Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1070 Premiere of Love to the Depths
"What does the Daily News need to keep my name out?" Ronald asked Douglas Jr. on the phone.

"This tabloid has no morals. They don't know where they learned that you were also one of the victims that day. As long as you can spend money on an advertisement, their editorial department will obediently submit..." Douglas said in New Jersey Help Ronald coordinate.

Richard and their media relations on the east coast are in New York, and they are not very familiar with this New Jersey tabloid.Ronald, who was at a loss, was finally reminded by his public relations consultant Michael Gray that he remembered Thomas Stephenson Jr., the Shaodong of the Hollywood theater chain with whom he had business cooperation.

The cinema Shaodong was familiar with the Daily News headquartered in New Jersey because of advertising.Unlike big newspapers such as the New York Times and Washington Post, which are more professional, they have a smaller layout and like to report lace news.

Although they are tabloids, their circulation in New York is not small.At its peak, it reached No. 11 in the United States.When the newspaper industry went on strike in [-], they were sold by their parent company, the Chicago Herald-Tribune Group.After being independent, the financial situation of the newspaper has not been very good, so it has become even more unscrupulous. From time to time, it will step on the line and do this kind of thing that uses editorial articles to threaten to exchange advertisements.

"How did they do this?" Ronald rubbed his head, "How much is the asking price?" It seems that he was unlucky, someone leaked the NYPD information to them, and he was blackmailed by the opportunity.It is inevitable to spend money to eliminate disasters first.

"They want fifty thousand dollars..." Douglas Jr. quoted a ridiculously low price.It seems that they really didn't have the money to print, so they messed around, rather than staring at Ronald specifically to blackmail.

"Well, just in time for my new movie 'Into the Deep' to come out, I asked the marketing department to move a little over from the New York Times..."

Seeing that Ronald was so forthright, the editor-in-chief of the other party, James Wells, hurriedly called to apologize, "Mr. Li, we have no intention of reporting your involvement in the jogging case in Central Park, but the financial situation of the newspaper is difficult, and we have to Play around the edges to attract more advertisers."

"Aren't you successful now? My movie is just released, let your film review department say more good things..." Ronald half-criticized and half-jokingly replied to this violation of journalistic ethics.

"Your magnanimity makes me very ashamed... This is the news we got back from our resident reporter at the Southern District Police Department in Manhattan. I didn't proofread it carefully..." James Wells is a veteran reporter, Columbia University News After graduating from the department, he worked as a reporter for the Associated Press. He came to the Daily News in [-] and was soon promoted to editor-in-chief.

Ronald's impression of this polite reporter was not bad, and if one was ashamed, it wouldn't be too bad.James Wells talked about the dilemma they faced. In order to compete with News Daily, the former general manager lowered the price of the newspaper and increased the circulation, but failed to win many advertisers. The newspaper was already poor. I can't even afford the cost of printing.

"May I ask, why does your newspaper report my news? Especially on the premise that my lawyer has applied for an injunction order to prevent my name from being leaked..." Ronald said to this idealistic Ivy League graduates use this moral requirement to question each other, and the effect is good.

"I apologize again, but I can't name our news sources..."

"Then let me ask another question. What is your resident reporter's attitude towards the violence in Central Park?"

"This is the foundation of our paper. We began by reporting crimes in New York as they were. . . . "

It turned out that this was a conservative newspaper, but the reporter who got Ronald's name was a black man, and he was very well informed. He has informants in the NYPD and many underground organizations in Manhattan.

In the honor of the editor-in-chief, James Wells has repeatedly promised that similar behavior will not occur again in the future.The two agreed that when Ronald returned to New York, he would visit and apologize in person.

"Are they black? What are they doing?" Ronald couldn't figure out the details, so he entrusted his personal lawyer, Lindsay Dole, to conduct a corresponding investigation.

……

"You want Michelle Pfeiffer to play FBI agent Starling?" Ronald met Jonathan Demme, a senior at Coleman University.The other party praised the script greatly and praised Ronald's sharp vision.He was very interested, and immediately began to discuss casting with Ronald.

"Why not Jodie Foster?" Ronald still wanted to choose the heroine of his dream.

"She just won the best actress, and I'm afraid she won't take this kind of role now. And Michelle Pfeiffer was just affected by the scandal, and she needs a movie to make the audience forget the bad memories. In addition, I have worked with Pfeiffer , her acting skills and appearance are more suitable for this role..." Jonathan Demme certainly has his own views on casting.

