Exploiting Hollywood 1980

Another meeting that Ronald could not refuse was an invitation from Joseph Farrow, vice president of 20th Century Fox.

He served as executive producer, Michael Gottlieb directed, Kim Cattrall and Andrew McCarthy starred in "Annequ", which had been completed and had completed the first assembly after the rough cut in the editing room.

Ronald held the title of producer, and at this time he had the power to enter the editing room and check the director's work results with other senior executives of the production company.

Since the collapse of the traditional big studio system in the 1950s, directors have gradually gained the artistic decision-making power of film editing. However, the production company is responsible for financing and the final box office results, so a handover point between the two parties is arranged in the system.

After completing the first rough cut, the producer will find some people to watch the internal preview, and then decide whether the film meets the requirements based on his own experience and the feedback from the preview audience, and make some changes.

"Ronald, I'm a little nervous. I have never been invited to watch the internal preview of a movie I shot before."

Kim Cattrall sat in the chair next to him, leaning closely against Ronald beside him. Generally speaking, actors have no right and no need to participate in internal previews.

Ronald heard from Niceta that during the filming in Philadelphia, Kim Cattrall worked very hard and tried her best to make a breakthrough in her first real leading role movie at the age of 30.

However, according to Ronald's understanding of the thoughts of all parties before the filming, and the director's first time shooting a theatrical feature film, he was not very optimistic about the quality of the film. So he asked Cattrall to come and exchange ideas with her.

The people called to the internal preview were some receptionists, secretaries, and workers on the set of Fox.

They often participated in such internal film viewings and were accustomed to the film copies without the opening and closing subtitles. Experienced secretaries would also bet on the box office performance of the film based on some gossip circulating internally.

The opening titles waving in front of the theater of 20th Century Fox were not installed in time, and the film started directly without a title. This is the interior of a Pharaoh's pyramid. Amy, played by Cattrall, is the daughter of the Pharaoh. She is wrapped in white cloth and pretends to be a mummy to avoid her mother's idea of ​​marrying her off.

Cattrall, with cloth all over her body and only two eyes exposed, played the playful look of avoiding her mother vividly.

Ronald turned his head and looked at Cattrall. He underestimated her acting skills and efforts. It is not something a blonde vase can do to achieve this level.

Even though the audience has not seen her full face, they can still see Amy's character from her eyes. Cattrall's appearance is very unusual.

"What do you think of my performance? This is the best role I have prepared since my debut. I have a good body shape after fitness. You will know when you read on", Cattrall smiled brightly.

"The wedding is ready. You rejected the Pharaoh's jeweler, the grain merchant, and the Pharaoh's food taster. Now there is only one choice. You must marry a Hazara."

"So, what does a Hazara do?" Cattrall took off her veil, her expression picky and curious.

"He is a fuel merchant."

"Mom!"

"Well, he sells camel dung."

"Don't even think about it!"

"Don't be so crazy. You must marry him."

Then the queen said something to explain to her daughter that women have no power in this era. If women can do what they want, won't their mother encourage their daughter to do it?

Amy is still full of dreams. She prayed to the gods, hoping to go to an era where women also have the right to pursue their dreams. Then the blue light flashed inside the pyramid, the wall of the cave shook, and the last burst of ash burst out, and Amy disappeared on the spot.

Ronald turned his head to look at the director Michael Gottlieb on the other side. This section was shot skillfully and smoothly. The special effects can be seen. The cost is not high, but the effect is very good.

Although the performances of the two actors could not conform to the customs of ancient Egypt, for American teenagers, these lines and performances just fit their ideas.

Gottlieb felt the kindness and appreciation in Ronald's eyes, and nodded and smiled at him.

"It seems good," Ronald retracted his gaze. Gottlieb was able to balance so many interests and make a movie with a good beginning under a limited budget.

