Exploiting Hollywood 1980

Sylvester Stallone was interviewed by Melvin Griffin over the weekend. He pointed out that Ronald's imitation was not Star Wars, but a space opera, while Ronald's was a story that happened on earth.

It was also a fight, and he also defeated the defending champion. The "Rocky" series of movies was the pioneer of this type of movie.

"Okay, thank you. Sly's Rocky is the eternal benchmark of our American spirit..."

"His second round of attack is here. He didn't attack your counterattack directly, but once again hinted at the similarities between your movie and Rocky in some structures." Public relations consultant Eva distributed a newly published newspaper with an interview with Stallone.

Ronald's counterattack made Stallone feel angry. If he didn't continue to fight back, he would become a smart clown. He was obviously imitating Star Wars. Are you feeling good about yourself?

"Very good, it's all within our expectations," Niceta nodded.

"Ronald, your phone," Richard handed over the receiver.

"Hello?"

"Why did you fight with Stallone?" It was Diane who called. She was worried about Ronnie and called to inquire about the situation.

"It's okay. We have a little 'history'. I'm ready. This time, I can just hype my movie." Ronald replied with a casual look.

"Okay, you always have ideas and can get things done. You have to do it properly, brother Ronnie."

"You have good relationships. This is the number of girls who called?" Weintraub on the other side teased Ronald.

"Not many," Ronald laughed.

Letterman's talk show was broadcast on time. Everyone in the Hollywood circle knew that there was a young director who had a direct conversation with Stallone. Although the tone of the two was relatively restrained, the nature of the matter shocked the people in the circle.

Few people dared to talk back to Stallone, a popular movie star, on TV.

The first caller can be said to be the direct cause of this incident, Rachel Ward. The Australian beauty was about to return home. She heard that Ronald and Stallone had a verbal confrontation and postponed the flight. She came to ask Ronald about the situation.

Michelle Pfeiffer, the ex-girlfriend who had not been in contact for a long time, also called to show concern.

Ronald had not felt this kind of concern for a long time, and responded one by one. He was just responding to Stallone, and it was nothing serious.

Only Brooke did not have an agent and temporarily left the Hollywood fame and fortune. She did not understand the impact of this incident on Ronald, so she did not call to comfort him.

Not only female friends, but also male friends called. Nicolas Cage, Kane Costner, and Judge Reinhold, who had worked with him, all called.

Cameron and Gail, as well as Cameron Crowe, two Israeli brothers, and Martin Scorsese, his teacher in New York, also came to inquire about the situation.

Roger Corman was particularly concerned. He was the one who helped Stallone debut, and asked Ronald directly if he needed to mediate.

Ronald refused directly, but thanked him for his kindness. Stallone is no longer the supporting actor who shoots with a submachine gun in the movies of the new world. He is now a popular superstar, and he may not be nostalgic.

Weintraub smiled, "Well, I am not qualified to make fun of you. But Dick Cavett agreed. He is willing to come out of retirement. If he comes back, the first interview will be George Lucas, and he is very happy."

Weintraub used to be a big producer in the music industry, and he immediately convinced Dick.

"What about the preset questions?" Paula Wagner, one of Ronald's agents, was very concerned about whether Cavett would ask the preset key questions.

"Don't worry, he and I are old acquaintances, and Dick is very experienced. His style is to let the interviewee relax and then talk about in-depth issues. Lucas agreed to cooperate, no problem."

Weintraub joined the battle group after watching David Letterman's show on the weekend. He worked hard from the beginning and expressed his willingness to add more resources to hype this matter up.

The reason is of course the good box office. "The Karate Kid" had a weekend box office growth against the trend, exceeding six million, with Schwarzenegger's new film "Conan the Destroyer" released on the weekend.

There was no more marketing investment, and the word of mouth did not change much. But this Sleeping Beauty movie suddenly began to be popular among all parents and children in America.

The box office of the third weekend has exceeded that of the previous two weeks. There is no doubt that Weintraub concluded that the reason was that Ronald's verbal war with Stallone in the media made more people know about the movie "The Karate Kid".

