Exploiting Hollywood 1980

, Exploitation Hollywood 1980

"Why, you noticed it too? Michelle Pfeiffer is so beautiful! Her beauty can't be blinded under any circumstances.

Her costume was green with florals, a color favored by black people. It didn't match her skin tone at all, but even so, there was such a handsome FBI undercover detective who fell in love with her. The plot was played very convincingly by Michelle. "

Julia Taylor was not satisfied with Michelle Pfeiffer's audition. The main reason was that Pfeiffer was too beautiful without dressing up. She was completely different from Tess' image of a secretary who had been struggling since she graduated from high school.

Ronald nodded, then shook his head, "Hey, that's not all the big trouble I'm talking about. "

He poured Julia a cup of coffee, then sat down, tapping his fingers rhythmically on the table, "Have you noticed that the two male actors who were supporting the role couldn't help but have the desire to flirt with her? Although I guess a lot of it was just a Broadway thing, trying to do live improv.”

"Indeed, but there isn't much conflict with the role of Tess, right? Didn't Jack Traynor choose Tess between Tess and her manager Catherine?" Taylor didn't understand Ronald's point. What is.

"And Joan Cusack, she seemed to perform particularly well when she was paired with Pfeiffer, as if she was competing with her in terms of acting skills."

"Haha, that's not of course. This is a rare opportunity for her to show her face. She wants to give you a good impression."

"No, that's not what I meant." Ronald knew very well that Pfeiffer could never play Tess, but it was like watching too much and the director had an instinct for the movie. It was a bit difficult to explain it exactly. .

"Because she is so beautiful, even if we use makeup to make her look ugly, the audience will not be able to identify with this character after seeing that she has been a secretary on Wall Street for ten years and is still wasting her time in this position. In this way, our movie It will fail from the beginning."

Ronald couldn't help but think of the time when filming "Dirty Dancing", Cynthia Rhodes became seriously ill after being infected during surgery. Even though she didn't recover at all, she still stole the spotlight from Jennifer Gray's heroine in front of the camera and ended up having to put on makeup. Let her skin turn a little yellow before she can pass.

"But can't all these makeup techniques be done? I still don't understand what you mean." Julia Taylor looked at Ronald, almost thinking that he didn't want to use Pfeiffer and was deliberately trying to use her mouth to deny it. .

"Let me put it this way, have you ever seen women who are not too young and work in low-level labor, but they still have a different temperament among their peers, so that men often ask them out?"

"Of course, we usually call them Bitches..." joked Julia Taylor.

"Michelle is this kind of person. Of course I don't mean she is Bitch. You see, even Alec and Kevin can't help but improvise, and Joan Cusack would be jealous of the actress. Although she is today Her outfit is really not beautiful, but she has a special temperament."

"You mean she can't wait ten years?"

“Yes, it’s impossible for a female secretary with such a beautiful temperament to work on Wall Street for such a long time without a truly wealthy man marrying her home... So now I’m starting to worry about Demi Moore’s persuasiveness after she pretends to be ugly. "

Ronald, who had a history with both men, was a little concerned that his vision wasn't the most accurate.

"How about we ask some of the stunt doubles who played with Pfeiffer today to go to Los Angeles and do it again with Demi? Then you can judge from their performance..."

"This is a good idea. I'll discuss it with her. You can find Alec and...well Kevin, forget it, and let Joan go to Los Angeles together."

Then Ronald picked up the phone and called Pfeiffer's agent, Limato, "Hey, Ed, it's Ronald. You're a good agent, so I made a call that I didn't need to make.

"

"Michelle was eliminated, right?" Limato heard what Ronald meant.

"Yes, I promise to let you know early so that you can arrange other roles for her."

"Can I ask why?"

"If you had Michelle as beautiful as Michelle at the front desk of your company, would she work there as a secretary for ten years?"

"Okay, that's a good reason, thank you."

Ronald had a busy schedule and didn't have much time to be polite. After rejecting Pfeiffer's audition, Ronald asked Richard to help him watch the presentation of the New York Film Critics Circle Film Awards.

Unlike the Film Critics Association Awards in other places, New York’s unique awards are called the Film Critics Circle Awards. Perhaps because there are too many media outlets in New York, film critics organized more than one Film Critics Association. In the end, everyone compromised and named it the Film Critics Circle Awards.

This is also one of the earliest awards selected by film critics in America. The first award was given in 1935.

Therefore, their awards process is also the most formal and Oscar-like. The lottery is usually drawn in December each year, and the trophy is awarded in January of the following year, a trophy in the shape of an upward pen tip.

Richard took out the New York Times, a super thick newspaper, found the film review section, and handed it to Ronald. Then he threw away all other pages. This is also the habit of most New Yorkers reading the Times - only reading the pages that interest them.

Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Screenplay...

Ronald pointed his finger at the list of winners and found that only the final Best Supporting Actress, "Moonlight" Olympia Dukakis, got a second place.

