Exploiting Hollywood 1980

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Mike Medavoy, the founder of Orion Pictures, is a tall Jew. However, his feelings towards the film industry are different from those of ordinary Jews. He does not regard film as a pure business, but believes that it is the greatest art form in the world.

With such a philosophy that has been rooted in him since childhood, his path along the way can be said to be exactly the two extremes of Michael Ovitz.

He first worked as an agent at Creative Management Partners, an agency well-known in the industry for signing artists. This company is known for serving artists and giving customers more artistic freedom, unlike CAA, which aims at maximizing profits.

After that, he went to United Artists, the only major studio in Hollywood that adopted a director-centered system and gave the director the final editing rights (of course, it was eventually bankrupted by this director-centered system).

During his time at United Artists, Mike McDavoy supervised Oscar-winners such as "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," "Rocky," "Annie Hall," "Apocalypse Now," "Dark Horse," and "Homecoming."

Afterwards, he defected from United Artists and established "Orion Pictures". He still maintained the style of giving creative freedom to directors and released Oscar-winning films such as "Platoon" and "Mozart".

Artistically, the director is given maximum freedom of expression, so that commercial success will seem inferior. Orion Pictures has not yet jumped out of the trap of a medium-sized studio. The budget for each movie is still around 20 million, and each time it has to wait for the investment to be recovered before it can start filming the next blockbuster. .

They accumulated a large number of projects during the writers' strike and began large-scale filming immediately after the strike ended. So now Orion is also encountering the problem of insufficient cash.

Ronald purchased the share that originally belonged to Gene Hackman, and Mike Medavoy immediately became happy. Ronald's wealth is a widely rumored thing in Hollywood. He now wants to win an Oscar, and Orion needs investment and A director, isn't this a match made in heaven?

…

"This is the set where the sequel to Back to the Future was filmed. This set was rebuilt according to the look of Marty McFly's home in the first film. Hollywood is an industry. Based on the records at the time and the photos of the scene, it can be completely Restore the shooting details at that time..."

On the set of the Back to the Future sequel, Ronald was explaining Xiao Yan in Chinese. After graduating from community college, he interned at Daydream and, like his father, he fell in love with operating cameras and lights.

This time he represents Daydream and joins the Back to the Future crew, operating lightning lights and other photography accessories produced by Daydream. Ronald was familiar with director Zemeckis and producer Spielberg, and he was the one who pulled the strings. In addition to the lightning lights, he also promoted their company's new first-person dog-view camera pole to director Zemeckis. It greatly reduces the difficulty of shooting the racing scenes in Back to the Future.

What originally required a camera crew to be tied to a stand outside the racing car can now be simplified to two people, and the camera operator can use the reflecting mirror to watch the second-person lens effect live, which is very convenient.

Daydream also used the Steadicam model, only renting but not selling it. This time, Xiao Yan was asked to serve as the operator, fulfilling his dream as a fan of "Back to the Future".

"Ronald, your Chinese is pretty good, and your machine is also good. When I was Steve McQueen's agent, drag racing scenes could only be shot outside the car, and only McQueen could do it." Quinn can make those moves..."

Mike Medavoy, who also came to visit the "Back to the Future" crew, became familiar with Ronald and greeted him in Chinese. He came here specially to interview Ronald.

"Hey, how come you Wai Guoren know Chinese?" Xiao Yan was surprised next to him.

"I am not a crooked nut, but I am a crooked nut after all. I can also gossip about Songhai." Mike Medavoy spoke a Shanghainese dialect, which shocked Xiao Yan.

"Hahaha, you must be Mr. Medavoy." Ronald smiled and shook hands with him.

Richard briefly told Ronald about the background of Mike Medavoy. His parents were Jewish immigrants living in Hongkou. When he was young, he opened a tailor shop at home, and his customers were all female celebrities in Shanghai at that time. Including several movie queens.

Therefore, he has been obsessed with film art since he was a child, and he often goes to Daguangming to watch the latest Hollywood movies and local Chinese films. He has a talent for languages ​​and will become proficient in Russian and Spanish in the future, and he can communicate smoothly with actors from all walks of life.

