Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 458 Best Choice
Sure enough, Weintraub suggested that Chuck Norris, the final villain of Bruce Lee's final villain in the Roman Colosseum in "Enter the Dragon", be the action director, and invited him to play the "Cobra" karate gym. The role of owner Chris.

But Chuck Norris is not a good choice.The host, Chris, has his own fighting philosophy. As a veteran of the Vietnam War, he believes in keeping no prisoners and preemptive strikes.This is exactly the opposite of Mr. Miyagi's philosophy of not being a bully, but a late striker.These two philosophies are also the essence of the struggle between the protagonist Daniel and the enemy Johnny.

The problem is that Chuck Norris has no acting skills. He has a poker face throughout Enter the Dragon. He has no expression. He has a big beard.It is impossible for this kind of person to play any philosophical coaching role, only a martial artist.

Weintraub has been having all sorts of whimsical ideas lately, and Ronald has figured out in his heart that this producer is essentially just a movie enthusiast, and he often wants to gather stars in a movie and become a collector.

But sometimes, he has some reliable opinions, such thoughts of being professional for a while and amateur for a while, making Ronald suspect that he has one or several people in the industry as consultants, and communicate with him every few days.

Of course, Ronald has more important things to deal with now, which is the choice of the heroine, so he has not discussed the candidate for this important supporting role with Weintraub for the time being. The assistant joins the crew.

Two days later, a bad news came.The two leading actress candidates, Lea Thompson and Jennifer Gray, were both chosen by director John Milius to play the role of the female guerrilla in "Red Dawn".

When Ronald heard the news, he immediately booked a plane ticket to Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was going to meet Elizabeth Sue and persuade her to postpone her studies at Harvard as long as possible to star in "The Dragon Boy".This is not the best choice in Ronald's current casting range, but the only choice.

Elizabeth Sue was very excited when she heard that Ronald wanted to confirm that she would be the heroine of "Longwei Boy". Although she was a 20-year-old college student, she was very excited. look sideways.

"I'm so happy", Elizabeth Sue is still a baby face, the baby fat has not completely subsided, and she apologizes to everyone with a smile. Seeing her cute face, several Harvard students seemed to recognize her as "Burger King" girl", wanting to strike up a conversation.

Now Ronald feels that her appearance is also very good, playing a middle school student will also be recognized by the audience.

"Okay, then, I'll let the producer contact your agent. There's a total of two months of filming time, and there are two weeks of rehearsal before that. The salary will be paid according to the standard."

Relying on his personal relationship with Elizabeth Sue, Ronald came to see her first, so as to prevent the agent from getting in the way and taking the opportunity to blackmail more remuneration and studio treatment.As long as Su is willing, and the agent doesn't know that they have no other options, this contract is still not difficult to sign.

"Well, but I have to get the consent of my parents." Elizabeth Su looked a little worried after she was happy.She is a kid who grew up in a wealthy family, and some things take into account what her parents want.

"I thought you were an independent girl." Ronald aimed at her psychology, trying to arouse Sue's desire to be independent.

"I know, um... it's just my tuition, my parents paid a lot of money. You know Wellesley College, and Harvard's tuition is very expensive. I'm not paid enough to shoot commercials." After all, Elizabeth Sue was already at Wesleyan Women's College After a year of college, he is no longer the naive high school student who made a chewing gum commercial.

"I'll let the producer talk to your agent. I think it's enough for your college tuition."

"Well, I have another idea. I have a younger brother Andrew who is also interested in acting. Can you give him a small role? Then my father and mother will tend to agree."

"how old is he?"

"fifteen."

"I could put him in, just as a student in the Cobra dojo," Ronald replied.

"Okay, I've prepared the materials for applying for deferment of admission." Elizabeth Su showed a smile of "haha, I succeeded".

Before he had time to visit the old Harvard campus, Ronald hurried back to Los Angeles.There are more auditions and preparations waiting for him here.

