Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"Hmm... um..." Meg Ryan and a handsome guy with a thick chin kissed passionately in the terminal of New York's JFK Airport.

The camera slowly retreated, made an arc in its orbit, and finally stopped at a close-up shot. Billy Crystal has cut off his youthful bangs and turned them into a mature hairstyle. He passed by the happy couple, and suddenly he recognized Sally and looked at the man kissing with her, and continued walking forward.

Then, Harry turned around again, as if he knew the man too. So he walked back and looked at the two people who were still kissing.

"Cut!"

Ronald sat behind the camera and was satisfied with the three people's performances.

The actor who plays Sally's boyfriend five years after Harry and Sally carpooled to New York is called Steven Ford. He has a crocodile-like strong jaw, which makes him perfect for the transitional role of Joe.

Qiao graduated from the law department. After obtaining his lawyer's license, he worked as an assistant prosecutor in the prosecutor's office. After accumulating several years of experience, he jumped to a law firm to engage in criminal defense business. This is the most common career path for young people who come from powerful families.

This Steven Ford is not very old, but he is very capable of acting like a playboy. When Ronald saw his performance, he couldn't help but think of little George. He did an excellent job of playing the kind of young man with a silver spoon in his mouth and little understanding of people's lives.

"The hairstylist, the hairstylist will sort out Meg's hair..." Ronald saw that Meg Ryan's hair was a little messy after the kiss. The tone of this movie is close to life.

When Sally had just graduated from college in Act 1 in 1977, she had the wavy hairstyle of Farrah Fassett, the most popular female star at the time, in "Charlie's Angels."

In 1982, when Sally and Harry met for the second time, her hairstyle changed to that of Cherry Ladd, who replaced Farrah Fassett as the blonde girl in "Charlie's Angels". shape. A straight, slightly lighter platinum blonde hairstyle.

This approach of making the heroine's hairstyle close to the popular fashion of the time can easily evoke the feelings of audiences who have had similar experiences, and is also very close to the characteristics of Sally O'Brien's work as a reporter.

However, because the scene in 1982 only had a short scene at the airport, Meg Ryan used a wig and hair extensions to deal with it, and the passionate kissing scene just now was a bit messed up.

"Director, are you still satisfied with my performance?" Steven Ford, who played Sally's boyfriend Joe, came over.

"What do you think?" Ronald glanced at him.

"I'm an actor, and I think the director is the one who evaluates my performance, isn't it?" Ford speaks like a boy from New York's Upper East Side, and ordinary conversations can be made very condescending by him. Aggression.

"You don't know Ronald, Steven." Meg Ryan came over to smooth things over. "You will understand if you shoot a few more scenes with him. When filming under him, no news is good news. He is a rare actor's director. "

"Sounds great!" Ford praised Ronald after hearing this.

Ronald just smiled and motioned with his eyes to the makeup artist to "touch up" his makeup too, telling him to shut up.

"Where did we find this living treasure?" Ronald turned back to screenwriter Nora Ephron. She replaced Rob Lenner, who had returned to supervise the production of "Steel Mulan", and came to the crew to provide timely script guidance.

Too many parts of this play rely on the improvisation of the male and female protagonists. Ronald has to rely on the screenwriter to judge whether the improvisation is suitable for the overall story. Is there anything inappropriate?

"Haha...he is the son of Commander Gerald."

Nora Ephron, casting director Jane Jenkins, and Janet Hershenson chatted for a while, and the three came to answer Ronald.

Julia Taylor, who Ronald worked with the most, was busy with other projects. Ronald, who accepted the role temporarily, asked her to recommend casting directors suitable for romantic comedies. The names of these two were recommended to Ronald.

Sure enough, they both have very good taste. They really found a real playboy to play the role of a blue-blooded playboy.

The youngest son of the former commander-in-chief originally studied ranch management. After his father unexpectedly took over the position of commander-in-chief, he became interested in Hollywood and switched careers to become an actor.

Hollywood gave him very good treatment, and he played the main supporting actor in "Grease" when he debuted. However, due to "stage fright", he suddenly quit the crew before filming started. Of course, the actual reason was because he could not Drink and abuse alcohol and drugs in moderation.

However, because of his father's relationship, he can still play certain types of roles in Hollywood. For example, this Joe is very suitable for his true character.

"Qiao? I just thought it was you, I just thought it was you..."

The filming continued, and Harry pretended that he had just recognized Joe, who he had lived on the first floor with, and repeated useless words. Sally tried her best to avoid the person who drove more than ten hours to New York with her to avoid the embarrassment of recognition.

"Let me introduce to you, this is Sally, Sally Al'Brien."

