Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"Aren't you going to sleep? This script is so good?"

Diane was wearing silk pajamas, sprayed on the perfume sold by Cher Company, and came to Ronald with her waist and hips swaying.

"Well, it's really good. It's a work that reflects reality..." Ronald kept turning over the script on the table in the living room with his uninjured left hand, twisting his body a little uncomfortable. He adjusted his sitting position.

The weird name of this script "3000" actually does not refer to the era commonly used in science fiction films, but means three thousand dollars. The script tells the story of Edward Lewis, a tycoon engaged in corporate mergers and acquisitions in Los Angeles, who accidentally met a street girl Vivian Ward on the street one day.

Vivian Ward is a red-haired beauty from the South. Her biggest wish is to visit Disneyland. But she was addicted to drugs and had no money to save.

The two reached an agreement, Edward Lewis paid her three thousand dollars to hire her for a week, and Vivian Ward would not touch drugs during this period.

The two get along happily, and their personalities complement each other. But at the end of the week, life shows its cruel side to two less than moral people.

The money Edward Lewis used for mergers and acquisitions was mainly raised from the issuance of junk bonds on Wall Street. It happened to meet the interest rate hike and the stock market crash, and he faced business failure and bankruptcy. Feeling irritated, she discovered that Vivian was still secretly using drugs. Unable to bear it, she drove her to the bus stop going to Disneyland, and then kicked her out of the car.

At the end, Edward's sports car drove away. Vivian trimmed her hair, sat down and waited for the bus to the paradise, and smiled.

"Hey..." Ronald sighed and closed the script. This screenwriter is called J.F. Lawton, and I have to say he is quite talented. This is a story about the demise of America's dream. He did not reveal the fate of the two people in the script, but anyone who understands American society can read the subtext.

Taking advantage of loopholes in the rules, financing with junk bonds, acquiring industries, and then splitting them up and selling them off, many billionaires were created in the 1980s. But as the 1990s approached, most of these people were swallowed up by the dog-eat-dog forces of the financial industry.

There are such victims in Hollywood, and Israeli Minahan Golan is one. The interest on junk bonds is very high, new bonds cannot be issued, and this tycoon Edward happens to be acquiring the largest shipyard on the West Coast. His ending may be even more tragic than Minahan's, and it is impossible for him to escape unscathed.

And Vivian Ward is a representative of another type of person. With the fervent urbanization in the 1980s, a large number of young people from small towns came to big cities to pursue their dreams. But if they are not good enough, the rent and living costs will swallow up their dreams. If they get involved in drugs again, many people will be forced to take the road of betraying themselves like Vivian.

The two poor people got close to each other spiritually by chance at a certain moment, but were soon separated by the cold wave of reality. The most tragic thing is that neither of them knew that they had embarked on the road of no return, and in the hallucination of reality, they still thought that they might jump out of the whirlpool...

Diane was very happy to see Ronald's eyes staring at her waist and hips, and slowly sat in Ronald's arms.

"Oh..." The warm body temperature of the man's body made Diane feel very comfortable. "Does your hand still hurt?" She gently touched Ronald's bandage.

"As long as you turn a little this way, I won't feel any pain..."

…

Ronald's injury still reduced his energy. An hour later, before ten o'clock in the evening, he fell asleep on the sofa. Diane brought a blanket from the bedroom, covered him gently, then picked up the script and started reading it.

Early the next morning, when the two were having breakfast, Diane still couldn't stop reading the script.

"Ring ring ring ring..." The phone rang. Diane picked it up and handed it to Ronald.

"Ah, Detective...what, have you found the suspect? Oh, that's great. Have you found the attacker who attacked the jogging lady and the man on the bicycle? Do you want me to go back and identify him? That's no problem, but you Just wait a few days, okay. Is that lady okay? What..."

"What's wrong with you, Ronnie?" Diane saw a sudden change in Ronald's expression. His whole face turned very white, and he was still sweating. He hurriedly took the orange juice and let him take a sip.

"That lady may not be able to be saved. The detective said that even if she is saved, she may be in a vegetative state... I'm very scared..." Ronald was shaking a little while holding Diane. If I hadn't been so vigilant at that time, I might have..."

The two hugged each other and chatted for a while. Ronald alternated eating a sandwich and drinking orange juice with one hand before slowly returning to normal. Fortunately, I hired a bodyguard. I don't want this kind of thing to happen again.

"Why are you still reading this script?" Ronald realized that Diane was still holding the "3000" script in her hand.

