Exploiting Hollywood 1980

   Chapter 84 Another Coke

   "I didn't tell David or Gene about it. This is Italian territory, you know their 'business' in Times Square, I thought Joan..."

   "You mean Jean's mother, Joan...?"

"I was told before that I saw her soliciting clients in the nearby block. At first I didn't care about her. But then I got the exact news that her business scope was actually selling Coke, and she actually sold it to the crew and the crew, So yesterday I banned her from the set."

   "Selling Coca-Cola?" Ronald raised the Coke in his hand.

   "It's not that Coke, it's another Coke" Alan Parker pressed his finger to his nose and made a gesture.

   "WhattheFxck!" Ronald suddenly realized.

   No wonder Joan was roaming around the crew and didn't watch her son's rehearsal, and no wonder the director wanted to drive her away. If she sells goods here, the crew will have hundreds of children from middle-class families.

   Ronald immediately turned to look for Jean.

   "Gene, tell me the truth, is your mother Joan a dealer?"

"Yeah, she's very good, and I know her in my house in Harlem. Within two days of being here, I got in touch with the Italians and allowed her to sell goods in the area of ​​Harlan High School. Anyway, Harlan High School is closed, this place It turned out that no one was there, and there were no traffickers occupying it."

   Ronald covered his forehead, these black people in Harlem seemed to be very proud of talking about it.

   But it's no wonder that under the influence of hippie culture, many people in the entertainment industry have never been taboo about this. For black people, being able to make money is also something to brag about.

   "I have to talk to your mother."

   "Okay, I'll take you to find him."

   In the corner of Harlan High's run-down playground, Ronald and Gene find Joan. She was looking around at the people passing by on the path ahead, looking for potential buyers.

  Joan is a slender woman with explosive curly hair and a sense of power, evidently trained in ballet in her youth.

   "Mom, this is Ronald, the one who cast me on the cast."

"Oh, so it's you Ronald. You're really good to see Gene's dancing talent. I can only be grateful to you, I was a ballet dancer when I was young, and then I had Gene. He's very Talent, right, you look at his leg muscles, he was born to dance ballet."

   Jean's mother, Jean, after hugging Ronald, started talking about his son's dancing talent.

   "Gene, you go to rehearsal first, I want to chat with your mother alone."

   Ronald quickly changed the subject.

   "Didn't director Allen let you sell goods around the set?"

"Yeah, he doesn't have the power to do that. If I don't sell it anyway, someone else will. I got the Italian way with Gene being the lead in this movie. You know what? The stars of the movie have a special liking, like John Travolta who did 'Saturday Night Fever'."

  Ronald felt that reasoning normally would not make sense. Values ​​are two completely different people. Was worried about how to convince Joan, suddenly heard the name of John Travolta.

   "Joan, I'll take you to a place."

   Ronald and Joan walked to a shabby old-fashioned movie theater next door to Harlan High School. No money for redecoration, only pop movies and adult X-rated movies from a few years ago, and make money from cheap copy rental fees. Now here is the hit musical "Grease" from two years ago.

   "Do you know who he is?" Ronald asked deliberately, pointing to the worn "Grease" poster on the wall.

   "Of course he is John Travolta," Joan replied.

   "What if I say your son Jean is the next Travolta? Do you believe it?"

   "Really? Kotra Volta is the only male lead in Grease. My Gene is only one of the four male leads." Joan couldn't believe it for a moment.

"Gene is also the protagonist, and his character Leroy has **** with two of the most beautiful heroines in the film. And getting one of the heroines pregnant, this is the treatment of the protagonist." Ronald began to put Leroy The importance of this role is growing.

  Joan opened her mouth wide: "Is this true? Can he really be the next Travolta?"

   "The last film directed by Allen won an Oscar. (Actually Oliver Stone, Best Adapted Screenplay

   "Ah! I want to apologize to him, he will make my son look like Travolta, I shouldn't contradict him."

   "I sent Gene to ballet class since I was a child, and he completely inherited his father's strength, and my size, and is the best kind of ballet talent.

