Exploiting Hollywood 1980

Before Ronald left for London, he had one last chat with Michael J. Fox at the airport. The two of them have a good relationship and talk relatively casually.

"Would you be interested in that movie based on Spielberg?"

"My schedule is now assigned to Light of Day. If you direct it, of course I will be very interested." Fox smoked cigarettes one after another, without any star consciousness. After finishing smoking, press it on the sole of your shoe, then light another one to continue.

"Um……"

Ronald understood what Fox meant. The prerequisite for him to participate in that movie was to direct it himself.

In Hollywood, a studio can green light a movie if three of the most important people give it the green light.

Generally speaking, these three people are the hero, the heroine, and the director. If one of them is a star, the release date can be quickly arranged.

If two of them are stars, then they will be given more than the ordinary allocation and then move to the best time slot.

If three were stars...

Well, then they will fight and push one out first.

Foxx's star status, bolstered by "Back to the Future", has now surpassed that of other Brat Gang members and has become the number one male star among teenagers. Tom Cruise's reputation quickly caught up with him after the release of "Top Gun".

In Hollywood, projects with stars and projects without stars are completely different things. If you don't have a star, then there will be a year or two evaluation process waiting for you. If a star is willing to star, then the studio executives will quickly agree to it, in case the star changes his mind and goes to other projects at other studios.

Now this movie is a bit stuck in a chain. As long as Ronald lets go, Fox will soon join in, and the shooting team will be formed according to this core, and the best candidates will be found quickly and efficiently. But Ronald was worried that the choice of the heroine was not good enough, which would affect the overall effect.

I didn’t dream of what the finished film would look like, and I had no way of evaluating whether it would be a hit.

"Well, when I come back from London, let the agent sign the contract." Ronald decided to take a risk. Not all movies can only be made in a dream, right?

Fox laughed, "If you weren't the director, I actually wouldn't want to make this kind of light comedy anymore. People always regard me as a comedy star. I want to change my image among the audience."

"That movie actually had some traces of a light comedy, but it was much more serious than your previous comedies. At least the business war content in it was very real. I confirmed it with an entrepreneur friend. In theory, it used the kind of anti-takeover The method is feasible.”

Ronald did research on the script for "The Secret of Success". In addition to asking his assistant to go to Wall Street to find people to interview, he also asked Douglas Hansen, a young man, for advice. Aside from the dramatic parts of the film, the overall structure of the story is very solid.

Finally, when the financial giant wanted to acquire the protagonist's company, the protagonist used the financial statements provided by the heroine to introduce financing from bankers and reversely acquired the other party's company. This is a big twist before the ending, and it would be very interesting if done properly.

"Are you going to attend the royal premiere this time?" After talking about business, Fox asked Ronald about his next arrangements.

"Yes, Prince Charles and the Princess are expected to attend. I heard that the second prince will also come. He will also have a royal wedding soon."

"Hey," Fox put out another cigarette, "I'll tell you a secret. Reporters in London's Fleet Street will grab the stars from America and ask them what they think of the royal family. All you have to do is say nice things."

"So that's it." Ronald nodded. Since the last time the crown prince and his wife visited the White House, it was revealed that the beautiful princess wore a sexy evening dress and danced with Hollywood stars. The British media has been somewhat unhappy.

They will definitely catch themselves and ask some questions to get back in the game. My public relations consultant and Paramount’s public relations manager also gave them a twenty-minute training before departure. Praise a lot for the friendship between Britain and the United States, such as the Commander-in-Chief and the Prime Minister, and the fact that everyone speaks the same language.

When necessary, he will also show off a few words of British accent that Ronald is good at, which will greatly arouse the favor of the other media. Hollywood people would imitate British accents, always to the satisfaction of their declining older cousins.

"In addition, when attending the royal premiere, be sure not to drink too much water or coffee." Fox added with a smile.

"Why?" Ronald looked surprised.

"You don't know that at royal premieres, in order to show their closeness to the people, the creative staff will sit in a row with the royal family members. If you drink too much water, ask the crown prince or princess next to you to stand up and give up your seat, and let you go to the bathroom, and then When you come back from the bathroom, do it again, the reporter will scribble on it if he sees it.”

"Hahaha".

Ronald finished his coffee, took the receipt, said goodbye to Michael J. Fox, and went to find his crew's plane.

Fox put on his sunglasses and boarded a plane to the filming location of "The Art of the Dragon" in Illinois.

After "Back to the Future," Fox wanted to change its positioning as a light comedy and instead make a serious drama. So he directed a movie about a rock band called "Light of Day".