"Then who do you want as the leading actor?" Ronald has great trust in Demi's ability. He can shoot works like "Shotgun Lulu" with a few million dollars, and he also taught himself the acting skills of actors. There are many, and it may be okay to change people.

"Jack Nicholson...he is the most suitable for this kind of evil character with a calm appearance and a wild heart."

"Having vision..." Ronald thought for a while, if there was a chemical reaction between these two, it might not be inferior to the two protagonists in his dream.

"Why, do you agree? Let's do it, and my own production company can also contribute part of it..." Jonathan Demme felt that the script was very suitable for him.

"I asked my agent to contact them for an audition... Ovitz will not be happy..." Ronald picked up the phone to talk to Richard.Michelle Pfeiffer is not a client of CAA.

"But I don't make a lot of money, so I may not be able to make up much investment share..." Demi actually has a good impression of Ronald, his junior. The two have similar artistic tastes and have a relationship with Coleman.If you have something to say, just say it.

"You can use the name of my investment to solicit some investment, Jonathan." Ronald said that he didn't mind if he used his reputation to find investors who took advantage of him.This method of asking the director to contribute part of the capital is originally to guard against villains and not gentlemen.

The scale of daydreaming is not large, and I am afraid of meeting those directors who have a famous work to make bad money.Demi's character is trustworthy. The two recommended actors to each other. Demi also rejected the opportunity to become famous because of disagreements. This person was also deeply influenced by Coleman and believed that all production costs must be represented. on screen.

The two discussed it and decided that Ronald's trust in Demi was far greater than his trust in Kevin Costner. He just asked the manager of the production department to follow up, and the project began to advance rapidly.

……

"Ah...I'm so nervous..." Cameron Crowe, the deeply emotional director, was wearing a formal suit and pacing back and forth at the entrance of the theater for the premiere.

"Relax, this is your moment, enjoy it..." Ronald greeted Crowe's wife, Nancy, with Helen Slater by his side.

Originally, Ronald could no longer attend the premiere of this kind of project.However, Helen was very concerned about this, and after making a few phone calls, Ronald still attended the premiere.

In order to match the movie's teenage audience, and Helen's eccentricity of not wanting to wear a dress, Ronald also dressed like a college student, wearing jeans and Helen dressed in sneakers, and took pictures at the door to accept interviews.

"Mr. Li..." The staff of Cinema Score also came to say hello to him, and Daydream hired this audience survey company for all its films.Use their exit polls to fine-tune subsequent marketing placements.

"No one would have thought that we would be together..." The movie on the screen came to the end, and the close-up of Helen completely withstood the test of the big screen.

"This is the beginning of all great things..." John Cusack, who plays the leading man, does well.The unreasonable courage of a high school student who bluntly believes that he can protect his girlfriend is well played.

"Hmm..." The two kissed together.

"Hee hee..." Helen moved closer to Ronald.

"Ahem..." Ronald, as the director, of course could see that Crowe had made adjustments, and the kiss scene between the two was filmed with borrowing and editing.Of course he knew that Ronald would definitely not be happy if such a real kiss was made.

"Why hasn't there been a ding?" The heroine played by Helen is pampered and has never faced the challenges of life by herself.The male protagonist was very considerate this time, and he said a lot to make her less nervous.Now the two sat in their seats, waiting for the seat belt light to go out after takeoff.

"It's coming, it's coming..." John Cusack said to the camera.

"Push a close-up..." Ronald turned to look at Cameron Crowe.This is a moment to test the director's ambition.

One indicator that distinguishes ordinary romantic love movies from outstanding ones is whether the director has taken care of growth and the disappearance of innocence when telling the trivialities of love.It's a constant theme of Hollywood's great directors, and a favorite theme of American fiction.

For example, at the last moment of "Graduate", the two young people who escaped are on the bus, facing the transformation from ecstasy to panic in the future.Another example is "Where can I find a bosom friend at the end of the world?" At the end, Natalie Wood faced her lover who was married to someone else, and was asked by her female companion if she still loved her.

In short, if Cameron Crowe is a director genius, what he should challenge himself at this time is to advance the camera to the close-up position of the faces of the two protagonists, and then leave everything to the actors...

