Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"I accidentally saw his American Express credit card bill yesterday."

"What does accidentally mean?"

In a bookstore in New York, the camera is quietly capturing the conversation between Meg Ryan and Carrie Fisher.

Sally, played by Meg Ryan, has changed her hairstyle to easy-to-manage curly hair. Another five years have passed, and the time in the movie plot has come to 1987, which is very close to the present. Sally, who is five years older, has lost a lot of fantasy and turned to reality.

Her clothes are no longer blindly chasing the styles in popular magazines like when she was young, but are practical and have their own style. A red high-necked hollow knitted sweater with a dark brown velvet coat on the outside, and the glasses that she finally picked out are also on Sally's nose.

Carrie Fisher plays Sally's good friend, Mary. With short hair and a loose brown and green two-color patterned sweater coat, she looks like an ordinary middle-aged woman. No one could tell that she was the sexy idol of all American high school students a few years ago, the Princess Leia who danced in a bikini in front of Jabba.

Ronald sat behind the camera, and Carrie Fisher seemed to have written her personal emotional experience with Paul Simon in the past few years into the role of Mary. Paul Simon also maintained a relationship with her for a while without proposing, which made Fisher interpret Mary's pain very well.

"I saw it in his briefcase when he was taking a shower," Mary wanted to confide in Sally.

"Are you crazy? What would he think if he came out and saw you rummaging through his bag?" Sally felt bad about her friend's behavior.

"It doesn't matter... I want to tell you what I found. He spent $120 to buy a silk nightgown for his wife. I don't think he will leave her..."

"No one thinks he will leave his wife..."

"You're right, you're right..." Mary walked aside. Her friend's sincere words still made her irritated. She picked up a book and flipped through it, hoping to escape this discomfort.

A group actor walked past, and Carrie Fisher raised her head and looked in the direction of the camera.

"Cut! Very good, very good..." Ronald praised Carrie Fisher. The expression that said that the lover would not leave his wife to give him an explanation was full of pain and disappointment. Ronald did not know that Princess Leia was so good at acting.

"Will I be nominated for an Oscar?" Carrie Fisher pretended to be happy and asked Ronald with hope. The chances of actresses getting various awards and critics' affirmation for playing in Ronald's movies are very high.

"I don't know, maybe you can tell me?" Ronald thought, how can I know this?

"Hahaha..." Carrie Fisher is actually a very straightforward person. Seeing this, she did not ask any more questions and went to enjoy the snacks and coffee of the crew.

"It's not completely impossible. The Oscar may not work, but there is still a chance for awards like the Golden Globe, which are star-hungry." Ronald thought so.

He handled the shooting of this movie and deliberately used some innovative techniques and lens language to deliberately distinguish it from traditional Hollywood commercial films. For example, the processing of Carrie Fisher looking directly at the camera just now is a big taboo in traditional Hollywood.

Hollywood's lens language theory believes that the camera is a tool for objectively recording drama, and looking directly at the camera is equivalent to being out of the play. When Mary was reading a book, she found a man peeping at Sally, and it was Harry, whom she hadn't seen for five years.

Using the traditional lens language method, there must be a 45-degree over-the-shoulder shot to explain Harry's peeping. But Ronald thinks that the technique is for expression. Looking directly at the camera, as long as the editing is handled properly, the audience can also feel Mary's emotions when she discovered Harry, and this discomfort will be magnified and resonate because of this direct face-to-face picture.

This method of positively expressing character communication is more common in Japanese movies. For example, Akira Kurosawa and Yasujiro Ozu did not care about the scheduling of the axis law in the movie, and the audience did not have any difficulty understanding it.

"Billy... I want a comedy version of Jack Nicholson in The Shining..." Ronald made a request to Billy Crystal.

For such a skilled comedian, the director only needs to propose the required effect and give him a reference.

"Comedy version of The Shining, I see," Billy Crystal covered his face with a book, and then half-hid behind the bookshelf in a creepy way.

"That's the smell..."

