Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"Very good, much better than yesterday's sample..."

A few days later, Ronald got up early in the morning to watch the sample films from the first two days of filming. Because there is no laboratory in Memphis, the film will be sent to the laboratory in the nearby state for printing, and then sent back every two days for Ronald and the crew to watch.

Tom Cruise suffered a lot on the set these two days. Ronald asked him to act out each shot many times. The most annoying thing was that the director didn't tell him how to act or what he did wrong. It made him feel like he was back to when he just debuted ten years ago, when his performance was often criticized.

However, the second batch of samples still received Ronald's affirmation, which made Tom Cruise relieved. It seems that filming a film directed by Ronald is more difficult than the famous directors he has worked with before.

"Remember this shot, and your future performances must be based on this emotional intensity, and don't act beyond it." Ronald saw the dialogue between Bridget Fonda and Cruise on the screen. Because they had to decide whether to come to work, the couple went to the law firm to experience it in person.

When they arrived in Memphis, Mitch and Abby were picked up by a luxury car and taken directly to the hotel. This shot was a shot inside the car, with the two holding hands and shyly looking at the various supplies in the car. Free brandy and a small TV that can watch live broadcasts, everything revealed a treatment that a newly graduated lawyer had never thought of.

"Once you ride in a luxury car, you will know that they are all the same." Bridget Fonda said this with the look of a countryman entering the city.

Tom Cruise's face also showed a trace of shyness, and then he felt relaxed after his wife's witty remarks. It's not so luxurious... It's all within the expected range of treatment that the top 5% of Harvard graduates can get.

"Can't exceed this shot? Wait... Ronald, hey, director, director?"

Tom Cruise was a little confused. This shot was not a very dramatic scene. He was acting deliberately at Ronald's request. If the rest of the shots were played like this, what acting skills would he have left?

"Paula, I need to talk to Ronald alone. Am I disrespecting him in some way? Or is there any special arrangement? I can't stand acting like this..."

"Relax, calm down, Tom. When has Ronald ever disappointed you? I can ask him for you, but the first thing you have to do is respect him, just like you respect Scorsese, Coppola, Barry Levinson, and Oliver Stone..." Paula, of course, wanted to calm Cruise down, and she was also ready to argue with Ronald.

"I..." Tom Cruise let out a long breath. He has been in the industry for so many years. The famous directors before him had specific requirements for him and also affirmed his passionate performance. No one was like Ronald...

Could it be that for so many years, those directors treated him as a star who guaranteed box office success, instead of treating him like an actor with excellent acting skills? They said it was good when I did this, but they put forward higher requirements for real actors, such as Paul Newman and Dustin Hoffman?

No wonder they both won Oscars. Is this really the case? Is he just a vase to attract box office? Knowing that Ronald is unlikely to deliberately suppress him, Tom Cruise thought too much and doubted his talent for the first time.

…

"Tom..."

The shooting of the day was completed. Ronald specially ordered takeout from the "world-famous fried chicken shop" (this fried chicken shop is called this name) and invited Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner to eat fried chicken together in the hotel room.

"Sorry, I have to maintain calories..." Tom Cruise did some psychological preparation before coming. When he found out that he was not a person with acting talent, he would not lose his composure on the spot. But eating fried chicken still exceeded his psychological bottom line...

"Paula, would you like some?" Ronald grabbed a chicken wing himself and ate it with oil dripping from his mouth. "It is worthy of being the best black food in Memphis..." Ronald also took a sip of grape juice.

"I think you should eat one, which can help you better understand the problem of acting..." Ronald ate happily by himself. Seeing Cruise's uncomfortable look because he couldn't eat junk food because he had to keep in shape, he handed him a piece.

"Will eating this help me understand acting?" Tom Cruise gritted his teeth, put the fried chicken to his mouth and bit it hard, and the crispy golden skin exploded in his mouth.

Tom Cruise immediately recalled the taste of the food he had eaten before he became an actor. Fried chicken was like an old friend who had not seen him for many years, which soothed his taste buds and nerves...

"Another sip of grape juice?" Ronald handed him a glass.

"This is too sweet..." A piece of fried chicken is already very indulgent, and a glass of high-sugar drink...

"Then drink some beer?" Ronald tempted.