The opening theme song was not ready yet, and the camera turned to the modern era after the black screen. It was given to the male protagonist Jonathan played by Andrew McCarthy on a motorcycle.

Jonathan was an unlucky guy. He lost his job right away. He came to pick up his girlfriend on a motorcycle and was also laughed at by his colleagues. After a rainstorm, his girlfriend broke up with him.

"Uh..."

Ronald covered his face.

Don't praise too early.

Andrew McCarthy didn't know what was wrong. He didn't have the level of acting before. He was dull and could only use staring, grinning, and fake smiles to express the emotions of the character.

He recalled the time when he went to the Philadelphia set and director Gottlieb tried to get everyone to act in an exaggerated way. But exaggeration was exaggeration, so why was Andrew McCarthy's acting so bad?

"What the hell is going on? Why is Andrew acting so bad?" Ronald couldn't help it. He approached Cattrall's ear, covered his mouth with his hand, and asked softly.

"Andrew? He was drunk every day on the set. When I was filming with him, I could smell a stink in his mouth."

"Tsk..." Ronald sighed. Throughout the movie, whenever McCarthy was in a scene, he always seemed out of tune with other characters.

This also lowered Cattrall's acting skills. Several times when Ronald saw her hugging, getting close, kissing, etc. with McCarthy, Cattrall couldn't help but show disgust on her face. It seems that this member of the gang really stinks.

But compared with Andrew McCarthy's Jonathan, whose performance was too exaggerated and very fake, Ronald didn't feel uncomfortable with the exaggerated performances of the supporting actors.

It seems that the difference in roles also gives different people's performances different tolerance ranges.

The male protagonist Jonathan is a naive boy who believes that a wooden mannequin can become a living person at night when no one is around because of his gaze. So the audience has to believe in such a person to be able to immerse themselves in the whole story.

That requires Jonathan's behavior to be real and credible. The audience's tolerance for him is relatively low.

And several supporting roles, the security guard in the mall, the manager who eats his own food, and the allies of the male and female protagonists, a black man "Hollywood" who has an obviously strange orientation and dresses very feminine, are all exaggerated supporting roles in fairy tales.

The audience has a high tolerance for them. No matter how bad, weird, and exaggerated they are, they will not feel abnormal.

Ronald kept thinking about this question when watching the movie. It seems that in traditional fairy tales, the supporting roles can be very extreme, and the protagonists must be credible. For example, the two sisters and the stepmother in Cinderella are abnormally bad, and the seven dwarfs in Snow White are also very weird and exaggerated.

After watching the preview, someone went to collect the opinions of the audience. Ronald asked Cattrall to wait for him outside, and he went into the conference room with director Michael Gottlieb and executive producer Joseph Farrow to discuss further changes to the film.

"Michael, what's wrong with your filming? Why are the characters so exaggerated? It doesn't look like a real-life movie, but like those animated figurines shot by Disney."

Executive producer Joseph Farrow took time out to watch the internal preview. His own project has a lot of benefits to share. If the finished film is still of such exaggerated quality, I'm afraid the distribution department will have a lot of opinions. They will be afraid that it will not be distributed and no theaters will be willing to show it, even in the traditional off-season.

If someone raises objections and reduces the distribution budget at that time, I'm afraid I will lose a big piece of the pie.

"What do you mean by that? I put forward my opinion a long time ago. This kind of story is originally a story that is hard to believe. The wooden model becomes a real person. Only this fairy-tale way of telling the story can make people invest, otherwise it will lose a lot of audiences." Director Gottlieb began to argue for himself.

"I know, but you filmed it a little too exaggerated. I can already imagine how those critics will comment on the actors' acting skills - not at all."

"No, Cattrall acted very well, and those supporting roles also have their own characteristics."

The two talked a little fiercely for a long time, and finally Farrow remembered Ronald who had said nothing.

"What do you think, Ronald? Who do you agree with?"