Soon, the filming continued. More than five years later, Harry met Sally again. This time, Mary thought he was a bit handsome, and heard that he was a political consultant, so she was very interested in meeting him.

Sally said that Harry was married, but after Mary's questioning, she admitted that Harry had said more than five years ago that he was about to get married, and in America, it was common to get divorced after five years.

Sally continued to shirk her responsibilities, not wanting to meet Harry again, and said that Harry must not recognize her.

Who knew that at this time, Harry had already walked in front of her and said, "Hi, Sally Albright, I thought it was you..."

Carrie Fisher immediately disappeared automatically and quickly...

"Cut!"

Mary had realized that Harry and her friend Sally had a special bond, and there was no hope for her to compete with her for Harry, so she simply left.

The camera turned an angle and filmed Harry and Sally's reunion from another direction.

"How are you?"

"Very good, I'm fine..."

"How's Joe?"

"He's not bad either, I heard he's good."

"You and Joe broke up?"

"We just broke up..."

"Cut!" Ronald directed the camera to turn 180 degrees and continue filming the conversation from behind Harry.

"I'm sorry to hear that... it's terrible."

"Yeah...yeah..." Sally smiled bitterly, looking sad, but she didn't want to show too much sadness in front of Harry, "So, how are you?"

"I'm fine, fine..."

"How is married life?"

"..." Harry's expression also became sad, "It's not good, I'm getting a divorce."

"I'm sorry, that's too bad".

"Yeah...so, what's going on with you?"

"Cut!"

Ten years after their first meeting, both Harry and Sally have become very practical and have been tempered and matured by life. During the difficult moments in their lives, both of them found an old friend who they could confide in. They immediately became familiar with each other and went to dinner to talk about the failures of their respective love lives.

"That's it for today..." Ronald once again announced the end of work on time. The filming ended at the weekend, and I had to go back to spend time with my family, as did the two leading actors.

"Great, I have to catch a flight and go back to be with Dennis (Quaid). Bye..." Meg Ryan didn't want to leave her boyfriend for too long, so in the contract, the crew reimbursed the business class air tickets for the weekends.

"Bye..." Billy Crystal also rushed home to spend time with his family.

After Ronald said goodbye to them, he returned to Staten Island with Little Bud. The plot of this movie unfolds in New York, and most of the scenes are indoors. Ronald entrusts all trivial matters to the assistant director, and he is like a white-collar worker who can go home and rest on weekends.

This kind of movie shooting schedule makes Ronald very comfortable. Of course, this is a treatment only given to great directors, otherwise they would not have the ability to equip such a capable crew.

…

"Ronald, you are becoming more and more like a family man now." The family gathered for dinner on Friday night, and little Douglas came to join in the fun.

"Doug, you are starting to think of this place as your own home..." Ronald hit little Douglas lightly with his fist. This guy would not go back to his own home, so he liked to come to his aunt's house for dinner.

"Hey, you know, it's not fun for a big family to eat together, but the atmosphere in your family is better, don't you think so, Donna?"

"Who wants dessert?" Aunt Karen went to get the pudding.

"How's the campaign going now?" As the week went by, George Sr.'s ads attacking Dukakis appeared one after another. In addition to attacking him for ruining the water quality of Boston Harbor, he also brought him personally.

Some newspapers began to attack Dukakis as being mentally unstable and having been admitted to a mental hospital before. Including his wife Kitty, who burned the American flag to protest the Vietnam War.

These rumors are not groundless. The source is Idaho Elephant Party Senator Steve Sims. Because these attacks were so vicious and despicable, George Sr. did not speak out himself. Instead, the approach often used in campaigns is to have another person speak out, and then run an ad through an action committee quoting that person's statement.

"The attack on George Jr.'s side has had little effect. On the contrary, some middle-of-the-road voters think this statement is too bizarre. Kitty Dukakis is not Jane Fonda and will not burn the flag to protest the war." Little Douglas and Ronald lowered their voices to whispers.

