Exploiting Hollywood 1980

   The story of "Moonlight Sultry" takes place in Brooklyn, New York, where the law and order is much worse than Manhattan.

  The location was filmed here. MGM applied for a report to the city hall. Two nypds came to the scene, wearing baggy uniforms, which were not ironed at first glance.

  Compared with the "Famous World" filmed on the streets of Manhattan six or seven years ago, it is obvious that the city hall here has a lot less support for the filming.

Of course, MGM will not only rely on nypd to ensure the safety and order of the crew. They informed the Italian gang in Brooklyn according to the rules. After watching a few scenes shot by the crew, their little leader saw that It's a romantic comedy, and the protagonist Cher's makeup is old-fashioned, and the costumes don't have any feminine charm.

   Soon they lost interest in the crew, and they just found a few scumbags to watch the scene.

   Such a movie has neither the gangster feud like the godfather nor the good-looking young and beautiful girls, and the Italian gangsters are not interested at all.

   In addition, the five major families in New York have all been attacked by Rudy, the Attorney General of the Southern District of New York, and even the petty people are languishing.

   "Why do you say men love women, such a woman, who is still a widow, is still loved?" a gangster whispered, he thought the plot of the movie was very nonsense.

  In Italian culture, a widow whose husband died unexpectedly is an unfortunate woman. Men mostly play with such widows and are unlikely to marry them.

   "Hollywood, there are all kinds of messy movies. Who should read this kind of story about middle-aged women. I think the director is a fool. It's better to make Godfather. It's the best movie in the world."

   "That's right, if you can get John Travolta and a beautiful girl to perform a song and dance show. Now that the boss is called to watch the show, there's nothing to brag about when you go back to your girlfriend."

  …

   Just as they were judging Ronald, in a department store on the corner of the street, the crew was filming a scene where Cher waited until her boyfriend Johnny proposed and went to buy a drink to celebrate.

  “a!”

  Cher standing on the road outside the door, wearing a gray coat, black boots, all over the body, only the gray hair is not a gray tone. At first glance, it looks like a boring accountant, not a beautiful woman who makes people love it.

  The camera is inside the department store, facing the door.

   "Lingling..." Cher, who opened the door, started the wind chime on the door, and the elderly husband and wife shopkeepers inside were still complaining to each other. The boss gets up and says hello to Loretta, played by Cher, "Good evening."

"Don't think about talking nonsense. I saw that the way you looked at her was wrong. What were you thinking about when you looked at her at that time?" The beautiful woman who bought the wine took a few more glances and chatted with her, which touched the nerves of the proprietress.

   "What do you want to buy?", the boss laughed dryly, and then continued to do business.

   "Champagne." Loretta took out twenty dollars and handed it to the boss.

  The boss turned around and went to the refrigerator behind him, took a bottle of cheap champagne, and was still joking with the proprietress, "Then what do you think I was thinking when I looked at her?"…

   "Like a... wolf!" The proprietress said viciously beside her.

  The camera is now aimed at Cher on the other side of the counter, and the close-up is aimed at her face.

   This is the second time the crew has filmed this scene, and this time it is mainly to shoot close-ups of several actors.

   The proprietress who played the supporting role for Cher is also a veteran supporting role of Broadway. Her jealous and complaining eyes are very sufficient.

These Broadway actors must have satisfied Ronald very much. Even if they were there during the filming, they stood behind the camera, cooperated with the protagonist, finished the lines they were going to say, and gave them to those who were filmed in front of the camera. A reasonable response from the protagonist.

   But even with this kind of cooperative work, the supporting role was meticulously done. Her eyes and facial expressions clearly showed two levels, at first she was jealous of the woman who drew her husband's attention.

   Then there is dissatisfaction with her husband for ignoring her own feelings.

  Although her face has aged and her waist is already thick, the way she acts like a spoiled child in front of her husband is still the appearance of a girl in her early twenties.

  Cher, who played Loretta, looked into the eyes of the actor behind the camera. She could feel the emotions conveyed by the other party very well.

   Under the watchful eyes of the camera, when Xue Er heard the phrase "You look at her like... a wolf", she suddenly raised her head and looked at the lady boss indifferently.

   Ronald saw the look behind the camera and was delighted. Cher's performance is restrained and accurate, maybe it's because of her talent in acting, maybe it's because she and the heroine Loretta have some common feelings in some places, or maybe there's some mysterious reason, in this scene Cher The performance was outstanding.

