Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"Humanity was hit by the death light of the comet, leaving only a pile of 'calcium dust'." The female scientist played by Mary Voronov discussed the disaster of the night of the comet with her colleagues in the "underground research institute" built in the studio. . .

"What if there are survivors? In theory, the radiation will be blocked by metal or very thick concrete. I have no doubt that there will be many survivors in Los Angeles."

"You are right, but the survivors will be scattered in various places, and those places are zombies turned by people who are partially contaminated by radiation."

"How will the survivors find other survivors? Where will they look? What is their first action? You know it's like a nuclear war, the first survivors will turn on the radio..."

Mary Voronov turned on the radio and started to change channels non-stop.

"Attention all survivors in Los Angeles, California, and America, I am Samantha, after you hear the broadcast, you should come to Sherman Oaks Department Store..."

"There are survivors at the radio station!" Audrey, played by Mary Voronov, stood up excitedly.

"Cut!"

"Very good, this shot is very good." Ronald hadn't shaved his beard for a few days, and it had grown all over his cheeks. The scenes in the studio were about to be finished.

"Ronald, I read the script. Who is the DK at the beginning?" Voronov wore a white coat and looked like a scientist. Her long curly hair fell down her shoulders, making her look young, beautiful and full of professional temperament. She was completely different from the old-fashioned female principal in "Rock High School".

"I haven't thought about it yet. Do you have any suggestions?" Ronald sat down on the director's chair with his name on it, pulled down the brim of the baseball cap on his head slightly to block the glaring light. He felt like closing his eyes and taking a rest for a while.

The continuous high-intensity shooting, the actors and staff had time to rest. Only a few people in the director's group worked non-stop. After get off work every day, Ronald had to worry about tomorrow's storyboards and yesterday's samples. He only had four or five hours of rest every day.

Even though he had practiced wrestling, he was a little tired. Sometimes he also took the time to take a nap on the set.

"Why not add a male character? His abbreviation is DK."

"I've thought about this, but what's the role of introducing a character at the end? Show that there are other survivors in Los Angeles and give the audience hope?"

"Yeah, that's it. Your movie is originally a light-hearted movie. From the first shot, the audience knows that Regina will be the hero who saves the world in the end, so in the end, give her and Hector a mission to find other survivors and unite, isn't it good?"

"Good idea, what else?" Ronald took off his hat and sat up. Mary Voronov is the queen of exploitation films. She is familiar with all the low-cost production plots. There is no harm in listening to her ideas.

"And isn't Samantha jealous that her sister Regina always gets more favor from boys? Why not let this DK and her be a pair? In this way, the audience's expectations of the two heroines will be explained at the end."

"Yeah, okay." Ronald has sat up completely, took out the small notebook that he always carries with him, and began to write down the ideas given to him by Voronov with a ballpoint pen.

"You know what? Mary, I think you should try screenwriting."

"Yeah? You think so too? Actually, I wrote scripts and stories when I was in the Warhol Factory in New York." Mary Voronov's eyes were full of memories.

"Andy Warhol? I met him in New York at Christmas. Isn't he the editor-in-chief of a magazine?"

"Ha, don't young people know Andy now?" Voronov smiled, "In the 1960s, his silver factory was a place where geeks in New York often went. That was the factory where he made silk screen copies of his paintings, and he made money from it."

"Oh? I didn't expect him to be a celebrity? "Ronald thought of Andy Warhol, who had messy hair and lived in Club 54 with a camera without film."

"Yeah, that was where the drag queens, transgenders, and many weirdos in New York were. He performed some fake weddings of drag queens and some Sadist performances to support his factory. I also hung out there for a few years.

Fortunately, I left that chaotic place later and lived in Europe for two years. Finally, I met Roger Corman and got a normal job."

"Oh, I didn't expect it. What kind of person was he at that time?"

"Uh... He never paid the bills..."

"Hahaha..."

Ronald chatted with Voronov for a few words and began to develop the story of DK.

He named DK Danny Mason Keener and gave him a story. Danny was another survivor. He broke Regina's record of sixth place in the game console in the cinema that day, and then stayed in the basement after returning to his home for a night.

He escaped and drove an unmanned sports car around the suburbs of Los Angeles. At the end of the movie, he met Regina and Samantha. There was only one scene, who should I ask to play it?

After the shooting ended that day, Ronald found a phone booth and called Ed Limato, William Morris's agent.

"Ed, I have a role that I want Nic Cage to play as a guest star, can you arrange it?"

"Guest star? He is rehearsing in the crew now, I am afraid I don't have time."

"I let him go to audition for a new movie, and now I'm asking him to come back for a half-day cameo. Ed, help me."

