Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"Welcome, Francis..." Ronald stood at the entrance of the garden, where guests got off the car, to welcome Coppola. The two hugged and kissed each other warmly, just like when Coppola entertained Ronald at home.

He walked through the garden with Coppola and his current assistant, his daughter Sofia, and took them to the reception room. The little girl back then is now an 18-year-old girl, looking at Ronald with wide eyes and curiosity.

"Diane, my little Diane..." Coppola greeted Diane in the reception room enthusiastically, especially when he saw the espresso brought by the other party, a smile appeared on his face, "Ronald, who would have known...you were still on the set back then...Hmm? Hmm..."

After drinking half a sip of coffee, Coppola swallowed it again. "Ronald, I really need your help this time..."

"Sophia, I have some delicious food here..." Diane saw Coppola's daughter Sofia curl her lips when she drank coffee, knowing that it was not done well again, and quickly took out persimmons from Kumamoto Prefecture to entertain her.

"What can I do for you? I heard from Nick (Nicholas Cage) that the third part of your Godfather has already started filming, and it's very busy..."

"Hey, Ronald, you are also a film director now. How many times have you heard that after the filming of a movie has started, the heroine has not been determined yet?"

Coppola sighed and talked about the purpose of this visit.

In fact, after filming The Godfather, he didn't want to make the second part, but he took over the second part because he needed money to make the movie he wanted to make. After that, he always said that there would be no third part of The Godfather.

But after entering the 1980s, Coppola seemed to have lost his touch of public aesthetics. From an artistic point of view, the movies he made were all fine works. As a director, he could also learn a lot of innovative techniques, but the box office was always low.

After encountering several big loss movies in succession, Coppola not only lost his own Zoetrope Film Company, but also exchanged his family's real estate and wine estate for high-interest loans. In short, he always had big financial problems.

The Godfather Part III, which will start shooting at the end of this year, is simply a work for him to pay off his loans and make a fortune financially. Fortunately, the audience still likes to watch the stories of the Godfather family, and they look forward to what interesting stories will happen when Michael reaches his father's age.

However, the positioning of this movie is a tool for Coppola and Paramount to make money, so there were many problems from the beginning.

Originally, in the first movie, Michael's eldest brother Sonny was shot by a competitor, and in the second movie, the second brother Fred was killed by the new Godfather Michael because he was a traitor. In the third movie, if we look at the structure of the movie trilogy, the most convenient thing is to let Tom Hagen, played by Robert Duvall, who is like the godson of the old Godfather, oppose Michael's death in the third movie.

In this way, the structure can perfectly echo, and the cruelty and ruthlessness within the Mafia family and the torture of Michael falling into hell are well expressed.

However, Coppola went for the salary of 6 million and the box office share. Al Pacino, Diane Keaton and other actors in the first two movies also went for similar salary conditions.

Especially the indispensable Al Pacino, who also received a salary of 6 million plus a share of the profits. He had also failed at the box office before, and only the Godfather series could offer him the salary of a first-line male star.

But this annoyed Robert Duvall. Paramount and Coppola only gave him a salary of 1 million US dollars. And advised him to act in the film even if the salary was low for the completeness of the trilogy. Robert Duvall felt insulted. His acting skills and the importance of the role must not be so much lower than Pacino's, right?

As expected, the two sides broke down in the talks. Coppola would not invite another star with a salary of 6 million US dollars. He would rather modify the script and write out the important role of Tom Hagen in the first two films.

Of course, Ronald also understood this approach. As a businessman, sometimes you do have to consider the issue of profit. After all, Coppola is not like himself. There is no problem with the finances. If it is just for an artistic period, he will definitely let Duvall appear.

So, such things happened repeatedly in the crew of the third Godfather. Coppola always cuts off those famous actors who need high pay, and replaces them with newcomers with potential and image, or old actors who are out of fashion but have good acting skills.

For the most important female role in the third film, Michael's daughter Mary, Coppola took a fancy to several new actors discovered by Ronald.

