Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 304 "Autistic" Ronald

All marketing activities on the east coast were cancelled, leaving only a few media interviews on the west coast.Ronald also didn't go to any local California marketing activities, and he let the two leading ladies contract all the appearance promotion.

I had to call Brooke Shields to explain, but fortunately Brooke didn't mind, and postponed the talk show with David Letterman until after the movie was released, helping herself to cover up the past.

Friends all know that Ronald is in a bad mood. He hides at home and watches TV sports programs and late-night theaters every day, as if he is autistic.

After hearing the news, Spielberg called and invited him to write and revise the script for his Amberlin studio.

Ann Bolin had a taste of the teenage market and began to collect a large number of scripts for teenage movies.Spielberg promised that as long as Ronald's script can get the green light from the distributor, within a year or two, he will be given a chance to direct independently.

Ronald thanked Steven for his concern and said that he was fine and just needed some time to sort out and adjust.

"Hey, the director's first work is very important. You can call his agent after a while and send out an invitation to adapt the script."

Spielberg is very emotional, a blockbuster director will immediately become the darling of Hollywood, but if the box office fails, then he has to start from scratch and work hard from scratch again.

If Ronald can survive this time and maintain a strong creative desire, then he may advance and become a qualified Hollywood commercial director.If this fails...

During this time, several agents of CAA have their own busy affairs.Nisita's new signing, Coppola, is back in Tulsa, Oklahoma, shooting another screenplay adaptation of Hinton's novel.

Nisita often flew in to watch, and if the film was a success, Coppola would almost be able to pay off the mortgage on the vineyard and house and get back on his feet.

Paula Wagner landed Tom Cruise a starring role in another film, Risky Business, and now Paula has become Tom's nanny, taking care of him on set.

Only Richard was in Los Angeles, and he often came to Ronald's motel to bring him something to eat.

"Hi Richard, are you here?" Ronald squatted at home for weeks, his beard growing longer.Holding a football in one hand, he is doing catching exercises to exercise his body while watching the football game video on videotape.

"This is an invitation from Catherine from Amberlin Studio. Why, do you want to make a football movie?" Richard joked that he was in a good mood.

"That may not be possible." Ronald pressed the timeout and rewinded. He watched a game in the NFL playoffs at the beginning of the year. The San Francisco 49ers played against the Dallas Cowboys in the National League Finals.

When the 49ers quarterback Joe Montana was six points behind in less than a minute of the game, a long pass found wide receiver Clark in the end zone and scored a touchdown.The last point narrowly beat the opponent, broke into the Super Bowl and finally won the cup.

During this period of time, he asked Richard to find this classic game video called "The Catch" by the commentator, and watched it repeatedly at home to find some spiritual support for himself.

"Is Tom okay in Illinois?" Ronald asked Richard while playing football.

A few days ago, Tom Cruise specially called from the crew of "Good Boys Are Crazy", saying that he still lacks an experienced assistant director here, and hoped that Ronald could come to help him, and he could recommend to the director .

Ronald's help to Tom in the crew of "The Urchin in the World" made him feel that his acting skills had made a breakthrough, and he wanted to ask him for help again.It can also be regarded as giving back friends a chance to make a comeback.

Of course Ronald declined. His movie hadn't been released yet, so he was unwilling to fail.

"Wait for Matt Dillon to come, the Italian pizza you brought is good, I'll save some for him."

"Oh, is he in Los Angeles for the 'Texas' premiere?" Knowing that Dillon was coming, Richard started calling the front desk for some drinks.

The doorbell rang and it was Matt Dillon who walked in.

"Hi, Ronald, I'm entrusted by Diane and Ms. Hinton, and I came here to see you." Dillon made a funny gesture of a press secretary, and then came over to hug Ronald.He had just flown in from the Oklahoma set for the premiere of Disney's "Texas."

"You are in a better mental state than I imagined." Ronald handed over a bottle of Coke.

"Texas Guy" starring Dillon and Meg Tilly was just released nationwide on July 30th, and the box office in the first weekend was only more than 100 million. It really should be comforted.

"Shouldn't I say that?" Dillon felt relieved when he saw that Ronald was still joking.

"How many theaters does your movie play in?"

"Less than five hundred, most of them are in California." Ronald passed the pizza, "I'm still very optimistic about the box office."

"Hahaha, I'm going to call Ms. Hinton and let her hear your voice. You are doing well."

Dillon called the phone number on the set, and the assistant there found Ms. Hinton.

"Hi, Ronald. I have good news for you. I showed the manuscript of the book you wrote on the crew of 'Urchin'. With pictures." Hinton was also very happy when he heard Ronald's voice, and congratulated him first.

"That's really good news. I'm short of money now." Ronald said half-jokingly. The turmoil of the movie's release made him want to invest in a movie by himself and no longer be subject to the supervision of studio executives. hold back.