The film also casts the lead singer of the popular rock band, Joan Jett (Joa), to play Foxx's character's sister, a rock singer who is much more talented than Foxx, who is trapped in her hometown town because she has to support her younger brother. inside.

After the Fox movie is finished, Ronald can pull together a new crew to shoot the "Secret of Success" led by Universal President Frank Price. The filming ended just before the start of the new season of the "Family Ties" TV series.

Ronald hurried to the gate and found that Tom Cruise had arrived early. He was surrounded by a large group of fans asking for autographs and photos.

Tom Cruise has been flying around the country lately in conjunction with marketing efforts for "Top Gun." The smile on his face that was obviously tired was still very good, and he patiently met the fans' requests.

Ronald nodded and greeted him, then quietly walked around him, got on the plane, and found his first-class seat. This was specially arranged by Paramount president Ned Tanin.

"Hey, aren't you the beautiful instructor in Top Gun? Hehe..." A man's voice came to mind from behind.

"Oh, shxt! I'm not, I'm not!"

"Stop pretending to be serious. I think you are just like Charlie..."

"ah……"

Ronald, who was taking a nap, suddenly heard a woman's scream from behind the cabin, and then a female star with blond curly hair quickly ran over from the economy class at the back.

After she saw where Ronald was, she sat down, hugged Ronald's arm, and buried her face deeply in his arms, like a child who had done something ashamed. Same.

"What's wrong with you?" Ronald stroked McGillis's hair gently. This beauty had been acting very fragile recently, like a frightened deer. She didn't speak and just wanted to bury her head.

"Kelly, that Bitchi must have slept with that director and producer to get the position." A voice came from behind, officially the voice of the man who had been pestering McGillis just now.

"Hey, brother, she is doing a job, don't say that." Ronald stood up, opened the curtain that divided the cabin, walked to the back and faced the man directly.

"Hey, are you that fucking onion? Isn't that what actresses are like?"

The person who spoke was a young man, who looked like a college student going to England as an exchange student, and he was cursing dirty.

"I ask you to be more respectful. Whether it's an actor or a director, it's all a job." Ronald saw that the passengers around him were not very interested in this young man. The quality of passengers on transoceanic routes was still relatively high.

So Ronald grabbed his hand that was pushing his chest and asked him to stop slandering the actress.

"Hey, don't be so pretentious...ah! Let go."

Seeing that he was still saying strange things, Ronald used a grappling technique he had learned from competing with folk wrestling masters in China. He grabbed the opponent's wrist and twisted it, making him beg for mercy on the spot. Ronald then nodded his apology to the passengers around him and returned to his seat in front.

"Don't be mad at this asshole."

McGillis saw it from behind and came to comfort Ronald instead. Women always have a good impression of men who are willing to vent their anger on them. After the two sat down, McGillis couldn't hide his smile.

"Want to talk? It's a long transoceanic flight."

Ronald hooked his hand, pulled McGillis into his arms, and gently patted her shoulder to comfort her.

"Oh, Ronnie, you make me feel good. I'm fine. I just didn't expect this movie to make me so famous. I always thought it was just a big V, a popcorn movie. Now I don't care. Everywhere I go, people call me Charlie…

And I'm not usually a person who dresses sexy. I used to work part-time as a waitress in a restaurant for acting on Broadway. I didn't expect this. Now my agent is receiving scripts, all of which are sexy girl roles, and I don’t want to play any of them. "

McGillis talked about his troubles.

A star is a very strange creature. Before an actor evolves into a star, she, like all other actors waiting to become famous, is an ordinary actor. Every day she either attends acting training classes or auditions on the set, and then goes home. wait for news.

But sometimes, some actors are more lucky than others. They get a chance, and suddenly, boom, a movie suddenly becomes a hit, the whole world knows her, and she becomes a star above everyone else overnight. .

From then on, no matter where they went, there were enthusiastic fans looking for them to sign autographs and take photos. Her reputation suddenly skyrocketed, and many film crews would take the initiative to send roles to her agent that she had never dared to think of.

But this can also cause trouble. When she was an actress before, she had unlimited possibilities and could play any role. For example, McGillis played the Amish widow in "The Witness" before taking on "Top Gun", or the college student she played in a previous movie, or the Shakespeare play she performed on Broadway.

But after evolving into a star, the audience can no longer accept her unsexy look. As soon as they see her, the audience will think of Charlie's sexy teacher who is wearing hair style stockings and twisting towards the podium.

