Exploiting Hollywood 1980

After agreeing to Toho's matchmaking, Ronald and Niceta discussed the arrangements. He would stay in Tokyo for a few more days. Tom Cruise would go to Seoul, and the two would meet in Hong Kong. McGillis would go with Cruise. After she completed this promotional mission, she would have to take leave and miss the domestic promotional schedule after returning to America.

Of course, since it was an American friend who came to Tokyo, Toho had to arrange for him to meet the biggest Japanese star in Hollywood, director Akira Kurosawa.

"Director Kurosawa, we meet again."

"Ronald, your recent movies are getting better and better. I watched "Top Gun" shown internally by Toho. Only young people like you can make such movies, hahaha."

Arriving at Kurosawa Film Company in Yokohama, Toho staff served as translators for Ronald and Kurosawa.

The two met at this year's Oscars. At that time, Kurosawa's "chaos" earned him a nomination for Best Director.

But unfortunately, he lost to Sidney Pollack, the director of "Out of Africa".

And he was also unfortunately selected as one of the award representatives for the best film, and together with John Huston and Billy Wilder, he presented the award to Sidney Pollack, the director who also served as the producer.

The organizing committee obviously wanted to arrange a ceremony of inheritance, so that three old directors of the previous generation would present the award to the young and vigorous Sidney Pollack, to show that Hollywood has successors and will continue to thrive.

However, this was tantamount to a humiliation for Kurosawa, who was determined to win the Oscar for Best Director. Afterwards, it was Ronald who stepped forward to comfort him.

"This is Diane..." Ronald introduced Diane Lane, who had just arrived, to Kurosawa. Knowing that Ronald was coming to visit Kurosawa, Diane also wanted to come.

"Diane doesn't need to be introduced. Her diamond ring advertisements are everywhere now. Our guys are very distressed. If we don't buy a big diamond ring, our girlfriends will not accept the proposal."

"Hahaha..." Diane was still very proud that the great director Kurosawa knew to remember her name.

Diane's appeal in the Japanese market is getting stronger and stronger. In addition to the two advertisements for diamond rings and lipsticks, she was also invited by a local fashion magazine to take a group of photos of her wearing kimono as the cover and insert poster of the magazine.

It's strange that some American stars are very popular in Japan, while some are coldly received here. Maybe some of Diane's appearance characteristics are more accepted by the Japanese people. Although there are no new works in the past two years, her role in "Rage Street" is becoming more and more popular among Japanese teenagers.

In particular, the two theme songs sung by Diane in lip sync have been popular on the radio for a long time, and the soundtrack of this movie is still selling very well among high school students. The videotape released last year has become a must-see introductory textbook for student gangs in high schools in Japan.

Everyone wants to defeat the enemy and win the love of the rock singer like the male protagonist.

Kurosawa Akira thanked Ronald for his visit. He is now in a semi-retired state and is still preparing the script for a new film, but no one in Japan is willing to invest in him.

Kurosawa didn't know why the Japanese audience didn't like him, while the audiences in other parts of the world rated and liked him more than the Japanese.

"Why is it like this?" Ronald also scratched his head.

"If I knew this, I wouldn't have no movies to shoot." Kurosawa was also confused.

Ronald felt it was a pity. Kurosawa was a genius director, and he was the best example of the "author's film" advocated by the new wave generation in Japan. He decided everything from script, casting, shooting, editing, and music by himself. The film was truly his own product.

And Ronald was a director under the Hollywood system, and he needed the cooperation of various specialists. Many times, he had to make compromises. In Hollywood, movies are a collective achievement, and they have nothing to do with author films.

...

After visiting the big director, Ronald came to the headquarters of Toho again.

The senior executives of Toho hosted a banquet for Ronald and Diane.

In addition to the people of Toho, there were two pro-American bosses in the Japanese entertainment industry sitting at the banquet.

One of them was Johnny Kitagawa, the boss of Toshihiko Tahara, who was singing in front of the banquet hall, and the founder of Johnny's.

You can tell from the spelling of his name that he is an Americanized Japanese. In fact, Johnny Kitagawa is also a Japanese immigrant in California, and he returned to Japan to start a business after the war.

Johnny's sister Mary also appeared at the banquet. They also had a brother who died young and was an engineer in NASA's Apollo moon landing project.

"Toshihiko, why don't you come and say hello to your benefactor." Mary Kitagawa clapped her hands to the most popular male star under her.

Toshihiko Tahara came over to greet Ronald obediently, "Ronald-san, I am pretty good at breakdancing now, and it has become my trump card for variety shows."

"Sit down and talk, we are friends. Is Kazami-kun back now?"

"He is still learning the most advanced breakdancing techniques in Los Angeles and New York. He was very excited when I talked to him on the phone. It seems that he has found his dream. He often talks about Ronald-san's help. If it weren't for you, we wouldn't be..."

Johnny's idol Toshihiko Tahara was very grateful that Ronald still considered him a friend. He was a little envious of Shingo Kazami who was able to pursue his dream and go to Los Angeles to dance. Unlike himself, although he has been on the Kohaku Uta Battle for six consecutive years, Johnny has very strict rules. At a banquet of this level, he is just an entertainer, coming to entertain the distinguished guests.

"Okay, Toshihiko, let's sing another song for Ronald-san and President Kadokawa." Mary Kitagawa looked at him talking non-stop and immediately asked him to sing again.

"Hey Yi", Toshihiko Tahara is going to sing. He is good at singing and dancing, and can also act. He was once called the Michael Jackson of Japan.

Ronald couldn't stand it anymore, so he grabbed his hand and shook it to express his gratitude.

"Toshihiko-san, come on. You are a singer, at any time, theshowtgoon." Johnny Kitagawa, who was sitting at the top, knew his sister's problem and spoke to encourage and comfort his best singer.

