Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 890 Women in Hollywood
"How did Mel Streep respond?"

Ronald had another casting meeting with casting director Julia Taylor.Most of the other protagonists have been confirmed, leaving only Catherine, the protagonist Tess's boss, who came from a wealthy family, went to Ivy League University, and is a common professional woman on Wall Street.

For such a role, if you want to perform with depth, you have to show that it meets the requirements of high society in every way on the outside.Pretentious to give Tess a channel, precepts and deeds.In fact, she despises the secretarial work in her heart, but wants to devour the wonderful ideas of her subordinate Tess.

On the surface, she is a professional woman, but she is actually a fake feminist who wants to marry the golden bachelor Jack Trainor.

This role has very high requirements for actors. It is necessary to perform the superficial temperament of a professional woman, but also to show the emptiness in the heart. In Chinese, it is a hollow glutinous rice ball.

The first recommended by Julia Taylor was Meryl Streep, the actor who was the first to act in a Broadway play with Diane Lane. After moving to Hollywood in 1978, he has been nominated for Oscar twice in less than ten years Best Supporting Actress, nominated Oscar for Best Actress four times, and won Best Supporting Actress and Best Actress for "Kramer and Mrs. Kramer" and "Sophie's Choice" respectively.

Now when there is a role in Hollywood that requires acting skills, casting directors are often the first to think of her name.

"Dark Angel's filming in Australia was not going well. I found her agent. This movie is very difficult to shoot. It may take until January next year before it can be packaged."

Julia Taylor Sorry, "Dark Angel" is a movie that's going for awards.This is a story adapted from a real event in Australia.

In [-], Michael, Lindy Chamberlain, and their youngest daughter, nine-week-old Azaria, went camping at the famous scenic spot Ayers Rock.They were having a barbecue with friends when they heard their daughter crying in the tent.When Lindy went back to check, he saw a wild dog taking Azaria away.

Police investigations confirmed Lindy's statement, but the couple's religious beliefs were not accepted by the mainstream.The media soon began circulating unsubstantiated claims that the name Azaria meant "sacrifice in the wilderness".

The public quickly turned against the Chamberlains, believing that they had killed their daughter.Lindy is a very strong woman. During interviews and court hearings, she refused to listen to her lawyer's advice, insisted on not shedding tears, and not showing her weak side.

This made her husband Michael also start to waver, doubting his wife, and stammering testimony in court was also seen as a sign of lying.In the end, the court sentenced Lindy to life imprisonment and hard labor.

Three years later, a foreign tourist fell at Ayers Rock.People involved in the search found what Lindy said was the coat her daughter was wearing when she was taken by wild dogs far away from the incident.Lindy was released immediately and was acquitted in a retrial.

This is Meryl Streep's favorite script, and it is also the most expensive big production in Australian history.It cost $1500 million and featured 350 extras and 4 extras.

"So it's not okay?" Ronald frowned. His reputation for directing films was always successful at the box office, which also made those actors who pursue acting skills always view his films as commercial films.

"Even if she can finish the filming according to the estimate, she probably won't be able to catch up with your working girl." Julia replied.The entanglement of the heroine is also very difficult to act, and Streep expended a lot of energy when performing.Julia Taylor estimates that after playing such a role, it will take at least a month or two for the actor to recover.

"How about we go find Jane again?" The second person on Julia Taylor's recommendation list was Ronald's old acquaintance, two-time actress Jane Fonda.

"She has already rejected me once, let's try again." Ronald picked up the phone and asked Jane Fonda's agent again.

"Hi, Ronald, welcome to my place. How long have we not seen each other?" Jane Fonda wore a light green top. At this age, only a few stars can control this fresh color. arrive.Jane Fonda has been doing aerobics and yoga for a long time, and she keeps her figure as if she was in her 20s.

"It's been a long time. My 'My Brother's Protector' was miscarried in the end. I regret that I didn't cooperate with you once." Ronald took Julia Taylor to Jane Fonda's house, and tried hard to persuade once.

"Hahaha..." Jane Fonda laughed. Of course she knew why Ronald came, but she really didn't want to accept this movie.

Jane Fonda signed a distribution agreement with Columbia very early, and the films shot by her own Fonda Pictures can be distributed through Columbia.So she tried her best to have a good script and would buy it for her own film company to shoot.

If other studios invite her to play, then she will have to choose the role carefully.A villain like Catherine doesn't have many impressive roles, so she doesn't want to act.

The leg warmer business that Ronald sold to himself, together with the annual update of the aerobics video, brought Jane Fonda a lot of wealth. Now acting is more of a hobby for her, and only she is interested Only the characters you want to play will be filmed.

"Actually, this movie has a little relationship with Trisha Kate from the leg warmer company. Tess and her life experience are very similar." Ronald continued to work hard, hoping to play the emotional card.

"I want to spend more time with Tom now that he's pushing the community college funding bill in California, and I'm going to be at a lot of events with him."