"Actually, I agree a little with Joseph and Michael." Ronald was playing tricks, "In fact, I also think that the exaggerated acting of the supporting roles in this movie is not a bad thing. Those "animals" in Disney also have exaggerated personalities of the supporting roles."

Ronald used the fingers of both hands to flex and extend, and put quotation marks around the term "animals". "Cattrall acted very well, and her figure was well maintained. The changing shots with the wooden model were convincing. But Andrew, he disappointed me a little. The ability of the whole movie to put the audience into dreams will drop a level because of his expressions and movements."

"Ha... Andrew."

The other two were silent.

"What on earth did he do? I believe that if he could give a normal performance like in the last movie 'Pretty in Pink', the audience might not even notice the discord in the movie." Ronald asked.

"He was crushed."

Finally, it was Joseph Farrow who spoke up, after all, Andrew McCarthy was the one he hired.

It turned out that McCarthy, as a member of the Hollywood "bratpack", was increasingly criticized by the public.

The leader of the bratpack, Emilio Estevez, got together with Ronald's other enemy, Italian independent producer Dino De Laurentiis, last year.

He saw Emilio's potential and signed him to three film contracts. The first one, "Chariots of Fire", was released by Laurentiis' own company in July this year.

The quality of the film was average, and the audience generally hated Emilio's bratpack. This kind of teenage star who was not doing his job left the theaters two weeks after the release, and the box office did not even reach the production cost.

Another film he wrote, directed and starred in, "Wisdom," is also facing poor box office performance and he is currently looking for distributors in Hollywood.

Rob Lowe, another main member of the Brats gang, co-produced "Last Night" with Emilio's girlfriend Demi Moore, which did well at the box office. This movie directed by newcomer director Edward Zwick has just been released and unexpectedly earned 35 million at the box office.

But Rob Lowe's stardom was also in jeopardy. He was rumored to have had affairs with many actresses, and there were a lot of fans who claimed to have had a one-night stand with him.

The title of "Boy Gang" has been attached to these young actors since they came out. Regardless of whether what they do is different from other actors or not, the audience's perception of them is very unfavorable.

The Brats' bad reputation put a lot of pressure on Andrew McCarthy. Many good-looking roles would not be handed scripts to him, but many bad boy roles were beckoning to him.

Coupled with the previous film "Pretty in Pink", the box office did not meet expectations. Andrew McCarthy was almost clinically depressed. He stayed away from Hollywood and returned to New York, where his parents lived. This resulted in fewer scripts being sent to him, which led to him becoming addicted to alcohol and getting drunk every day.

"Hey, the mentality of a loser." Ronald sighed in his heart. The best way to fight back against this kind of pressure from public opinion is to use a successful character to fight back, instead of being afraid at home every day.

Tom Cruise was also swept under the radar by reports of "The Kid" at first, but once "Top Gun" came out, no one regarded him as a member of the "Kid" anymore.

"How is he now?" Ronald couldn't help but feel that the actor's industry really depends on luck and there is a lot of pressure. In addition, many actors have emotional and sensitive personalities and are prone to psychological problems.

"A rehabilitation center has been arranged for him. So, what do you propose?" Executive producer Joseph Farrow shook his wrist, revealing a gold watch under the sleeves of his close-fitting handmade shirt.

Ronald recognized it as a Rolex but didn't understand the model number. He also flicked his wrist, revealing his Casio electronic watch, "It's still early, how about we go to the editing room to discuss it in detail?"

"My idea is, if there is a chance, I'll reshoot these close-up reaction shots with Andrew McCarthy. See if the effect can be better. If there's no chance, delete it. And then cut out some of the scenes where he and Cattrall are in the same frame, especially A total of half a minute of awkward shots may be lost, but the number of times when the audience is acting strangely can be reduced by five or six times.”

Ronald was on the editing machine, fast forwarding and rewinding, found a few shots that he thought were not good, and gave suggestions to the director.

