Exploiting Hollywood 1980

Mike McDavoy, the founder of Orion Pictures, is a tall Jewish man. However, his feelings towards the film industry are different from those of ordinary Jews. He does not regard film as a pure business, but believes that it is the greatest art form in the world.

With such a concept rooted in his heart since childhood, his path along the way can be said to be exactly the opposite of Michael Ovitz.

He first worked as an agent at Creative Management Partners, an agency famous for signing artists in the industry. This company is known for serving artists and giving clients more artistic freedom, unlike CAA, which aims to maximize profits.

After that, he went to the only major studio in Hollywood, United Artists, which adopts the director-centered system and gives directors the final editing rights (of course, it was eventually bankrupted by this director-centered system).

During his time at United Artists, Mike McDavoy supervised Oscar winners such as "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", "Rocky", "Annie Hall", "Apocalypse Now", "Black Stallion", and "Homecoming".

Later, he defected from United Artists and founded "Orion Pictures", still maintaining the style of giving directors creative freedom, and released Oscar-winning best films such as "Platoon" and "Amadeus".

Giving directors the greatest freedom in art makes commercial success seem much inferior. Orion Pictures has not yet escaped the trap of medium-sized studios. The budget of each movie is around 20 million, and each time they have to wait until the investment is recovered before they can start shooting the next blockbuster.

During the writers' strike, they accumulated a large number of projects and started large-scale shooting immediately after the strike ended. So now Orion is also facing the problem of insufficient cash.

Ronald bought the share that originally belonged to Gene Hackman, and Mike McDavoy was immediately happy. Ronald's wealth is a widely rumored thing in Hollywood. He now wants to win an Oscar, and Orion needs investment and a director. Isn't this a match made in heaven?

…

“This is the set for the Back to the Future sequel. This set was rebuilt based on the look of Marty McFly’s home in the first film. Hollywood is an industry. Based on the records and photos taken at the time, the details of the shooting can be completely restored…”

On the set of the Back to the Future sequel, Ronald was explaining to Xiao Yan in Chinese. After graduating from community college, he interned at Daydream for a while. Like his father, he also liked operating cameras and lights.

This time, he represented Daydream and joined the Back to the Future crew to operate the flashlight and other photography accessories produced by Daydream. Ronald was familiar with director Zemeckis and producer Spielberg. In addition to the flashlight, Ronald also promoted their company’s new first-person dog-view camera pole to director Zemeckis, which can greatly reduce the difficulty of shooting the racing scenes in Back to the Future.

The original practice of tying a mobile photography group to the bracket outside the racing car can now be simplified to two people, and the camera operator can use the reflective mirror to watch the second-person lens effect on the spot, which is very convenient.

Daydream also uses the Steadicam model, which is only for rent and not for sale. This time, Xiao Yan was asked to be the operator to fulfill his dream as a fan of "Back to the Future".

"Ronald, you speak Chinese well, and your machine is also good. When I was Steve McQueen's agent, the racing scenes could only be shot outside the car, and only McQueen could make those movements..."

Mike McDavoy, who also came to visit the "Back to the Future" crew, greeted Ronald in Chinese when he saw him. He came here specifically to meet with Ronald.

"Hey, how can you, a foreigner, speak Chinese?" Xiao Yan was surprised.

"I am not a foreigner, you are a foreigner here, and I can speak Songhai dialect." Mike McDavoy spoke in Shanghai dialect, which shocked Xiao Yan.

"Hahaha, you must be Mr. McDavoy." Ronald smiled and shook hands with him and hugged him.

Richard briefly told Ronald about Mike McDavoy's background. His parents were Jewish immigrants living in Hongkou. His family opened a tailor shop when he was young. His customers were all female stars in Shanghai at that time, including several movie queens.

So he was obsessed with film art since he was a child, and often went to Daguangming to watch the latest Hollywood movies and local Chinese movies. He has a talent for languages, and later he became proficient in Russian and Spanish, and he communicated smoothly with all kinds of actors.