  This script has a difficult performance level in the first act, which is why Loretta has a relationship with his brother Ronnie after accepting her boyfriend Johnny's engagement.

  This place needs a very subtle performance. If the performance is not good, the audience will have questions, why is such a middle-aged widow and widow still doing this? They get into doubt and ask themselves this question, and they get pulled away from the story, which is very detrimental to the audience's attention that a good movie needs to follow the plot for a long time.

   Or worse, the audience accepted the plot, but lost sympathy for what happened to Loretta. If Loretta turns out to be a jerk, or a woman with an unclear mind, in the eyes of the audience, then all the stories that follow will have no place.

  If the protagonist cannot make the audience have the empathy to lament her experience, then the building of the whole movie will collapse.

   For this reason, Ronald specially arranged this scene.

  Men love beautiful women, it is a kind of nature, that is, the real meaning of the boss's line, "you are a... wolf".

   Even if the two bosses are noisy now, when they are newly married, they must be like glue, and when they look at each other, there is an indelible possessiveness. You can definitely see this fiery in the eyes of someone you love.

   And this is the missing key between Loretta and his fiancé Johnny. …

   At first glance, it is full of jealousy and envy of the proprietress.

  Loretta wasn't the one that Johnny could set up to propose. Instead, when they were eating together, Johnny said that his mother was seriously ill and that he was flying back to Italy to see her one last time.

  In the same restaurant, Perry, a college professor, was about to propose to his female student.

  The waiter at the restaurant has prepared various pieces, including the wedding ring being served on the plate.

   But Professor Perry and the female student had a big fight and ended up breaking up. The female student also poured a glass of water on the professor.

   At this time, the waiters began to celebrate. If Professor Perry was not married, he would continue to eat at the restaurant.

   At this time, Loretta felt something in her heart, so she made her boyfriend Johnny improvise and propose to her.

   And Johnny didn't make any preparations. Loretta was very dissatisfied with the casual marriage proposal. She would not agree to a marriage proposal without a ring.

   In the end, Johnny took off the ring on his little finger to make the proposal successful.

   Such an experience has no romantic elements at all. On the contrary, before the marriage proposal, the two have become the mentality of living.

   Seeing the grocery store owner, the age of the proprietress, and strong jealousy and admiration, Loretta's heart surged with a desire for this kind of life.

   "Like a... wolf, eh?" The boss picked up the champagne, put it in a paper bag, wrapped it up and handed it to Loretta.

   This is a new change brought about by the current President and First Lady Nancy, who pushed the underage (no) drinking bill two years ago.

   Acts passed by Congress do not automatically enforce the powers of states. But only in the federal positive regulations, any state that does not allow minors (under the age of 21) to not drink alcohol will not receive a series of federal education funding funding.

   Soon, as a relatively "progressive" state, New York State passed state laws and began to strengthen restrictions on all kinds of drinking. An obvious difference is that after buying alcohol, you can't take it openly in public, and you can't put it in the car.

   must be wrapped in a paper bag to indicate that you will not drink alcohol in public or while driving. so as not to adversely affect minors.

   "What... wolf, you have never seen the eyes of a living wolf in your life." The boss began to tease the boss lady. There was a joke between the old couple.

   "I've seen wolf eyes, I've seen this kind of look in every man's eyes, especially yours just now."

  Loretta took the change and put it in her wallet. In her heart, there was something mysterious that she didn't dare to tell people, and she also wanted to see that... wolf's eyes in Johnny's eyes.

   "Oh, do you know what I see in my eyes?" The boss continued to tease his wife.

   "What did you see?" The lady boss was still a little gloomy.

   "I saw that girl when I was newly married."

   "Oh..." The proprietress turned her anger into joy. She was very pleased with her husband's deliberate sweet words, and smiled and kissed him.

  Loretta saw it, laughed too, said goodbye to them, and walked out of the shop door.

   "cut!"

  Ronald watched Cher's performance on the videotape split by the camera, and he was quite satisfied with that smile. Cher should be able to do better. …

   "You did a very good job, very good, now can we switch a method..." Ronald and Cher chatted about her acting method.

  Cher is a star, so she can't talk to her in the usual way of dealing with actors. Because the stars have a relatively large self-awareness, Ronald had to take a detour, first praise the ability of the other party, and then propose another way of performing that he felt more suitable.

   "Sorry, Ronald, today's time is up. You've extended the filming time by half an hour, and according to Screen Actors Guild rules, you can't continue filming today."

   "What? Miss Cher didn't raise any objections, what did you say?"

