Exploiting Hollywood 1980

Cindy is full of the spirited, free and casual middle-class style of a small-town girl in Yinlinuyin. This is the first time Ronald has experienced the beautiful girl who grew up in the Midwest.

This reminded him of Chris Columbus's directorial debut, "Adventures in Nanny," which is about to start filming. That night, he fought against enemies such as a flat tire, a car theft syndicate, and a heartless boyfriend, while still maintaining an optimistic spirit. The main character, nanny Chris Parker.

If this kind of character were placed in other big cities, the audience would probably feel a little wrong.

Only in the suburbs of Chicago, an important city in the middle of the country, would it be completely normal for a white girl there to do such a thing.

Knowing that Central girls like to fulfill their promises right away, Ronald hung up the phone to David Laitman early the next morning.

Laitman was still having breakfast and was about to go on vacation. After being caught by Ronald, he heard that a beautiful model wanted to be on the show. He was so happy that he agreed on the spot with a laugh.

Unlike other talk show schedules, Letterman's Late Night Show is later than Johnny Carson's The Tonight Show. This kind of late-night talk show is mostly watched by single men.

Therefore, having beautiful models and actors appear on the show, Laitman telling some sideline jokes, and guests cooperating, or acting embarrassed, or boldly counterattacking, are all good ways to increase the ratings.

"Okay, his name is Cindy Crawford, and he once received an outstanding scholarship from college. He is not one of those mindless sex bombs."

"nailed it?"

Cindy Crawford saw that Ronald was so awesome and fulfilled her promise on the spot. She was so happy that she gave this man two shows in her pajamas, and then sat on Ronald's lap and danced for a while.

Promises to others must be fulfilled immediately. Cindy showed her middle girl style again. She felt Ronald react and immediately pulled Ronald up and came twice more early in the morning.

An hour later, Ronald returned home to Staten Island and happened to see Donna eating cake and drinking milk for breakfast. Ronald smelled the cake and went over to take one and put it in his mouth.

"Well, it's delicious. Is this from Tom? He remembers to give me a cake every Christmas."

"Yes, I told my classmates that I had cakes sent by Tom Cruise, but they didn't believe it." Donna wrinkled her nose, then followed the smell of perfume and looked at Ronald's side, "Your perfume smells very good. OK, it looks like it’s new. Go wash it, my mother is coming soon.”

"Ah, hahaha," Ronald said, and quickly went upstairs to take a shower. After hanging out with Cindy several times, I can no longer smell the scent of perfume on my body.

By the time Ronald came down from the shower, Donna was watching the morning news with Aunt Karen.

"The commander-in-chief is no longer a stickler for Teflon. In the past month, affected by the "Persian Gate" scandal, his approval rating has dropped from 67 to 46. Political commentators are talking about it. Scandals have never been able to adhere to the characteristics of a great leader, and this time it has failed.

The investigative committee personally appointed by the Grand Commander and chaired by former Senator John Tower will summon the Grand Commander to go to Congress to explain the situation. Whether the Lebanese hostages were released was because of the private sale of advanced weapons including Dow anti-tank missiles to Persia. , in exchange for Persian impression on relevant parties in Lebanon.

Also subpoenaed were CIA Director William Casey, Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger, National Security Assistant Robert McFarland, and Assistant Secretary of State Elliott Abrams. "

Ronald grabbed a few more pieces of Tom Cruise cake and grabbed a glass of orange juice to drink. He found that his aunt and Donna's attention was on the TV news and they didn't ask him about what happened last night.

"What happened? Why does it seem like the cabinet of the current commander-in-chief has been held accountable?" Ronald asked aloud. I've been busy filming for the past few weeks and haven't kept up with the news much.

"Don't you know? A Lebanese magazine revealed last month that the reason why we were able to take back the hostages captured in the Lebanese Embassy was because we secretly sold advanced weapons to our enemy Persia.

Now everyone is calling this incident Persiangate, comparing it to the previous Watergate incident. "

Donna is a college student and is naturally more concerned about these political events. She told Ronald the ins and outs of what she had learned from reading magazines in the past few weeks.

It turned out that America's military-industrial community secretly sold high-tech weapons to the enemies of the United States in exchange for hostages in Lebanon. On the other hand, the proceeds from the sale of arms were used to fund the Conrad rebels in Nicaragua, Central America, who wanted to overthrow the existing government there that supported the Soviet Union.

"No wonder I went to Little George to take advantage of the hot topic of hostage release in Lebanon, and made a wave of Top Gun requests, but he refused. It turns out that there are so many inside stories in it, and now that it has been revealed by the media, isn't it true that the commander-in-chief Will he be impeached like the Watergate incident?”

Ronald thought of the incident a few months ago. Little George was indeed born into a political family. If he got involved in this kind of thing, he would be in trouble now. Why don't reporters find him for an interview? They definitely won't let this happen.

"Wait a minute," Ronald suddenly thought, "How could little George know the inside story? Could it be the deputy commander?"

