Exploiting Hollywood 1980

Exploiting Hollywood 1980 Text Volume Chapter 87 Do you want to become one of our own? The film "Sticky Fingers," directed by Kathryn Bigelow and starring Helen Slater, has opened in New York. Lan

This is a film funded by women, starring women, and directed by women. Of course, this was fully reflected in the publicity and distribution.

Most of the guests and reporters who came here were women. Ronald saw a large group of female insiders at the scene.

However, because the protagonist tonight is Helen, Ronald only interacts with a few familiar stars, such as Jamie Lee Curtis, the star of the horror film "Moonlight". Director Martha Coolidge had a conversation with producer Gale Hurd.

"You really like to shoot female subjects, and you are also willing to support women." Gale looked at Ronald and sighed in his heart, if Hollywood producers were 50% as friendly to women as Ronald, he would His achievements will definitely be greater than they are now.

"How's Jim's new movie going?" Ronald asked.

"He was playing with his diving equipment at the Cherokee Nuclear Power Plant." Gale replied professionally, "Don't ask me anything else, I don't want to spoil the fun."

Ronald stopped discussing Cameron's personal matters with her and asked her if the strike had affected her. Lan

Gale said that female producers like them are already discriminated against. Now that adaptation rights are so popular, they can only get second-rate scripts.

Martha Coolidge, the female director who debuted with Ronald, now has no chance to make any blockbusters, so she can only sincerely ask Ronald to consider them as women if he has the opportunity.

Ronald said that as long as it is a low-cost production of less than two million US dollars, they are very welcome to contact them.

Jamie Lee Curtis walked up with a white-haired but very elegant woman and introduced him to Ronald. "This is my mother. She has heard your name and likes your Dirty Dancing. She wants to come and see you and express her love."

"Ms. Leigh needs no introduction." Of course Ronald recognized that this was Janet Leigh, who was famous back then. The mother and daughter look very similar, both have long faces, and the mother is more beautiful than her daughter.

"I like your Dirty Dancing very much. I bought the video and watched it several times. Jamie said that I got an invitation, so I came to watch it too."

"I'm very honored. You are the girl of my dreams. When I was studying in college in New York, I watched your movies many times." Ronald was also very surprised that this person could come to New York.

Lan

"Oh, hahaha... I wonder if you like to watch that movie of mine? Psycho?" Speaking of Janet Leigh, the audience is most impressed by the bathroom murder scene in Hitchcock's classic.

"No, I prefer Orson Welles's Lady..." Ronald replied. Welles's film has more depth, and decades later, it has been played on TV stations far more often than Psycho. . Of course, this also has something to do with Hitchcock's daughter taking copyright too seriously.

"Oh? He is a genius. I also liked that movie. It's a pity that Xuanfa didn't do it well."

Ronald also said hello to Richie Lake, the chubby girl from "Hairspray" who now works as a handyman at Daydream to help process some of Ronald's files. Because of her figure, it was difficult for her to get new roles in the film industry, so she had the idea of ​​​​turning to behind the scenes.

"Why don't you go with Helen for the interview?" Rich Lake also did some work in the promotion work of Daydream, and knew that Ronald invested in the project because of Helen.

"That's the stage for their female creators..." Ronald smiled, looking at Helen Slater who was being interviewed with director Kathryn Bigelow and best friend Helen Hunt.

She wore something homely, a red sweater cardigan with a white skirt underneath. Ronald frowned. Helen did not change her habit of not wearing custom-made dresses to attend important occasions. Lan

"Do you think stories from a female perspective can find an appreciative audience..." A young reporter from the Washington Post was asking Helen and Bigelow a question.

"I think there are many young women in the movie audience. They like this movie and we are not worried about box office issues..." Helen Slater was very dissatisfied with the tone of the reporter's question and began to tit for tat.

"Hey, relax a little...be more respectful to ladies..." Ronald went up and patted the reporter. In the film critic circles in Los Angeles and New York, Daydream has been prepared, but the film does not look like it will do well at the box office. The people sent are young and inexperienced.

"All-female..." Helen Slater glanced at Ronald, indicating that the announcement strategy should highlight the all-female creative team.

Ronald smiled and walked aside. Helen still attached great importance to the movie. You could tell by looking at her nervous and excited look.

"Thank you, Ronald, I know if it weren't for your help, just Gerald's help, this movie might not have been so easy to get out."

"Oh, hi, Alice..." Ronald turned his head and found that the person speaking was Helen's mother, the environmental protection and anti-nuclear lawyer. "Let's not interfere here anymore. Let's go sit in the back." Lan

"We didn't raise her in Jewish traditions. Helen spent Christmas like an ordinary American child, and I think it was good for her. I didn't want her to be forced to live a different life just because she was making a movie. Own……"

Helen's mother, Alice, suddenly said something to Ronald about raising Helen as a child.

