Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 345 She Can't Dance

In the small town of Tulsa, Oklahoma, Coppola's second film adaptation of Hinton's novel "Betta Fish" has been shooting in its final days.

While waiting for the lighting, Matt Dillon saw Diane Lane reading a newspaper, so he asked, "What are you reading?"

"The interview with Ronald" Diane put away her smile, "The variety show interviewed him. It also said that Nick is very good at acting."

"Oh, can you show me?" Nicholas Cage, who played the leading role in Douyu, picked up the newspaper and read it carefully. There was a 45-degree profile photo of Ronald on it. The black and white photo was pretty good. There is a deep feeling.

"Even some actors with small roles may achieve success in Hollywood." Cage looked at it for a while, and finally found the part that praised himself, "This is the first time someone praised my acting skills in a newspaper, can you give it to me? I want to collect it."

"Take it, I have another copy here."

"Do you have a crush on Ronald, Diane?" Matt Dillon asked suddenly.Diane had always been lukewarm to her since the crew of "The Outer Worlds".

Although it doesn't hinder the role of couples in the movie, Diane always doesn't talk to him when he sits and waits for the lighting.Director Coppola also pays special attention to lighting, and the waiting time of several hours a day is very boring.

"You have a great imagination. He's my best friend's cousin."

"At this age, it's time to date my friend's brother." Mickey Rourke, the actor who played Dillon's brother in "Betta Fish", muttered.Coppola asked him to mumble all his lines in this movie, and no one could hear what he was saying.

"I don't know what Ronald is doing now?" Diane thought.

In CAA Nisita's office, Ronald is shaking hands with a fat man, and the two have a good conversation.

"Ronald, it's a pleasure meeting you today. I like your movies very much. After reading your interview, I know that you also like the San Francisco [-]ers. I want to invite you to watch their games together. When they come When Los Angeles plays the Rams on the road, I'll send you two tickets."

"You are so kind, John. I look forward to going to the ball with you."

After the variety show's interview was published, many Hollywood actors began to contact Ronald through Ronald's agent.

Cameron’s hometown, comedian John Candy (John Candy) from Canada, who came to meet him through his agent today, is a regular guest on TV comedy talk shows and TV dramas.Fat and fat, he is very popular among Hollywood actors.

Ronald and he chatted about each other's acting careers, Candy mainly in comedy.Ronald is intimidated by comedy, and he doesn't plan to venture into the genre anytime soon.

But that didn't stop Ronald and Candy from becoming friends.Candy's ability can actually act in a drama. He has many friends in Los Angeles.

After seeing off John Candy, Nisita asked the secretary to close the door, and he wanted to give Ronalda a deal.

"Don Simpson tried to invite you to visit him, his 'Lightning Dance' was in trouble again, director Adrian Lane was a little unhappy with the female lead, he knew you chose Jennifer Beals, so Simpson wanted Please solve it."

"It's none of my business. Mr. Eisner asked me to give an idea, and I just gave an idea. I don't think anyone is more optimistic."

"Don Simpson was already dissatisfied with Adrian Lane. He wanted to invite Brian De Palma, but Palma dumped him to make the new film 'Scarface'. So I invite you to go this time, depending on the situation. Harmonious, let you replace Ryan as the director."

"Isn't that good?" Ronald shook his head and refused. "When I was a director, what I hated the most was that the producer asked other directors to replace me. Now it's my turn, and I don't want to do such a thing."

"I know." Nisita nodded. This kind of thing is actually very troublesome, and it might lead to disputes. "I have rejected Simpson for you. My client will not take over any directorship until he fires the original director. .”

"But his problem is indeed related to you, you'd better go and see it. What Simpson said, you can not be a director, but go to the crew to name an associate producer."

"Oh?"

"I know you are still raising funds to shoot your 'Night of the Comet'. Even if it is an exploitation film, the sci-fi theme needs more than 100 million investment? Simpson is very generous. If you can solve the director's problem, he will give you ten Wan's salary, plus the signature of the associate producer.

If I were you, I would agree to come down.Having experience as a producer is good for your career development.What's more, the script of 'Full of Strength' is still passing the test of several producers, you might as well go and have a look. "

Ronald nodded. Dean Pitchford, who wrote the screenplay for "Between the Body," sold the script to former MGM executive Daniel Melnick, now an independent producer.Then Melnick sold part of the production rights to Paramount, and several parties signed a cooperation agreement.

The film is actually not entirely Paramount-funded.In addition to Paramount, the revised script has to be approved by Daniel Melnick and another co-production company that participated in the investment-"Screen Partners".

Hollywood production contracts are complex.In the agreement signed by Melnik, it is stipulated that he has the right to suggest and veto the script, so the script must be approved by the producers sent by the three parties before the filming can be given the green light.

The intricacies of this kind of script property rights have also caused the "planning hell" situation that is common in major studios.Before the filming of the script begins, it is necessary to coordinate the positions of all parties. It often takes six months to one year of repeated planning, and everyone agrees before the green light can be given to start filming.

"So what the hell went wrong with 'Lightning Dance'?"

Ronald is still more interested in his own script. Hearing Don Simpson's generous treatment, he can get money as long as he solves some practical problems in filming. He is full of interest.

"In the final analysis, this matter is still related to you, so Simpson is willing to pay you a high price to let you out." Nisita carefully explained the difficulties encountered by "Lightning Dance".

