Exploiting Hollywood 1980

Latest website: "Roger..." Ronald saw the figure of Roger Coleman coming out of the departure gate of the commercial flight and waved to him happily.

"Ronald... Ha, I didn't expect to see you here. Jonathan said the person who came to pick me up was an acquaintance. I'm still thinking about who it is?" Roger Coleman still looks as good as he did ten years ago. , he pulled the box and walked towards Ronald.

"Didi..." Little Bud started the car. Roger Coleman, who had just gotten off the plane, was very happy to see Ronald coming to pick him up, and kept chatting with him along the way.

"It's better that you and Jonathan are nice to me. The ones that let me guest play are all important roles... Hahaha... unlike Jim (Cameron), who at most lets me play a teacher..."

Roger Corman's current new company has seen a sharp decline in film production. He mainly relies on shooting some small productions for the direct-to-video market, and cooperating with old friends like Ronald to shoot some medium-sized productions.

Compared with the peak period when one person produced more than 40 films a year and directed two films by himself, it is not the same. Moreover, the shooting of video tapes is only about the size of a TV set, which is far less interesting than shooting a big-screen movie...

In fact, with his wealth, he can retire and enjoy a happy life, but because of his love for movies, he still doesn't want to leave the film industry. And as he got older, he gradually fell in love with acting. As long as there was an opportunity, he would not miss the opportunity for his old friends to invite him to make guest appearances.

"Jonathan also asked me to play a guest role this time, but it's not as important as your role at all. I'm very jealous... Why is your role so much more important than mine?" Ronald was talking nonsense with Coleman in the car.

"Hehehe, because I am a classmate of Jack Nicholson's acting class, that's why... you have to learn more to be an actor..."

Roger Corman's role is really important. He plays a big shot: the director of the FBI.

This time, Jonathan Demi worked hard to invite Coleman all the way to the FBI to film the real scene. Not only was Roger Corman given the role of FBI Director, but an official photo was made of Roger Corman with the stars and stripes behind him, which was hung on the wall of the FBI headquarters office.

"Well, not bad...Ronald, let's lean against this wall and let them take a photo of us..."

Roger Coleman was very happy when he saw his standard portrait of the director hanging on the wall in the FBI office, and even pulled Ronald to take a photo in front of his photo.

Jonathan Demi also had some considerations in giving him the role of the highest officer in the show. Roger Corman seems to have a lot of experience playing this kind of bureaucratic role. Whether it's a congressman, a teacher, a government official, or the director of the FBI.

This was Coppola's first discovery. Coppola invited Coleman to play a senator in The Godfather Part II. According to him, Coleman looked very much like that kind of political big shot: sanctimonious, but completely ignorant of the content of his job, all relying on pretentiousness. fool.

This time he plays the director of the FBI. Not to mention, there is a kind of friendly hypocrisy in the photo, which is very suitable for this kind of bureaucratic role.

"Hahaha, Ronald, what role did you play?"

After Roger Coleman admired his photos and rehearsed twice with the office, he turned around and saw Ronald changing into his student uniform and laughed.

Ronald was wearing a sky blue T-shirt, beige pants underneath, and a yellow denim-style metal belt buckle that was very eye-catching. There was also a leather gun holster on the belt. There is nothing inappropriate about dressing up like an FBI student.

Jonathan Demme also invited Ronald to play this small role because of his good acting. Ronald will have a close-up shot of him in cadet uniform, disassembling the revolver and wiping it down, and saying "Looks good...".

According to Jonathan Demme, Ronald was well built, had short hair, was clean-shaven, and had the clean-cut demeanor of someone working in a disciplined force.

If he had entered the acting industry back then, he would have been a good material for playing the role of a disciplinary force. Whether he is playing a positive supporting character who is killed by the villain not long after he appears in an awe-inspiring manner; or he is playing a spy villain who infiltrates the good guys' side and is beaten to death in a shootout with the protagonist after being exposed, this face is very convincing.

