Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"Hehehe..." Anthony Hopkins smiled at the first script reading meeting of The Silence of the Lambs.

"Ah..." Jodie Foster, the actress who had just come to Manhattan to participate in the rehearsal, was really scared. She felt goose bumps all over her body, and a kind of terror from the inside out rose from her heart.

In fact, whether in real life or in various film and television dramas she has starred in since childhood, Jodie Foster has encountered many perverted characters. But Anthony Hopkins still scared her.

Because this British actor, who is famous for playing Shakespeare's plays, speaks gently and his British accent has an elegant aristocratic accent. At the beginning, Jodie Foster was very happy to work with such a gentleman.

But Hopkins used such a gentleman's accent to say the creepy lines, and director Jonathan Demme liked this performance very much and did not mean to ask the other party to adjust.

Moreover, Anthony Hopkins was full of the "virtues" of British drama actors. He also began to pick on Jodie Foster's freckles, clothes, hairstyle, etc., and his words wandered between discrimination and rehearsal, which made Jodie very angry.

When Jodie Foster thought about acting with such a gentle pervert for a few months, she felt disgusted from the inside out. In the last movie "The Bourne Suicide Squad", which won her the Oscar for Best Actress, although the role she played was also treated badly, she knew clearly that it was acting. And this time, the male lead really gave her a terrible and irritable feeling...

After winning the Best Actress, Jodie Foster's agent's status in the industry soared. Not long after, he found Ronald at a small airport in New Jersey through Richard.

This is an airport very close to Manhattan, mainly for business jets and private jets to take off and land. Many bankers like to take off and land here, avoiding the crowds of JFK, and can also enjoy helicopter commuting with Wall Street in Manhattan.

Ronald chose this place because it was the parking place for Sony's latest Gulfstream aircraft. Someone from Sony's CEO's office personally sent him here and booked the best business suite at the Hilton Hotel near the airport for him to rest.

"Honey, I'll be on the plane in an hour. It's very convenient here." Ronald called Diane in the room to report his schedule, and the doorbell rang. "Ding Dong..."

"Richard is here to see me. There's something else going on with the crew. I'll hang up first. Love you..."

As soon as the door opened, Jodie Foster strode in...

"Ronald, can we talk privately?" Jodie Foster saw that Ronald lived in the best executive suite. Those here were not the presidents of large companies, Wall Street bankers, or the descendants of New York's wealthy. They were isolated from ordinary people and rarely appeared in public airports.

"Oh, okay... I still have some time..." Ronald gestured to Richard, who nodded and closed the door and left.

Jodie Foster looked at Ronald and tried to make the sexiest smile she thought. Her little face was very photogenic and she looked cute at ordinary times. Today, she deliberately didn't cover up the freckles with makeup, which added some charm.

Oscar Best Actress is a good honorary title, but it didn't help Jodie Foster's wealth increase much.

Ronald has seriously surpassed the class of ordinary successful Hollywood people and has reached another level. When I met Ronald at Yale, he was still driving himself. In just a few years, everything has changed.

"As an Oscar winner for Best Actress, I didn't get the respect I deserve in the crew..." Jodie Foster got straight to the point.

"What do you want? It's good for you to come to me directly like this. We have known each other for a long time. If you are not satisfied with anything, it's best to put it to me directly. I will satisfy your requirements if I can meet them..."

Ronald first used words to stabilize the other party, often saying that the best actress will be in decline for three years. Many female stars need various treatment upgrades after winning the best actress. The crew thinks the cost is too high and sometimes doesn't like to use it.

"My acting skills have been recognized, and you also appreciate my acting skills, so you recommended me to play the role, right?" Jodie Foster breathed a sigh of relief. Ronald's attitude clearly showed that he still remembered the relationship between him and her, so it was much easier to communicate.

"Of course, I always thought you were the best candidate for this movie..."

"So, I need the respect of the director and the leading actor. I am not one of those beauty pageant champions who just became an actor. I made my first movie when I was three years old, and I was nominated for my first Oscar when I was 14 years old... You don't have to mobilize my emotions in and out of the play like this. I can act well..."

Jodie Foster chattered, and she blamed Ronald for the fact that she was uncomfortable during the rehearsal when Anthony Hopkins used a frivolous attitude and suspected teasing behavior.

