Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 137 Androgen Test
All four actors were accompanied by family members or elders on the sofa outside the audition.All four of them have a lot of audition experience, and they all know the audition process and competition level.No one was so naive as to intentionally show goodwill to competitors, snoop on news, or take the opportunity to mislead. Everyone sat in chairs and waited quietly.

In the words of Brooke Shields' mother who expressed her reluctance to act, "Endless Love" does not require the acting skills of the heroines, it only needs them to stand, sit, lie down, laugh and cry beautifully.

Therefore, the focus of this audition is not to "test" whether the play is good or bad, but to observe whether the actors are "mirrored" and meet the needs of the role.

A movie camera was placed inside the audition room to capture a video of the actors.Facing the auditioners were company executive Peter Guber and director Franco Zeffirelli.

On the other side sits Shirley Knight, who has been stripped of most of her decision-making power for leading ladies, save for an honorary presence.

Ronald is still in the role of assistant, responsible for recording evaluations on the side.Gubel gave him a task in private, which was to evaluate the sexual attraction of the heroine to young men, that is, how many young male audiences would buy tickets to enter the cinema just to see the beautiful body of the heroine.

The first person to audition was Kelly Preston.Born in Hawaii, he lived with his mother in Australia after his parents divorced. He is 17 years old this year.It was not her mother who brought her here, but a fashion photographer.

He describes himself as a protégé and "close associate" of famed photographer Richard Avedon (Richard Avedon), who lives with him in his multimillion-dollar mansion on Long Island, New York.

Kelly Preston was the model he discovered, and he has been taking him around to promote him since then, hoping to become a leading role in a certain film crew.

This kind of slightly weird combination is actually quite a few in Hollywood.Agent Eddie's former client, Dorothy Stratten, is like this. The young girl's assets are not much, and she is willing to give everything for her star dream. After soaring to the sky, it is another story.

Ronald called Kelly Preston into the audition room alone. Hollywood puts the market first. In terms of creation, as long as you can bring in box office, the director has considerable autonomy, so the audition rule is that only actors can enter alone. Eliminate any possible distractions.

"Hi, my name is Kelly Preston, I'm from Hawaii, and I'm 17 years old." The girl introduced herself to the camera.Then I took some frontal shots, close-ups and close-ups of the two sides.

This is a very typical American sweet sister, with long blonde hair and a very sweet face.Ronald felt that her attractiveness index was quite high. The only thing that didn't fit the plot of the movie was that Kelly Preston didn't seem to be that confident, and her expression and reaction were more like a child from a middle-class family.

In the original "Endless Love", Jed was born into a wealthy family and had a single-family house on Long Island.It will be difficult for her to play this kind of rich and noble flower in the world who is confident and can do whatever she wants.After all, the actors in youth films are all around 20, and being able to act in their true colors will save a lot of trouble.

Ronald couldn't help thinking of Brooke Shields, this tall girl is indeed the No. 1 choice for the heroine of the movie.The success of two consecutive movies has greatly improved her self-confidence and self-willedness, which fits the plot of the movie.

The crew did not completely give up communicating with her mother Terry, but Brooke Shields, who is up for grabs, has more initiative and is still trying to audition for other movies that can better reflect her "acting skills".

Looking back at Kelly Preston's resume, it turns out that she also participated in the "Blue Lagoon" audition, but was not chosen.Being pinned down by Brooke Shields twice, it is estimated that she is about to lose her mind.

"Sorry, Mr. Director, I was mainly a model before, and I have no experience in acting in movies and TV."

Director Franco Zeffirelli asked her two questions, and Kelly Preston answered nervously, covering her mouth with her hands to hide her embarrassment.Now even the executive producer Guber shook his head slightly.

Ronald accompanied her out, and Kelly Preston asked him about her audition.Ronald had no choice but to say that they would notify her agent and let her go back and wait for news.

The second audition was Jennifer Jason Leigh (Jennifer Jason Leigh), 18 years old this year.Vic Morrow divorced her mother so badly that her daughter changed her last name.This time, Morrow also did not accompany the audition.Accompanied by her mother, Barbara, an unsuccessful screenwriter.

"Personality?"

"Rich girl."

"character?"

"Willful, don't consider anything other than love."

……

Jennifer was still reviewing cheat sheets with her mother, going over every aspect of Jed before the audition.It's also a couple who don't understand the situation.

Ronald led her into the audition room.

Because of her father's relationship, Jennifer has appeared in many TV series, and she is very confident in asking and answering with the director.The analysis of the heroine is also in place, and it can be seen that she has undergone professional acting training.

Her problem lies in her appearance.Although very photogenic and good-looking, he is not attractive enough compared to Kelly Preston. At the age of 18, he is still a little baby fat. To be honest, in high school, he is the type that is easily overlooked by boys.

On the contrary, after a few years, it may grow into a beautiful woman.

She also auditioned for "Blue Lagoon" because at first the director insisted on full frontal nudity and gave up the role.

Had "Blue Lagoon" starred her, it would have been a completely different movie, with less visual impact and more convincing characters, a rise and fall for critics and box office, and a fall for producers. Whether it is good or bad is hard to say.

It can be seen that director Zeffirelli admired her very much and talked to her for a long time.Shirley Knight also wanted her to play, so that she could grab some attention in the scenes where the two co-star.

