Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"Why do we need to reshoot? It's been shut down for two months, right?" Ronald came to the location of PolyGram Films, a forest in the snow, and Zeffirelli was waiting for him with a drink.

"You'll understand after looking at the length of the film. Would you like some wine?" Zeffirelli asked him to sit in the director's chair and gave him a written document.

"No, I remember you liked to drink espresso when I first met you?" Ronald waved his hand to refuse drinking during the day, and sat down to read the materials in his hand. This is an application report for PAA rating, and the final length of the film is one hour and fifty minutes.

"I need alcohol when I'm creating." Zeffirelli replied.

"Why does it seem like a lot of length has been cut?" Ronald asked, the original script was one hour and fifty-five minutes.

"I've actually edited it, submitted it for review once, and it was rated X. The passionate scenes didn't pass."

"Ah? That's not the case, right?" Ronald was surprised, "This level of passionate scenes are usually rated R." If it is rated X, the number of viewers will be greatly reduced. United Artists, which once wanted to make an X-rated blockbuster, lost a lot of money. Now no big studio will deliberately make an X-rated movie.

"PolyGram is a new production company. They used to distribute records." Zeffirelli took a sip of whiskey.

"At that time, I spent a lot of effort in the studio. I cut all the passionate scenes shot by the double. There are only a few passionate scenes, and a scene where Brooke leaned on the male lead's shoulder and talked, and a few reaction shots of pinching her big toe."

It seems that PolyGram, a new player in the film, is still a bit troublesome. New players don't understand the unspoken rules too well? They may also be caught by PAA and use their power to show their power. Ronald thought.

"Then what can I do for you?"

"PAA's rating is mainly based on this passionate scene. So I had to cut out about a minute of the scene, so the whole movie is not emotional enough. A strong ending must be reshot." Zeffirelli explained.

"Brooke filmed for an entire afternoon yesterday, but her emotions are still not full enough. You have to think of a solution."

"What can I do? I can't pinch her toes anymore."

Ronald thought that Brooke Shields' acting skills were a result of her modeling career. Her mother didn't help her find an acting coach to improve her, and it was no use always using crooked methods.

"That's what Terry thought, too. She also thinks that with you there, Brooke will perform better." Zeffirelli handed over two more pages of the script, which were the content of today's scene.

Ronald took the script and went over to greet Terry at the door of the trailer.

"Ronald, I'm so glad you're here. Zeffirelli wanted a very emotional ending. The shooting was not going well yesterday, so I thought of you."

"Close-up:

Jed looks at David behind the iron bars of the window of the mental hospital. The two lovers say goodbye to each other heartbreakingly.

The camera zooms in to a close-up:

Jed feels that the most precious love in her heart has been broken, and there will never be such a person who loves her like David. A tear flows from her eyes."

"The script is not difficult, isn't Brooke good at crying scenes?" Ronald didn't know what the problem was.

"Zeffirelli asked that we should not cry directly, but should have a process of emotional brewing, turning, and bursting. Brooke is still a child, and we cannot hold her to the standards of an adult actress. I thought that Zeffirelli was of Italian descent and would slowly guide and inspire Brooke.

But he tried many times but it didn't work. Brooke took the initiative to tell me that you were able to guide her emotions when you filmed the commercial last time, so I want you to try. It's not a good idea to keep on being stuck like this, as Brooke still has to film a public service advertisement against smoking among teenagers."

"It turned out that the reshoot wasted time, and Terry was not satisfied," Ronald suddenly realized, "but the emotional effect of the close-up and close-up can't come out, and the director will not agree to pass it. The audience will look at such a big face on the screen, and if the expression can't resonate, it will definitely not work."

"Let me talk to Brooke first?"

"Brooke, this is Ronald who filmed your jeans commercial last time." Terry opened the door of the trailer and called inside.

"Hello, Ronald." Brooke Shields sat on the stool in a bad mood, picking up a comb to comb her hair.

"What happened?" Ronald asked.

"I can't act out the effect the director wants. He wants me to think of something sad first, then slowly let the emotion change from loss to sadness, and then shed a tear. Not fast, and not too much."

"Did you think of something sad when you filmed the commercial last time? You can think about that thing this time."

"I thought about it, but I was very sad when I thought about it, and I couldn't help crying. I couldn't shed a tear that slowly." Brooke Shields thought to herself. She would cry when she thought about her mother's alcoholism and when she was alone at home.

But this way of crying makes the tears come too fast and too much, which does not meet the director's requirements. It would be better if she knew how to act.

"Do you have any other sad times? Don't be so sad, just a little sad." Ronald had to enlighten her.

"Well... yes." Brooke glanced at Ronald. It was because she didn't smile well in the commercial last time, and you made her cry.

Ronald paid attention to Brooke's expression, and there was a process of transition. He quickly said, "Okay, use that. Remember this emotion. Let's try it."

Brooke Shields hummed, put on a white woolen hat, arranged her hair so that her long hair was exposed from both sides of the back of the hat, then put on a down jacket over a turtleneck sweater, and walked out of the trailer with Ronald.

"Huh..." A chill came over her, and Brooke Shields exhaled a stream of white air.

