Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"Brooke, are you okay? How was the filming?"

Terry saw his daughter coming out of the studio with a red face and a mature woman's demeanor, and he was suspicious.

"It was filmed very well. The director said I acted well." Brooke lowered her head to find mineral water, avoiding her mother's probing eyes.

Fortunately, Terry didn't delve into it and pulled his daughter over to introduce her to the good guy next to him, "Brooke, this is Matt Dillon. He played a cute boy in "Little Cuties". Remember? That youth film starring Tatum O'Neal."

Tatum O'Neal is only two years older than Brooke Shields and is already the youngest winner of the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She is the daughter of popular movie star Ryan O'Neal. She won an Oscar for playing a little girl who cooperated with Ryan's Bible-selling swindler in the 1973 film "Paper Moon" directed by Peter Bogdanovich and co-starred with her father during the Great Depression.

She and Brooke are now competitors with the same acting style. Brooke Shields looked up at Matt Dillon, who had worked with Tatum, and said, "Hi, nice to meet you." She greeted him.

"Hi, Brooke, are you from New York too?" Matt Dillon showed his signature bad boy smile.

Soon the two had a good chat, and Matt Dillon invited Brooke Shields to go out on a date.

Brooke's mother was smiling with satisfaction. Brooke glanced at her, looked down at her shoes, and accepted Dillon's invitation.

Brooke Shields' mother Terry stopped Matt Dillon and continued chatting, trying to find out the next movie Dillon would star in. She wanted Brooke to co-star with Dillon.

"My mom always asks me to go out and play, and she will be there too." Brooke walked to her handbag, took a few gulps of mineral water, and swallowed a small cake to replenish the physical strength consumed by shooting passionate scenes. Then she complained to Ronald, who was standing aside and looking at the pager.

"What? Don't you like her presence?" Ronald took over.

"No, my mother always pays attention to my safety. She said she won't interfere with my affairs, but she is worried about my safety. Also, when she faces the camera to take pictures, she is always reluctant to appear with me. She said it is for my good, so that reporters can report more photos of me dating others, so that I can continue to appear in the news."

"Girl, do you have any misunderstandings about dating?" Ronald thought to himself.

"Why, don't you agree with her point of view? My mother is a frequent visitor to the fashion industry. She used to be a model and an actress. She knows a lot." Brooke seemed to see Ronald's indifference.

"I know very little about the fashion industry," Ronald replied, making Brooke smile, "But what do you think? Do you want to date Matt? I mean a real date."

"Me!" Brooke Shields was a little angry, "My mother said we are Roman Catholics, and she went on a date with me for my own good."

"You are really your mother's good daughter. But what do you think?"

"What do I think?" Brooke showed a confused look.

At this time, Terry and Matt Dillon came over together, "Brooke, Matt said he has plans on Saturday to meet a best-selling author. You can choose Sunday to date..."

Ronald was in the parking lot at the entrance of the studio, and found his car to go home. Matt Dillon saw him and came over, "Hey, brother, can you take me with you for a while? I came here by taxi."

Ronald motioned him to get in the car and drove him back.

"Would you like to go with me to meet the best-selling author on Saturday, brother? He is also a writer, and my next movie will be adapted from him." Dillon asked after getting in the car.

"I am a movie screenwriter, which is different from a writer." Ronald remembered Dillon said, and he was a little curious about the writers selected by Disney.

"It doesn't make any difference to me." Matt Dillon has a charm that makes everyone like him. "Actually, I want to find someone to go with me. I just got my driver's license and don't have my own car."

"Okay... I'll pick you up then." Ronald was also interested in the movie adaptation and wanted to learn more about it, so he agreed.

"What's the brand of your car? I want to buy a sports car, a Ford Mustang? How about it?"

...

"Don't be discouraged, Ronald. I'm a movie star, and it's normal for Brooke to agree to date me." A few days later on Saturday, Matt Dillon sat in the passenger seat of Ronald's car, grinning with one side of his mouth, half showing off and half comforting Ronald.