The two found a lounge and sat down, and Mike Medavoy got straight to the point, "Ronald, from what angle do you want to approach this story? What style do you want to film Silence of the Lambs in?"

"Huh? I don't have any definite ideas yet, but what do you think?"

"Haha, speaking of which, after you have been famous for so long, this is your first time working with Orion. We have never interfered with the director's ideas..."

"Is this so?" Ronald thought to himself, this style would only work with a director who is artistically confident and has a good personality. Otherwise, you will either discover that the film was shot in the wrong direction while filming, or you will be prepared to pay for the director's selfishness and get a lot of expensive and useless props and scenery.

Or, the worst case scenario is that you encounter both problems, like Michael Cimino who brought down United Artists.

"To be honest, I haven't thought of a suitable angle yet. I want to talk to the screenwriter Ted Tully first."

Adapting a movie is actually quite difficult because of the length of the movie and the two-hour movie, which requires making choices and trimming of the plot.

"I'll make arrangements for you right away. Ted Tully happens to be out of work right now. He rewrote the script very hard. I like his adaptation very much. Of course, it's all up to you to make the decision."

Mike Medavoy knows how to deal with artists very well, which is to give them space, support, money, find beautiful (or handsome) actors they like, and in the end just let them perform. On average, he will do it three or five times in total. You may encounter a big prize once.

Don't say that Ronald's request is just this, he can satisfy you ten times more. For example, Ronald could have proposed the candidate for FBI Detective Starling, and Orion would have been responsible for persuading him.

"Very good. My good friend Jim Cameron worked with you on The Terminator. He said it was a pleasant experience to work with you. In this way, we can talk about the business conditions first, and then we will focus on that market. Moviegoers.”

"Huh?" Mike Medavoy was also surprised. Orion and the others didn't come into contact with many such directors. Let’s not talk about art first, let’s talk about production planning first. No wonder most of the movies made by Ronald make a lot of money.

The two quickly discussed their investment plans for "Silence of the Lambs." Ronald and he both confirmed that a budget of around 20 million should be invested and stars should be invited to star. This kind of suspense thriller drama has a relatively unorthodox serial killer case as its subject matter and a lot of psychological analysis plots. If there are no stars to star in it, the marketing costs will be so high that no matter how good the movie is, there will be no profit.

Daydream and Orion are each responsible for half of the quota. As long as they have a script, find suitable stars, and then announce that Ronald will direct, a lot of investment will come in immediately. In this industry, everyone invests based on celebrities. Gene Hackman's difficulty in financing does not mean that Ronald also has difficulty.

"Camera? Recording?!"

After talking about things, Ronald and Medavoy went out to watch the filming of director Zemeckis. The filming has just started for two days. The main task is to reshoot the ending of the first part of "Back to the Future", where Marty McFly, played by Michael J. Fox, and his girlfriend Jennifer Parker are in a home that has become richer. We are reunited at the door, and then encounter Dr. Brown, who has returned from the future, driving a flying DeLorean sports car.

"Marty..."

"Jennifer..."

The two actors, wearing the same clothes and hairstyle four years ago, looked at each other lovingly again.

The reason for reshooting this sequence, rather than using the footage from the end of the first film, is a bit complicated.

In the first film, Claudia Wells, who played the heroine, withdrew from the filming of the sequel due to family reasons, so the crew had to find an actress who looked similar to her to film the sequel.

Many newcomers were recommended to audition for the show, but Zemeckis was not satisfied. It happened that Ronald's agent Richard learned about this and recommended Elizabeth Sue to play this role.

Originally, Elisabeth Shue had already starred opposite Tom Cruise in "Cocktail" and was considered to be the most popular female star. She should not go back to replace Claudia Wei, who only had one well-known film. ers.

However, her ability to make money was greatly questioned after "Cocktail", so much so that she could no longer receive invitations for blockbusters, so she had to squat at home every day, not knowing what to do.

The shooting cost of "Cocktail" was US$20 million, and the domestic box office reached US$78 million. After the cost is recovered, there will still be a small profit. It is said that Elizabeth Sue will not be depressed because of this.

