Exploiting Hollywood 1980

Roger Corman faced the direction of the camera, and the bright light from there shone on his eyes, making him unable to see anything. Fortunately, he has guest-starred in many movies before and knows how to handle the daily life of filming.

He cheered up, tried hard not to sweat under the bright lights, and introduced the cinema's special products for the night of the comet to the actor playing the role of a customer. He picked up the most expensive tiara, put it on his head, and introduced it to the other party.

"Look, the comet headdress we have here is the cheapest. This one costs nine and a half yuan, this one only costs eight yuan, and this one only costs seven and a half. But if you blow on this one, the comet's tail can still move."

Roger Coleman asked the other party to blow the nine-and-a-half-dollar Comet ball he wore on his head. Behind him was an advertisement, "Night of the Comet." . The movie theater business was sluggish, so they took advantage of the comet to show all-night movies. When the comet came, the audience could come out to watch the sky.

Teenagers and girls alike liked the discounted price of this all-night screening, and came here to celebrate this rare celestial event with others, which occurs once every 60 million years.

"Cut!" Ronald yelled, and then quickly exchanged a look with the director of photography, Arthur Alexander, "This is good, develop it, Roger, you are such a good actor."

"Bang!" A staff member opened the champagne and gave some to everyone's disposable cups. Everyone congratulated Roger Corman, one of the investors, on the successful shooting of the first scene of the entire film's cameo.

"Oh yeah!" shouted Cameron, Gale Heard, and Corman's long-time collaborator Mary Woronoff, who had been waiting behind the camera for a long time, leading the entire crew to give Roger Coleman applauded.

"Hey, why are you here too?" Roger Corman was wearing a dark red cinema staff uniform, glasses, and a comet-like headdress on his head, with two comets made of ribbons. The tail moves with the movement of his head.

"Hi, Roger. This is your big day. Whether you can win the Best Actor statuette at the Oscars in the future will depend on your guest appearance with Ronald today."

Mary Woronov was making noises from the side. She actually had no role to play today, but she just came to observe the acting skills of her former boss.

"Roger, this is your most important role since you started acting. You can also talk to the heroine. Isn't it much better than the last time you guest-starred in Joe Dante's movie as a guy who picked coins in a phone booth." Kamei Long also started joking with Coleman.

"What do you think, Ronald, how is Mr. Coleman's acting skills?" Gale pretended to be a reporter and simulated an interview with Ronald.

"I think Roger was a very talented actor and his talent was wasted year after year making low-budget exploitation films..."

"Hahaha, don't be stupid." The comet headdress on Roger Corman's head trembled with laughter.

"Seriously, Roger, it would be perfect for you to play a movie theater owner." Ronald also laughed. Roger Corman plays a shrewd and stingy boss, and his performance is really good.

…

"This one is also very good. Remember to develop it and we'll take the next one." Ronald was very satisfied with Coleman's performance. He seemed to be an actor with a professional background. Although he could only play a limited role, the filming was actually Not slow.

"You know what? I once took an acting class with Jack Nicholson. He didn't have the opportunity to act in a big studio at that time, so I gave him a lot of roles so that he could pay the rent. He paid me back I wrote several scripts and made them into movies.”

Roger Corman sat on a chair to rest during the lighting break and chatted with Ronald.

"Oh, I didn't know you were taking acting classes with Jack. What genres did you study?"

"The problem I need to solve in the acting class is actually to stimulate the actor's acting talent. I have no acting talent, so what I can learn is to relax and be natural, so that I can perform a performance that is convincing to the audience."

"Then why did Jack stop working for you?"

"It was after I finished filming 'The Wild Bunch' and 'Journey'. Both films starred Peter Fonda. He felt that he wanted to combine the themes of the two films and make a film about motorcycles and psychedelia. The movie market response will be very good. They hired Dennis Hopper to be the director.

I found AIP and asked them to invest, but at the last minute, they asked Peter and the others to accept the supervision of the producer. If the two-day sample is not satisfactory, the studio can change the director and starring.

This condition made them angry. Later, Jack Nicholson helped them contact Columbia. Jack's condition was that he also played a role in the movie. This is 'Easy Rider'. "

Ronald raised his eyebrows. "Easy Rider" was a super hit movie in the late 1960s, ushering in the new Hollywood era and the prelude to the independent film era. Unexpectedly, it was a movie that Roger Corman missed. movie.

With a box office of over 50 million in 1969, if Corman eats this fat, he might really be able to rise to prominence and become the ninth largest studio in Hollywood.

