Exploiting Hollywood 1980

Mental fatigue can weaken a person's fighting spirit more than physical fatigue.

After battling various emergencies with actors and on-set for a month, Ronald's mental exhaustion was already severe.

He brought in Walter Murch because he no longer wanted to devote all his energy to editing "Dirty Dancing." Because in two months, we will start preparations for the filming of "Moonlight Sultry". If you can't rest and take vacations to recuperate your energy, you may encounter big problems in the filming of your next movie.

During the holidays, Ronald became lazy. He stayed in Palm Springs, Gale's hometown, for a few days, relaxing his mind and doing nothing but hot spring baths and new-style hot stone massages.

There are also people there who are promoting the new so-called "transcendental meditation technology (traalditation)", which is said to be a method passed down by Indian gurus that uses antra to guide people into transcendence.

"This is a very ancient meditation technique. Many practitioners in Hollywood are learning it, and many directors have also received very good results. It is said that it is like dreaming. You can think of the movie you want to shoot and what it will look like after it is completed. What do you do in Hollywood?"

A young girl in a bikini promoted this meditation course to Ronald who was taking a hot spring bath.

"Hey, is that right? I am a member of the Directors Guild, and I shoot videos and commercials. How do I study? Does your guild charge fees?"

Ronald heard about the finished film "You Can Dream" and became very interested. Isn’t this the biggest source of support for me to maintain my vision and shooting methods that are superior to those of my contemporaries? If this transcendental meditation can also trigger dreams, can it be superimposed on one's own secrets, resulting in more frequent dreams, or more plots in dreams when dreaming?

"I am a certified teacher of the Los Angeles Transcendental Meditation Association. A total of six days of courses will only cost you $2,980. As a member of the Hollywood Directors Guild, you can also enjoy one of our free trial classes."

The girl has a nice voice. Ronald's hotel is very expensive and his food is not cheap. He is a good customer. When he heard that Ronald was interested, he immediately changed his appearance and started to sell hard.

"Ah? That's it." Ronald thought it was quite expensive, but in order to be able to dream about movies, this price was nothing.

"For customers like you, we also have an upgraded version of the course. We can provide you with our specially prepared plant medicine 14 days in advance. You can take it before and after the course to achieve better effects of transcendental meditation. ”

The girl took out a cloth bag, opened it and let Rona smell the "herbal medicine".

"Ugh, what the hell is this? Take it away." Ronald asked. There was a strange smell. It smelled bad.

"Don't you want it?" The girl was surprised that Ronald didn't like the taste. "It doesn't matter. We also teach the same course content to ordinary customers. You can see that we are all formal teaching institutions. Many Hollywood directors They are all our customers.”

The girl opened the beautifully opened course introduction and showed him several photos.

“David Lynch took our course and made such a critically acclaimed film as ‘Blue Velvet.’”

"What the hell, take it away, take it away. I won't learn anymore."

Ronald felt even more disgusted when he heard that he was learning something from David Lynch, a weirdo. Could it be that "Blue Velvet" was created by practicing this kind of transcendental meditation?

The protagonist, Isabella Rossellini, has been under a lot of pressure in the media recently.

Her mother, Ingrid Bergman, is an iconic symbol in America's memory of that golden age.

Although Bergman's derailment at the time also caused public disgust in America. But since the 1960s, with the progress of society, she has also gained people's understanding. That year, the Senate also issued a special statement denying the attacks on her by conservative senators.

After Bergman passed away, the public's memory of her shifted to Isabella, the daughter who was most similar to her and was an actress and model.

In "Blue Velvet" this time, Isabella plays a very lowly role and there are a lot of nudity scenes. The people were very angry because the beautiful women they remembered were photographed like this.

Unfortunately for her, not only did she not get better resources for this movie, but she almost lost the Lancôme endorsement.

"Really, I still have a video tape here, and director David Lynch certified it for us."

"I really don't like this. Find someone else."

"You are also a member of the Directors Guild. Don't you want to be as successful as David Lynch?"

