Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 240 "Endless Love" is a blessing in disguise

"Isn't this an Ingrid Bergman-style witch hunt? Why are you still doing this?" After listening to the description of Brooke's mother Terry, Ronald was also a little incredulous.

It turns out that Brooke Shields' public service advertisement about smoking ban on teenagers was banned by the US Department of Public Health some time ago.The reason is that Brooke's previous films were exposed and indecent. As a teenage idol, it has no positive impact on teenagers, and it is not appropriate to appear in public service advertisements about smoking bans.

The incident caused some waves in the media, with both supporters and opponents of the Ministry of Health.However, some conservatives have long been dissatisfied with Brooke Shields' controversial plots in the two films "Legend of Yanwa" and "Blue Coral Reef".

Now that she found the handle, she finally launched a full-scale attack to ban all her movies in America.

Some conservative congressmen from southern states on Capitol Hill also took the opportunity to launch an investigation into whether Brooke Shields violated the law during filming, and whether she took scenes that were inappropriate for her age.

Fortunately, it is 1981, not 1951.

After years of education in Hollywood, the public knows that what is on the screen is not necessarily what happened in real life.It is almost impossible to get a majority in Congress now if there is another resolution like the one in which Congress condemned Ingrid Bergman for being morally corrupt.

Even so, Brooke Shields was also summoned to testify in Congress.And was grilled by members of Congress from both houses on Capitol Hill, whether there was any inappropriate behavior during the filming of the film.

It's hard for them to find CK jeans ads, there are any technical violations.Because this advertisement uses puns to stimulate the hidden desires of young people.It is not easy to grasp the handle.

Therefore, several conservative lawmakers focused their investigation on Brooke's first two films and the unreleased "Endless Love", especially the latter has been rated X by the MPAA four times.

Terry hired a lawyer and tried his best to obtain written testimony from witnesses from the two crews of "The Legend of Yanwa" and "Blue Coral Reef". He also found the director of "Endless Love" to testify. Ronald was also asked to provide testimony.

"I, Ronald Lee, swear in the name of God that the following written statement is the truth, and is the whole truth, and there is no lie other than the truth.

As a temporary assistant in the crew of "Endless Love", assisting the director Mr. Frank Zeffirelli in the filming... During this period, Miss Brooke Shields played the role of Jed, and all the nude scenes were done by doubles..."

Ronald signed the testimony and asked Lindsay's attorney, "Is that all right?"

"It's fine. There's nothing wrong with Brooke. The current atmosphere of teenagers is open, and high school students still maintain their innocence. It has become a psychological burden. It seems that I am not attractive enough.

Except for a few particularly conservative states, most congressmen are just doing routine work.Maybe they just want to meet the hottest girl idol in person and get an autographed photo for their granddaughter. "

It seems that Brooke cried on the phone because she was scared for a while. After her mother found a famous lawyer, she should not be so panicked.

"What is this?" Lindsay found the outline of "Jinyumeng" written by Ronald on the table.

"That's an old movie synopsis I wrote, Jin Yumeng."

"Oh, CBS played it two days ago. I like watching it the most. Every time I see Cary Grant not waiting for Deborah Kerr on the top of the Empire State Building, Helen and I cry like hell."

"Why do you elite lawyers also like to watch this kind of romantic drama?" Ronald didn't expect it, "I thought only housewives like to watch it."

"Who doesn't like to watch Cary Grant, he just got married again, for the fifth time, this time to a hotel publicist who is 47 years younger than him."

"Actually, I also like to watch his movies." It's just those suspense films made by Hitchcock, Ronald added in his heart.

Thanks to the lawyer lady who stopped by to help read the written testimony, Ronald began to prepare to sell his sales speech again.

"I wanted to make 'Fast Pace' into a movie about teenage growth, reflecting the life conditions of high school students in California. When the audience sees it, these high school students will feel that these high school students are so real, as if they are in the high school next door. go to school.

Therefore, the background of the movie is realistic, with a slightly exaggerated tone of light comedy. The five main student characters represent the six typical types of students now...

This will be a group drama of modern high school students..."

A few days later, after practicing proficiently in front of the mirror, Ronald called his agent, Nisita, to do some telephone rehearsals, and asked the experienced Nisita for advice.

"No, no, don't talk about group portraits." Hearing Ronald's self-report on the phone, Nisita was still very satisfied, but this group portrait scene was a bit taboo.

"Don't talk about group portraits. If a group portrait is in the ears of studio executives, it is equivalent to a failure at the box office. There is only one person in Hollywood who can auction a group portrait, and that is Robert Altman"

Altman was the director of the low-budget films "Medy and Nurse," and "Nashville."Both were group dramas, and not only were they box office hits, but both were nominated for Best Director at the Oscars.

