Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1386 How to Become a Legend

"Tom, this is Jackie Warner, the most professional diet and body training expert in Hollywood. This is Dr. Walter K. Kay, the best anorexia and weight management doctor in the United States. He also has a psychiatrist license..."

Tom Hanks' weight loss has been a bit too artistic. Now, he can literally go to Spielberg's studio in Poland and film concentration camp victims in "Schindler's List" without any makeup.

"Hi, hello Jackie, hello, Walter..." Hanks' voice was a little weak. The huge physical consumption made it easier for him to get into the role, but it also cost him a great price physically.

"Is this really necessary?" Tom Hanks' wife, Rita Wilson, was a little panicked when she saw Ronald being so serious. She is also an actor, and this has been done before by other actors, such as Robert De Niro in the movie Raging Bull, who had extreme weight gain and loss actions.

"It's better to be prepared. Do you know how many cases of anorexia and mental illness caused by improper weight management there are in Hollywood?" Ronald reminded.

"Oh, I'm a little scared..."

"Of course it's just a precautionary measure. I don't want my friend Tom to suffer any physical harm. But don't worry, Jackie advocates the Mediterranean diet. I've seen that her recipe emphasizes Greek yogurt, salmon, and chicken breast..."

"Oh, that puts me at ease. You know, we Greeks rarely have weight problems."

"Yeah, I'm using her method myself..."

Tom Hanks finally accepted Ronald's scientific plan. The final shots of the movie, where the protagonist lawyer becomes thin due to illness, will be filmed after Hanks' physical indicators meet the standards.

After returning home, Ronald plans to make a plan for all these. In the future, when there are similar movies, he will make a talent reserve list of coaches, doctors, and psychologists needed. Long-term cooperation with these people, this kind of real care is the cornerstone of building a long-term relationship.

"Ronald, I see, Orson Welles is a genius."

After lunch, Walter Murch called.

After he took on the task of re-editing "Touch of Evil," Rick Schmidlin, an expert on early Hollywood history, continued to search for interviews with people who were still alive when the movie was made.

I thought most of these people had died, but unexpectedly I found a Universal executive at the time named Ernie Nims.

When Rick Schmidlin called him, he didn't have much expectations because he was already in his eighties.

At the time, Rick Schmidlin asked him if he was Ernie Nims, if he worked at Universal, and if he had worked with Orson Welles.

Hearing the name of Orson Welles, Ernie Nims was very excited and shouted directly on the phone, "Of course I have seen Orson Welles. He is a legend. He is the only genius I have ever seen in Hollywood. He is 20 years ahead of his time."

Ernie Nims also said that Orson Welles had some information with him that he could provide to Ronald and others.

Ronald was curious and went to visit with Rick Schmidlin. Ernie Nims had worked as an editor for Orson Welles in the 1940s, so he was very familiar with his talent.

In his opinion, the reason why Orson Welles did not do well in Hollywood was because his ideas were too advanced, so that none of the bureaucrats in the Hollywood studios could understand him. However, the technicians and actors all knew how epoch-making his ideas were, and they were all proud to work with him.

Ronald carefully read through the dozen pages of Orson Welles' manuscripts that the old man had carefully collected, and only then did he realize that the editing suggestions the old man had given him were actually a roundabout tactic in the face of the bad attitude of Universal producers.

So he copied it and faxed it to Walter Murch in San Francisco. After discussing it, the two suddenly realized that Orson Welles could not say that he made a mistake in the filming, and could only use other reasons to cover himself up, otherwise the producer Albert Zugsmith would definitely seize the handle to attack him.

So those suggestions, don't care what Orson Welles' reasons are, such as a close-up mistakenly using a wide-angle lens, which distorts the face of the character Menzies. In fact, those are all nonsense reasons. Just delete the shot and don't care about the reasons Welles made up.

With this understanding, Walter Murch's editing progress suddenly became very fast. As of today, Murch has revised all 58 comments written by Welles in the first cut.

On the Sony 28-inch monitor, Walter Murch saw for the first time the complete image cut according to Orson Welles's opinions. He was so shocked that he couldn't help but call Ronald immediately.

"I understand now why Orson Welles said that Menzies's lens was a wrong wide angle. In fact, it was a narrative necessity... not a technical error..."

Murch's gist is that the protagonist in that shot is Vargas who sees through the evidence of Menzies' boss Quinlan's cheating, and Menzies understands that his and his boss's little secret has been seen through by Vargas, hence his painful expression.

This expression also made Vargas realize that his guess was correct. Then all the plots in the last half hour of the movie, where Menzies rediscovered his conscience and helped Vargas fight his boss Quinlan, were done under the coercion of the protagonist Vargas. This expression was like a noose around Menzies' neck, forcing him to help the decent character Vargas.

If this shot is cut, then Vargas, the character, will not be able to find out whether he guessed correctly at the scene. In other words, the noose has been cut.

Although the audience already knows how Menzies and Quinlan cheated because they have seen all the plots, Vargas, the character in the play, does not know. In the end, Menzies' transformation was his own active choice, not forced.

This greatly increases the depth of Menzies' character, and the fierce battle between Vargas and Quinlan becomes a group show of three people.

But Orson Welles couldn't tell the truth, otherwise Albert Zugsmith would definitely use this as a bargaining chip to speak ill of Welles to the Universal executives, and it would be in doubt whether the film could be finally completed.

"Okay, I can't wait to see the finished film. Take your time and don't worry about the cost and time. This is the first time a classic film has been re-edited and restored according to the director's wishes, so we must ensure the quality."

"Okay, I just can't help but be excited and want to share it with you. After that, there is the arduous sound restoration. The alignment and repair of those tapes will be very troublesome..."

