Exploiting Hollywood 1980

After signing the contract, the two producers continued to live in Ronald's new home, and the three began to discuss how to fill the script to reach the level of start-up.

"In short, there must be a beautiful air force instructor to associate with our male protagonist." Bruckheimer first proposed the romantic part.

"Of course, what kind of beauty do you want to play?" Don Simpson deliberately tested Ronald's thoughts.

"I'm looking for an older actress with mature female charm to play." Ronald thought of the long legs in retro stockings and enchanting short skirts in his dream, who was the back of a mature beauty.

"Oh, why?" Don Simpson clearly felt sympathy.

"Our audience is mainly teenagers. What high school boy hasn't secretly admired that beautiful female teacher? When we make movies, isn't it to realize their dreams that are difficult to achieve in real life?"

"And what about the female audience?" Don Simpson asked another question.

"So I went with Tom Cruise, he's handsome and he's always in a state of jitters like he's going to break out for his girlfriend the next moment and hit the bad guy. I think female audiences must have fantasized about having a high school Such a handsome hero to save himself."

"Fuck, did you often use this mentality to succeed in high school?"

Don Simpson, seeing Ronald's words so clearly, suspected that the young director must have had many beautiful friends in high school.

"No, I'm on a boring wrestling team, nothing like those football teams."

"Very well, I regret now that I didn't let you direct 'Lightning Dance'. I rarely see a director who has enough understanding of the audience's psychology."

The more they talked, the more speculative they became, and Don Simpson was also a frequent daydream. He has a unique insight into audience tastes.

"We've got to have a pretty girl, fighter jets, dogfights, so that the male audience can come. We've got to have Tom Cruise, and a bunch of handsome guys, get them topless, so that there's a lot of female audiences. ."

"Topless?" Ronald thought of the beach volleyball scene.

"Yeah, that's what you should think about, think about plot arrangements, let their toned bodies show, the more the better. A lot of people don't understand that women are also an important audience in the American market now, and now women only look at family The days of soap operas are over, and they want to be entertained, you know?"

"Okay," Ronald jotting down the point of showing the male body.

"You know why we think of you in the first place? It's the Saab fighter commercial you shot." Bruckheimer continued.

"Saab cars?" Ronald wanted to retort, but thought that Saab fighter jets had also put his image in the company's promotional video, so he was silent.

"right,

Few people can make a fighter so attractive. After watching it, I feel that you are the director. "Don Simpson was as excited as ever, and he used his hand to simulate Ronald's photo of the plane taking off.

"This is actually a helpless choice," Ronald said about the scene of going to Stockholm to shoot at that time, "The speed of modern jet fighters is too fast, even with the farthest telephoto lens, at supersonic speed, it will be a In less than a second, the time disappeared from the picture. Most likely the audience didn't even find where the plane was."

"So I focused on shooting the plane on the ground, turning, the engine before takeoff, and using these powerful images to make up for the lack of high-speed flight footage."

Ronald also simulated a plane with his hands, and quickly passed by the two producers, making some sense.

"Yeah, modern planes are too fast, and they go supersonic at every turn. That's why we must get the military's assistance, otherwise, without aerial combat footage, it's impossible to make a blockbuster movie anyway."

The three filled some plots into the plot. The protagonist is a navy fighter pilot who was selected to the navy's combat skills school because of his excellent flying skills.

Gun" school.

After some training, the protagonist gradually turned into an elite who scored first. During a mock fight, his plane got caught in the exhaust of an imaginary enemy and got caught in a spiral. The gunman in the back seat was unfortunately killed during the ejection.

After a psychological reorganization, the protagonist regained his spirits. Finally, in the real air battle confrontation, he shot down the MiG fighter jets patrolling the Caribbean Sea, defending the safety of the aircraft carrier and his comrades in arms.

Ronald typed out the filled story on the computer and printed a copy. After going to the photocopy shop and binding it, I sent the script to the Pentagon for assistance.

At the same time, Tom Cruise was still talking about it. In short, Paula Wagner said that he could talk. Cruise was very interested and looked forward to chatting with the producer and Ronald, but he just didn't talk about it.

Ronald learned privately through Nisita that Paula Wagner was trying to get a million-dollar salary for Cruise in an attempt to enter the million-dollar pay club. If successful, Tom's movie invitations will be negotiated on the basis of one million in the future. A great boost to his career.

Of course Ronald wouldn't hurt her, so he also pretended to call Tom, and made an appointment to discuss it together when he returned from London after filming the rest of the "Legend".

And just like that, everyone waited at Aunt Ronald Staten Island's house for the results of the Pentagon. The two producers, who cooked and ate all of Aunt Karen's food, drank all of Ronald's stockpile of red wine, and wailed in the building.

Don Simpson couldn't take it for a day because Ronald wouldn't allow them to do petty things at home, clamoring to go back to the free world of Los Angeles. There was really no way, he and his partner Bruckheimer had to go to the town hotel to open another room to satisfy their hobbies.

Aunt Karen couldn't stand these two hippies either. When she waited for Simpson to go to the hotel, she discussed with Ronald about the use of the proceeds from the transfer of the factory that had received more than $600,000.

Aunt Karen's focus has now shifted from being busy with her daughter and her career to fighting for a better standard of living for the Vietnam War veterans and widows of Staten Island.

Ronald called Lawrence, an accountant, and after discussing it with his aunt, they decided to stick to the old way of buying Coca-Cola shares, then living on dividends every quarter, and then having some spare time to help the unfortunate veterans and widows.

On the third day, Jerry Bruckheimer burst into his aunt's house and said, "Ronald, the Navy has officially rejected our application."

