Exploiting Hollywood 1980

   Chapter 657 Costner Please Drink Beer

   After a two-week break, Ronald began to enter the editing room to edit "Longwei Kid Part 2".

   For the first time, Ronald felt a lack of that strong creative desire when editing.

   For several previous films, including the first film of Longwei Kid, he was eager to take the final film and slowly pull it out from the samples.

Sitting in front of the editing machine, Ronald sometimes feels like an ancient Greek sculptor, watching the final film, slowly arranging and assembling the recordings according to the image in his mind, and finally become a work of art.

But in the sequel this time, Ronald is struggling to summon the full desire to create, as if he is just finishing a job, no longer carving with a carving knife, but like a plaster worker, following the first part. He made a mold, put the plaster in it, and then waited for it to take shape. After breaking the mold, he broke out a statue that could not be called art, but could sell for a good price.

   Ronald, who had never felt this way, called editing master Walter Murch and asked him to come and see it.

  Walter Murch has completed the production of MJ's "Captain Io" 3D short film, and was groping for the stereo soundtrack of this new 3D film, when he heard Ronald's call, he immediately came over to see his apprentice.

  Murch, who spent two hours reading several original films, smiled and said to Ronald, "No problem, you are shooting a very typical Hollywood commercial film, you are just a little tired of aesthetics."

   "What?" Ronald didn't understand what Murch meant.

"The director shoots more films of the same type, and he will accumulate a lot of experience. In this type of film, where should the pace be slowed down and where should be accelerated, all the narrative and shot scheduling, editing skills, you already have a lot of depth understanding.

   When you edit like this, you don’t feel as excited as you did when you faced many challenges for the first time.

   We have a famous saying in this line that directors and editors always get bored before the audience gets bored. "

   "Then what should I do?" Ronald took a sip of wolfberry black tea and felt a little bit like that.

   "Either you seek changes in the genre, or you let someone else cut your film." Murch shrugged, obviously there was no good way.

   Ronald couldn't do either, so he had to continue in the editing room, taking the time to make editing decisions one by one.

   After looking at the film from a more objective perspective, Ronald began to criticize the actors' acting skills.

   Like his aesthetically fatigued director, the performances of Ralph Mazio and Noriyuki Morita also tend to fall into stereotypes.

   This is not someone's intention, but a problem caused by the script.

"Longwei Kid Part II", the actual core and the first part have not changed. He is still a boy who is not favored by others. With the help of a master master, he defeated a strong enemy and finally returned with a beautiful counterattack. story.

  Because it's the second part, the audience needs a story with overweight. So the plot is also overweight in every aspect. Sharper contradictions, stronger enemies, more romantic stories, bigger budgets, more exotic locations...

  The two leading actors are a little bit like the characters set up in the first part, and they automatically go down.

   Fortunately, there is a newcomer, Tomita Tan Ling, who is starring in this series for the first time. Therefore, Tomita's performance is still full of the unique aura of a newcomer who is acting in a movie for the first time.

  From the perspective of love scenes, the second part is better than the original one, and the chemistry between the two actors is also better.

The    clip continued to get closer, and one weekend, Ronald unexpectedly received a call from an old friend, inviting him to come to the house for a reunion.

   "Kevin!" Ronald walked into a small house outside Los Angeles.

   "Ronald, welcome!"

  Kevin Costner let him into his new home, grabbed a Budweiser can from the fridge, and threw it to Ronald.

   Kevin Costner is also famous, but he has a bit of a flattering look about him. He called Ronald to meet up, and the two simply drank beer, as if they knew each other like two old friends from high school.

  Costner's role in "Night of the Comet" was not much, which also attracted some attention. But the box office success of the film only allowed him to get some new script invitations, and it did not become a big hit.

   On the contrary, it was the just-released "Battle of Sivarado" that made him suddenly famous and had the money to live in a new house.

   "Sivarado Showdown" is a traditional western film. In today's decline of western films, there are still many fans of western films among the executives of the seven major Hollywood studios.

   The success of this film made these old diehards start to look forward to bringing Westerns back to mainstream theaters.

   "Congratulations!" Ronald took a sip of Budweiser, picked up the pizza on the table, and the beef jerky, and chewed it. Chatting with Costner while watching a baseball game on TV.

   "This is what Director Kasdan owes me, and I'm lucky."

