Exploiting Hollywood 1980

Sure enough, Weintraub suggested that Chuck Norris, Bruce Lee's friend and the final villain in the Colosseum battle in "Enter the Dragon", be the action director, and invited him to play the role of Chris, the owner of the "Cobra" karate gym.

But Chuck Norris was not a good choice. Chris, the owner of the gym, has his own fighting philosophy. As a retired Vietnam War veteran, he believes in taking no prisoners and striking first. This is exactly the opposite of Miyagi's philosophy of not bullying the weak and striking back. These two philosophies are also the essence of the fight between the protagonist Daniel and the enemy Johnny.

The problem is that Chuck Norris has no acting skills. He has a poker face and no expression throughout Enter the Dragon. He has a big beard and even when he speaks, you can hardly see any movement of his facial muscles. This kind of person is impossible to play any coach role with philosophical thinking. He can only be a martial artist.

Recently, Weintraub has always had all kinds of whimsical ideas. Ronald has figured out that this producer is essentially just a movie fan who often wants to gather stars in a movie and become a collector.

But sometimes, he has some reliable opinions. This kind of professional and amateur ideas makes Ronald suspect that he has one or more industry insiders as advisers and communicates every few days.

Of course, Ronald has more important things to deal with now, which is the choice of the heroine, so he has not discussed the candidate for this important supporting role with Weintraub for the time being, but only introduced Daryl Vidal to him to join the crew as an assistant for action scenes.

Two days later, a bad news came. The two candidates for the heroine, Lea Thompson and Jennifer Grey, were both selected by director John Milius to play the female guerrillas in "Red Dawn".

After hearing the news, Ronald immediately booked a flight to Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was going to meet Elizabeth Shue and persuade her to postpone her studies at Harvard as much as possible to play in "The Karate Kid". . This is no longer the best choice among Ronald's current castings, but the only choice.

When Elizabeth Sue heard that Ronald was going to make her the heroine of "The Karate Kid", she was very excited even though she was already a 20-year-old college student. She shouted loudly in the Harvard cafe on the spot, attracting everyone's attention.

"I'm so happy," Elizabeth Sue still had a baby face and her baby fat had not completely disappeared. She apologized to everyone with a smile. Seeing her cute face, several Harvard students seemed to recognize her as the "Burger King Girl" and wanted to come up and chat with her.

Now Ronald thought that her appearance was also very good, and she would be recognized by the audience if she played a middle school student.

"Okay, I will let the producer contact your agent. The total shooting time is two months, and there are two weeks of rehearsal before that. The salary will be paid according to the standard."

Ronald came to see Elizabeth Sue first based on his personal relationship with her, so as to prevent the agent from interfering and taking the opportunity to threaten more salary and on-set treatment. As long as Sue herself is willing and the agent does not know that they have no more choices, it is not difficult to sign this contract.

"Well, but I have to get my parents' consent." Elizabeth Sue was happy, but then she looked a little worried. She grew up in a wealthy family, and she would consider her parents' requirements for some things.

"I thought you were an independent girl." Ronald targeted her psychology and tried to arouse Sue's sense of independence.

"I know, well... it's just that my parents paid the bulk of my tuition. You know that Wellesley College and Harvard are very expensive. The pay for my commercials is not enough." After all, Elizabeth Sue has been in college at Wellesley College for a year, and she is no longer the naive high school student who filmed the gum commercials.

"I will let the producer talk to your agent. I think it will be enough for your next college tuition."

"Well, I have another idea. I have a younger brother, Andrew, who is also interested in acting. Can I give him a small role? In this way, my father and mother will tend to agree."

"How old is he?"

"Fifteen."

"I can let him appear on the screen, just as a student in the Cobra Dojo," Ronald replied.

"Okay, I have prepared the materials for applying for delayed admission." Elizabeth Sue smiled with a "haha, I succeeded" smile.

Without having time to visit the ancient Harvard campus, Ronald hurried back to Los Angeles. There were more auditions and preparations waiting for him here.