Reshooting something like this must be a helpless last choice. Because it is unlikely that the actor will return to the state he was in during filming. So Ronald just selected a few close-ups of single people to make suggestions.

"Hmph..." Director Michael Gottlieb turned the knob on the editing table back and forth many times, and he reluctantly admitted that Ronald's plan was right.

"What do you think, Joseph?"

"Is that all? I have no objection. You are a professional, Ronald."

"Hey, hey..." Ronald covered it up, Joseph Farrow said this, as if to imply that director Michael Gottlieb was an amateur.

"By the way, where are the opening and ending theme songs? Let's take a look too." Ronald thought of his dream, as if he had dreamed of a song, and it sounded good.

"Here", director Michael Gottlieb found the recording of the opening and ending theme songs, hung up the tape recorder and played it for Ronald and the others.

"Shxt!, you should have put this song on the preview copy." Ronald confirmed that this was the song he had dreamed about in fragments. The overall melody of the song is very catchy, the voices of the two singers are also very magnetic, and the rhythm is bright and upbeat. Maybe it will be a good song on the charts.

"You know what? I think we should find a singer to shoot a video, and then play it repeatedly on the TV station. You can shoot some scenes of the singer and then edit them together with the movie clips."

Ronald is in a good mood, and there is a popular song at the end, which will increase the number of people who come to the movie to listen to the song.

He shared some of his experiences with the two people present.

"I think this is a good idea." Director Michael Gottlieb nodded frequently.

"Ha, let's do it. I'll let the distribution and marketing department increase the budget." Joseph Farrow was very happy, and he had more excuses to increase the budget.

"Who would have thought that a 47-year-old rock female lead singer, Grace Slick, could still sing this kind of song." Joseph Farrow lamented.

"Will a lot of resources be invested in marketing before the movie is released? For example, will the protagonist have any TV interviews? Or exclusive interviews with newspapers and media?"

Seeing that Ronald was in a good mood, he began to give him indirect hints.

"Of course, of course. I will arrange it." Joseph Farrow understood what Ronald meant. "For the TV interview, Fox will try to find the best opportunity to appear. Andrew McCarthy also has to go to the rehabilitation center, so we will put all the resources on Miss Cattrall, after all, she is the reason why many viewers go to the cinema.

The newspaper interviews would be with Miss Cattrall, who would be shared with Michael. After it is released in February next year, it will depend on the situation whether additional resources will be added. "

"Kim would be happy." Ronald shook hands with Joseph Farrow.

"She deserves it and we all see her talent and hard work."

"Let's go, Kim. Mr. Farrow has agreed to give you a lot of TV talk show opportunities. Just before the release next year."

Ronald came out and waved to Cattrall who was waiting anxiously beside him to come over and told her the good news.

"Really? I..." Cattrall happily kissed Ronald on the spot, and then hugged Ronald tightly.

"You have to get used to it. This movie is well made. You will have many interview opportunities. If necessary, I can find a public relations company to give you some media training."

"You are so nice, Ronald." Cattrall hugged him tighter, allowing Ronald to fully feel his "gratitude".

"What a beauty," Ronald also became more energetic. He picked up Cattrall's coat from the chair, put it on her, and then helped her pull her blonde hair out of the collar.

He took advantage of the situation and put his arm around Cattrall's waist. There was a heat in the silk dress. This woman is really passionate by nature.

"Let's go," Ronald hugged Cattrall and walked towards the door. The texture from his hand made him feel distracted.

"Is my waist strong? I exercised every day for this movie, and I still keep it up after the filming. So what you see now is my best condition." Cattrall whispered softly in Ronald's ear.

"Who can stand this?" Ronald was so angry that a stream of blood rose from his ear to his head.

"During the filming, the costume designer praised me, saying that my figure is better than those six sculptures."

"Huh?" Ronald suddenly turned his head to look at Cattrall when he heard this. Cattrall was caught off guard and twisted his waist, leaning on Ronald. His eyes were as spiritual as at the beginning of the movie, as if asking, "Do you feel it?"