"Oh..." The cool beer cooled down the heated mouth of the fried chicken, and Tom Cruise felt very comfortable.

"Do you think that the requirements I gave you are not enough to show your acting skills?" Ronald wiped his shiny hands and asked Cruise.

"Uh, that's not what I mean. I just want to devote all of me to the role of Mitch..."

"Bgo, that's why I made you watch Jimmy Stewart and Cary Grant's movies. Didn't you find that their acting skills were a bit mediocre?"

"This?" Tom Cruise suddenly frowned, removing the halo from the two most famous male protagonists in old Hollywood. The two stars indeed acted a bit mediocre.

They don't have any exaggerated movements or expressions. They are just like a friend you will meet in daily life. They are better-looking and more capable than you, but they are not very jealous.

"You still remember the supporting roles in the movies they starred in, right?" Ronald picked up another grape-flavored soda and took a sip. It tasted really good with fried chicken.

"Yeah..." Tom Cruise remembered some details again. The main supporting characters in those movies, especially the villains, all seemed to have better acting skills than the protagonists, and they were unforgettable.

"If the movie is compared to a dream adventure, then the audience actually gets to be in the protagonist's body through the lens of the camera, and experiences this two-hour adventure by empathizing with him..."

"You mean...Tom is the object of the audience's surrogate?" Even Paula understood now.

"Yes, just like fried chicken, it is a food that every housewife in the South will cook. You don't need to put too much emphasis on the crispiness of the chicken skin, the tenderness of the chicken, or the amount of juice. They often eat home-cooked food. I already know how to adjust the proportions to achieve the most delicious food.

All you have to do is tell them that this is black fried chicken from the South and show that it tastes good, and the audience will mobilize their daily experience to complement your emotions. "

"And supporting roles, there are many areas that cannot be covered by daily experience. They need to be extremely exaggerated to 120 in order to mobilize the audience's emotions?" Tom Cruise suddenly felt that all his acting experience in the past ten years can be applied here. It all came together in a moment.

"Yes, in addition, they feel the supporting character through empathy with you. Therefore, the supporting character's emotions are expressed through the reaction of the protagonist. If they don't act out of the ordinary, they will lose. And the protagonist's acting, You need to leave a certain amount of space for them to use their imagination." Ronald nodded, indicating that Tom has understood.

"Remember when you first took an acting class, an acting teacher said that when playing a drunk person, you don't have to walk in a zigzag manner, but you have to walk as straight as possible? When you play a crying person, you don't have to shed tears like rain, but Try your best to hold back the tears coming out of your eyes..."

"Yes, yes..." Tom Cruise was stunned and could only murmur in agreement.

"But then, those acting teachers will teach you how to mobilize your emotional memory and how to make your emotions explode as much as possible... Isn't this a contradiction?" Ronald drank a grape juice drink. It was really comfortable to be an inspirer. .

"Yeah, yeah..." Tom Cruise was already a little sluggish. That makes so much sense.

"Because most of the people who take acting classes are those who have to play supporting roles or even background actors. They don't have the opportunity to try the leading role... Think about it, Francis (Coppola), Marty (Scott) Cosese) and Barry (Levinson), are they all asking you to act in a fuller direction? "

"Yes, yes..." Tom Cruise sat down slowly and hit his head with his fist, "Why didn't anyone tell me, why?"

"Because you are a star, Tom. They still need you to apply for a loan from the bank and let the audience into the theater. But if you want to reach the level of Jimmy or Gary in acting, you still have to take this road sooner or later to make it easier for the audience. Put yourself into your situation and see the world in the movie.”

"I have to go back, I have to think about it..." Tom Cruise said hello quickly and went to his room. He wanted to watch Jimmy Stewart's movie again and think about how he should act. .

"But, Ronald... Tom is the protagonist in Oliver Stone's Born on the Fourth of July, and Oliver also allowed him to express his emotions in a stronger direction on the set."

After all, Paula Wagner was not easily persuaded. She closed the door and asked Ronald this question.

"Yes, there are indeed some actors who can play the protagonist in a supporting role, and the audience can accept it, but..."

Ronald crossed his legs and put his hands behind his head relaxedly, "But first, there are very few actors who can do this..."

"You mean Tom's acting skills are not good enough?" Paula Wagner frowned.

