Exploiting Hollywood 1980

Spielberg summoned Zemeckis, Ronald, and the crew's executives to review the dailies. This was the first time he had seen footage of "Back to the Future."

Stoltz's performance on screen feels heavy. Halfway through the movie, Spielberg took off his glasses, wiped them with the hem of his cotton T-shirt, and said, "Stop."

Zemeckis put on his glasses to see what Spielberg would decide next.

"Robert, Ronald is right. You will lose most of the box office this way."

Zemeckis was a little frustrated, so he whispered into Spielberg's ear, and the two quietly discussed changing the leading actor.

Spielberg was not convinced by Zemeckis, and he made the decision on the spot to replace Eric Stoltz with Michael J. Fox.

"I couldn't get Michael J. Fox, his agent and 'Family Ties' producer Gary Goldberg to put on a pair of pants and not let me speak to Fox directly," Zemeckis said in frustration.

"Family Ties," a TV series in which Foxx plays eldest son Alex Keaton, unexpectedly became an audience favorite. Producer Goldberg doesn't want Foxx to be trying to be in the same boat, and has already said, No one from the Back to the Future team was allowed to have contact with him.

"Find him," Spielberg said calmly, "as soon as possible."

Ronald saw Zemeckis's grimace and went to comfort him, "I know John Candy. He and Fox are both Canadians and can send messages through him..."

"Thank you...", Zemeckis said gratefully.

"I've seen the script you Tokandi brought. I heard that Universal is making a big science fiction production. Is it you who will direct it?" Michael J. Fox called Ronald the next day.

"It wasn't me, it was Robert Zemeckis. Listen, they were originally going to ask you to be the lead, but Mr. Goldberg stopped him. He said the script was great, and after you read it, you're going to blame him for not letting you. You acted it, so I might as well not let you see it."

"Hey, I think he's right. I really wanted to play the Marty McFly character. I had a deal with Goldberg to only do the movie during the summer break from filming on 'Family Ties.' This year. I've already used up my quota by doing 'The Wolf', but I really want to do 'Back to the Future.'"

"Then I will contact Mr. Spielberg and Zemeckis and ask them to have a showdown with Goldberg." Ronald confirmed Fox's willingness to star.

I told the crew.

"This is robbery!" Goldberg, who is Jewish, was furious in front of several cast members who came to negotiate Fox's schedule.

"Come on, Gary. We can share time at Fox," Spielberg bargained.

"How to share? He's the biggest hit in 'Family Ties' and he's doing five daytime roles here a week."

"We could shoot his scenes at night and only shoot daytime scenes two days a week," Zemeckis said of the way they came up with to share Fox's schedule.

"You cannot extend the filming every night to prevent him from coming back the next day. If there is less than one hour of overtime every day for 'family ties', it must be given priority."

"make a deal."

Both parties met each other's time requirements. Most of Marty's scenes in "Back to the Future" were indoors and at night anyway. As long as Zemeckis went home and re-planned the shooting, it would be fine to accommodate Fox's schedule.

There was a tacit understanding between the two parties that Foxx's rest was not mentioned. Anyway, he is an actor, and he asked to star in "Back to the Future", so they just let him work two shifts.

…

"Um...can you add an apple box?"

After the two parties agreed on the schedule, Ronald came to watch Fox and Helen Slater audition again.

There is a full four-inch height difference between Michael J. Fox and Helen. When they stand together, Helen is half a head taller than him. For close-ups, their heights need to be adjusted so that Fox can barely fit together while standing on an apple box.

"Marty and Jennifer have a lot of long-range sports shots." Zemeckis reminded from the side that since Stoltz has been replaced by Fox, his girlfriend Jennifer Parker will also have to change from Helen to Claudia Wells.

Ronald slapped himself, wasn't he asking for trouble? Whether Zemeckis's movie is good or not has nothing to do with him, and he lost Helen's role again. I have to find another way.

"Ronald", Spielberg saw this and motioned for him to come out and chat with him.

"I owe you this time, thank you for reminding me, otherwise Amberlin will lose more money." Spielberg patted Ronald on the shoulder.

"The quality of Zemeckis's pictures is not bad, and it's not like he's losing money."

"Don't say that. We all know that if it weren't for you and Zemeckis continued filming, and I saw the samples, I would still ask for a replacement."

Spielberg pointed out that "Back to the Future" is a high-concept movie. It does not rely on storyline to win, but relies on the imagination of time and space travel and the various prophets brought to the protagonist Marty by the time and space chaos. First, attract the audience.