Ronald frowned. He had donated a lot of money to the New York Film Critics Association and sponsored next year's event. Why was there only one supporting actress in second place in the list today?

He picked up the phone and asked Richard to call Michael Gray, who was in charge of public relations.

"What's going on, Michael? My money doesn't seem to be doing what it should?"

"Ronald, I was just about to report to you." Michael Gray's voice seemed to be in the car. "I will be on Fifth Avenue soon. Something happened in a big accident."

Five minutes later, Michael Gray came in holding a long cylinder. After greeting the two of them, he untied the cylinder hat and took out a large piece of cardboard. After rolling it out, he Magnetic round markers are affixed to whiteboards on the wall.

There are densely packed member photos on the paper. Those who support Ronald are marked with circles, those who are opposed are marked with crosses, and those who are neutral or have not expressed their attitude are marked with question marks.

"The New York Film Critics Circle is an association with the largest number of film critic members in the country, and it is divided into several factions. Our strategy this time is mainly to start with women, because Ronald your female-themed movie 'Dirty Dancing' gained a lot of favor from them,

Secondly, these female film critics have been dissatisfied with the current situation in which Hollywood movies always tell stories around the male protagonist, and the female protagonist is mostly just a vassal of the male protagonist. This film "Moonlight" just fits their needs. taste. "

Michael Gray treated the New York Film Critics Circle Awards as a preview of the Oscars and did a very detailed job. Now he pointed to the headshot on the wall to explain to Ronald.

Ronald nodded. When Gray talked about it at that time, he said that generally in this kind of award voting, everyone's vote count would not be too high. It depends on whether you can capture an iron-clad group, as long as they have enough votes. There are reasons to vote for you. If you act together, small groups can leverage big awards.

"Originally, our awards were enough to push Cher to the position of Best Actress, and Dukakis was a sure winner, and there was a certain possibility that she could get second place for Best Screenplay, Best Film, and even Best Director. .

However, a few days before the vote, another force intervened vigorously and changed the voting map. "

Then, Michael Gray pointed to the triangular mark drawn with a green pen on the paper and gave Ronald a rough estimate of the data. These people began to vote in unison, which resulted in today's results.

"Who is it?" Ronald asked. The number of these people was amazing. If they voted unanimously, the female generals on their own would really not be able to stop them.

Michael Gray said nothing and looked at Ronald's agent Richard.

"Ahem...Ronald, I'm going to go out first and buy some food." Richard stood up and walked out knowingly.

"Why? No, he is my most trusted agent. There are no secrets between us." Ronald patted Richard on the shoulder and asked him to sit down.

"Well, in that case, let me tell you, these people are Jews."

"Huh?" Ronald stood up, walked to the whiteboard, and carefully looked at the mugshots marked with green triangles, as well as the names and media companies below them.

They are all acquaintances.

Ronald recognized several Jewish New York film critics. They were the same ones who wrote articles criticizing their own films when "Dirty Dancing" was released.

"So they're not done, right? Why did this shit happen again? Now that Jennifer Gray is the most popular Jewish actress, what else do they want to do?"

Ronald was angry. These Jews really are. Their logic is different from that of ordinary ethnic groups. After all, the Italians said that the truce was really a truce. They seemed to have suffered a big loss if they did not take advantage of enough.

After scolding, Ronald found that Richard was a little embarrassed, and then remembered that this man was also Jewish, and quickly said, "Well, either I have a problem with the Jews as a whole, or..."

"No, I understand. The Jews are not monolithic..." Richard said that he didn't have to worry about being psychologically harmed.

"What Richard said is probably right," Michael Gray nodded to Ronald. "We also discovered a strange phenomenon. Not only you, Spielberg's 'Empire of the Sun' also won an award. No, not even the second one. And these people, the new film critics are vehemently criticizing this Jewish leader.”

Michael Gray circled his hand and pointed at the Jewish film critics who originally wrote bad reviews of "Dirty Dancing". This time they all gave Spielberg bad reviews.

"Spielberg's shameless child-centered approach, which only pursues box office, undermines this serious subject..."

"Too much obsessed with pictures and colors, forgetting the seriousness of the theme, and beautifying Japan too much..."

"Those planes and bombings were impressive, but the plot was puzzling... Why did people see the nuclear explosion in Hiroshima on the far southeastern coast of China?"

Many film reviews written by Jews are very explicit and unreserved criticism.

"Why?"

Ronald thought he had made a mistake, so he took two more Chicago newspapers over.

Roger Ebert's review of the movie was "Basically the theme of this movie was good, but the movie crashed before it even took off."

Sisko's criticism was even more thorough:

"I had no idea what the movie was about. It was such a complete mess, taking things from different places and piecing them together.

On the one hand, if it wants to say something about a child's view of war, it might as well go see a movie made by John Boman called Hope and Glory that just came out and it's much better.