   Oh, I don't know how to thank you, Ronald. You discovered him, and if he's the next Travolta, I'll make you his agent. People from our Harlem area recognize the old relationship the most, and are the most loyal to the old relationship. "

   "But your current behavior is ruining him." Ronald couldn't keep up with Joan's divergent thoughts, and quickly turned the topic back on track.

   "What? How could I have ruined him. I could never have hurt Jean, he's my son."

"Travolta was a young actor before 'Saturday Night Fever' and 'Grease', not too different from Gene. But do you know how much John Travolta makes a movie now?" Ronald pointed. On the poster, Travolta asked, who had used hairspray to polish her hair.

   "Over a million dollars." Ronald held up a finger.

  Joan's eyes were focused. Look at Travolta's poster for a while, and Ronald's finger for a while.

   "His advertising revenue, even more. Over three million dollars." Ronald released his other two fingers, turning into a three-signal.

"Uh!"

  Joan hiccupped and covered her chest, as if trying to figure out the number Ronald said, if she heard it wrong.

   "And now director Alan Parker wants to kick him out of the crew because you're a dealer selling... to a crew member. Are you really going to keep selling stuff on the crew and ruin your son Gene's future?"

"No, I won't... uh. God, I won't... uh! I'm not going to sell on set anymore, uh... I'll only sell outside Harlan High School" Joan started hiccups. Come.

   "Not only can you not sell at the studio, but you have to keep an eye on the venue and keep other dealers from coming in."

"Director Allen, uh... I will definitely not sell on the set in the future, uh... You can rest assured, I have agreed with the Italians, uh... This is my territory, uh... No one else will come here to sell in the future. Well, uh... please don't drive my little Gene away, uh..., he'll be very obedient, uh..."

"Ronald, how did you do it? You have to stay on the set. After the filming starts, there will be a lot of things on the set. We need people like you." Producer David saw that the matter of Gene's mother was solved perfectly, to Ronald.

   "David, you know, Ellen wouldn't like me on set," Ronald whispered.

   "Don't say that, that's what Hollywood is like. As long as the movie can be finished with high quality, there is nothing to like or dislike."

   "Okay, how are you casting your teacher?" Ronald changed the subject.

   "There is no progress yet. For the teacher role of the dance department, we have interviewed many real dance teachers and middle-aged actors, but none of them can satisfy Alan. They all lack the meanness of the dance teacher.

  Teachers in the acting department are even harder to find. Many actors are resistant to acting as acting teachers. They don’t want to be ridiculed by their peers, and our budget is not large. "

   "How about I recommend a candidate?"

"Who?"

   "Our casting director Joanna Merlin."

   "Remember the scene where Meg auditioned? I was worried that Meg used emotional memory to cause a breakdown, but in the end she didn't complete the retrieval of emotional memory. It was Joanna who helped."

"I didn't realize it at the time, but after so many days, I figured it out. It was Joanna who said 'Do you use Mastercard or American Express?', interrupting Meg's emotional process with cold humor. Meg finally cried again. Laughing again because of that."

   "Remember? Hillary's long monologue was actually an ignorant rich girl who persuaded herself to have an abortion. Joanna's words were just right, just to dispel the sadness."

   "And her limbs are slender and her figure is well maintained. She is convincing as a dancer."

   "But I can't dance ballet, unless you agree, don't let me do any dancing." Joanna listened to the producer's invitation and made a request.

   "No problem, I promise you, Joanna, you just have to instruct the girls to dance, or comment on their dance moves during admissions interviews."

  Director Allen put down a worry, turned his head and asked Ronald, "Do you have any other suggestions for acting teachers?"

   "Acting teacher... When you first went to the Academy of Performing Arts, how about the black teacher you had a good chat with? Let their teacher act in the movie and be angry with the school director."

   "Ugh, hahaha... that's all, let him come to audition." Allen was very happy.

   "And the teachers in other departments are all white actors, we just need a quota." Producer David is also happy.

   (end of this chapter)