Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"All the props have arrived intact. We have counted them one by one, twice..."

"Very good, I have prepared a party for everyone at the Ritz. Everyone else has already gone. You should hurry over too."

"When Harry Met Sally" has finished filming in Chicago, and the entire crew has moved to New York. After the two met for the first time and shared a car from Chicago to New York, they also had to experience a series of things here, including falling in love, breaking up, reuniting, introducing friends to blind dates, and finally getting together.

Filming is like fighting a war or a rock band tour. After high-intensity work, some outlets are needed. Ronald contacted the "Ritz", the best club in New York after the decline of Club 54.

As usual, Ronald showed off at the party. After the reunion of Ya, he also liked to spend more time with his family.

"Well, your baked cookies are still so delicious." In the apartment on Fifth Avenue, Aunt Karen and Donna came to accompany Ronald. The filming was busy and he had no time to go back to Staten Island, so they came to Manhattan.

My aunt's boyfriend prepared some delicious dishes, and little Douglas also brought red wine to join in the fun. Ronald's energy was drained by the filming affairs, and he thought of the small pond that had been dry for a long time, and slowly restored the water in the autumn rain.

"Aunt, I have been filming for so long, have you ever thought about showing up in my movie and playing a cameo role? And Donna, and Doug,...you can all come if you want."

"Hey? Can I?" Aunt Karen was surprised. Ronald had never had such an idea before, and they tried not to disturb him from filming.

"Yes, when we watch the movie after more than ten or twenty years, there will be a cameo shot of the whole family in it. It must be very interesting, right?"

"But I can't act...haha..." Aunt is not very keen on acting, but the shot with the whole family in it touched her.

"No need to learn. You can just make a cameo appearance without saying the lines. I'll try to give you a close-up shot so that you can have a few seconds of footage in the cinema and on the videotape as a souvenir." Ronald saw that his aunt was still a little unconfident. "Martin Scorsese also likes to have his parents make a cameo appearance. His parents made a cameo appearance in the last film I shot, "Moonlight Temptation". They just said a few words to the bakery clerk played by Diane. It was very simple and easy to do, but it was filmed very well."

"Are his parents actors? I'm afraid I won't be able to act well."

"I'll get you the videotape. I'm a little nervous, but the effect is very good." Ronald got up to get the videotape and showed it to them.

"Boston Harbor is like a big pot of sour and smelly soup..." Ronald, who came back with the videotape, saw that the campaign advertisement of George Sr. was being broadcast on TV.

George Jr. agreed with what Ronald said. It's better to speak to his own voters than to attack the other side. But Barbara preferred her obedient son Jeb. The smear faction led by Lee Evert, whom he supported, still had the upper hand.

The large sums of money donated by the Action Committee led by Ronald and Douglas Jr. and dozens of similar committees were mostly invested in ads to discredit Dukakis.

Although the law prohibits direct attacks on other candidates, such ads all borrow the name of the Action Committee and are very technical.

For example, the clip being played now is a compilation of various scenes of environmental pollution in Boston Harbor, the largest port in Massachusetts where Dukakis was governor.

"As a candidate, Dukakis said he would control environmental pollution, but during his tenure as governor, he was indifferent to the pollution in Boston Harbor, which was called the largest environmental disaster in New England by environmental experts.

Now voters in Massachusetts are forced to pay a high cost of up to $6 billion to manage this port.

Don't forget that Dukakis' campaign slogan is to bring what he did in Massachusetts to the people of the country."

At the same time, a "No Swimming Here" sign appeared on the TV, and then gradually went dark, giving the audience a little shock. Dukakis said one thing and did another, and managed Boston so badly. What if he brought this experience to the whole country?

"Did Dukakis really do such a bad job? Isn't $6 billion too exaggerated?" Although Aunt Karen likes the current president, this advertisement portrays Dukakis too badly, and the figure of $6 billion is beyond the scope of her aunt's understanding.

