Exploiting Hollywood 1980

Understanding Ronald's concerns, Mike Medavoy made an arrangement that had both ends. premiered in the most famous theaters in New York and Los Angeles.

On the first night at the Alice Theater of Lincoln Center in New York, Meg Tilly and her boyfriend Colin Firth, as well as starring actors such as Firouza Balker, attended the premiere in New York.

The next day, it was moved to the Samuel Goldwyn Cinema in Beverly Hills for the Los Angeles premiere, so that Ronald could help support it without any psychological burden.

Hollywood is a big stage, and it's important for everyone to praise each other. Ronald made a round of phone calls and found the likes of Melanie Griffiths and Alec Baldwin to support him. The marketing investment of this movie is not as good as that of a big production, so it can only match stars like this who are just starting to get their careers off the ground.

"Our premiere in New York was very good. Many famous Hollywood stars came." Lead actor Colin Firth was the only one of the main actors to attend both premieres. He needs more exposure. degree, and the opportunity to socialize with the powers that be in Hollywood.

So he came to chat with Ronald. Colin Firth, who was wearing a black crew-neck shirt and a suit jacket, seemed to have gained weight. It seemed that his life with Meg Tilly was going well.

"Who is there?" Ronald chatted casually.

"Jessica Tandy, her new movie will be released next month, just make an exchange with us." Colin Firth was talking about the famous actress who acted in the 1940s, who is 80 years old this year.

"Oh?" Ronald also had to admire him. This was not just a guest appearance. In 1985, she also played the heroine in "Cocoon" and performed well in this science fiction film about aliens who rejuvenate the elderly. , was nominated for the Best Actress at the Saturn Award, which is specially designed for science fiction movies.

The movie was also a box office success. In a movie market with teenagers as the main audience, a movie with the main characters being elderly people can still be successful at the box office. I have to say that her acting skills are really superb. Moreover, her body is also very strong and can withstand high-intensity film shooting...

"And you American girls, Brooke Shields is here too..." Colin Firth tried his best to name some celebrities, otherwise he wouldn't know how to chat with a Hollywood person like Ronald.

"Hmm..." Ronald didn't know what to say. The publicity route for "Valmont" seems to be a bit unusual, with the New York premiere featuring some has-been stars.

"Hi, Ronald..." At this time, some stars living near Beverly Hills were also invited to walk over to watch the premiere.

"Mr. Parker..." Ronald greeted him. This was an old friend who went to the other side of the Pacific with him. "Nice to meet you... Do you have any new movie projects recently?"

It just so happened that the movie I dreamed about on the transoceanic flight was starring Parker, so I took the opportunity to find out his schedule.

"Hey, it seems that you haven't seen the movie I released last month..." Gregory Peck sighed helplessly.

"Um..." Ronald thought for a long time, but he really had no impression.

"Working with Jane Fonda, working with her is a pleasure...but now the audience no longer likes to see my old face..." Gregory Peck laughed at himself.

"Where? I really want to have the opportunity to work with you in a movie. It's mainly a matter of luck. I heard that Ms. Jessica Tandy will also have a movie released next month. Hollywood stars are all treasures... …”

"Hahaha, you make me very happy, little Ronald. When we have the opportunity, we can travel to the other side of the Pacific together..."

Gregory Peck is very happy that Ronald still respects him, but he also knows in his heart that the current audience has long forgotten them. At most, he can only act in TV series and have a bit of drama... He does not regard Ronald as Nader’s invitation is serious…”

Ronald sent Gregory Peck in and found that Colin Firth had hooked up with the middle-aged female star Jacqueline Bisset. This bold British actress was very interested in Colin Firth. A fellow countryman was also very interested and ignored his boyfriend, Swiss actor Vincent Perez, who came with him.

Looking at Fiers, who still didn't quite understand what Bisset meant, Ronald pushed Mike Medavoy, who was standing next to him and chatting with director Milos Forman. As soon as Mike Medavoy saw something was going to go wrong, he quickly went to pull Colin Firth away.

"You Americans always make a fuss and take romantic encounters between men and women too seriously..." Milos Forman grabbed Ronald to complain when he had no one to chat with.

"So, the quality of Dangerous Liaisons produced by us in Hollywood is not as good as the works of European directors with the same theme. The depth of the relationship between men and women is much more profound than this Valmont..." Ronald complimented Milos. ·Forman.

This isn't necessarily flattery. The unprovoked love that arises and disappears between men and women in this movie is definitely more real than last year's Dangerous Relationship. That movie was basically simplified into a story about a good woman, a bad woman, and a girl meeting true love.

