Exploiting Hollywood 1980

Off-Broadway, there are also many theaters for new dramatists to show their new plays. Generally this place is called Off-Broadway, and outside of Off-Broadway, there are some theaters, which are stages for people who have not even released a play but have many dreams.

It's called Off-Off Broadway. Tickets are cheap here, but real theater critics, theater lovers, and casting directors come often. In addition to those whimsical plays that cannot be shown anywhere, there are also rising stars and avant-garde plays here.

Some big Hollywood actors also came from here. The most famous ones are Meryl Streep and Diane Lane, who has been acting with her since they were four or five years old.

Ronald used MGM's budget to rent a large, spacious and bright house here. He directed all his assistants to put the long tables together to form a huge table.

On it were placed a variety of snacks that Ronald found from Chinatown, and there was a steaming cart like a Cantonese restaurant next to it, ready to replenish it at any time. There are also piles of coke, coffee machine, black tea, and some light alcoholic beverages on the table.

Ronald arrived at the scene in advance to organize a reading of the script.

He sat at the head of the table, next to his director of photography, David Watkin. Ronald and he met on the set of "Endless Love". When Ronald was called to "direct" Brooke Shields' facial close-ups in the sex scene, he was the one taking the shots.

He also won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography for "Out of Africa."

He is particularly good at taking ordinary urban scenes and creating an epic and dramatic mood.

MGM attached great importance to Ronald directing their first movie in more than a year and hired the best people in the industry to assist Ronald.

On Ronald's right side is another Oscar winner, the best art director of "Jazz Spring and Autumn" in 1979, Philip Rosenberg.

The film also won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Philip Rosenberg's artistic design style also gave the bland street scenes a tourist postcard style.

The two kings sat on the left and right, and began to talk about setting and scene selection from time to time. Philip Rosenberg also took out a photo album from time to time and asked Ronald to choose which scene was suitable for the movie.

Opposite him were the behind-the-scenes shooting team specially hired by MGM to shoot the behind-the-scenes footage, including several documentary shooting teams from MGM TV. They set up the video recorder and started filming in the corner facing the table.

Actors began to arrive one after another. Seeing this posture, everyone clearly felt that MGM valued the film.

"Hi Olympia, hi Julie,..."

Ronald always left the meeting to hug them and say hello. On the Broadway stage, there are strict rules about who can say hello to the director. Only those actors approved by the director can enjoy hugs and kisses. Average actors and those with poor performance will be demoted and can only shake hands.

Knowing the sensitivities of actors who have been on Broadway for a long time, Ronald was strict about the rules even though he was not a hugger.

"Hi, Nick!" This time the actor Nicolas Cage came in. Ronald deliberately walked a distance and intercepted him after he entered the door. And say hello to him first.

Among a group of Broadway actors with rich theatrical performance experience, Nicolas Cage seemed a bit immature. Ronald went out of his way to show the upgraded treatment of the protagonist to let everyone understand that Nick was his person.

Sure enough, although Cage was still a rookie in the Broadway hierarchy, Olympia Dukakis, Vincent Gardenia and others also stood up and said hello to him.

"This way, this way." At this time, a noisy voice came from outside the door.

"It's Xue'er who's here."

Ronald recognized the voice of one of her assistants. The assistant helped open the door, and Xueer walked in with a large group of people.

"Ronnie, I'm so glad to see you." Xueer glanced and saw Ronald.

He came up to say hello to Ronald first, and then introduced several important people among the people accompanying him to Ronald, and more importantly to the actors present.

"This is my personal hairstylist, this is my personal dresser, this is my driver, this is my assistant...and lastly, this is my personal pastry chef, Rob Camiletti, who bakes bagels is my favorite.

"Please sit a little further back, the front row is for the actors." An actor suddenly said, stopping the pastry chef Rob Camiletti who wanted to sit next to Cher.

The young man was very handsome. He glanced at the assistant and then looked at Xueer.

"Honey, please wait for me behind and take out your bagels for everyone to try."

Cher knew this was against the rules, so she asked the pastry chef to get some bagels, and then went to the hairstylist's side.

Ronald saw a plate of donut-like bread on the table, but without icing. Ronald always liked all kinds of snacks, so he picked one up and ate it.

