"Welcome, Francis..." Ronald specially stood at the entrance of the garden, where the guests got off the bus, to welcome Coppola. The two hugged and kissed their cheeks warmly, just like when Coppola entertained Ronald at home.
He walked through the garden with Coppola and his current assistant, his daughter Sophia, and took them to the reception room. The little girl back then was now an eighteen-year-old girl, looking at her curiously with her eyes wide open.
Ronald.
"Diane, my little Diane..." Coppola greeted Diane warmly in the reception room, especially when he saw the espresso coffee brought by the other person himself, a smile appeared on his face, "Ronald,
Who knew... you were still on the set back then... hmm? Hmm..."
After taking half a sip of coffee, Coppola swallowed it down again. "Ronald, I really need your help this time..."
"Sofia, I have some delicious food here..." Diane curled her lips when she saw Coppola's daughter Sophia drinking coffee. Knowing that she had not finished it yet, she quickly brought out persimmons from Kumamoto Prefecture to treat her.
"Is there anything I can do to help? I heard from Nick (Nicolas Cage) that your Godfather Part 3 has been started, and you are very busy..."
"Hey, Ronald, you are also a film director now. How often have you heard that the heroine has not been confirmed after the filming of the film starts?"
Coppola sighed and talked about the purpose of his visit.
In fact, after he finished filming The Godfather, he didn’t want to make The Godfather Part II. He just took over and made the second part because he needed money to make the movie he wanted to make. Since then, he has always said that there will be no third part of The Godfather.
But after entering the 1980s, Coppola seemed to have lost his sense of public aesthetics. From an artistic point of view, the films he made were all excellent. As a director, he could also learn many innovative techniques, but the box office was never high.
After suffering several big-loss movies one after another, Coppola not only lost money to his Peep Show Film Company, but also exchanged his family's real estate and wine estate for high-interest loans. In short, he has always had big financial problems.
.
"The Godfather Part 3", which will be released at the end of this year, is to put it bluntly, a work that he can use to pay off his loans and make a fortune financially. Fortunately, the audience still likes to watch the story of the Godfather family and looks forward to Michael reaching his father's age.
When the time comes, some interesting stories will happen.
But the film was positioned as a money-making tool for Coppola and Paramount, so there were a lot of problems from the beginning.
Originally, in the first movie, Michael's eldest brother Sonny was shot dead by a rival, and in the second movie, the second brother Fred was killed by the new godfather Michael because he had eaten everything. In the third movie, if you look at the structure of the movie trilogy,
From a practical point of view, the most convenient thing is to have Tom Hagen, played by Robert Duvall, the godson-like strategist of the old godfather, oppose Michael's death in the third film.
In this way, the structure can perfectly echo the cruelty and ruthlessness within the Mafia family and the torture of Michael falling into hell.
However, Coppola went there for a salary of 6 million and a share of the box office. Al Pacino, Diane Keaton and other actors in the first two films also went there for similar conditions and salary.
Especially the indispensable Al Pacino, who also received a bonus of 6 million in salary. He had also failed at the box office consecutively before, and only the Godfather series could offer him the salary of a first-line male star.
But this angered Robert Duvall, and Paramount and Coppola only gave him one million dollars for his salary. They also persuaded him to star in the trilogy even with a low salary for the sake of the integrity of the trilogy. Robert Duvall
Duvall felt insulted. Surely his acting skills and the importance of his role couldn't be so much lower than Pacino's?
As expected, the two sides broke down. Coppola could not hire another star worth six million dollars. He would rather modify the script and write out the important role of Tom Hagen in the first two films.
Of course, Ronald also understood this approach very well. As a businessman, sometimes you really have to consider the issue of profit. After all, unlike himself, Coppola had no financial problems. If it was just for an artistic end, he would
Duval will definitely show up.
Therefore, this kind of thing happens repeatedly in the crew of The Godfather Part III. Coppola always cuts off those actors who are famous and need high salary, and replace them with newcomers who have potential and image, or
An old actor who is outdated but has excellent acting skills.
As for the most important female role in the third film, which is Michael's daughter Mary, Coppola took a fancy to several new actors discovered by Ronald.
