Exploiting Hollywood 1980

Chapter 64 Dukaski’s cousin

Many people in the industry knew about Ronald’s endorsement of Melanie Griffith’s accident. Director Jonathan Demme, who had 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. Niceta arrived in New York in the evening and hurriedly went to visit Ronald with Richard.

"I won't disturb you, will I?" Niceta knocked on the door of Ronald's room. He knew that the director was very busy during filming, and he 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 have to make decisions on many things. But I still have to go to bed very late at night, and I have to change the script with Cameron."

Ronald put in the two cautious agents and poured them some whiskey, "Drink some. The people from Fox gave it to me today. Are you here also about Melanie?"

"I don't want to interfere with your decision, Ronald. Today, Mr. Michael Ovitz called me specially while he was on a business trip. I want to know what you think. Of course, if you particularly like Melanie, that's fine too. ." Niceta joked.

"I really like her..." Ronald also joked, watching his agent frown, "I like her ability as an actor." Now he has been nominated for the best director at this Oscar. , many times the respect of people in the circle for oneself increases a lot.

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

It was the kind of movie Ronald always wanted to make, the kind that would still stand up thirty years later. So he hopes to use the most suitable actors.

More and more professional women are entering management positions in the workplace in America, but the traditional idea that women should go home is still stubborn. When Ronald was handling the performance, he paid great attention to every aspect and not to cross the audience's bottom line.

For example, Tess makes a lot of common sense mistakes as a blue-collar worker in the beginning, tying up folders with rubber bands instead of holding expensive leather bags. There are stuffed animals on your desk instead of family photos, and you don’t know that you don’t have to pay for your own drinks to go to Jack Traynor’s open bar.

With these foreshadowings, Sigourney Weaver's quickness was also portrayed as a bad guy in the traditional sense, taking the credit from her subordinates.

Finally, the plot of Jack Traynor, played by Harrison Ford, was also revised. 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, and at this point in time, no one can do it better than Melanie Griffiths.

"Your understanding of movies has deepened, and we will fully support your decision. This matter has been spread by many people, and we have to come to you to clarify it personally." After hearing this, Niceta's expression relaxed a lot.

Not for personal reasons, but for very convincing artistic reasons, which will surely quell the doubts of some people at 20th Century Fox. When some people saw that Ronald was nominated, they wanted to see him fall down due to an affair.

After relaxing, the two agents had dinner with Ronald, who continued to prepare for tomorrow's shooting. The two of them were about to say goodbye and leave.

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

Niceta and Richard were always on their side,

It also saved him a lot of things.

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

Before leaving the house, Ronald remembered and handed Richard a check.

"Is it about divine?"

Seeing Ronald nodding, Richard understood. If he doesn't return to Los Angeles tomorrow, he will serve as a personal representative to help Ronald get this matter done that is best handled privately.

After Divine's death, there was a lot of excitement in the media. All news reporting on him would mention his posthumous work. Dinvine also personally made the final contribution to the box office of the movie "Hairspray".

But Divine, who is buried next to his grandmother's grave in Baltimore, is still very controversial. His gender and attire caused many protests, and the funeral became a focus of controversy for both progressive and conservative factions.

In addition to some fans sending flowers, some particularly conservative white southern organizations also went to cause trouble. In the end, the wreath sent by black actress Whoopi Goldberg became the last straw for the funeral.

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

What's even more annoying is that after the funeral, the IRS, which is responsible for taxation, seized all of Divine's property, including his wigs and costumes in "Hairspray", and will hold an auction the next week to make up for his previous tax evasion debt. of hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid taxes.

Seeing that Divine worked very hard during the filming and subsequent promotion of the movie, and out of sympathy for Xuanfa, Ronald took action and wrote a check to cover most of the debt. Let this controversial actor find eternal peace.

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

"Mr. Lee? Mr. Buffy from Washington, D.C. called."

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

"Ronald, I can help you with what you want. Catherine agrees for you to 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 give it to you without licensing fees. After using it, the authorization letter will be faxed to you."

"Thank you so much, Warren. I owe you one. I wanted to add some realism to the movie, and those newspaper props were so fake."

What Ronald said was that the one Tess saw gave him the idea for the newspaper to have Tesco buy the radio station. In order to avoid copyright disputes, Hollywood generally uses a fictional newspaper with a common name. The content is generally fixed, and only the headlines are reserved for the director to write news related to the plot.

But the newspaper of "Working Girl" is not an ordinary prop, but a newspaper that plays a decisive role in Tess's fate. After Ronald saw the prop newspaper, he wanted to replace it with a real newspaper.

After contacting *** and the Wall Street Journal and being immediately rejected, Ronald had no choice but to find his old friend, Mr. Buffy, an investor from Omaha. His confidante, Mrs. Graham, was the boss of ***.

"You're welcome. It's a pleasure chatting with you. I always feel like I'm back when I was young. Don't forget to come and chat with me next time you come to Washington, D.C., or go to Omaha. Can you play bridge? If so. You can 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 him because it was fun to talk to him, at least not entirely.

Ronald did his homework early, and not long after the stock market crash, he put Niceta in touch with his youngest son Peter, who was engaged in music.

Peter Buffy was engaged in music work, but failed very much in San Francisco. After that, he returned to Milwaukee, which is very close to his hometown, signed with a small record company, wrote some light music and released records.

Daydream got Peter a small job scoring a campaign ad, which was well received. Last month, he was appreciated by John Barry, who composed the soundtrack for the 007 series of movies, and asked him to work with him to score the new Daydream film "Sticky Fingers".

