Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"How is Zachary?" Ronald asked Paula Wagner, who was traveling with him to New York, on the plane.

"Oh, the little thing is cute, isn't it?" Paula smiled as she talked about her son with Niceta, and took out several photos from her bag for Ronald to look through.

"What a healthy child," Ronald looked at a few photos, and little Niceta was growing strong.

This time, Paula went to New York to sign a contract, meet Brooke Shields formally, and then sign an agent contract with her. Paula, a strong woman, has always worked hard for her work. She entrusted her child to the nanny and her husband, and came on Ronald's business jet.

Speaking of signing Brooke Shields, Paula Wagner was very enthusiastic. Since she stopped being Ronald's agent, her relationship with the most important client in her husband's hands has improved.

Paula is best at making long-term career plans for actor clients, and she is not a simple person who pushes clients to famous directors. What she needs is a famous director with whom she is familiar and who can get news of good roles first, and the rest can be left to the professional performance of both parties.

Before going to college, Brooke Shields was the undisputed number one teenage idol. Four years later, most people still remember her. It is undoubtedly easier to make you remember an idol than to recreate one.

Paula is very optimistic about the potential of investing in such a star with high IQ, good looks, and natural media and social skills.

"I will create her with the standard of a real actor, not the star she played before. I have seen a lot of her film and television and commercial clips. In fact, she has a good imagination. As a model, she has also received professional body training. As long as she has a solid acting coach, she can slowly and step by step play a role that the audience will remember." Paula began to talk about her future plans for Brooke Shields.

Ronald listened and agreed. Paula Wagner is different from other actor agents in this era. She does not just negotiate the highest price among all the contracts that actors can get.

On the contrary, she always carefully selects a series of roles to make certain characteristics of the actors and these roles become one. The American market is large enough, and there are many actors of different types that the audience can remember.

And to be honest, the image of all actors in the audience's mind is not created by the actor himself, but by the vivid and memorable characters he or she creates.

Diane Lane, in her hands, can be given several possible long-term image positioning. This time, Penny Marshall's "growth" is a good opportunity for Diane.

"How was Diane's audition with Tom Hanks?" Ronald thought about it and asked about the audition results.

"The initial reading of the script is very good. The two images are very compatible. They are both handsome men and beautiful women who are familiar to us. Director Penny likes Diane's acting very much... He said that they have a natural chemistry."

"Ah... good news", Ronald touched his chin, I haven't read the script yet, there won't be any passionate scenes, right?

Both Android and Apple are available. 】

...

The plane landed at Teterboro Airport, and the famous Italian agent Ed Limato, who was already waiting there and was known for treating his clients like family, was waiting at the bottom of the gangway in a windbreaker.

"Hi, Paula, you are still as beautiful as ever. This is a gift for little Zachary." He hugged Paula who got off the plane first, and gave a woolen hat to Paula's son.

"Hi, Ronald, we meet again. You took care of Nick's matter last time."

"We are all family, Ed," Ronald hugged him and saluted.

Several cars prepared at the airport first sent Paula, Julia Taylor and others back to their accommodation. Ronald went to the loft apartment on Fifth Avenue with Richard and Limato.

"When you called me, I was also surprised. This movie is being talked about in the Hollywood industry. Many female stars want to play it. Why did you take the initiative to invite Michelle?" Limato gave Ronald some Italian ham and brandy, and asked in the car.

"Ed, you should know," Ronald glanced at him. This man is very sincere to his customers, but he thought he had no future, so he said a lot of bad things about himself to Michelle Pfeiffer.

"The actress may take the role of Tess as an opportunity, but for me, choosing the right person for Tess is more of a big challenge. The charm of this play lies in the moment when Tess turns from an ugly duckling into a white swan for revenge. If the performance cannot make the audience empathize, then the movie will not be successful."

"Hey, you are right. This movie is indeed not an ordinary commercial movie. I see the great light of traditional drama." Limato did not dare to ask more, but just expressed his favor to Ronald attentively.

In the history of film shooting, there are indeed precedents that not only directors choose actors, but also see the most suitable person for a certain role, even if the other party is not a professional actor, and they will persuade the other party to play the role.

However, Hollywood has now become highly commercialized, and this kind of thing only exists in legends in the industry.

After a night of rest, Ronald and Julia Taylor went to the location where Jonathan Demme filmed "Marrying the Gangster" in Long Island, New York.

The weather here is sunny and bright, and it is not unsuitable to shoot indoor spring scenes.

After getting their passes from the production manager, Ronald and Julia Taylor walked onto the set, being careful not to make any noise that would affect the filming process.

The shooting was conducted in a small hair salon. Half of the wall of the built hair salon was demolished to facilitate the movement of the camera.

Ronald saw that what he was going to shoot today was the interior of the hair salon. On one side was a row of haircutting chairs, on the other side was a simple reclining chair, and behind was a sink with a metal hose sticking out of it for washing the customer's hair.

