Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 538 Ronald has many friends

On the weekend, Stallone once again accepted an interview with Mevin Griffin on the phone. He pointed out that what Ronald imitated was not Star Wars, it was a space opera, and Ronald's story happened on the ground .

It was also fighting, and it was also defeating the defending champion. The "Rocky" series of movies is the originator of this type of movie.

"Okay, thank you, Rocky, played by Sly, is the eternal benchmark of our American spirit..."

"His second round of attack came. He didn't directly attack your counterattack, but once again hinted at some structural similarities between your movie and Rocky." Eva, a public relations consultant, distributed a new Published newspaper with an interview with Stallone.

Ronald's counterattack put Stallone on the top of the gun. If he didn't continue to fight back, he would become a smart clown.People are obviously imitating Star Wars, but you feel good about yourself, right?

"Very well, it's all within our expectations," Nisita nodded.

"Ronald, your phone," Richard handed over the receiver.

"Hey?"

"Why did you get into a relationship with Stallone?" It was Diane who called. She was worried about Ronnie and called to find out about the situation.

"It's okay, we have a bit of 'history', I'm ready, this time I just want to hype my movie." Ronald replied pretending to be relaxed.

"Well, you've always got ideas and you can get things done. You've got to play it safe, bro Ronnie."

"You are very popular, which girl's call is this?" Weintraub on the opposite side made fun of Ronald.

"Not many", Ronald laughed.

Letterman's talk show aired on time, and everyone in the Hollywood circle knew that there was a young director who had a face-to-face conversation with Stallone.Although the tone of the two is relatively restrained, the nature of the matter has shocked people in the circle.

A popular movie star like Stallone, few people dare to talk back to him on TV.

The first person to call could be said to be the direct cause of this incident, Rachel Ward.The Australian beauty is about to return home. Hearing that Ronald and Stallone had a verbal confrontation, the flight was delayed, so she came here to ask about Ronald's situation.

My ex-girlfriend Michelle Pfeiffer, whom I haven't contacted for a long time, also called to care.

Ronald hadn't felt this kind of feeling of being cared for for a long time, so he replied one by one.I just responded to Stallone, it's not a big deal.

Only Brooke didn't have an agent by her side, and she was temporarily separated from Hollywood's Vanity Fair, so she didn't understand the impact of this incident on Ronald, so she didn't call to comfort him.

Not only female friends, but male friends also called.Nicolas Cage, Kane Costner, and Judge Reinhold, who I have worked with, all called.

Cameron and Gale, as well as Cameron Crowe, the two Israeli brothers, and Martin Scorsese, his teacher in New York, also came to inquire about the situation.

Roger Coleman was particularly concerned. He was the one who helped bring Stallone out and asked Ronald if he needed to mediate.

Ronald directly refused, but thanked him for his kindness.Stallone is no longer the supporting role in the New World movie, shooting with a submachine gun.He is a popular superstar now, but he doesn't necessarily miss the old love.

Weintraub smiled, "Well, I don't have the right to make fun of you. But Dick Cavett agreed, he is willing to come back from retirement, if he comes back, the first interview will be George Lucas, he is very Happy."

Weintraub used to be a big producer in the music industry, and the following superstars had all been interviewed by Dick Cavett, so he immediately convinced Dick as soon as he made a move.

"The preset question?" Paula Wagner, one of Ronald's agents, was very concerned about whether Cavett would ask the preset key question.

"Don't worry, he and I are old acquaintances. Dick is very experienced. His style is to let the interviewee relax and then talk about in-depth questions. Lucas agreed to cooperate, no problem."

Weintraub joined the fray after seeing David Letterman on the weekend.He worked very hard when he came up, and expressed his willingness to add more resources to make this matter bigger.

The reason, of course, is the gratifying box office. In the case of Schwarzenegger's new film "Conan the Destroyer" being released at the weekend, the box office of "Longwei Boy" bucked the trend and exceeded 600 million.

There is no more marketing investment, and there is no special change in word of mouth.But the Sleeping Beauty movie suddenly became popular with all the parents and kids in America.

