Exploiting Hollywood 1980

The group came to New York with the filming equipment. Here, the props team of the crew found a Chevrolet SUV that was more than ten years old but had been carefully maintained by the mechanics as a moving tool for the protagonist LaRusso's family.

Ronald's agent Eddie contacted the RV for the actors and staff to use, and drove to Harris Town, New Jersey, waiting for the sunrise the next morning to shoot.

Ronald did not go with them, but took time to deal with some personal affairs. He visited Aunt Karen and brought the share of "Night of the Comet" to Douglas in person, and then went to Long Island again. Helen Slater was recuperating at her mother's house.

"Helen, Ronald is here" Her mother knocked on the door of the guest bedroom at home and asked Ronald to come in.

Ronald saw Helen standing in front of the window in cotton pajamas at a glance. After more than a month of recuperation, she did not maintain her 120-pound figure, but gradually recovered to the level before filming "Supergirl".

The two looked at each other for a while, and suddenly laughed at the same time.

Helen came up and hugged Ronald, "I'm glad you came to see me, Ronnie." The two talked about a lot of things since they separated, just like friends.

In addition to anorexia caused by binge eating and vomiting cycles, Helen was diagnosed with mild depression by the doctor. After a period of psychological treatment, her mood is much more stable now. What she needs most now is the company of family and friends, but her parents are divorced and she can only live in two reconstituted families for a period of time. .

The producers of "Superwoman", the Salkind father and son, seem to have not given up their efforts and are still looking for distributors willing to release the film. For this reason, they are willing to cut some more shots, leaving only 108 minutes of length.

Helen's shots have been reduced a lot, but after treatment by a psychologist, she seems to be less concerned about it now.

The two chatted for more than half an hour, and Helen's mother knocked on the door to remind Helen that it was time to go out for exercise.

"Okay, that's it for today." Ronald was about to say goodbye, and he rubbed Helen's hair. "So, we are still in the pause period?"

"Yeah, I think this is good. I need some time to recover, and our conversation like close friends today makes me relax a lot." Helen said in a soft voice.

Ronald saw that he still had some worries in his eyes and turned to walk out the door. His hand touched the door handle, and he turned back and asked, "Helen, since you said we are friends, can you answer a question for me honestly?"

Helen raised her hand and motioned Ronald to go ahead.

"Before we... did I put pressure on you? Donna said that every time I chat with my girlfriend, it's like I'm about to take out a ring to propose."

"Hahaha..." Helen burst into laughter, "This description is very accurate. You really look like a good husband material, Ronnie. But we have only been dating for a while, especially in Los Angeles, you always make me feel like a married housewife.

Starting a family is a difficult decision for me. So let's stay like this, and my pressure will be much less."

Helen's parents are divorced, and Ronald's yearning for family life that he reveals on weekdays makes her a little nervous, and sometimes it becomes a source of her pressure. Helen felt that she was just an ordinary American girl. She just wanted to relax a little. She didn't want to start thinking about whether the two of them would maintain their love in the future, or whether they would end up in divorce like her parents.

"Let's not put any pressure on each other to make promises now..." Helen told Ronald her thoughts on love and marriage again.

"Okay, let's continue to pause." Ronald didn't like the way young Americans used theories from emotional books and gossip magazines to guide their emotional lives. He felt a little tired, so he said goodbye and left.

"Helen, you haven't laughed as happily as you did just now for a long time." Helen's mother took her arm, and the two walked and talked under the autumn boulevard.

Ronald found his agent Ed and asked him to drive him to Harris, a small town in New Jersey.

"You know what? Ronald, you should let go of your burden. Many people enter the entertainment industry just to have fun and date a few female stars, such as your friend Douglas Jr. You don't have to care so much."

Ed persuaded Ronald on the way to drive.

"Yeah, you're right." Ronald now only wants to make the movie well and not think too much about the future. When it comes to girlfriends, it might be better to let things take their own course. He is not the same generation as Aunt Karen. Back then, getting married was like being in love now. Divorce is like changing a girlfriend.

After all, Ronald has not really experienced the hippie era. He feels that his thoughts should also be baptized by the spirit of freedom. He does not need to be as open as hippies, but he does not need to be too conservative. It is better for young people to just think about the happiness in front of them.

"Tell me something that makes you happy, your ex-girlfriend Meg Tilly." Ed saw that Ronald still did not smile, and thought about it and said again.

"What happened to her?"

"She was fired from "Amadeus" by the director."

"Why?" Ronald knew that Meg's husband Zinnemann was working hard to make Meg a star, so he should not be replaced by someone else.

"She was playing football with local kids on a Czech set the day before filming started and broke her leg. Now director Milos Forman is looking for a replacement all over the world, and even my client has received an audition notice."

"Haha..." Ronald wanted to laugh a little. Fate always plays a trick on you when you don't pay attention. The latest masterpiece of the Oscar-winning director, Zinnemann must have ruined the role Meg spent a lot of effort to get by playing a bad football.

The next morning, the genius was bright. At the junction of Franklin Road and Hamilton Street in Harris Township (many small towns on the East Coast are named after the founding fathers), Ronald and director of photography James Crabb lay down together. On top of the tallest building. There are small row houses next to it. In front of the building is a row of parking spaces, filled with densely packed cars.

The Chevrolet SUV was parked in the parking space downstairs, and Randy Heller, who played the mother Lucille, and Ralph Marzio, who played Daniel LaRusso, were sitting in the car getting ready.

The light-colored Chevrolet is weather-beaten, and there is an obvious dent in the back that shows it is an old car. If you are a car enthusiast, you will recognize that this is a model from ten years ago. On the roof is a Mongoose 2-4 speed scooter, Daniel LaRusso's vehicle.

