Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 361
Veteran William Morris agent Ed Limato, as usual, likes to use extended family as a metaphor for his relationship with clients.

"Nick is my child. He is a very dedicated actor. I am very optimistic about him. Although CAA took advantage of Francis Coppola's eagerness to reduce financial pressure and signed him, the hearts of the Italians are still together."

"Stop talking nonsense, how much is it for Nick to act in my movie?" Ronald was too lazy to circle around with Limato, he took a cigar from the Italian's desk, threw it into the sky, and caught it again.

"Hey, it's Cuban, you little rascal."

Ronald also threw the cigar into his arms, "Let's make an offer, I'll give him the leading role, although it's not too much."

"In this way, the salary of [-] US dollars..."

Ronald turned around and made a gesture to leave. The price far exceeded the worth of Nicolas Cage, and it was much higher than the minimum wage.

"Come on, Ronald. We are old acquaintances." Limato grabbed Ronald's hand.

"I didn't set the price randomly. Michelle Pfeiffer was going to play 'Valley Girl' with Nick. But after my tireless recommendation, she was picked by Brian De Palma, and Al Par Cyno played 'Scarface,' and they gave Pfeiffer that number."

Limato made a "ten" gesture.

"What are you doing? It's a big project worth 2000 million yuan around the world. It's a small cost for me. The price is five thousand dollars for two weeks. If you don't want it, forget it."

Ronald made an angry face, and Brian De Palma gave up "Lightning Dance" to make Universal's big production "Scarface", can it be the same as his own low-budget exploitation film?

"Ten thousand? Okay..." Limato raised a price that was not too high. Cage has not yet been able to prove his work, nor has he participated in a major production, "But Nick went to participate in the new film during your filming If you audition, you have to let him go."

"It's negotiable. But this is a small production, and the audition should not exceed one day."

After negotiating a verbal agreement to star Nicolas Cage, Ronald continued his journey of finding money.

……

"Sly, Sly..."

When Ronald entered the CAA office, he heard one of the partners, Ron Mayer, on the phone at the front desk. He was wearing a Hawaiian shirt, sunglasses, a tropical vacation outfit, and was carrying a large bag.

"What's wrong with Mr. Mayer?" Ronald asked Nisita in the office.

"Stallone," Nishita pointed twice to his forehead with a finger, "he didn't want to do comedy and turned down 'Beverly Cop,' which both Ovitz and Mayer were interested in. Mayer Going to Hawaii and trying to convince him to take the movie."

"A fusion of comedy and action?" Ronald sat down at the desk.

"Yeah, Sly said he didn't like to ruin his tough-guy image. You know, stars always value their on-screen image."

"A tough guy with a sense of humor seems good too?" Ronald thought for a while, the current commander-in-chief has a bit of this style. He has also acted as a tough guy in western movies in the past, and he has an excellent sense of humor. Tell jokes about the Souvier Union, popular support is high.

"But he's Rocky, and Rambo." Nisita made two boxing gestures.

"Yes, his characters are all unsmiling."

After talking about Stallone, Ronald stretched out his hands and rubbed them in front of him, "How much can I get for this script?"

"One hundred thousand dollars. The script has actually been written twice, but Mr. Robert Sternwood, the owner of RSO Records, is still not satisfied. He remembered that you wrote him a sequel to 'Grease', and this time he called for your revision. 'Saturday Night Fever' sequel script."

"Fine, I'm almost getting my budget together for 'Night of the Comet'."

Ronald took the script for the sequel to "Saturday Night Fever," opened it, and read it.

Things have to start with John Travolta, the leading actor of this big-selling musical.

Since Travolta starred in "Saturday Night Fever" and "Grease", he has become the new Hollywood dancer, and there are a lot of musicals waiting for him to act.

But Travolta didn't want to repeat his screen image, he wanted to transform into a real actor, and declined all musicals.

After the successful romance "Urban Cowboy," he took on Brian De Palma's thriller Blow Out.But this time, the new genre film co-starring with Nancy Allen failed at the box office, which made him unable to find a good script for him to participate in.

Seeing that more than a year has passed and there is no suitable movie, John Travolta has to return to musicals, hoping to lend a sequel to his debut work "Saturday Night Fever" to regroup and once again march towards Hollywood's first-line male stars.

Hollywood often refers to this kind of big-budget movie that aims to help the hero and heroine become famous as a "catapult".An actor, after the launch of the "Catapult" movie, suddenly surpassed actors of the same level and reached the status of a star.

The script for the sequel, with the same name as the original, uses the name of the song by the Bee Gees called "Staying Alive".

