Exploiting Hollywood 1980

In the end, Ronald agreed with Universal's opinion, ignored the two Israelis' follow-up work, and insisted on not changing his release time. He believed that the quality of his films was far superior to that of the Israelis.

Israeli go-go brothers are also very happy to hear this news. They also spent a lot of money to purchase the rights to use well-known bands such as U2 to do movie inserts.

Two fat Israelis thought they had found the "secret code" for the American film market.

That day Ronald received a call from Helen Slater.

"I'm coming to Los Angeles."

"Really, when are you coming?"

"No, my agent has arranged it for me. I came to Los Angeles for the audition. I will call you then."

"That's great, what role are you auditioning for?"

"That's the role that all Hollywood actresses want."

Ronald called his agent to find out what role Helen was auditioning for.

"It should be the movie "Once Upon a Time in America" ​​that the Italian director Leon has been preparing for ten years." Richard answered his question.

Almost all actresses between the ages of eighteen and thirty auditioned for this movie. Leon even turned down his directing job in "The Godfather" for this movie.

From the younger Deborah Winger to the older Susan Sarandon. There were also former Best Actress Sissy Spacek and Best Supporting Actress Mel Streep, who all auditioned for the leading role.

And he is relatively familiar with, and has worked with, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Diane Lane, Brooke Shields and other younger generation actresses, and they all went to audition.

After calling Diane and Brooke, Ronald discovered that actresses under the age of eighteen were also auditioning. Both Diane and Brooke auditioned for the younger version of Deborah.

The director has great ambitions. He has raised 30 million US dollars and plans to shoot in many locations in America, Italy, Canada and other places. It is a masterpiece that surpasses "The Godfather".

But this has nothing to do with Ronald. It is impossible for him to be exposed to such a big production now.

In addition, through Niceta's operation with Coppola, Ronald was able to enter the final round of interviews for the director's apprenticeship qualifications for "The Naughty Boy", and went to watch Coppola's film on site to learn from the master.

"Francis is a proud man. I have no way to influence his decision-making. In the end, it all depends on your interview performance.

But I think you should have an advantage. The other directors who went for interviews mainly made small-scale productions from small companies. There are not many like you who have made theatrical films from the seven major studios. "

Niceta was giving Ronald instructions. Because they were apprenticed to one of the top three directors in Hollywood today, many second-generation stars and descendants of production company executives were also included in the final interview.

"Coppola's 'Peepshow' company was in dire financial shape and he didn't even pay screenwriting fees to the screenwriter and original author, Ms. Hinton.

Therefore, in this project where the director's union pays wages, Coppola does not just use it as a trainee, he will use it as a requirement for selecting assistant directors. Someone like you with actual shooting experience is exactly what he needs. "

"There are five interviewers in total, and you are the last one."

We arrived at the interview place for the trainee director, which was an office in the Peep Show Studio in Los Angeles. This studio is where Coppola filmed "Love, Old Love, New Love."

The movie failed at the box office and was withdrawn by theaters within a week of its release. If the studio cannot pay the rent after a period of time, it will be taken back by the owner.

"I'm Ronald, Ronald Lee, here for an interview."

"Okay, Mr. Li, you can go in."

"Am I not the last one in line?" Ronald looked at his watch. He was not late. Why did Coppola interview people so quickly?

When the door opened, there was a small screening room inside. The first two rows of seats were filled with people who came for interviews. Sitting above them were Coppola and the author and screenwriter Ms. Se. Hinton.

Ronald was about to step forward to say hello when he heard an assistant coming over to announce the start of the interview.

"This? Is this how Coppola interviews?" Ronald thought to himself, "I thought I would have to interview each other individually. If we interview together, all candidates participating in the interview can hear the answers of others."

"Why did you come to apply for the position of trainee director?" Coppola adjusted his big black-rimmed glasses and casually began to ask the first candidate questions.

"I wanted to study with the greatest director in the world."

"Do you like my movies? Which one is your favorite?"

“‘The Godfather’ is my favorite.”

"What about you?" Coppola asked the second candidate.

“My favorite is ‘RainClan’”

At first glance, this person is a die-hard fan of Coppola, and he has even watched the niche movies shot by Coppola.

"Oh why?"

"Because..." The second candidate talked a lot about his favorite acting methods and narrative techniques.

"What about you? What do you like?" Coppola asked the third.

"I like 'The Godfather Part II' best because of its unparalleled use of flashbacks throughout the film." The third candidate has learned to answer the original meaning of "like".

Coppola looked at the fourth candidate, a girl who was the niece of a senior Warner Bros. executive. Coppola knew of her existence beforehand.

“My favorites are your ‘The Godfather’ and ‘Apocalypse Now.’ Because The Godfather uses an auteur film approach to make Warner Bros.’s traditional gangster films.

And Apocalypse Now is a profound anti-war film. You were the first to film the theme of the Vietnam War... At that time, only the Chinese could accept your anti-war theme. They awarded you the Palme d'Or and you deserved it..."

