Exploiting Hollywood 1980

Latest website: The script of "Fantastic Four" is based on the plot of Stan Lee's comics. Of course, it tells the story of four astronauts who were exposed to radiation in space and became superpowers, and then defeated the evil Doctor Doom. story.

The script had to be written quickly. Roger Corman asked Craig Neves, the screenwriter of last year's movie "Happy Together" starring Helen Slater, to write the script. It's fast, although the quality is very average, and it smells like Disney's inferior cartoons.

A director had to be found quickly, and Oli Sasso, a director who had made TV movies for Disney, was chosen. He himself is a photographer, so he does the work of two people for one salary.

The actors were quickly found, and they were all ambitious and talented actors from B-level movies and TV series. In addition, Roger Corman has a wealth of special effects and makeup resources. Most of the special effects are solved through costumes, props, and makeup.

Including the effect of the stone man, it was created using a leather sheath. Just let the actors put a lot of fake muscles on their bodies and wear a leather sheath painted with stones. It’s just a little bit harder when performing.

The only thing that needed Ronald's help was the computer post-production special effects artist to do two key space radiation to mutate the protagonists, and the final scene where Doctor Doom explodes. Ronald assigned two engineers to the three teams that worked on special effects for "Ghost" to help, and the project started with great fanfare.

…

"Jim, you're here..."

Ronald, who was on the phone coordinating the deployment of special effects crews and resources, saw Cameron and his new wife, Kathryn Bigelow, visiting the house. He quickly hung up the phone after a few words.

A few people chatted about the progress of Spider-Man. When Ronald saw Bigelow going to chat with Diane, he immediately pulled Cameron and lowered his voice to talk about more private things.

"The outline script of Spider-Man has been submitted by Minahan to Columbia. If they approve it, we can start financing. In addition to the advances from Columbia and Viacom, I have a lot of Wall Street money that I want to invest. About half the budget is no longer a problem.

In addition, I will invest some as the first round of financing. If you are interested, you can also invest some? "

"I don't have much money now, and my divorce from Gale... took away a lot of my salary for filming the Alien sequels and The Abyss. I also hold half of the copyright of The Terminator. When I was making movies as a director, I also used a The US dollars were given to Gale. Now the most valuable thing to me is this 25% copyright, but the producer Heimdall has already owed me a lot of dividends."

Cameron touched his nose. Now he has no worries about food and drink, but there is not much wealth left from the three movies. It's a bit risky for him to invest in Spider-Man.

"It doesn't matter, I will keep the investment amount for you. When the time comes, you can sell it to investors in the next few rounds and make a fortune and leave. You can use your remuneration to invest in projects to offset the investment amount, or use Heimdall's terminator. You can also get a copyright mortgage loan. In short, we will pay the first round of dividends after the box office is obtained, and we will not treat you badly..." Ronald knew that now everyone is making movies based on comic books, and they are all aiming at Jack Nicholson, who became rich overnight. At this point in time, letting the main creators see the big pie is a necessary condition for making high-quality movies.

"Thanks, brother..." Cameron was also grateful for this and patted Ronald on the shoulder. There is no need to be polite as an old friend.

"What are you talking about?" Bigelow and Diane came over.

"Let's talk about going to the Golden Globe Awards ceremony and going to the Sundance Film Festival with you." Ronald changed the subject knowingly. It's not that I'm afraid of talking about Cameron's ex-wife in front of Bigelow, but generally it's better for everyone to keep this kind of financial matter as personal privacy. Who knows how the couple arranged their finances?

"Ha, I was just talking to Diane about what dress would look better during pregnancy."

Kathryn Bigelow's new film "Blue Steel" has been edited with the help of Cameron. Because the lead star of the movie is actually the heroine Jamie Lee Curtis, and the male protagonist is not well-known. So the distributor MGM took the independent film festival route and sent the film to this year's Sundance Film Festival.

In this film festival led by Robert Redford, last year there was a phenomenal independent film "Sex, Lies, Videotape", which swept the Palme d'Or in Cannes, as well as various film critics associations, writers' unions, and other Oscar outposts. Awards.

Therefore, major companies began to pay attention to this independent film festival in Utah. This kind of award-winning in turn aroused the curiosity of the audience, and obtained the film schedule of many theaters, making this small production with a shooting budget of over one million, It earned close to 40 million at the box office.

