Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 756 Lucky Actress
Another meeting that Ronald couldn't pass up was an invitation from Joseph Farrow, the vice president of Twentieth Century Fox.

He serves as executive producer, and Michael Gottlieb directed "Mannequin," starring Kim Cattrall and Andrew McCarthy. secondary assembly.

Ronald hung up the title of producer. At this time, he has the right to enter the editing room and check the director's work together with other high-level producers.

Since the 50s, after the collapse of the traditional big studio system, directors have gradually acquired the artistic decision-making power of film editing.But the producer is responsible for the financing and the final box office performance, so a handover point between the two parties is arranged in the system.

After finishing the first rough cut, the producer will find some people to watch the internal test screening, and then make a decision based on their own experience and feedback from the test screening audience, whether the film meets the requirements, and make some revision decisions.

"Ronald, I'm a little nervous, I've never been invited to an internal preview of a film I've made before."

Kim Cattrall sat in the chair next to him, leaning tightly against Ronald beside him.Generally speaking, actors have no right and no need to participate in internal test screenings.

Ronald heard Nisita say that during the filming in Philadelphia, Kim Cattrall worked harder than ever before, trying to break through in her first real female lead movie at the age of 30.

However, according to Ronald's understanding of the thoughts of all parties before the shooting, the director is shooting a feature film for theatrical release for the first time, and he is not very optimistic about the quality of the film.So he asked Cattrall to come and exchange ideas with her.

For the internal preview, all the front desk staff, secretaries, and workers from the studio were called.

They often attend such internal screenings, and are used to copies of movies without opening and closing credits.Experienced secretaries will also bet on the box office results of movies based on some gossip circulating inside.

Twentieth Century Fox didn't have time to assemble the title title of the lights waving in front of the theater, and the movie started without a title.This is the inside of a pharaoh's pyramid. Amy, played by Cattrall, is the pharaoh's daughter. She is wrapped in white cloth strips and pretends to be a mummy to avoid her mother's idea of ​​marrying her.

The whole body is covered with cloth strips, and only two eyes are exposed, but Cattrall's naughty expression of trying to avoid his mother is vivid.

Ronald turned his head to look at Cattrall. After all, he still underestimated her acting skills and hard work. To be able to achieve this level is not something a blonde vase can do.

The audience can still see Amy's character from her eyes without seeing her full face. Cattrall's appearance is very unusual.

"What do you think of my performance? This is the best role I have prepared since my debut, and I have become in good shape after exercising. You will know after watching." Cattrall smiled, very brilliant.

"The wedding is ready. You have rejected the Pharaoh's jeweler, you have rejected the grain merchant, and you have rejected the Pharaoh's food poisoner. Now there is only one choice. You must marry a Hazara."

"So, what does Hazara do?" Cattrall took off the veil, with a curious expression on his critical expression.

"He's a fuel merchant."

"mom!"

"Well, he sells camel dung."

"Don't even think about it!"

"Don't be too whimsical, you must marry him."

Then the queen said something and explained to her daughter that women have no power in this era. If women can do what they want, wouldn't the mother encourage her daughter to do it?

Amy is still full of dreams. She prays to the gods, hoping to go to an era where women also have the right to chase their dreams.Then the blue light flashed inside the pyramid, the cave wall shook, and the last burst of ash burst out, and Amy disappeared on the spot.

Ronald turned his head to look at the director Michael Gottlieb on the other side. This section was shot skillfully and smoothly, and the special effects can be seen. The cost is not high, but the effect is very good.

Although the performance of the two actors may not conform to the habits of ancient Egypt, for American teenagers, these lines and performances are just in line with their ideas.

Gottlieb, feeling the kindness and appreciation in Ronald's eyes, nodded and smiled at him too.

"It seems pretty good." Ronald looked away. Gottlieb was able to balance so many interests and make a movie with a very good start under the condition of a limited budget.