On the other hand, Spielberg wanted it to feel like an adventure film, so you have a character played by John Malkovich, like Indiana Jones, helping the kid through all the fun of war.

I don't know what Spielberg was trying to do. "

Ronald seemed to understand something. He picked up the list of winners and looked at it carefully.

Director James L. Brooks's "The News." was the big winner, along with his best director win, along with leading actor William Hurt.

"Wall Street" by Michael Douglas

…

A large number of the winners at the New York Film Critics Circle Awards are Jewish.

"Okay, Michael, let's continue at our own pace. I guess there won't be any of these nasty guys coming to disrupt the next Kansas Film Critics Association Awards."

After Michael Gray left, Ronald closed the door and quietly asked Richard Leavitt, his most trusted confidant who had been an assistant agent all the way.

"Do you know what's going on? Why are they upset with Spielberg?"

"I've only heard some rumors, baseless ones."

Richard also lowered his voice and spoke, even though this was Ronald's home and no one would show up.

Richard believes that the main reason is that although Spielberg is Jewish, he has no interest in Jewish values, that is, Judaism.

He neither went to a Jewish synagogue to participate in the ceremony, nor did he celebrate the mainstream American Christmas. Most importantly, when raising his children, he did not use Jewish traditions to perform necessary rituals.

Therefore, those old-school Jews were very dissatisfied with him, and maybe they wanted to take this opportunity to show Spielberg a little color.

"In addition, I guess my boss, Mr. Ovitz, also played a role in it. He has been urging Spielberg to join CAA, but the other party has always declined. If he can let Spielberg again at this year's Oscars, If Berg is frustrated, his invitation will be even more powerful..."

After thinking for a while, Ronald generally understood.

In short, the Jewish community in Hollywood has always been dissatisfied with Spielberg, who is more liberal than traditional. This time I took the opportunity to hit him.

Those film reviews that harmed the profound themes, only pursued box office, abused children to tell stories, and other clichés are criticizing Spielberg for not observing Jewish customs and failing to pass on Jewish traditions to the next generation.

If a Hollywood director cannot set an example, many Jews will abandon their Jewish traditions in one or two generations. At that time, except for a big nose, they will be no different from ordinary Americans.

Therefore, the Jews in the New York film critics circle unanimously voted for James L. Brooks, Michael Douglas and other Jewish directors and actors who have repeatedly stated in public that they abide by Jewish identity and traditions.

In the end, they got their wish by shaving their heads for Spielberg's new film "Empire of the Sun," and their own "Moonlight" was just collateral damage.

On the other hand, Olympia Dukakis was awarded the second place for Best Supporting Actress in this situation. It seems that she has the best chance of receiving an Oscar nomination.

Michael Ovitz, an old fox, must know the inside story. He deliberately didn't remind Spielberg and secretly fueled the situation. Only after Spielberg was disappointed would he invite him to join CAA again.

"Richard, we have been together for a long time. Why do you never seem to act like a Jew?" Ronald looked at Richard. This agent had been very considerate to him from the beginning and did not have any of the usual Jewish behavior. Use the means on yourself.

"Why am I not a Jew?" Richard smiled. His glasses were becoming more and more design-conscious, and they looked like they were specially made by famous designers.

"I'm just not an Ashkenazi Jew, I'm a Sephardic Jew... My surname, Levit, is not the German transliteration of Levit, but the French transliteration of Leavitt."

"That's it," Ronald patted Richard on the shoulder.

It turns out that Richard is a Sephardic Jew, another group of Jews that is more common in Spain, Italy, China and other places. Sephardi originally referred to the Imbrian Peninsula, and was later dispersed to various Western European countries after the Reconquista. They speak Ladino and look like Latinos.

The most concentrated group of Jews in America, especially in New York, are Ashkenazi Jews. They are descendants of Eastern European countries, mainly Poland and Germany, and speak Yiddish. It is also the religious tradition that they pay the most attention to, and it is also the mainstream in Hollywood and financial circles.

It is the Ashkenazi Jews who talk about Auschwitz every day, because they are the ones who suffered misery in World War II.

The Sephardic Jews have been mixed with the Latin peoples of southern Europe for the last year and a half. How can I say this? Some characters are also tainted with the characteristics of southern Europeans, and the characteristics of the hump nose are not obvious.

"Thank you, Richard. Mr. Ovitz, if there are other developments, we can discuss what to do."

"Ring ring ring ring..."

The phone rang just in time, and Ronald picked up the receiver.

"Ronald, I'm Paula..."

"Hello, Paula." Ronald smiled at Richard.

"I had a good conversation with Brooke Shields. She is a very smart girl. We will sign the contract tomorrow morning. Can you come to the signing ceremony? I feel like if you are here, it can make Brooke feel better."

"Of course, if you ask, ten o'clock tomorrow morning, right? I will be there on time."