Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"Gloria, you're always running away now

chase someone, you have to catch him somehow

I think you need to slow down before you start bragging

I think you're heading for a breakdown, so be careful not to show it"

Laura Branigan's hit "Gloria" is playing at an ice rink in Pittsburgh. The song is so popular that it is now at No. 2 on the charts, behind only black singer Lionel Richie's new song "truly."

Jenny, a friend of Alex's best friend, played by Sonny Johnson, is taking part in a figure skating competition in Pittsburgh in an attempt to advance to a higher level of competition.

A beam of spotlights came down from the ceiling, illuminating Sonny Johnson as she slid across the ice.

"Swipe...Swipe..." The skates rubbed against the ice surface of the rink, making a pleasant sound. "Swipe..." After a double jump, Sunny's skating double landed steadily.

"cut!"

"Ronald, here they are." Producer Don Simpson walked into the ice rink and called Ronald out during a break between shots.

"The experts in breakdancing have arrived, they're New York-based dance group Rock Steady Crew, a breakdancing group in the Bronx. I've heard there are white crew members who dance their dances, to see. "

"Hahaha, they are the professionals."

Ronald stepped out of the rink, and in the open space in front stood three emaciated dancers.

"crazy legs, prince ken swift, frosty freeze."

Don Simpson introduced the "nicknames" of three dancers. The first two were Latino whites, and the latter was a black person. It was difficult for him to remember such a cunning and eccentric nickname.

Ronald greeted them, and it turned out to be a dance boy from the Bronx, just like the boys who were breaking dance on the street when he went to find the son of his uncle's comrade-in-arms, Bud Jr. , the same unruly.

"I heard you can dance our dance?"

"yeah,

I learned it with my black brothers who danced a lot in the Bronx, New York. ' Ronald said and did a few "windows," "pulls," and "spacewalks."

"Oh yeah, baby." The three dancers got excited when they saw that Ronald could also break dance, and began to do more professional dance steps.

The three of them started chatting with Ronald in rambles. The Bronx's recognition of white friends is as simple as that, as long as you show respect for their culture, they will recognize you.

"Hey, are you Hollywood finally bringing our dance and music to the screen?"

"At least from here, you'll have a demonstration of you dancing on the street, and then the heroine will see your dance, learn it, and finally incorporate breakdance into ballet and get admitted to the Pittsburgh Ballet Academy."

"Oh, that's not bad."

"Crazy Legs" signifies approval. American dance is still traditionally based on the ballet of the European continent, coupled with the jazz dance developed by itself. Street dances like breakdancing are unremarkable.

Although The New York Times interviewed the Manhattan branch of the Rock Steady Crew dance troupe led by Crazy Legs, few mainstream American people know their reputation.

The three dancers were introduced to the choreographer, and Ronald was also left to come up with ideas with them.

In addition to the choreography of the three of them in the street dance, the heroine Alex finally auditioned for the dance of the ballet academy. The dance steps of the break dance should be choreographed into the ballet-style dance, and the style should be unified and not separated. .

Their own street dance is very simple, all three are masters, and they mainly show two major categories of breakdance:

"Lockin' (Robot Dance)" means that the joints of the whole body are locked, and different parts dance independently. Jumping feels like a robot.

"Breakin' (floor dance)", on smooth ground, make various rotations with the back, hands, etc. as the center. Or land on the ground with both hands and feet, and do gymnastic pommel horse-like movements.

Alex's final audition dance moves were a bit troublesome. In the end, the choreographer and them choreographed a set of dances that started with basic ballet moves and gradually incorporated more and more breakdance elements.

First some classic ballet spins, jumps, and then a sudden change of rhythm, with the "What a Wonderful Feeling" singing, from the soothing ballet rhythm of the verse, through a wide-span jump, to the intense chorus of the chorus. , a disco-like rhythm.

It ends with a floor dance in breakdance, which ends with a "helicopter" spin on its back.

"awesome!"

In the evening, director Adrian Lane and producer Don Simpson, watched the choreography together and applauded loudly.

The novel dance and the ingenious choreography made Adrian Lane very excited.

"Ronald, we've got to get this final climactic scene right, and I've already picked a location, it's in the Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. There's a room with four big French windows, and we Shooting in the morning when the sun is up, the sun is shining through the floor-to-ceiling windows, it becomes very beautiful…”

"Adrian, have you ever thought about it? Jennifer Beers doesn't have any dance ability, and this time it was shot in daylight, and it's hard for the dance double Marlene to stay undressed. You can't just give her medium and long shots, and not the slightest Won't you explain?"

Ronald raises a practical question. If the dance moves do not include the actors' facial shots at all, the audience will always look at the panoramic shots, and there will be a little bit of inability to blend in. If a close-up of Jennifer Beals is interspersed in the dance sequence, the audience will feel awkward jumping back and forth.

"What do you think?" Adrian Lane asked Ronald again, this time he really didn't think about it.

"I thought I could do a fast-paced choreography with alex in front of the four judges for a close-up break dance at the end. With Marlene's face facing the camera for a short amount of time, the audience wouldn't actually have time to tell the difference. Is the actor Jennifer Beals?

