Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 697 Ronald chooses the heroine
Helen discovered her own misunderstanding all along. Paying too much attention to the effect of her performance will instead make the audience keenly discover the traces of your "acting".

She was so happy that she practiced with Ronald that night.

The two kept looking at each other, expressing affection with eyebrows, and then repeated what the other said just now, paying attention to the feeling between the lines.

Sure enough, if you focus on the other person, your body will give a better response, and the other person will pick up the reflection of the body, and then give the reflection of the reflection. Under the virtuous circle of going back and forth, the two feel better than usual a lot of.

However, long-term acting skills and habits need professional training to correct them.After spending two days together with Ronald, Helen Slater couldn't bear it anymore, and went to a new acting training class, and went to practice acting with her best friend Helen Hunt.

Ronald has returned to being single, and the main time these days has been allocated to John Patrick Shanley, the screenwriter of the dream movie "Bride and the Wolf".

Shanley is a New Yorker, and this time he came to Los Angeles to discuss filming with Ronald.

He was a well-groomed handsome guy in his thirties, with the blue eyes that are common among Irish people, and a bit of a melancholy.

When the two chatted, they realized that their background experiences were very similar.

Like Ronald, Shanley came from poorer backgrounds.He grew up in the heavily black Bronx, not far from Little Bard's original house.

Shanley's mother was a telephone operator and his father was a meatpacking plant worker.Growing up in a jumbled environment, Shanley knows a bit of street smarts.

He once participated in the Marine Corps, and after retiring, he went to college through the GI Bill. He is Ronald's alumnus and a graduate of New York University.

But he did better than Ronald, graduating with an honors degree in drama.

Before that, Shanley had been writing plays for Broadway.He was lucky. In [-], his script was picked up by an off-Broadway (performance venue outside Broadway, usually a venue for newcomers) performance company, and he started his career as a screenwriter.

But his luck improved after that. His plays have been circulating off-Broadway, and none of them have been loved by the critics and have the opportunity to be promoted to Broadway performances.

Shang Li began to transform, slowly began to try to write movie scripts, and wanted to try his luck on the Hollywood track.

A similar growth experience made Ronald and Shanley hit it off. The two found an Irish restaurant, drank beer, and began to eat potato stew while chatting about the shooting of the script.

"You're Irish, why don't you write an Irish family story instead of an Italian one?"

After three rounds of drinking, Ronald and Shangli got drunk, and began to chat about some core topics.

As the writer of the first movie script, most screenwriters will write stories around themselves.So Ronald had to ask the other party how he found the inspiration for this script that didn't write about things around him.

In this business, all kinds of deceit and betrayal happen all the time.Ronald didn't want an author to claim that Shanley had stolen his script idea after he started filming.

"Hahaha, this is actually very interesting. I grew up living in an Irish community, and my classmates were either Irish, Italian, or black. There is a road across our block, which is an Italian settlement.

My parents and I live here, the neighbors are typical Irish families, an elderly father, plus a mother who is many years younger, a small family composed of a group of children.

And the Italians on the other side of the road are much more interesting than us.

First of all, they are very good at making delicious food. As a family, it seems that every Italian mother can cook a lot of delicious food.Moreover, they often live with their grandparents, and the whole family eats together, which is very lively. "

"Hahaha, there are indeed more big families of Italian descent." Ronald remembered that the great director Coppola had invited him to his home for dinner, and it was true that the whole family gathered around for dinner.

"Yes, I feel that their mothers know a lot. It is easy to distinguish between Italian and Irish children. Italian children have their clothes ironed very well by their mothers or grandmothers. In our Irish family, the clothes are ironed very well. I often see unwashed spirits stains." Shanley said more and more, and winked at Ronald.

Ronald let go of his worries, analyzing his creative process and philosophy in this way, it is very likely that he came up with it himself.

"So I have always yearned for a big Italian family. After school, I always go to the homes of my classmates. They all call me half Irish and half Italian." Shanley continued. It is a great pleasure for a winning director to discuss creation.

"When I was majoring in drama, I wanted to write a movie that reflected the Italians. I wanted to write the food, the warmth of the big family, the clothes that fit me, and a little bit of superstition that I yearned for when I was a child. .

But the more sweet memories I keep in my heart, the more difficult it is to write them out.I didn't finish the first draft until a few years ago.But my agent pitched to many film companies and was rejected.

Because now in Hollywood, when people hear Italians, they think of gangster movies (The Godfather), dance movies (Saturday Night Fever), participating in gangsters and being able to dance, which has become a stereotype of Italians.

I'm not saying my characters don't have stereotypes, but the studios don't want to take the risk of disappointing the audience and making a movie about the life of an Italian family.

They feel that a movie about Italian life, without seeing Chicago typewriters splashing water on the streets, or handsome guys like Travolta dancing passionately, is like committing a crime of fraud. "

Ronald nodded, this kind of operation of the studio is really normal.Regardless of the quality of your script, the marketing department doesn't know how to advertise such a script.

