Exploiting Hollywood 1980

Ronald returns to the house that Master Miyagi built for him on the set of the first Dragon King movie. A year and a half later, no one lived here and it was in a dilapidated state. The set spent a lot of money to renovate it.

Tomorrow, Ronald will be in Los Angeles to start filming the American scenes of "The Dragon King Part 2".

"Ah ha ha ha ha..."

Noriyuki Morita, who plays Miyagi, is holding a bottle of wine in one hand and a beautiful white woman in the other, and is drunkenly visiting the filming location.

"Morita, you should drink less tonight. In the past few days, we mainly shot you catching flies with chopsticks. Your hands are shaking because you drank too much, so I will give you less shots for close-up." Ronald and Oscar Best The supporting actor nominee cracked the joke.

"No problem, I'll take care of it, hahahaha...onboard!" Morita didn't quite hear the dissatisfaction in Ronald's words. He walked to his bedroom in the movie, sat down cross-legged, and started chatting with the beauty. An anecdote from the filming of the first film came up.

Ronald looked up to producer Weintraub and wanted him to remind Morita. With a local box office of US$100 million, the three leading actors of Long Wei Boy have all become celebrities. Elizabeth Sue has become the dream lover of thousands of high school students, and Ralph Mazio has become a potential star among young actors who is more responsible and has better acting skills than the Brats.

Noriyuki Morita's life has changed the most. From an actor who acted in TV series and commercials and earned the minimum wage, he suddenly became a star with both critical and commercial success. He used the image of Mr. Miyagi in many commercials and even appeared in Johnny. · Carson’s talk show went to tell jokes.

For this sequel, I heard that Weintraub gave him a salary of more than one million US dollars. It's on the same level as Ronald, the screenwriter and director of the first film.

Of course, the bigger change was in his personal life. He began a cold war with his second wife, the mother of his two daughters, and became close to several young beauties who wanted to get ahead in Hollywood. Drinking heavily every day.

When the shooting started, these blonde beauties had to be driven away, Ronald made up his mind.

"No, my client must receive these treatments. This is a rising star in Hollywood. It is a breakthrough for him to receive these treatments."

Ronald finally found Weintraub, who was struggling with the agent of co-star Ralph Mazzio.

This time Ralph Mazzio broke through the previous film and received a salary of nearly 1.5 million US dollars. His agent also made a lot of requests, such as using his own makeup artist, hairstylist, and costume designer instead of sharing with the crew. Of course, these costs are still borne by the crew.

In addition, Ralph Mazio asked the crew to bear a latest model trailer, as well as his personal driver, personal assistant, and most outrageously, his mother and girlfriend also served as an assistant producer on the crew title, of course, their job is limited to taking care of Ralph's life.

All of this is the main culprit that caused the budget of the sequel to double directly to more than 15 million.

"Oh, God, Ronald, it's great that you're here." Weintraub was very busy. His assistant, Susan Akins, had no experience in handling these matters, so he had to do it himself, which made things difficult. Dizzy.

"Why would Ralph Mazio want such a bunch of useless and shabby treatment? Are these things really useful? Can they help him perform better during filming?" Ronald actually didn't quite understand. As a director, I didn't make any requirements, I just brought an assistant, Little Bud, with me.

"Sometimes, Ronald," Weintraub said, narrowing his eyes, "they do it because they can."

"Ralph Mazio asked for more benefits, but he didn't know what it was for. His agent told him that Tom Cruise didn't get any of these benefits. This is This is an unprecedented special treatment given to a young actor, and he must get it for this first place.”

"Hey, I hope their acting skills won't be as inflated as their self-esteem." Ronald made a little joke.

"Is your lightning lamp ready?" After Weintraub saw the demonstration of the lightning lamp, he decisively asked Ronald to rent one and prepare to pack it up and send it to the Hawaii location in advance.

"Yes, it will be shipped from the warehouse in Los Angeles when the time comes. We will pack it up and send it out when the engineers come over." Ronald grinned. George Lucas also reserved one for his new film. This is already the third time he has rented one. Business is over.

"I don't understand why you put production on the East Coast and now when you rent equipment, you have to transfer people from New York."

"Jerry, among the movies you started shooting in Colombia this year, how many of them were still shot in Hollywood studios?" Ronald did not answer, but asked Weintraub.

"When you say that, it's really..."

Weintraub counted in his mind. Many of the movies that started shooting this year have already been shot on location in various parts of the United States, or even in Canada. Only one or two have actually started shooting in Hollywood.

There are constant strikes, and there are constant compromises to raise the minimum wage. Minimum wages for unions in various industries are rising rapidly. Producers began to vote with their feet. Anyway, the current audience is more accustomed to on-site shooting. They can save costs by going to places where union power is weak, so why not do it.

Besides, New Jersey, Georgia, and other states have also introduced preferential conditions for filming. Toronto, Canada, has a large amount of tax refunds. Hollywood studios are beginning to be idle.

