Exploiting Hollywood 1980

Lawyer Lindsay Doll applied to the court for a temporary restraining order (TRO). Since a temporary restraining order does not require a trial, it can be issued as long as the applicant has sufficient evidence. The police investigation record after receiving Pfeiffer and the confession record of the district attorney's conversation with Pfeiffer as usual became decisive evidence.

The TRO prohibits the two scammers from approaching Pfeiffer. It is valid for 14 days and can be extended upon expiration. It is enough for Pfeiffer's agent to return to New York from Hollywood to help her solve the problem completely. At that time, this is not something Ronald has to consider.

However, the Manhattan Police Department did not find any trace of the two people. It is very likely that they have fled America and went to Central and South America to continue to deceive people.

The casting of "Endless Love" is becoming clearer. Michelle Pfeiffer listened to the advice of her agent Limato and gave up the competition for the heroine, and was satisfied with getting a supporting role as a classmate of the heroine. Tom Cruise is also confirmed to play Billy, a character with few scenes but a key driving force in the drama.

"Blue Coral Lagoon" received very bad reviews after its premiere, but the box office was surprisingly good. Gubel lost patience with Brooke Shields' mother's increasingly tough negotiating attitude and turned to the third round of female lead auditions. Ronald heard that the girl named Meg Ryan had great potential.

Ronald did not participate in the audition again. He mainly devoted his time to final exams and script writing. Agent Richard gave him a lot of feedback. This time, the Vietnam War-themed script was almost not a free creation, but was customized by CAA according to the trend of Hollywood.

The American people still have a lot of psychological trauma from this war with heavy casualties. The weekly lottery-style conscription made a generation of middle-class parents nervous, fearing that their college-age sons would be selected and then sent to Vietnam.

Another group of parents, on the other hand, were worried every week that the postman would come to their door and hand over a death notice. Every week, TV stations broadcast the scenes of the bodies of the dead being wrapped in bags and carried off the plane. It can be said that the Vietnam War is still a nightmare for American families.

Therefore, Hollywood studios carefully avoided the cruel scenes that directly depicted the Vietnam battlefield. Many so-called Vietnam War movies actually describe the beauty of life before the war, the trauma of veterans after the war, or write a fantasy story with the Vietnam War as the background.

This is also an unspoken rule in Hollywood. If the Vietnam War script is not written in this way, no one will buy it. Even if you find foreign funds, or spend your own money to make a movie about the defeat of the US army in Vietnam, it will not be released in theaters.

Maybe it will take a few years for the new generation of moviegoers to have no such memory before a movie that reflects the Vietnam War will be released.

Ronald is actually happier with such a script. If there is no war scene, it means that the budget is small. If it is mainly based on the emotional drama after the war, it is possible to invite big-name stars to perform, so that the probability of his script being filmed is also higher.

Agent Richard made a lot of long-distance calls, and the two communicated many times. Ronald summarized the feedback from CAA executives that the Vietnam War should highlight three elements.

First, the feelings of comrades or lovers. Second, the destruction of humanity by the Vietnam War. Third, it is best to have some controversial plots in the Vietnam War.

Ronald thought for a long time, and suddenly it dawned on him. Isn’t this just copying the routine of the film "Homecoming" that won the Oscar for Best Actor and Actress last year?

There are love triangles, disabled veterans of the Vietnam War, and wives of soldiers having affairs with their old lovers. The CAA executives are copying award-winning films.

However, there must be a way to copy, and the three plots of returning home must not be used again. Ronald decided to go deeper into the veteran group and find materials related to the three elements.

That day, Ronald came to the dance store again, where many widows of Vietnam veterans would come to hand in their leg warmers and drink some coffee and chat. RTKD Dance Store not only brings economic benefits to these veterans' wives, but also a social occasion.

Ronald communicated with them more and learned some unknown inside stories of the Vietnam War. For example, although the conscription system is fair on the surface, many rich people let their children study abroad to avoid military service, and a large number of military service was borne by the sons of poor families.

One veteran's wife also talked about some secrets her husband had told her. A few years after the Vietnam War began, conscription became increasingly difficult. In order to make up the numbers, McNamara, a "genius" secretary of the Department of Defense, actually turned his mind to the mentally retarded people whose IQs were not up to the passing line.

McNamara formulated a plan to recruit tens of thousands of mentally retarded people into the army every year. He himself had never been on the battlefield, and he fancied that soldiers only needed to obey orders and did not need a high IQ.

As a result, these soldiers, called "McNamara's idiots", were not suitable for the battlefield at all, and could not even master the basic shooting and throwing grenades. The troops had to allocate the already tight manpower to take care of them and not to accidentally hurt their own people.

The casualty rate of these mentally retarded soldiers on the battlefield was very high, several times that of ordinary soldiers. Many wives of veterans knew that their husbands had mentioned that they had mentally retarded comrades, but they did not know that this was a planned behavior of the American government.

Ronald thought this plot was very good, controversial, anti-war, and scolding the American government, and it would definitely be welcomed by Hollywood.

He went to several libraries in New York to look for relevant information. However, nothing was found. I think the federal government is aware that this scandal is notorious, so it censors news reports and the original data has not yet reached the declassification period.

