Exploiting Hollywood 1980

Stallone accepted another phone interview with Melvin Griffin over the weekend. He pointed out that Ronald was not imitating Star Wars. It was a space opera, and Ronald was a story that took place on the earth. .

It was also a fight, and he also defeated the defending champion. The "Rocky" series of movies is the originator of this movie type.

"Okay, thank you. Rocky, played by Sly, is the eternal benchmark of our American spirit..."

"His second round of attacks came, not directly attacking your counterattack, but once again hinting at some structural similarities between your movie and Rocky." Public relations consultant Eva distributed a new version to everyone. Published newspaper with an interview with Stallone.

Ronald's counterattack put Stallone in the wrong position. If he didn't continue to fight back, he would become a smart clown. People are obviously imitating Star Wars, but you feel good about yourself, right?

"Very good, it's all within our expectations," Niceta nodded.

"Ronald, your phone," Richard handed over the receiver.

"Hello?"

"Why are you having sex with Stallone?" It was Diane who called. She was worried about Ronnie and called to inquire about the situation.

"It's okay, we have a bit of 'history'. I'm ready. This time I just want to hype up my movie." Ronald replied pretending to be relaxed.

"Well, you always have great ideas and can get things done. You have to do it properly. Brother Ronnie."

"You are very popular. Which girl's phone number is this?" Weintraub on the other side teased Ronald.

"Not many," Ronald said haha.

Letterman's talk show aired on time. Everyone in Hollywood knew that there was a young director who had a direct conversation with Stallone. Although the tone of the two people was relatively restrained, the nature of the matter shocked people in the industry.

For a popular movie star like Stallone, few people dare to argue with him remotely on TV.

The first person to call could be said to be the direct cause of this incident, Rachel Ward. The Australian beauty was about to return to China. She heard that Ronald and Stallone had a verbal exchange and postponed her flight. She came over to ask about Ronald's situation.

My ex-girlfriend Michelle Pfeiffer, whom I had not contacted for a long time, also called me with concern.

Ronald hadn't felt this kind of care for a long time, so he replied one by one. I just responded to Stallone, nothing serious.

Only Brooke didn't have an agent and was temporarily out of Hollywood's Vanity Fair. She didn't understand the impact of this incident on Ronald, so she didn't call to comfort him.

Not only female friends, but male friends also called me one after another. Nicolas Cage, Kane Costner, and Judge Reinhold, who I have worked with, all called me.

Cameron and Gale, as well as Cameron Crowe, two Israeli brothers, and their teacher in New York, Martin Scorsese, also came to inquire about the situation.

Roger Corman was particularly concerned. He was the one who promoted Stallone's debut and asked Ronald if he needed to mediate.

Ronald refused outright, but thanked him for his kindness. Stallone is no longer the supporting character in the New World movies holding a submachine gun and shooting. He is a popular superstar now, but he doesn't necessarily miss his old relationship.

Weintraub smiled, "Well, I have no right to make fun of you. But Dick Cavett agreed. He is willing to come back from retirement. If he comes back, the first exclusive interview will be with George Lucas. He is very Happy."

Weintraub used to be a big producer in the music industry, and several of the following superstars had been interviewed by Dick Cavett, so he convinced Dick immediately as soon as he made a move.

"What about the preset questions?" Paula Wagner, one of Ronald's agents, was very concerned about whether Cavett would ask the preset key questions.

"Don't worry, he and I are old acquaintances, and Dick is very experienced. His style is to make the interviewee relax and then talk about in-depth questions. Lucas promised to cooperate, no problem."

Weintraub joined the group after seeing David Letterman's show over the weekend. He worked very hard when he came up and expressed his willingness to add more resources to make this matter bigger.

The reason is of course the box office success. With the release of Schwarzenegger's new film "Conan the Destroyer" over the weekend, the box office of "The Kid" bucked the trend and grew to over 6 million.

There is no more marketing investment, and there is no special change in word-of-mouth. But this Sleeping Beauty movie suddenly became popular among parents and children in America.

The third weekend's box office has already exceeded the previous two weeks. There is no doubt that Weintraub concluded that the reason was that Ronald's back-and-forth war of words with Stallone in the media made more people aware of the movie "The Kid."