"I don't give a damn, security guard?"

After sending away the salesman, Ronald didn't have a long time in Palm Springs when his leisurely vacation was interrupted by an equally unlucky actress.

"Really, they won't let me see the dailies, Ronnie. I'm scared that my first movie back in mainstream Hollywood will fail again. Can you help me think of a way to go into the editing room and take a look? How about my role?"

It was Diane who came to see Ronald.

Diane, who had just played the heroine in "The Runngan" starring Schwarzenegger, always had an anxious expression on her face.

She had just learned from her agent Richard that she had returned from filming "Dirty Dancing", and she couldn't wait to come over to him for help.

"Do you know that in Hollywood, the editing room is the privilege of the director? If there is no signed agreement, even the top male stars have no right to enter the editing room. I am not familiar with the director and the leading actor of this movie, and I am afraid there is no way to enter the editing room."

"But Arnold has a lot of say in the movie, he can enter the editing room, I think..." Diane hugged Ronald's arm and shook it.

"Hey, I'll give him a try." Ronald acted like a spoiled child and asked for help to Diane, who was like a sister, and there was really no way to refuse. Pick up the phone and call Richard, asking him to contact Schwarzenegger's agent.

"I asked, and Arnold agreed to let me go to see the editing and give some suggestions. But you can't go in, this is the rule." Ronald said a few words to Schwarzenegger, and the other party immediately guessed what he meant and took the initiative to invite Ronald to see the copy of the editing as a friend.

"Okay, thank you," Diane felt relieved and felt like a good boy for Ronald. Massage his head.

Somewhat unexpectedly, Diane's smell was very relaxing, and Ronald's mental stress was relieved a lot, and he actually fell asleep on the recliner.

When he woke up, it was already dark.

Diane came out from the side and asked the waiter to push a cart of food, "I know you are a carnivore, so I ordered some sausages and bread, and vegetable salad."

Then Diane poured a glass of orange juice and handed it to Ronald.

"You should eat with me too." Ronald slept very comfortably, and his mental fatigue was restored a lot, and his appetite was opened.

"Little Bud will pick me up later, we will go to Los Angeles, and I will go to "Passing the Level" tomorrow to take a look.

The next day, Ronald came to Columbia's editing room.

"Hi, Arnold. Thank you for inviting me to see your new work."

Ronald was very careful to give director Paul Michael Glaser a reasonable excuse. After all, everyone is a member of the Directors Guild, and don't let Diane's pleading break the unspoken rules between directors.

"Arnold's friends are my friends. "Glaser didn't show a big ego, and at least on the surface, he didn't have a strong aversion to Ronald looking at the rough cut.

"I came to see my friend Arnold's performance. I heard that the story is very exciting, so I want to see it first."

The rough cut of the whole movie has been completed. Ronald sat down and watched them play the copy for editing.

Diane plays a beautiful woman who works out every day in this movie. Unfortunately, she is kidnapped by Schwarzenegger and finally thrown into the "Running Man" competition. She escapes from the pursuit of celebrities with Schwarzenegger. In the end, she also remembers the password given by the hacker and helps the rebels invade the broadcast satellite, and finally shows the truth to all the audience.

In short, Diane looks good, her acting skills are perfect, and her chemistry with Schwarzenegger is also in place. It looks like an action movie with a sci-fi background In the film, she met all the requirements for the heroine.

But Diane's worry is justified. The problem is not about her and Schwarzenegger's performance, but about the director.

How to say the whole movie? It's shot like a very low-cost TV show.

The scenery in many places is dark, without the texture required for movies. The camera movement is also a simple positive and negative shot commonly used in TV shows.

What's worse is that even the lighting is not very good. It seems that the director himself does not know how to shoot the details of the movie and let the audience immerse in the dream you created for them.

"How is it? Do you have any opinions on my movie?"

After playing the rough cut, Director Glaser looked confident. He felt that his work was not much worse than Ronald's. They all started out as V-film shooters.

"Ah, very good, I'm still thinking about the plot. Will we all watch TV to get information in the future and think that what is said on TV is the truth."