  Ronald was about to persuade Cher to do it all over again, but a representative of the Screen Actors Guild suddenly appeared, rudely citing the rules and laws, and demanded that today's filming end here.

"This is the union's rule. If you are dissatisfied with my behavior, you can file a reconsideration with the New York office of the Screen Actors Guild. But now, I must say, it's time for a break. The Screen Actors Guild is for the well-being of all registered actors. consider…

   Even if the main actor agrees, you have to take into account all those supporting characters who play with her, as well as the cameramen, sound engineers, lighting engineers, etc. who also work under difficult conditions. If you don't stop filming, I'll come next time with a representative from their union. "

   Numerous photography crews, recording crews, and lighting crews immediately began to pack up their equipment when they heard the threat from the trade union representative.

   "Moonlight Sultry" is a project of MGM, which has been officially filed in major trade unions.

  New York is also the most powerful cities in the major trade unions in the film and television industry, and they can't afford to offend these professional trade union leaders.

   They are not real actors or practitioners in the film and television industry, but full-time professionals who specialize in trade union affairs. The major Hollywood film crews dare not offend them.

  Ronald felt very helpless. Originally, taking one or two more shots of this shot would have achieved the best effect. But if it is interrupted in this way, when the filming is retaken tomorrow or later, it is necessary to find the state again, and the actors may not find a similar good state again.

   In addition, this scene is in the evening time period, and tomorrow’s reshoots have to be filmed in the evening, and there are not many shooting times before the off-duty time stipulated by the union, so there is not enough time.

   is not a 9-to-5 office clerk type of work. This is film creation. Is it necessary to strictly adopt this 9-to-5 eight-hour work system?

   Ronald looked indignant as he watched another day wasted.

   "When you're in New York for a long time, when they're filming in-studio, do the union guys use that exact timing?" Ronald asked his director of photography, David Watkin.

"Indeed, there are too many Broadway actors in New York. When auditioning for many roles, there are often more than 100 actors to try for a vacancy. If it weren't for the strict protection of the union, they would be very disadvantaged. Therefore, New York has always been the most powerful actor union. One of the two powerful cities.

  Your studio on Long Island cannot escape the keen sense of smell of these union workers. "…

   "That's not **** good," Ronald thought, as his two long takes, especially the dinner table ending scene, obviously required long rehearsals and reshoots.

  It takes a long time for the actors to try and collide to overcome this movie's biggest challenge.

  If the union staff called to stop when the actors just found the state, Ronald would be in tears.

   "I have to have a meeting with the top management of MGM, and I have to move the later interior scenes to a place where the union is not strong."

   In the evening, Ronald found Weintraub's subordinate at MGM, an executive in charge of the production business, and made his request.

   "There are only two suitable places, one is Virginia or New Jersey, where the appearance of buildings and New York belong to the old-fashioned neoclassical style and do not wear gangs. The two states also have relatively weak union power.

  The other is Toronto, Canada, where the street scene is very similar to America, and the interior style of the house is also similar to New York. Now, for many contemporary dramas, the seven major studios are shooting in Toronto or Montreal, Canada.

   In addition, after the union learned that you were not filming in the New York studio, it might not have thought that you ran to the northern neighbors for the first time. "

   "You will do this for me, okay?"

   Ronald heard, since there is such a good place, why don't you hurry up? Anyway, plus the shipping fee, the hotel fee, the cost of re-setting the scene in the studio, and all the money, it is better to be able to work overtime at will and save the cost.

   After all, in the film shooting industry, the most important thing is to follow the schedule, not to shoot according to the plan, this is the biggest black hole of wasting the budget.

MGM is still very supportive of this film, and soon the set team and materials were airlifted to Toronto, where they rented a large studio and began to build the big house of Loretta's family, her fiancé brother Ronnie's apartment on the second floor of the bakery, and some other interior scenes.

  It is estimated that it will take three weeks to build all the sets. In fact, they are still very happy. Now the industry knows that in the Toronto filming studio, because they can work overtime, they can basically save 20 to 30% of their time.

   This time saving has brought about a substantial drop in the wages of personnel and the rental of equipment. In comparison, some shipping costs, and the increased cost of new sets, can only be considered a small amount of money.

  The time was right. When the set was finished, Ronald could basically finish shooting the location in New York, and then move to Toronto with the rest of the crew after the Christmas break.

  …

  Before that, shooting of street scenes in New York continued.

   Shot on this day is a scene at Loretta's house.

  Loretta brought home champagne from the grocery store and wanted to share the good news with her family.

