Exploiting Hollywood 1980

  Chapter 953 Weintraub's Generosity

   "Ronald, can you go and see Jerry? I feel that he is in a bad situation now, and he doesn't smile every day. I think an old friend like you can bring him a little joy."

   The one who called Ronald was Susan Akins, the production assistant of "Longwei Kid".

   Ronald called through Richard and was picked up by Susan, the secretary of producer Weintraub. But Weintraub's work has been very busy recently, and he has been under a lot of pressure, and he has no interest in calling Ronald, who is now in full swing.

  If it was an ordinary secretary, Susan would definitely not call back. But as a lover approved by Weintraub's real wife Jane Morgan, Susan still called Ronald who made Weintraub successful in Hollywood.

   "I came to him to ask about the situation of the third part of Longwei Boy. Some friends in Dongying are very concerned about whether there will be a follow-up to this series of movies." Ronald said his purpose of coming.

"Of course, we are very interested, why not? The two leading actors, Ralph Mazio and Morita Noryuki, have not had any successful works recently, and they all hope to open another Longwei Boy. If it is If you say it, I think Jerry will take it very seriously." Susan Akins almost begged Ronald to go to Weintraub Productions on the phone.

  Recalling the filming of Long Wei Kid, Susan Akins firmly stood by her side and told Michael Cimino, who wanted to grab the director's position, to get out. I couldn't help but feel softer, and I agreed to come down to meet my old friend.

"Aha, Ronald. Nice to meet you..." Weintraub didn't look as bad as Susan said, he greeted with energy, shook hands and hugged vigorously, and was the boss of a mid-sized Hollywood studio. appearance.

  But Ronald still saw a little clue from his frown from time to time. The old friend Weintraub's hair has turned gray a lot, and he feels tired when he doesn't speak. No wonder Susan is worried.

"Is this your office? It's really big. I think I can play baseball in it." Ronald was still shocked when he saw Weintraub's big office. The entertainment tycoon's office had two walls. There are densely packed movie posters on it. It doesn't look like a company he founded last year, but a 50-year-old studio.

"Come and see, this is the film library I bought for a lot of money." Weintraub saw that Ronald did not put on airs, but instead showed a strong interest in his achievements over the past two years, and he was suddenly afraid. The state of mind is relieved to see acquaintances.

  He patted Ronald on the shoulder, and took Ronald to visit his movie library just like when the two worked closely together.

  Susan Eakins next to him let out a long breath. Sure enough, in Hollywood, where everyone wants to take advantage of others, only Ronald, a non-Jewish director who has witnessed the rise of Weintraub, has some common language with Jerry, which can remind him of his filming days. When Long Wei was a boy, it turned out that there was still a happy mood in making a movie. .

  "Murder on the Orient Express", "Tragedy on the Nile"... Ronald looked at the posters one by one, and there are many famous movies adapted from Detective Poirot.

   "I remember it being a Britannia film?" Ronald asked Weintraub, Agatha's novel, Britons were in no way willing to let Hollywood dominate. Therefore, most of the actors in it are British actors.

"How is it?" Weintraub looked at Ronald intently at the poster, thinking that he was envious of his film library, "This can be said to be the biggest achievement of my Weintraub production company since its establishment. .. over 2,000 EMI releases that I bought from those two Israeli bumpkins from Cannon."

   "So they bought it from the Britons..." Ronald nodded, and after Minahan Golan received 400 million in financing, he bought a star theater chain in Britain and the film library of the established film distribution company EMI in one go.

Last year, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates and the financing channels for junk bonds were cut off. In addition, the company’s stock price fell due to the stock market crash, and it also encountered Cannon Investment’s “Superman 4” box office smash. The verge of suffocation.

  Later, it was Minahan’s cousin Yoram, who brought in the investment from the EMI Company of the Hair Country, and managed to stabilize the situation. This is why Minahan faded out of the management after that-film companies are not managed by feelings, but by making solid money.

