Exploiting Hollywood 1980

Accompanied by the rumbling editing machine, the editing of "Rock High School" gradually came to an end.

Two weeks later, on February 20, the editing of the entire film was completed. The next step was the mixing work, and the songs lip-synced in the movie were all matched with the tracks in the record.

Mixing did not require any assistants. Ronald's work in the "Rock High School" crew was declared completed and he became an unemployed person.

Ronald did not try to join a new crew, but was ready to wait for the college admission results to come out. In addition to running and catching up on sleep every day, he watched TV series. After two days, I felt very uncomfortable and was not used to this routine rest life. It seems that I still have to find something to do.

Go to Cameron to talk to him? Cameron was in a stage of high enthusiasm for changing jobs. He worked until late at night every day and sometimes even lived in the stunt factory. As expected, he and his wife Sharon had a falling out again.

Ronald had to think of something to do by himself.

First, he called Demi Moore to ask about the situation. She has been signed by Elite Model Agency, and some print modeling jobs are waiting for her. However, her acting career has not improved, and she doesn't know when she can enter the industry. Now she is learning to write lyrics for rock music with her boyfriend.

Demi also told Ronald that Natasha Kinski has returned to the United States to continue filming "Tess". I don't know when I can see her image on the screen in the United States.

Ronald feels a little empty. Daily life is too dull compared to the stories in the movie. On the set and in the editing room, he is dealing with drama every moment.

After finishing a movie, Ronald is a little unaccustomed to the dullness of daily life. It seems that he has left this ordinary world.

Filming and post-editing are so colorful. Along the way, Ronald, a newcomer, broke into the film industry, and every step was like climbing a mountain. He worked hard to climb and finally reached the top. But after the top is flat ground.

Now this ordinary life is flat ground. After getting used to climbing mountains, walking on flat ground again, it seems that you suddenly lose weight. Most people's lives are not as dramatic as the world on the screen. Ronald is still getting used to the normal pace of life again.

Ronald drove aimlessly around Venice.

When the city was planned, Venice Beach was planned as a cultural center by the Los Angeles municipal government. The lower working class could not do any high art, so Venice became a surfing and roller skating center.

The municipal company built roller skating venues on many roadsides. Although it is called a venue, it is actually a circular ground paved with cement, which is quite simple. The original intention may be to let people play roller skating in it, just like the ice skating rink in Ronald's hometown of New York.

But now, the venue has been occupied by skateboarders who challenge the difficulty of fancy. Instead of roller skates, they use skateboards instead, and try difficult fancy moves in pools, railings, stairs and other places.

Ronald borrowed a skateboard from someone and tried it. Soon he found that he was tall and strong and could not do any fancy moves at all. After watching other people's wonderful performances for a while, he was envious and jealous that he could not do it, so he left and went to see other fun things.

There is also a surfing club on Venice Beach. Masters wearing swimming shorts and tanned all over are challenging the waves. They seemed to be able to maintain a fragile balance on the crest of the wave, swaying but not falling.

Some of the braver ones tried to challenge the 5-meter-high curling waves and passed through the waves. The audience could only see a small man on the beach, appearing and disappearing in the huge waves. Although most of them ended in failure, there was a success occasionally, and the beach cheered.

Ronald was also very satisfied and couldn't help wanting to play.

He found the surfing club business point on the shore, paid the deposit, and excitedly went into the locker room to change into swimming shorts. He took the newly rented surfboard and plunged into the sea.

"Puff, puh, puh." Ronald was knocked over by the waves and returned to the shore in embarrassment.

It seems that he is still not suitable for these extreme sports.

Then he should play wrestling. Ronald tried to find a wrestling hall to recover his skills. But he drove around Venice for a long time and couldn't find it.

It was still the enthusiastic citizens who pointed out that there was a martial arts hall at the corner.

"A martial arts hall is fine." Ronald thought.

Walking into the martial arts hall at the intersection of two streets, a smell of shoes hit him. Ronald frowned. There were more than ten pairs of shoes neatly placed in the entrance. It turned out to be a karate hall, and shoes had to be taken off before entering.

The American public generally cannot distinguish between Chinese and Japanese.

