Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"Woah, y love, y darlg...

I've hungry for your touch..."

The recording team played the famous song "Unchaed Melody" by the Righteous Brothers in the studio.

Ronald felt that this song was very suitable for the theme of the movie "Ghost". Most importantly, the whole song did not have any extra elements, and it was all about calling for love.

Although there are many interesting plots in Ghost, such as bank money laundering, brothers coveting their sister-in-law, justice and evil, black funny psychics, etc., all of these are for the great love of Sam and Molly. In essence, this is a much purer love movie than When Harry Met Sally.

Ronald bought the copyright of this song from RCA Records through Jimmy Reiner, the music business director of Hollywood.

This version of the Righteous Brothers was released in 1965 and was very popular at the time. But the advantage of being old is that singers generally do not have copyrights, and they can just buy it from the record company.

Moreover, Jimmy Rainer negotiated a good deal. Although the transfer price of hundreds of thousands of dollars was not cheap, the right to use the single was a one-time buyout. No matter how the box office of the movie was in the future or how the sales of the soundtrack were, RCA could no longer collect a share from it.

This was of course because Jimmy Rainer did not buy it in the name of Ronald, but bought several old songs in a package as a supplier of Paramount.

On the other hand, it was also because RCA did not think that this old lyrical slow song could be turned into a flower. Not all old songs have the possibility of becoming popular like Ronald's "Dirty Dancing".

In addition to buying dance music to learn dancing, who else would buy such old love songs to listen to?

In the lingering singing, Patrick Schweitzer and Demi Moore tilted their heads and kissed each other. The camera approached very close to their faces.

If it were an ordinary inexperienced actor, he would definitely be affected by the size of the close-up shot nearby and would be nervous involuntarily. What's more, it was shooting such an intimate shot?

But Schweitzer and Demi are different. They are experienced actors who have probably filmed dozens of passionate scenes.

This little disturbance is nothing to them. The two did not react to the camera and the microphone on their heads. They were very relaxed, as if there was a transparent membrane around them, isolating them from other people in the studio.

It really seemed like they were kissing passionately in a bedroom by the window of a Manhattan apartment.

But they were not just forgetting each other. When kissing each other, both of them were very professional and tried their best to present the best part of their faces in the camera frame.

On the one hand, they were immersed in the scenes of the plot, and on the other hand, their star instincts allowed them to take the camera into consideration. Ronald was very happy to work with such actors. There was not much need for reshoots, explanations, and guidance. Everything happened naturally.

After the close-up, they shot a close-up, and then retreated to the medium shot. The two actors did all the actions again.

Patrick Schweitzer is 5 inches taller than Demi Moore, and his muscles are well-developed due to years of exercise. With their upper bodies naked, Schwitz and Demi embraced and turned in circles. Demi Moore wore a sleeveless white shirt.

The two actors were in the mood, but they knew the limits and limits of their performances, and they often separated at the slightest touch, which made Ronald, who was watching from the side, very satisfied, but also felt that they did not go deeper, and even the camera felt regretful.

Finally, Demi Moore jumped up, wrapped her legs around Schwitz's waist, and kissed him again.

The camera here just showed the better half of Schwitz's face. After a long time, Demi Moore was not satisfied. She pulled Schwitz towards her and tried to make her face appear in the frame.

Schwitz was pulled forward by her, and then the two hugged each other and fell on the sofa.

Schwitz exerted force, and Demi Moore's legs clamped tighter. Although it was not long after giving birth, Demi had resumed exercise and maintained good muscle lines on her legs.

"Cut!"

Ronald called a halt at the right time. Actually, the sofa was a three-seater sofa. Demi Moore was lying straight down, using her knees to exert force.

Knowing that Schweitzer had knee problems, it would be troublesome if the wrong posture triggered a recurrence of the old injury.

"Very good, you can leave work early today." Ronald consulted with the director of photography Adam Greenberg, and then announced that the shooting was completed.

"Well, it's rare that the shooting is so smooth..." Adam Greenberg watched the wonderful performance of the two throughout the whole process, inserting his fingers into the hair and rubbing it, kissing each other's earlobes, etc., and when it was about to enter the climax of the passionate scene, Ronald suddenly called a halt. He was actually a little reluctant.

"Tomorrow we will shoot the formal passionate scene. Except for the people on the list, no one else can enter the shooting site. Everyone, please pay attention to the requirements on your shooting list..." The second assistant director began to distribute the shooting arrangements.