  However, there was news that Cannon was investigated by the China Securities Regulatory Commission last year. I heard Nisita said that because of building a building by himself and shooting large-scale movies without restraint, the financial hole is quite large. It can be stabilized this year, and the industry still recognizes Yoram's financial management ability.

   "Did you buy it when their finances were unstable? This is really a good deal. How much did it cost?" Ronald complimented. As he looked at the poster, he thought, no wonder the Cannon was steady, and it turned out that he sold the most valuable film library to Weintraub.

  Although the overall quality of this film library is not very high, there are high-quality goods in it, and the copyright of the Poirot Detective series is very valuable. This not only means that Weintraub can sell videotapes in the future, but also has the power to remake. Each of these best-selling novels with a wide readership is of great value.

  In addition to the Poirot series, EMI also has the Beatles-invested spoof film "Magic Star", the classic grand-rogue film "Italian Mission", and the film adaptation of the sequel "Four Musketeers" of the Three Musketeers.

   Weintraub is worthy of being a Jew, taking advantage of Minahan and the others’ distress, he took advantage of this kind of film library that rarely had a chance to be sold.

   "It cost me $85 million..."

   "Huh?" Ronald looked back at Weintraub, the price is not cheap!

"In Hollywood, you don't have some high-quality assets, and the stars are unwilling to believe in your strength. They always have delusions of persecution. It seems that a newly established studio like ours looks for them because of their name. Selling **** movies."

   Weintraub showed a hint of disdain mixed with helplessness. Relying on the big sales of two "Longwei Boys" like him, he established a company named after himself. In Hollywood circles, he is still an upstart.

  He is not like Ronald's daydream, it is the production company established by the director himself. Seeing that it was Ronald's company that sent out the invitation, the stars always had a rough estimate of the basic level of the movie. It was impossible for Ronald to let the lower limit of the movie be too low.

  Weintraub's movie is a hit, who knows if he was lucky enough to find a director genius like Ronald? You see, he left Ronald, didn't he make a good movie?

  In Hollywood, a place where no one knows the secret of success, Weintraub's company actually has a relatively low status. In this way, he can only declare to everyone in the industry by purchasing high-quality assets that he can see that I am playing for real, not a leather bag company.

   "Do you think the price is too expensive? Actually, in my opinion, I actually took advantage of it." Weintraub said this passage very skillfully.

"With this film library, I immediately got a heavyweight film adaptation project. Last year I won the film adaptation rights of the legendary Argentine president's wife, the Broadway musical 'Evita'. I approached Ole Written and directed by Ver Stone, with Meryl Streep playing Mrs. Peron, it was only delayed for scheduling reasons...”

   "Oh..." Ronald thought, I still want Streep to play Catherine in Girls. He is going to Australia to make a movie, even if he has a schedule, he must cooperate with me first, right? Oliver Stone is also preparing for a new Vietnam War movie with Tom Cruise, and Tom is about to go to that project after filming Rain Man.

   "It's a pity that the screenwriters' union went on strike again, and this project will be postponed, but I am very confident that this will be a very good movie."

   "Can Streep sing?" Ronald thought to himself, this famous Broadway play has a lot of solo excerpts, "Argentina don't cry for me..."

   "This guy may be fooling..." Looking at Weintraub's very skillful set of things, Ronald really felt that his situation was not good.

"I have a lot of big projects now, all of which are delayed by the strike... The first film released by my company will be released in the summer of August this year. I can only buy films made by others from Europe. This film is a Director Mao Guo's debut film, The Big Blue (The Big Blue), tells the story of people and dolphins."

   "Yeah, now I'm also on strike and have no new scripts to shoot. It's very troublesome." Ronald agreed, and the screenwriters went on strike, so that all practitioners were out of work.

"Then I'm a little better than you, I managed to get a good script before I went on strike, romantic comedy, 'My Stepmother Is an Alien'. Got popular comedy star Dan Aykroyd. My company The full investment, a total of 26 million. Now I go to the set every day to see, our real debut is about to be born."