They also call Bruce Lee's kung fu Karati (karate). They also call Japanese karate and judo kung fu.

Anyway, they are all mysterious martial arts from the East. Once "Uncle" makes a move, the enemy will be killed.

There are only a few children in the hall, wearing white karate clothes and belts.

"Hey, ho, hey, ho" doing punches, up and down blocks, and other basic moves.

Ronald took off his shoes according to the rules and walked into the hall. The hall is not big, and the cream-colored tatami covers the entire floor. There is no decoration around, and it is quite simple. On the opposite wall, there were some slogans written in Japanese, and a pennant, which seemed to be the champion's flag of a certain tournament.

The coach of the karate gym saw an adult coming and came up to talk to him. The karate gym's business was not good, and judging from his physique, he must be a karate practitioner. Was he here to challenge the gym?

Ronald introduced himself and said he wanted to find a wrestling venue. The guide pointed him here, saying that the coach here has real kung fu.

The coach looked like a mixed-race American and Japanese, in his 20s, and learned authentic Ryukyu karate. After Bruce Lee's death, the business of oriental martial arts has not been doing well, and now it is struggling to survive by recruiting some children.

The coach did not have any prejudice. Seeing that Ronald could wrestle, he said he wanted to fight with him. The two asked the students to pause and fought on the tatami.

Karate emphasizes inch stopping, which means to stop at the right time. If the coach's fist hit Ronald's face an inch, it would be considered a win.

Ronald was not used to this, and still stepped forward to grab the coach's wrist, twisted it, and threw him to the ground.

He hurried forward to apologize, and the coach did not intend to continue fighting, but talked to Ronald about this throwing method. There are some similar moves in various martial arts schools. Ronald also learned the throwing skills of karate.

Before parting, the two exchanged business cards. The coach said that he had also practiced Wing Chun and Philippine short stick fighting, and welcomed Ronald to come back and try his skills when he was free. He had some good friends who could also fight.

Ronald looked at the name on the business card, Darryl Vidal, and it was indeed an American name.

…

Ordinary life lacks excitement. Maybe he lacks a girlfriend? Ronald thought.

How about having a Chinese meal to celebrate? Ronald drove to Chinatown in Los Angeles to try the Chinese cuisine there.

After passing Sunset Boulevard and going north for a short distance, Ronald saw the bronze statue of Dr. Sun Yat-sen and the tall archway with the words "Luo Zhi Qinghua" written on it.

He relaxed completely. Although he had no memory of his previous life, he still had a natural sense of intimacy with the Chinese-style house style, various Chinese plaques, and bilingual road signs.

He found a random restaurant and ordered a Yangzhou fried rice, a portion of barbecued pork, stir-fried vegetables, and a soup. Ronald's tongue and stomach were both comfortable. I have been relieved of the boredom of McDonald's every day.

I should come more often, Ronald patted his belly, put down the extra tip, and went home.

After taking a hot shower to wash away his fatigue, Ronald thought of finding a girlfriend again. How about going to find the two "dance stars" of Van Nuys High School tomorrow?

Sitting on the sofa in the living room in a daze, Ronald turned on the TV. It happened to be CBS-2, a local TV station in Los Angeles, which was broadcasting the nominations for the 51st Academy Awards this year.

The two hottest movies I saw in the daily variety newspaper some time ago, "Homecoming" and "The Deer Hunter" won 8 and 9 nominations respectively. And both include big awards such as Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Actress.

Another strong contender for the big award is the comedy movie "Heaven Wait" produced, directed, written and starred by Warren Beatty, which also received 9 nominations.

Warren Beatty is a famous playboy in Hollywood. Since the movie "Bonnie and Clyde" he starred in became a box office legend a few years ago, his power in Hollywood has been growing day by day. There are constant rumors about him and various female stars, and none of his rumored girlfriends have said anything bad about him.

Ronald actually envied him in his heart. He was having affairs everywhere and still had a good reputation. He was much better than the other two famous playboys in Hollywood, Jack Nicholson and Marlon Brando.

The host was still constantly analyzing the winning probability of each nomination, interspersed with various entertainment gossips and interviews with the parties involved.

