Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1320 Ronald is a discoverer of good directors

The casting for "Sleepless in Seattle" was settled, and Ronald no longer interfered.

Sister Act was a big box office success, and Emil Adolino basically gained financial freedom. He had been shooting documentaries and dance films, and now he was free to shoot the movies he liked.

Under Ronald's direction, the New York City Ballet used its main cast to film a version of "The Nutcracker" adapted by the late dance director Balanchine.

This version of the dance is more difficult than the average dance troupe, using a lot of classical ballet techniques, and only strong dance troupes can do it. The background is also changed from Tchaikovsky's original Germany to Victorian America.

Sometimes, a director has to balance between business and his own artistic expression. If he only does one side, he will either have no money to live a comfortable life or his creativity will dry up.

Emil Adolino has been making films for Ronald and has made a lot of money. Now it is time for him to express himself. In addition to filming this stage play, he has also taken a fancy to a project to shoot a biopic of the famous Stripper Gypsy Rose Lee. This is also his interest.

In order to reward him, Ronald contacted TriStar Films and specially invited Barbra Streisand to play this controversial but talented dancer and singer. Anyway, Streisand once said that she wanted to work with him...

He also found an actress who was married to singer Richard Max, Cynthia Rhodes, the supporting actress of Dirty Dancing, and persuaded her to come out and play a small supporting role. He also found the dance troupe and choreographer of Dirty Dancing to cooperate, which was a reunion of the crew of "Dirty Dancing" and a little bit of gimmick.

Only Jennifer Grey took the initiative to ask for a supporting role, but he rejected it. After her plastic surgery, she really couldn't deserve the salary her agent wanted, and Ronald didn't intend to be so generous.

Her latest film, and also the last one in which the audience could recognize her before her plastic surgery, "Wind", was a film invested by Francis Coppola and shot for his senior Carol Ballard.

This is a story about the American sailing team, how they regained the trophy after losing the America's Cup. The American sailing team had won 24 consecutive championships and dominated the America's Cup for 132 years. It was not until 1983 that they were defeated by the Australian team using advanced sailing technology.

This "The Fast and the Furious", like Carol Ballard's previous "The Black Stallion", is full of the wildness of fighting against nature and a childlike innocence. Ronald likes it very much.

Coppola invited him to see the finished edited version. In the end, the American fleet, driven by the boatswain played by Jennifer Grey, replaced the sails with new technology and surpassed the defending Australian team in the race. It was really exciting to watch.

"It feels like the climax at the end isn't enough..." Ronald knew that Coppola's own financial situation wasn't very good either. His purpose of investing in this movie was the same as shooting "Bram Stoker's Dracula", to make money to pay off his debts.

But when the distributor Sony Columbia screened the film, his "Bram Stoker's Dracula" was still criticized for having too strong a personal style, and it seemed that it could not win the favor of the audience in the domestic market.

At this time, Ronald had to step forward and guarantee Coppola so that the Columbia distribution department could give the film a relatively high rating.

After watching the edited version, Ronald was still very impressed. Coppola's creativity has not diminished, and there are still many artistic breakthroughs. The reason why some of his films failed commercially is that his ideas are out of touch with the general public.

This "Bram Stoker's Dracula" seems to have captured some common emotions of the audience while letting the imagination run wild, just like the Godfather back then, which captured the people's disappointment with the government and their expectation for a "Godfather"-like figure to restore order.

Ronald was not too sure whether this vampire movie had really captured some collective unconscious emotions of the audience as he guessed, so he suggested holding a few test screenings to see how the audience would react.

But his statement was equivalent to an endorsement of Coppola. When the Columbia distribution department heard that Ronald felt it was necessary to come to multiple test screenings, they all thought it was a sign of optimism from the producer. The test screenings must have been to make some final changes based on audience feedback. Otherwise, he would have lost interest long ago...

Coppola was filled with emotion after Columbia upgraded the release level of "Bram Stoker's Dracula" and increased the budget. He felt as if he had returned to the hospitality he received when he had just finished filming The Godfather.