"Ah, hahaha...didn't you see the movie review?" Milos Forman was also very happy. Roger Ebert's review of the film from the Chicago Sun-Times came out yesterday:

He gave the film three and a half stars. And compare that to Warner's version of "Dangerous Liaisons," which was adapted from a play rather than one. Albert believes that "Valmont" is completely different from its predecessors. While "Dangerous Liaisons" was "sane and closed-minded, an exercise in psychosexual games," Forman's version was more "physical" and the seduction more exciting.

These European directors are indeed much better than Hollywood directors in expressing human desires through lens language rather than lines.

"Diane and I watched the test screening, and it was really good. It's hard for a director in Hollywood to shoot such a picture..."

Ronald thought to himself, this is strange. European Adrian Lyne obviously shows nothing, but he can make the audience passionate and passionate. The same is true for this Valmont. European directors have this ability. This sense of power that is not directly expressed.

While chatting, Melanie Griffith arrived with her remarried ex-husband Don Johnson.

"Melanie...I heard it's a girl?" Ronald stepped forward to greet her and then introduced her to Milos Forman.

"Ah, yes, Don and I named her Dakota. It is an Indian name, which means friendship. It is also unisex. We decided on the name very early..."

Melanie Griffiths is the kind of expressive and explosive actress that European directors like very much. She had a great chat with Ronald and Milos Forman.

Wearing a white trousers suit and short hair, Melanie Griffiths looks obviously more haggard than when she was photographed as a working girl. She just gave birth to a daughter last month and is still recovering.

Don Johnson, the star of Miami Vice, seemed a little impatient because his daughter was in constant trouble. First, it was revealed that Melanie Griffith was pregnant, and he had a falling out with his live-in girlfriend Barbra Streisand.

Then she lived with Uma Thurman, the supporting actress in "Dangerous Liaisons", but the actress, who was only 18 years old, could not accept the fact that her boyfriend had another woman's child, and the two broke up.

It just so happened that "Miami Vice" also suffered a drop in ratings due to the writers' strike, and NBC decided not to renew it next year. Don Johnson saw that Melanie Griffiths had regained her career as a "working girl" and had a daughter. Don Johnson reconciled with the mother of the child, Melanie... But after the child was born, he did not You have to go through the remarriage procedures.

Ronald doesn't like such a relationship that is very profit-oriented and realistic, but Melanie loves her deeply and keeps promoting her husband...

…

"I came back before I finished reading, so as not to be caught by them and have to promote myself..." Ronald sneaked home to talk to Diane after he saw half of it.

"The main thing is that I met Mr. Parker this time. I agreed with him that if there is a suitable script, I will recruit him to be the leading actor..."

"Do you really want to cooperate with him? He is a rare decent man in Hollywood..." Diane was surprised. Gregory Peck was already seventy-three.

"Well, I'm searching for a script to make a movie that reflects real business competition..." Ronald thought of the movie clip in his dream, and the more he thought about it, the more he thought it was a big deal, so he started searching for a script.

"Melanie gave birth to a daughter? Do you like boys or girls?" Diane touched her belly...

"I like them all. By the way, Melanie said she decided on the name before she knew the gender of her child. What do you think?" Ronald asked her.

"I don't know. My name was given to me when I was born. My parents had a big fight and got divorced. What do you think?"

"Then we will be named after we are born, but the middle name must be Vaille..." Ronald remembered the tradition of his great-great-grandfather Li Enfu, who used the name of Mrs. Vaille, his sojourn family in Connecticut, as his own A middle name that has been passed down through the generations in the family.

"Is this a girl's name? Why did you choose this?" Diane didn't understand.

"This is a family tradition. My father, grandfather, and great-grandfather all use this middle name..."

"Hey? Are you too? So this is what the abbreviation V in your name means?"

"Yes, it is said that she is a lady who has been very kind to my family, so she has been named like this."

"Oh..." Diane also went to find Ronald's director's union card to check, and it was indeed Ronald V. Lee's name on it.

…

"Valmont is finished in America..."

Who knows, at the weekend, news came from Orion that the movie was a box office failure.

This movie adopts a release strategy to prepare for the Oscars. It will be released for a week first to meet the minimum requirements for Oscar awards, and then it will control the number of theaters it will be released in, allowing word-of-mouth to slowly ferment, which is believed to cause a phenomenon where it is difficult to get a ticket. .

Slowly expand the number of screenings in this way, wait until it is nominated for an Oscar, and then expand the screenings on a large scale. If you are lucky enough to win a statuette, it will be released in the mainstream for the second time next year.

However, the necessary condition for this strategy is that the audience's reputation is really good, and some people are really recommending this movie to their friends.

Regardless of the quality of the movie "Valmont", it clearly has no reputation among the audience.