"He also said his movie would outsell our 'Urchin'." Dillon chimed in.

"Oh, really? That's not easy." Hinton's words were full of joy.Southern ladies in America like Ronald, a boy who can maintain a sense of humor in adversity.

"Diane wants to talk to you." She handed the phone to Diane Lane who heard the news.

"Hi, Ronald. Your movie will be a success. I've always had faith in you."

"Thank you. Director Coppola didn't give you special treatment this time, did he?"

"No, this time I will play a girl from a poor family."

"Also, my agent called me. The "Magic Stain" that you helped me reshoot will also be released, but the scale is small, and it may be bought by a TV station to broadcast."

"It's okay, that's also a good channel of communication, and the audience will like you."

"Um, did I say something wrong? His movie seems to have been shown on a reduced scale, and then bought by the TV station to broadcast." Diane felt wrong after putting down the phone, and asked the chubby Ms. Hinton.

"It's okay, Ronald is a man who can withstand failure."

After squatting at home for a few more days, the news spread, and Ronald received comforting calls from family and friends one after another.

Helen Slater called from the shooting site of the ABC TV series and said that she would come to Los Angeles to accompany him after the filming was over. The two people who were separated by two places could only communicate on the phone frequently.

"Don't run around, I will go back to New York after the movie is released."

"Really? That's great, let's go to the museum again. Now I hope that after this TV series airs, it will bring me some auditions."

……

Richard still came to see him every day, hoping that he would cheer up, but he guessed that Ronald had suffered a lot in a short period of time and needed some time to recover.When the movie is released, this "autistic" state will change.

The Israeli brothers from Cannon Pictures also called. Their "The Last Virgin of America" ​​was a box office failure. Only more than 100 first-tier theaters showed their film in the first round, and had to move to the second round of theaters.

However, in the second round of theaters, it seems that they have gotten a good box office, but the lower share ratio of such theaters prevents them from recovering the cost.

"Ronald, you come to cooperate with us. We can get money from European investors, you come to write and direct, we cooperate with him, we find popular stars to act, this time because there are no stars , MGM doesn't distribute our movies.

Let's do it together, best picture, best screenplay, best director...it's all ours.Ronald, Best Director, Minahan and Yoram, Best Film..."

Putting down the calls of these two unreliable guys, Ronald turned to visit his two good friends, Jim Cameron and Gail Hurd.

"Look, I actually have nothing to do, just take a rest."

"Cheer up, Ronald, don't waste your genius." Gail was so angry that he watched the video of the football game again, snatched the remote control, and turned off the TV.

"Hey, don't turn off my TV." Ronald quit, took the remote control and turned on the TV.

"Cameron is writing his robot script, why are you decadent and autistic here? People working hard under Roger Coleman will not just fail like this."

Gail is a little angry. She recently got an investment from her father and quit her job to start her own production company.

Seeing that Ronald looked like he was not doing his job properly, he asked him for a script without giving a damn, so he and Cameron watched it together.

Ronald turned on the TV again, watched the game video of "that catch", and kept playing with a football in his hand.

"Did you watch the game, Gail?" Ronald asked Gail, pointing to the TV.

"Why do you think Joe Montana is so sure that the wide receiver Clark will catch the ball?" Ronald asked, pointing to the quarterback on the TV.

Joe Montana was forced to the sidelines by five or six defenders, and was about to go out of bounds. A pass ran high into the air and found Clark, the wide receiver in the end zone.Clark jumped to catch the ball and scored a touchdown.It is said that the quarterback can't see the position of the wide receiver at all, and it seems to throw it casually by feeling.

Afterwards, the defensive players of the Dallas Cowboys were interviewed, and they also believed that Montana was scared by luck, and they were defeated because of bad luck.

"Because he's Joe Montana." Of course Gail knew the game, and Montana was now a national boy icon.

"No, wrong."

Ronald threw the football and Gail caught it with both hands.

"Because he knew the wide receiver was going to be there, that's why he was Joe Montana."

Ronald corrected, "Why do you all think my movie is going to fail? I'm seeing a different picture."

Cameron pulled Laguerre, "Let's go, Ronald knows exactly what he is doing."

"Fast-paced Richmond High" played on the West Coast in places like California the first weekend in August.

A total of 490 eight theaters screened this film, and without any promotion and marketing, the audience was overwhelming.

The three-day box office in the first weekend exceeded 250 million US dollars, and the average weekend box office of each theater exceeded [-] US dollars.

This single hall score is only a little short of "the best chicken house in Texas".Compared with "ET aliens", it has reached more than half of them.

"Fast-paced Richmond High" is a smash at the box office for a youth exploitation film.

(End of this chapter)