Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"Ronald, can you go see Jerry? I feel like he's not doing well right now, and he doesn't smile every day. I think an old friend like you can bring him some joy."

The person who called Ronald was Susan Aikins, the production assistant of "The Karate Kid".

The call Ronald made through Richard was answered by Susan, the secretary of producer Weintraub. But Weintraub has been very busy with work recently, and he's under a lot of pressure, so he has no interest in calling Ronald, who is now in high spirits.

If it was an ordinary secretary, Susan would definitely not call back. But as a lover recognized by Weintraub's legitimate wife Jane Morgan, Susan still called Ronald, who made Weintraub successful in Hollywood.

"I came to him to ask about the third part of The Karate Kid. Some Japanese friends are very concerned about whether there will be a sequel to this series of movies." Ronald said his purpose.

"Of course, we are very interested. Why not? The two leading actors, Ralph Mazzio and Noriyuki Morita, have not had any successful works recently. They both hope to make another The Karate Kid. If you say so, I think Jerry will take it very seriously." Susan Aikins almost begged Ronald to go to Weintraub Productions on the phone.

Recalling that when filming The Karate Kid, Susan Aikins stood firmly on her side and told Michael Cimino, who wanted to take the director's position, to get out. I couldn't help but soften my heart and agreed to meet my old friend.

"Aha, Ronald. So nice to see you..." Weintraub didn't look as bad as Susan said. He was energetic when he greeted, and his handshakes and hugs were also very strong. He looked like the boss of a medium-sized production company in Hollywood.

However, Ronald still saw a clue from his frown from time to time. Old friend Weintraub's hair has turned a lot whiter, and he feels very tired when he doesn't speak. No wonder Susan is worried.

"Is this your office? It's really big. I think you can play baseball in it." Ronald was still shocked when he looked at Weintraub's big office. Both walls of the entertainment tycoon's office were filled with movie posters. It didn't look like a company he founded last year, but rather a fifty-year-old old studio.

"Come and see, this is the film library I bought at a high price." Weintraub saw that Ronald did not put on airs, but instead showed great interest in his achievements over the past two years, and suddenly he was relieved of his fear of meeting acquaintances.

He patted Ronald on the shoulder and took Ronald to visit his film library, just like when the two of them worked closely together.

Susan Aikins next to him breathed a sigh of relief. Sure enough, in Hollywood, where everyone wants to take advantage of others, only Ronald, a non-Jewish director who witnessed Weintraub's rise, has some common language with Jerry, and can make him recall the time when he was filming The Karate Kid. It turns out that making movies is a happy thing.

"Murder on the Orient Express", "Death on the Nile"... Ronald looked at the posters one by one. There are many famous movies adapted from detective Poirot.

"I remember this is a British movie?" Ronald asked Weintraub. It was Agatha. The British would never let Hollywood dominate. So most of the actors in it are British actors.

"How is it?" Weintraub looked at Ronald looking at the posters intently, thinking that he envied his film library. "This can be said to be the greatest achievement since the establishment of my Weintraub Productions. More than 2,000 films released by EI, I bought from the two Israeli bumpkins in Cannon."

"It turned out that they bought them from the British..." Ronald nodded. After Minahan Golan got 400 million in financing, he bought a British Starlight Cinema and the film library of the old film distribution company EI in one go.

Last year, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates and the financing channels for junk bonds were cut off. In addition, the company's stock price fell due to the stock market crash. In addition, the box office of "Superman 4" invested by Cannon was a big flop. Several major events happened together, and Cannon's financial situation was almost on the verge of suffocation.

Later, it was Minahan's cousin Yoram who introduced the investment of EMI from the United States to stabilize the situation. This is why Minahan withdrew from the management afterwards-film companies are not managed by emotions, but by making solid money.

However, last year, Cannon was reported to be investigated by the China Securities Regulatory Commission. According to Niceta, because of building buildings and excessive filming of big-budget movies, the financial hole was quite large. This year, it can be stabilized. The industry still recognizes Yoram's financial management ability.

"You bought it when their finances were unstable, right? This is really a good deal. How much did it cost?" Ronald complimented. As he looked at the poster, he thought, no wonder Cannon stabilized, it turned out that the most valuable film library was sold to Weintraub.

Although the overall quality of this library is not very high, there are some excellent works among them, and the copyright of the Poirot detective series is very valuable. This not only means that Weintraub can sell videotapes in the future, but also has the right to remake. These best-sellers with a wide range of readers are very valuable.

In addition to the Poirot series, ei also has the spoof movie "The Eternal Sinner" invested by the Beatles, the classic thief film "The Italian Assassin", and the sequel to "The Three Musketeers" "The Four Musketeers" adapted into a movie.

Weintraub is worthy of being a Jew. He took advantage of Minahan and others' distress to seize this kind of film library that had little chance of being sold.

"It cost me eighty-five million dollars..."

"Huh?" Ronald looked back at Weintraub, the price is not cheap!

"In Hollywood, you don't have some high-quality assets, and stars don't want to believe in your ability. They always have paranoia of being persecuted. It seems that for newly established studios like ours, they come to them because of their reputation. Used to sell random movies.”

