Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 510 I Owe You Once

"Huh? Fired already? Why didn't I get a call from Walter before?"

Through his agent's relationship, Ronald got in touch with George Lucas who was on a business trip in Tokyo.

After Lucas heard the news from Ronald, his first reaction was why his old friend Murzi didn't call him for help earlier when the situation was not good.

"Walter drank a little too much wine and has fallen asleep now. It is already midnight on Thursday here. If Friday passes and two days off on weekends, I am worried that things will develop to the point of no return." Ronald put himself I talked about my worries.

He also sighed inwardly.

George Lucas has already achieved fame, becoming the most profitable director and producer in America, and there is already a class gap between his former friend Walter Murch and him.

Even if Lucas still regards him as an old friend, but all kinds of realistic barriers make Murzi not necessarily willing to ask his old friend for help and use the promise he made back then.

Even for a director like Ronald who already had quite a lot of achievements and the support of CAA, it would be very troublesome to find Lucas.

"I see. You look at him. I'll call Disney's Ron right away. You stay by the phone. I'll call you as soon as I have the results." Lucas was silent for a while, as if he heard After hearing Ronald's overtones, he was still a very nostalgic person, and immediately agreed to negotiate with Disney's top management.

"I will," Ronald heaved a sigh of relief after putting down the phone.With such an influential Lucas interfering, it should be able to solve the problem of Walter Merch, right?
"Boji", Ronald looked back, the girl was no longer in the hall.It turned out that Ronald had made too long phone calls to find Lucas, and Brooke was not very interested in these things, and she had already gone back to her room to sleep.

Ronald was still waiting for news from Lucas. The night outside London was very quiet. While waiting, he thought wildly, and gradually fell asleep on the sofa.

"Ring ring ring ring..." Ronald woke up from the sofa. It was already the next morning. He rubbed his eyes and answered the phone, "I'm Ronald."

"Ronald," said Lucas from the phone, "I got Steven (Spielberg), and Francis (Coppola), to put pressure on Disney. Unusually, Ron Miller is unwilling to interfere, and now there is only one way to save Walter's directorial career."

"any solution?"

"That is, I will fly to London to negotiate with Gary, who is in charge of the project. Make a note of my flight number and pick me up at the airport."

"Boji, let's hang out together, where do you want to go?" Ronald said, looking at Brooke who was coming out in her pajamas and getting ready to take a shower.

"I want to go to some places with cultural history, are you done with your work?" Brooke said with a yawn.

"Not yet, but today is free during the day. How about we go to Canterbury to see the cathedral." Ronald suggested.

Leaving a message to Walter Murray at the front desk, Ronald and Brooke went out on a date.

Bringing their own Nikon cameras, the two drove to Canterbury, saw the cat mummy, and the cathedral, tasted Scottish egg salad and French fries, and then took countless photos of Brooke. Accompanied by their own depression to slow down.

"Is the job of a director so stressful? I think you are very busy every day." Brooke posed in a professional pose on the ancient streets.

It was a cloudy day, and now the clouds cleared up, and the sun came out again, illuminating Brooke's whole body.Ronald didn't bring a gray scale, so he stretched out his hand to measure the light on the back of his hand, and then subtracted one stop to calculate the exposure. He has been in the editing room recently, and his skin has turned a little white.

"Not necessarily. If you get the approval of the studio, you can easily direct a big production. There are many professionals working for you, and you can trust them. Department, then you will face a lot of things that you have to do by yourself." Ronald pressed the shutters on Brooke one after another.

"But you seem to know everything." Brooke changed her posture and asked Ronald to take pictures. It can be seen that Ronald's photography is also professional, and his technology can take pictures for fashion magazines.

"It's good that the director knows a little bit about everything."

"Hee hee", Brooke put her arms around his arm, and the two walked back to the parking place together, ready to go back.

"By the way, I'm going to attend the Oscars this year, and I have a seat for a female companion. Do you want to attend with me?" Ronald remembered what his agent had said to him,

"Hmm... I just needed a midterm exam at that time, so I'm afraid it won't work." Brooke thought for a while, and rejected Ronald's invitation, "Just ask your agent to find one for you."

"Why? Even if you go to college, you still need to be exposed, right?" Ronald wondered. The Oscar is not the Golden Globe Award. Movies like myself that have not been nominated and invited to attend are only possible through the strength of the agent. arrived.

"My mother said that after filming 'Sahara', she no longer has to worry about money, and my most important goal is to graduate from college." Brooke is full of expectations for Princeton's famous brand.