He immediately agreed to make any changes based on audience feedback as long as Ronald nodded. The distributor and the director were very happy and quickly recruited audiences willing to watch the film in New York and Los Angeles.

After Coppola's own film distribution problem was solved smoothly, he immediately thought of his senior brother Carol Ballard's film. Because of the insufficient budget of that film, the shooting of various large scenes of racing on the sea was restricted. Can Ronald also help?

"I like this movie..." Ronald thought of a scene he had dreamed of before, in which a girl was flying with birds in a homemade plane. The filming style of this movie is very similar to that of Carol Ballard.

It is not the language of the camera, nor the tendency of the performance, but the love for nature, which is very unique at first glance.

"Play the final climax again," Ronald felt encouraged. This director's expressiveness was really out of line with all other directors.

"Dong dong dong dong..."

An abstract painting of a warrior copied from a rock mural in the Gobi Desert was printed on the high-tech sail and became the logo of the American sailboat participating in the competition.

"Get my whomper sail out," Jennifer Gray, wearing a sailing hat, urged the captain.

"Whomper?" The actor who plays her ex-boyfriend and captain made an I-don't-know expression.

"Whomper, once you hang on it, it will deploy with a whomper sound! Get our boat back into this damn game...quickly!"

Amid the sound of drums, everyone, at the urging of the crew member played by Jennifer Grey, raised the sail, and with a bang, it was filled with the wind.

The sail with the logo that looked like a child's sketch was lowered, and the other sail with a pattern of an angry human face, whomper, seemed to be roaring and moving forward, symbolizing the indomitable fighting spirit of mankind. It led the American sailboat to move forward rapidly, closing the distance with the ship in front.

"Damn it, there should be an overhead shot here. The rear ship catches up, is parallel, and exceeds..." Ronald was also angry. He just saw the tense and exciting part, but it was gone.

"Hey, I'm out of money, Ronald."

"I'll go out and ask Ballard to call everyone back to reshoot at sea..." Ronald hadn't seen such an exciting movie scene in a long time. He stood up and waved his hands, "We must reshoot here, otherwise a great movie will be wasted. Fuck...fuxk, fuxk, fuxk..."

He thought again of Jennifer Grey who had undergone plastic surgery secretly. What should he do?
"And the previous lightning shot, if it could be matched with your lightning lamp..." Coppola didn't understand what Ronald was scolding, and thought he was overly excited, so he quickly tried to get more reshoot opportunities for his senior brother.

"That's not a big deal..." Ronald waved his hand, "It's just that the heroine had plastic surgery and her nose was gone..."

"Oh, shxit..." Coppola immediately understood, "Then we should reshoot the wide panorama. The impact here mainly depends on the rhythm of the crew's concerted actions..."

"That's right. Let's do this. I have an old model of lightning flashlight and will send it to you right away. The new model is for Steven..."

"Hahaha, Hollywood has you. It's really a great thing for such a unique director." Coppola smiled and hugged Ronald. Those producers who use various stars and various formulas to select scripts are all brain-dead. Only people like Ronald, who have money, influence, and artistic vision, can fund these directors who can shoot such moving works.

"Hey, I'm doing this for the art of film (box office revenue)", Ronald waved his hand, "By the way, Francis, do you think that nose can be fixed back?"

"Forehead……"

Coppola could only rub his head. In all his years in Hollywood, he had never seen anyone who could have their face restored through plastic surgery.

……

"Wow, wow, wow..." Jennifer Grey cried while calling someone she knew who had a relationship with Ronald.

"Patrick, can you help me put in a few good words in front of Ronald? I have discussed this with no less than five of the best plastic surgeons in Hollywood, and they all said that my nose is already very fragile. If I do it again, there is a risk of collapse..."

"Hey, let me help you." The person on the other end of the phone was Patrick Schweitzer, the male lead of Dirty Dancing. He felt sorry for Gray's crying complaint.

"Just stay out of it...it's a lose-lose situation for both sides," his wife said to Schwitz after he hung up the phone.

"Ronald is now a box office guarantee in Hollywood. As long as he says yes, the producers will follow suit. With such influence, why would you go against his wishes?"