So Ronald's plan to uncover the scandal fails, and he instead focuses the plot on individual phenomena.

A mentally retarded person serving in the military camp was ostracized by everyone except the platoon leader, who came from a military family that had been in the military for generations, took pity on him and often took care of him during normal training and battles.

But the mentally retarded soldier still held back the whole company in the battle, and he was eventually killed in the biggest battle in the movie...

After retiring, the platoon leader found the family of a mentally retarded soldier who died in Vietnam and helped take care of his parents and younger siblings. The family of the mentally retarded soldier was very grateful to him and persuaded him that the death of his son was not his fault and hoped that he could take care of him with him. Let’s start a new life again.

Until one day, the younger brother of a mentally retarded soldier came to play with the platoon leader. In the platoon leader's diary, he discovered the truth about his brother's death...

"So what is your truth?" Diane Lane found the outline of the script written by Ronald at Aunt Karen's house. She was very curious, so she asked Ronald directly.

"I haven't thought about it yet. Maybe he killed the enemy who made a sneak attack and saved the entire company; maybe he threw grenades randomly, killed his comrades, and was shot dead by the platoon leader."

Ronald shrugged and replied.

Diane Lane often comes to see her cousin Donna for tutoring in math and science so that she can enter high school and complete the high school course to get a diploma. In fact, there are also some thoughts of escaping from his father Bert.

In particular, the westerns she acted in were not satisfactory at the box office, and there were no good reviews from film critics. The number and quality of scripts sent to her recently have been plummeting.

"What? You haven't thought about it yet?" Diane was surprised. "Isn't it true that when writing a script, you first think about the story and then write it out?"

"I don't know how other people write. I just follow a certain framework, decide the general direction of the plot, and then fill in the details. As for the plot, anyway, I have to revise it many times based on feedback before finalizing it."

Ronald has met Diane several times recently at his aunt's house. Donna's tutoring has turned out well, and Bert is reassured and even encourages his daughter to come over. Being friends with girls of the same age and with high IQs is actually good for his daughter's acting career.

"Okay, when you finish writing, you must show it to me first. By the way, why doesn't your script have a name?"

"I haven't thought about it yet. I need to find a name that is resounding. No one knows me in Hollywood, so the name of the script is the only tool to arouse the interest of producers. I have to wait until I have a script that is made into a blockbuster movie." Name the script whatever you want."

Diane Lane's interest quickly moved away from the script, "Why doesn't Michelle come with you?"

"She is reading the script of Endless Love and heard that filming will start next month. She wants to be more prepared."

Diane Lane has been in the entertainment industry since she was a child, and she knows that actresses generally care about whether the scenes they appear on are beautiful. Michelle Pfeiffer has Ronald's help, so she should be guaranteed to appear on camera.

"With you as the director's assistant, I will definitely give her a few frontal shots, huh."

Ronald laughed. Directors Zeffirelli and Michel shared the same agent, so he actually had no need for his input.

But before that, Ronald took some photos of Michelle and drew some storyboards showing Michelle's scenes. Zeffirelli accidentally saw it and greatly appreciated it, and invited Ronald to be his crew member. assistant.

Ronald estimated the shooting time, which was basically within the time range of his summer vacation, and he didn't want to be too far away from Pfeiffer, so he agreed.

"Ronald, do you think the rules my father set for me are reasonable? I actually regret not taking on 'Blue Coral.'" Diane was quite jealous that Pfeiffer could have several front-facing scenes for a supporting role.

"I can't say for sure. Bert is an insider. He should know best what is the development path suitable for you."

"But his ideas were from decades ago. Find a big-name director and try to play the leading role." Diane Lane complained, "But now big-name directors rarely direct youth movies. I am not playing a daughter. Even if I play the younger sister, my role is always very small.”

"It's hard to get into a movie with a lot of scenes, but the critics haven't said anything good about it."

"Film critics only evaluate after the fact. In fact, it has nothing to do with the artistic level of the creator." Ronald advised.

"Humph, your fame has been praised by film critics, of course you said so." Diane Lane leaned back on the sofa, raised one leg and hung it on the armrest, and began to concentrate on drinking drinks and watching TV.

Ronald Xiaoxiao, his old acquaintance, two film critics from the Chicago Tribune and the Sun, Bald Man and Glasses, their film review TV show has been syndicated nationwide by PBS since last month.

In this way, each new program can be seen by audiences across the country, and they have become the most popular film critic duo.

They both spoke highly of "Famous" and gave it 3.5 stars out of four. Ronald felt that the film's failures, such as an incomplete narrative, revealing too many dark sides, and too many foul language that led to the rating of R, turned out to be great strengths in the mouth of Spectacled Albert.

However, Bald Sisko's views are somewhat similar to Ronald's. The songs are good and the dances are good, so the teenage audience likes him.

Their vigorous promotion did not significantly improve the film's box office. After the large-scale release, the box office of the single theater quickly fell below the average line, and it will soon be closed down by theaters.

The two's previous film review programs were also broadcast by PBS. The episode where they reviewed "Rock High School" seemed to have received good audience response, which also led to a surge in the box office of the midnight show. Roger Corman also called to congratulate him. Ronald's second dividend is just around the corner.