Warren Beatty is a handsome guy, and he also spoke well of his movies when he was interviewed.

"'The Wrong Heaven, the Wrong Birth' is not a simple remake of 'Taixu Taoist' in 1943, nor is it a simple farce. It incorporates thoughts on modern America and what kind of life we ​​want to live, and it is essentially a love movie."

Ronald listened to his words and thought for a while, but didn't understand what the handsome guy meant.

The screen cut to "The Deer Hunter", and the movie's biggest star Robert De Niro was defending the film, explaining that "The Deer Hunter" was the best movie of the year.

Then director Michael Cimino appeared. He is a greasy fat man who speaks exaggeratedly, acts exaggeratedly, and has a bit of a megalomaniac style. The host introduced that he was a commercial actor, and "The Deer Hunter" was his second feature film.

However, this time he was criticized by many film critics and progressives. In Michael Cimino's 3-hour film, there are some whimsical plots, such as American prisoners of war being forced to gamble their lives by North Vietnamese officers.

Several prisoners gambled with a revolver, which had only one bullet in it. The North Vietnamese officer turned the revolver, and then the prisoners took turns shooting themselves in the temple. This is the so-called Russian roulette. Many people criticized him for talking nonsense, saying that there had never been such a thing in the Vietnam War.

Michael Cimino said confidently in an interview:

"I served in the US Army's Green Berets. When I first joined the army in 1968, I served as a medic in the Green Berets and witnessed the entire spring offensive. I can only say that many things are not what you can imagine. Those who understand will naturally understand what I mean, and those who don't understand I can't reveal more. I can only tell you that a lot of the content of this movie can be said to be autobiographical."

Ronald looked at the greasy fat man on TV, "No, he was sent to Vietnam in 1968, so he is only about 30 years old this year? How come this fat man looks 40?"

The screen turned to the heroine of "Returning Home", Jane Fonda was interviewed. Jane is the daughter of Henry Fonda, a veteran actor in the golden age. In 1971, she won the Oscar for Best Actress for the movie "Klute". She is a big star with both beauty and acting skills. She has always been on the left side, advocating world peace. During the Vietnam War, she called on the American leader to stop bombing northern civilians.

This time, Jane Fonda was attacked by conservatives. On the screen, the character she played had an affair with her high school idol, who is now a disabled soldier. When having an affair, her character was still wearing a wedding ring, while her legitimate husband was still fighting hard on the battlefield in Vietnam.

This caused dissatisfaction among many veterans and religious people. They accused Jane Fonda of being immoral and brought up her nickname "Hanoi Jane" that caused public outrage when she visited North Vietnam.

But Jane Fonda defended that her film reflects the real situation of Vietnam veterans.

"You know? The scenes of the veterans' hospital at the beginning of the film were all shot in real life. Those lines are the daily conversations of Vietnam veterans. Anyone with a conscience should watch this movie "Coming Home" to truly understand the trauma brought to our country by the Vietnam War, instead of sitting in the house and imagining the brutality of the Vietnamese."

Ronald's uncle died in the Vietnam battlefield. There are also many disabled Vietnam veterans in Staten Island and New York. He knows that what Jane Fonda said is actually very real.

The gossip reporter seized the opportunity:

"Jane, are you implying that 'The Deer Hunter' is not a true reflection of the Vietnam War? Those Russian roulette plots are imaginary?"

"No, I am not commenting on a particular movie, but criticizing a bad trend in Hollywood that dares not face the facts truthfully. As for the 'Deer Hunter' you mentioned, I think our movie 'Coming Home' is the better one, and it better reflects the true face of that war."

"Jane Fonda has reiterated her stance on the Vietnam War. Will her new film win the favor of the judges? The photo of her sitting on the anti-aircraft gun of the North Vietnamese People's Army in 1972 has not been forgotten by the American public." The host began to summarize.

The famous photo appeared on the TV screen.

Ronald was getting sleepy, so he turned off the TV and prepared to go to bed. It seems that this year's Oscar favorites are all movies about the Vietnam War. No, there is also the Warren Beatty movie, what is that called...