Kathryn Bigelow is a tall woman, fully 6 feet tall (1.82 meters), with flowing blond hair.
She wore a white shirt, suit and trousers, and a director's viewfinder hung around her neck, giving her a heroic look.
"This is Willem Dafoe. I asked him to prepare for my new film." Catherine introduced to Ronald the male lead for her new film.
"Hello, hello." Ronald shook hands with the two of them. "To be honest, I think you are more like an actor than a director." Ronald felt that Kathryn Bigelow's face looked better under the light.
It presents a three-dimensional effect and is good material for becoming a movie star.
"What I'm better at is directing." Kathryn Bigelow hates it when others ignore her directing talent and only see her beauty.
"Sorry, that's not what I meant." Ronald could see that the blonde beauty in front of him also had the spirit of an independent woman and liked to be praised for her professional abilities.
"Ronnie, you don't know. Not only did Catherine get a master's degree from Columbia, she also taught there and taught screenwriting." Little Douglas came over and formally introduced Catherine's background to Ronald. "Last year, she also filmed a movie
Short films, some Hollywood directors admire her very much."
"Are you already a teacher at Columbia University?" Ronald looked at Catherine. The blonde beauty still looked more like a college student.
"I'm 29 years old, so there's nothing strange about being a temporary substitute lecturer." Kathryn Bigelow shook her hair.
"29? Are you sure it's not 19?" Ronald said.
"Hahaha, your friend is much funnier than you, Doug." Catherine was very happy to be complimented.
"If I have the chance, I would also like to watch your short film." Ronald felt that Douglas Jr. was very interested in Catherine, and he probably invested a lot in Catherine. "What is the story of your new film?"
"It's a story about a motorcycle gang member who helps a girl in a small southern town avenge her father's murder."
I didn’t expect that the plot of a movie about beautiful women would be so retro and full of male hormones.
"William is the leading actor I booked, and now we are looking for investment in the movie."
Ronald looked at Douglas Jr. and said that it was one thing to spend thousands of dollars to finance a short film, but to make a feature film was far beyond the scope of what he could finance.
"It sounds really great, a bit like a Roger Corman movie. Do you have the funding secured?"
"No, no, I'm not making an exploitation film. I want to make a film with profound humanistic meanings." Kathryn Bigelow began to talk about her aesthetic design for the film and the conflicts in the plot.
Ronald was a little distracted after hearing this. If it were made into an exploitation film, someone might invest in it. If a profound humanistic spirit was added, the financing prospects would not be good. It would be better to talk about how many thrilling scenes, violent shootouts, and motorcycle chases there are.
But the actor she found was really special. The actor named Willem Dafoe had the face of a natural villain. He had two gray eyes, a hooked nose, and a smile.
When he showed his teeth that were not straight, he looked like a sinister and sinister gang boss.
"So what are your financing ideas?" Ronald took his thoughts back and asked Catherine where the funding for the filming came from.
"I will continue to try until goddess luck favors me." Catherine understands the difficulty of financing a first film by a new director.
"Tell me, how did you find a suitable leading actor like William?" Ronald changed the topic to Willem Dafoe.
William is usually quite amiable, but his laughter ruins the atmosphere a bit, "I had just come out of the set of Heaven's Gate, and Catherine came to talk to me about the new movie. I agreed after reading the script."
Isn't "Heaven's Gate" the new film invested by United Artists made by the fat guy Michael Cimino, who won the last Oscar for Best Director?
Ronald remembers seeing the news that the crew was starting filming in April. It’s already October and the filming hasn’t been completed yet?
"This film took so long to shoot? What is it about?"
"It's about the Johnson County War of the last century," Ronald still didn't understand. Willem Dafoe explained, "It was a war between local farmers and new immigrants. The director hopes to show a forgotten history of America.
.”
"That's great. I'll be able to see you perform on the big screen soon." Ronald said a few polite words.
"Hahaha," Willem Dafoe and Kathryn Bigelow laughed together, "No, William's role was canceled and he was kicked out of the crew."
"Huh?" Ronald felt something was wrong, "Why do you seem so happy?"
"You don't know, Cimino is a lunatic. I am very happy to finally be able to get away from that crazy crew and get a salary." Willem Dafoe took a sip, and the others sat down to continue chatting.
Holding the glass and shaking it, Willem Dafoe seemed to be structuring his words, "Cimino's demands for details are crazy. Every morning we leave the hotel at 4 a.m. and drive 2 hours to the location to practice.
Equestrian and roller skating.”
"And at this time every day, he, the female production director, and the heroine Isabelle Huppert, who is from China, are so drunk in the room that they get drunk. It is said by the crew that they have to have a shot of Coke to get up in the morning."
