Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 509
Early the next morning, Ronald took Brooke and slipped out of London to play.He asked someone from the CAA London office to borrow a car, tried to get used to the right-hand steering wheel and accelerator, and drove to the outskirts of London.

Brooke combed her hair up, completely changed from the hairstyle she was used to in America, and wore huge sunglasses, sitting in the passenger seat.

Although she was with Prince Andrew yesterday, a lot of the media knew her.But for ordinary people in Britain, she is not a well-known idol, only some young people know her.

This is the weakness of models. Compared with movie stars, the popularity accumulated by magazine covers is not as deep as that of watching a story on the screen in a movie theater.

Ronald vaguely remembered the road here, and drove along with his memory, until he arrived at the Pine Forest studio.This is a place he is familiar with, especially the largest studio, which used to be the main shooting location of "Supergirl".

Now that you're here, why not take a stroll here.

Ronald made up his mind, parked the car, and walked along the path with Brooke. There was a comfortable hotel in front of him, and the muffins there were good.

"You seem to be familiar with this place?" Brooke asked.

"This is the Pine Forest Studio, the largest filming base in Britain and Europe. In front of it is the studio where 'Superman' and 'Star Wars' were filmed." Ronald pointed to the largest studio.

"Anthracene", Brooke looked at it, and now her interest in filmmaking is no more than her desire to get a Princeton diploma.Although she also dreamed of becoming an actress in the future, the reviews and box office of the last two films were mediocre, which made her doubt her talent a bit.

The two walked among the pine forests.The pine forest studio lives up to its name. It was originally a large pine forest, and now there are many forests between the studios.There is grass between the woods, and some exterior scenes that require grass can be shot here.

There are also some ancient castles in the distance, which are ancient castles handed down from an even older age.Because of the convenience of framing, this is an ideal location for Shakespeare plays and Jane Austen plays, and many costume crews are filmed here.

Ronald took Brooke's hand, and the two walked on the grass.The grass in the morning is a bit humid. Under the sunlight, it makes people breathe and smell the smell of green grass, which is very pleasant.

Hold hands and walk together.The fresh air from the grassland and pine forest made Ronald's spirit and body seem to start to recharge.

The two walked up a gentle slope. From a distance, it seemed that a group of people were filming a movie in front of them.

"Ah, the clothes they wear are so quaint, it seems to be an ancient costume film", Brooke Shields has a lot of research on clothing, so she couldn't help but say it.

"Let's go and have a look." Ronald walked slowly along the path, passed through a pine forest, and arrived at the location of the filming.

When I got closer, I found that the clothes worn by the crew were very simple, not the style of the princes and nobles in Shakespeare plays, nor the handsome and beautiful looks of Jane Austen.Rather, it was the dress of a peasant woman in the American Midwest.

After careful identification, it was not a peasant woman, but a teenage girl, wearing an old-fashioned skirt, holding a lunch box in one hand and a hen in the other.

"What kind of British drama is this?" Ronald searched his brain, but couldn't figure it out.

However, others are filming, so it is not easy for me to interrupt. Fortunately, the filming is in the medium scene, and Ronald and Brooke appear in the distance, which does not affect the filming of the crew.

The hen clucked, and another metal monster came by.It looked like an upside-down spittoon, with metal eyes and a mustache, and a large winding key on the back.

"Mr. Tik-Tok, we still have to beat those wheelies."

"Bounce..." The big spittoon started to stamp its feet on the ground, walking on the ground in a strange way.Ronald guessed that someone was walking in this iron skin, just like the R2D2 robot in Star Wars.

"Cut!" There was a call to stop, and a middle-aged man with an unshaven beard and a tired face stopped filming with an electric horn.

Ronald felt that the voice was a little familiar, so he took Brooke two steps forward.

Sure enough, this director is Walter Murch, the mentor of Ronald's editing technology.His new movie was filmed on the Pine Forest set?

"Walter!" Ronald waved happily at him, and walked down the high slope with Brooke.

Walter Murch was worrying about the unsatisfactory progress of the filming, when he heard someone calling him suddenly, he looked over, and a flash of sunlight reflected on the glasses lens passed by.

"who is it?"

"It's me, Ronald. I'm sorry to disturb you." Seeing that the atmosphere was wrong, Ronald immediately slowed down and apologized.

"Oh, Ronald. Nice to see you here." Walter called out to the crew. "Ten minutes off."

A small man emerged from the spittoon named "Tik-Tok".He's in an upside-down position inside, with his legs tucked together at the bottom of the upside-down spittoon, and his hands are propping up the legs of the "Tik-Tok" so he can do that stupid walking pose.

"Who's that? Is that girl Brooke Shields with him?" he asked the little girl next to him holding a hen.

"I don't know," the girl sighed, and handed the hen to the assistant, "The filming of this scene was so slow, this chicken stinks to death."

"How is it? I didn't expect you to be shooting here, just walking beside." Ronald was very excited. What Walter Murch took here must be the "Return to Oz" he wrote and directed?That little girl should be Dorothy.

Walter Murray smiled wryly, "If you came a few days later, maybe I wouldn't be here." He handed Ronald a cup of coffee.