   But when I got home, I found that everyone has personal troubles, and no one seems to be happy for her to get married again.

   The first thing I saw was the old man on the wooden stairs on the second floor.

   Fyodor Chaliapin's old eyes, a little cloudy, just showed the image of a somewhat old and confused grandpa in the camera. …

   He saw Loretta, played by Cher, coming home, and he didn't say anything to her, but instead yelled at the dogs behind her.

   After a while, they all hurriedly bypassed Loretta, rushed up the stairs, and went to the room with the old man.

   "cut!"

   Ronald never interfered with Fedor Chaliapin's performances, and he didn't need any advice from himself to know what the best way to do a scene was.

   If it wasn't for his deafness, Ronald would actually like to discuss some difficult scenes with him.

But the old man sometimes needed several times to understand Ronald's problem, so Ronald gave up his mind. As long as Fyodor Chaliapin could play his role well, he would not be able to. Ask for anything extra.

   "It's really weird, why when he plays with Cher, or Olympia Dukaski, he doesn't seem to be deaf at all. When talking to me, it takes a lot of effort."

  Ronald saw a real-time black-and-white video on a small monitor behind the camera. This is the one just now, played back on the recorder.

   Ronald's whisper was still heard by the director of photography, David Watkin.

"These actors have magical powers. Once you call a, they seem to have a sixth sense and can perceive every move of the opponent's actors." David Watkin has always been shooting this kind of opponents that test his acting skills. Photographer, he gave Ronald an answer that wasn't an answer.

   "Well, that's right," Ronald scratched his head, "but he must have some secret."

  …

The camera moved to the second floor, and Vincent Gardenia, who played Father Cosmo, in vertical-striped pajamas and thick glasses, was sitting on a recliner in the corner, listening to old songs from the record. .

  "Then the phone rang and I jumped up

   I prayed as I grabbed the phone

   let it be him, oh dear god

   must be him or I will die

   or I'll die"

   "Dad, why are you sleeping here? Where's Mom?"

  Loretta enters the camera, sitting next to her father Cosmo, asking a question, awakening Cosmo who is listening to Vicky Carr's old song "It must be him (itmustbehim.

   "I can't sleep, I may be dying, I can't even sleep."

   "Dad, I have news to announce."

   "Okay! Let's go to the kitchen." Cosmo was shocked. The last time her daughter said there was news, it was her ex-husband who had a traffic accident. "

  Loretta opened the champagne and poured two glasses. Cosmo put a sugar cube in each cup, waited for the bubbles to rise, and clinked with his daughter.

   "I'm getting married." Seeing that the atmosphere was right, Loretta announced the good news.

   "Again?" Cosmo seemed more frightened.

"yes!"

   "Didn't you have a knot before? It was unsuccessful."

   "That's because my husband died."

   "What killed him?"

   "He was hit by a bus." Loretta imagined that his father would react like this, so he acted calmly.

   "No! He wasn't killed by a car, he was out of luck." Cosmo waved his hands excitedly, palms up and fingers together. …

   "Your mother and I have been married for fifty-two years, and no one has died. What about you? After two years of marriage, your husband died. You are not suitable for marriage, so don't get married."

   "Who are you going to marry?" Seeing his daughter's insistence, Cosmo found another reason.

   "Johnny, Johnny Camarelli" Loretta said her fiancé's name.

   "Johnny? Johnny!" Father Cosmo was excited, "He's still a child himself, by the way, why didn't he come and tell me about you?"

   "Because his mother is dying, he wants to see him in Sicily." Loretta was also anxious, and his father Cosmo wanted to shirk and not pay for the wedding. She speeded up her speech, raised her hands, and gestured with her fingers together.

   "Look...look...it's bad luck again, you're not suitable for marriage!"

   "You have to marry me and marry me. You didn't marry me last time. If you did, maybe I wouldn't have bad luck. And Johnny got down on his knees to propose."

   "He got down on his knees? Where's the ring?" Father Cosmo was still looking for something out of the way, he didn't want his daughter to get married. Americans, especially Italians, were responsible for all the costs of the wedding of their married daughters.

   This is also a big expense for middle-class families. Not to mention Cosmo, who relies on his cleverness to do the hardware business.

   "Yes, look, this is the ring?"

   "This is the engagement ring? It's the tail ring worn by Italian men, it's a toy!"

   "It's temporary! He'll get a good one when he comes back!"

   "Temporary, everything in the world is temporary, including marriage."

"Humph!"

   "Humph! Talk to your mother."

   The father and daughter parted ways.

