Exploiting Hollywood 1980

   Chapter 696 Helen, who are you listening to?

   Ronald didn't know that John Hughes fired Howard Deutch for telling the bad truth because he was jealous of his box office results.

   He has his own business to worry about.

A copy of    "Ruthless People" has already been printed and will be released at the end of June.

   Ronald, as a producer, actually did not interfere much with the filming of the film, which cost more than 10 million yuan.

   The first film released by Disney's newly established "Touchstone" is a comedy directed by the trio of Jerry Zucker, who has created a billion-dollar box office. Ronald also doesn't think his comedic talent can give the directorial team any useful advice on set.

   So he just went to watch the film for a day when the movie started, and stood up for Helen Slater, who played the female kidnapper. Apart from letting everyone know that she is her own person, she did not interfere with anything directed by Zach.

  Jerry Zucker is a bit like himself. He is a transfer student from Roger Coleman Film University. He is also a director with a very professional ethic of exploitative films, and he can basically complete the creation within the budget and shooting plan.

  So after that, Ronald simply let the daydreaming Eddie go to the crew to watch for a while, and then let it go.

   Ronald felt that for a director like Jerry Zucker who knew exactly what he was doing, the most important job of a producer was to keep his promises, pull in investment, and never interfere in artistic creation. The director's responsibility is to ensure that the filming is completed within the planned time and does not exceed the budget.

   However, after Ronald attended one of the last test screenings before the release, he fell into deep doubt about what he called "the idea of ​​the producer".

   The response to the preview was not very good.

   The frequency and intensity of the audience's laughter are incomparable with the first two works of the Zack trio, "Airplane!" and "Laughing Through the Iron Curtain" (TopSecret!).

  Especially his debut film "Flying in the Sky", which garnered $80 million at the box office. The laughter is dense to at least one a minute, or even every twenty seconds. All kinds of parodies are dizzying. Not only the film critics liked it, but the audience laughed from beginning to end, and many of them had abdominal pain symptoms the next day.

   But in this "Family Husband", the audience in the preview room laughed restrainedly. When they laugh, they tend to smile knowingly, not indulgently. Moreover, the laughter is also very long before and after, and some laughter is often delayed for a few seconds before it is reflected.

   Ronald watched, his brows began to tighten.

  The rhythm of comedy is very important, more important than the average movie. If a joke is not felt by the audience, it will not only affect this joke, but also the next one. You may still be thinking about where the last joke was funny, and the next one has come.

   In this way, both laughs are often not felt.

   In this "Family Husband", there are frequent lag lag in the laughter. This is not a rhythm problem with one or two laughter points. There may be problems in the whole movie. Originally, the intensity of laughter was 10 points, but this rhythm may interfere with it to only 6 points.

   Not only frowned, Ronald would sigh "tsk...tsk..." when he saw that the audience around him did not laugh in time.

   No one else heard, Helen Slater, who was sitting next to him, hugged his arm tightly, but heard it clearly.

   She looked at Ronald at first, motioning him not to be so rude to watch the movie. Later, he was also influenced by Ronald, and his face slowly collapsed.

   By the end of the preview, Helen's face was already pale, and her two big blue eyes seemed to be starting to cry.

  Ronald comforted her in turn, "Don't worry, the audience's response is good, maybe it will be a big hit when it's officially screened? My Top Gun went through the same situation."

  Helen This is the third movie to go to theaters. The first two films she played as the undisputed heroine failed at the box office. If it fails this time, then you can strike out and kiss goodbye to the movie business.

   Even if you are the daughter of the president of the seven major studios, no one dares to use her to play an important role in a big production.

   Helen, who knew this, put her head on Ronald's shoulder and hugged him tightly.

   Ronald felt Helen in his arms, and his whole body began to tremble slightly because of nervousness and fear. For a while, I didn't know how to comfort her, so I could only comfort her back slowly with my hands.

   She is very persistent in her acting career, but this kind of thing can't be forced. If Helen has something she can't think of and triggers depression, Ronald doesn't know what to do.

   Her father, Gerald, entrusted his daughter to himself, and he himself introduced her to the role. But the quality of the movie really involves too many factors, and the box office is not as simple as hard work and gain.

"Congratulations!" The lead actor, Danny DeVito, a small, bald comedian, came over to pull Bette Midler, the actress who played the kidnapped rich girl. hands to congratulate her.

"Thanks, you too."

  Bette Midler is not good-looking, she is a bit fat, and her main business is a singer. The previous starring film is also a biographical film of a singer, which is her turn-comedy work.

   The two of them were saying congratulations, but the expressions on their faces were telling another terrible story.

   "I'm done, what about you?"

   "I'm done too."

  Ronald watched all this silently next to him, and became more worried about everything in his heart.