The previous ballet movements were mainly shot in medium shots, so that Ma Lin's face could not be worn. "

"In addition, the referee's chair can be replaced with a high-back seat, and the camera seat is behind the chair, moving from left to right following Marlene on the rails.

When shooting close-up shots like this, every time Ma Lin reached out to the referee to make a move, the camera would be blocked by the back of the high chair, covering the most easily worn places. "

Ronald studied the filming clips in the dream many times, and finally gave him the method to continuously shoot the dance without dressing.

Adrian gestured a few times at the referee's seat, "Very good, you're right. Ronald will help me design this dance scene."

"what……"

Unexpectedly, Ronald had hired the choreographer, "Crazy Legs" and other three breakdance experts, as well as Marlene, who served as a dance double for Jennifer Beals. Director Ann Lane performed their choreography.

Marlene donned the same black bouffant wig as Jennifer Beals, put on a black ballet suit, black leg warmers on her feet, and danced from beginning to end to the music of "What a Wonderful Feeling" again.

Director Ryan was behind the referee's seat, watching Marlene dance through the director's viewfinder.

"Well, this rhythm-turned big jump doesn't have enough height and distance in the air." Director Ryan made a point of making a mistake. "And the last floor dance move, the rotation is not fast enough. Not only is it not strong enough, but it may also be worn."

"Director, I'm a ballet and jazz dancer, and that jumping movement is my limit. And this spinning 'helicopter', I need to practice."

"I don't have time for you to practice. The weather forecast is sunny the next morning, so we're going to shoot."

Adrian Lane looked over and asked him what to do.

"Then I had to use other stunts to do those two actions instead of Marlene," Ronald replied.

Sometimes on the screen, the audience thinks that it is a dance performed by one person, and two or three people may dance during the shooting. Finally, the clips are spliced ​​together so that the audience can't see the flaws.

Ronald sometimes feels that the director's job is like a magician, misdirecting the audience's attention elsewhere, and then quickly stuffing a rabbit into the top hat.

"That jumping action may require gymnasts to complete, and you have to find a high level." Ronald looked at producer Don Simpson.

"Okay, let's go find the champion of the ncaa college gymnastics championship."

"As for the 'helicopter'," Ronald looked at the three rock steady crew dancers, "or crazy legs, are you here? Only your height and Bills near."

The break dancers are generally short in height, two of the three are small, only the height of "crazy legs" is similar to that of Beers, and the dancers are thin, wearing ballet suits and leg warmers, Even pretending to be a girl can't be seen.

"Don't let me play a girl." Crazy Legs protested the strongest!

"I'll offer you an extra salary for the stunt dancer, and let the three of you have the end credits." Don Simpson showed the most tempting conditions for them.

"Crazy Legs" was persuaded by his companions and signed a stand-in contract.

Two mornings later, the four actors donned the same black leg warmers and black ballet leotards for the filming of the film's final dance scene.

First up was Jennifer Beals, who did some dialogue with the judges.

Then came her dance double, Marlene Jahan, who did most of the dance moves in place of Bills.

The third was four individual gymnastics champions at the NCAA National Collegiate Gymnastics Championships, and all-around champion Sharon Shapiro, who completed a high, floating jump in place of Bills.

Shapiro Shapiro won all the women's gymnastics championships today, and she is also a strong contender for the United States team at the Los Angeles Olympics in the following year.

"shxt! It's impossible, you want me to shave my legs?"

"Crazy legs" shouted in the dressing room, and the makeup artist wanted to shave his legs so he could pretend to be a girl in a "helicopter" spin.

"Don't be like this, you signed the contract. Besides, the leg hair will grow back if it is shaved." Don Simpson half threatened and half persuaded, let him shave his legs.

"Legs can be shaved," Crazy Legs discussed with the two members for a long time and could only agree, "but the beard is impossible to shave. I also want to shoot a pbs documentary, and a documentary film, shave off the beard and grow into This will take at least half a year.”

"Then...with a beard?" Ronald stepped forward and looked at his mustache, it was really hard to keep it.

"The helicopter action was a quick spin on his back, and if the camera was right, the audience wouldn't be able to see his beard. And who would pay no attention to whether Alex had a beard? At that time, the audience's attention was all about this. on a spinning action never seen before.”

"Crazy Legs" that shaved off his legs, put on a black curled wig, and then performed a floor dance movement, transitioning to landing on his back, he folded his hands and feet, and rotated faster and faster..."

"cut!"

The director called to stop, "Very good, this one is printed."

"Did you see the beard?" Director Ryan asked Ronald softly while watching the demo a day later.

"I searched carefully, but there shouldn't be any." Ronald stared at the daily swatches on the screen and watched it several times, but he did not find the stuntman's beard.

"That's it, we don't have to reshoot." Director Ryan was satisfied and patted Ronald on the shoulder.

"Okay, Adrian. Everything is on track here, and it's time for me to go back to LA with Don and Jerry as producers."

multiple