The opening theme song has not been finished yet, and the camera switches to modern times after the black screen.It was given to motorcycle-riding Andrew McCarthy as lead actor Jonathan.

Jonathan is unlucky, he lost his job when he came up, and he came to pick up his girlfriend on a motorcycle, and was made fun of by his colleagues.After encountering a heavy rain, his girlfriend also broke up with him.

"Forehead……"

Ronald covered his face.

Don't boast too early.

Andrew McCarthy didn't know what was going on, he didn't have the same level of acting as before, he was in a daze, and he only used stares, grins, and fake smiles to express the emotions of the characters.

He remembered going to the Philadelphia set, and director Gottlieb tried to make everyone exaggerate the performance.But hyperbole is hyperbole, how can Andrew McCarthy play it so badly?

"What the hell is going on? How did Andrew act so badly?" Ronald couldn't help it. He approached Cattrall's ear, covered his mouth with his hand, and asked softly.

"Andrew? He was drunk every day on the set. When I was filming with him, I could smell the stench from his mouth."

"Tsk..." Ronald sighed, and throughout the entire movie, as long as McCarthy was in the scene, he always seemed out of place with other characters.

In addition, it also lowered Cattrall's acting skills.Several times when Ronald saw her and McCarthy hugging, approaching, kissing, etc., Cattrall's face involuntarily showed disgust.It seems that this boy gang member is really smelly.

But compared with Andrew McCarthy's Jonathan, who looked very fake because of his over-exaggerated performance, the exaggerated performance of a supporting cast did not make Ronald feel uncomfortable.

It seems that the different roles also give different people performances with different tolerance ranges.

The leading actor, Jonathan, is a fool who is naive enough to believe that the wooden model can become a living person because of his own gaze when no one is around at night.Therefore, the audience must believe in such a person in order to be able to substitute into the whole story.

Then Jonathan's behavior is required to be authentic.The audience's tolerance for him is relatively low.

And several supporting roles, the security guard in the mall, the manager who eats inside and outside, and the ally of the hero and heroine have a strange orientation, and the black "Hollywood" dressed in very feminine clothes are all exaggerated supporting roles in fairy tales.

The audience has a high degree of tolerance for them, as bad as possible, as strange as possible, as exaggerated as possible, and they will not feel abnormal.

Ronald kept thinking about this question while watching the movie.In traditional fairy tales, it seems to be the same. The supporting role can be very extreme, but the protagonist must be believable.For example, the two sisters and stepmother in Cinderella are bad and abnormal, and the seven dwarfs in Snow White are also very weird and exaggerated.

After watching the test screening, someone went to collect the opinions of those audiences. Ronald asked Cattrall to wait for him outside, and he entered the conference room with director Michael Gottlieb and executive producer Joseph Farrow Discuss further modifications to the film.

"I said Michael, what's going on with your filming? Why are the characters so exaggerated? It's not like a live-action movie, but like those animated villains made by Disney."

The executive producer, Joseph Farrow, took the time to watch the internal preview.A project of his own, with plenty of benefits to share.If the finished film still has such an exaggerated quality, I'm afraid the distribution department will have a lot of opinions.They will be afraid that it will not be released, and no theaters will be willing to release it, even in the traditional off-season.

At that time, if someone raises an objection and cuts the distribution budget, I am afraid that I will lose a large piece of cake.

"What do you mean by that? I put forward my opinion a long time ago. This kind of story is originally a story that is hard to believe. The wooden model becomes a real person. It can only be told in this fairytale way. Only the story can make people invest, otherwise many audiences will be lost." Director Gottlieb began to argue for himself.

"I know, but you're exaggerating a bit. I can already imagine what the critics will say about the actors' acting skills—not at all."

"No, Cattrall played very well, and those supporting roles also have their own characteristics."

The two talked a little fiercely for a long time, and finally Farrow thought of Ronald who hadn't said a word.

"What do you think, Ronald? Whom do you agree with?"

