Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1277 Special Effects Head Changing Technique

"Dxmn it!"

Ovitz was furious on the plane back to Los Angeles. The brokerage business has encountered a bottleneck, and he wants to open up new business lines. Advertising is an attempt that he came up with after thinking about it for a long time by combining his own resources.

Now his one attempt at a big account ended in miserable failure. He took a copy of Ronald's information in his hand, tore it apart and kneaded it, as if he was treating this little screenwriter back then...

"Damn it..." Ovitz gasped, and the Aikido breathing techniques taught to him by his former bodyguard, action movie star Steven Seagal, couldn't calm him down.

"They're all fucking liars..." Ovitz practiced for several minutes, but it was of no use at all. He still felt a tightness in his chest that couldn't be released.

"Put me through Siegel's phone..." Thinking of the movie star who got the Aikido Master's Certificate in Japan, "I heard that your new movie encountered financing problems? Why not package it to CAA to run the project? Sample?"

Ronald's company, Daydream Pictures, is currently mass-producing some low- and medium-cost kung fu action movies, such as Lundgren, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Eric Roberts... It just so happens that this Aikido kung fu requires a small amount of exercise. , suitable for beginners and looks very powerful. He can knock the opponent down with just a slap of the arm, and he can support himself and compete with Daydream in the ring.

"Yes, Ovitz, sir, my project will be very popular... I have already thought about it. To explain this high-concept movie in one sentence, it is called Die Hard in Battleships!"

Steven Seagal went to the airport to pick up Ovitz, and then resumed his old job as a driver and bodyguard for Ovitz with the honor of "Hollywood second-tier action star and Japanese Shinken Aikido black belt teacher".

"Well, that's why Aikido is even better..." Steven Siegel immediately changed the topic, "Although Karate has volley kicks, each move gives people an unreal feeling. The key point of Aikido is to One enemy is many, and the audience must be very happy to see how easily they can defeat a group of bad guys..." The more Siegel said, the more it felt right. If the movie was a hit, there would definitely be a group of teenagers coming to my Innocence Ryu Gym to learn. , kill two birds with one stone...

"It's just a piece of cake. Their karate is all based on fists and kicks. How can Haikido be as powerful as making the opponent fall down with small movements? In real fighting, you must not hurt yourself and let the opponent fail. Strong combat power, you can One against many..."

"But you come less and less. I haven't invited you to my show for a long time..."

"Hey, yes, he also went to the award ceremony at that time. No one happened to know me, and the male best friend was missing. Fortunately, he saved a little girl from being embarrassed."

Ovitz adjusted his glasses. Is this Siegel dizzy? Filming a movie is not a street fight... "The important thing is that the fight looks good..."

"Honestly, I'd rather watch my friend Bob Sagat's home videos of American humor..." Tom Hanks showed his true colors as a comedian.

After the theme music of Other People's Money started, Tom Hanks walked out to the music on David Letterman's show.

"Diane Lane, it seems that you will also collaborate on a movie in the future, growing up..."

"Ah, yes, she acted very well and we had a great time working together..."

"Ah, hahahaha... But I know that when you filmed The Mermaid, the first heroine was not the later actress, but another one who later acted in many well-known works..."

"Yes, you're talking about Diane... Diane Lane. I heard she went to star in another movie at that time, Streets of Rage, a very good movie... They were originally looking for Daryl Hahn Na’s…”

"But I heard that that was also the day you met your husband, the director of this film, Ronald Lee?"

"Yes, I was very young at that time, only sixteen years old. The man who went with me won a prize, and his prize disappeared throughout the night hahaha..."

"Okay, give me your plan, and I will help you find Warner Bros., package it and sell it to them for distribution... Your Die Hard on Battleships slogan is good, you should say the same when you get to Warner Bros. Bring a few apprentices with you , give them a live demonstration of Aikido..."

"Sounds good. I'll put him on the same schedule as Lundgren and Jean-Claude Van Damme's movie. Can you beat them?"

"Tom, when was the first time you came to my show? 1984? What was that movie called, Mermaid? The prince and the princess finally left to live in the underwater world. It was an unusual story..."

"So, you have collaborated on another movie recently, and it is a very interesting business war movie... Let's invite Diane Lane..."

……

"Yeah, it was 1984, the first time I was on your show. That movie was really special, right. But I really don't want to talk about it anymore. At that time, each of us Ask me how I kiss underwater..."

