Exploiting Hollywood 1980

Exploiting Hollywood 1980 Text Volume Chapter 70 Oscar Prelude "I know Billy Wilder, I almost bought the house next door to him." Ronald arrived at the airport and said to Cameron Crowe who was returning to Los Angeles with him Said, "The Directors Guild will meet tomorrow to discuss the impasse over the current Screenwriters Guild strike. If he comes, I will introduce you..."

Crowe was delighted; he was a big fan of Billy Wilder and dreamed of one day making films as cleverly conceived as Wilder's.

"Mr. Li, I have your phone number. It's urgent..." A stewardess in the terminal came over and interrupted the two of them.

"Who is it? Did you say your name?" Ronald asked. He was about to take a business jet back and he didn't want to answer the phone anymore.

"He said his name is Mr. Yan. Do you want to answer his call?"

"Okay." Ronald thought it might be Xiao Yan, who was studying in college in Staten Island. He took the long phone and put it to his ear, "Hello?"

"Brother Luo? I'm Xiao Yan. I know from my aunt that you are at the airport. I have something urgent to do with you. It's not convenient for my aunt to know."

"whats the matter?"

"Your garden construction site has been suspended. Today a group of people claiming to be the New York City Parks and Recreation Department came and said that your garden violated the original state of the New York City Hall Reserve and seemed to affect the migration of some migratory birds. Lao Wang They were almost finished, and now they were in a hurry and almost started fighting with the Parks Department people. Fortunately, I was there to stop them from fighting. The Park Management Department in America has law enforcement officers."

"You did a good job..." Ronald was confused. Didn't the garden outside the house pass the assessment? Why are they harassing us again now, migratory birds are migrating? Why does the garden still bother the birds?

"You were right not to let Aunt Karen know about this. Do you have my cousin Donna's phone number here? Yes... you go to her, tell her what happened, and then ask Donna to call my personal attorney - —Lindsay Dole.

She will have full authority to handle my affairs. I will fly to Los Angeles soon. I will contact you when I arrive. "

After calling Richard in New York again, Ronald got on the plane and took out the eye mask and put it on, hoping to enter Heitian's dream without being disturbed.

However, this kind of messy things still affected his rest. Ronald's mind was filled with messy things like migratory birds, migration, gardens, and parks. Coupled with the low engine sound of the business jet, he was half asleep...

“We don’t want real estate;

We want wetlands..." The shot on the screen in the dream seemed to be taken from an excavator, and in the frame were various people holding signs opposing the start of building construction.

"Is it too much? I'm not building a house. I'm also building a garden and making wetlands and lakes that won't affect you." Ronald thought to himself that this dream was as realistic as a movie.

"I'm reporting for you at the scene. Now many local residents are moved by the story of Amy and Dayan and come to support. But we haven't seen Amy or Dayan yet. They seem to have disappeared."

Is it really a movie? Ronald recognized the clip in the footage, not the news. Fortunately, he didn't let his house and garden be shown on TV. Otherwise, if it was exposed and caused trouble, would he still want to live there?

"According to zoning regulations, it's past five o'clock and the geese haven't migrated back yet. This place has become private property. Please leave immediately!"

A man with a thick neck who looked like a real estate developer stood on a forklift and announced with a loudspeaker to the protesting crowd below.

The worker behind him, prompted by him, turned on the engine of the excavator, moved the joystick up and down, the excavator began to roar, and the tipping bucket began to move up and down repeatedly, intimidating the residents at the scene.

Suddenly, the excavator began to move in, its tipping bucket gently scooping up the soil, and the protestors began to shout their objections.

"Please be gentle, otherwise we won't hear the sound of the little girl and the geese... The engine of the glider is very quiet..." A bearded man shouted to everyone. As expected, everyone was silent, and the excavator also stopped temporarily. .

"Buzz..." A soft engine sound came, and everyone looked up to the sky.

A glider that looked very much like wild geese, and a row of wild geese arranged in a herringbone shape, flew slowly over the lake and wetland.

This aerial shot from above is impressive and beautiful.

"Ronald, Ronald..."

"Ah? Are the migratory birds coming?" Ronald was pushed awake by Cameron Crowe. It turned out that the engine sound came from my own business jet, which was about to descend in altitude and land.

"What migratory bird?"

"Nothing. There is a lake near my new house. They say that migratory birds and geese fly here every year."

…

The plane landed in Los Angeles, and besides Richard, there was also Joel Silver, the producer of "Die Hard" who came to pick him up.

"We might actually come up with something good," Silver said, taking Ronald with him to look at the rough cut that had just been produced.