"Actually, I agree with a little bit of Joseph's and a little bit of Michael's." Ronald played tricks, "In fact, I also think that the supporting roles in this movie, exaggerated acting skills are not a bad thing. Disney's 'activities are small People', also the characters of the supporting characters are exaggerated."

Ronald flexed and stretched the fingers of both hands, and made quotation marks for the term "moving villain", "Cattrall played very well, and her figure is also maintained very well, and she changed with the wooden model The shots are convincing. But Andrew, he let me down a bit. The ability of the whole movie to put the audience into a dream, because of his expressions and movements, will drop a notch."

"Ha...Andrew."

The other two fell silent.

"What did he do? I believe that if he can show the normal performance level of the previous 'Pretty in Pink', the audience may not be aware of the disharmony in the movie." Ronald asked.

"He was crushed."

In the end, it was Joseph Farrow who spoke. After all, Andrew McCarthy was the one he had hired.

It turned out that McCarthy, as a member of the Hollywood "Brat Pack (Brat Pack)", was increasingly criticized by public opinion.

The Kid Gang leader, Emilio Estevez, joined forces last year with another of Ronald's enemies, the Italian independent filmmaker Dino De Laurentiis.

He took a fancy to Emilio's potential and signed three film contracts with him.The first "Chariots of Fire" was released by Laurentiis's own company in July of this year.

The quality of the film was mediocre, and the audience generally hated Emilio's kid gang. This kind of idle teenage star bid farewell to the theaters after two weeks of release, and the box office did not even meet the production cost.

Another "Wisdom", which he wrote, directed and acted in, is also looking for a distributor in Hollywood.

Rob Lowe, another main member of the Kid Gang, co-produced "It Happened Last Night" with Emilio's girlfriend Demi Moore, which did well at the box office.This movie directed by newcomer director Edward Zwick has just rolled off the assembly line, and unexpectedly received 500 million at the box office.

But Rob Lowe's stardom is also worrying. He has scandals with many actresses, and there are a large group of fans who claim to have a one-night affair with him.

The title of "Kids Gang" was given to these young actors after they came out.No matter what they do, whether they are different from other actors, the audience's perception of them is very bad.

With the bad reputation of the Boys, even Andrew McCarthy was under a lot of pressure.For many good-looking characters, the script would not be handed to him, but many bad-boy characters were beckoning to him.

Coupled with the previous work "Pretty in Pink", the box office did not meet expectations.Andrew McCarthy was almost clinically depressed.Since then, he stayed away from Hollywood and returned to New York where his parents lived.This also resulted in fewer scripts being sent, so that they were addicted to alcohol and drank drunk every day.

"Hey, the mentality of a loser." Ronald sighed in his heart. The best way to fight back against the pressure of public opinion is to fight back with a successful character instead of being afraid at home every day.

Tom Cruise was also initially brushed off by the "Kids" reports, but after "Top Gun" came out, no one regarded him as a member of the "Kids" anymore.

"How is he doing now?" Ronald couldn't help but feel that the actor industry really depends on luck and pressure.In addition, many actors have emotional and sensitive personalities, and they are prone to psychological problems.

"A rehab center has been arranged for him. So, what's your suggestion?" Executive producer Joseph Farrow shook his wrist, revealing a golden watch under the sleeve of his handmade shirt.

Ronald recognized it as a Rolex, but did not understand the model number.He also flicked his wrist, revealing his Casio electronic watch, "It's still early, why don't we go to the editing room to talk in detail?"

"My idea, these close-up reaction shots, if you have a chance, find Andrew McCarthy to retake it. See if the effect can be better. If there is no chance, delete it. Then cut some of him and Cattrall in the same frame, especially Awkward shots, in total, might lose half a minute of length, but save five or six occasions where the audience gets weird."

On the editing machine, Ronald fast-forwarded and rewinded, found a few shots that he thought were not very good, and suggested to the director.

Reshooting this kind of thing must be a helpless last choice.Because the actor is unlikely to return to the state at the time of shooting.So Ronald just picked a few close-up shots of a single person to make suggestions.