"I don't quite understand..." Ronald didn't know what he meant.

"You are too busy, and I rarely have the opportunity to see you. This is just a little selfishness as a mother. We don't want our children to live in a way they don't like..."

"Mom, let's go in and watch a movie..." Helen came over at this time, hugged her mother, and smiled at Ronald.

Ronald, who was a little confused, followed him in. The audience at the movie premiere was dominated by women, accounting for more than 80%.

The opening scene shows Helen and another heroine walking on the road. Her long legs are very conspicuous in the camera. Ronald turns to look at Helen. She is really suitable for the movie. Lan

The whole movie is actually a pretty old-fashioned comedy. Two girls who played the violin found a bag of cash in their rented room, which amounted to 900,000 US dollars. They did not resist the temptation, paid the bills, and invested. For my music career, I bought two expensive antique violins, as well as many beautiful clothes and shoes.

Finally, the trafficker's landlord came back to ask for money. The two frightened girls ran away from the window. The dealer's landlord was shot dead by the police who arrived.

The tone of the whole movie is similar to Helen's movie "The Evil Husband" two years ago. It is a comedy with a not so fast pace and a certain plot. Of course, Kathryn Bigelow's level of comedy direction is much worse than Jerry Zucker's.

The whole movie is quite satisfactory. Except for the use of too many slow motion scenes in the third act at the end, there are no major flaws. But the laughter was not very dense, and the audience’s laughter and applause frequency was a bit lower than expected.

There are many troubles that girls often encounter in the plot, and the depiction is more realistic than the current Hollywood movies. It seems that the all-female creative team still has something to read.

On the contrary, the audience liked Helen Slater's performance very much, but Ronald felt that the audience did not appreciate her acting skills, but liked her clothes and high heels in the movie. The female audience members praised loudly the close-ups of each pair of beautiful shoes after putting them on their feet.

Maybe what they really like is the feeling of having windfall money stuck to their fingers and having to spend it constantly in shopping malls. Lan

"What do you think the box office will be like? I'm so nervous, almost as nervous as I was when I first filmed Supergirl..."

Back at the apartment on Fifth Avenue, Helen lay on Ronald's body, still excitedly telling her feelings after the first movie she directed was released.

"I'm so happy today. My mother Alice also thinks that I took good photos. My father Gerald also came here before and chatted with my mother for a few words. Unfortunately, he had something to do and left first and didn't see me. New movie.”

Ronald changed his position so that Helen could lie more comfortably, and gently combed her blond hair with his hands. Since filming Supergirl, Helen has kept her dye blonde. "Oh? Gerald is here too? Why does he have to leave first?"

"I heard that an important person from Hollywood came and had a meeting with him." Helen felt very comfortable and also touched Ronald's arm with her hand.

"What did he say to your mother? Alice said something to me today that I don't quite understand. She said that you were not raised according to Jewish traditions when you were a child, celebrating Christmas, but Hanukkah or something like that."

"She is a liberal Jew. She hopes that I will grow up like my classmates in school, and not because of my Jewish identity. Our family also buys a Christmas tree every year."

"How much do you think the box office of the movie will be?" Helen still had no idea about the movie.

"Daydream Professionals expects it to be released in four to six weeks, roughly equaling the production cost."

"Hmm... I'm also worried about the poor box office... If we can keep investors from losing money, then there will be opportunities to make more movies with similar themes. There are too few female-themed movies in Hollywood right now."

"Don't worry, there are still video tapes being released, and there are many people in the video rental stores who can slowly choose the genre they like."

Michelle Cannold is not very optimistic about the box office of this movie, but the subject matter is very special. It is more interesting and reasonable than a daytime soap opera, but without big stars, it is impossible to attract enough women. The kind of movies that audiences go to the cinema to watch.

After this type of film appeared on television and housewives watched soap operas at home, few producers were willing to bet on it. On the other hand, housewives and professional women have gradually developed the habit of going to video rental stores to select video tapes, resurrecting the female-themed "chick flicks" in disguise.

...Lan

Early the next morning, while Ronald was still sleeping, Helen had already gotten up early, picked up the film review newspaper delivered to the door, and started reading it alone.

"You can tell at a glance whether it's a boy's movie or a girl's movie. Shopping, dieting, which rag is for washing dishes and which is for wiping tables. Girls' movies always have a lot of focus on the closet.