Jane Fonda gave another reason Ronald couldn't refute.Her husband, Tom Hayden, is a left-wing activist and the current California Representative.In the past few years, he has been promoting more state-level funding for children from ethnic minorities and poor families so that they can attend community colleges.

This kind of legislative work is very busy, and it takes a lot of time and energy to communicate with other members of parliament and participate in various social activities to appeal to the support of the public.

Because of this work, Jane Fonda and Hayden get together less and leave more.She has already started to significantly reduce her performances in film and television dramas to spend more time with her husband.

"Well... I'll look for other suitable actors." Julia Taylor sighed.The director Ronald is not as famous in the awards and comment circles as Woody Allen, who he worked with before. Those famous stars are actually more willing to cooperate with this kind of director.

If Ronald was very attractive to lesser-known actresses, then directors like Woody Allen are almost as attractive to established female stars.

"Anyway, we have Demi Moore, and you can go back to Broadway to find out if there is a suitable one." The key to Ronald's problem is that he doesn't have a heavyweight award in his hand.

After parting ways with Julia Taylor, Ronald headed back to the Beverly Hilton, where Kathleen Bigelow was waiting to check in with him on "Sticky Fingers."

For the script "Sticky Fingers" that Helen Slater took a fancy to, Catherine Bigelow had already made the preliminary preparations, and the rehearsal of the actors was almost over.The purpose of flying to Los Angeles this time is to get Ronald's approval to start filming after Christmas.

Ronald's script assistant, David Simkins, will go to the crew as a producer.Because the budget is only 400 million, in order to save costs, I decided to go to Toronto to shoot.

"David, Catherine." When Ronald arrived in the room, he saw Simkins and Catherine Bigelow discussing storyboards on the big dining table.

"Ronald, you're here." Bigelow was wearing a black windbreaker with brown trousers inside, long golden-red hair fluttering, and a serious smile in his smile, which had the temperament of a professional woman.

Ronald thought she seemed a good fit to play Catherine in "Working Girl."

"What's wrong with you, staring at me?" Catherine Bigelow looked at Ronald a little strangely.

"It's nothing, it's nothing..." Ronald sighed in his heart, he was going to be a director soon, and the timing wasn't right again.And I don't know how Bigelow's acting skills are.

"Come here and see my preparations." Bigelow took Ronald's arm and pulled him to watch his preparations for the movie.

"A lot of upgraded slow motion..." Ronald looked at it for a long time, amazed.

This is a very simple comedy, in fact, the difficulty of directing is not too high.In Catherine Bigelow's preparations, she had the idea of ​​making it an author's film, and many places incorporated the director's personal taste.

How should I put it, some directors can shoot various genres and themes, and the level is also very high, but you can't see any similarities between them.If you enter after the opening credits, you won't be able to see who wrote it for a while.

Some directors are completely different. They are only good at limited genres and themes, but they have a strong personal style. You can tell who wrote it after one or two shots.

Catherine Bigelow belongs to the latter, and many of her sub-shots have added slow motion.But unlike the stylized slow-motion of certain shots in the exploit films, Bigelow's slow-motion doesn't feel abusive.

"I'm afraid I can't make this kind of movie." Ronald smiled and signed the shooting plan, agreeing to the schedule for the project to start shooting.

"Hahaha... This is a movie from a female perspective. If you make it, it may be a different style." Bigelow was very happy. The last movie was refrigerated for a year or two before it was released. It would be much better to have Ronald's company invest and issue.

"Let's have something good to celebrate." After the exchange, Ronald suggested that everyone go to dinner together.David Simkins seemed to have misunderstood and said he wanted to spend more time with his family before going to Toronto.

Ronald went to eat with Catherine Bigelow. He picked an Italian restaurant, ordered a lot of food and wine, and the two chatted and ate.

"Hahaha, you watch a lot of old movies, and you also watch a lot of silent movies." Catherine Bigelow finished her glass of red wine while listening to Ronald's talk about some of his thoughts on movies. idea.

“Since I got a VCR, I’ve recorded a lot of old TV shows, and Marty (Scorsese) told me where to borrow copies of the silent ones.

Ronald also finished his drink. Bigelow is a beautiful woman, but unlike the female star, she is Ronald's colleague.The content of the chat between the two also revolved around the various techniques of filming this movie, which is completely different from dating other beauties.

"There are still very few opportunities for women in Hollywood now. If you hadn't given me this opportunity, I don't know when I would be able to make a second movie."

"It's not necessarily true. Now there are more professional women in various industries. My next movie will be the story of the working girl on Wall Street."

"Hollywood is actually a very conservative place. You are not a woman and you don't know what we have suffered in the industry?" Catherine Bigelow talked about the various discrimination she suffered in Hollywood.As soon as a lot of people heard that she was a woman, they didn't have a chance.

"Female directors really don't have a chance in this industry," Bigelow concluded. "In the silent film era, the first female star, Lillian Gish, do you know?"

