Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 607 CEO Mancuso is about to have a heart attack

"Very good. It seems that the method of letting the actors adjust the camera in the air is feasible." The fighter jet had just stopped on the runway. Ronald untied his oxygen mask and told the pilot in the front seat of the F-14A, "Stupid (Bozo)" said.

In order to shoot the shot in the cockpit, Ronald himself sat in the radar officer seat of the Tomcat, turned on the camera in the air, and came to his face for a while.He has to determine whether the actor can keep calm at high altitude, complete the operation of hitting the board and switching the camera.

"You are different, not necessarily those weak chickens who get airsick," "Stupid" replied with a smile.

"Don't be too hard on them... The rent I paid to the navy is not cheap." Ronald also laughed.

"Ronald, Ronald." As soon as he got off the boarding ladder, Nisita ran over anxiously, "Quick, come with me."

"I'll come as soon as I go," Ronald said goodbye to the pilot calmly, and got into the BMW car parked beside Nisita.

"What's wrong?" Ronald asked.

"Paramount's CEO, Mancuso, suddenly called a meeting of all the key personnel of the crew."

"What's he going to do again? Val Kilmer's suing again?"

"Unclear, the producer Don Simpson, Bruckheimer, the vice president in charge of production, Ned Tannin, were all summoned to a meeting by him. We suspect that he has some secret plan, otherwise it is unlikely to call all key Character, I will accompany you to this meeting this time, if you have any questions, just follow my eyes."

Ronald still trusted Nisita's experience, and the two soon arrived at the highest-level executive conference room at Paramount.

A small projector is supposed to be in the conference room, and a small screen is set up on the other wall of the room.

Ronald slid into the seat at the end of the conference table and nodded to Simpson and Bruckheimer, who were already seated.He found Paula's and Val Kilmer's agents there as well.

"Now that everyone is here, let's get started."

Frank Mancuso and Ned Tannin, pushing through the door of the adjacent CEO's office, announced the start of the "Top Gun" dailies screening.

On the screen, there are scenes of the female instructor Charlie giving a lecture in the airport classroom, her date with Tom and so on.Seeing the camera scheduling where Ronald purposely slapped McGillis' legs low, all the men present gave knowing smiles.

Then there's Tom Cruise, Val Kilmer, Anthony Edwards, and Rossovich playing beach volleyball topless.The body covered with olive oil exudes a male hormone glow in the sun, which is impressive.

Ronald noticed that Mancuso's secretary, a middle-aged woman, was watching with gusto, her mouth opening and closing as if applauding.

Finally, there are some shots of F-14 fighter jets taking off and landing in the sunset on the aircraft carrier.Ronald secretly hummed Top Gun's theme music in his heart, and dubbed these shots in his mind, a very powerful sound-picture combination.

The film runs out, leaving a white patch on the screen.After seeing these selected samples, Ronald liked it very much.Judging from the picture, these films have all realized his intention.He turned his head to look at the CEO Mancuso who called the meeting. What would he say?
Mancuso leaned forward and pressed his hands on the conference table, like a bird trying to spread its wings to scare its fellows, and he said:
"What kind of rubbish are you photographing?"

"Huh?" Ronald immediately sat up straight, staring at Mancuso, seeing what he could say.Why is it garbage?Let me take a picture of such "garbage".

"Look, here's McGillis, this makeup, this attitude, these high heels and stockings, is she a Navy flight expert, or a street girl on Hollywood Boulevard?"

"How the hell do I know what the girls on Hollywood Boulevard are like? You seem to be very familiar with them?" Ronald stood up abruptly, wanting to curse back like that.

Nisita tugged on his sleeve sternly from underneath. He knew that this client really wanted to go all out, and an old-school figure like Mancuso couldn't stand it, and that would completely freeze the relationship.

Ronald glanced at Nisita and saw that his mouth seemed to say "calm down", so he sat down slowly.

"There are also these four male actors, beach volleyball. Is it necessary to make a low-budget soft-sex pornographic film? It is also a male and male-only version. Do you only make low-budget exploitation films?"