"But Dick Cavett no longer has a broadcast platform. To acquire a special broadcast channel resource in a short period of time is no simpler than finding a heavyweight talk host with a job." Niceta raised a practical question.

Weintraub shrugged, saying he had no network connections and could do nothing.

"Instead of doing this, it is better to go to Melvin Griffin," public relations consultant Eva proposed her own plan. "That's where Stallone launched his first attack. Griffin will be happy to participate in the second round. This It will help improve his poor ratings on cable channels."

Stallone's counterattack made Ronald overjoyed. If he could respond with a backhand punch, it would be a technical knockout on the spot. They tried to settle the matter at once.

"Paula, can you guarantee that he will ask the right questions?" Niceta looked at this colleague and lover, wondering how much influence her friend Eva had on Melvin Griffin.

Paula Wagner shook her head invisibly.

It seems that there is no 100% guarantee that he will ask preset questions when interviewing Lucas.

Unlike Dick Cavett, whom Weintraub introduced, Griffin now has a cable talk show. This gives Ronald a completely different control and influence over him here. If you don't ask powerful questions on the show, it will be like a punch in the face, all the resources invested will be wasted, and Stallone may seize the flaw and fight back.

"Ronald, I can help you clarify." A blond man rushed into CAA's office and shouted to Ronald, "I can be on a TV show. No one knows your character better than me."

"Tom, what are you doing here?" Paula Wagner scolded Tom Cruise who broke into the office.

"I heard that Stallone wanted to attack Ronald's creative ability. I know him very well. He is a sincere friend. I will never forget that he gave me the opportunity to audition for the first time. It was also he who led the way. I went to the dentist to get my front teeth filled."

"Don't get involved in this matter. We will take care of it. If you speak rashly, it will disrupt our plans."

Tom Cruise was pulled aside and given a lecture by Paula Wagner.

Cruise was still very obedient to this agent who was like a sister. He promised not to be interviewed privately to excuse Ronald, and then came over and hugged Ronald.

"If you need anything, I mean, anything, I will help you." As he spoke, he clenched his fists in the air.

"It doesn't matter, we are discussing how to deal with it. Paula and Niceta are both very experienced people." Ronald thanked Cruise, pointed to Rebecca De Mornay in the corner, and said to him, "Go quickly, your girlfriend is still waiting for you."

"If you need anything, ok." Cruise tilted his head to confirm with Ronald again, then took Demonny's hand and left.

"Lock the door," Niceta ordered Richard after Cruise walked out.

"Now we need a choice. Time is running out. We can only choose one person. If the news leaks out, I'm afraid Stallone will be prepared. So I vote for Dick Cavett."

"Then can you handle the TV station's recent broadcast resources?" Eva asked, not to be outdone.

"This is a multiple-choice question. We cannot put our chips on a person who has no control..."

"Ring ring ring ring..." Richard picked up the phone again, "Hello... Ronald, the person looking for you is..."

He made a "Helen" mouth shape.

"Ronnie, I saw Stallone attacking you on TV. What happened?" On the other end of the phone was Helen Slater from New York.

"Don't worry, I'm already dealing with it, it's just a little history, I can handle it." Ronald didn't expect Helen's call, and it sounded like she had fully recovered.

"Don't lie to me. I asked Gerald and he said that you are now suppressed by Stallone's fame. If you don't find a suitable big star to endorse you, you will be passive."

"It's okay, thank you and Gerald for your concern...I'm fine. If necessary, I will ask Gerald for help."

"Gerald? Gerald Slater's daughter Helen?" Niceta and Richard confirmed.

"Okay, thank you for calling." Ronald pressed the phone.

"Okay, let's continue, don't answer the next call." Ronald apologized to everyone.

"No, there is no need to open it." Niceta made a pause gesture and whispered to Ronald, "I will call Gerald Slater, PBS is Dick's old club. Even though they fired him not long ago, there's no way they wouldn't be interested in airing a special episode of Dick's interview with Lucas."

"but……"

"Nothing but, you need his help now, Ronald." Niceta's eyes flashed, "I don't think you will affect your future because of such a trivial matter, right? I will make the call to Gerald. .”

