Exploiting Hollywood 1980

Many people in the industry knew that Ronald endorsed Melanie Griffith's accident. Director Jonathan Demme, who directed Melanie, called to express his gratitude. He knew Melanie's potential and was not the sexy doll that people thought she was.

However, Ronald's agent was a little frustrated. Nicita arrived in New York at night and hurried to visit Ronald with Richard.

"Is it not going to bother you?" Nicita knocked on Ronald's door. He knew that the director was very busy during the filming and didn't know if it was appropriate to come today.

"Come in, I have a very professional team for this big production, and I just need to make decisions on many things. But I still have to go to bed very late at night, and I have to revise the script with Cameron (Crow)."

Ronald let in two cautious agents and poured them some whiskey, "Drink some, the Fox people gave it to me today, are you here for Melanie's matter?"

"I'm not trying to interfere with your decision, Ronald. Mr. Michael Ovitz called me today while he was on a business trip, and I want to know what you think. Of course, if you like Melanie very much, that's fine." Niceta joked.

"I do like her..." Ronald also joked, looking at the agent's frown, "I like her ability as an actor." Now that he has been nominated for the best director of this year's Oscars, people in the industry often respect him a lot.

Ronald explained. If this movie is successful, it is mainly because of the success of Melanie Griffith, not Harrison Ford's face. Because this is not a simple commercial genre film, but a film that reflects major changes in contemporary society.

This is the kind of movie that Ronald has always wanted to make, the kind that can still stand out thirty years later. So he hopes to use the most suitable actors.

Professional women have increasingly entered the management level of the workplace in America, but the traditional idea that women should go home is still very stubborn. When dealing with performances, Ronald is very careful in various places, not to cross the bottom line of the audience.

For example, Tess made a lot of common sense mistakes as a blue-collar worker at the beginning, tying her folders with rubber bands instead of holding expensive leather bags. There were stuffed toys on the desk instead of family photos, and she didn't know that she didn't need to pay for the wine when she went to see Jack Traynor's open bar.

With these preparations, Sigourney Weaver was quickly portrayed as a traditional villain, stealing the credit from his subordinates.

Finally, the plot of Jack Traynor played by Harrison Ford was also modified. In the end, he chose to believe Tess instead of betraying her for personal gain.

All of this requires an actor whose performance can be recognized and invested by the audience to complete, and at this point in time, no one can do better than Melanie Griffith.

"Your understanding of movies has deepened. We will fully support your decision. Many people are spreading this story, so we have to come to you to clarify it in person." After listening to this, Nicita's expression relaxed a lot.

It was not for personal reasons, but for very convincing artistic reasons. It must be able to quickly calm down the doubts of some people at 20th Century Fox. Some people saw that Ronald was nominated and wanted to see him fall down because of personal feelings.

After relaxing, the two agents had dinner with Ronald. Ronald still had to continue preparing for tomorrow's shooting. The two were about to say goodbye and leave.

"You can rest in this hotel for one night. I'll have someone open a room for you." Ronald was very satisfied with the two agents. Filming is a large-scale social activity involving tens of millions of investments. Communication, compromise, excuses, and even deception are all necessary to complete the filming.

Nicita and Richard always stand on his side, which also saves him a lot of trouble.

"By the way, please help me bring this check to Director John Waters."

Before leaving, Ronald remembered and handed Richard a check.

"Is it about Dive?"

Seeing Ronald nod, Richard said he understood. He would not return to Los Angeles tomorrow, so as a personal representative, he would help Ronald handle this matter that was best handled privately.

After Dive's death, there was a lot of excitement in the media. All the news reports about him would mention his last work, and Dve also personally made the final contribution to the box office of the movie "Hairspray".

But Dive, who was buried next to his grandmother's grave in Baltimore, was still very controversial after his death. His gender and dress caused many people to protest, and the funeral became a focus of controversy for both progressives and conservatives.

In addition to some fans who sent flowers, there were also some particularly conservative southern white organizations that went to make trouble. In the end, the wreath sent by black actress Whoopi Goldberg became the last straw that broke the camel's back for the funeral.

The wreath read "See what happens when you get good reviews?" The two factions began to attack each other, making the pastor who presided over the ceremony very embarrassed. That night, the tombstone was vandalized with spray paint, and many bad words were written on it.