"But this is a group drama, right? It's almost the same as being famous all over the world." Of course Ronald can't be compared with Altman, but he doesn't understand why he can't mention this term.

"Yes, Ronald. He's a group drama. But don't call him a group drama, you can say it's a teenage comedy, it can be a romantic comedy, it just can't be a group drama."

"I don't know……"

"It's easy to understand, Ronald. Studio executives are super busy people, pitching 15-20 theatrical films a year and negotiating the same number of potential scripts for next year. In order to achieve this In addition, it is necessary to put the same number of scripts in the circulation warehouse, and throw away three times the number of non-shooting scripts.

So they can't remember the specific plot of each movie at all.They can only put a label on each movie, this one is a copycat Star Wars, this one is a new version of The Wizard of Oz, this one is a group portrait-no money.

If the film you fight for as a director is labeled as a group scene, and your name is not Robert Altman, there is only one result, you go to the trash can to find your script, and then find a producer business talk. "

"Okay, I get it, it's a teen rom-com..."

Brooke Shields' hearing was held as scheduled, and sure enough, several conservative congressmen's questions were all about nudity during filming.

Brooke and Terry, who had been prepared for a long time, told them a lot of protection measures during the filming.For example, during the filming of Blue Coral Reef, Brooke will wear a long wig and fix the wig to her chest with glue, so there is no suspicion of being naked.

Also during the filming of the endless love scene, all the nudity scenes were shot using body doubles.Pieced together in post-editing, Brooke actually only shot a few reaction shots.Ronald was present as a temporary shooting assistant, and his written testimony was also presented as evidence
The stills of the filming scene, as well as the schematic diagram of the filming, left the conservative congressman speechless. He could only publish a shot condemning the increasing moral corruption in American films, and called for stricter grading standards and cinemas. Censorship for teenage audiences, young people who watch R-rated movies, must show identification.

The media reported another burst of noise about the result.The New York Times mainly called for better industry self-regulation, and the New York Daily News did an in-depth analysis of the situation of young actors.Of course, the best-selling one was the New York Post, who republished stills of Brooke Shields in the blue coral reef.

The one who was happiest about the results of the congressional investigation was "Endless Love" director Zeffirelli.

Brooke Shields suddenly became the focus of the media again. The president of the producer PolyGram, Guber, saw the potential of the film and could take advantage of Brooke's news.

He immediately approved a multimillion-dollar marketing budget.Taking advantage of Congress's return of Brooke's innocence, the revised film was sent to the MPAA for grading for the fifth time, and finally got the R rating as it wished.

"When they're together, it's as if the outside world doesn't exist," Zeffirelli read to Ronald on the phone from the title of the poster prepared by Polygram. "Listen, how Shakespeare is this line."

"So you decided to use love words between couples for marketing?"

"Yes, we are mainly targeting young couples. PolyGram has also made an agreement with the distributor Universal. At the box office of the movie theater, there will be a discount on popcorn packages for couples watching 'Endless Love'."

Ronald felt that something was wrong, and quickly said, "Franco, at the last screening, I clearly saw that teenage couples' perception of this movie was not as good as that of junior high school girls who came with their girlfriends.

The high school students laughed a lot, but a few junior high school girls cried. "

"No, Ronald. I underestimated the literary and artistic accomplishments of the younger generation of ordinary people in America. They really can feel the lingering love in the endless love, and they don't have an aversion to Shakespeare..."

Ronald felt that Zeffirelli was full of fighting spirit again, and he might not be able to listen to some of his own observations.

However, when this movie was screened, the little girl who had never been in a relationship liked it more.But this has nothing to do with me, maybe the test screening may not accurately reflect the audience's preferences.

What Ronald is more concerned about is the establishment of the "fast-paced Richmond High School".It has been a few weeks since the Oscars, and there is still no definite news from Universal, whether to replace David Lynch and find another suitable director.

This afternoon, Ronald was helping Spike Lee, who had received another grant from a black human rights organization, to film his graduation work.Filming stopped and stopped, two years have passed, and the filming of this film reflecting the barber shop in the black neighborhood has not yet been finished.

Ronald also brought Li Ang over. Tisch College encouraged students to help each other make films, work part-time in other people's crews, and it can also be counted as credits for professional courses.

After shooting a scene, Ronald went to check the pager in the bag. In order to prevent interference with the live radio of the crew, Ronald put it in the bag and set it to silent mode.

There is a paging.

Taking the coins, Ronald found the phone booth, called the paging station and asked if Nisita was calling.

Ronald then stuffed coins one by one, and made a long-distance call to Los Angeles.

"Ronald, you can leave for Los Angeles now, let's find time to meet Tom Mount, the president of Universal Pictures."

"Why, he finally fired David Lynch?" Ronald said happily, while inserting coins.

"No, Lynch fired Universal."

(End of this chapter)