   This was the worst preview he had ever attended. The audience wasn't in high spirits, and the actors had apocalyptic expressions on their faces.

   Danny DeVito was previously a comedic supporting role in "Emerald" starring Michael Douglas and Kathryn Turner. This time, I wanted to use Hollywood's top comedy director Jerry Zucker to advance to the protagonist in one fell swoop.

   This test screening is frustrating, but he is still a gold supporting role, and there are still small supporting roles to hang around. Soon he changed his face and began to have a relationship with producer Ronald and director Zach.

   "I saw Top Gun, Ronald, it's really a masterpiece. When will I be allowed to fly in a fighter cockpit too?"

   Ronald just comforted Helen and made her smile again. I was about to chat with Jerry Zucker when he interrupted me a little impatiently.

   "Danny, can you let me and Jerry have some privacy?"

   Ronald, who didn't smile, turned serious, which was really scary.

   "I'm just joking, joking." Danny DeVito backed away quickly from the corner, giving space to producers and directors.

   "What do you think, Jerry?" Ronald pulled Jerry Zucker together to chat about the reaction to the preview. He handed a cigarette, Zach took it, lit it on Ronald's lighter, and the two of them took a breath.

"I don't know, Ronald. I want to change comedy in this movie. Stop sticking to the old rhythm of one big laugh per minute. This movie is actually doing comedy in a dramatic way, and we hope Audiences can find the absurdity in the story itself, not the jokes we feed them into their mouths, you know?"

   "I understand, I didn't mean to interfere with your directing techniques." Ronald took an ashtray, held it in his hand, and let Jerry Zucker knock the ashtray.

"I appreciate this, you know it. This transformation is what I insist on, and we can't keep producing such dense jokes. The transformation is a matter of time, otherwise the audience will be inexplicable about this kind of inexplicable before us. Tired of knowing where the sense of humor comes from.

  David and Jim didn't really agree with my decision. But artistic creation always involves taking risks. If we don’t take this step, we will be eliminated by the audience if we stay where we are. "

   "Hey...I understand, I understand." Ronald also took a sharp puff of his cigarette. It's not a good time to blame Jerry Zucker too much. For artistic breakthroughs, even the relationship between his brother and his buddy's iron triangle has been destroyed.

   "I just wanted to ask you, what do you think of the box office prospects?" Ronald asked in a low voice. After all, he was the producer and was responsible for the box office of the entire movie.

   "I can't say for sure, I heard that your Top Gun's test screening didn't respond well either. The unprecedented test screening effect was not as good as the official screening. If you think I need to make more changes, I will do it."

   "I'm just a little surprised by those sluggish jokes... Forget it, the copy is already done, the cost of re-cutting is too high. And I can't make any useful suggestions. I trust your artistic vision."

  Ronald began to regret it, and he should have gone to the crew to interfere with the progress of the shooting. It seems that when the trio was filming, there was an artistic disagreement, and if they intervened earlier, it might have been salvaged.

   But it's superfluous to say anything now, let's keep the dignity of an artist.

"Thank you, Ronald. But we don't necessarily lose. Those sluggish jokes were deliberately designed by me. The humor in this movie is not so dense, so the audience has enough time to relive the absurdity and irony in the plot. place."

  The two hugged tightly, as a mutual understanding between the artists.

   "Good luck to us." Jerry Zucker adjusted his glasses and said to Ronald.

   "I do need good luck," Ronald replied.

  If the box office is bad, Ronald will be the eldest son of Michael Eisner and the deputy commander.

   Just released the touchstone of the first film, and was about to suffer a serious failure. In the second phase of the Screen Fund, the first investment in George's hands failed, and he would also be laughed at by those noble sons and buddies for a long time.

   I can't say, I have to make a move once, so that two friends who believe in themselves and suffer losses will not continue to lose money because of their mistakes as producers.

  The audience started to leave, and Ronald hurried to the bathroom to eavesdrop.

   This time they didn't discuss the plot of the movie with each other, or any impressive lines, but talked about their own affairs.

   Is it like the protagonist who did not make money in the economic recovery? How abominable those rich people are, they make money by stealing the ideas and creativity of talented people, and they don’t give the poor what they deserve when they get rich.

   is also very reactive, but is this good or bad?

  Ronald touched his head, but had no clue. He went back to the screening room, where Helen was still waiting for him.

  Helen was wearing a white T-shirt and jeans, and her hair was tied behind her head. She had the temperament of an outstanding beauty.

   "Where will you go?" She looked at Ronald with big almond eyes.

   Helen was a complete failure in her audition for "Secret of Success". Director Herbert Ross found Kristy McNichol (Kristy McNichol) recommended by his relationship client Barbra Streisand to play the heroine.