While stroking his beard and thinking about something, Ronald heard another report on the news about the Supreme Commander and others testifying before the Tower Commission.

"When answering the question of whether you authorized the sale of advanced weapons to Persia in exchange for the release of hostages and the funding of the Nicaraguan anti-government Conrad armed forces, the Commander-in-Chief first admitted, and then contradicted himself by saying that he did not remember. .

It’s hard for us to believe this statement. Even if he really didn’t know about this secret transaction, he clearly failed to control his national security assistant and CIA director and failed to fulfill the leadership responsibilities that a general should have.

Deputy Commander George denied any involvement in the plan. He only found out after seeing news reports that the weapons middleman, Saudi businessman Khashoggi, was selling weapons to enemies of the United States.

He said that he was deprived of the right to know. He did not suggest to the commander-in-chief to support or oppose this plan. He said that he was not an insider."

"Haha, an Elephant Party politician who has served as CIA director for four years says that he is not an insider of the military-industrial complex?" Donna keenly pointed out the ridiculousness in the deputy commander's testimony.

Aunt Karen shook her head. She had long given up on the hypocrisy of such professional politicians, but when she saw what she loved, the commander-in-chief who declared war on the obsolescence of the bureaucracy and vowed to make America great again was also involved in this. Despite such a disgraceful thing, I am still very disappointed.

"I saw that his expression when answering the questions seemed confused, as if he didn't know where he was or what question he was answering. Maybe he was telling the truth when he said he couldn't remember?

After thinking about it for a moment, my aunt found some reasons and said a few good words for the commander-in-chief whom she supported.

"Humph, you're just pretending to be stupid. That's what politicians are like." Donna said reluctantly.

"Maybe I really don't remember?" Ronald remembered that when he went to the White House and Camp David, the commander-in-chief seemed to forget things sometimes. I had clearly seen him several times before, but the last time the commander-in-chief saw him, he seemed not to recognize him, and was reminded by First Lady Nancy.

"As you get older, you still forget things easily. After all, the Commander-in-Chief is over seventy and had surgery last year." Ronald comforted his aunt.

"Persian Gate" continued to be discussed in the media, and the Congress controlled by the Donkey Party began to use this big scandal to launch an attack on the leader.

Over the years, the Grand Commander has been using the method of mobilizing voters to write letters to members of Congress to force them to pass the economic reforms he leads. This time, the side effects have finally come back.

Whether you are a member of the House of Representatives or a senator, when the general election comes, if you don’t say a few words that you support the leadership or support the economics of the leadership, you will not be able to pass the election.

There are also some challengers who dress themselves up as fans of the commander-in-chief and tell voters that as long as they are elected, they will vote for the commander-in-chief in Congress, posing a considerable challenge to those members of the establishment.

This time it was finally the MPs' turn to attack the commander-in-chief.

Don’t you claim that the government cannot solve problems and that the government itself is the problem? It seems that after being the commander-in-chief for several years, you have been assimilated by the government. Do you also need to be dealt with?

However, this tactic of seizing on the leadership's problems has obviously had some counterproductive effects. Since the election of the Grand Commander, regardless of other things, the economy has indeed developed very well. For the sake of increased income, American people can actually treat some things as invisible.

Now those donkey gangsters who made the economy a mess want to use this kind of bullshit again to attack the commander-in-chief who led them to make money. For a while, the support rate of the commander-in-chief, old Ronald, actually increased again.

However, Director Ronald Jr. no longer cares about these things. He only made one call to George, saying that "Adventures in Nanny" would soon start filming in Toronto, Canada. The third phase of his Screen Fund had given him a lot of support, and Ronald called him specifically to express his gratitude.

Ronald was actually borrowing something from the movie to talk about the Persian Gate.

What he really wanted to thank was the deputy commander's family. It was interesting that they simply told Ronald not to use the idea of ​​releasing the hostages to promote "Top Gun". Otherwise, it is easy to make mistakes if you are involved in political struggles, even if you are just caught by reporters asking some sensitive questions.

Little George also knew what Ronald really meant, saying that everything had been "taken care of".

He also hopes that the first investment of the third phase of the fund will be successful, and Ronald will have to go to the crew to see the situation and give him feedback so that he can continue to build momentum for the next phase of raising funds from Wall Street bankers.

After two days of vacation, Ronald went to Toronto, Canada in advance.

Most of the crew of "Moonlight" was still on vacation, and MGM's top management was in disarray. Ronald could not get everyone together on his own, so he had to wait until after the New Year to resume filming.

Coincidentally, in addition to his own "Moonlight" crew, first-time director Chris Columbus. Filming on his new film "Adventures in Babysitting" is also starting in Toronto.

Ronald happened to take advantage of the time difference to visit the set of "Adventures in Nanny" and fulfill his duties as a producer.

The crew of "Adventures in Babysitting" handled everything very well and was fully prepared for everything. After the Christmas holiday, everyone had gathered in Toronto and was ready to start filming. Disney under Michael Eisner is very efficient and strict, and there are indeed signs of ZTE.