"No, wait, where are your sculptures?"

"In the warehouse of 20th Century Fox, I don't know. Six sculptures, in different postures. Some are sitting, some are standing, and some are half-sitting and looking back. They are all specially made for a certain shot."

"You'd better take them all back," Ronald reminded Cattrall in his ear.

"Why?" Cattrall was puzzled. "My house is too small to accommodate them."

"You don't want some men to take those sculptures that look like you home after the movie is released and you become famous, and then..."

"Oh..." Cattrall figured it out and quickly took Ronald to the warehouse to get his sculptures back.

"One, two, three, four... why are there only four?"

Sure enough, when they arrived at the production warehouse of 20th Century Fox, Ronald's friend Dai Young made six statues for Cattrall, but only four were left on the floor.

"I don't know. I'm just a custodian who works the day shift every day." The warehouse custodian was a white man with a scruffy beard and a smell of beer in his mouth.

"Okay, we'll take the rest away. If you have any news about the two missing ones, you should notify us."

"This is the property of 20th Century Fox." The custodian was still reluctant. Such statues that look like real people are rarely seen in movie props.

"If you have any questions, call Joseph Farrow." Ronald asked Cattrall to sign for confirmation, then borrowed a cart and transported the sculptures to the parking lot.

Little Bud was in the Mercedes and hurried out to take over. "Oh, is this the statue of Miss Cattrall? It's very beautiful."

"Thank you, Bud. I want to take it home. Please send it to my apartment. This is the address. The concierge will take care of it."

"No problem, I will hand it over to the concierge." Little Bud put the three statues in the back seat and the co-pilot of the car, and then fastened their seat belts.

"Put this in the back seat of my Ferrari," Ronald held the last statue, the one that was half-sitting forward and looking back, and put it on the back seat of the Ferrari and adjusted its posture.

Cattrall got in the car, and Ronald drove her to the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

The doorman of the Hilton Hotel came to open the car door, "Good afternoon, Mr. Li."

"Hello," Ronald got out of the car first, holding Cattrall's hand, and waited at the door.

"Miss, aren't you coming down?" The doorman spoke to the statue in the back seat, "Oh, shxt, this is a dummy."

"Hahaha," Ronald and Cattrall laughed non-stop.

"Thank you. Send us a bottle of champagne and a plate of strawberries in an hour." Ronald handed a $20 tip to the doorman, and then helped put the statue on the sofa.

"Okay, sir, thank you, sir," the doorman happily closed the door and left.

After closing the door and turning around, Ronald found that Cattrall had taken off her coat and was sitting on the sofa in a red dress.

Cattrall also leaned forward and looked back at Ronald, "Who do you think is sexier, me or the statue?"

Ronald felt a little dazed for a moment, as if there were really two Cattralls in front of him.

This scene was a bit too similar to the scene in the movie where Cattrall changed from a statue to a real person.

"Kim..." Ronald pulled Cattrall up, "You don't have to do this. In my eyes, you will always be a hardworking, brave, and very talented actress."

"I like to hear you say that, continue." Cattrall hugged Ronald, otherwise a warm current would flow into her heart if she was hugged by Ronald's palm.

"You have a good figure and are very beautiful, but in the opening scene of the mummy, the audience was conquered by your temperament without even seeing your face. This is rare among actresses."

"Oh..., Ronald." Cattrall became happier and happier as she listened. She grabbed Ronald's hair and then jerked her head back suddenly. A dizzy feeling came over her.

"Will I see you again?" After working out, Cattrall was in great physical condition. She lay on the bed drinking champagne and strawberries. The two aromas mixed together and smelled particularly good, making people feel happy.

"Of course, you know, I admire your performance in the movie. You can call my agent anytime in the future. I'm usually very busy. If you have anything to say, just talk to Niceta or Richard."