"Now work overtime to send it to Paramount's printing factory. I will watch the sample tomorrow morning and then decide the next shooting direction. In addition, call Lindsay Dolan for me. I will watch it with her tomorrow...

Ronald said to his assistant, the fat girl Lake, who is now Ronald's assistant in non-filming matters on the set.

"I'll call Mr. Niceta right away..." Lake has made rapid progress recently, and she is almost getting to know the ecosystem of Hollywood.

...

"Ronald, I heard you shot a few good scenes yesterday?" Paramount's executive producer, Lindsay Dolan, rushed to the internal screening room of Paramount Pictures next to the studio early the next morning.

Last night, I worked overtime to print the samples of Ronald's pottery, passion scenes, and other plots that he shot two days ago, and then sent the samples to the two bosses for review.

"Yes, this is exactly what I need to talk to you about, but you watch the samples first, and then tell me what you think..."

The record of Unchaed Melody was played on the speakers at the scene, and with the silent samples, it kept spinning, kissing, stroking hair, and finally fell on the sofa.

Lindsay Dolan's interest was all on Schwitz's strong erector spinae muscles on the back. She wanted to turn into Demi Moore and use her thighs to clamp Schwitz's sexy waist.

"What do you think?"

"Ah? Oh?" ​​Lindsay Dolan came back to her senses, "You are really a master of filming love between men and women, it's just... your When Harry Met Sally, the part where Harry proposed to me made me cry..."

"I'm asking you, does this passionate scene look good?" Ronald interrupted the flattery.

"Need I say that? I've watched this part..." Lindsay Dolan said embarrassedly, patting Ronald's thigh.

"I mean, if you think this clip can satisfy the inner imagination of female audiences, I won't shoot the real passionate scene on the bed. This is the Make Love clip in this movie."

"Why?" Lindsay Dolan was very sorry. She wanted to continue watching, but she was a senior executive of Paramount after all, and guessed what Ronald meant.

"Ghost" is a movie with a PG-13 rating. The MPAA rating is a comprehensive scoring process, including exposure, violence, foul language, etc., all scored by specialists.

Then the rating of the entire movie is a comprehensive one. In addition, Paramount's position as a director in the MPAA can also gain some space. But in general, the tolerance of the PG-13 rating is limited.

More nudity here, less violence there, or frightening scenes.

Ronald knew that there were many violent scenes in the later scenes of Sam being assassinated by the killer hired by Carl and becoming a ghost. And those scenes that require visual effects are a bit bloody and scary.

Since here, the link of rendering Molly and Sam's inseparable love can be solved with this relatively mild exposure of the male upper body and kissing scenes, then some points can be earned for the real climax scene later.

Moreover, this movie is essentially a love movie, not a love movie. The very intimate love between the two protagonists, which is conveyed to the audience and is enviable, does not necessarily have to be expressed with bed scenes.

If the current shots of pottery, interlaced fingers, hugging in the room, spinning, and various hints and metaphors can satisfy female audiences, it is better to stop here and not shoot more passionate scenes in the bedroom.

In that case, it may even lower the tone of the entire movie.

"Okay, I totally agree," Lindsay Dolan believed in Ronald's judgment, "but can you not tell them and let them still act according to the script..."

...

After getting Lindsay Dolan's support, Ronald decisively abandoned the bedroom scenes. Visual art can have a high-level expression method, and he believes that his treatment can arouse the audience's appreciation more than naked passion.

He did not agree to Lindsay Dolan and let the uninformed actors continue to act. (This is the bad taste of many Hollywood directors, who always let beautiful actresses complete the passionate scenes that will not be edited into the final version)

Instead, he notified Whoopi Goldberg and started shooting the second act of the film.

Molly and Sam went to Broadway to watch a play. On the way back, they were robbed at knifepoint by a robber. In order to protect Molly, Sam was stabbed to death. This segment will be shot on location in New York in the last week of filming.

Now in the studio in Los Angeles, in the subsequent plot of the film, Patrick Schweitzer's Sam will always appear as a ghost. Whoopi Goldberg's psychic also appears in this scene.

Because Sam is a ghost, he cannot communicate with humans. He will automatically pass through things when he touches them, and he can't touch anything. No one can hear him talking. Only the psychic played by Whoopi Goldberg can hear him talking for some reason.

