Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"Two of those four actors already have agents...Chris O'Donnell has many projects waiting to be released. He and Al Pacino collaborated on Scent of a Woman, which Universal will host during the awards season at the end of the year. Release. Someone is also interested in Brendan Fraser. After the success of this movie, he will take over a new script depending on the situation..."

"What about the other two?" Ronald looked at the actor resumes compiled by Richard and found that these two actors were from Catholic backgrounds and were not Jewish. This shows that Shirley Lansing has good taste. Finding a few good-looking boys to play Jews is a move that puts the Jewish people in a good light.

"The other two were not popular. I signed them, but I didn't expect..." Richard said with a smile.

"What didn't you expect?" Ronald boarded the plane with him, and the group went to Seattle to check on the filming of "Sleepless in Seattle."

"I didn't expect that all they talked to me about were scripts. They co-wrote a script..."

"Oh? There aren't many actors who can write scripts, right?" Ronald was a little surprised when he heard this. In Hollywood, actors and screenwriters are basically two different lines that rarely cross.

"They are serious college students, especially Matt Damon. The education they received at Harvard is still a few credits away from graduation. I advise them to get their degrees first. Although both of these two men were in high school when they were young, Mirror, but they are not the kind of young actors who were brought into Hollywood by their parents or relatives..."

"It doesn't matter what the credits are. Even though they are from Harvard, they can still tell the difference if they have the opportunity to play a leading role in Hollywood..." Ronald thought of Elizabeth Sue, who was also from Harvard and had not yet had the opportunity to be a leading actress. He resolutely gave up his studies.

"He's not the kind of person who transfers to another school. He got in by himself..."

"Oh..." Ronald suddenly felt great. This was not a shortcut like Su's, where he relied on the transfer quota to go to school for two years and get a gold-plated diploma from Harvard. In the middle and upper classes, everyone knows very well what is included in these Ivy League diplomas. Only common people will feel superior when they see the name of a big-name school.

"But the script is very poorly written. I think it needs some modifications. I can find him a script doctor or a teacher..."

Richard felt that the script was creative and talented, so Ronald agreed to ask the famous Hollywood screenwriter William Goldman to get to know him. In this way, it would be more beneficial to cultivate talents who can go to Harvard than simple rewriting.

…

"Oh, the rain here is really annoying..."

When we arrived in Seattle, we encountered a steady drizzle. The climate here is driven by a combination of warm currents and mountains, producing a lot of rainfall. Holding an umbrella, Ronald bent down into the car and drove to the set of "Sleepless in Seattle."

"Ronald...Rosie O'Donnell, you know each other, this is my Whoopi..."

Director Nora Ephron was very happy and kept talking to Ronald, making Ronald embarrassed to say, I came to see your performance...

"Ronald... you are my idol, I love you..." Fat Rosie O'Donnell rushed up to hug Ronald and kissed him on the cheek unexpectedly. Then he ran away with a wicked smile on his face.

This supporting actress is very happy recently, playing supporting roles in Ronald's projects one after another. And Nora Ephron also compared her to Whoopi Goldberg, which is the analogy to Wu Bi's comedy scene in "The Ghost Story".

This "Sleepless Night in Seattle" also needs a supporting actress to increase the comedy element. Nora Ephron is obsessed with learning all of Ronald's directorial tricks. In her opinion, imitating Ronald may not necessarily lead to an Oscar nomination, but the box office will definitely be guaranteed.

"Oh, God, you are here...you are finally here...I have been tortured to death..."

Tom Hanks also came up and hugged Ronald like Rosie O'Donnell. He was exhausted from filming two movies in a row. Fortunately, Ronald sent his wife Rita Wilson beforehand, and Hanks felt normal with the warmth of his family.

There were a lot of troubles during the script reading process before filming. Tom Hanks is dissatisfied with Nora Ephron's female perspective. He believes that many of Sam's plots are impossible for a normal American man to do.

As Ronald thought last time, a father would not stop dating a beautiful woman because of his son's objection. Hanks obviously agrees with this point of view very much and insists on starting from a realistic plot logic, otherwise he will not be willing to film it.

When Ronald came this time, he also needed to find a way to make all parties satisfied with this conflict in the plot.

"Did you have so many troubles when you were a director? I asked them to say the lines according to the script I wrote, but they resisted..."

Sure enough, as soon as they arrived at the hotel, Nora Ephron complained to Ronald. Many actors here, especially male actors, are a little dissatisfied with her.

Except for Tom Hanks, who still talks about things as they happen, the other actors and staff actually tend to look at the direction of the situation. If Nora Ephron can handle these big-name actors, then they will change their faces. If you can't figure it out, hey, then you can start messing around.