  A large number of actresses are concentrated in the age group of 18 to 35 years old. Without a strong relationship, it is impossible to have the opportunity to appear in a movie with a large investment in the theater.

  Helen understood the importance of relationships only after being ruthlessly rejected in the second round of auditions. She can only make amends and hold on to her only relationship, Ronald, the wizard of commercial films.

   Kristie McNichol's relationship is much deeper than her relationship with Herbert Ross. Herbert Ross was originally a choreographer from Streisand, and most of the Broadway actors belong to this circle.

And Kristy McNichol is not unknown either. She is also a child star. In 1980, she starred in the blockbuster comedy "Little Darlings" with fellow child star Tatum O'Neal. ".

   It's a pity that her appearance and acting skills are not as good as Tatum O'Neal and Jodie Foster, two actors from the same child star.

   But the two competitors, one has no role to play after graduating from Yale, and the other did not get a good teenage role and transitioned smoothly. Just last month, he married American tennis player McEnroe, temporarily withdrawing from the showbiz.

  This opportunity fell on her head instead.

   It seems that as long as you stay in the entertainment industry for a long time, there is still a chance to get one or two big productions.

   "Don't go anywhere, you sit with me for a while." Ronald stretched his arms around Helen, and the two sat in the empty theater.

   "Let them play the movie again," Ronald told the Touchstone staff.

   "What's wrong with filming, even if I fail, I have to see it clearly." Ronald has always been obsessed with professional matters.

   The lights dimmed again, and only Ronald and Helen watched the movie from scratch.

Helen plays a female kidnapper. She and her husband's patented invention was stolen by the rich son-in-law played by Danny DeVito. They made a fortune and they wanted to get back what they deserved by kidnapping the rich daughter 500,000 patents.

   "Tsk..." Ronald sighed when he saw the scene where Helen wore Huey and Dewey's duck masks and kidnapped a rich girl to her home.

   It seems that the movies that have a relationship with the Donald Duck family are all unlucky. Lucas' Howard Duck has basically failed, and it has also implicated two global executives.

   The pacing of the movie is a bit unlike a traditional Zack comedy. And Helen's performance is very different from others. Paying attention to her performance this time made Ronald, who is used to watching classic Hollywood movies, feel a little out of the way.

   Then the rich girl was intimidating in the basement. Helen played a role like an angry little daughter-in-law. Instead, she was conquered by the rich girl and did not dare to abuse the hostages too much, but fry steak for her.

   "Tsk..." When Ronald heard her lines, he also gave people a strong stage play tone, very dramatic.

  When Helen saw that every time she appeared, spoke, or made a physical action, Ronald made a tsk sound and was horrified.

   "Did you really act so badly? What did Ronald want to say when he stayed?"

   She looked at the screen, and indeed when she watched it for the second time, she felt out of tune with the slack acting style of others.

   "Hmmm..." Helen panicked, hugging Ronald's arm and burying her head on his chest. She didn't dare to look at the screen, and she didn't want Ronald to comment on her acting again.

   "Did I ruin the whole movie? Woohoo..."

   "Turn on the lights..." Ronald raised his hand and told the staff to suspend the show.

   "Don't panic, darling. I feel like I've found the problem."

"Where?"

   Helen, whose almond eyes were a little swollen from crying, looked at Ronald with tears in her eyes.

   "Are you listening to yourself when you are performing?" Ronald called the staff and asked him to replay a clip of Helen speaking.

   "Me?" Helen looked at her performance on the screen and thought for a moment.

   "Yes, I'm nervous. Director Jerry Zucker is a well-known comedy director, and I've asked him a lot about the character's mentality, top mission, and tone of voice."

   "No wonder, every time you read your lines, you always pay attention to your tone, accent, and tone, so that your lines are a little different from what a normal person should be speaking."

   "What does a normal person speak like?" Helen no longer dared to ignore Ronald's opinion, and she also felt that her performance was very different from the protagonists.

   "When normal people speak, they always pay attention to what others say, not what they say. Maybe in the future, you should pay more attention to the opponent's actors, instead of thinking about how you should say your lines to suit your role."

   "Is that so?" Helen was stunned for a moment. Why didn't she pay attention to this very simple matter?

   "Yeah, you have taken more acting classes than me. You should have heard the saying that acting is acting as a reaction."

   "Performing is acting."

   Helen Slater muttered to herself, then burst into laughter. The real trick, sometimes it's so simple, is broken by the lover's words. It's ridiculous that he has attended so many acting training classes.

   She was pleasantly surprised to find that she also had a few shots, and she didn't pay too much attention to how she should act, instead it seemed more natural.

  Helen hugged Ronald and gave him a sweet kiss.

   "I'm so stupid, Ronnie. Looks like you know more about acting than I do. I'll listen to you from now on."

   (end of this chapter)