Therefore, Goldberg's character Oddme will become the medium between Sam and the real world, fulfilling his last wish on his behalf, protecting Molly from being deceived by his "friend" Carl (who is actually a bad guy who launders money and hired a killer to stab Sam to death).

"His makeup should be whiter, so that the audience can visually distinguish him from normal people." Ronald told the makeup artist about the makeup requirements for Patrick Schweitzer.

"Use more positive light, I need some paleness..." Then he told the lighting team.

"When you handle the ground marks, you need to take photos and archive them, and then try to keep Schwytz's position consistent in every scene..." The final explanation was given to the camera team.

Many of the scenes of Sam's ghost require the introduction of visual special effects. Sometimes the same scene needs to be shot in different numbers, using techniques similar to multiple exposures to make Sam appear and disappear out of thin air. This requires precise shooting. position.

Now when it comes to actual shooting, the more careful we are in handling it, the more manpower and time we can save in the subsequent alignment and special effects processes. The effect achieved will be better.

But no one had experience, so Ronald could only make rough preparations, then cross his fingers and pray for everything to go well.

…

"A!"

Patrick Schwytz sat in a chair at a round table whose interior was set up as a séance. Whoopi Goldberg is wearing a gold-fringed top and playing tricks.

She plays Odme, a fake psychic who deceives her clients by using cold reading techniques.

For example, a widow comes to ask for the spirit of her dead husband to appear on Odme. She wants to know where an important insurance policy is kept.

Odeme kept talking about a lot of rules for seance. There are many people in heaven. It depends on whether his late husband will pay attention to his wife's request here.

Odme said she felt her late husband's vibrations, and the widow automatically said her husband's name - Julio.

Odme is saying that he is handsome...it doesn't matter if he is not handsome, anyone who talks nonsense about heaven will become beautiful...

And the ghost played by Patrick Schwytz was just there to make jokes, saying that Odmee was unreliable, but no one heard it anyway.

"That's bullshit..." Schwytz delivered the line.

"Who's talking? Who's talking? Julio?" Whoopi Goldberg stood up and asked loudly to the empty place in surprise.

"Can you hear it? Can you hear me?" Sam found that Odmee could hear his complaints.

"Cut!"

"Let's do it again..." Ronald noticed that Whoopi Goldberg bumped the chair, and the accident was handled well. He asked the director of photography to do it again, which would facilitate editing, and he was also using a more conservative acting method as an insurance policy.

"A!"

"What nonsense..." Schwytz still said the same line.

"Ah..." Whoopi Goldberg suddenly shouted, squatting on the chair and holding his shoulders, "Who is talking there? Who is talking?"

"Cut!"

Ronald was very surprised. The second one was that Whoopi Goldberg's acting method was completely different from the first one. He didn't call it off, but let her have her way. Actors sometimes get inspired and perform better than the first one.

"Very good, let's do it again..." Ronald thought happily. Whoopi Goldberg's acting skills are really strong, no wonder Schwytz strongly recommended it.

"A!"

"What nonsense..."

"Who's talking there?"

Article 3: Whoopi Goldberg's acting style is different from the previous two times. She stood up and walked towards the gap, as if she thought it was an assistant who was complaining and wanted to ruin her job. Find out and wait for someone to take care of her. Teach a lesson.

"Cut!"

Ronald is still satisfied. The different acting methods every time give Schwytz a new excitement every time. In this way, every performance he performs is very real and original.

This is a typical performance master's method, which is different every time, reasonable every time, and can fully mobilize the cooperating actors to give the best performance.

The only shortcoming is that Whoopi Goldberg moves in a different direction, speed, and speed every time, which makes it difficult to edit.

Ronald finally realized what Walter Murch reminded him, that actors who are too original and whose plays are too good are not entirely a good thing for filmmaking.

Moreover, acting like this makes the visual effects a lot more difficult. The movements are different every time and it is difficult for them to find the right position.

"Can you repeat the performance from the last few times?" Ronald went over and chatted with Whoopi Goldberg.

"Dear director, I really want to listen to you, but every performance I perform is from the heart and unique. I forget it immediately after the performance. My emotions are different every time. There is no way to repeat me. performance.”

"Hiss..." Ronald curled his lips. Is this a show-off, to give yourself some color, or is this really her habit in filming?