Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1399 Ronald and Cameron team up to hit the target
"I'm not afraid of Schwarzenegger, he's not that strong, I can beat him..."

When Ronald and Schwarzenegger returned to the big room, they heard a man with a big head bragging and joking with the people around him.

"Hey, you're pretty confident, man..." Schwarzenegger walked over and said half-jokingly in his low Austrian accent from behind.

"Ah, hahaha, Arnold, you won't be unhappy with what I said, right? You know, every man who has the chance to stand next to you will involuntarily flex his arms to look at his biceps. Just like after listening to Pavarotti's opera, he will try to sing a few lines in the shower..." This man was also an actor who came here for an audition. He spoke in an exaggerated manner, but not in a annoying way. Instead, he gave people a sense of ease as if he was your best friend.

"Yeah, just like when I saw others dancing tango in the movies, I also want to try it myself..." Schwarzenegger was amused by him and raised his hands to make a few tango poses.

"Brother, you really have the tango style..."

Ronald stood back and watched for a while until Cameron came over and stood beside him silently. "Did you see them? This..."

"The chemistry is good, really good..." Cameron agreed. After auditioning so many male actors, only this man and Schwarzenegger, standing together, naturally have the aura that makes people feel that the two of them are friends and best friends.

"Hahaha, that's really good, let them audition."

"Do you know his name?" Ronald turned and asked his assistants.

"Tom, Tom Arnold..."

……

"Hey, isn't this the actor I met in Cameron's office?"

Early the next morning, Ronald had breakfast with Diane in the restaurant. On the USA Today program, the guy who had great chemistry with Schwarzenegger, Tom Arnold, appeared.

"He and his wife Roseanne Barr are getting divorced. It's almost become a TV series in the newspapers and on TV..." Diane wiped her mouth. The Hollywood gossip that Ronald didn't care much about had already spread widely among the female star circle.

The reason why everyone is so interested is that this is an atypical Hollywood divorce case. In the marriage, Roseanne Barr is the one with more wealth, power and dominance.

This Russian-Jewish woman, who was born in Salt Lake City, looks very ordinary among Jews, but she worked her way up with her comedic talent and now has her own TV series "Roseanne" on TV, creating an image for herself as a strong working-class family goddess. Because she writes and stars in her own shows and has strong control over the TV series, she is paid tens of millions of dollars per season.

Tom Arnold, in the eyes of others, is a typical gigolo. He started out as a stand-up comedian, and his greatest achievement was opening the show for Roseanne Barr.

Roseanne Barr saw his talent and recruited him into her crew as a screenwriter. Their passion for creation soon continued into their lives. On January 1990, 1, Roseanne Barr divorced her ex-husband, with whom she had raised three children, and four days later she married Tom Arnold.

After the two got married, they often appeared in high-profile TV shows and interviews, talking about private matters that others would not disclose.

But this year, their relationship was on the verge of breaking down, and Roseanne Barr finally filed for divorce in a California court.

Since Roseanne Barr earns far more than Tom Arnold, this will be the first high-profile lawsuit in which a female celebrity pays a male celebrity ex-husband a huge amount of child support.

As expected, this caused a lot of controversy in Hollywood, and the couple began to make their own moves. Roseanne Barr accused Tom of squandering her money, accusing Tom of manipulating her in the marriage, drinking and abusing drugs, beating her, and implying that Tom Arnold was unfaithful and had cheated on her many times.

But this trick, which works well on other female stars, doesn't work on Roseanne Barr and looks a bit funny.

Tom Arnold also hit back, saying that Roseanne Barr was being fussy and that the couple had to settle accounts separately no matter what happened. He also generously admitted that he had an alcohol problem and was not proud of his addiction.

Tom Arnold also counterattacked, saying that Roseanne Barr had emotionally manipulated him, making him feel guilty about doing things and having to live according to the rules set by Roseanne Barr. And Roseanne Barr was the one who used violence in the marriage, and also implied that Roseanne Barr was unfaithful more often.

This statement is more convincing, after all, Roseanne Barr's image of a typical blue-collar fat woman is in line with the behavior he accused. Most men in middle-class and poor families in America also suffer from their wives controlling their finances and complaining that their husbands don't work hard at home. Suddenly, many people sympathize with Tom Arnold.