"What? Oh, Brooke agreed to date you? Congratulations! Good luck." Ronald congratulated casually without caring much. It really takes luck to break through Brooke's mother's blockade. Then he started thinking about his own thoughts.

Just a few days ago, when Ronald came out of the set of "Endless Love", he returned a pager. His agent Richard told him a bad news.

John Travolta, who was originally scheduled to guest star, was unwilling to play in "Sons of Grease" because he wanted to transform into an acting actor and no longer focus on dancing. After that, he refused all roles that asked him to dance.

Brian De Palma, the suspense film director who became famous for "Carrie" and was hailed by the industry as "the new generation of Hitchcock", chose Travolta to play the leading role in his new film "Blow Out". Travolta saw hope of completely getting rid of the positioning of "America's Youth Dance King" and asked his agent to announce his decision to the circle.

Olivia Newton-John, the heroine of "Grease", immediately said through her agent that she was only willing to work with John Travolta again on a movie. If Travolta did not star in "Grease", she would not star either and would focus on her singing career.

However, CAA was well-informed. In fact, Olivia wanted to join the "The Line" crew. Brian De Palma's movies have a tradition of making actresses famous, and Hollywood actresses all want to join.

If this statement can bind Travolta, then De Palma, who has already chosen him, is also more likely to choose Olivia.

Recently, there were reports in Hollywood Reporter and Daily Variety that some fans were happy to see the two reunite after "Grease". It is estimated that Olivia Newton-John's public relations team is taking action.

"Grease" immediately lost half of its box office guarantee, and Ronald was a little worried. Although the more senior agent Niceta comforted him that such changes are very common in any movie, Ronald also heard some winds from Richard.

Paramount may reduce the budget of the entire film from 12 million to 6 million. Producer Stewart is looking for a female lead with box office appeal, or he can add some investment himself.

Ronald sighed, this project still had twists and turns.

Matt Dillon misunderstood Ronald's meaning and thought he had given up in the competition to date Brooke Stowe.

"Don't worry, brother. I know a lot of beautiful girls. Next time you come to Club 54 to find me, I will introduce you to some real hot girls."

"Is there such a good thing? Has Club 54 reopened? Hasn't their boss been arrested?" Ronald responded casually.

"Two businessmen took over the property of Club 54 and hired the original team. It's more fun than before."

"Turn right in front and pull over. The address is here." Dillon looked at the address on the note in his hand and directed Ronald to stop downstairs of an older hotel.

"Why does this best-selling author live in this hotel? His royalties are enough to stay in any five-star hotel, right?" Ronald looked at the surrounding environment. It was relatively clean, but the facilities were relatively old.

"I heard that this is the hotel he stayed in when he first came to New York. He will stay here every time he comes. My agent contacted him yesterday, and the address is correct." Matt Dillon replied. He entered the hotel with Ronald who had parked the car.

Although he has shot a movie and has become famous. But Matt Dillon actually doesn't make much money, and he is not recognized by passers-by.

He doesn't have a full-time manager to take care of his life, so that day he asked Ronald to drive him to meet the author of the best-selling book for a face-to-face interview. He is naturally charming and approachable. Although Ronald has only met him twice, he already feels that he is a familiar friend.

In addition, he also wanted to meet this best-selling author, so he came together.

"In fact, Mr. Wilhite, the vice president of Disney, has agreed to the request of producer Mr. Zinnemann that I will be the male lead of this adapted movie. But the original author must meet me."

"Oh, really?" Ronald felt a little strange. The author of the film project may have a lower status than the screenwriter. After selling the adaptation rights, they have no room to speak. Unless...

"By the way, which adaptation are you going to act in?" Ronald asked at the elevator entrance.

With a "ding" sound, the elevator stopped at the first floor. The two entered the elevator and pressed the floor where the author was.

