Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"These candidates are not good. Who has Brooke Shields' beauty and her popularity? I hired you just to find the right candidate. Now there is no one who can compare with you."

Peter Guber was a little angry, and his tone was like a reprimand, which made Julia Taylor from the casting studio and Franco Zeffirelli, the director of "Endless Love", look a little embarrassed.

A few weeks have passed since the premiere of "Famous", and Brooke Shields' mother Terry still used delaying tactics, which not only made Calvin Klein's jeans advertisement difficult to produce, but also made the "Endless Love" crew very uncomfortable.

The casting studio has recommended many young actors in the early stage. Brooke Shields seemed to soften her attitude and showed that she could accept the script and entered the bargaining stage. So the casting of the heroine of the movie slowed down.

But after Brooke Shields appeared on the cover of "Vogue", Terry's attitude became tough again, and she also raised the price to $1.2 million. Gubel, who lacks connections in the fashion industry, was a little upset by this sudden attack.

The movie was originally scheduled to start shooting in July, but because of Brooke Shields' mother's delay, the heroine has not been determined. And the focus of this kind of teenage romance film is whether the hero and heroine have a chemical reaction together, so the male lead has not been determined.

"Use your brains and think about who else we can invite?" Gubel knew that the so-called audition was just a gimmick. It is not likely that the heroine of the movie can be selected from people with no acting experience. In Hollywood, which pays attention to the return on investment, it is more realistic to look for it among existing film and television actors.

The photos on the table are Kelly Preston, who was selected in the last audition, and Deborah Winger, Carrie Fisher and others who advanced after several auditions.

"Carrie Fisher is not bad. She is both beautiful and well-known. Lucas's Star Wars 5, "The Empire Strikes Back", will be released soon..." Gubel said, pointing to the photo of Princess Leia.

"She already has a contract, the Blues Brothers. Besides, when she auditioned last time, she looked too mature, not like an underage girl." Julia Taylor voted against it.

Gubel curled his lips. In fact, it doesn't matter if she looks old, as long as she can take advantage of Princess Leia's popularity. "Let's send her an audition notice."

"What about Debra Winger? The actress who debuted as Wonder Girl, the apprentice of the female hero in the TV series Wonder Woman, actually has superb acting skills." Director Zeffirelli suggested that he always has an inexplicable liking for black-haired actors.

"She's not pretty enough. In the movie "City Cowboy" that will be released soon, she played opposite John Travolta. Because she was not pretty enough, she was almost rejected by the producer Robert Evans." This time it was Gubel who voted against it.

Robert Evans is a legendary Hollywood producer who has produced popular films such as Devil's Baby, Chinatown, and Love Story. His vision represents a certain authority.

"Let's send her an audition invitation." Zeffirelli insisted.

"Okay, are there any other candidates?" Gubel invited all the casting staff present, asking them to name any candidates who could play the leading female and leading male roles in their memory.

For a moment, the noisy voices in the conference room were heard.

"How about Rosanna Arquette? A typical blonde girl."

"What about Linda Blair? She can play a young role, a bit like the temperament of the newly crowned Oscar winner Sally Field."

"In that case, the leading male role should be based on the template of the newly crowned Oscar winner Dustin Hoffman. When he was young, he played the temperament in "The Graduate", which is very suitable for the leading male role."

"Christie McNicholl is good. She and Tatum O'Neal just played two girls who bet on who will lose their innocence first in summer camp in "Little Cuties", which is similar to "Endless Love."

...

"Don't you have any candidates?" Julia Taylor quietly asked Ronald who was thinking.

"Do you remember the girl who auditioned for the role of Hillary in 'Famous' last time? Her name was Michelle Pfeiffer or something." Ronald still couldn't pronounce the two consonants in parallel, and he didn't know which one was silent.

"Which one?" Julia had no impression.

"Marianne should remember, I'll go find her audition photo. She is blonde, very beautiful, and comes from a wealthy family. She was rejected last time because of her poor ballet skills."

Ronald turned back to the archive room to find the audition information of the girl who looks like a cat.

"That's her, Michelle Pfeiffer." Ronald walked to the conference table and spread the girl's photo on the table, "I remember the pronunciation of her name."

"This girl has the temperament of a rich girl." Zeffirelli appreciates this kind of girl with a classical temperament, who is suitable for acting in Shakespeare's classical dramas.

"That's great. Send an audition notice to her agent." Gubel nodded. "Ronald, where did you find this candidate? I remember her. I saw her in the ABC police drama 'b.a.d.cats' before. I didn't expect that she would be suitable for the East Coast rich girl with a new look."

"The photo of her last audition for 'Famous' is actually even prettier in person. She participated in the Miss California beauty pageant."