   "cut!"

  Ronald stopped filming. The two actors rehearsed the scene for a long time. The lines were spoken quickly and urgently, full of emotion.

   It's like two fish chasing each other's tails. After one person finishes saying a sentence, the other person picks up immediately after saying a word, blocking the other person's speech.

   Shanley's script is brilliantly written. The two actors, Cher and Vincent Gardenia, did not rely entirely on rehearsal to connect this demanding rhythm.

   The roles that the two of them fully entered, relying on human instinct, are acting in this scene.

Of course, the basis of the opponent's play is Vincent Gardenia, who won the highest award in American drama. He can adjust Cher's slightly inaccurate rhythm every time, relying on his own lines and actions, and then very Comfortable to go back, let Cher pick up easily.

  …

   After another two hours, the camera came to the bedroom. The lighting group has done a simulation of fluorescent lamps.

  “a!”

   "Ross, Ross... Ross..."

   Cosmo called his wife's name and entered the bedroom with his daughter.

   "Who died?" Loretta's mother woke up from her sleep, and her first reaction was that someone died.

   Olympia Dukakis turned on the table lamp lying on the bedside. The lighting group rested for half a second by relying on a component, giving the audience a sense of the time difference between the switch and the light.

  Although there is no time difference between switches and lights in daily life, audiences are more accustomed to this routine when watching movies. …

   "Nobody dies, Loretta is getting married."

   "Again?" Rose was also taken aback, then she asked, "Johnny? Johnny Camarelli?"

   Mothers do know their daughters better than fathers.

"Do you love him?"

"do not love."

"Oh, that's good. If you love him, he'll keep torturing you, because he knows they can." With that said, Ross's actor Olympia Dukakis glanced at Cosmo's behind him. Played by Vincent Gardenia.

   "Tsk..." Ronald looked straight behind the camera.

  The rhythm of Olympia Dukakis is even more perfect than that of Vincent Gardenia.

   She was talking to her daughter on the bed, and she also had a pun on her husband Cosmo. This kind of three-person dialogue scene, to maintain the rhythm, is many times more difficult than the two-person scene.

   Olympia Dukakis distributed the attention on her husband and daughter very levelly, and suddenly all the audience's eyes were focused on herself.

   This ability to steal the show without realizing it is still very level. And Cher, who plays her daughter, will not be unhappy because of such a steal.

   The better Olympia Dukakis' reaction, the stronger the reaction of Cher, which was naturally brought by Dukakis.

   "Then do you like him?" Mother Rose asked Loretta a second question.

   "I like him, he's a sweet guy."

   Mother Rose showed a happy smile. It is really good to have a son-in-law who likes his daughter more than his daughter likes the other party.

   "This time, I'm going to get married in the church, and I'm going to hold a formal wedding banquet." Loretta expressed her request in front of her mother.

   "Ha, then who will pay for the money?" Olympia Dukakis raised his eyelids slightly, and his attention was immediately directed to her husband, Cosmo, who was in the background.

   "It's really good that this kind of light-lifting performance can mobilize the audience in the blink of an eye." Ronald became more and more satisfied with Julia Taylor's casting.

  The better the casting, the more convenient the acting guidance will be when shooting starts.

   "Dad wants to pay for his daughter's wedding."

   "I don't want to go out, I don't have money." Cosmo quit his job, left immediately, and slipped away from the scene.

   "You're not rich, you're just stingy. You have more money than Commander Roosevelt, but you can't give up a word." Mother Rose also complained to her husband.

   "This is the responsibility of the father. The father pays for the wedding of the daughter."

   Cosmo's men had fled to the stairs, "I don't have money, I'm not going out."

   "I told myself to do everything

  I tell myself, don't be a fool

   Have fun on the pitch

   It's easy when it's cool"

   That old song started playing again.

   This is the recording group with the recording outside the wall.

   "He went to listen to that **** song by Vicky Carr again and he didn't even touch me in the face when he went to bed."

  Olympia Dukakis made a gesture of spreading his hands on the bed to express his dissatisfaction.

  This is what Ross said just now, Ross loves Cosmo, so that Cosmo can be angry with her, and if he married someone he didn't love at the time, it wouldn't be so troublesome.

   "cut!"

   Ronald made these old Broadway plays, very simple. They respect the director, respect the script, never modify the lines by themselves, and memorize all the lines before coming to the crew.

  Ronald had read their script, and the lines were filled with context, accents, and rhythm symbols.

  With the support of these backbone actors, the shooting is getting better.