The action scenes in "Die Hard" were incredibly complex to shoot, having shut down just two weeks before Ronald's own "Working Girl," and were just finishing rough editing and syncing sound and visuals.

"This is Cameron Crowe, my earliest movie partner." Ronald introduced Crowe to Joel Silver, saying that this was his friend, and they went to the editing room together.

"This is the real Bruce Willis sitting on top of the elevator car."

Ronald didn't have time to read all the samples, so he just picked out some action scenes and took a rough look at them.

"The fireball in the elevator shaft was also shot on location?" Ronald saw an interesting scene. The bomb was ignited in the elevator shaft, and the flames caught up with the protagonist Bruce Willis from below, and almost caught up with him. The explosive atmosphere rushing towards your face is very shocking. I have never seen a shot like this before.

“We hired a pyrotechnician and then had the photographer shoot on top, because we didn’t know how fast the lens should be, so we had poor director of photography De Bont lie on top of the elevator car many times before we finally found one that suited us. "

Joel Silver is very excited about this movie. He didn't expect it to be so exciting. Bruce Willis performed most of the action scenes himself, which added a lot of excitement to the movie. The villain Alan Rickman is also very enjoyable, playing a unique and highly intelligent crime boss.

Looking at four or five explosion shots from almost the same angle, but with different explosion speeds, Cameron Crowe, who came along, was eye-opening and excitedly jotting down something in his notebook.

"Isn't it interesting? Movie shooting is like this. Many times we don't need to study in advance. Instead, in order to complete a certain shot, we try to invent ways to complete it."

Ronald patted Crowe on the shoulder. Directing techniques are not learned from textbooks and cases like in college. Many techniques are not used and there is no need to learn them. There are many great directors in Hollywood who set up cameras to shoot still shots, and they also have many famous works.

For example, Howard Hawks, the great director who is as famous as Billy Wilder, does not have many technical breakthroughs in his movies. He relies entirely on the actors' positioning and exquisite design. He can also produce different types of movies and box office hits. A masterpiece that was a success with both reviews and reviews.

…

"Mr. Wilder, is it true that Howard Hawks only shoots ordinary shots in mid-range shots?"

The next day, Ronald took Cameron Crowe with him to a meeting of the Directors Guild. It happened that Billy Wilder also took the time to come, and he was caught by fan Crowe, who surrounded him and asked a lot of questions.

"Howard, oh, he is a genius. Before filming, he planned the movements of the actors in each scene and their reactions to each other. In addition, every casting he cast was the most accurate and suitable. So in fact, the filming expenses left to him are not the most, and many times it is to save filming costs."

Billy Wilder was very happy to be consulted by such a young fan. He is not an actor, and usually there are not many fans who come up to ask for autographs. Only his peers in the industry respect him. But that was twenty years ago, and now that he has retired, Wilder still misses the moment of being surrounded and praised by his peers in the industry.

"Mr. Wilder, what are you talking about about Lubitsch's brushwork?"

Rona shook his head. Cameron Crowe still had many unrealistic illusions about making movies. In fact, a new director needs those basic techniques, not the advanced techniques used by such master directors.

But having passion is also a good thing. See if you have any low-cost scripts that are suitable for him to practice.

Ronald turned around and greeted Spielberg who had just entered.

"Ronald, what is the decision of the Directors Guild?" Spielberg asked immediately. He was also a busy man.

"Continue to cooperate with the Producers Guild and will not cooperate with the Writers Guild, but they will remain silent and not speak publicly about this strike." Ronald whispered to Spielberg.

"Very well, I just came over from Nick Kuant, the president of the Producers Guild. Now the negotiator of the Writers Guild, that Brian Walton... has tended to accept our offer, which is about five thousand Ten thousand dollars to settle this negotiation.”

"Huh... we finally have a deal... My aunt called me and complained that the TV series tonight were all reruns of old dramas and it was so boring."

"And talk shows and stand-up comedy..." Spielberg laughed too.

The pressure from the public is the greatest. Everyone feels very frustrated that they cannot watch new TV series. Now the Producers Guild has put forward similar conditions to the original ones, and the pressure is on the Writers Guild.

"I haven't congratulated you on your Oscar nomination yet. Did you know that this year, apart from you, all foreign directors have been nominated for the Best Director Award?" Spielberg seemed dissatisfied that his "Empire of the Sun" had failed to win most of the heavyweight awards. So worried.

When Ronald thought about it, it was true.