"He was very paranoid about details. Because the width of a constructed street was not enough, he ordered all the antique wooden buildings on both sides of the street that cost more than 2 million US dollars to be demolished and rebuilt. I just said, if the width is not enough, we can
It was enough to demolish only one side of the house, and Cimino fired me on the spot.”
"I spent several months learning the rules of cockfighting in central America 100 years ago. I actually fought a lot of cockfights with the animal caretaker on the set. I don't know how many of my pitiful cockfighting scenes he will have left.
"
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! The more Ronald listened, the more he gloated, until he heard that Cimino had to demolish and rebuild the scenery because it did not meet the requirements. United Artists is really rich, just
The US$2 million in set construction costs was enough for him and Kathryn Bigelow to make a feature film each with a lot left over.
"Is the production company just going to let him waste it like this?" Douglas Jr., who also had an idea of 2 million US dollars, asked the question in Ronald's mind.
"Because he won the Oscar for Best Director?" Ronald guessed.
"No, not even the Oscar for Best Director." Kathryn Bigelow stayed in Los Angeles some time ago, attended many parties with many people in the industry, and knew some inside information.
"I met Milos Forman, the director of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" in Hollywood. His new film is also distributed by United Artists.
Since United Artists' top executives left last year to found a new company, Orion, the new management appointed by Pan American wanted to prove their abilities, so they hired Michael Cimino to direct a new film, hoping to make it a 007 movie.
, a model of box office success like Rocky.
So they gave Cimino a lot of power, and Cimino is a successful power game player. In the game with the new management, he won the decision-making power of the heroine and more and more additional budgets.
In addition, the on-site production manager is his little fan girl, and everything goes with him. I heard that the budget of Heaven's Gate has increased from the initial US$4 million to more than 30 million US dollars. United Artists'
Cash is starting to get tight, Milos Forman’s next film has not received investment from United Artists, and he is looking for a new producer.”
"A strong new Oscar-winning director and a weak manager who has just been promoted have to make achievements to become this crazy crew."
"Now the crew is going crazy. The day before I left, Cimino filmed a scene of whipping someone with a whip, which lasted a full day. It had been filming for seven months, and more than half of the plot was not filmed. I felt bad for the actors.
There will be a rebellion." Willem Dafoe added.
More than 30 million U.S. dollars? If you add interest, rounded up, it would be 40 million dollars. Ronald kind of understands the mentality of Catherine and William. Many people in the industry don't like Fat Boy Cimino, and they are waiting to see his jokes.
"If this continues, will the crew get out of control?" Ronald didn't have any experience with this kind of large-scale production, but he didn't want to sit back and watch this happen when he came to United Artists. "Why didn't they fire Cimino and replace him with someone else?"
What about a director completing the shoot?”
Little Douglas also nodded. He had been raised by his family since he was a child. If he encountered this kind of situation in other businesses, he should have cut his losses and changed his manager long ago.
"Who says they don't have this idea? The problem is that they can't find any famous director willing to take over this mess."
"Milos Forman told me that United Artists once contacted him to come to the rescue, but he saw the samples shot by Cimino. They were all lengthy shots, shot ten or twenty times. Even if he took over, there was nothing he could do.
Using old footage, his exact words were, 'This is crap and only Cimino knows how to edit it.'"
Kathryn Bigelow said.
"If you were asked to go, would you be willing?"
"Of course I do. The worst I can do is to shoot it again. I shoot the film very quickly. I only shot the short film that Doug funded in 5 days." Kathryn Bigelow is a fast-moving film maker, which is in line with Ronald's habit.
"I heard they were convincing legendary British director David Lean, director of 'Lawrence of Arabia', to take over in exchange for United Artists investing in David Lean's next film, 'Captain Bligh and Mr. Christian.' That
Mr. Lean has been planning the movie for three years."
Several people lamented "Heaven's Gate", especially two young people who were aspiring to become directors, and they were calculating how many movies they could make with $30 million.
"The commander-in-chief signed an executive order to allow the deposed King of Persia Pahlavi to enter the country for treatment of his illness." A person changed the TV channel and accidentally jumped to CBS News, which was broadcasting new news about Persia.
"When will Persia return to normal and oil prices return to normal?" Someone began to complain loudly.
Several people looked at Kathryn Bigelow's alumnus, Persian student Amir.
"I don't know either. I heard that the Grand Ayatollah of the new regime has issued a threat to ask the Grand Commander to send the former King Pahlavi back to the country for trial, otherwise he will launch an attack... I am very worried about the safety of my family and hope that the great leaders of America will
The commander fulfills his wish."
"The commander-in-chief of America will not accept such a threat." Ronald shook his head secretly.