In fact, at the beginning, Coppola had an ideal candidate, the Polish model and actress Rebecca Schaeffer. However, in July this year, unfortunately, she was followed to her home by a fanatical fan and shot dead.
This incident made Coppola very passive. Although the actor was originally Jewish, he looked a bit like an Italian woman. Now that he has unfortunately passed away, he can only look for films that have shown signs of acting and have received good reviews.
An actress who will become very popular after she is released.
There are not many actors like this. Coppola has chosen two candidates, both of whom are related to Ronald. One is Winona Ryder, the heroine who filmed "The Sid Sisters" in which he invested. The second one is Winona Ryder.
Also filming "Pretty Woman" star Julia Roberts.
"Hey, don't tell me, Coppola has a really good vision..." Ronald held back his smile. This is a good thing. Participating in The Godfather Part III is a good opportunity for any actress to expand her reputation.
.
Winona Ryder was his first choice. She is currently filming the Cher-led movie Mermaids. Her hair color is black and she is relatively quiet, which makes her a perfect match for her Italian father and white mother.
This is the position of my daughter.
This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! But her agent is not willing to let her star in Coppola's movie immediately, because Coppola's role in promoting actresses has not been very good in recent years. Moreover, the agent
She has been approached about a new film by Batman director Tim Burton, "Edward Scissorhands."
The same goes for Julia Roberts. After finishing the filming of Pretty Woman, she will soon be filming Flatliners, a psychological horror film, with her boyfriend Kiefer Sutherland.
Coppola wanted to work with either of the two men, but Paramount was impatient with his habitual overspending. The film's budget had risen to $45 million, and further overruns were expected, so they gave
Coppola gave an ultimatum. If he was no longer sure about the heroine, he would choose the one with the best publicity effect...
Famous singer Madonna!
"Pfft..." When Ronald heard this choice, he almost spit out the black tea in his mouth.
"That's right, Mary plays Diane Keaton's daughter in the movie. How can Madonna do it..." Coppola immediately agreed. He glanced at Diane Lane who was happily chatting with her daughter next to her.
In fact, she is the most suitable for this role. If she wasn't pregnant...
Ronald understood Coppola's purpose. According to laws and rules, he could not contact the two actresses directly. However, their agents actually saw the potential of the two actresses and did not want them to play The Godfather.
In the third part, after the new movie is released, it will be The Godfather III that will catch their popularity.
However, Hollywood is full of ways to circumvent the rules. Ronald is a very suitable candidate to speak directly to the actors themselves. Moreover, he has a good reputation in the industry. The actors may not necessarily trust Coppola, but they definitely trust him.
he.
Ronald thought about it. In any case, starring in the sequel of a movie like "The Godfather" will not have any negative impact on the actress. And Coppola may fail in other movies, but he will never fail in The Godfather.
. This is a lot of things about his Italian family.
After agreeing to the message, Ronald sent Coppola and his daughter Sophia away. Ronald looked at Diane beside him.
"I don't regret it...hehe...I have already played the heroine in three movies with him." Diane smiled and said that she would not be disappointed if she missed the role because of her pregnancy.
Ronald held Diane tenderly and then began to call Richard.
…
"Hi...Cher..." Ronald agreed to talk to Coppola and flew to the Great Lakes region of Texas, where Winona Ryder and Cher were filming "Mommy's Daughter."
When he arrived on the set, Ronald felt that the atmosphere was not right. This was also a movie released by Orion, and it was also a type where the director was responsible for all the artistic aspects and the company did not interfere much. But on the set, Cher was bossing around and overshadowed the director Richard.
De Benjamin.
For a moment, Ronald couldn't tell who was the director.
"Ronald, you're here. It's great. I'm really pissed off. Working with you has raised my expectations too high. This crew is really far behind your level."
"You were not an Oscar-winning actress at that time, so of course it was much less important to act like a big name." Ronald complained in his heart. After understanding some of the situation, he found that Cher was no longer the same person she was when she was filming "Moonlight".
I feel like I am angry with a celebrity.
Now she really doesn't like everything she sees, and she complains that the original heroine doesn't look like her daughter, and she finally stopped by inviting Winona Ryder.
During the filming, the director repeatedly interfered. She had to read every scene and say it was OK. She was a real drama queen.
