Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 782 Romance is easy to fake

The clip of "Moonlight Seductive" continues.When editing the Nicolas Cage and Cher's bed scene, the editor Walter Murch also praised Ronald's directorial level.

"You've done a great job directing a sex scene. It's about love at first sight, the desire to be physically attracted to each other, but also a bit of dramatic exaggeration, making them say, 'You got my heart, your brother' Just get my shell' kind of line that would be very gross and exaggerated in a movie.

Director Ni’s works look very natural, without the feeling of goosebumps. How did you do it? "

"Hehehe, this is a coincidence. It's not about my on-site guidance, but about casting." Ronald laughed.

As Murch said, there are traces of Broadway theater performances in many places in this movie.If two actors were used to perform this kind of nasty lines, it would make people feel fake, and they would want to get goosebumps.

Even the opera "La Boheme" that Loretta and Ronnie went to see in the filming scene in the movie didn't have such nasty lines.

This play allows the audience to watch the extremely exaggerated performances of the two actors without making people feel fake. To a large extent, it relies on Nicolas Cage's special acting skills.

Influenced by his uncle, he admired the German expressionist film masterpiece "Metropolis" in the 20s.Expressionism is to allow the audience to ignore the details of the performance and directly reach the audience's heart through the cooperation of various lights, sets, and actors.

In other words, this genre of acting puts more emphasis on the imagination of actors.The actor can imagine himself as the character himself, and the audience will be directly brought into the actor's inner emotions by the performance of his subconscious in actions and expressions.

In this way, once the audience can believe that this is a real person, no matter how exaggerated the lines are, they still have a certain amount of truth in them.

What film directors are most afraid of is that when the audience sees a certain scene, they suddenly jump out of the plot and realize that they are watching a movie.Once there is such an experience of jumping out, it will be difficult for the audience to be brought into the plot again.

Therefore, the most difficult thing for such an exaggerated plot is to find suitable actors to play it. As for the director and guidance on the scene, it will not play much role.

You can't take an actor who has average acting skills and can't be brought into the scene, and let the audience believe him by saying a few words on the spot.

"Huh, this nephew of Francis (Coppola) has great potential." Murch said, pointing to Cage on the small monitor.

"He is indeed a different actor." Ronald nodded in agreement. Among the large group of actors in Hollywood who respect the method, such an actor who does not rely on analysis and skills but relies on strong imagination to perform is very different.

In fact, there was not a strong chemical reaction between him and Xueer in this scene, but relying on his own excellent imagination, Cage believed in his role very much, and brought Xueer into the prescribed scene.

Many strange roles that other people find difficult to play, but in his hands, it is easy.

"I'm leaving today. The son of my Huaguo partner is coming to America today." In the afternoon, Ronald looked at his watch, said goodbye to Murch, and went to Los Angeles Airport to pick up the son of his partner, Lao Yan. "

"Uncle Li!"

Ronald waited until Xiao Yan was poking his head outside the cabin, looking at everything fresh.

"Don't, call me Ronaldinho like in Xujiahui. Or Ronald."

"My dad asked me to call him...hehehe" Xiaoyan scratched his head in embarrassment, and he didn't want to call this person who was about his own age uncle.

"I have already arranged that you will stay in my apartment for two days, and I will ask my assistant, Bud, to take you to Los Angeles for two days. Wait for the weekend, and he will go back to Staten Island with you. You are in Stan The admission procedures of Dayton Island Community College have been completed, you first take a language class in New York, and then wait for the fall to enroll."

Ronald arranged for Xiaoyan to go to a community college in his hometown. Xiaoyan's English level is average, and he has practiced for a long time looking for foreigners to travel on the Bund, but he still can't understand it in the United States.

Staten Island Community College had just joined the public education system of the City University of New York.As long as Xiaoyan can graduate in two years and get an associate degree, he can also choose other schools in the city university system to continue his undergraduate studies.

If he can't do it, Ronald is also ready to work in the Stanton factory. After he enters the factory to study for a period of time, he can go back to take Lao Yan's class.

If he wanted to do something else, Ronald would help too.I have to take care of the matter of my partner in the Minhang factory.The Chinese pay attention to mutual help between relatives and friends. With Lao Yan as a partner, we can find ways to do other cooperation in the future.