The box office of the third weekend has surpassed that of the previous two weeks.Undoubtedly, Weintraub concluded that there was no other reason than Ronald's back-and-forth war of words with Stallone in the media, which made more people know about the movie "Longwei Kid".

"But Dick Cavett no longer has a broadcast platform. It is no easier to get a special broadcast channel resource in a short period of time than to find a heavyweight talk host with a job." Nisita raised a real problem.

Weintraub shrugged, saying he had no network connections and could do nothing.

"Instead of this, it's better to go to Maven Griffin," public relations consultant Eva put forward her own plan, "that's where Stallone launched his first attack, and Griffin would be happy to participate in the second round. A boost to his dismal ratings on cable."

Stallone's counterattack made Ronald overjoyed. If he can return with a backhand punch, it will be a technical knockout on the spot.They tried to settle the matter at once.

"Paula, can you guarantee that he will ask the right questions?" Nisita looked at this colleague and lover, wondering how much influence her friend Eva had on Maven Griffin.

Paula Wagner shook her head invisibly.

It seems that there is no [-]% guarantee that he will ask the preset questions when interviewing Lucas.

Unlike the Dick Cavett introduced by Weintraub, Griffin now has a cable talk show.This makes Ronald's control and influence over him completely different here.If you don’t ask a powerful question on the show, it’s like punching nothing, and the resources invested are wasted, and Stallone may catch the flaw and fight back.

"Ronald, I can clarify for you." A blond man rushed into CAA's office and shouted at Ronald, "I can be on a TV show, no one knows your character better than me."

"Tom, what are you doing here?" Paula Wagner scolded Tom Cruise who broke into the office.

"I heard that Stallone was trying to attack Ronald's creative ability. I know him very well. He was a true friend. I will never forget it. He gave me my first audition. He also brought I went to the dentist to fill the front teeth."

"Don't get involved in this matter, we will handle it well, if you speak out rashly, it will disrupt our plan."

Tom Cruise is pulled aside by Paula Wagner for a lesson.

Cruise is still very obedient to this agent like a sister. He promised not to be interviewed in private, excused Ronald, and then came and hugged Ronald.

"If you need anything, I mean, if you need anything, I will help you." He also clenched his fists against the air as he spoke.

"It's okay, we are discussing how to deal with it. Both Paula and Nisita are very experienced people." Ronald thanked Cruise, pointed to Rebecca De Morney in the corner, and said to him, "Go, your girlfriend is still waiting for you."

"If you need anything, OK." Cruise tilted his head and confirmed with Ronald again, then took Demony's hand and left.

"Lock the door," Nisita told Richard after Cruise walked out.

"Now we need a choice. Time is running out. We can only choose one person. If the wind gets out, I'm afraid Stallone will be prepared. So I vote for Dick Cavett."

"Then can you handle the TV station's recent broadcast resources?" Eva asked not to be outdone.

"This is a multiple-choice question. We can't put our chips on someone who has no control..."

"Ring, ring, ring..." Richard picked up the phone again, "Hello... Ronald, it's..."

He made a "Helen" mouth shape.

"Ronnie, I saw Stallone attacking you on TV, what happened?" Helen Slater in New York was on the line.

"Don't worry, I'm already dealing with it. It's just a little history. I can handle it." Ronald didn't expect it to be Helen's call, and it sounded like she had fully recovered.

"Don't lie to me. I asked Gerrard. He said that you are overwhelmed by Stallone's fame. If you don't find a suitable big star to endorse you, you will be passive."

"It's okay, thank you and Gerald for your concern... I'm fine, if necessary, I will ask Gerald for help."

"Gerald? Helen, daughter of Gerald Slater?" Nisita and Richard confirmed.

"Okay, thank you for calling." Ronald pressed the phone.

"Okay, let's continue, don't answer any calls coming in." Ronald apologized to everyone.

"No, there's no need to open the meeting." Nisita made a pause gesture and whispered to Ronald, "I'll call Gerald Slater, PBS is Dick's old club, Even though they fired him a short time ago, there's no way a special about Dick's interview with Lucas would be uninterested."

"but……"

"Nothing but, you need his help now, Ronald." Nisita's eyes lit up, "I don't think you will affect your future because of such a trivial matter, right? I will call Gerald .”