"Isn't it necessary to work after graduating from college... What kind of work do you plan to do in the future?" Ronald saw that Brooke was determined to be a college student, and suddenly realized that she was a model and an actress.Brooke has fame and money, and perhaps what she hopes most now is a diploma from a prestigious school to prove that she has more than just a pretty face.

"I didn't think about it. I thought that being admitted to Princeton and getting a diploma would be the greatest success in my life."

Ronald remained silent. He felt that Brooke Shields had simplified the future.Just a few years ago, Jodie Foster, who also gave up her acting career, went to Yale to go to college, and now the media has regarded her as non-existent.

When she first experienced the assassination of the Grand Commander, media undercover agents asked her what she thought of the murderer at Yale every day, but now?Jodie Foster took the initiative to appear in Hollywood, and no reporter stepped forward to report.Americans are so forgetful.

Ronald didn't figure out how to persuade Brooke, at least she is still the number one beautiful girl in America, so she might be nosy if she said too much.

After playing for a day, Ronald went to Heathrow Airport to wait for Lucas at night.

"Ronald, I'm here." Ronald turned his head and saw George Lucas rushing over from the business jet.

"Hello, George. Walter is a bit depressed, shall we go to the hotel now?"

Lucas nodded wearing sunglasses, and the two went all the way to the hotel on the Pinewood set.

"Walter."

"George."

The two old friends hugged tightly, and they went to discuss things.

Ronald waited for the result of their discussion in his room, sorted out the films he had taken during the day, and called the front desk to help develop the prints.

"Ring, ring, ring..." the phone rang.

"It's me, George. Come here." Lucas called Ronald over the phone.

"I talked to Gary, Disney's executive producer, and he said he didn't have confidence in Walter's filming progress, and I assured him that if Walter's filming progress had problems, I would come and take over as producer. Then finish the movie with quality assurance.”

"That's really great." Ronald didn't expect Lucas to be so righteous, which was tantamount to endorsing Walter.

"Thank you, George." Walter Murray was both excited and frustrated in his words.

Lucas patted his old friend's hand, "What I don't understand now is why they don't have confidence in Walter, so I proposed to read all the samples tomorrow, and you come together Ronald, let's find out why Disney If you want to make things difficult for Walter, there may be some misunderstanding here. Walter is a genius, and he cannot fail to make the movie he wants, even if it is the first time."

In the early morning of the next day, Lucas, Merch, and Ronald came to the screening room together, and together with Gary, the representative of Disney, watched all the samples that Walter had shot in the past five weeks.

After watching it, Ronald felt that there was actually no major problem with the quality of the shooting. As for whether the progress was too slow, it was hard to say.Because many characters in the movie need to be re-synthesized with post-production special effects, he has no concept of the shooting method of this kind of movie.

Ronald looked at Lucas. This is the person in Hollywood who knows how to shoot live-action movies with special effects.

"I don't think there's anything wrong with Walter." Lucas stood up for his old friend.

"But this is a sequel to a children's book. The last one was decades ago, and we can't afford the time. If Walter continues at this pace, we'll have to divest."

"Don't talk nonsense, I've already promised you that Walter will improve the shooting speed."

After several verbal confrontations, Gary finally agreed to resume Walter Murch's directorship, starting next Tuesday.

After he was gone, George Lucas said to Walter Murch, "Walter, I do find a problem, you don't have a master shot in a film."

The main shot is the first panoramic shot every day, explaining the relationship between all the characters and their positions in the scene.

Although there are also directors who make up the main shot, such as the famous Stanley Kubrick, the standard Hollywood method must be shot.

"But it's useless for me to shoot the main shot", Walter Murch explained his considerations. "Return to Oz" is a movie that combines real people and mechanical special effects. The robots, hens, and spirits in it are all simulated by mechanical devices.

"Just like this robot, there must be six people to operate it. In this way, when shooting the main shot, it is inevitable to include these operators. And the king of the rock is my plan to use stop-motion animation for post-production shooting and synthesis. They When performing, right is just a painting on the wall."

"I know, I know..." Lucas signaled that he fully understood the problem, "I had the same problem when I shot the robot R2D2 in Star Wars, and most of the panoramas I took were useless. , only a small part can be used.

But this can give actors a clear sense of what they are filming today, which helps them understand the plot and develop feelings.

The staff also knows what the first shot is every morning, what he will do next, which shots he needs to appear in, and which shots he can be busy with other things. "

"You're right," Walter Murray was a little frustrated, it was indeed a question he hadn't thought about.Perhaps because he is an editor, the starting point for considering the problem is how to edit the shot into the final film, while ignoring the cultivation of the actor's status and the efficiency of the staff.

"What do you think, Ronald? Do you think Walter has any problems here?" George Lucas seemed to have returned to his college days, and when he evaluated his classmates' homework, he also asked Ronald to comment.