"Director Huang's application materials have already been entrusted to me." Xiaoyan requested a translator to translate Director Huang's materials for attending the Los Angeles Women's Independent Film Festival, and asked Xiaoyan to bring them to Ronald.

"Very good. Director Huang's film has caused a small sensation among female producers and directors in the industry. None of them expected Xujiahui to produce such a pioneering work."

Ronald put away the materials and asked Xiaoyan to send a telegram to his family to say he was safe.Then let Little Bard accompany him to go shopping, and completely transformed into a young man dressed in America.

Ronald brought Director Huang's application materials to Gail Hurd.She is now working with director Martha Coolidge and others to prepare for a Hollywood Women Producers and Directors Association.It happens to have a relationship with the independent film festival at the beginning of each year.

Ronald found them, and added an award for female emerging directors at the Independent Film Festival.For female directors around the world.It happened that there were not many applicants for the first session, which made Director Huang's "ghost love" cheaper.

Martha Coolidge, who was sacked by John Hughes from "Fantastic" and robbed of her comedy ideas, now calls that Chicagoan John Hughes.

Ronald listened for a while, but found nothing new.Coolidge just kept cursing Hughes, while assuring Ronald that such a pioneering and progressive film by director Huang must be seen by more Americans.

Ronald knew in his heart that, except for a small number of curious people, it was impossible for American people to read the story of a Chinese opera actress.So he just asked Daydream Company to contact movie theaters in Chinatown in major cities.

There are many immigrants who have worked here for many years, eager to see more of the scenery and culture of their hometown, and relieve their homesickness.So let "Human Ghost Love" be shown in these places first, and then we can make money from the copy.

Maybe Martha Coolidge's curse had an effect, or maybe Howard Deutch, who replaced her as director of "Fantastic," was underappreciated within Paramount.

The day after sending Xiaoyan away, Ronald received a distress call from Paramount President Ned Tanin.

"That's how it is. I'm investigating. If someone is doing something wrong behind the scenes, I will definitely give him justice. But now that this kind of accident happened, I can only ask you to come and see if it is necessary to retake the shot.

Now that the crew is scattered, only you have the prestige to bring the main actors back for reshoots. "

Ned Tannen was in the Paramount screening room, along with Ronald, the director, Howard Deutch, and went through the dailies that had gone awry.

The film is shot and edited.But when editing the negatives and developing copies, a serious accident occurred.

A romantic exterior scene of Eric Stoltz, who plays the leading role, and Lea Thompson, who plays the leading lady, at the Hollywood Bowl, the largest open-air movie theater in Los Angeles.

In this semi-open-air theater, in addition to showing movies, there are also various performances.

The actor, Keith, just wanted to touch Amanda Jones, whom he had a crush on for a long time, here.Finally, in the room inside the Hollywood Bowl, he showed Amanda that he had spent several months painting the portrait of the other party. In the end, Amanda was really moved, and he looked squarely at this poor but honest young man who dared to love.

On the screen, there are black borders and dark frames around this scene, and the negative has been damaged.

"Do you have any enemies, Howard?" Ronald asked the very frustrated director Howard Deutch sitting next to him.

"I can't think of anyone trying to harm me, unless..."

"Martha? She'll curse you at most. There's no way she's going to a laboratory to do this."

Ronald sighed.

In the laboratory, a formula of chemicals is applied every time a copy is made.This is the most important part of quality management.A good studio can print hundreds of copies without any difference to the naked eye.

But this time, for some unknown reason, there was an accident at Paramount's laboratory.There was a problem with the film in these scenes, the formula of the chemical potion, or the water temperature control, and there were overexposed burnt marks around the film.

Fortunately, experienced veteran skilled workers discovered and stopped the further expansion of the accident in time.

But it is very unfortunate that the scene that was damaged this time happened to be the scene that director Howard Deutch only shot one scene.

It costs a lot of money to rent a location for a shoot at the Hollywood Bowl.In order to save money, Howard Dutch only rented it for half a day.

As a result, the only lens that was satisfactory and usable was destroyed by the laboratory.

There is no extra copy that can replace this scene, and there are only two options before him, either delete this scene, or recall the two leading actors Eric Stoltz, and remake with Leigh Thompson.

Howard Deutch doesn't have the prestige to recall an actor and pay for a lab's technical blunder.Only by getting rid of Stoltz's jumping mentality at that time, and Ronald, who persuaded Lee Thompson to take over the heroine, might let them save face.

