Exploiting Hollywood 1980

John Hughes was a Chicago native. His first job was as a copywriter at the Leo Burnett advertising agency, and later he also wrote humorous articles for the "National Lampoon" magazine.

This part-time job gave him the opportunity to switch to the film industry, where he published an article in a magazine that was adapted into the 1978 hit comedy "Lampoon's Animal House".

His two subsequent sequel scripts, "National Lampoon's Alumni" and "National Lampoon's Vacation", were both successful, especially the recently released "Vacation", which has a strong box office momentum. This led to Hughes being spotted by Ned Tanin, who signed him to a directing contract.

This time the script was called "Sixteen Candles" and it was another script by John Hughes. After Tanin rejected it, it took him less than a week to write it out.

It tells the story of Samantha Baker, a girl from a middle-class family in the suburbs of Chicago. On her sixteenth birthday, she was forgotten by everyone in her family.

Her parents and grandparents are busy with Samantha's sister's wedding, and she is also ignored by her crush, Jack Ryan, the rich man in school.

With the help of her male friend Ted Farmer, Samantha finally fell in love with her crush Jack Ryan after her sister's wedding. Ryan lit sixteen candles for Samantha at home. .

After casually flipping through the script, Ronald had a rough impression of the story. Perhaps related to Hughes's origin, the story of this script also takes place in the suburbs of Chicago, where wealthy white middle-class people live.

All the characters in it are white, except for one high school exchange student from Asia, Korea, whose name is also very bizarre, called Long Duk Dong.

This kind of vulgar name for Asians made Ronald a little unhappy, but considering that Hughes wrote for the vulgar comedy magazine "National Lampoon", it was understandable.

"Farmer, and baker? Why didn't they end up together?" Ronald saw the last names of the two protagonists, Samantha and Ted, and felt that Hughes did it on purpose, but The two opposite-sex friends ended up not being together, but Samantha still went to celebrate her birthday with her crush.

"I had this idea..." John Hughes adjusted his glasses. Ronald was a connoisseur and could see what he had set up at a glance.

Samantha and Ted both come from ordinary families, while Jack Ryan comes from a wealthy family, and his father owns a Rolls-Royce.

"But American audiences like beautiful women paired with heroes, don't they?" Ned Tanin interjected from the side.

"It makes sense." Ronald put down the script and continued to visit.

"Ronald, actually this is the script I want to make, but Mr. Tanin wants me to make this commercial film first." John Hughes saw Ronald and agreed with his point of view, Samantha and Ted were together , is the ending that the story should have, so I took out another script and asked Ronald to read it.

"The breakfast club?" Ronald flipped through the script and glanced at the outline.

"Actually, I really like your 'fast-paced Richmond High.'" John Hughes adjusted his big black-rimmed glasses again. I really liked the idea of ​​focusing on different types of high school teenagers, so I set the protagonist to Five typical high school characters.

Athletes, princesses, criminals, smart people, and deep wells. Arrange for them to stay in school on the same day for probation, breaking down the social barriers of high school students and allowing them to get to know each other. "

"Oh, my God. John, you have to make this movie first. If it's a hit, The Breakfast Club is a very simple thing, and the investment is not high." Ned Tanning's temper rose again, Came over and pulled Ronald aside.

"I invite you here mainly because I want to hear your opinion. Which heroine in 'Sixteen Candles' do you think is the best choice?"

The audition photos of the two heroines were placed on the table. One was Ally Sheedy, the heroine of "War Games" whom Ronald had seen on the movie screen. The other one is a red-haired girl who looks younger.

"It looks like producer Ned Tanning and director John Hughes were having a falling out, too," Ronald thought to himself. In today's big studios, producers always point out things like scripts and casting to show off their abilities and vision.

However, they rarely give advice on technical tasks such as photography and recording. Because the photographer can generously say, "How about you come?"

As for the screenwriting and casting, anyone who has watched the movie can comment on it.

"Why not choose her? Ellie is beautiful and has been tested by the market." Tanin likes Ellie Xidi, the heroine in War Game.

As for Molly Ringwald, whom director John Hughes liked, he said in a nonchalant tone, "No, I just saw the casting photos of Molly Ringwald and that's why I wrote this script for her. .”

After "The Dragon King", Ronald saw this kind of controversy over casting again. Instead of giving his own preference, he asked Hughes what he thought.

“Because there’s something about Molly that makes the audience empathize with her.”

Ronald held up the photos of the two actresses and looked at them for a long time, "Why not let them all come to audition? This way we can intuitively see their acting skills and temperament, which one we choose, and then recall it, and other It would be nice for the actors to see the chemistry together.”