"Well..." Ronald thought Judy had some requirements for treatment, but he didn't expect it was because he didn't respect her enough in performance.

"Tell me, Judy, what do you think of Jonathan Demme's directing skills? Especially his Shotgun Lulu?"

"Very good, I like it very much..."

"Which do you think Melanie Griffith performed better in my Working Girl or in this Shotgun Lulu?"

"From the perspective of a commercial film, Tess in Working Girl is more in line with the needs of a star..." Jodie Foster is a top student at Yale, so it is easy to analyze her acting skills.

"Yes, I also think her performance in Shotgun Lulu is more explosive and more impressive. This is what Demme brought to her, and it also gave me a lot of inspiration from director Melanie. I think you can not trust Anthony, but you have to trust Jonathan.

You can communicate with him about anything, but you have to give him the final trust. He is a rare director who knows what the finished film will look like before shooting, just like..."

"Like Hitchcock? I see, I will talk to him..." Jodie Foster said, "But if there is such a thing, can I ask for your help?"

"Of course, you can call my agent at any time, and I will call back as soon as possible..." Ronald agreed. After all, the main job of the producer is to help these artists sort out their moods and mediate conflicts...

"Ronald, we haven't seen each other for a long time..." Jodie Foster achieved the purpose of this trip. At least she confirmed Ronald's attitude of attaching importance to her, so she touched Ronald's shirt on the chest with both hands and rubbed it up and down.

"Hi..." Ronald shook his right ring finger.

"Who here would know?" Jodie Foster offered a kiss. The unique temperament of a top student girl made Ronald lose his mind and kissed back.

"Sorry, I really have to catch a plane..." Ronald struggled for a while, saw the suitcase on the bed, and remembered that it was Diane who packed his luggage. After hesitating for a few seconds, he decided to be a good person and found an excuse to push Jodie away.

"Okay, I'll make time for you next time..." Jodie Foster felt the heat on her lips and thought that it seemed that her charm was still a little bit short... Now Kelly McGillis broke up with her, so why not find Yale alumni Jennifer Beals to join next time.

"Believe in Jonathan..." Ronald made a gesture of calling me and quickly sent her out of the room.

Flying back to Los Angeles, Ronald ran home. Diane asked Wang Ma to cook a table of dishes. The warmth of the family made Ronald feel that he had made the right decision.

Resuming the daily routine of going to the editing room from nine to five, a week later, Ghost's editing work soon reached a bottleneck. It was a bit of a waste of talent for Walter Murch to come to this movie. There was no difficulty. Except for the special effects shots, everything was edited.

Lindsay Dolan of Paramount asked for an internal preview of a rough cut without special effects. Ronald was a little unhappy, but he agreed.

This actually felt a bit distrustful to a director in Ronald's position. But Lindsay Dolan of Paramount spoke very appropriately. In her mouth, this was to let the people in Paramount's production department learn the combination of special effects movies and romantic love movies, and the difference from the science fiction movies with common special effects.

After watching it, although there were no special effects pictures, the whole movie still had a smooth narrative and sincere emotions. Whoopi Goldberg's comedy elements were also very funny.

"Great, as expected, you are good-looking when you make a shot. I like your love movies the most... Well, actually, it's my secretary and I's favorite movie. Every time they say that you are the director who understands women's psychology the most. It must be very happy to marry you... Hahaha..." Lindsay Dolan still speaks very well.

"So, you guys at Paramount still have different opinions?"

"Paramount's top management is starting to reshuffle again, and romance dramas are still facing challenges." Lindsay Dolan is now like Ronald's best friend at Paramount, and she knows everything about him.

Frank Mancuso, the CEO of Paramount who succeeded Michael Eisner, is making another round of moves. This is the only way to keep a CEO who has no ability in production while his subordinates continue to produce hit movies.

The romance film led by Lindsay Dolan has always been questioned a lot, and this time with the addition of special effects, it has received a lot of pressure at the high-level meeting. The main competitor accused Lindsay's film of unstable box office and a lot of thunder and little rain in the awards ceremony, without any gains.

Ronald has always been more economical in filming. The common feature between him and Jonathan Demme is that they know what they want to shoot before filming. Compared with other film directors at Fox Film, Ronald's film ratio is relatively low.