"What do you think of this script?" Diane asked.

"It's a good script, but it's not suitable for the current market." Ronald didn't pay attention and said his true thoughts.

This kind of script that exposes the dark side of society and has some exquisite designs might have been nominated for an Oscar for Best Screenplay in the 1967s. The script, which explores the relationship between men and women under extreme conditions, is also a strong contender for the acting award.

But now, the film industry has begun to attract a large number of young audiences again. If you want to be famous, you must change it to a bright ending.

"Oh..." Diane listened to Ronald's analysis and began to read the script again.

"You're not...this script is not suitable for you..." Ronald suddenly understood that this was the script that Diane had chosen and wanted to be nominated for an Oscar? He reached out to get the script back.

"Why..." Diane put the script into her arms and turned her back to protect it, preventing Ronald from taking it away.

"Huh? This is a story about a street girl. You can't act it..." Ronald was a little anxious. Is he really interested in it? Not to mention that even if Diane acted in this script, it would be difficult to win an award now. So what if she did?

This kind of movie must have some sex scenes, and it also ruins the image. If the performance is good and well received by film critics, Diane will be stereotyped as this type of actor in the future, and the audience will think of her masterpiece when talking about it. How bad is this...

"Why don't you let me act? Do you want someone else to act?" Diane's eyes widened. An actress would not flinch when faced with this.

"No...", Ronald was so anxious that he broke out in sweat, "I'm not... what... by the way... didn't your father say he won't let you play this kind of role?"

"What are you afraid of? Haven't I acted in the TV series Lone Dove?" Diane ignored Ronald and continued to follow the script.

"That's different, it's a western, and it's mainly an emotional drama..." Ronald tried to explain that the scale of the TV series was very small. Although the character was also a bar girl, many viewers didn't notice it. I thought Diane was playing the girlfriend of Robert Duvall's character.

"I don't care, I'll go find Paula..."

"No..." Ronald tried to grab the script by scratching his itch, but his injured hand couldn't break through the defense of Diane's arms.

"Forget it, let's settle things with Niceta and let his wife find a way to dispel Diane's idea..."

It’s time to get some good scripts for Diane and Helen to act. Although many directors’ girlfriends are not very lucky, there are always a few that are different.

Ronald understood that in the final analysis, Diane was an actress, not one of those beautiful girls who broke into the industry because of fame and fortune.

…

"Ding dong..." The doorbell rang, and Diane took the script and went to the intercom to open the door. She really liked this role and wanted to play it. Ronald's status is getting higher and higher, and the gap between herself and him is getting wider and wider. Moreover, after so many years, Ronald has not publicly confirmed his relationship with her, which makes Diane feel very insecure.

What if I could act in this script and get an Oscar, even a nomination? Or become a first-line female star, and her relative status with Ronald will be more equal in the future.

"Kevin, it's you..." Diane heard Kevin Costner's voice on the intercom. After confirming with Ronald, she let him up.

"I saw the ABC morning news this morning. It seems that the thug who attacked you has been caught?" Kevin Costner made a special trip to visit the injured Ronald.

"Yeah, yes, the NYPD called me. They arrested twenty suspects, and I don't know if any of them include those who attacked me. They invited me to New York for identification. The most pity is that poor lady.

I heard the detective say she was identified as a secretary working for Salomon Brothers. Her skull was shattered and she lost three-quarters of her blood. Probably won't make it through.

As soon as I heard this, I was very scared. If I had done something wrong at that time, maybe that person was me, or..."

After listening to the phone call in the morning, Ronald was so frightened that he felt psychologically shadowed. When I saw Costner, the first friend in the industry who came to see me, I wanted to think of him as a psychiatrist...

"Ronnie...ahem..." Diane saw that he was still talking. Costner obviously had something else to do, so he reminded him.

"Ah..." Ronald realized that he couldn't talk about Helen in front of Diane, and immediately shut up, "Kevin, I'm glad you came to see me, what else do you want to do with your visit?" He glanced at Diane secretly, as if he owed the other person in his heart.

"Forget it, let her act if she wants to. I asked Paula to negotiate and change the script of that movie. Replace all the inappropriate sex scenes and dark plots... Just keep the parts that can show your acting skills. Already..."

Costner was, of course, here to discuss "Dances with Wolves." After discussing it with screenwriter friend Michael Blake, he was willing to make some concessions for Ronald.

They wanted Ronald to find a more professional director and Costner to step back and concentrate on being the leading actor. They are also willing to let Ronald's people be stationed on the set to become on-site production directors and control the budget.