   "Who is the heroine?" Ronald asked casually. Romantic comedies rely entirely on the chemical reaction of the hero and heroine. Dan Aykroyd, in the top-grossing "Ghostbusters," wasn't the love interest of the three leading men either.

   "Kim Basinger..." Weintraub revealed the answer. He likes to keep a secret here and see the expressions on the faces of the guests.

   "Who?" Ronald was really surprised. This is the hottest **** star in Hollywood right now. Ever since he filmed the movie "Love You for Nine and a Half Weeks", which has hints of special behavior, it has become popular all over the world. Everyone wants to buy a video and take it home to enjoy.

  However, a **** actress like her can only be matched with a handsome guy like Mickey Rourke, the leading actor in Love You for Nine and a Half Weeks. An honest comedian like Dan Aykroyd seems unable to suppress the aura of such a gorgeous stunner.

   "Hahaha, they are filming on the beach right now, shall we go and have a look? I'll make a call and make arrangements." Weintraub said as he was about to make arrangements.

  Ronald was about to decline, but Susan Eakins was making a gesture of begging again.

   When Weintraub went to call, Susan and Ronald told the truth.

   Of the 85 million li purchased from the EMI film library, 50 million was borrowed from banks. After the stock market crash, financial institutions had doubts about the valuation of the film library sold by Cannon, so Weintraub was under great pressure. He had to use this big star production to give his company a head start. Only in this way will the banks and the industry truly recognize him.

  …

  Seeing Weintraub's warm invitation, Susan asked Ekins to agree, and of course Ronald also wanted to meet Kim Basinger, a popular **** star. It's like when all directors wanted to work with Marilyn Monroe, now Basinger is the new Monroe.

  The spring sunshine in California was also very good. Ronald got into Weintraub's luxury car, and the two chatted about the third part of Longwei Boys in the car.

   "I didn't hurry up to shoot the third part, partly because I didn't want to do it much without you." Weintraub was asked about the sequel of this series, first giving Ronald a flattery.

"The other two reasons, you know, Ralph Mazio, and Morita Noryu didn't want to shoot this kind of childish commercial film, so they both tried other types of roles. But it seems that the results are not good. how good..."

  Ronald smiled. Generally speaking, Hollywood trilogy is like this. The first film becomes famous, the actors become famous, and the studio makes money. The lead actor in the second film increased his salary and continued to make money, but the studio's profits were eaten up by the salary. The stars of the third film demanded exorbitant remuneration, and the best result is that the studio does not make money after working hard for a while.

   Weintraub obviously didn't want to do this. He suspended the project just to wait and see. The two leading actors bumped into walls everywhere before accepting the third part at a more reasonable price.

"So, apart from your Japanese friend, do you want to see the third part? Are you interested in continuing to direct?" Weintraub didn't know who the so-called Japanese friend was, and he didn't know if there was such a person, did he? Ronald made it up, because the script was scarce and he came to cooperate.

   "To be honest, I think the plot will be difficult. The story that should be told, the first two have been finished..." Ronald really felt that he could not make any more stories about Daniel LaRusso.

   "Besides, it's 1988, and the filming of the project will be in 1989 at the earliest. Ralph Mazio is already twenty-seven. Why do you go back to filming a seventeen-year-old film?"

   "That's right, what do you mean?"

"Let me declare first, I am not giving you ideas as a screenwriter..." Ronald joked first, he is also a member of the screenwriters union, this kind of remarks are limited to Ronald and Weintraub, Susan It is enough for the three of them to know.

"I have some cooperation with Jackie Chan of Xiangjiang. I think it's better to upgrade the plot and film the story of Goju-ryu karate when it was first created. There is a team in Xiangjiang, which can shoot the movements beautifully by hanging wires... so Lal Husband and Morita, playing the self hundreds of years ago, there is no problem with being older."