The two found a lounge to sit down, and Mike McDavoy got straight to the point, "Ronald, from what angle do you want to cut into this story? What style do you want to shoot The Silence of the Lambs in?"

"Hey? I don't have any definite ideas yet, but what do you think?"

"Haha, speaking of it, you have been famous for so long, but this is the first time you have cooperated with us Orion. We never interfere with the director's ideas..."

"Is that so?" Ronald thought to himself, this style, unless you meet a director who is very sure of art and has good character. Otherwise, either you will find that the movie is shot in the wrong direction, or you will be ready to pay for the director's selfishness and get a lot of expensive and useless props and sets.

Or, the worst case scenario is that you have both problems, like Michael Cimino who brought down United Artists.

"To be honest, I haven't thought of a suitable angle yet. I want to talk to the screenwriter Ted Tully first."

It is actually quite difficult to adapt a movie, because the length of the film is long, and the film is two hours long, so the plot needs to be selected and cut.

"I will arrange it for you right away. Ted Tully is out of work right now. He has put a lot of effort into rewriting the script. I like his adaptation very much. Of course, it is up to you to decide."

Mike McDavoy knows how to deal with artists very well, that is, to give them space, support, money, find beautiful (or handsome) actors they like, and finally let them play their roles. On average, there will always be a big prize once every three or five times.

Don't say that Ronald has only this requirement, he can satisfy you even if he has ten times more. For example, Ronald can just propose the candidate for FBI detective Starling, and they are responsible for persuading him to come.

"Very good, my good friend Jim Cameron cooperated with you in the Terminator, and he said that it was a pleasant experience to cooperate with you. In this way, we can talk about business conditions first, and then we will focus on the audience in that market."

"Huh?" Mike McDavoy was also surprised. They, Orion, don't have much contact with such directors. Let's talk about production planning instead of art. No wonder most of Ronald's movies make a lot of money.

The two quickly exchanged their investment plans for "The Silence of the Lambs". Ronald and he both confirmed that they should invest about 20 million yuan and invite stars to star in it. This kind of suspense thriller, the subject matter is a relatively niche serial killer case, and there are a lot of psychological analysis plots. If there are no stars, the marketing cost will be so high that no matter how well the movie is made, there will be no profit.

Among them, Daydream and Orion are responsible for half of the quota respectively. As long as there is a script, find the right star, and then announce that Ronald is directing, there will be a lot of investment immediately. In this industry, everyone invests by looking at the stars. Gene Hackman's difficulty in financing does not mean that Ronald will also have difficulties.

"Camera? Recording? A!"

After talking about things, Ronald and Medavoy came out to watch director Zemeckis's filming. The filming had just started for two days. The main task was to reshoot the ending of the first "Back to the Future" movie, where Michael J. Fox's Marty McFly reunited with his girlfriend Jennifer Parker at the door of his now more affluent home, and then encountered Doc Brown, who had returned from the future, driving a flying DeLorean sports car.

"Marty..."

"Jennifer..."

The two actors, wearing the same clothes and hairstyles as four years ago, looked at each other affectionately again.

The reason for reshooting this part instead of using the film at the end of the first part was a bit complicated.

In the first part, the actress Claudia Wells withdrew from the filming of the sequel due to family reasons, so the crew had to find an actress who looked like her to shoot the sequel.

Many newcomers were recommended to the crew for auditions, but Zemeckis was not very satisfied. Ronald's agent Richard happened to learn about this and recommended Elizabeth Shue to play the role.

Originally, Elizabeth Shue had already played opposite Tom Cruise in "Cocktail", and was considered to have squeezed into the top ranks of female stars. She should not have gone back to replace Claudia Wells, who had only one well-known work.

However, her ability to make money was greatly questioned after "Cocktail", so that she could no longer receive invitations for big movies, and had to stay at home every day, not knowing what to do.

The cost of shooting "Cocktail" was 20 million US dollars, and the domestic box office reached 78 million. After the return of the cost, there was still a small profit. Elizabeth Shue should not be in poverty because of this.