"She found an emotional memory, try?" Ronald walked to Zeffirelli and said. Brooke Shields is naturally beautiful, and she is the age before white girls gain weight. Brooke, who is dressed very simply, looks very beautiful with just a white hat.

"Each department, let's do this once." Zeffirelli cheered up and called the filming team to prepare.

The camera covered Brooke's upper body, and then the coolies pushed the camera forward along the track laid on the snow.

Ronald stood behind the camera, watching Brooke Shields' performance. Her expression slowly became a little painful, then her eyebrows raised, her facial features began to distort, and she was about to cry.

"What kind of memory does Brooke have in mind? The mood matches the requirements of the script very well." Ronald thought.

"Ronald is such a bastard. He always said that I laugh unnaturally." Brooke Shields tried her best to recall her emotions on the day of filming the commercial. "Then I heard the sister's joke, and everything went smoothly."

The memory quickly appeared on her face, and Brooke Shields, who should have cried, smiled.

"cut!"

"The beginning part is good, but you will cry in the later part. Think about that memory again, Brooke." Zeffirelli felt that it was much more real than the previous crying method of turning on the faucet. Ronald was quite good at guiding the little girl. of the actor's emotions.

"Cut, finally cry, Brooke."

"Cut, just a little bit, just one tear is enough."

…

After calling it several times in a row, Zeffirelli became anxious again. My emotions were so good before, but why couldn't I cry at the last moment?

"Ronald, go pinch her and make her cry." Zeffirelli asked Ronald to pinch Brooke Shields again.

"I'm not going, you go by yourself, Franco." Ronald refused.

"It's useless for me to pinch you, you have to pinch me."

"What difference does it make?"

"I'm going to discuss it with Terry." Zeffirelli walked to Terry's side and murmured with her for a while.

"Ronald, go and pinch Brooke, otherwise we won't be able to finish the filming." Terry took the initiative to ask Ronald to pinch her daughter.

"Ronald will be careful. This is just to let Brooke feel a little physical pain. It's not really about squeezing her to tears." Zeffirelli was still explaining at the side.

"No, no mother would let someone pinch her daughter." Ronald was unwilling, "Franco, why don't you pinch it yourself? Or let Terry come, she knows the severity."

"It's not a matter of severity, Ronald. I'll discuss it with Brooke, and she's willing to do it." Terry hurried to the trailer to discuss it with her daughter.

She walked very fast, thinking along the way: "Zeffirelli also said just now that only when young men pinch her will Brooke show the inseparable expression between young male and female lovers. This play The character burned down her home and even indirectly caused her father’s death, but she still loved him and couldn’t bear to leave him.”

Zeffirelli on the other side looked at Ronald with a smirk on his face and thought, "It depends on whether you are willing to pinch him or not. I told Terry that as long as Ronald pinches him, two of them will probably pass." . Sometimes the hormones between young men and women will do everything automatically, and what they show is very real emotions. "

"Then I pinch you?" Ronald saw that Brooke Shields also agreed. Indeed, mother and daughter needed to finish filming quickly and rushed to shoot the anti-smoking public service announcement. "That's it, you can feel the pain and remember If something painful happens to you, just tell me and I will use this force.”

Ronald tested his strength, then squatted behind Brooke Shields, raised his hands and pinched her waist.

Zeffirelli exchanged glances with the director of photography, and after knowing that Ronald was completely outside the frame, he called out the command to start.

Ronald squatted on the ground, pinched lightly, and Brooke Shields started performing in front of the camera.

He was hiding behind Po Ji, not knowing what was going on in front of him, so he could only maintain this awkward posture and pinch Po Ji. The smell of the young girl came over, and Ronald maintained his posture, his whole body stiffened.

"cut!"

Ronald, relieved, sat on the ground and then got up again, "How is it? Can the camera be used?"

Seeing Zeffirelli's raised thumb, Ronald breathed a sigh of relief and said to Brooke Shields, "Brooke, I didn't pinch you, did I?"

Poji smiled and said, "No, it's just a little bit of feeling that helps me find the painful feeling. Ronald, I feel like filming with you is like playing a game, it's not troublesome at all."

When Ronald heard this, he said sternly: "Brother, do you like acting? If you want to continue to advance in your acting career, it's time to find an acting coach."

"But my mother said that I was still a little girl and not yet ready to act like an adult actress, so she chose kind old directors for my roles, hoping that they would treat me like their granddaughter."

Well, my mother had already planned it and didn't want Bo Ji to learn acting skills too early. In fact, for Brooke Shields, in order to maximize profits, it is better to make more commercials and movies that do not require much acting skills.

At least that was the case for her mother. She studied acting systematically and had more choices, but she might not be as obedient as she is now.

"I heard that the New York TV station is going to ban the jeans ad. Is that true?" Ronald stopped talking to Brooke when he saw Terry coming over and asked Terry a question instead.

"Ha, yes. They thought they could kill Brooke's popularity. Brooke was on the cover of a fashion magazine in January this year. Anyway, other cities are still broadcasting this ad."

Ronald perfunctorily answered Terry and turned back to chat with Zeffirelli, "When will the movie be released?"

"In July if everything goes well."

"I wish your movie a big hit."