Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 532 Ronald is a big shot

"Daniel continued to learn karate with Mr. Miyagi. In the second year...the annual All-Fernando Valley Karate Championship came again. This time, as the defending champion, he had to accept challenges from various masters..."

Ronald read Weintraub's synopsis.

"How about it? Is such a story okay? You are an expert, how about we design another trick and let him defend the championship?"

Ronald endured it, didn't hold back, and told the truth, "Jerry, the first part has written Daniel's story to the end. If you want to make a sequel, the protagonist must focus on other characters, otherwise It’s like reshooting the first movie with a different look. The audience won’t buy it.”

"Hey? How do you say that?" Weintraub was still deeply impressed by Ronald's self-confidence on the first day of the screening. What he said must have some truth.

"Hmm... For example, in Lucas's 'Star Wars', if the Death Star is blown up in A New Hope, in the sequel, the Empire will get a bigger Death Star, and then let Luke go to blow up the Death Star. He exploded. Even if the original force is several times stronger than before, and the trick is more powerful than before, but the core of the story remains the same, the audience will not like to watch it."

"You have a point," Weintraub put away his synopsis. "Then whose story do you think we should film?"

"It's better to shoot the role of Ali. She has a lot to discover. She is not the kind of passive heroine. She dates Daniel, plays football, actively conflicts with Johnny, and encourages Daniel to persist despite the injury. She is the second apprentice of Mr. Miyagi. Talk about women practicing martial arts to protect themselves.

And Elizabeth Su is a sports girl. She has a foundation in gymnastics and football, and she is also very good at practicing karate. She can perform action scenes by herself without a stand-in.After she completes part of her studies, we will find a summer vacation and let her come back to shoot the sequel. "

"Is that so, that means we have to wait at least two years for the sequel to be released?"

"Yes, we have to wait a year to start filming, so that the audience can have time to reflect and look forward to it. Even if it is Star Wars, it is impossible to make one film a year."

"Is there anyone else?" Weintraub was actually a little annoyed at Elizabeth Sue's refusal to participate in the marketing campaign.

"Hmm..." Ronald thought for a while, "Then there is another option, which is to film the story of Master Miyagi, how he went from a Ryukyu fisherman to America, from a war hero to The unassuming repairman in the apartment."

"Immigration story? Like 'The Godfather Part [-]'?"

"Yes, to unravel the mystery of Master Miyagi, I think there must be some stories about his leaving Ryukyu. We can also let him return to Ryukyu again in the story to end the previous story."

"Well... I like your idea better. Is it possible to film the story of the villain coach Chris?" Weintraub made inferences.

"This?" Ronald didn't expect Weintraub to like fighting scenes so much, and all his thoughts revolved around more and more exciting fights.

"But he is a villain. Will the audience be interested in the villain? I actually didn't give him too much ink in the movie."

"We can discuss it slowly, so you are still very interested in doing the sequel?" Weintraub laughed.

"Hahaha, maybe", Ronald is not disgusted with Weintraub's communication method, but whether he will continue to be the screenwriter and director will be discussed later.

"How is the box office going this week?" Ronald asked the topic that both of them cared about the most. If it can sell well at the box office, then the filming of the sequel will be guaranteed.The investment in the second part will definitely be much higher than that of the first part.

In current movies, all actors are signed to a single film contract. If a sequel is filmed, the salaries from the director to the actors will all increase.Only when it hits the box office will studios and distributors spend more of their budget on sequels.

"Very good momentum, with feedback from Columbia, the single-house box office even surpassed 'Legend of the Magic Palace', and was comparable to 'Little Monsters'."

"The trend is really good," Ronald couldn't help but look forward to the second week's box office statistics. It is estimated that the drop will be very small.

……

"We need a director who's good at teenage exploitation," laments a middle-aged man in the producer's office at Twentieth Century Fox to his subordinate. Come to think of it, who can do that?

"This?" The subordinates looked at each other in blank dismay. The script of this movie was written by Noel Black (Noel Black), who was a senior position in Fox's production department, and then green-lighted by himself.

However, I kept looking for a lot of directors, and they either expressed disinterest or were rejected by Black.

The current [-]th Century Fox is very chaotic. After the female president Shirley Lansing was kicked out by the new boss, the oil tycoon, the top executives went their own way, and they all took advantage of the short happy time without the president to start various performances.

Relatively speaking, this Mr. Black just used his power to shoot the script he wrote, which is very moral, except that the script is a bit outdated.

