Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"David, this is Ronald. Any questions about my contract?" Ronald called producer David da Silva.

"No, no, that's no problem. I've told the top management at MGM about the adult film of the same name, and I'm very grateful to you for this.

I came to you because of Gene. "

"Gene? What happened to him?"

"He smashed the lockers in the rehearsal space and is now making noises about quitting the crew. He was very emotional and had a conflict with Allen. Allen has restarted Leroy's casting and wants to replace Gene Lose.

But we were already in final rehearsals for the play, less than two weeks after leaving the set. The actors who will play the roles of Allen and two teachers have not yet been determined. If Jean is replaced again, the start of filming will definitely be delayed...

I couldn't communicate with Gene, and no one on the set was close to him. He usually spoke only to Lucy and Antonia. Lucy was one of his own kind, on his side. After Antonia talked to Jean, she told me that it would be best if you came to talk to him.

Ronnie, you have to come talk to Gene. "

"This? But I'm not black? Well, I'll talk about it when I get there."

Gene Ray was selected into the crew by himself, and he stood by himself when the scripts conflicted. If he could help him, he would still help. But why did Antonia say that it would only be useful if she talked about it herself?

Entering the scene at Harlan High School, Ronald saw a row of iron lockers outside the rehearsal room in a mess. This is usually used for dancers to store debris, but now it has been smashed into a lot. The traces seem to be a large blunt object, which seems to be a fire extinguisher.

Ronald saw a fire extinguisher in the corner, which had been smashed and had a lot of paint peeled off.

"Where's Gene? Where is he?" Ronald stopped an assistant.

"He's in the office talking to the producer about terminating the contract."

Is it already this serious?

Ronald walked quickly to the office and knocked on the door.

"Come in." Producer David's voice.

When he pushed the door open and walked in, he saw Gene sitting in his seat without saying a word. The producer was opposite him. When he saw Ronald coming in, he quickly stood up:

"Okay, I'll let you talk to Ronald. I'll go out first." David gave Ronald a wink.

"Gene, what happened? I heard that you are quitting the crew?" Ronald sat next to him and said softly.

"The director didn't respect my mother. He wanted to drive her away and not let her stay on the set."

"When did your mother come? Why didn't the director let her stay on the set?" Ronald felt that a lot had happened in the past few days, so he asked in detail.

It turned out that Gene's mother, Joan, came from Harlem to see her son in Midtown Manhattan a few days ago. She found that Gene's ongoing drama rehearsals were very hard, and he often rehearsed the same scene over and over again all day long.

Gene's mother saw her son working so hard, so she came to the set every day to take care of her son's life.

In fact, it is said to take care of life, but it does not take personal care like some white parents do. Joan only watched the rehearsal for ten minutes at the beginning, then walked away and came back at noon to bring her son some fried chicken and a bottle of grape-flavored soda.

Again in the evening, taking the subway home with her son, she couldn't say that it was too disruptive to the live rehearsal.

I don’t know why, but yesterday morning the director did not allow Joan to appear on the scene again, accusing her of interfering with Gene’s rehearsal and dragging down the entire crew.

"I can't stand his discrimination against us, Ronald. I can't stand this. My mother only comes to see me rehearse every day and never stays for long. They just don't like my mother appearing among a bunch of white parents."

According to Gene, many parents of actors would also drive their children to attend rehearsals. The director disliked Joan, a poor black man from Harlem, who was too conspicuous, so he wanted to drive her away.

"What's going on with the lockers?" Ronald asked.

"They called security to drive my mother away. I didn't let them touch my mother and picked up the fire extinguisher to defend ourselves."

So you just smashed the locker? Ronald thought to himself that it looked like Jean was very angry that the crew was trying to get rid of her mother.

“What did the producer say?”

"He persuaded me to stay and finish the movie and I would become a star and all the discrimination would disappear."

Ronald thought to himself, this is actually true. Although American people are discriminatory towards black people, they are much more tolerant towards black celebrities.

"Then what do you think?"

"I also want to be famous, Ronald. But I can't stand this kind of blatant discrimination against our race. Besides, I only have my mother as my only relative, and I can't watch her being driven away without saying a word."

"Okay, don't make the final decision yet, wait until I talk to the director."

It seems that Jean still wants to stay, so it will be easier to handle. As long as the director Allen wants to get rid of Jean, he can find the reason and solve it.

However, director Allen is not a racist person. He arranged many black characters in the movie. Could it be that the parents of other actors collectively put pressure on him?

After comforting Gene, Ronald walked out of the producer's office. He thought for a while, and instead of going directly to the director, he went to the rehearsal room to find Antonia Franceschi to get the news first.

"Antonia, can you talk to me about Jean?" After greeting the drama teacher, Ronald led Antonia out of the rehearsal room.

"I can't say too much. There are many people's interests involved here." Antonia rarely said anything directly.

"Then what can you tell me? David said you asked him to come to me, why do you want me to talk?" Ronald felt more and more strange, who hated Gene and his mother so much?

"I can only say that the director is not a racist."

"I believe this, otherwise he would not have set up so many minorities in the script."

"Well, because you discovered Gene, he listens to you. Ronald, you have to talk to Gene's mother, maybe it's better to let her go, so that everyone in the crew will be better."

"Why?"

"I live in Little Italy, I can't say. You know that Italians in New York have to abide by certain "rules", and one of them is not to tell outsiders about internal affairs."

"What does this have to do with Italians?"

"Don't ask, I can't say."

Ronald saw that he couldn't get anything out of her, so he had to thank her: "I haven't thanked you for your support last time, Antonia."

"It's okay, we all hope you stay in the crew."

"Okay, see you later, Antonia. I still have to deal with this matter."

Ronald still didn't get the point, so he turned to find the producer David.

"David, does this have anything to do with Italians?"

"Italians? When we chose to shoot here, we had already made arrangements with Italian gangs. They are very supportive of filming, especially since we chose Antonia, who is Italian, as the leading actress."

"Gangs?"

"Ronnie, you know, this is near Times Square, the territory of Italians, and they control the fireflies in the square. As a filmmaker, you have to handle these relationships well. You have to talk to City Hall and underground City Hall in advance, otherwise there will be problems during filming."

"Okay, thank you for telling me this. I'm getting more and more confused."

"Try hard, Ronnie. I don't want to have another audition. I have to go and see how the two teachers are auditioning. Alan is still not satisfied with the existing candidates."

Ronald asked around and had to go to the director's room to see if he could find out any new information.

"Hi, Alan. It's me, Ronald."

"You're here. I've been busy these past two days, so I won't chat with you."

"That's why I'm here, Director. David asked me to persuade Gene. Does Gene's mother Joan really interfere with rehearsals so much? If they are willing to obey your orders and Joan no longer interferes with rehearsals, can you give Gene another chance?"

Ronald's mouth was dry as he spoke, looking at a can of Coke on the table.

Alan motioned for him to help himself.

Ronald picked up the Coke and opened it with a bang. It may have been left at room temperature for too long, and the foam splashed out.

Alan Parker sat smoking, looking a little anxious, and put out the cigarette in his hand.

"If Joan came to the rehearsal every day instead of wandering around, that would be a good thing, and I wouldn't drive her away."

"What do you mean?"