Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1328: Trouble with the Seattle Crew

"Among the four actors, two already have agents... Chris O'Donnell has a number of projects waiting to be released. He and Al Pacino are working on Scent of a Woman, which will be released by Universal during the end-of-year awards season. Brendan Fraser is also being eyed by someone. After this movie is successful, he will take on new scripts depending on the situation..."

"What about the other two?" Ronald looked at the resumes of the actors compiled by Richard and found that the two actors were from Catholic backgrounds, not Jewish. This shows that Shirley Lansing has good taste. Finding a few good-looking boys to play Jews is a move that flatters the Jewish ethnic group.

"No one supported the other two, so I signed them, but I didn't expect..." Richard said with a smile.

"What didn't you expect?" Ronald boarded the plane with him, and the group was going to Seattle to check out the filming of "Sleepless in Seattle".

"I didn't expect that they were talking to me about the script. They co-wrote a script..."

"Oh? There aren't many actors who can write scripts?" Ronald was a little surprised. In Hollywood, actors and screenwriters are basically two lines that don't intersect much.

"They are serious college students, especially Matt Damon, who received his education at Harvard and only needs a few credits to graduate. I advise them to get their degrees first. Although both of them appeared in movies when they were young, they were not the kind of little actors brought into Hollywood by their parents or relatives..."

"Credits don't matter. Even though it's Harvard, they can still tell the difference if there's a chance to play a leading role in Hollywood..." Ronald thought of Elizabeth Shue, who was also from Harvard, but she gave up her studies even though she had the chance to play a leading role.

"He didn't transfer in, he got in through his own exams..."

"Oh..." Ronald suddenly felt amazing. This was not the shortcut like Sue's, who relied on transfer quotas to study for two years and get a Harvard diploma. The upper-middle class knew very well what was in these Ivy League diplomas, and only the common people felt that it was high-end when they saw the name of a big-name school.

"But the script is very badly written. I think it needs some revisions. We can find him a script doctor or a teacher..."

Richard thought the script was creative and talented, so Ronald agreed to help him introduce William Goldman, a famous Hollywood screenwriter, to the script. This would be more beneficial to the training of talents who could go to Harvard than simply rewriting it.

……

"Oh, the rain here is so annoying..."

When we arrived in Seattle, we encountered a continuous drizzle. The climate here is affected by the warm current and the mountains, and there is a lot of rainfall. Ronald held an umbrella, bent over, got into the car, and drove to the set of "Sleepless in Seattle".

"Ronald... Rosie O'Donnell, you guys meet me, this is my Whoopi..."

Director Nora Ephron was very happy and kept talking to Ronald, making Ronald embarrassed to say, "I came to see your performance..."

"Ronald...you are my idol, I love you..." Fat Rosie O'Donnell rushed up to hug Ronald and kissed him on the cheek. Then she ran away with a smirk on her face.

This supporting actress is very happy recently, playing supporting roles in Ronald's projects. And Nora Ephron also compared her to Whoopi Goldberg, which is very similar to her comedy role in "Ghost".

This "Sleepless in Seattle" also needs a supporting actress to add a comedic element. Nora Ephron is determined to learn all of Ronald's directing tricks. In her opinion, learning from Ronald may not necessarily get an Oscar nomination, but it will definitely guarantee box office success.

"Oh, God, you're here... You're finally here... I'm already tortured to death..."

Tom Hanks also came up to hug Ronald in a funny way, imitating Rosie O'Donnell's way. He was exhausted after shooting two movies in a row. Fortunately, Ronald sent his wife Rita Wilson to him in advance, and Hanks felt normal with the warmth of family.

There were many troubles during the script reading process before filming. Tom Hanks was dissatisfied with Nora Ephron's female perspective and believed that many of Sam's plots could not be done by a normal American man.

Last time, Ronald believed that a father would not stop dating a beautiful woman just because his son objected. Hanks obviously agreed with this view and insisted on starting from a realistic plot logic, otherwise he would not be willing to shoot.

Ronald's visit this time also needs to find a way to make all parties satisfied with this contradiction in the plot.

"Did you have so many problems when you were a director? I asked them to speak the lines according to the script I wrote, but they resisted..."

Sure enough, as soon as they arrived at the hotel, Nora Ephron complained to Ronald that many actors here, especially the male actors, were a little dissatisfied with her.

Aside from Tom Hanks, who still dealt with the issue as it happened, the other actors and staff members actually tended to see which way the wind was blowing. If Nora Ephron could handle these big-name actors, then they would change their attitude. If she couldn't, then they would start messing around.

