Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 718 Female Movies

The premiere of Cameron's second theatrical feature, the "Alien" sequel "Aliens," was held at the Avco Theater in Los Angeles' Westwood district.

The publisher, Twentieth Century Fox, seems to be in a bit of trouble. The premiere has no stars, and even the TV reporters and newspaper reporters who brought the report are smaller than Paramount's.

Ronald first saw producer Gail Hurd when he came up.

"Thank you!" Gail was very grateful for the old friend's visit. This premiere was supported by himself and Cameron's former friends.

"How about the finished film? I haven't seen it yet." Ronald asked quietly in Gail's ear.

"It won't be much worse than your movie's box office." Although Gail was not very satisfied with the scale of the premiere, he was very confident in the quality of the movie.

"Oh yeah?" Ronald raised his eyebrows in surprise, "Are you so confident?"

"Yes, Jim's sequel has removed a lot of those disgusting aliens from the first episode, focusing on the fighting spirit of women, and the test screening effect is very good."

"That's good, we can compare," Ronald said half-jokingly.

"Talk to Jim then, he's waiting for Schwarzenegger."

"OK", Ronald himself communicated with the guests in the lobby of the premiere cinema.

There are really many acquaintances, including Cameron and Ronald, the heroines of Roger Coleman's New Century Films, the debut film "Rock High School", Day Young and PJ Souls.

The reunion of old friends was quite happy, and Ronald chatted with them about the past and laughed.

"Hello, Ronald," the laugh captivated "Alien 2" heroine Sigourney Weaver".

"Sigourney," Ronald greeted her with a hug.

Sigourney, who was wearing a red dress with thin straps and an open back, had her dark brown hair combed high, which was eye-catching.

Perhaps because she knew the quality of the new film was superior, Signey was in a good mood, and immediately chatted with Ronald.

Those old friends from B-movies consciously dispersed, giving room for the current Hollywood celebrities to chat.

"This is my father, Pat Weaver." After chatting for a while, Signey pulled an old man and introduced it to Ronald.

Pat Weaver was the president of NBC in the early years. In the 50s, he transferred a set of program operation methods from commercial radio stations to TV stations. It can be said that he determined the various styles of the current American TV industry.

"Have you noticed? There is no leading man in this movie. Sigourney's heroine takes most of the duties of the leading man in traditional adventure sci-fi movies."

"You must be very proud."

Ronald chatted with Signey's father.He found that the old man's vision was really accurate, and Cameron's movie was very interesting.

"Ronnie", after a round of social partners, Cameron and Schwarzenegger came together, and the three began to chat about the past of "Terminator".

Ronald noticed that Schwarzenegger, who did not continue to participate in the bodybuilding competition, seemed to have a smaller muscle mass than before.

"Aha, you noticed." Schwarzenegger saw the meaning of Ronald's eyes, "I don't want to be a muscle action star all the time, so now I am weakening the audience's stereotype of me, trying some new roles, Something that gives me more personality."

Ronald was impressed by this muscular guy with a strong Austrian accent.Unlike Stallone, who has to highlight his muscles in every role, Schwarzenegger began to quietly modify his star image early on, and even enrolled in many acting training classes.

"But you are the champion of the world's bodybuilding competition. It's hard for the audience to forget your muscle mass on the screen, right?" Ronald took a few more glances, transforming the image in the audience's mind, which is not particularly easy to do Yes, especially Schwarzenegger has a physique as wide as two people when he plays like this.

"I took some tricks. In the new film, I found a few supporting actors who are bigger than me, so that the audience will pay more attention to my acting skills."

"What movie is it?" Ronald looked at Cameron.He has a good relationship with Schwarzenegger.

"It's not directed by me, it's a black sci-fi film, The Runnin Man (The Runnin Man)" Cameron hinted that he would not cooperate again.

"Very interesting script, human beings are ruled by TV programs in 2019, they think that what is shown on TV must be true.

So those prison inmates are given a chance to go on TV and accept the challenge of various stars, unarmed against hockey stars, policemen, wrestling stars.As long as you can survive to the end, you can get rid of the crime. "

"2019? Running Man? At that time, humans may not watch TV, right?" Ronald blurted out, he felt that the name of the movie was a bit familiar.

"Maybe, but we are still looking for a suitable heroine. They must have certain athletic ability and acting skills. Nowadays, actresses often only care about one end."

"Hmm... Do you have any requirements for the height of the actress?" Ronald heard that the heroine was still looking for, so he quickly asked.

"Actually, it's the heroine, but there aren't many roles. There is no height requirement, and we don't have many scenes in the same frame. It's a distribution contract with TriStar..."

Schwarzenegger knew the elegance after hearing the string song, and quickly introduced the relevant situation of the movie.

"Thank you, I will find someone to clear it."

"Female star, hey?" Cameron winked at Ronald.

"Haha..." Ronald put his arms around Cameron's shoulders, and the two entered the screening room shoulder to shoulder.This kind of thing is very common in Hollywood, and Ronald was not immune to it, trying to find a role for Diane.

