Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"The winner of the Best Actress Award at the 2nd Tokyo Film Festival was Rachel Ward. Her performance in 'The Good Wife' reflected the complexity of human nature in a world that no one paid attention to before World War II. In the Corner, the emotional release of a suppressed wife is superbly performed."

In a large cinema owned by the Tokyo Rapid Railway Group in Shibuya District, the awards ceremony for the second Tokyo International Film Festival has reached its final stages.

"Next, we invite the famous Hollywood director, Ronald Sand, to present the award to the Australian star Ms. Rachel Ward who came here specially."

Following the host's introduction, Ronald walked quickly, jumped onto the theme stage, took the crystal trophy from the hands of the hostess, and awarded it to Rachel Ward, who was already waiting aside.

"Congratulations!" Ronald looked at Ward, she was still so charming. Today, Ward wore an early Australian-style red and yellow dress, a red coral necklace, and her hair was carefully styled into a mess. She was still very charming.

"Ronald", Ward smiled at Ronald. Ronald smiled back, and the two of them remained silent. Ronald stepped aside and gave the stage to Ward.

"First of all, I would like to thank the Tokyo International Film Festival jury for their recognition of me. I would also like to thank my husband, Barry, who also plays my husband in the movie..."

"Wow wow..." After a burst of applause from the audience, the live band began to play music.

Ronald and Ward walked off the side together. The applause from the audience was very polite. The organizer of the festival, Tokyo Express Railway, is a railway and real estate company that owns multiple cinemas in Shibuya.

They are trying to copy the Oscar awards process in every aspect, and on the surface it looks quite similar. The only shortcoming is that the stars in the audience are not dazzling enough. Except for a few celebrities who came to compete, there are no well-known actors.

"Barry," Ronald handed Rachel Ward, who was holding his arm, to her husband, and sat in the front row.

"It's my turn." Diane was wearing a black suit and her hair was combed upward, making her look a little more mature than she really is. Ronald kissed her on the cheek and stood aside to watch her walk up to the podium.

“The winner of the Best Actor at the 2nd Tokyo Film Festival is Zhang Yimou from China, ‘Old Well’, and we invited the famous Hollywood star Diane Lane to present the award.

Since Mr. Yimou could not come, the award was received by Wu Tianming, the director of "Lao Jing".

"

The audience in Tokyo was still very polite, and even though the actor didn't come, they still gave him as much warm applause as Ward.

Diane held the crystal trophy and awarded it to Director Wu.

"Thank you, thank you to the judges of the film festival. The friendship between China and Japan has a long history. The two countries are neighbors separated by a narrow strip of water..."

Director Wu's acceptance speech was in Chinese, and there was an interpreter from the organizing committee who translated it on the spot.

Ronald saw that Director Wu was really unprepared and said the diplomat's lines.

"Hua Hua Hua..."

Ronald felt that the audience's applause was even more intense this time. Maybe they were not being polite, but Diane was really popular here.

After giving her acceptance speech, Diane came down with Director Wu on her arm. When they walked to the side aisle, she switched to hold Ronald's arm.

"It's a very good movie. I like it very much. Congratulations." Ronald crossed paths with Director Wu and looked at him taking out a handkerchief to wipe his sweat. He couldn't help but feel happy. "You will prepare a thank-you speech for the Best Film Award later." Yet?"

Director Wu looked at Ronald, who spoke Chinese, as if he was stunned by the news he revealed in advance.

"Can you speak Chinese?"

It turned out that he was surprised that an authentic Western foreigner could speak Chinese.

"Know a thing or two," Ronald stretched out his other hand to shake his hand, "Ronald, Ronald Lee."

"Oh, you are the director Luo who helped Xujiahui's Director Huang win the Los Angeles Women's Film Special Award."

Director Wu suddenly realized that the domestic film industry was obsessed with that award. The authentic Hollywood award might be just a little bit worse than the Oscar? Who doesn’t know Director Ji Yuluo who helped Director Huang win the award? I heard that he is very interested in Chinese culture.