"Hi, thank you, President." Toshihiko Tahara went down to sing.

"Oh... Oh..." Another guest at the banquet, Kadokawa Haruki, the president of Kadokawa Book Club, also hummed along with Toshihiko's singing.

He is a rich second-generation son. After graduating from college, he returned to his father's business and took over Kadokawa Publishing House. He imported a lot of them from America, translated them and published them, and also invested in some movies.

In the film and television entertainment industry, he is another entrepreneur who is more pro-American besides the Kitagawa family.

"Ronald San, your movies are always so fascinating. Have you ever considered accepting investment from our Japanese companies to make a movie that reflects Japanese culture?"

After Kadokawa Haruki finished singing in Japan, he talked about the topic to Ronald.

"This is also what confuses me. You Japan has a master that our generation of directors admire. Kurosawa Akira is here, but he can't get investment in movies, but you want to invest in Hollywood." Ronald listened to the translation and knocked. He knocked on the table and said something.

"Master Kurosawa is certainly good, but he is very handsy with money. Moreover, Kurosawa Pictures and Toho have a long history of cooperation. We have many companies with major interests in America and hope to invest in Hollywood.

I love Ronald Sand's films very much and hope to have the opportunity to participate in the production of Ronald Sand's next film. "

"If you want to invest in Hollywood, of course I welcome it. But the Japanese culture shot by Hollywood and the Japanese culture shot by Japanese film companies seem to be two different things. My 'Longwei Boy' is considered a representative work of Japanese culture in America, but here The audience didn't like it.

Hollywood producers don't put promoting culture first. We just like movies that make money. If it happens to reflect a certain culture, that's the best. If it doesn't reflect any culture and just makes money, that's okay. "

"Ronald San is really a smart businessman and artist, admirable." Johnny Kitagawa came over to smooth things over. Kadokawa Haruki was still thinking about what Ronald said. He really liked movies. If Ronald couldn't be allowed to shoot movies about Japanese culture, it would be a good idea to take the opportunity to make friends with a big Hollywood director and look for opportunities for cooperation.

"The publishing industry is my family's main business. If there is any script that is suitable for cooperation, I will send it to Ronald Sang. I hope you can help us find someone we like to cooperate with in Hollywood. Of course, what we most hope is to work with Ronald San Cooperation.”

"Easy to say, easy to say."

"Come on, let us boys from Johnny's come up and perform for the distinguished guests." Seeing that everyone was almost talking, Mary Kitagawa clapped her hands and asked a group of teenage children to come in and perform for Ronald.

"These are the trainees we hired. It is a business method of industrialized production of idols. Ronald Sang will give them some guidance when he has the opportunity."

Ronald was surprised to see these boys who looked to be only fifteen or sixteen years old. It turned out that Japan also used this industrial method to cultivate idol stars. No wonder their products are so high-quality and cheap, but this method is used by artists...

Thinking of this, Ronald asked, "What are your names?"

A big boy who took the lead understood Ronald's English, and he pulled a few good friends out to introduce themselves to Ronald.

"Ichikiyo Nishikori... Katsuhide Uekusa... Noriyuki Higashiyama, we are the youth team!"

"Where's the chorus you prepared?" Mary Kitagawa asked again.

Several boys lined up and began to sing to Ronald the song they had rehearsed for a long time.

"ベッドにhengたわり、土曜日の夜には

Summer heat

しかし、あなたの脳は、メッセージをGET しました

"そして、それはそれを信している"

"Hahaha……"

Although they didn't understand, Ronald and Diane were already laughing together. It turned out that this boy's idol group called the Boys sang the Japanese cover version of "Nowhere Fast", the opening song of Diane's "Streets of Rage".

"You are really popular in Japan." Ronald quietly reached out to scratch Diane's itch.

"Hahaha..." Diane smiled happily.

Ronald stood up and told the translator that he had to go to the bathroom.

The translator took him outside. Ronald, who was about to go to the bathroom, suddenly saw two Americans standing outside the door talking.

No, the words were not very appropriate. It was a tall man with a square chin who was lecturing another middle-aged handsome guy who looked very handsome.

"Put away your Hollywood tricks. This is Tokyo. No one knows who you are, you know? We have been to NHK more than ten times, but we still haven't gotten the money. Through my colleagues at Goldman Sachs, I found out that two entrepreneurs, Kitagawa and Kadokawa, are here to entertain important American guests.

They are rare pro-American entrepreneurs in Japan. Put away your arrogance and face. Now you are the one who asks them for investment. Be a producer seeking investment honestly. They may really be little japs, but they are a group of rich little japs."

Ronald rarely sees people scolding others in public with such momentum. He doesn't feel disgusted, but feels very funny. Especially the person he scolded is also a person in a high position, and he is also his former enemy.

"Steve, I listen to you. I'll wait here and see if there is a chance to meet Mr. Kitagawa and Mr. Kadokawa."

"Hehe..." Ronald looked at him with a flattering look, and recalled the various difficulties he had made when he was in a high position, and couldn't help laughing.

"Is it you, Ronald?" The handsome middle-aged man who was scolded like a grandson saw Ronald, his face turned from blue to white, and then from white to red, and he wanted to leave on the spot with a face full of shame and anger.

But he was stopped by the square-chinned man who scolded him, "Tom, what's wrong with you? Have you forgotten what I just told you? Now is the time for you to ask for help."

Then he turned around again, his face quickly turned into a bright smile, stretched out his hand and said to Ronald, "Hello, Ronald. My name is Bannon, and I am a fan of yours. I am working for Mr. Mount's Mount Production Company. Now I need to meet the two chairmen Kitagawa and Kadokawa who hosted you to discuss the financing of the new film. Can you introduce us to someone?"

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