Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 773 Chapter 4 Just at this moment

Shooting went fast.

On this day, the heroine Xueer is finally going to change her hairstyle.

Cher plays Loretta, a dull, uninteresting, reserved widow for the first half of the movie.She often wears all black, and her hair is a little gray and she doesn't dye her hair. She just wears a common hairstyle for an Italian old lady.

The clothes are also very conservative, with black as the main color, and the shoes are also black boots, which don't look feminine at all.

But after a night of sex with Ronnie, who is full of passion and full of male hormones, her instinct as a beautiful woman is awakened.

Ronnie didn't want to let it go, let Loretta and Johnny marry and never see each other again.

The next morning, Loretta slapped him in the face when he expressed his thoughts.

Ronnie, played by Nicolas Cage, still asked to continue dating Loretta, but Cher slapped him in the face again.

"Wake up."

The momentary passion is never worth the rational thinking of a middle-aged woman the next morning.

Loretta felt that she couldn't tell Johnny what happened, and she didn't think that Ronnie, who was much younger than herself, could be her life partner. memories.

But Ronnie was unwilling to let it go, and he offered to invite Loretta to see Puccini's opera "La Boheme".

As long as Loretta agreed to go and see with him, she promised to let go, and she would show up at her and Johnny's wedding as if nothing had happened.

Ronnie is confident that watching opera is a very formal social activity for Italians, and watching opera will cause a very dramatic emotional reaction. Some people are romantic by nature, and after watching opera, they will be passionate and will do things that are impossible to do normally.

Others don't have a strong reaction to opera, listening to it like classical music in general, and don't have an emotional beyond-the-day response.

Italians, who have this romantic and crazy gene in their culture, often belong to the former.

Although Loretta knew it would be unreliable to do so, her female intuition still made her agree.

As an Italian, going to the opera is a big event. Loretta saw a hairdressing salon on the road, and went in for a moment.

This is a very interesting transformation scene. Ronald feels that in all romantic movies, there needs to be such a process, so that the ugly duckling, which is not so conspicuous, becomes white with the help of friends and professionals. swan.

Because at the beginning, the impression of the audience was also finalized along with the protagonist's makeup and attire. This process of makeover not only amazed the hero Ronnie, but more importantly, made the audience also feel amazing.

"I have to use my own hair stylist, Ronald. There are also nails and makeup." After Xueer arrived at the scene, she began to make many requests.

"But performances are needed here. Can your hair stylist perform?" Ronald also has a head full of the star's strict requirements on his appearance.

You can't say that Xueer's request is too much. She has sacrificed her image in the first half for the artistic effect of the movie.

This transformation did not allow her to dress up beautifully according to her own preferences, and it was a pity that I had painstakingly asked her to be the heroine. It was originally for some of Xueer's fans to watch.

But her request is somewhat troublesome in operation.

For this scene, Loretta dyed her hair, permed her hair, did her nails, trimmed her eyebrows, made up and so on.Some hair and make-up processes are to be shown in front of the movie camera.

Xueer must be done by a dedicated person, so it will be very troublesome to split the shots during shooting.

"In this way, I will make a big close-up for you, only take a picture of the more beautiful left half of your face, and the lens will only take three-quarters of your face, and then let your authentic makeup room and hair stylist take care of it, so that they only have If you take the shot with your hands, you won't destroy the shot because of nervousness.

As for the other shots, let these confirmed actors act.I'll cut it together through post-editing. "

Xueer discussed with the private team and agreed to Ronald's approach.

She brought her hair back to its original black color, and then asked her favorite personal hairstylist, who began steaming her hair to bring back the big waves.

Ronald and the director of photography David Watkin watched from the side. The two were good friends in private. They gave them a wink. Both of them went out to smoke.

"You are very lucky. Xue'er is one of the stars who has relatively few requirements. I used to shoot a romantic movie, and the heroine's attitude was wrong after she came. Both the director and I thought that something big happened to her. Did she have a relationship with the current actress?" A film producer's husband has a falling out, wants a divorce and quits the show.

She had been in the trailer for two hours and hadn't found a good condition. The director and I went up to check the situation and see if we could still shoot that day.

In the end, the female star said that it was because her dog died suddenly last night..."

"That was before you saw her." Ronald puffed, and Cher made a big fuss on David Letterman's late-night talk show, bringing a The little boyfriend who makes bagel bread almost pissed off a bunch of Broadway supporting actors.

"Fortunately, I rejected her new boyfriend to come to Toronto through MGM, otherwise our situation would be several times more difficult than it is now."