"On the contrary, I think Tom's acting skills are very good. He actually played (better) than Dustin in Rain Man, but he is not Robert De Niro or James Cagney..."

De Niro is a star who often collaborates with Scorsese. James Cagney is not very familiar to the new generation of audiences. He is an acting master as famous as Jimmy Stewart, and his method is very unique. It's particularly full, but there's no problem for the audience to take on his perspective.

Maybe it's because Cagney has a particularly good sense of rhythm. He always leads the audience halfway through the emotional ups and downs, transitions, and climaxes, and then waits for them there. Director Kubrick believed that Cagney was the Hollywood male star with the best acting skills.

"So the acting is not up to the top standard?" Paula Wagner didn't care. Not everyone can act like these two.

"And secondly, think about it, has De Niro ever acted in a commercially successful movie? Tom Cruise is a star. Even if he acts like Harrison Ford, the audience will be crazy about him..."

Paula was also convinced and nodded repeatedly. Harrison Ford is indeed famous for his poor acting skills. Now it seems that he has intentionally or unintentionally lowered the intensity because he always plays the leading role.

After all, if you act too much, the audience's sense of substitution will be greatly damaged. The protagonist is responsible for leading the audience to explore the dream world, which is why the protagonist is called "LeadgMan".

"Why now?..." Paula Wagner had another question. It seems that the current Oscars, Best Actor and Best Actress, don't have actors like Jimmy Stewart winning awards?

According to Ronald's theory, the acting methods of the protagonist and the supporting role are completely different. Shouldn't actors like Harrison Ford win many awards? Why in reality, only the 1986 film "Witness" has been nominated once?

"Now the judges are all from supporting roles. There were not so many judges back then, and the proportion of producers, directors and screenwriters was much higher than it is now. You see, after a large number of actors were added to the judges in the 1960s and 1970s, the Oscars' best actor and actress began to favor those roles that are hard to come by in real life."

In order to win the award, Ronald studied the Oscars very deeply.

"You convinced me, Ronald. When I choose a script for Tom in the future, I will give priority to how to bring out his aura as the protagonist..." Paula Wagner left with satisfaction. Indeed, Ronald was the first to promote Tom Cruise, so he would not shy away from these things, nor would he want to use his star status to get things done, so he could speak frankly and point out the misunderstanding that Tom Cruise had already fallen into in his career development.

You are a star with a protagonist template, don't act according to the way of acting as a supporting role!

…

“A!”

The next morning, the filming continued. In the set, a scene of the law firm welcoming Mitch was being filmed.

The camera slowly panned down from the bookcase on the ceiling in the background. This large bookcase for legal documents is a standard feature of good American law firms.

The camera zoomed in and became a close-up. An old lawyer put his arm around Mitch’s shoulders:

“He is our first choice. Law firms in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and even Washington are competing with us for him, so we want him to feel our sincerity and try to keep this top student who is about to graduate with excellent grades in the top five of Harvard class.”

At this time, Tom Cruise showed some pride, some shyness, and some shyness. All the expressions were not pulled to the full as in his previous performances, but left some space for the audience to discover his mental state for themselves.

The camera continued to pan to the left, and a group of supporting actors were listening there, smiling, showing their teeth, or pouting their mouths, trying to perform exaggerated effects, so that the audience can remember their faces among the actors.

"Cut!"

After confirming with the director of photography, Ronald was happy to keep this. After Tom Cruise lowered the intensity of his performance, it was easier for the audience to integrate into his role. For the role of Mitch this time, Cruise did not have the problem of overly strong emotions in his previous performances.

"Not bad?" Tom Cruise also felt the value of this acting method. As a smart man, he saw the possibility that he could look like Jimmy Stewart, one of the greatest actors in Hollywood.

"Very good, then, we have to reshoot the scenes we shot before, otherwise your performance before and after will be too different. Good job, Tom..."

"Yeah yeah..." Everyone at the scene applauded and cheered for Cruise.

"Yeah yeah..." Holly Hunter, the female supporting actress who had a role to play, also came over and hugged Tom Cruise, "You finally got it... man."

"Thank you, thank you..." Tom Cruise bowed to everyone and especially gave Ronald a grateful look. Now he really understood how the protagonist acted.