Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"If you ask me, she is not suitable to sing the jazz invented by us black people." Spike pointed to the issue of music style, "She should sing the pop music of your white singer Karen Carpenter."

"Yes, Helen's vocal range is narrower, which is actually suitable for Carpenter's songs." Photographer Dixon also said the same. "When she sings black songs with a wide vocal range, she actually needs to mobilize her body to sing in order to sing with strength in the high range. , but that would cause Helen’s body to become tense and not relaxed enough, and her true colors would not come out.”

Ronald thought for a while, and it seemed like this was the case, "In this way, next time I ask her to sing a Carpenter song, and you record it quietly while Helen is rehearsing, I always feel that she is acting deliberately."

"Helen, can you sing Carpenter's songs?" Ronald walked to the piano and asked Helen across the piano as she returned to the piano bench after taking a break.

"Of course, she's my favorite singer."

"Sing one of her songs and find out the feeling."

"Okay, which one do you want to listen to?" Helen was obviously a huge fan of Karen Carpenter.

"Sing the song that your heart most desires to sing right now," Ronald said.

"Why do birds suddenly appear?

Whenever you're around?

Just like me, they long for

Close to you

Why do stars fall from the sky

Whenever you walk by?

Just like me, they long for

Close to you"

Helen played the piano and sang Karen Carpenter's old song "To You." Her vocal range was higher, and her starting hand was an octave higher than Carpenter's, but her voice was still as beautiful. .

Photographer Dickinson gave Ronald a wink, indicating that the rehearsal footage had been recorded.

"Okay, very good. Just sing with this feeling. Don't lean towards jazz."

"Recording? Camera? A!"

…

This time the effect is much better than before.

After Ronald sent Helen and Darcy out of the door of Lincoln Center and asked Darcy to drive her home. Ronald ran into the shooting scene quickly, "Dickinson, Dickinson, let me see, how is the recording of that Carpenter song?"

Photographer Dickinson called up the playback, and Ronald took a closer look. The black and white picture had a low resolution and was a little flickering, but Helen's body posture in the picture did relax a lot, and she sang her favorite song, her Emotions are also expressed more abundantly and naturally.

"Just use this song? Tomorrow we will reshoot the slogan that Helen said to the camera."

"It's jazz in the script, of course you can make them change it." Spike Lee knew some of Helen's background. Her father was the third most powerful executive in a national television station.

"The cover copyright of Karen Carpenter's songs is not cheap, right?" Ronald thought about the issue of cover copyright again.

Spike and Dickinson looked at each other, unaware of the cost of copyrighting songs to be used in movies or commercials.

Ronald, who realized he had asked the wrong person, waved his hand and simply ignored these questions. When you're done cutting it, show Gerald both the jazz and Carpenter versions and let them worry about it.

…

"Because Chewels taste better!" Helen received the new chewing gum handed to her by Spike, "awoke" from the frozen posture, and said the slogan.

The filming on the second day was still stumbling. Helen Slater always had a tendency to act deliberately. Ronald still used the old method of asking Dickinson to take secret photos during rehearsals. Helen behaved much more naturally during rehearsals.

Ronald began to truly understand the director's troubles. Actors' performance effects were unpredictable, and living people could not press a button like a machine and get an expected feedback.

No wonder that when Cameron was on the set of "Rock of Ages", he always rushed to the director's side to see how he trained, inspired, and corrected the actors' performances. He discovered the biggest challenge of directing early on and consciously strengthened his studies.

After the filming was completed, Ronald asked Spike Lee to go back and cut out two versions of Helen's playing, one for jazz and one for Carpenter's "Close to You." For the consideration of Helen's father and Darcy Maguire.

As for Ronald, today it was his turn to be the escort, sending Helen to a party with Ingrid Bergman's daughter Pia. Her father Gerald will also be here today.

"We have to go to CBS to pick up Ms. Bergman's daughter first." Helen sat in the passenger seat and said to Ronald after pulling on her seat belt.

"Which one?" Ronald didn't want to make the same mistake as last time.

"Hahaha." Helen also remembered the last time he was at Pia's house. He didn't know Isabella was Bergman's daughter, but said it was interesting that she could play Bergman's daughter.

"It's Isabella." Helen replied, "Not at the Blackstone Building, the CBS headquarters. Let's go to Mobile Street."

"Isn't Isabella working at CBS with her sister?" Ronald turned towards Little Italy.

"No, she works as the female anchor of a comedy news program on a small Italian TV station."

"Funny, news, how are these two words connected?"