But the film's box office success was a miracle that defied convention. Originally, Cinema gave this movie a B+ rating, and the reviews were all negative. According to experience, this movie can only get a 2.5-3 times opening weekend box office multiplier at most, which is a minimum of 30 million.

But this movie actually broke Cinema's always accurate empirical formula, making distributor Disney overjoyed.

This also made Cinema unconvinced. They did not think that their sampling survey was wrong. Finally, after a joint large-scale audience interview with Disney, they finally found out that the most important reason for attracting audiences to watch this movie is Tom Cruise.

In other words, Tom Cruise broke an accurate empirical formula in Hollywood. He alone can increase the box office of a bad movie. This is a true superstar who can make audiences walk into the cinema just to see him.

After the Oscars, Tom Cruise's ability to boost box office has been even more appreciated by the industry. Because the day before the Oscars, Cruise was nominated for "Worst Actor" at the Razzie Awards. In other words, no matter whether he is a good actor or a poor actor, as long as he shows his face, there will be female viewers watching like a nymphomaniac.

In these film reviews and audience surveys, no one has ever mentioned Elizabeth Sue.

This gave Hollywood a consensus that if it were a different director and a different heroine, this movie might become another hit. Therefore, Tom Cruise's current salary offer has surpassed that of the new actor Dustin Hoffman, becoming a real game changer.

At the same time, the film also puts Elizabeth Shue in a difficult position. Sometimes things are just so ridiculous that you might be doing nothing wrong and Hollywood will downgrade you.

Therefore, Elizabeth Sue was also very grateful to Richard for his generosity, and came specially to thank the crew who had just gone to Ronald.

"Cut!" After Zemeckis stopped, he watched the ending of the first part again on the on-site video recorder. After discussing with the photographer, he found the three protagonists, pointed out a few minor flaws, and then announced a break. , waiting for the prop team to re-create several areas that are inconsistent with the original.

This change of angles caused quite a lot of trouble. This reshot scene wants the audience to accept Elizabeth Shue's Jennifer and forget about Claudia Wells's Jennifer. Because there are so many fans of Back to the Future, many people have bought the video and watched it multiple times. Any slight discrepancy will make the fans and audience members at the beginning feel wrong and make the audience upset.

The drama started right at the beginning, and I started to think about whether the heroine had been replaced, and the plot seemed wrong. This was a very troublesome thing, which would have a great impact on the audience's subsequent viewing experience, and thus the box office, so Zemeckis It was a very demanding request, and the shoot lasted for several days, and it looked like it would take another week.

Ronald stepped forward and handed Elizabeth Su a bottle of mineral water. She is flanked by Leigh Thompson, another leading lady returning to the series, as well as Michael J. Fox.

Lea Thompson, who is engaged to her boyfriend, director Howard Deutch, has more scenes this time than in the first film, and also has a special make-up because Marty's mother, Lorraine, had breast augmentation in this sequel. When Ronald hugged her, they both felt the power of silicone makeup.

Her situation is similar to that of Elizabeth Shue. After playing "Howard the Duck", her status as a star has regressed so much that she urgently needs to go back to the future to get some blood.

Next to them is the popular actor Michael J. Fox in America. He is famous in TV and movies. This sequel was only launched after Zemeckis confirmed that he would join.

"I still have to learn to skateboard. There is a floating skateboard in this episode, which can float without wheels. I don't know if it will be invented in 2015." Michael J. Fox and Ronald chatted happily.

When filming the first part, he was working between two crews and could only sleep two or three hours a day. He relied on Ronald to arrange a van so that he could nap in the car. So the relationship between the two is very good.

"I said, don't you know how to skateboard? Why do you still need to learn?" Ronald was a little confused. Isn't skateboarding similar to riding a bicycle? Once you learn it, you won't forget it? Fox also had a lot of skateboarding scenes in the first film.

"Huh? I do know how to skateboard." Fox scratched his head. He didn't know what happened. It seems that I can't skateboard anymore and I have to learn it all over again with the coach.

"You must be too busy..." Leigh Thompson laughed, she was friends with both of them.

"Fortunately, now it's the director's turn to sleep three hours a day..." Fox smiled and nuzzled at Zemeckis.