Auditions for Daniel LaRusso's rival, Ali's ex-boyfriend Johnny, also began.This is the biggest villain in the movie, the opponent that Daniel defeated in the final of the karate championship.

Emilio Estevez auditions again.He's had bad luck lately, with his younger brother Charlie Sheen being picked by Milius to film "Red Dawn," but not himself.

"Anyway, I can't play the protagonist, and it's not bad to play the first villain." With this in mind, Emilio read a line from Johnny.

"What do you think?" Weintraub asked Ronald and the casting director as soon as Emilio finished reading his lines and walked out.

"He's a hunchback," said casting director DuPont. "His résumé says he has wrestling experience, and I can't see it."

"It's a little fatter, and it doesn't look like a middle school student." Ronald clearly objected, "Emilio Estevez's figure is completely adult, he and Ralph Ma Zio's Daniel fights, and the audience will not believe that Daniel, who is as dry as a chicken, has the possibility of winning."

Ronald didn't like Emilio Estevez anyway.On the set of "Naughty Boys Outside the World", I felt that young men were competing with each other everywhere. Relying on my father's position in the industry, I was a bit unscrupulous.

Moreover, he tried to date Diane several times, and when he had a regular girlfriend, he could be called a "scumbag".

"I agree with you," Weintraub didn't expect that they didn't like Emilio either, "I think Johnny should find a new person to play, so that the audience will not be disturbed by the famous actor's previous role, but from the plot. Judge them as bad people."

"Here comes a new idea," Ronald thought to himself. This judgment is actually a bit reasonable. Weintraub asked his "senior reference" again.

"I think this principle is very good. Even Chris, the owner of the Cobra Dojo, we'd better find a newcomer to play. Emilio played the 'cheesy mouth' in 'Outside the World', and the audience would unconsciously think that He's just a cheap character, and it's going to interfere with their impression of Johnny Dow." Ronald took the opportunity to sell his own idea, preferably without Chuck Norris.

"What you said makes sense, um." Weintraub looked at the character list, "Fortunately, the other contestants in the Cobra Gym, we use are all juniors of movie stars, they haven't acted in any movies, so Just right."

"Well, let's try the next one. Robert Downey Jr."

Outside the door, the assistant called in another audition actor to read the lines.Emilio Estevez hadn't left yet, and he was chatting with Chad McQueen, whom he knew well.Chad and his classmates who played Johnny and trained karate in the Cobra Gym came to see Weintraub to ask for set treatment.

Both are sons of Hollywood stars, with Chad's father, the late Steve McQueen, a bigger star than Emilio's father, Martin Sheen.So Chad's temper is a little worse than Emilio's.

"Hey, Emilio...why are you here again? You look downcast. Did 'Red Dawn' miss you?" Chad McQueen challenged Emilio Estevoid as soon as he came up. Zi said.

Ron Thomas and Rob Garrison next to him didn't have McQueen's big name in their parents' generation, so they also respected Chad in their daily play.

"Puchi, you don't even have the qualifications to play the leading role, you can only play supporting roles." Emilio was also ruthless.

"Hey," Chad was about to burst out, "you didn't get cast on either side? We still have a supporting role, and it's an important supporting role. This is our first movie."

"Hey, I played a supporting role in 'Apocalypse Now' in my first movie."

"Really?" Chad McQueen asked the two footmen a little in disbelief, "did you see him the fuck when you were watching 'Apocalypse Now'?"

"No, you're not bragging, are you?"

"It's just that it was cut later." Emilio has already gained a foothold in Hollywood and has many invitations. He doesn't want to talk to these ignorant second-generation stars.

"Don't get too excited about it, it's just a silly exploitation flick for kids. Do you still want to be famous for this kind of movie?"

With that said, Emilio Estevez walked out of the audition office.

The three second-generation stars looked at each other, wondering if he was bragging about the exploitation films that coaxed children.

"Don't listen to him, Chad, it's just a loser's cry."