"Valmont" premiered on Tuesdays and Wednesdays to slowly build buzz, but by the weekend, no one was talking about the movie. All the audience's attention was attracted by the three movies released.

One was a Southern girl movie "Steel Magnolias" with Ronald, Julia Roberts, Diane, and some other actresses. American audiences have always had a preference for dramas written by Southern women. Whether it is Little Women or Gone with the Wind, these are their preferred themes.

The other is Disney's new animated feature film, "The Little Mermaid," which was relaunched many years later. Needless to say, after many years of giving up animation and mainly making live-action films, Disney still captured the hearts of all children when it came out.

The last one is "Harlem Nightclub", a new work written, directed and starred by black comedy star Eddie Murphy. He has not had a new drama for a long time, and the audience's expectations are high.

In this way, these three new works have wiped out all the popularity of "Valmont". There was no buzz when it was released in the middle of the week, and word-of-mouth didn't pick up at the weekend. The major theater chains showed one show at a loss, and the film studios have been notified that more profitable movies will be screened offline.

"Why?" Ronald was also confused. He asked many questions to Richard who brought the news, but unfortunately Richard didn't have the answers.

"I don't know why, but this movie just isn't popular, and the audience didn't react much after watching it..."

"What do you think of the investigation over there?" Ronald asked.

"They didn't ask for an investigation..." Richard flipped through the materials and replied.

"They should at least know why it failed at the box office..."

The more Ronald thought about it, the weirder he got, and he asked some generals, including Daydream's Michelle Cannold and David Simkins, to come over to his home for a meeting to discuss.

Several experienced directors also couldn't figure it out. The direction, acting, and script of this movie are all top-notch, and it's more utilitarian. The erotic scenes in the movie are much more interesting than last year's "Dangerous Liaisons."

Glenn Gross' figure is not as alluring as when she played a cheating woman with Michael Douglas.

How beautiful Annette Bening looks? The scene of bathing at home is much more alluring than last year's Warner version.

"What do you think, Dan? And you? Wang Ma? Wang Ma?"

Ronald couldn't find the reason, so he remembered Cinema's on-site investigation method, and also called a few ordinary viewers at home to ask them what they thought.

"I'm not very interested in costume dramas to begin with..." Dan was very responsible as a bodyguard when Ronald went out, but his home was very safe, so he wouldn't accompany Ronald to watch a movie that didn't interest him. Movie.

"Didn't you watch it last year? Why is it still available this year? Did you show it again?" Wang Ma's English is not very good, and she can't understand the elegant lines of this kind of costume drama, so she is even less interested.

"Could this be the reason?" Ronald turned around and asked several generals.

"I guess that's it. Costume dramas, especially costume romance dramas from the Kingdom of Lao, don't have a large audience to begin with. However, the plot of Warner's version of Dangerous Liaisons has been simplified a lot, so it may not be difficult for the audience to understand."

"Well, I watched the same movie last year. Among friends and colleagues, there is no one to talk about..."

Several senior executives reacted and blamed the same story on last year's "Dangerous Liaisons".

"Does this have such a big impact on the box office? Has this kind of thing happened in Hollywood before?" Ronald still had doubts in his heart. No one would watch the subject he had filmed?

He called Gregory Peck and asked the veteran Hollywood actor for information.

"It wasn't like this before. Once a movie becomes a hit, there will be movies that follow suit. But Hollywood is a mystery. If I knew how to make movies and make money, I could have many more influential roles."

Ronald searched around and found no conclusion, so he could only accept this reason for the time being.

But Orion couldn't accept it. They invested 35 million US dollars in this movie and found Milos Forman. They wanted to recreate the grand occasion of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and "Mozart". As a result, it has not even been released yet. The dilemma of not being able to find it in any theater...

Orion's Vice President of Distribution has flown to London to do urgent PR for UK and European copy sales. Will use "Valmont" to take the initiative to withdraw the film as an excuse to persuade the film studio there to continue ordering.

The film's failure caused greater unrest in Hollywood than Ronald imagined.

Such a lineup, such investment, such performances, such meticulous craftsmanship, yet suffered a rare fiasco in the history of Hollywood.

For a time, everyone in the Seventh Group felt insecure and began to take stock of the projects they were filming or had completed. All films with similar plots that had been released before would be suspended or re-evaluated.

Ronald's two projects with Orion were particularly affected. "Silence of the Lambs" had another adaptation of the same series a few years ago, "Red Dragon," which didn't do well at the box office.

The filming of "Dances with Wolves" has not yet been completed.

For a time, Mike Medavoy was also under a lot of pressure and had to come to Ronald to discuss what to do.