Exploiting Hollywood 1980

   Chapter 509 Encounter

   The next morning, Ronald took Brooke and slipped out of London to play. He asked someone at CAA's London office to borrow a car, trying to get used to the right-hand steering wheel and accelerator, and head out to the outskirts of London.

   Brooke combed her hair, completely changed from the hairstyle she was used to in America, and sat in the co-pilot wearing huge sunglasses.

   Although she was with Prince Andrew yesterday, many media knew her. But to ordinary people in Britain, she was not a well-known idol, only some young people knew her.

   This is the weakness of models. Compared with movie stars, the popularity accumulated by magazine covers is obviously not as profound as in the movie theater, when the audience watches a story on the screen.

  Ronald vaguely remembered the road here, and he drove along with the memory, and actually drove to the Pinewood Studios. This is the place he is familiar with, especially the largest studio, which used to be the main filming location for "Supergirl".

  Since you're here, why don't you just hang out here.

  Ronald made up his mind, parked his car, and walked down the path with Brooke. There was a cozy hotel in front of him with good muffins.

   "You seem to be familiar with this place?" Brooke asked.

   "This is the Pinewood studio, the largest filming base in Britain and even Europe. In front of it is the studio where 'Superman' and 'Star Wars' were filmed." Ronald said, pointing to the largest studio.

   "Anthracene", Brooke took a look at it. Now, her interest in filming is not worth the Princeton diploma. Although she also dreamed of working as an actress in the future, the reviews and box office of the last two films were mediocre, making her a little doubtful of her talent.

  The two walked among the pine forests. The Pine Forest Studio lives up to its name. It was originally a large pine forest, and now there are many forests between the studios. There is grass between the woods and the woods, and some outdoor scenes that require grass can be shot here.

   There are also some ancient castles in the distance, which are ancient castles handed down from older ages. Because of the convenience of framing, it is an ideal location for Shakespeare and Jane Austen plays, and many costume crews are filming here.

   Ronald held Brooke's hand, and the two walked on the grass. The grass in the morning is a little damp, and under the sunlight, people can breathe and smell the smell of grass, which is very pleasant.

   Holding hands and walking together. The fresh air from the grass and pine forest made Ronald's mind and body seem to be starting to recharge.

  The two walked up a gentle slope, and from a distance, it seemed like a wave of people were shooting a movie in front of them.

   "Yeah, the clothes they wear are so simple, they seem to be ancient costume films." Brooke Xiaosi has a lot of research on clothes, and she couldn't help but say it.

   "Go, let's take a look." Ronald walked slowly along the trail, through a pine forest, to the location of the shooting.

   took a closer look. The clothes the crew wore were very simple, not the style of Shakespeare's princes and nobles, nor the handsome and beautiful Jane Austen. It's a peasant woman's dress in the American Midwest.

   It is not a peasant woman, but a teenage girl, wearing an old-fashioned skirt, holding a lunch box in one hand and a hen in the other.

   "What kind of British drama is this?" Ronald searched his brain, but couldn't come up with it.

   However, others are filming, so I can’t interrupt myself. Fortunately, the middle shot is being filmed. Ronald and Brooke appear in the distance, which does not affect the filming of the crew.

   The hen clucked, and a metal monster came by. It looks like an upside-down spittoon with metal eyes and beard, and a large winding key on its back.

   "Mr. Tik-Tok, we have to defeat those wheel people."

   "Boom Boom..." The big spittoon started stomping on the ground, walking on the ground a little strangely. Ronald guessed that someone was walking around in this tin suit, like the R2D2 droid from Star Wars.

   "Cut!" A call to stop came, and a middle-aged man with a shaggy beard and a tired face stopped filming with an electric horn.

  Ronald felt that the voice was a little familiar, and took Brooke forward two steps.

   Sure enough, this director is Ronald Murky, the teacher of Ronald's editing technique. His new film was actually filmed on the Pinewood set?

   "Walter!" Ronald waved at him happily, and walked down the high **** with Brooke.

  Walter Murkey was troubled by the unsatisfactory progress of the filming, when he heard someone call him, looked over, and a flash of reflected sunlight flashed across his spectacle lenses.

"who is it?"

   "It's me, Ronald. I'm sorry to disturb you." Seeing that the atmosphere was not right, Ronald immediately slowed down and apologized.

   "Oh, Ronald. Nice to see you here." Walter exclaimed to the crew, "Ten minutes rest."

  A small man got out of the big spittoon named "Tik-Tok". He's in an upside-down position inside, with his legs tucked together at the bottom of the upside-down spittoon, his hands propped up on the legs of the "Tik-Tok" in order to get that stupid walking pose.

   "Who is that? Is that girl with him Brooke Shields?" He asked the little girl holding the hen next to him.

  "I don't know", the girl sighed and handed the hen to the assistant, "This scene is so slow, this chicken stinks to death."

   "How's it going? I didn't expect you to shoot here, just walking beside you." Ronald was very excited. What Walter Murkey filmed here must be the "Return to Oz" he wrote and directed? That little girl should be Dorothy.

  Walter Murkey gave a wry smile, "If you came a few days later, maybe I wouldn't be here." He handed Ronald a cup of coffee.