"Diane..." After hanging up the phone, Ronald was just about to take a walk in the garden with Diane when the phone rang again.

"Is there anything else I forgot to say?" Ronald thought it was Murch, so he picked up the phone and asked.

"Guess who I am... um... why don't you play by the rules? I'll call you again..." The phone was hung up abruptly.

"Ring ring ring ring..."

"Hello, this is Ronald, who are you?" Ronald, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, put down the phone and waited for the other party to call before answering it and having to act it out again with him.

"Hehehe, Ronald, guess who I am?"

"Did the pizza I ordered arrive?" Ronald tried to hold back his smile...

"Haha, I'm MJ..." Michael Jackson loved to play this kind of childish prank the most, and he was very happy with Ronald's cooperation.

"How are you doing?" Ronald wanted to know why MJ called him today.

"I was on Oprah's show recently. Did you watch it?"

"I didn't watch it. To be honest, I've been busy with the panda rental business recently..."

"Oh, pandas are lovely animals. But I'm attending the Grammy Awards tonight. You must watch this time..."

"certainly……"

Ronald thought Michael Jackson's behavior was a bit strange. Although MJ liked to play pranks in the past, this kind of phone call that made people watch TV was definitely not his style. He called Richard to inquire, only to find out that this talented musician was recently caught up in the suspicion of bleaching and plastic surgery.

Since last year, there have been some weird rumors surrounding Michael Jackson. For example, he slept in a coffin every night and was actually a vampire. Another rumor is that he didn't like being black and had multiple plastic surgeries and skin bleaching operations, and now he looks completely white.

So a few days ago he attended Oprah's talk show, where he revealed that he has vitiligo and that the so-called bleaching is pure rumor. It is actually a disease, but he did not disclose it for the sake of personal privacy.

……

"It is my honor and pride to present the 1993 Grammy Legend Award to my big brother, Michael Jackson." The person presenting the award on the stage, dressed in white and with a white necklace, was Janet Jackson.

The camera turned and Michael Jackson, wearing a white diamond-studded top and black pants, stood up and went on stage to receive the award.

"Wow, it seems that the plastic surgery is real..."

Ronald watched the Grammy live broadcast on TV as scheduled. He hadn't seen Michael Jackson for a long time, but he sometimes got through on the phone. This close-up shot made Ronald feel that MJ's facial features had indeed changed a lot if he watched it with the idea of ​​plastic surgery.

The two biggest changes are his nose, which is now straight and has a small tip, but the result of his plastic surgery is worse than that of Jennifer Grey, the lead actress of Dirty Dancing. Both nose wings are a little contracted.

Another change is the chin, which is obviously filled with fillers and looks very full, with a small depression in the middle of the chin.

The adjustments in these two places, plus the skin color due to vitiligo, do make her look more like a white person.

"Congratulations, Michael Jackson. I just wanted to say how proud I am and how much you are a legend and how much I love you..."

Janet Jackson also had to give a speech when she received the award, and there were unhappy audience members behind her shouting "Fuck off..."

"Tsk..." Ronald didn't know what to say.

Did Janet Jackson really need to stand on the stage for so long and talk to her brother? It would be fine if you just presented an award and then left, but if you stayed on the stage next to your brother, the TV audience would definitely have the same feeling as Ronald, "Are you from the same mother?"

When comparing the two, their skin colors have exceeded the tolerance of the TV camera. One is black and the other is white. Their facial features are not similar at all. Moreover, the younger sister has a typical black dreadlock hairstyle, while the older brother has completely straight black shoulder-length hair...

The TV station immediately noticed the problem and switched to the right camera, trying to show only the side profile of sister Janet Jackson.

"I also want to clarify another rumor..." MJ hugged his sister in his arms and looked at the camera again. This time the director had no choice but to give a close-up of the two of them side by side.

"Janet and I have always been two people..."

"Hahaha..." The audience laughed like crazy. When the two looked very similar, there were rumors that Michael and Janet were actually the same person wearing men's and women's clothes respectively.

Ronald saw that MJ handled the situation well and he still had the charm of a superstar.

"I didn't read all the news about me before, and I was surprised when people told me that people thought I was weird. But if you're like me, performing in front of 100 million people since you were five years old, you feel different...

My childhood was full of traveling, performing, rehearsing, and singing. I didn’t have any ordinary childhood, so I like to be with children. I get inspiration when I’m with them..."

Michael Jackson then went on for five minutes about how his childhood was robbed of joy and how he got inspiration for several of his signature songs from children. That weird feeling came back.

"I hope I won't end up on a national live broadcast and not know what to say..." The longer it was, the more uncomfortable Ronald felt. Maybe stars have been away from ordinary people for too long, and they all have a natural feeling of being watched. It would be better if MJ could just thank them after telling that joke and end it.

"I'll go pack your clothes for you..." Diane didn't want to watch anymore, so she stood up and went to prepare Ronald's luggage.

"A dark blue double-breasted jacket with metal buttons, yellow pants, a French shirt, cufflinks..."

Although she had an assistant and a maid, Diane insisted on packing her husband's luggage and packing after a business trip by herself. The shirt with metal cuffs, paired with a navy jacket, gave her a mature Western elite look. This way, she could immediately show her Hollywood identity when testifying in Congress.

A very formal tie, formal shoes, and a top made of fine fabric make it look very comfortable whether you are sitting or standing, and have a bit of New Yorker taste.

The current Congress has a TV station called C-SPAN, which broadcasts the entire meeting live. Important hearings and events are also recorded and broadcast. So Ronald's visit to Washington this time was also live on TV, and his image was specially designed by a public relations consultant.

"How do I look?" Ronald turned around in front of the mirror.

"It's simply legendary... darling..."