"I have been filming in Toronto for several weeks. I think the filming is very boring. There are a few long shots, a few close-ups, and there are no more dramatic conflicts with other characters. Up to now, the dramatic conflicts that I am most impressed with are still fighting. Just two slaps on Nick Cage."

In the studio, in the indoor scene of the built hair salon, Cher is also chatting with Olympia Dukakis, who plays her mother, complaining that director Ronald is not paying attention to her role.

"And Ronald never coached my acting skills, nor did he tell me how to act, he always let me find my own feeling, and then he would say, you acted very well, now let's try another Acting, do it again."

"That's because he respects the actor's performance. After all, the role is performed by the actor." Olympia Dukakis curled her lips. She has opinions on Xueer's acting skills, and she also knows that she is only a supporting role compared to the other party. You should bring your own private views into the professional work of the crew.

Ronald is a good director who can tolerate and understand actors.After all, Xue'er hadn't made many movies, she didn't know how difficult it was to have such a director.

Xue Er's previous two films were all co-operated with famous Hollywood directors. The "Skowwood Incident" was directed by Michael Nichols, who once directed "The Graduate".The director of another "Mask" was Peter Bogdanovich.

The two directors knew that Xueer's role was a weak point in acting, so they often personally instructed how to act certain scenes. If it didn't work, they used short shots to edit the performances that Xueer could watch.

But on Broadway, a play has to be performed from the beginning to the end, and there is no convenience to stop and start another one.Xue'er is going to act in a drama, and her acting skills have to be trained.

As a director, Ronald is particularly good at giving actors a little room for improvisation.Under the conditions that fit the situation, they can have some inspiration, and Ronald always encourages them.

Acting motionlessly according to the lines of the script may get eighty or ninety points, but if you want to stimulate the real reaction of the opponent's actors and get full marks for acting, you must have a little improvisation.

Actors are a group of very sensitive people. Ronald never criticizes them, and always carefully cares for the confidence of the actors. Only when they feel comfortable can they have room for extraordinary performance.

Cher's use of this rigid request to see Ronald is just a reaction to her own poor acting skills.

Real actors, like them, who have worked hard on Broadway for many years, can analyze the characters by themselves and come up with suitable acting methods when they get the script, so they need the director to guide them?
"It's said that Ronald is very powerful, but I can't see it at all." Xue Er had some doubts about Ronald. Will this movie really become a successful work as he said?
"Did we make a mistake? No one will watch this movie after it's released, right? I can imagine what the critics will say..."

"No..." Dukakis was angry at what she said. I had a lot of fun acting in this movie, and it will definitely be good.

"Action!"

Finally, when she was ready, Xueer's head was covered with a steaming white towel, and then her personal hairstylist uncovered the towel, and the straight long hair covered Xueer's forehead.The stylist parted her hair and began to style her.

A super close-up shot was taken of Xueer's better-looking left face. His hairstylist used a pair of tweezers to pluck out a few stray hairs in the middle of Xueer's eyebrows one by one.

"Ah..." Xue'er kept crying out in pain.

"Cut!"

"Very good, very good. Let's try another play now, and let's try another one."

"Oh..." Xue'er really had two eyebrows pulled out, and returned to the chair.

……

The filming continued, except for Xue Er's role, the cooperation of the others became more and more tacit.

Ronald knew that Xueer's acting skills were insufficient compared to Dukakis and the others.She cannot be used as the center of the drama.

Although she is the protagonist of the movie, she is a supporting role in the dramatic conflict. The whole family is actually centered around the role of mother Rose played by Dukakis.

But he couldn't let Xue'er act indiscriminately, so that the scenes of her with other supporting actors would look very abrupt.A person with mediocre acting skills suddenly appears in a group of old actors, and many rhythms and subtle emotions are out of touch, which will drag down the whole movie.

Ronald had no choice but to separate Cher's shots as much as possible.Minimize shots of her framed with other family members.Make up for it with editing skills.

"You can't do this, what do you do in the last scene?" David Watkin was a little worried about Ronald's handling.

"I can't help it. With the pressure of the filming cycle, I can't stop and wait for Xueer to train her acting skills. I can only use what I have."

This kind of treatment made Xueer even more suspicious of Ronald's level. She always faced the camera alone more often. Xueer felt that this shooting method was too simple.

A long shot of walking, followed by a medium shot, cut to a close shot, then a close-up of the reaction, and then cut back to an over-the-shoulder shot of the dialogue.

Comparing Xue Er with the two great directors who have worked with him, Ronald's handling seems not so distinctive.