Ronald didn't want to take care of these bad things.

But the movie is innocent, and the rest of the movie, is shot on a level.The three protagonists, one man, two women, all interact with each other very chemically. It can be seen that they all put in a lot of effort and dedicated extraordinary performances.

This scene is a scene where the two protagonists make love, and it is a key change in the plot of the movie. If it is deleted, the story of the whole movie will collapse.There is no plot where Keith uses Amanda as a model to draw pictures. When the audience sees this, they will be very puzzled why Keith and Amanda suddenly have a crush on each other.

Seeing Howard Dutch's pitiful face, Ronald still agreed to try.

There is no mistake in the film itself. With a cost of tens of millions of dollars and the hard work of hundreds of people for several months, Ronald did not want the crystallization of everyone to be ruined by an accidental or deliberate technical error.

"I watched the movie you filmed, it's very good, very good." Ronald arrived at the mansion in Beverly Hills, and Li Thompson was packing. Her house will soon be taken over by the real estate economy, so I found another house to look at the house up.

The failure of "Howard Duck" caused her expected income to plummet, and she can no longer afford the mortgage on such a good house.After filming "Fantastic," Lea Thompson got rid of the house as quickly as possible and prepared to move with her sister.

"Ha, I followed the guidance you gave me. I'm not pretty enough, so I made Amanda work harder in the direction of kindness." Li Thompson shrugged and looked at the house, still a little bit reluctant.

"I have to thank you very much. If this movie can do well at the box office, I may not have to sell the house. I like this house very much."

"Hey, hey, actually, I came here because I wanted to..." Ronald glanced at the director Dutch who came with him, and saw that he didn't speak, so he had to speak by himself.

"Sister, your phone" her sister called from the room.

"Sorry, let me go." Lee Thompson said sorry to Ronald, and went inside to answer the phone.

"You bastard...why do you say that? If you don't want to get engaged, I can cancel it..."

Not long after, a quarrel sounded faintly from the room.

Ronald and director Howard Dutch looked at each other, knowing that something embarrassing had happened again.Lea Thompson and boyfriend Dennis Quaid are at it again.

"Eric? Eric? He and I are just colleagues, and you actually beat me back and said that I..."

Li Thompson hung up the phone and came out with a very bad face.

"We have a shot that needs to be re-shot..." Howard Deutch was very concerned about Li Thompson, seeing her complexion, he comforted her a few words, and explained his intentions.

"I'm sorry, Howard, I'm not in a good shape right now, I need to adjust. When will you make up the shot?"

"Oh, the movie is scheduled to be released next month, it's best to do it as soon as possible..."

"Forget it, you rest for a few days. Howard and I are thinking about whether there is any other way. The laboratory ruined the film."

"Sorry, you asked me to adjust for a day, and I can resume shooting the day after tomorrow. Which scene is it?"

"It's the scene where Amanda finds out that Keith secretly painted his paintings."

"Oh..." Lee Thompson covered her face in pain.

This scene needs a long time of brewing to show the mentality of two lovers breaking through barriers and progressing to mutual affection, but not yet officially in love.

Lee Thompson was accused by her boyfriend Dennis Quaid of having an affair with Eric Stoltz because she was filming with Eric Stoltz. It is estimated that it will be difficult to regain that subtle feeling in a short time.

"What the hell happened? You made their jokes come true?" Ronald asked director Dutch after he came out of the mansion.

"No, how could I do this?"

Romantic comedies, especially this kind of whole movie, rely on the chemical reaction between several leading actors to impress the audience with the script with real feelings. Some directors can't find that subtle feeling, so they will take shortcuts and make the actors really feel love on set.

This is more convincing than acting.

But on the set, many scenes of falling in love were filmed, all of which were beautiful women and handsome men. It was hard not to really fall in love on the set.

If the male and female protagonists don't work hard to get rid of their emotions after filming, it is easy to fall into emotional distress.

"I won't do that, I just let them be together and find out more about each other's strengths..."

"This..." Ronald scratched his head. Doesn't love start from discovering the advantages of the other person, this little spark?
Now Lea Thompson's personal love life is on the one hand, and on the other hand, the movie needs her to perform again, pretending to be in love with Stoltz.

"Isn't this a moral dilemma?"