"Why did old George come up with such a personal attack advertisement?" Donna was not very satisfied. When she was studying at MIT, Dukakis happened to be the governor. Boston Harbor does have some pollution problems, but that is because the municipal government does not have enough budget to treat urban sewage and has to discharge it directly into the harbor. During Dukakis' tenure, Boston has passed the environmental improvement plan, which will be operational in the next five years, and the water quality of the harbor will return to normal by then.

"And these pictures are deliberately edited. You can't swim around the sewage outlet in Boston Harbor, but it's not as dark as in the picture..." Donna knows Boston quite well.

Ronald and Douglas looked at each other, and they knew that George Jr. probably lost the battle for favor. His brother Jeb's faction got the right to speak.

"What do you think, Ronald?" Aunt asked Ronald. She was a little disgusted with this campaign tactic. The current president's campaign ads were so stylish. He was a true gentleman.

"At least the color has been adjusted..." Ronald put the videotape down, winked at Douglas, and the two went to another room to discuss countermeasures.

"How are your cousin and Diane doing recently?" Seeing Ronald leave, Aunt Karen pulled her daughter over and asked if he had any plans to get married.

"I don't know..." Donna was a little distressed. She started this topic. After Ronald finished speaking, it was almost her turn.

"How are you now? Are there any boys asking you out?" Sure enough, Aunt Karen began to tease her daughter.

...

"He is the crying child..." Little George on the phone was helpless. He himself was not good at expressing himself, and he would make mistakes with more complex words. Ronald's very logical reasons became less convincing when he spoke.

In addition, his younger brother Jeb was particularly good at pleasing his mother Barbara, so his strategy of strengthening communication with Roger Ailes was unsurprisingly rejected.

This is not the worst. Because Jeb stood up to Lee Evert's smear strategy, Barbara rewarded him and let his wife Columba appear in the next family-themed advertisement. Because there are many Latino immigrants in the Deep South, Columba was also allowed to speak Spanish and hold her child, saying that George Sr. is a good grandfather.

This advertisement was also inspired by Ronald's family-themed advertisement. George Jr.'s wife Laura didn't get a single shot, and she even sacrificed her own child to play the role of grandchildren to highlight George Sr.'s personal charm.

Not only did George Jr. fall out of favor, but Laura was also wronged and was very dissatisfied with Barbara.

"But I don't care. This kind of messy advertisement will not achieve the effect. What you said to me in Chicago before is too reasonable. Now I just have to wait. When the advertisement has no results, my mother Barbara will change her mind. I know her. She is a tough woman who only looks at results."

"Ah..." Ronald put down the phone and sighed. George Jr., this friend, also trusts him very much. I hope my analysis will not be wrong.

After the weekend, the crew came to a delicatessen in New York to start filming. When Ronald first arrived in New York, he bought a lot of delicious meat here. Now the store also has a place for dining. When Ronald asked the owner to borrow the restaurant for filming, the owner immediately said that in addition to closing the restaurant for two days, he would lend the restaurant for free and also cover the food supply during the crew's filming.

Aunt Karen put on her clothes, had her makeup done by the makeup artist, and sat in the direction facing the camera, behind the two protagonists.

Sitting opposite her was the mother of one of the producers, Rob Reiner. Reiner happened to come back from the "Steel Magnolias" crew to spend the weekend. When he heard Ronald's idea of ​​letting his relatives make a cameo, he said yes. His father, Carl Reiner, was a famous comedian, but his mother, Estelle, another member of the family in the entertainment industry, rarely had the opportunity to appear on camera.

Reiner and Ronald discussed letting his mother Estelle make a cameo. Ronald thought that his aunt had never acted before, and it would be a good thing to have an experienced person to guide her, so he arranged for Estelle and Aunt Karen to sit opposite each other and play a pair of old friends having lunch together.

Estelle is a jazz singer. She is not nervous in front of the audience and the camera, and is very good at communicating with the audience. She made Aunt Karen a friend with just a few words, chatting and laughing, talking about the trivial matters of her sons, and made Aunt Karen relax.