Ronald brought the news and it turned out that Winona Ryder had not learned about Coppola’s invitation from her agent. She had the opportunity to play the daughter of Al Pacino and Diane Keaton, but of course she didn’t.
I agreed without hesitation.
The agent broke the news on the spot and asked her where she got the news. Winona Ryder just said that she heard gossip on the set and asked the agent if this happened. This of course hit the agent's death
I had no choice but to agree to call Coppola.
Coppola had actually seen Winona Ryder's audition footage through informal channels, so although there was still an audition process, she had actually gotten the role of Marie.
"Ronald, tell me, is it better if I think about it this way..." Cher ran over to Ronald to reason again. She had a new idea and rejected the director's previous shooting method.
"I'm going back right away. I've been running away a lot lately to stay with Diane..." Ronald quickly stopped him. Once this kind of thing was involved, the director would not complain. Cher's level was not good enough to play the role of a director.
, don’t blame yourself when the time comes.
Back in Los Angeles, Ronald began to push forward the progress of "Ghost". The special effects were slower than expected. A little positioning error during shooting would take thousands of times to correct later.
Seeing that this situation continued, there would be no finished film by the end of the year. Ronald convened a meeting with three special effects supervisors. Everyone said that the engineers were already working hard and it was impossible to speed up the progress.
After looking through the work schedules of each engineering team, Ronald couldn't say anything. It is true that every team uses the engineers to the limit. It is impossible to let them work overtime every day, right? Even if he is willing to pay excess wages, but the movie
The special effects union would not agree. They are a secondary union affiliated with a powerful union like the Teamsters Union.
"Is there any way to speed up the process?" Ronald asked.
"Unless..." the three directors hesitated, "unless the assassination scene is reshot. Now that we have experience, we can more accurately locate Patrick Schwytz's location.
"That's not impossible. I'll contact Patrick and Demi..." There were only the two of them and an assassin actor in this scene. Ronald did what he said and picked up the phone to find Richard for coordination.
"I didn't expect him to be so easy to talk to..." the three directors murmured. Many Hollywood directors are actually biased against computer special effects and would never reshoot a movie in order to match the post-production special effects on computers.
In the eyes of many "old-school" directors, this is tantamount to admitting that they have made a mistake.
"Very good, they both agreed. We need to sum up our experience this time. I estimate there will be many special effects shots like this in the future..." Ronald settled the situation with the actors and came back to chat with several special effects directors. This
This kind of experience in combining real-life shooting and computer special effects is something that not many people in Hollywood understand now.
"Ronald, can you talk to Director Coppola... I really want to make The Godfather Part 3, but my agent didn't tell me before..."
Back home, Julia Roberts also called and, relying on her friendship with Ronald during the earthquake, she coquettishly wanted to appear in The Godfather Part III.
Julia Roberts was also on Coppola's shortlist as a backup. Her schedule was a bit problematic. After finishing Pretty Woman, she was about to start filming a new movie with her boyfriend.
She knew that the schedule put her at a disadvantage, so she had no choice but to come over and ask Ronald, the intermediary messenger.
"I can't influence Director Coppola, he is the godfather..."
"Ah, is there any way?"
"Keep hope and cross your index fingers..." Ronald also didn't expect that the character of Mary would have such high recognition among actresses. It seems that the Godfather series has such a high status in their hearts.
"That's the godfather..."
Even Madonna got the news. Somehow she found out that she recommended Winona Ryder and Julia Roberts as two major candidates, and called to harass Ronald.
"Which company filmed The Godfather?" Ronald felt that Madonna was too persistent. Although she was Italian, she didn't look like an Italian woman at all, and she was too old.
"Paramount?" Madonna was confused by the question. She asked her assistant and confirmed.
“Who directed The Godfather?”
"Francis Ford Coppola..."
"You have the wrong person, Madonna. Do you think I have the ability to influence Paramount and Coppola?" Ronald smiled and hung up the phone.
Madonna held the phone and heard the busy signal on the receiver. For a moment, she felt that Ronald's logic was impeccable.
"It seems so...keep looking for me someone. I want to play the heroine of The Godfather, and that's the Godfather!"