"Ugh..." The smell of German lye bread rushed straight into his nose, and Ronald was caught off guard. Fortunately, the tomatoes and vegetables were okay, so he reluctantly ate them.

Nowadays, the concept of weight loss and health has invaded the American market in a big way. As long as a kind of food is low in calories, it can be sold no matter how unpalatable it is.

Ronald glanced at Cher's new boyfriend, who was sitting there looking around. Apart from being handsome and knowing how to bake bagels, he seemed to be out of place in this place.

The big show of Hollywood stars also made a certain Broadway character actor dissatisfied.

Broadway actors all attach great importance to rehearsals and the guidance of directors and screenwriters. In the theater world, directors know more than actors, which is a rule that everyone abides by.

In Hollywood, between a director and a star, who has the final say in the crew is a very interesting question.

Although Ronald helped Cher a lot, she is a singer star who is used to big shows after all. It is normal for her to show off with several assistants. The guy who baked bagels, if you think he is good, you can bring him around and eat his loving food.

And Rob is of Italian descent. If there is anything he doesn't understand about Italian customs, can't he ask him on the spot?

However, this behavior, especially Rob's lack of self-awareness to sit in the front row and participate in the sacred script reading, made the Broadway actors around him more or less dissatisfied.

Especially Olympia Dukakis, who plays Cher's mother, who just couldn't stand it and asked Rob's baker to sit in the back row.

If it were Broadway, these irrelevant people couldn't even get into the rehearsal room.

"Are we starting the script reading?" Dukakis asked Ronald.

"Wait a minute..." Ronald replied, looking at the door.

"Who else are you waiting for? Your donut master?" Dukakis complained in a low voice. Broadway actors absolutely respect the director's rules, so she didn't continue.

"The person I'm waiting for is here," Ronald stood up and smiled.

A small Italian man with black-framed glasses pushed open the door and rushed in.

"Ronald, I'm really happy to see you. Am I not late?"

"No, welcome to my script reading, Marty."

The visitor was Martin Scorsese, who has a high reputation in the New York theater and film circles. He was the foreign aid invited by Ronald to help him calm down on the first day.

"Ha, I just came to see you. I'm glad to hear that you finally returned to the orthodox drama. Pauline Kael, a famous New York film critic, also said that she would pay attention to you this time. She felt that your talent was delayed by those commercial popcorn films. This is the way you should go..."

After that, Scorsese began to greet the actors. He talked about how he grew up in an Italian family that ran a dry cleaner in Brooklyn, New York when he was a child.

How did he understand the big Italian family?

He told Cher that he had seen her performance in "The Scow Incident" and felt that she had no problem playing such an Italian woman.

He also greeted the screenwriter Shanley, praising him for his observation of Italians, which was more careful and real than the Italians themselves, although he was of Irish descent. Perhaps only bystanders can shoot such a delicate and exquisite Italian atmosphere.

He also encouraged Nicolas Cage, saying that when he was a child, there was a bakery on the corner of the street. The baker inside gave him great yearning. At one time, he was unwilling to iron clothes for others, but became interested in baking bread instead.

Scorsese picked up a bagel and put it down after only two bites. When he was a child, the bread in the bakery opened by Italians was much more delicious.

Ronald chatted with Scorsese and then invited him to play a cameo role in his movie.

Scorsese said that if it was the protagonist, he would consider it. But his mother had never appeared in a movie. Of course, Ronald immediately invited his mother to play a cameo role in the bakery scene that Scorsese had been thinking about.

"Then let's get started," Ronald sent Scorsese away, turned around, and announced the start of the script reading.

The Broadway actors now looked at Ronald in a different way than before. As an Italian-American film director, Scorsese's films are all centered on dramatic conflicts.

He thinks so highly of Ronald. It seems that Ronald is either very knowledgeable about this play or a genius in drama. Everyone knows the reputation of film critic Pauline Carr, who always likes to criticize film directors harshly. Suddenly, she expressed her expectation for Ronald's new work, which also made them feel that this "Moonlight" seems to be a very promising movie.

On the other side, the film actors have also changed their views on Ronald. Cher even feels that among the three films shot in the second half of this year, Ronald's film may be her hope for a comeback.

Cher is very good at reciting, which may be a compensation from God for her dyslexia. With the help of the tape of actress Julie, she is very accurate in every line.