Now Ronald stopped cursing. He ignored Mancuso and turned to look at the two actors' managers.Paula looked shocked, and Val Kilmer's agent seemed prepared.

Ronald looked again at producer Don Simpson, and Bruckheimer.The eyes of the two people were also shocked. They did not expect that this time Mancuso would completely degrade the filmed samples to such an extent.What kind of trick is this to catch, are they going to replace the upper layer of their crew?

"Also, all the shots are taken against the light in the sunset. What is this? MV? Or an advertisement?" Finally, Mancuso began to criticize the shots on the aircraft carrier.

"You are so good at making commercials and MVs, why don't you focus on shooting those in the future? Big Hollywood productions need a complete plot, performances that promote the growth of characters, and the demos you shot. Until now, all I have seen is a large MV. "

"And you," Mancuso turned his fire on the two producers.

"When you were going to shoot, you said to me that this is the inheritance of the golden age, it is patriotism, and it is the reappearance of John Wayne's great Western spirit in the air. Now look, what is this?
Director John Ford filmed a documentary for the U.S. military on Midway Island in World War II. He braved the Japanese air strikes and took pictures of the aircraft carrier being attacked. It was a great sacrifice. Seeing Westerns, not Western porn. "

Ronald looked at Ned Tanin next to Mancuso. He should come out to defend himself at this time.He gave the green light to the film. If Mancuso is allowed to deny it, he, as the production director, will also have to be responsible.

Tanin shook his head invisibly at him, signaling Ronald not to explode on the spot.

Ronald frowned, he was puzzled, what did Mancuso rely on?Tanin didn't even say a word?

"Aircraft carrier, beach volleyball, and some important scenes of the heroine, all have to be reshot." Mancuso came back again, pointing at Ronald.

"Mr. Mancuso, this movie is PG rated, and there will be no excessive pornography and violence..." Ronald couldn't help standing up, defending himself.

"Sit down!" Mancuso snapped.

"This is a glorious tradition of Paramount. If you don't want to shoot, you can change someone. There are many mature directors here in Paramount, who can shoot these scenes. They will know how to use classic Hollywood protagonists like Val Kilmer as their starting point. Central to the film's, true filming."

Ronald sat down angrily, and glanced at Val Kilmer's manager who was sitting next to him.The other party looked at himself a little triumphantly.

Ronald looked at Ned Tanin on the opposite side again, beckoning him to speak with his eyes.I am his person, shouldn't you say something at this time?
Seeing that he avoided his gaze, Ronald decided to go on his own, and was about to stand up again to argue.

"Union, two-thirds."

Nisita pulled Ronald desperately, and said two words softly.

"Humph!"

Ronald held back his anger, he understood what Nisita meant.

The main scenes of the movie are all filmed, and the rest are some air combat scenes. Ronald has already taken care of the technical aspects. Next, he doesn't need a director with special talents, and he can follow the same pattern for filming.

If Mancuso gets another director to do those parts, kick him out.Then reshoot some heavy scenes, and keep the difficult aircraft carrier scene that I shot.In this way, it is easy for the new director to shoot more than two-thirds of the overall scene shots.

At that time, he can justifiably remove his name from the director column.Even the shooting techniques, shooting logic, and the most difficult scenes of the entire movie were all done by myself.

At this moment, Don Simpson spoke up, defending Ronald as well as himself.

"I disagree with some of your points, Mr. Mancuso. The new generation of viewers don't like the old-fashioned preaching, but like the fast-paced editing of this MV and commercials.

Ronald's lens scheduling is in line with the light used in classical oil paintings, and it is also the color tone and temperament that the new generation of audiences like.This is typical of John Ford's westerns. "

Ned Tanin breathed a sigh of relief. Someone put the conversation into the rhythm of a normal technical discussion, and he could speak.

"Frank, Don has a point. It's not the golden age of Hollywood. It doesn't have to rely on actors to advance the story and develop characters. This is a high-concept big production, like Spielberg's ET Aliens, and great white sharks, the audience is more like seeing a big scene, a big spectacle."

Don Simpson continued, "Yes, audiences can now watch TV dramas at home, where they are full of feature films. They go to the cinema to see those aircraft carrier takeoff and landing, flight and air combat, etc., unprecedented scenes."