John Barry is also an unlucky guy. He composed the soundtrack for George Lucas's long-running masterpiece "Howard the Duck". After that, he didn't get many opportunities. In the past two years, he only wrote the soundtrack for the new 007. Ronald handed over the soundtrack to him this time, and he was happy to help a young man get familiar with the real film soundtrack production process.

Although Buffy doesn't care much about his children, he is still very happy that his youngest son can finally do better than ordinary people in a certain industry.

…

Once filming resumed, everything went smoothly. Jack Traynor, played by Harrison Ford, has many scenes opposite Tess. After "borrowing" Catherine's clothes, Tess acted like a real investment manager, convincing Jack Traynor that she was a professional.

Today's scene is when Harrison Ford comes to the company where Tess works, and the two of them interview some ways of cooperation.

Tess is a very smart person. She invited the other party to come with the intention of resolving doubts. Wall Street is a place where there are many scammers. The colleague who said he was Catherine on the phone came to visit again with a document package tied with a rubber band, revealing his secretary's flaws.

Tess can only ask Jack to come to Catherine's office and watch him work 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."

Sheen, played by Joan Cusack, is pulled to the rescue by Tess. She assumed Tess's position and became the secretary to Tess McGill's manager, taking Tess's usual seat.

When she saw Jack Traynor walking into the office, she was afraid that Jack would reveal his secrets when talking to others, so she immediately went up to hold his hand and dragged him into Catherine's office.

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

"Thank you, Xin..." Melanie Griffiths recovered well. She also passed the daily routine blood test and had no further problems.

Tess, wearing red fashion glasses "borrowed" from Catherine, signaled to Sheen that she could go out.

"Do you want anything else? Mr. Traynor." Joan Cusack was unwilling to leave at the door. She played Xin as a pure secretary who didn't have many pursuits. She saw a handsome guy like Harrison Ford. , eyes shining and unwilling to leave.

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

"Hahaha...my secretary is a little over-excited." Tess signaled with her eyes, half pushing and half pushing Xin out.

"cut!"

Filming was back to normal and Ronald was satisfied that progress was progressing as planned.

At the usual lunch time, Ronald took Harrison Ford, Melanie Griffiths, Joan Cusack and others to eat Italian food this time.

The chef prepared the food carefully and some of the ingredients were flown in from Italy. The four people ate in this restaurant and were full of praise.

"This job makes me feel like a woman, like a celebrity cheerleader, giving the audience eye candy..." Harrison Ford complained to Ronald about the lack of his role.

"Whenever he walks into a room, all the female extras will ogle him." Joan Cusack, who plays the secretary, knows the situation of some extras. The actors and staff all talk about this experience. Think of it as an opportunity to hang out with one of the most handsome male stars in Hollywood.

"Do you want to play a more complex role? How about we change the ending of Jack Traynor? Then you will have some challenging scenes to act." Ronald suggested.

In the original script, Jack Traynor was not such a pure good guy. In the end, he learned that Catherine had stolen Tess's idea and kept it as his own. But in order to save her job and future, she did not testify for Tess that the idea was hers.

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

Without his big project, Jack Traynor is finally going home to reflect on his life. There is also no ending with Tess.

"I'm not talking about that... I mean, give Jack some scenes that suit my image..."

Harrison Ford was not fooled, he would not play such a bad guy. Stars play heroic images, and there is no need for character transformation. He is a positive hero as soon as he appears, always cool, always handsome, and always winning until the last moment.

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

Many things are compromises. Although Harrison Ford made the character of Jack Traynor less three-dimensional, there are still many people who walked into the cinema for him, right? In the past two days, the women on the crew began to stir up, which is proof.

Besides, the movie has a happy ending at the end, so there's nothing wrong with Tess and Jack becoming a couple. Ordinary audiences will be more satisfied, and picky and knowledgeable metropolitan audiences also know that couples may not have a happy ending... Commercial movies should not be too outrageous, and it is also a good thing to be careful not to touch everyone's cultural taboos.

The afternoon shoot also went well, with Melanie Griffiths holding a photo, which was a prop spliced ​​with real newspapers and prop newspapers. The correct date, and the front page headlines, and the other side is the content related to the plot, about the daughter of the boss of Teske Enterprises engaged in charity activities.

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

"cut!"

After Ronald finished filming this section, he waved to Melanie to bring over the clipping.

"Oh...why is there entertainment news?"

He turned it over and found it was indeed ***. There is also Xueer's profile picture on it.

It turns out that today's Post is a special feature reporting on Oscar nominees. Every year, it is divided into several weeks to serialize some historical and background information on each nominee. This is a tradition in the Post’s film review section.

"The new adventure of an old singing star..." The title tells the story of Cher.

"Hey, why is there still Olympia Dukakis?" Ronald looked down and saw the content about Dukakis's guest appearance in this movie.

“Are Olympia Dukakis, the actor most in demand for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar, and Michael Dukakis, the governor of Massachusetts and the leading politician in the Donkey Party primaries, related?”

"You won't cheat, will you?" Ronald put the cut newspaper on the newspaper, folded it twice, and gestured with it in his hand.

"Well..." Ronald was relieved. Dukakis's content would not appear in front of the camera. Otherwise, a character who appeared in a movie would appear as an Oscar nominee in a prop newspaper. The audience who discovered this detail would be shocked. Something happened. Previous Chapter Contents Booklet Next Chapter