Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"Professor Scorsese? I'm your student, and I'm taking your classic film appreciation class." Ronald unexpectedly found an acquaintance in Pia's living room.

"Marty, this is the Ronald I told you about. He's now directing commercials for Gerald's daughter." Isabella walked over and took Scorsese's arm.

"It turns out that her husband is her teacher." Ronald thought to himself, and almost made a fool of himself again.

Isabella showed a naughty smile, then went to the kitchen to bring Scorsese a plate of Italian meatballs, and let him eat in the living room.

Marty ate and talked to Ronald, "I'm sorry, Ronald, I'm busy with my new film now and don't have time to go to Tisch for classes."

"I remember your new film was shot in Los Angeles before. I heard about it from Mr. Roger Corman. I think I happened to be back in New York at that time."

"Roger gave me the opportunity to direct a feature film for the first time. The recommendation letter he wrote for you compared you to my younger self. After confirming with me, New York University immediately accepted you."

"Mr. Corman praised me too much," Ronald heard Scorsese's recommendation letter, "Thank you Mr. Scorsese for your recommendation."

"No," Scorsese forked another meatball into his mouth, "Roger is a very old-fashioned person. He won't lie in the recommendation letter."

"Watch more classic movies. All my tricks for making movies are learned from old movies." Scorsese finished eating the meatball, and Isabella brought him another glass of wine.

"Roberto may have to go back to Italy. His film was banned in Italy, so the American distributor cancelled the plan to release it in the United States."

"It's a pity. His comedy talent is rare." Scorsese took a sip of wine and said slowly, "His comedy is similar to Bucks Keaton. The language requirements are not so high, and it can have a global influence."

"Ronald, my father is looking for you." Helen waved over there and called Ronald over.

After greeting the Scorsese couple, Ronald walked over and saw Gerald Slater again. This time he wore a brown coat and light-colored pants. At first glance, he was a successful man with a successful career. His clothing taste is really good, I can learn from him in the future.

"Mr. Slater." Ronald came over to say hello.

"You go and have fun. I'll talk to Ronald." Gerald sent Helen away and walked to the balcony with Ronald. The two talked about Helen's advertisement.

"I just finished the second day of shooting and am editing now." Ronald poured a glass of soda water. "Helen seems to have a better effect on Karen Carpenter's songs, but the copyright of the Carpenter band's cover songs may be very expensive?"

"Most of Carpenter's songs are covers of old songs. It won't be expensive for us to buy the cover rights of the original version. But I don't want Helen to go the way of a singer. This road is too hard." Gerald talked about his plans for his daughter's acting career. "I have helped her contact ABC's "After School Time" series, and she can star in an episode next year."

"This father really paved all the way for his daughter, but the daughter may not listen to you when she grows up." Ronald thought to himself.

"Well, I will edit this version of the advertisement based on the footage of Helen playing and singing jazz music. Then I will send the finished master tape to your secretary Stella for review."

Gerald nodded, indicating that he had nothing to do here.

The scale of this party was much smaller than the last time. It was mainly Pia and some of Isabella's connections in New York, plus some relatives of Bergman's first two marriages.

Ronald watched the high-level gathering of New York TV stations on one side and the Italians in the New York literary and artistic circles on the other side. He could not get a word in either side and was ready to leave.

"Wait a moment, my mother said she wanted to thank you in person. The drink you recommended to her made her feel much better." Pia saw Ronald saying goodbye and asked him to wait a moment before leaving.

"Ronald, thank you for your gift. When I feel uncomfortable now, I drink a small cup of the drink you gave me, and I can sleep at night."

Half an hour later, after Ingrid Bergman greeted the guests, she specially called Ronald to the lounge and thanked him in person.

"You don't have to do this, Ms. Bergman. This is the recipe my aunt gave me. I am very happy that it is useful to you."

"I don't know how to thank you. Since the second operation last year, my body has always been out of control." Bergman spoke English with an interesting Swedish accent, which the American audience especially liked.

"My aunt Karen is a loyal fan of yours. I wonder if I can get her an autographed photo. I think she would be very happy."

"Of course," Ingrid Bergman asked her daughter Isabella to bring a standard photo of herself and signed it, "Dear Karen, thank you for your ginger drink. It makes me feel great." Then she handed the photo to Ronald.

"Mother, the biographer is here again. Do you want to see her?" Pia asked when she pushed the door open.

"No, they are just interested in my private life. I don't want to put my private life in front of all Americans. They did it once thirty years ago. I don't want to do it again."

"But mother, you have more fans in America. They all want to read the biography you personally approved. In addition to your love life, they are also very interested in the filming process of many classic movies. For example, Casablanca, which everyone loves here."

