Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"This is influenced by

In fact, the boundary between parody and infringement is a bit blurred. There is actually controversy over whether this "Fighting Condor" plagiarized the backbone of "Top Gun" or whether it was a second creation with a mocking mentality.

The director of the movie is Jim Abrahams, who actually met Ronald. He is the partner of the Zach brothers, and in "Unprecedented and Unprecedented", three people are jointly signed as directors. The Zach brothers no longer want to direct this kind of spoof, but this time it's Jim Abrahams who takes the lead.

Copyright law stipulates that if you comment, criticize, or ridicule the original work, it falls under the category of "fair use" and does not constitute plagiarism, and does not require the permission of the original copyright holder.

"But they plagiarized the core of Top Gun, the fierce competition between pilots at the training base, the relationship with the female instructor, and the final climax..." Although Ronald also knew that it was indeed difficult to rule this matter illegal, but It's still a little tempering to have someone prank your favorite work like this.

"I said, man, there's not a single person in Hollywood who's going to testify for you. The writers and directors of the movie, who have such expertise and the judge is going to call expert witnesses, who are going to risk offending the entire comedian community to testify against you? "Bruckheimer also thought about suing, but all roads were blocked.

"I remember the principle of fairness, which requires ensuring that the market value of the original work is not damaged. Wouldn't such a spoof affect the sales of the Top Gun video tape?" Ronald followed the instructions on a piece of fax paper and asked from a different angle. Another form of litigation.

This was a cheat sheet sent to him from New York by attorney Lindsay Dole.

"Hey, I thought the same thing as you, but when the lawyer went to collect evidence, he found that the rental rate and sales of Top Gun this week had increased slightly. Many people have not watched Top Gun, and they heard that Fighting Condor is a spoof It's there, I want to borrow it to have a look..."

"shxt!" Although Ronald could still receive checks from Top Gun every quarter for the remaining dividends from his video tapes, the most important thing was that he was still feeling awkward.

…

Something even more embarrassing for Ronald was yet to come.

By Monday, the weekend box office tallies were in. Ronald's "other people's money", with the blessing of Harvard professors, increased to 7.8 million. The box office of a single theater is more than 4,000 US dollars, which is considered very good in a drama with such a slightly in-depth subject matter.

The box office of "Terminator 2" continued its weekly decline of 20%, closing at 7.6 million, which was surpassed by Ronald's new film.

But the number one box office hit was still the spoof "The Condor", which even surpassed 8 million, and was still above Ronald.

"Hey, how could you be defeated by such a movie?" Ronald held a barbecue party at home. Cameron and Linda Hamilton were invited to come along. He stopped pretending to be happy in front of Cameron. My results in the first weekend were not as good as those in the second week, which made my face not look good, so I sighed.

"Stop talking about you, my Terminator 2 cost so much, and now it's been overtaken by him.

The total investment in "Today's Condor" is just over 20 million, which is of course very high for a spoof film, but compared with serious movies, it is still a small and medium-sized production.

They didn't have the help of the US military, so they called in the "Flanders" fighter jets. The aircraft carrier's flight deck was built on a cliff in the desert.

But just by making do with the simplicity, the results actually made the audience laugh out loud. This rough effect goes well with the atmosphere of this spoof comedy.

To be honest, after seeing the box office results and the crudeness of the filming, Ronald began to wonder whether he should also follow suit and make this kind of movie. Instead of letting you prank me to make money, I might as well prank it myself. I'm fine on my own.

But thinking about my status as a commercial film, I really can’t bear to let my company produce a work that makes money by copying other people’s films.

"Why is your movie rated R?" Cameron didn't understand something and asked Ronald.

"Foul language and talking about relationships between men and women..." Ronald said calmly after taking a sip of beer and eating some barbecue.

"Can't this be edited?" Cameron was even more confused. Such a commercial-themed comedy movie is actually not the kind of exploitation film that relies on words and senses to stimulate the audience. On the contrary, the jokes in it are a bit advanced.