The girl talks about Coppola's movies like a treasure, and she can't stop once she starts them.

Francis Coppola had to raise his hands and ask her to stop. "Apocalypse Now" was the movie I wanted to make, but it was also the main culprit of the peep show's financial troubles.

It took a whole year to shoot the movie, and the protagonist had a heart attack, a typhoon destroyed the set, government troops drove away helicopters to fight the rebellion, and the actors encountered real tigers in the jungle... and other messy problems.

Compared to "The Godfather," Coppola spent much more effort on "Apocalypse Now."

"What about you? What do you think? Which movie of mine did you like?" Coppola looked at the last candidate and flipped through the names on the list, "Ronald?"

This is also the candidate that new agents recommend to themselves. However, there is only one paid spot from the Directors Guild, and I can only choose one of them who can give me advice.

Young people always have some wild ideas. This movie is about young people, so it’s best to have young people on the crew.

Ronald didn't expect Coppola's interview to be so casual. He thought about it and replied:

"Apocalypse Now."

"Did you also like it because you were anti-war?" Coppola looked at Ronald, who remembered the name.

Tanin, a senior executive at Universal, once let himself see a film he made, a typical Roger Corman-style exploitation film. I wonder if his taste for making movies is as boring as Roger Corman's.

Where does one start with whether "Apocalypse Now" is anti-war? I don’t see any anti-war tendencies, but Coppola himself said in Cannes that the movie is anti-war. No one knows what he thinks. If what he said is not in line with his feelings...

"Ronald?" Hinton, who was sitting next to him, called his name and reminded himself not to think about it for too long. Coppola had already turned his attention to the script.

"I don't think 'Apocalypse Now' is a war-themed movie"

No matter, Ronald told his true opinion.

"Oh?" Coppola raised his head. This was an unexpected answer. All film critics are praising the anti-war ideas of Apocalypse Now, and some think it is praising war, but they have not gotten rid of the theme of war. This young man has his own ideas.

"So what kind of movie is it?" Coppola asked.

The niece of the executive next to him looked at Ronald and felt a little pity for his situation. This man spoke shockingly. At first, it was because it was the last person's turn to answer the question, and the answers had been finished by the people in front. It is a last resort.

Fortunately, I answered before him. I had prepared reviews of all Coppola's films in newspaper and magazine columns in advance, and studied them for a long time before I could talk about them. If he also fell to the last answer, he would probably not be much better than him.

"I think it's essentially a psychological thriller."

"Huh?" The executive's niece was also quite surprised.

Thriller is a genre film. It is different from horror movies, which often use monsters that suddenly jump out to scare you, while thrillers scare people through pre-set suspense.

The classic representatives of thrillers are Hitchcock's classic films. By setting up suspense in advance, the audience knows from the beginning what kind of opponent the protagonist will face, but the protagonist himself often doesn't know it yet.

“I think ‘Apocalypse Now’ is really about a man wrestling with his own subconscious beast,” Ronald continued.

"What nonsense are you talking about? 'Apocalypse Now' is obviously a war movie, what does it have to do with a thriller?" A fellow interviewer couldn't help it and scolded Ronald.

"No, it's not a war movie." Ronald expressed his thoughts, and his thoughts became clearer and clearer.

"War movies must have war scenes. Every war scene gets bigger and bigger, and the final scene is the biggest.

The scale of the war in 'Apocalypse Now' is getting smaller and smaller. From the helicopter war at the beginning, to the steamboat attack and defense, and finally to Colonel Coates' territory, it turned into a cold weapon war.

And the last scene..."

Ronald said this, glanced at Coppola, and found that he was looking at him with interest.

"In the climax of the last scene, we only see the duel between the protagonist Willard in the dim light and the villain Colonel Coates in the dark. This is actually a metaphor. In the end, reason defeats the beastiality in the subconscious. Finish."

"But isn't this an anti-war theme? War has caused indelible trauma to people's hearts." The niece of a Warner Bros. executive was also attracted by Ronald's statement and refuted it.

"Anti-war films have a lot of descriptions of the psychological trauma of people and soldiers, but these 'Apocalypse Now's don't have that. In fact, I think the climax scene illustrates the essence of a movie. It doesn't describe the impact of war on soldiers. Damage to family affection, love and other normal human emotions.”

"Of course, this is just my personal interpretation. The charm of classics is that they can be interpreted from different aspects." Ronald finally added that he did not want to argue with his interview opponents and ended his speech.

"Okay, that's it for the interview. My assistant will notify you of the results tomorrow."

Coppola stopped looking at the interviewers, and the assistant next to him came over and asked them to leave.

"Is what Ronald said right?" Writer Hinton was very interested in the issue they just discussed. He saw Coppola circle the names of Ronald and the executive's niece and asked.

"There are always many interpretations of classics." Coppola replied with a smile.

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