Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"Okay, okay, I understand, we still need a young 'virgin' star, right?"

Ronald stayed in New York for two days. With the help of Niceta, and Daydream's production director Michelle Cannold, he intensively sent out invitations to major studios in an attempt to bring "Steel Magnolias" to life. "The distribution rights to the play were sold to them.

Whether it is Paramount, Universal, or Disney, they are all very interested in this movie. But they all made a request, that Ronald should direct.

Ronald is good at female themes and has a history of making many blockbuster movies. As long as he nods to direct, the estimated investment of only 15 million and the joining of many acting female stars will not be a problem.

However, Ronald has not yet dreamed of any details of the film, so he is still a little hesitant about directing it himself. In addition, screenwriter Harlin has repeatedly pointed out that this drama actually reflects the lifestyle in a small town in southern America that is completely different from the big city stories that Ronald is familiar with.

Ronald's films about women, whether it's a baby in the 1960s, a middle-aged Italian woman named Loretta, or Tess who has just turned 30 and is on the right track in life, are all New York girls.

They strive for independence and liberation. Very different from the many conservative southern women in "Steel Magnolias." Those Dixie girls have the highest goal in life of marrying a husband, having children for him, and taking care of the family, even at the risk of worsening diabetes.

So Ronald tentatively proposed that the assets act as producers and be responsible for part of the investment amount.

Now the big studios that had promised so much began to put forward conditions that didn't exist in the first place.

Ronald thinks that the script is excellent, and if he asks acquaintances such as Olympia Dukakis and Shirley MacLean to participate in the film, they will be happy to agree.

But the studio is very practical. The distribution department evaluated several Oscar winners proposed by Ronald and found their box office appeal data through ema company.

Unfortunately, even Dukakis, who just won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, is not enough to make the target audience (especially those Southern housewives) enter the theater for them.

From very early on, Hollywood has divided actresses into three categories: virgins, sluts, and mothers. This is based on their age classification, not entirely based on appearance.

Actresses who have just debuted can play the role of a young girl in love, and at this time, they can fall in love with a popular male star. Apart from the protagonist, there are no pretense towards other male characters.

The most typical one is Grace Kelly in the western movie "High Noon". She only wants to fall in love with the police sergeant played by Gary Cooper.

When female stars start to get older and are no longer convincing as teenage girls, studios will give them some "slut" type roles. In a movie, the roles of these female stars are no longer one and the same, but they circulate among several men and can have love and romantic relationships with multiple men.

When Grace Kelly got older and entered the "high society", she was surrounded by her ex-boyfriend, fiancé, and fresh boy, three male celebrities who wanted to have a relationship with her character.

If Grace Kelly had not married the Prince of Monaco and quit Hollywood, then when she reaches middle age, her third acting career will gradually open up to her, playing roles such as mother or grandmother, no longer occupying the stage. central.

And this "Steel Mulan" happens to be a very special script. Among the six female characters, except for the girl who escaped marriage from a foreigner and is responsible for leading the story, four of the other five female characters are "mother" type, and only A "virgin" type.

Although the acting skills of those mother-type actors have accumulated over the years, they are now as mellow as old red wine. But to be honest, most moviegoers who go to the cinema are attracted by "young female stars" who are virgins or sluts.

Four mother-type Oscar-winning actresses do not have as much appeal as one young and beautiful star.

Even if this script with a female protagonist is very popular on Broadway, in today's Hollywood, movies have to rely on the appeal of young female stars to have a high chance of recovering the cost at the box office.

Ronald didn't want to go against the laws of the market, so he agreed to find a suitable young and sexy female star to play the heroine Shelby. Universal, Paramount, and Disney all mentioned the same name invariably: Michelle Pfeiffer.

No matter how her Oscar career fares, Pfeiffer is certainly the young female star most capable of attracting moviegoers right now. Many young viewers will collect her posters.

Among other major studios that are suitable as distributors, MGM's production volume has been drastically reduced, and Columbia has been blacklisted by screenwriters. The only one is 20th Century Fox, and many of their recently invested film projects have not yet been released. , how much money is left to invest in new projects is also a question.

But this was Ronald’s idea. In fact, Columbia and Fox both recognized the money-making and critical response of Ronald’s project. At this time when the Writers Guild was still on strike, they had a finished script and a director’s investment that guaranteed box office. , the willingness of these two studios to participate is no less than that of several others.

It happened that Ronald's good friend Cameron Crowe called his agent and said that he wanted to interview him about something important. Ronald asked him what was going on, and Crowe said it was not convenient to talk on the phone, and invited him to meet him when he returned to Los Angeles.

Ronald didn't know what was going on. During the strike, Crowe secretly helped him change the script despite the pressure, which helped a lot. Ronald couldn't refuse, so he simply went back to interview him.

However, Ronald ran into trouble when renting business jets. All business jets available for rent in the past two days were booked.

I found Douglas Jr. for help and found out that these two days happened to be the time when the candidates for the leadership of the Donkey Party were holding primaries in New York. Political groups and action committee members across the country rushed to the most important fundraising center in the east to see the results of the competition.