There are no producers or directors in Hollywood. When faced with other types of female characters, they will think of her. Instead, sexy teachers, sexy doctors, sexy lawyers, and sexy beautiful characters in various professions will all be the first to think of her. One thinks of McGillis.

"Ronnie, Kelly." Tom Cruise arrived late. It took a lot of time for him to send the fans away. Paula taught him very well. She never said anything bad to the fans and was always polite. .

A short time after Cruise arrived, he quickly began to prepare for takeoff. The evening sun shone through the window, which was a bit dazzling. After the plane entered a high altitude and level flight, Ronald closed the window and put McGillis to sleep.

He gently asked the stewardess to bring a blanket to cover McGillis, then turned on the reading light on his seat, took out Eleanor's script, and read it slowly.

This script called "Dirtydang" is very interesting. It tells the story of a middle-aged Jewish woman (that is, Eleanor is the prototype) who recalls an experience in her youth.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Jews, like blacks and other ethnic groups, were discriminated against by the mainstream Puritans. They would not go to the Caribbean or the outer islands of New York where the Puritans often went on vacation. Instead, they would go to Virginia and other places, some specially built resorts specifically for Jewish vacations.

Anyway, most Jewish people have higher incomes, and more people are working as doctors, lawyers, accountants, and in the entertainment industry.

In these Jewish-specific resorts, Jewish operators would hire black jazz bands, magicians, and stand-up comedians to entertain customers.

Another popular entertainment is to hire a group of professional dancers to serve as customers' dance partners, dance together while on vacation, and teach their young people how to dance ballroom.

The protagonist of this memory, a little girl named Baby, fell in love with an Irish-born dancer in a resort area, and ended up learning a dance not recognized by the mainstream with him, dirty dancing. While learning to dance together, we fell in love over time and became the baby's first love.

The script was written very smoothly. It was indeed a script that I rewrote countless times and polished based on my own experience. However, after Ronald read it in one sitting, he was still a little worried.

This movie, like "Secret of Success," suffers from the "lost Sound of Music audience" problem.

The original image of Jews in movies is very inconsistent with this movie. They are always stereotyped as a group of greedy, ruthless, and cruel people who only care about profits. It is rare to see a movie that describes a Jewish girl's first love in such a delicate way.

Also, this is a memory story. In other words, the story was filmed more than 20 years ago. How many teenagers who often go to the cinema now like this old story from the Kennedy administration?

If it is aimed at today's middle-aged housewives, will these middle-aged people really go to the cinema that they have not gone to for many years to watch a movie that they have dreamed of as a girl?

Ultimately, this is a movie with a lot of singing and dancing. Since his debut, musicals have gradually declined in Hollywood. Not since John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John's "Grease" has a musical produced such a huge hit.

Although Ronald liked this story very much, it mixed an unwed pregnancy, an interracial couple, Jews being discriminated against, a true love story, and Dirty Dancing scenes described by many authors, Eleanor.

But the market prospects still give him pause. For a moment, he couldn't decide whether he should invest.

"Hey...ah...let's talk about it when we get back." Ronald yawned. After reading the script for two hours, his eyes were a little sore. He closed the script, closed his eyes and fell asleep.

…

"Can you keep it a secret? You are a guest here. I saw the boss's son dancing with you. This is where the dancers live. You can't come. If the boss knows you are coming, I will be in trouble."

A young man wearing a white T-shirt, holding three large watermelons in his hands, said to a girl wearing a old-fashioned sweater and skirt.

The girl didn't say anything, but stretched out her hand to take a big watermelon, and the two of them walked towards a big house in front of them.

"What kind of movie are you dreaming about again?" Ronald slept comfortably and changed his position, as if he was holding a big watermelon in his arms.

"This old-fashioned girl has a Jewish nose, but it's not too obvious. Wait a minute, isn't this the girl Michael J. Fox dated, named... Jennifer Gray?"

Ronald recognized the actress.

"Dong...dongdong...dongdongdong..."

The sound of fast and enthusiastic drumbeats brought Ronald back from his wandering thoughts.

The boy in the white T-shirt held two big watermelons and pushed the door open with his butt.

"Dong dong dong dong..." The sound suddenly became louder as the door opened.

Four drums beat, and a hoarse black voice sang the old pop song "Do You Love Me?"

“Do you love?

ireallyove!

doyoulove?

i’thegroove.”

The short, rhyming lyrics resemble early black rock rhythms.

After the door was pushed open, Ronald suddenly felt the smell of male and female hormones rushing towards his face.

The light inside was an ambiguous red, and men and women hugged each other and danced provocatively.

