Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"I, Bruce Willis, take you, Demi Moore, to be my lawfully wedded wife, to have and hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death doth We are separated...

I, Demi Moore..."

“Amen, now the groom can kiss the bride.

In a small church in Los Angeles, Bruce Willis, who was still filming "Die Hard", and Demi Moore, who was already two months pregnant, officially became husband and wife.

Ronald was below, witnessing the wedding as a relative and friend of the bride. Demi Moore had a difficult relationship with her biological mother, whose biological father abandoned them when she was just a few months old. Only stepfather Gaines treated little Demi as his own, but unfortunately he has passed away long ago.

As one of the few friends of Demi Moore, Ronald came to attend the wedding, which can be regarded as adding an important figure to Demi's family and friends.

"I have to be honest with you, if it weren't for the filming of the movie, I would fly to Europe with Demi right now for our honeymoon." Bruce Willis came over to say hello to Ronald. Filming on his "Die Hard" continues, with action scenes shot at a slower pace than other genre films.

"The bride's wedding, the bride's honeymoon, hahaha" Ronald stepped forward and hugged the two newlyweds.

"You have to see the dailies we shot. Let me tell you, this movie is really exciting. Every time I watch the dailies, I get so excited that I can't believe I shot it." Bruce Willis said to himself in Happy with the heroics in the movie, he had a feeling this movie would be different.

"Honey..." Demi Moore, wearing a white wedding dress, came up and hugged her newlywed husband.

"You have to drive..." Ronald laughed loudly and sent the two of them out of the church. There was a convertible car parked outside. The license plate on the back of the car read "Just Married" and it was towed with a rope. Several Coke cans were waiting for the newlyweds to come over.

This is an American wedding custom. They believe that honeymoons are very precious. Newlyweds should not waste time on gatherings with relatives and friends, but should start their sweet days immediately.

Although Willis still had unfinished filming, the crew allocated a weekend for him to spend a honeymoon with his wife.

"Well, it was a nice wedding. When my husband and I got married, it wasn't as exciting." Also standing by the bride's guests were Sigourney Weaver and her good friend Jamie Lee Co. Tice, was exchanging wedding experiences with Ronald's personal attorney, Lindsay Dole.

Sigourney Weaver came to Los Angeles specifically to meet Ronald.

Ronald wanted to check on her readiness. Jamie Lee Curtis was vacationing in Los Angeles with her husband Guest, and happened to run into old friend Sigourney Weaver. There happened to be a wedding, and they all came as guests of the bride's party to earn face for Demi Moore.

They are all Hollywood actresses, and they know that the larger the guest card that appears at this kind of wedding, the more important the bride's status is. Although the newlyweds may not care, relatives and friends of both parties like to gossip about it.

"How was filming in Toronto? Is it over?" Ronald asked Jamie Lee Curtis' husband, British actor Christopher Guest. This man is the eldest son of the Baron Guest family with a serious title. He likes acting by nature, so he plays some supporting roles in Hollywood and often writes his own scripts.

"My part has ended. This director is very good. I feel a bit like filming with Bob Reiner." Guest is a good friend of Robert Reiner whom Ronald knows. He and Curtis are Bob Reiner. We were introduced by Na.

Last year, I finished filming the box office success "The Princess Bride" directed by my friend Renner, but I didn't have much filming this year. Fortunately, Guest was also satisfied with supporting roles, and by chance he was spotted by Kathryn Bigelow, who starred in Helen Slater's "Sticky Fingers."

"We are discussing the wedding, Ronald, where do you want to hold the wedding in the future? Is it also a church?" Weaver, Curtis, and the lawyer lady came over to greet Ronald.

"I haven't thought about it..." Ronald had not planned a place to get married. "I thought maybe it would be in the church that my aunt often goes to, the one on Staten Island." Ronald looked at Lindsay Dole, seeing her smiling, seemed to be getting married to her partner in the law firm.

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"Staten Island? If you get married there, I'm afraid the entertainment reporters will go crazy and run to the country." Several actresses burst into laughter.

"That's right, let them squeeze into the ferry..."

"How is your German?" At the wedding party, everyone was looking for some drinks. Ronald asked about Sigourney Weaver's homework.