"Hahaha, I find that you can always find the humor in life, Ronald." Helen kept laughing again.

"Maybe it's because your laughter point is low." Ronald complained softly.

"They are a small TV station, and their main subscribers are residents of Little Italy. The program is a rerun of CBS's weekly news in Italian, and then intersperses it with some Italian jokes."

"Do you understand Italian?" Ronald looked around at his destination, the Parker Building.

Mulberry means mulberry, and the whole street is named after a mulberry tree at a five-way intersection. This is the junction of Little Italy and Chinatown. On one side, Italians are communicating (arguing) loudly with their fingers together and palms up.

On the other side is an old man doing Tai Chi leisurely in Chinatown. An aunt wearing a uniform Mulan costume and dancing with a double-sided folding fan.

"I don't understand. I heard what Isabella said. But every time I come here, I admire New York's cultural diversity and tolerance." Helen also liked this contrasting picture.

"Yeah, maybe we can make a movie to reflect it."

Ronald parked the car, and the two walked into the dilapidated Parker Building, and walked up the two stairs. The unit in front of them was a yellow wooden door with a sign "Radiotelevisioaliana" - Italy broadcast and TV station.

Helen knocked on the door and entered.

"Oh, that's the contact point, or branch, of Italian Radio and Television in the United States." Isabella had just finished broadcasting "L'altra Donica," which means "Another Sunday." She answered Ronald's question as to why this humble studio had such a big name.

Italy's economic development is not as good as America's, and state-run institutions have less funding, making them relatively poor. This Italian radio and television station is a community television station based in Little Italy, Manhattan, New York. They are a station of the CBS Broadcasting Network.

"Oh, Isabella...", an Italian man with a very low career path came out of the studio and spoke a string of Italian quickly to Isabella.

Ronald and Helen looked at each other, confused.

"Roberto, these are my two young friends, Ronaldo and Helen." Isabella slowed down and introduced in English. "These are my co-hosts on the show Alternative Sunday, Roberto." "

"Welcome to Radiotelevisioaliana" Roberto had practiced this sentence quite well, and then he started to stutter in English again. This was something he asked Isabella to supervise. He needed to learn English while establishing himself in the American film and television industry.

"Isabella, you have to apologize to your husband on my behalf." Roberto jumped on the table and made a gesture of being shot, "My movie was opposed to the release by the Vatican. It’s not released in Italy anymore.”

"Roberto, I'm very disappointed." He used rich body language to make up for his lack of English ability. Roberto acted like he was shot and fell to the ground with his heart injured.

"Your husband can't be a big star in Italy. The Pope has destroyed the dream of Roberto, Isabella, Isabella's husband," Roberto got up and made a protest gesture, "Robert Beto, fight; Italy, government, surrender.”

"Roberto, disappointed, Italy, no money." Roberto made a gesture of counting money.

"Hollywood, don't like, Roberto, doesn't speak English."

"The movie is not showing in Italy." Roberto pretended to sit down and watch a movie. "It is not showing in Hollywood. It is showing in Americcon."

Then Roberto made a gesture with his fingers together and his palms facing up, "Roberto, I didn't mean to do it. Isabella, please forgive me, Roberto."

Isabella was also amused by his comedy talent, "Okay, okay, my husband didn't blame you. When you found him, his movie happened to be paused and he had free time to make a cameo."

"Really? Roberto, I feel very happy." Roberto made a funny salute gesture, and then stepped forward, "Hollywood, I don't like it, Roberto. Roberto, go back to Italy." "

"Oh, Roberto, do you really want to go back to Italy? I will miss you very much. Working with you to broadcast funny news is the happiest time for me."

Isabella hugged him goodbye, got in the car, and went to her sister Pia's house to attend a party with Ronald and Helen. This time it was on a smaller scale, mainly family members and close friends.

"Roberto Bernini is a very talented comedian. My husband admired him very much and agreed to play a cameo role in Roberto's film during the break in filming. Unfortunately, the film offended the Vatican. It was banned in Italy and the distributor refused to release it in America due to contractual reasons.”

"He is not recognized by Hollywood and is going back to Italy," Isabella said. "My husband admires him very much and thinks he is a rare comedy talent who should stay in America to develop."

"Is your husband a film director? His new film is about to be shot? What's its name?" Ronald heard Isabella talk about her husband's film several times and couldn't help but become interested. It's just a good time to ask the real director for advice on the actors' performance.

Isabella smiled again and said, "He is also Italian and will come today. You can ask him yourself then, right?"