Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1317 Fighting for Annie
"I say, Ronald, are you really going to hold a screening before the Oscar nominations?"

Mike McDavoy came to the door and didn't talk about his new project at first. Instead, he asked about what Ronald said in the interview.

"Hey, Mr. McDavoy, you are also the most senior veteran in Hollywood and the most capable of operating the Oscars. I am just defending my videotape tactics. How can such a thing be done?"

Ronald felt that Madavoy was going to ask him for a big favor this time. He was old enough to be his uncle, so why did he call him his brother? He did not hide the fact that the statement was just a rhetoric. The Hollywood judges were actors who had performed well over the years. The average age was already over 60. How could these old men and women be allowed to watch a special screening?
They don't have enough energy, and if we really want to hold a large-scale screening and ask them to participate, they will cause complaints, which will only cause more trouble.

Ronald said this to provoke those who attacked him for being unfair. Didn't you say it was unfair? Then let's have a fair marathon viewing. If you don't have the energy to watch a movie and I deliver the videotape to your door, you still want to complain. If you don't have the energy, don't complain.

"I've received a lot of calls from people recently. They all said they agree with your idea, but they definitely can't stand it. If the college adopts your suggestion, they will consider leaving the college..."

Ronald patted his head, feeling a little sorry for making these old members so serious, so he decided to organize some welfare card reward activities for them.

The age of the Academy judges is really not young now. The newest batch of members are the backbone of the New Hollywood movement 20 years ago. They are now about 60 years old. The older batch of judges, who got the voting qualification in the big studio era, are all in their 70s and 80s. Although they are very serious about the art of film, who would voluntarily withdraw from the judging qualification?

Through Medavoy, Ronald was told not to publicly call for such life-threatening activities. Ronald did as he was told and gave them more welfare cards.

"What do your friends like? I have marketing relationships with many commercial companies and can get them some coupons..."

"Admission to a nursing home, vacation vouchers for a warm climate, and massage vouchers for a spa treatment, preferably in Palm Springs or Hawaii." Madavoy smiled and mentioned the common interests of these elderly judges.

"Well..." Ronald didn't expect that the Oscar judges have entered such a deep stage of old age.

Back to the topic, Mike Medavoy still stated his purpose.

“You want Kevin Costner to star in your new movie?”

Ronald heard that it was a project led by Mike McDavoy. It was a romantic drama, and the author of the script was Jeff Archie, a part-time screenwriter, wedding photographer, and Taekwondo coach.

He wrote a romantic drama about two lovers who get to know each other through a hotline, then write letters to each other as pen pals, and at the end, they climb the Empire State Building together to meet for the first time.

"Is this a copy of the old movie 'The Shop on the Corner'?" Ronald knew as soon as he heard it that this was a copy of the plot of the love drama directed by Lubitsch and starring James Stewart and Margaret Sullivan.

In general romantic love dramas, the male and female protagonists have a "meet cute" plot. They have a mutual affection (or one-sided affection) after the first meeting, and then various difficulties prevent them from being together, including but not limited to, parental opposition, their respective partners, or separation due to war, etc. The two lovers played by Stewart and Sullivan became good pen pals through writing letters and admired each other.

However, they were both salesmen in a store and were enemies. It was not until the last moment when they met in a restaurant that they changed their attitudes and became lovers.

In his spare time, Ronald likes to collect copies of old films. He would watch one to study it and was deeply impressed by this Lubitsch film. Or he was deeply impressed by all of Lubitsch's films. The particularly smooth narrative is not outdated even now.

So when he heard Mike Medavoy say it, he knew it was copied...

"Not only that, but he also copied the plot of the Golden Jade Alliance, and ended up on the Empire State Building. Do you remember?"

"Oh, yes..." Ronald turned to the end of the script, and sure enough, at the end, the couple agreed to meet on top of the Empire State Building...

The Golden Circle is the masterpiece of Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr. The male protagonist, who is engaged to a billionaire heiress, and the female protagonist, who has a fiancé, meet on a cruise ship back to New York and fall in love at first sight. The two agree to meet at the Empire State Building at that time, and if they both break off their engagement and still love each other, they will be together.

In the end, Deborah Kerr was paralyzed in a car accident and did not go to the Empire State Building. This movie was broadcast many times on TV and audiences all over the country, especially those in New York, loved it very much. Many people cried every time they watched it.