"It will go off at any time..." John Cusack on the screen stared at the indicator light above, comforting Helen Slater...

The audience's expectations were also lifted, and together with the two protagonists, they looked forward to the light going off, and the two young people flew to London to meet new challenges in love and life.

"Don't be so fast..." Ronald glanced at Helen in his arms again.The acting star is a step up from her previous films.Crowe's talent has already been confirmed, and if he still has ambitions, he will surely whet the appetite of the audience, just as his predecessors did in the graduates.

Cusack's character seemed impatient, and turned to look at Karen, "It will ring at any moment..." Helen Slater's expression became more nervous, and after a few seconds, she also turned to look at Cusack. gram.

The audience fidgeted in their chairs for more than ten seconds. They were all a little disturbed by this seemingly ordinary close-up shot. There will be no more reversals, right?

"Ding..." Just when the audience was worried about whether the two couples would go wrong when they bravely ran towards the future, the sound of the indicator light finally came, and the screen went dark.

Then, the music played slowly, and the subtitles began to appear upwards.

"Great, Cameron..." Ronald also confirmed Crowe's ambition.In his debut work, he played with such a technique of expression.Although he was very immature when he started filming and didn't even know the basics of film shooting, he undoubtedly knows how to play with the hearts of the audience, which is an essential quality for a great director.

"Ha..." Crowe was taken aback by Ronald's evaluation.

"Worthy of paying $100 million for that tape recorder episode... This movie deserves the episode, Well Done!"

……

"Early the next morning, Ronald finished his workout and was sitting in the living room answering the phone."

"What's the Cinema Score? B+? Looks like this movie won't lose money..."

Originally, the ratings of romantic comedies are naturally relatively low, and B+ is equivalent to A- for other types of movies. This rating can guarantee more than 1100 movie theaters, and it will be shown for 8-10 weeks.

"The weekend's box office may reach 500 million US dollars, basically there is no problem with profitability, plus the video tape..." Michelle Cannold continued to report.Because the relationship between Ronald and Fox is not as harmonious as when Goldberg was there, it is impossible to invest more marketing budget. Generally speaking, the box office is more than 3000 million, and the past can be explained in the face of 1500 million investment. up.

"Honey, do you have my movie reviews?" Helen no longer had the joy of last night, and now facing the stack of newspapers on the coffee table, she was too scared to read the movie reviews by herself.

"Let me see... how to evaluate the performance of the famous movie star Helen Slater in the new film..." Ronald deliberately made a joke, picked up the Chicago Sun and flipped to the film review column.

"One of the best movies of the year, a movie that really tells something and cares deeply about the issues it entails - but it also does a great job of being a fun movie. Heartwarming romantic comedy with a rare level of quality directorial debut.

The performances of the two lead actors were excellent and made me once again see a high-level actor who can play teenagers after John Hughes and Molly Ringwald broke up and turned to adult stories...

The ending scene is quite skillful, and one can't help but think of the graduates in [-]..."

"Ah... ah..." Helen Slater screamed when she heard Ronald read Roger Ebert's evaluation.She was always called a vase by film critics in the past, and such a big-name film critic praised her outstanding acting skills, she can be regarded as a turnaround.

"Strange, how could Albert say good things about the movie I made?" Ronald was a little puzzled, did I do something wrong?
"Hmm..." Helen kissed Ronald deeply, then lay in his arms without saying a word.Her acting skills have always been criticized by people, but after being trained by Bigelow, now when she encounters a suitable work, people can feel that her acting skills are excellent.

"Richard, please help me pick up Albert from the Chicago Sun..." After comforting Helen, Ronald still couldn't let go of the unexpected praise from the film critics.He wondered who helped him.Hollywood magazine film critics only praised the film in general, not to the extent of being listed as the best film of the year.

"Roger, this is Ronald. Thank you for liking my company's movies..."

"Aha, Ronald. I was looking for you. James Wells of the New York Daily News is my old buddy. We were good friends drinking beer together before our two newspapers separated.  … ...he's a rare good reporter, worthy of a Pulitzer Prize."

"...I understand. In short, I still want to thank you for your favor. Next time I come to Los Angeles, I will show something..."

Ronald put the phone down, and it turned out to be James Wells of the Daily News surreptitiously trying.It seems that this trip to New York must see him.

(End of this chapter)