"Send an audition notice to her agent." Gubel turned around and told his assistant, then asked Ronald, "Anything else?"

"There is another candidate for the male lead." Ronald slowly placed a photo of an actor on the table, covering his mouth with his hand, leaving only the part above his nose exposed.

"This guy is very handsome." The casting director and assistant, all women, sighed when they saw the photo.

"He has some problems with his teeth, but he corrected his crooked teeth when he auditioned for 'Famous' last time, but he lost the chance to play the ugly role of Montgomery because of it."

When Ronald was looking for Michelle Pfeiffer's photos, he also saw the photo of the young actor who had just had his teeth corrected by a dentist last time. He was deeply impressed by this actor who was disliked by his agent. He came to the audition alone. Although he lost the role due to an accident, he was always full of fighting spirit and had a sunny and positive personality.

The male lead this time did not need messy teeth. He might have a chance after having his teeth corrected, so he took his audition photo as well.

He removed his hand covering his mouth, and his messy front teeth made the women watching sigh in unison.

"That's too big of a difference." Zeffirelli saw that the man was a face-sitter and immediately lost interest.

"I guarantee that his teeth have been corrected by a dentist, and two of the worst ones have been removed. He's quite handsome now and works very hard."

"Okay, send an audition invitation to his agent as well. Anyway, the male lead will most likely have to be selected through open casting." Gubel agreed.

The story of "Endless Love" is told from the perspective of the male lead, but the central character is actually the female lead, Jade. The audience's attention follows the male lead's perspective and focuses on this beauty who is called a fairy in the original book.

Whether the male lead is very handsome or not is not that important. Moreover, the casting of the male lead is within the power of director Franco Zeffirelli, and this blond, sunny boy is probably not in the director's eyes.

Zeffirelli has always liked to use black-haired, gloomy male leads to satisfy his personal preferences.

"Send audition invitations to all these candidates, and also invite Brooke Shields to come, so that her mother knows that we are not the only choice for her daughter." Gubel instructed the assistant.

"But Terry keeps shirking it." The assistant reminded.

"You get her on the phone and I'll tell you. This has always been the rule in Hollywood. Even if Marlon Brando played the Godfather, Coppola had to audition him once."

"Hello, Ms. Terry Shields? I'm Mr. Peter Gubel's assistant. Regarding your daughter's audition..."

"Terry? This is Gubel. We're going to audition soon, and your daughter will come too." Gubel took the receiver and tried to finalize the audition in a declarative tone.

"We will discuss the salary directly with her agent. As her manager, you just need to accompany her when the time comes. ... The audition does not affect the negotiation of the salary. It is just an inspection to see who is most suitable for the role. ... No one can get the role without an audition, unless she is the producer. Are you sure you want to invest in this movie?"

"There is no problem with the time. I will arrange the audition positions according to your requirements. OK, then it's settled." Gubel put down the phone and clapped his hands. "Send the audition notice according to this time. Everyone, get moving. This time we need to decide on the male and female protagonists."

Ronald also joined everyone and called Michelle Pfeiffer and the agent of the boy with messy teeth to arrange the audition time. Julia quickly summarized the feedback from the audition candidates, asked the assistant to fill in the pre-printed form with a pen, and gave each person a copy.

"Ronald, you still have to do your old job. Remember to take a Polaroid snapshot of each audition candidate. There are still quite a lot of candidates for this audition. Paste the snapshots on the evaluation form to prevent confusion."

...

After preparing for the audition, Ronald went to the rtkd store again. The small-scale screening of "Famous" was very good, and MGM began to quietly expand the scale of screening. The word of mouth in the movie began to emerge. After watching the movie, many people made a special trip to the New York Performing Arts High School to see the real FA Middle School.

When they walked to the entrance of the Performing Arts High School, they would also find the rtkd dance supplies store opposite. When they entered the store, they found the protagonist of the movie, taking photos with Aunt Karen, Theresa and others, and they would take out money to buy one or two leg warmers as a souvenir.

Having dinner with Aunt Karen, "A student named Helen came to buy something a few days ago. She said she knew you."

"Oh yes, she is the heroine in the commercial I shot. I will send a few to them, and also to Elizabeth Sue." Ronald thought that these girls who performed in the commercials could also be added to his group photo marketing plan, "Invite them to come and take a few group photos."

The income brought to Auntie by the dance supply store is several times that of her previous work as a waitress on Staten Island, not counting the year-end dividends. Kate now trusts Ronald's business vision, so she agreed.

Ronald was about to rest when he returned to the apartment, and the phone rang.

"Hello, is this Ronald Lee?"

"It's me, who are you?"

"I'm Rick Niceta, CAA's agent." A deep male voice came from the phone.

"Mr. Niceta, you finally showed up, it's so hard for me to find you..."