Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 432 The Star's Child

Martha Lucas stayed put.Ronald, together with many guests, continued to attend the party in a slightly weird atmosphere.

Ronald also met Coppola.He and Lucas were old acquaintances, chatting non-stop.Ronald knew them all and listened to a lot of news on the outside.

Spielberg was in Sri Lanka and China filming the "Raiders of the Lost Ark" prequel, "Raiders in the Palace."But star Harrison Ford fell off an elephant, and Lucas was due to fly in shortly to assess the situation.

If the situation is too serious for Harrison to continue shooting, a stuntman may have to replace him for the remaining shots.

Coppola and Matt Dillon, Diane Lane, and nephew Nicolas Cage shot "Betta Fish" with "The Outer World" last year, which will be released in August. He is very much looking forward to the film , to achieve commercial success.

Lucas said that he would take a break. Star Wars exhausted him physically and mentally, and he would not restart this space opera in the short term.He will devote his energy and time to being a producer, and further strengthen Industrial Light & Magic's technical reserves.Of course, we have to win the war with our neighbors first.

The next day, Ronald boarded a plane back to Los Angeles, and Chris Columbus was on the same plane with him.The two chatted all the way, and Columbus was very envious of Lucas' mansion, especially the various toys for children.

Ronald also feels the same way. Now that he has some spare money, he can afford to buy a house in New York or Los Angeles when he forms a family in the future.Wouldn't it be a pleasure to connect my aunt and Donna again at that time.

Ronald returned to the apartment and immediately boiled water to make tea.He first pressed the play button of the answering machine, and the dim red light on it blinked, indicating that when he went to the Skywalker Ranch, there were a few more messages.

"Drip... Ronald, I'm Jerry (Weintraub). I've found a suitable candidate for Danny. Come to my office tomorrow if you are free. Both Iverson and I want to hear from you Opinion.

Call me back if you hear me.drop……"

Ronald also wants to see who will play Danny in the script he wrote in the end.He took out the phone book, ready to call Weintraub back.

"Ronnie, it's Helen. I'm about to shoot a flying scene. I'm a little scared, so I'll give you a call. Are you home? Are you not? Well, I just want to hear your voice. Wish me well luck."

Hearing that it was Helen's voice, Ronald smiled and looked at the time. It was already late at night in London, so he didn't call right away. Helen should have finished filming and rested by this time.

He picked up the phone, called Richard, and entrusted his colleague in London to send an extra bouquet of flowers to Helen, saying that he had heard his message, and sent a gift for her bravery in the postscript.

Early the next morning, Ronald arrived at Weintraub's office early, just as Weintraub was talking to his secretary, Susan.

"Did you like the last horseback ride? As soon as I get on the horseback, I relax and let go of all the stress."

"Hee hee, Mr. Weintraub. You have your own stable and horses, of course you can say that. I don't often ride horses, but I still like the smell of grass."

"Call me Jerry," Weintraub said softly.

"Good morning, Jerry. Good morning, Susan." Ronald greeted them from afar.

"You came just in time, I was about to show you the audition photos of the person who booked."

"Susan", Weintraub reached out to Susan, took an audition photo, and handed it to Ronald.

The picture shows a young boy with blond hair, his hair is kept in a normal boy hairstyle, with a fluffy mushroom head that hangs down to the sides of the cheeks, and he looks very normal.On the front of the audition photos, the actor's name was not left as usual.

"Who is he?" Ronald turned over the audition photos, and the actor's resume was not pasted on the back.None of this conformed to the rules of the audition, and it seemed that there was something unusual about this boy.

"Remember the star strategy I told you about? Guess who called me?"

Ronald shook his head and said he couldn't guess.

"It's Clint Eastwood. This is his youngest son, Kyle."

"Oh", Ronald picked up the photo again and looked at it carefully. There was indeed something about his father, the famous western cowboy actor, in his eyebrows.

"How was his audition?" Ronald asked.

"His father is Clint, and Kyle has inherited good acting potential. As long as we train him, we will be able to play the role of Danny."

Ronald didn't speak, and waited for Susan to take out Kyle Eastwood's audition video and put it into the VCR to watch.

"What's wrong with your eyes?" Suzanne made an impromptu cameo in the role of the heroine Ali, reading a line to Kyle.

"It's nothing, don't be careful...no big deal." Kyle Eastwood also took the script and read his lines.

"Did Johnny do it?"

"It's okay, it doesn't hurt anymore."

"I haven't had a chance to thank you yet."

"It's nothing, you don't have to worry about it."

"Come On, I should thank you."

"I'm sorry, I broke that tape recorder of yours yesterday."

"Recorder, what about your eyes?"

"Cut!" Weintraub calls off the audition in the tape.

"What do you think?" Weintraub asked Ronald.

Ronald didn't speak.This Kyle, the acting is not very good.

Danny is a poor child raised by a single mother, while Ali is the only daughter of a wealthy middle class in the local area.There is a relatively large class gap between the two.

In Ronald's script, during this conversation, Ali has obviously developed a crush on Danny, and she wants to create opportunities for Danny to ask him out.

But Danny was quite concerned about the matter of talking about Ali yesterday, being beaten up by her ex-boyfriend Johnny, and getting dark circles under her eyes.He didn't want to date Ali because he was pitied.He also wanted to present himself as a strong man and win Ali's heart.