However, the box office of this movie is a miracle that broke the convention. Originally, Cea Sre gave this movie a score of only B+, and the film reviews were all bad. According to experience, this movie can only get a first weekend box office multiplier of 2.5-3 times, that is, 30 million at the bottom.

But this movie actually broke Cea Sre's always accurate empirical formula, which made the distributor Disney overjoyed.

This also made Cea Sre unconvinced, and they did not think that their sampling survey was wrong. Finally, after a large-scale joint interview with Disney, they finally figured out that the most important reason for attracting audiences to watch this movie is Tom Cruise.

In other words, Tom Cruise broke an accurate empirical formula in Hollywood. He alone can increase the box office of a bad movie. This is a real superstar who can make audiences go to the cinema just to see him.

After the Oscars, Tom Cruise's ability to boost the box office was even more appreciated by the industry. Because one day before the Oscars, Cruise was nominated for the "Worst Actor" of the Golden Raspberry Awards. In other words, no matter whether he performed well or badly, as long as he showed his face, there would be female audiences who would come to watch like crazy.

In these film reviews and audience surveys, no one ever mentioned Elizabeth Shue.

This made Hollywood reach a consensus that if a different director or a different female lead was changed, this movie could become another big-selling work. So Tom Cruise's current salary offer has exceeded that of the new actor Dustin Hoffman, becoming a real game changer.

At the same time, this movie also put Elizabeth Shue in a dilemma. Sometimes, things are so ridiculous that you might have done nothing wrong and Hollywood downgrades your rating.

So Elizabeth Shue was also very grateful for Richard's righteousness, and came to thank Ronald for the crew that he had just joined.

"Cut!" After Zemeckis called a halt, he watched the ending of the first film again on the video recorder on the scene. After discussing with the photographer, he found the three main characters and pointed out a few minor flaws, then announced a break, waiting for the props team to remake the several places that did not match the original.

This role change caused a lot of trouble. This reshot scene required the audience to accept Elizabeth Shue's Jennifer and forget Claudia Wells's Jennifer. Because there are many fans of Back to the Future, many people bought the videotape and watched it many times. A little bit of inconsistency would make the fans and audience at the beginning feel something was wrong and make the audience feel out of the play.

The opening was out of the play, and they began to wonder whether the heroine had been replaced, and the plot seemed to be wrong. This was a very troublesome thing, which would have a great impact on the audience's subsequent viewing experience, and then affect the box office, so Zemeckis was very demanding and filmed for several days in a row. It seemed that it would take another week to shoot.

Ronald stepped forward and handed Elizabeth Shue a bottle of mineral water. Next to her was Lea Thompson, another heroine who returned to the series, and Michael J. Fox.

Lea Thompson is engaged to her boyfriend, director Howard Deutch. This time she has more scenes than the first one, and a special makeup, because Marty's mother, Lorraine, had breast augmentation in this sequel. When Ronald and her hugged, they both felt the power of silicone makeup.

Her situation is similar to Elizabeth Shue. After playing "Howard the Duck", her status has declined sharply, and she urgently needs to go back to the future to make up for it.

Next to them is Michael J. Fox, the male protagonist who is popular in America. He is very popular on TV and in movies. This sequel was only approved after Zemeckis confirmed that he would join.

"I still have to learn skateboarding. In this episode, there is a floating skateboard that can float without wheels. I don't know if it will be invented in 2015." Michael J. Fox and Ronald had a happy chat.

When he was shooting the first film, he was busy with two crews and could only sleep two or three hours a day. He could only take a nap in the van arranged by Ronald. So the relationship between the two was very good.

"I say, don't you know how to skateboard? Why do you need to learn it?" Ronald was a little confused. Isn't skateboarding similar to riding a bicycle? Once you learn it, you won't forget it. Fox also had a lot of skateboarding scenes in the first film.

"Hey? I do know how to skateboard," Fox touched his head. I don't know what happened. I don't seem to know how to skateboard now. I have to learn it again with the coach.

"You must be too busy..." Lea Thompson laughed. She is friends with both of them.

"Fortunately, it's the director's turn to sleep three hours a day..." Fox smiled and nodded at Zemeckis.