Weintraub showed a hint of disdain mixed with resignation. He is still a nouveau riche in the Hollywood circle by relying on the success of his two "Dragon Boys" movies and establishing a company named after himself.

Unlike Ronald's Daydream, it is a production company established by the director himself. When the stars saw that the invitation was from Ronald's company, they always had a rough estimate of the basic level of the movie. Ronald could not let the lower limit of the movie be too low.

Weintraub's films were blockbuster hits, but who knows if he was lucky enough to find a directing talent like Ronald? You see, after he left Ronald, didn’t he make a good movie?

In Hollywood, a place where no one knows the secret to success, Weintraub's company actually has a relatively low status. In this way, he can only declare to everyone in the industry that I am serious and not a skinny company by purchasing visible high-quality assets.

"Do you think the price is too expensive? In fact, in my opinion, I actually took advantage." Weintraub said this very skillfully.

"With this film library, I immediately got a major film adaptation project. Last year, I got the film adaptation rights of the Broadway musical 'Evita' about the legendary wife of Argentina's president. I approached Olivier Written and directed by Veron Stone, with Meryl Streep playing Mrs. Peron, it was only postponed due to schedule reasons..."

"Oh..." Ronald thought, I also want Streep to play Catherine in Working Girl. If someone goes to Australia to shoot a movie, even if there is a schedule, they will definitely work with me first. Oliver Stone is also preparing for a new Vietnam War movie with Tom Cruise. Tom will be working on that project after filming Rain Man.

"Unfortunately, there is another strike by the Screenwriters Guild, so this project will be postponed, but I am very confident that this will be a very good movie."

"Can Streep sing?" Ronald thought to himself. This famous Broadway play has a lot of solo parts. "Argentina, don't cry for me..."

"This guy may be cheating..." Looking at Weintraub's very skillful words, Ronald really felt that his situation was not good.

"I have many big projects now, but they were all delayed by strikes like this... The first movie released by my company will be released in the summer season in August this year. I can only buy well-made movies from Europe. This movie is The debut film of a director from China, The Big Be, tells the story of people and dolphins. "

"Yes, now I am also affected by the strike and have no new scripts to shoot. It is very troublesome." Ronald agreed. The screenwriters went on strike, leaving all practitioners without work.

"Then I'm a little better than you. I managed to get a good script before the strike, a romantic comedy, 'My Stepmother Is an Alien'. I found the popular comedy star Dan Aykroyd to star in it. I The company has fully invested a total of 26 million. I now go to the set every day to see that our real debut film is about to be born.”

"Who is the heroine?" Ronald asked casually. Romantic comedies depend entirely on the chemistry between the male and female protagonists. In the top-grossing "Ghostbusters", Dan Aykroyd was not the one in charge of love affairs among the three male protagonists.

"Kim Basinger..." Weintraub revealed the answer. He likes to show off here, judging from the expression on Bin's face.

"Who?" Ronald was really surprised. This is the hottest sexy star in Hollywood right now. Since filming "9 and a Half Weeks," a movie that vaguely hints at special behaviors, it has become popular all over the world. Everyone wants to buy a video to take home and enjoy.

However, a sexy actress like her needs to be paired with a handsome guy like Mickey Rourke, the leading actor of I Love You for Nine and a Half Weeks. A comedy star with an honest image like Dan Aykroyd can't seem to suppress the aura of such a gorgeous stunner.

"Hahaha, they are filming on the beach right now. Shall we go and take a look? I'll make a phone call to make arrangements." Weintraub said and was about to make arrangements.

Ronald was about to refuse, but behind him Susan Akins was making gestures asking for permission again.

While Weintraub went to call, Susan and Ronald told the truth.

Of the original 85 million used to acquire the EI film library, 50 million was borrowed from banks. After the stock market crash, financial institutions had doubts about the valuation of the film library sold by Cannon, so Weintraub was under great pressure. He had to use this big-star production to give his company a head start. Only in this way can banks and the industry truly recognize him.

…

Seeing Weintraub's enthusiastic invitation, Susan asked for permission from Aikins. Of course, Ronald also wanted to meet Kim Basinger, the popular porn star. It's like when all directors wanted to work with Marilyn Monroe, now Basinger is the new Monroe.

The spring sunshine in California was also very good. Ronald got into Weintraub's luxury car, and the two of them chatted about the third part of The Dragon King in the car.

"I didn't hurry up and shoot the third part. On the one hand, it's because without you, I didn't want to shoot it." When Weintraub was asked about the sequel of this series, he first flattered Ronald.

"The other two reasons, as you know, are that neither Ralph Mazzio nor Noriyuki Morita wanted to make such commercial movies with childish plots, so they tried other types of roles. But it seemed that the results were not good. How good..."

Ronald smiled. Generally speaking, trilogies in Hollywood are like this. The first film makes a name, the actors become famous, and the studio makes money. In the second film, the leading actor increased his salary and continued to make money, but the studio's profits were eaten up by the salary. In the third movie, the star demanded an exorbitant salary. After working hard for a while, the best result was that the studio didn't make any money.