"Besides, my business is only for renting, not selling. Anyway, there are always people and expenses for business trips."

"Hello, Tomita. How is the role prepared?" While chatting, Ronald saw the little actress Tomita Tanling who was confirmed as the heroine some time ago.

"Ronald, hello, I have made preparations. During the rehearsal, there was no problem with the lines." Tomita's English was fine, with a slight Japanese accent, which was Ronald's request.

"Well, very good, you can come with me tomorrow. Although there is no role, you can quickly get familiar with filming."

Ronald now has only this little actress who can be treated as a newcomer to educate. She happened to be a Ryukyu, and immigrated to America after she was born, so asking her to play is also a true role.

"Ah!"

Early the next morning, Ronald began to shoot the scene where Daniel and Ali were having a quarrel.

Ali's family wanted to send her to a preparatory school in advance, so that she would be guaranteed to enter the Ivy League.

Daniel thought Ali despised her family background, and there were some small conflicts in their words, and he spoke a little harshly.

"Daniel, why are you like this? I went to the preparatory school to broaden my horizons. They have many projects suitable for personal development. I didn't say I had to go."

"Okay! Then go to your preparatory school, don't stay with a poor boy like me."

"Okay, go, I thought you would be more mature after winning the championship."

"Cut!"

Ralph Mazzio went to the trailer to rest immediately after hearing Ronald's call for a stop. Elizabeth Sue came over to ask Ronald how she performed.

"Very good, your performance is very natural, did you take an acting class?"

"Oh, yes, but I have auditioned for many movies now, but I didn't pass."

"You have been away from Hollywood for a long time, and there will be a period of adaptation." Ronald comforted him. Now all the resources in his hands have been released. Besides, Sue is not as close to him as Diane and Helen. Let's talk about it when there is a chance.

Su was a little disappointed, but still gave him a nice smile and went to the trailer to prepare for the next shot.

Ronald looked at Ralph Mazzio. Since this kid was listed as one of the more ambitious ones in the gang, he has learned to act like a star. The passion when performing is not as abundant as in the first film, and it seems a bit routine.

Fortunately, his body, more than a year later, still looks as thin as a child without development. At least there is no problem with persuasiveness when acting in a teen movie.

"Nicita, why are these actors like this after they become famous? They are not as dedicated to acting as before." After a few days of filming, Ronald was a little upset and pulled his agent Nicita to complain for a long time.

"Ronald, this is an American disease." Nicita explained to him.

"The American market is big enough, and our audiences don't want to see actors play different types of roles like British audiences do.

In contrast, what we want to see more is that actors, as stars, keep repeating the same role.

For example, Clint Eastwood has entered the top ten list of the audience's favorite stars, breaking Burt Lancaster's record of fifteen times on the list.

But our audience only likes to see him play a cowboy or a hot-shot detective, shooting two bad guys first.

The same is true for Ralph Mazzio. The audience wants to see him play the counterattack Daniel LaRusso. He has played this role many times, and it is normal for him to have no passion.

I tell you, I have seen many actors who are actually very uncomfortable to repeat themselves, but when they change to a different type of role, the audience doesn't buy it, the box office is not good, and they have to come back to play the same role that made them stars."

"Well, he is still easy to say, I want to find a way to mobilize his enthusiasm. Morita Noriyuki is even worse. He hangs out with his lover every day and drinks a lot of alcohol. Today, that The scene of using chopsticks to pick up the fly was performed several times. I had no choice but to shoot a few short close-ups and solve it in post-production. "

"You have to understand that as an actor who is over 50 years old and has just been nominated for an Oscar and has made a name for himself, he must have accumulated a lot of dissatisfaction before. Now he is at the stage of being satisfied with his life. It is understandable that he does anything. Many newly famous stars have this period. "

"Oh, I really didn't expect that everyone would lose interest in shooting a sequel. "

"Do you know? I heard a joke from Mr. Michael Ovitz today. There are three types of Hollywood movies that can be released for more than two weeks. The first type is made with sincerity and successful at the box office. The second type is made with sincerity, but the box office performance is average. The third type is made without sincerity, but the box office performance is very good.

Sequel movies belong to the third type. There is a fixed audience group and an expected story. As long as you can complete it above the standard, it is not difficult to break 100 million again. "

Ronald heard a hint of fatigue in Niceta's voice, but he had no choice but to continue chatting with him. He suddenly stopped talking.

"Are you still there, Ronald?" Niceta asked on the phone.

"I'm here, Rick? Do I always have no good news when I talk to you? I just noticed that every time I contact you, it's because I have something to do. Do you get annoyed when I call you?"

"What are you talking about? This is my job. Richard and I will get a commission for every work you produce. If you have any problems, you should talk to me."

"Okay, I understand. I'm paying for psychological counseling, but the fee is a bit expensive." Ronald made a joke and then laughed first.

"That's it, Niceta, I understand. No matter what, I will do my best to make this movie the best. I hope that the next time I contact you, it will be good news."