Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"Yes, I have signed a distribution contract with MGM, and the terms they gave are better than Paramount's."

Ronald was sitting at home proudly, answering a call from Paramount President Ned Tanin.

Tanin probably didn't expect that MGM's Weintraub was so fierce that in order to quickly gain dominance in the factional struggle, he was actually willing to pay for Ronald to make this feature film.

I don’t know that Weintraub, who used to be a record company owner, felt that he could handle everything after the success of the two "Dragon Boys" films. Or maybe he had some tricks up his sleeve, thinking that "Moonlight" could appeal to those "Sound of Music" audiences. Anyway, losing Ronald's new film distribution contract so quickly made him both happy and worried.

Fortunately, this way of denying this literary and artistic film will not lead to a quarrel with Ronald. But I am vaguely worried, what if Ronald creates another box office miracle? Moreover, this kind of movie with a strong literary and artistic atmosphere will be loved by film critics. If Ronald had won any awards by then, it would be too late for him.

"Ronald, I want to congratulate you for having enough budget to realize your dream. But if there are other commercial films, don't forget Paramount. As long as they are commercial and high-concept, I can discuss them in high-level meetings." Thumbs up to those old fogies."

"I will definitely do it. I said the same to Mr. Eisner of Disney and Mr. Barry Diller of 20th Century Fox. I'm going to hang up and fly to Massachusetts soon to talk to Cher about the heroine. " Ronald showed off his popularity and hung up.

"Damn it, it turns out that Disney and Fox are also trying to get him." Ned Tanin put down the phone, smoked a cigar and drank two glasses of whiskey. "No, I can never let such a genius go. I will Became the laughing stock of Hollywood."

He pressed the call button on the phone and told his secretary, "Put me through to Michael Ovitz of CAA. Damn it, I want to talk to Ronald again. Even if he doesn't direct, he is willing to be a producer." , I must sign a few more movies with him.”

"That's a good statement. Tanin must be restless." Richard handed over the ticket. He would go to Massachusetts with him to find Cher.

"I didn't lie anyway, Eisner and Diller did say that." Ronald chuckled. "Moonlight" received similar treatment at Disney and Fox as it did at Paramount. Everyone was a little worried about their transition to such an atypical commercial film.

Moreover, the current financial situation of these two studios is not very good. Without the generous donations from Wall Street funds, they really cannot spend a lot of money to bet on their new projects. MGM was more aggressive and gave the distribution contract without any counter-offer.

"Now that I have obtained the distribution contract, if I go to negotiate with Cher, my chances of success will be greater. Cher is a relatively straight-tempered person. As long as she thinks your drama can help her acting career, she will definitely agree. "

"Maybe, let's go to her first, and if she doesn't agree, then go to Sally Field."

The two took a plane to Boston, Massachusetts, and then transferred to a nearby town, Cohasset.

This is the filming location for the Warner Bros. movie "Witches of Easttown", and Cher is preparing to participate in the first day of filming here.

Ronald contacted Cher's agent through Paula, Nicita's wife and Tom Cruise's agent, and made an appointment to chat with Cher for a while in the morning before starting filming.

"The Witches of Easttown" is a fantasy movie about an alien wizard (played by Jack Nicholson) who comes to a small town in Rhode Island and has an affair with three single women. relationship, and then strange things happened in this religious town.

Cher still had curly long black hair. She met Ronald at the hotel where she was staying.

"Ronald, what do you see in me? Are you here to ask me to participate in your movie? Tom even called me to say good things about you."

Ronald first took a look at Xueer's appearance. Every move and every move was filled with the aura of a superstar. This made him very satisfied. In "Moonlight Flirtatious", after Loretta fell in love with Johnny and her heart regained consciousness, she wanted to look like this sultryly.

"I know you are a very good actor. My movie just needs a woman who is charming but lacks love. A beautiful woman who regains her brilliance after receiving the nourishment of love. You are the most suitable. "

"Aha... did you write the script after knowing about Tom and me? Do you want Tom to participate in it?"

