Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 271 The director must take a vacation
Donna had to go back to New York after the weekend to study for final exams.The family only had one day to play in Los Angeles.Ronald accompanied his aunt and Donna to the mall to buy some gifts.

"Ronnie, I really want you to come back with us. You have been in Los Angeles for half a year. We all miss you and hope you can come back to New York for Christmas. But you should work hard in Los Angeles. After all, this is your first movie."

After seeing the filming scene, Aunt Karen was inexplicably a little in awe of Ronald's work.

Directing the work of a crew of more than 100 people and giving orders is not a job that ordinary people can do.She didn't want to let down the efforts of all the actors by delaying the editing work because Ronnie went back to New York for Christmas vacation.

"It's okay, I was going to be on vacation for a few weeks. Film editing is to look at the dailies with critical eyes, like a Donna's teacher is grading her homework. If I go to the editing room now, my state of mind has not changed. If the director changes, I'm afraid he won't be willing to delete even one of them."

Ronald explained to his aunt the work of filming.The director has his own thoughts on every shot, and some shots can only be shot after untold hardships.

But the idea of ​​editing is to cut out the bad parts of all the films and connect the good parts.Sometimes those films that were shot casually can show better results than those that have taken more than 20 shots with serious efforts.

One thing Ronald learned from Walter Murch is that after the shooting is complete, he has to play for two weeks to clear his mind and then sit in the editing room, so that he can forget the director's understanding of the shots he shot. Love, to regain the objective perspective of ordinary audiences.

"Okay, okay. I'll stay in Los Angeles for another week and work hard, and then I'll go back to New York to spend Christmas with you." Ronald looked at Aunt Karen's expression of "you have to work hard" and agreed with a smile. Come back to New York sometime.

"Shall we go to the movies?" Donna suggested.After watching her cousin's director work, she became interested in movies and always asked Ronald how the shots of a certain movie were shot.Ronald made some guesses, some of which he couldn't think of himself.

Sometimes a movie attracts more audiences because of some particularly interesting shots.

"Wait for me, I'll write this postcard and send it," said Aunt Karen.

Since the Grand Commander miraculously survived the assassination, Aunt Karen has become his loyal supporter.Write him postcards often to show support.

According to her friends who are widows in the army, the current commander-in-chief is the chosen one who escaped the assassination. He was specially sent by God to do something to save America, and he was not allowed to die before finishing.

Recently, the leader of a small African country, Colonel Gaddafi, was rumored to assassinate the general. NBC reporters went to interview him, and he was so frightened that he called the White House during the live broadcast and clarified to the commander in person that he had absolutely no assassination attempt.

A lucky female worker in the leg warmer factory also received a handwritten reply from the commander, and suddenly became the most powerful celebrity in the local area.This made Aunt Karen even more motivated to write the letter.

This made Ronald very admired.The commander-in-chief randomly selects some people to reply to the letter every day, and does not say this matter in the national news media.However, the ordinary people who received the reply would spread the news locally. As soon as the local media reported it, there were small groups of people all over the place who supported him.

When the tax cut bill needed approval from Congress a few months ago, the President called on the people to write letters to the state senators and representatives in this constituency, calling on them to vote for the tax cut bill in Congress.Aunt Karen also wrote urging letters to the New York State Senator and the Staten Island Representative.

The congressman in America is most worried about the fire in the backyard and losing the support of voters.This continuous pressure has caused many members of Congress to change their attitudes, and the tax cut bill was passed smoothly.

In terms of acting skills, the Grand Commander's scheming way of motivating the people is much better than most Hollywood male stars.

The most powerful thing is that, as the leader of the Elephant Party, he also won the support of most of the Southern Donkey Party members.The masculine voice and humorous conversation really attracted the love of southern housewives.

Even the senator from Delaware, where white supremacism is serious in the South, and the chief member of the Donkey Party of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Joe (meaning that the committee has served as a senator for the longest time), the vane of the Donkey Party, also voted for tax cuts ticket.

"What are you watching, Ronnie? Shall we go to the cinema?" Seeing that her aunt finished writing the postcard, Donna couldn't wait to take Ronald to Huaguo Theater together.

"The Lost Ark of the Covenant Returns to No. 1981 at the Box Office, Possibly the Top Christmas Movie of [-]"

Produced by George Lucas and directed by Spielberg, this film has occupied the top three box office charts for half a year, and it climbed to the top again as Christmas approaches.

"Lights Out," starring Timothy Hutton and Tom Cruise, premiered last week.The box office can only be ranked fifth.

Ronald put down the weekly box office column in the "Hollywood Reporter" and went out with his family to the Huaguo Theater on Hollywood Boulevard.

This is a famous theater in Hollywood, and the gate is a Huaguo-style building with carved beams and brackets.

"Which movie should we watch?" Ronald saw several movies to choose from at the ticket window.

"Look at 'Lights Out', there's Tom in it." Cousin Donna still remembered that the cake that Tom Cruise sent was delicious.

Well, Ronald also wanted to see the quality of this 1400 million production of Twentieth Century Fox. The Hollywood Reporter says it's on track to hit 300 million at the box office this week, a number that's not good news relative to the cost.

"Hahaha, look, my hands are similar to Monroe." Donna smiled and played in the star's handprint and footprint area at the entrance of Huaguo Theater.