"Why, why do people sympathize with Tom Arnold instead of Roseanne Barr? If the situation were reversed, most people would probably sympathize with the male star whose property was taken away by his wife?" Diane felt that it was not fair. For a female star to find a handsome man, it seemed to go against American values.

"Maybe because she's ugly..." Ronald looked at Roseanne Barr's round face and thought to himself that this kind of role is still popular among the middle and lower classes in America. But of course he couldn't say that, "Maybe because she's Jewish..."

Roseanne Barr's strength was also reflected in the fact that she converted Tom Arnold, a Puritan who originally believed in the Methodist Church, to Judaism...

"That explains it..." Diane also felt disgusted when she heard about Jews, and Ronald was almost persuaded to convert. If this happened... their relationship would be hard to say.

……

"Why, you're going to 20th Century Fox too?"

A few days later, when Ronald called Cameron again to discuss the preparations for "True Lies", he found out that the other party was going to 20th Century Fox to meet their senior management.

"Yes, those bastards wanted to interfere with my casting. They said Tom Arnold was not suitable for the role of Schwarzenegger's co-pilot..."

Cameron had just decided to cast Tom Arnold to play Schwarzenegger's character, Harry's work partner and good friend Gibb. Unexpectedly, Tom Sherak, the vice president of marketing at 20th Century Fox, strongly opposed it, saying that his divorce scandal with Roseanne Barr would cause immeasurable losses to the film.

"Okay, let's go together..." Ronald also felt that 20th Century Fox was meddling in his business. Several company executives who had been close to him during the Die Hard era had already left 20th Century Fox. Even the original chairman, Barry Diller, had left the company to start his own business. This businessman who wanted to go from being a super worker to a boss, had been in the Fox Group for so many years that he finally realized that it was almost impossible to get more shares from the Australian Rupert, so he liquidated and left.

The old people left, and the new people did not understand Ronald's importance to 20th Century Fox, nor did they understand who had the upper hand in the negotiation. So Ronald decided to give them a shocking education.

"You're going?"

"I'll support you..."

"Hahaha..." Cameron was very happy to hear this, but he didn't believe it.

"Also, I have another movie here, and I want to discuss the distribution business with them. After all, 20th Century Fox has more experience in the distribution of action movies, but if they don't know what they are talking about..."

"Then we will advance and retreat together..."

The two came to the filming location of the first Die Hard movie, the office building of 20th Century Fox. They took the executive elevator and went straight to the top few floors to the office of Vice President Tom Sherak.

"Oh, I feel so honored that two big Hollywood directors came to my office today..." When Tom Sherak saw two tall men wearing casual clothes and sunglasses coming in, he quickly stood up to greet them, "Which of you will come first?"

"Let's talk together. You can tell me or you can tell Ronald..." Cameron sat on the sofa in a bad mood.

Tom Sherack looked toward Ronald, questioning him with his eyes.

"You heard what Jim said, and what he said is what I meant..." Ronald smiled and leaned over and pressed Tom Sherak's call button, "Miss Secretary, give us two cups of coffee, the best..."

"Mr. Tom Sherack..." The secretary didn't understand and asked.

"Do what they say..." Tom Sherak pressed the call button himself in annoyance.

"Well, you've also read today's news, right? Tom Arnold's multiple cheating partners have been found out..." Tom Sherak handed several newspapers to the two directors.

"I don't care. Tom Arnold and Schwarzenegger work very well together. Don't put your finger in my soup bowl..." Cameron was fearless. After all, Ronald, as one of the investors and producers, supported him unconditionally. To be honest, a vice president who had not yet taken office did not have much deterrent power.

"We are the distributor, so we still have a say in casting, right?" Tom Sherak was not to be outdone. Now that the position of president and CEO was vacant and the boss Rupert had increased his shares, it was obvious that everyone had a chance to go further. If he could get two big directors, then his reputation as a good manager of big-budget movies would definitely be noticed by Rupert. Now everyone knew that 20th Century Fox needed a president who could manage geniuses.