"Hey, this is actually a good thing, Nora..." For this reason, Ronald had no choice but to resort to coaxing...

"Is this a good thing?" Nora Ephron's eyes widened.

"Yes, when the director encounters an actor who is very serious about certain lines and reactions, you know that you have got a correct and motivated casting..."

Ronald began to talk about how many actors don't care about how to act at all. They only care about how much they are paid, how high their treatment is... and so on.

Some actors only focus on the details of their own performances, and don't pay attention to the cooperation of other actors and the rationality of the plot. What they want most every day is that the director gives them more close-ups.

When you meet Tom Hanks, he considers whether the plot is reasonable and whether the dialogue is what ordinary Americans would say. This kind of actor considers things from the perspective of the entire movie. You don't know how lucky you are, Nora!

"Oh, really? What you said makes sense, Ronald. I am really lucky to have you to guide me. But what if they don't read the lines I wrote?"

Nora Ephron didn't know whether she really didn't understand or pretended not to understand. Anyway, she relied on Ronald to give her advice on how to solve the problem that Hanks didn't want to say certain lines.

This is a common problem for directors who are screenwriters. When they are writing, they have already selected the actors for the roles in their minds, and then let them act out the lines in their minds first, using the accents of the actors that the screenwriters like.

Therefore, they always think that their lines are the best and most suitable for those actors. In particular, Ronald also found Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, two leading actors favored by Nora Ephron. This made her more obsessed with her lines. Why didn't Hanks read my lines obediently according to the way he thought in his mind?

"Oh, God..." Ronald muttered to himself. I didn't expect Nora Ephron to understand the director's work in this way.

At this point, it's not easy to teach her from the beginning. How should I adjust according to the actors' on-site performance and give them a certain amount of space for improvisation? The difference between improvisation and the original intention of the script, where should this line be drawn? If you find that the actors can't perform what you want, how many times should you NG and reshoot?

This kind of director's decision is difficult to grasp. Luo An thought that it would be better not to tell Nora Ephron, otherwise the whole crew might collapse. A director who has never directed a star will have such a problem in his first movie. Only by overcoming the past can you achieve success.

"So, I see these controversial lines, which are mainly the lines about Hanks's male side. I understand that you want to create a perfect man in the minds of women, with both masculine charm and compassion, who can understand women's difficulties, and is a lover and friend of women..."

"Yeah, I knew Ronald you would understand me..." Nora Ephron's eyes were red, and it seemed that she was under a lot of pressure.

"All the lines related to men and women are up to you. All the lines where Sam shows his masculine charm, let Hanks play freely..." Ronald thought about it and drew a line for her.

For how to shoot a romantic love drama well and how to penetrate the hearts of modern American female audiences, Nora Ephron is undoubtedly the most suitable candidate. But she doesn't know much about the psychological aspects related to men.

So Ronald simply separated the scenes according to whether there were plots between men and women, and let Ephron take care of the male and female parts, and let Hanks play the male monologue and the part with friends. Anyway, he has made so many comedies, all about this kind of cute male protagonist.

"I'm not complaining, Ronald, the weather in Seattle is really bad..."

After coaxing Nora Ephron, Ronald went to Tom Hanks' room and told him the result of the discussion. Hanks was very happy that he finally didn't have to say those lines that were obviously imagined by a middle-aged female screenwriter.

But his wife Rita Wilson complained to Ronald again. After they got married, Hanks promised to set aside time to spend with her. It was torture to shoot this movie in a ghost place like Seattle. How many days have they not seen the sun? Can't they go back to Los Angeles to set up the scene?

"The cornerstone of this movie lies in these real feelings, so we can't go back to set up the scene." Ronald flatly rejected this proposal.

The plot of Sleepless in Seattle is really too exaggerated. After his wife died, the son called the emotional hotline on the radio station to tell about his father's loneliness and wanted to find him a new wife.

The radio host gave Sam a pseudonym, "The Sleepless Man in Seattle", and talked to him about the pain after his wife's death. Female listeners all over the country fell in love with him and wrote to him to ask for a relationship. Finally, the son read the letter and fell in love with Anne's letter.

Anne had a fiancé, and she felt that she and her fiancé did not have that kind of earth-shattering love, and the two were just suitable. She tried to meet Sam, but she didn't meet him by mistake.

Finally, Sam's son bought a plane ticket alone to meet Anne and made an appointment on the top of the Empire State Building in New York. Sam chased after him in panic, and the two waited for Anne on the Empire State Building for a day but didn't wait for Anne.

