Exploiting Hollywood 1980

   Chapter 420 Asia Pacific Museum

  Atlantic Pictures went to great lengths to keep "Night of the Comet" in 500 theaters in its third week. In addition to the hurricane "Star Wars - Return of the Jedi", two new films were released this week, occupying a large number of films.

  One is the sequel to Hitchcock's classic "Psycho", "Psycho 2", which also stars Meg Tilly. A total of more than 1,400 theaters have been taken away. It seems that Kinneyman spared no effort to support his wife.

  The other is Warner Bros' "Double-Brained Man", a sci-fi comedy that also occupied more than 1,200 theaters.

According to the estimate that Ronald got from the Atlantic Ocean, the total box office for this week will not exceed 16 million. The distribution capacity of small companies is like this. Ronald can only expect two new films to have poor box office. Wait a minute. Zhou regained lost ground.

   Another issue to be dealt with is the issue of martial arts tricks in karate-themed movies. Ronald wants to spread some oriental martial arts philosophy in the movie, so that Danny can finally defeat his opponent, but he doesn't fall into the bully like the other party.

  This needs to give the audience some philosophical ideas. But telling philosophy in a movie is clearly a thankless thing, and it is easy to lose the audience's interest. Ronald had this problem with Tony the hairdresser.

   There are also some moves that Danny's mentor taught him. How to make these moves so that the audience can understand at a glance, without any additional explanation, is a rather wasteful thing to think about. And the audience will finally see Danny the kid defeating the opponent, indeed using the moves taught by these instructors, so that they will have a mentality of empathy.

   In order to find a suitable expression method, Ronald asked Richard to help him contact various cultural centers and martial arts halls in the Los Angeles area of ​​China and the East, hoping to communicate with the masters and bring him inspiration.

   On Saturday, Ronald went to the Asia Pacific Museum. The museum is located in Pasadena, the same town where Ronald and Diane went to a concert last time.

   The Asia Pacific Museum is located in the upper town of the town, which was originally a private building. The whole building adopts the Huizhou style of China, and the eaves are separated by feng shui walls, which are said to have the effect of fire prevention.

   There are several courtyards, each of which is a theme exhibition, with exhibition areas such as Huaguo, Dongying, Southeast Asia, and Indians and aboriginals. There is also a small garden-style garden in the middle of the yard, with a nine-bend bridge, a lotus pond, and a round door.

   However, the exhibits and cultural materials are generally preserved. Ronald looks like junk at first glance. There is only one Buddhist bronze statue in the Huaguo part, which shows something extraordinary.

   "I have a big watermelon, half for you, half for him" came the sound of American-style Taijiquan starting style.

   One of the characteristics of garden-style gardens is that you can change the scenery when you move. After a short walk, you can see the new scenery separated by the original wall.

   Ronald heard someone teaching Taijiquan, turned a few turns, and finally saw a middle-aged Chinese man who was teaching a large group of whites, blacks, and Latinos learning Taijiquan.

   He was wearing a white training suit and a wide cloth belt around his waist, which gave him a bit of an immortal look.

   Ronald watched him demonstrate a simple eight-style Taijiquan. His elegant posture made a group of students take it seriously.

   "This person looks familiar. It seems that Coppola was on the set and told everyone to be there when they were learning Tai Chi. The person who taught boxing on the teaching video." Ronald remembered who this person was.

   After finishing a set of simple Taijiquan, the middle-aged man came over and said hello to Ronald, "Hello, my name is Chaoli, are you here to learn Taijiquan?"

   "No, I was wandering around the Asia Pacific Museum. I didn't expect to see a Tai Chi master like you, so I stopped and took a look."

  Chao Li smiled, "If you want to learn, you can come here to find me every Saturday. I will come here to teach boxing, rain or shine. It's free, and everyone can learn from each other."

   "Thank you, I have seen a videotape of your boxing teaching from a director friend before. I don't know if you invented these formulas for a big watermelon yourself?"

"Hahaha, have you seen that video too? Yes, because Taijiquan has many concepts, which are related to the ancient Chinese 'Tao Te Ching' and 'Book of Changes'. It is not easy for someone who has a certain understanding of Chinese culture. I understand the meaning of this concept, such as yin and yang, such as hardness and softness, so I transformed it into a formula suitable for American culture, so that I can learn it faster.

   But to have a deep understanding, you still need to understand the Chinese culture for the effect of Taijiquan. I have an open class at California State University, teaching Tao Te Ching and I Ching, you can listen to them when you are interested. "

   "It's all free? Why don't you make money with this knowledge?"

Chaoli accepted a smile, "Many friends have advised me to sell the teaching content of Tai Chi, but I feel that in America, the Chinese culture has been suppressed too much. California used to have the Chinese Exclusion Act until the 1960s when Chinese and White people can't marry yet, so I want to spread Chinese culture as much as possible and let more people know about us.