Nicolas Cage, who plays the male lead, is also very impressed by Cher's Italian accent. When they read the scene of getting up in the morning after the night of Moonlight, Cher slapped Cage in the face, and Cage thought it was pretty good.

"You can hit hard, Miss Cher." Cage said to her, "I think your emotions are very good."

"Come back when we shoot the real film." Cher did not expect Cage to make such a request.

Script reading is actually a group of actors sitting in a circle, where everyone reads out their own character's lines. This is a way for actors to get familiar with their roles and then get familiar with their opponents.

In New York, a place with a strong theater atmosphere, there are still college students who take classic scripts and play them as games with their classmates in school.

"Hahaha..." Everyone likes Nicolas Cage's approach of being very involved in the role. So they accepted two Hollywood actors. During the break, Julie, the actress who played the aunt, also came over and quietly told Ronald that it was rare for her to see such a good match between the male and female protagonists.

By the second day, the Broadway camp and the Hollywood camp each had an understanding of the other's strength. Both sides put away the possible contempt at the beginning and began to read carefully and cooperate with each other's performance.

Xue'er also put away her ostentation and didn't let any more followers come here. Especially that sweet bagel baker. The dialogue between her and Dukakis began to get better.

Other actors also felt that Cher's line skills were worthy of her Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress last year.

They all admired the casting director that Ronald hired, and the Broadway team that Julia Taylor hired actually brought out the reality of the entire Castorini family.

Audiences who have actually interacted with Italians in Brooklyn, New York, will soon see on the screen the characteristics of some of their daily acquaintances.

Audiences who have never seen a big Italian family in Brooklyn have stereotyped some characteristics of Italians because of their movie education like "The Godfather". Such a performance will satisfy them all.

Ronald also gradually understood the characteristics of each actor and began to redesign some scenes based on their performances.

The one that surprised Ronald the most was Olympia Dukakis, who played his mother Rose. The timing of each of her reactions was very accurate, exactly at the point where the effect was best.

Ronald felt that Dukakis should be nicknamed Staples, as his lag made many Hollywood actors known for their outstanding acting skills be ashamed. This special ability is either innate or acquired through more than ten years of careful observation and study.

If she were to act in a comedy, she would also be a very good candidate.

Especially in her scene opposite Cher, mother Rose asked her daughter Loretta the same question twice. Does she love that man?

The first time Loretta faced various Johnny's proposals, she replied that she didn't love him. There was a brief moment of loneliness in Dukakis's eyes, and he felt sorry for his unfortunate daughter. But as a mother, she still said yes immediately, cheered her daughter up, and said that only marriages without love can last long.

The second time Loretta faced her brother Ronnie, of course she admitted that she loved Ronnie. Dukakis shouted, "I knew it," but there was a hint of happiness in his eyes that his daughter had found her lover.

The reaction after these two questions and answers is really just a few tenths of a second apart. In a few tenths of a second, the audience will lose the complex emotions behind the lines.

But Dukakis's precise timing allowed this emotion to be conveyed to Cher accurately, making her response even more glorious.

"That's the reaction I wanted, very good." Ronald pointed at Dukakis and praised him. Having such a person with outstanding acting skills in the crew can really make other people's performances even better without making a sound. One floor.

Soon, the last continuous reading began. No one should stop in the middle, but should follow the entire script from beginning to end to find out their own emotional baseline and the weaknesses of each other's cooperation.

Ronald couldn't help but worry about the old actor Fedor Chaliapin. His deafness was so severe that he often missed his opponents' lines. What should Chaliapin do with such continuous reading?

Sean Connery also said that when filming his last movie, he was upstaged by Chaliapin. Ronald was a little doubtful whether it was Sean Connery's poor acting or that he misheard his thick Scottish accent.

When it came to Chaliapin's scenes, Ronald braced himself to observe his performance.

To Ronald's surprise, Chaliapin picked up the lines perfectly. When Ronald looked over, Chaliapin didn't realize it yet, and smiled at Ronald, as if to say, look, dad can still act.

Ronald was very surprised and said to Qing Qing, "Very good."

But maybe he was too light this time, as Chaliapin didn't seem to hear it at all.

"The old man has something. If you change what you hear, you will hear it. If you don't change it, you won't hear it at all."

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