Unlike the Elephant Party's candidate primaries, the winner was basically decided on last month's Super Tuesday. The current deputy leader, George Sr., can get a ticket to run in next year's general election as long as he completes the process. Donkey Party’s Super Tuesday is a very fierce competition between you and me.

Olympia Dukakis’s cousin cheered in front of an audience of hundreds of millions of voters at the Oscars. Governor Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts took advantage of the popularity of the new Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, and his popularity among the candidates has increased significantly. quick. He won nine of the twenty state primaries on Super Tuesday.

But Dukakis is of Greek descent, has thick eyebrows, a hooked nose, and a sinister look, and his appearance is really bad.

In contrast, Al Gore, the Tennessee senator, has a good-looking appearance and is very popular among female voters. He won the primaries in six states, especially the southern states of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Oklahoma, which only recognized Dixie.

Jesse Jackson, a former black civil rights leader, continued to move forward bravely despite multiple scandals. In Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana, states that are poor and have a high proportion of black people, he also received support from five states.

In such an anxious situation, even Colorado Senator Gary Hart, who had been involved in a big scandal and went on an overseas trip with beauty pageant girl Donna Rice, wanted to make an effort to run again after withdrawing from the race, so he also sent someone from his campaign office. Go to New York to find out the situation.

The political team gathered together has rented out all the business jets on the market, and is now waiting at several New York airports for the results of the New York primary election.

Ronald had no choice but to bother little George with trivial matters, so he booked a commercial flight to return to Los Angeles.

“Do you think Senator Joe from Delaware would be interested in voting for him if he comes back to run in the primary?”

At the airport, Ronald, who was wearing sunglasses, was stopped by a group of volunteers wearing blue T-shirts and asked him to do a survey.

Looking at their display boards and the badges they wore, Ronald could tell that they were Senator Joe, who had withdrawn from the primary election last year. Now seeing that Hart also wants to come back, he is also ready to make a move, so he asked the people in the campaign office to come to New York to explore the trend.

"Who?" Ronald asked.

"Joe, Mr. Senator from Delaware, he participated in the primary election for T\u0026T last year, but was later unable to withdraw due to rumors fabricated by his competitors."

"Who?" Ronald asked again. The tone of ridicule is obvious. In a small state like Delaware, who can remember who the senator is?

The volunteer backed away in dismay.

A tall and thin woman next to him burst out laughing. She seemed to appreciate Ronald's humor and nodded to him.

"Ma'am, can I take a moment of your time? Are you interested in..." The volunteer went to harass her again.

"Is this the Senator who plagiarized the speech of British Labor Party leader Neil Kinnock without changing every word?" The woman's ability to express ridicule is as good as Ronald's.

"Those are all rumors spread by the Dukakis camp. Our candidates note the source of the original manuscript behind every speech."

"So every speech he gives is plagiarized?" The woman's sarcastic ability has not diminished.

"Pfft..." This time it was Ronald's turn to laugh out loud.

When he got on the plane, Ronald found that he was sitting in the front and back rows with the tall and thin woman. After he put the luggage away, he helped her stuff it.

"Nora, Nora Ephron," the woman reached out and shook Ronald's hand, then thanked him for being such a gentleman.

"Ronald, Ronald Lee."

"You can't be that one..." Nora Ephron was surprised. She looked at Ronald who took off his sunglasses and recognized the well-known young director in Hollywood. She quickly switched seats with other passengers and sat next to Ronald.

"I have a new script here, are you interested in talking about it?"

After takeoff, the plane changed to level flight, and the noise became much quieter. When the stewardess started handing out snacks, Nora Ephron poked Ronald and asked in a low voice.

"I'm also a member of the Writers Guild. Aren't you afraid that I'll report you?" Ronald joked deliberately.

"Ha, I didn't talk to you about setting up a shooting project. Let's just treat it as a chat between two artists. By the way,...your name is Sally, right? I want a piece of bread, but don't put the strawberry jam on the plate. In the middle, it should be placed on the side. The butter should be heated, but do not open the package, and then have a bottle of Coke, sugar-free, not a new flavor, sugar-free Diet Coke..."

Nora Ephron has very meticulous requirements for food, and every detail is explained clearly to the stewardess named Sally.

"Okay", the stewardess almost fainted from these requests.

"Can you repeat it?"

"Um...you want our airline's special buns, strawberry jam on the edge of the plate, butter warm and not opened...and a can of Diet Coke."

"Very good, um... let's have another vegetable salad. Don't put the vegetables in the salad dressing. Serve it separately. I'll make it myself, and also the olive oil..."

Ronald, who clearly saw the flight attendant rolling her eyes and asking him, quickly said, "I want Coke and a large set meal."

"Do you usually order food like this? It seems like you know what you want very clearly." Ronald asked the stewardess in a low voice as he watched the flight attendant who was still mumbling Nora Ephron's request walk away.

"You don't know, the salads and breads on this airline are very good, but if you strictly follow my instructions, the way they mix their own sauces is really a waste of good food."