Of course, what they expected from such a concession was Ronald's permission for the length of the film, which should be at least three hours.

To be honest, Ronald also hopes to see the great hunting scene in his dream be filmed. Without this majestic scene of the galloping buffalo, Hollywood would be missing a classic scene.

But it was not easy to film this scene. Now that the North American bison is on the verge of extinction, we have to consult with the bison breeders in the south. Shooting on location there requires a much higher budget than in Mexico.

Ronald finally decided to go with Costner's idea, with staff and auditors deployed. Make a big scene. He made two additional requests. The first was to continue to improve the script and limit the scenes to three hours.

The original novel has too many plots to be filmed in one movie, so Costner needs to make a choice. The ending must also give people hope so that the audience will not leave the theater sadly.

The second requirement is to use unknown actors as much as possible. Most of the funds for this movie have to be spent on real-life shooting. Ronald has this estimate. There are horses, bison, and many extras. If you look for stars, the budget will definitely be overspent, and the stars' schedules are not easy to determine.

In the end, Ronald personally acted as the producer, and the settlement office allocated one million US dollars as an advance fee for Costner to find bison, horses, Indian-looking actors, and Sioux language coaches.

This was one of the biggest investments of Daydream in 1989. Ronald specially asked the screenwriter director David Simkins to go to the scene as an executive producer. On the one hand, he wanted to try to transform, and on the other hand, Ronald also wanted to cultivate heroes.

"Ding Dong..."

After Costner left, another old friend came to see him.

"Tom..." Diane hadn't acted in a movie with Tom Cruise since "The Untamed". The two greeted each other and brought him a cup of coffee.

"Hmm..." Cruise took a sip and found that it was instant coffee. He knew that Diane was not very caring. But he continued to drink it without caring, and then talked about the accident with Ronald.

Ronald wanted to express himself again, and he boasted about how he was frightened, but he remained calm and used his coat to block the opponent's dagger.

"You know what? If I had made a mistake or reacted a second slower, I would have been knocked down like that poor lady, and then dragged like a wild dog and thrown into the ditch, and my companion would hardly have been spared...

Ahem, Diane..."

Ronald was talking excitedly, and when he saw Diane looking at him, he quickly changed the subject, "Tom, thank you for coming to see me. I feel much better after seeing my friends... Is there anything else you want to ask me?"

"Hi, I'm relieved to see you're okay. As for the rest... I have something to ask you..."

Tom Cruise rarely showed a bit of embarrassment, "I want to start learning how to be a screenwriter, so I want to ask you, how should I start?"

"Hmm?" Ronald was embarrassed to ask, you are a dyslexic, and you still want to be a screenwriter?

But maybe his wife Mimi, using Scientology to help him treat dyslexia, might have some effect?

"The most important thing is not to write all the content at once. Writing a script is more like writing paragraphs and scenes first, and then assembling it like assembling a car. I often dictate with a recorder now, and then let the secretary organize what I said."

"Yeah, I use it this way now..." Tom Cruise said, taking out a small recorder and pressing the red recording button to record the key points Ronald just said, "Paula will help me organize it then..."

"When I write the first draft, we will get together with Paula and Niceta and have a party. At that time, please give me some suggestions for my first script..."

Cruise seemed serious and set a time to invite Ronald to get together again after he came back.

"Of course, no problem..." Ronald noticed that Cruise did not mention his wife Mimi Rogers, but mentioned Paula Wagner, but seeing that Cruise's expression was normal, he had to let it go.

"Among the many male actors in the play, I really didn't expect that he would have the best development..." Diane began to think about the past.

In that Coppola movie, the leading actor C. Thomas Hall has become obscure. Ralph Mazzio became famous with The Karate Kid, but his other movies were not successful.

Matt Dillon, who was the most promising actor in Hollywood at that time, can only play the leading actor in B-level movies now because of the change in audience taste.

After Emilio Estevez broke up with Demi Moore, he was sued by his ex-girlfriend and paid two million in child support. Now he is on the verge of bankruptcy.

Rob Lowe's acting career, which was not very good to begin with, has completely stopped because of the videotape scandal. He is still raising money to fight the videotape lawsuit. If he is convicted, he can be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison.

Only Tom Cruise and Patrick Schweitzer, who were the most inconspicuous at the time, are now very popular. This is all because they played in the movie of Brother Ronnie in front of them.

Thinking of this, Diane hugged Ronald's arm tightly. Such a man must be caught.