"This is too old-fashioned. Nowadays, young audiences go to movies and they don't buy into this..." Ronald flipped through the script and expressed his opinion.

The plot of the movie is still very good. Well-educated people will appreciate it, and middle-aged people with emotional experience will also appreciate it, but the majority of young people who watch the movie will not. The script is not particularly outstanding, and it is difficult to attract audiences through word of mouth.

"Isn't it? I also think that only stars can make this movie work. Isn't that why I chose you? You have a good relationship with Costner."

"Who are you going to ask to play the leading female role?" Ronald asked casually. His relationship with Costner was not so close that he could convince him to act in a mediocre movie.

"Meg Ryan... The screenwriter said she wrote the script while watching the tape of When Harry Met Sally."

"..." Ronald felt that his vanity was satisfied to some extent. Now his work has become an object for others to imitate and gain inspiration.

……

After he spent half an hour reading the script, Ronald still shook his head and refused.

"Many parts of this script don't make sense. Today's audiences don't like stories full of loopholes like this."

"Is it really not possible?" Mike Medavoy's aesthetic taste has also outdated. He took Ronald's opinion very seriously.

“Don’t say Costner won’t take such a script. Even if he does, it’s unlikely to be a hit if you find Meg Ryan. If you want to promote this screenwriter, let him come to me. I’ll give him a task. I just happen to be writing a script about Taekwondo…”

The Koreans finally didn't invest in Ronald. They felt their self-esteem was hurt and wanted to make a movie about Koreans winning the world championships in Taekwondo. However, Ronald's "Black Belt Elite" had to continue filming. Eric Roberts would not play in the third part. He had to start from scratch and use new actors.

"Garry Marshall isn't an option? I'm going to ask him to direct..." Mike McDavoy was still unwilling to give up. This was the project he was promoting, and he had to compete with Peters and others from Columbia within Sony.

"This is not a problem with the director and the lead actor. The script itself is too old-fashioned and out of touch with the tastes of modern audiences. It also lacks the touch of women. They are the main audience for this type of movie and will only think that the plot is too fake."

Ronald is a box office master of romantic movies and women's movies, and he has a very good understanding of the psychology of modern urban women. In this script, the way women speak and behave will not suit the tastes of urban women, and the male characters are not attractive to them either.

"What if I find someone to change it?" Mike Medavoy didn't want to give up.

"Change..." Ronald muttered a few words, "The framework of this story is very solid. The hero and heroine of a romance movie don't meet until the very end. There's not much that can be changed, unless..."

"Unless what?"

“Unless you can find a female screenwriter and director like Nora Efron or Penny Marshall to revise it, it might be able to be revived. But they all have projects now. Penny is filming my women’s baseball movie, and Nora is now directing herself…”

"Hey, I'll go find Nora Efron. If you don't believe me, tell her to be the screenwriter. How about that original screenwriter Archie buying out his scripts and keeping a byline for him? Let him write the Taekwondo movie for you?"

"Are you so sure?"

"You may not know this, but Nora Ephron's new movie flopped at the box office, and right when she needs the money..."

……

"I've accepted your script. I really like the essence of this movie..."

Nora Ephron did agree to be a script doctor. After making a small fortune in a movie directed by Ronald, she thought she could take on greater responsibilities. She directed "This Is My Life" independently, telling the story of a woman who works as a salesperson at Macy's in Queens and strives to become a stand-up comedian.

A departure from her most trenchant romantic comedies, this 20th Century Fox film, a gamble on her directing talents, grossed a whopping $2 million, despite costing $10 million to make.

Now Nora Efron has been reduced to her original form, with Hollywood's perception of her changing from an emerging female film director to a romantic comedy screenwriter.

"Ah, the essence of the movie?" Ronald was stunned by what she said. What is the essence of "Sleepless in Seattle"? Is it plagiarizing Lubitsch?

"Yes, yes, Ronald, you really understand women. The essence of this movie is about how movies affect people's views on romantic love. The heroine Anne's imagination of beautiful love is based on the plot of the Golden Alliance. For many people of our generation, our views on life are shaped by movies..."

"Oh..." Ronald was shocked. This statement was indeed very insightful. Many of the new generation of Americans' views did not come from life itself, but from movies.