Ronald and the actress Jennifer Grey were both stunned.

"How did this shot come about? Why did the rhythm and dance seem to arouse my sense of taste and smell deep in my memory in addition to my hearing and vision? The director of this movie is amazing."

Pairs of dancers were all featured in close-ups. Their dance moves involved a lot of waist and hip movements. Sometimes they were slow and lyrical, and sometimes they were fast-paced.

It aroused a primitive and ambiguous desire in the audience.

Ronald felt his whole body getting hot. "Well, here we use the technique invented by Francis Ford Coppola in "The Old Man and the New Lady", which allows the colored ambient light to directly hit the actor's face, instead of the traditional Hollywood facial close-up light, so as not to stain the skin.

This directly conveys the ambiguous and passionate emotions to the audience.

The camera gave Jennifer Grey's facial reaction. She opened her mouth wide, looking at a loss and yearning.

The male partner hugged the female partner's waist, lowered their upper body backwards, bent down, and then the female partner's shoulders jumped back rhythmically.

Ronald, like Jennifer Grey, yearned for this kind of dance.

"Oh...oh..."

The dancers cheered, Two protagonists, a man and a woman, walked into the room.

Under the red light, Ronald saw clearly that the camera showed a handsome man with small eyes in a white shirt and black pants, and a beautiful woman with a dress and a head of blonde hair tied with a rubber band.

"Boo, boo..."

As soon as the two came in, the man took a bottle of beer to quench his thirst, and the woman started dancing immediately. At first glance, these two were the kings among the dancers, dancing the duet with the best rhythm and the most powerful movements.

The man did not hug his female partner at the beginning, but let her perform on her own.

The female partner was not to be outdone, she lifted up the hem of her skirt with one hand and swung it to the rhythm.

The back of her dress was fastened with straps, and she danced very sexy after the hem of her skirt was lifted.

"shxt! ”

Ronald recognized her. Wasn’t this the dancer Cynthia Rhodes who played a supporting role in “Flashdance” and was harassed by Stallone’s brother in “Dancing with the Dragon”?

Is she the protagonist of the movie? No, she should be playing the role of the male protagonist’s childhood friend.

I didn’t expect her to dance so sexy! Ronald sighed. She didn’t dance so sexy on the bar in “Flashdance”. It was much worse. By the way, it was to highlight Jennifer Beals and Cynthia Rhodes was deliberately made ugly.

Now she is at least treated as the second female lead, and she dances sexy and charming.

The male protagonist was not to be outdone. He fell backwards and was caught by his companion, then shook his shoulders to match Cynthia Rhodes’ shoulder movements.

After a close-up shot, Ronald also recognized her.

“This is Patrick Schweitzer, who played the protagonist’s eldest brother in Coppola’s “The Little Brats”. ”

I didn’t expect his dance to be sexy. How many women would be charmed by his small eyes?

The music rhythm changed, and the two changed their dance postures again.

This time, Cynthia pressed back tightly against Schwitz, and her waists rubbed against each other in strong rhythm with the drums.

Then their heads began to shake violently, and Cynthia Rhodes’ hair fluttered in the wind.

“It’s worthy of being a dirty dance.”

This dance full of Caribbean style is intoxicating.

The dance reached its climax, and Cynthia Rhodes jumped lightly and finally climbed onto Patrick Schwitz’s head. She sat on her male partner’s head, then pulled up her skirt and swayed left and right, just like the cancan dance that was popular on Broadway back then.

“Wow…”

Ronald felt that his blood was rushing up. Who could stand this dance?

“Hmm…”

Ronald felt that his waist was also pressed back by a woman’s buttocks, as if the two were hugging each other and dancing this kind of hot dance.

“Hmm…Hmm…Ronald, don’t do it here. "

Ronald was woken up and looked up. He saw McGillis, who he had held in his arms in his sleep, twisting his waist and trying to sit up and go back to his seat.

"Ah..."

After leaving each other's tightness, Ronald quickly pulled the blanket over himself.

"Well..." McGillis winked and was very satisfied with Ronald's reaction to his body.

"Excuse me, how many hours are left to London? I'm at Heathrow Airport. Is there any place where I can make an international call back to Los Angeles?" Ronald asked the stewardess who rang the bell.

Ronald recalled the dance clip in his dream. He felt that the two danced very well. Such a dance can definitely attract those housewives to the cinema to watch movies.

When he arrived at the airport, he immediately called the script assistant David and the general manager of Daydream Eddie to get the script of the movie immediately.