Among the more than 100 stars who left handprints or footprints, Monroe is the most popular among the audience. Her handprints are obviously darker than other handprints because of the most touches.

There is also a strong Huaguo style in the Huaguo Theater.The curtain pulled up on the stage is Hua Guohong, on which the words Double Happiness are displayed in bright yellow, and some myths and stories about Hua Guo.

The curtain slowly opened, Ronald sat on an old-fashioned chair and looked at the Fox logo lit up on the screen. Watching a movie here really has a special flavor.

"Lights Out" tells a ridiculous story. George C. Scott, who once played General Patton, plays a brigadier general working in a military academy, instilling military honor and responsibility in cadets.

When politicians and real estate businessmen wanted to flatten the military academy and develop real estate projects, the trainees took up arms to defend the school.

After the general came to power, the ideas of tradition and honor that conservatives insisted on began to resurface.Three years ago, there would have been no movies to give the military a positive image.

Aunt Karen was quite satisfied that the movie did not slander the soldiers. Donna thought that Tom Cruise was more handsome than Hutton, which made Ronald laugh out loud.

Indeed, Hutton's performance in the movie is more formal than Tom Cruise's performance, which makes people feel more real.

According to Nisita, Paula arranged a series of acting courses for Tom, and Tom also worked very hard. Every time he got a new role, he studied for a long time, trying to impress people in the movie.

As for why Tom's performance was more real than Hutton's, Ronald was a little puzzled.In all fairness, although Hutton didn't get along with him, his performance wasn't bad, otherwise he wouldn't have won an Oscar.

But his performance in "Lights Out" always makes people feel less real than Tom Cruise and Sean Penn's supporting roles.Maybe it's not that Hutton is bad, but that he met Tom and Sean, and the audience has evaluations in their hearts after comparison.

Ronald felt that his main research direction in the future should also be on the acting skills of actors.As a director, I already know a lot about the techniques of various types of work, so I can avoid being fooled by the technicians.

But what the movie finally presents on the screen is the performance of the actors.He can't tell now whether Hutton and Tom Cruise's performances are good or bad, and why.If I don't want to spend my whole life making exploitation films like Roger Corman, acting is an area that I must learn.

After seeing off his aunt and cousin, Ronald started a vacation life in Los Angeles.Traveling around, soaking in hot springs, watching other people's movies, just stop thinking about anything "fast paced".

When he was free, Ronald went to Little Venice where he lived three years ago, and it was still the same.There are also many people surfing on the beach in winter, but Ronald knows that he lacks talent, so he doesn't try it.

The karate martial arts gym where he used to practice has not done well and has been converted into a kick boxing gym.The owner of the pavilion who fought against him back then is also missing.

Only the number of people dancing various dances on the street has expanded. Ronald also saw many people teaching, allowing interested boys and girls to learn various robot movements and ground movements.There is no charge for the dance driven by pure interest, and everyone dances very vigorously.

Of course, Ronald did not forget his old friend.On this day, he invited James Cameron to drink beer and eat barbecue with Gail Hurd.

"Congratulations to Ronald on his first directorial feature," Gail offered, cheering Ronald on.

"Thank you, and congratulations to you, Jim. Is your movie finished?" Ronald asked, otherwise Cameron would not be free to come to the party.

Cameron has returned from the tropical island of Jamaica, where he spent the last few weeks directing some "Piranha 2" studio shots at his studio in Los Angeles.

"Shxt, I don't want to be credited to this hapless movie, the producer Asonitis is a jerk." Cameron cursed out.

Ronald had long noticed that Cameron was in a bad mood, thinking that he was too busy with work to care about his family, and he had another quarrel with his wife Sharon.

Now it seems that it is because of the filming of the film, so he asked quickly, "What's wrong? Doesn't he give you the right to edit?"

The director does not naturally have the right to edit. Just like Ronald himself, after editing the 120-minute initial version, he has to discuss with the producer how to edit the final 90-minute release version.

He does not have the power to decide on the final duration and whether to keep some shots or not.

"No, this bastard. He wants to be a director himself. But he fired the director before and signed his own name, and was discovered by the directors' union, which banned any films he directed from being released in American theaters. That's why he hired I signed the director and bypassed the union."

"The previous director left because he knew his details. This bastard was optimistic about my special effects production ability, and I shot all the piranha scenes in Jamaica.

But once in L.A., he criticized my daily dailies for not meeting his requirements, then gradually disempowered me, the staff were all Italian and spoke Italian, and eventually kicked me out of the studio. "

"This..." Ronald didn't know how to persuade him.It's really bad luck to meet this kind of producer.

"I think you should sign it. No matter how bad it is, this is a movie released in American theaters. Directors who have released works and directors who have not released works are completely different in the eyes of the producers. Bio." Gale advised Cameron not to cancel his signature.

"You're right, I took a lot of effort to shoot the shots of piranhas jumping out of the sea and attacking humans on a helicopter. When I arrived in Jamaica, they didn't even do the scene." Cameron was captured by Gail Persuaded.

"But Asonitis wants to bring the original film back to his hometown in Italy for editing, what should he do to get the right to edit?" Cameron had a plan in mind, and drank his beer in one gulp.

"Continued Cup."

Ronald poured him another glass of beer and patted him comfortingly.

(End of this chapter)