Exploiting Hollywood 1980

  Chapter 697 Ronald Picks the Heroine

  Helen discovered her long-standing misunderstanding, paying too much attention to her performance would make the audience keenly discover the traces of your "acting".

   She was very happy and practiced with Ronald that night.

   The two kept looking at each other, flirting with each other, and then repeating what the other party just said, paying attention to the feeling between the lines.

Sure enough, if you pay attention to the other person, your body will give a better response. The other party picks up the body's reflection and gives the reflection. Under the virtuous circle, the two of them feel better than usual. a lot of.

   However, long-term acting skills and habits require professional training to correct them. After two days of fun with Ronald, Helen Slater couldn't help but signed up for a new acting training class, and went to practice acting with his best friend Helen Hunt.

   Ronald is back to being single, and the main time these days is still allocated to John Patrick Shanley, the screenwriter of the dream movie "The Bride and the Wolf".

   Shanley is a New Yorker, and this time he came to Los Angeles to discuss filming with Ronald.

   He is a handsome, meticulously dressed guy, in his thirties, with the blue eyes that are common among Irish people, and a little melancholy.

   As soon as the two chatted, they realized that their background experiences were very similar.

   Like Ronald, Shanley came from the poor class. He grew up in the black Bronx, not far from Bard Jr.'s original house.

  Shanley's mother was a telephone operator and his father was a worker in a meat processing plant. Growing up in an environment of gangsters since childhood, Shangli knows some street smarts very well.

   He once served in the Marine Corps. After he was discharged, he went to college through the Private Bill. It is Ronald's alumnus and a graduate of New York University.

   But he did better than Ronald, graduating with an honours degree in theatre.

   Shanley had been writing Broadway plays before that. He was lucky. In 1982, the script was picked up by the performance companies of Off-Broadway (a performance venue outside Broadway, usually a venue for newcomers), and he began his career as a screenwriter.

   But after that, his luck became more general. His plays have been circling off Broadway, and none of them have been loved by the critics and have the opportunity to be promoted to Broadway performances.

  Shangli started to transform, and slowly began to try to write movie scripts, thinking of the Hollywood circuit to try his luck.

  Similar upbringing made Ronald and Shanley hit it off at first sight. The two found an Irish restaurant, drank beer, and started eating potato stew while chatting about the filming of the script.

   "You're Irish, why not write a story about an Irish family, but an Italian story?"

   Ronald and Shanley had three rounds of wine, and the two of them had finished their drinks and began to chat about some core topics.

   As the author of the first movie script, most screenwriters will write the stories around them. So Ronald had to ask the other party how he found his inspiration for a script that didn't write about his own affairs.

   In this line, all kinds of deceit and betrayal are happening all the time. Ronald didn't want to see a writer claiming that Shanley stole his script idea after he started filming.

   "Hahaha, that's actually very interesting. I grew up living in an Irish community, and my classmates were either Irish, Italian, or black. Across the road from our block is an Italian neighborhood.

  My parents and I live here. The neighbors are all typical Irish families, an older father, and a mother who is many years younger, a small family composed of a group of children.

   And the Italians on the other side of the road are more interesting than us.

   First of all, they are very good at cooking. A family together, like every Italian mother, will make a lot of delicious food. And they often live with their grandparents, and the whole family eats together, which is very lively. "

   "Hahaha, it's true that Italians are more of a big family." Ronald remembered that the director Coppola had invited him to his house for dinner, and it was indeed a large family around for dinner.

"Yes, I think their mothers know a lot. It's easy to tell the difference between Italian and Irish children. For Italian children, their clothes are ironed very well by their mother or grandmother. In our Irish family, the clothes are I often see unwashed spirits stains." Shanley said more and more vigorously, and winked at Ronald.

  Ronald let go of his worries. By analyzing his creative process and ideas in this way, it is very possible that he came up with his own ideas.

"That's why I've always been yearning for a big family of Italian descent. I always go to my classmates' houses after school. They call me half Irish and half Italian." It was a great pleasure for the winner director to discuss the creation.

"By the time I majored in theatre, I wanted to write a film that reflected Italians. The food I longed for as a child, the warmth of a big family, tactful clothes, and a little superstition, I wanted to put it into the story. .

   But the more sweet memories I hold in my heart, the harder it is to write them out. I didn't finish the first draft until a few years ago. But my agent pitched to a lot of studios and got rejected.

  Because now in Hollywood, as soon as people hear Italians, they are gangster movies (the godfather), dance movies (Saturday Night Fever), participating in gangsters and dancing, and it has become a stereotype of Italian descent.

   I'm not saying the characters I've written aren't stereotyped, but none of the studios want to take the risk, they don't like to risk disappointing the audience by making a film that reflects the life of an Italian-American family.

   They felt that a film that reflected Italian-American life without seeing Chicago typewriters splashing water on the streets, or a handsome guy like Travolta doing a lively dance would be a fraud. "

   Ronald nodded, the studio's operation is normal. Regardless of the quality of your script, the marketing department doesn't know how to advertise such a script.