Weintraub obviously didn't want this. He paused the project just to wait and see. The two leading actors encountered obstacles everywhere before accepting the third part at a more reasonable price.

"So, besides your Japanese friend, do you want to watch the third part yourself? Are you interested in continuing to direct?" Weintraub didn't know who the so-called Japanese friend was, or whether there was such a person. Ronald made it up because he was short of scripts and came to collaborate.

"To be honest, I think there will be difficulties with the plot. The story that needs to be told has been told in the first two films..." Ronald really felt that he could no longer film the story of Daniel LaRusso.

"Besides, it's 1988 now, and the earliest the project will be approved for filming will be 1989. Ralph Mazio is already twenty-seven, why would you go back and film a scene about a seventeen-year-old?"

"That's right, what do you mean?"

"Let me make it clear first that I am not suggesting ideas to you as a screenwriter..." Ronald joked first. He was also a member of the Screenwriters Guild. Such words were limited to Ronald and Weintraub. Su It's enough for Shan and the others to know.

"I have some cooperation with JA from Xiangjiang. I think it is better to upgrade the plot and film the story of Goju-ryu Karate when it was first created. There is a team in Xiangjiang that can shoot the action beautifully through hanging wires... like this Wolf and Morita, playing themselves hundreds of years ago, there is no problem in being older.”

"I think about it, it's true that many people in Hollywood want to introduce remakes of JA movies..."

The three of them were chatting animatedly. The car had already arrived at the beach where the filming was taking place, and everyone was preparing for the evening scene.

This movie is a romantic comedy disguised as science fiction. Kim Basinger plays Celeste, a beautiful woman transformed from an alien. In order to have some sci-fi feel, director Richard Benjamin decisively copied Cameron's scene in "Terminator" and had Basinger appear like Schwarzenegger on the beach.

However, Ronald's arrival was unlucky. It seemed that there was something wrong with Kim Basinger and the director on set. Basinger refused to appear in such nude scenes. She hid in the trailer and did not interact with anyone.

Embarrassed, Weintraub knocked on the door and tried to resolve the issue. Ronald knew very well that this was a star trying to show off. After Kim Basinger made a pornographic film, the last thing she wanted to do was to film such a role again and stereotype herself.

So on the one hand, she relied on her gorgeous image in "Love You for Nine and a Half Weeks" to charge a very high salary for a female star, and made a lot of money by filming several movies in a row. On the other hand, he refused to perform any outrageous scenes on the screen again.

Ronald had no choice but to pretend not to see this embarrassing scene, put on his sunglasses and looked at the scene.

Director Richard Benjamin was originally an actor and made many small-budget productions and TV series in the 1980s. It seems that Weintraub also wanted to repeat Ronald's miracle with him.

But the female star of "My Stepmother Is an Alien" is too famous, and Richard Benjamin, who has just started filming a big production, has a tendency to be unable to win over her.

"Ronald, is it really you?" While watching the scenery, a young actor came over and recognized Ronald.

"Seth?" Ronald vaguely remembered that this was when filming "Love Is Not for Sale" invested by Bannon. A young actor on the crew played the classmate of the heroine Amanda Peterson and had many scenes.

"Yes, it's me, Seth Green." The young actor was very happy to see an acquaintance, "Let me introduce to you, this is Alyson Hannigan who plays my girlfriend in the movie. In fact, she is the protagonist, Playing the daughter of Dan (Ayk Royde) and Kim (Basinger).”

"Ah...it's Ronald, you are my favorite director. Boy Longwei is very good-looking. We all want to be Ellie." Alyson Hannigan, who is only fourteen or fifteen years old, plays the male lead daughter.

"Hahaha, then you play well. Mr. Weintraub is the producer of Longwei Boy." Ronald smiled and chatted with the two young actors.

While they were chatting, Weintraub and Susan walked out of Kim Basinger's trailer. Basinger was behind them, being helped out by a man with glasses.

"Who is that?" Seeing that the matter seemed to be resolved, Ronald couldn't help but look more at the man who seemed to be Kim Basinger's boyfriend.

"That's Jon Peters. He's been visiting me a lot lately."

"The Peters of Guber-Peters?" Ronald frowned after getting confirmation from the young actor. This hairstylist-turned-Hollywood producer has always been very good at pleasing female stars.

It seems that there is no chance to get to know Kim Basinger in depth this time, Ronald thought to himself.

"This is Ronald, Ronald Lee. This is Jon from Guber-Peters. This one needs no introduction..." Weintraub saw Ronald and came up to introduce them to each other. .

"Of course, Elizabeth Yin of 9 1/2 Weeks, no need to introduce. I heard Adrian Ryan (director of 9 1/2 Weeks) talk about you, he said you acted very well."

Ronald went up to greet them and offered his hand.

When it was Kim Basinger's turn, Ronald found that she didn't take his hand.

"What's wrong with you, Ms. Basinger?" Ronald looked at Kim Basinger, who was pale and seemed to be sweating.

"Ah..." Kim Basinger screamed, shook off Jon Peters' support, turned around and fled into the trailer.

"Hey?" Ronald was full of questions, "Did I say something wrong?"