"Hi, David, Hi, Tom..." Diane walked out wearing a high-end white-collar suit.

"Diane, the first time you appeared on my show was even earlier. I remember you attended the Oscars party at that time?"

"But he doesn't have a statuette..."

"No, you are wrong, he also has an award. But it is not the best director but the best original song. He is the lyricist of the famous theme song..."

"Hey, really? Ronald won an Oscar at that time?" Tom Hanks asked next to him.

"Yes, he is so precious. He keeps it at his home in New York..."

……

"David, thank you very much."

Ronald also went to David Letterman's NBC studio, this time to promote the movie "Other People's Money." Letterman is indeed the second most-watched talk show host and has been a great help in marketing the movie.

Because his audience, many of whom work in big cities, go home late at night and watch his program before going to bed. These audiences highly overlap with “other people’s money”.

"Next time you have to do a solo interview. I'm going to launch a successful director series and invite as many directors as possible to come on my show..." David Letterman said to Ronald with a smile. Speaking of.

"Next time you come, are you going to move up there?" Ronald pointed at the ceiling.

"Who knows?" David Letterman smiled even more when he saw this.

Ronald is saying nice things. Johnny Carson is the host of The Tonight Show who has the highest ratings in the history of America, the longest continuous hosting time, the highest advertising price, and 30 million viewers at his peak a month ago. Announced his retirement next year.

For thirty years, many Americans have grown up watching his show. Being able to appear on his show has become the gold standard for judging a star's status.

The clothes he wore and the products he used became hot-selling commodities. Many middle-aged American men choose their clothes based on what Johnny Carson wears. You can guarantee that you won’t go wrong when you go to a social gathering, and you will be praised for your dress sense.

NBC has not yet decided on the candidate to succeed Johnny Carson, but both within the network and the audience, most are optimistic about David Letterman.

Not only was David Letterman an apprentice to Johnny Carson, but Letterman's Late Show coincided with Carson's Today Show. Letterman's ratings were about half of Carson's. This is a remarkable achievement because the evening show was so late that many viewers fell asleep. It would be great to have half that audience.

Even Johnny Carson himself, when asked who he wanted to be his successor, revealed that his preference was David Letterman.

"Hahaha, that's settled..." David Letterman obviously liked this blessing. When it comes to new programs, there will definitely be some adjustments. The Tonight Show is more oriented towards public taste and is smaller in scale than the unbridled adult jokes of the Late Show.

He is now planning to take over the Tonight Show by inviting some more mainstream and mature guests.

……

"This is very interesting, well done."

In the next few days, Ronald made a special trip to the crew of "Reinventing the Soldier", a collaboration between Jean-Claude Van Damme and Lundgren, to check on the preparations for the special effects.

The film stars the Cyborg, a war tool that is a hybrid of machine and human. This is similar to the Terminator robot in the "Terminator 2" movie.

The Terminator series has greatly improved the quality of this type of science fiction film. Audiences who have seen a movie of that caliber will feel that it is too fake when they see Roger Corman-style special effects.

Therefore, Ronald discussed with Roger Corman and increased investment in special effects. Made some equipment upgrades for them. In fact, Corman doesn't necessarily have to make movies for less than $2 million. He will still appreciate good things.

After several months of preparation, coupled with the special effects makeup team and the cooperation with Ronald's special effects company, the effect makeup of the leading actors looked very satisfactory.

Each reconstructed warrior has one eye equipped with a synthetic mechanical eye - a retractable device similar to a gun sight.

The job of special effects makeup is to make Lundgren and Jean-Claude Van Damme look cool and stylish after wearing this thing.

Computer special effects companies, on the other hand, have to create images from the perspective of the protagonist's supervisor. An artificial intelligence auxiliary device that can perform real-time analysis on the image seen by the mechanical eye and display various data and vital signs of the target.

The special effects team made a lot of reference to Schwarzenegger's subjective perspective shooting method in "Terminator 2", and then changed the red color in it to a yellow-green color that is more suitable for the desert terrain.

After watching it, Ronald looked at Coleman, and the two nodded at the same time, indicating that this shot could score 2 points. It’s not that you thought about their product surpassing “Terminator 5”, but it’s that they achieved similar effects at less than % of the price, and the price-performance ratio is the best in the United States!

"You are going to Arizona for filming next. I have already coordinated with the Hoover Dam Management Office and tried my best to do it as well as possible. Your supplies have been shipped there in advance. There is no shortage of anything, including mobile toilets..."

