Exploiting Hollywood 1980

  Chapter 959 Back to the Future is about to make a sequel

  Nisita and Paula hurried back to the phone to find out more about Gene Hackman. The situation is not optimistic. This actor who has no box office appeal, everything is going well this year. It is the time when he is full of ambition and feels that he can do anything.

On the one hand, he participated in the piece "Burning Mississippi" directed by Alan Parker, which tells about the conservative and backward Mississippi (a state with the lowest per capita income) in 1964 during the civil rights movement. Three black volunteers in the civil rights movement , the story of being murdered by the remnants of the Ku Klux Klan. He plays a top FBI agent trying to uncover the truth.

  British director Alan Parker is still old-fashioned, turning a blind eye to the stinky things in his own country, and taking pleasure in exposing racial discrimination in America every day. In fact, in their country, class conflicts are much more acute.

  Not to mention anything else, let’s just talk about the business of acting. In Britain, it used to be only those gentlemen who graduated from aristocratic public schools and Oxford and Cambridge, and spoke with a West End accent. Peter O'Toole, Laurence Oliver and others are all like this.

A few actors who are not of the same type, such as Michael Caine, who was born in the slums of the East End, deliberately retained the "Cockney" accent of the East End and manual workers, in order to inspire later working-class actors. You can be successful yourself.

  However, let alone those actors in Hollywood still like this set of scenes that expose the dark side. The Burning Mississippi was invested and released by "Orion Pictures", which has a strong ability to win Oscars. It is estimated that next year's Oscars will also be a strong contender.

  But in terms of audience box office, this kind of movie is much weaker. Only by winning the Oscar can it arouse the audience's interest and enter the movie theater. It is the opposite of Ronald's "Working Girl" that puts meeting the needs of the audience before winning the award.

  But Gene Hackman's face really doesn't have the ability or necessity to attract the audience. He doesn't have any hope for this, he just wants to win the actor's statuette again, add honor to his acting career, and join the ranks of those actors who have won two statuettes in history.

  However, this ordinary-looking actor has won the favor of Miss Arakawa, who is of Japanese descent. He has not yet divorced his first wife, and the two have already lived together, which makes Hackman's ego (Ego) inflated again. The old man always seems to be omnipotent in front of his little girlfriend.

  After returning to Los Angeles, Ronald and Nisita talked behind closed doors for two hours. He didn't say it, but Nisita could see that his client was upset. Not to mention the continuous production of high-grossing movies, this time he has already been nominated for best director, and he is still underestimated as a young man. Ronald must be very upset.

  The first priority of a broker is to find a way to satisfy the client's wishes. Nisita encouraged Ronald to continue to invest resources in "The Silence of the Lambs". Even if he couldn't get the movie, at least he would mess up Hackman's wishful thinking.

   They still have time to wait for the project to change. After all, no screenwriter dared to commit a crime against the wind and secretly adapted it into a script. And this kind of best-selling novel, which cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to acquire the adaptation rights, must be a big star to ensure profitability.

  After all, no matter who is starring Hannibal and Clarice, at least one of the two protagonists must be a star in order to arouse the audience's desire to go to the cinema to watch. Ronald didn't believe that an outdated actor like Hackman could really decide the fate of this popular adaptation alone.

  …

  Walter Murch has almost finished tweaking the final details of "Working Girl". Ronald and he watched the entire copy, feeling very excited. The final assembly of the master has put a lot of thought into the details. The rhythm of the whole movie is much better. Every time the camera is shifted, it takes special care of the focus of thinking in the audience's mind.

  For example, after Tess saw her boyfriend having an affair, she wandered around the ferry pier on Staten Island in distress, staring at the Manhattan skyscrapers across from the pier. The next shot cuts to her sitting in her office, changing into a manager's attire, preparing to pose as Catherine's colleague for her final adventure.

But there are some problems with this switch. The audience was still worried about Tess’s experience, but suddenly switched to the office, and Tess changed her outfit again. Audiences who are used to watching Hollywood commercial films will have a kind of time that has passed for several years. Tess had the illusion of climbing to a high position as she wished.

  Murch is a master of intuition in this kind of place. He keenly discovered the problem, and here he inserts a shot of the ferry docked by Ronald from aerial photography. This scene coincides with Tess's experience at the beginning, and it evokes the audience's memories. They knew that Tess was just taking the ferry to work, and the time on the screen did not suddenly speed up.

  Adjustments like these make the audience less likely to have a show when they watch. The whole movie plays smoothly, with multiple climaxes echoing back and forth, presumably they don't have much chance to go to the bathroom.

   "After your adjustments, this film has some Lubitsch touches." Ronald applauded, thanking Walter Murch who was sitting next to him.

  Lubitsch is a very special Hollywood director. At that time, everyone made movies, but no one could make the audience like his films as much as he did. It was immediately known that it was Lubitsch's work.

In the words of his apprentice Billy Wilder, he always does not tell you the result directly, but uses a plot twist to let the audience find out the answer that the remaining 20% ​​of the movie does not directly express .