For a job opportunity on the West Coast, mother and son loaded all their belongings into a car and drove down the interstate. This is why America is called the country on wheels.

"camera?"

"full speed."

"Boy Longwei, first scene, first shot"

Gu Xi

"A!" Ronald called out the order with a portable loudspeaker, and the filming of "The Dragon King" officially began.

This scene was shot from a distance, and there was no live recording. Ronald had already arranged the scene with the two actors in advance and was waiting for the magic light time after sunrise to be filmed.

Randy Heller said the lines, started the car, turned the steering wheel and drove out of the parking space.

"Cut! Cut!" Ronald stood up and shouted to stop. The residents of the town got up very early every morning. Several early-rising housewives and children saw Ronald and others on the roof. They had never seen a movie being filmed before, so they all came to watch. A naughty child took the lead and rushed in. viewfinder frame.

"Let them go away a little bit, don't come into the shot...yeah, don't come into that line" Ronald shouted from the rooftop, gesturing to let them

The assistant finally persuaded them to leave the circle, and then Ronald started filming again. The scene ends with Lucille driving the SUV onto Hamilton Street and then onto Franklin Road.

"Cut! Cut!" The housewives followed the rules, but they couldn't stand the naughty children. When they saw the camera above, they couldn't wait to come out and surround the car, shouting at Ronald.

In a small town where life is dull and boring, residents rarely get to see how movies are made. For them, being able to have a good time and show their faces in front of the camera is an anecdote that can last for years.

"Damn it, if we were in Los Angeles, pedestrians would just take one look and leave. What's so interesting about a crew without a single star?" Ronald cursed as he walked to the edge of the roof and slowly walked down the maintenance stairs. climb.

"Please be quiet. Do you want to appear in the movie?" Ronald walked up to the housewives and children.

"Hehehe..." The children laughed happily, and the housewives nodded.

"Okay, then you will be by the car, waving to the actors in the car and saying goodbye." Ronald knew that it would be too difficult to convince these residents not to show their faces, so he simply modified it on the spot and let them make guest appearances as neighbors and highlight Lucy. My family is very popular in the local area.

"Remember, no one is allowed to look up there. If anyone secretly looks at the camera above, I will cut off their footage."

The children were laughing secretly.

"Do you want to tell your friends that I am in the movie? If so, just be obedient." Ronald touched the back of the head of the most naughty child in the lead and gave him a piece of chocolate. He quickly calmed down.

When the filming started again, several children were happily lying on the window of the Chevrolet SUV, calling Daniel's name and waving goodbye to him.

Randy Heller, who played the mother Lucille, turned a corner and drove onto Hamilton Street. The children did not follow, so they were grabbed by the mothers, and then they collectively waved goodbye to the car.

"Cut!" Ronald stopped and looked at the sky. It happened to be a period of good light. The director of photography indicated that the shot met the requirements.

"It's done." Ronald shouted. The child came over reluctantly and wanted to take more shots.

In order to shoot several moving scenes, the crew had to shoot scenes from New Jersey, Arizona, and Los Angeles, and the broken car was constantly transported to various places. With a standard production scale of eight million US dollars, Ronald enjoyed for the first time the privilege of not having to save money for the sake of artistic authenticity.

Everyone got into the RV, the assistants loaded the equipment onto the truck, and the crew's convoy continued to move forward and drove to the town of Princeton, where the century-old school is located. Here, Ronald wants to take a few shots of the gate and make a footnote to the journey of mother and son.

The point of this montage is to find a few locations that are familiar to all viewers, so they can understand the meaning of the montage, which is of a mother and son traveling across the country, moving from New Jersey to California for a better new life.

As the sun sets, Ronald shoots a drive-by shot of Lucille opposite the gate of Princeton. The old car developed a problem after a long trip. Lucille and Daniel pushed the car with the door open, one on the left and the other on the right.

Suddenly, the car started, and the mother and son quickly jumped into the car from both sides and drove forward.

"Haha, you are really great, Daniel." Mother Lucille is always very optimistic. In this case, she did not forget to praise her son.

"Cut!"

After shooting a few takes, the crew completed the filming in Princeton. Today, we booked a room in a hotel next to Princeton so that everyone can have a good sleep. Tomorrow, we will go to Arizona to shoot some giant rocks that are often seen in western movies.

The opening shot was shot very well, and the actors and staff also relaxed. Everyone wandered around the campus of Princeton and prepared to have dinner.

"Hey, there are people playing football here."

Ralph Mazzio saw some girls playing football on the lawn, and happily went up to show off his skills. He was different from those girls who played football with their bodies. He ran in small steps and shook the ball left and right. Several girls couldn't grab his ball.

"Almost, don't get hurt. You haven't warmed up enough." Ronald was very satisfied with Ralph's skills. But he thought of Meg Tilly who was injured while playing football, and he didn't want his leading actor to get injured too.

"Okay", I just want to show you my football skills. Ralph Mazzio was also very satisfied with himself.

"Ronald?!" A crisp female voice came from behind, "Why are you here?"

"It's you, Brooke." Ronald turned around and saw a tall girl behind him, wearing jeans and sunglasses, trying her best to hide her glamor.

"I came here to shoot a movie."

"Is it Brooke?!" Several crew members saw that it was Brooke and immediately surrounded her for autographs. Even Ralph Mazzio was eager to move.

"Let's go to another place to talk, there are many people here." Brooke looked around and saw that many people came to look at her. Although Princeton college students were very polite and didn't watch her much. But she had many experiences of being politely asked for autographs and photos, which made her very distressed.

"We're going to dinner, do you have any recommendations?"

"Come with me." Brooke adjusted her sunglasses and walked out with Ronald and the crew.