"What's wrong? What happened?" Ronald was surprised.

"It's nothing, I'll tell you later. Your visit to me is the only good news in the five weeks since the filming started." Walter looked at Ronald very relieved, his apprentice was promising.

"Is this Brooke Shields?" He saw the tall girl holding hands with Ronald, and realized it was the American idol.

"Yeah, it's me. Nice to meet you, Mr. Merch." Brooke Shields took off her sunglasses and greeted him.

"Oh..." Everyone exclaimed for a while, it turned out that it was really Brooke Shields.

Brooke quickly withdrew her hand, she was afraid that the news would be spread.

"Are you all professionals here?" Ronald looked around, the news that he and Brooke came together, it's best not to make it into the newspapers.

"It doesn't matter, I may be fired soon, and they will be dispersed to other crews. Even if reporters come in two days, they will not be able to find the parties." He sat down on the chair with his name written on it, and told Ronald what happened when the filming started.

It turned out that Disney's performance has declined in recent years. The founder Walt Disney's son-in-law Ron Miller's power in the company has been greatly reduced by the old courtiers headed by his nephew Roy Disney.

Ron Miller's original green-lighted project, "Return to Oz," was also included in a separate volume.Plus Walter Murch had difficulties filming.After five weeks of filming, and more than two weeks behind schedule, Disney has begun discussions on whether to end the project.

In order to kill the chicken for the monkeys to see, Disney's top executives have fired Walter Murch's first assistant director and two important candidates for the director of photography.If Murzi doesn't speed up the progress and continue to delay, he will be the next one to be fired.

"Why?" Ronald looked at the young actors in the venue, a little confused.Although shooting movies, animals and children are the two most difficult subjects to shoot, but as Ronald saw just now, the little actor who played Dorothy performed quite well.

Even if her shooting time was limited by the union, she still wouldn't fall behind half of the schedule after five weeks.

"Come and see", Walter Murch urgently needed someone to talk to, he took out a storyboard drawing, "This is my movie drawing, in this movie, apart from the little girl, there are robots, hens, mechanical hens, And with stop-motion animation, our actors are all acting out against imaginary things, which often go wrong.”

"Oh," Ronald understood.Walter Murch's debut novel is too ambitious.At the beginning, it looked like a blockbuster special effects film. In the end, except for Dorothy, who appeared in almost every scene, most of the other characters were special effects that required post-production synthesis.

Even George Lucas, when shooting Star Wars, only dared to have two robots, and one in human form.

"Disney has doubts about this movie, and now I may be fired at any time." Walter was a little frustrated.

Ronald also sighed. Only the director is responsible for this kind of thing. Halfway through the filming, no one can help directly. He can only encourage the director to persevere.

Just when he was about to give Merzi some encouragement, a group of people came over there.

The leader is a big man in a suit and leather shoes, and next to him is a person who looks like a secretary.

"Walter, it's time we talked."

"Okay, Gary." Walter Murch recognized the film's executive producer and knew the expected ending was coming.He looked to the side, and none of the crew members were willing to approach him. Everyone guessed the ending of this conversation.

Walter sighed, put the electric horn into Ronald's hand, and walked into the trailer parked next to him with Gary.

Ronald opened his mouth wide, wouldn't he?I actually happened to meet the moment when Walter Murray was fired.

"Is he all right?" Brooke looked at Ronald and asked.

"I'll be fired at most. I can just talk to him, so that he won't be too sad." Ronald replied.Walter Murch had been working on this film for several years, so he was fired, and the film is expected to die prematurely.It is difficult to find someone to take over this kind of movie that uses a lot of special effects.

"He's so pitiful." Brooke heard Ronald's story about how Merch prepared the film, and she also felt that this was too cruel to him.

"I can't help it. Once the film is over budget, spending money is like running water. There are not so many Orion Films companies that can fully support Coppola's spending money." Ronald also felt very regretful.

"Am I not suitable to be a director?"

In the evening, Walter Murch, who was fired as expected, drank a lot of wine with Ronald in the bar.

"No, I think the problem is mainly due to the underestimation of the shooting time of the special effects." Ronald replied, "I haven't seen the dailies, but I think the child actor you chose has a top-notch performance."

"Fairuza Balk," Murch replied, "I took a long time to find her, and she was a perfect fit for the role of Dorothy, even better than Judy Garland in the original version, which Dorothy was just a ten-year-old girl."

"Is there no room for redemption?" Brooke watched them drinking whiskey, and interjected.

"No, I was able to persuade Disney to give the green light because of George's influence." Walter Murch gradually lowered his voice, and finally lay down on the table. He was a little drunk.

Ronald sent Walter Murch back to his room.

He pondered the last words of Merch's, "George exerted influence." Could it be his college buddy George Lucas?
Ronald touched his chin, as if Walter Murch had told him that George Lucas and him were competing for a chance to be Coppola's assistant, and the two agreed that the one who won would meet later At the critical moment, the one who wants to lose is one by one.

Back in his temporary room, Ronald called the front desk, "I want an international call, right... Los Angeles in America."

(End of this chapter)