess the meaning of the lines, just like the audience watching the movie at that time, although they couldn't understand, they could guess the general meaning .

   "Haha, that guy said that the ice cream provided by the crew tastes good." Alan Rickman laughed.

  Director John McTiernan didn't rely entirely on the script when he was filming. According to the situation on the spot, he often writes the script impromptu, and after the scene is modified, the actors will perform it. This is also one of the reasons for the slowdown of the shooting. The actors did not familiarize themselves with the lines and the plot one night in advance.

   "What?" Ronald frowned, are you all talking nonsense in German?

   "Yes, they are all meaningless words. The director said that the audience would not understand them anyway. They are all meaningless lines."

   "Joel...Joel...", Ronald feels so bad, he feels like waving producer Silver over.

   "What's the matter? What's the matter?" Joel Silver was chatting with the crew and was summoned by Ronald. Seeing the expression on his face, he knew he was serious, and immediately became serious.

"John McTiernan..." Ronald felt something wrong and closed his mouth again, "Let's go to the office and talk about it." On the shooting scene, the producer must respect and protect the director's authority, and if he curses, he must find a job Scolding out of earshot of personnel and actors.

"McTiernan, this SOB, this bitch, this mentally retarded...Why did he let the actors make up German? Just a few lines of dialogue, can't you find someone who understands German to write it?" Ronald was furious, facing Joel Silver just scolded, and focused his firepower on the director.

"Ronald, are you being too sensitive? Only a few percent of the audience in America can understand German. Anyway, they can roughly guess from the expressions of the actors and discuss how to proceed. This is a commercial film, and the details require It doesn't need to be so high."

  Joel Silver looked at Ronald and wondered if it was the sequelae of his attention to detail in pursuit of an Oscar? In fact, commercial films mainly have star beauties, hot action, and other things are almost enough.

"You..." Ronald was so angry that he put the mineral water heavily on the table, "Let me ask you, when you watched the sample, did you think the quality of this movie was good? We hope to make a lot of money?" Ronald ask.

"Of course, although it is unlikely to be nominated for an award, judging from the samples shot now, this is a new type of action film that is completely different from Stallone's action films in the past. I like this film very much..." Joel Seale Fern looked at Ronald with a confused look on his face, as if he wanted to say something.

"Then tell me, Joel. Do you want to make big money, or make more money?" Ronald saw that the other party hadn't reacted yet, "It's more money, right? Of course, the audience in the North American market is not too big." I care, but I want to make more money, we want to sell the movie to Europe, how can those audiences not understand that the actor is talking about eating ice cream, or the nonsense that he doesn't even speak German?"

   "This..." Joel Silver touched his fat chin, this was something he didn't expect.

"It was also stated in the script before that these gangsters are all German. Germans can't speak German? Isn't that a low-budget exploitation film? It looks bad... and it is sold to TV stations? How do they subtitle it? Yes, current movies and videotapes earn a lot of money, those viewers can buy them home and watch them over and over again, don’t they know that those few lines are talking nonsense?”

   "Fuck, McTiernan is an idiot", Joel Silver also responded. Both he and the director are too used to making movies for domestic audiences. This kind of small details may not have been important before, but this kind of movie with the potential to be a big hit movie must take into account the problems of European audiences.

   "Ronald, you saved me again. I'll get him to do it again."

   “You have to rewrite the German dialogue and have someone translate it into German, real German” Joel Silver announced the decision.

"Hey, Ronald, is it necessary? Who cares about the small details of this kind of conversation for a few seconds?" Director John McTiernan was called in, and after hearing what Joel Silver said, he Not too convinced. This kind of small detail must be the idea of ​​today's newcomer Ronald.

"This is the final decision of the two of us. It's really not a big deal, right?" Ronald looked at him. He knew that the director put all his energy on the action scenes, and he wouldn't say anything to this kind of film critic. The part of good words was casually let go.

   "Okay, okay...fucking..." McTiernan felt that he was wasting time and went out cursing.

   "You **** know shit." Joel Silver cursed from behind and slammed the door shut. He turned to Ronald "We have to let him play before the filming is over..."

   "Hurry up on the sample, and don't make such low-level mistakes again." Ronald nodded in agreement. McTiernan focused on the action scenes, which is also a good thing in turn. To be successful, people in key positions must also benefit greatly from the project. Small places he can tolerate McTiernan.

  However, this will affect the box office in Germany and Northern Europe, and even the sales of video tapes in the future, so there is no need to discuss it.

  (end of this chapter)