"But Gerald's price won't be cheap." Ronald relaxed his hand and put down the phone receiver.

Niceta took it and dialed the front desk, "Put me through the Vice President of PBS, Mr. Gerald Slater."

"Well, well, no problem, Ronald will definitely help with this." Niceta smiled and said to everyone, "Everyone, Dick's broadcast platform has agreed to do a special program on PBS over the weekend. One hour of programming.”

Ronald looked at Niceta, who was making her own decisions, and thought, what price did you sell me for?

"Not long ago, in a small town near San Francisco, a child lived a comfortable life..."

By Thursday night, PBS was airing a special, an interview with George Lucas, that opened with a parody of the "Star Wars" heading into the distance, followed by Dick Cavett's appearance in Lucas's Skywalker pasture.

"Is this ranch your paradise? It's like every little boy's childhood dream."

"Haha, yes, many things here are very expensive. I put all my dreams here." George Lucas took the camera crew to visit his paradise. In addition to everything about Star Wars, the famous Industrial Light and Magic special effects company also has its offices here.

"When did you start entering the film industry? We know that you actually directed a movie before 'American Grace Painting'."

"Ah, yes, I had just arrived at Francis Coppola's Peep Show Company at that time. This was the first movie Peep Show produced..."

After chatting about Star Wars for a while, Dick Cavett asked the agreed question at the right time, "Coppola, you, Spielberg, De Palma, you are considered to be the director representative of New Hollywood, what do you think?" , directors in the 1980s, are you still continuing your original innovations?"

"I think so." Lucas stroked his beard. "In the new era, new director styles will also appear. Of course, Steven, Francis, and others like me and I are not old yet. We are still filming. .The new generation of movies also has an innovative spirit.

I recently watched "The Dragon King", which broke through the previous martial arts movies and created a new narrative mode. "

"Ronald Lee? But there's a debate now, is he modeled after your 'Star Wars' or Stallone's 'Rocky'?"

"I know Ronald, and I don't believe he has any imitative behavior. There are only so many narrative patterns in movies. If you have watched the classic old movies in the past, all new Hollywood movies will, to some extent, be based on the classics. Get nutrients from it."

“So there’s no imitation of Star Wars, and there’s no imitation of Rocky?”

"I don't know where these rumors come from? Ronald is the screenwriter of this movie. I know him very well. He started out as a screenwriter before. If you look at his previous screenwriting records, you will know He also wrote a script for Stallone.

Film creation is a very difficult thing. The audience enjoys the feast that is finally on the screen, and there is no need to care about those rumors. In the end, it is the movie, not these rumors, that remains in history. "

"Huh..." This was the final word. Ronald let out a sigh of relief. Lucas was very helpful and pointed out that he had also been a screenwriter for a movie directed by Stallone. If he still persists, doubts will fly to his head.

Why would a director question his own screenwriter? Could it be that Stallone, whose directing ability was criticized in "So Far", made random changes to Ronald Lee's script, and then became jealous of the underachiever Ronald?

"Damn! You incompetent trash, rubbish!" Stallone sat in his mansion and cursed at his agent.

He grabbed the wine glass and threw it at the TV showing the Lucas interview.

"What do I do now?" Stallone asked loudly. As a top director, Lucas stood up for Ronald. Now it's my turn to make a fool of myself. Those interview records that were originally released have now become pistols pointed at him.

Ronald was not only admired by Lucas, but also revealed that he once worked as a screenwriter for himself. Those who accused him of imitating "Rocky" are now rounded up?

Lucas has more fans, much more than Rocky. Now that the public takes Lucas' words as the truth, isn't that what Stallone himself is left with is just a clown?

"I, I'll call Mr. Meyer." The agent hurriedly ran out. He didn't want to stay in front of Stallone any longer, lest he be fired on the spot like the PR manager who encouraged him to continue attacking Ronald.

"Sly", the tall bodyguard behind Stallone spoke up, "Ronald's agent is also in CAA. In Japan, where I have lived for more than ten years, when encountering this kind of situation, you have to ask the biggest one to arbitrate. ”

"Arbitration?" Stallone repeated, then opened the door and shouted to his agent, "Come back here, I want to talk to Michael Ovitz."

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