  The reason why Costner was able to play one of the four male protagonists in "Battle of Sivarado" was mainly because the director Lawrence Kasdan wanted to return a favor.

   In "The Big Chill" a few years ago, Kevin Costner played the college student who died at the beginning, but in the final film, director Kasdan deleted all his scenes.

   was at the house of Meg Tilly, who was playing his girlfriend, and the other cast members were still laughing at Costner because he didn't have the fancy cashmere scarf from the crew.

  Lawrence Kasdan has always remembered this matter. After taking over the "Battle of Sivarado", he specially hired Costner to play the leading role and gave him a favor.

  Silvarado Showdown is a Western, and it's been a long time since no one wanted to make a Western. This is a somewhat retro western film, and the unexpected box office is okay, plus the film critics and major studios, gave him a high evaluation.

  So for a while, Costner also became a little star in Western genre films, earning a lot of money and renting a house by himself. He also remembered that Ronald gave him the first role, and he was the first to invite him over for a beer.

   "How's the box office?" Ronald asked Costner, this carpenter-turned-brother has a quality in him that makes it stress-free to get along with.

"It's not bad. The producer said that it will be possible to stay in the theater for three months, and the box office will not be too high. However, there is a fixed audience for this kind of western film. I heard that the TV rights are selling well, and it will be released soon at the end of the year. A videotape is coming."

   "How much are you going to sell?"

   "Ninety-nine ninety nine?"

   "It's still too expensive," Ronald shook his head and took a sip of beer.

  Most of the film and video tapes are now sold for close to one hundred dollars. Most American families can't afford it. Their more common choice is to go to one of the newly emerging video rental stores to rent one and watch it at home.

   is the price of one five to three yuan per day.

   "Cindy, give us some more fried chicken wings."

   Costner said to his wife in the room.

   "Okay, I'll put Annie to sleep and I'll come."

  Costner and his wife Cindy are sweethearts who have been in love since high school. The two have a very good relationship and just gave birth to a daughter, Anne, last year.

  Kevin Costner took up Ronald's movie "Night of the Comet", and with the basic living expenses, Cindy also became a housewife at home.

   Soon, Cindy put on an apron and went to the kitchen to make snacks for her husband and friends. She is a beautiful brunette and looks beautiful.

   "Here, Ronald, have a taste."

  Cindy has great respect for Ronald, a man who brought hope and first big money to his small family.

   "Oooh, very tasty, Kevin is such a lucky guy."

   "Yes, I'm so lucky."

  Kostner and Cindy kiss. Then go on to watch the World Series with Ronald, Louis Cardinals and the Kansas City Royals in the Finals this year.

   "Bang!" Left fielder Lonnie Smith hit a hit.

   "Did you know? Lonnie only moved from the Cardinals to the Royals this year. This is the first time in the history of the World Series that such a situation has occurred for a finalist."

   "Oh, then he's very motivated." Ronald and Costner toast. The other party has a lot of knowledge about baseball history, and Ronald is also very interesting to see such a knowledgeable person.

   "Kevin, do you have anything to eat?" Ronald saw a sloppy man walking out of the study.

   "Michael, there's still pizza on the table, you can take it." Costner pointed to Ronald and the rest of the pizza he ate.

  "Thank you", Sloppy Michael picked up the pizza and put it in his mouth cold.

   "Don't you need some hot tea or something?" Ronald asked, seeing that he was having a hard time eating.

   "There's hot coffee in there." Costner pointed to the kitchen.

   "Thank you, I'll be fine soon."

  Michael went out after eating the pizza, holding what looked like a script.

   "Who is he?" Ronald asked.

"It's my friend. You know, when I was down, I had a lot of friends, screenwriters, makeup, actors, we all mixed together. I went ashore one step ahead of them, and now if these friends encounter difficulties, I let them live in my house."

  Kevin Costner is nice to old friends.

   "You have to talk to Michael, don't throw the food around and attract cockroaches." Cindy cleared out a dozen snacks and instant packaged cakes from the study.

   "I'll tell him, Michael used to be nice to me, he just missed the chance."

  Costner went to break up with his wife, and finally let Michael continue to live at home.

   "Is his script really good?" Ronald asked.

   "No, but I can't drive him away either." Costner smiled and shook his head. This friend was always writing whimsical stuff and the rhythm was wrong.

   I can only give him a place to live. After a few months, he feels hopeless, and naturally he will go back to his hometown.

   (end of this chapter)