Peter Bogdanovich always quotes some classic clips from film and television to guide his acting skills.Michael Nichols is good at letting people play naturally.Where is Ronald?There are quite a lot of cut shots.

"Oh..." Xue'er walked out of the hair salon, and two young Italian extras whistled at her.After dressing up, especially after changing her long wavy hair, high heels and skirt, Loretta's feminine charm finally began to come out.

……

The filming went by day by day, and finally came to the finishing stage.This is the most important group scene in the movie. All the clues are going nowhere, and they have to be completely solved in a big family breakfast.

In this way, tricks cannot be used, and Xueer must be with other people and enter the viewfinder frame at the same time.

The pressure on Ronald is increasing. This long breakfast table scene is the most important scene in the whole film. If it is not done well, the film will collapse.

"Action!"

"Cut, Cut...you're in the box."

"Cut, Cut...it's not your turn yet."

"Cut, the tape recorder came in"

When it came to the morning scene of shooting this shot, I couldn't take a few shots.

This scene is a showdown scene for everyone. The center of the drama begins with Loretta confessing that she is in love with her younger brother Ronnie, to when Ronnie comes to meet his family at home, and to when grandpa forces his father, Cosmo, to give money to his daughter. Do a wedding.

Then mother Rose exposed the fact that her father had a lover outside. Just when everyone was dealing with the conflict, Loretta's fiancé, Ronnie's brother Johnny, came back from Italy.

Everyone didn't know how to tell him when Loretta didn't marry him.Johnny actually said that he wanted to divorce the engagement first!
The center of the play is constantly cruising between several roles. After the actors enter the role, they act very unrestrainedly. There are problems with the originally set camera positions and sub-shots, which do not conform to their performances.

After several shots were unsuccessful, Ronald decided to call a stop and let everyone rest for half an hour, "Go out first, and let me think here alone."

After all the actors and staff went out, Ronald lowered his head and sighed, how could this be filmed?

This kind of group portrait scene that requires precise control of movement, Ronald knew why the director regarded the table scene as the biggest challenge as soon as he shot it.

The tension between multiple characters needs to be shown in a long shot. In addition to the inability of the actors to make mistakes, it also tests the director's scheduling ability.

"If it really doesn't work, use a short shot to cut close-ups." David Watkin stayed in the room and said to the frustrated Ronald.

"No, the overall tone of this movie is a medium-length shot of a few seconds to a dozen seconds, and the big climax scene at the end. Suddenly the rhythm of the editing is activated, and the audience will play." Ronald covered it with his hand With a straight face, he encountered a big challenge in his career as a director. For the first time, on the set, he didn't know how to shoot.

"There is only one way to make a good film." David Watkin is a Briton and has seen many drama performances in the West End of London.

"You have to direct this scene like a drama. Let them rehearse until they are proficient before shooting. In this way, I can re-edit the scene according to their most comfortable positions, so that the relationship between the camera and the actors is just the same. will not interfere with each other."

"Rehearse, rehearse..." Ronald muttered to himself for half a minute, "Just do it!"

Ronald called everyone in and announced his decision.

After rehearsing, everyone's emotions are in place and the positions are familiar, and then set the camera position and split the shot according to their most comfortable route.

First rehearse this scene as a drama, and then introduce the camera to shoot it after it has passed the stage as a drama.

……

"Wait...it's already very late today, we'll end here and continue rehearsing tomorrow morning."

Rehearsals lasted all day, and Ronald was close to despair.He'd even considered Watkin's first proposal, bludgeoning it with a film cut.

During the rehearsal, Xueer asked a lot. She has worked with Peter Bogdanovich, Michael Nichols and other Oscar-winning directors. For Ronald who does not give performance guidance, But the concept of emphasizing the actor's own understanding and performance is very uncomfortable.

Throughout the scene, she frequently interrupted rehearsals to let Ronald "guide" her how to act.

Ronald explained patiently, but often after the rehearsal resumed, it was Cher who stopped again and continued to ask for acting guidance.

The Broadway character actors, too, were exhausted.Especially Fyodor Chaliapin, who plays the old man, needs a break at 81 years old.

Ronald had no choice but to end the rehearsal.

For the first time since joining the industry, Ronald fell behind schedule when filming a film.

……

The next morning, after the actors arrived, the rehearsal continued.

Xueer's dissatisfaction with Ronald has already shown on her face.She felt that she did not act well, mainly because Ronald did not direct enough.

