Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 203 Tom Cruise's Screen Debut
"Have you received my script?"

"Received, I have made two copies and sent them to the producer, Sterwood, and the project manager in charge of Paramount."

Ronald was on the long-distance call with his agent, Richard.After intense writing, he completed the first draft of the script of "Son of Grease" in only one month and ten days, and sent it to the Hollywood CAA office by FedEx in two days.

"What did Mr. Sternwood say? Does he have any amendments?"

"Overall, I am quite satisfied. He handwritten a revised opinion, mainly focusing on the plot related to the Vietnam War. He hopes that you will lower the intensity of the plot related to the Vietnam War. I have faxed the opinion to my colleagues in the New York office, and he will send it to you. of."

Ronald knew about the fax, a machine that transmits paper content over telephone lines. It is a very convenient office device for screenwriters. When you use it, you only need to pay the telephone fee to send a piece of paper you have written or scribbled on to on the opponent's machine.

The reason is that fax machines are too expensive, costing more than [-] U.S. dollars for one.

"Turn down the Vietnam War plot?" Ronald discussed this issue after seeing the first draft with Spike Lee.In fact, he has tried to downplay the presence of the Vietnam War as much as possible, without mentioning which war it was, and put the values ​​to be conveyed loomingly in the background.

"Okay, then I'll tone it down a bit. In this way, young audiences who have never experienced it will hardly notice the existence of the Vietnam War. Only those who have experienced it will find a little trace from the clues."

"Mr. Sterwood hopes that you can revise it as soon as possible. He is already urging Paramount to establish the project as soon as possible and start casting work."

"Casting? The actor union is still on strike now? Why start filming?" Ronald was a little surprised, "Didn't it mean that only those movies and TV shows that have already started filming can apply for exemption from the union?"

"The union has relaxed the exemption application, and now Hollywood is rumored that the strike will end soon, and the two sides will reach a new agreement."

"This is great, it's good news for us, otherwise we don't know how long we will delay work." Ronald was also very happy to hear the good news, "But didn't the negotiations break down again two days ago? Why did they reverse immediately? gone?"

"The commander-in-chief has arranged for a special envoy to intervene in the negotiations between the two sides. Because the new season of the TV series has not yet started, the audience is already very angry, and the finger of blame is vaguely pointed at the commander-in-chief. The Persian hostage crisis, rising oil prices, high inflation, and unemployment The rate is high, and now even the beloved movies and TV shows are gone...

Under the pressure of the general election, the commander-in-chief announced that he would resolve the matter.A special envoy was sent to observe the negotiations. It is said that the trade union negotiator, Ed Asner of the left wing of the Donkey Party, was also under a lot of pressure and was forced to give up some clauses. strike. "

"So the strike will end soon?"

"Not yet. The end of the strike needs to be approved by the two major actors' unions and the Producers Association. It takes 3-4 weeks to go to the actors' unions in various places to call members to vote. If the terms are rejected, then there will be another process. I guess it will take Last a month or two.

However, as long as it is a film project of the eight major studios and a TV series of the three major TV stations, the actor union will give the green light to the exemption.I heard that many Broadway stage actors have also resumed rehearsals. "

"That's actually equivalent to the end of the strike. Large production crews can be exempted, and small production crews, such as low-budget films like Catherine Bigelow, go to the countryside of Georgia, and the union has nothing to do. In short, it is good for us. Good thing." Ronald said.

"Yeah, a lot of delayed projects are about to start." Richard also felt the same way. In addition to screenwriting and directing, CAA mainly represents TV actors. Recently, agents are also crying.

"By the way, Tom's movie 'Endless Love' is about to start shooting in Long Island, New York, and Paula Wagner will accompany him. Tom hopes you can go to the shooting location and give him some guidance. The first big screen role is very important, saying that you have given him encouragement to continue his acting career, and I hope you will be present to witness his screen debut."

"Isn't that a problem? I'll have some free time after I finish revising the script."

"By the way, who did you choose for the heroine?"

"Who else, of course, is the hot Brooke Shields. That jeans ad you shot for her was a hit."

Hey, the fire is hot, but it doesn't have a good reputation.

Entertainment news reporters in the past month have been chasing Brooke Shields mother and daughter all over the world.

Jeans commercial, widely understood by viewers to show Brooke Shields wearing nothing under her skinny jeans.When the mother and daughter were vacationing in Europe, they were chased to ask their opinions on this interpretation, and some lower-style tabloids directly asked Brooke Shields if she was really naked.