"It's Tex, written by SE Hinton. We are here to see him today." Matt Dillon replied.

"Mainly to see you, Matt." Ronald smiled, "I'm just here to make up the numbers."

Ronald flipped through Hinton's collection, which was a gift from Diane. It mainly tells about young people in rural towns. The earliest "The Naughty Boys" was a work from the 1960s, and "Tex" is the latest one.

"Ring, ring, ring..."

"Here I come..." A female voice said when they heard the doorbell.

A moment later, the door opened, and a fat woman stood at the door, looking at the two of them.

Ronald saw through her figure that there was no one else in the simple room, "We called and found an author named Hinton..."

"That's me." The fat woman replied, making way for the door and motioning the two to come in.

"Wow! I didn't expect you to be a woman." Matt Dillon walked into the room, raised one corner of his mouth, and showed his signature smirk.

"Oh, you must be Matt. Matt Dillon, right?" Hinton happily brought them Coke, "I've always been a little worried that a boy born and raised in New York could accurately interpret the small town youth in rural Oklahoma in my novel. I feel relieved when I see you."

Matt Dillon turned around and made a "I told you, right?" expression to Ronald.

"Is this the one?" Hinton asked when she saw the taller Ronald. She thought Ronald might be Dillon's family member or manager.

"He is my good friend, Ronald Lee. I asked him to send me to see you, Ms. Hinton. He is also a writer like you."

"Oh? Nice to meet you." Hinton shook Ronald's hand and was very happy to see a young writer. "Are you also a writer? My first work, "The Naughty Boy in the World", was written the year I graduated from high school, and it is also the one with the highest critic rating to date."

Perhaps writers don't have many opportunities to communicate with their peers, but Hinton is very enthusiastic about Ronald. He invited the two of them to sit down and drink Coke.

"No, I'm a screenwriter." Ronald sat down, opened the pull ring, and drank two sips of Coke. "I've read your four books recently. High school students like them very much. Your books are the most popular in my cousin's school."

"Film screenwriter, that's great. I've always wanted to make my works into movies, but I can't write movie scripts myself, and I'm worried that the film company will over-adapt my works and offend my readers, so I haven't agreed to sell Disney the adaptation rights to them."

"So that's it," Ronald thought to himself. No wonder Disney still asked Dillon to let her review it. The power is still in Hinton's hands, so she has more say in the entire project than ordinary people. "

"Tell me, Ronald, what is the difference between writing a script and writing? "Hinton asked a lot of questions.

"The script has less time and content, and there are not many descriptions of the actors' appearance in the script, because the actors are seen by the audience all the time in the movie..." Ronald picked some scripts he wrote and talked about his experience with the film.

The fat Hinton had a very happy chat with the two. Now her confidence in "The Texan" has increased greatly. She asked Dillon a lot about his living habits. In her opinion, Matt Dillon is indeed suitable for the protagonist.

Matt Dillon and Ronald saw that the time was about the same, and they also said goodbye. It seems that this interview was successful.

When saying goodbye to the film, Hinton half-jokingly said, "Ronald, do you want to help me adapt the script of "The Texan"? "

Ronald knew that the producer of this film, Tim Zinnemann, was the current boyfriend of Meg Tilly, who was of Chinese descent, and that the project was run specifically to promote her.

So he didn't want to get involved, so he said:

"I have other projects, and Disney must have its own candidates for adaptation."

Hinton left their contact information and said to Ronald, "I will mention you joining the adaptation team when the time is right. "

Ronald knew that he would not be chosen, so he just smiled and said nothing.

Then she turned to Matt Dillon, "You are really suitable for this movie. I will confirm it with Disney's vice president Will Hitt."

"Do you have a history with Meg Tilly?" Dillon suddenly asked Ronald while sitting in the car.

"What? History? I remember telling you that she didn't get the leading role and another girl was chosen."

"Yeah, yes."