Exploiting Hollywood 1980

Helen was unwilling to play "The Karate Kid", and Ronald reluctantly told Weintraub that the leading actress had to audition from the beginning.

"It's okay, I understand. Let me let Susan participate in the next audition. She will be my representative in the crew. If there is a candidate that both of you like, show me the audition video and we will do a second round of interviews together."

Susan Akins waited for Ronald and the audition director to leave Weintraub's mansion and gave Weintraub a sweet kiss. She knew that she couldn't make a movie with her appearance, but it was also a very interesting job to be able to join the crew and decide the fate of others.

"You have to pay attention to Ronald's choice. I think he is still a little young and doesn't know how fierce the competition is. Hollywood is a dog-eat-dog place. If there is a suitable candidate, tell me in advance and I will find a way to sign a contract with them."

"Do you need to review all the candidates?" Susan asked.

"No," Weintraub thought for a moment, "You just need to pay attention to the main candidates, Danny, Master Miyagi, and Ali, and the candidates for the villain Johnny and his master Chris."

Ronald didn't know that his credit with Weintraub had been downgraded. He found Pat Morita to see how he was practicing recently.

Arriving at Ronald's apartment, Pat Morita knocked on the door. . After the door opened, he saw a weirdo hiding behind a camera, one eye covered by the viewfinder eye mask, and a microphone plugged into the camera.

"Hi, Pat, hello." The weirdo was Ronald holding the newly bought Sony Betaax camera.

"Come in, Morita," Ronald said to Morita while filming him with a camera, "Don't be polite, sit down. Your beard is well kept, keep it like this in the future, don't shave, this messy beard is just right."

Pat Morita sat down and took the Coca-Cola handed to him by Ronald.

"That's it. Introduce yourself to the camera."

"My name is Morita. Nihao."

Morita began to speak English in a foreigner's tone.

"Very good, very good. Where did you learn karate?" Ronald was very satisfied. Morita really practiced the foreigner's accent when speaking English, which was similar to Long Da Diao in "Sixteen Candles".

"My dad taught me."

"I heard you were a fisherman in Ryukyu?" Ronald saw that Morita had entered the role and started to talk to him.

"Oh, in Ryukyu, all the palaces know two things, fishing and karate."

The two did a five-minute Q\u0026A session on some of the content in the script. Ronald stopped the camera, "You did a great job. I think you will have a great chance this time. Where did you practice your broken English? It's almost like a real foreigner."

Morita resumed his fluent speaking style, "I have an uncle who is a first-generation immigrant. He usually speaks like this..." Then Morita moved closer, "Thank you very much, Ronald. Is there really a chance this time?"

"I can't promise anything, but I will at least fight for you to get an audition opportunity." Ronald shook his hand.

Pat Morita walked out of the apartment again with hope. Ronald saw him get into a small and broken car, start it and drive away.

"I hope he can have luck and get Weintraub to nod." Ronald thought secretly about his own reference to Coppola's recommendation of Marlon Brando, and made up his mind to surprise Weintraub if he had the chance.

When interviewing the male lead the next day, Weintraub did not attend. His personal secretary Susan Aikins sat in the audition room on his behalf.

The audition director, Penny Dupont, is a middle-aged woman of American descent. She knows Ronald's requirements very well. The protagonist, Danny Webber, must be someone who looks like he comes from the bottom of society and has a stubborn spirit of putting the chips on his shoulders.

Because of this requirement, several well-known actors proposed by Weintraub were rejected by Ronald and Dupont.

For example, Tom Cruise is too handsome and looks like he can't fight back when being bullied.

Another example is Nicolas Cage, who has a very stubborn face. If he is bullied by Johnny, he will probably fight back desperately.

So most of the people who came to audition today are the type who look a little thin.

The budget of 7.5 million still attracted many actors, but few of them were able to compete for the leading role.

Hollywood has just begun to pay attention to the youth market a few years ago, and there were no suitable youth actors before, resulting in these old faces appearing in various crews.

Susan Aikins was feasting her eyes. The handsome guys introduced themselves in front of her as required. Ronald also asked her to be the audition examiner and asked her some questions, which made her feel good.

Finally, everyone picked four male actors.

The first one was Emilio Estevez, the son of the famous actor Martin Sheen.

He seemed to have some conflicts with Ronald. When he first entered the audition room, he began to challenge Ronald with words. Fortunately, the young director was not moved. He just let him finish his self-introduction and asked him to go back to listen to the news.

The second one was Charlie Sheen, Emilio's younger brother. The two are brothers, but they use different last names. Charlie is obviously less aggressive than his brother. Ronald talked to him for a few more words and asked Susan to ask him about his acting experience.

Charlie was much thinner than his brother Emilio, and was more in line with the character traits Ronald mentioned.

Susan Aikins felt that she obviously understood audition better.