Ronald's ambition for the Oscar for Best Director is well known to everyone. Now his film is not shot in the direction of an ambitious director, and he does not shoot many takes repeatedly and then slowly edit them. So some people took the opportunity to criticize that Ronald's film could not help Paramount win the favor of reviews and awards.

In the past, many works that won the Oscar for Best Director used too many actors, and there were always clips that could be picked out by shooting more...Ronald's natural and smooth shooting method is like a director who knows what effect will be presented on the screen before shooting. Generally speaking, it is difficult to win the Best Director Award.

For example, the most famous Hitchcock has an interesting story that many of his shots were shot in one take. The actress was greedy and wanted to shoot a few more takes, but Hitchcock let her walk through the scene once and fooled her without turning on the camera.

"What's the problem? I saved costs?" Ronald didn't expect that the people at Paramount had such strange ideas. I made this movie mainly for commercial purposes, and then experimented with special effects. Besides, who can be as successful in business as in awards?

However, this was Frank Mancuso's deliberate favoritism. In fact, he didn't question Ronald. He probably let it slip intentionally or unintentionally, so that his subordinates could use it to attack Lindsay Dolan, a female producer who has been in the limelight in recent years. A bit too big.

Ronald didn't care about this, but when the actors heard the news, they felt a little stressed. Especially Demi Moore, she is very concerned about what Paramount executives think of her.

Ronald's status is solid, and his natural and smooth shooting style is unique. Even if Ghost fails at the box office, there will be no doubt about his directorial ability. Spielberg also made a failure like 1941 back then.

But the same cannot be said for Demi Moore. She has never proven her ability to be a heroine to ensure box office. If this movie fails, I am afraid she will be positioned as Bruce Willis's wife instead of Demi. And the Bruces.

Demi Moore was so anxious that she often made excuses to call Ronald. In order to prevent Ronald from thinking that she had no confidence in him, she also pretended to care about Diane and took the initiative to visit her and exchange many experiences.

Ronald cleared things up and told Demi Moore straight up that it had nothing to do with her performance. Anyway, Demi has no determination to become a movie queen. The so-called ability to direct performances does not hinder her desire to become a star.

"Look at Hitchcock, who is not a star in his movies?" In the end, this sentence convinced Demi Moore. She was so happy that she continued to run to Ronald and Diane's house.

"Don't use the same trick you used to lie to Demi to deal with me, Ronald, tell the truth, will there be any problems with this movie..."

Whoopi Goldberg also heard about this rumor and nervously contacted Ronald through his agent. She is black, ugly, and a capable actor who has made a name for herself entirely by relying on her comedy skills.

I don’t believe this statement at all. Was Hitchcock a famous star? It was a movie where only stars were cast to play him.

"What are you worried about? Walter Murch, who edited your film, and your heroic appearance on the film are all in the hands of the most professional people in Hollywood..."

To deal with this kind of people, you need to have different strategies. Whoopi Goldberg was relieved when she heard this. If editing master Murch can't cut her scene, then he should give up the idea of ​​becoming famous with this movie as soon as possible.

This little commotion quickly subsided. Ronald also knew that someone was behind the incident, but it was difficult to find out who it was. Anyway, there is a target in mind. Since it cannot be found out, it will be assumed that he did it.

This matter is only widely discussed in the actor circle. What is more widely circulated is the news that Ronald visited the sets of two films he and Orion jointly invested in Arrival. Soon word spread among Hollywood producers...

On this day, Ronald received a call from Disney’s Katzenberg.

"Ronald, you can't favor one thing over another, can you? Would you like to take a look at our beautiful women project?"

"Isn't this project going well?" Ronald thought to himself, and he didn't even hear what Garry Marshall said?

"The heroine is not just a problem with acting guidance. Gary is an experienced director and wants to solve the problem himself. However, after listening to the on-site production director's report, I still hope you can go and have a look..."

It seems that Ronald's reputation for solving problems neatly gave him a good reputation in the producer circle, and Katzenberg also came to ask for help, hoping that he could solve the problems of the crew.

"Let's go and have a look. We're filming in Los Angeles anyway, so we don't have to fly around..." Diane was still very interested in the script she almost acted in, and urged Ronald to go and have a look.