"Go away," Chad McQueen pushed away the attendant who came up to persuade him, "It's nothing special, the movie is to make yourself handsome, no matter what movie or role he is." Chad twitched Nose, his late father Steve McQueen once told him that male stars don't have to think too much about plot and dialogue, as long as they show their temperament.

He looked towards the audition room, as if thinking of the scene where he swaggered and beat the leading actor Daniel in the movie.

Inside the audition room, the three of them were interviewing the actor named Robert Downey Jr.His father was a director who made low-budget films in New York.

"Have you ever practiced karate?" Weintraub asked.

"No, but I can act like it."

"Have you ever practiced other martial arts?" Ronald asked additionally.

"No, but I played a supporting role in the Broadway musical 'Grease' and I have a dance foundation." Robert Downey Jr. did a few dance moves, but he didn't look very flexible.

……

"What do you guys think? The acting seems a little softer." Weintraub wrote his evaluation.

"The lines are read very well, but he can't handle the action scenes." Ronald thought of his dance moves just now. If it was a crane kick, he couldn't do it.That shot was the ultimate trick to defeat the opponent, and it was very troublesome to be a stand-in.

"Next, Eric Stoltz" audition directors scroll down the list.

"Good afternoon, everyone. Hi, Ronald, see you again."

"Hi Eric, please read this line for us." Ronald saw the actor who played Sean Penn's sidekick on "Fast Tempo."

"What do you think?" Weintraub didn't know if it was suitable, so he could only ask Ronald and DuPont.

Ronald also looked at the audition director. He and Eric Stoltz were the actors he had chosen to enter the film industry. Eric also greeted him. In order to avoid suspicion, he asked Dupont to speak first.

"The appearance and movements are not bad, but when he reads the lines, his voice is too low, and the lines are not powerful enough."

"Let's see then," Weintraub said.

Ronald wanted to laugh. This Eric Stoltz admired Sean Penn's method performance when he was on the "fast pace" crew, and then blindly imitated the method master, Marlon Brando's style The "hum hum" type of line method, regardless of his identity or a fledgling kid.

"The next one is William Zabar... No, Ziba... No, Ke..." Ronald came across a surname he couldn't pronounce again.

"William Zabka." It was casting director Dupont who saved his life.

Ronald felt a headache when he saw this kind of name with two consonant letters stacked together, and he heard that the name was of Eastern European descent.

"Good afternoon, I'm William Zebka."

A tall and fit actor appeared in front of the three of them.

"Have you ever practiced any martial arts?" Ronald could tell at a glance that the other party was a bit of a trainer.

"I was on the high school wrestling team, and I was a top-three finisher in the L.A. interscholastic wrestling competition."

"It turned out to be a colleague." Ronald's feeling for Zebka improved.

"Ever practiced karate?" Weintraub asked.

"No, but I have the foundation, so I shouldn't be slow to learn." Zebka was very confident.

"Please read this line," said casting director Dupont.

"Okay, we'll let your agent know when we have news," DuPont said after he finished his lines.Then he looked at Ronald and received a positive look.

"Is there anything else you can do?" Dupont asked strangely seeing that he would not leave.

"I, I wrote a biography for Johnny," Zebka pulled out a piece of paper.

"Oh, tell me." Ronald became interested. It seemed that the actor had done extra homework.

"I came up with a loose backstory to get a better 'feel' for the character. I envisioned Johnny not having a father, and Cobra Gym's Chris, the closest thing to a father in his life."

"Not bad." Ronald did not write Johnny's background story after Zebuka left. Zebuka's handling made the competition between Johnny and Daniel have a sense of fate and the times.Now the divorce rate in America is very high, and children from single-parent families also account for a considerable proportion of the audience.

Such competition between the two, in addition to honor and Ali, also has a subconscious desire for normal family life in it.

"I think he is the best choice." Weintraub is also very satisfied.

(End of this chapter)