Xueer burst out laughing. She had actually known Ronald for a long time. The two knew each other when their own child, Tatum O'Neal, auditioned for Ronald's first movie. There was also an accident involving a fight between actresses. Tatum was grabbed by the hair and beaten violently by the older Melanie Griffith, but he still took her home.

Then she met again at Madonna and Sean Penn's wedding, when she and Tom first met.

"You are very good at pleasing women, Ronald. The focus of my work recently has shifted from singing to acting. I actually like your movies and want to work with you. But..."

"What?" Ronald glanced at Richard, "He is my agent, and I have no secrets with him."

"No..." Cher hesitated.

"I'll go out for a while." Richard walked out of the room by himself.

"You know, I have severe aphasia. The script you sent is very thick and the dialogue is very long. I don't have time to read it.

You know, people with aphasia need to spend five times more energy than normal people to barely read. I can't even read my friend's phone number."

"This..." Ronald didn't expect Cher's aphasia to be so serious, much more serious than Tom Cruise.

"It shouldn't be a big problem, right? You only play one of the three heroines in this movie?"

"I don't have many lines in this movie." Cher lifted her long hair, "and I asked someone to make special arrangements."

"It doesn't matter, I can do it the same way," Ronald agreed first, "Tom and I have also worked together, and I arranged it very well, and no one on the set noticed it."

Ronald asked someone to record the lines in the script, and then played it to Tom Cruise with a tape recorder, so as to avoid the influence of aphasia.

"But my agent has read your script, and he told me that this play has very good dramatic scenes. But I either have to concentrate on reading the script or on acting, and I can't do both at the same time." Cher was still a little worried.

"I can ask someone to record..." Ronald explained his approach, "You can verify it with Tom, the effect we have on the set is still good."

"But I'm not Italian, the characters here are all Italians from New York, and their accents are very strong."

Since this "Moonlight Temptation" is a realistic drama, the characters must of course speak like Italians, and also like Italians from Brooklyn, with Italian accents superimposed on Brooklyn accents.

"It doesn't matter, I will find a coach who is proficient in accents and let her record all the lines with Brooklyn Italian accents, and you can listen to it then."

"But I'm not Italian, I'm a mixed race of Armenian and a little American Indian, will the audience recognize that I am an Italian woman?"

"No problem at all, you have black hair, and you look a bit like Italians in facial features." Ronald thought to himself, anyway, you acted quite similar in the dream.

"Okay, since you've thought it through so carefully, I believe you. Let's talk about the accent coach and the script recording after I finish filming 'The Witches of Eastwick'. You know my aphasia, and it's very difficult to read two movie scripts at the same time."

"Okay, no problem." Ronald breathed a sigh of relief, and the original heroine nodded and agreed.

"Why don't you just hang out here? The filming will start in the afternoon. You should talk to my agent as soon as possible. If it's appropriate, we can reach a consensus after we finish the first day of filming in the afternoon."

"Okay, it's a good opportunity to watch the filming of this movie."

...

"This price is not expensive. Cher's popularity is worth this price. She is the highest paid among the three heroines in 'The Witches of Eastwick'."

Ronald found a phone and told Weintraub and Niceta what Cher agreed to. After talking to Cher's agent, they also tended to agree with the salary she proposed.

"But her schedule is very tight. After filming The Witches of Eastwick, she will go to Broadway for a performance. In addition, she has another movie, "Suspect", waiting for her. It will be early next year before she has time to spare."

"Tsk... She works so hard? Isn't there any financial problem?" Ronald thought to himself. She filmed three movies, a Broadway play, and new songs and performances in one year. She works much harder than me.

"I haven't heard that she is still living in that new building apartment in New York. The rent is several thousand dollars a month. But what you said is possible. Celebrities always have to maintain their appearance, otherwise the creditors will come to the door.