Even more infuriating is that the IRS, which is responsible for taxation, seized all of Dive's property after the funeral, including his wig and clothing in "Hairspray," and will hold an auction next week to make up for the hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid taxes he owed from previous tax evasion.

Since Dive worked very hard in the filming and promotion of the movie, and died in the publicity, Ronald wrote a check to make up for most of the debt. Let this controversial actor get eternal peace.

"Ring, ring, ring..." Ronald in the room picked up the phone.

"Mr. Li? Mr. Buffy in Washington, DC called."

"Thank you, please pick it up." Ronald finally waited for the investor's call back.

"Ronald, I have done what you want. Catherine agreed to let you use their real newspaper as a movie prop. I heard that it is an important prop for the heroine to turn defeat into victory in the workplace. She will let you use it without authorization fee, and the authorization letter will be faxed to you."

"Thank you so much, Warren. I owe you one. I want to add some realism to this movie. Those prop newspapers are really fake."

Ronald was talking about the newspaper that Tess saw, which made him want to let Teske acquire the radio station. In order to avoid copyright disputes, Hollywood usually uses a so-called fictional newspaper. The content on it is usually fixed, and only the headline is left for the director to write news related to the plot.

However, the newspaper in "Working Girl" is not an ordinary prop, but a newspaper that played a decisive role in Tess's fate. After seeing the prop newspaper, Ronald wanted to replace it with a real newspaper.

After contacting the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal and being rejected immediately, Ronald had to find his old friend, Mr. Buffy, an investor from Omaha, whose confidante Mrs. Graham is the owner of the Washington Post.

"You're welcome. It's a pleasure to chat with you. I always feel like I'm back to my youth. Next time you come to Washington, DC, or Omaha, don't forget to come and chat with me. Can you play bridge? If you can, you can come and play with me. It's not easy to find a capable partner now."

"Then it's settled. Thank you. Bye."

Ronald put down the phone. Buffy certainly didn't call because it was interesting to talk to him, at least not entirely.

Ronald did his homework early on. Not long after the stock market crash, he asked Niceta to contact his youngest son Peter, who was a musician.

Peter Buffet was a musician, but he failed in San Francisco. He then returned to Milwaukee, which was very close to his hometown, and signed a small record company. He wrote some light music and released records.

Daydream found Peter a small job as a campaign advertisement score, which was well received. Last month, he was appreciated by John Barry, who composed the score for the 007 series of movies, and asked him to work with him to compose the score for Daydream's new film "Sticky Fingers".

John Barry was also an unlucky guy. He composed the score for George Lucas's long-failed masterpiece "Howard the Duck", and then he didn't get any opportunities. In the past two years, he only composed the score for the new 007. Ronald handed the score to him this time, and he was happy to take a young man to familiarize himself with the real film score production process.

Although Buffet didn't care much about his children, he was still very happy that his youngest son could finally do better than ordinary people in a certain industry.

…

After the filming continued, everything went smoothly. Jack Traynor, played by Harrison Ford, and Tess had many scenes together. After "borrowing" Catherine's clothes, Tess was like a real investment manager, making Jack Traynor completely believe that she was a professional.

Today's scene is that Harrison Ford came to the company where Tess worked, and the two met to discuss some ways of cooperation.

Tess is a very smart person. She invited the other party to come with the intention of dispelling doubts. Wall Street is a place where there are many scammers. Catherine's colleague who said that she was on the phone, and when she visited the door, she brought a document package tied with a rubber band, revealing the secretary's feet.

Tess could only let Jack come to the door and see him working in Catherine's office to eliminate the other party's suspicion.

"Oh, Mr. Traynor, Miss Tess McGill is waiting for you, I'll take you there."

Joan Cusack played Sheen, who was pulled by Tess to save the scene. She played Tess's position and became the secretary of Tess McGill's manager, sitting in Tess's usual position.

Seeing Jack Traynor walking into the office, she was afraid that Jack would be exposed by talking to others, so she immediately went up to him, took his hand, and pulled him into Catherine's office.

"Ms. McGill, Mr. Traynor." Joan Cusack opened the door of the office and said to Tess who was sitting in Catherine's seat.