   "I think about it, it is true that Jackie Chan movie, many people in Hollywood want to introduce a remake..."

  The three chatted enthusiastically, the car had already arrived at the beach where filming was taking place, and everyone was preparing for the evening scene.

   This movie is a romantic comedy dressed in science fiction, and Kim Basinger plays Celeste, who is transformed from an alien. In order to have some sci-fi feel, director Richard Benjamin decisively copied Cameron's bridge in "Terminator", and let Basinger appear on the beach like Schwarzenegger.

   But it was unfortunate that Ronald came, and it seemed that there was a problem with Kim Basinger and the director. Basinger declined to be in the **** scene, and she hid in the trailer, not communicating with anyone.

   Weintraub knocked on the door awkwardly, trying to solve the problem. Ronald knew very well that this was a celebrity playing big names. After Kim Basinger made a pornographic film, the last thing she wanted to do was to shoot such a role again and stereotyped herself.

   So on the one hand, relying on the gorgeous image in "Love You for Nine and a Half Weeks", she charged a very high salary among female stars, and made a lot of money by making several movies in a row. On the other hand, he refused to perform any outrageous scenes on the screen again.

  Ronald had no choice but to pretend not to see this embarrassing scene, and put on sunglasses to watch the scene.

  Director Richard Benjamin was originally an actor. In the 1980s, he made many small-budget productions and TV series. It seems that Weintraub also wanted to repeat the miracle of Ronald on him.

  But the female star of "My Stepmother Is an Alien" is too big, and Richard Benjamin, who has just made a big production, tends to be unable to win.

   "Ronald, is it really you?" While watching the scenery, a little actor came over and recognized Ronald.

   "Seth?" Ronald vaguely remembered that this was when the film "Love Is Not For Sale" invested by Bannon was filmed. A young actor in the crew, who played the heroine Amanda Peterson's classmate, had a lot of roles.

"Yes, it's me, Seth Green." The little actor was happy to see an acquaintance, "Let me introduce you, this is Alyson Hannigan who played my girlfriend in the movie. In fact, she is the protagonist, Playing Dan (Aykroyd) and Kim (Basinger)'s daughter."

"Ah... it's Ronald, you are my favorite director. Longwei boy is very good-looking, we all want to be Elle." daughter.

   "Hahaha, then you should act well. Mr. Weintraub is the producer of Longwei Boy." Ronald chatted with the two young actors with a smile.

   While chatting, Weintraub and Susan stepped out of Kim Basinger's trailer, with Basinger behind them being helped out by a man wearing glasses.

   "Who is that?" Ronald saw that the matter seemed to be resolved, and couldn't help but look at the person who seemed to be Kim Basinger's boyfriend.

   "That's Jon Peters, who's been visiting the class a lot lately."

   "The Peters of Guber-Peters?" Ronald frowned after getting confirmation from the young actor. This Hollywood producer who was born as a hair stylist has always been very good at pleasing female stars.

   It seems that this time and Kim Basinger will not have a chance to get to know each other deeply, Ronald thought.

   "This is Ronald, Ronald Lee. This is Jon from Guber-Peters Company, this one needs no introduction..." Weintraub saw Ronald and came up to introduce them to each other.

   "Of course, Elizabeth, who has loved you for nine and a half weeks, needs no introduction. I heard Adrian Lane (the director of loving you for nine and a half weeks) talk about you, and he said you did a great job."

   Ronald stepped forward to greet them, and offered to extend his hand.

   When it was Kim Basinger's turn, Ronald found that the other party did not take his hand.

   "What's wrong with you? Miss Basinger?" Ronald looked at Kim Basinger, who was pale and seemed to be sweating coldly.

   "Ah..." Kim Basinger yelled, threw off the support of Jon Peters, turned around and fled into the trailer.

   "Huh?" Ronald asked with question marks all over his face, "Did I say something wrong?"

  (end of this chapter)