"Hahaha, this is also a theme I want to talk about this movie... By the way, which part of my movie impressed you the most? "Director Glazer didn't intend to let Ronald go.

"Ah, it's the dance at the beginning of the TV show Running Man, right? Who choreographed it?"

That dance was a group dance. The actors were wearing sci-fi costumes under the lights, and the dance was very dynamic. Ronald was impressed. This was completely different from the ambiguous style in Dirty Dancing that he shot, and it was full of futuristic technology. He was very curious about choreography.

"It was Paula Abdul, the choreographer of Janet Jackson. This is her first film work, and it's very good. Are there any other clips? You won't be most impressed by the dance project when watching a sci-fi film. Do you only focus on the singing and dancing scenes when shooting a musical? "

"..."

"Ronald, didn't you say you would introduce me to Harley's new car?" Schwarzenegger saw that Ronald was in a bad mood because of the aggressive words of Director Glazer, so he found an excuse to leave with Ronald.

"Ronald, don't say anything. This is also the first time I've seen a complete rough cut. I'm very frustrated now. I felt something was wrong when I was shooting. "Schwarzenegger took the initiative to complain to Ronald.

Diane's close-up did not add much impression to the audience. On the contrary, under the director's poor guidance, her skin looked a little dark, and she did not look like the lively new Grace Kelly at that time.

"Shxt! Why did Samsung hire such a TV director?" Ronald cursed when he saw no one around. He thought he could find a chance for Diane to make the audience remember her again.

"With a budget of nearly 30 million US dollars, why did they hire such a guy? He is a TV director, right?"

"Yes, he was a TV actor before, and later switched to TV director." Schwarzenegger felt that the scenery and props were not right during the filming, and they smelled of plastic, which was not suitable for movies that pay attention to details and texture.

"No wonder it smells like a TV series. It's dark." Ronald complained.

"Do you think there is still hope?"

"To be honest, it's very difficult. Even if you hire Jim, I'm afraid you have to reshoot on a large scale to cut out a decent version." Ronald told the truth.

"Oh, I should have insisted at the time." As the leading actor who brought financing to the film, Schwarzenegger actually has the power to ask the company to change the director.

However, he is a foreign immigrant and has no foundation in Hollywood. He does not want to appear too strong and let people say that he is using the power of his wife, Maria Shriver, a descendant of the Kennedy family, to suppress others, at least in Hollywood.

"I'm sorry, I didn't expect this movie to be so bad. It can't be saved." Ronald brought the bad news to Diane, who was waiting for him at home.

"Ah..."

Diane looked disappointed.

"My new film is about the love of middle-aged people. There are only a few roles for young women. Do you want to make a cameo?"

"Okay, don't forget it." Diane was a little sad.

"For this movie, I turned down two small productions, one of which was co-starred with my old partner Matt Dillon."

"Don't worry, I'm here, you won't have no role to play." Ronald gently hugged Diane in his arms, combed her hair, and comforted her.

Diane was actually very unlucky. Her last movie that left a deep impression on the audience was "Love at Sunset Bridge" as a child star. After adolescence, there was no movie that made the audience remember her screen image.

Coppola's "The Little Brat", "Fighting Fish", and "The Cotton Club" actually wasted her talent and the most critical time. When the audience sees her now, it is difficult to associate her with the little girl who was just beginning to fall in love.

No matter how beautiful an actor is, it takes one or two roles in a movie to make the audience remember her. What they remember is not your beauty or your temperament, but the shining role.

Imagine if Vivien Leigh didn't have Scarlett O'Hara in "Gone with the Wind" and Elizabeth Taylor didn't have Cleopatra, would the audience still admire them as much as they do now?

"Hey, you really comfort me, brother Ronnie. I know that actresses will be in trouble after this period. The competition is too fierce. I have been away from the mainstream film industry for less than two years, and there are no good scripts handed to me."

"Or I will just act in TV series."

"Take it one step at a time. I think you are a very talented actor and can act until you are old."