Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 518 New York, Home Sweet Home

"Madah, Madah, MJ has commented on the originality of the moonwalk, do you have any response?"

After staying in Chicago for a day, the crew rushed to New York without stopping to continue the trip.

Nisita sent colleagues from the New York office to pre-empt Ronald and his party at the airport, telling them that Michael Jackson had been interviewed to "clarify" the originality of the moonwalk and the spacewalk.

"There is no doubt that MJ said that he is the original creator of the moonwalk and spacewalk. When polishing the dance steps, he asked two 'kids' to give him some reference." CAA colleagues said in an interview that MJ The original words were repeated to the Boogaloo prawns.

"That's what he said?" Prawn Bugaloo was very upset. It was one thing not to give his signature, but it was another thing to lightly belittle his contribution like this.

"You will definitely be asked this question when you go out. This is the answer that Ronald entrusted us to draw up for you." He handed a piece of paper to Bugaloo Prawn.

The "little friend" Boogaloo Prawn, whose name was not even mentioned by MJ, was so angry that his face was livid. When he came out to be interviewed, he almost forgot what the standard answer said.

"MJ is the pride of black people," Ronald came up and put his arms around his shoulders, reminding him in a low voice.

"Um... MJ is the pride of our black people. He is a great singer and dancer, and he has also made extraordinary contributions to breakdancing into the mainstream culture. It is my honor to be compared with him."

After stammering and reciting his lines, Bugaloo prawn separated the reporter with one hand, carried the luggage on his shoulder, and walked out.

"Ronald, what do you think of the new movie 'Sixteen Candles' of the same period?" The reporter poked the microphone at Ronald again. Now your movie has fewer theaters than him, but the box office is better than his.John Hughes said he likes your movies very much, what's your opinion on him? "

"Really? What did he say?" Ronald played dumb.

"Hughes said that you helped him a lot in the pre-production stage, helping him gain trust with the producers. It was a big boost for his first film. He also said that although the box office of your film is not as good as yours now. , but he is bullish on the long-term box office of 'Sixteen Candles'. What do you think of his films?"

Now the film critics seem to always compare Ronald and John Hughes.Both of their debut works are youth films about men and women in high school, and both of them are screenwriters. Hollywood is optimistic about their future.

"John Hughes is a friend of mine and I've found time to watch his movies, and I think I like 'Sixteen Candles'...

Yes, this is his debut, and his box office is not a failure by any means.If you don't believe me, you can take a look at the weekend box office list of 'Variety Show'.I'll call to congratulate him..."

Ronald fooled the past. Although his new movie had a higher box office than the other, there were two other movies that failed miserably at the box office. He didn't want to be caught and only compared the box office of "Breakdance" and "Sixteen Candles".

This is a reporter deliberately creating contradictions. If he mentions the success of the box office, someone will definitely ask about the comparison of the two films in terms of film reviews.

"Hey, we've come to the home of hip-hop and rap on the east coast." After sitting in the van that came to pick him up, Shabadu said with emotion as he looked at the street scene outside the window on the road.

"Now break dancing is going to be popular with your dance style." Ronald continued with a smile.

It doesn't matter which side of the breakdancing is orthodox, the young people in America now dance their kind.Whether you learned it by watching "Breakdancing" or watching MJ's concert MV.

"Look, the video wall over there is showing clips of breakdancing." Bugaloo prawn pointed to the department store on the side of the road, and the large screens lined up with multiple TVs in the window.The dance scene performed by him and Shabadu is being played above.

Encouraged by the strong box office in the first week, MGM began to increase its budget, and repeatedly broadcast trailers throughout the day on major TV stations, especially the MTV channel where young people are concentrated.

"Oh yeah, Boogaloo prawn, Sabado, you are our idol"

The black doorman at the entrance of the hotel, wearing a crimson hat, saw that the crew was actually staying in his own Manhattan Hilton, and excitedly stepped forward to give them high-fives one by one.

"Let me help you." The doorman also put on two breakdance poses, took everyone's luggage and put it on the luggage cart.

"Thank you, here." Ronald knew that the two leading actors came from poor backgrounds, and they might not understand these "etiquettes". He stepped forward and hid a banknote in his hand, and handed it to the doorman.

Checking into the hotel, Ronald saw a new newspaper lying on the bedside.

"Well, it's better for people in my hometown to treat me well." Ronald flipped through a few times, and the film review columns in various New York newspapers all mentioned his "break dancing", and they were all good things.

"A cross-era musical..."

"It will be written into history as a symbol of popular culture..."

"Explosive movie..."

Looking further down, Ronald found that New York is still a multicultural city.Some tabloids with a predominantly Latino and black readership also mentioned the film.

Although he didn't quite understand the various slang words above, as well as the proper nouns of hip-hop and the nicknames of the seniors, but the long-winded essays took up a lot of space.

Looking at the competitor "Sixteen Candles" again, this movie was different from being popular in Chicago, but it was greatly criticized in New York.