A few days ago, the mother and daughter had just returned to New York, and were surrounded by a large number of reporters at the airport.

Brooke Shields was obviously instructed by a public relations expert, laughed on the spot, and asked the reporter, who would think of such a distorted place?On the surface, the crisis has been overcome.

But Ronald knew that Brooke Shields was actually very flustered, and didn't know how to deal with this kind of thing.She called Ronald secretly, regretting that she did not listen to Ronald's kind advice to modify the lines at the shooting scene.

But her mother didn't care at all, and often bought a lot of newspapers and magazines to go home, counting how many newspaper and magazine covers and front pages Brooke Shields was on because of this incident.

Presumably Terry was able to charge a high price for the "Endless Love" crew because of this ad that made her daughter's popularity soar.

However, this kind of actor who comes with news enthusiasm joins the crew as the heroine, and he is also willing to come to Polygram if he wants to.The press conference for the launch is bound to be overwhelmed.

Regardless of the controversy surrounding the ad itself, CK jeans began to sell like crazy in big cities like New York.During this time, two of the five young girls on the streets of Manhattan were wearing skinny jeans.

Designer Calvin Klein has also become famous because of this. Last time he invited Ronald to a celebration party, he also said that he had found the product design code of young people.Now that skinny jeans are very popular in the youth market, he intends to simply take the sexy skinny as CK's brand characteristics, and turn to design some clothing specially made for young people.

Ronald also made a name for himself in the industry. Eddie, the agent of the advertising business, gradually began to receive more and more shooting offers from advertising directors.

However, due to priority issues, Ronald was busy with the movie script, and Eddie rejected most of the business.Only finalized next month's regular customer BBDO's Darcy Maguire, a commercial filming of plastic wrap for kitchen and bathroom products.

A few days later, Ronald revised the script according to the producer's request and sent it to CAA again.This time Robert Sterwood was satisfied and submitted it directly to Paramount.

According to the news that Richard received from Sterwood, the casting work is also stepping up, and the crew is expected to start work at the end of November or early December.

But the real situation may not be so optimistic. Paramount has not yet settled on director Jerry Zucker. The Zucker brothers are enjoying their big success and have little interest in taking over a sequel to a movie in the short term.To make a sequel is also to make a sequel to "Flying All over the Sky".

The leading actor John Travolta of the previous work has an ambiguous attitude towards the cameo role, while the heroine Olivia Newton-John expressed her willingness to cooperate with Travolta again. Her acting career really needs a rescue.

In short, the project is still approaching, and Ronald himself is happy to enjoy a little free time, attend more classes, go to the classroom to sign in, answer class quizzes, and accumulate some normal points.

The most interesting thing is the study of ancient Chinese poetry. The teacher in the class is a so-called sinologist, but he doesn't understand Chinese at all.Usually holding [-] Tang poems translated into English, and teaching the beauty of Tang poems in English, Ronald could only half understand.

On this day, Ronald received a call from Paula Wagner, and Tom Cruise officially went to the "Endless Love" crew to shoot his only scene.Ronald came to the scene to cheer for Tom.

The film was primarily shot at Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens, New York.At the beginning of the century, it was once the center of the American film industry.Because of escaping Edison's film-related patent litigation, the nascent studios gradually turned to Hollywood in Los Angeles in the west.

Kaufman Studios was once owned by Paramount, and the build quality and equipment were top-of-the-line at the time.After Paramount moved west, it was bought by independent investors and later sold to the Army for training movies.Now it is mainly used for TV drama shooting.

The famous PBS children's show "Sesame Street" was filmed here.

But today Tom Cruise's play is on location, filmed in a park near Kaufman's studio.

Tom Cruise was very happy to see Ronald.They said something about their parting, and Tom took a cake from Paula and gave it to Ronald.He said that when he celebrated his birthday more than two months ago, Ronald didn't have time to come to Los Angeles to attend, so he brought a cake to make up for it.

Ronald was also happy for Tom, and asked about Paula Tom's role today.

"The scene is only a cameo, but judging from the plot of the whole film, it is the source of the hero's idea of ​​arson to arouse the gratitude of the heroine's family."

Tom Cruise, who plays a young classmate of the lead actor, casually mentions that when he was eight, he set a pile of drenched newspapers on fire.The wet newspaper made a lot of smoke, and he went to carry water to fight the fire, and he has since been regarded as a little firefighting hero by the neighborhood.