"Oh, she's very beautiful..." Ronald knew this silent film star, she was the queen heroine of Hollywood's first big director D.W Griffiths, and she was very charming on the screen.

"Hahaha, your first reaction is whether she is beautiful or not. In fact, Gish once directed a movie and was the first female director in American history.

But after she finished all the filming and editing, she said a word, in Hollywood, directing is not a woman's job. "

"However, the situation is changing now. Penny Marshall will start filming her "Growing Up" right away. I also know a director Huang from Huaguo, and she has already made several feature films for theaters." Ronald casually talked about the situation of several female directors. He didn't have any opinions on female directors, but only judged them from their works.

"You may not know that Penny is so famous and she has waited so long before she got the qualification for the second film. It turns out that 'Peggy Sue Got Married' was directed by the screenwriter, and she was later released because of her gender. The first film was due to editing problems. Her first directorial work ended up falling out with the producer because of editing problems, and she did not sign it.

As for Hua, it is a country with equality between men and women, and there are much more opportunities for female directors there than in America. "

Ronald couldn't refute at once, so he could only say, "The situation is still improving. Now there are more and more female directors and even producers in Hollywood. In addition to Shirley Lansing, there is also my friend Gail Hurd. "

Catherine Bigelow's eyes lit up, "Is that the producer of Terminator and Alien 2? I like the directors of these two works very much. The style is impressive. Especially the last shot of Terminator, the heroine opened Watching the jeep speeding down the highway and the storm taking shape in the distance, foreshadowing the future Skynet disaster, is very poetic."

"Hahaha, that shot was actually taken by me," Ronald saw that Bigelow liked Cameron's work so much, "I know Jim very well, do you want to meet him?"

"Of course, I still have time in Los Angeles."

"Hello, Jim? I'm Ronald. Are you free now? I have a fan here and I want to see you." Ronald called Cameron from the hotel phone.

"Come on, I'm drawing the picture of 'Abyss', you just come to show me."

……

"Oh, what is this? Very beautiful."

When they arrived at Cameron's house, Gail was not there, and Ronald introduced Bigelow and Cameron to each other.Bigelow liked the way Cameron drew concept art on the table.

"This is what a very large tsunami looks like. The intelligent life in the deep sea is showing their power to humans." Cameron explained.

Ronald took a look. It was a wall of high waves, slowly rolling towards the coast from the sea.

"How did you shoot this shot?" Ronald frowned. This kind of shot is easy to draw, but how do you shoot it?

"I don't know either. I will go to the Bahamas to see what the real scene looks like. If the real scene can't be shot, then I need to find a place to set up the scene and build several large water tanks to simulate it."

"You don't know how to shoot, so you decide to shoot this kind of picture?" Bigelow was a little interested in Cameron's words.

"I don't know yet, but this is the scene in my dream. I must shoot it. The problem I have to deal with now is how to get from here to there." Cameron stroked his beard, which was very important to him. For a special effects expert, it is indeed not impossible to achieve.

Cameron’s previous films, or the films he served as a special effects supervisor, were not known to him when he took over the job. Many things were tried and tested while filming, and in the end he always achieved satisfactory results.

"Hehe, every time you shoot, you can push the limits of the film industry." Ronald is very clear about the abilities of his old friend.

Catherine Bigelow over there listened very seriously, her eyes were shining, and she looked at Cameron with great interest.Even the voice that she always liked to refute the other party in the conversation was gone.

Ronald was not used to the silence of this beautiful director for a while.

"How is Gail?" After chatting for a long time, Bigelow went to find a drink.Ronald asked Cameron when there were only two of them.

"Hey... I'm in pain..." Cameron held his head and lamented.

Gail Hurd has officially separated from Cameron, moving out of the small apartment the two bought with their "Terminator" paychecks.They are still partners in their careers. A producer and a director are both very professional people, and there is no problem in their career cooperation.

The conflict between the two is mainly conceptual.Cameron doesn't like to repeat himself, he likes to challenge the limit; while Hurd likes to use the formula of success to repeat past success.The conflict between the two is essentially a conflict between an artist and a businessman.

In addition, there are inconsistencies in the work every day, and the daily arguments and quarrels gradually wear away the accumulated emotions between the two.Finally, after the establishment of the "Abyss" project, it broke through the critical point.

"I can't imagine, how do you cooperate like this?" Ronald couldn't imagine their relationship.

"What imagination?" Bigelow took three cans of beer and threw one to Ronald.Then he opened a can and handed it to Cameron.

"I can't imagine that you've abandoned me so soon. It seems that Jim's movie is more attractive to you."

"Hahaha..." Bigelow smiled and hugged Cameron's arm.

"Eh... Cameron is even more attractive than himself?" Ronald could only touch his chin and take a sip of his wine.

"You don't understand, your movies are brilliant, but they're still within the limits of my imagination. And Jim's movies," Bigelow watched the same bearded Cameron, "are always in people's imaginations. outside."

(End of this chapter)