"The Dragon Eagle character, it's not funny at all, it's potentially offensive to Asians, it's a stereotype. It's like they only speak broken English, never had a girlfriend, and don't care about anything in America What a fuss."

Here's the New York Times critique.

"The plot of this movie sickens me, does he condone 'date rape' outright? Even though there's no real act, consensual or otherwise, after the party scene the lead actor Jack actually tells Ted that his Girlfriend Caroline is now in the bedroom, unconscious.

You can rape her ten different ways if you want.Is this the message John Hughes wants to convey to the teenage audience? "

Here's a critique from The New York Post.

Compared with the conservative Chicago, New York's atmosphere, women's independence, and equality of all ethnic groups have gone a step further.

In office buildings in Manhattan, women can also climb to middle-level management positions. When it comes to commuting, there are endless figures of subway and street working girls.

In Chicago, going on a date with alcoholic beverages means losing your virginity, and if your friend’s girlfriend is gone, you can resell it to yourself, which may still be the idea in the minds of many white family boys.

The employment rate of women is also not as high as in New York. Many white women often find husbands and become housewives as soon as they graduate.

"Let's welcome Boogaloo...Prawn, Sabah...Du, and Lucinda...Dickie".

When it comes to audience meetings, New York is obviously better organized than Los Angeles and Chicago.The money spent by MGM has paid off. In addition to several leading actors, a local street dance troupe from Manhattan was also invited to perform.

Ronald sat obediently below. The proportion of white people here is significantly less. Many of the audience are very familiar with breakdancing, and more than half of them can dance. The interaction between the stage and the stage is also more in-depth.Several audience members even asked the main creator how to dance their dance moves, and then they started teaching live on and off the stage.

"Why did you choose this cinema?" Ronald asked Minahan strangely.It is located on the edge of Little Italy in Manhattan, next to the neighborhood of many Puerto Rican immigrants. The movie theater that has been built for a long time is already a bit dilapidated.

"We made some attempts. When we were in Chicago, we put the premiere on the north side, where a lot of white people live in affluent middle-class places, and our movies have a larger audience from blacks and Latinos."

"is it?"

"Of course I haven't forgotten the traditional white audience. Next, the trio will perform break dances in succession at night venues such as the 54 Club and the new Spotlight Club. Those places are popular holy places for teenagers. , what is popular there, they will follow suit.”

"Then they can still have a lot of money?" Ronald asked, this is also a chance to make money for the three protagonists from the bottom.

"They still have a lot of opportunities, starting from New York, going to New England in the Northeast, then going south to Florida, going back to Texas and Nevada from the South Central, and finally returning to California." Minahan said the trio's next promotional itinerary.

"And we," Minahan pointed to Ronald and himself, "then we will fly to Paris, then transfer to the seaside town of Cannes, and meet Yoram who arrived there first. This time we must take 'Breakdancing' sold all over the world."

"Okay", Ronald has long been looking forward to going to the film festival. Cannes is one of the three major film festivals in Europe. There are no good movies and interesting people waiting for him there.

In the evening, the three creators, together with Ronald and Minahan, toasted and drank in the hotel bar.A successful movie that changed everyone's fate.

Boogaloo Prawn and Shabadu have gradually become leading figures in the industry. This time in New York, many hip-hop masters are respectful to them, and they are no longer as peers as they used to be.

Lucinda Dickey has also received many movie invitations, but she still has to finish filming "Breakdancing 2-Electronic Boogaloo" with her two male partners.

"Is the director ready?" Ronald asked Minahan.

"I found someone from my hometown of Israel, but it's a pity that you can't continue to direct."

"Have you finished your script?"

"Yes, it's still the story of Ma Da, Cyclone, Kelly, and their rival Falcon. This time, the two sides joined forces to deal with the common enemy and defeat the conspiracy of the evil capitalists with break dancing."

"Huh, interesting", Ronald didn't want to care about the sequel anymore, he just wanted to go back to his sweet home and have a dinner with his family.

"Ronnie, you're a day late. Diane just left." After finishing her aunt's dinner, Donna said to Ronald.

"Where did she go?"

"Her film 'Streets of Rage' is finally about to be released, and it will be on the first of next month. Will you go to the premiere?"

"I don't know. I'm going to the Cannes Film Festival soon." Ronald took a sip of the coffee prepared by his aunt. "Have you made arrangements for your admission to MIT? Is there anything else I can do for you?"

"No problem. If you hadn't insisted on going, I would have driven there myself."

"You can go now, here you are." Ronald took out a key and threw it over. "Just stop outside and downstairs."

"Is it my car?" Donna looked out the window happily.

"I told my aunt that that Honda is too big for you. This time it's the new Honda City. It's small, but it has a turbocharger. It has good horsepower and interior space. It's suitable for girls. Tomorrow You can try it during the day."

"Thank you!" Donna came over happily and kissed Ronald.

(End of this chapter)