It seems logical that Anne abandoned a fiancé who liked her and had a good position and fell in love with a widower whom she had never met and whose voice she only heard on a radio program. Who would do this if not such a romantic movie lover?
"I need three weeks to rewrite the script. This is not a comedy. I have to try to weaken the comedy elements. This is a drama about love and movies. I have a lot of places to revise.

Anne shouldn’t have just broken up with her lover. In this script, Sam is the center of the story. He lost his beloved wife, so whether he can get lucky again in life is the audience’s concern…”

Nora Ephron talked to Ronald for more than an hour and told him her opinion on the film. It must be said that she is a true master in understanding the psychology of women. Ronald could not see many problems, but she pointed them out to him and made him realize that from a female perspective, the original script had lost its focus.

"Just do what you want, I'll convince Mike McDavoy..." Ronald thought clearly that this script can only be written by a woman as romantic as Nora Efron. He decided to convince Mike McDavoy to adopt Efron's script and not change it at all...

"Can you direct? Let's work together again and repeat the box office miracle of last time..." Nora Efron was very excited. She thought of "When Harry Met Sally". She was the screenwriter and Ronald was the director. Their collaboration was a match made in heaven.

"Me? I probably can't. When Harry Met Sally is actually a movie from a male perspective, and many plots are told from a male perspective. The romantic confession at the end was also Harry's initiative, but this script is completely from a female perspective, and the active party is Anne. It would be best to find a female director..."

When Ronald said this, he thought of Penny Marshall, who was currently filming the baseball movie "A League of Their Own". She was actually a good fit for the role. But Penny was filming for herself and couldn't be in two roles.

"Female director?" Nora Efron's voice changed a little.

"Well, you concentrate on revising the script. If the final result satisfies Mike Medavoy and me, I will convince him to make you a candidate for director. I will support you..."

"Okay, you have to remember what you said..." Nora Efron jumped out of the bed and turned on the computer barefoot.

……

"Shall Nora Ephron try it?" Mike McDavoy got the revisions of the first draft.

Nora Efron didn't know whether it was because Ronald promised to recommend a director to her or because she was just good at this kind of romantic comedy, but she wrote the revised draft in just one week.

"I think this movie can only be shot well by a female director..." Ronald repeated the theory that the female perspective is suitable for female directors. A male director may not even notice many small emotions, let alone accurately restore them.

"Unless you come... I think you are the first in Hollywood to shoot female-themed films..." Mike McDavoy saw that Ronald did not respond, smacked his lips, "Okay, let her try... Let's not agree to her yet, let her make a plan to compete with other candidates, so that she will have motivation..."

"Okay..." Ronald felt that the old man was very experienced in how to mobilize the director, so he smiled and nodded in agreement.

"Ronald, I heard a little bit of news that you have a new project, which is also a romantic drama like Pretty Woman. Do you think I can do it again?" Julia Roberts got the news about this new script from somewhere and heard that it was written by Nora Efron, so she called to promote herself.

"I won't interfere with the casting of this project. You are certainly one of the best candidates..." Ronald decided to be fair and not recommend anyone for this movie. The casting of this kind of movie is the biggest guarantee of success. If you choose the right one, it will be a big hit. If you choose the wrong one, it will be a big loss. There is no room for falsehood.

"Ronnie, I want to invite you to my house. Alec is always busy and I am lonely now. I still remember your advice on my acting skills. I am now stuck in not being able to improve my acting skills and I urgently need your face-to-face guidance..."

Kim Basinger, who was already hot with Alec Baldwin, also heard the news. She knew that finding Ronald was the shortcut to successfully getting the role. She immediately invited Ronald to watch and try out the performance of "9 1/2 Weeks" with him.

"I won't interfere with the casting for this project. You are certainly one of the best candidates..." Ronald pulled up his trousers and went to the refrigerator to get a bottle of milk. Sigh...

"Ronald, what do you think about my last proposal to you? How about you come to my house and we can talk face to face about how to do it?" Michelle Pfeiffer also called.

"Why, you want to play Annie too? I won't interfere with the casting for this project. You are definitely one of the best candidates..."

Ronald felt very strange. Why were so many top female stars vying for this role?
"Ronald..." Even Jodie Foster called.

"You also want to play..."

"Richard, why are they all vying for this role?"

"This is a new theory proposed by a director named Paul Moritz last month. It's called the all-round actor... There are many people in Hollywood who believe in this..."

(End of this chapter)