In fact, at the beginning, Coppola had an ideal candidate, the Polish model and actress Rebecca Schaeffer. But in July this year, unfortunately, she was followed to her home and shot to death by a fanatical fan.

This incident made Coppola very passive. Although the actress was Jewish, she looked a bit like an Italian woman. Now that she has unfortunately passed away, he can only look for actresses who have acting skills, have received good reviews for the movies they have filmed, and will become popular after the release.

There are not many such actors. Coppola took a fancy to two candidates, both of whom are related to Ronald. One is Winona Ryder, the heroine of "Heathers", which he invested in. The second is Julia Roberts, who is still filming "Pretty Woman".

"Hey, you know what, Coppola has a good eye..." Ronald suppressed his smile. This is a good thing, participating in the third part of the Godfather is a good opportunity for any actress to increase her popularity.

Winona Ryder was his first choice. She is currently filming the movie Meraids, which is directed by Cher. She has black hair and is relatively quiet, which is very suitable for the role of the daughter of an Italian father and a white mother.

But her agent doesn't want her to star in Coppola's movie right away, because Coppola has not been very good at promoting actresses in recent years. Moreover, the agent has already talked her into a new movie "Edward Scissorhands" by Tim Burton, the director of Batman.

The same is true for Julia Roberts. After finishing filming Pretty Woman, she will soon co-produce Ftlers, a psychological horror film, with her boyfriend Kiefer Sutherland.

Coppola wants to work with either of the two, but Paramount is impatient with his habitual overspending. The budget of the movie has risen to 45 million and is expected to exceed further. They gave Coppola an ultimatum. If he is still unsure about the heroine, he will use the one with the best publicity effect...

Famous singer Madonna!

"Puff..." Ronald almost spit out the tea in his mouth when he heard about this candidate.

"That's right, Mary plays Diane Keaton's daughter in the movie, how can Madonna do it..." Coppola immediately agreed. He glanced at Diane Lane who was happily chatting with her daughter next to him. In fact, she was the most suitable for this role, if she wasn't pregnant...

Ronald understood Coppola's intention. According to the law and rules, he could not contact the two actresses directly. But their agents actually saw the potential of the two actresses and didn't want them to play the third part of the Godfather. When the new movie is released, it should be the Godfather III that will take advantage of their popularity.

However, Hollywood is full of ways to bypass the rules. Ronald is a very suitable candidate to directly convey the message to the actors themselves. And he has an outstanding reputation in the industry. The actors may not trust Coppola, but they definitely trust him.

Ronald thought about it. In any case, starring in the sequel of "The Godfather" would not have any negative impact on the actresses. And Coppola might fail in other movies, but he would never fail in the Godfather. This is a lot of things about his Italian family.

After agreeing to pass on the message, Ronald sent Coppola and his daughter Sofia away, and Ronald looked at Diane beside him.

"I don't regret it... Hehe... I have played the leading role in three movies with him." Diane smiled and said that she would not be disappointed because she missed the role because of pregnancy.

Ronald hugged Diane gently, and then started to call Richard.

...

"Hi... Cher..." Ronald agreed to speak to Coppola and flew to the Great Lakes region of Texas. Winona Ryder was filming "Mommy and Daughter" with Cher.

When he arrived at the crew, Ronald felt that the atmosphere was not right. This is also a movie released by Orion, and the director is responsible for all the artistic parts, and the company does not interfere much. But on the set, Cher was bossy and overshadowed director Richard Benjamin.

For a while, Ronald couldn't tell who was the director.

"Ronald, you're here. That's great. I'm really pissed off. I had set my expectations too high when I was working with you. This crew is really, far below your level."

"You weren't an Oscar winner at that time, so of course you were much less arrogant." Ronald complained in his heart. After learning some of the situation, he found that Cher was no longer the outdated star she was when she was filming Moonlight.

Now she really doesn't like anything, and she also complained that the original heroine didn't look like her daughter. Finally, she invited Winona Ryder to come and she calmed down.

During the filming, she repeatedly interfered with the director, and she had to look at every shot and say OK. She was a real drama tyrant.