"If we re-edit, we need to reshoot key transitional plots. Several leading actors are unable to spare their schedules. In addition, if it has to be postponed to the off-season of October, the box office may be even worse, so I will not appeal again..."

"Hmph..." Cameron also wants to turn his Terminator into a PG-13, but he can only think about it. If a movie with such a violent aesthetic becomes a PG-13... "Is PAA making things difficult for you? "

"I can't say..." Ronald didn't want to go into the discussion. It involved a lot of conflicts and exchanges of interests. This time, someone was deliberately trying to make him feel a little sad.

But this was considered a minor issue, and Ronald didn't dwell too much on it. "Other People's Money" honestly won't lose much of its teenage audience just by downgrading its rating from pg-13 to R. They couldn't understand such a complicated plot.

"Establish your production company as soon as possible so that you can become a member of the Producers Association. When the next PAA election is held, we will work together to get a director seat."

PAA ratings are reviewed by anonymous parents. The several film studios that are formal members of the PAA certainly have a lot of room for internal operations. Some small and medium-sized producers are left to their own devices.

In addition to the traditional Hollywood Seven (United Arts was eliminated after bankruptcy), this year there are also several medium-sized producers such as Ambassador Pictures, Orion Pictures, De Laurentiis Pictures, and Shadow Road Pictures. These film studios suffered major blows after the stock market crash and interest rate hikes, and one after another went bankrupt and shut down.

If PAAs are controlled by large studios that control distribution channels, it will be more difficult for small and medium-sized producers to do business. The grading system is an important key to the distribution system. In many places, large companies with distribution rights can steadily use grading to manipulate you.

Therefore, the call for the introduction of new paa members who represent the interests of small and medium-sized producers has been very high in the past two years. During the next election, many small and medium-sized producers want to squeeze in, or join together to form an alliance to participate.

Ronald was also planning this, and Cameron himself was about to form his own production company. After his ex-wife Gale Hurd left, he mainly worked as a part-time director.

The success of "Terminator 2" allowed him to form his own team to participate in the filming of future movies.

"We must learn a lesson from this time. We will make more movies with PG-13 or above in the future. Now we can only look for the greatest common denominator when making movies, but we cannot find movies that suit the tastes of a small number of audiences." Ronald concluded.

"There must also be plots such as family, husband and wife, lovers, and children..." Cameron added. Try to focus more on family-friendly movies, which have the greatest box office potential.

"It is best to conform to the common values ​​​​of people around the world..."

…

Fortunately it's here

In this off-season, which is about to end in the summer, this result is enough for "Other People's Money" to at least top the box office list for a week, maintaining Ronald's consistent record.

"you

If senior viewers of NBC Channel 5 are careful, they will find that in this interview, the sofas where the two interviewers and the interviewee sat, and the furniture in the room are much more expensive and tasteful than those in ordinary hotels. There are some Chinese-style wooden furniture, which are very distinctive.

"Oh, I remember it was Douyu, right? I went with Matt Dillon and Nicolas Cage..." Diane wore a light yellow shirt, with her hair flowing behind her head, just like the one she had on the show back then. There is a big difference in the little girl's dress.

"Later there were clubs..." Bobbi Wygant also showed Diane two photos taken at that time.

"Yes, they are all Coppola's projects. Hahaha... Why was I so fat at the time..." Diane laughed. She appeared on two shows that year, but they both suffered huge box office failures and fell directly out of Hollywood actresses. of ranks.

"I have to say that I am very emotional about you then and you now. You were still a little girl at that time, and look at you now, you are a wife and a mother..."

"Ah, yes, a lot of changes..." Diane doesn't have any insecurities now. Compared with the tense look back then, he is much more relaxed.

"I heard that you and your husband, the director Ronald Lee, worked together on Coppola's crew?" Barbie Wygant came up with carefully prepared questions. This time, she came to the interview. She also wants a breakthrough in ratings.

"Ha, you are really well prepared..." Diane smiled.

"I did my homework. What was your impression of him at that time?"