Ronald knew what Cattrall meant. Their contract was about to expire, and they had their own projects to do afterwards. Cattrall liked Ronald's performance and wanted to catch this young and popular director.

"Don't worry, I won't harass you. I'm just afraid that I won't forget you in the future." Cattrall picked a strawberry with good appearance and put it into Ronald's mouth.

"Hmm..." Ronald was chewing a strawberry, but his mouth was sealed by Cattrall again. A scent of champagne came over.

...

The next day, the internal preview score of "Striking" was given to Ronald.

More than 100 employees of 20th Century Fox gave a score of 8.3 out of a total of 10.

"What level is this score in the internal preview?" Ronald didn't understand the scoring criteria for the internal preview, so he asked his agent Niceta for advice.

"The specific criteria are not clear, but it is roughly equivalent to Easre's B to B+. For your reference, Emilio Estevez's new film "Wisdom" only scored 6.2 in Fox's internal preview."

"Compared to that hunchback, it's nothing." Ronald gradually felt relieved after hearing this comparison. It seems that the box office of "Striking" will not be too bad, and his famous vision for choosing movies will not be challenged for the time being.

"Michael Douglas called. He just finished filming Fatal Attraction and wants to talk to you."

"Wait until my new film is edited. Please explain to him for me. I'll talk to him after I'm done." Ronald roughly guessed Douglas's intention and set the meeting time after the editing of "Dirty Dancing" was completed.

"Spielberg called from Xujiahui Film Studio and said that your friends, Deputy Director Huang and Xiaoyan, helped him a lot and expressed his gratitude."

"Remind me to call him back. Or you can send a telegram for me first. It's difficult to get through international long-distance calls there."

After dealing with some things that accumulated during the filming and vacation, Ronald was about to say goodbye to Niceta's office.

"Rick", the door was pushed open and Paula Wagner walked in.

"Oh, Ronald, you're here too." Paula hugged him and handed her husband Niceta a piece of paper. Niceta read it and the two seemed to have something to discuss.

"I'm just leaving," Ronald said goodbye when he saw that she seemed to have something to say to her husband.

"By the way, Ronald. Do you still have stock investments?" Nicita suddenly stopped Ronald, "I was planning to talk to you about this new legislation."

"The tax reduction bill that the President has been pushing for will be passed by both houses. The new clause treats income from long-term stock investments as other income and is subject to the highest tax rate.

It also cancels the 60% tax exemption for long-term asset income. You should contact your accountant as soon as possible. If you don't sell this year, the new tax law will apply next year. Rick and I, as well as all the stars under our company, must notify them." Paula continued to explain.

"Ah?" Ronald didn't expect the new tax law to have such a trick, "Didn't the President say that he supports tax cuts? Why is there an increase in taxes?"

"It's the tax reform bill, not the tax reduction bill written randomly in the newspaper." Paula Wagner was holding a brief description of the clauses in the new tax law that have a significant impact on star actors, which she got from the accounting firm.

The highest federal personal income tax rate has been reduced from 28% to 20%, which is good news.

But in the past, if you bought a house or a stock, and made money by holding the asset for more than a year and then selling it, you only needed to calculate the profit portion as the tax payable when you sold it. Various benefits

In this way, the actual tax rate for investing in stocks and real estate is only 10%. The "tax reform bill" promoted by the media as a tax reduction bill actually doubled the tax rate for these high-income people.

Moreover, the new bill also canceled many of the original tax exemptions. For example, if you buy assets again, there will be no tax deferral benefits in the future, and you have to pay taxes when you make money from selling. .

Therefore, celebrities have to start allocating their assets again to avoid high losses after the new tax law.

"Fortunately, I sold all my stocks." Ronald secretly made a cross, "Otherwise, wouldn't I have to pay a million in taxes? This is still not counting the losses caused by the inevitable decline in stock prices due to the increase in taxes."

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