"What's the story of your script?" Ronald watched with relish as Nora Ephron prepared salad and bread in her own unique way, and ate some of the salad Nora gave him with interest. .

I have to say that Nora Ephron does have a very high level of gourmet food, and the salad she made tastes much better than the one in Ronald's meal.

"Sally, please give me some olive oil. Thank you." Ronald followed suit and asked the flight attendant if he wanted some olive oil to mix with it. The taste was indeed much more delicious.

"It's a love story. You know, is there a true friendship between a man and a woman, the kind that doesn't involve physical attraction to each other? It's an eternal topic." Nora Ephron said.

"Ah...is your story about this proposition?"

"Yes, my protagonists are two men and women. They met each other in college, and then they had the opportunity to bump into each other every few years. They were always in a state of explosive friendship, but unfulfilled love. It's not the men who have it. Love means that the woman has a partner, but after more than ten years of separation and reunification, they still did not get together in the end."

"It sounds like you believe in true friendship between men and women?" Ronald frowned and asked after hearing the general direction of the story.

"Why do you say that? This is your interpretation. In fact, I believe that it is impossible for young men and women to have true friendship. It must be accompanied by physical attraction."

"Then why don't you bring the hero and heroine together?" Ronald asked.

"Life is not like this. The hero and heroine finally get together and live happily together. I am an example... I won't talk about it anymore. I think since the two of them were not together at the beginning, it means that they are not attracted to each other enough. , but ended up together, which is obviously unrealistic and will destroy the character creation."

"Huh..." Ronald finished eating the bread, "You didn't sell your script, did you?"

"Indeed, I am talking to a few friends about their newly established production company. How do you know?" Nora Ephron was very surprised.

"Hollywood audiences all like happy endings. They may not have gotten together with the person they love in life, and they come to the cinema to make up for their regrets on the screen."

"If you put it like that..." Nora Ephron thought thoughtfully, "But my friend, who is also a film director, doesn't see it that way. He thinks that it would be inappropriate for the two protagonists to miss each other on the street. very good."

"Well, I think your director friend needs to watch the old Hollywood movie, 'Sullivans Travels.'" Ronald smiled.

"Sullivan's Trip, the debut film of the Hollywood sex icon Veronica Lake in the 1940s?" Nora Ephron was quite familiar with film history. She nodded, "I'll tell Rob... ...Haha, let’s see what he says now.”

Ronald smiled. It seemed that Nora Ephron herself was in favor of a happy ending, and that director named Rob was randomly directing it.

"I said, are you interested in reading this script? I'll ask my agent to send it to you. I'm looking for investors now." Nora Ephron didn't want to miss the opportunity.

"You can call my agent. Don't mention the script on the phone. Just say that I asked you to make the call." Ronald took out a business card with the agent's phone number and handed it to Nora. Ephron. There are many factions in CAA, and Ronald doesn't want to leave any clues to others.

"Understood." Nora Ephron asked for another salad, mixed it with her own unique method and handed it to Ronald.

"Well, this is really delicious." Ronald felt that it was worthwhile to exchange for this secret recipe considering the conditions of production investment. Although this script doesn't sound like it's going to be a blockbuster, it's a good idea to take a look at the current shortage of scripts.

…

When they arrived in Los Angeles, Ronald and Cameron Crowe found a place to meet. In the Beverly Hills Hilton Hotel, drinks and food were prepared in an executive suite, waiting for the two to meet privately.

"I wrote a script, can you read it?" Cameron Crowe came up and got straight to the point, taking out a newly bound script.

"Of course." Ronald took it and took a look. The copper nails binding on it had just been polished to prevent him from cutting his hands while turning the pages while reading.

I saw two words written on the cover, "say anything (love to the depths)", followed by an ellipsis.

"To the depths of love?" Ronald looked at this very interesting script name and opened it to read.

"Teen romance movie?" Ronald blurted out after finishing flipping through the pages.

"Yes, I wanted to direct this movie, so I chose the subject matter I am most familiar with." Cameron Crowe's eyes were full of hope.

For such an old friend who helped silently, Ronald was not as vain as he was for Nora Ephron.

"Now that the strike is still going on, I can let Daydream do an evaluation. If it's good, we will sign a contract. I will invest less than 6 million. If it exceeds, I will find a big publisher to cooperate."

"Hahaha, thank you, Ronald."

Cameron Crowe felt Ronald's kindness and he couldn't be happier. Ronald actually promised an investment of at least six million. For a screenwriter who had never directed a movie, this condition was very loose.

Ronald is actually very happy. Nowadays, major film studios are having a script crisis. Crowe's script at least has a smooth structure and a very sunny ending. The hero and heroine come together regardless of all obstacles. Much better than the Nora Ephron one.

"Great, when do you think the strike will end and we can start operating this project?" Cameron Crowe said after laughing.

"Why……"

Ronald sighed, "I don't know either! No one in Hollywood or major TV stations knows. Have you heard? Almost all TV series will stop filming this season."