Ronald brought the message to Winona Ryder, and Winona Ryder really didn't know about Coppola's invitation from her agent. She had the opportunity to play the daughter of Al Pacino and Diane Keaton, so of course she agreed without hesitation.

The agent was shocked on the spot and asked her where she got the news. Winona Ryder just said that she heard gossip from people on the crew and asked the agent if this happened. This of course hit the agent's sore spot, and he had no choice but to agree to call Coppola.

Coppola had actually seen Winona Ryder's audition footage through informal channels, so although there was still an audition procedure, she had actually gotten the role of Mary.

"Ronald, tell me, is it better for me to think this way..." Cher ran to Ronald again to reason with her. She had a new idea and rejected the director's previous shooting method.

"I have to rush back soon. I've been running a lot recently. I have to accompany Diane..." Ronald quickly blocked her. If this matter was involved, not only would the director hate her, but Cher's level was not enough to play the role of director. Don't blame yourself when the time comes.

Back in Los Angeles, Ronald began to urge the progress of "Ghost". The special effects were slower than expected. A little positioning error during shooting would take thousands of times more time to correct later.

If this continued, there would be no finished film by the end of the year. Ronald convened a meeting of three special effects directors, and everyone said that now was the result of the engineers' full efforts. It was impossible to speed up the progress.

After looking through the work schedules of various engineering teams, Ronald couldn't say anything. It is true that every team uses engineers to the limit. It is impossible to let them work overtime every day, right? Even if I am willing to pay an excess salary, the film special effects union will not agree. They are affiliated with powerful unions like the Teamsters Union.

"Is there any way to speed up the process?" Ronald asked.

“Unless…” the three directors hesitated, “unless the assassination scene is reshot. Now that we have experience, we can more accurately locate Patrick Schwytz’s location.

"That's not impossible. I'll contact Patrick and Demi..." There were only the two of them and an assassin actor in this scene. Ronald went ahead and picked up the phone to coordinate with Richard.

"I didn't expect him to be so easy to talk to..." The three directors murmured. Many Hollywood directors are actually biased against computer special effects and are absolutely unwilling to reshoot a movie in order to match the post-production special effects on computers. In the eyes of many "old-school" directors, this is tantamount to admitting that they have made a mistake.

"Very good, they agreed. We need to sum up our experience this time. I estimate there will be many special effects shots like this in the future..." Ronald settled the situation with the actors and came back to chat with several special effects directors. Not many people in Hollywood understand this kind of experience in combining real-life shooting with computer special effects.

"Ronald, can you talk to Director Coppola... I really want to make The Godfather Part 3, but my agent didn't tell me before..."

Back home, Julia Roberts also called and, relying on her friendship with Ronald during the earthquake, she coquettishly wanted to appear in The Godfather Part III.

Julia Roberts was also on Coppola's shortlist as a backup. There is a problem with her schedule. After finishing Pretty Woman, she will soon start filming a new movie with her boyfriend.

She knew that the schedule put her at a disadvantage, so she had to come and ask Ronald, the middleman.

"I can't influence Director Coppola, he is the godfather..."

"Ah, is there any way?"

"Keep hope and cross your index fingers..." Ronald also didn't expect that the character of Mary would have such high recognition among actresses. It seems that the Godfather series has such a high status in their hearts.

"That's the godfather..."

Even Madonna got the news. Somehow she found out that she recommended Winona Ryder and Julia Roberts as two major candidates, and called to harass Ronald.

"Which company filmed The Godfather?" Ronald felt that Madonna was too persistent. Although she was Italian, she didn't look like an Italian woman at all, and she was too old.

"Paramount?" Madonna was confused by the question. She asked her assistant and confirmed.

“Who directed The Godfather?”

"Francis Ford Coppola..."

"You have the wrong person, Madonna. Do you think I have the ability to influence Paramount and Coppola?" Ronald smiled and hung up the phone.

Madonna held the phone and heard the busy signal on the receiver. For a moment, she felt that Ronald's logic was impeccable.

"It seems so...keep looking for me someone. I want to play the heroine of The Godfather, and that's the Godfather!"