Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 699 Ronald asked Coppola
Ronald came to Coppola's home in the suburbs of San Francisco.

Coppola cooked for himself in the big house that had already paid off the mortgage, fixed a table of dishes, and entertained Ronald for dinner.

The "Cotton Club" he shot before, with a budget of up to 5000 million, obviously spent a lot of money on his own "Diorama" company. Most of the huge high-interest loans caused by the two "Apocalypse Now" and "Old Love, New Love" have been repaid.

Ronald said hello to Coppola's wife, Eleanor, and handed Coppola the script.Several people drank the red wine of Coppola Winery, paired with various Italian meats, and ate happily.

"Aha, sure enough you're not a director who just wants to make commercial, high-concept films, Ronald. I heard that Pauline Carr in New York approached you. Good, good. Your first film was What a talent, but then entered the creative mode of Hollywood, fortunately, this time you are finally back on the right track."

"How do you say that? Why do you know so much just by looking at the cover?" Ronald was surprised. He hadn't told Coppola about the plot of "Moonlight Seductive" before.

"Look at this script, there are so many coffee marks on the cover, you can tell that you have been around the seven major studios for several times." Coppola pointed to the traces of coffee, red wine, etc. on the cover of the script to Ronald. Said.

"This kind of script must be liked by people in various studios, but it does not conform to the current trend of commercial publicity, so it has been read repeatedly, but there is no result. If you hadn't seen it, you would probably have been silent That company's script library is in."

Coppola twisted the script with his fingers and flipped through it quickly.Directors all have the ability to read quickly, and Coppola can read very quickly.After more than ten minutes, he knew that this was a Broadway drama-style movie and had nothing to do with gangsters or anything.

The current five major Italian families in New York are all closely pursued by that prosecutor Rudy.High-level members of each family were arrested and prosecuted.Seeing that their power is getting smaller and smaller, Coppola will soon no longer need to inform them of any Italian scripts.

"What do you think of this script? I have a great desire to create it, and my whole body is full of impulsiveness." Ronald ate a meatball, and he felt that he had regained a little passion for his debut.

Coppola took a sip of his wine and ate a slice of salami. "Well, you're a romantic comedy, I'm fine with that."

Coppola's romantic comedy "Old Love, New Love" rushed home, mortgaged the big house for this, and made it very unpleasant with his wife Eleanor.In addition, during that period of time, he had a new love, and the conflict with his wife who was in love with each other became serious, and he almost divorced.After that he stopped touching this subject matter.

"Actually, this time, I want to ask you face-to-face. I encountered a little problem when I signed the distributor. Several studios agreed verbally, but they all delayed signing the contract. I know whether they are interested in this movie. I have doubts about being able to hit the blockbusters, but I have already made two super-best-selling movies, so can I be self-willed?"

"Don't let the producers hear that, Ronald. Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

"Actually, when we led the project, we were similar to those workers who parked ships at the San Francisco docks.

When they approach the shore, they will tie a thin rope to a small iron ball and throw it ashore, and then the workers on the shore will pick up the iron ball and keep pulling it up.

Then a thicker rope, then another thicker rope, and finally a cable about as thick as your wrist.

If you throw a thick cable at the beginning, it won't land. "

"Isn't that what it means to cheat?" Ronald complained secretly.

"So how am I going to throw the rope where the seven studios can catch it?"

"Giggle..." Coppola seemed very happy, "You still have less contact with us Italian filmmakers. The stereotype of Italians in Hollywood is that they like to talk big. No matter what position we are in, we always show Act like you are here to beg me and I have many choices.

It's not our arrogance, but it's good.This is called the boss mentality, you can try it.It was like this when I was filming The Godfather.A few people wanted to replace me as director, so I went over and fired them first.

I still don't know whether I have dismissed their permission, but I did, and the results of the later samples were good, so they approved it. "

"Hey..." Ronald understood in his heart, isn't it just bragging?

These seven major studios are also in a competitive relationship. It is impossible to share everything with the executives of the other party. As long as you are brave enough, you can use a gap to hack in. When the time comes, they will see that they are confident. Ask yourself in turn.

After thinking about his own style of doing things, Ronald probably had an idea. Of course, he couldn't completely copy Coppola's approach, but he had to conform to his usual attitude.

The biggest problem was solved, Ronald let go of his body and mind, and began to munch on the delicacies made by Coppola, and kept praising the delicious Italian food, which made Coppola's wife very happy.

"So when you started your diorama production company independently after the Godfather, did you use this method to deal with Hollywood?"

After drinking for three rounds, Ronald began to compliment Coppola's director level.

Coppola was also very happy to be coaxed by this new box office winner, and talked about the past.

"Actually, when George Lucas was in Diorama, his 'American Diorama' was once requested by the distributor Universal to edit it. The high-level executives didn't understand anything, they just wanted to cut a few scenes to show his power.