"Why don't you go to the study room to chat later? We are still having dinner." Donna protested. After finally being reunited as a family, the two of them were still chatting.

"Okay..." Ronald raised his hands in surrender. After finishing the dessert and hugging Aunt Karen to thank her for the dinner, Ronald went to the study to chat with little Doug.

"Little George estimates that in about two weeks, Barbara will no longer stick to the attack strategy and switch to your communication strategy."

"It's not mine, it's Roger Ailes's." Ronald didn't want to get too involved in the campaign.

"As long as little George thinks so..."

The two of them still adhere to the original strategy. After winning the election, they will be just two donors. It will be difficult to meet the commander-in-chief by then. It is more important to have a good relationship with George.

"Ronald...your assistant director is looking for you...", Donna came over and knocked on the door, gesturing for Ronald to pick up the phone.

"I told them that I was going to spend the weekend. There might be something urgent." Ronald picked up the phone receiver.

"Let's go, this is the director's private matter..." Douglas Jr. stood up and motioned for Donna to go with him. All kinds of things in the crew were also very gossipy, so Ronald was asked to resolve such matters within the confines of the crew.

"I heard you did a good job in the fund?" Douglas Jr. chatted with Donna.

"Mr. Simmons' formula still has some room for fine-tuning, but our operation is still good..."

“Can mathematics really be used to trade stocks?”

"Yes, this is using the hidden Markov chain method of probability theory to remove the noise in the market data and leave the signal..."

Little Douglas tried hard to pretend to understand Donna's explanation...

"What happened? Didn't the Giants agree? Why did they go back on their word again?"

Ronald's voice came from behind the door, full of anger.

"Ronald, what's wrong?" Donna asked outside the door.

"I'll talk to you when I get back..." Ronald, who hung up the phone with a snap, came out of the door.

"The crew wanted to shoot in the New York Giants' stadium. We had agreed on it, but suddenly we were told that we couldn't shoot. Isn't this going to make me look bad?"

Ronald was very angry. The most feared thing about filming a movie is that the plan is disrupted. This scene introduces Harry's male friend Jace. While watching the New York Giants' football game, the two talked about divorce. It not only introduces Harry's current state to the audience, but also introduces Jace, a very important character in the second half of the movie.

The scene will start shooting next week, and now the Giants suddenly notified that they can't shoot here. With such a tight schedule, where can we find another available professional team? How can Ronald not be angry?

"Tell my aunt that I'm going to Manhattan right away to talk to the owner of the Giants about what's going on."

"Are you going alone?" Donna asked. This cousin is really too hard-working.

"Little Bud will take me to Manhattan..."

"Huh?" It was Donna who nudged little Douglas with her elbow, and the latter spoke up.

"I'll go with you. I'm familiar with the heir of the Giants' Mara family."

...

"It just so happens that the Mara family members are having a meeting today..."

When they arrived at the huge box above the Giants' stadium, the manager in charge of public relations blocked Ronald and Douglas Jr. from the box door.

"Is Tim here? Tell him it's Douglas Hansen Jr." Doug Jr. is familiar with the wealthy families in various districts of New York because he helped the George family with many fundraising meetings.

The Tim Mara he mentioned is the current owner of the New York Giants, the two leaders of the Mara family, the cousin of Tim and Wellington, and he is the third-generation descendant of the founder. Wellington is Tim's uncle, and he and Jack, Tim's father who unfortunately passed away, are the managers of the Giants.

"I'll go and inform them."

Not long after, Ronald and Doug Jr. were invited into the big box.

"Doug, this must be Director Ronald. I'm glad you can come to visit our Giants' stadium..." Tim Mara is a middle-aged man in his forties. He introduced many members of his family to Ronald. Today might be the day for their family to discuss internally, and many people from the Mara family were present.

"My reason for coming here is very simple. I hope to be allowed to film at the Giants. I don't know why my original application was cancelled."

Ronald finally sat next to Tim and stated his purpose.

"This is something my uncle Wellington decided. Why don't you ask him in person?" Tim said calmly.