Finally, Anne confessed to her fiancé not far away and rushed to the Empire State Building. Sam and his son had already left, and the Empire State Building was closed. Anne begged the security guard to imitate the plot in the movie "The Golden Jade Alliance" before going to the top floor, and it happened that Sam and his son's bag fell, and they also came back...

The whole movie is about two very suitable men and women who officially got to know each other in the last minute of the movie because of a phone call, a radio broadcast, and a letter.

This kind of romantic love is really too exaggerated. As long as there are problems with the acting, it will make the audience feel that it is very exaggerated and fake. So conversely, when shooting, it must be completely real.

Whether it's live-action shooting, or the kind that allows Hanks to improvise the friendship between men and the relationship between father and son, there is this consideration of being as real as possible.

Seeing that Rita Wilson was still complaining here and there, Ronald suddenly stopped and stared at her.

"What's wrong?" Rita Wilson just wanted to complain more so that her husband Hanks could have more say. When Ronald stared at her like this, she felt flustered, as if she realized that she had said too much. .

Directors and producers of Ronald's level are still very intimidating to her. Tom Hanks also realized something was wrong and wanted to calm down.

"Tom, your wife Rita is very photogenic..." Ronald said, leaving Rita Wilson stunned.

"Yeah, he and I met when we were filming the movie...hehe" Tom Hanks replied with a smirk on his face.

"Do you think it's suitable for her to play the role of Sam's sister? I think the tacit understanding between the two of you is enough to play the role of brother and sister." Ronald looked at Rita Wilson, looked around a few times, and asked He got out of the director's viewfinder and pretended to take a look.

"Hahaha, that's good. But you have to give Rita a formal signature..." Tom Hanks was extremely smart and immediately understood what Ronald meant. Let Rita Wilson also play a role and have an official cast list, so that she changes from an outsider to an insider. She can only contribute to the good of the movie, and I don't have to listen to her nagging every day.

"Can I? Do you want Nora to audition..." Rita Wilson touched her hair, she was very willing. She didn't have a good representative work before, and she gave birth to a child after marriage. Now she can only get some roles in TV series.

"I still have this privilege, and Noila will definitely agree. I know she is just busy with other things now. If it takes a few days, she will definitely think of it..."

Among the main characters in the cast, only Meg Ryan is relatively silent. Her husband, Dennis Quaid, was unable to co-star as a couple, was in a bad mood, and was drinking and using illegal drugs at home.

Meg Ryan also had to use her influence to find him a leading male role and star in a movie with him. Now we are talking about a black suspense thriller film "The Loveless Earth".

Now she is using her influence to lead Quaid to make movies, which is rare among Hollywood couples or husband-and-wife actors. Even Quaid didn't understand her. As a result, she was breastfeeding and filmed alone on the set with her child.

Ronald hired the best professional nanny so that Meg Ryan could try not to worry about it. Going to work after giving birth, I can only try my best to create conditions for her so that she can immerse herself in the plot and character creation.

Ronald had directed her and knew that the actress loved acting, so it was good to keep her away from the worries of reality.

Finally, the crew officially started filming a few days later.

Young actor Nathan Watt plays the son of Sam, played by Hanks. He is an important clue for the advancement of the plot. So the first scene was shot in a boathouse next to the Fremont Bridge as the father and son settled in Seattle.

This is the environment Nora Ephron specifically found for the character of Sam. She believes that Sam, the architect, will definitely like the unique free environment in Seattle. A man living in a houseboat is the type of man that women like.

For this reason, Ronald also paid a relatively high rental price to find a suitable location.

"Cut!"

Nora Ephron stops the first take.

Ronald smiled beside him. Efron was still okay. Although she had many shortcomings, she had one advantage that other new directors did not have, which was that she knew exactly what she wanted. It seems that staying here for one day is almost enough.

Director Nora Ephron shot another shot and then had the crew relight the scene for another shot, this time an exterior shot of the houseboat.

The lighting team moved quickly and quickly set up the lights, and Efron called start. The camera begins to slowly move forward, which is a very simple empty shot.

"Cut! Cut!"

But Nora Ephron stopped filming very unhappy, "Nathan, what are you doing there?" It turned out that a young actor ran into the camera.

What a mess!

Ronald had to pull the first assistant director and whisper a few words. This kind of scene required the sergeant major to scold the irresponsible staff.

"Cut! Cut! Nathan, I want you to stay where you are, okay?" In the second shot, the young actor named Nathan ran behind the camera again and suddenly made a strange scream to scare the coolies of the camera crew.

"Where are his parents?" Ronald was also impatient. So much time and money was wasted on the first day of shooting...