"If a high-concept science fiction film features deep acting skills that can only be found in feature films, it will be a disaster. You may have saved my Amber Lin and the distributor Universal millions, and also saved Zemeckis's reputation. A disaster arises.”

"But he may not thank me," Ronald thought to himself.

"I know Helen Slater is your woman. This incident happened because of our mistake. I will recommend her the heroine of another movie. This is not included in the favor I owe you. She likes it. What kind of role?”

Ronald was overjoyed, "Well, she likes roles that require acting skills. She previously studied with a group of London Shakespeare actors in London, but her own acting skills have yet to be tested."

"I understand, can Helen sing?"

"Yes, her father has been training her. She is a good jazz pianist and jazz singer."

"Neil Simon, a famous screenwriter who lives both on Broadway and in Hollywood, is preparing for his new film. The heroine is a singer. I will call him to recommend Helen."

The two walked back, and everyone in the crew started calling the actors to recall them to announce their decision to change the male lead.

As for Eric Stoltz, he was put aside and his agent would be notified when he was done. When something like this happens, the damage to Stoltz's reputation as an actor is inevitable. But for the sake of better box office performance, this kind of thing is always considered last.

"Hey, I'm from the crew of 'Back to the Future'. I have something important to talk to Leigh Thompson." Ronald was also assigned a place to call, and he called Thompson's agent.

"Well, it's not convenient for Ms. Thompson to answer the phone." The agent didn't know what he was thinking.

"The crew has an important decision to make. If you don't contact her, you will be responsible for the consequences." Ronald decided to scare the agent who was confused about the situation.

"Hehehe..." Helen was listening to Ronald talking on the phone and smiled with her hands on Ronald's shoulders. She learned that she had a new opportunity to audition for the leading role, and she was not so disappointed about losing a role.

"Hey, who's looking for me? I'm Leigh." After a while, Leigh Thompson called anxiously. She took advantage of the crew's vacation and sneaked to Germany to meet her lover. When she heard about the crew's important decision, she was frightened to death and quickly called to find out.

"It's me, Ronald. I don't care where you are, just go back to Los Angeles. The crew has a major decision."

"Is it about me?" Lea Thompson was even more frightened when she heard it was Ronald. Could it be that her acting skills were not good enough and she was going to be fired from the crew?

"Don't think blindly. Since I've informed you, it has nothing to do with you. Come back quickly."

"Hey honey, I just came back. Where are you going?" His boyfriend Dennis Quaid hugged Leigh Thompson from behind. "Don't go. I'm already very anxious here."

Thompson, who was uncomfortable with Quaid's backing, slapped him away and said, "Stop it, honey, there's a big problem with the crew. I'm afraid I'll be fired if I'm late." Leigh Thompson vaguely guessed that it was about the male lead.

She immediately put the clothes haphazardly into the suitcase, then turned around and left to go to the airport to buy a ticket.

As he was about to go out, he saw his boyfriend with a calm expression on his face. He came back and lay in his arms and kissed him, "Don't be like this. I really have something urgent to do. I'll make it up to you when you come back. Bye."

"Oh, all of them are like this." Dennis Quaid lay on the bed frustrated, reached into his bag and took out a small bag of "good things." "Ah sneeze... ah..."

The next day, Ronald took Helen to the crew of "The Slugger's Wife", where Neil Simon was the screenwriter. Neil Simon is a rare amphibious screenwriter, and his script was He has won the Tony Award, the highest honor for drama, and was nominated for the Academy Award for film and the Emmy Award for Best Screenplay for television.

This happens to be Helen Slater's favorite kind of work that requires acting skills. She studied drama in New York some time ago, and she might be appreciated by Neil Simon.

"Ronald, why are you here?"

Outside the audition room, Ronald unexpectedly saw Tom Cruise.

"I accompanied a friend to audition for the leading role."

"It can't be such a coincidence, right? I'm also accompanying Rebecca to the audition." Tom was stunned.

"No way?" Ronald looked at Cruise. Is his girlfriend Rebecca De Mornay also Helen's competitor?

"Well, let them compete, we are just here to accompany them. You know that at times like this, actresses always need a man by their side to feel at ease."

"Ah, that's right." Ronald thought this was a coincidence.

"Remember, you just called me by name outside the audition room, otherwise I wouldn't have gotten the first role and I wouldn't have met Paula."

"That's also your own talent and hard work, Tom. I remember that when you wanted to play the role of 'The Naughty Boy' so realistically, you deliberately knocked out all your dentures."

Now Cruise has already found the best dentist, and his teeth are very white.