Soon, the lighting team and the sound recording team were ready, and then the script supervisor and the first assistant director came to report that everything was ready. Billy Crystal also went to greet the two guest actors. Everything was waiting for the heroine Meg Ryan to be ready before filming could start.

However, after waiting for another fifteen minutes, Meg Ryan still did not come out. Ronald knew that something was wrong, and hurriedly went to her trailer with Rob Reiner to ask if there was any problem.

"Michelle and you are in sync..." Ronald also congratulated Rob Reiner along the way. This time, I went to take stills for the Steel Magnolias crew with the crew photographer Michelle Singer. As Nora Ephron predicted, the two began to date.

A pair of good friends of the opposite sex may not be suitable for being lovers, but they know each other very well. Rob Reiner and Michelle are both very suitable for each other, and their feelings quickly warmed up and they became official boyfriend and girlfriend.

"Hahaha...", Rob Reiner looked very happy. After he fell in love, his whole state quickly improved. In the "Steel Magnolias" crew, he just played the role Ronald had before, becoming a communication bridge between several actresses and director Herbert Ross. There were no major problems during the filming.

"You know what? I am now inclined to agree with your point of view. This story should have a happy ending. Harry and Sally must be together..."

"Hehe...", Ronald thought to himself, you have a girlfriend yourself, so you have changed your point of view.

"Dong Dong..." Ronald raised his hand and knocked on Meg Ryan's trailer door, "Meg, this is Ronald, is there anything I can do for you?"

The door opened, and Meg Ryan looked very worried. She frowned and invited Ronald and Rob in.

"Ronald, I've thought about it for a long time, is it better not to shoot this scene?"

"But, this is your idea?" Ronald frowned.

This is the part that Ronald dreamed about on the plane. Sally and Harry met for the third time, and both of them had a window period of love. Harry divorced his wife, and Sally's boyfriend broke up with her. Both of them had doubts about their previous views on love, and quickly became friends who could talk about anything.

In a big city like New York, with friends like Harry and Sally who are both familiar and unfamiliar, you can discuss some issues that you can't discuss with good friends.

The two soon talked about the relationship between men and women and whether women can pretend. Harry is quite conceited about his ability, but Sally told him in the restaurant that many women will pretend to make their partners feel fulfilled, and not every woman will have real feelings, which made Harry realize his blind spot.

During the previous rehearsal, Meg Ryan felt that the scene was not dramatic enough, and suggested that she could pretend in public in the restaurant. Such actions would be more understandable to the audience than what could be shown in the lines.

Ronald also thought this idea was good, and Ephron changed the script and praised it, but when it came to filming, Meg Ryan began to worry again.

"I know, I know, I just feel that I..."

"Do you want me to leave for a while and let you and Ronald talk alone?" Rob Reiner suggested keeping the conversation private. Actors are very sensitive animals. Only when the director shows a sense of trust that makes them feel safe, will they reveal their privacy without reservation to better complete the performance.

"What are you worried about? Can you tell me?" Ronald greeted Reiner. He did not participate in the rehearsal with the actors, and it was indeed not convenient here. Because Ronald felt that Meg Ryan's concerns were not about acting, but seemed to be about other aspects.

"OK, OK..." Meg Ryan explained the reason.

It turned out that she was worried about her boyfriend Dennis Quaid. If this scene was retained, her boyfriend Quaid, seeing Ryan being able to pretend to be cliax so freely, how would he view the previous experience of the two in bed? How much is real? How much is fake?

"This..." Ronald did not expect the problem to be here. Dennis Quaid, the actor, did not shoot many good movies, but he has slept with many female stars. There is actually nothing to worry about. If he is as capable as me, I don't have to worry about pretending. If I am not good at it, there is nothing I can do...

Not Dennis Quaid...

"Don't worry, Dennis will understand you. He is also an actor and knows what is going on. I know him. I am afraid he is confident in this regard and there will be no misunderstanding."