This is Jonathan Demme's shooting philosophy. The quality of a movie is often determined by these inconspicuous supporting characters. In a truly first-rate movie, none of the supporting characters are outstanding. In average-level movies, the protagonist's role is often okay, but the supporting characters start to fool...

…

"!"

Jonathan Demme gave an order, and the camera gradually zoomed in on Ronald.

Ronald pulled out the revolver, turned the wheel with his fingers, then poked a ballistic path on the wheel a few times with a rod, and then said to the actor opposite, "It looks good..."

The camera continued to move forward, Jodie Foster poked her head in from outside, and Starling was summoned by her boss and came in wearing training clothes.

The camera panned across Ronald's location, following Jodie Foster into the front aisle, then around the corner to a leadership office.

The camera zoomed in, and two people who looked like leaders told Starling that her boss was busy and that she could wait in the boss's office next to her.

Finally, the camera followed her into the office, and on the wall opposite was a photo of Roger Corman.

"Cut!"

"Wow wow wow..." Everyone was very proud and applauded Ronald's performance. Ronald also applauded. The atmosphere on the set was good. Everyone's habit of applauding after the scene was shot showed that the crew was actually in good condition and Jonathan Demme had good control.

"Now it's your turn..." Ronald didn't take off his makeup and was still at the scene, waiting to see the wonderful performance of Roger Corman, the Oscar winner, Jack Nicholson's classmate.

"!"

"Hannibal Lecter will be transferred to Memphis..." Roger Corman looked on with a serious expression and lectured Starling's boss, Jack, on the phone.

"Transfer?" The actor who played Jack was behind the camera holding a mobile phone and playing with him.

"Did you let one of your trainees pass false news to Hannibal Lecter, saying that the senator would transfer him to a prison with better conditions? Now the senator (the mother of the kidnapped girl) is angry Crazy, there's Mr. Paul Klinder here from the Department of Justice, he's going to go to the Memphis airport and take over everything..."

The camera jerked forward, and Roger Corman's politician's face became even more serious.

"Cut!"

"Bravo!" Ronald led the applause.

"Hahaha, how are my acting skills?" Coleman couldn't hold it in any longer. This role is big enough, and it was fun to play.

"As expected of Jack Nicholson's classmate..." Ronald gave him a thumbs up.

Jonathan Demme came over and gave them two T-shirts and baseball caps as souvenirs of their participation in the show.

Ronald gave him a thumbs up as well.

The pursuit of details is Jonathan Demi's consistent pursuit. In the front, Roger Corman’s photo of the director is hung on the wall, which is a lens language that echoes back and forth. This is the embodiment of Demi’s pursuit of details. Regardless of whether the movie "Silence of the Lambs" does well at the box office, one thing is certain:

That is, as a fan of this type of film, when you buy a video and watch it at home, you may discover some new details every time, instead of discovering misleading content and praising the director's skills in amazement.

In addition to Coleman's photo hanging on the wall of Starling's boss Jack's office, there is also a photo hanging on the wall of the director's office played by Coleman in this scene. It is none other than the founder of the FBI, Edgar Hu. Picture of Buddha.

This is also an echo of the plot happening in the camera. It was after Hoover's death that the Director of the FBI was no longer the ruthless figure who had so much power over the United States that even the commander-in-chief had to avoid him.

The FBI after Hoover was placed under the jurisdiction of the Department of Justice and was theoretically under the command of the Attorney General. This is why in the plot of the movie, the director of the FBI has to take orders from the special envoy from the Department of Justice sent by the senator, giving him full responsibility for the handling of Hannibal Lecter.

No matter what the real details are, this kind of handling at least makes it impossible for people who understand the power structure of the FBI and America to make any big mistakes. The concept of making every film into a masterpiece is also an important reason why Jonathan Demme can enjoy the hard work of directing.

…

Ronald and Roger Corman finished their cameos and took a business jet back to Los Angeles together.

"Ronald, why do you always use a business jet to travel? Do you know? One flight can allow many poor children to finish high school..."