"Me? Ronald is not that kind of person. When we were filming Dirty Dancing, he was so patient, charming, and a leader. He knew how to bring out the best in us actors. Without him, I would not have been able to succeed..."

Patrick Schweitzer was a little unhappy. How could Ronald be that kind of person? You are not familiar with him and don't understand his inner thoughts. He is an actor's director. How can you not understand the inner thoughts of an actor?
"Well, even if you are right, Gray may not be grateful to you..."

"How could it be? She begged me with tears."

"You don't understand. Doesn't she know that if she has plastic surgery, it will affect her film contracts and box office appeal? OK, maybe I underestimated it a little bit, but she definitely understands it... Why does she still do this?"

"You're right..." Schwitz took his hand away from the phone.

"Girls all love beauty. She must have no idea how many times people have told her that her nose is ugly. Even if she had the opportunity to film Dirty Dancing 2, she would still be told she is ugly in person, and she would fail every audition. When there is a good script, it would be given to Michelle Pfeiffer first. It is such a torment..."

"Okay, I'd better give Ronald a call..." Schwitz said he understood. Although the movie was liked by the audience and had box office success,... for a young girl to be told every day that she is not pretty enough, especially in Hollywood, is a very serious blow to her self-esteem.

……

"Tell her that if she can't do it, then don't do it. The film will still ask her to reshoot the role, and there will be no replacement..." Ronald received many calls from people pleading for her, and finally gave a message to Jennifer Grey's agent, asking her not to take the risk of having her nose done again.

"Where were we talking about?" Ronald put down the phone and came back to face a fat man and said.

"I feel so bad. Buffy the Vampire Slayer was filmed like that. I..." The fat man was Joss Whedon, the screenwriter who came to Ronald with the script he wrote.

"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" has just been released and the box office is a mess. The main problem is that the director is not very good at making this kind of movie. He made this fantasy movie into a mess.

Originally, Kristy Swanson's appearance as the heroine was very good. She was the actress who replaced Kim Cattrall in the sequel of "Swallowed". Her beauty was not inferior to the original.

The supporting actor is Donald Sutherland, a veteran Canadian actor, the father of Julia Roberts's dumped fiancé. This is another actor who doesn't need to worry about his acting skills.

In addition, Daydream has a large number of experienced special effects makeup and props talents, and the production team has inherited the temperament of Roger Corman's horror films in the appearance of vampires.

But perhaps, the bad thing is the combination of these elements, which were evenly distributed by the director. On the set, the director did not suppress Donald Sutherland, and many scenes were shot according to the actor's ideas.

This resulted in the film's main and secondary roles being out of place, the supporting roles overshadowing the main characters, and the main characters not having enough screen time. All these combined made the film such a mad film that the screenwriter had to ask Ronald to reshoot it.

"It's impossible to remake it. This is what I told you before. If you want the movie to present your ideas, you have to be the director yourself."

"I regret it now. If I had directed it myself, at least it wouldn't be like this..." Joss Whedon covered his face.

"Then you should learn slowly. I happen to have a sequel to a Taekwondo movie here. You can practice with it."

Ronald admires screenwriters who have a high sense of responsibility for their works. Only such people can make good works. If a director only wants to hang out with female stars and make money from the filming, it would be terrible if he has no talent.

As for talent, no one knows it until they have tried it.

……

"Michael, is this movie your project? My agent told me there's a biopic about Gypsy Rose Lee. Is it possible for me to direct it?"

Barbra Streisand received the invitation for the movie and, thinking she was a big star, she called Ovitz directly to confirm.

"My dear Barbara, why do you want to get involved with a project that I didn't package? I was just about to tell you this. Our ethnic group must unite and not have anything to do with this company."

"But I want to be a director. I want to be like Costner, the Oscar-winning director, or at least be nominated."

"Barbara, how could I forget you? I have prepared a script for you..."

After finishing the call, Ovitz took out a baseball bat from under the table and swung it in the air as if there was a human head in front of him and he was going to smash it.

"Come on, take this three-point home run from me..."

(End of this chapter)