Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"David, I'm Ronald. Is there anything wrong with my contract?" Ronald called producer David da Silva.

"No no, that's fine. I've spoken to the top at MGM about the adult film of the same name, and I'm thankful for that.

I'm looking for you because of Gene. "

"Gene? What's wrong with him?"

"He smashed the locker in the rehearsal room and is now clamoring to quit the set. He is emotional and has a conflict with Alan. Alan has restarted the Leroy casting to replace Gene Lose.

But we're in the final play rehearsal, less than two weeks away from the plane. Allen and the actors of the two teachers have not yet been determined. If Jean is to be replaced again, the start-up must be delayed...

I couldn't communicate with Gene, and no one on the set was close to him. He usually only talks to Lucy and Antonia. Lucy was his kin and was on his side. After Antonia talked to Gene, she told me that only you should come and talk to him.

Ronnie, you have to come and talk to Gene. "

"This? But I'm not black? Well, I'll talk about it at the scene."

Gene Ray was selected into the crew by himself, and he stood by himself when the script conflicted. If he could help him, he still had to help. But why did Antonia say that it is only useful to talk about it by herself?

Entering the Harlan High School scene, Ronald saw a row of tin lockers outside the rehearsal room in disarray. This is usually used for dancers to put debris, but now a lot of them have been smashed and smashed in, and the traces seem to be large blunt weapons, which seem to be fire extinguishers.

Ronald saw a fire extinguisher in the corner, smashed with a lot of paint.

"Where's Gene? Where is he?" Ronald stopped an assistant.

"He was in the office talking to the producers about termination."

Has it been this serious?

Ronald walked quickly to the office and knocked on the door.

"Come in." Producer David's voice.

Pushing the door in, he saw Gene sitting in his seat without saying a word, the producer was opposite him, and when he saw Ronald coming in, he quickly stood up:

"Okay, I'll let you talk to Ronald, I'll go out first." David gave Ronald a wink.

"Gene, what's wrong? I heard you're quitting the set?" Ronald said softly, sitting next to him.

"The director doesn't respect my mother, he wants to drive her away and not let her stay on the set."

"When did your mother come? Why didn't the director let her stay on the set?" Ronald felt that a lot had happened in the past few days, so he asked in detail.

It turned out that Gene's mother, Joan, came to see her son in Midtown Manhattan from Harlem a few days ago and found that Gene's rehearsal for the play was very hard, often rehearsing the same scene over and over again throughout the day.

Gene's mother saw her son working so hard, so she came to the studio every day to take care of her son's life.

In fact, it is to take care of life, but it is not as close as some white parents. Joan just watched ten minutes of rehearsal at the beginning, then walked away and came back at noon to bring her son some fried chicken and a bottle of grape soda.

Come again in the evening, take the subway home with her son, and she can't say much interference with the live rehearsal.

For some reason, the director didn't allow Joan to appear on set yesterday morning, accusing her of interfering with Gene's rehearsal and dragging down the entire crew.

"I can't stand his discrimination against us, Ronald. I can't stand this, my mother just came to see me rehearse every day, never stayed too much. They just didn't like seeing my mother in the middle of a bunch of white parents."

Listening to what Jean said, many parents of actors would also drive their children to rehearsal. The director disliked Joan, a poor black man in Harlem, because it was too eye-catching, so he had to drive her away.

"What's up with the lockers?" Ronald asked.

"They called the security to drive my mother away, I wouldn't let them touch my mother, I took up a fire extinguisher to defend ourselves."

So you just smashed the locker? It seemed like Gene was very angry that the crew wanted to kick her mother away, Ronald thought.

"What did the producer say?"

"He persuaded me to stay, to finish the film, and I would become a star, so that all discrimination would vanish."

That's true, Ronald thought. Although the American people discriminate against black people, they are more tolerant of black stars.

"Then what do you think about yourself?"

"I want to be famous, too, Ronald. But I can't stand this blatant discrimination against our race. Also, I only have my mother, and I can't watch her get kicked out without saying a word."

"Okay, don't make a final decision, wait until I talk to the director."

It seems that Gene still wants to stay, so it will be easier to handle, as long as you find the reason why director Allen wants to drive Joan away, and solve it.

However, it is said that the director Allen is not a racist person. He arranged a lot of black characters in the movie. Could it be that the parents of the other actors collectively pressured him?

Soothing Gene, Ronald walked out of the producer's office. He thought about it for a while, and instead of going straight to the director, he went to the rehearsal room to find Antonia Francesky to get the news first.

"Antonia, can you talk to me about Jean?" Greeting the drama teacher, Ronald led Antonia out of the rehearsal room.

"I can't say too much, there are many people's interests involved here." Antonia rarely said directly.

"Then what can you tell me? David said that you asked him to come to me, why do you want me to talk?" Ronald felt more and more strange, who hated Jean and his son so much?

"All I can say is that the director is not a racist."

"I believe that, otherwise he wouldn't put so many minorities in the script."

"Well, since it's Gene you discovered, he listens to you. Ronald, you have to talk to Gene's mother, maybe it's better to let her go, it's good for everyone on the set."

"why?"

"I live in Little Italy, I can't say. You know Italians in New York have to abide by certain 'rules' and not being able to talk to outsiders about what's inside is one of them."

"What does this have to do with Italians?"

"Don't ask, I can't tell."

Ronald couldn't ask anything, so he could only thank her: "I haven't thanked you for your support last time, Antonia."

"It's okay, we all want you to stay on the set."

"Okay, see you later, Antonia. I have to deal with this."

Ronald was still at a loss, and turned to producer David.

"David, does this have anything to do with Italians?"

"Italian? When we chose to shoot here, we already greeted the Italian gang, and they were very supportive of the filming, especially when we chose the Italian-born Antonia as the first heroine."

"Gang?"

"Ronnie, you know, the neighborhood is Times Square, it's Italian territory, and they control all the fireflies in the square. As a filmmaker, you have to deal with these relationships, both the city hall and the underground city hall. Say it well in advance, otherwise there will be problems when shooting.”

"Well, thanks for telling me this, I'm getting more and more confused."

"Work hard, Ronnie. I don't want to have another audition. I have to see the audition of the two teachers. Alan is still not satisfied with the existing candidates."

Ronald asked around and had to go to the director's room to see if he could find out any new news.

"Hi Alan. It's me, Ronald."

"You're here. There are a lot of things happening in the past two days. I won't chat with you."

"I'm here for this, Director. David asked me to persuade Gene, is Gene's mother Joan really interfering with the rehearsal that much? If they are willing to obey your orders and Joan will stop interfering with the rehearsal, can you give Gene a chance?"

Ronald said, his mouth dry, looking at a can of Coke on the table.

Alan motioned for him to do it.

Ronald picked up the Coke and slammed it away. It may be that the foam splashed out after being placed at room temperature for a long time.

Alan Parker sat smoking, looking a little anxious, and put out the cigarette in his hand.

"If Joan came to the rehearsal every day instead of walking around, it would be a good thing, and I wouldn't drive her away."

"What do you mean by that?"