"Half a day? Just half a day? Okay, okay, Nick keeps talking about you in my ear, so let him go for half a day."

"Thanks."

The next day it was the second Saturday, the last day of the crew's shooting schedule. They came to Bunker Hill to shoot the location again.

This time Ronald didn't ask the police to clear the scene, because there were not many people on the road on weekends.

The cost of shooting was spent like water, and Ronald's shooting account had no money left.

So this time Ronald decided to shoot secretly. The actors put on makeup in the RV, and after the camera found a good position, they got off the car to find the movement position, and returned to the RV after shooting. After the shot was finished, they quickly evacuated the scene.

"It's so interesting, if we are seen by the PD, will he arrest us?" Nicolas Cage was a little excited. He had never shot street shots without filing in this way.

"No, the PD here is an old acquaintance of mine, so it's okay if you see him." Ronald was talking about the two policemen who wore zombie masks and played a cameo role in the movie to catch Samantha.

"When the time comes, just remember to drive the sports car slowly and don't crash it. This is what I borrowed from Mr. Roger Corman. There must not be any scratches." Ronald threw the key of the Mercedes convertible sports car to Nicolas Cage.

"I'm a good driver, don't worry." Cage didn't expect that he could drive such a cool convertible sports car for a cameo role. He would buy one for himself when he has money in the future.

"Okay, I won't call A later. You go down and stand in position, and then look at my gestures to start shooting. After I call stop, you come back and get in the car." This kind of filming without municipal permission in broad daylight is easy to be caught, so Ronald discussed the process with the actors in advance and evacuated quickly if they were caught in the middle of the process.

Ronald roughly explained the play to Catherine Mary Stuart, Nicolas Cage, Kevin Costner, and Kelly Maroney who was called back to reshoot this scene.

Regina and Hector discovered the conspiracy of the experts at the base and escaped with some captured children. They formed a family and adopted the orphans. They continued to live in Los Angeles.

One morning, they took the children together and waited for the red light at the street corner. Samantha felt that her sister and brother-in-law were making a fuss. There was no need to obey traffic rules in a city without people.

Regina and Hector taught their children that they should obey the rules even if there was no one.

"Woo..." A Mercedes convertible sports car drove up, and Samantha was scared and returned to the sidewalk.

A handsome guy with sunglasses turned around at the end of the road and drove to Samantha's side, "Hey, you shouldn't run a red light, it's dangerous."

"Did you hear it, sister?" Regina said the same thing on the sidewalk.

"Nice car." Samantha said enviously looking at the sports car.

"Come up and sit down. I picked up more than 30 sports cars like this. Do you want to go for a ride together?" Danny Mason Keener, played by Cage, invited Samantha to get in the car.

"I want to go for a ride with him?" Samantha sat in the sports car and turned to her sister.

"Remember to come back before twelve o'clock." Regina still followed the rules of life before the disaster. She didn't want to forget the normal modern life.

"Twelve o'clock? I'll make sure she comes back." Danny, played by Cage, stepped on the accelerator and prepared to start the sports car.

"What's his name?" Regina hugged Hector's arm and shouted to her sister Samantha.

"What's your name?"

"Danny, Danny Mason Keener."

"His name is Danny, Danny Mason Keener" Samantha repeated loudly to her sister.

The camera position behind the sports car captured all of this. Cage stepped on the accelerator, the sports car drove forward, and the three-letter abbreviation "DK, Los Angeles, California, the Gold Rush State" appeared at the rear of the car.

"Cut!"

At the command, the actors hurried to the RV. The camera crew behind immediately dismantled the tripod and ran to the car, and finally the recording crew carrying the recording rod.

The sports car in front of them, which was occupied by Nicolas Cage and Kelly Maroney, turned around, and Cage was still shouting something.

"There's a patrolman over there."

Ronald watched his Mercedes-Benz sports car walk in and heard what he said clearly.

"You guys drive away. Meet up at the studio." Ronald made a trumpet-shaped gesture with his hand and shouted at Cage.

Then he also jumped into the RV, "Hurry up! Run!"

The driver put on sunglasses, started the RV, and drove it into the driveway, stepping on the accelerator and driving forward.

Ronald stuck his head out of the RV, and there seemed to be a patrolman's motorcycle behind it, patrolling slowly. The people on it seemed to have changed shifts, and they were not two familiar PDs. They might also be patrolling from other blocks.

"He waved to Cage behind the RV, hurry up and catch up."

The two cars went up a slope, and the motorcycle driven by the patrolman behind them did not seem to notice their abnormal situation, and was gradually blocked by the road and could not be seen.

"Almost, almost got caught." Ronald was relieved, and the convoy finished filming the scene here and drove away.