Exploiting Hollywood 1980

Dan Aykroyd was a very humorous person in life. Ronald ate and drank with him at the party and had a great time. He made the party healthy, without the usual Hollywood beauties and illegal drugs, just like having a beer and chatting with old friends.

Maybe it's because Dan Aykroyd is Canadian, or maybe his good friend John Belushi died unfortunately due to drug abuse. Anyway, this kind of party suits Ronald's taste.

Ronald got along very well with him, and the two of them made an appointment to have a party with John Candy, Michael J. Fox, Cameron and other Canadians who had entered Hollywood when they had time.

There are generally two types of comedians. One is like Bill Murray, who is very serious and boring in life, and being funny is just their job. They often need to copy other people's jokes, and then rack their brains to calculate the rhythm and the audience's reaction so that the jokes can have the best effect.

There is another type, like Aykroyd, who is more humorous in life. They are also people with a great sense of humor in life, and they will also laugh at themselves when they are unhappy with life. They are just fun to get along with and more relaxed when performing.

After resting at home for a few days, "Night of the Comet" is still a staple in theaters. Several weeks have passed, and the box office per theater is still very high. Atlantic's distribution capabilities are unable to expand the number of screenings, but it can still hold more than 300 theaters. The box office is also rising by more than one million every week.

On the other hand, "Superman III", which Warner Bros. had high hopes for, saw its box office plummet from its second week. Black comedy star Richard Pryor invested in the film and got himself the role of the villain Gus, replacing Lex Luthor played by Gene Hackman.

But his language style, which is full of "color", is incompatible with the vulgar gags of black talk shows, and is incompatible with the atmosphere of the Superman series of movies. Audiences shouted that the movie was terrible, and reviews and box office were falling at the speed of light.

The news reached London's Pinewood Studios, causing panic for Helen Slater, who was playing "Supergirl" there. It took several transatlantic phone calls between Ronald and her to dispel her worries. The intensive and high-intensity filming made Helen a little nervous. She also became suspicious of the failure of the Superman series at the box office.

On this day, Ronald received a call from Weintraub. The actor he hoped to play Master Miyagi had already flown to Hollywood from Japan and asked Ronald if he wanted to meet him.

This is certainly not the scope of a screenwriter and co-producer. But the actors who came here were too famous. With the continued recommendation of Spielberg, Coppola, and George Lucas,

Hollywood has great admiration for Japanese director Akira Kurosawa.

The person Weintraub invited to audition was Akira Kurosawa's long-term leading actor, Toshiro Mifune, who is known as "the greatest samurai on the Japanese screen."

Toshiro Mifune and his translator arrived at Weintraub's mansion. In his huge living room, Mifune politely bowed slightly to Weintraub and Avelson, and sat on the leather sofa.

"Do you mind if I smoke a cigar?" Toshiro Mifune asked in Japanese, with a young Japanese man beside him helping him translate into English. Weintraub diligently raised the match and lit a thin Japanese cigar, and Mifune started smoking.

"Kurosawa-kun, please introduce your masters." Mifune said to the translator, looking at young Ronald. He looked nothing like Weintraub and could not be his child.

"Please let me introduce to you, the producer of the film, Mr. Weintraub, whom you are already familiar with. This is the supervisor, Avelson, who used to be the supervisor of the boxing movie 'Rocky'."

"Ha Yi, Aiweiersensang." Mifune nodded and saluted.

"This is the screenwriter Ronald" translator Kurosawa-san introduced Ronald.

"Huh, such a young screenwriter? It's really surprising. He reminds me of your father, Kurosawa-kun."

"Mr. Mifune said you were very young, which surprised him."

"Thank you Mr. Mifune for the compliment. I like his 'Yongjimbo' very much. This is my favorite of his works." Ronald heard the translation and revealed that he was a fan of Toshiro Mifune.

"Kurosawa-kun, thank you for having you this time." After listening to the interpreter, Mifune asked the interpreter to convey his good impression of Ronald.

This young translator is none other than Hisao Kurosawa, the eldest son of the great Japanese director Akira Kurosawa. He opened a small production company in America and monopolized all of his father Akira Kurosawa's business agents in America. It also helps Japanese studios such as Toho and Shochiku expand their business here.

Ronald looked at Mifune carefully, listening to him, Weintraub, and Avelson discussing "The Dragon Boy" through questions and answers through an interpreter.

Toshiro Mifune wore a light-colored suit. He had lost a lot of gray hair and was combed meticulously. But after all, he has reached his age. After a long journey, he can no longer hide the deep bags under his eyes and a few inconspicuous age spots on his face.

This Japanese star, who was born in Qingdao, Shandong Province in 1920, is over sixty years old. Ronald already yawned a few times when he watched him and Avelson discussing the plot. It seems that the energy is a little low.

Ronald got up and poured himself a cup of coffee. As he passed by Weintraub, he whispered his discovery in his ear.

Weintraub woke up from the joy of meeting his idol, stood up quickly, and asked Mifune and Kurosawa to go to the hotel to rest first before having in-depth exchanges later.

Seeing that it was Ronald who reminded him, Mifune also came over and smiled at him to show his kindness.

"Kurosawa-kun, please express my gratitude to Ronald-san on my behalf."

"I'm a fan of yours, Mifune-chan. I've seen all the films I could find in America between you and Akira Kurosawa." Ronald actually liked those sword-and-halberd films made by Akira Kurosawa. Cold temperament, crisp narrative, and first-class atmosphere creation.

"Oh, I wonder which one is your favorite?" Mifune was waiting for the car at the door of the living room, and simply started chatting with Ronald through Hisao Kurosawa.

