Exploiting Hollywood 1980

   Chapter 466 Shooting

   The group came to New York with shooting equipment. Here, the props team of the crew found a Chevrolet SUV that was more than ten years old but was carefully maintained by the mechanic as a moving tool for the protagonist LaRusso's family.

   Ronald's agent Eddie contacted the RV for the cast and crew and drove to the small town of Harris, New Jersey, waiting for the sunrise to shoot the next morning.

  Ronald did not follow, but took time to deal with personal affairs. He went to visit Aunt Karen, brought the portion of "Night of the Comet" to little Douglas himself, and then made another trip to Long Island, where Helen Slater was recuperating at her mother's house.

   "Helen, Ronald is here" Her mother knocked on the door of the guest bedroom at home and let Ronald in.

   Ronald saw Helen standing in front of the window in cotton pajamas at a glance. After more than a month of training, she did not maintain a 120-pound figure, but gradually returned to the level before the filming of "Supergirl".

   The two looked at each other for a while, then suddenly laughed at the same time.

  Helen came up and hugged Ronald, "I'm glad you came to see me, Ronnie." The two were like friends and talked a lot about the situation since their separation.

  Helen was diagnosed with mild depression by the doctor in addition to the anorexia caused by binge eating and vomiting. After a period of psychotherapy, her mood is now much more stable. What she needs most now is the company of her family and friends, but her parents are divorced and she can only live in two restructured families for a period of time.

   "Supergirl" producers The Salkind and Son don't seem to have given up on their efforts and are still looking for distributors willing to release the film. To this end, they were willing to cut some more shots, leaving only 108 minutes in length.

  Helen's shot has been reduced a lot, but after treatment by a psychiatrist, she seems to be less concerned about it now.

   The two chatted for more than half an hour, and Helen's mother knocked on the door, reminding Helen that it was time for Helen to go out for exercise.

   "Okay, that's it for today." Ronald patted Helen's hair as he prepared to leave. "So, are we still on hold?"

   "Yeah, I think this is very good, I need a little time to recover, and our conversation between close friends like this today made me relax a lot." Helen still said in a soft voice.

  Ronald saw that his eyebrows were still a little worried, turned around and walked out the door. His hand touched the doorknob, and he turned around and asked, "Helen, since you said we were friends, can you answer me a question honestly?"

   Helen raised her hand and motioned Ronald to speak.

   "Before we...Did I put pressure on you? Donna said that every time I chat with my girlfriend, it's like I'm about to take out my ring to propose."

"Hahahaha..." Helen burst out laughing, "That's very accurate. You do look like a good husband stuff, Ronnie. But we've only been dating for a while, especially in Los Angeles, and you always make I felt as if I was already a married housewife.

   Starting a family was a difficult decision for me. So let's keep it like this, and my stress will be a lot less. "

   Helen's parents divorced, and Ronald's yearning for family life revealed on weekdays made her a little nervous, and sometimes it became a source of stress for her. Helen felt that she was just an ordinary American girl who just wanted to relax, and she didn't want to start thinking about whether the two would remain in love in the future, and whether they would end up in the same divorce as her parents.

   "Now let's not pressure each other to make any promises..." Helen told Ronald again about her thoughts on love and marriage.

"Okay, then continue to pause." Ronald didn't like the way that young Americans used emotional books and theories in gossip magazines to guide his emotional life at all. He felt a little tired, so he said goodbye and left. .

   "Helen, you haven't laughed as happily as you did for a long time." Helen's mother took her arm, and the two walked and chatted under the autumn boulevard.

   Ronald found his agent Eddie and asked him to drive him to Harris, a small town in New Jersey.

   "Did you know? Ronald, you should let go of your burdens. Many people enter the entertainment industry just to have fun and meet a few female stars, such as your friend Little Douglas. You don't have to care about that."

   Eddie persuaded Ronald while driving.

   "Yeah, you're right." Ronald only thinks about making the movie well now, not too much about the future. Maybe it's better to go with the flow when it comes to girlfriends. Not from Aunt Karen's time, when getting married was like falling in love now. Divorce is like changing girlfriends.

   Ronald has not really gone through the era of hippies, after all, he feels that his thoughts must also be baptized by the spirit of freedom. He doesn’t have to be as open as hippies, but he doesn’t have to be too conservative. Young people just think about the happiness in front of them.

   "Tell me something that makes you happy, that ex-girlfriend of yours, Meg Tilly." Eddie said after seeing Ronald still without a smile.

"What's up with her?"

   "She was fired from 'Mozart' by the director."

   "Why?" Ronald knew that Meg's husband, Kinneyman, was trying very hard to make Meg a star, so he shouldn't be liked.

   "She played football with local kids on the Czech set and broke her leg the day before filming. Now director Milos Forman is looking for substitutes all over the world. Even my clients have been notified of auditions."

   "Hehe..." Ronald wanted to laugh a little. Fate always makes a joke on you when you're not paying attention. The latest masterpiece of the Oscar for best director, Kinneyman must have given Meg a lot of energy to get the role, and then played a bad football and ruined it.

The next morning was bright, and at the junction of Franklin Road and Hamilton Street in Harris Township (many towns on the East Coast are named after the founding fathers), Ronald and director of photography James Crabbe were lying on the bed together. On the top of the tallest building. There are small houses next to each other. There is a row of parking spaces in front of the building, and there are densely parked cars.

Randy Heller, who plays mother Lucille, and Ralph Mazio, who plays Daniel LaRusso, sit in the car to prepare.

The    light-colored Chevrolet was weathered and had a noticeable dent on the back of the **** that showed it was an old car. Any car enthusiast will recognize this model from ten years ago. On the roof is a Mongoose two-four-speed BMX, a Daniel LaRusso vehicle.