It turned out that Ronald's idea to Eisner led to Jennifer Beals being voted on by representatives of the target audience.But when Bills was cast, and went to meet director Adrian Lane to shoot some experimental shots, Director Lane discovered that she couldn't dance.

If Jennifer Beals can't dance, it means that dance doubles must be used extensively throughout the film, and clever editing is used to cover up the essence of Beers' inability to dance.

"I don't think this is a big problem, right?" Ronald asked, "Some difficult dance moves can only be performed by professional dancers. It is quite normal to use doubles in musicals. Now is not the era when musicals are popular. , His original three candidates were not dancers either."

Demi Moore, and another candidate, Leslie Young, were not professional dancers, and Ronald knew from their shapes.

"It's said Bills' dancing is terrible, you go and see. I'll make a deal with Don Simpson."

"Thank you for calling me ahead, Ronald."

Director Adrian Lane is a British man with long golden hair and a very artistic temperament.He is more modest than Alan Parker, another British director that Ronald has dealt with.

The prerequisite for Ronald to agree to come to the "Lightning Dance" crew to help is to greet director Ryan first, and he has already communicated with Ryan on the phone before.

He said straight to the point on the phone that he didn't intend to replace it, but he just heard that his idea caused inconvenience to the crew, so he wanted to see if he could solve the problem.

"No problem, they showed me your jeans ad. I love it."

Before Ronald came to the preparatory office of "Lightning Dance", Nisita found the British jeans commercial shot by Adrian Lane. The very characteristic single-light lighting and fast editing also made Ronald want to get acquainted with this British director.

"I heard that Jennifer Beers was chosen by me, are you not satisfied?" Ronald asked.

"I'm very satisfied with her acting ability. Bills is a student at Yale University." Adrian Lane pulled out a video tape and put it into the VCR, and the audition video of Jennifer Bills appeared on TV.

Ronald also looked at the video.

Jennifer Beals does a crying scene, and her tears come quickly and with a decent emotional intensity.

Then there is a scene of flirting with a lover, in which Bills lies with a man, facing the camera, she whispers, all relying on eyebrows.

Finally, there is a close shot of Bills sitting on the ground in a T-shirt, speaking his lines, and then naturally reaching into the clothes, taking off his underwear and putting it aside.

It depends on Jennifer Beals' emotional expressiveness.The most emotional scene, the softest scene, the most ambiguous scene.Bills did a great job.

Ronald continued to read.

Jennifer Beals changed into a ballet suit and did a pirouette before tripping over her own leg.

Ronald covered his face with his hands, can't he do this?

A series of dancing tragedies followed.

"Jennifer Beals has no dance foundation?" Ronald asked director Ryan, pointing to the dark-skinned beauty on the TV.

"She was originally a fashion model, and she came to the audition to earn money to pay for college tuition. She is very spiritual in acting. Although she can't dance, she is indeed the best candidate to play the heroine Alex."

Adrian Lane explains why he picked her.

"So you have no objection to Bills acting?"

"Of course I have no objection, I found a good dance double, and she is very close to Biers' figure."

"So what's the problem?" Ronald felt that there seemed to be a misunderstanding in the communication. Adrian Ryan was ready to use a substitute, so why should he be asked to solve the problem?
"Here's the problem." Director Ryan changed another video tape.

There is a chair in the picture, a beautiful woman sits on it, and there is a red light and a blue light in the background, passing through the smoky space, illuminating the picture beautifully.

Ronald sees this scene as somewhat similar to the way Lane used the light in the jeans video.

As soon as the beauty pulled the rope, a bucket of water poured on her, and then she began to dance, her hair splashed with water, reflecting under the red and blue lights, it felt very lively.

"Is this the dance stand-in?" Ronald felt that the girl's dancing skills were very good.

"Yes, her English is not good. Do you see the problem, Ronald."

Ronald shook his head, "I only see that you use smoke here. I saw this technique on Alan Parker's set. Your British director of photography is very good at rim lighting with a single light, and then use Smoke or powder to set off the atmosphere.

I personally like it very much, but the union here is against using it. "

"That's right," Ryan tried out Ronald's level, "That's the problem. I took this movie because I wanted to make the dance scene more beautiful. Now the producer doesn't allow me to use smoke. How to shoot stand-in dance scenes?
If multi-point lighting is used, the stuntman will have to re-light every time he does a new action, and there will always be flaws in editing.

The expressive power of multi-point lighting is not as good as that of single light plus smoke.Moreover, the dance scene requires a lot of moving shots. If there are more lighting, the scheduled shooting schedule is not long enough. "

"So you want me to help you convince Don Simpson?"

Ronald understood that Simpson did have the idea of ​​​​replacing Adrian Ryan.Putting smoke on the shooting site will cause opposition from the labor union. If it leads to a lawsuit, the producer will be very troublesome. Once the shooting is stopped, it will be a waste of money every day.

Director Ryan wanted to use Ronald's directorship to endorse his method of adding smoke and single-point light source lighting, and explain to the producer that the artistry of such lighting is far superior.Otherwise he would rather quit the project.

"I can't promise anything, but I'll talk to Don Simpson. The artistry of the approach really suits your shooting and editing style."

"Thank you, I knew you could understand my thoughts." Adrian Ryan showed a sly smile typical of Britons.

"By the way, the one who plays with Bills is the actor candidate?"

"The one in the audition with her in bed? No, that's just the carpenter at Paramount. I paid him two hundred dollars to play with all the girls."

(End of this chapter)