"My favorite is the duel scene between you and Tatsuya Nakadai in 'Tsubaki Sanjuro'. I've always wondered how you rehearsed that killer move. It seemed like you and Mr. Tatsuya Nakadai were actually dueling. The same, a good burst of emotions.”

After listening to Hisao Kurosawa's translation, Mifune nodded and replied, "Then I would also like to thank Supervisor Kurosawa. If he hadn't said that the filming was not good, he would have to fight with a real sword. Nakadai-kun and I wouldn't be so scared. Ichijo. It’s done, hahaha.”

"So you haven't rehearsed that scene?" Ronald was surprised, but it could also explain why the two of them were so emotional. If they had rehearsed too much, the emotional reaction would have weakened a lot.

"This is also a coincidence. There was a mistake in the props that controlled the mechanism at that time. I turned the switch too large, causing the blood on Nakadai Tatsuya to surge too fast. Everyone thought I really cut Nakadai-kun. Record of the scene They all screamed, you can still hear it when you look at the film.

I was a little worried too, so you can see my nervousness in that shot. I was focused on making sure I didn’t make any mistakes, otherwise I would have wasted Nakadai Tatsuya-kun’s kindness. "

"The car is here, Mifune-kun." Hisao Kurosawa reminded him from the side.

Ronald helped open the car door and sent Mifune to the car.

He now understood a little bit why Kubrick called him to ask about how to shoot some scenes.

The final duel scene in "Tsubaki Sanjuro" was very straightforward, but Ronald always had a question. Generally speaking, there are two ways to shoot fighting scenes. One is like the lightsaber duel in "Star Wars". The two actors swing the weapons in one place so that no one is in danger of being injured.

The second method is the method of Western movies. Both sides swung each other's weapons. If the protagonist does not have a weapon, hit him on the torso, feed the move to the protagonist and ask him to block it with his hands. The advantage of this method is that it is not as rigid as the first method and is more realistic.

However, both methods have a disadvantage, that is, they must be fed. If the camera focuses on both sides of the duel and takes a close-up, you will find that the actors themselves do not feel the danger of a real fight, so it is difficult to perform the momentary emotions between victory and defeat.

In order to capture the moment of fear, rejoicing, and unwillingness to wait for the victory or defeat of a duel, Akira Kurosawa actually threatened the actors to use a real sword if the scene failed. He really did everything for the sake of making a movie. However, the props that accidentally opened the water pipes also happened to trigger real reactions from both parties.

If you want to have this kind of quality in the final duel scene of "Long Wei Boy", you must design it well and try to make the two protagonists succeed at once. If you shoot the second scene, it will not be as intense as the first time. reacted naturally.

"But this shouldn't be something I should consider anymore." Ronald shook his head. His occupational disease recurred again. He was always thinking about how to design the scene. Avelson filmed the boxing scene in "Rocky", but it was quite popular. If he has good reviews, he must have his own method.

"Ronald, John, I think Mifune is a really great choice to play Mr. Miyagi. The samurai from Akira Kurosawa's movies will teach Danny karate. American audiences will be happy to death." Winter Laub returned to the living room and took Ronald and Avelson to discuss.

Weintraub insisted on playing Toshiro Mifune, but both Ronald and Avelson saw that Mifune was too old to act in action scenes. Miyagi has many scenes of teaching Danny. It would be too cruel to let an old man in his sixties practice karate.

"Of course Mifune is the spokesperson for the Japanese samurai image, but I'm afraid his action scenes won't produce satisfactory results." Avelson immediately objected, "Moreover, he speaks in a slow, dramatic tone, which is incompatible with movies after the New Wave. The line requirements are out of touch.”

"Huh?" Ronald glanced at Avelson and thought, "Didn't you educate me not to directly convince the producers of your opinions, but to let them think they are your own?"

"That's Toshiro Mifune. As long as he appears on the screen, it will make the audience happy." Weintraub is obviously also a Japanese movie fan. He is very fond of sword and sword films directed by Akira Kurosawa and other directors.

"Not many Americans have actually seen the films directed by Akira Kurosawa. I think most viewers heard Akira Kurosawa's name through the mouths of Coppola, Lucas, and Spielberg. "Avelson expressed his point of view again.

"What do you think? Ronald." Weintraub didn't disagree with Avelson's statement, but the temptation of Toshiro Mifune to appear in the first movie he produced was too great, and it was tantamount to his own dream. come true.

"I'm thinking about a question, Mr. Weintraub. In our script, Mr. Miyagi's identity is arranged as a Japanese-American. He is usually an apartment repairman. He likes potted plants. His shortcoming is English grammar. It sucks.

But he usually has no problem communicating with people. "Ronald asked the question from another angle.

"You're right, but what next?" Weintraub asked.

"So Miyagi is actually a person who cannot speak English with correct grammar. Isn't he a little different from a person who cannot speak English at all?"

"That's right." Weintraub thought for a while and felt that it made sense. "In that case, you made me think of another question. Mr. Mifune doesn't speak English, so when he performs his lines, will he Do people think he is a real Japanese, rather than a Japanese whose English grammar is completely wrong but can communicate with ordinary people?"

"What we need in our movie is a master who can explain the moves and impart life experience to Danny. If such a person cannot speak English, he will not be able to convince the audience."

Weintraub seemed to have discovered a blind spot and turned to Ronald and Avelson.

"You know what? Mr. Weintraub, I think you are right. Master Miyagi should be more like Master Yoda in Star Wars. Inversion does not prevent him from imparting the wisdom of Skywalker." Rona De echoed.

"Very good, John, we will still arrange an audition for Mr. Mifune tomorrow, but according to my opinion, he has little chance." Weintraub drank the remaining coffee with a little regret.

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