"She is out there. If you don't want to write a biography, you can at least talk to her and hear her views on the American publishing market." Pia also wanted to fight for it. I think this kind of conversation has been held many times.

"I can meet her, but don't mention the biography."

"Mother, you are always so stubborn on this matter. Ronald, are you a fan of my mother's movies?"

"Of course, I watched a lot of old movies starring Ms. Bergman in my film and television appreciation class, but there are very few copies of her movies shot in Europe, so I haven't seen them yet."

"Then do you want to see my mother's autobiography?"

"Pia, you are always so stubborn..." Bergman interrupted Pia's attempt to circumvent Ronald, and then both mother and daughter laughed. The genetic tendency of stubbornness was also obvious.

"Can I ask why Ms. Bergman doesn't want to publish her autobiography?" Ronald was a little confused.

Pia gave Ronald a wink and told him not to bring up the subject.

"It doesn't matter, this was common knowledge 30 years ago, Ronald worked in the film industry, it was no secret to him."

Bergman began to describe why she disliked publishing her autobiography.

It turned out that Pia was the daughter of Ingrid Bergman and her first husband. In 1949, Ingrid Bergman took the initiative to go to Italy and shoot Roberto Rossellini's movie. As a result, the two of them had a long-term relationship. fell in love and gave birth to a son the following year.

Bergman divorced her first husband and left young Pia in America. This was a deviant thing in the 1950s. Some American politicians took advantage of the situation and branded Bergman as a bad role model for women. The Senate passed a resolution condemning Bergman.

As a result, Bergman stayed away from Hollywood. It was not until 1957 that she starred in "The False Princess", and she appeared on the American screen again.

After her parents divorced, Pia went to Italy to live with her mother for several years, so their relationship as mother and daughter, and her relationship with her two half-sisters, were still very good.

"So, my mother didn't like her personal affairs being used as a topic. She felt that writing an autobiography would give them another opportunity. This would be detrimental to the children. They would be accused of being the children of an unruly woman. In America, In the eyes of conservatives, it is also a sin.”

"So that's how it is." Ronald understood Ingrid Bergman's concerns. Although it was already 30 years ago, people of Ronald's generation had seen many old Bergman movies on TV. , but I don’t know anything about this old incident.

Pia kept winking at Ronald and asking him to say a nice word.

Ronald put himself in Bergman's shoes and thought about it. This idea was actually a bit wishful thinking. When rumors came, turning a blind eye was certainly one way to do it, but it also had flaws.

"Ms. Bergman, if you don't write an authoritative autobiography to clarify the truth, your children will not be able to clarify those rumors. They will all say that children tend to cover up for their parents."

"Yes, mother. If there is an autobiography that you personally identify, we can take it out and tell the public that this is the true truth. My mother is not that kind of person. What you said are all rumors."

Ingrid Bergman stayed for a while, and then said to Ronald: "What you said makes sense, Pia, please ask the biographer to come in and talk. Maybe I should leave an autobiography."

Ronald said goodbye and went out with a signed photo of Bergman addressed to his aunt.

"Ronald, wait for me." Helen also ran out of the room and ran into the elevator.

"Aren't you going with your father?"

"No, I will return to my mother tomorrow." Helen pressed the elevator button.

Gerald stuck his head out and said, "Helen, let me send you away. Don't bother Ronald."

Helen pressed the door-closing button, "I've already agreed with him that you don't need to send him away." The elevator door closed before Gerald came over and started to go down.

"Can you take me back to my mother's house in Long Island?" Helen held Ronald's arm in the elevator and begged softly, "I don't want my father to go to my mother's house. They will quarrel as soon as they meet. For me, for my brother, They also quarreled over their new partners.”

When Helen begged and hugged her arms again, Ronald thought of Antonia and Elizabeth Sue, whose parents were also divorced... Why are there so many divorced families now? Is it a showbiz problem, or is the divorce rate in America ridiculously high?

"Stop shaking my arm. I'll take you to Long Island, but you have to show me the way. I'm not familiar with it."

Send Helen home and greet her mother. Helen's mother is a lawyer and an anti-nuclear protester. She doesn't have much affection for people in the film and television industry. She only thanked her verbally and didn't invite Ronald in to sit down.

After waving goodbye to Helen, Ronald found a phone booth and thanked Roger Coleman in Los Angeles.

I didn’t know that Coleman’s recommendation letter praised me so much and compared me to Scorsese. It seemed that the recommendation letter was the most important factor for me to be admitted.

"Hey, is it Ronald? I was just looking for you. Great news. The rental fees for Rock and Roll High School in New York exceeded 1 million. You made money. Of course, this also means that I made more money. Money, hahaha..."