Gale wasn't lying, Cameron did direct the sequel well, even better than the original.

This is very difficult. In the history of Hollywood, there are only a few movies with better sequels than the original, that is, "The Godfather 2" and "Star Wars-The Empire Strikes Back".

Cameron's additional difficulty lies in the fact that he did not direct the first film.

However, Cameron's strength is extraordinary. It seems to be very simple to find a clue from the original movie and develop it into the plot of the sequel. Ellen Ripley (the role played by Sigourney Weaver) has done an excellent job The feat of killing the aliens in all directions and rescuing the little girl.

Just like the title of Alien 2 (Aliens), the sequel changed the focus from a horror film of disgusting monsters to a song of victory for female fighters. Multiple alien monsters were defeated by the heroine, and the audience loved it. is comfortable.

"Huh, huh, huh..." Ronald applauded with the audience.

By the end of the premiere, Gail was in high spirits.Everyone drank some champagne in the lounge and chatted about the setting of the female protagonist.

Gail's best friend, Martha Coolidge, who is also a film director, has been promoting the concept of women's films.In her eyes, female producers, female protagonists, and a female-centered story, it is obvious that this movie can be called a female movie no matter from which angle.

"No, not that I asked for it, but Jim loves having such a strong female lead in a movie."

Gail laughed, and she quickly denied that it was not her influence.

"What do you think, Ronald?" Martha Coolidge asked Ronald, turning her head.

The two had a little relationship before. Ronald's second film "Night of the Comet" and her directorial debut "Valley Girl" were both released by Atlantic Films at about the same time.

"I think it's Jim's idea, maybe to please Gail." Ronald's nonsense caused several female practitioners to laugh.

"To be honest, I'm preparing a movie with a female lead right now." Martha Coolidge brought the topic back to female movies.

"What movie is it?" Ronald asked with great interest.The next few films he will direct and produce also happen to feature women at their central characters.

"It's a John Hughes screenplay called 'Some Kind of Wonderful,' and it's about a boy whose best friend is the girl next door who helps him woo the girl of his dreams, and when he does, he finds himself My favorite is the girl-next-door story."

"Oh, he wrote the male version of 'Pretty in Pink' so quickly?" Ronald mentioned twice that the character of "Pretty in Pink" was wrongly set up, and finally found out that the person around him was his true love, and it should be a boy. That's right.

"Do you also know this movie? Actually, I think Hughes's script is a bit problematic, it's too romantic. I'm going to adapt it into a more realistic movie..."

Martha Coolidge said a lot about her thoughts.

Ronald frowned. Hughes stole his inspiration very quickly. I heard that he could write the first draft of the script in a few nights.

The story, which was supposed to be a romantic love story, now looks like it's about to be changed beyond recognition by Coolidge.

Just at this time, Ronald's agent, Nisita, came to him.He has already made an appointment with the top executives of Twentieth Century Fox, and Ronald will meet with them next to see if they are interested in "dirty dancing".

"You go on, I have something to go first."

"Don't spoil the fun, Ronald. Today we should thoroughly discuss women's films." Martha Coolidge was still blunt.

Gail stood up and stopped her best friend. She greeted Cameron and sent Ronald out by herself.

"Are you going to meet with Twentieth Century Fox about the project?" Gail asked.

"Yes, would you like to read it?" Ronald handed over the script.

The relationship between the two is good, and Gail is now busy producing for her husband, so there is no conflict of interest.

Gail took Ronald's script and flipped through it casually.

"You can't do this script, Twentieth Century Fox. The current boss, Barry Diller, is Jewish."

"You think so too?" Ronald remembered that Gail was also half-Jewish.

He and Nisita looked at each other. Could it be that their guess was right?Jews don't like this kind of story about a beautiful girl of their own ethnicity who is coaxed and abducted by a low-level Irish boy.

"No one is going to tell you that outright, I've come across stuff like this before.

Jew gangsters do bad things, jewish girls are immoral, jews do immoral things.For this type of plot, the studio of the Jewish boss will generally use other reasons to reject this kind of script.

You have to go to a non-Jewish studio, like Disney.Their founder, Walter, was consistently anti-Semitic. "

Gail still agrees more with the Catholic education he got when he was a child. The relationship between the two is very good, and they don't hide their words.

"Hey, it's a pity I'm in Disney, and I'm on better terms with the Jewish side."

"Then you just have to try rice... No..." Gail suddenly remembered something.

Ronald also smiled wryly, "Yes, MGM/United Artists, now the Jews are going to be in charge."

"Don't worry too much, it's just a rumour. And if your movie really has the potential to be a hit, they won't care."

"I hope so." Ronald put away the script.

Weintraub and Katzenberg use women's perspective stories as an excuse to say that the market is not big enough, but it is not entirely an excuse.It's just that this kind of small production with a narrow target market and content that is not very Jewish-friendly, they are unwilling to take the risk of ruining their reputation in the Jewish circle.

(End of this chapter)