"But Dick Cavett no longer has a broadcast platform. It is no easier to get a special broadcast channel resource in a short period of time than to find a heavyweight talk host with a job." Niceta raised a realistic question.

Weintraub shrugged and said that he had no connections in the TV station and was powerless.

"Instead of doing that, why not go find Melvin Griffin?" PR consultant Eva proposed her own plan. "That's where Stallone launched his first attack. Griffin will be happy to participate in the second round, which will help improve his dismal ratings on the cable TV station."

Stallone's counterattack made Ronald overjoyed. If he could respond with a heavy punch from behind, it would be a technical knockout on the spot. They tried to settle the matter at once.

"Paula, can you guarantee that he will ask the right questions?" Niceta looked at this colleague and lover, wondering how much influence her friend Eva had on Melvin Griffin.

Paula Wagner shook her head invisibly.

It seems that there is no 100% guarantee that he will ask preset questions when interviewing Lucas.

Unlike Dick Cavett, whom Weintraub introduced, Griffin now has a cable talk show. This gives Ronald a completely different control and influence over him here. If you don't ask powerful questions on the show, it will be like a punch in the face, all the resources invested will be wasted, and Stallone may seize the flaw and fight back.

"Ronald, I can help you clarify." A blond man rushed into CAA's office and shouted to Ronald, "I can be on a TV show. No one knows your character better than me."

"Tom, what are you doing here?" Paula Wagner scolded Tom Cruise who broke into the office.

"I heard that Stallone wanted to attack Ronald's creative ability. I know him very well. He is a sincere friend. I will never forget it. It was he who gave me the opportunity to audition for the first time. It was also he who led the way. I went to the dentist to get my front teeth filled.”

"Don't get involved in this matter. We will take care of it. If you speak rashly, it will disrupt our plans."

Tom Cruise was pulled aside and given a lecture by Paula Wagner.

Cruise was still very obedient to this agent who was like a sister. He promised not to be interviewed privately to excuse Ronald, and then came over and hugged Ronald.

"If you need anything, I mean, anything, I will help you." As he spoke, he clenched his fists in the air.

"It doesn't matter, we are discussing how to deal with it. Paula and Niceta are both very experienced people." Ronald thanked Cruise, pointed to Rebecca De Mornay in the corner, and said to him, "Go quickly, your girlfriend is still waiting for you."

"If you need anything, ok." Cruise tilted his head to confirm with Ronald again, then took Demonny's hand and left.

"Lock the door," Niceta ordered Richard after Cruise walked out.

"Now we need a choice. Time is running out. We can only choose one person. If the news leaks out, I'm afraid Stallone will be prepared. So I vote for Dick Cavett."

"Then can you handle the TV station's recent broadcast resources?" Eva asked, not to be outdone.

"This is a multiple-choice question. We cannot put our chips on a person who has no control..."

"Ring ring ring ring..." Richard answered the phone again, "Hello... Ronald, the person looking for you is..."

He made a "Helen" mouth shape.

"Ronnie, I saw Stallone attacking you on TV. What happened?" On the other end of the phone was Helen Slater from New York.

"Don't worry, I'm already dealing with it. It's just a little history, I can handle it." Ronald didn't expect Helen's call, and it sounded like she had fully recovered.

"Don't lie to me. I asked Gerald and he said that you are now suppressed by Stallone's fame. If you don't find a suitable big star to endorse you, you will be passive."

"It's okay. Thank you and Gerald for your concern... I'm fine. If necessary, I will ask Gerald for help."

"Gerald? Gerald Slater's daughter Helen?" Niceta and Richard confirmed.

"Okay, thank you for calling." Ronald pressed the phone.

"Okay, let's continue, don't answer the next call." Ronald apologized to everyone.

"No, there is no need to open it." Niceta made a pause gesture and whispered to Ronald, "I will call Gerald Slater, PBS is Dick's old club. Even though they fired him not too long ago, there's no way they would be interested in airing a special episode of Dick's Interview with Lucas."

"but……"

"Nothing but, you need his help now, Ronald." Niceta's eyes flashed, "I don't think you will affect your future because of such a trivial matter, right? I will make the call to Gerald. ”

"But Gerald's price won't be cheap." Ronald relaxed his hand and put down the phone receiver.