"Hey, this is actually a good thing, Nora..." For now, Ronald had no choice but to resort to coaxing...

"Is this a good thing?" Nora Ephron's eyes widened.

"Yes, when the director encounters actors who are very serious about certain lines and reactions, you know that you have made a correct and motivated casting..."

Ronald started talking about how many actors don't care about how to act, they just care about how much money they get, how high the treatment is...etc.

Some actors only focus on the details of their own performances and do not pay attention to the cooperation of other actors or the rationality of the plot. What they want most every day is for the director to give them more close-up shots.

When you meet someone like Tom Hanks, who considers whether the plot is reasonable and whether the dialogue is something that an ordinary American would say, and who considers things from the perspective of the entire movie, you don't know how lucky you are, Nora!
"Oh, really? You're right, Ronald. I'm so lucky to have you here to guide me. But what if they don't follow my script?"

Nora Ephron didn't know whether she really didn't understand or was pretending, but she turned to Ronald and asked him to give her advice on how to solve the problem of Hanks not wanting to say certain lines.

This is a common problem among directors who are screenwriters. When they are writing, they have already chosen the actors who will play the roles in their minds, and then let them act out the roles in their minds first, saying the lines using the accents of the actors that the screenwriter has chosen.

Therefore, they always think that their lines are the best and most suitable for those actors. Especially Ronald also found two leading actors favored by Nora Ephron, Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. This made her more obsessed with her lines. Why didn't Hanks read my lines according to the way she thought in her mind?

"Oh, God..." Ronald said to himself. I didn't expect Nora Ephron to understand the director's job this way.

At this point, it is not easy to teach her from the beginning. How should we adjust according to the actors' on-site performance and give them some space for improvisation? Where should we draw the line between improvisation and the original intention of the script? If we find that the actors cannot perform what we want, how many times should we retake the scene?
This is a difficult directorial decision, and Luo An thought it was better not to tell Nora Ephron, otherwise the entire crew might collapse. Directors who have never directed a star will have such problems in their first film. Only by overcoming the past can you achieve success.

"So, I see these controversial lines, which are mainly about Hanks' male side. I understand that you want to create a perfect image of a man in women's minds, who has both masculine charm and compassion, who can understand women's difficulties, and who is women's lover and their friend..."

"Yeah, yeah, I knew Ronald you would understand me..." Nora Ephron's eyes were red, it seemed that she was under a lot of pressure.

"All the lines related to men and women are up to you. All the lines where Sam shows his masculine charm, let Hanks play freely..." Ronald thought for a moment and drew a line for her.

Nora Ephron is undoubtedly the most suitable person to make a romantic drama and how to penetrate the hearts of modern American female audiences. However, she doesn't know much about the psychology of men.

So Ronald simply separated the scenes according to whether there were plots between men and women, and let Efron take care of the male and female parts, and let Hanks perform the part about the man's monologue and the part with his friends. Anyway, he has made so many comedies about this kind of somewhat lovable male protagonist.

"I'm not complaining, Ronald, the weather in Seattle is just terrible..."

After coaxing Nora Ephron, Ronald went to Tom Hanks' room and told him the results of the discussion. Hanks was very happy because he finally didn't have to say those lines that were obviously imagined by a middle-aged female screenwriter.

But his wife, Rita Wilson, complained to Ronald again. After they got married, Hanks promised to spend time with her. Shooting this movie in a hellhole like Seattle is torture. How many days have we not seen the sun? Can't we go back to Los Angeles to shoot the scene?
"The cornerstone of this movie lies in this sense of reality, so we can't go back and shoot on location." Ronald flatly rejected the suggestion.

The plot of Sleepless in Seattle is really exaggerated. After his wife died, the son called the emotional hotline on the radio station to tell his father about his loneliness and wanted to find him a new wife.

The radio host gave Sam a pseudonym, "The Sleepless Man in Seattle," and talked to him about the pain he felt after his wife's death. Female listeners from all over the country fell in love with him and wrote to him asking for a date. Finally, his son read the letter and fell in love with Anne's letter.

Anne had a fiancé, and she felt that she and him did not have a world-shattering love, but were just suitable for each other. She tried to meet Sam, but failed to do so.

Finally, Sam's son bought a plane ticket and went to meet Anne on the top of the Empire State Building in New York. Sam chased after him in panic, and the two waited for Anne on the top of the Empire State Building for a whole day but Anne did not show up.