In fact, this sequel began writing the day after the original "Saturday Night Fever" was released in [-].

Tony Manero, who in the original show came from a poor family in Brooklyn's Italian Quarter, came to Manhattan, trying to find a place in the Broadway musical.

However, due to his background and lack of formal music and dance training, he spent a lot of time in Manhattan and couldn't find any suitable roles.He ended up working as a trainer at a fitness center.

Travolta has always welcomed the sequel, but he doesn't like this kind of realistic script.He hoped that Manello, with his talent, would be successfully selected in musicals and succeed on Broadway.

Sterwood of RSO Records, and Paramount's executive producer, spent a lot of time convincing Travolta of such a realistic ending.Because of the success of the original work, it was attributed by film critics as a very realistic description of Italian life in Brooklyn.

The situation that had been stalemate turned around again after Travolta suffered a major failure in his acting career.

"So what is Mr. Sternwood's request?" Ronald looked at the script, what kind of ending should the protagonist Manero have in the end?
"It's more optimistic than the original, but we can't give up realism. It's very far from reality, so it's too far away from the spirit of the original work. I'm afraid the audience who want to watch the sequel will be disappointed."

"Can I meet John Travolta?" Ronald demanded.

He had never seen the real person of Travolta, and he was afraid that he would not be able to dream of the movie based on the script, so he proposed to meet the lead actor.

"That's no problem. Travolta has a lot of ideas about the movie. You just have a chat with him."

John Travolta was also a client of CAA, and the meeting was arranged at an upscale gym in West Hollywood.

Travolta, wearing a headband and baggy T-shirt, was lifting a barbell.He's trying to get back in shape.He knows very well that a large part of the audience, especially the female audience, comes to see his sexy body dance hot dance.

In the past six years, he needs more efforts to restore the strong figure of that year.

"Mr. Travolta, hello." Ronald stood aside, watching him doing squats with the help of the coach.

"Call me... um... John... um..." Travolta put down the barbell and took a towel to wipe off his sweat.

"You're Ronald? I loved your 'Grease Sequel' script, it's a pity they didn't stick with your script, otherwise I would have made a cameo in it, so we would have been able to work together."

Travolta is no different from the screen posters, with thick hair, blue eyes, and a small dimple on the chin, which many American women like very much, and think it is a sign of sexiness and masculinity.

"John, what do you imagine Manero's ending will be like?"

"Look, Ronald, how talented Manello is." Travolta pointed to the famous "Saturday Night Fever" poster on the wall.

Travolta, who was wearing a white suit, pointed at the sky with one hand and pointed at the ground with the other.Travolta posted him in the gym to motivate himself to work out.This action is also imitated by many dancers.

"Why can't such talent for dancing be chosen by Broadway producers to play the leading role in a musical? I don't understand. They always say that this is not realistic. I don't understand what is unrealistic."

"I think what they mean may be that the original work is full of struggles that a small person needs to go through to get ahead in Brooklyn?" Ronald thought for a while, and said, "Manello can't get into college. If it weren't for his dancing talent, he would be very Possibly a job in a garage."

"Yes, Ronald, yes. Many people of Italian descent start working out after high school. But Manello's talent is enough to support him to find a job on Broadway."

"It seems that your debut didn't go so smoothly." Ronald cursed.His agent had told him that Travolta had hooked up with Diana Hyland, an older actress, to get the lead in the Broadway remake, "Grease."

He also played "Grease" on Broadway, and that was just as a backup dancer.

By the way, backup dancer.

Ronald said, "John, I think that apart from talent, Manello's own struggle is also very important. Don't you think he should be rewarded for his hard work? Why don't you let him be spotted by Broadway producers and serve as the first How about a backup dancer for the new musical?"

"Back dancer?"

"Yeah, so we're in the third part, and there's still a story to tell. Manero climbed from backup dancer to lead role."

"I like your idea, Ronald." Travolta thought for a while and smiled. It seemed that he was a little satisfied. "Just like Rocky, huh? Struggle, defeat one opponent after another, and succeed!"

Travolta threw two combo punches into the air.

"How about we give Manero a love life? A dancer who struggles with him and ends up both getting roles in musicals?"

"You have a great idea." Travolta nodded. The actor who played the heroine Stephanie in the original work is 37 years old this year, and he is no longer a good match for him in the camera.Manero needs a new girlfriend.

With Travolta's approval, Ronald returned to the apartment excitedly.Follow the Jane Fonda workout video to do some yoga moves, then take a hot bath and go to bed early.

"what……"

Ronald saw the alarm clock next to the bed, it was pointing to six o'clock the next morning, and he didn't dream of anything!
(End of this chapter)