   "What happened? What happened?" Ronald was surprised.

   "It's nothing, I'll tell you later. You come to see me, it's the only good news in the five weeks since the filming started." Walter looked at Ronald and was very relieved. This apprentice of his is really promising.

   "Is this Brooke Shields?" He saw the tall girl clenching his fingers with Ronald, only to realize that she was an American idol.

   "Yeah, it's me, nice to meet you, Mr. Merzy." Brooke Shields took off her sunglasses and greeted him.

   "Oh..." The crowd exclaimed, it turned out to be Bo Ji Xiaosi.

   Bo Ji quickly withdrew her hand, she was afraid that the news would be spread out.

   "Are you all professionals here?" Ronald looked around, the news that he and Brooke were together, it's best not to get the news.

"It doesn't matter, I may be fired soon, and they will be scattered to other crews. Even if reporters come in two days, they won't be able to find the person involved." Walter Murkey still had some remaining sense of humor, he looked for He sat down on a chair with his name written on it, and told Ronald about what happened when he started filming.

  It turns out that Disney's performance has declined in recent years. Ron Miller, the son-in-law of founder Walt Disney, has been greatly reduced in the company's power by the gang of old courtiers headed by his nephew Roy Disney.

  Ron Miller's original green-light project "Return to Oz" was also included in a separate volume. Plus Walter Murkey had trouble shooting. Five weeks into filming and more than two weeks behind schedule, Disney has begun discussions about ending the project.

   In order to kill the chicken and show the monkeys, Disney's executives have fired two important candidates, Walter Murkey's first assistant director and director of photography. If Merzy doesn't speed up the progress and continues to delay, he will be the next one to be fired.

   "Why?" Ronald looked at the little actors in the venue a little puzzled. Although animals and children are two of the three most difficult subjects to photograph in filming, the little actor who played Dorothy did a pretty good job of what Ronald had just seen.

   Even though her filming time is limited by the union, she won't be half behind after five weeks.

"Come and see", Walter Murkey urgently needed someone to talk to, he took out a draft of a split shot, "This is my movie draft, in this movie, except for the little girl, there are robots, hens, mechanical hens, And stop-motion animation, where our actors are acting on imaginary things, often making mistakes.”

   "Oh," Ronald understood. Walter Murkey's debut is too ambitious. At the beginning, it looked like a stunt blockbuster. In the end, except for Dorothy, who appeared in almost every scene, most of the other characters were special effects that needed to be synthesized later.

   Even George Lucas only dared to get two robots when he was shooting Star Wars, and one was humanoid.

   "Disney had doubts about this movie, and I could be fired at any time." Walter was a little dejected.

   Ronald also sighed, this kind of thing, only the director is responsible for, half of the filming, no one can directly help, only to encourage the director, let him persevere.

   Just as he was about to give Mo Qi a little encouragement, a group of people came over there.

   is headed by a big man in a suit, next to a secretary-like person.

   "Walter, it's time for us to talk."

   "Okay, Gary." Walter Murkey, recognizing the film's executive producer, knew the expected ending was coming. He looked next to him, a crew member was reluctant to approach him, and everyone guessed the ending of this conversation.

  Walter sighed, put the electric horn into Ronald's hand, and walked into the trailer parked next to him with Gary.

   Ronald opened his mouth wide, didn't he? I actually happened to meet the moment when Walter Murkey was fired.

   "Is he all right?" Brooke looked at Ronald and asked.

   "At most, I'll be fired. I can just chat with him and save him from being too sad." Ronald replied. This movie was the work of Walter Murkey for several years, so he was fired, and the movie is expected to die prematurely. It is difficult to find someone to take over this kind of film that uses a lot of special effects.

   "He's so pitiful." Brooke heard Ronald talk about the story of Merzy's preparation for the movie, and felt that it was too cruel to him.

   "No way, once the film is overrun, spending money is like running water. There are not so many Orion Films that can fully support Coppola and spend money like that." Ronald also felt regretful.

   "Am I unfit to be a director?"

   In the evening, Walter Murkey, who was fired, had a lot of drinks in the bar with Ronald.

   "No, I think the problem is mainly due to the underestimation of the shooting time of the stunt." Ronald replied, "I haven't seen the demo, but I see that the child actor you chose is already top-notch."

"Fairuza Balk," Murzy replied, "I took a long time to find her, and she's a perfect fit for the role of Dorothy, even better than Judy Garland in the original. Dorothy is just a little girl of ten."

   "Is there no room for recovery?" Brooke interjected while watching the two of them drinking whiskey.

   "No, I was able to convince Disney to give the green light because of George's influence." Walter Murkey said in a low voice, and finally fell on the table. He drank a little too much.

   Ronald sends Walter Murkey back to the room.

   He pondered the last words Murkey said, "George exerted influence." Could it be his college friend George Lucas?

Ronald touched his chin, as if Walter Murkey once told him that George Lucas and him were fighting for a chance to be Coppola's assistant, and the two agreed that the winner would meet in the future. At the critical moment, the one who wants to lose is the one.

   Returning to his temporary room, Ronald called the front desk, "I want an international call, right... Los Angeles in America."

   (end of this chapter)