"Huh..." Director Michael Gottlieb turned the knob on the editing table back and forth many times, and he reluctantly admitted that Ronald's plan was right.

"What do you think, Joseph?"

"Is this all right? I have no problem, you are a professional, Ronald."

"Hey hey..." Ronald veiled, Joseph Farrow said, as if to imply that director Michael Gottlieb was an amateur.

"By the way, what about the opening and ending theme songs? Let's take a look too." Ronald recalled his dream, as if he had dreamed of a song, and it sounded good.

"Here," director Michael Gottlieb found recordings of the opening and ending theme songs, hung up the tape recorder and played them for Ronald and the others.

"Shxt!, you should have put this song on the test copy." Ronald confirmed that it was the song he had dreamed about in the segment.The overall melody of the song is very catchy, the voices of the two singers are also very magnetic, and the rhythm is bright and uplifting. Maybe it will be a good song on the charts.

"You know what? I think we should get a singer, come and shoot a music video, and then play it over and over again on MTV. You shoot some shots of the singer, and then cut it with the movie clips."

Ronald is in a good mood, and there is a well-known and good song at the end, which will add a lot of audience to the movie to listen to the song.

He told some of his experience, what he could say, to the two present.

"I think it's a good idea." Director Michael Gottlieb nodded frequently.

"Ah, let's do it. I'll make the distribution marketing department increase the budget." Joseph Farrow was happy, and had more excuses to increase the budget.

"Who would have thought that a 47-year-old rock singer, Grace Slick, could sing this kind of song." Joseph Farrow sighed.

"Will a lot of resources be invested in marketing before the film is released? For example, does the protagonist have any TV interviews? Or interviews with newspaper media?"

Seeing that Ronald was in a good mood, he began to hint at him insinuatingly.

"Of course, of course. I will arrange it." Joseph Farrow understood what Ronald meant, "Fox will try to find the best opportunity for the TV interview, and Andrew McCarthy will go to the rehabilitation center, so we will put all The resources are put on Miss Cattrall. After all, she is the reason why many audiences go to the cinema.

Newspaper interviews would go to Miss Cattrall, shared with Michael.After the release in February next year, depending on the situation, whether to add resources. "

"Kim will be pleased." Ronald shook hands with Joseph Farrow.

"She deserves it, and we all see her talent and hard work."

"Let's go, Kim. Mr. Farrow promised you a lot of TV talk shows. Just before it hits next year."

Ronald came out and beckoned Cattrall, who was waiting anxiously, to come over and told her the good news.

"Really? I..." Cattrall happily kissed Ronald on the spot, and then hugged Ronald tightly.

"You have to get used to it. This movie is well shot, and you will have a lot of interview opportunities. If necessary, I can find a public relations company to give you some media training."

"You are so kind, Ronald." Cattrall hugged him a little more tightly, allowing Ronald to fully feel his "thank you".

"What a stunner." Ronald also became more energetic.He picked up Cattrall's coat from the chair, draped it over her, and helped her push the blond hair out of the collar.

Taking advantage of the situation, he put his arms around Catroll's waist.There was a wave of heat in the long silk dress.This woman is really passionate by nature.

"Let's go." Ronald walked towards the gate with his arms around Cattrall. The texture of his hands made him distracted.

"Is my waist very strong? In order to shoot this movie, I have the habit of exercising every day, and I still maintain it after shooting. So what you see now is my best state." Cattrall said in Ronald's ear Whisper softly.

"Who can bear this?" Ronald buzzed as a stream of blood rose from his ears to the top of his head.

"During the shooting, the costume designer even praised me that my figure is better than those six sculptures."

"Huh?" Upon hearing this, Ronald suddenly turned his head to look at Cattrall.Caught off guard, Cattrall twisted his waist and leaned on Ronald's body, his eyes were full of spirituality like the beginning of the movie, as if asking, "Did you feel it?"