   There is an idiom in Chinese called imperceptible influence. The more we understand, the less we will be demonized. Chinese culture is a bridge to enhance friendship. "

   "But if you can make a blockbuster movie that reflects Chinese culture, wouldn't you be able to better promote Chinese culture?"

"Hahaha, you are right. I am a film and television actor myself. If you are likely to make a blockbuster film about Chinese culture in the future, it will be a great thing for us Chinese and the racial reconciliation of America. Since Bruce After Lee's unfortunate death, the image of Chinese Americans on the movie screen began to become negative and villains again."

   "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have told you this," Zhao Li smiled, as if seeing Ronald was like seeing a compatriot. It's rare for a white man to like Chinese culture, so he couldn't help but say more.

He took a pamphlet, "This is the Taijiquan thirty-six-style boxing manual written by myself. There are various formulas I invented on it, and I will give it to you. If you have time, you can come here to talk to me. I Today's boxing time has come, and I'm going back to Los Angeles to give some acting lessons."

   "Oh, okay, thank you, Chaoli." Ronald accepted the boxing score and exchanged business cards with Chaoli.

"Are you really a director? Don't forget me if you have the opportunity to make films of Chinese descent in the future." Chao Li found that Ronald's business card had the movie director written on it, but there were many people in Hollywood who claimed to be directors, and it was nothing to know more than one. harm.

   "Maybe there will be opportunities in the future."

  Ronald, carefully read the Taijiquan manual, which Zhaoli translated the names of many moves in Chinese into something that people in English-speaking countries could understand.

   For example, when a white crane hangs its wings, it is changed to a crane-style kick, which is not literally translated as "a white crane hangs its wings."

   In this way, it is easy for the American people to think of the connection between actions and names.

Ronald decided to remake the Gangruliu karate moves like this. Those tongue-in-cheek names like "Three Wars" and "Turn Palms" must be changed to "I have a big watermelon" without explanation. know-how.

   When I went back to the city, I drove through a puddle, and the car was splashed with a lot of mud. Ronald drove to the mechanic shop next to the apartment to find someone to wash the car.

   "Sir, do you need waxing?" the young car wash asked Ronald if he could make a little more money.

   "Waxing?"

   "Yes, apply this car wax (WaxOn) first, then slowly wipe it off with a soft cloth (WaxOff), I guarantee your car will be like new."

"What did you say?"

   "I said it would be like new."

   "No, the previous sentence."

   "Wax first, then wipe off. (WaxOn, WaxOff

   "Very well, here's a tip for you." Ronald had a surprise, took out a twenty dollar bill, shook hands with him, and handed it over.

   "Okay, you can leave it to me." The car wash got the big tip and immediately took the guy out and cleaned it up for Ronald.

   drove the car home, Ronald immediately took out a pen and paper, and made up a new name for the Gongrouliu move.

   "This step to block the hand is called the waxing style." Ronald drew a few karate moves of the villain, with his arms rotating outward to block the opponent's straight punches and swing punches.

"What about stopping the hand down?" Ronald stood up and made a note, and saw the vacuum cleaner in the corner, "It's called the floor scrubbing style." The arms of a few villains rotated inward to block the opponent's uppercut or kick. .

   "There is also this combination of offense and defense." Ronald gestured for a long time, with one hand up, the other down, and then his hands upside down, as if he was painting a wall.

   "That's called the painted wall style."

   "waxing", "sweeping the floor", "painting the wall", "hahaha..."

  Ronald kept gesturing in the room, then drew the gesture, and finally turned on the computer and started typing frantically. This episode of the teacher teaching the protagonist to learn karate, it seems that the American audience will not fail to understand.

   "What do you think? I turned these tricks into a name that everyone understands?" Ronald called Vidal the next day to discuss with him.

"It's very good. Although it doesn't quite fit the taste of those old antiques, they all pay attention to tradition and don't want to change the old-fashioned name, but I think it's very good. I can try it when I teach boxing in the future." Vidal told Luo Nader's idea was much appreciated.

   "Okay, I'll just write it like this. In the eyes of the layman, it's good that there won't be too many jokes."

"Actually not, my teacher told me before that the source of our rigidity and softness is the Southern Shaolin martial arts. In the Shaolin Temple, the monks have to draw water and chop wood, which is actually a kind of exercise. In a year or two, many basic moves can be finalized. The names of the moves that follow are all thought up by scholars.”

   "Is that so?" Ronald caught a cold again. "Why don't you let Danny's teacher teach him the skills of being firm and soft by waxing, mopping the floor, and painting the wall. Danny didn't understand it at first, so after waxing, mopping the floor, and painting the wall three After basic training, you will naturally learn the basics of rigidity and softness.”

   "But this, it takes a lot of time, didn't your movie happen in a summer?"

   "Movies, you can exaggerate properly." Ronald had a plan.

   (end of this chapter)