"That's it." Tanin slowly gained confidence in his vision and agreed to Ronald's suggestion, "But you have to come when the time comes."

"Yes, you have to come too, Ronald." John Hughes was also fighting for Ronald. He saw that Ronald had some influence over Tanin. I also know that Director Ronald's "fast pace" and the essence of a youth film are well understood, so I will definitely agree with my judgment. Inviting him to attend the audition will increase my persuasiveness.

During the audition the next day, Ronald came to Universal's office as scheduled. Two actresses, Ally Sheedy and Molly Ringwald, came in and filmed an audition.

After watching the two perform, Ronald was convinced that John Hughes was right. Molly Ringwald was really the perfect choice because she was a teenager herself.

Ali Xidi was born in 1962 and is twenty-one years old this year. If she plays the role of Samantha, she must use "methods" to get into the role.

As for Molly Ringwald, she was born in 1968 and is just fifteen years old this year. Exactly the same age as the character Samantha in the play.

One of the very difficult things about playing teenagers is that most people, when they become adults, will forget the stupid things they did in high school, some of the stupid ideas, and the emotions they had for some inexplicable things. .

If you want to relive these emotions and thoughts, you'll have to go back to high school and go undercover for a while, as "Fast Richmond High" writer Cameron Crowe did.

People in their twenties are often surprised by the rapid changes in their thoughts when they look at diaries from previous years. Sometimes they can no longer remember why they are written like this in their diaries.

And a thirty-year-old person, looking at his diary when he was twenty-years-old, will easily remember his thoughts and feelings at that time.

That’s the hard part about teenage roles. And generally speaking, teenage actors are in their rebellious stage and are very difficult to train. But Molly Ringwald is a spiritual girl, and she has a mature side beyond ordinary people.

Molly is in high school, and she is very familiar with all aspects of high school life, which things embarrass her, and which boys make her excited.

"I think it's clear that Ally Sheedy is good, but Molly Ringwald is Samantha," Ronald told Ned Tanin about his thoughts.

Tanin also nodded frequently. He didn't know whether he really agreed with Ronald's idea, or because he had a step down, so he agreed with John Hughes's opinion, which was more decent.

"Sorry, I have to go to the bathroom." Ronald stood up and walked out of the audition room, leaving Tanin and Hughes a chance to chat and communicate alone.

He walked to the corridor outside the door, and the scenes of his battle of wits and courage with Tom Mount flooded into his memory. I have made some achievements along the way.

"Excuse me, is this the audition location for 'Sixteen Candles'?" A voice interrupted Ronald's memory.

Ronald looked up and saw an Asian face with hair parted in the middle, which was a little funny.

"Yes, are you here for an interview?"

"Yes, I'm here to audition for the role of Long Da Diao. My name is Gerd Watanabe. You can call me Gerd." The Japanese actor stretched out his hand and shook hands with Ronald.

"Hello, Ged, they are still auditioning for the heroine. You may have to wait a moment." Ronald heard that Mr. Watanabe spoke and his pronunciation sounded like someone who was born and raised in America. It is speculated that he is a second or even third generation immigrant.

"Okay, I just need to prepare."

Watanabe took out a page, which was exactly what he had prepared for the audition.

"A very good dinner. Appetizers, served in interesting round pies." Watanabe began speaking in a ridiculous accent.

"Eh?" Ronald was surprised to hear that Watanabe's accent had changed. From a boy who had received an American education since childhood, to the dull accent of a Korean speaking English. He also spoke very slowly, as if he was speaking in English first. Think about what you want to say in Korean and translate it into English word for word.

Ronald was greatly surprised. This acting skill was extraordinary.

"How did you do that? This accent is exactly the same as the Korean tourists I saw."

"I learned it from the Korean exchange students in school." Watanabe has completely switched to the accent of the Korean exchange student Long Da Diao.

"I like your performance, especially your accent." Later, John Hughes, who auditioned, was very satisfied with Gerd Watanabe's audition performance and made an agreement with him on the spot to make Watanabe available.

"Actually, he is..." Ronald found it interesting that Watanabe spoke with that Korean accent throughout the audition. John Hughes might have thought he was a Korean actor.

"Thank you, I will be available. Thank you for your support, thank you Director Hughes, and thank you Ronald..."

While Watanabe thanked everyone in a Korean accent, he winked at Ronald and asked him not to tell anyone that he could speak fluent American English.

Ronald understood and winked, saying that he would not reveal his plan to John Hughes.

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