"I have no problem, but I have a way to speed up the progress of Walter's shooting without affecting his artistic expression."

"Anthracene?" Both Merch and Lucas looked at Ronald.

"I noticed that all the scenes in the demo, especially the one full of mirrors, seem to be lit with multiple light sources every time." Ronald talked about his discovery.

"Yes, there are too many mirrors. If you change the angle at will, the reflection of light will mess up the lighting. It will take time to rearrange. Do you have any good solutions?" One of the questions, asked quickly.

"I can't help it, but I know someone who can. You know, I did a Saab ad where I had a director of photography, David Watkin, who had a patented invention that used a The lamp illuminates the night scene, he told me that he can use one lamp to do things that others cannot do with a dozen lamps.”

"The Watkin who invented the Wendy lamp?" George Lucas had heard his name.

"Yes, he usually lives in London, maybe..."

"I'll find a way to find him." Lucas took over everything.

Over the weekend, Walter Murch took over as director.David Watkin, the director of photography for the newcomers, took Merzie and said, "I won't be here with you on the shoot, I'll set up the light with a light, and you can move the camera as you like, anyway, these mirrors , will send the light where you need it.

Then I will go to the next studio to set up the lighting and wait for you to come over.If you have something urgent that my assistant can't solve, just call me over there, I usually take a nap in the corner..."

"Our first shot today, the main shot, all departments are ready!"

Seeing Walter Murch regain his vigor and confidence, Ronald and George Lucas turned away.

"I would also like to thank you, Mr. Lucas." Ronald and Brooke packed their bags and went to Heathrow Airport with Lucas.

Nisita from CAA called Ronald last night. Someone saw him playing with Brooke and was peddling this gossip clue in the British tabloids.Fortunately, CAA's colleagues in London knew about this and took the initiative to warn Ronald.

Brooke didn't want the news media to report on the two being together when her mother Terry didn't know about it while she was in college, so she proposed to go back to New York first.

Ronald was also a little uncomfortable seeing that Brooke didn't want their relationship to be exposed.But if Brooke goes back alone, I'm afraid it may not be able to quell the discussions in the gossip media.So he insisted on calling his agent to discuss a PR strategy.

Brooke felt that Ronald was unnecessary. She and her mother had always handled media relations without any problems.It can have exposure, and it won't really be contaminated with any scandals.

Ronald still insisted on seeking professional advice, but this time there was really a scandal.And why didn't Brooke find a real agent, so that she could plan her future career.

While the two were discussing, George Lucas came to say goodbye.

When he entered the door and saw Ronald and Brooke together, he immediately understood the relationship between Ronald and Brooke Shields, and teased Ronald about his love affairs.

Just as Lucas' vacation in Japan ended, he offered to let the two of them fly back to New York with him to avoid media speculation.

If someone interviewed at the airport, it could be said that Ronald and Lucas discussed the new film together, and invited Brooke Shields in London to discuss the possibility of her participation.

Ronald thought it was the best way to handle it, and Brooke and her mother both liked a certain amount of exposure.After talking with Nisita of CAA on the phone, they also prepared some operations there to satisfy both Brooke and Ronald.

"Thank you, Mr. Lucas." At the boarding gate, Ronald thanked Lucas again for his arrangement.

"It's okay, you called me this time and helped Walter, I am very grateful. He is my rare bosom friend, if it weren't for you, I might have lost him. Count me as a debt to you, what will happen in the future , you can call me at Skywalker Ranch." Lucas handed Ronald a business card with a private phone number printed on it.

The three of them passed through a special boarding gate and came to the front of a beautifully shaped plane.This is British Airways' Concorde, with its huge nose drooping like the beak of a bird of prey.The graceful delta wings are at the back, full of powerful beauty.

The Concorde can sail across the Atlantic at twice the speed of sound, in less than three hours one way between London and New York.

On the plane, Lucas' seat was in the front cabin. Ronald and Brooke booked tickets temporarily and only got the back cabin.They found the seats in the back cabin and found that the distance between the seats was narrower than that of the economy class of ordinary airliners.

When the tall two sat down, their legs were a little stiff.

But the passengers next to him were all wearing decent handmade suits or custom-made dresses.After a while, the plane transferred to the take-off runway, and Ronald was a little uncomfortable with the roar of the huge engine.Although the speed is fast, and the passengers are either rich or expensive, the ride experience is average.

"This is my first time in Concorde!" Brooke said beside him.

"What did you say?" Ronald was a little out of hearing.

"I said it was my first time..."

"boom……"

The Concorde took off and headed for New York.

(End of this chapter)