Ronald was familiar with Pfeiffer's blond hair, which was dyed into brown curly hair, making her look more civilian.

This hair salon, as well as the customers and hairstylists inside, all have a strong black style. Angela, played by Michelle Pfeiffer, not only has to do her own hair, but also wash the customer's hair herself.

So Pfeiffer was dressed as a shampoo girl, with a long floral skirt that looked expensive (her role was the widow of a gangster boss), a purple long-sleeved base underwear on her upper body, and a gaudy green short-sleeved work suit on the outside that was inappropriate.

She picked up the apron, put it on a female customer, and then began to skillfully pick up her hair and take care of it.

"Cut!" Jonathan Demme called a halt to filming. When he saw Ronald coming, he announced a ten-minute break.

"Hmm..." Ronald looked at Michelle Pfeiffer, who hurried to the lounge, and exchanged glances with Julia Taylor.

Both felt that this trip was worthwhile. Pfeiffer played the role of a shampooer in the service industry at the bottom of society very well, and her movements were like those of a real hair salon worker.

In the first half of "Marrying the Gangster", she played the woman of a gangster boss, dressed in fine clothes and eating delicious food, and her temperament was like a lady.

This ability to make an excellent switch between the images of two social statuses was the reason why the two of them took the initiative to invite Pfeiffer to audition. This time, they came to see the real shooting of Jonathan Demme on the set, which was indeed extraordinary.

"Ronald," Jonathan Demme saw them.

"I didn't disturb you," Ronald greeted Demme.

"As promised, you really have a good reputation among these Broadway actors. They are all very happy when I announced that you are coming today."

"Hey? Who? Do I know him?"

"Hi, look who's here, Ronald."

The two Broadway actors had already seen Ronald and came over to greet him happily.

"Alec, Kevin? Why are you here?" Ronald hugged them in surprise.

It turned out that he met Broadway actor Alec Baldwin and Kevin Spacey who performed celebrity impersonation show in the bar after watching "Dangerous Liaisons" played by Alan Rickman.

"Hahaha, he is the gangster husband who died in Michelle Pfeiffer's role," Demme introduced Ronald, "Kevin is helping me here, we have dealt with each other before, his image as a gangster boss in the TV series is very good, please ask him to guest play a similar gangster image."

Ronald talked about the play with the two actors. Their parts had been filmed long ago. This time, when he heard that Ronald was coming, he came here to meet him again. There were also a few actors they knew, who gathered around and wanted to talk to Ronald.

In particular, there was an actress with a slightly overbite chin, who was surprisingly pleasing to the eye.

Soon, Michelle Pfeiffer had rested and came out to greet Jonathan Demme. Ronald came forward and the two hugged each other tightly.

This was the first time Ronald and Pfeiffer had met since they went to Cher for an audition in "Moonlight". Although they had little contact, they still had friendship and helped each other several times. They were still friends when they met.

"I haven't had time to change clothes yet..." Michelle Pfeiffer had just taken off her apron and knew

"It's good like this. The first half of this role is an ugly duckling, and the second half is a white swan, which seems to be the opposite of the one you are filming now."

"Hahaha", Michelle Pfeiffer was amused and laughed with her hands covering her mouth.

The two looked at each other, and seemed to remember the tacit understanding they had when they were together before.

"We can't disturb Jonathan for too long. Let's go first. He can continue to shoot other scenes." Ronald broke the awkwardness.

He went over to chat with Jonathan Demme for a few words, and then came back to leave with Pfeiffer.

On the other side, two male and one female actors were still trying to get in touch with Julia Taylor. Taylor actually had files on the three of them and knew some of their previous roles. Except for Kevin Spacey, who was more introverted, Alec Baldwin and the supporting actress kept looking over, looking for Ronald.

"How was the chat?" Ronald came to find his casting director.

"Wait a minute..." Julia Taylor and the three actors ordered, and came over to whisper a few words to Ronald.

"Since you said so, let's go together, but you have to tell them that as an audition stand-in this time, it is impossible to get a role in the new movie."

The so-called audition stand-in means that when auditioning for the protagonist, some supporting actors are needed to play with the play to see the overall performance. These supporting actors are called audition stand-ins.

Generally speaking, the main character is determined first. When auditioning for the main character, you don't know who will play it. The person who talks to the main actor during the audition is the audition double. They are usually found by the casting director and can be hired at a very cheap salary. This is also a power of the casting director.

However, since the main character has not been determined yet, the audition double who accompanies the prince to study will not be selected for the role in the movie.

The three of them agreed readily. They wanted to establish a relationship with Ronald more and also wanted to see more about the production of Hollywood blockbusters.

Several people got on the specially adjusted Toyota van used as a nanny car. Ronald asked them to sit down, and then took out the latest version of the script revised by Kevin Wade and handed it to Michelle Pfeiffer.