Ronald also felt a little painful. The director's professional ethics should not intrude too much into the actor's private life.But the total cost of tens of millions before and after is missing a trick, which one is more important?
"What should I do?" Howard Dutch was in great pain. He thought about it for a long time. He couldn't choose between his own works and the actors' private lives.

"Take me to see the props and set scene, and see if there is any other remedy."

The two came to Paramount's warehouse, where all the important props of "Fantastic" are kept.

"So, did Li and Eric really fall in love during the filming?" Ronald looked at the various props and remembered that when he watched the samples again, the chemical reaction between the two was really good, so he asked Howard.

"They dated once or twice. But I don't think Lea Thompson has a crush on Eric. She's looking for a feeling.

But Mary Stuart Masterson, who plays Keith's neighbor girl Watts, is actually a bit of a treat.That's why Watts and Keith's confession scene was shot so beautifully.Mary Stuart Masterson was beautiful when she cried. "

"This is Amanda's oil painting props." Ronald turned to a framed oil painting, and he asked Howard Dutch.

"Yes, this is the one." The woman on the above looks a bit like Leigh Thompson, but there is still a gap between her and the real person.

In fact, you should find a better painter.Ronald thought that the audience doesn't really care whether Keith can draw very well, so the audience will make a show of such a portrait that doesn't look alike.

"What is this?" Ronald finished reading the portrait and found that there was a frame behind it.

"Eh?" Ronald found another portrait of Amanda.

"What about this? And this?" Jumping into the pile of props, Ronald found that there were seven or eight portraits behind the wall, all of which were painted by Lee Thompson.

"Um, I think the painting is not good, so I found a lot of painters."

Ronald took a deep look at Howard Dutch.

It seems that the director is also very easy to fall in love with the heroine, thinking about the inner drama of the heroine every day, what are her advantages, why the hero fell in love with her, after thinking too much, love sprouts from this small place ?

These paintings are actually of the same level. Howard Dutch is also a little dazed. He seems to be obsessed with Lee Thompson, but he doesn't know if he has discovered it himself.

"Okay, let's think of a way and go check on Li's condition tomorrow."

Ronald had no choice but to reshoot this matter.

"What's the matter with you, you seem to have something on your mind?"

Back in the editing room, Walter Murch saw that Ronald had something on his mind.

"As a producer, I made a movie that had a big technical problem. When I was developing the negative, an accident happened... The scene that is going to be re-shot now is difficult to find because of the heroine's private love life. state……"

Ronald told Murch about the dilemma he faced.

"How is it washed?"

"It's the formula of the potion, the time, the temperature. One of the three things went wrong. The four corners of the film turned black, and the four sides turned yellow. It can't be used."

"You said it was difficult to retake?"

"Yes, it's very difficult. Li Thompson's personal emotional life has had a big problem recently. I think she is a very good actress, but there are some things that I can't control."

"If that's the case, you can go to Lloyd. He's been in the laboratory for 40 years, and he can do it."

"any solution?"

……

"Can this work?" Ronald found Lloyd, who Murch said was about to retire after 40 years in the Paramount laboratory.

"It depends, you may lose a few frames."

Lloyd operated the machine slowly and unhurriedly.

"Okay, look at this paragraph."

"Huh? Not bad." Ronald leaned on the monitor, looking at the picture Lloyd had repaired.

"Come and see, Howard." Ronald gave up the position to director Dutch.This old-fashioned machine can only allow one person to look at the film through a monitor.

"Not bad, not much to lose."

Howard Deutch watched it several times.

The sides of the film were carefully cut, and the original foreground was cut off to become the middle ground.

Although a lot of lens arrangements and image quality have been lost.But finally no need to retake.

"That's it, it's good to be able to save a little bit."

Ronald felt that although the picture quality was rough, it was much better than the remake of the heroine who couldn't find her status.

"Thank you, Ronald." Howard Dutch still admired this strange trick to solve the problem. If it weren't for Ronald, his second movie would have been terrible.

"It's okay, you will be busy with marketing next. By the way, those portrait oil paintings, don't you take them back and put them in the warehouse?"

"I found one and gave it to Li."

"Hey, you don't understand." Ronald remembered the similar models of Li Jin Cattrall in "Spirited", "You don't even know what those who look at the warehouse can do to the portraits of beautiful women Come."

(End of this chapter)