Exploiting Hollywood 1980

Ronald yawned and put on sunglasses to cover his red eyes from revising the script for a long time under the reading lights on the plane. He got off the plane.

"Ronald, here," Richard came to the gate to pick up Ronald early in the morning.

"Minahan has gone to Debbie Reynolds' dance studio to prepare for the audition and meet the filming team, all held there. Here's the coffee for you."

"Okay," Ronald was a little tired, took the double espresso Richard handed over and drank it all in one gulp.

The two got into Niceta's BMW, and Richard drove Ronald to the dance studio.

"Here, Ronald," Richard woke up Ronald who was dozing in the co-pilot seat.

After a short nap, Ronald regained his energy. As soon as he entered the dance studio, he found that Minahan was already waiting for him there, and there were many "Soul Train" dancers waiting for auditions outside.

"Haha, you're here, Ronald. This is the cinematographer I found for you, Hanania Bell, he's a veteran and also my fellow Israeli."

"Hello, Ronald." Hanania Bell is a veteran photographer born in Israel. He used to shoot the "After School Special" series of TV movies at ABC TV.

"Hello, Hanania." Ronald has worked with cinematographers who came from TV movies and knows that they are skilled and especially good at shooting quickly, because TV movies shoot faster.

Some of the areas where I don't have a good grasp of film photography, because I'm shooting an exploitation film, the impact is not prominent. In short, speed is the most important thing.

And he's an Israeli fellow found by Minahan, so he should be reliable.

"This is Ivo Kristant, the art director I found."

"Hello, Ronald. I haven't seen the complete script yet. What important scenes do you have? What color style are you going to use?"

Ivo Kristant also knew that time was tight, so he skipped the greetings and directly raised the important issues he had to solve as an art director.

"Here are some of the modifications I made on the plane," Ronald handed over the part of the script he had just written. "I have only one request. When I'm shooting, you have to supervise the set design for the next few scenes. In order to save time, we have to shoot in a rolling manner."

"No problem, let me take a look..." Ivo Kristante saw several scenes that needed to be designed, "open-air banquet, apartment for dancing, basement for dancing battles, and a solo dance in front of a convenience store..."

Ronald and he quickly agreed on the style of the scene. Ivo Kristante made a table to plan the order of shooting first and shooting later. Basically, he could modify the set design one or two days in advance before Ronald was about to shoot.

"This is Pamela Basque", Minahan introduced a lady at the end, "our casting director"

"Hello, Ronald. I know time is very tight. What are your casting principles? We try to compress two auditions into one."

"Is Lucinda Dickey here?" Ronald did not answer the question, but turned to Minahan. That was the first major role decided in the whole film, playing the heroine.

"Yes, Lucinda", Minahan turned around and called out Lucinda Dickey.

Lucinda is a beautiful woman with a good figure and smooth muscle lines. At first glance, she is a jazz dancer who practices both strength and skills.

"You will participate in the casting with us, and then... where is the hairstylist? Go and help her change her hairstyle later. I want a youthful and positive one."

"By the way, Pamela, sorry, my casting principle..." Ronald turned back to discuss with the casting director Pamela after instructing the hairstylist.

Pamela smiled. She was resistant to filming an exploitation film in two weeks. Now she is relaxed when she sees the young director coming up with an arrogant attitude and everyone has to listen to my orders.

Directors are monarchs on the set, and those who are very democratic cannot be good directors.

"... there is only one principle: I prefer good dancing to good acting."

This is the painful lesson Ronald learned during the filming of "Flashdance". If "Breakdance" is like that time, the heroine will have to have four or five stand-ins to serve her for one shot, and it will definitely not be finished in two weeks.

"In addition, try to find actors with outstanding personalities. Actors with outstanding personalities are more likely to perform well in fast shooting. Even if it is different from the script, I can rewrite the story conflict and character personality on the spot."

"I see. You want them to perform in their true colors. It is better to have a distinct personality than good acting skills." Casting director Pamela was more confident. This is not only a qualified director, but also a qualified exploitation film.

Seeing Ronald calmly assigning characters, Minahan was a little relieved. He still secretly asked casting director Pamela, "What do you think of Ronald?"