"No, wait a minute, where are your sculptures?"

"In the [-]th Century Fox warehouse, I don't know. There are six sculptures in different poses. Some are sitting, some are standing, and some are half-sitting and looking backward. They are all specially made for a certain scene. "

"You'd better take them all back," Ronald reminded in Cattrall's ear.

"Why?" Cattrall was puzzled, "My house is small, and I can't fit it in."

"You also don't want after the movie is released, you become famous, and some men bring home those statues that look very much like you, and then..."

"Oh..." Cattrall figured it out, and hurriedly dragged Ronald to the warehouse to get his sculpture back.

"One, two, three, four...how come there are only four?"

Sure enough, in the production warehouse of Twentieth Century Fox, only four of the six statues that Ronald's friend Day Yang made for Cattrall remained on the floor.

"I don't know, I'm just a custodian, and I work day shifts every day." The warehouse keeper is a white man with an unshaven beard and a smell of beer in his mouth.

"Okay, we'll take away the rest. For the two lost ones, you should let us know if you have any news."

"This is the property of [-]th Century Fox." The custodian was reluctant. Such a real-life statue is rarely seen in movie props.

"If you have a question, call Joseph Farrow." Ronald asked Cattrall to sign and then borrowed a trolley to transport the sculpture to the parking lot.

Little Bard was in the Mercedes-Benz, and quickly came out to take over, "Oh, is this the statue of Miss Cattrall? It's very beautiful."

"Thanks, Bud. I'm taking it home, please have it delivered to my apartment, here's the address. The concierge will take care of it."

"No problem, I will hand it over to the concierge." Little Bard put the three statues in the back seat of the car and the co-pilot, and then fastened their seat belts.

"Let's put this in the back seat of my Ferrari." Ronald hugged the last statue, the half-sitting body forward, eyes looking back, put it on the back seat of the Ferrari, adjusted Take a pose.

Cattrall got into the car, and Ronald took her to the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

The doorman of the Hilton Hotel came to open the door, "Good afternoon, Mr. Li."

"Hello," Ronald got out of the car first, took Cattrall's hand, and waited at the door.

"Miss, won't you come down?" the doorman said to the statue in the back seat. "Oh, Shxt, this is a dummy."

"Hahaha" Ronald and Cattrall couldn't stop laughing.

"Thank you. In an hour, send us a bottle of champagne and a plate of strawberries." Ronald took out a tip of twenty dollars and handed it to the doorman, and then helped put the statue on the sofa.

"Okay, Sir, thank you, Sir", the doorman happily closed the door and left.

After closing the door and turning around, Ronald found that Cattrall had already taken off his coat and was wearing a red dress, and he was also sitting on the sofa.

Cattrall also leaned forward, looking back at Ronald, "Which one do you think is sexier, me or the statue?"

Ronald felt a little dazed for a moment, as if there were really two Cattralls in front of him.

This scene is a bit too similar to the scene in the movie where Cattrall transforms from a statue to a real person.

"Jin..." Ronald pulled Cattrall up, "You don't have to be like this. In my eyes, you will always be a hardworking, brave, and very talented actress."

"I like to hear you say that, go on." Cattrall hugged Ronald, or was hugged by Ronald's palm, a warm current flowed into his heart.

"You are in good shape and beautiful, but in the opening scene of the mummy, the audience was conquered by your temperament without even seeing your face. This is very rare among actresses."

"Oh..., Ronald." Cattrall became happier the more he listened, he hugged Ronald's hair and scratched, then jerked his head back, feeling dizzy.

"Can I see you again?" Cattrall's physical strength was very good after working out. She was lying on the bed drinking champagne and strawberries.

"Of course, you know, I appreciate your performance in the movie. You can call my agent at any time in the future. I'm usually very busy. If you have anything to do, just talk to Nisita or Richard."

Ronald knew what Cattrall meant.The contract of the two is about to expire, and the two still have their own projects to work on. Cattrall also likes Ronald's performance, and he really wants to catch this young blockbuster director.