Boys' movies, on the other hand, are mostly about guns, cars, and... well, about guns, did I already mention guns? You watch boy movies that are stupid.

It’s Sticky Fingers is a funny comedy, especially for female viewers, great heels and earrings, almost no wardrobe scenes in a boy’s movie…”

It seems that the Washington Post film review reporter who came yesterday still liked this movie very much. Helen put the newspaper away happily.

"Are you awake, Ronald? Your agent Richard just sent a movie review, so I read it first. Do you want to read it?" Helen handed out the newspaper with her hand.

"Of course I want to take a look..." Ronald reached out and hugged Helen. Her nose didn't look like a Jew, and her big eyes didn't even look like a Jew. It was probably because of religion, and there might not be any connection by blood. Lan

Ronald looked at Helen's seductive green eyes and kissed her quickly. Well, it smelled good. This is a relatively fresh grass-scented perfume, which is very environmentally friendly...

"Um……"

Helen finally managed to free herself from Ronald's enthusiasm, "Richard said he has something to do with you and asked you to call him back. I will also call Helen."

Instead of continuing the good things he did last night, Ronald smiled, went to the bedroom, picked up another phone, and called his agent Richard.

"Ronald, Ovitz has also arrived in New York. He wants to invite you to the synagogue in Brooklyn."

"Can't you just say I'm not free?" Ronald didn't like Ovitz calling him, but Richard said it was an important matter, and Ovitz took it seriously and called him several times. .

"Okay, okay, I'll just go see him." Ronald stood up and waved to Helen, who was on the phone with his best friend. After changing his clothes, he set off. Lan

The Brooklyn United Synagogue is a very old building, just opposite the library. It is not only a religious place, but the fifth floor is also rented to a German international school as a classroom.

Ronald saw many Germanic blond boys attending classes here, coming in and out, and couldn't help but feel an interesting contrast.

Arriving inside the club, there was a private room that seemed to be used by a rabbi, where Michael Ovitz was waiting for him.

"Hello, Ronald, nice to see you here." Ovitz was wearing a ridiculous little round hat. Ronald rarely saw him like this. This kind of small hat can only cover a small part of the top of the head. The person wearing it may have used pins to fix it, so that it will not fall off no matter how you shake your head.

"This was designed by architect Arnold Brenner and completed in 1929. It is the largest Reform synagogue in New York." Ovitz introduced the origin of the building to him.

"Reform Judaism?" Ronald heard a new term.

"Yes, they are also called liberals or progressives, but whatever they are called, they are all a development after Judaism entered America. Do you know? The biggest difference between this and traditional Judaism is that we reformists no longer believe in the Old Testament It is the only classic and cannot be changed." Lan

"Oh?" Ronald said perfunctorily. He was not really interested in these things. This place is not like the German International School on the fifth floor which is full of secular atmosphere and has a religious feeling. "

"Yes, we no longer insist that the Jews are God's chosen people, no longer emphasize the principles and core beliefs of race, but pay more attention to personal spiritual experience and community participation. You see, we even rented a floor in Germany School."

"Ah, yes, I saw the students."

"I'm glad that you have a preliminary understanding of us. So, are you willing to become one of our own?"

"What?" Ronald didn't expect Ovitz to say such words. Was he inviting himself to join this Reform Judaism and become a member of the Jewish people? "

"Yes, we are very welcoming to people who become part of our community through marriage, especially artistic talents like you. Don't be surprised. I talked to Gerald yesterday and I know that you and Helen have a good relationship. You still give me She invested in movies.

If you are willing, I will be happy to be your introducer...The ceremony is actually very simple..." Lan

"Wait a minute, Mr. Ovitz."

Ronald understood all why Ovitz said something about himself on the set of Rain Man. Why would Helen's father not attend his daughter's movie premiere? What would Helen's mother say to herself that she didn't want her daughter to live a lifestyle she didn't like?

"I think you are mistaken. I am a Christian Quaker." Ronald stopped him quickly.

"I've talked to many of your friends, and you basically don't go to church. Even if you go to church, you can transfer after studying Jewish scriptures..." Ovitz frowned, thinking that this had something to do with himself. The news I received doesn’t seem to match.

"This is not something I do alone. In fact, my father's family has always been a major patron of the Quakers in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. I also recently donated to the new Quaker church on Staten Island." Ronald He quickly denied it, this was really funny.

"Oh, my bad, I think there may be some mistakes in the middle. I'm sorry that I said and wrote things that made you misunderstood. In fact, if..." Ovitz couldn't help but apologize. This was very embarrassing.

"My friends must have misunderstood me because I don't go to church in Los Angeles. In fact, my main church is here on Staten Island."