He does not mean that.The hero David also wants to follow suit, save the heroine's family and gain their gratitude, so that he can no longer be banned from dating the heroine Jed.

"Ronald, it's you. I'm glad you're here." It was the Italian director Franco Zeffirelli who spoke.

The old director hugged Ronald, "Would you like some whiskey? I always like to drink some when I shoot."

Ronald declined, he didn't want to drink hard alcohol during the day.Still, Zeffirelli pulled him aside.

"Tell me, Ronald, how do you make Brooke so natural?"

"Huh?" Ronald was a little confused.

"It's the ad for the jeans."

"That's not my idea, it's a script given to me by Calvin Klein." Ronald quickly denied that he created "There is nothing between me and Calvin".

"Idiot, I was talking about the 'I'm the one who brought the bread home' version. How did you make her laugh so naturally at the end?" Zeffirelli breathed alcohol, too.

It turned out that Franco Zeffirelli encountered the same problem as Ronald after starting the machine.Brooke Shields shoots print advertisements all the year round. She has been trained to be a model thinking who is very sensitive to her smile and body.

Therefore, during the filming process, Brooke Shields often pays attention to whether her smile is beautiful, whether the camera is facing her more beautiful side, and whether her posture is elegant.

The movie is a moving image, and the result of paying attention to it everywhere is that Brooke Shields' smile looks very artificial, without a natural feeling.Zeffirelli was not satisfied with the daily dailies.Not long after it was turned on, the shooting progress had already begun to fall behind.

Zeffirelli complained to the producer that Brooke Shields' acting skills were not good enough to achieve the performance effect in his mind. He hoped that he could replace the heroine while not taking many shots.

Of course the producer didn't do it, and showed Zeffirelli a few CK commercial videos shot by Ronald, which made the old director feel a little bit uneasy.

In the advertisement, Brooke Shields smiled very naturally, without any scruples that she would become less beautiful because of her laughter.

After learning about the director of the ad from the producer, who was Ronald who helped him cast the role before, Zeffirelli also asked the film producer to ask Ronald to help the crew.

"Ah, you said that laugh?" Ronald finally understood what Zeffirelli wanted to know.

"The filming process was very difficult, and I made her cry. In the end, I asked Brooke's close friends to record some private jokes they usually chat on the phone for her, and played them to her on the Walkman to achieve that effect. "

"Is that so?" Zeffirelli's eyes lit up, he had an inspiration, and he knew where to start to train Brooke Shields' acting skills.

"Are you coming to Kaufman's studio tomorrow? We have a big show and need your help."

Patting Ronald on the shoulder, Zeffirelli turned around and shouted at the assistant, "Get ready to start filming..."

"Drink too much when you wake up in the morning? They all have an Italian accent," Ronald thought, "Can a director who drinks alcohol during filming like this make a good movie?"

Alcohol, it turns out, had little effect on Zeffirelli's directing skills.

Ronald stands in a safe area behind the camera, watching a Tom Cruise scene with Paula Wagner.

Tom mingled with the extras and played football.Tired after a period of sprinting, end up resting.Then he took off his vest in front of the camera, revealing his muscular upper body.

I heard the actor and his friends discuss how to have a tryst with his girlfriend Jed, and interjected about his experience when he was eight years old.

"And Cut."

Zeffirelli's casting schedule was smooth and smooth, and he muttered to the director of photography, "This one is over, print it."

Paula hurried forward to hand Tom Cruise some water, and Ronald also went up to congratulate Tom Cruise on his big screen debut.

"I practiced for a long time by myself and memorized all the lines." Tom Cruise smiled happily.My dream finally came true.

"Tom reads slowly. I recorded the lines for him and asked him to memorize the recordings." Paula said next to him.

"In short, you acted very well, very naturally." Ronald really felt that Tom Cruise's performance was good, and he compared the leading actor Martin Hewitt next to him.

Of course, Tom Cruise's handsome appearance and that hormonal, graceful upper body are also indisputable.

Maybe they were talking a little too loudly, and the leading actor, Martin Hewitt, looked back at them.

"He's the leading man in the audition, Martin Hewitt. He was a bartender and a valet before." Paula Wagner whispered.She felt that the protagonist's image was not as good as that of Tom Cruise.

"Really?" Ronald raised his eyebrows. Martin Hewitt really had dark hair and a melancholy temperament, which fit director Zeffirelli's aesthetics.

(End of this chapter)