Sure enough, seeing is worth hearing a hundred times. Being able to speak Chinese is not easy, but being able to use idioms correctly is really amazing.

"Will you travel to China? Your movie is very popular in China now, and everyone wants to see you."

"Huh?" Ronald didn't expect Director Wu to actually say that his movie was a hit in China.

"What movie? I don't have any plans to release my new movie in China?"

"Break dancing, break dancing, now even in my Xiying Studio, there are many young people learning to dance, let alone big cities."

"Ha..." Ronald realized that his "Break Dance" was also one of the ten films exported to China by the American Film Association this year, and he sold it to them at a very cheap price.

"Is it really popular? I would like to take a look..."

"If you have time, you might as well come to my Xiying Studio. I'm the director there now. We also have the Terracotta Warriors and Horses to see. Your commander-in-chief also came to see them."

"Okay, I'll go there when I have time... Where did you choose your leading actor? From his performance, he looks like a real stonemason."

"Hahaha, in fact, his job is to be a photographer. I hired him from Guangzhou Film Studio. But he is from the northwest. I really couldn't find a leading actor, so I found him. His understanding of movies is already in place. , so there is no problem with the performance. But, I don’t know if I will be liked by the judges this time... This is the best actor in our first overseas film festival after liberation."

Director Wu is actually the director of Xiying Film Studio. He was transferred from director to director. He is already very eloquent. There was a language barrier in Tokyo, and there was no one to communicate with without a translator, which made me frustrated. I happened to see that Ronald could speak Chinese, and he was excited after winning the award, so he started talking non-stop, wanting to have a good exchange with "Hollywood Director Luo".

Ronald held back his laughter, looked at the anxious translator next to him, and pointed to the stage.

“The winner of the Best Film Award at the 2nd Tokyo Film Festival is Huaguo, ‘Old Well’!”

"Director Luo, I really want to hear that they are talking about Laojing? Did I hear it wrong?"

Ronald quickly pushed Director Wu, who was already at a loss, and motioned to the translator next to him for help.

Director Wu handed the crystal trophy for Best Actor to Ronald, then turned around and went up to receive the award.

"Congratulations, Director Wu. This award was strongly recommended by Ronald Lee, and I was able to confirm it against all the opinions."

The award was presented by the chairman of the jury, Gregory Peck. He saw Director Wu chatting with Ronald below for a long time and knew that the two hit it off.

"Thank you, thank you." Director Wu did not expect to receive such love from two Hollywood celebrities in Tokyo. Then, at Parker's reminder, he took the golden dragon-shaped trophy and walked to the microphone to deliver his speech for the second time.

"Well... I'm very happy that this movie can be liked by Japanese audiences. This is the result of our collective creation, not my alone. My leading actor is also my photographer. In order to play the role of Wang Quan, He carried the stones on the mountain for a month and made the stone trough at the beginning of the movie by himself.

Chinese films are also influenced by Japanese films, and our hero is a loyal fan of Mr. Kurosawa..."

Director Wu is worthy of being both a leader and a director. He improvised an acceptance speech without any preparation.

…

After the awards night, Ronald and Diane came to the closing dinner of the film festival together. Director Wu is being surrounded by many Japanese filmmakers. They like the desolate and vast scenery in the northwest very much.

Gregory Peck stood with Ronald, who was most appreciative of the different styles of films that reflected third world countries.

"If I have the chance, I would also like to make this kind of movie."

"If you go, I'm afraid it will be empty."

"Huh, a movie like this might be really realistic for Hollywood." A British accent said without warning.

Ronald tilted his head and looked at the man who said the strange words. Alan Parker, the "famous" director back then, was the British director who tricked himself into not getting a screenwriter's signature. He specializes in filming the dark side of society and has always disdained movies with bright endings.

"Ronald, look at you, you are also a movie director now."

Ronald smiled, not as familiar with him. He criticized mainstream commercial movies, but in the end, Hollywood gave him money to make movies. Instead of vulgar movies, this person had no chance to make those dark "realistic" movies.