   If it is a gangster shootout film, it can be said to be the new "Godfather". If it's a dance movie, it's the new "Saturday Night Fever." But how do you recommend this movie to friends?

  The new... er... you know, it's a romantic love story about a big Italian immigrant family, a love story of parents and children at different life stages, and a sense of humor...

   "Italian, is it a gangster love story?" Often a friend can choke you to death with a single word.

  So Ronald took over the film and bought the rights to shoot it, and had to go the other way. Marketing through celebrities.

   Ronald intends to discuss with various distribution companies to see if they can sign a distribution contract. Then you can find big stars like Cher.

  Director, male lead, and female lead, among the big three, Ronald, a top-selling director, has already participated. Next, as long as you find a female star of Cher's level, you can guarantee the sales.

   At that time, the marketing of the seven major studios can say, "Go and see the love story directed by Ronald Lee and starring Cher."

   "So, we have been able to sell to the distributors?" Shanley heard Ronald confirm in person and wanted to direct the film himself, and was very excited.

   "Uh, there's actually one more heroine. And..."

"what?"

   "The name of the movie must be changed. The names of the bride and the wolf are too ordinary, and the audience doesn't have much expectation for the content of the story after watching it."

   "Then what are you going to call it?"

   "How about Moonstruck? Like you wrote in the script, there's a big, bright moon, and when it's there, people fall in love."

   "Well, very good. You're right." Shanley took a sip of beer, "Who are you going to invite, heroine?"

   "What do you think? When you wrote the script, did you put the image of an actor in your head and write it down?"

  Ronald knows this little trick of writing a script. If a certain star is used as the target to write the script, then the character's speech and behavior will inevitably be substituted into the image of that star.

   In this way, if someone else plays the role, some of her details will need to be adjusted to match the new star's performance.

   "When I actually wrote it, I thought it was Sally Field," Shanley said.

   "Huh? She has no problem with acting, but the first thing I thought of was Cher, what do you think?" Ronald didn't expect the script to be based on Sally Field, a double-actress.

   "She's beautiful, and her black hair and black eyes fit the image of Italian descent. Is she Italian?" Shanley is no stranger to Cher. She debuted as a pop group with her first husband, Sonny. But after the divorce, Cher gradually tried acting. She not only acted in Oscar-nominated Best Supporting Actress movies, but also performed musicals on Broadway.

   "No, she's Armenian, but she looks very Italian, doesn't she?"

   "Yes, but Sally is also a good candidate, isn't she?"

   "She doesn't seem to be Latin enough", Ronald thought for a long time, "but I'll invite her to audition too."

  …

"Shanley said he's based on a script written by Sally Field, and we're going to invite her to try it. I'm still leaning toward Cher, and Sally isn't Italian enough. Do you think there's a suitable candidate?" In the evening, Ronald went to see his agent Nisita.

   "Middle-aged women, sexy, can play Italian, aren't those the usual suspects?"

  Nisita heard about the results of Ronald and Shanley's negotiation, and also gave Ronald an idea.

   "Which suspects?"

"Apart from Field, and your favorite Cher, there are generally actors who can play middle-aged beauties, there is Sigourney Weaver, who is said to have done well in the Alien sequel. Diane Keaton, she and Al Pae Sino has worked with Godfather, understands the Italian culture, and has a good appearance and acting skills.

  Katherine Turner, she is very beautiful, suitable for middle-aged people who can also fascinate younger brothers. Like her is Kim Basinger. But she is a little younger. Like her, there is Deborah Wenger, who is brunette, the problem is that she is a little younger like Basinger.

   By the way, there is also Woody Allen's new film, Diane West as the second sister in "Hannah Sisters", and Barbara Hershey as the younger sister. "

   "Why, can't you play the eldest sister?" Ronald asked casually.

   "Mia Farrow is not **** enough," Nisita said.

   The people he recommended were not the most suitable actresses for the role of Loretta Castorini in the script for the new film that Ronald bought.

   But what he recommends are those who have won an Oscar, have been nominated for an Oscar, and have a high demand for nominations, and are now extremely popular and well-known.

   This romantic comedy that reflects the love story of middle-aged people still needs some stars to ease the difficulty of publicity.

Ronald also fully understood, "So, you can send them a private message and ask if you are interested in making a romantic comedy with me. If you have an idea, send a part of the script. If they are interested, send seven more Great promotion."

   "Well, the script on Cher's side can be given to the whole copy." Ronald added, he still hoped to maintain the original version of the dream. After all, the chemical reaction is still very mysterious, and he wants to use the cooperation that has been proved to be feasible.

   "Where's the hero? What do you think? Do you want to ask Tom?"

  Nisita closed the notebook and asked Ronald if he wanted Tom Cruise to play Ronnie Camarelli.

   "You ask Paula's opinion." Ronald also felt that if Cruise wanted to act in a movie with his girlfriend, he seemed to have no reason to refuse.

The    star pulls the audience, and is a couple with the heroine, and has a chemical reaction. It's just that he's a little too handsome, and doesn't fit in well with Ronnie, who bakes bread with a disabled hand in this script.

   (end of this chapter)