In the suburbs of Toronto, the architectural style of houses and outdoor preparations are not much different from those in America.

On the first day of filming, director Chris Columbus picked an outdoor scene with a very simple shot.

Ronald, as a producer, also came to the crew to watch. Obviously Columbus was well prepared, and the shot he used for the opening was not difficult. For a young man who was directing for the first time, it was a good choice to start from the simple to the difficult.

People who are directing for the first time often have two mindsets in their hearts.

One is that they feel unsure and don’t know whether their directing is good enough, so they hope to have an experienced person sitting next to them and give them some advice when things go wrong.

The other mentality is just the opposite. In order to be a director, they have made a lot of preparations and considered all the details of the shooting. If a strong producer with directing experience came at this time and denied all their ideas, it would be very embarrassing.

Art does not distinguish between absolute right and wrong, and everyone has their own ideas. If the producer does not respect the director enough, it will give the new director a big blow to his confidence and prestige in the crew.

These two ideas are often intertwined. Sometimes the idea of ​​wanting the producer to come prevails, and sometimes it is better not to come.

All the producers and directors who came to inspect the start of filming had very complicated feelings.

Ronald smiled at Chris Columbus who was wearing glasses. He knew that Chris Columbus was the kind of director who had made a lot of preparations.

Richard, the agent, had reported to him. He had prepared all the storyboards and had made in-depth preparations for the sets and locations.

In fact, Ronald's confidence in Columbus might be stronger than his own.

"Director, director, something went wrong."

The production manager ran over quickly and interrupted Chris Columbus who was looking at Ronald awkwardly and didn't know how to communicate.

"What's wrong? Speak slowly." At this time, Chris Columbus calmed down and asked the production manager to explain the situation clearly.

It turned out that "The Adventures of a Nanny" was filmed in the suburbs of Chicago in the Midwest. Chicago is the old manufacturing base in Yinlino Yinzhou, where the companies here have shrunk comprehensively due to competition from Japanese companies.

The company's profits are not good, so the tax revenue is also shrinking. Some areas in Chicago have reached the point where they are running out of money to deal with basic public facilities such as buses, garbage disposal, and tap water.

So the first shot to be shot today is the shot of Chris Parker, the nanny played by Elizabeth Su, walking with her children on a street full of garbage that has not been removed.

The set and props team of the crew made preparations overnight, and spread some garbage cans, black garbage bags, and some prop garbage all over the street where the garbage cans are located.

But Toronto is not Chicago. The sanitation department of this city has a very healthy budget. So at four o'clock in the morning before the crew arrived, the sanitation workers cleaned up and removed the garbage that the set crew had messed up last night.

Now, the outdoor location is a very clean and tidy road.

Chris Columbus was a little dumbfounded. He touched his head, not knowing what to do, and turned back to look at Ronald.

At this time, he definitely supported the producer on the scene.

"You are the director, you solve it yourself." Ronald put his hands behind his back and put on an attitude that this is your movie, I don't care.

Chris Columbus laughed instead. He encountered problems on the first take because he was a little too nervous.

This was not a difficult task, so Columbus found the set and props, mobilized the assistants of the crew, and went to find a lot of black garbage bags, put them on the street, and rearranged the mess.

"A!"

Columbus got into the state quickly. He commanded a team of dozens of people and began to dispatch.

"Cut! Very good, let's do another one." Chris Columbus chatted with the director of photography for a few words about the camera position, and then announced to continue shooting.

"How did I do?"

Soon after half an hour of shooting, the first scene was shot. Chris Columbus came over to ask Ronald about his performance.

Now he felt very confident again, and hoped that Ronald would not interfere with his smooth shooting.

"You did a good job. I can't think of anything to explain." Ronald shook hands with him enthusiastically. Although Columbus had not shot film since graduating from college, today's situation showed that he was still a man with dreams.

Chris Columbus smiled shyly. He had an academic style. He didn't shout loudly on the set, but he could convince everyone. He relied on his familiarity with the film business and his thorough preparation beforehand.

"I only have one place to teach you, Chris." Ronald was very satisfied when he saw Columbus's confidence.

"What is it?" Columbus asked.

Ronald took him to the side, asked the assistant for a chair, and personally helped Chris Columbus open it and put it on the ground. Then he looked at the name on the back of the chair.

Director Columbus's name was listed prominently, and it was bigger than the chairs of the two leading actors next to him.

"Roger Corman once taught me. The most important thing for a director is to prepare a chair and sit down when you have time."

Ronald pulled Columbus over and gently pressed him on the chair. "Really, being a director is really tiring. Without a chair to sit on, you will soon be too tired to speak."

Then Ronald said to Columbus, "You already have all the abilities to be a director, I understand. So I won't bother you here. If there is anything you can't solve, call me again."

Then Ronald turned around and shouted to the actors and staff, "This is Mr. Director's chair, no one is allowed to grab it."

"Hahaha"

Everyone laughed, and the look they gave Columbus was more convinced than before.