"Hast du ih, wer i?" Sigourney Weaver opened her mouth and said, "Did you tell them who I am?"

"Naturlich bist du sigourney weaver (of course, you are Sigourney Weaver)," Lindsay Dole, who was educated at Harvard, immediately replied to Weaver in German.

"What are you talking about?" Ronald didn't understand any German, so he had to ask Weaver.

"The line, the line in the line. Catherine was going to Europe for skiing, but Tess didn't book a suite for her, so she personally called the hotel in Europe to ask if they knew who she was and why they didn't give her a big room. live alone."

"Hmm..." Ronald thought about Weaver's pronunciation for a moment. Although he didn't understand it, he could tell from her pronunciation that the aristocratic flavor was not that strong. Here, Ronald hopes that the audience can detect from the pronunciation, stress, and intonation that Catherine, played by Weaver, is a rich lady born with a silver spoon in her mouth. He speaks with a smoothness unique to the upper class.

"Where did you learn German?" Ronald asked Weaver.

"My father, he is very good at French and German. We have also spoken in German at home since we were young."

Ronald nodded. Sigourney Weaver's German sounded like a childish skill. However, "I still have to find a German coach for you. I need someone who is smooth, smart, and social in the upper class." language."

"Okay, you can help me find an accent coach." Sigourney Weaver was actually very happy to see that Ronald was so attentive to such small accents. Actors are not afraid of the director telling them how to act, but they are afraid of the director making trouble.

"Do you have to pay attention to these small details when making a movie? The audience can't see it, right?" The lawyer lady was very confused.

"Dear, this is a special request that only great directors have. They pay great attention to every supporting role, every prop, the actor's expression, movement, and accent. Although not all audiences will notice, there is always some understanding Audiences with the background of the story will be moved by this creative attitude.”

"Yes, Lindsay. That's how making movies is. Movies are a dream machine. You definitely don't want your boyfriend who is a partner lawyer in a New York law firm to speak with a Texas accent..." Ronald Two explanations.

This is actually a detail that Ronald has only recently begun to pay attention to. In his earliest films, he didn't have the energy or budget to pull these things off. From the time he started making large-scale productions worth 20 million, Ronald was able to mobilize resources and try to do his best.

In this "Working Girl", Ronald was determined not to let the most basic scenery and props have any flaws that could be seen at a glance.

He rented a large office in the World Trade Center and prepared for on-site filming. After the stock market crash, many offices in the World Trade Center Building lost their tenants, so Ronald was able to rent them for short-term filming at cheap prices.

Sigourney Weaver plays Catherine, who lives in a mansion. Art director Polly Platt found an old two-story mansion built of stone before World War I on Morton Street in Manhattan. It serves as Catherine's residence in the movie. The landlord was a low-key wealthy man who agreed to lend the house to the crew.

In order to bring out the wealthy background of Catherine's family, Polly Platt also bought a large crystal chandelier and replaced it with the homeowner. On the stairs from the first floor to the second floor, Ronald also lent the Andy Warhol paintings that record company owner David Geffen had sold to him, and selected the group that was not based on Monroe. The crew hangs at the corner of the corridor.

In addition, the protagonist Tess's house is an old wooden house built in the dock area in the northern part of Staten Island. It makes a creaking sound when walking.

All in all, with a budget of more than 20 million, and possibly the most powerful art director in Hollywood now, Polly Platt, Ronald is enjoying the treatment of a big director for the first time.

The best team brings peace of mind to the director. Many times professionals such as art directors, photography directors, hairstylists, makeup artists, etc. are all top candidates in the industry. The advice they gave was already excellent. Ronald didn't have to lead an inexperienced team and do everything by himself like before.

"Thank you, director. I'm going to reshoot this time. Thank you very much for letting me go." Sigourney Weaver made an appointment with a German accent coach, made an appointment on the phone for a practice time, and turned over to see Ronald specifically. grateful.

In "Gorillas in the Mist," which she shot last year, some of the actual shots shot in Kenya had problems and required reshoots. It was a movie about gorilla researcher Diane Fossey. Director Michael Apted personally called and asked Ronald to let Weaver go to Kenya for another week of filming.