However, Gu Beier was quite dissatisfied. The most important aspect of appearance was that Jennifer Jason Lee was born a lot worse.

Ronald sent her out as usual, and her mother, Barbara, pulled her aside and discussed the audition process in a low voice.Barbara was more than satisfied to hear her daughter talk to the director about the character's personality.Years of education have paid off.

As usual, Ronald wanted to talk about waiting for his agent to notify him, but Barbara interrupted directly, "We understand the audition process." She sent him away.

Ronald could only laugh. Many actors are too obsessed with the importance of acting skills. It seems that Barbara taught her daughter the same way.But does the success of a movie really depend on the performance of a certain actor?

Maybe different types of movies have different focuses. Shakespeare's story has been acted thousands of times, and the audience knows how the story develops. The acting skills of the actors will determine the success of the play.

Although "Endless Love" is a bestseller, the number of readers is still a minority in front of the number of movie audiences.Readers and non-readers are attracted first by the love story of the young men and women, and the beauty of the character is the key to let the audience appreciate it.

The third audition was Bo Derek.Ronald saw her starring in "Perfect", in which she emerged from the sea and walked ashore in a flesh-colored body-hugging swimsuit.

But Ronald didn't look at her much outside.

Because Bo was brought in by husband John Derek.

John was 30 years older than Bo, and when he met Bo, who was 16, he was fascinated.After quickly divorcing his wife, he took Bo to Germany.

At that time, there was an automatic sexual assault law in California, as long as it had sex with a woman under the age of 16, whether it was voluntary or not, it was treated as sexual assault.After Bo's 18th birthday, John Derek married her quickly, and then returned to China to push Bo into the showbiz.

"Perfect," released in 1979, was a huge hit at the box office and critically, and Bo Derek catapulted to stardom.

But this movie also limited Bo's play. Most of the scripts Bo Derek received after that were sexy and fleshy.In order to break through the play, they paid a lot of attention to Jed, the protagonist of "Endless Love". After all, Jed's lines in the movie are much more than those in "Perfect".

Ronald felt that among the four actors, Bo Derek was undoubtedly the sexiest, and there was a hint of childishness in his sexiness.This is quite in line with the description of Jed in the original book.

But seeing director Zeffirelli's dissatisfaction, after filming the audition clip, the director turned against his desire to communicate with Jennifer Jason Lee, asked a simple question, and kept silent. look.Soon Bo Derek was auditioning and was sent out by Ronald.

"24 years old." Peter Gubel still found the director's dissatisfaction.

Po Derek, who has been married for many years, is a mature beauty, which is somewhat different from Jade's figure of a girl under the age of 19.

The last one was Melanie Griffiths.Her mother, Tippi Hedren, no longer had the obsequiousness in Hitchcock's movies. After filming "The Thief", Tippi Hedren and Hitchcock had a falling out, and she never received a big role in Hollywood.Tibi moved to Africa with his family and raised lions.

Years of living in the African jungle turned her into an old woman.Also turned her daughter into a white and fat look.

Living with lions in the African jungle and having little communication with people made Melanie Griffiths have some problems with her normal communication skills.At the age of 14, she was married to Don Johnson, who came to visit her mother, for 6 months. After a crazy period of time, the divorce ended.

After bidding farewell to the jungle and returning to Hollywood, Melanie dated many movie stars again, and her experience with lions also attracted many Hollywood stars.It's "into" the chaotic and crazy side of Hollywood.

Ronald took Melanie into the audition room and took some cinematic shots.Both directors Zeffirelli and Guber shook their heads slightly.

Her face has far exceeded the scope of baby fat, Ronald tried his best not to look at her, fearing that his expressions and actions would cause her dissatisfaction.Taking her out after the audition, Melanie still acted like she didn't know what was going on.

Mother Tibi let out a long sigh, and she took her children to Africa to raise lions, which seemed to be a mistake.Fortunately, my current husband is a well-known agent and producer, and is tailor-making a movie "Roar" for the mother and daughter. Based on the experience of the mother and daughter, it tells the story of a mother and daughter who live with lions in Africa .

Jed, the heroine of "Endless Love", it seems that Melanie is not competitive anymore.

Ronald, who sent Melanie away, entered the audition room. Shirley Knight was complaining that Brooke Shields did not meet the protagonist Jed, and advocated choosing Kelly Preston and Jennifer Jason Lee.It seems that Guber has brought up rediscovering Brooke Shields again.

When Gubel saw Ronald coming back, he asked, "What do you think? Ronald? Brooke Stoudemire or the two of them, who is suitable?"

"Boji Shields." Asked by the big boss, Ronald of course told the truth.

"But Ronald, your aesthetics alone does not represent the general attitude of the audience." Shirley Knight was very repulsive to Brooke Shields, and tried her best to prevent the crew from negotiating with her again.

"You're right, we can find some target customers and let them look at the photos of several candidates to see who can arouse their fantasy the most." Ronald thought of a trick to avoid Shirley Knight's resentment. on himself.

"Let the hormones decide?"

Guber took out a cigarette and smoked.Steve McQueen said in an interview that he was in the navy when he was young, and he was exposed to asbestos-induced diseases, and now he can smoke again.

(End of this chapter)