"Okay, director." The lighting team prepared the lighting for the next scene and the shooting continued.

"Look at my mouth, go! Patrol!" Roger Corman stood behind the counter, took out a large flashlight, and said to Regina, played by the heroine Catherine Mary Stewart.

"Flashlight, patrol, now!"

"OK," Regina walked into the picture from the side, then bent down and took a bag of potato chips from the counter in front of Coleman. "I'll help you use up the stock."

The camera zoomed out slightly and turned slightly to the back of Regina walking past.

"Hey, hey, hey... Be careful, lower the flashlight, be careful that the audience will throw popcorn at you, and don't go to the projection room."

Roger Corman played this stingy and humane boss well.

"Cut! Um... this print."

Ronald was very satisfied with the progress of the shooting. The budget was very low, and one key to shooting an effect of more than three million with one million was to save film. Ronald told the actors that if there were any accidents, they could improvise on the spot and not stick to the lines in the script.

Catherine Mary Stuart, wearing a dark red uniform, walked back from the end. "Ronald, how was my performance?"

"Perfect. Ready for the next one."

Ronald did not lead everyone to applaud after each shot like he did last time when shooting "Fast-paced Richmond High School". Instead, he saved time to the maximum extent and directly asked the camera crew to move the camera.

The performance of the mid-shot transition scene like this was not so tight. As long as Catherine Mary Stuart's performance was acceptable, she would praise her generously.

"Okay, okay, I'll do it." The next shot began, and Catherine Mary Stuart faced an Atari arcade game machine and began to leave her initials "REG" on the high score record.

The camera started with a close-up of Stuart's feet, shooting her patterned plaid socks. Then it moved up and gradually moved to her face.

"Regina, third place, REG...wait, who is this DMK? I have a whole page of Regina, how come there is a DMK in the middle, does anyone know a guy named DMK?"

The heroine Regina is an arcade game master. Taking advantage of the convenience of working in a movie theater, she put her name on all the high score records. But when she came to play today, she found that the sixth place was occupied by a person named DMK, which disrupted the formation and made her furious.

"Cut! Um... print this one too."

Ronald and the photographer called for approval after knowing Arthur's confirmation. This last shot is a close-up of Catherine Mary Stuart's face. The reflection of the video game screen shines on her face, which makes many teenagers who play arcades feel the same.

This scene will be put shortly after the movie opens. Ronald needs some typical props and typical scenes to quickly portray the characters. He thought of the arcade scenes in "Fast and Furious", so he added this segment.

"So, director. Who is this DMK?" Catherine Mary Stuart stood aside and was quickly touched up by the makeup artist. Curiosity drove her to ask.

"No one, I just wrote it casually to portray Regina's personality. Pursuing perfection, very capable, and competitive."

"Well, I thought it had some special meaning, just like those posters." Catherine Mary Stuart pointed to the posters on the wall and said to Ronald.

"Haha, those are the movie posters that Roger Corman's company used to shoot. This one is 'Death Race 2000', and Sylvester Stallone is in it. Mary Woronoff also plays a role in it."

"The atmosphere here is really good, everyone is very helpful, and they know what to do without the director urging them. It's not like when I was in Menahan's 'Apple' crew, there was a dance scene, and it took three days, and I didn't know whether I shot it well or not."

Ronald smiled. The high efficiency of shooting was thanks to the help of Roger Corman. He introduced some experienced people who had shot with him before to the crew. They were all used to Corman's film shooting method, which was "fast! Fast! Fast!"

Soon, the first day's indoor scenes were coming to an end. Roger Corman's cameo scenes were also finished, and he came to say goodbye to Ronald.

"Ronald, you did a good job. I've been watching you for a long time. You haven't forgotten the low-budget film shooting methods I taught you."

"Of course, I still remember the secrets you told me. I sit on the chair and rest whenever I have time, hahaha."

"To be honest, many people are not so careful after getting big investments from big studios. When Coppola was shooting "The Godfather 2", it took half a day to set up the lighting, and there couldn't be any mistakes.

And I saw that you didn't invite many extras, only twenty. You used close-ups and close-ups to give the audience the illusion of many people."

"Haha, Roger, you should look at my shooting schedule tomorrow night. There are more than a hundred extras, and the streets outside will be filled."

"It's not calculated that way. You need it for shooting. You spend every penny on the movie screen so that the audience can see it in the end. I think your budget of one million and two hundred thousand is enough to replace the three million of others."

"Keep it up." Roger Corman patted Ronald on the shoulder, "and I wish you good luck in shooting."

"Thank you, I will."