Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 501 The True Ending After the False Ending

"Ronald, it's still interesting that you asked me to play a cameo role. Coppola and the others didn't want to give me a few lines. I can still go head-to-head with the protagonist in your movie and enjoy the show. You don't know, when I was in In acting school, one of my classmates was Jack Nicholson."

Roger Coleman is sitting in a dressing room built out of a corner of Cal State University's gymnasium, putting on his makeup.

Ronald asked him to come and play a guest role as a judge in the final dance competition, and he had a lot of lines.

"Anthracene? Now that you're retired, you can develop into an actor, and you might be nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor." Ronald joked and handed him a cigar.

"Ha, this is a good thing, a sign of a successful person." Roger Coleman took the prop, picked up the match, struck it, and then lit it slowly.

Ronald remembered his promise, and every time he made a movie, he would always ask his former boss to make a cameo when he had the opportunity.This final dance competition also has such a judge, which is just right for Roger Coleman's gentle appearance.

In addition, wearing gold-rimmed glasses, he speaks in an orderly manner, and his demeanor is more elegant.I really don't know how he made so many plasma horror movies with the face of a university professor.

Roger Corman put on his makeup and sat behind a table with the actors playing the judges.The entire set is a bit copied from the layout of "Lightning Dance", but the grade of all the sets and props has been lowered by two levels to adapt to the budget of the exploitation film.

Roger Corman obviously liked the tune though, and when he lit his cigar again and there was a puff of smoke, Ronald got all the departments ready to start.

"Action!"

Franco, the teacher of Kelly's jazz dance training class, is played by Ben Loach, who looks very feminine and bad.He and his team had just finished dancing, retreated from the judges, and crashed head-on into the trio of Motor, Cyclone, and Kelly.

Franco saw that with the help of his agent, they broke through his own obstruction and still participated in the competition. He immediately went back to the dance competition scene and protested to the judge played by Roger Coleman.

"They are street dancers, and they are not eligible for this dance competition. Do you want them to go to Broadway to perform musicals and dance those black dances?"

"There is no problem with your qualifications, but the purpose of this dance competition is to select actors for new off-Broadway musicals. You..." Roger Coleman looked at the registration form and found the names of the trio, but He also kindly persuaded them not to waste time.

"Okay, next one! Tell me what dance you're performing." The judge, played by Roger Coleman, saw that the trio was speechless by the accident and thought they were going to quit.

"The next one is me, Hurricane!" The whirlwind played by Shabadu was finally angry. Why can't blacks and Latinos perform in musicals on Broadway?

He pulled the performance suit he was reluctant to put on to participate in the dance competition, and pulled off the two sleeves, "What I want to perform is street dance—break dance!"

"Cut!"

Ronald looked up at the director of photography, who said OK.Roger Corman is always at his fingertips in this type of role.

"Let's deal with the table here." Ronald called the assistant director, and led the assistants to start packing up the documents and chores on the table, leaving a lot of space.

"Audio!" Ronald asked the recording department to turn on the tape recorder playing the soundtrack, and the music of "Nothing Can Stop Us" came out of it.

"Action!"

The camera is shot from the side, and it is Roger Corman in the lead.The trio began to dance a very rhythmic break dance. None of the judges had ever seen this kind of dance, and they beat the time with their feet in amazement.

Franco was furious, "You promised me you wouldn't let them compete!"

"Get out of the way!" Roger Coleman waved his hand in disgust, telling him to avoid it, so as not to hinder himself from watching the dance of the trio.

"Okay, if that's the case, I'll withdraw from the competition." Franco thought that he was forcing the other party in this way, and the dance competition did not have his own dance troupe to support the scene. The jury retained him, kept him and expelled the Kelly trio.

"Yeah!" The trio quickly ran over from behind, and the three of them exerted their strength at the same time, jumped onto the judge's table, and then stood on the table and jumped up.

The director of photography signaled the coolies to move the camera, move it slightly, and then zoomed in. The shot was full of Kelly's thighs in pantyhose dancing in front of Roger Coleman.

High-slit yoga clothes, paired with leg warmers at the bottom, a Jane Fonda-style sexy dress, Roger Coleman cooperated to make a happy look, and he really looked like a sanctimonious university teacher.

"Cut!"