Mancuso interrupted them, "Of course I know this, but are we hiring Spielberg or George Lucas now? Apart from a few of them, who else in Hollywood can make this kind of movie?"

Mancuso returned to the topic again, accusing Ronald of going off track as a director.He raised his hand and looked at his watch, the time was just right:

"Let me remind you that the commander-in-chief is about to give a speech on the latest topic on the current situation of Hollywood. It just so happens that the time is almost up."

With that said, he turned on the TV and tuned to NBC's live broadcast with the remote control.

"Is this planned?" Ronald looked at the TV, the commander had just met himself, what could he say?
The Grand Commander is on a rostrum and is about to start a speech. On the wall behind him is a wooden title of "Conservative Political Action Conference".This is an annual event held by conservative forces in America.This year the Grand Commander was invited to give a keynote speech.

"... I believe that those in Nicaragua who are trying to overthrow the present government are the moral equals of our Founding Fathers. I again call on Congress to pass their $400 million appropriation..."

"Conservative values, the foundation of the United States, have reemerged as mainstream values ​​for hundreds of millions of families. We have a responsibility to them, and we must cherish these conservative values."

The commander-in-chief said a lot of praise for the resurgence of conservatism in America. He stopped to take a sip of water and remembered the commission from his old friend Sinatra.

"We are an American nation and our movies are our epics. I've noticed that violence and pornography have become easier in recent Hollywood. Our average American family is worried that their children will be affected by Hollywood movies. .

We need to have more smart movies like ET before it, Star Wars.Hollywood should be making more movies of this type rather than the more controversial, violent or adult themes. "

After hearing this passage, Mancuso turned his head and looked triumphantly at the group of people below, especially Ned Tanin.With the conservative value speech of the general, his actions to eliminate Eisner's bad influence at Paramount are more just.

"Speaking of this, it reminds me of one thing. Two days ago, Nancy and I watched a movie shot by Sowell. This is our little friend. He has the same name as me named Ronald. He has a unique eye. It was imported." The Grand Commander continued his speech.

Mancuso found that the two producers, Simpson and Bruckheimer, as well as Ned Tanin, all focused their eyes on Ronald.

The young and over-the-top director looked at himself with a smile, pointed to his nose, and mouthed as if to say, "Yes, it's me".

"Nancy and I both loved the movie, I'm sorry it wasn't made in Hollywood.

The kid is directing a Paramount-financed film about naval aviation.We need more of these Hollywood-made on-screen heroes that relive some of America's best qualities, leadership, heroism, and sacrifice. "

Mancuso's face quickly collapsed, from flushed with excitement, quickly turned livid with anger, and then quickly turned into a dead white color.He touched his heart, and there was a faint colic, and he felt that he was about to have a heart attack.

The commander-in-chief continued his speech on TV, "My dear friends of the Conservative Union, remember that we Americans are born to lead the world, and the sky—not the streets—is our limit."

"Nancy and I are already looking forward to the release of that little friend's movie. There has never been a more exciting time, a time that inspires miracles and heroic achievement. Our space shuttle is sending ordinary people into space, and we are going to sky, we don't need roads."

The commander-in-chief personally appointed Ronald to direct "Top Gun", and he wanted to watch it at the White House.

Trembling, Mancuso took out a tablet from his pocket, picked up the water glass and swallowed it in one gulp.

Everyone, everyone except Mancuso, is struggling.

Tanin spoke, "Mr. Mancuso, Ronald and the others still have more shots to finish, why don't we adjourn the meeting now."

"Pfft, hahaha", Ronald and the two producers laughed wildly at the gate of Paramount.

"It's yours, when did you go to the White House? Is Nancy your aunt? Hahaha." Don Simpson couldn't help laughing and hammered the front of his new Ferrari, "No, I'm going to cry Come out, look at Mancuso's face."

Nisita pulled Ronald into the car, "Don't laugh at the gate of Paramount, Ronald. This is our little experience as a broker, and someone will spread the word. We must respect the CEO of Paramount... Poof Chi... ha ha ha ha... get in the car quickly."

(End of this chapter)