"They haven't spoken to each other for many years," Doug Jr. came to explain. The two had long hated each other because of their disagreement on the general manager's selection, and never spoke in public. In recent years, the Giants have achieved good results, and Tim has a greater say in the team because of the players he introduced.

Wellington only got some unimportant powers, such as handling Ronald's application to film.

Ronald and Douglas Jr. went there to find Wellington. Wellington, who was already in his sixties, was chatting with another young man.

"Mr. Mara," Douglas Jr. was familiar with the people, so he came out to say hello.

"Haha, look who's here? The country bumpkins from Staten Island," the young man raised his head and sneered at Ronald and Doug.

"Haha, it's you..." Ronald recognized the speaker, the independent producer who had competed with him for the filming rights of "Dirty Dancing" at the time, the eldest son of the Tisch family, Steven Tisch.

"Uncle Duke (Wellington's name is taken from the Duke of Wellington), don't cooperate with such people, they will only steal what originally belonged to you... Humph..." Steven Tisch was very dissatisfied. The box office of "Dirty Dancing" was fine, but after the revenue from the video tape gradually spread in Hollywood, he regretted it to death.

"I remember that we were in normal competition at the time. You can't slander my reputation just because the bid was not high enough. I defeated you in fair competition, loser (Loser)."

Ronald figured out who was playing tricks, so he fought back strongly.

The Tisch family is also a sponsor of the Giants. In the past two years, in order to buy players to compete for the Super Bowl, their family has also donated a lot of money.

"Is that so, Steven?" Wellington Mara asked Steven Tisch, who seemed to be unable to lose. If it is really fair competition as Ronald said, then you can only blame your incompetence and watch others make a lot of money.

"Humph..." Little Tisch stood up and walked away without saying a word.

"Mr. Mara," Ronald found the real owner Wellington Mara.

"I understand you, but this is the decision of the Giants, and it has little to do with Steven. My nephew Tim doesn't understand football, and the Giants' games are the largest broadcasts on American TV. We are not those small clubs. It's okay to open some empty fields for you to shoot, but shooting in a full field will hinder the TV broadcast..."

Ronald glanced at Tim Mara over there. The grudge between the uncle and nephew is quite deep. One agrees to a project, and the other wants to destroy it, regardless of whether the matter is big or small, or whether it is good or bad for the team.

"I hope to get permission to shoot some stadium scenes." Ronald didn't know how to convince the other party, so he could only say some empty words stipulated in the agreement. If the other party really disagrees, he is afraid that he can't do anything with such an old money family. The penalty for breach of contract should be paid, and he can't force the other party to fulfill the contract.

"Papa, papa..."

While Wellington and Ronald were arguing, a little girl of a few years old came stumbling over and asked her grandfather Wellington to hug her.

When the little girl passed by Ronald, she lost her balance and fell to the ground.

"Little cutie, don't fall..." Ronald was quick-witted and bent down to pick her up.

"I want papa..." The little girl was held by Ronald, but she still reached out to reach Wellington.

"Oh, my little Kate", Wellington stretched out his hands to take little Kate and put her on his knees.

"Papa", the little girl twisted restlessly, looked at Ronald in turn, became interested again, and giggled at him.

"What a lovely little girl, is this your granddaughter?"

"Yes, she is Chris's child, little Princess Kate, right? Kate?"

The two of them looked at each other and got along well because of a little girl.

"Well, Ronald, little Kate rarely smiles at strangers. It seems that you are an honest man. I agree to let your crew come to the Giants Stadium to shoot, but you can only shoot during the TV broadcast break. I don't want to interfere with the TV broadcast, which is our biggest source of funds. You also want the Giants to win the Super Bowl again, right?"

"Thank you, Mr. Mara, thank you for the convenience of filming. But I am actually a fan of the San Francisco 49ers." Ronald replied.

"Ha, if we meet in the Super Bowl, I will send you tickets." Wellington Mara no longer paid attention to the two young people and concentrated on teasing his granddaughter Kate.