"When you were on the crew, you were still a young man who changed the script..." Alan Parker still wanted to rely on his old skills to regain some face in front of Ronald, so that the Japanese producers would trust him more. His last film failed at the box office and it wasn't easy to find investors.

"I wish you good luck in finding investors in Hollywood who can also appreciate your taste." Ronald smiled, ignored him, and took Diane away to greet Rachel Ward and her husband Barry Brown. .

"Rachel, Barry", Ronald greeted the two with a hug.

"How is your movie doing at the box office? When will it be shown in America?"

"We only got a box office of just over 100,000 US dollars in Australia, and no distributor in America was willing to take over. We won the Best Actress this time, and we hope to promote overseas distribution."

Rachel Ward didn't hide it from Ronald. She heard that Ronald also had a publishing business and wanted to see if he was interested.

"Why? I think this is a very interesting movie?" Ronald was a little surprised by this box office figure.

The heroine played by Rachel Ward and the love triangle between the two brothers, even if the story background is relatively unpopular, it is not so tragic.

Ward and her husband Barry looked at each other and smiled, "Our image in Australia is so different from the one in the movie."

Ronald chatted with them for a while and figured out why.

The Wards are similar to Paul Newman and his wife Woodward in Australia. They are a loving celebrity couple. But in the movie, Barry Brown plays an incomprehensible husband who doesn't have much in common with his delicate wife, so much so that the wife ends up cheating on her husband's brother.

This kind of movie plot, in which the character image is inconsistent with the star image, makes the audience uncomfortable. Although there are some sexy scenes and a strong storyline, and Ward's performance is also very good, the audience just doesn't buy it.

However, no one in America knows them...

Ronald couldn't help but evaluate the prospects of this movie in America. Rachel Ward is a beautiful woman, and she and her husband worked hard on the show, well...

"I'll let my colleagues see what they can do..."

After declining the organizer's invitation, Ronald and Diane left the dinner first. They had to go to the dinner hosted by Kitagawa and Kadokawa Haruki.

"The second Tokyo International Film Festival concluded successfully, and films from China were a great success... Diane Lane presented the award to Yimou for Best Actor"

"Oh... this film festival is very popular." Kadokawa Haruki, the young owner of Kadokawa Bookstore, looked at the news on TV and couldn't help but sigh, it's all on the news.

"Diane-san is also very beautiful, showing off the style of a Hollywood star." Johnny Kitagawa's sister Mary began to flatter Ronald, praising how American his female companion Diane was. Style.

"Hahaha..." Ronald was quite happy. Diane seemed to be very popular in Japan. She filmed a few more advertisements this year. The audience here gave her a high evaluation. She was like a Hollywood superstar. treatment.

"Would you consider acting in one or two Japanese movies?" Ronald turned around and asked Diane. Although her stardom was not going well, maybe she could make a movie in Japan.

"Huh, I'm very popular in Japan. My 'Streets of Rage' is still showing in cinemas."

Ronald made an expression of disbelief and turned to look at Johnny Kitagawa. This movie was made three years ago. Is it still being played now?

"There are indeed long-term theaters that are still showing it," Johnny Kitagawa nodded. "Now the opening and ending songs of that movie are often requested by radio stations, and the MV is often broadcast on TV stations."

Ronald looked back at Diane, and he was reminded of the scene where she was wearing Armani costumes and looking very charming. It was at that time that Ronald discovered her feminine charm.

Perhaps seeing the tenderness in Ronald's eyes, Diane smiled and touched Ronald's hand and squeezed it hard.

"Our new trainees are also learning the Japanese version of this episode." Mary Kitagawa began to show off her abilities in a hurry. "Shall I ask them to perform for Ronald-Sang? Can you give them some instructions? The best."

"Ha, let them give it a try." Ronald held Diane's hand and remembered that the last time he came here, Kitagawa also found a group to sing. This time it is also good to see how good the next generation of Johnny is. .

Mary Kitagawa gave instructions to her assistant, and after a while, six teenage boys filed into the banquet hall.

Facing Ronald, one by one stood up and introduced themselves.

"My name is Masahiro Nakai, I am 15 years old."

"My name is Kimura Takuya, I am 14 years old."