"Thank you, Sin..." Melanie Griffith recovered very well, and she also passed the daily routine blood test without any problems.

Tess wore the red fashionable glasses "borrowed" from Catherine and signaled Sin to go out.

"Do you want anything else, Mr. Traynor." Joan Cusack was reluctant to leave at the door. She played Sin as a pure secretary, without much pursuit. Seeing a handsome guy like Harrison Ford, her eyes lit up and she was reluctant to leave.

"Coffee, tea, or me?" Sin, with a lioness hairstyle, asked at the door.

"Hahaha... my secretary is a little overexcited." Tess signaled with her eyes and half-heartedly pushed Sin out.

"Cut!"

The shooting returned to normal, and Ronald was very satisfied that the progress was going according to plan.

At the regular lunch time, Ronald took Harrison Ford, Melanie Griffith, Joan Cusack and others to eat Italian food.

The chef cooked with care, and some of the ingredients were flown in from Italy. The four people were full of praise for the restaurant.

"This job makes me feel like a woman, like a star cheerleader, giving the audience eye candy..." Harrison Ford began to complain to Ronald about his lack of roles.

"Every time he walked into a room, all the female extras would wink at him." Joan Cusack, who played the secretary, knew some of the extras. Those actors and staff regarded this experience as an opportunity to get together with one of the most handsome male stars in Hollywood.

"Do you want to play a more complicated role? Why don't we change Jack Traynor's ending back? This way you can have some challenging scenes to play." Ronald made a suggestion.

Originally in the script, Jack Traynor was not such a pure good man. In the end, he learned that Catherine stole Tess's idea and took it for herself. But in order to save his job and future, he did not testify for Tess that the idea was hers.

But Teske, the boss of Teske Company, is an entrepreneur who has built his business from scratch. He saw through what Tess said at a glance. After testing her and Catherine, he believed that Tess was the real initiator and promoter of the project.

Jack Traynor lost his big project and had to go home to reflect on his life. He did not end up with Tess.

"I'm not talking about that kind of... I mean, give Jack some roles that fit my image..."

Harrison Ford was not fooled. He would not play such a villain. Stars play heroes and do not need character transformation. They are positive heroes as soon as they appear, always cool, handsome, and always win until the last moment.

"Yeah, I'm just saying." Ronald then tasted the iron pizza.

Many things are compromises. Although Harrison Ford made Jack Traynor's role less three-dimensional, many people went to the cinema for him, right? The women in the crew started to stir up these two days, which is proof.

Besides, the movie has a happy ending at the end, and there is nothing wrong with making Tess and Jack a couple. Ordinary audiences will be more satisfied. The discerning and knowledgeable metropolitan audiences also know that lovers may not have a happy ending... Commercial films should not be too out of line, and it is also a good thing to be careful not to touch everyone's cultural taboos.

The afternoon shooting was also smooth. Melanie Griffith held a Washington Post, which was a prop made of real newspapers and prop newspapers. The correct date and the front page headline, and the other side was related to the plot, about the daughter of the boss of Teske Enterprises doing charity activities.

Melanie Griffith cut out the content about Teske's daughter in the newspaper and put it in her clipping book.

"Cut!"

After Ronald finished shooting this segment, he waved to Melanie to bring the clipping over.

"Oh... Why does the Washington Post have entertainment news?"

He flipped through it, and it was indeed the Washington Post. There was also Cher's head on it.

It turned out that the Post on that day was reporting on the Oscar nominees. Every year, it serialized some historical and background information of each nominee for several weeks. This is the tradition of the Post's film review page.

"The New Adventures of the Old Singing Star..." The title tells the story of Cher.

"Hey, why is there Olympia Dukakis?" Ronald looked down and saw Dukakis' cameo in the movie.

"Olympia Dukakis, the actress with the highest voice for the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, and Michael Dukakis, the governor of Massachusetts and the leading politician in the Democratic primary, are they relatives?"

"Will it be exposed?" Ronald put the cut newspaper on the newspaper, folded it twice, and gestured with it in his hand.

"Hmm..." Ronald was relieved that Dukakis' content would not appear in front of the camera, otherwise a character who appeared in the movie would appear as an Oscar nominee on the prop newspaper, and the audience who found this detail would be distracted.