"I had a secret crush on him at that time..."

"Do you have a crush on him? Why?"

"You look so handsome, hahahaha..."

"What impressed you most about him?"

"He plays table tennis well. He defeated all the male actors in the crew..."

"Getting back to the subject, do you think there is any difference when Ronald directs you compared to when Coppola directs you?" Barbie Wygant received strong sponsorship from Ronald this time, giving her a show in Dallas, Having secured sponsorship from Coca-Cola, I will definitely repay the couple in a big way this time. So the problem ultimately comes down to Diane's acting skills.

"Professional speaking, well, Director Coppola is more talented on the spot. He can discover the possibilities of your performance on the spot, and then let you do it again.

Ronnie is a director who prefers actors. He will create good opportunities so that actors can be free from any worries and give full play to themselves. Well, what's more, he usually doesn't take many takes. "

"Ah, when I interviewed Cher last time, she said the same thing. Is working with Ronald less stressful?"

"Yes, we, I mean the two leading men, Mr. Parker and Tom, both found the filming team to be loving and it was a pleasant experience."

"What do you think is the difficulty in performing your character Kate?"

"First of all, Kate is a Wall Street lawyer, and she has to be professional. I spent several weeks working with real female lawyers in New York to learn their speaking habits and clothing. At the same time, she is also a beautiful woman. I want to combine these two Find balance within...

As for acting, because I was lucky enough to work with two great actors, it was very enjoyable..."

"Thank you, Diane..." Bobbi Wygant ended the interview with a smile. She said everything that should be said. This time, Ronald spent a lot of money on his wife to pursue an Oscar nomination. . Anyway, I will cooperate as long as you pay. Dallas is not a very commercially developed city. With the sponsorship brought by Ronald, the influence of her program will be greatly improved.

"I asked Ronald to talk to you, haha, you can hear his side of things from him..." Diane stood up to call Ronald.

"Hey, happy women always behave stupidly..." Bobbi Wygant stopped her with a smile, saying that Mr. Ronald was busy, so he could just wait. What else can I say, I am following your husband’s wishes in this interview to improve your evaluation of your acting skills..."

Diane felt sorry and went to Ronald's study to visit. He was inside talking about Chinese films with his former assistant Yang Yanzi.

"This is interesting. The Mainland China's selection for the Oscar's Best Foreign Language Film was also starring an acquaintance of mine..."

Last year's "Ju Dou" directed by Yiou Zhang was very likely to win the best foreign language film. But because Yiou didn't come for some reasons, he missed a good opportunity. This time his new film "Raise the Red Lantern" was clever. It was selected through a company in Xiangjiang and occupied a quota in Xiangjiang.

But what I didn't expect was that the one selected as a gift from the mainland this time was actually "New Year" starring Mrs. Zhao Lirong.

"Which movie do you think is more likely to win the award?" Ronald asked Yang Yanzi.

"If the movie reflects the national character, it is undoubtedly the Chinese New Year. This movie is a huge contradiction and irony. The Chinese New Year is originally a day of reunion, just like our Christmas. But instead it exposes all the family conflicts.

However, the core of this kind of movie is too profound. I suspect that not even the judges, let alone ordinary American viewers, can understand it. "

"Then you mean Yiou's movie?" Ronald heard the implication.

"Yes, patriarchal oppression and female tragedy are themes common to the whole world. Besides, yiou's movies have strong colors and strong styles..."

"Haha, that's it. We will put all our public relations resources on this movie and strive to get nominated." Ronald understood what Yang Yanzi meant. "If it wins, it will be fully launched in our Chinese theaters...

"Dear, Bobbi Wygant..." Seeing that Ronald seemed to have finished his work, Diane immediately came in and interrupted.

"Ah, honey, I'll be right away." Ronald stood up and explained to Yang Yanzi.

"Barbie Wygant is still the same, but my performance this time is much better than before." Diane strongly felt that her performance in this interview was very relaxed and must be very photogenic.

"This is just the beginning, you still have many interviews to go..."