Exploiting Hollywood 1980

Corey Yuen was confirmed as the director of "Fighting World", and he stayed in Los Angeles to audition actors intensively.

Ronald only attended the audition for the male lead. The male lead was set to be an officer in the overseas legion of the country. After hearing that his master's beloved son participated in a martial arts competition and was beaten to death on the spot by the villain played by Yang Si, he left the legion. Escape and go to Xiangjiang to participate in the new martial arts conference to avenge the master.

"Who do you think is more suitable?" Ronald still respected the director's opinion on this matter.

"From an action point of view, Jean Claude is more suitable. His karate is more about light leg skills. There are few people who can do that action of turning around and kicking in the air as beautifully as he does.

There is a lot of Bruce Lee-style martial arts philosophy in the script. The male protagonist has to blindfold himself to learn the art of listening to the wind, and then use his kicks according to the opponent's boxing style. Jean Claude is better at kicking in this standing position.

Lundgren's karate is more practical, and his movements are not as elegant as those of Jean Claude. "

Ronald nodded. Corey Yuen had just come to Hollywood, and he wasn't sure which actor he wanted to be promoted to. Therefore, the answer is only analyzed from a technical perspective, so that even if Ronald's intention is Lundgren, there is still room for revision.

But Ronald was of the same mind. It’s not just about whether the movements are good or not, but also about the acting skills. Neither of these two are really trained actors, and their expression of emotions is very problematic, so they can only make do by shooting close-ups of their facial expressions.

Judging from the results of the audition, Lundgren was not able to complete simple expressions of joy, anger, sorrow, and joy in front of the camera. His facial muscles are relatively stiff, and he makes a nervous expression when facing the camera.

Jean-Claude Van Damme's expression is also stiff, but at least it's relaxed enough that the audience won't be able to tell whether he's crying or laughing.

corey yuen decided on the male protagonist and talked a lot with Ronald about the background temperament in his mind. He hand-painted many movie scenes, all of which are traditional Chinese-style wooden structures. This kind of pure Chinese style with cornices and brackets is rarely seen in China.

Ronald liked this sketch very much when he saw it. When the audience saw it, they felt a sense of mystery of an ancient eastern country. This is a preemptive rendering of Yang Si, a master of Chinese martial arts, which makes people feel that they are practicing in such a place. He must be a peerless master.

"Is there any studio in Xiangjiang with ready-made buildings?" Ronald tapped his fingers on the table. He also worked from the bottom of the crew. Wood is very expensive, and wooden buildings are even more expensive.

If someone wants to tamper with the accounts, just ask the truck to haul the wood a few more times.

"No, the Shaw Brothers in Xiangjiang also use temporary sets for filming this kind of scenes. But don't worry, I have found a good real-life location."

corey yuen took a map and showed it to Ronald with the real-life photos he took before coming, "Look, this place is between Kowloon Bay and Xin'an County on the opposite side. There are many vacant houses here, and the interior and exterior are very suitable for shooting. .”

"Kowloon Walled City?" Ronald looked at the traditional Chinese characters on the map and tried to read them.

It turned out that the actual location he was interested in was the former headquarters of the Kowloon Inspection Department in Qingyuan. This is the most densely populated place in the world, more than nine times that of Mong Kok, where Ronald visited. Because it is a two-way zone, as long as you make an agreement with the local residents' assembly, the cost of filming is very cheap.

"After the handover was confirmed, the two parties negotiated to gradually demolish the Walled City. This year, the first batch of residents who agreed to the demolition have already received special subsidies to live in new houses with running water in Kwun Tong, so we can find many places.

Brother Long has a relationship with the local residents' assembly leaders, and they agreed to go to the ancient buildings left over from the Qing Dynasty, the Lung Jin Volunteer School, and the Kowloon Inspection Department Yamen for filming. " corey yuen pointed to two antique buildings and said to Ronald.

"It seems that you are well prepared. I am very satisfied." Ronald looked at the photos Corey Yuen took before he came and felt that he had found the right person. Longjin Yixue was the tribute courtyard of the imperial examination in the former Qing Dynasty. It has a bluestone floor and a wooden corridor structure, making it suitable as an interior setting for a martial arts conference. The Inspection Department Yamen is suitable for outdoor shooting. "

…

"Tuk tuk..."

After talking a lot about the preparations for the movie, there was a knock on the office door.

"Come in," Ronald replied, and the person who opened the door was Rachel Talalay, the production director of "Hairspray." She followed the entire hairspray filming process. Ronald was very satisfied with her and promoted her to be the producer of "Fighting World".

"This is Rachel. She will go to Xiangjiang with the company's Secretary Chen to serve as a producer." Ronald introduced Rachel Talalay to Corey Yuen. The two got to know each other and then started arranging a shooting schedule.