"Oh oh..." Cameron made an exaggerated shrug and said to Ronald, "It seems that I guessed right. He really wants to manage us..."

"Is this what you want?" Ronald stared at Tom Sherak calmly.

"I don't mean to manage you. Who can manage you two geniuses? But 20th Century Fox has a lot to consider. As a distributor and investor, we need to express our concern for some actors who have a too negative impact on marketing..."

Tom Sherak did not dare to fight back directly. If it was Cameron alone, he could still handle it, but with two major directors appearing at the same time, many things could not be used to threaten a single director.

"Hasn't Jim proven enough? You even have to control a casting? Don't worry about that, Mr. Tom Sherak." Ronald said with a smile.

"I understand. I'm just expressing concern on behalf of the company. This is our right, isn't it?" Seeing that Ronald seemed to be speaking kindly, Tom Sherak had another idea. As long as he could sell the negative impact of Tom Arnold to Ronald, maybe he could stand on his side and help persuade Cameron.

"We are not here to negotiate. I am here to express my attitude. The role of Gibb belongs only to Tom Arnold..." Cameron was a little impatient and his true colors were revealed.

"Otherwise, what?" Tom Sherak anticipated Cameron's reaction. He knew the weakness of these artists, which was that they were full of emotions and easily exposed their cards.

"Otherwise Jim will take the project with him. I know Columbia and Universal are both looking for good special effects movies, especially Columbia. Gubel knows the effects of Spielberg's big dinosaur..."

Ronald threatened him with a smile. This guy was too ambitious and lacked strength. He looked at his gradually pale face and added, "And my project. I wanted to talk to you about it... Maybe Gubel would be more willing to respect our creative freedom..."

"Okay, okay... Don't get excited, both of you. I'm just an ignorant businessman. If this role is really as important to the movie as Mr. Cameron said, then we still attach great importance to the opinions of artists. Let's do this. Tom Arnold will play this role..."

Tom Sherak immediately turned his guns around when he saw that things were not going well, saying that the director was ultimately responsible for the artistic quality of a film...

"That's good..." Cameron got what he wanted, high-fived, and was about to leave. He still had a lot of things to do.

"I don't know what film project Director Ronald Lee is preparing. Although most of our working capital is invested in this True Lies, Fox's domestic distribution power is still very strong. As long as Ronald is the director... we can also divert funds from other projects..."

"I'm not the director... I'm just the producer" Ronald smiled... He chose 20th Century Fox because of their extensive experience in distributing action movies.

"I wonder what the subject matter is?" Tom Sherak was not giving up and wanted to get more credit for himself.

"It's simple, Die Hard on the bus..."

"It's settled, what conditions do you want? Everything is negotiable, everything is negotiable..." Tom Sherack raised his hands in surrender when he heard it. Back then, many people were not optimistic about Die Hard, but who knew that the producer of Lawrence found director John McTiernan to make a hit classic, leading a trend.

"It's similar to Die Hard. We need some traditional and computer-generated special effects..." Ronald made his conditions after hearing this.

"That's all fine. Do you still need John McTiernan? I can get him to come over for the shoot, although the pay will be a bit higher..."

"It can't be him who shoots it, everyone else can be discussed..." Ronald smiled and rejected John McTiernan, who acted on his own too many times and was difficult to control.

"Anyone, just tell me the name and I'll take care of it..."

……

"Ha ha ha ha……"

The two returned to Cameron's office. Tom Arnold felt relieved when he learned that he got the role. He thanked the two directors for their support and started telling jokes even harder to make everyone laugh.

Hearing that 20th Century Fox believed that his divorce case had an impact and almost cost him the role, Tom Arnold went all out and scolded his wife Roseanne Barr.

"You know what? This vicious woman wanted to divorce me. While I was away, she took away all the furniture and small appliances in the house. This vicious woman even took away the ice trays in the refrigerator. Oh my God, she took away all the ice trays..."

"This is a great line..." Ronald and Cameron smiled at each other. Tom Arnold's talent as a comedian was indeed extraordinary. This line could be seamlessly transplanted into what Gibb said to his partner Harry.

(End of this chapter)