How about it, can you agree to this schedule?"

"It's not a big problem. Anyway, Mr. Weintraub needs another three months, and the filming schedule is about the same at the beginning of next year." After Ronald confirmed with Weintraub again, he agreed to Cher's salary and schedule contract.

"Female stars are so expensive nowadays," Ronald looked at the numbers on the contract and sighed.

Cher's salary is relatively high among female stars, about one-third of Stallone's. If this trend of star price hikes continues, we will soon be unable to afford to make movies.

…

"Ronald, welcome."

At the filming location in the town, the first scene of "The Witches of Eastwick" will be filmed this afternoon.

"Hello, Mr. Nicholson."

The one who greeted him was the male lead Jack Nicholson.

"Roger praised you very much when he called me." Nicholson and Roger Corman had worked together for many years and were classmates in the acting training class together. They were friends in poverty and kept in touch after becoming famous.

"I benefited a lot from Roger."

"Ronnie?"

"Michelle?"

Ronald suddenly found that his ex-girlfriend Michelle Pfeiffer was also at the scene.

"Are you the heroine? Oh? Sorry, I didn't know."

"Hahaha... Didn't you come to see me? I still want to be on the headlines." Pfeiffer laughed happily. She was involved in Ronald's scandal last time. The two hadn't seen each other for a long time. Meeting was a surprise, so she joked.

"Haha, I'm here to find Cher and invite her to play in my next movie. Don't be jealous, it's an old woman's role..."

"Okay, then I won't be jealous." Michelle Pfeiffer kept silent when she heard that she was playing a middle-aged person.

Once a Hollywood actress plays a middle-aged woman, it means the end of her girlhood, and she can only play mothers in the future.

"Where is Cher?"

"I'm here..." Cher came out from the back, found a place to take the contract Ronald took out, signed her name, and officially signed with the crew of "Moonlight Temptation".

"Don't let her hear me say she's an old woman..." Ronald made a cross on his chest. These actresses were elusive and he didn't see it at all.

"Hahaha, do you really want me to play the leading actress so much?" Cher was in a good mood when she saw Ronald making a cross and praying.

"Of course, when you are free, I will let the candidates for the leading actor audition with you to see the chemical reaction."

The two returned to the set, talking and laughing, waiting for the filming to start.

Another leading actress also arrived at the scene. Her name was Susan Sarandon. The director and producer stepped forward to stop her and seemed to be saying something.

Ronald watched from the side, thinking that writers always use metaphors to say that three women are like five hundred ducks. There are three leading actresses in this play. Who knows what will happen?

"You are so angry! This is a great disrespect to me! Even if you change the role, you should tell me in advance. You told me on the first day of filming. I prepared for Alexandra for a month. Today I was told that this role will be given to Cher. What's that?"

Susan Sarandon's eyes were originally big, and now in anger, they were staring like a bull's eye.

"Hey, I chose the role of Alexandra, but this is what the producer promised me. I like this role." Cher stepped forward and argued with Sarandon.

The two actresses were very powerful, and they started to scold and gesticulate through the unfortunate director and producer.

"Oh, God?" Ronald, who was still holding the contract with ink still wet in his hand, was shocked and took off his sunglasses. "Is Cher acting so arrogant on the set? Is it possible? She stole someone else's role and told the other party on the first day of filming?"

"Let me see what the penalty for breach of contract is?" Ronald lowered his head and began to look through the breach of contract liability part of the contract.

"What do women want?" Jack Nicholson also sighed beside him. His girlfriend Anjelica Huston also wanted to play a role in this movie. There are too few scripts suitable for female stars to show their acting skills.

"What do women want?" Michelle Pfeiffer heard this sentence beside him, glanced at Ronald, and thought silently, "What women want, even women themselves can't explain it clearly, but actresses just want the roles they want. If they hadn't broken up at the beginning, would the role they got now be better?"