If it is a gangster shootout movie, it can be said to be the new "Godfather".If it's a dance movie, it's arguably the new "Saturday Night Fever."But how can you recommend this movie to your friends?

The new... er... you know, a romantic love story about a large Italian immigrant family, with love stories of parents and children at different stages of life, and a sense of humor...

"Italian, is it a gangster love story?" Often a word from a friend can choke you to death.

So Ronald took over the film and bought the rights to shoot it, so he had to go another way.It is marketing through celebrities.

Ronald intends to discuss with various distribution companies to see if they can sign a distribution contract.Then you can find big stars like Xueer to star in.

Among the big three of director, leading actor, and leading actress, Ronald, a blockbuster director, has already participated. Next, as long as a female star of Xueer's level is found, the blockbuster can be guaranteed.

At that time, the marketing of the seven major studios can say, "Go and see the love story directed by Ronald Lee and starring Cher."

"So, we are already able to sell to distributors?" Shanli was very excited when he heard Ronald's face-to-face confirmation that he wanted to direct the film himself.

"Uh, actually, there is still a heroine missing. And..."

"what?"

"The name of the movie must be changed. The names of the bride and the wolf are too ordinary. After watching the movie, the audience doesn't have much expectation for the content of the story."

"Then what are you going to call it?"

"How about Moonstruck? Like you wrote in the script, there's this big, bright moon, and when it's there, people fall in love."

"Well, it's good. You're right." Shanli took a sip of beer, "Who are you going to invite for the heroine?"

"What do you think? When you wrote the script, did you put the image of any actor in your mind and write it down?"

Ronald knew this little trick of writing scripts. If a certain star is used as the target to write the script, then the character's speech and behavior will inevitably be substituted into the image of that star.

In this way, if someone else plays this role, some of her details will have to be adjusted to match the performance of the new star.

“When I actually wrote it, I had Sally Field in mind,” Shanley said.

"Huh? Her acting skills are fine, but the first thing I thought of was Cher, what do you think?" Ronald didn't expect that the script was written based on Sally Field, a double actress.

"She is beautiful, and her black hair and black eyes fit the image of Italian. Is she Italian?" Shanley is no stranger to Cher. She debuted as a pop group with her first husband, Sonny.But after the divorce, Cher gradually tried acting. Not only did she act in an Oscar-nominated film for Best Supporting Actress, she also went to Broadway to perform in a musical.

"No, she's Armenian, but she looks Italian, doesn't she?"

"Yes, but Sally would be a good candidate, too, wouldn't she?"

"She doesn't seem to be Latin enough," Ronald thought for a long time, "but I will invite her to audition."

……

"Shanley said that he is based on the script written by Sally Field, and we have to invite her to try it. I still prefer Cher, and Sally is not Italian enough. Do you think there is any suitable candidate?" In the evening, Ronald went to see his agent Nisita.

"Middle-aged women, sexy, can play Italian, aren't those the usual suspects?"

Nisita heard about the results of the negotiation between Ronald and Shanley, and also gave Ronald an idea.

"Which suspects?"

"Apart from Field, and Cher, if you want, actors who can generally play middle-aged beautiful women, there is Sigourney Weaver, who is said to be excellent in the Alien sequel. Diane Keaton, she and Al Park Sino has worked with The Godfather, understands Italian culture, and his appearance and acting skills are very good.

Catherine Turner, she is very glamorous, suitable for middle-aged people and can also charm young brothers.Like her there is Kim Basinger.But she is a little younger.Like her is Debra Winger, she is brunette, the problem is that she is a little younger like Basinger.

By the way, there is also the new Woody Allen film, Dianne Wiest as the second sister in 'Hannah Sisters', and Barbara Hershey as the younger sister. "

"Why, can't you play the eldest sister?" Ronald asked casually.

"Mia Farrow isn't sexy enough," Nisita said.

None of the people he recommended were actually the most suitable actresses for the role of Loretta Castorini in the script of the new movie that Ronald bought.

But the ones he recommends are those who have won Oscars, have been nominated for Oscars, are highly popular for nominations, and are now extremely popular and well-known.

This romantic comedy that reflects the love story of middle-aged people still needs some stars to reduce the difficulty of announcement.

Ronald also fully understands, "Well, you can send them a private message to ask if they are interested in making a romantic comedy with me. If you have an idea, please send a part of the script. If they are interested, give it to seven Big sale."

"Well, Xue'er's script can be given in its entirety." Ronald added, he still hopes to maintain the original team in his dream.After all, chemical reactions are still very mysterious, and he wants to use a combination that has been proven to be feasible.

"Where's the hero? What do you think? Would you like to ask Tom?"

Nisita closed her notebook and asked Ronald if he wanted Tom Cruise to play Ronnie Cammareri.

"Ask Paula's opinion." Ronald also felt that if Cruise wanted to act in a movie with his girlfriend, he seemed to have no reason to refuse.

The stars attract the audience, and they are lovers with the heroine, and they have a chemical reaction.It's just that he is a little too handsome, and it doesn't fit well with the hand-disabled Ronnie who bakes bread in this script.

(End of this chapter)