In addition to himself, Bertolucci, the director of The Last Emperor, is Italian, Adrian Lyne, the director of Fatal Attraction, John Bowman, the director of Hope and Glory, two British directors, and the Swedish director of Dogface Years Lasse Hallström.

"If it weren't for me, this would be the best foreign language film," Ronald joked.

"Hahaha..." Spielberg was amused. Those Jewish senior officials had gone too far. In order to suppress him, no one had made it so ugly.

"However, they won't give me the award for this reason." Ronald also laughed. Spielberg is a liberal Jew who integrates mainstream values. He doesn't respect Jewish customs too much. Many of his ways of doing things are still inappropriate. Suitable for those people's taste.

Spielberg got the news he wanted and stood up to leave. Ronald saw him out.

"By the way," Spielberg remembered something, "You haven't met the members of The Last Emperor's crew this time, right?"

"No, I just arrived last night." Ronald didn't understand why he mentioned this movie. Spielberg's "Empire of the Sun" actually collides with "The Last Emperor" in terms of subject matter. Many judges' attention was attracted by the more powerful film.

"I remind you, anyone who sees their crew at the party should be careful, especially producer Jeremy Thomas."

"Huh? Why?" Ronald didn't know what was going on.

"You will find out the reason..." Spielberg patted him on the shoulder. This kid got a nomination for best director at such a young age, breaking his own record.

"I have to go first..." Ronald found Cameron Crowe who was still consulting with Billy Wilder.

"Oh, I was telling Mr. Wilder that we used his false ending method at the end..."

"Go on, leave me alone. I have something to do over there and I have to talk to my lawyer on the phone." Ronald held down Crowe to prevent him from getting up, "Thank you, Mr. Wilder."

"Ha... I'm just a retired old man. I'm very happy to hear that someone is using my shooting method. It shows that there are still people who take movies seriously..."

Ronald also left the Directors Guild party and went to a party hosted by Michael Douglas. As the awards night approached, Douglas held many parties in succession in order to win the Best Actor Award.

"Ronald..." Douglas welcomed Ronald with a smile on his face.

The two of them talked about their recent situation, and the guests around them looked at them and did not dare to interrupt. In this kind of Hollywood celebrity party, there is an implicit hierarchy in who can talk to whom.

"Michael...where are you?" A female star walked in from outside.

"Glenn came and I went to say hello to her. She was very nervous. This year is also her best chance." Michael Douglas saw Glenn Close, the heroine in Fatal Attraction, and asked Ronald He said hello and went over to chat with her.

This year's "The Last Emperor" received all the nominations it could get, except for the two categories of Best Actor and Actor, because the Chinese actor was not nominated. Without her competition in the most explosive film, The Last Emperor, Glenn Close is really her best chance.

"By the way, you have just returned to Hollywood. If a reporter asks you about the last emperor, don't answer..." Douglas also remembered something and turned around to warn Ronald.

"Why?" Ronald looked confused. Two people had already warned him today.

Douglas didn't speak, just gave him a strange smile and went to greet Glenn Close.

…

At around nine o'clock in the evening, Ronald finally arrived at the hotel. After saying goodbye to little Bud, he fell asleep on the bed. The past two days have been very busy, and touching the bed is really fun.

"Beep beep..." The phone rang again.

"Hello?"

"It's me, Lindsay." It was his personal lawyer on the other side of the phone.

Ronald sat up suddenly, "What's going on now?"

"This is a targeted attack. The Parks Department representative of the New York City Hall directly ordered to investigate the recent renovation projects related to public green spaces in Staten Island. Did you offend him there?"

"Interstellar exploration?" Ronald thought of the director of the Parks Department whom he met when filming the wedding scene.

"It seems you really know him? Henry Stern has a lot of power in New York's political circles. How did you get targeted by him?"

"I only met him once when I was filming, but I didn't even say anything to him. "

"What do you want to do? There are two options now, either go to court with the Parks Department, or suspend the project first and slowly unblock it. I guess there is some misunderstanding between him and you, a film director."

"Please help me deal with it. Stop working first. I'm busy with Oscar's affairs now and don't have the energy..."

"Okay, I'll help you suspend the project according to their notice first, and wait until you finish your work."

Ronald hung up the phone. What a mess. The high-thread-count cotton sheets made Ronald forget about getting up after falling asleep.

"Beep beep..." The phone rang again.

"Hello?"

"Ronnie, are you asleep? I just found out you went back to Los Angeles."

"Diane? How was the filming of your new movie? I just went to bed, will you come over? I'll wait for you."

"Let me meet you, hehe, this movie was very fun."