"Why?" Ronald frowned and took the reply that was sent back, signed by the Department of External Relations of the Admiralty.

"After consideration, the Navy believes that the film cannot truly reflect the training and life of the Navy. While expressing thanks to you, I regret to inform you that the Navy cannot cooperate with the filming of this film."

Ronald frowned, the refusal he hadn't expected. When we shoot the movie of the Navy, we are helping the Navy to create the image of a heroic pilot. Why should the other party refuse?

The two producers took a beating, with Don Simpson screaming and kicking desperately against the railing at Ronald's house. While Bruckheimer was calmer, "Ronald, you stay here to continue revising the script, and prepare to shoot, we will go back to Los Angeles, Paramount and Hollywood, there are some old friends of the great leaders, we are going to have a walk. "

"I think I might be able to write a letter to the lieutenant commander, who was also a navy pilot when he was young." Ronald remembered Barbara's hospitality and believed she would do him a favor, right?

"We split up", in fact, the two producers also don't believe that Ronald's letter can play any role, it's better than nothing.

"Dear Your Excellency Deputy Commander,

I take the liberty of writing to you, hoping for your assistance.

I'm currently working on a film that reflects the training and life of a Navy pilot and keeping our country safe at sea. The tentative name is now called Top Gun (Top Gun)

Gun)', there are some shots of modern air combat.

From my professional point of view as a film director, if the film could get the help of the Navy, it would be more realistic. We have every reason to believe that this film can bring back the love of the American people for the military, especially the navy..."

Barbara saw the letter from Ronald at the deputy commander's mansion. This is what she asked the Secret Service to add to the list of contacts of special concern. All Ronald's calls and letters will be immediately put into the pile of documents that are waiting to be dealt with.

"What do we need to do with this matter? Should we inform the Vice President?" The secretary came in and saw the letter in Barbara's hand, opened the notebook, and prepared to record the next arrangement.

Barbara is different from the first lady. She is the internal talker in this big family. She takes care of many affairs that the deputy commander does not have time to deal with.

"No, don't tell my husband about it yet. His most important thing right now is to prepare for a televised debate with Geraldine Ferraro, the candidate for deputy leader of the Donkey Party. You must not disturb his preparations and his staff with anything. "

Barbara pressed Ronald's letter.

The first televised debate of the commander-in-chief did not perform well this time, and audiences across the United States were looking forward to this round of deputy commander debates of their husbands. If you want to run for election in four years and live in a big house, this debate is the best time. Perhaps voters will realize that it would be nice to have picked another Elephant candidate four years ago.

At this time, don't bother him with such insignificant things. Barbara put away the letter and instructed the secretary, "Before the debate is over, send me all the business work."

"Hey, I'm Ronald Lee. I'm calling to ask, have you received the letter I sent to the vice-commander yesterday?"

Ronald didn't receive any feedback at home. He called and asked. The staff at the official residence just said that they had received the letter. Since there are too many letters sent by the people all over the country, the deputy commander will read them all, but will only select some of the responses. , ask him to wait patiently.

"You can't believe what these politicians say!" Ronald said angrily. Or in the business field, people in high positions are more calculated. Politicians said a few days ago that they could come if they had any problems, but now they treat themselves as passers-by.

Ronald was angry and had no choice but to hang out with his old friend Douglas Jr. The two fought at the wrestling club again, then showered with a massage from a personal trainer.

The two were like after the high school wrestling team, after the fight, they sat together watching TV, drinking and eating meat, and chatting about movie investments.

"I can't fully count on the projects of big companies. They can invest 15 million to 20 million per movie, but the project is limited by many constraints, and it is very likely to be stranded."

Ronald drank the whiskey that Douglas Jr. had turned out, "I'm doing okay in breakdancing, except for most of the Coca-Cola and McDonald's stocks, and the rest is invested in Daydream Pictures.

We set up the equipment in Staten Island, and then we found some good students at NYU to make some exploitative films ourselves, and release them through the second round of theatrical release. That way there is at least one way out. "

"Great, you're finally going to start making your own movies." Little Douglas was very happy, "Do you have any ideas?"

"I was invited by Madonna to direct her MV. I want to start with the MV and commercials, shoot first, train technical talents, and then find a suitable script and director, and then I can start making low-budget movies. This road will sooner or later. Let's go, it's better to open first."

"The first question is for Your Excellency the Deputy Commander," the live broadcast of the second round of the presidential election debate came from the TV.

"These politicians are liars, don't watch." Ronald is going to switch to NBC, and it happens to be Miami Vice this weekend.

Vice), the male protagonist drives a huge Ferrari in the streets of Miami.

...

"Honey, how was my performance yesterday?" The deputy commander ended the debate and returned to Washington, D.C. on Air Force Two.

In the mansion, Barbara was waiting for him in the study.

"You did a great job."

"Yes, are you satisfied with my answer to the question about the woman's work?"

"Honey, I'm just looking at that handsome guy on TV."

"Hahaha..." The deputy commander kissed his wife who had been married for nearly forty years.

"Here is the first thing you need to deal with", Barbara took out a stack of letters and documents, Ronald's letter came first, "Because you are busy with the most important TV debate, I put the other Things have been held up for now. Now that you're done, it's time to help the kids deal with the problem."

"Okay, let's deal with these issues." The deputy commander took out his glasses and put them on, and began to open the first letter on the desk.

"Those bureaucrats in the Navy are still better off doing more than usual. I'll ask Lehmann about this." He picked up the phone, "Please pick up the Secretary of the Navy for me."