"Where's the iron arm?" Ronald yelled at the director of photography, "Quickly, let him come."

The camera operator with a strong arm, carrying a camera similar to a Steadicam, was called over.

"... Remember everything? You can control the speed yourself." Ronald ordered.

"Action!"

The whirlwind, motor, and Kelly trio, for top marks, hugged each other in the middle of the dance floor.

The iron arm held the camera, shot it from a low angle, and started turning around the three of them.

The effect of shooting in this way is as if the three people are the center of the circle, and the camera is like the eyes of the audience, drawing a circle.

"Cut!" Seeing that the iron arm operator was still very tired, Ronald shook his arm again and again, "Take a break for 10 minutes, and we will do it again."

This kind of lens is easy to go wrong, and I really don’t feel relieved if I don’t take more shots.At this time, the advantages of the TV camera are shown. You can use the video tape to play back at any time, and you can quickly see whether the effect is good or not.

Movie cameras don’t have that ability, and you have to trust the cinematographer.

The judges, played by Roger Corman, presented them with trophies.But after the awards were presented, they were also told directly that Broadway could not accept them as protagonists now, maybe in another ten years, they would have the opportunity to enter the highest art hall.

The important thing is not to conquer Broadway now, but to carry forward the form of breakdancing.America is a commercial society. As long as people like to watch it, there must be greedy businessmen who will make money from it.

After shooting this morning's scene, most people had no other arrangements in the afternoon, but everyone stayed where they were. The news of Michael Jackson's coming was somehow leaked out.They all wanted to stay and meet the most popular singer in America right now.

"MJ!" The crowd cheered suddenly, and a group of people walked in from outside the stadium, surrounding this lean black man.

Michael Jackson was still wearing diamond-studded clothes and sunglasses. When he saw Ronald, he came up to hug him.

"Let me introduce to you, this is Boogaloo Prawn, and this is Falcon...", Ronald introduced him to the main members of the crew, the most important thing is the two choreographers who are highly accomplished in breakdancing. dancing talent.

MJ first chatted with Boogaloo Prawn and Falcon.The two dancers were very excited. After dragging their coats off the stage, they danced the most adept moonwalk and the popular mechanical dance.

Michael Jackson's eyes were shining brightly. His dance steps at the Motown concert had two shortcomings. The first was the backward step of the moonwalk, which had more than enough strength but not enough chic.The second is that the movements of the upper body are not rigid. With the help of two choreographers, wouldn't it be more exciting?
Michael Jackson nodded to the assistants who came with him, and someone went to discuss cooperation with the two master choreographers.

MJ just spared time to sign autographs for the fans at the scene.Dozens of copies were signed one by one, until the assistant came out to announce the end of the time.

The group headed to the nearby beach, and Ronald directed the camera to focus on the walkway leading to the dance floor.

MJ walked over from there and took two consecutive shots to facilitate the editing.Then there was a close-up shot, MJ took off his sunglasses and said to the camera, "You guys dance very well, can you be together?"

"Cut!"

Michael Jackson is a star who often faces the camera, and he plays himself here, so there is no difficulty in shooting.Just waiting for the post-event editing to make his appearance the real end of the movie.Finally, hang on to the emotions of the audience.

"Is it that simple?" MJ came over and asked Ronald in a soft voice, "The last time I filmed a movie, I had to rehearse every shot and shoot several times."

"Because you are playing yourself, MJ. Acting in your true colors is natural, and your acting skills are also very good." Ronald replied, "I heard that you are going to shoot a TV commercial for Pepsi? When will the filming start?"

"At the end of this month, we are going to go abroad for filming, and I have written part of the script." Michael Jackson was very proud when talking about this matter, "Just use the Billie Jean single I mentioned last time as the background music."

"That's good." Ronald knew that there is a strong trend of adapting popular music into movies, and many record companies have made a lot of money by entering the movie industry. Many people are thinking about this idea. earn a fortune.

"I'm also going to adapt this Billie Jean single for a screenplay. My manager told me about it. It sounds interesting. Can you help me then, Ronald."

"Of course, I'll help you read the script when I have time." Ronald agreed without hesitation.The song that MJ sang at the Motown Memorial concert, which was his first moonwalk breakdance, Ronald wanted to see what kind of story he would adapt the song to.

(End of this chapter)