Then he said to the three audition stand-ins sitting in the back: "This is the script of Working Girl. Because we didn't prepare for you three to participate, we didn't prepare the usual role scripts, but Julia said that you are all trustworthy theater people. When you arrive at the audition office, I will give you the complete script and take it back after the audition."

The role script that Ronald mentioned is a method often used in Hollywood to prevent leaks. Take out the parts of the script that have lines for the characters and rebind them, so that the actors in other parts don't know, and some people don't know the complete story even after the filming is completed.

During the audition, it is even more necessary to keep it confidential. The three of them expressed their understanding and nodded in agreement.

"By the way, sorry, can you repeat your name again?" Ronald asked the actress who looked a little overbite, but a little cute.

"Joan, Joan Cusack." The actress replied.

"Okay, thank you." Ronald wrote it down in his notebook and asked his assistant to write a check to pay the remuneration according to the name later.

Back in the rented conference room, Ronald marked the script segment that Michelle Pfeiffer needed to read with a pen. Because there were three actors to help, the audition segment could be expanded.

The first one to go on stage was Kevin Spacey. He played Tess's boyfriend Mick Dugan, a cook.

"You are so beautiful." He naturally performed a lustful attitude.

"Come here, sweetheart" Spacey moved aside, cleared one side of the sofa, and then patted to signal Michelle Pfeiffer to come over.

"Oh, Mick, even just once, can you give me a piece of clothing that I can wear out?"

Michelle Pfeiffer read the lines with a sad expectation.

This section talks about the 30th birthday gift that Mick gave Tess, which was just a set of sexy underwear and garter panties. All birthday gifts were for boudoir fun, and there was nothing that Tess could wear out and feel proud of.

"I wouldn't mind if you wore it out," Spacey improvised.

"Huh?" Ronald turned his eyes and glanced at Spacey. What does this guy want to do? Flirt with Michelle Pfeiffer? He's quite courageous.

"Hey, this is a natural reaction from doing too many imitation shows recently, sorry sorry." Kevin Spacey felt numb all over when Ronald stared at him, as if he was stared at by a fierce beast, and hurriedly explained himself.

"Puff, hahahaha..." Michelle Pfeiffer was amused by him, because these few sentences were said by Spacey in the tone of host Johnny Carson, which was very funny.

"Hahaha..." Everyone laughed and let it go.

The second actress to come up for the supporting role was Joan Cusack, who played Tess's superior, Catherine:

"We are a team, Tess. People's impression of me starts with you, my secretary."

"Well, yes, Miss Parker." Michelle Pfeiffer began to read this paragraph in a timid tone. This was the first time the two met, and Catherine set rules for Tess.

"You need to tidy up your makeup and accessories. If you dress shabbily, people will notice your clothes. If you dress tastefully, people will notice you as a person."

Ronald unexpectedly discovered that Joan Cusack's line skills were very good, and she acted very well in an overbearing manner, except that her accent was a bit closer to the standard Chicago accent and lacked a bit of the fluency of Manhattan's upper class.

"Yes, Miss Parker", Michelle Pfeiffer's line skills were better than Cusack's. She was scolded by her new boss twice, and this kind of condescending criticism across classes made her two answers different in depression.

The first time was because Catherine might not like her clothes and felt that her boss was difficult to get along with and had many requirements.

The second time, a man from a wealthy old-money family and a graduate of an Ivy League school could inadvertently show his contempt for the poor children who were night school students in the community.

Finally, Alec Baldwin took the stage, playing the male protagonist Jack Traynor.

"Why, am I not suitable to be here?" Michelle Pfeiffer was not wearing any makeup, and she looked charming as soon as she stroked her hair.

"No, no, I am sure you are first-class no matter what you do, ace." This was the script that Ronald read when he and Demi Moore auditioned. Baldwin's reaction was indeed better than Ronald, an amateur actor.

"I have a brain that can do business, and a body that tempts people to commit crimes... Is there anything wrong with this?"

"Oh... I can't stand it." Michelle Pfeiffer, a sexy star with a pure appearance, said the lines that only gorgeous girls say, which is definitely lethal. If it is matched with makeup, clothes, and hairstyle, it will definitely be a good show.

After the audition, Ronald asked his assistant to write checks to several audition stand-ins. He first sent Michelle Pfeiffer to the car and returned to the "Married to the Mob" crew.

"How did I perform? Not as a director, but as a friend?" Michelle Pfeiffer suddenly turned around and asked Ronald a question on the way to the car.

"Hmm? Very good..." Ronald looked at Pfeiffer. Pfeiffer, without the nice makeup, was still very charming. She was not the kind of actress who needed heavy makeup to be stunning. Just a purple long-sleeved top would make people feel extraordinary.

The other three actors were sent to the car and sent back to the crew. Ronald came back and sat with Julia Taylor:

"I found a serious problem..."