Niceta took it and dialed the front desk, "Put me through the vice president of PBS, Mr. Gerald Slater."

"Well, well, no problem, Ronald will definitely help with this." Niceta smiled and said to everyone, "Everyone, Dick's broadcast platform has agreed to do a special program on PBS over the weekend. One hour of programming.”

Ronald looked at Niceta, who was making her own decisions, and thought, what price did you sell me for?

"Not long ago, in a small town near San Francisco, a child lived a comfortable life..."

By Thursday night, PBS aired a special, an interview with George Lucas, that opened with a parody of the "Star Wars" heading into the distance, followed by Dick Cavett's appearance in Lucas's Skywalker pasture.

"Is this ranch your paradise? It's like every little boy's childhood dream."

"Haha, yes, many things here are very expensive. I put all my dreams here." George Lucas took the crew to visit his paradise. In addition to everything about Star Wars, the famous Industrial Light \u0026 Magic special effects company also has an office here.

"When did you start working in the film industry? We know that you actually directed a movie before American Graffiti."

"Ah, yes, I had just joined Francis Coppola's Zoetrope at that time, and this was Zoetrope's first movie..."

After talking about Star Wars for a while, Dick Cavett asked the agreed question at the right time, "Coppola, you, Spielberg, and De Palma, you are considered to be the representatives of the New Hollywood directors, so do you think that the directors of the 1980s are still continuing your original innovations?"

"I think so," Lucas stroked his beard, "A new era will also see new director styles. Of course, Steven, Francis, and I are not old yet, and we are still shooting. The new generation of movies also has a spirit of innovation.

The Karate Kid I watched recently broke through the previous martial arts movies and had a new narrative mode."

"Ronald Lee? But there is a debate now, is he imitating your "Star Wars" or Stallone's "Rocky"? "

"I know Ronald, I don't believe he has any imitation behavior. There are only so many narrative modes in movies. If you have seen the classic old movies in the past, all the new Hollywood movies will draw nutrition from the classics to some extent."

"So there is no imitation of Star Wars, nor of Rocky?"

"I don't know where these rumors come from? Ronald is the screenwriter of this movie. I am very familiar with him. He started his career as a screenwriter. If you look through his previous screenwriting records, you will know that he has also written scripts for Stallone.

Filmmaking is a very difficult thing. The audience enjoys the feast on the screen in the end, so there is no need to care about those rumors. In the end, what remains in history is the movie, not these rumors."

"Huh..." This is the final word. Ronald let out a sigh of relief. Lucas was very helpful. He had pointed out in his words that he had also been a screenwriter for Stallone's movie. If he still pestered, the hat of doubt would fly to his head.

Why would a director question his own screenwriter? Could it be that Sylvester Stallone, whose directing ability was criticized in "Dragon Flying Phoenix", changed Ronald Lee's script at random, and then became jealous of Ronald, who was a newcomer?

"Fuck! You incompetent trash, garbage!" Stallone sat in his mansion and cursed at his agent.

He grabbed the wine glass and smashed it at the TV on which Lucas' interview was playing.

"What should I do now?" Stallone asked loudly. Lucas, as a top director, stood up for Ronald. Now it's his turn to make a fool of himself. The interview records that were released at the beginning have now become guns pointed at himself.

Ronald was not only appreciated by Lucas, but also revealed that he had been a screenwriter for him. How can he justify those accusations that he imitated "Rocky" now?

Lucas has more fans, much more than Rocky. Now that the public takes Lucas' words as the truth, then what is left for Stallone himself is not a clown, right?

"I, I'll call Mr. Meyer." The agent ran out in a hurry. He didn't want to stay in front of Stallone, so as not to be fired on the spot like the PR manager who encouraged him to continue attacking Ronald.

"Sly," the tall bodyguard behind Stallone spoke, "Ronald's agent is also in CAA. In Japan, where I have lived for more than ten years, when encountering such a situation, I have to ask the biggest one to come out for arbitration."

"Arbitration?" Stallone repeated, then opened the door and shouted at the agent, "Come back here, I want to talk to Michael Ovitz."