  For example, Billy Wilder once explained to Cameron Crowe that he wanted to shoot a husband who had a cold relationship with his wife and was bothered. The screenwriter wrote four pages to show the plot, and Lubitsch tore up the script, only ordering a top hat for the husband.

  The husband and his wife didn’t take off their hats when they got into the elevator together (this was the understanding at the time, men should take off their hats to show respect when they meet a lady. But when they reached the upper floor, when a blonde beauty walked in, the man immediately took off his hat to pay tribute.

This plot was perfectly borrowed by Billy Wilder in his own movie "Peach Apartment". The elevator lady played by Shirley Maclean used a makeup mirror that she carried with her in the elevator. The actor Baxter, played by Jack Lemmon, went from having a crush on each other to discovering the truth that the elevator lady is his boss' lover.

"I got your check this time, and my second child's college tuition is almost paid off. When I solve my family's financial problems, I can do something I want to do." Walter Murch took Ronald The check, which was issued at twice the usual price, flicked into his pocket.

   "Don't you still have the third and fourth child?" Ronald laughed. Murch's film and sound editing are both Oscar-nominated, and he saves a lot of trouble on his own. Giving more has also been rewarded. What Murch gave him was not work, but a masterpiece completed with the attitude of an artist.

   I called people from 20th Century Fox, and they agreed to arrange a trial screening. Ronald continued his leave of absence.

   "Hi, Ronald. Nice to meet you."

  Ronald came to the office of "Back to the Yin-Yang Realm". The director Emile has basically confirmed all the actors. In the end, the role of Sybill Shepard's daughter, Robert Downey Jr.'s girlfriend, was given to Mary Stuart Masterson according to Emile's idea.

  Masterson is the project of John Hughes "some kind of wonderful", the actress who helped Eric Stoltz pursue Banhuali Thompson, and finally became a pair with his childhood sweetheart neighbor.

   She still has short hair, now dyed blonde. An actress with a very strange spirit all over her body. Among the typical girls in America, this kind of actress who looks like a tomboy but has a gentle and sensitive heart is rare.

  Masterson was deeply impressed by the fact that Howard Deutch was able to keep the director's position, and Eric Stoltz was not the key figure who was replaced by another actor after "Back to the Future".

   Now that he has been working in Hollywood for several years, Masterson has gradually realized that there are very few directors who can give actors a little extra chance. So seeing Ronald coming, I was in a bright mood.

"Aha, Mary, it's nice to meet you. How long have we not seen each other? Haven't seen each other since the film was released in 1987?" Ronald hugged her happily. This actor is already 22 years old. , can also play an 18-year-old girl, which is rare among white Americans.

   "How are our old friends?" Ronald asked about the actors in "Fantastic". Lee Thompson played Lucas's Howard the Duck and fell apart after becoming a box office bomb, Eric Stoltz missed Back to the Future, and director Howard Deutch was almost cut off by John Hughes...

  A group of frustrated people, gathered together to shoot "It's Wonderful", only got a small success, and it didn't bring them good luck afterwards.

   “Lee (Thompson) and Howard (Dutch) were dating, and they got to know each other when the movie was announced. Howard had a better career than Lea, directing a comedy starring John Candy.

   Eric is still the same, I haven't seen him for a long time. What about me, it may be time to turn around now, the last time I saw you in the crew, I kept the leading role. "

   Now Masterson is not the little girl who just entered the industry back then, and she will also have a relationship with Ronald Lara.

   "Li doesn't have to worry about her stardom," Ronald said with a smile, "As long as she goes back to the future and makes a sequel, she will be on the female star list again."

   "Will it? Will there be a sequel?" Masterson is also a fan of Back to the Future.

"It's possible, I've heard it's possible. Now that the writers are on strike, Michael J. Fox's evergreen TV series may end. I heard Steven (Spielberg) mention it, saying that Zemeckis The director may let go and come back to make a sequel."

   What Ronald was talking about was the shooting of Zemeckis' new film "Who Framed Roger Rabbit". This movie is also a movie that combines live action and animation. The idea is a good idea, but when it is realized, the technical difficulty far exceeds expectations.

  Spielberg's Ann Bolin and Touchstone Films all participated in the production, and Disney had to add an additional shooting budget of nearly 30 million, and the total budget reached a little over 45 million. It is the most expensive movie in recent years.

Moreover, Disney has also licensed "Bugs Bunny", "Daffy Duck", "Little Pig" and other famous animation characters to appear in the movie for free. If these copyright fees are included, the production cost will exceed 50 million. Stunningly expensive.

  Even the chairman of Disney, Eisner, had a hard time on the board of directors.

   Now inside Hollywood, this movie is called "Robert Rabbit", which is compared with Lucas' Waterloo, the movie "Howard Duck" which combines live action and animation. A lot of people started on Zemeckis, and put big money on it. Amblin's Spielberg had doubts.

  Under the pressure to pay back, Zemeckis had no choice but to put away his arrogance and began to let go of his mouth to shoot the sequel of the blockbuster movie Back to the Future.