The audition of Daniel LaRusso's opponent, Johnny, Ali's ex-boyfriend, also began. This is the biggest villain in the movie, the opponent Daniel defeated in the final of the karate championship.

Emilio Estevez came to audition again. He has not been lucky recently. His brother Charlie Sheen was selected by Milius to shoot "Red Dawn", but he himself was not chosen.

"Since I can't play the leading role, it's not bad to play the first villain", with this idea, Emilio read a line of Johnny.

"What do you think?" Weintraub asked Ronald and the casting director immediately after Emilio finished reading the line and waited for him to walk out.

"He is a hunchback", casting director Dupont complained, "His resume says he has experience in wrestling, I can't see it."

"A little fatter, and he doesn't look like a middle school student." Ronald clearly objected, "Emilio Estevez's figure is completely that of an adult. He and Ralph Martin When Zio plays Daniel, the audience will not believe that Daniel, who is like a chicken, has the possibility of victory."

Ronald didn’t like Emilio Estevez anyway. On the set of "The Naughty Man", he felt that there was always competition among young men. Relying on his father's status in the industry, he was quite generous.

Moreover, he has repeatedly wanted to flirt with Diane, and even though he has a regular girlfriend, he can be called a "scumbag".

"I agree with your idea." Weintraub did not expect that they also didn't like Emilio. "I think Johnny should find a new person to play, so that the audience will not be disturbed by the famous actor's previous role, but from the plot. Judge them as bad people.”

"Here comes another new idea," Ronald thought. This judgment actually makes sense. Weintraub must have asked his "senior consultant" again.

"I think this principle is very good. Even Chris, the owner of the Cobra Dojo, we'd better find a new person to play. Emilio has played the role of 'Bitch' in 'The Kid', and the audience will unconsciously think that He's just a cheap character who will interfere with their impression of Johnny." Ronald took the opportunity to sell his idea that it would be better not to play Chuck Norris.

"What you said makes sense, huh." Weintraub looked at the character list, "Fortunately, the other contestants in the Cobra Gym, we use junior movie stars, they have never acted in any movies, so Just right."

"Okay, let's try the next one. Robert Downey Jr."

Outside the door, the assistant called in another audition actor to read the lines. Emilio Estevez has not left yet, he is chatting with Chad McQueen, whom he knows well. Chad and the others, who played Johnny's classmates who trained karate at the Cobra Gym, came to see Weintraub to ask for treatment on set.

Both are sons of Hollywood male stars, with Chad's father, the late Steve McQueen, being a bigger star than Emilio's father, Martin Sheen. So Chad's temper is a bit worse than Emilio's.

"Hey, Emilio... why are you here again? You look downcast. Did 'Red Dawn' not take a fancy to you?" Chad McQueen said provocatively to Emilio Esteve when he came up. Zi said.

Next to him, Ron Thomas and Rob Garrison, whose fathers were not as famous as McQueen, so they respected Chad in their daily play. Seeing Emilio's defeat, they also came up and laughed at him with "hehehe".

"Pfft, you are not even qualified to be the protagonist, you can only play a supporting role." Emilio was also unforgiving.

"Hey," Chad was about to get angry when he came up. "Aren't you both chosen? We can still play a supporting role, and it's an important supporting role. This is our first movie."

"Hey, I played a supporting role in 'Apocalypse Now' in my first movie."

"Really?" Chad McQueen asked his two followers in disbelief, "Did you fucking see him when you watched 'Apocalypse Now'?"

Gu Liang

"No, you're not bragging."

"It was just cut out later." Emilio has already established himself in Hollywood and has many offers. He doesn't want to talk to these ignorant second-generation stars.

"Don't be too happy, this is just a silly exploitation film, just for kidding. Do you still want to be famous for this kind of movie?"

With that said, Emilio Estevez walked out of the audition office.

The three second-generation stars looked at each other in confusion, wondering if what he said about an exploitation film to entertain children was bragging.