"My name is Katori Shingo, I'm 11 years old."

…

"They are so young..." Diane looked at the boys.

"This is Johnny's strategy. They have been trained since childhood and have to sign long-term contracts." Ronald explained to Diane that this is not Hollywood. Kitagawa only casts a net for these boy bands. Each trainee is trained from a young age.

These six boys are very lucky and have already formed a group. After a year or two, they will be ready to debut.

"Thank you. Next, we bring you a song, 'Tonight is the Meaning of Being Young'"

The six boys started singing a Japanese translation of the "Streets of Rage" ending theme song along with the backing tape.

They were all a little nervous. The two oldest boys, Masahiro Nakai and Takuya Kimura, both sang out of tune, but the youngest, Shingo Katori, sang decently.

"Okay..." Diane liked them very much. Her own singing skills were average, but she just thought they were cute when they tried to sing.

"Ronald-san, do you think these guys are still good at it?" Mary Kitagawa's habit of showing off her handsome boys happened again.

Johnny Kitagawa stopped his impatient sister and asked the group of six to push him down first, "Ronald-san, which one do you think has the most potential?"

"Are you acting? The one with long hair, his name is Kimura?..." Ronald did not hesitate to name the person he thought had the most potential in acting, the second oldest Kimura Takuya. "

"Oh, how do you say this?"

Johnny Kitagawa was also quite surprised. He didn't expect Ronald to be able to name the candidate in one sentence. Haruki Kadokawa over there also looked at Ronald with great interest and listened to what he said.

"He was very focused and had imagination in his eyes. Among the six of us, he was the only one looking at us in the audience. He seemed to be facing a concert of tens of thousands of people, and his eyes seemed to be looking at tens of thousands of viewers."

"Hahaha, that's it, Ronald-san, I understand." Johnny Kitagawa was very happy and toasted to Ronald.

"Our investment is settled, now let's trouble Ronald Sang."

"Sorry to trouble you too."

Ronald was drinking sake with them. Two Japanese film festival bosses decided to invest in Hollywood movies with Japanese plots or Japanese movie stars, and Ronald and the others were also welcome to film in Japan.

As a liaison in Hollywood, Ronald's recommendations and projects will receive priority investment from the two here. And relax the conditions for release in Japan. This time, "Dirty Dancing" will be screened in all theaters owned by the two companies.

"Cheers!" Bannon, who had been watching the wind, finally waited for the moment when the cooperation was finalized, and happily toasted with them in celebration.

"Speaking of concerts with thousands of people, MJ's new album concert in Tokyo was very popular."

Kitagawa changed the topic and talked about MJ's concert arrangements in Japan.

"Diane and I will go to watch it live, and MJ gave us front-row tickets."

"Ronald San and the King of Pop also interacted?" Kitagawa liked MJ's concert style very much and always wanted to introduce his live performance into the Japanese music scene.

"We are very good friends." Ronald smiled lightly. These Japanese people admired MJ's music and live performances very much.

"As expected of Ronald-san. If anything happens in Japan in the future, we can help." Kitagawa and Kadokawa, the two big bosses, exchanged glances with each other. As one of the few pro-rice factions in the Japanese business community, there is such a person in America. He works with a great director who has a wide range of friends and is also a key figure who can break into the American cultural scene.

"Easy to say, easy to talk to." Ronald tried his best to maintain a mysterious and expert attitude. In fact, he himself did not know as many people in Hollywood as they thought.

"By the way, do many people in Japan watch video tapes now?" Ronald thought of Diane's "Streets of Rage". Since it is still so popular, maybe he can make a fortune by releasing the video tape.

"There are still quite a few. The format war between Sony and JVC is still going on, but when it comes to movies, everyone still likes the VHS format. Their video tapes can fit a movie in one box."

"If Ronald San has the rights to a movie that Japanese audiences like, he might as well release a video tape here. Both manufacturers will welcome it. Their video recorder sales must also be driven by good movies."

"Well, I'll go back and discuss with them and choose some movies that Japanese audiences like to try."

Please remember the first domain name of this book: . :