Secretary Chen was taking notes nearby. She spoke Mandarin and Cantonese, and this time she was serving as a translator and daily paperwork.

"Hey, why are you still here?"

After the meeting, Ronald pushed the door open and found that Jean Claude Van Dam was still in the company. "We will notify your agent of the results of the audition. You are of no use here."

Ronald knew he really wanted this role. Unlike Lundgren, Jean-Claude has not yet played a major role in a serious movie. After his audition, he squatted in daydreams and waited for several hours, wanting to know the results as soon as possible.

"You can practice your flying kicks..." corey yuen didn't understand the rules of Hollywood, so he let it slip when he saw Jean Claude when he came out of the office.

"In Hollywood, the audition results are notified through the agent." Rachel Talalay immediately gave Corey Yuen extra lessons.

"Okay, you can go back and wait for the official notification. There is nothing going on here." Ronald grinned. This is the cultural difference between film practitioners in the two places. There are rules for everything in Hollywood, and in Xiangjiang, all it takes is a word from the big brother to settle the matter.

"I'm still your bodyguard now. I'll be your driver later. Where are you going?" Jean Claude knew that the more times like this, the more he had to show that he was closer to the boss. He hadn't officially received the contract yet. anything could happen.

"Okay, I have a driver, you don't need to drive. You drive for Director Corey Yuen, and we can chat more on the way."

Ronald asked Rachel Talalay to get into his car, and the two cars drove to the editing room rented by Daydream. The editing of "Hairspray" has been completed, and today he is going to see how it will look when finished.

The car soon arrived at Warner Bros.'s editing room. When Ronald got out of the car, he saw Jean Claude and Corey Yuen chatting happily.

"Ronald, I gave Jean Claude a Chinese name. It will be convenient for filming there. His name is Jean-Claude Van Damme."

"Yes, the name is very poetic." Ronald smiled. In addition to being released in America, the film is also expected to be sold to Asian and European distributors. There will be a Chinese subtitled version by then, and he will be given a Chinese name. It’s a nice little publicity trick. Foreign actors in Hong Kong usually do this.

Several people came to the small internal screening room, and Ronald met the director of "Hairspray", John Waters. He is still so energetic and never leaves his hand with a cigarette.

"John, I'm waiting to see your finished film."

"Ronald, I promise it will be great." John Waters hugged Ronald and then ran to the back himself to let the projectionist start.

"Hahahahaha..." Ronald watched with great interest. John Waters was really good.

This movie can basically be seen as a knock-off version of "Dirty Dancing." The story itself and plot progression are not similar to "Dirty Dancing". But the rhythm and tone of the whole story are almost the same as "Dirty Dancing".

But the audience generally cannot tell the imitation, because the heroine of "Hairspray" is not a beautiful girl, but a fat, average-looking girl.

The tone of the story is not a romantic drama (although there is a love story line in it), but an old comedy farce.

In addition to the good performances of several protagonists, several supporting characters are also very brilliant and steal the spotlight. Including a hilariously shrunken patriarch played by Cher’s ex-husband Sonny Bono. and drag queen actor divine, who plays the heroine's mother who runs a laundry.

The most interesting thing is that Divine and Ricky Lake, who plays the heroine Tracy, are both fat and have similar face shapes. They also walk and talk in a rhythm that makes them look like a family. They don’t know John Water either. How did Director Si train him?

"Hey? What is this?" Ronald saw the middle and suddenly discovered a very disgusting plot. At school, Tracy was teased by a classmate who put a cockroach in her hair, eventually making a mess.

"Ugh..." Secretary Chen, who was watching over there, almost vomited.

Ronald glanced at John Waters, who was looking at him with amusement.

Ronald remembered that the director had previously shot ultra-low-budget films. Maybe it's because the budget is too low, and often you can only shoot some disgusting plots, so that the audience can see something that can't be seen in normal movies, which can also attract some curiosity lovers.

After another ten minutes, there was another very disgusting scene in the movie. That drag queen actor divine vomited a lot on the ground. John Waters also gives disgusting close-ups.

"Ugh..." Secretary Chen really couldn't bear it now and hurried outside to vomit.

But after she finished vomiting, Secretary Chen ran in quickly. She thought the plot was quite interesting. She wanted to see if Tracy won the TV dance competition championship in the end.

…

"How was it? Ronald, can it be released like this?" John Waters asked proudly after the movie was over. He also noticed Secretary Chen's reaction. He was in a hurry to come back even after going to the bathroom. This was a good sign that the movie was recognized by the audience.

"It's good, better than expected." Ronald recognized the quality of the movie. Being able to produce a film of this quality with a budget of more than two million yuan shows that the director's quality is outstanding, and he is definitely not greedy for money.