The third person was C. Thomas Hall. He and Ronald were old acquaintances, and he was also the protagonist of "The Little Brat" directed by Coppola.

Hall has changed a lot since he played the protagonist. He was accompanied by a manager who was responsible for his daily life. Among these people, he was the first to receive such treatment.

The fourth person was Ralph Mazzio, an actor from "The Little Brat". He played the friend of the protagonist who died in the end.

He also had a manager, but he looked obviously Latino. Upon asking, it turned out that he was a relative of his. Latinos generally take care of their relatives' employment.

Ronald talked to him the longest.

"Who do you think is more suitable among these four?" Susan Aikins remembered Weintraub's instructions and asked Ronald what he thought.

"I think Ralph Mazzio is better," Ronald said his true thoughts, "Emilio is too fat. I don't want to be the son of a poor single mother. Charlie Sheen and Thomas Hall are still minors, and the filming must be supervised by the union. The filming time cannot be too long, and teachers must be provided for learning.

And teenagers are not easy to teach. When they perform, sometimes they will have unexpected performances and bring a touch of genius to the movie, but more often, they are unstable. Sometimes it takes a lot of time to communicate and persuade to prepare a scene."

Ronald remembered that when he was filming "Fast Pace", several underage actors were filming nude scenes, which was very time-consuming. If it is not necessary, he still hopes that an adult actor will play Danny.

"But isn't Ralph Mazzio also a minor?" Susan Aikins looked at Ralph's appearance in the audition photo, "He seems to be a little younger than Charlie Sheen."

"Haha, turn it over and take a look, he is already 22 this year."

"What?" Susan turned over the audition photo. The resume said that Ralph Mazzio was born in 1961 and is already 22 this year.

"Isn't this nonsense?" Susan Aikins didn't believe it at all. Ralph looked only 15 or 16 years old.

"Isn't this good? He looks like he is a teenager. We only recognize his age on his resume. His registration information with the Actors Guild also says so." Audition director Dupont chimed in. Anyway, no matter whether he is really 22 or not, the crew can use him as an adult actor.

"I just can't believe it." Susan defended, and then turned the photo of Ralph Mazzio over and over again.

"Next time, you can ask him to show his driver's license." Ronald said.

"Hahaha..."

"I'll deal with the audition tapes of these actors, and then go to Mr. Weintraub's house with you and Penny to watch the audition tapes in the evening." Ronald got up to get the audition tapes, ready to take them to the editing room and cut the clips of the four candidates together.

"Okay, I'll talk to Jerry."

The group arrived at Weintraub's house in the evening and sat in his huge living room with a view of Beverly Hills. Ronald put the audition tape in the VCR, then took the remote control and pressed the play button.

Weintraub pressed an electric switch and drew the curtains. In the dim light, the four people leaned close to the TV to watch the actors.

"I recommend Ralph Mazzio. He has a baby face and is an adult, so it's easy to shoot. I've seen his acting skills in the crew of The Naughty Boys, and it can be said that he is very good." Ronald watched the audition tapes of the four people and didn't press pause. There was a snowflake on the TV. He turned to Weintraub and told him his thoughts.

"What do you think, Penny?" Weintraub turned to ask the audition director for his opinion.

"I agree with Ronald's idea. Ralph is indeed suitable. With his small body, it makes sense that he is bullied. He is also very cute. It is normal for Ali to be attracted to him. The most important thing is that he has a stubborn spirit," Penny told Weintraub her opinion.

"Well..." Weintraub was silent. He saw that the two of them agreed and did not want to make a decision on the spot. He would wait a while to ask Susan about the real situation.

"I will send a notice to all four of them and recall them for a second round of auditions and let them read the lines. Mr. Weintraub, you can come too."

"Okay," Weintraub agreed.

"Zizzi...Pop", the snowflakes in the videotape suddenly disappeared, and then an old Japanese man jumped out. His gray hair was half bald and he had a messy beard.

He was looking at the camera, answering Ronald's questions, but his response was slow, and he seemed to not speak English very well. He thought about it in Japanese first, and then said it in broken English, without grammar and tense.

"Just like that, you introduce yourself to the camera." The voice in the video seemed to be Ronald's.

"My name is Morita. Nihao," the Japanese actor answered.

"Very good, very good. Where did you learn karate?"

"My father taught me."

"I heard you were a fisherman in Ryukyu?"

"Oh, in Ryukyu, all the palaces know two things, fishing and karate."

"Hey, hey!" Weintraub interrupted Ronald, "Where did you find this actor? He is Mr. Miyagi, he is Mr. Miyagi." Weintraub patted Ronald's shoulder excitedly, "We have to find him, he is the natural Miyagi Chengyi. What's his name?"

"Him?" Ronald smiled wickedly, "He is Pat Morita."