"Don't worry, I won't harass you. I'm just afraid that I won't forget you in the future." Cattrall picked a good-looking strawberry and put it into Ronald's mouth.

"Hmm..." Ronald was chewing strawberries, but was sealed again by Cattrall, and a scent came over with the champagne.

……

On the second day, the scoring of the internal test screening of "Spirited" was given to Ronald.

In the total score of 8.3, more than [-] employees of [-]th Century Fox gave it a score of [-].

"What level is this score in the internal test screening?" Ronald didn't understand the scoring standards of the internal test screening, so he asked his agent Nisita for advice.

"The specific standard is not very clear, roughly equivalent to B to B+ of Cinema Score, for your reference, Emilio Estevez's new film 'Wisdom', in the internal screening of Fox, only got 6.2 Fraction."

"It's nothing compared to that hunchback," Ronald gradually felt relieved when he heard the comparison.It seems that the box office of "Spirited" will not be too bad, and his famous vision for picking movies will not be challenged for the time being.

"Michael Douglas called, he just finished filming Fatal Attraction and wanted to talk to you."

"Let's wait until the editing of my new film is finished. You can explain to him for me, and I'll find him when I'm done." Ronald roughly guessed the reason for Douglas' visit, and set the meeting time for the completion of the editing of "Dirty Dancing". after.

"Spielberg called from the Xujiahui Film Factory and said that your friends, Deputy Director Huang and Xiao Yan, have helped him a lot, and thank you."

"Remind me and call him back. Or you can send me a telegram first. The international calls there are difficult to get through."

After dealing with some things accumulated during the filming and vacation, Ronald was about to leave Nisita's office.

"Rick," the door opened and Paula Wagner walked in.

"Oh, Ronald, you're here too." Paula hugged him, and then handed her husband Nisita a piece of paper. Nisita looked at it, and the two seemed to have something to discuss.

"I'm just about to leave." Seeing that she seemed to have something to say to her husband, Ronald offered to leave.

"By the way, Ronald. Do you still have stock investments?" Nisita stopped Ronald suddenly, "I planned to talk to you about this new legislation."

"The tax cut bill pushed by the general will be passed in both houses. The new clause treats income from long-term stock investment as the same as other income and applies the highest tax rate.

60% of the tax exemption for long-term asset income has also been cancelled. You should contact an accountant immediately.If it is not sold this year, the new tax law will apply next year.Me and Rick here, as well as all our stars, must be notified. ’ Paula went on to explain.

"Ah?" Ronald didn't expect the new tax law to have such a trick, "Didn't you say that the commander-in-chief supports tax cuts? Why did you still raise taxes?"

"It's a tax reform bill, not a tax cut bill that was scribbled in newspapers." Paula Wagner took it from an accounting firm in her hand. The clauses in the new tax law that have a major impact on star actors are concisely explained.

The top federal personal income tax rate has been lowered from 28% to 20%, which is good news.

But in the past, if you bought a house, bought stocks, and earned money by holding assets for more than a year and then selling them, you only needed to pay a discounted portion of the profits as the tax payable when you sold them.Under various incentives, only about [-]% of long-term capital income needs to be taxed.

In this way, the actual tax rate for investing in stocks and real estate is only 10%. The "tax reform bill" promoted by the media as a tax cut bill actually more than doubles the tax rate for these high-income groups.

Moreover, the new law also cancels many of the original tax relief clauses, such as re-purchasing assets, there will be no tax deferred benefits in the future, and tax will be paid if you make money from selling. .

Therefore, celebrities must start allocating their assets again to avoid high losses after the new tax law.

"It's a good thing I sold all the stocks." Ronald secretly made a sign of the cross, "Otherwise, wouldn't I have to pay millions of dollars in back taxes? This still doesn't count the losses caused by the inevitable decline in stock prices due to tax increases."

(End of this chapter)