"Oh, that's great, Leigh is doing B-movies these days, and her new one is called 'Sex on the Scene', which isn't great anyway. She's my idol, and I hope she can be better than her boyfriend Dutch also needs big-name stars."

  Masterson still retained some innocence, so Ronald liked her very much, had lunch with her, and cared about Masterson's career development. There are not many suitable roles for actors with such temperament in Hollywood.

  Ronald opened up the way of acting as an actress and produced some movies with female stars as the central role. In the eyes of these female stars, he is undoubtedly the best film director.

  Recalling the Canadian Gang actors whom he hadn't seen for a long time, John Candy, and Michael J. Fox, Ronald asked Richard to contact them again and prepare to reunite with them.

  Because of the impact of the strike, the two Canadian stars were very free, and soon found time to have a party with Ronald.

   "Ronald...this is my girlfriend, Tracy." Michael J. Fox walked into the party venue with a very delicate **** his arm. She was Tracy Pollan, a friend of Fox's character Alex in "Family Ties."

   "Oh...isn't it Lauren? Alex's audience is going to be disappointed." Ronald joked. In the TV series "Family Ties", the audience's favorite is the eldest son Alex played by Michael J. Fox.

  This TV series has been on show since 1982, and the characters have all grown up. Fox's character has also reached the age of starting a family, and Allen, played by Tracy Pollan in the TV series, is a potential girlfriend candidate for Alex. However, when the fifth season ended last year, her role began to fade.

   Another actress, Courteney Cox, played Lauren, which is becoming more and more popular with the audience, and she has played more and more time.

  However, in real life, Fox’s taste is just the opposite. He prefers to compare Tracy Pollan. Last year, the two co-starred in a movie, and officially started dating. The progress is very fast. This year, they are already preparing for the wedding.

   "Hahaha..." Tracy Pollan also covered her mouth with a smile, and Ronald was not the first friend to say this.

  Just at this time, a loud noise came from the door. Everyone saw that it was the fat actor John Candy, who arrived with a large family.

   "Ronald, this is my wife Rosemary, this is my son Chris, and my daughter Jennifer."

  Candy has been out with the whole family recently. He just finished filming The Great Outdoors (The Great Outdoors), which was directed by Howard Deutch. The whole process was filmed in Yosemite National Park, and it was very hard to part with his family for several months.

   "Hahaha, it's fun to come to my place, there are Nintendo game consoles there", Ronald hugged Candy's son and daughter, one in each hand, and sent them in to play.

   "This is salmon from the West Coast, and this is butter crisp made from Canadian maple syrup... There are also many Japanese and Hawaiian dishes." Ronald, who settled the child, came out to chat with the two big stars.

  They may not care about it themselves, but the wives all pay attention to healthy eating. The chef hired by Ronald happens to be good at fusion dishes, some Canadian flavors, more Hawaiian, Japanese, and Thai dishes.

   "Wait, I got a friend. My partner in the movie."

  John Candy didn't open the beer, but asked everyone to wait. This actress is a number of high-level studio executives who have a strong relationship. They all greeted through their agent and asked him to bring Ronald to the party, especially to introduce him to Ronald.

   "John?" A delicate voice came from outside.

   "Here she comes..." John Candy waved to the outside, "Annette, here."

   "Who is this?" Ronald looked at the person, obviously an actor's temperament, but he hadn't seen any movies she acted in.

   "Let me introduce to you, Annette Bening, I met in the movie Wilderness Attack, a very good actress. By the way, she also lives in New York and has been performing on Broadway."

   "Hello", Ronald looked at Bening who was a little mellow. This woman has a good temperament. Being a Broadway actress is a waste.

   "I'll help you", Annette Bening was familiar with herself, took the plate and cup from Ronald's hand, and served as a waiter for everyone. It seems that she also worked part-time as a restaurant waiter before, and Annette Bening quickly took care of everyone in an orderly manner.

  She was not as eager as the young actresses. She usually stood by and listened quietly to Ronald, Fox, and Candy chatting.

   “I recently went back to Toronto with my family, just in time for the football playoffs, which aren’t as lucrative as America’s, but more exciting.”

   Ronald looked at Candy telling his fan story, and smiled. The three first became acquainted with each other by watching the playoffs of the San Francisco 49ers.

  He turned his eyes just in time to see Annette Bening smiling and looking over.

   "Another salmon sandwich?"

   "Oh, thank you." Ronald took the sandwich and ate it, feeling very comfortable being taken care of by a mature woman. Can't help but look at Benin twice.

   "I read in a magazine that this kind of food is very good for a man's energy." Annette Bening's eyes fluttered, and she suddenly changed from a virtuous woman who knows both cold and hot, to a **** and flirtatious girl.

   "Well... the taste is very good." Ronald put his hand on Bening's waist, and then continued to chat with John Candy, "You are so fanatical about your hometown team, you can consider buying it and becoming the owner."

   "This is not the NFL, don't make fun of me, I can really afford it." Candy laughed.

   "Hahaha..." Annette Bening laughed freely, letting go of her whole body, and the muscle vibrations from her waist along with the laughter also made Ronald feel full of energy.

  (end of this chapter)