Ronald meets with Sigourney Weaver and her agent. This movie is one that Sigourney Weaver values ​​​​very much, and she hopes to win awards with this movie. Her agent repeatedly promised that the reshoots would not be extended and that she would return to New York on time to participate in the filming of Working Girl.

Ronald asked his lawyer to work with Fox's legal department to sign an agreement with many clauses and buy enough insurance before agreeing to let him go. He also specifically added that Sigourney Weaver should not be too tan. Otherwise, the skin tone of an expert who is camping in the wilds of Kenya to study gorillas and a pampered Wall Street professional woman would feel completely inconsistent.

…

After leaving the wedding, Ronald went to the Fox Tower again. The filming of "Die Hard" is still in progress, and these two days were shot without Bruce Willis.

Ronald found producer Joel Silver. Behind the monitor, he watched the director direct Alan Rickman and a bunch of supporting actors starring in the filming of the kidnapper scene.

"Are they Germans? Where did you find a group of gangsters who look so 'German'?" Ronald didn't look at the black and white flashing screen, but stood directly behind the camera and looked at the actors opposite. .

The actors who play gangsters are all blond and tall. It looks very much like the image of the "German bad guy" in the minds of American audiences. This group of people are all muscular men. Eighty-nine of the twelve gangsters are over six feet tall.

"No, in fact many of them are Europeans. Their face shapes are a little different from ours. The audience can tell the difference, but they can't tell which country they are from. So only three or four are of German descent, and the others are from the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Some Nordic actors," Joel Silver explained. It’s hard to find so many Germans in Hollywood at once, and there aren’t many Germans in this field. But everyone else has a blond Germanic image, which the audience will recognize.

They stood together, holding walkie-talkies, talking to the gang leader played by Alan Rickman on the other side. Alan Rickman is not tall, but his acting skills are really good. He still feels like a university professor when he is acting. The image of the bandit leader, who is a gentle and scumbag, is played very well.

Ronald listened to the live recording, and Alan Rickman's line skills were very good. The audience felt that he was a well-educated bad guy who went on an evil path. The tone of voice is extremely smooth, but not too Shakespearean to make the audience laugh. This kind of mastery of scale is undoubtedly the result of many years of hard work on the theater stage.

"It's really great, it's really great, Ronald. The villain you introduced is simply the biggest surprise." After the director stopped, Joel Silver began to praise Ronald. Rickman's casting decisions.

"After this one, let's move on." Director John McTiernan called the next one.

"Ir spielen? (Where are you going to play later?)" a blond gangster said into the walkie-talkie.

"Hier gibt es gutes eis (The ice cream provided by the crew is really good)" Hans, played by Alan Rickman, replied in German to the camera.

"This is really good, really good." Ronald felt that Alan Rickman spoke German in the style he imagined Sigourney Weaver speaking in "Working Girl." He was obviously highly educated, spoke eloquently, had a smooth tone, and had an aristocratic accent.

The director stopped the filming, and changed the angle of the next scene and turned on the lights to shoot the front and back. The crew rested in place for two hours.

Ronald went up to hug Alan Rickman, "Very good, very good. Your German is admirable, as if it were spoken by a German aristocrat. If you hadn't been filming, I would have invited you." Go teach my heroine."

"Actually, I only studied German for one semester in middle school. I just asked the actor who played my younger brother to copy down the lines I wanted to say. I knew them by heart." Alan Rickman was very happy to talk to Ronald Have a chat. This movie looks interesting, and I might actually be able to break into Hollywood with it.

"Huh? That's even more surprising." Ronald didn't expect that Rickman actually learned it on the spot, and he could speak it so well that he, who didn't understand German, could feel the character of the character. This acting skill was indeed very strong.

"What are you talking about? Are you discussing how to kill John McClane?" Ronald began to guess the meaning of the lines, just like the audience watching the movie live. Although they didn't understand, they could guess the general meaning. .

"Haha, the guy said it was because the ice cream provided by the crew tastes good." Alan Rickman laughed.