"Haha..." Everyone was a little dissatisfied with Zemeckis's high standards and strict requirements, so they took the opportunity to make fun of him.

Zemeckis's previous film "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" has just been released in China, with a box office of 150 million. But the production cost was more than 50 million, and the shooting period was seven and a half months, which made the distributor Disney want to vomit blood.

Halfway through, Disney CEO Eisner even wanted to close the production stop and get out of the game, but fortunately Katzenberg made him give up the idea.

Who knew that something even more blood-vomiting would happen later? The post-production of this film was also very slow. Due to the need for the synthesis of live-action and animation, Industrial Light and Magic invested two teams, which took a year and two months to complete. Therefore, even high box office cannot make up for the numerous production cost overruns.

Zemeckis, like the two leading ladies, has to rely on this sequel to make money and make Hollywood recognize its value again. Zemeckis needed financial help, so this time he took a very radical approach and filmed two sequels in a row.

Because the production cycle of two consecutive sequels is extremely long, they are still processed in parallel. After the filming of the second film is completed, the assistant director will be responsible for post-production, while another team will continue to shoot the third film, and Zemeckis will I'm responsible for twice as much work as a normal director, so I'm very busy.

"How long do you have to shoot?" Ronald asked several friends. This was the first time in the history of Hollywood that two episodes were shot consecutively. He wanted to know more.

"We actually don't have many scenes, but the director requires us to be on set all the time. It's estimated that we will have to stay here for ten months..."

"Hey, this is really terrible..." Ronald couldn't help but feel that Zemeckis was not very humane. How could he not have a role and have to take up all the drama?

But there are advantages to this. Daydream's lightning lights and dog-viewing camera poles are charged according to the rental time. Zemeckis likes to waste other people's time, which is a good thing for business and Xiao Yan's study.

Ronald finished his visit and returned to the city with Mike Medavoy of Orion. The two walked to the door of the filming base and found another Jennifer Parker, wearing the same costume, struggling with the security guard at the door.

If he hadn't just said goodbye to Elizabeth Sue inside, Ronald would have thought there was something wrong with his eyesight. As I got closer, I realized it was Claudia Wells, who played Jennifer in the first film.

When it comes to their temperament and beauty, Claudia Wells is actually better than Elizabeth Sue. She is more beautiful than the girl next door and can be considered the most beautiful 1% in high school.

"Wow..." Wells, who had been refused entry to the set for the second day, squatted at the door and cried.

"What's wrong with you? Don't cry..." Ronald couldn't see the beauty crying, so he pulled her up, and together with Mike Medavoy, persuaded her to leave the set, and found a cafe to slowly understand the situation.

"I heard that you gave up the role yourself?" Ronald couldn't figure out what was going on. Now it seems that the news in the "Hollywood Report" may not be true.

"My mother was seriously ill and I really needed this job...but my agent informed me that I had been blacklisted by Universal. I came to Zemeckis several times and he wouldn't Want to see me..."

Claudia Wells's costume was from four years ago. It was already a little yellowed, but it could be seen that she had washed and ironed it carefully.

"Is there any misunderstanding here?" Ronald handed the coffee cup to Claudia, but for a movie that has already started filming, it is definitely impossible to change roles.

"I don't know...I don't know what I did wrong..." Claudia's tears that had just been stopped flowed again.

"Don't worry too much, ask your agent to help you see if there are other roles?" Ronald knew that Back to the Future has many teenage fans. Although the heroine Claudia Wells did not appear in the sequel, no As for not being able to get a single role.

"My agent wanted to terminate my contract... He also warned me that he wanted to quit on his own initiative..."

"I remember you are Jewish?" Mike Medavoy suddenly interjected from the side. He saw the cross around Claudia's neck.

"I used to be, but I have reconverted to Christ, and now I am a born-again Christian..." Claudia Wells took out the unique cross of their sect and showed them to them. This sect emphasizes spiritual rebirth to accept the gospel, and people must be rebaptized as adults before they can join the religion.

"Hmm..." Ronald roughly knew what the problem was. Claudia Wells has been blocked by some people to some extent.