Finally, Annie confessed to her fiancé not far away and rushed to the Empire State Building. Sam and his son had already left and the Empire State Building was closed. Annie begged the security guard to imitate the plot in the movie "The Golden Jade Alliance" and then went to the top floor. Sam and his son's bag fell and came back...

The whole movie is about two very suitable men and women who officially get to know each other in the last minute of the movie because of a phone call, a broadcast, and a letter.

This kind of romantic love is really too exaggerated. If there is any problem in the acting, it will make the audience feel that it is very exaggerated and fake. So on the contrary, when filming, it must be completely real.

Whether it's real-life shooting or having Hanks improvise about male friendship and the relationship between father and son, there's this consideration of being as real as possible.

Seeing that Rita Wilson was still complaining about this and that, Ronald suddenly stopped and stared at her.

"What's wrong?" Rita Wilson just wanted to complain a little more to gain more say for her husband Hanks. When Ronald stared at her like that, she felt flustered, as if she realized that she had said too much.

Directors and producers of Ronald's caliber were a great threat to her. Tom Hanks also realized that something was wrong and tried to calm her down.

"Tom, your wife Rita is very photogenic..." Ronald's words stunned Rita Wilson.

"Yeah, he and I met when we were filming a movie...hehe," Tom Hanks replied with a smirk.

"Do you think she is suitable for the role of Sam's sister? I think you two have such a good understanding that you can play brother and sister." Ronald looked at Rita Wilson, looked around a few times, and took out the director's viewfinder, pretending to take a look.

"Hahaha, that's fine. But you have to give Rita an official credit..." Tom Hanks was very smart and immediately understood what Ronald meant. He let Rita Wilson play a role and have an official credit list. This way, she would go from being an outsider to an insider. She would only work for the good of the movie, and he wouldn't have to listen to her nagging every day.

"Can I? Do you want Nora to audition..." Rita Wilson touched her hair. She was willing. She didn't have any good representative works before. After marriage, she had children. Now she can only get some TV roles.

"I do have this privilege, and Nora will definitely agree. I know she's just busy with other things right now. She'll definitely remember it in a few days..."

Among the main characters in the crew, only Meg Ryan was relatively silent. Her husband Dennis Quaid was not able to play a couple with her. He was in a bad mood and drank and used illegal drugs at home.

Meg Ryan still has to use her influence to find him a leading actor role and act with him in a movie. Currently, they are discussing a black suspense thriller movie "The Untold Story".

Now she is using her influence to film with Quaid, which is rare among Hollywood couples or married actors. Even so, Quaid does not understand her. She is breastfeeding and has to film with her child alone.

Ronald hired the best professional nanny for her so that Meg Ryan could not worry about it as much as possible. She went out to work right after giving birth, so he could only try his best to create conditions for her so that she could immerse herself in the plot and character creation.

Ronald had directed her before and knew that the actress loved acting, so it was a good thing for her to be able to stay away from the troubles of reality.

Finally, a few days later, the crew officially started filming.

Young actor Nathan Watt plays the son of Sam, played by Hanks. He is an important clue to the plot. So the first scene was filmed in a houseboat next to the Fremont Bridge, where the father and son settled down in Seattle.

This is a living environment that Nora Ephron specifically found for the character of Sam. She believes that architect Sam will definitely like the free environment unique to Seattle, and a man who lives in a houseboat is the type that women like.

For this, Ronald paid a relatively high rental price before he found a suitable location.

"Cut!"

Nora Ephron called off the first take.

Ronald smiled beside him. Ephron was still okay. Although she had many shortcomings, she had one advantage that other new directors did not have, which was that she knew exactly what kind of picture she wanted. It seemed that staying here for a day would be enough.

Director Nora Ephron shot another take and then had the crew re-light it for another take, which was an exterior shot of the houseboat.

The lighting team worked quickly and quickly set up the lights. Ephron called for action. The camera began to move forward slowly. This was a very simple empty shot.

“Cut! Cut!”

But Nora Ephron stopped filming unhappily, "Nathan, what are you doing there?" It turned out that the child actor ran into the camera.

What a mess!
Ronald had to pull the first assistant director over and whisper a few words to him. This kind of scene required the sergeant to reprimand the irresponsible staff.

"Cut! Cut! Nathan, I want you to stay where you are, okay?" In the second scene, the little actor named Nathan ran behind the camera again and suddenly let out a strange cry to scare the hard workers in the camera crew.

"Where are his parents?" Ronald was also impatient. So much time and money had been wasted on the first day of filming...

(End of this chapter)