Director John McTiernan did not rely solely on the script when filming. According to the situation on the scene, he often writes improvised scripts, revise them on the spot and let the actors perform them. This is also one of the reasons that slowed down the filming. The actors did not familiarize themselves with the lines and plot one night in advance.

"What?" Ronald frowned, are you all talking nonsense in German?

"Yes, they are all meaningless words. The director said that the audience would not understand them anyway. They are all meaningless lines."

"Joel...Joel..." Ronald felt so bad that he waved producer Silver over.

"What's wrong? What's wrong?" Joel Silver was chatting with the crew when he was summoned by Ronald. Seeing the expression on his face, I knew something serious was going on and immediately became serious.

"John McTiernan..." Ronald felt something was wrong and closed his mouth, "Let's go to the office and talk." On the shooting scene, the producer must respect and protect the director's authority. If someone curses, he must also find someone. Swear out of earshot of the staff and actors.

"McTiernan, this sob, this Bitchi, this retard... why did he let the actors make up German? Just a few lines of dialogue, couldn't you find someone who understands German to write it?" Ronald was furious and faced Joel ·Silver just scolded and focused his firepower on the director.

"Ronald, are you too sensitive? Only a few percent of American audiences understand German. Anyway, they can roughly guess from the actors' expressions that they just need to discuss how to proceed. This is a commercial film, and details are required. It doesn’t have to be so high.”

Joel Silver looked at Ronald and wondered if it was the sequelae of his great attention to detail in pursuit of an Oscar? In fact, commercial films mainly feature celebrity beauties and hot action, and the rest is pretty much just fine.

"You..." Ronald was so angry that he poured the mineral water on the table. "Let me ask you, when you saw the sample, did you think the quality of this movie was good? We hope to make a lot of money?" Ronald De asked.

"Of course, although it is unlikely to be nominated for an award, judging from the samples taken now, this is a new type of action movie that is completely different from Stallone's action movies in the past. I like this movie very much..." Joel West Elf looked at Ronald with a confused look on his face, and made an expression that said, "What do you want to say?"

"Then tell me, Joel. Do you want to make big money or make bigger money?" Ronald didn't react when he saw the other party. "Want to make bigger money, right? Of course the audience in the North American market will not be too big." I care, but if we want to make more money, we have to sell the movie to Europe. How can those audiences not hear that the actor is talking about eating ice cream, or nonsense that is not even German?"

"This..." Joel Silver touched his fat chin, this was something he didn't expect.

"It was mentioned in the script before that these gangsters are German. Germans don't speak German? Isn't it just a low-cost exploitation film? It looks very bad... and is it sold to TV stations for broadcast? How do they add subtitles? Also, the income from video tapes of movies nowadays is also very high. Those viewers can buy them home and watch them over and over again. Wouldn’t they know that those lines are nonsense?”

"Fuck you, McTiernan, you idiot," Joel Silver also reacted. Both he and the director are too used to making movies for domestic audiences. This kind of small detail may not have been important before, but for this kind of film with the potential to be a blockbuster movie, European audiences must be taken into consideration.

"Ronald, you saved me again. I'll ask him to retake it."

"You have to rewrite the dialogue in German and have it translated into German, real German," Joel Silver announced his decision.

"Hey, Ronald, is this necessary? Who cares about the small details of this conversation for a few seconds?" Director John McTiernan was called in and after hearing Joel Silver's words, he Not convinced. Such small details must be the thoughts of Ronald, who is new here today.

"This is the final decision between the two of us. It's actually not a big deal, right?" Ronald looked at him. He knew that the director put all his energy into the action scenes and would not say anything to this kind of film critic. I just let go of the good words.

"Okay, okay... damn..." McTiernan felt like he was wasting his time and walked out cursing.

"You fucking know nothing." Joel Silver cursed behind him and slammed the door. He turned to Ronald "We still have to let him play before we finish filming..."

"Hurry up and make sure you don't make stupid mistakes like this again." Ronald nodded in agreement. McTiernan focused his energy on the action scenes, which was also a good thing. To be successful, people in key positions must also benefit greatly from the project. He could tolerate McTiernan in a small place.

However, there is no need to discuss whether this will affect the box office in Germany and Northern Europe, and even future video sales.