George was very upset at that time. I saw him so uncomfortable, and felt that Universal disrespected my employees.I pulled out my checkbook and signed a $60 producer deal to buy George back from Universal.

Seeing that I was so determined, Universal began to smooth things over, and finally agreed to reduce the cut shots.I also convinced George to fix a few inconsequential places.

Hey, now it seems that this is my biggest mistake in running Diorama Films.Instead of taking back the check, I should have insisted on buying the copy rights.American Graffiti finally sold more than 1 million box office in North America, and that was in [-]. "

"By the way, in your new film, the actor's name is Ronnie, did you change it on purpose?" Coppola talked about Ronald's new film.

"No, the original author was originally called by this name."

"This author must be of Italian descent. He wrote about our lives very well. I bet more than half of the scenes in the whole script were shot in the kitchen. We Italians are like this. What, sweet, depressed Yes, maybe other people think it is irrelevant, but for us Italians, it is a big thing, and it has to be solved in the kitchen.

We have a proverb in Italy that the table is God. "

Ronald smiled and didn't say that the screenwriter was an Irish-born thing, "It's true, I like these scenes of eating around the dining table very much. But it's a test for casting, maybe I need to find more drama actors, they are more Get used to this kind of scene.”

"Who are you going to find for the role of Ronnie?" Coppola asked, "It must have a strong explosive power, it is not easy to find, and he is here to promote many plots."

"This character is very painful inside, so I plan to find an actor who is full of pain inside."

Ronald looked at Coppola, "Has Nick been in any new drama recently?"

"Oh, hahaha...he didn't take on any new dramas after filming Peggy Sue Getting Married."

Seeing that Ronald was very good, Coppola heard what he meant and wanted to find Nick Cage for an audition.I'm very happy, Ronald has a lot of respect for this culture of Italians helping each other, what a nice guy.It's just a pity that he is not Italian, but that's nothing, as long as he marries an Italian girl, he can be regarded as an Italian director's successor.

Although Nicholas Cage's nephew changed his stage name to Coppola, he is the son of his elder brother after all.When he was filming Peggy Sue, he had too many thoughts and had a deep conflict with the heroine Catherine Turner.

Cage insisted on playing the lead actress, Peggy Sue's husband, with a hoarse, slurring voice.Kathryn Turner couldn't accept playing opposite someone who was slurring her speech, and almost contacted the producers, who replaced Cage halfway through.

Thanks to Coppola's mediation, there was no change of roles, and the filming was barely finished.

After the finished film came out, the rivalry between Cage and Katherine Turner showed no chemical reaction on the screen at all. The two were not at all as sweet as high school couples, and their family relationship with middle-aged couples was more like the dislike of divorced couples. reality.

Looking at it this way, Cage's choice at the time was still wrong.Even if your understanding of the characters is correct, it is not worth the candle to ruin the chemistry between the most important hero and heroine in the movie.

This made Cage very hurt, and he was always in a bad mood, but it was a bit in tune with the kind of painful actor Ronald was looking for.

"I'm so happy today. If you're free, you also want to watch the premiere of my Peggy Sue Is Getting Married..."

Coppola drank too much red wine, talked for a while, and began to doze off.

Seeing that he was very tired, Ronald asked his wife Eleanor, "Is Francis busy now? Is the new movie finished?"

"Yes, his new film 'Stone Garden' has just finished filming in Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, DC. In addition, he was busy modifying the copy of 'Peggy Sue Is Getting Married' in the previous period, and he was very tired during this time .

But I'm glad Francis finally paid off the mortgage on the house.This is the house we bought after the first Godfather was released. There are sweet memories of our family here. I don’t want the bank to take him away. "

"I don't think so, Francis has found his genius and everybody says he is best under pressure. You don't have to worry too much."

……

Back in Hollywood, Ronald found Nisita, and the two went to meet Tanin, the president of Paramount.

"Ned, many studios are vying for my film. We have always been happy to cooperate, so I will give you a little more time, two weeks. Think about it. After two weeks, if you have not made a conclusion, I will work with someone else. Signed."

Ronald said what he had practiced for a long time.

"Have you settled on the heroine? Xue Er agreed?" Ned Tanin was very nervous, and quickly asked the progress of the heroine.

"Not yet, and I don't necessarily have to use her. I have sent scripts to Sally Field, Barbara Hershey, and Diane Keaton. I have no restrictions on who is suitable."

"Two weeks? Two weeks? Well, I will give you an answer within two weeks." Ned Tanin sent Ronald away.

He closed them, drew the curtains, and thought in the dim light.

"Is Ronald really competing with other studios? Or did he learn this Hollywood idiom from someone? It's really a headache."

(End of this chapter)