This is Bigelow's first time filming a mainstream commercial film worth tens of millions. If it succeeds at the box office, it will be officially accepted by Hollywood. Ronald was also very happy when he saw her, and the ambition and excitement hidden behind the smile almost spilled out.

"It's a very conservative design, but Diane seems to think it's okay..." Ronald smiled and pointed to the cloakroom next to him, asking them to see the dress specially prepared by Diane, a floor-length black dress, elegant. Be elegant and wear flat shoes to make Diane more comfortable.

"Did you spend a lot of money on this?" Cameron trailed behind and asked Ronald quietly.

"Yes, it took me a lot of effort to achieve a balanced result... ugh"

People in Hollywood say, choose the Oscar and buy the Golden Globe. This so-called award selected by the Foreign Correspondents Association can be manipulated secretly in many places.

But this is also Ronald's trouble. There are too many stars in "Steel Magnolias" starring Diane, and Ronald alone cannot have the final say. For example, in the drama heroine category, Sally Field was signed up.

Julia Roberts, who also has a lot of roles, was adjusted to a nomination for Best Supporting Actress. This puts Diane Lane's qualifications into question. It’s rare for a movie to receive two Best Supporting Actress nominations at the Golden Globes.

The nominations for leading actors and actresses in the Golden Autumn Awards are actually divided into two categories: drama and comedy or musical. "When Harry Met Sally," another film directed by Ronald, was nominated for Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical, and both were nominated.

But there is only one spot for Best Supporting Actress because there are not many stars. Diane's role is less than that of Julia Roberts, so it would be difficult to sign up Diane and replace Julia Roberts. Especially since the latter is such a hit with critics.

Teague asked Diane to apply for Best Actress, which would make people even more suspicious. It might turn into a scandal like the rich man buying the award for his girlfriend a few years ago, and then the gain would outweigh the loss.

Fortunately, there was a mini-series before Diane, "Lonesome Dove". In it, she played a kind-hearted prostitute, Lorraine, who accompanied Gus, played by Robert Duvall, and Woodrow, played by Tommy Lee Jones, on their last cattle drive north to Kansas.

The miniseries did well in the ratings, with a 28% rating and a total of 44 million viewers. What's more, Diane's performance received praise from critics.

Last year, Diane was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Awards. It just so happened that Diane was still busy getting married to Ronald, so there was not enough public relations to help her win. This opportunity was given to another outstanding actress in Lone Dove. Anjelica Huston.

At this year's Golden Globe Awards, Ronald directly designated Diane to be nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Miniseries. His public relations consultant Michael Gray organized a large number of parties and celebrity meetings in Los Angeles, and "bought" enough members of the Foreign Correspondents Association. With the help of Richard, Niceta, Paula and others, it was considered a success. A lot of money was spent to make Diane happy.

Generally speaking, the difference between the Emmy Awards and the Golden Globe Awards for TV dramas is smaller than that of the Oscars and Golden Globe Awards. Therefore, if the crew has two heroines who both perform well, the general treatment is that one of them will go to the Emmy Awards. American awards, one goes to the Golden Globe.

Just like Diane's biggest competitor this year, the heroine of the TV series was changed based on the most famous case of American women's rights, "Roe v. Wade."

Just like Diane and Anjelica Huston signed up for the Emmy and Golden Globe awards respectively, this TV series with a very advantageous subject matter, Holly Hunter, who plays the pregnant client, won the most Primetime Emmy Award. Best miniseries heroine.

Amy Madigan stars as a female lawyer who goes to the Supreme Court to argue and finally wins the case. She applied for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Miniseries.

…

Diane felt in her heart what Ronald had done for her, and happily chatted with her good friend Laura Dern about going to the Golden Autumn Awards Gala. She also invited her father, Bert, to come from New York to attend the awards show for her first possible major award.

She won the Best Young Artist and Most Promising Actress Award for two consecutive years because of her "Love at Sunset Bridge" and "Love is Deeper". Later "The Kid" and "Betta" also received consecutive nominations for this award, making him a famous rising star in Hollywood.

But after being delayed by Coppola, he only received double nominations for the Golden Raspberry Award for "Streets of Rage" and "The Cotton Club". It has not been nominated for any awards since.

So the prospect of being nominated and possibly winning made her extremely happy.