"Thanks to my good luck, I met you and found a good agent like Paula." Tom Cruise said with emotion that you must be lucky in this industry. "She has contributed to my career." Careers have been carefully planned. Actors do not necessarily need to find roles that can demonstrate their acting skills. The overall effect of the movie is what actors should consider."

"Huh?" Ronald heard the complaints inside, so he mouthed inside.

"Rebecca has her own considerations. She comes from an acting family, so she has a natural reaction to the performance of roles since she was a child. I have talked to her several times and asked her to sign a contract with CAA, but every time we would be disappointed because of this. When we quarrel, she always thinks I'm too wordy."

"Hey, you are not alone." Ronald patted him. The actress had many ideas and big ideas, which was really troublesome.

The two chatted for a while, and Helen Slater came out first.

"Goodbye then, I'll go chat with Helen first." Ronald winked at Tom.

Tom understood and waited for his girlfriend Rebecca to come out.

The two actresses can be said to be direct competitors. If they get together for dinner or something, everyone will be uncomfortable.

"I think Mr. Simon might cast me," Helen was still chirping about the audition situation during the meal. "He asked me about my performance on Off-Broadway and talked a lot about the role of 'Baseball Player's Wife.'" Inner grasp.”

Seeing Helen so happy, Ronald felt relieved.

"I think that Helen is my biggest competition." Rebecca De Mornay was also complaining to Tom Cruise in another restaurant.

"Don't be like this. You have a lot of opportunities. After we played 'The Kid Is Crazy', you should also plan your career. You don't just focus on acting to get ahead in Hollywood."

"Okay, I get it." Rebecca looked bored. Tom was good at everything, but he just liked to sell his own philosophy of success, and he would never stop talking about it.

…

"Have you heard? The company's leading actor in 'Back to the Future' has been replaced." Universal producer Ned Tanning was chatting with his subordinates.

"I heard about it. My friend works as an assistant producer on that crew. I heard that it was Ronald Lee's suggestion and Spielberg approved it. His vision is as good as ever."

"How are things going with our filming in Chicago? All John Hughes would say is that it's great and everything is going well. I'm always a little worried." Ned Tanning Since hearing the news about the replacement of the starring role in "Back to the Future", I started to worry about the filming of "The Breakfast Club" in Chicago. I couldn't just trust these directors' own words.

"How about we also send someone to take a look?" The subordinate acted.

"It's useless." Ned Tanin took a sip of coffee. "Directing is a very professional job. A layman can't understand the quality of the filming at all. If it were so simple, how could there be such a thing as 'Heaven's Gate'?" A catastrophe?"

"How about we ask Ronald to make a trip? He is an expert and has a good relationship with Hughes. This way we can get accurate information without arousing the resentment of Director John Hughes."

"That's fine, but how can I invite Ronald? I'm not like Spielberg, who was very benevolent to him back then."

"I heard from my friend that it turned out that the heroine was recommended by Ronald to join the crew. This time the role was changed, and the actress named Helen Slater lost the role because of the matching height. If you can provide a heroine Chance?"

"A heroine?" Ned Tanin pondered whether it would be worthwhile to release a heroine for this matter.

"Do you remember that project to adapt a black singer's single? It was in Gubel's hands. He was still worried about the director and the lead actor."

"It's yours," Tanin smiled and dialed Gubel's number.

The two chatted for a while, and Ned Tanin called Ronald again.

"Ronald, it's me, Ned."

"Hello, Mr. Taning." Ronald was watching the TV broadcast in the apartment. The Chinese women's volleyball team defeated the Japanese team 3-0 and successfully entered the knockout round.

"Well, I heard that Helen Slater was your person, and now I have a movie project, which is to play a modern version of Joan of Arc. The producer is Peter Guber, and he remembers you and said that you I was very helpful on the set of 'Endless Love'.

I remembered that Helen was playing Supergirl. This was a good opportunity. Ingrid Bergman won critical acclaim for her role as Joan of Arc. "

"Huh?", Ronald thought to himself, how come he has so much influence, and are all the characters chasing him now?

"That's right, Gubel is still looking for a director for that movie. If you are interested, you can complete the movie with Helen."

Ronald was just about to refuse when something moved in his heart. The "Baseball Player's Wife" hasn't finalized the casting yet, so asking Helen to audition might not be a bad thing.

"Okay, but whether I accept it or not, I have to read the script before deciding."

"Of course, Helen's audition has nothing to do with whether you become a director or not."

"Well, then I'd like to thank you very much, Mr. Tanin."

"Call me Ned," Tanin said with a smile on the other end of the phone. "I also have something to trouble you with. Can you spare two days and help me go to Chicago?"

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