"If you want to shoot an exploitation film in a hurry, there is nothing more reassuring than a director who knows how to adapt to circumstances."

Pamela smiled and began to go out to sort the actors waiting for auditions. Two rounds of auditions were condensed into one round. She and Ronald discussed to interview three actors at a time. If they met good ones, they would be selected and auditioned with Lucinda Dickey to see the chemical reaction of the supporting roles.

"Please introduce yourself." Pamela began to put in the dancers of "Soul Train" one after another.

Three at a time, and soon she and Ronald had seen more than a dozen actors.

Ronald and Pamela were relatively satisfied with two of them.

One was Bruno Falcon, a Latino. Ronald saw that he was the villain who competed with the protagonist in the three-person dance battle in the dream.

The other was Timothy Solomon, a black man. He happened to play Bruno's partner and made up a team.

"Please take a break on the side. There will be another round of auditions later," Pamela called the next wave in.

All the dancers wore their own clothes for the audition. The costumes were full of bright colors like those of blacks and Latinos, and the men also wore a lot of earrings and jewelry.

Ronald saw from the degree of fading of the clothes that they were not very rich. In addition to selecting a few of the best to play the main roles, the others who were willing to participate were all extras and received a minimum wage.

"Please introduce yourself"

"My name is Jeff Parker."

"My name is Boogaloo Shrip"

"My name is Shabba Doo"

"Please dance your best dance steps."

As soon as the three began to dance, Ronald recognized them immediately. The two guys with strange names are the two male protagonists in the dream, "Whirlwind" and "Motor".

"These two are good," casting director Pamela whispered to Ronald, "Sabado's robot dance is very powerful, and his eyes are full of anger, which is exactly the personality you want.

Gu 釤

The dance of that Buffalo Shrimp is like Mikhail Baryshnikov in breakdance. This kind of person must have integrated his own personality into the dance."

Ronald looked at Pamela, and didn't expect her to have such a high evaluation of the shrimp. Baryshnikov is a defected ballet star and was once the idol of his ex-girlfriend Antonia. This puts the shrimp at the level of top masters.

"Ahem," Ronald said to the two who stopped dancing, "What are your real names?"

"My real name is Sabado, and my friend is Buffalo Shrimp. In street dance, we earned our own names."

Ronald nodded secretly in his heart. These two people have nicknames in the industry, which is actually similar to the crazy legs in New York. However, since the two are so stubborn, they need to know who has the final say in the crew.

"Boogallo Prawn and Sabado? Then I will write the same on your paycheck...?"

The two were very excited. This means that they have been selected, but the bank does not recognize this nickname.

"My name is Adolfo Quinones." As the leader of the two, the Latino Sabado knew when to give in. He quickly reported his real name and poked the Boogallo Prawn.

"My name is Michael Chambers," Prawn showed the white teeth unique to black people. He was young and naive. Seeing Sabado said this, he hurriedly followed.

"Prawn, Sabado, you and Lucinda breakdance together to see the chemical reaction." Ronald said to the two.

After Lucinda Dickey had her hair done, she returned to the dance studio for the audition, changed into her training clothes, and danced with the two breakdance masters.

Da Xia and Sabado found that Lucinda was not very good at this kind of street dance, and they began to look down on Lucinda, especially Sabado, who seemed to be very angry that Lucinda could not keep up with their rhythm.

"You two should show Lucinda a demonstration and find a slower rhythm of action combination." Ronald also felt that Lucinda was a bit out of tune with them, as if the cooperation between the three of them in the dream was much better.

The two looked embarrassed, and they still discussed a slow rhythm for the role.

Lucinda Dickey had just arrived from Arizona. She was very professional in jazz dance, but she had never practiced breakdancing, and she was a bit behind in this slow-paced dance.

Ronald saw the problem. Jazz and breakdancing have different ways of exerting force. For the same jump and landing, jazz dance emphasizes softness and overall force, and the sense of strength is expressed in the overall movement of the body.

Breakdancing's take-off and landing emphasize hardness, and require high local muscle force. When other parts of the body are relaxed, the arms or legs where the dance movements are located can exert strong force.