"Hello……"

"Hello..." The protagonists greeted each other pretending not to know each other.

"Cut!"

Ronald took a few more shots. Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan have great chemistry. When the two of them appear in the camera at the same time, they are always full of tension. It makes the audience want to see which direction the story of the two people will go if they continue to watch.

It’s a feeling that’s hard to describe, but it’s mostly Meg Ryan’s fault. Her various expressions and postures always remind people of the girl around them. She seems to have taken out the most typical aspects of an American girl's personality and shown them to everyone.

The Sally she plays has an open side and a traditional side, which makes people feel a little contradictory. And these two qualities, shown in Meg Ryan, are convincing.

There are always some friends around us who, although very traditional at heart, hope to meet the most special kind of love. But they follow trends and are shaped by modern consumerism and mass media, making them seem open and modern.

The key point to achieve this contradiction and unity is an emotion that American girls in Meg Ryan, especially American actresses, rarely show - "shy!"

Although Sally can be so wild that she pretends to be Clix in public in a restaurant, she is so shy and timid when facing the one she loves. She is careful to test for fear of scaring the other person away, just like Jane Austen's classic novel British women.

"We might have won the Powerball jackpot..." Ronald muttered to himself. Nora Ephron and the two casting directors knew what he meant. Such a heroine can make the audience worry about the two protagonists regardless of the mediocre plot, and eagerly want them to play in the film. together.

The movie "When Harry Met Sally" was one that Robert Reiner was very skeptical about, mainly because the plot didn't have the many obstacles that a romantic comedy must have.

If this were an ordinary love drama, then there would have to be various people between Harry and Sally to prevent them from being together. Or it’s parental disapproval (Romeo and Juliet), or other people stepping in (Gone with the Wind), or giving up on love for a greater purpose (The Spies).

In the end, the two protagonists break through various obstacles and come together, so that there can be drama and the audience will find it enjoyable.

But in "When Harry Met Sally," no one actually acts as such an obstacle. After the two met for the third time, Joe had broken up with Sally and Harry had divorced his wife.

The blind dates they originally wanted to introduce to each other, Mary and Jess, did not fall in love with either Harry or Sally, but fell in love with each other.

Everyone in the story is creating opportunities for Harry and Sally to be together. What really stops them is their own confidence in their love for each other.

This kind of relationship happens to everyone, but to perform that kind of natural charm, you must have the right time, place, people, and just the right actors to succeed.

Maybe it just so happened that Meg Ryan was in a relationship with Dennis Quaid, and the two also had a lot of uncertain feelings about each other's future, so that feeling was moved into the filming, plus

The special thing about herself...

"Steven, I like your performance very much." After these few shots were taken, Ronald quickly said goodbye to Ford, sending the former commander-in-chief away with a still-unsatisfied look on his face.

The crew moved to the ground conveyor belt on the other side of the airport. Harry had long recognized Sally, but she was in love, so they didn't recognize her at that time.

But after leaving Joe as her boyfriend, Harry began to have a constant attraction with Sally on the conveyor belt. Both of them had forgotten the name of the girlfriend who asked Harry and Sally to carpool. During the exchange of words, it seemed that the two of them wanted to say more than they and their respective partners wanted to say.

…

"Today's shooting is completed. Let's go back and rest early." The shooting went extremely smoothly, and for the first time, Ronald enjoyed the luxury of going home and getting together with his family every day during the shooting.

This is because this movie does not have any technical difficulties, but the interaction between the characters logically has many difficulties. But because the two protagonists were in such good shape, there weren’t any scenes that couldn’t be shot repeatedly.

"Why do you have time to go home and rest every day now?" This day, Donna came to visit her cousin and brought some Chinese takeout.

"Luckily, everyone cooperated very well, so it went smoothly." Ronald picked up the fried vegetables and started eating.

"Have your directing skills improved?" Tomorrow it's Donna's turn to play a guest role, and she is also very curious about making movies.

"It's more about my excellent casting..." Ronald said about the excellent condition of the two leading actors, and then started to tell Donna about tomorrow's filming.

People who have never made a movie are always full of fantasy, but in fact, this is just a job.

"Dududu..."

The phone rang and Ronald picked it up.

"It's me, George."

It turned out to be another ***'s son, little George called.

"Why, what's going on now?" Ronald felt that little George was calling so anxiously because it must be about his father's election.

"You judged very accurately that the Boston Pier ad had a very small impact on Dukakis's approval rating, and at the same time, my father's approval rating also dropped.

Colombo (little George's younger brother and sister), that Spanish-speaking advertisement had the opposite effect...hehehehehe..."