"Hehe..." Meg Ryan was amused. This explanation is reasonable. Quaid is very charming. Before, Lea Thompson's position in Hollywood was higher than mine. I heard that his ex-wife was also higher than his position at the time...

I shouldn't worry about the other party losing confidence because of this performance. If I have to worry, I should worry about it. Meg Ryan immediately "figured it out" and stopped worrying about it.

"How did you convince her?" Rob Reiner was curious when he saw that Ronald convinced Meg Ryan in a few words.

"I told him that real men don't worry about women pretending, and it's useless for fake men to worry."

"That's right, real men like us..." Lina gave Ronald a thumbs up. His communication skills are really strong. He is worthy of being a box office director.

...

"A!"

"Well, ah, well..." Meg Ryan began to perform in a low voice.

"What's wrong with you? Are you uncomfortable?" Billy Crystal was across the table and didn't seem to notice the reason for Sally's abnormality.

"Ah, ah, ah...", Meg Ryan's voice became louder and louder, and she suddenly threw her hair back and tilted her head back. The particularly large range of movement made her face congested and quickly turned red.

"Tsk...", Ronald looked at it in amazement. This acting skill has a bit of the shadow of Grotowski's method. The body is the basis of performance. To perform a cliax that is so real that it is indistinguishable from the real thing, it is not enough to rely on imagination and emotional memory. It is necessary to make similar movements physiologically and use the body to drive the performance.

"Ah...ah..." Meg Ryan kept slapping the table, "Pa...pa..."

At this moment, all the extras on the scene were awakened by the huge movement and turned their heads to look here.

"Yes, yes, oh...oh..." After the last few hard slaps on the table, Meg Ryan finally slowly lowered her voice.

Ronald watched from behind the camera, and Aunt Karen and Lina's mother Estelle were watching Sally's performance, and the camera captured this stunned expression.

"Hey, oh...", Meg Ryan, who had collected her magical powers, picked up a fork and ate some salad with a blush still on her face.

"Cut!" After Ronald called a halt, the scene was quiet and there was no sound at all.

After a long time, it was still Meg Ryan who giggled.

"Hahaha...", Lina's mother Estelle was the first to react, and she also started laughing.

Then it was Aunt Karen, who was also led to laugh.

"Hahaha...", Ronald also laughed, this scene was really interesting.

"Ha..." Then Rob Reiner, then the director of photography, and all the men on the scene laughed a little awkwardly.

"What's wrong?" Ronald was surprised. How come the man didn't see the funny part? Harry always thought that he could make his ex-wife happy because she always showed cliax. But Sally's performance made him realize that women are good at performing when there is no cliax, so as not to disappoint men.

"Wait a minute..." Ronald understood that all the women on the scene would do this trick, and men began to doubt their partners in life, whether they would also...whether their abilities were not so strong?

"This...I shouldn't have this problem...right..." Ronald was not sure.

"Let's shoot some reaction shots of the background actors."

Ronald didn't have time to think about these, and asked the photographer to aim the camera at Estelle and Aunt Karen.

"Should we give a line? Just like the reaction we just had on the scene?" Rob Reiner saw something wrong. If Aunt Karen didn't say a word according to the script, this scene would lack a closing point.

Billy Crystal stood up and walked in front of Aunt Karen and Estelle, "Can you say this..."

"Oh, I'm afraid I can't..." Aunt Karen became nervous again.

"Let me do it..." Estelle heard the lines Billy Crystal had thought of for them and burst out laughing again.

"What did you say?" Ronald asked Crystal.

"You'll know after you do one take. It won't work if you say it first."

"Okay..." Ronald knew that Billy Crystal must have thought of a golden line. This kind of pune in comedy really can't be rehearsed in advance. The words that show the bottom will lack power.

"A!"

The camera moved closer to Aunt Karen, then turned slightly and aimed at Estelle. A waiter came over to ask her for her order.

"I want what she ordered..." Estelle pointed to Meg Ryan's table.

"Cut! Hahaha..."

Ronald took the lead, and the whole audience laughed again. It turned out to be this sentence.