   For a job opportunity on the West Coast, the mother and son packed all their belongings into the car and drove down the interstate. That's why America is called a country on wheels.

   "Camera?"

   "Full speed."

   "Longwei Kid, the first scene, the first mirror"

   "Action!" Ronald called out the order through a portable loudspeaker, and the shooting of "Longwei Kid" officially began.

   The footage of this scene was shot from a distance above, and there was no live recording. Ronald had already talked to the two actors in advance, waiting for the magic light time to shoot after sunrise.

  Randy Heller said his lines, started the car, and drove out of the parking space with a dozen steering wheels.

   "Cut! Cut!" Ronald stood up and shouted to stop. The residents of the town got up very early every morning. Several early-rise housewives and children saw Ronald and others on the roof. They had never seen a movie before, so they all came to watch. A naughty child took the lead and rushed in. the viewfinder.

   "Get them out of the way, don't get into the camera...yes, don't get into that line" Ronald yelled from the roof, gesturing as the assistant below helped chase people away.

The    assistant managed to persuade them out of the circle, and then Ronald started filming again. Lucille drives the SUV up Hamilton Street and then drives all the way to Franklin Road, and the shot is over.

   "Cut! Cut!" The housewives obeyed the rules, but they couldn't see the bear children. When they saw the camera above, they couldn't wait to come out and surround the car, shouting at Ronald.

  In a town where life is boring, it is rare for residents to see how a movie is made. For them, being able to have a good time and show their faces in front of the camera is an anecdote that can be said for several years.

"Fuck, if it's in Los Angeles, pedestrians will just take a look and leave. There's nothing to see in a crew without a star." Ronald cursed and walked to the edge of the roof, slowly descending along the maintenance stairs climb.

   "Please be quiet, do you want to appear in the movie?" Ronald walked up to the housewives and children.

   "Hee hee hee..." The children let out a burst of happy laughter, and the housewives nodded.

"Okay, then you will be at the side of the car, waving to the actors in the car and saying goodbye." Ronald knew that it was too difficult to convince these residents not to show their faces, so he simply modified it on the spot and asked them to make a cameo appearance as a neighbor to highlight Lucy. The good popularity of the Er family in the local area.

   "Remember, you are not allowed to look above. If anyone peeks at the camera above, I will cut their footage."

  The children were laughing secretly.

   "Do you want to tell your friends that there is me in the movie? If you want, just be obedient." Ronald touched the back of the head of the naughty child who took the lead, gave him a piece of chocolate, and he quickly quieted down.

   Started shooting again. Several children were happily lying on the window of the Chevrolet SUV, calling Daniel's name and waving goodbye to him.

  Randy Heller, who played mother Lucille, turned a corner and drove up Hamilton Street. The children did not follow, and were pulled by their mothers, and then collectively waved goodbye to the car.

   "Cut!" Ronald stopped and looked at the sky, which happened to be in good light. The director of photography indicated that the shot met the requirements.

   "It's over." Ronald shouted. The child still reluctantly came over and wanted to take some more shots.

   In order to shoot several moving scenes, the crew had to shoot from New Jersey, Arizona, and Los Angeles, and the broken car was also transported to various places. With a standard production scale of eight million dollars, Ronald was, for the first time, enjoying the treatment of not having to save money for artistic authenticity.

  Everyone got into the RV, the assistants loaded the equipment onto the truck, and the crew of the crew continued to drive to the town of Princeton, where the centennial school is located. Here, Ronald will take a few shots of the gate, making a footnote to the mother and son's journey.

   The point of this kind of montage is to find a few locations that are familiar to all viewers, so they can understand the meaning of the montage, that the mother and son are crossing the country, moving from New Jersey to California for a better new life.

   As the sun sets, Ronald is across from the gates of Princeton for a shot of Lucille driving by. The old car had problems after a long journey. Lucille and Daniel pushed the car that opened the door from left to right.

  Suddenly, the car started to start, and the mother and son quickly jumped into the car from the left and right and drove forward.

   "Haha, you are really great, Daniel." Mother Lucille is always very optimistic, and in this case, she did not forget to praise her son.

   "Cut!"

   After filming a few, the filming of the crew in the small town of Princeton was also completed. Today I booked a room in a hotel next to Princeton, so everyone can sleep well, and tomorrow I will go to Arizona to shoot a few giant rocks that are often seen in Westerns.

  The opening shot was well shot, and the cast and crew relaxed as they hung out on the Princeton campus, getting ready for dinner.

   "Hey, someone plays football here."

  Ralph Mazio saw some girls playing football on the lawn, and he went up to show his hands happily. He is different from those girls who rely on his body to play the ball. He runs with small steps and shakes the ball from side to side. Several girls can't grab the ball from him.

   "Almost there, don't get hurt. You haven't warmed up enough." Ronald was very satisfied with Ralph's game. But he thought of Meg Tilly, who was injured playing football, and he didn't want his hero to be injured too.

  "Okay", I just want to show you my skills. Ralph Mazio is also happy with himself.

   "Ronald?!" A crisp female voice came from behind, "Why are you here?"

   "It's you, Brooke." Ronald turned around and saw a tall girl behind, wearing jeans and sunglasses, trying his best to hide his brilliance.

   "I'm here to shoot and make a movie."

   "It's Brooke Xiaosi?!" Several crew members, seeing that it was Brooke, immediately gathered around to sign autographs. Even Ralph Mazio was ready to move.

   "Let's talk somewhere else, there are many people here." Brooke looked around and many people came to look around, although Princeton college students were very polite and didn't watch her much. But there were also many experiences of being politely asked for autographs and group photos, which made her very distressed.

   "We're going for dinner, do you have any recommendations?"

   "Follow me." Brooke helped her sunglasses and walked out wearing Ronald and the crew.

   (end of this chapter)