Roger Coleman sat comfortably on the seat of the business jet. He took Ronald's plane without having to pay for it, which actually made him feel happy.

But at heart he is still a veteran from World War II, and he was influenced by the hippies. He has a strong feeling of doing something for the people at the bottom. Seeing that his disciple Ronald is now prominent, he will stop saying what needs to be said.

"My aunt told me that the secret to hard work is to sleep well. I always sleep well on business jets. If you sleep well, you will be more efficient. If you are efficient, you will make a movie smoothly, and you can save a lot of filming money..."

Ronald's series of absurd reasoning made Roger Corman laugh.

"Besides, Sony gave this to me for free. I actually donated a lot of money to some foundations that support poor students..."

Ronald not only provided scholarships to poor children in Staten Island, but also established a scholarship in the name of Lao Yan for Chinese students coming to America. Every year, I use a little profit from Lightning Light, plus my own money, to support international students in the New York and Los Angeles areas.

I heard that because of their English problem, many of them can only earn living expenses by washing dishes in Chinese restaurants. The intensity of labor there and how much energy they have to study is a question. Ronald will try his best to help every one he can. Because Xiao Yan was also an international student, he helped Ronald take care of the charity funding.

"Very good, work hard, have fun and give back to society, you are really good!"

Roger Corman treated the young people he supported equally and was very proud of their artistic achievements. But from the perspective of a producer and businessman, he still likes Ronald the most. Only talents who take both business and art into consideration can bring more job opportunities and better movies to Hollywood.

Ronald raised his mineral water bottle to show respect to Coleman.

"I agreed to the thing you mentioned. It's also a good thing to help you. Although I am Jewish, it is not a good thing for those people to monopolize opportunities in the creative industry... When I was young, Hollywood was not Now like this..."

Roger Corman sighed. Back then, there were drive-in theaters and low-cost film distributors like AIP, which could advance payments to Corman’s company to make movies, and they cultivated batches of highly educated film talents. It can be said to have completely changed Hollywood.

In today's Hollywood, there are fewer and fewer opportunities to make low-cost movies. When I made my debut in videotapes and TV movies, I had many bad habits due to the size of the screen. I saw that the art of big-screen movies was in danger of being lost.

Roger Corman is a man of insight. Although he has never been truly accepted and recognized by Hollywood, he can be regarded as a living fossil in the film industry and is quite worried about the current situation.

"I hope they won't embarrass you too much. They won't say you are a traitor among the Jews, right?" What Ronald asked Coleman to do was actually quite taboo for Jewish people. There is a general rule for Jewish people in Hollywood, which is to try to leave opportunities to people of this ethnic group.

"Hey, they actually don't see me as the same kind..." Coleman sneered, "I don't see them as the same kind either. Jews can only be successful if they integrate into mainstream society and don't see themselves as a special group. The way out..."

Roger Corman was actually a liberal Jew, and he also celebrated Christmas. The general trend of Jewish thought before the war was to integrate into mainstream American values. Until the impact of World War II, a large number of Eastern European Jewish elites came to America, completely changing the Jewish population composition and mainstream ideological trends...

"I'm going too far. I'm actually just a guest star in this matter. They won't do anything to me. But the friend you mentioned who really took action is under much greater pressure than me..."

Roger Corman had a rough idea of ​​Ronald's plan and his mentality of wanting to get "other people's money" and the two "Forrest Gump" movies. This kind of thing is not so easy for some arrogant Jews. They would rather the script never get made than let a non-Jewish person try.

"Hehehe, don't worry about him, he has a special status, those Jews can't do anything to him..."

Ronald replied with a smile.

There are some things he hasn't told Coleman yet. Confucius said it well, "If a monarch does not know how to keep secrets, then he will lose his country. If a subject does not know how to keep secrets, then he will lose his life. If you do not know how to keep secrets, then you will not be able to do it. .”

Besides, this is for Coleman's own good. If he knows too much about the plan, he will be under great pressure after it is completed. It is better for everyone to maintain such a tacit understanding of knowing everything but not making it clear.