But finding someone to direct his script is not an easy task.A director who is too good has no interest in such an outdated script, and a director who is too bad, Blake will be dissatisfied with the result of the filming.

"None of you can think of a suitable candidate?" Noel Black began to shout, "We must seize the time now and shoot as soon as possible."

"If it's too late, when the new president arrives, maybe this movie will be reconsidered." The subordinates all complained below.

A subordinate in the corner, a fat man named Ben, raised his hand tremblingly.

"Say!"

"How about we get Ronald Lee? He's been directing exploitation films, and he's been a blockbuster every time."

"The kid who directed breakdancing?" Noel Black asked.

"Yes, he also directed 'Fast-paced Richmond High,' which debuted as a teen comedy about teens at school."

"Puchi..." Another subordinate couldn't help laughing.

"Do you have any opinions?" Noel Black glared over, "I think Ronald is a good candidate."

"I don't have any complaints about Ronald, I just think that maybe Ben has been busy with work recently and hasn't watched a movie. I don't know that Ronald Lee is the most popular director now. He has become a big name and he will not go back to direct this movie. It's a low-cost exploitation film."

"What movie has he directed recently? Isn't Breakdance just released?" Noel Black continued to ask.

"This week's best-selling new film 'Longwei Kid' is his pen, released in Columbia, with a production budget of 800 million, and he was praised by the film critics, and Roger Ebert in Chicago even gave him the best Rating four stars.

Coupled with the good box office results, with this success, he basically jumped out of the low-cost quagmire. "

"800 million?" Noel Black thought for a while, "We can also give him 800 million investment, and increase the director's salary to 100, no, [-] million."

The subordinates below were overwhelmed by Noel Black's arrogance. "Heart and Soul" looks like a script in the 60s, but he actually invested 800 million yuan to shoot it. Is this for his own dream?Or use power for personal gain, take advantage of Fox's messy format, and turn your own script into a film?

"What are you still doing? Go to Ronald Lee's agent, I want to have an interview with him at Fox."

Everyone left the office in a mess and split up to make phone calls.

Noel Black searched on his desk, got the latest "Chicago Sun", and found the latest Roger Ebert film review.

Sure enough, "Longwei Boy" happened to be commented on above.

"I didn't want to see this movie. I took one look at the title and thought it was either (a) a dated martial arts fight flick, or (b) a poor adaptation of DC Comics.

I was totally wrong. "The Dragon Boys" was the biggest surprise of [-] - an exciting and heartwarming story of two long-lost friends who have had the funniest friendship we've seen on screen in a long time one.

Two friends from different worlds.One kid named Daniel (Ralph Mazio) is a New Jersey teenager who moves to Los Angeles with his mother.An old guy named Miyagi (Pat Morita Noriyuki) is the Japanese janitor in their apartment building...

Then begins the best part of "The Dragon Boy", where the old man befriends the kid from Jersey and starts teaching him authentic Ryukyu karate.Miyagi's karate teaching system is offbeat, to say the least.He sent Daniel to wax the car, paint the fence, and scrub the floors.

Daniel complained that he was not learning karate, but acting as free labor.But Mr. Miyagi's training is systematic.

"The Dragon Boy" was written and directed by someone I can't think of, Ronald Lee.I've belittled his directing ability before.I think he can only take good-looking scenes, lacking the ability to describe characters and wonderful narrative ability.

But this movie totally shattered my prejudices.At its core, it's not about the fight scenes, it's about the relationships.Aside from Daniel's friendship with Miyagi, there's also a sweet romantic relationship with Ali (Elizabeth Shu), your standard girl from the right side of town with usually snobby parents.

Ralph Mazio was an unusual, interesting choice for Daniel.He's not your typical handsome Hollywood teenager, but a lanky, energetic kid whose delivery always sounds natural, without any sense of reading lines.

He's a good, wholesome, interesting lead, but this movie really belongs to Pat Morita (Noriyuki), an actor who's been in the business for a long time (he played Arnold in "Happy Days") ), but never had such a good character.

Morita made Miyagi a model of accumulation.He played Miyagi, a completely original character, which was refreshing.

"Longwei Kid" is a Sleeper Hit.Maybe his title gave you the wrong idea: This is one of the best films of [-].

Four stars!
"Hmm..." Noel Black put down the newspaper with satisfaction, "Only such a director can produce good results for my semi-autobiographical script."

(End of this chapter)