Ronald waved to Laura Dern, the actress who played the girl in the punk band with Diane back then. He still had a mess of things going on here, so he didn't want to talk to her anymore.

"Jim, I assure you, I tried my best on this matter. I don't know why the summary script was rejected by Columbia. The reasons I heard were not convincing. I'm afraid it was other reasons."

Ronald is on the phone with Cameron. He was accompanying Bigelow to the Sundance Film Festival. But there was news from Columbia Pictures that neither of them expected.

The more than 80-page outline script written by Cameron was rejected and rejected within two days after it was submitted to Columbia.

Ronald was originally very optimistic about Cameron's script. Jim's script may not have much breakthrough, but it has always been excellent in balancing characters, plot, and commercial value.

This Spider-Man script is no exception. The grievances and hatreds are very exciting. Peter Parker, who becomes Spider-Man, has his main enemy is his college teacher Dr. Oak, and the heroine is his high school classmate Mary Jane, whom he has a crush on. There are various clues. It is very fully developed, and it is a wonderful commercial film script no matter how you look at it.

Ronald also felt that not to mention that the script itself was very good, even if it was not good, he could still get a green channel based on his good relationship with Sony, right?

Who knew that he would be rejected by Columbia Pictures, and the reason was very depressing. Jon Peters, the vice president responsible for greenlighting the project, directly pointed out at the script discussion meeting that the script was similar to the Spider-Man comic plot and had no innovation.

Guber is currently being sued by Warner Bros., his former co-distributor of the private company. He should be in a state of despair, but he is good at fighting for power. The new company must be careful about the quality of the first batch of films produced, and all release rights are withheld. belongs to a so-called production meeting.

Jon Peters and CEO Peter Gubel were former partners, and the two had such a good relationship that they could wear a pair of pants. Ronald's insider at Columbia Pictures, Frank Price, was outnumbered and defeated by one vote to two.

Because of such a small matter, it was difficult for Ronald to go to Dahe Sang to intervene directly. When Sony acquired the company, it also expressed its position to the president and congressmen that it would hire white American managers and that Japanese people would not interfere in Colombia's production business.

"I don't blame you, but with this difficulty, it seems that it will be difficult to make progress in the short term. I had planned to focus on Spider-Man work this year..." Cameron is an old brother after all, and he has nothing to do with this matter. Blame Ronald.

"What a pity. Otherwise, you can make a sequel to Terminator? I remember that you still had half of the plot that you didn't film yet, because of the technical limitations and insufficient budget at that time. Now from what you did in 'The Abyss' Those computer-generated special effects shots should be ready for filming, right?"

"Hi...Ronald. We can talk about our friendship directly. I have wanted to film it for a long time, but half of the production rights are with Heimdall and a quarter with Gale.

Heimdall also had financial problems and couldn't afford such a big production. As for Gale, as long as she is willing to join forces with me to make the request, there is still a chance, but..."

Gale Hurd served as a producer on Cameron's last film, "The Abyss." But the relationship between the two broke down, and they both had to remain objective on professional issues without feelings. It was very painful for both of them. It is unlikely that he will be a producer on any of Cameron's films again.

Gale didn't want to give up 25% of the production rights for a work that was very likely to be a hit.

"The problem with Heimdall is actually not big. Lawyer Lindsay Dole is still in Los Angeles. She and lawyer Mickey Kanter also talked about this kind of production rights. As long as a company is willing to pay, it can be sued. ways to deal with it.”

"Oh, how to sue?" Cameron was indeed very interested.

"Didn't you say they owe you dividends..."

"That's it?" After hearing Ronald's plan, Cameron was surprised at its simplicity.

"This is Heimdall's weakness. Our goal is not to share dividends. As long as you and Schwarzenegger can jointly sue, the only bargaining chip they can use to settle out of court is the Terminator copyright. As long as a company is willing to take this The person taking over…”

The two agreed, and Cameron and Schwarzenegger jointly entrusted Mickey Kanter to sue Heimdall for the various dividends and balance payments he owed.

"Now there are only 25% of Gale's side..." Cameron still felt uncomfortable thinking about the painful time when his ex-wife divorced him, and he didn't want to communicate with Gale anymore.

"Let me talk to her..." Ronald offered, and Gail was also her good friend. It would be a shame if a sequel to such a wonderful movie as The Terminator could not be made because of her being stuck here.