"Don't listen to him, Chad, it's just a loser's whine."

"Go away," Chad McQueen pushed away the attendant who came to persuade him. "It's nothing special. Movies are all about making yourself look handsome, no matter what the movie or the role." Chad twitched. Nose, his late father Steve McQueen once told him that male stars don't have to think too much about plot and dialogue, as long as they perform their own temperament.

He looked at the audition room, as if he was thinking of the scene in the movie where he showed off his power and beat up the male protagonist Daniel.

Inside the audition room, three people were interviewing the actor named Robert Downey Jr. His father was a director making low-budget films in New York.

"Have you ever practiced karate?" Weintraub asked.

"No, but I can act very similar."

"Have you ever practiced other martial arts?" Ronald asked additionally.

"No, but I played a supporting role in the Broadway musical 'Grease' and have a dance foundation." Robert Downey Jr. did a few dance moves, but he didn't look very flexible.

…

"What do you think? The acting seems a bit softer." Weintraub wrote his own evaluation.

"He reads the lines very well, but he can't handle the action scenes." Ronald thought about his dance move just now. If it was a crane kick, he couldn't do it. That shot was the ultimate trick to defeat the opponent, so it was very troublesome to have a stand-in.

"Next up, Eric Stoltz," the audition director said, moving down the list.

"Good afternoon, everyone. Hi Ronald, see you again."

"Hi Eric, please read this line for us." Ronald spotted the actor who played Sean Penn's sidekick in "Fast Times."

"What do you think?" Weintraub didn't know if he was suitable, so he could only ask Ronald and Dupont.

Ronald also looked at the audition director. He and Eric Stoltz were the actors he selected to enter the film industry. Eric also greeted him. In order to avoid suspicion, he let Dupont speak first.

"His appearance and movements are okay, but he reads his lines too softly, and his lines are not powerful enough."

"Then let's wait and see." Weintraub said.

Ronald wanted to laugh. When Eric Stoltz was in the "Fast Pace" crew, he admired Sean Penn's method performance, but he just imitated the master of the method, Marlon Brando's "humming" line method, and didn't care that he was still a rookie.

"The next one is William Zaba... No, Ziba... No, Ki..." Ronald encountered another surname that he couldn't read.

"William Zabka." It was the casting director Dupont who saved his life.

Ronald got a headache when he saw this name with two consonants stacked together, and he was also an Eastern European.

"Good afternoon, I'm William Zebka."

An actor who looked very tall and muscular appeared in front of the three people.

"Have you ever practiced any martial arts?" Ronald could tell at a glance that the other party had a body shape that was a bit of a martial artist.

"I was on the high school wrestling team, and I once won the top three in the Los Angeles inter-school wrestling competition."

"So we are in the same industry," Ronald's feeling towards Zebka improved.

"Have you ever practiced karate?" Weintraub asked.

"No, but I have the basics, so I shouldn't be slow to learn." Zebka was very confident.

"Please read this script," said casting director Dupont.

"Okay, we will notify your agent when we have news," Dupont said after he finished reading the script. Then he looked at Ronald and received a look of affirmation.

"Do you have anything else to do?" Dupont asked curiously when he saw that he was not leaving.

"I, I wrote a character biography for Johnny," Zebka took out a piece of paper.

"Oh, tell me about it." Ronald became interested. It seemed that the actor had done extra homework.

"I came up with a loose background story to better 'feel' this role. I imagined that Johnny had no father, and Chris from the Cobra Gym was the closest person to a father in his life."

"Not bad." Ronald did not write Johnny's background story after Zebka left. Zebka's treatment made the competition between Johnny and Daniel more fatalistic and contemporary. The divorce rate in America is very high now, and children from single-parent families also account for a considerable proportion of the audience.

In addition to the competition for honor and Ali, there is also a subconscious desire for a normal family life.

"I think he is the best choice." Weintraub was also very satisfied.