This Kyle, whose father is a well-known big star in the United States, has a wealthy family, and has never tasted the taste of being looked down upon.So in this audition, the emotions he played did not match what Danny should have.

From this point of view, Kyle does not have much acting skills and can penetrate into the heart of the character.Of course, he is only a teenager, and his acting skills are beyond his reach.But Kyle does not have the background and mentality of the role of Danny, which has shown that he is not suitable for playing this role in his true colors.

But Weintraub seems to have taken a fancy to him?

"What do you think of Director Evelson?" Ronald began to practice Tai Chi.

"When he comes, you can ask him yourself." Weintraub said, "Actually, this movie is mainly about stories and action scenes, as well as the humorous lines of Mr. Miyagi. The actor's acting skills are not that important. You It's the screenwriter, you should be very clear, right?"

"No, he's very important." Suddenly Evelson's voice came, and he just walked in through the door and heard Weintraub's words.

"The two most important characters in this movie are Danny and Master Miyagi. The two of them complement each other. If one actor is weaker, the other will not get the correct reaction and will also weaken himself. performance."

Ronald nodded secretly.Compared with the previous two exploitation films written by myself, this script has added a lot of character growth.The backgrounds and identities of the two actors are actually revealed gradually.

Danny is Ming's one. The audience knows his family background from the beginning, his affection for Ali, and his idea of ​​learning karate to become stronger after he was beaten.

And Mr. Miyagi is dark. When he appeared on the stage, he was just an apartment maintenance worker speaking broken English, and then the characters were peeled off layer by layer like an onion.Every time Danny interacts with him, he reveals part of the character's personality and backstory.

If Danny's performance is not strong enough, it will weaken the intensity of this interaction, and Miyagi's character will not stand up.It will crash the whole movie.

"Hey, Susan. When will you agree to go on a date with me? Do you think I'm too old? Actually, I'm in good shape. I used to box with Stallone every day a few years ago." Evelson half-jokingly flirting with Susan.

"Do you think so too, Ronald?" Weintraub asked Ronald.

The two had another dispute over casting.Ronald thought for a while, but did not answer directly, and asked instead:

"I haven't seen Kyle's scene yet, do you think he is someone who would hold a grudge if he wasn't chosen for this role?"

"Him? Of course not, he's Clint Eastwood's son." Weintraub laughed, which was a bit over-the-top.

"When I wrote Danny, I had in mind a kid with chips on his shoulders. That's the kind of guy who wants to practice karate instead of just quitting and never dating Ali again. "

Put Chip on one's shoulder (Put Chip on one's shoulder) is an American idiom that describes a person who will keep resentment and grievances in his heart, thinking about revenge in the future.In Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer", it is used to describe the behavior of the protagonist Tom Sawyer.

"The chip on the shoulder." Weintraub stroked his chin and fell into thought.

"But Kyle is Clint's 38-year-old son. This playboy is very precious to this son. He may really not understand what it means to be frustrated and what it means to be bullied. And he is only 15 years old... "

"Mr. Weintraub, Mr. Clint Eastwood's call." Susan came over to remind Weintraub.

"Okay, I'll come." Jerry got up and went to answer the phone with Susan.

"I said Ronnie, you didn't see Kyle's audition scene yesterday. It was a disaster." Avelson didn't shy away from Ronald, and directly pointed out that Kyle was not suitable for Danny's role.

"I said John, this may be a bit inappropriate, but is it a problem for you to flirt with Susan all the time? I think Weintraub likes her very much." Ronald knew that Evelson was single now , is a Hollywood director, but also a playboy.

"You don't worry too much, Ronald. The first rule of hunting is to see if the other party has a regular boyfriend. Susan is obviously a very shy girl, and how could she be the type that Weintraub likes. Have you met Jerry's girlfriend, too?"

"That's true." Ronald thought of the blond beauty Weintraub had an affair with at home that day, and she was all in good shape and appearance, while Susan was just a girl of average appearance, and she was a little fat.

"Sorry, maybe I'm thinking too much."

"John, Ronald, when Clint gets back, let's talk to him. See if we can change the role for his son Kyle and make him Johnny's classmate, one of the Rattlesnake Kai's karate gyms. Student." After a while, Weintraub came back.

Ronald looked at Susan who was following behind. It was indeed not the type that Weintraub would steal.

"Thank you, Susan." Ronald thanked her, took the two cups of coffee she brought, and handed one to Evelson.

……

"What? You want my son Kyle to play the villain?"

A few hours later, Clint Eastwood arrived at the office, bristling when Weintraub explained why Kyle wasn't right for the role of Danny, and then offered him a supporting role.

The tough guy on screen obviously has a cowboy-like fiery temper in real life.But his demeanor is still there, when he is angry, his voice is not loud, but he speaks slowly in a tone that whispers right next to your ear.

"Kyle is my son, and if he wants to make a movie, he should make a lead role. If you think I'm here to beg you to give him an insignificant role, then you're dead wrong."

"Clint, I don't mean that. It's just that Kyle is not suitable for such a character. Danny is a child from a poor family, and you always give Kyle the best..."

"You really think I care about a drive-in movie like this? An exploitation flick that rips off kids? But you, and Columbia, should respect me!"

Clint used that unique soft voice to threaten, "I will remember all this, and all products of Coca-Cola (Columbia's parent company) will not appear in my movies in the future."

(End of this chapter)