"But Gerrard's price will not be cheap." Ronald let go of the phone receiver.

Nisita took it and dialed the front desk, "Give me the vice president of PBS, Mr. Gerald Slater."

"Well, well, there is no problem. Ronald will definitely help with this." Nisita smiled and said to everyone, "Everyone, Dick's broadcast platform has agreed to do a special program on PBS this weekend. hours of program time."

Ronald looked at Nisita, who was making his own way, and thought, what price did you sell me for?
"Not so long ago, in a small town near San Francisco, a child lived a comfortable life..."

On Thursday night, PBS aired a special, an exclusive interview with George Lucas, with opening titles parodying the "Star Wars" kind of heading into the distance, and then Dick Cavett appeared on Lucas's day. Walker Ranch.

"Is this ranch your paradise? It's like every little boy's childhood dream."

"Haha, yes, many things here are very expensive. I put all my dreams here." George Lucas took the film crew to visit his paradise.In addition to everything about Star Wars, there is also the famous Industrial Light and Magic special effects company, which also works here.

"When did you start getting into film? We know you actually directed a film before 'American Graffiti.'"

"Ah, yes, I had just arrived at Francis Coppola's 'Diorama' company, and this was the first film that Diorama cast..."

After chatting about Star Wars for a while, Dick Cavett asked the right question in due course, "Coppola, you, Spielberg, De Palma, you are being regarded as the director representative of New Hollywood, so what do you think, Directors in the 80s, are you still continuing your original innovation?"

"I think so," Lucas stroked his beard, "In the new era, there will be new director styles. Of course, Steven, Francis, and others are not old yet, and we are still filming. The new generation of films also have an innovative spirit.

I recently watched "Longwei Boy", which breaks through the previous martial arts movies and has a new narrative mode. "

"Ronald Lee? But now there's a debate, is he parodying your 'Star Wars,' or Stallone's 'Rocky'?"

"I know Ronald, and I don't believe that he has any imitative behavior. There are only so many narrative modes in movies. If you have seen old classic movies in the past, all new movies in Hollywood will, to some extent, be based on classics. absorb nourishment."

"So there's no imitation of Star Wars, and there's no imitation of Rocky?"

"I don't know where these rumors come from? Ronald is the screenwriter of this movie. I know him very well. He made his debut as a screenwriter before. If you look through his previous screenwriting records, you will know He also wrote the screenplay for Stallone.

Film creation is a very difficult thing. The audience enjoys the big meal on the screen. There is no need to care about those rumors. It is the film, not these rumors, that will remain in history. "

"Huh..." This is the final word.Ronald breathed a sigh of relief, and Lucas was very helpful, and he had already pointed out that he had also worked as a screenwriter for the film directed by Stallone.If he is still entangled, the hat of doubt will fly to his head.

Why would a director question his screenwriter?Could it be that Stallone, who has been criticized for his director ability in "Flying Phoenix Dance", randomly changed Ronald Lee's script, and then became jealous of the backward Ronald?
"Fuck! You incompetent trash, trash!" Stallone sat in his mansion, yelling at his agent.

He grabbed his glass and slammed it at the TV playing Lucas' interview.

"What do I do now?" Stallone asked aloud.As a top director, Lucas stood up for Ronald.Now it's your turn to make a fool of yourself.The interview records that were released at the beginning have now become pistols pointed at him.

Ronald was not only appreciated by Lucas, but also revealed that he had worked as a screenwriter for himself.How are those who accused him of imitating "Rocky" going to make sense now?

Lucas has more fans than Rocky.Now that the public takes Lucas's words as the truth again, isn't the one left to Stallone himself a clown?
"I, I'll call Mr. Meyer." The agent hurried out, he didn't want to stay in front of Stallone again, lest he be fired on the spot like the PR manager who encouraged him to continue attacking Ronald.

"Sly," the tall bodyguard behind Stallone came out to speak, "Ronald's agent is also in CAA, and in Japan, where I have stayed for more than ten years, in such a situation, the biggest one should be invited to come out to arbitrate gone."

"Arbitration?" Stallone repeated, then opened the door and yelled at his agent, "Come back here, I'm going to talk to Michael Ovitz."

(End of this chapter)