But... "I said, what's the matter with you, John? Why do you insert these disgusting clips in the movie? We are shooting a romantic song and dance movie, not a horror movie."

"Isn't this a great response?" John Waters still doesn't understand. From past experience, he feels that it can make the audience vomit like this, and it can also become a kind of novel word-of-mouth publicity.

"I said, come on. Are you making too many movies worth more than 100,000 yuan? This is a theater movie, and it will be released in hundreds of theaters across the country. Cut it out, including cockroaches and vomiting. Cut them all for me. Lose."

Ronald was dumbfounded by the director. The film Daydream has been scheduled to be released in February next year during the off-season box office season, and a marketing budget has also been prepared. This wasn't one of those pathetic John Waters movies that played in some shabby late-night theaters in New York and Los Angeles. This was a regular release that made it into the box office charts.

It would be a big joke if news broke that viewers vomited after watching a romantic musical.

"I haven't had any problems with this before?" John Waters used to have scenes of vomiting in every movie, as well as scenes of cockroaches, rats, and other disgusting animals. He really didn't think that such cost-effective word-of-mouth publicity was enough. what is the problem.

"I'm really impressed by you. Give me all these shots." Ronald made a gesture like scissors cutting the film. "You can cut it today, send it to Paramount's lab after it's finished, and find an audience for a test screening around Christmas."

"Okay, okay... I'll just listen to you." John Waters was a little unhappy when he heard that these "beloved" scenes were going to be cut.

Ronald went over and patted Waters on the shoulder, "Don't be upset. Your film techniques are skillful. I predict that this movie will make money. If you modify it according to my opinions, you won't have to worry about it after the movie is released." I'm working part-time, and there are plenty of people to invest in you, so you can make whatever disgusting pictures you want."

"Hahaha..." Everyone laughed.

"Okay, okay... I will change it according to your opinion. Anyway, your movie has a high box office... No one knows what the audience wants to see as well as you." After John Waters laughed, he also figured out, which Hollywood producer People won’t suggest modifications to the finished film?

Ronald is already very kind for cutting only two scenes. Besides, he has a good intuition about movies, so it’s better to listen to him for this kind of modification.

"I'll go to the editing room right away to revise it, and it's expected to be sent to the lab tomorrow." Waters took out a new Marlboro, lit it with an old cigarette butt, took a few puffs, and immediately entered The editing room is no longer available.

Ronald smiled and everyone got up and left. The movie looked promising to be a hit.

"Hey, you

"Hey, why don't you leave?" Ronald looked at Jean-Claude Van Damme dilly-dallying. Just now he was working as a bodyguard and driver for himself, and now his eyes are set on John Waters.

"Hey, I want to learn editing from Director Waters, so that if a shot is cut in the middle, how to connect the original front and rear films."

"Oh? Why are you addicted to learning editing?" Ronald glanced at Jean-Claude Van Damme in surprise. Seeing his sincere face, he talked about his understanding of those two shots. It seemed that he had really learned a lot from Walter Murch and had a good grasp of the basic principles of editing.

"I like editing very much. I originally thought that the actor's performance was the most important thing. After studying with Mr. Murch for a while, I discovered that the performance on the screen is actually created by editing."

"Okay, you learn from Mr. Waters." Ronald asked Corey Yuen to get into his car and asked Bud to take him back to the hotel first.

Ronald entered the editing room by himself and watched as Jean-Claude Van Damme skillfully went through the editing log and helped find the shot number. He took out the edited film, opened it skillfully, hooked up the editing machine, and then pressed the button to move to the part that Ronald specified to be cut.

"Here is about 20 seconds of footage. What if the front is cut and the back is the shot of Tracy screaming when he is frightened by the cockroach?"

Jean-Claude Van Damme entered the state, much like an editing assistant, doing all the tedious work, and then waiting for John Waters to make a decision.

"This part of the shot is continuous. If it were to be cut, it would have to be cut out. However, what was transferred later was the shot of Tracy returning home. Her mother put down the iron to comfort her. I thought about what to do. There is no extra material here... "John Waters also scratched his head. How to let the audience pick up the originally coherent plot after it was cut, he still had to use his brains.

"Let's do a jump cut. Find this frame. Tracy's big head is at about the same position as the film. He was bullied directly from school and was transferred home to be comforted by his mother." Ronald gave some advice.

"You heard it, just cut it like this. This is the master's touch..." John Waters knew it would work as soon as he heard it.

"Okay..." Jean-Claude Van Damme neatly cut off the unnecessary parts, then took out the patented editing tape made by Daydream, pasted it on, and slapped it twice on the editing machine. The front and back sides were firmly taped. superior.

"Huh...it seems to be even better than the original effect." Jean-Claude Van Damme put the film on the machine again, looked at it through the monitor, and then looked at Ronald. Is his editing level so high?