Ronald talked to director Roland Emmerich about things to pay attention to. It was his first time filming in Hollywood, and many of his shooting habits had not yet been changed. In addition, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Lundgren are both quite big and small stars. Getting along with them requires some adaptation for a German director who is filming here for the first time.

It was his first time to film in Hollywood, and his first time as a director to become a famous star. Ronald was afraid of problems, but looking at Emmerich's fluent English, Ronald felt that the problem was not big, especially since he sent his very capable producer Rachel Talalay there. His toughness can level all the stars.

The previous dissatisfaction between the two leading actors at the project establishment ceremony still attracted the attention of a lot of media. This time the movie was shot in the deserts of Arizona and Nevada. Ronald was afraid that reporters would not go, so he arranged for someone to call them to break the news, and then invited interviews through formal channels.

True or false, the stage has been set up anyway. The two leading actors, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Lundgren, have already rehearsed a lot of scenes, and they are just waiting for the reporters to come and a small conflict will break out...

"Isn't Mr. Casal coming?" The crew arranged for everyone to take a group photo, and someone asked where Mario Casal of Carloco Films, who was also an investor, was.

"He is now very proud and is touring the country, accompanying the main creators on road shows and accepting interviews from media from all over the world."

Ronald smiled and shook his head. The box office of "Terminator 2" was very good at the beginning. But after all, the rating is an R-rated movie, so the weekly decline is still sharper than that of ordinary PG-13 or PG-rated movies. The weekly box office decline of about 25% is relatively stable, which is inseparable from the tireless road shows of several celebrities.

But after all, the box office base is huge. In the second week of release, the box office had exceeded 100 million, which also made Mario Casal extremely happy. His huge debt was completely saved through this movie, and there will be no more bankruptcy.

It's a pity that the private jet he booked has been transferred to Ronald. This made him speak loudly and feel a little uncomfortable when he faced the top executives of the Seven Big Companies in Hollywood.

"I heard that Warner has recently approved an action film project, which coincides with our schedule..." After Roger Corman took the photo, he quietly discussed a few words with Ronald in the corner.

"Competition is a good thing. It shows that this market segment is very promising... I have observed that in video rental stores, the biggest divisions are action and horror. When two movies compete, they will cover similar categories. The popularity of the movie..."

"This is a good angle. The current video tape market is really hot..."

……

"This is still a bit incongruous, very incongruous."

Back at the special effects company, Ronald, Van Fleet and others had another meeting to watch the production progress of the new Coca-Cola advertisement.

After the polar bear commercial was aired, it received good reviews. Coca-Cola immediately added some versions. The first thing to do is to let the polar bear and Santa Claus drink Coke together in preparation for the Christmas sales at the end of the year.

At the same time, it is impossible for Ronald to completely eliminate celebrity endorsements. There are still many celebrity agents in CAA, hoping to get a piece of the pie.

In order to unite the majority, Ronald asked Maguire to distribute some suitable advertising endorsements through Niceta to the young agents in CAA who had consensus.

However, it was not enough to win over young people. Ronald also privately approached the other remaining founder of CAA, Ron Meyer. He has agency contracts for a large number of established stars, as well as the film and television rights of some deceased stars.

Ron Meyer accepted the olive branch handed over by Ronald. He was also deeply concerned about Ovitz's growing monotonous style at CAA. Soon, an advertising idea was proposed, and Elton John, a famous British singer owned by Meyer and Ronald's old friend, was also invited to shoot this special advertisement.

This is an ad that interweaves reality and history, with Elton John playing a singer who sings in a bar. There are two classic movies in history with bars as the main scenes, "Casablanca" and "Love Me or Leave Me".

Ronald wanted the two films' late leading actors, Humphrey Bogart and James Cagney, to reappear in the film.

However, judging from the few seconds that Van Fleet took out to test the special effects, it can still be seen at a glance that it is fake.

We found actors similar in stature to the two deceased actors, and replaced their heads with classic scenes from historical films. The actors' heads and the surrounding environment can be seen to be obviously out of place.

"The current technical capabilities can only do this..."

"Okay, you don't need to be too particular about the commercial, let's just do it like this." Ronald thought, it was just a one-minute commercial anyway, and the dissonance of more than ten seconds was diluted by the audience's joy at seeing the historical superstar reappear. .

"Ingrid Bergman and Doris Day's authorization must also be stepped up. If necessary, I can call Bergman's family."

(End of this chapter)