"Haha..." Everyone was a little dissatisfied with Zemeckis' high standards and strict requirements, and took the opportunity to make fun of him.

Zemeckis' previous work "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" has just been released in China, with a box office of 150 million. But the production cost cost more than 50 million, and the shooting cycle was seven and a half months, which made the distributor Disney want to vomit blood.

Halfway through, even Disney CEO Eisner wanted to shut down the production to stop the loss, but fortunately Katzenberg made him give up the idea.

Who knew that something even more disgusting was still to come. The post-production of this movie was also very slow. Because it required the synthesis of real people and animation, Industrial Light and Magic invested two teams and took a year and two months to complete it, so even the high box office could not make up for the countless overspending production costs.

Like the two heroines, Zemeckis had to rely on this sequel to make a profit and let Hollywood recognize his value again. Zemeckis needed financial assistance, so this time, he took a very radical approach and shot two sequels in a row.

Because the production cycle of two consecutive sequels is super long, they are still processed in parallel. After the second filming is completed, the assistant director will be responsible for post-production, and another group will continue to shoot the third film. Zemeckis will be responsible for twice the work of the usual director, so he is very busy.

"How long will it take you to shoot?" Ronald asked several friends. This situation of shooting two episodes in a row is the first time in Hollywood's history, and he wants to know more.

"We don't have many scenes, but the director requires us to be on the scene all the time. We probably have to stay here for ten months..."

"Hey, this is really terrible..." Ronald couldn't help but feel that Zemeckis was not very considerate. How could he occupy all the scenes when he didn't have any scenes?

However, this also has its advantages. The flash lights of Daydream and the dog-eye camera pole are charged according to the rental time. Zemeckis likes to waste other people's time, which is good for business and Xiaoyan's learning.

After Ronald's visit, he went back to the city with Mike Medavoy of Orion. The two walked to the door of the filming base and found another Jennifer Parker, wearing the same costume, entangled with the security guard at the door.

If Ronald hadn't just said goodbye to Elizabeth Shue inside, he would have thought that there was something wrong with his eyesight. When he got closer, he found that it was Claudia Wells, who played Jennifer in the first film.

In terms of temperament and beauty, Claudia Wells is actually better than Elizabeth Shue. She is more beautiful than a girl next door, and can be considered the most beautiful 1% in high school.

"Wow..." Wells, who was refused to enter the set for the second day, squatted at the door and cried.

"What's wrong with you? Don't cry..." Ronald couldn't bear to see the beautiful woman crying, so he pulled her up, and together with Mike McDavoy, persuaded her to leave the set, and found a cafe to slowly understand the situation.

"I heard that you gave up the role yourself?" Ronald didn't know what was going on. Now it seems that the news in "Hollywood Reporter" may not be true.

"My mother is seriously ill, and I really need this job... But my agent informed me that I have been blacklisted by Universal Pictures. I came to see Zemeckis several times, but he didn't want to see me..."

Claudia Wells was wearing a costume from four years ago. It was a little yellowed, but it can be seen that she had washed and ironed it carefully.

"Is there any misunderstanding here?" Ronald handed the coffee cup to Claudia, but it was impossible to change the role of the film that had already started shooting.

"I don't know... I don't know what I did wrong..." Claudia's tears that had just stopped flowing again.

"Don't worry too much, let your agent help you see if there are other roles?" Ronald knew that Back to the Future had many teenage fans, and although the heroine Claudia Wells did not play in the sequel, she would not be unable to get any role.

"My agent wants to terminate my contract... He also warned me to say that I withdrew voluntarily..."

"I remember you are Jewish?" Mike McDavoy suddenly interrupted, and he saw the cross on Claudia's neck.

"I used to be, but I have converted to Christianity again, and now I am a born-again Christian..." Claudia Wells took out the unique cross of their sect and showed it to them. This sect emphasizes spiritual rebirth and acceptance of the gospel, and after adulthood, you must be baptized again before you can join the church.

"Hmm..." Ronald roughly knew the problem. Claudia Wells was banned by some people to some extent.