On the other hand, the supporting cast of Broadway character actors headed by Olympia Dukakis supported Ronald. He felt that such a director only talks about the effect he wants to achieve, not the way of performance, so that the actors have a certain amount of leeway. , is the best.

The star, and the actor, actually quarreled over whether Ronald was a good director.

Olympia Dukakis was very dissatisfied with Cher's repeated disrespect to Ronald.When it was close to noon, she couldn't help it anymore, and directly accused Xue'er:

"Even if Ronald is a rookie directing a movie for the first time, as an actor, you should respect his position. What's more, he is a very talented and talented director. He is the director that actors most hope to meet Type, it is our luck to meet him.

You can't say such bossy words to a director like this. "

"Hmph, do you think I haven't filmed under the hands of a famous director? Let me tell you, my first two films were directed by the best director of the Oscars. It's not that I haven't seen a good director. And the film is a star art, and this is not a Broadway theater."

"Humph……"

"Humph……"

The two actresses expressed their anger, and the two began to quarrel with each other about acting skills, professionalism, and how to respect the director.

"Aren't you going to stop it?" Director of Photography David Watkin quietly pulled Ronald.

"I don't want to stop them, anyway sooner or later there will be a quarrel", Ronald has already seen that the two have long been disgusted with each other.In essence, actors and stars have different attitudes towards the film industry.

"I don't care if there is no result today." Ronald couldn't stand the continuous rehearsal without progress.No matter what, whether it's a quarrel or a good talk, you have to reach a consensus on the dialogue and performance of the scene before you can continue filming.

"Okay, I'll eat first, then go to bed, and you'll call me after they finish arguing." David Watkin walked out leisurely.

A few Broadway actors just offered water to the two female generals. They were used to seeing quarrels due to artistic differences on Broadway. Such intense exchanges would be a good thing if both parties focused on drama.

Nicolas Cage spoke for Ronald the day before, and suffered from Cher's hold back, and now he doesn't say a word, just watching from the side.

Now the two sides are arguing more intensely, and everyone has their own views on this scene.

However, the two didn't seem to show signs of stopping, and instead seemed to have sparked a real fire.

When Xueer was told that her acting skills were not good, she blurted out that Dukakis had been on Broadway for so many years and hadn't played the leading role.Meryl Streep, who entered Broadway later than her, played the leading role with Cher in the previous "Skowwood Incident", and she is already an Oscar-nominated actress.

Dukakis was so angry that she retorted, saying that Xueer was just an outdated female singer, and she didn't have a deep understanding of filming. The film only needs to take a good shot. After seeing her scene in the "Skivu Incident", she was rejected. It was cut into a lot of short shots, didn't director Bogdanovich tell you that it was because of your poor acting skills?

Fyodor Chaliapin, who plays the old man Grandpa, is severely deaf, but he can read the mouth shape of the speaker.

He couldn't bear to see the two women arguing more and more violently.

In his long career, he has seen many quarrels and even fights because of artistic differences.And in this movie, everyone had a good time filming, and the two female generals got along very well, so there is no need to make it to this point.

Fyodor Chaliapin stood up and motioned the two of them to stop.

Nobody listens to him.

Fyodor Chaliapin had to slap the table, and everyone stopped.

"Want to fight, not fight."

Cher and Dukakis were startled by the loud sound of Fyodor Chaliapin's slap on the table, and after hearing the old man's words, they stood still and stopped arguing.

The two looked at each other, originally they were discussing the acting of the scene, but for some reason, the noise became more and more fierce.

The old actor in his 80s still has to listen to the words. The two sat down at the dining table and looked at each other.

The two parties in the quarrel were stopped by the old man's words, and the other actors were silent for a while.

Suddenly, everything is still.

Ronald was suddenly blessed, and he immediately felt that the current situation was very similar to the plot of the breakfast scene.

Everyone revealed the deepest secrets in each other's hearts at this breakfast table.

Shocked that everyone else knew their secret, each family member apologized for their past.

Then forgive each other, and the big family finally unites again. This is the way Italian big families solve family conflicts.Discuss everything at the dinner table.

There are weaknesses among family members, bloody slits at the dinner table, but at the end of the day, sharing mother's food, you have to trust each other and move on. .

"David!"

Ronald suddenly yelled, "David, David, come on."

David Watkin ran in on hearing the news.

"Hurry up... Now this state is just right, it's too late to draw the storyboard, don't waste this state, you should set the camera position quickly.

light! ,recording! , Field Notes!, Makeup! "

Ronald called everyone back loudly, and the filming started immediately!
(End of this chapter)