"Lucinda, you should also dance a jazz dance that you are good at." Ronald saw that Da Xia also began to show contempt, so he quickly asked Lucinda Dickey to show her skills.

Da Xia and Sabado's critical eyes finally softened. However, they still didn't like this kind of professional jazz dance. They highly praised their own free break dance and believed that this was the embodiment of the spirit of freedom.

This is indeed a problem. Break dance is danced by poor boys on the street who can't even afford clothes. And jazz dance practice usually costs money, and dancers can't be said to be extremely poor at least.

Ronald thought about it and asked Falken, who was going to dance the villain, and Solomon to come and try to dance with Lucinda Dickey.

"These three seem to be more harmonious." Minahan whispered on the side.

"Strange", the three more harmonious people, but Ronald couldn't see any chemical reaction between the three. It's like... it's like a break dance teacher is leading students.

Unable to figure it out, Ronald wanted to put the casting aside for the time being. He was not sure whether to follow the match in the dream or change it? Falcon and Solomon look more photogenic and are more popular with female audiences than the skinny Sabado and Big Shrimp.

"Ronald, your friend Handyan is here," the assistant said as he opened the door. The person who walked in was Handyan, Eddie Rodriguez, who was on crutches.

"Hi, Eddie." Ronald stood up to greet him and hugged him.

"Are all your students here? Are they ready to show up in the movie?"

"Yes, I asked them to wait outside."

The hand man was still shy and whispered to Ronald.

Sabado and Buffalo Shrimp began to be dissatisfied again, as if this disabled person with crutches was going to play a role in the movie. What was this?

Ronald heard Sabado's muttering, "Shou Man, show them your skills, they are all professionals."

The hand man smiled shyly, threw away his crutches, and then did a Thomas full spin on the floor, then a back spin, and finally a head spin. His feet were weak, but the speed of rotation was very fast. Soon, he used inertia to drive his legs to make various movements like a normal person.

"Oh, Shxt!"

The four street dance masters were very shocked. They stepped forward to hold the hand man and asked him questions. These movements required high skills and they couldn't do them.

Several masters began to communicate. While chatting, they began to demonstrate their own movements. Break dancers are unreserved. When they meet masters, they always communicate with each other and respect them very much.

Watching them warmly welcome the hand boy, Ronald was very happy. This is because he wanted to give this disabled dancer a chance. His enthusiasm and selflessness are touching.

After watching for a while, Ronald frowned again. He seemed to have figured out the problem of Sabado and Lucinda Dickey's cooperation.

Jazz dance represents orthodox middle-class white children, and break dance represents the poor Latino or black children on the street. No wonder Sabado seemed to want to eat Lucinda alive.

He wanted to show off in front of her, and belittling the other party was the best way. Just like in school, some bad boys always like to pull the hair of beautiful girls and use bullying to attract the attention of girls.

And the Buffalo Prawn is like Ralph Mazzio in The Karate Kid. He has not yet developed. He did not deliberately provoke Lucinda. He was just disgusted with Lucinda's poor skills.

Which couple should be chosen to match Lucinda?

"Do you think there is a strong confrontation between Sabado and Lucinda, as if they are on the verge of a fight?" Ronald asked the casting director Pamela quietly.

"This is sexual confrontation. Only when there is this kind of confrontation and attraction between men and women will they go to bed. The Buffalo prawns have not yet developed, so you can't see it. And Falcon and Solomon are afraid of Lucinda, who has already been selected, and they don't have the challenge and conquest of Sabado, a bad boy."

Ronald looked at the casting director in surprise. This insight was very wise and benefited him a lot.

Pamela smiled, "This is what the screenwriter Neil Israel told me when I was casting for a movie called Police Academy. He insisted that a girl would be more suitable and convinced the director. I was deeply impressed by this theory."

"Who is that girl? Did the male actor who acted with her also bully her in this way?"

"Not exactly the same. The actress is Kim Cattrall. She is a bit like Monroe, the kind of gorgeous actress who exudes infinite beauty and attracts men to peacock in front of her. At that time, we all felt that she was a little different, but only Neil said it most clearly, that kind of sexual confrontation, the audience will be immediately involved."

"Okay, then choose Sabado and Prawn, and team up with Lucinda Dickey." Ronald made up his mind.