"Aren't you supposed to be worried and disappointed right now?" Ronald replied half-jokingly. The performance of these playboys is really different from ordinary people. If his father does not win the election, what is the point of such strife between brothers?

"I'm just being so straightforward with you, hahaha..." Little George laughed a few words, "The wrong strategy can be corrected, and the correct strategy can be carried out. I am not gloating about the misfortune, but the facts have determined that their method is useless. .”

"What do you think of Barbara?" Ronald asked the key point. In this election, the most critical person is Barbara. Only if she decides to change her strategy can she really change it.

"My mother is still waiting and watching, but she doesn't have much time for Jeb. As long as this trend continues next week, our strategy will work. My mother will definitely call you by then. Do you know what to say?"

"Of course, I have to congratulate you...and Laura."

The reason why little George is so gloating about his misfortune is because of the competition between several daughters-in-law. The sister-in-law who was born in Mexico is short and has different customs. If Barbara hadn't favored her younger son, where would she have been on camera to shoot commercials for George Sr.?

…

The next day, the crew went to a studio in Queens. The interior of a civil aviation aircraft cabin has been built inside.

"Did we...uh huh huh?" Harry got on the plane and sat right behind Sally. He leaned forward, gestured, and spoke to Sally.

"No, no...", Sally felt uncomfortable.

"Do you want to sit together?"

The man sitting with Sally in front offered to switch seats with Harry. The camera panned to the seat next to it, where Donna was sitting, with

She sat in her seat nervously and tried not to look at the camera lens.

"Cut!"

Ronald noticed his cousin's nervousness. It seemed that she had no talent. But fortunately, it's just a cameo, so the audience's attention won't be drawn there, so it doesn't matter if you're a little nervous.

After the filming, Harry changed positions and the camera crew began to re-light.

Meg Ryan quickly went back to the trailer to rest while Billy Crystal chatted with Ronald.

"If I want to be a director, what do you think is the most important thing?"

Billy Crystal already has a good reputation, and he wants to go further. It is very difficult to improve as an actor, so he wants to follow the precedent and see if it is possible to switch to directing and acting.

"First of all, you need a qualified assistant director to help you manage the chores of the crew. Especially if you want to direct and act on your own, you have to have someone to perform your director's duties when you go on stage."

Ronald didn't hide his secrets and explained some of his methods.

"You know what? It's easy for actors to turn into directors because they often watch how directors work. But if a director doesn't have acting talent, it's hard for him to turn into actors. I really don't know how you work." Ronald said laughingly.

"That's the privilege of being an actor..." Billy Crystal knew what Ronald meant. Actors' preparations are always introverted, and outsiders don't know how their inner preparations are carried out. Unlike a director who has a lot of work to communicate with other people, it is an extrovert job.

The break is complete and Meg Ryan is back on set.

"Every department is ready, hair style, come here quickly, we need to tidy up here..."

"A!"

"How long have you and Joe been together? Three weeks?" After Harry sat down, he began to chat with Sally about each other's situation.

"One month, how do you know?" Meg Ryan's expression was spot on. Harry told her about her love situation in such a way that Sally couldn't help but wonder, was Harry secretly spying?

"Because only people who have just started a relationship will go to the airport to see their lover off. But there are also disadvantages to this. If you have been in love for a long time and he doesn't come to see you off in the future, you will think, he has done it before, so why not now? Yes? Is it...?

[In view of the general environment,

So when I started a relationship, I never sent him off to the airport to prevent this from happening. "

"You look like an ordinary person, but in fact you are an angel of death..." Sally couldn't stand Harry's realistic analysis, which made all her romantic yearnings possible to be shattered.

"Are you getting married?" Harry continued.

"We have only known each other for a month, and it's not time to think about it yet..." Sally suspected that this was another ploy that Harry wanted to use to "calmly analyze himself" in love, and explained the situation in a strict manner.

"I'm getting married..." Harry turned around and said the news.

"You? Someone like you wants to get married?"

"Why not? Isn't that weird? Helen Helson is her name and she wants to keep her maiden name."

"Hi, hey...congratulations to you, someone like you...it's great to see you embrace life with such a positive attitude."

Ronald watched the long conversation behind the camera. The two performed very well.

When she learned the news of Harry's marriage, Sally was obviously at a loss. It took her a while to regain her ability to think and speak normally.

Just like watching Sally and Joe kiss passionately, Harry stood there for a long time in confusion before deciding to step forward to say hello to Joe instead of Sally.

This kind of subtle emotional expression is the real attraction of this movie, which seems to have no strong dramatic conflict.